Sermon
On Earth As It Is In Heaven
May 22-23, 1999
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'd like for you to take your Bible and join with me. We're studying together the Sermon on the Mount. The subject is prayer, and Jesus has told us that we shouldn't be like the hypocrites, we shouldn't repeat words, and He has said that our heavenly Father knows what we have need of even before we ask Him. And then in verse 9 of chapter 6 of Matthew He says, "In this manner. This is the way you pray. Now, in coming to the Lord's Prayer, or we call it the disciple's prayer because it's the prayer He taught us to pray, we've decided that because we've said it from our childhood days up, probably a thousand times, yet probably never have taken time to really in-depth to study what the Lord's Prayer really says. 

We decided some weeks ago that we'd take the Lord's Prayer phrase by phrase. One Sunday we talked about the phrase, Our Father, and we talked about this marvelous relationship that allows us to call God almighty our heavenly Father through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. What a glorious, blessed relationship. The next Sunday we talked about, which art in heaven, and we talked about the mightiness and the greatness, and the majesty, and the glory of God. And we came to the conclusion that He's more than the man upstairs, He's almighty God. 

And then we took the phrase, Hallowed be Thy name, and learned that the word hallowed means to lift up, to bring glory to, to bring honor to. And thus, then we pray, hallowed be Thy name, we're saying God, may it be that in my life I lift you up. May people think more of You because of me as they watch my life knowing that I love You. Hallowed be Thy name. Then we took the phrase, Thy kingdom come, and we made this observation that the subject of the kingdom is really the total subject of the Bible, that it's referenced throughout the Old Testament, and in the 3 gospels alone, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke it's referenced over 130 times. From the lips of Jesus He talked about the kingdom over 91 times, and thus, we came to the conclusion if Jesus felt it so important to talk about the kingdom that much, it was needful for us to understand what His kingdom is. 

We came to the conclusion you can't measure it and you can't see it. Jesus said it doesn't come with observation. My kingdom is within you. Where Christ reigns that's where His kingdom is. Jesus came to change the human heart and make that His throne room. So if you're a Christian today, His kingdom reigns within you because He's king. Then last Lord's Day we took that phrase, Your will be done. And we talked about this whole issue of God's will versus our will. In Isaiah 55 it says that God's thoughts are different than our thoughts. His ways are different than our way, and thus the hardcore of real prayer is the wrestling of my ways, and my desires, and bringing them into harmony with God's ways and God's thoughts, and God's will. And that's where we anguish in prayer. We want it our way, but when we pray, Thy will be done, we're praying for God's supreme will to be accomplished in our lives. 

You remember, we went to the garden with Jesus and we listened as He wrestled with this issue, because as He prayed He would say, Father not My will, but Thine be done. And that in that wrestling there came the agony and there came the loneliness that often is associated with intense prayer. And then we came to the conclusion that when we pray, Thy will be done, there are two areas, usually two steps, that we take. The first one is submission, and the next one is surrender. Now submission means that I will bow to the will of another even though I may not change my own opinion. And many times in our prayer we will say, God, this is the way I want it, this is the way I desired it, but if this is the way You're going to have it, I'll bow to Your authority. 

And it's much like the little boy, Johnny, who stood up in the classroom and the teacher said, sit down Johnny. And he just stood there. She said the second time, Johnny, sit down. And he stood there. And she said, now Johnny, for the last time I'm telling you to sit down. He sat down then he raised his hand, and he said, Teacher, I want you to know that I'm sitting down on the outside, but I'm standing up on the inside. You see, he's submitting, but he's not surrendering. And oft times, when we come to God in prayer, we want it our way. We tell Him how we want Him to answer our prayer. And we may move to submitting to His authority and allowing Him to do it His way, still feeling I'm not going to surrender my opinion on this matter. 

