Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1694
July 20, 2025
Matthew 6.7-13 Click here for audio worship.
Dr. Ed Pettus
(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)
“Praying The Kingdom of God”
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
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When You Pray
Normally, we are taught not to assume anything about one another or about circumstances or about anything. When we assume something, whether it be about ourselves or others, we often come to realize that we have made an error in judgment or we have given up opportunities that could have been. We find ourselves saying, “I just assumed you would…” This not our best start with someone. Even thinking that I would have assumed this or that about myself is not helpful. But, Jesus, Jesus opens verse 7 with an assumption. In His case, it is a good assumption. In fact, by assuming the disciples prayed, and assuming all who follow Jesus are people who pray, He is showing that disciples are praying people. There cannot be a non-praying believer. We assume that about one another as well, don’t we? Perhaps the only time we have a proper good assumption. I assume we all pray; all who trust in God through Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit are praying people. We all pray. I know you assume I pray because I receive prayer requests regularly. It is not just a discipline for clergy, but a discipline for all. Even non-believers will sometimes offer a prayer in times of crisis.
The phrase “When you pray” is an assumption that we do so. “When you pray…” is also an expectation, a command, a requirement, a discipline, a passion, part of the reconciled relationship with God. “When you pray…” know that prayer is a discipline and delight, a joy and an obedience. It is one of our connections with the Creator of the Universe and the Redeemer of all who believe. When we pray we are connected to God and we are connected to God’s church, to one another, to the family who knows God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. When we pray we are not seeking to impress or just present a wish list or have all our words in a proper order, but we are coming before the One who loves us more than we can even comprehend, like a father to a child, like a mother to her infant, like shepherd to the sheep, like an apprentice to the master. Prayer opens us to the One who cares and provides and loves and saves and disciplines and convicts and protects and calls and teaches us to pray.
We have been given a great gift in all the prayers of the Bible and in particular the prayers of the Psalms. Prayers that teach us to praise and give thanks, to lament and complain, to rejoice and to show compassion, to love the Word of God and to revel in the presence of God. When we do not have the vocabulary to pray, we can go to the words already given to us, to pray Psalm 103, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!” To pray Psalm 145, “The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due season.” To pray Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” These, and many others, are the faithful words of prayer, of connection with the God who hears and listens. So, pray, and when you pray, keep it simple.
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Keep It Simple
Sometimes we struggle with prayer. We may not feel adequate. We think we do not have the right words. We think we are unworthy of God’s time and attention. We think we have to have some eloquent phrases or profound thoughts. What does Jesus teach us here? Don’t be like that! Don’t be like those who who “heap up empty phrases.” Have we ever done that? Have we just prayed in ways that lacked integrity and we just said empty things, no real meaning or just rote meaningless phrases that are not truly seeking to communicate with God? Jesus teaches that we do not need fancy words. We do not need to impress God or especially others in our prayers. Instead, keep it simple by using the Psalms, pray the Bible, or when we don’t know what to pray silence can be prayer. We are promised that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, according to Romans 8.26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Keep it simple. No need for many words. God does not move our prayers to the front of the line for the number of words we may use. Simple, “Lord, have mercy.” That brief prayer will fit many circumstances. “God, help!” When we are sometimes in a deep crisis that is all we can say and all we will need to say. “Jesus, thank you.” Simple gratitude throughout our days.
Jesus reminds us that God already knows what we need before we ask Him! Reminds me of the best waiters who fill my half empty glass before I ask. Reminds me of workers who seek to know what we need before we have to tell them. How much more than they is our God who sees ahead, who knows us so well, and who is willing and wanting to supply our every need. Keep it simple. We don’t have to have the perfect prayer, the “just right” words, or a vast number of phrases. What God desires in prayer is our hearts, our desires, our trust in Him. What God seeks is our worship and praise and thanksgiving and hopes and dreams, even our wants and desires and He will listen and He will respond with what is best for us. It may not be what we expect or thought we wanted, but it will be a good and perfect gift from above. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1.17).
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Praying the Kingdom
Among the various topics in the Lord’s Prayer, we have the phrase “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Every Sunday we pray this prayer. Every Sunday we run the risk of saying it by rote and therefore without much thought as to its power and meaning. As we have been looking to the Kingdom of God during July, we can pluck this part of the prayer out for contemplation. What are we praying when we say, “Your kingdom come”? The Larger Catechism has a lot to say on this. It acknowledges that when praying the kingdom come, we are also acknowledging that we currently live under a dominion of sin and Satan. One of the things we are praying is that this earthly kingdom is destroyed so that the gospel may be preached to bring people into God’s kingdom. That comes directly from Colossians 1.13-14, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” “Your kingdom come” is one of the ways we pray for the sinner to come into the Kingdom of God.
Praying the kingdom is also a prayer for the church, that we all would yield ourselves to Christ, letting Him rule in our hearts. Part of that is a prayer of protection that no corruption or compromise would seep into the life of the church. In that sense we are praying that the church be a reflection of the Kingdom of God that gives witness to the world of God’s good news in Jesus Christ who has died for us that we might be set free from sin through His obedience and through repentance, belief, and confession, all under the covenant grace of God.
To pray “Your kingdom come” is also a desire and request that Christ comes again to establish His rule on earth as it is in heaven. It is a prayer to see the new earth and the new heaven and the restoration of all things.
The next part of praying the kingdom is the phrase “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. In this prayer we are acknowledging that we desire God’s will and not our own. We are hoping and desiring to conform our will to God’s will. And we are acknowledging that the kingdom of God, the heavenly kingdom, is what we desire for earth. When we pray this prayer, we are confessing our weakness in conforming to God’s will and praying that God would do His will in us, removing anything that resists His way and His Word in us.
We seek in this prayer to know the will of God and the heavenly kingdom that is the Kingdom of God. And I think the whole phrase is needed… “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” God’s kingdom is God’s will. God’s promise is to usher in His Kingdom and His will on earth just as it is already done in heaven.
In one sense every prayer is a Kingdom prayer in that we are seeking
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order from chaos,
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for all things to be set right,
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for the kingdom to come,
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for things on earth to be like the realm of heaven...perfect, whole, filled with praise and peace and rest.
Every prayer is a Kingdom prayer in that we desire for all sickness to be healed, all abuses to be comforted, all weaknesses to be made strong, all prayers to be answered, all justice to be done, all promises fulfilled, all hopes to be realized, all dreams to be known, all wrongs to be righted, all things, all things on earth to be as all things are in heaven. And that will only be accomplished when the Kingdom comes.
We already know the Kingdom of God in part for it is known in Jesus Christ. But there is more to come, more to be known, more to be fulfilled. So, we continue to pray the Kingdom of God, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” “Come, Lord Jesus. Come soon. Come. Your kingdom come.” Amen.
