8th March 2026 - Brendan Hurley

Good morning. I suspect, like last week, this

week's sermon will be a little longer. So apologies

if you haven't had your cup of coffee. If the

person next to you starts shutting their eyes,

just assume they're praying. Assume the best

in them. And if they start snoring, then you

can give them a gentle elbow. But let's pray,

let's ask God to help us as we look at his word

now. And I hope you'll see a little longer sermon

today is worth it too. Father, thank you so much

that we can gather as your people. And we ask

that you would comfort us, challenge us, change

us, convict us, help us today as we look at your

word to be made more into the likeness of the

Lord Jesus. And we ask this in his name. Amen.

I want to tell you about two people and my challenge

for you is for you to try and work out what these

two people have in common. The first is Jack.

Jack lives in Cairns over in Brinsmead somewhere.

He grew up going to a Catholic church and a Catholic

school and he hated being there. He did not enjoy

it. And so Jack now is done with Christianity

or anything remotely like Christianity. Too many

rules, too many restrictions. Christianity, that

to me sounds like a straight jacket. And since

he's done that, his life feels freer. Jack thinks

I get to do what I want now. I can sleep with

who I want. I don't have to deal with any of

that Catholic guilt. That's hardcore stuff. Sometimes

he feels like something's missing in his life,

but he ignores it and he tries to get back to

having fun. That's what he thinks life's all

about, is just enjoy it, live in the moment.

The second person is Jill. What do these two

have in common? Jill is a Christian. She comes

to Northern Hope regularly. She believes heaven

and hell are real. believes that Jesus' death

saved her from her sins, but living with him

as her Lord often feels like she's sucking on

lemons. There's all these commands in the Bible

about anger, generosity, sexuality, truth -telling,

a whole range of things, and trying to keep them

all feels like she's carrying a bag of bricks

around. A few of her friends follow Jesus. Most

of her friends live however they want. And sometimes

when she sees that, she resents God. She feels

ripped off. They're getting to live the good

life and here's me, I'm doing what you want,

Lord. I wonder if you can relate with either

Jack or Jill. But did you see what they have

in common? Both of them have serious misgivings

about God's will. I reckon both of them would

struggle to believe the third petition in the

Lord's Prayer. Your will be done on earth as

it is in heaven. They'd be going, really, is

God's will actually that good? Is God's will

actually heavenly? How can God's will be better

than what I want? And you know what, I don't

think it's just Jack and Jill. I think we all

struggle with that, don't we? Sometimes we can

read the Bible and we can wonder, are God's commands

just OTT over the top? Are they from a bygone

era and just irrelevant now? Why are we really

following them today? I think the big one we

ask is, how could God's will be better than my

will? What I want's awesome. How could what he

wants for me be better than what I want for me?

Well, today, let's take a look at God's will

and see if it's all it's cracked up to be. Here's

the big thing I hope you'll take away from today.

I hope this will stick with you, not just today,

but for the rest of your life. God's will being

done is heaven. God's will being done is heaven,

so pray that it'd be done on earth. God's will

being done is heaven, so pray it'd be done on

earth. And there's three aspects in our passage

we're going to look at as to what that means.

Firstly, God's will is heavenly. God's will is

heavenly. Secondly, pray we'd trust God's will.

And thirdly, pray we'd do God's will. There are

three things. God's will is heavenly, pray we'd

trust God's will. And thirdly, pray we'd do God's

will. So let's start with the first one. Is God's

will truly heavenly, because that's what our

passage is saying. God's will is heavenly. But

you've got to ask the question, well, what is

heavenly? What is heaven? How do you picture

it? As a kid, I pictured heaven as fluffy clouds

with chocolate fondue fountains and unlimited

sport and a golf swing like Tiger Woods. My kids,

they once described heaven as a place with superpowers.

So they're thinking Marvel DC, you know, I've

got super speed and I can fly everywhere. Belinda

Carlisle in the 80s, she sang that song Heaven

is a Place on Earth and really for her it was

all about sharing life with a lover. What's heaven?

Well Jesus' view of heaven is different. He says,

your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

God being king, God being in charge, everyone

gladly following what he wants, Jesus says, that's

heaven. Now for some people that sounds like

a dystopian dictatorship hell. And if it were

run by any mere human, it would be. But heaven

is run by God. It's where everyone is like Jesus.