And remember we concluded our message last Lord's Day that it's only when we surrender to the will of God in prayer, that peace really comes to the heart. You will wrestle. Your life will be a difficult hassle if we go on insisting that God's going to do it our way, He must do it our way. And life will never be comfortable, and the Christian experience will never be joyous. When we say, God, this is my need but You do it in Your perfect will and in Your perfect timing. Now, when we talk about this subject of the will of God. I thought about it this week, I said, God, if I'm going to pray, Your will be done, then I must have some understanding of what the Bible has to say about Your will, because I can't pray for something I don't know what I'm praying about. And wouldn't it be true if I said to you today, now you prayed this prayer all of your life, if someone asks you when you say, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, would it be possible for us to explain that? So what I did this week, I went into the pages of theology and I started a search to find out as much as I could about what the Bible says about the will of God.

Again, if I'm going to pray, Thy will be done, I should know what I'm praying about. So here's what we found out. First of all, I noted that when the word will, or when the subject of the will of God is mentioned in the Scriptures, it has different definitions in different connotations. It just doesn't have one definition. In fact, in the New Testament when the term will is used, it frequently indicates God's providential plan which is predetermined and inflexible. In other words, it's something that God has decreed. It's something that effects His total administration of the universe, of time and history, and eternity and all that goes with it. There are things that God has decreed that man will never change and there is no force on earth that can change it. It's inflexible. 

Listen to Luke as he describes in Acts, he says, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and the foreknowledge of God, you crucified. What he is saying, that God had determined in the ages past that the day of Calvary would come, that He'd be crucified and that it would take place, and nothing that man could do in history would change that. That was the determined, preset will of God that man would have a savior and that savior would be none other than Jesus Christ who would die on a cross, and there's nothing that changed the redemptive plan of God. There is only one way to God, and that's through Jesus Christ. There is only one door. There is no other name given among men whereby we can be saved. That is the determined will of God.

Now when you dig a little deeper into the pages of theology you find that the theologians call that will the decretive will of God. It's spelled d-e-c-r-e-t-I-v-e, the decretive will of God. Other theologians will say, no, it's God's sovereign will. So the idea of sovereignty and what the theologian is really saying it there is the determined plan of God that's part of His nature, part of His plan, that He decrees that nothing ever changes. Now, within that decretive plan comes the secret things of God. Let me explain. I don't know why God in His total plan for mankind, why he ever included the whole situation of evil and the devil? Where did that all come from? And oft times the great theological debates have to do with the decretive will of God. They wrestle in areas that we'll never be able to plummet the mind of God. 

It's the same way God has ordained that this world is going to come to an end, and He's going to bring it to an end in a certain way, and He's left much of that description in the symbolic as He's given us the book of Revelation, and much of it is secret. And yet, isn't it amazing that so much of our time is spent trying to find out the mind of God and His decretive will which is something that is sovereign. It's going to happen. It's going to take place just the way He planned it, and there's not a force on earth that's going to change it. Therefore, we find the word will often reference this sovereign decreed plan of God. Then, I find that the will is used in a different way. And again, the theologian gives the description of this, of God's will, as the perceptive will of God. There's the sovereign will of God that's going to be no matter what. When declares it, that's it. But, then there is the perceptive will of God, and the perceptive will of God has to do with a will that as soon as He declares it comes in direct conflict with the human will, and the perceptive will can be disobeyed, rejected, or accepted. And His perceptive will is lined out in all of His statutes, in all of His commandments. 

We know the perceptive will of God, how it relates to us, what He wants of us, what He desires of us, but we know that it's a will that we can violate, we can ignore, we can rebel against, and we can reject. That's His perceptive will. Let me illustrate. We know that it's the will of God that we shouldn't sin. But, I mean, we sin. We know that hurts His heart, but our human will comes in conflict with His perceptive will and we make our choice. We know that His perceptive will is that we should not steal, we shouldn't have hatred, that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. The Bible is full of the perceptive will of God as to how it relates to us, what He desires of us, and yet in our human wills we can go at loggerheads with God's will and do just exactly what we want to, and ultimately we receive the judgment of it. Now that helps me. 

