REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
FLIP CHART: John Stott’s outline of SOM.
REVIEW 11.25.07
1. Only those who have been born-again by the Spirit of God and adopted into God’s family can rightly call God their Father.
4. No one should ever despise themselves when they realize that they have been adopted by our Heavenly Father. My Father’s unique choice of me shows how special I am to Him.
5. We must always remember who God is before we go to prayer. We need especially to remember that He is our Father and He loves us, delights in and loves to answer our prayers.
6. Prayer is one of the key ways in which God receives glory and thus it is vital that we pray so that His name will be glorified on this earth!
This then is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:7-13)
INTRODUCTION:
READING: One commentator feels that this prayer sums up in a nutshell the passion of Jesus. We need to keep this in mind as we study the prayer. He writes, “The more I have studied Jesus in his historical setting, the more it has become clear to me that this prayer sums up fully and accurately, albeit in a very condensed fashion, the way in which Jesus read and responded to the signs of the times, the way in which he understood his own vocation and mission and invited his followers to share it. This prayer, then, serves as a lens through which to see Jesus himself, and to discover something of what he was about. When Jesus gave his disciples this prayer, he was giving them part of his own breath, his own life, his own prayer.” (N.T. Wright, The Lord and His Prayer. Pg. 2)
It is important to remember that for 2,000 years this has been the major prayer of Christendom. Billions of people over the last two millennium have prayed this prayer. Billions pray it today.
Also we need to remember that the privilege of calling God “Father” is one of the marks of grace. Only because of the cross of Christ and the grace of God do we have the right to call God “Father.”
Another important point: “We don’t know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Rom. 8:26). This prayer solves part of that problem. It includes the basic points we should be praying for every day.
TABLE ACTIVITY / FLIP CHART: How could we translate or paraphrase those four words “Hallowed be Thy name” so that it would make more sense to the people on the street? Limit your self to six words!
Write response of the flip chart!
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
1. What’s in a Name?
2. Priority of Hallowing God’s Name / Person
3. How Do We Hallow the Name?
4. Hallowing God’s Name and Hallowing God
HALLOWED BE THY NAME
I. WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Hallowed by Thy name.
ACTIVITY: A computer is similar to our mind. If I type into Google: “define name” I immediately get a response, a kind of pop-up window. I am going to give you a name and I want you to raise your hand if the picture of someone pops-up in your mind. Here is the word: gepru.
For most of us, maybe all of us gepru elicits no response, no pop-up, because it has not meaning.
Now raise your hands if a person pops-up in your mind when I say the following name: Joe. Why do we get responses? Because the name Joe brings to mind a person.
So “j, o, e” three letters, mean nothing in and of themselves. They only mean something when they relate to a person. Also the letters “g, o, d” mean nothing in and of themselves. And when they are used together as god they mean nothing more than what the user perceives them to mean.
The names that the creator of heaven and earth chose for himself so that we can identify Him are many and all introduce us to His character, who He is, what He is like. The first word the Creator chose to introduce himself was elohiym which is a plural masculine noun. Then He goes on to give many names:
In the Old Testament, He was commonly known by the name “Jehovah.” This is the name by which He revealed Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai, Ex. 3:14. There, we are told this name means “I AM That I AM.” This phrase literally means, “I will become what I please.” The word translated “I AM” in Hebrew is “Yavah.” This word has the literal meaning of “The Becoming One.” It speaks of God as One whose will is supreme, whose purposes are certain and whose word is unalterable. THE SELF-EXISTENT ONE.
1. Jehovah-Jireh – Gen. 22:14 – “The Lord will provide.”
2. Jehovah-Nissi – Ex. 17:15 – “The Lord is our banner, or our victory.”
3. Jehovah-Shalom – Jud. 6:24 – “The Lord is our peace.”
4. Jehovah-Tsidkenu – Jer. 23:6 – “The Lord Who is our righteousness.”
5. Jehovah-Rohi – Psa. 23:1 – “The Lord my Shepherd.”
6. Jehovah-Rapheka – Ex. 15:26 – “The Lord our healer.”
7. Jehovah-Shammah – Eze. 48:35 – “The Lord is there.”
8. Jehovah-Tsebaoth – Isa. 37:16 – “The Lord of hosts.”
9. “Elohim”, which means “God.”