It's the paradise that humans long for and try

to create, but we always seem to somehow ruin

or sabotage it. I've got here a cap that comes

from a hotel that we've stayed at a few times

on the Gold Coast called Paradise Resort. And

the slogan for Paradise Resort is, heaven for

kids, paradise for parents. It's pretty good.

It's awesome. They've got water slides, pools,

laser tags, various food outlets, bars, playstations

in some of the rooms, a gift shop, ice skating.

You're near the theme parks. And the best part

for the parents, there's a kids' club. Just drop

them off. On paper, it should be paradise. It

has everything. But when we've gone there and

stayed, It's good, but it's not paradise. You

look around and you see kids whining, I wanted

the burger, not the chicken nuggets. You see

families fighting. Wives and husbands fighting,

kids fighting with their parents. All sorts of

things, just fighting and selfishness and all

sorts of ugliness. It's meant to be paradise.

Why is this paradise tarnished? Because people

are not acting like Jesus. Imagine if everyone

there thought and acted like Jesus. Loving God

with everything, loving each other as themselves.

Just as Jesus did during his life, a life where

he embodied God's will. then it would actually

be Paradise Resort, wouldn't it? Brendan, what

happens if the water slide goes out, you know,

it's out of order? Or the kids club gets shut,

you know? No, it'd still be heavenly because

everyone would be acting like Jesus. I think

most people would agree, if you ask them, a world

of Jesus carbon copies would be heaven for the

most part. But if you press them, I think you'd

find that on things like sexuality, alcohol or

money many folk would still have some strong

reservations. I think there's a sense in a lot

of people see Jesus as this religious prude.

But you've got to remember even on these things

Jesus lived God's will and it was awesome. Jesus

went and drank with the tax collectors and sinners.

He didn't get drunk, but he did enjoy a drink.

He honoured sex is a good gift between married

people. It's a created thing that God made. And

money, it's a good gift from God. Yes, we've

got to steward it well. Yes, we've got to guard

our hearts. It can easily become an idol, but

it is a good gift from God to be enjoyed as well.

That's Jesus' approach. It makes you wonder,

is God's way possibly better than ours? A while

ago, Laura made delicious noodle stir fry for

our family. And it tasted better than any Chinese

takeaway I've had. And it was nutritious. Win

-win. But one of our boys at dinnertime chose

to have a staring competition with his food.

He'd look at it but not eat it. And we told him,

eat your dinner. It's so good, you'll like it."

And he said, Dad, it looks disgusting. I don't

want it. And he was very happy to go hungry.

But after some warnings and encouragement, he

eventually ate some. Do you know what he said?

This is yummy. He thought he knew better than

us. But he discovered that we actually knew what's

best. He's probably forgotten that by now, but

he discovered at the time we knew best. And I'm

sad to admit, I am often like that with God.

Even though he created me and everything and

knows how it all works best, even though his

infinite knowledge, knowing everything, every

outcome, the essence of all goodness, even though

I followed his will at times and seen firsthand

that it's better than mine, Even though God's

like that, so often I still think I know better

than him. That I'm better off with what I want

instead of with what he wants. You know, whether

I do God's will or not, it all boils down to

one thing. Trust. Do I believe that God can be

trusted? that he really does know best. The guy

dismissing Christianity because it's sexual ethics

and other things are too restrictive, that's

not a behaviour issue. It's a belief issue, isn't

it? The Christian who keeps watching porn, telling

lies, is greedy and stingy, uses their words

like daggers, they don't have a behaviour issue.

If they're going to change, they need to focus

on what they believe about God. And the Christian

who begrudgingly keeps God's commands, they've

got the same problem. They lack joy because they

believe that God is either ignorant or holding

out on them. But is that really the truth about

God? That sounds to me like the voice of the

evil one. Because the God we encounter in the

Bible, is more good and loving than you and I

could ever know or imagine. He's trustworthy,

loyal, caring, good, wise, faithful and generous.

