Title: The Doxology
Bible Book: Matthew 6 : 5-15
Author: Denis Lyle
Subject: Lord's Prayer, The; Prayer, The Lord's; Doxology
Objective:
Introduction
If you were to go to modern Jerusalem today, just outside the Old City up on the Mount of Olives, you would see a little church called the Pater Nostra Church. It is supposedly built on the traditional site where our Lord taught the disciples this prayer. When you go inside this building, and into the cloister you will find this Pattern Prayer in nearly every language, on tiles all around the walls. People of all colours, from all cultures, and literally from every country in the world, seek to find this pattern prayer in their own language, and then they stand there reverently mouthing these words in their own tongue. To think that the Lord Jesus taught this prayer to a group of fishermen, and that today, over 2,000 years later people all around the world, pray this model prayer.
Did you know that you can pray this prayer in less than thirty seconds? It is very simple, and it contains the framework for all prayer. The Lord Jesus is setting down an example, a model, and a skeleton on which to model our prayers. This Pattern Prayer consists of two parts. The first three petitions relate to God and His Glory. Notice the three fold occurrence of the word “Thy,” “Thy name, Thy kingdom, Thy will.” You see, this prayer begins by giving God His proper place. The last three petitions relate to Man and His Need. These three short petitions take life past, present, and future and lay it before God.
Now did you notice the Pattern Prayer ends as it began?
We began with “Hallowed by Thy name,” and we end with “Thine is the glory.” We began with “Thy kingdom come,” and we end with, “Thine is the kingdom.” We began with “Thy will be done,” and we end with “Thine is the power.” We began with “in earth as it is in heaven,” and we end with “forever.” You see, the last chord of this Pattern Prayer, brings us to the very mountain peak of praise and focuses our hearts and minds on the greatness and majesty of God. If we fail to end there, we will be left with more a sense of our problems, than with a hope of their solution. To prevent us from getting stuck, the Lord Jesus taught us the right place to begin, honouring the name of God, and the proper way to end, praising God for His sovereignty and glory. Now as we look at this doxology this …. I want you to notice some things that flow from it, which are all about the Lord.
I. AN AFFIRMATION OF GOD’S PRAISE
“For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory for ever Amen.” (6:13) This prayer has been a petition all the way through, but when it comes to this point, it is an affirmation of praise. This is what is termed a doxology. A doxology is a word of praise to God. It is praise uttered that bursts from a soul that has caught sight of the greatness, goodness, and grace of God. Now it’s significant that this prayer ends this way. You see, the Lord Jesus has been teaching us how to pray, and what to say in prayer. He has covered the great areas that we need to address when we come into the presence of God. He started by making us think of the greatness of our Father in heaven. He then led us step by step through those areas that concern us as we speak to God in prayer. Now Christ concludes by bringing us back to the greatness of our Father, this time in a mighty expression of praise. “For Thine …. Amen.” Now this doxology,
A. REFLECTS THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS:
It echoes the great burden that the prayer warriors of the Bible had.
When David prayed he cried, “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in the heaven and the earth is thine, thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.” (1 Chron 29:11)
When Sennacherib and his army seemed to have Jerusalem at their mercy “Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth.” (2 Kings 19:15)
Paul exclaimed, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen.” (1 Tim 1:17)
Jude climaxed his brief letter by ascribing all honour to the Lord: “To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” (Jude 25)
So the doxology of this prayer echoes the sentiments expressed in some of the greatest prayers in all of the Bible. My …. would it not revolutionize our prayer lives if we never left the secret place until we were so completely overwhelmed by the thought of God’s greatness that we uttered this doxology with sincerity?