10. Jehovah-Elyon – “The Lord most high.”
11. Jehovah-M’Kaddesh – “The Lord our sanctifier.”
12. El-Shaddai – “The all-sufficient One, or the Almighty God.
13. Adonai – “Lord.”
14. We call him “Father.”
The name of an individual embodied something relating to his character. We see this in Psalam 20:7 – Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name (character) of the LORD our God.
“The Jewish people referred to God as ‘The Name,’ in order to avoid the use of the actual term Jehovah, so that the ‘name’ here means God Himself.” (MLJ, 59). This was due to their fear of breaking the third commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name” (Ex. 20:7).
This concern is understood when we note some of the Old Testament references:
“But I withheld my hand, and for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.” (Ezek. 20:22).
“I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations” (Ezek. 36:21).
God is very concerned about how people perceive Him, what they think about when speaking His name.
“My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty (Malachi 1:11).
So when we pray “Hallowed be thy name” were are really saying “Hallowed be Jehovah is all his character, person, qualities, and glory.” We are not focusing on just the name ‘god’ but focusing on the person behind the name.
II PRIORITY OF “HALLOWING” GOD’S NAME / PERSON
“Hallowed be Thy name.”
The beginning of the Lord’s Prayer is similar to the first line in the Jewish Kaddish, which is one of the central prayers in the Jewish Prayer Service. The first line reads: “Exalted and sanctified is God’s great name.”
Note that the first request in the Lord’s Prayer is “upward” relating to God’s glory alone …. Then we come down to earth and pray for His kingdom and His will to be done …. And then focus on our needs.
The glory of God must take precedence in all of our praying! This must be our primary concern. Is it? This must be primary, the foundation, the beginning of all of our prayers!!!!! It encompasses all of God’s nature and all of our response to His nature.
Our Lord Jesus was always concerned about the glory of the Father. He said, “I have not come to seek mine own glory but the glory of Him who sent me.” “I have glorified you on the earth. I have completed the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4). Jesus even wanted His suffering to bring glory to God. (John 12:27-28).
“The means of this petition is a burning desire that the whole world may bow before God in adoration, in reverence, in praise, in worship, in honor and in thanksgiving.” (MLJ, 61)
All the other requests concerning God’s kingdom, His will, our daily bread, our forgiving and being forgiven, our walk of holiness … all of them result in God name being hallowed, e.g. God being glorified.
APPLICATION: Every time we pray, in every situation, our very first request should be that our Father’s person, identity, character, nature, attributes, reputation, his very being be recognized, honored, adored, praised and worshipped for who He really is throughout the world. In a sense this prayer is a missionary prayer!
ILL: I think the prayer I have probably prayed more often than any other at that level is, “Father, cause your name to be hallowed in my life and through my life.” “Hallowed be thy name.” “Make my life a means of people coming to reverence your name and love your name and praise and honor and cherish and treasure and glorify your name.” I can recall during my seminary days ending my morning jogging in Pasadena by sprinting east on Orange Grove Boulevard as the sun was coming up, and praying with my arms in the air and my heart pounding, “God only give me life – only keep my heart beating – if it will cause people to hallow your name. Let your name be hallowed by my life!” (John Piper)
III. HOW DO WE “HALLOW” THE NAME?
“Hallowed be Thy name.”
Hallowed – To render of acknowledge, or to be venerable or hallow; to be separate from profane things; to be dedicated to God.
“To set apart as holy,” “to consider holy,” “to treat as holy.” The best alternate term is reverence.”May you be given that unique reverence that your character and nature as Father demand.” (Hughes, 163)
In the sporting world we will hear a sportscaster talk about “hallowed turf” which is rather weird. He really means some great sporting events took place there.
ILL: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
ILL: Several weeks ago Gloria and I were invited to a piano recital by Josh and Marisa. The recital focused on American patriotic music e.g. Yankee Doodle, America the Beautiful, O Susanna, The Marine Hymn etc. Towards the end of the recital one student played The Star Spangled Banner. Immediately the whole audience stood to their feet. It seemed so natural. I think this is what “hallowing” means, a very natural response full of respect and reverence.
APPLICATION: When we hear the name of God, what does it elicit in our hearts? In our minds?
ILL: Jewish scribes, who were engaged in the practice of copying the Word of God, were so respectful of His hallowed name that they would wash their bodies, and change their pens before they wrote His name. After they had written His name, they destroyed that quill so that it could not be profaned by writing a lesser word. Many times, when referring to God, the Jews simply referred to “The Name.”