Remember the scripture verse in Peter that says, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now that I understand, I understand the decretive will, that salvation is only through Jesus Christ and no man is going to come to Christ through him, but his perceptive will is His prayer is that all men might come to Him and that none be lost, but man makes the choice. He determines whether he's going to reject Jesus Christ or accept Him, and there is no other way to heaven apart from Christ. And thus, when it says that God's not willing that any should perish, that would be His desire that all would come to Him, but he gave us a human ability to make some choices, and we make those choices. 

So, when we pray, Thy will be done, we're not praying about those areas of God's great dealings with the universe and with time and his declared will. We don't have to worry about that because God's going to do it anyway no matter, nothing's going to change that. But when I pray, Thy will be done, then I'm saying, God, may it be that the known will, Your will as I know it, may it be lived out through my life. You say, how? Now Pastor, that brings us to this matter of knowing the will of God, and that's so mysterious. I'm going to take all the mystery out of it for you. This Bible is absolutely chuck-a-block with scripture verses that tell us exactly what the will of God is. Let me show you just a few of them. 

Go with me to Ephesians 5:15 in your Bible. Now this is the beauty of the Bible, if you know the Word, you'll know His will and you'll know what to do. Look at what it says in Ephesians 5:15, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but a wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Well what is the will of the Lord? That I walk circumspectly. That I live my life so it's going to count for eternity. I must redeem each opportunity to live it for God. That's God's will. And he goes on to say, And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. That's the will of God. That I be filled with God's spirit. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God. Submitting to one another in the fear of God. I know what the will of God is concerning my life. Every moment is precious. Every day is an opportunity to do something that's going to count for eternity. It's God's will that I live my life to make it count for eternity. Let's go to another one. 

Go with me to Romans 12:1-2, and in your Bible. Look at what it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove or do what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. There it is. He says I want you to present yourself and do not allow the world to pour you into it's mold, as one translation says it. You're to be different. You're to be a godly person, and that's doing the perfect will of God. Let's go to another one. 

Go with me to 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 in your Bible. It's the will of God that I should live a holy and sanctified life. Look at what Paul says, For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantages of and defraud his brother in this matter. I know that it's the will of God that it's an absolute sin to become sexually involved outside of marriage. It's an absolute violation of the will of God. I know that. The Bible makes it very clear. I don't have to question as to how I'm to maintain this vessel that God has given to me in honor. Let's take another one. 

1 Peter 2:13 in your Bible. Here's another one, and they're all through the Bible. This is the interesting thing about the Scriptures. I mean, it tells you exactly what God wills for our life. Look at here. It says, Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. I know it's the will of God that I be a good citizen. Now I've run across these Christians who form these little groups that are rebelling against the IRS and saying they don't have a legal right to take our taxes, and they withhold their taxes, and I look at them and say it doesn't make a difference what you think, because God tells it very clearly. It's God's will that I submit to the ordinances of man. I live here and therefore it is my obligation under the will of God to be a good citizen. 

That's God's will for me and for all of us as Christians. Right? When I'm driving down the highway, I know what the will of God is. It's not 90 miles an hour. Right? And then we got the audacity after we have a wreck to ask Him to heal us from our accident, and we did it in total violation to His known will. That to me just blows my mind. We violate His will and then turn around and ask Him to pull us out of the fire. When the will of God is, I have to pay attention and do the ordinances as a good citizen. That's good practical Christianity, isn't it? Let's go to another one. 

Go with me to 1 Thessalonians 5:14-18 in your Bible. You see, like I say folks, these verses are sprinkled throughout the Scripture and in almost every area of life God says this is My will. This is what you are to do. Look at what He says here. In 1 Thessalonians 5:14-18 it says, Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks. Now he adds up that total list and then he says, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. So what am I to do? 