He's a good father. His commands are generous,

freeing and life -giving. But you might ask,

well, Brendan, how do I know God and His will

truly are that good? I mean, you're just saying

it. How do I know? And I'd want to say because

of Jesus. His teaching unpacks the true riches

of God's commands. Just read the Sermon on the

Mount, it's beautiful. His life embodied the

joyful beauty of living God's way. And not only

that, it exposed the frauds, it exposed the religious

leaders of his day as that's not living God's

way and it's horrible, it's twisted. Actually,

his life, Jesus' life was so attractive and profound

that it spread like wildfire, people going, I

want that. His teaching and living transformed

person after person after person right down to

us today. The rich, the poor, the moral, the

immoral, the religious, the non -religious, people

all over the world, all over history changed

by Jesus. God's will is good. But the clearest

place where we see that God's will can be trusted

is the cross. There you see a God so loving that

He'll do what's best for us even when it costs

Him. There you see a God so powerful and wise

He planned that His obedient Son's defeat would

be the greatest triumph in the universe. That

through him heaven would be opened to anyone

who trusts in Jesus You see a God who's so good

that he vindicates all who trust him just as

he did his son Jesus prayed not my will but yours

be done Because he believed God's will is glorious

good and beautiful he believed it was heavenly

God's will being done is literally heaven. Do

you believe that? If you don't, go back to your

Bible and see it again. But what else should

we do then? Well, if you want to experience more

of heaven on earth, then there's two things we

need to pray into. Firstly, we need to pray that

we trust God's will. pray that we trust God's

will. And this is important because the Bible

speaks of God's will in one of two ways. When

we're praying your will be done, there's two

aspects to it. Firstly, we're praying that we

trust God's decreed will, His will of decree.

And secondly, we're praying that we trust God's

will of command, His commanded will. The Bible

speaks of His decreed will like this. But on

taking leave of them, this is Paul, he said,

I will return to you if God wills. And he set

sail from Ephesus. God's decreed will is his

sovereign arranging of all events. Now, sometimes

God's decreed will, his sovereign will, is painful

and unpleasant. It was painful for Paul to leave

brothers and sisters and not know if he was going

to see them again. But it's still heavenly because

he believed that whatever God willed, he'd be

using it to make us more like Jesus. Years ago,

Laura and I ran a holiday kids club called Winterfest

in Perth and it was so much fun. We had about

200 kids, I think it was, and 100 volunteers.

It was awesome. And we did a wilderness theme.

That's what those photos are there. And one of

the things we did was a wood whittling class.

We got this guy to come in and teach the kids

how to whittle sticks with like little peelers

and sticks. It was so fun. The kids had a blast.

I had a blast. In my head, I had dreams of becoming

a great wood whittling artist. It lasted about

a week. But I must admit I have great admiration

for those who can whittle. In Perth there was

this little shop at the Hillary's Boat Harbour

that they had all these wooden things people

had carved and I just thought it was amazing,

you know, little spoons, little figures. Do you

know God's actually into whittling as well? He

whittles every Christian with the events of their

life. Whittle, whittle, whittle. I had this happen

to make you more like Jesus. Here's how Paul

puts it in Romans 8. In the same way the Spirit

helps us in our weakness, we do not know what

we ought to pray for. You know, have you ever

been in that situation where you just don't know

what to pray? But praise God, we have his spirit.

But the spirit himself intercedes for us through

wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts

knows the mind of the spirit because the spirit

intercedes for God's people in accordance with

the will of God. And what is that will of God?

Well, that's what the next bit is. And we know

that in all things, God works for the good of

those who love him, who've been called according

to his purpose. What's God's good purpose? What's

the good things? Well, for those God foreknew,

he also predestined to be conformed to the image

of his son, that he might be the firstborn among

many brothers and sisters. God's good purpose

is that he whittles people to becoming more like

Jesus, conformed to the image of his son. Praying

your will be done involves us surrendering to

God's sovereign ordering of events. It's trusting

Him in what's happening. It's believing there's

a purpose behind whatever is happening that you

will be made more Christ -like. What's it look

like? I mean, you know, we can pray and not know

what to pray, but maybe you can pray. Maybe you

can pray something like this, Father. I don't

know why you gave me cancer. I don't know why

my spouse left. I don't know why I lost my job.

Whatever the thing you're going through is, please

use it to make me like Jesus. Help me not to

lose heart. Help me to trust you in this. Help

me to grow through this. Amen. Is there that

surrender in your prayer life? You know, I was

reflecting on this. So often my prayers are asking

God to change my circumstances. And that's right

and proper and something we should all keep doing.

