Pray Worshipfully

INTRODUCTION

Last week, we started this 6 week series, “Teach Us to Pray.” We’re walking through and unpacking what is known as “The Lord’s Prayer.”

WHY:

We know we should pray…but sometimes we struggle with praying…or with what to pray…or how we should pray.

As we launched into this series last week, we saw that prayer is primarily a conversation between you and your heavenly Father…that the foundation of prayer is a personal relationship with God through Jesus, that the posture of prayer is both childlike and reverent, and that the heart of prayer is dependence.

I read a great quote about prayer this week: “Prayer is a relaxed confidence in God’s sovereign knowledge and Fatherly commitment.”

So, we’ve seen the foundation, the posture, and the heart of prayer…now, we look to the PRIORITY of prayer.

Matthew 6:9 “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

>>PRAY...LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY<<

BOTTOM LINE: The priority of prayer is worship. Prayer is an act of worship.

As we look at these four words, “hallowed be your name,” we want to first, understand what this means and then, second, see how this shapes our prayer.

So, what does it mean for the name of God to be hallowed? Well, this request actually goes to the very heart of God…and is the very heart of heaven.

The word “hallow” has the same root, in Greek, as the word “sanctify.” To sanctify something means to “set it apart” // to treat it as holy…to keep it separate from the ordinary/the profane. God’s name is His nature, His character, His personality…it is who He is and who He is is HOLY. Our lives should be lived in response to that.

ILLUSTRATION: MOM’S CHINA

So, Jesus isn’t telling us to make God’s name holy—it already is holy. He is eternally holy…eternally set apart—there is none greater/no name greater than YHWH.

What Jesus is teaching us, here, is that we should pray that we would live in such a way that we revere the holiness of God’s name and, that through our life, the world might come to revere and worship and adore His name, too.

This has always been at the very center of God’s heart. God’s chief concern is the glory of His name.

Isaiah 48:9–11 ““For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off…or my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”

Ezekiel 36:22–23 ““Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”

Habakkuk 2:14 “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Psalm 96:3 “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”

So…listen, now…this is going to require a shift in the way we think about prayer.

Jesus is teaching us that our first priority in praying should be asking God to do what He already wants to do.

When we begin our prayer with adoration...when our prayer is an act of worship…

1) We place our gaze on God's holiness.

It’s no accident that Jesus begins this lesson on prayer with the worship and adoration of God’s name. Again, worship and adoration are the PRIORITY of prayer. The glory/the holiness of God’s name is over and above everything else in this prayer.

There’s another reason why Jesus teaches us to start prayer with our gaze on God’s holiness…Because when our gaze is on God’s holiness…it transforms us into “holy.” We become like him. You see...prayer begins to change us at this point. Right at the very beginning.

So, let’s be honest with ourselves for a second. How many times have we approached prayer as if we’re trying to change God’s mind on something.

“God, you’re not seeing this my way. God I need you to agree with me on this one.”

So many times our eyes are right here. On me. On the temporal/the things of the world.

Prayer isn’t about changing God’s mind…it’s about God changing us. It’s really hard to keep my eyes on myself when my eyes are gazing on the holiness of God.

When we begin our prayer with adoration...when our prayer is an act of worship…

2) We put everything in perspective.

Isaiah 6—one of the best known passages in the Bible that deals with God’s holiness. Isaiah is in the middle of national turmoil…King Uzziah has died. The people of Israel and Judah are wicked and idolatrous. This is obviously very heavy on the prophet’s heart.

But, when he was overcome by the holiness of God, it changed how he saw everything…it changed how he saw their political problem (Uzziah is dead but God is on his throne), it changed how he saw his people’s problem—they weren’t just a rebellious people, they are an unclean people. It changed how he saw himself.

Isaiah was left overcome by God…he was overcome by God cleansing him of his sin and God calling him to a purpose and a mission.

Jesus is teaching us that we should pray that God’s name would be “hallowed” in every situation in our lives…God, may your name be glorified. Let me tell you…that is transforming.

“God, in this health struggle…may your name be magnified.” “God, in this valley, may your name be glorified.” “God, in this season of prosperity, may your name be hallowed.”

ILLUSTRATION: Sky diving — depth perception…the only thing that changed was my perspective.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus…and the things of earth will grow strangely dim…”

When we begin our prayer with adoration...when our prayer is an act of worship…

3) We reorient our heart and desires.

First of all, again, when the holiness of God is our highest priority…our will comes into alignment with His.

To “hallow” God’s name in my life means that I live in such a way that reveres him, gives him the glory/honor His name is due.

Obedience to His commands.

The problem in Israel:

Ezekiel 36:16–21 “The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.”

That the peoples of the world might, in present, honor God in word and action. The holiness of God becomes visible through the holiness of God’s people.

You know, we’re reminded of the third commandment, aren’t we? “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

Practically, taking God’s name in vain most commonly occurs through living a double life—claiming to love God while loving sin.

You know, we think about hallowing God’s name…but is it being “hallowed” in every part of my life? What about those parts of my life no one else knows about? What if those parts were exposed?

ILLUSTRATION: SKYDIVING (there was something I left out earlier)

This will slow us down a little bit, won’t it? “Lord, may your name be holy in my words, in my thoughts, in what I look at, etc.”

The priority of prayer is worship. Prayer is an act of worship/of adoration.

CONCLUSION

At the heart of everything we’ve talked about this morning is God’s holiness. Maybe you’re hearing that word or this truth for the very first time this morning…or maybe you’ve heard it for years. God’s holiness means that he is separate from what is unclean…God is pure. He is light and in him there is no darkness. Sin cannot come into his presence.

That’s a problem because we are all sinners…GOSPEL

Believers

THIS WEEK—TRAIN YOUR GAZE ON THE GLORY OF GOD. BEFORE YOU BRING YOUR REQUESTS TO HIM, BRING YOUR WORSHIP.

WHATEVER YOUR BURDEN…SEE IT IN THE LIGHT OF GOD’S ALL-POWERFUL GLORY.

THIS WEEK—LIVE FOR THE HOLINESS OF GOD’S NAME?