Biblical Prayer: Thy Will be Done Pt.2 Passive Obedience

Biblical Prayer and the Third Petition of the Lord’s Prayer

Biblical Prayer, Part 9. We're looking at Thy Will Be Done, Part 2. And just another quick, quick review. We've already examined the purpose of prayer. We've looked at false teaching on prayer, examined what prayer should not be, and then we've begun to examine the model prayer in Matthew 6, verses 5 to 13.

And in that text, we have the inspired pattern for prayer, and we've examined the preference in verse 9, pray then in this way. The first petition, hallowed be thy name. Second petition, thy kingdom come.

And now we come to the third petition, which we actually started last week, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now again, we saw that some obvious questions were raised by this petition. What is meant by the will of God?

What does it mean to pray for the will of God being done? And what does it mean when we pray on earth as it is in heaven? And we answered most of those questions last week. Last week, we saw that the will of God is used in two major different ways in Scripture.

It's used to refer to God's decree of will, or his secret will. It's also used to refer to God's prescriptive will, or his revealed will. And then last week, we examined active obedience to his revealed will.

Passive Obedience to God's Secret Will

Tonight, we're going to examine passive obedience to his secret will. Now remember, keep in mind that first and foremost, this is a prayer of obedience when we talk about thy will be done. So first, it's the prayer for the act of obedience.

It's a prayer that God's people would be brought into conformance with the revealed will of God. This is where most of our work takes place, our sanctification takes place. When we're praying, thy will be done, we need to be brought into conformance with the will of God, which is the person and work of Jesus Christ.

So and that's why we say, you know, according to the Scriptures. Second, it's the prayer of passive obedience. And again, what does it mean to be passively obedient? That's the question for tonight. And so we pick it up here.

Passive obedience is patient submission to God's will. Patient submission lies in acknowledging God's hand in affliction. I'm going to be using that term affliction frequently tonight. And I just want to clarify, when we use the word affliction, it can have several different connotations.

One, we can be afflicted as chastisement for something we've done wrong, or you can be afflicted, like Job was, just simply for the glory of God, or that God is working something in us. It's not always for sin.

We don't want to become like Job's friends, who insisted that Job had to be the greatest sinner on the face of the earth because of all the trouble that he was in, which obviously was not the case. Job was selected by God to suffer because he was, in fact, a righteous man.

So patient submission lies in acknowledging God's hand in affliction. It's seeing God in your troubles. It's also recognizing the sovereignty of God in all that comes your way. There is nothing that happens in our lives that is not coming from the very hand of God.

Trouble is not an accident in God's kingdom. There are no such thing as accidents in God's kingdom. And especially, well, it's not just especially, because that would that it's not someplace else. Forget that.

Scratch that. Rewind. Trouble is not an accident in God's kingdom, period. Patient submission lies in recognizing the justice of God in all things. What's one of the things that people cry out when they're running into big troubles?

Why me? It's not fair. Even though we don't understand everything, we have to recognize that God's justice is in all things. There is no injustice in God's kingdom. Psalm 22, verses 1 to 5, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. Psalm begins, and of course, everybody should be familiar with this Psalm, as it is a Messianic Psalm, and we know that's what Christ's words were right at the beginning.

But my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. Oh my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer, and by night, but I have no rest. Ever feel that way?

Hmm? We've all been there, where we start praying, and it's feeling like God is not answering our prayer. Yet, thou art holy, O thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel. Notice, doesn't seem like you're answering.

Yet, what does the Psalmist say? I know you are holy. Holy means, in its closest attribute, is righteous, but it's also just a fact of being set apart. Everything he does is good, it's perfect. In thee our fathers trusted, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.

To thee they cried out and were delivered, and in thee they trusted and were not disappointed. You will never be disappointed in the kingdom of God. Patient submission lies in accepting chastisement from God.

