SERMON: THE LORD'S PRAYER: DOXOLOGY

 

I.  Introduction

      -- turn in Bibles to Matthew 6 -- this morning, I am going to be reading from the NKJV instead of the NIV

 

Matthew 6:9-13

King James Version

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

 

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

 

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

 

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

 

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

 

      -- most of us here are familiar with the WWJD movement -- a few years ago, there was a resurgence in the question, “What would Jesus do?”, and we saw WWJD bracelets and bumper stickers and t-shirts with that acronym showing up everywhere

      -- the question came from a book written in 1896 by Charles Sheldon called, “In His Steps” -- in this story, the members of a church in Kansas pledged to live their lives solely based on what Jesus would do in given situations by asking themselves the question, “What would Jesus do?” before doing anything -- the book was a resounding success and sparked the WWJD movement -- both at the turn of the 20th century and then again in our day

      -- but a lot of people are less familiar with the sequel to Sheldon’s book -- after the overwhelming success of “In His Steps,” Sheldon wrote the novel, “Jesus is here,” which tells the story of Jesus coming back to earth and physically appearing in the small town of Raymond, Kansas -- first to one person -- and then to a small group -- and then to crowds of people as He ministers to them and shares His message of hope and grace to the people of Sheldon’s day

      -- Sheldon was trying to get people to consider how they might live and react to Jesus being physically present in their midst in this modern age -- similar to how the Israelites had to respond to the very presence of God when Jesus came in the first century AD -- in other words, if Jesus was physically here with us today, how would we act? -- would we live our lives differently?

      -- Sheldon’s ultimate point was that Jesus is here -- even though we may not be able to see Him physically -- He is here with us -- He is present with us -- and we should recognize that by striving to live as He would want us to live and to offer Him all our praise and worship and glory each and every day

 

II.  The Doxology

      -- this morning, we are completing our series on the Lord’s Prayer by looking at the doxology at the end of verse 13 -- a doxology is a short hymn or exclamation of praise that we find commonly throughout the Bible or in other Christian writings or songs

      -- Paul includes quite a few doxologies in his epistles -- for example, in Philippians 4:20, Paul includes in his letter to the church at Philippi the phrase, “To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” -- and then he goes on to conclude his letter with a few more thoughts

      -- we find doxologies in the New and the Old Testament -- and they are quite common in the Psalms -- whenever you see a place in your Bible where the writer just stops and spontaneously praises God, that is a doxology -- and, just as another note, doxologies usually end with the word, “Amen,” so that’s another clue to you that you are seeing a doxology when you are reading through the Bible

      -- one doxology -- one song of praise -- that we are really familiar with is the song we sing together during the collection of the offerings in a lot of churches:

      -- "Praise God from whom all blessings flow -- praise Him all creatures here below -- praise Him above ye heavenly host -- praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost”

      -- so, a doxology is just a short song or exclamation of praise to God

 

      -- now, depending on the translation of the Bible you use, you may or may not find a doxology here at the end of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:13 -- you might have noticed that there is no doxology in the NIV translation that we have been using throughout this series -- and you won’t find it in most of the more recent translations, such as the NIV, the English Standard Version, the New Revised Standard Version, and the New American Standard Bible

      -- the reason why it is excluded in these more recent translations is usually explained in a footnote at the bottom of the page -- the NIV notes at the bottom of the page that the doxology appears only in some late manuscripts and is not found in the earliest and most reliable copies of the Gospel of Matthew that we have

 

      -- we do find the doxology in the KJV and NKJV, and that’s why I read from the NKJV this morning -- the reason it’s in these translations is because the scholars who developed the KJV translation in 1611 did not have as many source documents as we do now -- since 1611, we have discovered a lot more original manuscripts and early copies of the Bible because of archeology -- for instance, think about the Dead Sea Scrolls -- those were not discovered until 1947

      -- so, the scholars in 1611 just didn’t have these earlier manuscripts available to them and they used the best copies of the Bible that they had at that time to develop their translation -- we just have a lot more reliable and earlier copies of the Bible now than they had in 1611, so these get used when modern scholars translate the Bible

 

      --so, we know that the doxology that we are all so familiar with at the end of the Lord’s Prayer was added at a later time by believers or scribes -- they probably did so to add an ending to the prayer that was in line with Biblical teaching and theology

      -- but even though we recognize that these words were added later, we shouldn’t hesitate to use them when we pray the Lord’s prayer or when we use this prayer as a model for our own prayers

      -- remember that I pointed out in the start of this series that this is a model prayer that Jesus gave us -- He did not intend for us to pray it word for word every single time like we generally do

      -- as a model prayer, then, it is perfectly acceptable for us to modify it and to pray with greater fervency in those areas where we feel a particular need -- whether that is in seeking God's help for our daily sustenance or with a temptation in our life -- or whether it is merely a time we need to praise and thank God for who He is and what He has done in our lives

     

