KINGDOM BUILDING

KINGDOM BUILDING

Matthew 6:5-15 (v.10) Matthew 9:18-38

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

September 16, 2007

“Cop out.” “That’s a cop out.” That’s what Dr. Sam Moffett, a veteran missionary to Korea, heard from someone in the audience. He’d spoken of the time while he was still serving in Korea that fellow missionaries in China had been arrested and imprisoned by the Communists. A person in that small audience asked him as to what action he personally took at the time on their behalf. “There wasn’t much that we could do. In those days, little could be done in the way of international intervention. But we did earnestly pray for them.” That’s when that same person whispered to the one sitting next to him, “Cop out! That’s a cop out!”

Dr. Moffett shared this story with 5,000 Presbyterians gathered together in Dallas in 1985. I was there to hear him remind us that prayer is never a cop out. Prayer is never to be seen as being unessential in the work of the Kingdom of God. In fact, there will be no power found in the work of the Kingdom, unless prayer comes first.

WE CAN CERTAINLY SEE THIS

IN JESUS’ MINISTRY AND TEACHING.

In our first reading from Matthew 9, we find the demands made on Jesus to be so intense. News of His ministry was spreading throughout the region. So many people were in need of what Jesus had to give, as we are told in the Gospel of Matthew: “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the Kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.’” [i]

Clearly, Jesus connected the work of the Kingdom and the success of a spiritual harvest with prayer. But Jesus was even more specific in giving us the Lord’s Prayer. Following the opening lines of worship, Jesus teaches us allegiance and submission in the work of the Kingdom as necessary subjects for prayer: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

George Eldon Ladd, in The Gospel of the Kingdom, has this to say about the relationship between the Kingdom of God and prayer: “The Kingdom of God is His kingship, His rule, His authority. When this is once realized, we can go through the New Testament and find passage after passage where this meaning is evident, where the Kingdom is not a realm or a people but God’s reign.” [ii]

As you and I yearn for the consummation of God’s rule and reign that will come about at the return of our Lord Jesus, Ladd states the meaning of this specific petition: “This prayer is a petition for God to reign, to manifest His kingly sovereignty and power, to put to flight every enemy of righteousness and His divine rule, that God alone may be King over all the world.” [iii]

So, for Jesus, prayer and the Kingdom of God are inseparable. Prayer is instrumental in the working out of God’s rule and reign, as prayer and Kingdom Building go hand in hand. But in practical ways, how can you and I pray for the building of God’s Kingdom?

WE CAN AND SHOULD MOST CERTAINLY PRAY FOR OURSELVES.

“Dear Father, rule and govern me

by Your Word and Holy Spirit in such a way,

that more and more

I will submit to You without grumbling or complaint.

May I learn to do so as willingly and faithfully

as do the angels in heaven.”

Before we look to others, we certainly ought to look to ourselves first. Is the Lord truly ruling and reigning in all parts of our lives? Have we consigned ourselves to such total loyalty and allegiance that we always want God’s will over ours? No one can do this perfectly of course, but is the desire there, and even if we do fail and fall, do we return to Him again in a renewed commitment to do His will?

Do we have the heart of the psalmist in praying something like this: “You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all Your commands.” [iv]

Do we take to heart the admonition of our Lord Jesus: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up His cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses His life for Me will save it.”[v] You see, it is in the daily, moment-by-moment submission to His wise and loving rule that the Kingdom is built into our lives.

Chip Ingram, a pastor and Bible teacher, tells of one man who failed to do this. A church member, he sat before Ingram in his study and explained the course of a very sad turn in his life. This man had been a pillar of the church, teaching Sunday School and serving on governing boards. He had a godly heritage, a good reputation, loving wife and family, successful business and many material possessions. Now, however, he had quite sadly lost so much of it!

The man had made mistakes in making compromises, in the smallest of issues at first, which then led to choices of greater compromise. “They all seemed so innocent and inconsequential at the time. But in a few years, they developed new patterns in my life. The lustful looks turned into a sexual addiction and then to infidelity. The little lies became lapses in integrity that undermined all my relationships and destroyed my business. In very little time, I was living the opposite life of what I once had … Now I’m alone, depressed, remorseful, and wishing like crazy I could do it all over. But I can’t.” [vi]

How great is the need for prayer in the building of the Kingdom in our heart! In that tug-of-war that goes on in our hearts and minds, we need the power that comes from the Spirit through prayer. But even before that tug-of-war occurs, we need the grace to say NO to the compromise of God’s will, no matter how small or how great that compromise may appear to us to be.

