May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your
sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. AMEN.
If
one were to go up to the hospital and enter into the Physical Therapy Department,
which many of us here this morning have done, you find that there are parallel
bars, weights, stretchy bands and an exercise bike that is used on a daily
basis. Whether it is rehabbing a torn
rotator cuff in the shoulder, knee surgery, hip or knee replacement or an
injury that happened while lifting the groceries, shoveling grain out of the
pit to prepare for harvest or while trying to get that one problem cow back
into the coral, Jack and all of the therapists have the right tools needed to
not only strengthen, but recondition the body back to health.
This
morning we have before us a pair of crutches, a walker and a cane. You might wonder, are we turning the church
into a rehab facility? But really each
of these items is a good symbol for the Third Petition of the Lord’s
Prayer. Let’s pull out our bulletin
insert for this morning and read responsively as a congregation the “What does
this mean?” and “How is God’s will done?”
sections. “The Third Petition of the
Lord’s Prayer, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What does this mean? The
good and gracious will of God is done even without our prayer, but we pray in
this petition that it may be done among us also. How is God’s will done? God’s
will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the
devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s
name or let His kingdom come; and when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His
Word and faith until we die. This is His
good and gracious will. Let us ask
for God’s will to be done.
Let
us pray, Gracious God, with our prayer we ask that Your will be done in our
lives. We ask for Your perfect plan to be
fulfilled for each of us. Strengthen and
keep us firm in Your Word and faith until we enter Your Kingdom and spend
eternity with You. For this only occurs
because of what Your Son, Jesus Christ did for all of mankind on Calvary,
including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning. AMEN.
When
Michele and I were first married, her siblings and my brothers all either had
children or began to have kids around the same time, with us being last. One of the interesting things that we always
talked about was that when the children were little they began to crawl on all
fours, then as they grew they began to walk and run on their own two feet. And we would joke and kid our parents at
least on Michele’s side that one day they would need what I have before us
today, sometimes crutches or a cane and eventually a walker.
These
items are a great symbol for us today for the Third Petition of the Lord’s
Prayer. When we teach our children to
pray initially we use simple prayers, like “Now I lay me down to sleep”, we
teach them table prayers of “Come Lord Jesus” or “God is great, God is good”
and eventually we teach them the Lord’s Prayer.
Each prayer builds upon the other and connects the importance of not
only keeping God in our lives, but insuring we do so on a daily basis.
The
Third Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, exposes another importance of our need to
pray for God’s will to be done. God’s
will is done simply as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians, with our being made holy
by God, also known as sanctification. If
you were to ask either our spouses or children, this may be a rare occasion,
even for me. But the reality is, God
makes us Holy with our belief in the forgiveness of sins and that Jesus Christ
died for us. God is the action agent
here, we cannot and do not do this on our own, we are unable to, but God fulfills
this for us. And the fruits are here
that we partake of around the altar with our receipt of His precious Body and
Blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins.
But,
why a pair of crutches, a cane and a walker?
Ironically, each of these items are meant to be an aid for mobility, whether
walking or for some of just independence.
They provide stability, a stable platform and the ability to move with
surety when our balance may be a little out of whack or we are weak. And this petition is the exact same, it is
the stability that we need as we walk and live in this world, since we are
Christians and not of this world. We can
use the Lord’s Prayer to stabilize our lives and this petition especially
reminds us of the importance of God as we encounter the sinful world that we
live in today.
We
need the stability and knowledge of God’s will being done, but also and more
importantly that God’s will is done ‘on earth as it is in heaven’. In our praying this, we are asking God to
perfectly fulfill here on earth God’s plan here on earth. Not a plan for us to have all the greatest
toys, the biggest house or the best farm, which is the envy of our neighbors or
friends we meet down at the elevator or for coffee. Nor is it to have the best kids, the greatest
sports legends of Goodland nor the most welcoming family. God’s will is for salvation to be fulfilled
for all of mankind. Remember what Paul
said, the importance is found when we remember it is for all of us to be ‘made
holy’. And this only occurs with our
going to God in prayer and asking Him for His will to be done.
But
what does a pair of crutches, a cane and a walker have to do with our being made
holy. Just as we go from crawling on all
four as babies, to two feet as toddlers and adults to three with our mobility with
canes or walkers as older adults our faith walk is no different. In our faith walk some of us either are still
crawling on all fours, hobbling around and in need of crutches because we are
the walking wounded, or we need a cane to steady us because of the winds of
life. As we walk and journey with our
faith, each of us individually has hurts that we carry and that burden us and sometimes
even overwhelm us.
Personally,
I at one time needed a walker for my faith, because of what I had experienced
in my own personal and professional life.
I needed a spiritual walker to steady me and help me pray this petition
of the Lord’s Prayer. After using the
walker for a time, I moved to a cane to continue to steady me and help me
strengthen my muscles of faith and finally I again walked without any aid. But this is the struggle that we as
Christians undergo and experience in our daily lives and need support to walk
through.
This
is why I as your Pastor am here to walk with you, to journey with you and to be
the light of Christ for you. I have
personally been in the depths of despair, I have fallen in the pit, I have
experienced being separate from God. It
is not a good feeling and God wants all of us to pray this petition so we can
be free and live as a Child of God. You
may need the spiritual walker or crutches to hobble as you spiritually heal or
a cane to steady yourself. And the
Lord’s Prayer is not only this aid, but the way and means that we heal from
life as we experience it and are healed by it with our use of the Lord’s Prayer.
May
we as we pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, be reminded that
God’s will is fulfilled with our relying upon Him and using Him as our walker,
crutches and cane. And when we come and
partake of His precious Body and Blood as we do today, this meal will
strengthen us and enable us to not only be strengthened, but also healed as we
prepare for our entrance into heaven.
For these are the promises that have been fulfilled through Jesus
Christ, Who came, lived and died in order that all of mankind might be saved. Especially including all of us saints
gathered here at Emmanuel who need spiritual crutches, walkers and canes to
help us pray with surety “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. AMEN.
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