Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Psalm of praise 18:20
Prayer
Scripture hymn 16-1:2, 6 (15:2, 6)
Scripture reading:
Psalm 143.
Scripture text
Psalm 143:10: Catechism Lord’s Day 49
Teach
me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead
me on level ground. (NIV)
During the time when Israel did not have a king, all people did what
they wanted to do. The Bible tells us about all the wickedness at the
time.
We, however, have a King. Jesus is the King of the Church – He is the
King of the eternity. He maintains order. We cannot, like the old
Israelites, just do what we want to.
Its very dangerous to do what you think is best, because Adam also
tried to do what, to his mind, was good.
- With that he brought ruin to all mankind and the
entire creation.
- Before him the devil in the spiritual world tried
to do what he thought would be good for him, and by doing it he and his
angels became demons.
Our circumstances are different: God is our King and his will is law.
- We received his kingdom through Jesus Christ.
- How could we remain part of it if we do not want to
do the will of our Father in heaven?
This petition in the Our Father follows just after the one for God’s
kingdom to come, and before the petition to give us our daily bread. It
is most important for us to grasp this, because how on earth can we
pray for the Lord’s kingdom to come, or that He should provide our
daily bread if we would not want to do his will?
When we pray, Thy will be done, then we pray:
1. That we would
deny our own will
2. That God would
give us the strength to obey Him
3. That we would be
as faithful to Him as the angels
(who did not fall) are in heaven
1. When we pray: Thy
will be done, then we pray that
we would deny our own will
The Lord’s will comprises two parts:
The one is the part of God’s will that is not revealed to us.
- Things such as the continuation of nature, the
history of nations and countries, etc.
- These things are all completely subject to the will
of the Lord – they do not happen as they wish.
Then there is the revealed will of God.
- The things the Lord reveals to us in the Bible. We
call these God’s particular revelation.
- One thing that is prominent throughout the history
of revelation is that the Lord does not tolerate disobedience. He
punishes it.
- He continuously demands man to deny his own will.
Therefore this is a prayer for self-denial.
It is a very necessary part of our prayer, because without self-denial
there can be no peace or holiness as holiness and peace can exist only
if God’s will is done.
Somebody might think that it is not possible to deny oneself. However,
self-denial is possible.
- When you earnestly pray for it, the God in his
mercy helps people to change.
- The Holy Spirit leads such people to reach a point
where they can deny themselves.
- This self-denial eventually becomes so strong that
the faithful can follow the will of God in both prosperity and
adversity.
Anybody honest enough to realise and admit his own weakness, will have
the desire to distance himself from his own will that only causes
misery, and follow the will of God. Anybody honest with himself knows
that it cannot happen by itself. It can only be achieved with the help
of God. Therefore he prays for it.
2. When we pray: Thy
will be done, we pray that God
would give us the strength to obey Him .
Where does any truly faithful get the strength to be obedient? From the
Lord Jesus Christ of course – But He accomplishes it through the Holy
Spirit.
What does the Holy Spirit accomplish in me?
- Everything I need to be able to identify and do the
will of God – renewal, sanctification and repentance.
- This strengthens my inner life through the grace of
God so that I can be unwavering.
Do not
be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good
for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods,
which are of no value to those who eat them. (Heb. 13:9 NIV)
The love and the will to obey God whole-heartedly must come straight
from my heart.
Do not
conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test
and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
(Rom. 12:2 NIV)
We often see that our children are obedient only after a lot of
backchat. This prayer we as adults pray to become unconditionally
obedient to the will of the Lord. By this we admit that we very well
know that backchat is a sin. We want to spontaneously obey the good and
perfect will of God – not under protest because of our sins.
At the same time we pray for strength from the Lord to answer my
calling faithfully and willingly – to be obedient to the Lord even when
we experience setbacks.
This prayer also asks for perseverance – that we will persevere in
listening to the Lord.
- In practice we sometimes do well for a period of
time and then suddenly drop out.
- In these times, our godliness declines instead of
grows.
- During these times we do not listen or we do not
want to listen.
- Some people even oppose the Lord and rebel against
Him.
This prayer is also asking the Lord to guide us during times such as
these – to change us so that we will keep obeying the will of the Lord.
We therefore pray that the Lord will help us when we become weak, and
make us faithful to Him and eager to subject ourselves to his will.
3. When we pray: Thy
will be done, we pray that we
would be as faithful to Him as the angels (who did not fall) are in
heaven .
God created two kinds of beings to serve and glorify Him – the angels
who exist in the spiritual world and the human beings who live in the
physical world.
Both groups made mistakes:
- In heaven a third of them rebelled against God.
- They were incited by the devil.
- They all changed into demons and were expelled from
heaven by God.
- In life hereafter their destination is eternal hell!
- On earth, man went exactly the same way.
- Incited by the very person who caused trouble in
heaven the only two people on earth at the time became rebellious
against God.
- The consequence for al mankind was catastrophic.
- All came to a fall and have been subjected since
then to the curse of God.
In heaven things did not happen as on earth:
- The remaining group of angels serves the Lord
perfectly and in total obedience.
- They do not make mistakes and serve the Lord
joyfully – day and night.
Logically, these two groups of beings should serve the Lord in a
similar way.
- Therefore this petition that the Lord’s will be
done, begs Him to change us and enable us to serve Him like the angels
(who did not fall) do in heaven.
- We beg for strength and mercy to grow and develop
in our worship to achieve the faithfulness and commitment and joy the
angels in heaven have.
This ideal does not concern the individual only. It concerns the entire
congregation.
- Even before creation the Lord foresaw that his holy
universal Christian church would be sanctified through Jesus Christ and
appear before Him unblemished.
- We should therefore pray this because we are reborn
and because we are guided by the Holy Spirit to grow in faith through
daily repentance.
- This means that we will more and more subject
ourselves to the will of the Lord.
This means that we should confess our ignorance and mistakes
continuously. Then the Holy Spirit will teach us about the will of our
heavenly Father.
- Please understand: No voice from heaven is going to
talk to us all of a sudden and tell us what’s what.
- We must study the Bible. The Holy Spirit uses the
Bible to enlighten our minds so that we can understand the will of God.
- We should therefore physically display willingness
to seek and find the will of God in his revelation.
Let’s read together Catechism Lord’s Day 49:
124. Q. What is the third
petition?
A. Thy will be done, on earth
as it is in heaven. That is: Grant that
we and all men may deny our own will, and without any murmuring obey
Thy will, for it alone is good.[1] Grant also that everyone may carry
out the duties of his office and calling[2] as willingly and faithfully
as the angels in heaven.[3]
[1] Matt. 7:21; 16:24-26; Luke 22:42; Rom. 12:1, 2; Tit. 2:11, 12.
[2] I Cor. 7:17-24; Eph. 6:5-9. [3] Ps. 103:20, 21.
Amen.
Closing prayer
Scripture hymn 10-2:1 (28B)
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
Dr MJ du Plessis
Gereformeerde Kerk Bellville
Date: 30 May 2004 (evening)