But it needs to be paired with praying that my

circumstances would change me. Do you need to

pray more often like that? I know I do. But that's

not all your will be done means. We pray that

we trust God's will, but then we pray that we

do God's will. Remember God's will, there's two

aspects to it. His will of decree, His will of

command, and His will of command is about seeking

to do what is pleasing to Him. This is how we

should respond to God's will of command. When

we pray that we and other Christians will do

what God wants. That's praying in line with God's

will of command, with his laws, his rules, his

commandments. We're asking for heaven on earth

to come. That's what we're doing when we pray

these things. And think about what God's will

is in the New Testament. God's will includes

holiness, contentment, Submission to those in

authority. I know some of those things to some

of you might not sound so great, but they are

wonderful. And it always comes in response to

God's mercy. It's seeking to please Him because

He so loved us. But to please Him, we have to

know what's pleasing to Him in different situations

and different contexts. Here's how Paul puts

it in Romans 12. Do not conform to the pattern

of this world, but be transformed by the renewing

of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and

approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing

and perfect will. Don't be a cookie cutter. Don't

be just like the rest of the world. Have your

mind changed. As you encounter God's mercy and

His will in the Bible, may it change your thinking.

As you try and live it out, may it change your

thinking so that you go, I know what is pleasing

to God now. Years ago, I played AFL. Not well,

but I played. I played for a team in Sydney called

the Forest Lions. We weren't very good. We had

one good year where we lost the grand final by

a goal. It still haunts me to this day. But while

I was playing footy, the coaches, they teach

you lots of things. They teach you stretching.

They teach you skills, kicking, handballing.

They teach you about positioning. But there's

a big one that's so, so important. They teach

you about decision making in different scenarios.

Oh, you're injured. What do you do? Do you play

through it? No, you come off and let someone

else who's got a full tank run on the ground.

Oh, you've got the ball in the back line. Okay,

take it out. toward the boundary, because we

don't want to give it to them in the easiest

place where they can take a shot. If you're attacking,

we'll put it in the middle, because then you

can have a good spot to shoot from. Teaching

to think is such a big part of footy. And they

were trying to teach us how to think the coach's

thoughts after him. As the coach thinks it, we're

meant to think in line with that. And that's

what Christians do as well. As we prayerfully

study the scriptures and seek to put them into

practice, we work out what God's will is. We

think God's thoughts after him and we discover

what pleases him. We become more like Jesus and

we form communities that become a little entree,

a little taster of what heaven is like. That's

why it's so important that we be a church that's

deep in God's Word, both in our preaching and

in growth groups and one -to -ones and a whole

range of things. But it's not just that we'd

know and do God's will, it's that we'd joyfully

do it from the heart. Sometimes Laura says to

me, can you take the bins out? There are three

responses I can give. I can please myself and

say, no, I'm not going to do it. I can please

her begrudgingly. All right, I'll take the bins

out. Or I can please her gladly. Yes, my love,

it'd be my pleasure to take the bins out. I reckon

Christians have the same struggle when we're

pleasing God, don't we? Let me give you an example

of what it might look like. Sometimes we take

our kids to the lagoon for a swim and a play,

and I tell you what, that is a hard place for

a testosterone -fuelled male to do God's will.

There are often many stunning women in bikinis

everywhere. What should I do? Not go to the lagoon?

Well, that is a good option. Doesn't always work

though. Sometimes you're just in situations where

you're stuck there. I could go and just give

in to my lusts, but that wouldn't be very pleasing

to God. Or loving to my wife. I could not look

begrudgingly. There's connoisseur. She's so beautiful.

I mean she's just come off the boat from Brazil

and No, no, don't look don't look it's not no

don't look naughty Yeah, that just leads to resentment

doesn't it You know what I can do I can pray

Good Heavenly Father all these women here are

beautiful Thank you for making beautiful women

like that. That's because you're a good God.

You make beautiful things. But I trust you. You

say these aren't for me. And you made my beautiful

wife. Help me to do your will. To joyfully not

look at them. To trust you when you say that's

not for me. Can you see how different that is?

It's so much better, because then it's a delight

to do God's will. It's not drudgery. Are there

scenarios in your life where you need to pray

like that? Father, help me to see how good your

will is. Well, let's draw some threads together.

