Struggle: Thy Will Be Done

Today, we’re going to look at what it means to pray, “Thy will be done.” We’re going to need every bit of help we can get to learn how to pray this, because this goes right into the teeth of our culture.

American culture says that the more free we are to decide what is right or wrong for ourselves, having no one else tell us how to live our lives, the happier we’ll be. But here, Jesus Christ says every time you pray to God you need to say to him, “Thy will be done.” This goes right into the teeth of probably everything you’ve been taught, if you’ve grown up here.

So what does it mean? To understand that, we look at Jesus’ own prayer, and we see that he prays it in the midst of terrible agony. We’re going to first reflect on the magnitude of that agony, then the immediacy of that agony, and then see how that helps us understand what it means to pray, “Thy will be done” in a life-transforming way.

This sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 19, 2014. Series "The Prayer of Prayers". Scripture: Matthew 26:36-46.

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