Tony Evans - The Lord's Prayer
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We call it in theology a doxology taken from two Greek words. One is doxe, which means praise, and then logos, which means a word or an expression. So, a doxology is an expression of praise. There are many doxologies in the Bible, but there are many spontaneous eruptions of the recognition and celebration of God for who he is and for what he has done. It is blowing a lid off of the top. It is a volcanic eruption of the soul. It’s not emotionalism. Emotionalism is when you get excited and nothing happened. But it is legitimate emotion where you are responding to something or someone for who they are or what you just saw them do. It is Jesus’s understanding when he concludes the Lord’s Prayer that if you really understood what he said, there will be an eruption in your soul, there will be a doxological response.
When you understand what kind of name he has and that it ought to be hallowed. When you understand what kind of kingdom he oversees, and it ought to be submitted to. When you understand the perfection of his will to carry out his purposes. When you understand that nothing you have or will ever have could come to you if he wasn’t the source of it getting to you. And so, you praise him for your daily bread. If you really understood what it means to be a forgiven person and to be a forgiver and letting somebody else off the hook like you want God to let you off the hook. And if you really understood how bad Satan was out to get you so that God would have to lead you from being overrun by him or deliver you out of evil he’s already trapped you in. It’s Jesus’s understanding that if you understood all that he’s already said in the Lord’s Prayer that there ought to be a doxological response.
There ought to be something welling up in your soul of praise. Not because we have a praise leader, not because we have a praise group, not because we have a choir, or even because we have a preacher, but because you’ve come to know God just a little bit better in the Lord’s Prayer, creating a doxological response, a robust expression of praise. So, the reason we don’t have volcanic praise is we really don’t understand who he is and what he’s done. Because it’s Jesus’s understanding and understanding through the doxologies all throughout the Bible that you’ve got a volcano that wants to erupt in your soul if you really understood who God is, what God deserves, and what you benefit from because of who he is and what he has done.
Jesus closes the Lord’s Prayer with the famous doxology. One of the great doxologies of scripture, he says, «For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever amen». He starts off with the word «for». In other words, in light of everything I just taught you to pray, you ought to be excited now. In light of everything that you’ve learned about the Lord’s Prayer, you ought to be motivated now to give him what he deserves. He says, «For thine is the kingdom». It’s about you. It’s all about you. It’s about your name, your kingdom, your will, your provision, your forgiveness, your protection. When you finish the Lord’s Prayer, it’s all about you. «For thine is the kingdom».
Now, I’m a beneficiary, but it’s all about you. So, let’s start there. Don’t start your prayer making it about you. Make it about him 'cause then it can boomerang back to you. But if you make it about you and you forget him, then you flip places in the prayer, and you’ve made the prayer about who you are and not who he is. «For thine». He first of all says, I’m gonna praise him for his kingdom, «For thine is the kingdom». Now this is the second time we’ve seen the word «kingdom» in the prayer. «Thy kingdom come». We’ve explained that the kingdom is the rule of God, is the comprehensive rule of God. 1 Corinthians 10:26 says, «Both heaven and earth belong to God». So, everything was created for the rule of God, «For thine is the kingdom».
Well, if you got to do the National Anthem at a sporting event and say the Pledge of Allegiance to a flawed flag, how much should you give to the King of kings and Lord of lords who is the King over all things? He says, «For thine is the kingdom». You are the ruler. You are in charge. But the problem is we have too many of God’s people who switch kingdoms. They wear a uniform of God’s kingdom while they serve another kingdom. And so, as a result they are living in a kingdom in conflict. So let me help you. If you don’t recognize God as your king not only in what you say but how you function, then you have jeopardized the rest of the Lord’s Prayer. For the Lord’s Prayer only works if it’s his kingdom that is your concern. But if you’re concerned about your rule, your management, your status, your position, not under the king, but you just want the king to do what you want for you, then you’ve jeopardized all the rest of the prayer. Why? «For thine is the kingdom».