Now, this is the one side of the affliction, is that it may be chastisement for something that you have, in fact, done. However, God disciplines out of love for us. Hebrews 12 6, for those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives.

So, we recognize that even when we're being chastened, we never really get what we deserve. And that's one of the biggest keys. If you ever find yourself, especially in a heap of trouble, and you're saying, you know, you don't understand why is God allowing me to go through this, just turn around and say, you know, it could be worse.

In fact, let me change that. It should be worse. It should be worse. God is gracious, and even in the affliction, it is meted out. And in fact, what's the limit that you can be guaranteed upon on God's chastisement to you?

That's it. It will never be more than you can handle. So, if you're ever in saying, you know, I just can't handle anymore. No, that's a lie. You can, you just don't want to. There's a difference. You can say, it's okay to say, I don't want to handle anymore.

But don't say you can't, because you're never going to be given anything that you can't handle. How does God afflict his people? And I've just got a couple of things down here. First, poverty. And this can be either way.

I mean, this can be affliction for chastisement, or just affliction to do something in your life. And poverty is one way that God afflicts. He may remove material possessions so that you get focused on him.

You're worried about your bills? All right, I'm going to give you more bills. You can't handle them all, and so why worry about them? Okay. Reproach. You may be slandered because of Christ. And again, look what happened to Job.

Job was slandered by his friends because they felt he had to be a sinner. Then on the other hand, if you're being righteous and standing for Christ, you may be slandered because you are standing for truth.

Look what they said about Christ. He was a glutton and a winebibber. Watson said, sincerity shields from hell, but not from slander. So, but it doesn't matter what people say. Another way you're afflicted is loss of relations.

You may lose family and friends when you stand for Christ. Probably everybody in this room has, at one point or another, lost a family or a friend or some relative because of your stance for Christ. Could be physical affliction, and Job, of course, is the poster child for that.

Job 5, 17. Behold, how happy is a man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. How many people really take that attitude? Oh yes, I'm so happy I'm being disciplined by God.

You should be. For he inflicts pain and gives relief. His wounds and his hands also heal. What is not patient submission? Here's another quote from Thomas Watson. There is something that looks like patience, which is not, as when a man bears a thing because he cannot help it.

He takes affliction as his fate and destiny, therefore he endures quietly what he cannot avoid. This is necessity rather than patience. Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves. You see what Watson is saying?

Just because you're going through something and you can't do anything about it doesn't mean that you're being patiently submissive. Because inside, that's like the little boy who was put in the corner and he was told to sit down in the corner, and he kept standing up.

And his mother came and put him back down in the corner again. Now you sit there, and she physically put him in the corner. He looked at it, he said, I may be sitting down, but inside I'm standing up.

I see all the parents were laughing over that one. Well, you young people who may have done that. Wow, that's a good reaction. Why are you laughing? I remember when you were small enough to pick up. Attitudes that reflect the opposition to God's will.

This is a whole list of things of how to rate yourself to see if you are opposing God's will and not being patiently submissive or passively obedient. So attitudes that reflect opposition. Discontentment with God's providence.

What we mean by that is a general feeling of unhappiness and dissatisfaction with life in general. This would be epitomized by Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. Have a nice day, if it is a nice day, which I doubt.

You ever know people like that? That no matter what, they're just totally dissatisfied. Like the man who bought two lottery tickets, and he won the big one on the one, and he was all downcast, and somebody said, well, what are you downcast?

He says, I wasted money on this other lottery ticket. There's some people who just never satisfied. But especially for a Christian, we should never get into that situation where I hate my life, because we have to look at God's providence in it.

Murmuring. Murmuring comes out of this discontentment with God's providence. Telling others about your discontentment and getting allies in your circumstances. The old saying, misery loves company. That falls in place here.

And look at Psalm 106, talking about the Israelites. Then they despised the pleasant land. They did not believe in his word, but grumbled in their tents, and they did not listen to the voice of the Lord.