We started by asking, how can God's will be better

than my will? I hope today you've seen that it

is. That His will is heavenly. And when we see

that and believe it, we become people who pray

that it would be done and seek to do it. Here's

our big thing that we saw today. God's will being

done is heaven. Literally, that's heaven. God's

will being done is heaven. So pray it be done

on earth. And the three aspects that we saw today,

God's will is heavenly. Pray that we trust God's

will. When life events throw things at you, pray

that you trust that God's working it out. He

hasn't fallen asleep at the wheel. He's still

driving the bus. He's doing a great job. But

also get to know God's will. Get to know what

He wants you to do. pray that you'd do God's

will. Now, what's all this mean for us? Well,

if you're here today and you're not yet a Christian,

if you're like Jack from the very beginning,

I want to challenge you. Is it possible that

Christianity is not what you thought? The Christianity

of Bible is so different to what most people

in the public think. You don't do God's will.

to enter heaven. It's not a thing you earn. It's

not some ladder that you climb up to get into

God's good books. No, Jesus has already done

it all for you. Jesus perfectly did God's will

his whole life to save you. Christians do God's

will as worship. As a response to God's love,

and it's such a good will, it's surprisingly

liberating. If you're sceptical of God's will

being good, do this next. This is what I'd encourage

you to do. Ask God to show you the beauty of

His will. Sit down just for five minutes, pray

to Him. God, I don't even know if you're there,

but please, if you are, show me how beautiful

your will is. And then I'd encourage you, go

look at Jesus in the Gospels. See the beauty

that exists in what he teaches and in what he

does. And finally, if you're really hardcore,

really genuine and curious, hang out with some

real Christians who love doing what God wants.

Just watch them. They're not going to get it

right all the time. You know, don't be too harsh.

But watch them, see if they have a little slice

of heaven in the way they live. Watch the joy,

the love, the goodness that exists in the way

they live and then ask yourself, am I better

off as I am? Am I better off doing life my own

way or God's way? But if you're a Christian,

if you're like Jill from the start, Well, I hope

you've seen today all of us should pray your

will be done But if I say you should do you know

what happens when people tell me should It's

another thing to do. I don't want to do it then

or I just resent having to do What stops that

if I say, you know pray your will be done what

will make it a joy for you in a delight See Jesus

in Gethsemane. Do you remember the Garden of

Gethsemane? Jesus heading to the cross. He's

sweating drops of blood. It's intense. He knows

how awful it is to go to the cross. And yet he

could pray, not my will, but yours be done. When

you look at that, here's two things you meant

to see. There's no pressure or fear now for us.

Jesus did God's will for us. For all the times

we failed to do God's will, it has been taken

care of. Jesus died in our place. He took that

punishment. He obeyed his father and was able

to rescue us from our sins. It's a bit like this.

You know when there's a big bush fire? It's destructive,

isn't it? Jesus is like a back burn. That's how

you protect your home from a forest fire, isn't

it? You back burn and you burn it off already

and so you're fine, you're safe. If you go stand

in a burnt -off area, the fire can't touch you,

can it? Well, that's what's happened to every

Christian. Jesus is like a backburn. The cross

is like a backburn. God's punishment for not

doing his will has been poured out onto Jesus

so that you can stand in safety. You are secure.

You are safe in him. You are fully forgiven.

There is no punishment left that God can dish

out to you if you trust Jesus. But then also,

look at Gethsemane and see the beauty of doing

God's will. See that God wants better things

than what I want. That his will was good, pleasing

and perfect. I mean Gethsemane proves it. Because

his will led to the salvation of many and the

glorification of his son. See the joy in doing

God's will. And that mindset makes praying your

will be done. Not drudgery, but delight. If we

want to see heaven on earth, even just a shadow

of heaven on earth, we need to take a gospel

-centred approach. We need to, from our love

of Jesus, pray your will be done. Are you praying

your will be done with joy? Let's pray now. Heavenly

Father, we want to thank you so much that your

will is good, pleasing and perfect, that your

will is heavenly. We ask that you would help

us to be a church that prays your will be done

and delights in doing your will. And we pray

that you would help us to do that from a gospel

-centred place, that we do it in response to

your mercy. Your grace in forgiving us for all

the times we fail to do Your will. Help us with

these things, Father. Your will be done. We ask

this in Jesus' Name. Amen.