IN KINGDOM BUILDING,

WE CAN CERTAINLY PRAY FOR THE CHURCH.

“Lord, uphold and sustain Your Church,

keeping it strong and faithful

in its life and in its witness,

and may You be pleased to increase and add to it.”

How we need to pray for the Church and in so many ways! The Westminster Larger Catechism leads us to consider some of the ways we can pray:

“We pray then that the kingdom of sin and Satan be destroyed, that the gospel be preached throughout the whole world, that Jews be converted, and that the full number of the Gentiles come in. We pray that the church would be supplied with evangelical officers and regulations, purged from corruption and recognized and supported by the civil authorities. We pray for the regulations of Christ to be administered fully and that these regulations may effectively convert sinners, while confirming, comforting, and building up those who are already converted.” [vii]

This follows the pattern of the New Testament as we find prayer at the very heart of the life of the Church. The members of the early Church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” As a result, “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” [viii]

The apostles wanted to be able to give their attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word, so the office of deacons was established. And we are told: “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” [ix]

Paul often asked for prayer for himself and for the other leaders, such as in his request to the Thessalonians: “Brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.” [x] Again, one simply cannot miss seeing the connection of prayer and Kingdom building in the life and witness of the early Church.

One of the greatest preachers in the long history of the Church is surely Charles H. Spurgeon of England. I know that I have spoken to you before of this faithful servant, but only because he is such an inspiring witness to me. In the days before so-called mega-churches, he preached from 1861-1891 to some 6,000 people every Sunday morning at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. The reason for success in his ministry and the ministry of the church can be attributed in great part to prayer.

First, Spurgeon was a man of prayer. He admonished those being trained to be pastors to seriously consider prayer. “The minister who does not earnestly pray over his work must surely be a vain and conceited man. He acts as if he thought himself sufficient of himself, and therefore needed not to appeal to God.” [xi]

But Spurgeon also preached on prayer and depended on prayer for the vitality of the church’s ministry. Intercessory prayer gatherings occurred in the basement of the Tabernacle at the very same time as the services, regularly involving two to three hundred people. “If God be near a church,” Spurgeon said, “it must pray. And if He be not there, one of the first tokens of His absence will be slothfulness in prayer.” [xii] If there be any doubt about prayer and Kingdom building, one need only turn to Spurgeon and the congregation of the Tabernacle, and then to the thousands of lives that were transformed, both in England and beyond, even to this very day!

III

ALTHOUGH SO MUCH MORE COULD BE SAID,

IN KINGDOM BUILDING,

WE CAN ALSO PRAY

FOR THE DAY WHEN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

WILL COME AGAIN.

“May the Day finally come

when the Kingdom is so full and complete upon Jesus’ return,

that every knee will bow

and every tongue confess that He is Lord.”

As we pray for the building of the Kingdom in ourselves, in the Church and through the Church out into the world, there is yet that other aspect of the Kingdom that we can look for – the second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we seek the reign and rule of God to be manifest in our world, we know that it will never be complete in this world. That will only occur when Christ comes again. Paul refers to this as a time when all creation will bow the knee at the name of Jesus, and every tongue (will) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [xiii]

As you will recall, the Apostle John was given a vision of a new heaven and a new earth. With the consummation of the Kingdom will be a whole new way of life described in this way: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” [xiv] Doesn’t that sound wonderful? Is it not a very small wonder, then, that John ends the book with a prayer? Come, Lord Jesus! [xv]

In the early 1900’s, there was an Irish explorer by the name of Sir Ernest Shackleton. He was famous for numerous expeditions made to the Antarctic. On one occasion, he had to leave some men on Elephant Island, but he promised to come back and get them and then take them back to England. But by the time he was ready to do so, the sea was frozen over and he couldn’t get there. He tried three times to get to them, being successful only on yet another attempt, having made his way through a very slim and narrow channel. To Shackleton’s amazement, however, he discovered the supplies all boxed up, the crew packed, and ready to come onboard immediately. Shackleton asked the crew how they knew just when he would return. Apparently, every morning – every morning - the crew leader packed his gear and told the crew to do the very same. He would say, “Get your things ready, boys. The boss may come today.” [xvi]

That’s what we do when we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” That’s what we do when we pray, “Thy Kingdom come.” Never to the neglect of praying for the building of His Kingdom here, we pray that we also get our lives ready and be prepared, for it just may be that our Lord will come today!