Mitcham Baptist Church

The Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, was the core of Jesus teaching. When he was walking around 2000 years ago, many of the stories and parables he told started with the words, “The Kingdom of God is like…”.

So it’s probably no surprise that when Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray, he included the words, “Your Kingdom come.”

On Sunday night we looked at a few elements of the Kingdom of God and what they might mean for us to pray them.

Nowhere does Jesus actually define what he Kingdom of God is. It is clear it is not a geographic place, but instead something more like the rule or reign of God. We could even use words like the ‘impact’ or ‘influence’ of God. But we do get little glimpses of some of the characteristics of what this impact is like. We looked at just four of those on Sunday

The Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and there’s nothing we can do to stop it (Matt 11:12)

The Kingdom of God is all inclusive, embracing the unclean and the outcast, where everyone is equal (Matt 9:20-22)

The Kingdom of God is counter culture, valuing many things the world does not (Matt 18:1-5)

The Kingdom of God is worth everything we have (Matt 13:44-46)

And most surprisingly, the Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:20-21)

So for all of these things to become a reality in our world, for God’s Kingdom to have a lasting impact on lives and communities, then it happens through us.

These three words, “Your Kingdom come”, become the most powerful part of the Lord’s prayer because not only do they change us in dramatic ways, but they change the world around us too.

It takes a bold person to pray this prayer. Feeding the hungry is a sign of God’s Kingdom breaking into the world, so if we pray “your Kingdom come” we should expect to be eating with the hungry, giving up our own food if necessary. We should expect to be rubbing shoulders with the homeless, the outcast, the addicted and the different because this is all part of the impact God has through his people.

The worst thing we can possibly do, is pray the prayer and not expect to be part of the answer.