Let me tell you why you and I, all of us, must be willing to voluntarily submit ourselves to the rule of God over every area of our lives as we pursue our relationship with him as Father. It is because if he is allowed to rule, then he will control the outcome. Remember thy kingdom come, why? So that your will is done. So, the outcome ties to his rule. If you lose or leave his rule, you’ve jeopardized the outcome. Since everything belongs to God’s kingdom, he can use anything that is created for his kingly purposes. If you really understood who God was, you shouldn’t be ashamed of that rule. You shouldn’t have to… nobody should have to beg you to praise him. Nobody should have to beg you to glorify him.
In fact, if you only come to church to hear the sermon, that’s because you don’t have a doxological worship 'cause worship just don’t come to hear a preacher, they come to meet the Lord. They come to let him hear them sing, him hear them pray, so that he can hear my praise. Why? 'Cause it’s about him. It’s about him. «Thy kingdom come». Then he says, he says, «Thy power». He says, «Thine is the kingdom, thine is the power». A lot of Christians give God position but no power. Oh, they’ll worship him, they’ll wave their hand in the air like they just don’t care, they’ll jump a pew, they’ll shout hallelujah, but there’s no power. You don’t see God doing anything in their lives. You don’t see God changing anything, turning anything, because they hold him in a high position while removing the clout from him.
See, the only way you get to see the power, if he knows you’re subjected to the kingdom. If you’re not subjected to the kingdom, Psalm 62 verse 11 says power belongs to God. Hebrews 1 verse 3 says God upholds all things by his power. God exercises power. How much power does God have? The Bible declares that he created the universe ex nihilo. Ex nihilo means without raw material. He simply spoke it into existence. You know anybody who can do that? He simply spoke it into reality. If you go to a forest where no human being has ever been and you see a rubber ball, you’re gonna ask the question, how did it get here? Well, when you see a ball the size of Earth, you need to ask the question, how did that ball get here? There had to be somebody who put this ball in space and told it to stay there.
What God has done demonstrates his power. Why don’t we see more of his power? Because we’re not submitted to his kingdom. His kingdom is tied to his power. That’s why the Bible says in Ephesians 3 verse 20, «Now to him who can do exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think,» but then he says, «according to the power that works in you». So, if you’re not submitted to his kingdom, you don’t have access to his power, and if you don’t have access to his power, you won’t see him working in your life even though you hold him in high position. It’s easy to go around and say, God is first in my life. That’s nice talk, great speech, but there’s no power in that unless it’s real submission, real relationship. He says, «Thine is the power». Psalm 89:11 says, «Heaven and earth belongs to God». He’s king. He’s in charge.
1 Chronicles 16:9, «God shares his power with those who are completely his». Let me say that again. «God shares his power with those who are completely his». So if you’re not completely his, if you’re a part-time Christian not a full-time saint, if he doesn’t own you 'cause you’ve been bought with a price, if you’re still trying to run your life and simply asking him to bless what you wanna run, then don’t be surprised that you are a powerless saint and that you don’t see the supernatural entering into the natural because who are you gonna give power to when you can’t trust them? If he knows you’re gonna use his power for your thing not his power for his glory, his kingdom, and his name. So what God is saying today is that he is the power.
Daniel 11:32 says, «The people who know their God shall be strong and do exploits». The people who know God will see God do stuff, change stuff, flip stuff, help stuff, reverse stuff, heal stuff, provide stuff. The people who know their God, not just the people who go to church. The issue in your life, my life, and in our corporate life is are we pursuing God? Not did we have a great song and a great sermon, but are we pursuing him? If we’re not pursuing him, then it was wasted worship. «Thine is the kingdom. Thine is the power». You have appliances. I have appliances. The power is not the appliance, the power is the electricity. No matter how fancy the stove, how fancy the refrigerator, how fancy the toaster, if it’s not plugged into the power, it’s good-looking nothing because it can’t do what it was created to do.