B. DIRECTS THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS:
For every Christian should have a “gratitude attitude.” and this prayer ends like that. Does your prayer life seem so useless and powerless? Do you need to learn to praise God? For the Bible says that God inhabits the praises of His people. (Ps 22:3) God is so very near when we praise Him. Billy Sunday was right when he said, “that we need to jerk some of the groans out of prayers and shove in a few hallelujahs.” Have you ever noticed that the people who seem to have the most satisfaction in life are those who praise the Lord? The malcontents, the misfits, and the cranks seem to be those who do the least by way of praise. Did you notice how this Pattern Prayer begins?
“Our Father,” how does it end? “Thine is the kingdom.” Our Father is a King. Just think about that. Our Father is a king. I have a Father who will hear me and a King who can answer me. I have the Sympathy of a Father and the Sovereignty of a King attuned to my prayer. Why shouldn’t I offer the Lord praise? (1)
II. AN AFFIRMATION OF GOD’S PRE-EMINENCE
“For thine is the kingdom,” (6:13) That means,
A. GOD IS CONTROLLING:
God is sovereign. He holds complete power. He is over and above this world. Was this not what Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon had to discover? When in his pride and arrogance he lifted himself above every authority, God took away his mind and for seven years forced him to eat hay like an ox. At the end of time God had mercy on the king and restored to him not only his sanity but his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar responded by saying, “And I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou?” (Daniel 4:34-35) Things may look as if they are spiraling out of control but I want to assure you, that the Lord has the situation well in hand. My …. God is still on the throne. Do you know
something? When this prayer was taught the Caesar in Rome literally ruled the world. The Roman Empire stretched from the British Isles, all the way across the Mediterranean, and as far away as India. This was a time when Caesar was ruling the world, with all of his royalty, his rings and his robes. This was a man who with the snapping of his fingers could change a person’s life. The signing of his name could literally change the course of history. At the time he was reigning, in a little town called Bethlehem, in a stable a man was born. Those two kingdoms paralleled, Caesar’s and Christ’s, the palace and the stable. One day they came into open conflict, and the stable emerged victorious. So these early Christians not looking to Caesar but looking to God prayed, “Thine O Lord is the kingdom.” My …. don’t let a lost cynical world tell you that God is out of business. God is still in control, God is still running the show, God is still on the throne. “For thine is the kingdom,” (a) and,
B. CHRIST IS COMING:
For this is what we pray for when we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” it’s a prayer for Christ to reign. God wants to give the kingdoms of this world to His Son. Scattered throughout all the Bible are reminders that Jesus Christ is King.
He is King of Heaven: (Daniel 4:37)
He is King of the Jews: (Matt 2:2)
He is King of Israel: (Jn 1:49)
He is King of the Ages: (1 Tim 1:17)
He is King of Glory: (Ps 24:7)
He is King of the Saints: (Rev 15:3)
He is King of Kings: (1 Tim 6:15)
He is Prince of the Kings of the Earth: (Rev 1:5)
My …. the situation may look chaotic now, but one of these days the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign for ever and ever. (Rev 11:15) Satan and his hosts will trouble us no more, for they will be cast for into eternal fire. “Thine is the kingdom,” Christ is coming, but are you ready? Does He rule and reign in your heart? Is every decision in your life taken in this light? What should I do to please the Lord? What should I do to obey the Lord? What should I do to glorify the Lord? After all the Bible says, “Ye are not your own.” (1 Cor 6:19) Do you know what the word “pre-eminence,” means? Number one. Do you give the Lord a place in your life? Do you give the Savior Prominence in your life? Or do you give Christ Pre-eminence in your life? Is He number one? (1) (2)
III. AN AFFIRMATION OF GOD’S POWER
For do you notice how this doxology continues? “For thine is the kingdom and the power ….,” (6:13) The Psalmist says, “God hath spoken once twice, twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God.” (62:11)
A. HIS POWER IS ENORMOUS:
We do not serve some anemic, weak God. We serve a God of power and ability. He can do anything He pleases because He holds all power. He challenged Abraham and Sarah, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
(Gen 18:14) He issued the same challenge to Jeremiah the prophet, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh, is there any thing too hard for me?” (Jer 32:17) Jeremiah had already confessed the answer, and it is one that everyone who knows what it is to pray with devotion and submission gladly endorses, “Ah, Lord God ! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” (Jer 32:17) My …. nothing is too difficult for God. Do you recall that when Abraham was an old man and his reproductive powers were gone? God came to him and said, “a father of many nations have I made thee.” (Gen 17:5) Initially, Abraham laughed at the idea, he said, “Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? And shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear?” (Gen 17:17) But you know something. Abraham took God at His word. Paul says, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.” (Rom 4:20) My …. out of a promise which seemed so impossible came the great nation of the Jewish people. You see, when such a promise is backed up with infinite power, it’s a good idea to believe the Promise Giver. God is powerful beyond our imaginations. He is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.” (Eph 3:20) Is this not what gives us confidence in prayer? (a) Therefore,
