The Lord’s Prayer: Petition 2- 4:
God’s Kingdom, Will and Daily Bread
Today, we delve deeper in that central prayer of the church and its worship, The Lord’s Prayer. Specifically, the second and third petitions, along with the fourth to give us an entry into next week’s final installment of review of The Lord’s Prayer and Luther’s Catechism.
I would ask you to join me in the back of the red hymnal, page 1163, about half way down the page.
In the second and third petitions, we continue focusing on God by saying, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.” Martin Luther explain these petitions by saying,
The Second Petition: Your kingdom come.
What does this mean?--
In fact, God’s kingdom comes on its own without our prayer; but we ask in this prayer that it may also come to us.
How is this done?-- Whenever our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that through the Holy Spirit’s grace we believe God’s holy Word and live godly lives here in time and hereafter in eternity.
The Third Petition: Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
What does this mean?-- In fact, God’s good and gracious will is comes about without our prayer; but we pray in this prayer that it may also come about in and among us.
How is this done?-- Whenever God breaks and hinders every evil scheme and will – as are present in the will of the devil, the world, and our flesh, that would not allow us to hallow God’s name and would pre3vent the coming of His kingdom; and instead, strengthen us and keeps us steadfast in His Word and in faith until the end of our liver. This is God’s gracious and good will.
Matthew’s gospel recognizes that the world is the scene of contending forces that hold people captive. We do not live in neutral spaces. The powers of evil are evident in diseases of mind and body, the falsehoods that people claim are true, and the sins that destroy and divide individuals and communities. To pray that God’s kingdom will come is to ask that God’s power to create and unite will prevail over the forces that seek to destroy and separate us. The power of evil we have witnessed in Charleston, SC and Chattanooga, TN. We pray in this petition that his power to redeem and renew will bring release from bondage to sin. This freedom, this redemption, this newness is life in God’s kingdom. And God’s kingdom comes through his Messiah, Jesus Christ, who was enthroned through crucifixion, revealing a kingdom characterized by sacrifice and resurrection.
In heaven, God’s will is unopposed, for there sin and death have no place. As long as sin and death are active, and seek to destroy God’s kingdom, people are moved to pray that God’s life-giving purposes may be carried out on earth as they are in heaven. So as we pray these petitions, we are pray that the God who is above all gods, whose name we want to be holy among us, who is worthy glory, laud and honor, wold invade our live with his will and bring us into that kingdom of grace, of heaven, and kingdom of power.
The fourth petition, now shifts our attention and requests directly for “us,” beginning with “Give us this day our daily bread.” The needs of the individual are not separated from those of the wider community. The praying person seeks bread not only for “me” but for “us,” since all have the same need of sustenance from God and receive it, even the evil. In Israel’s tradition, a vivid form of daily bread was the manna that was gathered in the wilderness. People could not create manna for themselves; they could only gather it. And they could not hoard it, since it spoiled; they had to receive it each day. In our day and age of preservatives and canning processes, we do not fully appreciate this concept. However, there is a simplicity in this petition, and there is a startling reminder that each person is like those who journeyed through the wilderness. Our lives are not self-generated or self-sustaining. Life relies on what we receive from the Giver, as the Apostles’ Creed, 1st Petition reminds us, and can only be stewarded as a gift.
What is your “daily bread?” Luther says, Everything necessary to sustain this body and life. What we consume, what we wear, what we own, our relationships, our environment, government, good and faithful friends and neighbors. All we see around us is a gift of bread from God’s own hand. I guess you could honestly say to me or anyone else, “I am God’s gift to you.” That is, if you seek to be daily bread as you have been given daily bread.
When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are recognizing God as the one who makes life possible, who makes life sweet. There is nothing in this world that we earn simply on our own. It is all a gift from God. We are saying, “Continue to bless US, God, with all the wonderful gifts from your hand.” It is the same grace that redeemed this world through Christ that continues to sustain this world on a daily basis.
God’s kingdom has come where God’s will is done in and among us, not only spiritually, but also materially. God continues to establish his kingdom by his will through his people when all needs are provided for by us who are provided for. So as we pray this prayer, let us take time to realize what we are asking, seeking and finding in the grace of our heavenly Father.
Amen.