And so many of God’s children can’t do what we were created to do because we look good, but we’re not plugged in and you cannot be plugged in unless his kingdom is first, unless his will is first, and unless you are riding on his power. Yield it to him. For thine, it’s about him. Oh, and then it comes to this one. «Thine is the glory». The word «glory» means to put something on display, to highlight it or advertise it, okay? Glory means to show something off. «Thine is the glory». I hate to tell you what I’m getting ready to tell you. I just hate it because I just know that so many will not like it. God’s not here for you. I just thought I’d tell you that. God’s not here for you.
Psalm 115 verse 1 says, «Not to us, but to your name give glory». Okay, let me explain glory. Men have ascribed glory. Glory we attribute to people because of who they are or what they have achieved. So you go to a courtroom, a man or woman comes out in a robe, and you say what? «Your honor». You’re ascribing glory to them because of their position as a judge. Or a policeman pulls you over and you say, «Yes, officer». Why? Because that blue uniform represents a position and authority under the law, so you ascribe glory to them, okay?
Now, you take the robe off the man or woman you put them in regular street clothes and they just another man or woman. It’s that attire that causes you to ascribe glory to them just based on how they look. That’s called ascribed glory. Judges get locked up. Police get fired because if they don’t do what the job says, they jeopardize what they were ascribed, okay? So that’s ascribed glory. We attribute it to a person based on what they’ve accomplished and it’s temporary. God has intrinsic glory. Okay, let me explain. What wet is to water, what hot is to fire, what blue is to sky is intrinsic glory. In other words, you can’t separate it. You can’t take hot out of fire. You can’t take wet out of water, and you can’t take blue out of sky 'cause they are intricately related.
Now you cannot like that water is wet, you cannot like that sky is blue, and you cannot like that fire is hot, but that’s your problem and it’s irrelevant because it will never adjust to what you think about it. So, no matter how you think or feel about God, he’s gonna be who he is 'cause he is who he is and he ain’t who he ain’t. So, God will always be glorified whether you glorify him or not, okay? God’s glory is so intrinsic that if nobody glorifies him, he can glorify himself and be fine because his glory is intrinsic to his being. Now, because he created us, the Bible says, for his glory, the scripture says, «We were created for his glory,» in Isaiah 43 verse 7, «You were created for his glory,» then you need to know you are going to glorify him.
Now one way or another, everybody is going to glorify God. Now, you can glorify him in one of two ways. You can glorify him voluntarily or mandatorily because everybody is going to glorify at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father. Now you have to understand something. God says, «I will share my glory with no man,» okay? I will share my glory with no man. My glory cannot be tampered with. I’m not gonna share it, not if it’s my glory, Isaiah 50, 48:11. «I will share my glory with no man».
So, here’s what you got to do. Here’s what I have to do, okay? You must be to God what the moon is to the sun. The moon reflects the light of the sun on the earth. So light hits it, but the moon can’t keep it. The moon got to pass it on to planet Earth 'cause it has no light of its own. So, if you give me glory and I own it and don’t reflect it, I’m sharing glory that belongs to somebody else. Your job and my job when we’re hit with glory is to reflect it back to the source of glory. The source of light on the earth comes from the sun and is merely reflected by the moon.
So, when you give me glory or I give you glory, make sure you go back to the source and give recognition. «God, I ain’t taking your glory. All I’m doing is a pass-through. They gave me some recognition for writing a study Bible, but it’s your Bible, it’s your book. So, you get the glory». And the moment any man, any woman, any preacher, any politician who takes the glory to themselves and doesn’t pass it on to God, has insulted God and taken a position like Herod when he took the glory to himself and the Bible says, «And the worms ate him up». Because God will not share, sooner or later, you’re gonna bow to the glory of God. So, you might as well do it now voluntarily since he gonna make you do it later mandatorily. «Thine is the glory». The glory belongs to you.
The Bible says, «The heavens and earth declare the glory of God». Psalm 19 verse 1, «The heavens declare the glory of God,» okay? The Bible declares to ascribe Psalm 29 verse 1 and 2, «To the Lord the glory due his name». In other words, the bigger you see him, the more praise you’ll give to him. The smaller you make him, the less praise you’re gonna give him. You know why more of us don’t praise God? 'Cause he’s too small. I’m not gonna praise God. We give more praise to LeBron James than we give to God. Why? Because God has gotten so small. That’s why the Lord’s Prayer is designed for you to magnify God.