      -- the doxology that has been handed down through the centuries and that has been added to the King James version of the Bible is an excellent summary of praise and thanksgiving to our God

      -- when I opened this message, I shared with you the story of Jesus appearing on earth in modern times that Charles Sheldon gave us in his novel, “Jesus is Here” -- and I told you that Sheldon’s main point in that story was to get us to consider and remember that Jesus is really here with us at all times, even though we may not be able to see Him physically -- and that because we know Jesus is here, we need to live as He would want us to live and to offer Him our praise and honor and glory with our lives and with our lips

      -- every time we recite the doxology at the end of the Lord’s Prayer, that is what we are proclaiming -- when we recite the doxology and pray it together in our churches or in our quiet times with God, we are telling the world that Jesus is here on earth today and we are giving Him all our praise and honor and glory

 

III.  How is Jesus here?

      -- so, how does the doxology express our faith in the truth that Jesus is here on earth now? -- it does this by giving us three glimpses into Jesus' ministry on earth, both now and in the future

      -- listen to the doxology again from Matthew 6:13

 

Matthew 6:13b

King James Version

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

 

      A.  Thine is the Kingdom

      -- the first glimpse of Jesus' ministry on earth today is contained in the opening phrase of the doxology, "for thine is the kingdom" -- as we have learned in our study of the Lord's Prayer, the kingdom of God refers to both the heavenly kingdom where Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father and the spiritual kingdom of Christ present in the world today

      -- we all agree that the kingdom of God is present where ever Jesus is -- Jesus told us in Matthew 18:20 that whenever two or three believers came together in His name, that He was there with them -- that means that Jesus is here on earth today -- He is in this sanctuary with us this morning

      -- without a doubt, Jesus is in our midst -- we may not be able to see Him physically, but He is here with us right now -- and when we pray this prayer -- when we say, "for Thine is the Kingdom" -- we are testifying to the fact that Jesus and the kingdom of God are present on earth today -- and that all of us who believe in Him and trust in Him as Lord and Savior are members of this kingdom

      -- the Bible also points out that not only is Jesus present with us when the church gathers together, but God is present and living within each of His believers in the person of the Holy Spirit

      -- 1 John 4:15 says that if anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, then God lives in Him and he in God -- and 1 Corinthians 3:16 says, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"

      -- this truth is one of the unique things about the Christian faith -- when we pray, we are not praying to a distant God living in a heaven located somewhere in the cosmos -- we are praying to a living God who is with us and in us and in our midst and present in the world today

      -- how do I know that Jesus is here on earth today? -- because He lives in me and I can see His kingdom being made visible through the presence and the work of the church -- the body of Christ -- in the world today

      -- in the C.S. Lewis book, “The Dawn Treader,” -- one of the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series -- Queen Lucy is given the task of helping some people who have been enchanted and turned invisible become visible again -- so she goes into the room of the magician in the story and finds his spell book and says a spell that makes invisible things visible

      -- as soon as she says the spell, Aslan the lion, who is symbolic of the Lord Jesus, appears to her -- she cries out in joy and says, "I am so glad to see you here" and he replies, "I have been here all the time, but you have just made me visible"

      -- in the same way, the church of Christ -- the believers who gather in His name and who have the living presence of God within them -- make Jesus and His Kingdom visible to a watching world today

 

 

      B.  The Power of God

            -- the second glimpse of Jesus' ministry on earth is in the second part of the doxology -- it reads, "for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power"

      -- when the church of Christ makes Jesus visible to a watching world, what they see is the power of God made manifest through us

      -- I had a discussion with a coworker one time about karma and grace -- she said that she believed in karma and tried to live it out in her life -- you know, if you do good things, then good things will happen to you -- but if you do bad things, then bad things will happen -- now I know this is an oversimplification of karma, but this is what she said she was practicing in her life

      -- so, I countered back that I would rather trust in grace over karma any day -- I pointed out to her that karma will never work because we -- as humans born in sin -- can never be good enough -- but that grace works because it is the free gift of God and it doesn't matter how good we are -- we can't get more grace by being good or by doing good works -- grace was a gift from God, not depending on how good we are

      -- she said that grace was only for the future -- for after death -- for salvation -- and so I pointed out to her how the grace of God and the power of God working in our lives is demonstrated in the world every single day

 

      -- we know that Jesus is here on earth today because we can see the results of His presence and His power made manifest through His grace

      -- the world can't understand this, because they can't see Jesus -- they can't see the physical Jesus standing before them, so they don't believe He can be here on earth and they don't believe that He can be working today -- that’s why there’s been so much push back against Christians using the phrase, “You’re in our thoughts and prayers” -- the critics say that our prayers do nothing -- that we have to be physically doing something to make a difference in the world today -- their eyes are blinded to the truth that Jesus is here working and His power is made manifest in us and through us in response to our faith and our prayers

 

      -- it's kind of like the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus in John chapter 3 -- Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night and starts asking Him about spiritual things -- Jesus tries to help Nicodemus see past the material world and to the spiritual around him -- in verse 8, Jesus says, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.""