B. OUR PLEA IS CONTINUOUS:
Thou art coming to a King
Large petitions with thee bring
For His grace and power are such
That none can ever to ask too much
Have you asked God for some pretty big things? Well, the throne in heaven is not empty. The Lord is there, seated and in control. He can do whatever He determines to do. He said a word and the worlds were made. He spoke and the moon and the stars were flung into space. is an awesome almighty God. And my prayer links me to Him. Some of us have loved ones for whom we have been praying and we’ve wondered if it’s possible for God to save them. Is it? Absolutely. Listen, there is no promise to hard for God to fulfill, no problem to hard for God to solve, no prayer to hard for God to answer, and no person to hard for God to save. When you pray, do you remember His limitless power? When you supplicate, do you recall His awesome power? “For Thine is the kingdom and the power ….,” (1) (2) (3)
IV. AN AFFIRMATION OF GOD’S PURPOSE
For the Lord Jesus says, “Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory ….,” What’s is God’s ultimate purpose? The glory of His name. The Lord Jesus prayed,
“Father, glorify Thy name.” (Jn 12:28) My …. we are never more like Christ than when we pray for God to be glorified. And we are never more sure of the Father’s answer, for as soon as our Savior had offered that prayer, “then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The primary word for glory in the New Testament is doxa, from which we get our word “doxology.” The word is usually translated “glory,” and occasionally as “splendor,” “honor,” “brilliance,” or “majesty.” The word “glory,” occurs almost 400 times in the Bible. Glory is an outward manifestation of inward reality and when the Bible speaks of the glory of God is means the essential presence of God in all of His splendour as He reveals Himself to men. Wherever God is, there is glory. Whatever God does is glorious. Without God there could be no glory, without glory there could be no God. And this reminds us of our duty to give the glory of God to the God of glory. The story is told of a certain woodpecker who flew to the top of a high pine tree and gave three hard pecks on the side of the tree. About that time, a bolt of lightening struck the tree leaving on the ground, a heap of splinters. The woodpecker flew, in sheer terror, to a nearby tree, and in amazement looked at what had taken place. There it hung, expecting more to follow, but as all remained quiet and still, the woodpecker began to chuckle to himself saying, “Well, well, who would have imagined that just three pecks of my beak could have such power as to bring that tree to the ground.” My …. whenever you and I, take glory to ourselves which belongs only to the Lord, we are not as foolish as that woodpecker, but we are committing sin for the Lord says, “I am the Lord, that is my name and my glory will I not give to another.” (Is 42:8)
“Lord, I won’t take the credit for any blessing, but I will; acknowledge Thee as the source of every benefit.” Is this how you pray? If your Sunday School class, or Good News Club, or Youth Fellowship, or ministry does well, do you recognize the power and the glory is all the Lord’s? While we can rejoice that we can bring the smallest of our concerns to our Father, lets never forget the purpose of our being, which is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. (Rev 4:10-11) Now what kind of praying glorifies His name? Praying for what really matters. Christ teaches this lesson by how he structures this prayer. More attention is to be given to spiritual matters than to temporal needs. Do you know the problem with church prayer meetings? The almost total concentration on matters of health. I often think after coming away from prayers meetings of different churches, “that church does not need a pastor, they need a Doctor.” Now the apostles had physical needs. Every day they stood in danger of losing their lives. They had material needs. They were short of money and lacked the necessities of life. No doubt they prayed about these issues, but they did not make them the chief burden of their praying. Take Paul’s prayers for an example. What kind of praying glorifies the Lord? Praying for,
A. THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL:
This what we Paul prayed for and he invited others to do the same. He says, “Pray for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel.” (Eph 6:19) He asked the Thessalonians to join in this prayer effort for the spread of the gospel, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.” (2 Thes 3:1) Paul was asking them to pray that God’s Word might be run and be glorified. Is this how you pray? Do you have a passion for spreading the gospel? Do you believe that it can happen only as the result of prevailing prayer?
