“Thy Will Be Done on Earth as It Is in Heaven”
Matthew 6:10
Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Fourth
Sunday after Pentecost—July 7, 2019
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.
This summer we are having a sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer.
So far we have considered: “Our Father who art in heaven; hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come.” This morning we continue with: “Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven.”
I recently read the section in “U.S.A. Today” where they have a little
update from every state in the nation. As I read through those little
blurbs, it struck me that every one of them, right down the alphabet from
Alabama to Wyoming, was something bad.
Paul explains in Galatians why all this is happening in our world: “the
Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin.” THAT is the
problem with our world. Our world is so messed up because God’s will isn’t
being done on earth. And the reason God’s will isn’t being done on earth
as it is in heaven is because we don’t live in paradise anymore, and we humans
aren’t heavenly angels but fallen sinners, defying God’s will, rebelling against
God’s will.
That is true for the world as whole, and it is true for each one of us
individually. God’s will not done in OUR lives because WE all, personally
and individually, are sinners, who defy and rebel against the will of God in our
lives. As Paul says in Romans, “There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned
away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not
even one.”
So, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is first a prayer of
LAMENT and CONFESSION. “Lord, things in this world aren’t the way they
should be. And I confess that things in MY LIFE aren’t the way they should
be either.” “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Striving to fulfill God’s will in your life is NOT a question of trying
to earn your way into heaven. Paul says in today’s Epistle Reading, “the
Father . . . HAS QUALIFIED you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the
kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and
brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins.” That is the Christian Gospel: even though you aren’t
an angel, you ARE “qualified” for heaven already, because God’s Son earned it
for you, “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
So, if you’re not trying to earn your way into heaven, why do you want
to fulfill God’s will in your life? Paul puts it this way in today’s
Epistle Reading: “the faith and love that SPRING FROM the hope” of heaven.
If someone gave you a million dollars you would certainly say “thank you.”
God has given you a gift much more precious, the most priceless treasure,
“redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” God has “qualified” you for heaven,
and from that SPRINGS a desire to fulfill his will in your life, “the faith and
love that SPRING FROM the hope” of heaven.
You’ve heard the tennis shoe slogan, “Just Do It.” Doesn’t it
seem sort of odd that Jesus should teach US to PRAY, “Thy will be done here on
earth as it is in heaven.”
If the Lord wants something done here on earth, why doesn’t HE “Just Do
It”?
There is a legend about the angels gathering around Christ after he had
returned to heaven. He told them about his life on earth, his death on the
cross, his rising from the dead and ascension into heaven. One of the
angels asked him, “Now what Lord? Who will carry on your mission in the
world?
He said, “I have entrusted that to my followers.”
“But Lord,” an angel said, “What if they fail? What if they don’t
do it? Then what?”
Jesus replied, “I have no other plan.”
God has chosen to work his will in the world through people; God has
chosen to work his will in the world through YOU. The New Testament often
describes believers like you as the “body” of Christ. One theologian
explains: “The Church is thus the means of Christ’s work in the world; it is his
hands and feet, his mouth and voice. As in his [life in this world],
Christ had to have a body to proclaim his Gospel and do his work, so . . . he
still needs a body to be the instrument of his Gospel and of his work in the
world.”*
For example, God wants your children fed and cared for, he wants a home
provided for them, he wants them brought up in the training and instruction of
the Lord. That’s what God wants for your children, and he is carrying out
his will on earth through you, their parents.
Another example is your worldly occupation, put it into the perspective
of fulfilling God’s will on earth. For whatever kind of work you do, if it
is honest work you are doing something God wants done to keep this world going.
God wants us fed, so he made some of us farmers. God wants us healed, so
he made some of us doctors and nurses. God wants us to have homes, so he
made some of us carpenters and plumbers and electricians. God wants us to
have conveniences, so he made some of us factory workers. God wants us
protected, so he made some of us police and firefighters.
Look at your own occupation in that same way. Even if to you your work
seems mundane, it really is God’s work you are doing. Martin Luther put it
this way: “The maid sweeping down the stairs is doing a holy work, just as much
as the preacher in the pulpit.”
And as we celebrate our nation’s Independence Day, remember that your
calling as a Christian citizen is vital for the blessing of our land.
There is an old saying “Bloom where you are planted.” And there
is a lot of truth to that saying. God plants you into SPECIFIC situations
in life for a SPECIFIC purpose, because HE thinks you are the one to make a
difference in that situation. He wants you to be like the Good Samaritan
in the parable, to be his hands and feet, his mouth and voice, to do his will on
earth as it is in heaven in that situation. Maybe God has planted you in a
difficult spot. Perhaps you’d like to just walk by on the other side, like
the priest and Levite in the parable.
In my children’s sermon I mentioned the fall of the Berlin Wall.
After that wall fell the former Communist countries began returning property
that had been wrongfully appropriated, BACK to its original owners.
That’s what YOU are doing every time you pray, “Thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven.” You are acknowledging that you really don’t
belong to yourself, you are not free to do whatever YOUR will desires.
For, every time you pray those words, “Thy will be done,” you are returning
yourself BACK to YOUR original owner. As Jesus himself prayed in the
Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will but thine be done.”
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is a prayer asking God
to give YOU strength and guidance to fulfill his will in YOUR life, to be for
him the Good Samaritan instead of the priest or Levite, to “Bloom where you are
planted.” “Thy will be done”—through ME, in MY life.
Amen.
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