Call Home: Why don’t we call God by name?
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· 4 views“hallowed be your name”… “Holy is your name”… When Jesus told us to “pray like this,” He gave us one of the most powerful statements of faith found in the Bible! “Hallowed be Your name” Means to set aside God — Our Father — as SACRED in our lives! But what does that mean?
Notes
Transcript
Luke 11:1–4 (NIV)
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’ ”
“hallowed be Your name,”
What does the word “Hallowed” mean?
“make holy, sanctify, to cause one to” — Double Greek Lexicon
“to feel reverence for or to honor as holy” — Louw-Nida Greek/English Lexicon
According to the American Heritage Dictionary:
“1. Sanctified; consecrated.”
“2. Holy, venerated; Sacrosact.”
“3. Belonging to or derived from or associated with a divine power; made holy.”
— American Heritage Dictionary
Are you getting the idea? To be holy, means that something is deemed special, sacred, of utmost importance…
But… How is something made holy?
— It is sanctified, amen?
When something is sanctified it is “set aside for sacred, or ceremonial, use.” — American Heritage Dict.
(look back at Luke 11:2)
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
Jesus tells us here to pray: “Father, Hallowed is Your Name…”
He is telling us to recognize God as “our Holy Father”, AND… to set aside God as “Holy in our lives.” … To declare Him sacred… To give Him purpose in our lives!!!
Now hold on… wait a minute… Didn’t Jesus ask God to do that for us?
Look @ John 17.
John 17:11–12 (NIV)
11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
— What is God’s name? (“Holy” According to Jesus’s prayer)
John 17:16–19 (NIV)
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
What is the Truth? (God’s Word)
John tells us…
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
and then in verse 14
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus said…
John 14:6 (NIV)
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus is The Word… He is The Truth, Amen?
Now… What does He mean when He says, “I sanctify myself, that they may be sanctified also…”?
— It means He set Himself aside for the purposes of “Our Father in heaven”, amen?
What did Jesus pray in the Garden of Gethsemane?
— “Not my will, but Your will be done…”
Jesus made Himself holy — He consecrated himself — for the purposes of the Father…
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
— We are sanctified, or “made holy”, through the Name of Jesus… through His Holiness… through His sacrifice — His act of mercy, compassion, and grace… and OUR ACCEPTANCE OF, AND COMMITMENT TO IT!
Our prayers should declare that Faith!!
“When we pray, ‘Hallowed be Your Name,’ we are saying, ‘Let Your Name be holy on earth as it is in heaven.’” — Keith Newman
“Hallowed be Your Name”
When we pray that, we are declaring that God is holy… that He is sacred in our lives.
In that action, we are sanctifying ourselves to Him… (listen) THROUGH HIS NAME!!!
But that begs the question: “What place do we give God in our lives?”
Look @ our world today…
We give honor to the police… to the military… to doctors and nurses… to teachers… to movie stars and musicians…
We even give honor to those “rock star” pastors, bishops, music leaders, and writers… We even give honor to the pope!
We give them special treatment… holidays… appreciation gifts… support… We celebrate them, and give special attention to their words, direction, and advice…
BUT… What place do we give God?
A.W. Tozer writes: “the Church’s greatest loss today [is] the loss of reverence for God Himself… God will honor a group of believers who honor Him.”
Last Sunday, we went to the opening service of the District Assembly. Dr. Crocker talked about what is “missing” in the Church today. What do you think he said it was?
The Holy Spirit.
He said, “We’ve become distracted by all the ‘noise’… When what we need is the Holy Spirit.”
What is the Noise?
— the programs… the lights… the show… the numbers… the slogans… the mission statements… (we don’t need those things)
Do you see how all of that, distracts us from God?
We need to step away from all the noise… We need to let go of all those bad ideas we’ve learned about what makes a church successful… and we need to set God as sacred in our lives!!!
“Hallowed be Your Name”
What place do you give God in your life?
— Is He more than just “the man upstairs”?
— Have you set Him apart as Holy? As Lord in your life?
We CANNOT have the Holy Spirit in our lives, in our homes, in our church, and in our community… if we do not set aside God as holy in our lives.
How do we make God the Lord of our life? How do we set Him aside as Holy?
— By taking the time to consider and know who He is… AND who we are…
The Jews had three names for God in the OT:
Yahweh — we talked about this one last week… His name was considered so holy… so reverenced… that they dare not speak it…
Elohim — Mighty Creator. The creator of all… the giver and sustainer of life… the One who holds us in His hands… omnipotent, omniscient, omnipotent…
Adonai — (probably the most important) means: “Master, Lord.” — the director, guider, teacher of our lives…
Do you see the importance of those names?
“Hallowed be Your Name”
Newman says: “[we all need] to put a BIG RED STOP SIGN immediately following the words ‘hallowed be Your Name’. Because that is exactly what Jesus is wanting us to do; Stop, Set apart, and See God in His Holiness.”
God is Holy!!!
Look @ 1 Peter 1:15-16
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
We are called to be holy.
How do we do that?
— By setting ourselves apart for God’s purposes.
— By setting God aside as Sacred in our lives.
We need to take time to be still… to allow God to reveal Himself to us… to allow Him to show us His Holiness!
That’s why Psalm 46 tells us to “Be still and KNOW that He is God.”
(everybody needs to go home and write that on your bathroom mirror)
Look @ the book of Job.
— for 37 chapters, people are busy talking… telling their ideas… their theology… their directions… complaining, whining, crying, creating so much noise!!!
— then… finally… God speaks:
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,
How often are we like that?
How often are we so busy just making noise?
How often are we busy telling each other and telling God what we think should happen? What we think He is doing?
We need to learn to be like Job.
Look @ job’s response to God:
4 “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.
We need to take note of this!
We are not worthy!
We cannot provide the answers!
— if we could, we wouldn’t need God!
But GOOD NEWS!!!! We don’t have to be worthy, we just need to shut up, and set aside God as holy, worthy, and sacred in our lives…
We need to put a hand over our mouths, be silent, and let God do what He does!!!
We don’t need more noise! We don’t need more programs… more lights… more smoke… more presence online… We need the Holy Spirit!!!
And we get the Holy Spirit by joining the circle.
Look @ 1 Peter 1:15-16
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
We are called to “be holy” because “God is holy”.
We become Holy — We become sanctified — by setting aside God as Holy… as sacred… in our lives…
Not by making more noise…
What place have you given God in your life?