      -- what Jesus is trying to get Nicodemus to recognize is that the Spirit is always at work around us, even if we can't see Him -- Jesus tells Nicodemus that the Spirit is like the wind -- we can't see the wind -- but we know it's there, because we hear it's sound and we see its effects

      -- just look at the images from Fort Meyers -- we couldn’t see the winds associated with Hurricane Ian, but we could sure see its effects through the damage it wrought -- nobody doubts that there was wind associated with Hurricane Ian because we can see the results

      -- in the same way, even though we can't physically see Jesus in the world today, we know He is here because we can see the effects of His power on the world around us in the form of changed hearts and changed lives

      -- we’re seeing it right now in Florida and South Carolina as God’s grace and power are being made manifest through His church to meet the needs of those affected by the hurricane -- humans cannot respond in the same way in their own strength -- while we can do some good -- we can touch others in some way -- we cannot touch lives and change things the way God can in response to the prayers and the actions of His church

      -- right now, we are seeing Christians pouring out their hearts and their lives -- spiritually, financially, physically -- to reach out and take care of their brothers and sisters who are hurting as a result of this natural disaster

      -- and this same story -- this same outpouring of God's power and grace -- occurs every single moment of every single day all around this world -- maybe not as visible as the outpouring of God's power has been in the wake of Ian -- but present none-the-less

      -- we know that Jesus is here on earth today because we can see His fingerprints in the lives that He touches each and every day

 

      C.  The Glory of God

      -- the final glimpse of Jesus' ministry on earth is at the end of the doxology -- it reads, "for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory"

      -- when I think about the glory of God as it relates to the ministry of Christ -- I am immediately led to the moment when -- as the hymn writer says in "It is Well with My Soul" -- "my faith becomes sight"

      -- when all that I have hoped for and longed for and trusted in occurs -- when Christ comes back to earth and restores all of creation and reigns from the City of Jerusalem -- when the old earth and the old heavens have passed away and we see the new earth and the new heavens -- when God is with us and we no longer need the sun because His light illuminates the earth and the heavens -- that is the picture of the glory of Christ made manifest for all eternity

 

      -- when I think of the glory of Christ, I am immediately led to the passages on the second coming of Christ from 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and Revelation 21:1-5 -- listen as I read these passages:  

 

1 Thes 4: 16-18:  "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  -- After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. -- Therefore encourage each other with these words."

 

Rev. 21:1-5:  "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. -- I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. -- And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "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." --  He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.""

 

III.  Closing

      -- when we pray the doxology in the Lord's prayer -- when we proclaim, "for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory" -- this is what we are saying -- we are saying that Jesus is here -- that His Kingdom and Power and Glory are present on earth today -- and we give Him all our praise and worship for who He is and what He has done and is doing in our midst

 

      -- Paul tells us in Romans 8 that all of creation has been groaning as it waits for its restoration at the second coming of Christ -- I think that is true for all of us -- whether Christian or not -- we all long for a better place -- for a place where there will be no more death or mourning -- crying or pain -- war or violence -- a place where things are good and where people are good and where life is what God intended it should be -- abundant and full because of His presence and His power

      -- even though the world may deny the presence of Christ today -- even though the world may deny that Christ is coming again to set up His kingdom and to restore creation -- secretly, in their heart of hearts, the world hopes that it will come to pass

      -- that is why the closing of this prayer is so important -- not only to us but to the world as well -- you see, when we pray this prayer -- when we cry out to God, "for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory" -- we are telling a world without hope that there is hope -- we are telling a world awash in sin and evil that there is a better way -- we are telling a world that there is life available through our Redeemer and our Savior and our God

      -- when we pray this prayer and when we allow God to work through us and in us -- then the world will come to see the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory of God -- their lives and their hearts will be changed forever and they will be able to exclaim with us, "Jesus is on earth today!"

 

      -- as I close, I invite you to join with me in prayer for the world around us -- to pray that they might see God's presence through us as we minister to them in Christ's name -- as we make His kingdom and His power manifest in this world today

      -- maybe God is calling you this morning to make a commitment to serve Him more in the world -- to carry His light and His truth to a people seeking salvation -- to meet their physical and spiritual needs

      -- maybe He put on your heart someone you need to talk to about God -- or maybe He is calling you to become involved in missions or to become more involved in the ministry of this church

      -- maybe He’s calling you to go down to Florida with a missions team and to help the people hurting after the hurricane -- maybe He’s calling you to donate your resources or your money to help organizations already there on the ground

      -- whatever it is, if you have heard God speak to you this morning, please do not turn away from His call

      -- but let this doxology -- let your praise of God be on your lips -- and let your life be a song of praise to the God who loves us and heals us and saves us

      -- always remember that Jesus is here -- He is with us -- He is in us -- and we are His people -- the Kingdom of God on earth today

      -- let us pray