There are two ways to make something bigger. You magnify it or you get closer to it. And when you do those two things, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And the bigger he gets, the more praise you’re gonna give. The folk who really praise God has seen how big he is and understand every good and perfect gift comes from above. And then he says one other thing here. «Thine is the kingdom, thine is the power, thine is the glory». Okay, watch this, «Forever, forever». No end in sight.
So let me help you understand what’s gonna happen when you die since it’s forever. Kingdom, power, and glory forever. When you go to heaven, if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ, when you go to heaven, there will be no night. Night is canceled. No nighttime. There will be no sleep because you will have a glorified body that is a body that will not and cannot get tired, cannot get worn out, cannot be bored. It is a body that is pulsating with life, okay? So, God is going to give you the equipment to handle heaven, a glorified body. He’s gonna remove night, and the Bible says, «And he will be the sun». What God is going to do when you get to heaven is give you and me and us, believers in Christ, the uninterrupted glory of God.
Right now, you have the interrupted glory of God 'cause you have nighttime, you have sleep, you have problems. We have all these things that interrupt us seeing how massive God is. But when we get to glory, God is gonna remove all the interruptions and he’s going to show us infinitude. Infinitude means that which is without end because God is inexhaustible, he’s infinite, therefore there is no conclusion to him. That’s why it will take forever to learn him. It will take forever because he goes on forever.
Now that’s an Excedrin headache and that will make you jump out of a window. I understand that you can’t grasp what I just said. You need a glorified body to grasp it. But 100 quadzillion years from now you will be learning new things about God’s kingdom, God’s power, and God’s glory 'cause he says, «It goes on forever». So, guess what you’re supposed to be doing now? Practicing, practicing praising his kingdom. Practicing praising his power. Practicing praising his glory. Giving him the worth, the doxology, the praise. You would think that’s the end of the prayer, but it’s not.
The prayer ends with the word «amen». The word «amen» means so be it. The word «amen» means I got it. The word «amen» means that’s what I’m talking about. The word «amen» means it will be done. Amen means my affirmation on what was just said. So don’t say amen unless you’re gonna hallow his name. Don’t say amen unless you’re gonna submit to his kingdom and do his will. Don’t say amen unless you’re gonna look at him as your provider. Don’t say amen if you’re not willing to forgive so you can be forgiven. Don’t say amen if you’re gonna not let him control what the devil does in your life. Don’t say amen, just say, «I’m finished». 'Cause once you say amen, you say, «I agree. Yes, I’m with you. Bank on me, I’m all in».
God is looking for some amen, saints. He’s looking for some saints who will give God the praise due his name. That when they wake up tomorrow, «God I’m gonna bless you 'cause you got me out of bed». As they’re driving to work, «I’m gonna praise you because I got a job to go through». When they eat their meals, «I’m gonna bless you that I’m not starving». When you go to bed at night, «Thank you, Lord, for taking me through another day». The Bible says, «From the rising of the sun till the going down of the same, let the name of the Lord be praised». When a football player makes a great play, they walk around, and they do that. They do that.
What they’re telling the crowd is, «Join me in praising. Join me because of what you saw I just did». What this means is give it up. God is looking for some folk who will give it up, who’ll give up some worship, give up some praise. And you can’t praise in silence. You can worship in silence, but you can’t praise in silence. «Let the redeemed of the Lord say so». Let the redeemed of the Lord declare he’s worthy to be praised. When I’m healthy, I’m gonna praise him. When I’m sick, I’m gonna praise him. When I’m needy, I’m gonna praise him. When my belly’s full, I’m gonna praise him. I’m gonna praise him when I get up, I’m gonna praise him when I lay down. My whole day will be praising the God of the Lord’s Prayer. Somebody in here ought to give it up and give him the glory due his name. Give him the praise that he is worthy.