Sermons 2025

Text: Second Petition of the Lord’s prayer

Outline:
1.    Good to be King
2.    We are not the King
3.    Subservient to Almighty God

Sermon:

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation this morning is the Second petition of the Lord’s prayer:

Thy kingdom come.

What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.
How does God’s kingdom come? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Which do you enjoy better? Being able to choose your own bed time or what you watch on Television or what your mom and dad say is bedtime and what you are watching? I am sure you would prefer the first. It is good to make the rules. It is hard when we have to follow the rules that some one else has set up for us. Even when we know that mom and dad are doing it so that we get good sleep for school in the morning or making sure that we are watching things that are good for our minds. In our text we pray that God Himself would rule us and we would obey Him. How can we do this here and now? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

1.    Good to be King

In the second petition of the Lord’s prayer, we pray that God’s kingdom would come among us.  If we are being honest with ourselves, is this something that we desire? Our sinful natures would say no, not at all! Why? Because then we have to give up our illusion that we are in control. Ever since Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden to be like God. We too have fallen into that same temptation. We want to be like God. We want to know good and evil. We desire that the King would turn a blind eye to His creation so that we can rule how we want to rule. We do not want God or His kingdom among us because then we have to obey His authority. We want to be our own Creators and make the rules for ourselves. After all it is good to be the King because then we can do what we desire. It is good to be the one in charge of everything, to make the rules that we ourselves do not have to follow, yet everyone else does. If we can be the ones to make the rules, then we can excuse ourselves, justify our sinful actions, and make it so that we do not face the consequences of our actions. This means that we can lie, we can cheat, we can covet and steal. We could even commit outright murder in broad daylight and get away with it.

2.We are not the King

    It is indeed good to be the King. Yet, even kings must bow in subjection to higher authorities. The second petition leads us to confess our many sins. As much as we may not enjoy confession, it is cleansing for the soul. We are not the king. We are not, and never will be, the ones in full and complete control. We are creatures rather than the Creator. We are not in control of everything around us. We are indeed sinners in thought, word, and deed. We are guilty no matter how many times we may try to justify ourselves or our actions. We misuse our authority for our own gain, increasing our own wealth and power. Instead, we should use our authority for the good of those around us and their wellbeing.  Therefore, we stand condemned under the Law, because of our misuse of authority. We are deserving of the almighty and everlasting King to meet out His judgment in righteous anger.

3.Subservient to Almighty God

As creatures, we are subservient to our Creator. We are deserving of His judgment and wrath forever. As we confess, we have earned His present and eternal punishment. 
Yet, the King has left His eternal throne for the sake of His subjects. Jesus left  His throne in Heaven. The almighty King entered into His creation through the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary. Jesus uses His authority for our good. He casts out demons from those possessed. He rebukes illness and diseases to cure others. He bares His holy and righteous arms, and body, to the pain and torment of the cross. Bearing our sins, the King declares His subjects forgiven of every single one of their sins

We have a King. One who is gracious, righteous, and loving towards the entirety of humanity. That is why we pray in this petition that God’s kingdom would come among us. That He would come among us not in His wrath, but as He has revealed himself in Christ to be a King ruling in mercy, grace, and love for His subjects. We pray that He would rule our hearts and minds by His Holy Spirit so that we may continually serve Him.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit in us, God’s kingdom does indeed come among us here and now. He lives in us, sanctifying us that we might in our lives and conversations declare His great power and glory, to do everything to the praise of His holy name. We pray that God would keep His promise and that Jesus would come soon. In spite of all of the plans we have made for this afternoon, or upcoming week, that He would end the world, be revealed as our gracious, eternal King, and we would live in His kingdom forever.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.