Text: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Theme: Your Wi= ll Be Done

Preacher: Rolfe Westendorf, Siloah Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin<= /p>

Date: Septembe= r 17, 2006

&= nbsp; There are seven requests, or petitions, in the Lord’s Prayer. Today we focus on the Third Petiti= on: “Your will be done on earth as in heaven.”

&= nbsp; At first glace it may seem superfluous to ask for God’s will to be done. After all, God is God. He can do anything. We may want a lot of things that we can’t do, that we can’t have.&= nbsp; But that’s not a problem for God. He can do anything he wants, and he does. So why pray for his wil= l to be done?

&= nbsp; I remember hearing a very discouraged older pastor saying, “If God has = his mind made up, all the prayers in the world can’t change it.” That’s not what he taught. <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> That’s not what he believed.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> But in his moment of despair he was afraid to lay hold of the hope that prayer might give. He could not stand to be disappoin= ted again. He was convinced that = God had already made up his mind, and prayer could not change that.<= /span>

&= nbsp; In a purely objective sense, God does have his mind made up. He knows the future as well as the past. He knows what he is goi= ng to do today, tomorrow and from now until Jesus returns. We cannot change his mind.

&= nbsp; But that doesn’t make any difference as far as we are concerned, because = we don’t know God’s plans. We know that he will preserve his church until the end of time. We know that he will bring all of = the elect to heaven. But we don&#= 8217;t know when he will send the next shower upon our parched fields. He does, but we don’t. It may be his plan to send the rai= n at 5 o’clock tomorrow afternoon in answer our prayers. But if we don’t pray for that rain, he will have no prayers to answer.&n= bsp; He knows in advance whether we will pray or not. If there are no prayers, his plan = is to let the dry spell turn into devastating drought. But we don’t know that this = is God’s plan. So from our= point of view, we can change God’s mind.&n= bsp; In fact, God invites us to pray like that, as if we could persuade h= im to say “yes,” when he had already decided to say “no.R= 21;

&= nbsp; If we say that we can’t change God’s mind, we are also ignoring his love for us. “As a father has compassion = on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” Again that sounds like God wants u= s to change his mind. Because of h= is love for us, he is touched by our troubles and will act to relieve them in response to our prayers. When= we pray, “Your will be done,” we are praying to a God who wants wh= at is best for us, who wants our salvation.

&= nbsp; We see the ultimate example of this in Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane. Jesus was facing agony beyond anyt= hing we can imagine. His human bod= y and spirit dreaded the suffering he would have to endure. “My Father, if it is possibl= e, may this cup be taken from me. Ye= t not as I will, but as you will.”

&= nbsp; Jesus did not want to go through the agony that lay ahead of him. But there was something he wanted = even more than he wanted to avoid the suffering.. He wanted his Father’s will = to be done. He trusted his Father&#= 8217;s will. He knew better than any= one his Father’s intentions. He knew that God had sent him into the world because God loved the world, so m= uch that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. But in order to earn the forgiveness that leads to everlasting life, Jesus would have to suffer and die to pay for the sins of the world. As much as he wanted to avoid the = cross, he wanted even more the accomplishment of his Father’s will. So he prayed, “Your will be done.”

&= nbsp; And that is the heart of this petition. We cannot know God’s plans for our daily lives, whether for success or failure, health or sickness, life or death. But we can know, we do know God= 217;s plan for our eternal future. = God wants us to live with him in heaven. And that is also what we want more than anything else. So we pray, “Your will be done.”

&= nbsp; That is the heart of the prayer, but it is not the end of the prayer For we also pray that God’s = will should be done “on earth is it is in heaven.” It is all too obvious that o= ften God’s will is not done on earth.&nbs= p; Sin is contrary to God’s will. Doubt and unbelief are contrary to God’s will. Discriminat= ion and persecution are contrary to God’s will. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, and yet people die in unbel= ief by the thousands every day. Obviously God’s will is not being done on earth as it is in heaven. But why?

&= nbsp; Satan opposes God’s will all the power at his disposal, and he gets a lot of help from the unbelieving world which directly attacks the Christian Church or distracts believers f= rom the source of their salvation. Finally the sinful nature in all of us is more than willing to cooperate with Satan whenever it is convenient. The devil, the world and the flesh are powerful allies in opposing God’s will, especially when it comes to suppressing the preaching of the Gospel.<= o:p>

&= nbsp; But isn’t God stronger than the devil?&n= bsp; The logical question then is, “Why doesn’t God destroy t= he devil so that his will can be done on earth just as it is in heaven?”=

&= nbsp; That logical question has been asked over and over again, but the answers are on= ly partially successful. As the = story of Job demonstrates, God’s power will never let the devil cause one of his chosen ones to be lost. B= ut then, why did God let the devil oppress Job in the first place?<= /span>

&= nbsp; The honest answer is that we don’t know.= Maybe we will understand it when we get to heaven. Maybe it won’t matter then a= ny more. In the meantime t= he fact is that Satan, the world and our sinful flesh regularly prevent God’s will from being done, and that causes serious problems for God’s children on earth. So Jesus teaches us to pray that God would suppress these evil forces so that = they do not prevent the salvation of lost souls.

