God as King

So, today the sermon was given by Dr. Richard Pratt. He was one of Mark Upton's instructors at seminary. This was one of the most convicting messages I've heard in a long time. I cried as I drove home because I felt so raw and exposed.

Dr. Pratt taught on the portion of Matthew 6 that we commonly know as The Lord's Prayer. It's where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. Dr. Pratt drove home the point that we tend to focus on the latter part of the prayer, "Give US our daily bread....forgive US.....deliver US." The part we don't really focus on is the first verses which are "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

Dr. Pratt suggested that the way Evangelical Christians view God is skewed quite a bit. He is our Royal King. That's who this prayer should be directed to -- to a Royal King. It's a concept we aren't familiar with -- this notion of being under a King's rule. He said, "Kings are inconvenient." When you live under a king's rule, you don't live for yourself. What the king says, goes. He is the authority. That's just the way it goes.

The thing that really got me (and many things got to me this morning) was when Dr. Pratt said that if your faith is covenient, that if your Christianity just fits perfectly into your life, that God is probably not King of your life. Ouch. Double ouch. He got me. I am afraid that I've become way too comfortable being a Christian here on this earth.

He also suggested that the Lord's prayer also challenges us to change how we view this earth. Heaven is the standard; earth is the goal. If we are to ask that the Lord's will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, that should radically change how we live here. What kind of a legacy do we want to leave as Christians? Do we simply want to make good money, sustain a good job, be kind to others, etc.? Or do we want God's will to be done in our lives and to impact others this side of Heaven? We should do what He says now. We aren't living to escape earth to go float on a cloud and play a harp all day FOREVER. We are to carry the truth of the gospel to others NOW.

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Then all these things shall be added unto you.