Nov 25
9
Baptist Catechism 110
Q. 110. What do we pray for in the third petition?
A. In the third petition, which is, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” we pray that God by His grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things, as the angels do in heaven. (Matt. 6:10; Ps. 103:20,21; Ps. 25:4,5; Ps. 119:26)
Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:1–8
“Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1–8, ESV)
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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.
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In the third petition, we are to pray that God’s will be done. If we are to pray for God’s will to be done, then we ought to ask ourselves, what is God’s will? Have you ever asked yourself what God’s will is for you? What is God’s will for our church? This is a great question and something we should be asking for ourselves and for our church. We are faced with many decisions in our own lives and in the life of the church, so we ought to be concerned with the will of God.
How are we to think of the will of God when it comes to things like the jobs and careers we are to pursue, who are we to marry, where are we to live, how are we to spend our time and money, how are we to make decisions on appointing officers of the church, decisions and determination of church discipline, church finances, and benevolence services.
Correctly understanding the will of God helps to provide a Christian with a strong foundation and framework to properly pray for and approach all we may face in our lives and the life of the church. In contrast, not understanding the will of God has devastating consequences that can lead to instability, anxiety, and forms of mysticism in the life of an individual.
So what is God’s will? We can think of God’s will in two categories. On one hand, “God’s will” is the things he has planned or decreed. This is the will of God that is hidden from all of us until it happens. That is why it is commonly referred to as his hidden will. So, if we take “God’s will” to mean that which God has planned, then we must admit that we do not know what God’s will is for us tomorrow. How could we know? Only God knows! He knows the future, for he has decreed the future. God’s will concerning the future is largely a mystery to us, with the exception of what he has revealed about the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment, and the consummation. You and I do not know what the future holds. We do not know what tomorrow holds for us, but God does, and he is our heavenly father who cares and provides for us.
We must come to terms with and be comfortable that we do not know our future, but God does. God is not going to tell us specifically who to marry, what job or career we are to pursue or take, or how to make specific decisions. What God will do is remain sovereign both in the large and small things. It is through his decrees and providence that he is leading, guiding, and taking care of his people. We must recognize and trust in his perfect sovereignty, decrees, and providence for what tomorrow and every day after holds for you and me.
So if we ask what God’s plan is for you and me tomorrow and every day thereafter, we must confess we do not know. But if we take God’s will to mean that which God has commanded, then we can answer the question, What is God’s will for you and me tomorrow? In general, his will for us is that we trust him, obey him, and live for his glory. While God’s hidden will is unknown until it has happened, God has made known through the scriptures what his commanded will is; this is sometimes called his prescriptive will, or his revealed will. While God does not specifically reveal to us what jobs and careers we are to take, who to marry, what church decisions we are to make but scripture does reveal to us God’s will on how we are to be employees and employers, the type of people we should marry, the type of husband and wife we should be, and guiding principles on how to make church decisions like the appointment of officers and church discipline so that those decisions are pleasing and aligned to his will. God has revealed much in the holy scriptures in regards to his will for how you and I are to order and live our lives.
Please allow me to read a few Scripture texts to illustrate the different uses of the term. After reading a verse, I will ask you, Is this an example of God’s revealed will, or his hidden will?
1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality…” Is this God’s revealed will, or his hidden will? Revealed! For here, God tells us what he wants from us. He commands sanctification. He commands obedience.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Is this God’s revealed will, or his hidden will? Revealed! For here, God tells us what he wants from us. He wants us to give thanks in all circumstances in Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 3:17 says, “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” Is this a reference to God’s revealed will, or his hidden will? Here we have a reference to God’s hidden will. Is it the will of God that you or I suffer persecution in the future? I don’t know! Maybe. We will find out.
Listen now to James 4:13-15. “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” Is this a reference to God’s revealed will or his hidden will? It is a reference to God’s hidden will – his plans for our future, which we do not know.
One more. 1 Peter 2:15 says, “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.” Revealed or hidden will? Revealed. God is here revealing that his will (command) for us is that we do good. This is how we are to “silence the ignorance of foolish people”, by doing good.