B. THE SALVATION OF THE LOST:
Paul prayed for souls to be saved and so should we. What a burden this man had for the lost. Hear him as he cries,
“For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
(Rom 9:3) And that burden found expression in prayer.
“Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” (Rom 10:1) Do you have a real passion for souls? Does that burden express itself in believing prayer?
C. THE STABILITY OF THE BELIEVER:
Is this not what Paul prayed for? The establishment of the people of God. To the believers at Ephesus Paul writes,
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, …. that He would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man ….” (Eph 3:14) Do you ever say to another Christian, “I will pray for you, “? But do you engage in this type of praying? Do you pray for their stability, growth, development, understanding of the
Word of God? This is the type of praying that glorifies the Lord, and that is the reason for our existence that God might be glorified. (Rev 4:10-11) (1) (2) (3) (4)
V. AN AFFIRMATION OF GOD’S PERMANENCE
For Christ says, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever Amen.” Do you know what those two words tell us? They tell us that God is eternal. They bring us face to face with eternity and with the God of eternity. Do you recognize that there is an eternity? And that you will spend eternity in heaven or hell? The words chiseled on the gravestone of a man who wanted his death to carry a solemn message to the living is one you need to hear.
Consider man as you pass by
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, soon you will be
Consider, man, eternity
“For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever,” You see, whatever else changes around us, we have this assurance that God is eternal and does not change.
A. HIS PERSON IS UNCHANGING:
He says, “I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Mal 3:6) My …. we live in a changing world, but thank God we have an unchanging Lord, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today and for ever.” (Heb 13:7-8) (a)
B. HIS PRESENCE IS UNCHANGING:
He is Immanuel “God with us,” moreover He has given us His pledged word that He will never remove His presence from us. “He hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Heb 13:5)
The storm may roar without me
My heart may low be laid
But God is round about me
And can I be dismayed
“For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever Amen.” (6:13) What does “Amen,” mean? It means “So be it,” or “let it be true,” or “Truly, truly.”“Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Yes ! Truly ! Truly ! Verily, Verily ! Let it be so ! Amen and Amen.” In other words, “So be it, its going to be just like you say it will be Lord.” In World War 2 there was a notorious German prison camp in which a lot of our allied soldiers were imprisoned. One day a murmur began to spread through the camp because they had a radio hidden in one of the huts, and one of the men had heard that the D day invasion had taken place. He knew that when he heard that that it meant a great armada was moving across France to liberate the world. The whisper spread throughout the camp, “D-Day, D-Day, we’ll soon be free.” The word got to the Scottish chaplain, and speaking in a strong accent, which he knew could not be understood even by the Germans who knew English, he shouted,
“Victory is come ! Victory is come !”
So that every man in that prison camp could hear it. They knew that though they had not yet been freed, that soon they would be delivered. When Christ taught us to pray this prayer, He was telling us. “I won the victory at Calvary. The war is over. Sure, the battles may come, but My kingdom is coming, My power is coming and My glory is coming.” And who cannot say “Amen,” to that?