READING: How do you treat God? Because if this holy majestic God who defends his honor and glory is the true and living God, then how do you treat him? In today’s world, familiarity is the name of the game. Many of us will probably address our boss at work by their first name, whereas years ago we would probably have said Mr. Smith or Mr. Tinker. Often the older generation are aggrieved that respect seems to have been lost. I remember hearing the Christian leader John Stott say that he wanted to be known as Dr. Stott, not because he was pompous and old fashioned, but because he felt that the title carried with it a certain amount of respect for one’s elder. He’s been an international Christian leader now for over 60 years, and he rightly has earned a certain level of respect. And he said he was fed up with 20 year olds bounding up to him and saying something like, “Yo John, man. How’s it hanging?” (From the web)
READING: Perhaps emails and texting have added to our over familiarity with each other. Email etiquette is a source of great debate among some circles, but at the very least ways of addressing people have largely gone out of the window and have been replaced with “hi” or even nothing at all. And certainly with texting, then text language is something of a phenomenon in itself. We barely address each other when texting. Instead we’ll say things like, “R U OK? C u this avo, 2pm. L8ters. N” Now I don’t want to be heard to be a “fuddy duddy” or old-fashioned, but I wonder whether this relational familiarity has crept into Christian circles too when relating to God. Yes, we know God is our loving Father and rightly there is a deep intimacy that we are to enjoy. But we must never allow that intimacy to be replaced by treating God as if he were just a mate we hang out with, someone into whose presence we breeze without a care in the world, someone whose burning holiness we treat lightly. Do you spend time adoring God for his majesty, his greatness, his judgments, his acts of salvation. Or do you just launch in and say “Yo Dad. I’ve had a shocker today. Just sort out that guy at work will you. Ta ta. Later!”
APPLICATION: Remember he is our Father “IN HEAVEN.” So there is familiarity since He is our Father but there is also deep reverence, respect and awe because he is our “HEAVENLY” Father.
Too much “Abba,” too much “Daddy,” can move us into weak sentimentalism. Always remember that He is the “Heavenly” Father.
“Hallowing His name” certainly includes misusing His name or avoiding outright misuse by using popular synonyms:
QUESTION / FLIP CHART: What are some of the synonyms people use when misusing the name of God? Write them on the Flip Chart.
READING: Far too many people are guilty of taking His precious name in vain. Words like “Gosh, golly, gah, gee, gee whiz, cripes, criminy, jeeze,” are all derived from the names of God and Jesus. Be careful little tongue what you say! How many times have we heard, or said, “Oh God!”; “Oh my God!”; “Jesus!”; “Oh Jesus!”; “Oh Christ!”; “Jesus Christ!”; “God Almighty!”; or any of a thousand others just like those? Even Christians are guilty of saying things like, “Oh Lord!”; “My God!”; “Good God!” We’ve all done it, but it is degrading to the Lord’s Name to throw it around so casually. His name is a hallowed name and it is to be treated with respect and reverence.
QUESTION: Why is our name for the deity used in the most awful way in our society, e.g. “God damn it!,” “Jesus Christ!,” “Jesus!”???
“But indeed it is almost alarming to observe the way in which we (believers) tend to use the name of God. We obviously do not realize that we are talking about the every blessed, eternal, and absolute, almighty God. These is a send in which we should take our shows off our feet whenever we use His name.” (MLJ, 60).
“To hallow God’s name is to revere, honor, glorify, and obey Him as singularly perfect. As John Calvin observed, that God’s name should be hallowed was nothing other than to say that God should have His own honor, of which He was so worthy, that men should never think or speak of Him without the greatest veneration” (MacArthur, 378).
QUESTION: What do you say to people who might say that God is on a real “ego trip” in wanting His name to be honored all over the world?
Some people might say that God is on a real “ego trip” wanting His name to be honored. Why is he so big on Himself? Where is humility? But for one thing God knows that our truest happiness comes when we truly with all of our hearts glorify and honor and Him. So the greatest good happens to us when we hallow His name.
IV. HALLOWING GOD’S NAME = HALLOWING GOD
“Hallowed be Thy name.”
The holiness and greatness of God is emphasized and referred to again and again in the Bible.
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almight; the whole earth if full of His glory” (Isa. 6:3).