If you ever want to see a classic case of grumbling and murmuring, it's the wilderness wanderings. And there's far too much of that in the modern church today as well. Then you have spiritual unsettledness, and this is almost like a spiral.

Spiritual unsettledness. This person is so focused on his circumstances that they miss the good works of God in his trouble. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you've got to remember a couple of things.

Number one, God is good to his people. Number two, he's always good to his people. And number three, he's only good to his people. Now, where do you fit in with that? Where's the room for grumbling and murmuring?

No matter what God does to you, it is for your good, for your benefit, and for his glory. So that should eliminate any murmuring. Exodus 6 -9, so Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency.

I put that in there. The margin for despondency says shortness of spirit. So because of their shortness of spirit or the despondency, they missed what Moses was telling them, and they thought that they were in cruel bondage.

Then you come to self-justification. This is, again, further down that spiral. Self-justification. The person who tries to justify himself in the sight of others and even God. Well, I'm only, you know, you know the story.

Well, I don't really deserve, I didn't do this, I didn't, no. Just fall on your knees, repent, and get on with it. Even Job. Now, Job started, for so long, Job did well. But then right towards the end of the book, he started to try to justify himself, and what did God do?

And I love the fact that they translated this one right. Too often in the Old Testament, they translate the words for wind and whatnot improperly. It's, he came in a whirlwind. When Adam and Eve sinned, he didn't come in and visit them in the cool of the evening to have a chat with them.

When Adam and Eve sinned, he came in a whirlwind. That's the word that's there, and he comes in his anger against that type of sin. And here, Job was corrected, but how did God speak to him? In a whirlwind.

And what was Job's response once God is speaking to him? I shut my mouth. I put my hand over it. Job learned. Bitterness or anger towards God, this is where it really gets bad. The person who blames God for the problems that he has, and this, listen carefully, being angry at God is sin, and needs to be repented of, or the next attitude comes quickly.

You ever see people who say, I'm angry at God. So as soon as somebody tells me that, I say, go ahead. I just step away. You do not want to be angry at God. You can't out-anger God, and the result of somebody who's angered towards God, bitterness, always turning to more sin.

So your position is worse than it was before. Now here's attitudes that accompany patient submission. This is the opposite side of the coin, and this is only a couple, and it's certainly not an exhaustive list.

It's a deep sense of the magnitude of the affliction. If you really, when you're under discipline of God, or He's afflicting you for any particular reason, just look at, stop, and look and see what is God doing.

God is always doing something, and if you're not in deep sin, then He is trying to teach you something, or He is just trying to show His glory through what you're suffering. Weeping. Now it's not, there's such a thing as false tears, or crocodile tears, as they call them, but weeping.

Crying out to God, such as the psalmist in chapter 142, I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord. I make supplication with my voice to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before Him. I declare my trouble before Him.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, thou didst know my path. In the way where I walk, they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see, for there is no one who regards me. There is no escape for me.

No one cares for my soul. Does this sound familiar? This is why I so often recommend psalms when somebody's going, especially in depression, because we find somebody who's just like us in one of the psalms someplace.

I cried out to Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Notice what does the psalmist do when he recognizes, I'm all alone here, except, not that I'm angry with you, God, but you're my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.

Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may give thanks to my name. The righteous will surround me, for Thou wilt deal bountifully with me.

Developing Patient Submission

Notice how it always ends on that positive note. Yes, I'm going through all of this, but I know in the end, you'll deal bountifully with me. Developing patient submission. How do we develop this attitude?

Because obviously it doesn't come naturally. Well, the first thing is to examine your circumstances. Look at Ecclesiastes 7, verse 14. In the day of prosperity, be happy, but in the day of adversity, consider.

God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not discover anything that will be after him. So consider, what are your circumstances? So there's a series of things that you need to consider if you're going to develop patient submission.