&= nbsp; And we are blessed when God answers our prayer. As God suppresses the evil in the = world, we enjoy greater peace and harmony in our family, our church and community. But we are not only praying for protection from the forces of evil around us. There is also evil within us, whic= h also prevents God’s will from being done, by us.

&= nbsp; In his Morning Prayer Martin Luther prays that God would keep him from sin and every evil, that all his doings and life may please God, in other words that God’s will may also be done in the things that I think and do and say. And this is the heart of= a Christian’s life of faith. We appreciate peace and prosperity, success and good health, but our greatest = joy lies in pleasing God with our behavior, not to earn God’s favor, but = to respond to God’s favor. And even if pleasing God costs us friends and money, we are most satisfied if we know that God’s will is being done, in us and through us.

&= nbsp; In the closing chapter of his second letter to the Thessalonians, St Paul appl= ies the thoughts of the Third Petition. He writes, “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the message of the Lord may s= pread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.”

&= nbsp; When Paul came to Thessalonica, God’s will was done. The people there heard Paul’s message and honored it. By the power of the Holy Spirit, they gave their attention to Paul’s testimo= ny about a man who had risen from the dead.&n= bsp; They learned that Jesus had conquered death for them, and they recei= ved that message in joyful faith. They had experienced the blessing of God’s will in action, and they rejoic= ed in the knowledge of their salvation. Now Paul asks them to pray that God’s will might be done as he traveled to share the message of the Lord in other communities. =

&= nbsp; Furthermore Paul asked them to “pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.”

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&= nbsp; In Thessalonica Paul had been surrounded and supported by people who had belie= ved the message. But now he was traveling to places where there would be a hostile response to his preaching. The Acts of the Ap= ostles tell how Paul was opposed and physically attacked in many different places, sometimes by Jews who wanted to be saved by keeping Old Testament laws, sometimes by heathen who wanted to continue worshiping their heathen gods a= nd goddesses. =

&= nbsp; Because of these wicked and evil men, God’s will was not being done on earth = as it is in heaven. So Pau= l asks the Thessalonians to pray that God would deliver him from the men who were trying to silence the preaching of the Gospel.

&= nbsp; And Paul was confident that this prayer would be heard. He writes, “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”<= o:p>

&= nbsp; There is every reason to be confident when we pray that God’s will be done. After all, God is God.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He will accomplish his will, in sp= ite of the evil one who coordinates the attacks of wicked and evil men, not only t= hose who oppose Paul’s ministry, but also those who will try to disturb the faith of the Thessalonians. &nb= sp; When we pray that God’s will be done, we can be confident that= God will answer those prayers.

&= nbsp; Paul was confident in God’s response to this prayer. He was also confident that the bel= ievers in Thessalonica would include him in their prayers and follow the teaching = he had given them, for that was also the will of God. He writes, “We have confiden= ce in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things that we command.”

&= nbsp; Paul has asked the Thessalonians to pray that God’s will be done through him. He in turn prays that God’s will may be done for his fellow believers. “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” For as t= heir faith in God’s love would grow and increase, they would persevere in = the faith that Christ has paid for their sins.=

&= nbsp; “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” So much to think about as we pray = this petition of the Lord’s prayer. How much can we remember during the brief moment when we say those words, especially when we have six other petitions to think about? To be honest about it, it would ta= ke all day to pray the Lord’s Prayer if we took the time to think about all = it contains. <= /p>

&= nbsp; But then, as our text demonstrates, we are not limited to the time we spend pra= ying the Lord’s Prayer. We c= an take this one petition and pray it as slowly and thoroughly as we desire, remembering to apply it as Paul did in his letter to the Thessalonians, remembering our pastors and teachers, our professors and missionaries, who = are working to spread the message of salvation in spite of the opposition of wi= cked and evil men.

&= nbsp; In fact, let’s do that right now:

Dear Father in heaven,

We ask for you= r protection for those who are carrying the message of salvation to places where is can = be dangerous to be a Christian, for the leaders of house churches in China, for those who are sharing their faith in countries where radical Muslims are in power, for Christian leaders in nations that are torn apart by civil war. Grant them protection from wicked = and evil men who would silence the preaching of salvation through Jesus Christ.=

We also ask yo= ur blessing upon those whose preaching is hindered by carelessness and letharg= y, in themselves and in their congregation.

Let your will = be done, O Lord, that the Gospel may be heard and believed by those who have n= ot yet heard it. And let your wi= ll also be done in our hearts and lives, that all our doings and life may plea= se you and bring blessings to our families, our church and community. In Jesus’ name we ask it, in= whose name we join in praying all seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.

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