“Such a high priest meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted in the heavens.” (Heb. 7:26)
Each hour the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is and is to come.” (Rev. 4:8)
QUESTION / TABLE DISCUSSION: What are some of the key things we must do, some of the key ways we can hallow the name of God?
WE HALLOW GOD’S NAME WHEN WE ARE CAREFUL NOT TO PROFANE GOD’S NAME WITH OUR MOUTH.
WE HALLOW GOD’S NAME WHEN WE REVERENCE HIM AS FATHER WITH ACTS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WORSHIP.
God reveals His presence;
Let us now adore Him,
And with awe appear before Him.
God is in His temple:
All within keep silence,.
Prostrate lie in deepest reverence.
Him alone, God we own.
Him our God and Savior:
Praise His name forever. (Gerhard Tersteegen, 1697-1769)
They love thee little if at all
Who do not fear Thee much.
If love is Thine attraction Lord,
Fear is Thy very touch. (F. Faber)
WE HALLOW HIS NAME WHEN OUR BELIEFS CONCERNING HIM ARE WORTHY OF HIM.
We must know who He is. His names tell us a lot. We need to learn about his character, person, attributes, grace etc. We must have a true knowledge of Him if we are to be able to reverence, honor and glorify His name.
We must specifically know Him as our Dear Heavenly Father, our Abba-Father.
WE HALLOW HIS NAME WHEN WE LIVE IN AWARENESS OF HIS PRESENCE.
David wrote, “I have set the LORD always before me.” (Ps. 16:8)
WE HALLOW HIS NAME BY LIVING A LIFE THAT DISPLAYS THAT HE IS OUR FATHER.
Gregory of Nyssa (335-394AD) offered a prayer in relation to the exposition of this part of the prayer: May I become through thy help blameless, just and pious; may I abstain from every evil, speak the truth, and do justice. May I walk in the straight path, shining with temperance, adorned with incorruption, beautiful through wisdom and prudence. May I meditate upon the things that are above and despise what is earthly, showing the angelic way of life … For a man can glorify God in no other way save by his virtue which bears witness that the Divine Power is the cause of his goodness.” (Hughes, 165)
We should be able to write over every area of our lives the inscription “Hallowed be thy name.” When we cannot write that inscription over an area of our lives, then that area of life must be changed and brought under the subjection of God’s will. In all that I do, everywhere I go, the activities I choose, the habits I form, the music I choose, the movies I watch, the friends I choose; whether it be in my body, my soul or my mind, I am to hallow His name. When I can’t do that, then I cannot pray like I should. When I can’t do that, my witness is hindered. When I cannot do that, I must make some radical changes in my life. When believers walk in disobedience to the will of God, they are guilty of taking His name is vain.
So, how does “Hallowing God’s Name” relate to the Sermon on the Mount, relate to the key verse: For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (5:20).
The Pharisees “hallowed” the name in that they did not mention the “name” and were ritually pure but they did not bring their hearts into line with God’s deepest purposes.
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain ….” (Mt. 15:8).
We can seek to hallow His name by cleaning up our language, singing worship songs, having right doctrine about God, and even believe that He is everywhere present but if our hearts are not in tune with Him and our lives don’t match up Jesus will say about us: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain …”
Alan Redpath, a well-known British Bible teacher of the past century said that the only reason God leaves us here after we are saved is so that we can hallow His name, that is glorify Him before a lost and dying world. He wants “Hallowed be Thy Name” written across every area of our lives so that we will be so clean and so different that people will be drawn to Him!
SO WHAT???
1. When we talk about hallowing God’s name we are really talking about hallowing His person, His being. “Name” is a synonym for “Person / Being.”
2. God is very much concerned that His name, e.g. His person be hallowed throughout the world. He wants people to respect and honor Him.
3. All of our prayers should begin with a cry that God’s name and person will be honored, revered and glorified around the world. This is what he desires and this is certainly would be the greatest blessing to all mankind.
4. We must avoid a trivializing sentimental familiarity when referring to God but while noting that He is our Father, He is also “Heavenly” all-powerful and due our awe and reverence.
5. We need to clean up our “Christian” language and get away from misusing God’s name by using improper synonyms common in popular language.
6. We hallow God’s name, glorify Him when across every area of our lives can be written “Hallowed be Thy name.”
7. The fact is everything in our lives can be wrong even though we seem so right …. if our hearts are far from God.