First, consider that God is in your trouble. Again, that should be comfort, to know that God, your Heavenly Father, is in the trouble that you're going through. It's not something that has happened outside of his purview or outside of his sphere, or something that he doesn't know about.

God is in the trouble. Consider there's necessity in your affliction. There is some purpose in it. God doesn't just afflict people randomly or willy-nilly, but there is always a purpose. Try to find that purpose, what is happening.

Consider we deserve much more. No matter what circumstances you find yourself in, you actually deserve more. Consider that God is proving us. We're being refined in that furnace, just like silver or gold is being refined, and the dross is going to be skimmed off the top.

It's part of the sanctification process. Psalm 66, 10 and 11. For thou hast tried us, O God, thou hast refined us, as silver is refined. Thou didst bring us into the net. Thou didst lay an oppressive burden upon our loins.

Consider there's kindness in your affliction. How so? Because the Lord loves whom he disciplines. He scourges every son whom he receives. There's always kindness. It's not, again, it's not arbitrary, and whatever problems you find yourself in, it's there for your benefit.

That's why we can say there is kindness in it. Then consider, what has God already done for you? You didn't deserve that either, so we need to take a step back and look at the big picture. What has God done for us?

And then consider the ways of God. If you understand, if you're sitting under false teaching, which is God never does anything bad to you. He never brings affliction. That's all from the devil. Wow, what a downer that is.

But God has promised that he will not give you more than you're able to handle. So there's that kindness. So if you understand the ways of God, you can say, I can handle this because God's told me I can.

Affliction is always followed by mercy. Consider the excellency of this frame of mind. In other words, if you can develop that frame of mind, think of how excellent that will be in the world and with those people that you come in contact with.

When you can suffer great hardship, great loss, affliction, whatever it happens to be, and people around you, especially non-believers, see you, that's a frame of mind that is pleasing to God. Consider that the best comes out of times of trouble.

That's a universal principle. You talk about the most successful men you can think about, and they'll always tell you they learned more from their failures than they did from their success. Consider the alternative is sin.

Well, there's a good one. If for no other reason we don't want to kick against the goad, so to speak, of passive obedience, because it would be sin. Consider that rebellion against God leads to many more temptations.

You wind up worse. The old expression, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, and that's a biblical principle. Consider that failure to submit makes him angry. You want God angry at you. I don't. Consider that submission to God is a defeat for Satan.

There's a good one right there. Every time you submit to God, even in the difficult times, it's like poking Satan in the eye. Consider that conformity to the will of God in trouble spreads the gospel.

We kind of touched on that, but that's a big part of it is that the gospel has spread how you handle trouble. And then consider the example of the Lord Jesus himself. Peter tells us that he left an example for us, that we should walk in his steps.

So when trouble comes, consider these things and learn from them patient submission. Now there's other means to patient submission, so I'm going to go through some of those rather quickly. Study God's decree of will as revealed in Scripture.

Now you can't understand his decree of will, but as you read the Scripture, you can see how his decrees affect other people from the past. And so you can learn how God works. That's learning the ways of God.

You may not be able to discern God's secret will for your life, but you can know some things about his will, and that's always helpful for developing passive obedience. And if we go into the Scripture, what do we learn?

Firstly, it's his sovereign will. He alone is the one who's in charge of it. It's all wise. It's perfectly just. It's good and it's gracious. It's irresistible. So why would you resist it when it's irresistible?

Develop a gracious heart. Understand the terms and principles of our covenant relationship. That's something that we really try to emphasize in this church is our covenant relationship with God, and that's a very important one.

Then develop biblical humility, which is something that is a lifelong attempt to develop biblical humility. Set your mind on things above. Dwell on the good things from God. Don't dwell on the bad. Dwell on the good.

Pray that God would calm your heart in the midst of trouble. Believe that God is doing what is best for you. Understand that you're on the winning side. That's always a big help. Worship God in the midst of affliction.

We always see that. Job, what did he do in the midst of affliction? He worshipped. Questions?