Well, I'm to help comfort the fainthearted. I'm to uphold the weak. I'm not to render evil for evil, but always to do what is good. I'm to rejoice. I'm to pray. I'm to give thanks to God in everything. Therefore, to have a complaining, critical spirit is living out of the will of God. Right? And to have a heart and a sprit that's thankful and praiseworthy even when the tears are dropping and the pain is heavy, I know it's the will of God that I should rejoice and be thankful. That's God's will. It's not His will for me to go around moping and complaining and criticizing. That's not God's will. So when I say, Thy will be done, I learn from the Scriptures what His will is, and then when I say, Thy will be done, I'm saying, God, I cannot and I need not pray about Your declared will because that's an act of Your sovereignty, but I do know what You expect of me as Your follower, and therefore, give me the courage, give me the grace to do what I know I ought to do. And if I'm not willing to do that, don't pray the prayer because you're a hypocrite.

It's that simple. If I say, Thy will be done, and I know that I'm violating God's will in my life; I'm a hypocrite to pray this prayer. Now, I took that a step further and said, now God, You put in that prayer Thy will be done one earth as it is in heaven. Well how is His will done in the heavens? And that took me off in another pathway searching, and I found some verses. Go with me to Psalm 103:20. How is the will of God performed in heaven? And here's what it says, Bless the Lord, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do His work, Heeding the voice of His word. And David paints this glorious picture of heaven being filled with angels. Every one of them listening to God almighty with the anxious desire to do exactly what He says immediately. 

Pastor Leighton, in his comments this morning, said the will of heaven is done instantaneously and it is done with perfection. Now, go with me to Job. Job is just a little bit in front of Psalms. It's the book just in front of Psalms. And Job has a beautiful picture here as to the beautiful harmony of the heavens. And in Job 37:2 he says, Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, And the rumbling that comes from His mouth. He sends it forth under the whole heaven, His lightning to the ends of the earth. Elihu who's talking with Job said, Job what you've got to see is this God who causes beautiful harmony. The lightening responds and as we read down through this chapter he says He tells the snowflakes where to fall and He tells the rain when to come, and He points out the seasons of the year. He keeps this vast universe in beautiful harmony. And the idea is this, that the will of God in the heavens is seen in the beautiful harmony and the movement of the planets and the orbits, the universe moving without collisions, the angels doings their bidding around His throne, the seasons coming and going in beautiful harmony. That's why David said the heavens declare the glory of God, and His firmament showeth His handiwork. Now, so what you see is the result of His will in heaven. There is beautiful harmony and beautiful peace.

Now, I say, Lord, if I live my life doing what I know You want me to do, what I'm really going to do is to bring a little heaven right into my world. It's true. If into our scenes of confusion and turmoil and strife, within our homes or within our relationships, we respond as Christians with graciousness and kindness, it doesn't take long, we bring a little heaven into that relationship and into that home. It's true, isn't? I mean, when we start doing what God wants us to do, it changes the environment around us. I had a lady say to me the other day she said, Pastor, you can't believe it! I have a brand-new husband. And I said, and he probably thinks he's got a brand-new wife. Because she began to pray and she began to think how can I change so that I can demonstrate the love of God, and her husband is changing and she said that he's a new husband. And if I asked him, he'd probably say, I got a brand-new wife. You see, here's the point, if I pray and I live out the will of God as I know it, it will absolutely bring heaven on earth around me. I guarantee it. He's promised.

Father in heaven, if we would only do a little bit of all that we know that we should do as Christians, we would turn our environment completely around. And so this week, when we pray this prayer, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, help us to realize that it's our responsibility to do Your will here so that You can bless our lives and those around us. And give us the courage to change the things that we know we are doing wrong and in violation to Your will. And help us to do Your will as we understand it as we know it from Your word this week. I pray this in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. Amen and God bless you.