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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text for this morning comes from the Gospel reading with ties to the Old Testament reading. You may be seated. What just happened tonightly was God’s will. That is God’s will that He adopt His people as His own children, claiming them as His own, leaving there no doubt that you belong to Me. That is God’s will.
But isn’t it interesting, whenever we think in terms of God’s will in our life, or we think of it in terms of our marriage, our family, our job, this country, this church, sometimes when we begin to think of God’s will in other aspects or facets of our life, God doesn’t deliver His will the way we envision Him delivering His will. And it’s interesting because you and I prayed overnightly the Lord’s Prayer. And in that prayer we prayed, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Not mine, but Thy will. God’s will be done.
And that prayer is being prayed around the world every single moment of the day by some beloved Christian brother or sister, including you and me. We have a great summary of this petition that you all memorized and I memorized when we were in confirmation class. What does it mean to say, thy will be done?
Listen, the good and gracious will of God is done even without our prayer. God be praised for that, because you and I in our prayer life, it’s amazing he gets anything done in this world if left to our prayers alone. God accomplishes His will because He’s God. This is His creation. You are His people and His creatures. He will accomplish His will. He will not be thwarted by sin in this world, and He will not be thwarted by sin in you. He will accomplish His will.
So when we pray, Thy will be done, and if His will is done without our prayer, then why pray it? We pray in this petition or request that His will be done, may be done among us. That His will would be done in our own life. That His will would be done in our marriage. That His will would be done among our children. That His will would be done among our grandchildren. That His will would be done among us as a church gathered here. That His will would be done in our jobs and in our vocations. That His will would be done in every aspect of our life.
Are we praying this? Elijah prayed for God’s will to be done, didn’t he? And God’s will was done. He with a sword killed those false prophets. And yet he who killed those false prophets with that sword and did God’s will scatters like a frightened rabbit because he’s afraid. That’s not God’s will to be afraid. To fear man and to fear this world more than we fear God, that is a sin. And how often have you and I been struck square in the head that we have feared things in this world and other people more than we fear God? Fearing God is God’s will. Fearing man, that is not his will.
And if it’s not his will, the only other possible will that can be is, you’re in my sinful flesh, this world, and Satan. This is the prophet of God, Elijah. And look what he does. He runs away. He’s afraid. He says, I give up. None of that was God’s will. So what did God do to Elijah then? He fed him. He fed him bread from heaven. That’s what God did.
That’s not how you and I handle someone who does not do the will that’s been given them to do. We slander them. We talk bad about them. We do not put the best construction on it. We typecast them. We do not want to understand them. We want to judge them. We do not want to love them or forgive them. We want to hold them in that state so that they will always owe us. That is not, that is not God’s will.
When Paul wrote to the church of the Ephesians, that parish family there struggled like any other parish family. Struggled like your church home if you’re a visitor today, and our church home if you’re not and you’re a member here. It’s like every church struggles. If we struggle in our homes, we’re going to struggle in the church because the church is nothing more than our home brought to this building.
Paul talks about sensuality, greed, and impurity. That’s not God’s will, and yet, yeah, you and I can say we practice it, don’t we? Paul talks about corrupting talk coming out of our mouth, not for building up, but to tear down. That’s not God’s will either. And yet you have heard the words come out of your mouth and wished that you could have taken them back. And it’s too late.
Paul spoke to the church at Ephesus talking about bitterness, which is not forgiving. Wrath, which is judgment that’s not ours. Anger. Anger. He talked about anger, but he said, be angry, but don’t sin. You can’t stop angry thoughts from coming in your head, but you can stop them from setting up shop and moving you to do and say things. Clamor, stirring up the fat. Slander, speaking truth, but it ruins someone’s reputation and doesn’t build them up. Malice, unresolved anger and bitterness.
That’s not God’s will. That you and I have been practicing something other than God’s will, haven’t we? We’re praying, thy will be done, Lord, thy will be done. And yet we’re practicing a will that’s completely at odds with the Father’s will toward us. Just as Elijah did when he ran away because of fear. And ran away because he feared man more than he feared God.
What did Paul and the pastor at Ephesus do to these people? They fed them bread. They fed them bread. Bread from heaven. Christ. If we’re praying for God’s will to be done, and we’re seeing God’s people fight God’s will, how then is God’s will done? God’s will is done when he breaks and when he hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let his kingdom