So what is God’s will for your life?
What job and career will you have, or will you get married, where will you live, how long will you live, what joys and sorrows will you experience? You and I do not know the answer to these questions until they happen. This is God’s hidden will for you and me.
But on the other hand, we know exactly what God’s will is for you and I. We know that God’s will for us is to grow in our sanctification. We know that God’s will is for us to avoid sexual immorality, do good to one another, and to give thanks in every circumstance. We are to love God with all our heart and mind and love our neighbors as ourselves. This we know is God’s will for us.
How are we to live and relate to God regarding both his hidden and revealed will? Are we to concern ourselves with God’s hidden or revealed will? We should focus our time and energy on obeying God’s revealed will while, at the same time, humbly submitting ourselves to his hidden will.
This is really what Jesus was teaching when he said, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:25–33, ESV).
Jesus speaks here on how we are to govern our lives as it pertains to God’s hidden and revealed will. Here, Christ is teaching us to concern ourselves with God’s revealed will. “[S]eek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you…”, He says. And he commands us not to concern ourselves with God’s hidden will. “[W]hich of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” he asks. Only God knows what tomorrow will bring. Obsessing with and worrying about the future is not beneficial and only hurts us and others. What then are we to do with our concerns about God’s hidden will? There is nothing for us to do except live in prayerful and trustful submission to the Lord. Knowing that he is our heavenly father who cares and causes all things to work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
The third petition of the Lord’s prayer is about all of this. Q. 110. What do we pray for in the third petition? A. In the third petition, which is, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” we pray that God by His grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things, as the angels do in heaven. (Matt. 6:10; Ps. 103:20,21; Ps. 25:4,5; Ps. 119:26)
When we pray “thy will be done,” we are saying, Lord, may you be obeyed and your plans and purposes be accomplished.
Here we are to ask for God’s grace to obey his will and submit to it.
Here we are to ask that God would “Make us able…” to do what he has commanded.
More than this, we are asking that God would “make us… willing.” In other words, we are asking that God would change our hearts—our appetites and affections—so that we want to obey him.
To obey God, we must “know, obey, and submit to his will”, and so we are to pray that God would make us able and willing to do this.
As you can see, the catechism makes a distinction between knowing and obeying. It is one thing to know God’s word; it is another thing to obey it. It is very possible to know God’s commandments but not obey them. But you can’t obey God’s law if you do not know it. As Christians, we should want to know God’s law. We hear it read and preached every Sabbath. So we are to pray that God will graciously enable us both to know God’s law and to obey it. Or to put it in the terminology of James 1:22, we are to pray that the Lord would empower us to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving [ourselves]” (James 1:22, ESV).
Lastly, we are to pray that God “would make us able and willing to… submit to His will in all things.” I think the use of the word “submission” here pertains to God’s hidden, secret, or mysterious will. What are we to do with God’s revealed will? We are to know it and obey it! What are we to do with God’s hidden will? Well, what else can we do except submit ourselves to it?
Jesus’s prayer in the garden before his crucifixion provides a good example of how we are to pray in light of God’s hidden will. Jesus said to his disciples, “‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’ And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’”
We are to know and obey God’s revealed will, and at the same time, we are to pray to God with our desires and concerns, but we are to humbly and patiently submit ourselves to his hidden will. We must confess that at times it can be difficult to obey what God has commanded, and at times it can be a challenge to humbly submit to what God has decreed. Here in this third petition, we must pray for God’s grace and mercy in both areas.
The catechism answer ends with this little remark, “as the angels do in heaven.” In heaven, there are elect angels. These angels did not rebel in the beginning, nor will they ever rebel. They worship and serve God faithfully day and night. They obey him always, and they submit themselves to his decree. We aim to be like them in this regard. Lord, help us.
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Conclusion
Q. 110. What do we pray for in the third petition?
A. In the third petition, which is, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” we pray that God by His grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things, as the angels do in heaven. (Matt. 6:10; Ps. 103:20,21; Ps. 25:4,5; Ps. 119:26)
