June 14_Honoring God As Holy
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Why This Passage?
Why This Passage?
The disciples had asked Jesus to teach them to pray.
When Christ said to “pray, then, in this way,” He didn’t mean pray with these exact words.
John MacArthur says, When Christ said to “pray, then, in this way,” He didn’t mean pray with these exact words.
His intention was to give them a pattern for the structure of their own prayers, especially since He had just warned them of the dangers of meaningless repetition.
His intention was to give them a pattern for the structure of their own prayers, especially since He had just warned them of the dangers of meaningless repetition.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t recite it, as we do with so many passages in Scripture.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t recite it, as we do with so many passages in Scripture.
Memorizing it is actually helpful so you can meditate on its truths as you formulate your own thoughts.
Memorizing it is actually helpful so you can meditate on its truths as you formulate your own thoughts.
The prayer is mainly a model we can use to give direction to our own praise, adoration, and petitions. It is not a substitute for our own prayers but a guide for them.
The prayer is mainly a model we can use to give direction to our own praise, adoration, and petitions. It is not a substitute for our own prayers but a guide for them.
What Does It Mean to Hallow God’s Name?
What Does It Mean to Hallow God’s Name?
The Lord’s name takes constant abuse by mankind - in curse, in casual conversation, in pointless conversations
Martyn Lloyd-Jones had this perspective:
Alone with God "Hallowed Be Thy Name"
What unworthy ideas and notions this world has of God! If you test your ideas of God by the teaching of the Scriptures you will see at a glance what I mean. We lack even a due sense of the greatness and the might and the majesty of God. Listen to men arguing about God, and notice how glibly they use the term … It is indeed almost alarming to observe the way in which we all tend to use the name of God. We obviously do not realize that we are talking about the ever blessed, eternal, and absolute, almighty God. There is a sense in which we should take our shoes off our feet whenever we use the name (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 2 vols. [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979], 2:60–61).
To make God’s name common was forbidden in the Old Testament
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
The New King James Version Chapter 5
Deuteronomy 5:11
‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
We typically cringe when someone uses profanity, and especially when God’s name is taken in vain.
Do we recognize attitudes of indifference and lack of respect? How do we measure a low view of God?
We often go on through life and we take care of the events pressing on our day
Demands of work - secular jobs that are our means of providing for our families
Demands of family - children who need care, education, comfort, guidance, etc.
Demands of society - upkeep of our homes, social events, even work in our church or for the body
With all of these demands on our time it is easy for us to forget why we exist?
Quest. 1. What is the chief end of man?
Answ. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.
Glorifying God is well supported by ;
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Enjoying God is summed up
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish;
You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.
But it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have put my trust in the Lord God,
That I may declare all Your works.
Glorifying God we can try to get, enjoying God is a bit more distant in feel but we seek after it, but what does it mean to live our live treating God as honored?
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
What does it look like to understand God’s holiness and our sinfulness in prayer?
Alone with God "Hallowed Be Thy Name"
With that in mind, you can understand why prayer is ever and always, first and foremost, a recognition of God’s majestic glory and our submission to it. All our petitions, all our needs, and all our problems are subject to Him. God is to have priority in every aspect of our lives, and certainly in our times of deepest communion with Him. Prayer is not to be a casual routine that gives passing homage to God; it is to be a profound experience that should open up great dimensions of reverence, awe, appreciation, honor, and adoration.
What is significant in God’s Name?
What is significant in God’s Name?
The aspect of God’s name is that we would see Him exalted and glorified in all things.
MacArthur says, Even though He is our loving Father, who desires to meet our needs through His heavenly resources, our first petition is not to be for our benefit, but His.
Consider
MacArthur, John F., Jr. Alone with God. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1995. Print. MacArthur Study Series.
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Jews still are careful in how they refer to God: G-d
In Jesus day they referred to God not as Yahweh but as Adonai
By focusing our thoughts on God’s name, our Lord is teaching us that God’s name signifies much more than His titles; it represents all that He is—His character, plan, and will.
MacArthur, John F., Jr. Alone with God. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1995. Print. MacArthur Study Series.
Jesus’ disciples should have understood that, because in Old Testament times, names stood for more than just titles. Names represented one’s character.
Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed.
David’s character was highly esteemed, not the name “David.”
Moses called on the name of the Lord from Mt. Sinai and said,
And the Lord said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.”
So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.
Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”
And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.
“You shall make no molded gods for yourselves.
“The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.
“All that open the womb are Mine, and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or sheep. But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.
“And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.
“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
“And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.
“Three times in the year all your men shall appear before the Lord, the Lord God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.
“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, nor shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left until morning.
“The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.
Then Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said to them, “These are the words which the Lord has commanded you to do: Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the Lord commanded, saying: ‘Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.
‘All who are gifted artisans among you shall come and make all that the Lord has commanded: the tabernacle, its tent, its covering, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; the ark and its poles, with the mercy seat, and the veil of the covering; the table and its poles, all its utensils, and the showbread; also the lampstand for the light, its utensils, its lamps, and the oil for the light; the incense altar, its poles, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, and the screen for the door at the entrance of the tabernacle; the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles, all its utensils, and the laver and its base; the hangings of the court, its pillars, their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; the pegs of the tabernacle, the pegs of the court, and their cords; the garments of ministry, for ministering in the holy place—the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests.’ ”
And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord’s offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and nose rings, rings and necklaces, all jewelry of gold, that is, every man who made an offering of gold to the Lord. And every man, with whom was found blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, goats’ hair, red skins of rams, and badger skins, brought them. Everyone who offered an offering of silver or bronze brought the Lord’s offering. And everyone with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it. All the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their hands, and brought what they had spun, of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And all the women whose hearts stirred with wisdom spun yarn of goats’ hair. The rulers brought onyx stones, and the stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate, and spices and oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts were willing to bring material for all kinds of work which the Lord, by the hand of Moses, had commanded to be done.
And Moses said to the children of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship.
“And He has put in his heart the ability to teach, in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker, in blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and of the weaver—those who do every work and those who design artistic works.
Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
What does this look like in our person?
What does this look like in our person?
because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
To pray, “hallowed be Your name” is to attribute to God the holiness that already is, and has always been, supremely and uniquely His.
To hallow God’s name is to revere, honor, glorify, and obey Him as the one and only completely perfect God.
When we do, we remind ourselves of the important difference between us and Him. God lives in a different sphere than we do. He is holy and undefiled, but we are sinners.
Only through His gracious provision of Jesus Christ and His payment for the penalty of our sin are we even able to approach Him.
We agree with John Calvin, who says that God should have His own honor, of which He is so worthy, and that we should never think or speak of Him without the greatest veneration.
So honoring God as holy looks like we live our lives seeking to be holy and we regard Him in our heart as holy.
We reverence God with realizing His holiness and our dependance on the work of Christ to be holy.
We cannot divorce our life from our prayer life - we need to pray that we might be sanctified!
What does this look like in our prayers?
What does this look like in our prayers?
Self and all its needs must be given a secondary place, and the Lord given preeminence in our thoughts and supplications
"Hallowed be your name” is a warning against self-seeking prayer because it completely encompasses God’s nature and man’s response to it.
With that in mind, you can understand why prayer is ever and always, first and foremost, a recognition of God’s majestic glory and our submission to it. All our petitions, all our needs, and all our problems are subject to Him. God is to have priority in every aspect of our lives, and certainly in our times of deepest communion with Him. Prayer is not to be a casual routine that gives passing homage to God; it is to be a profound experience that should open up great dimensions of reverence, awe, appreciation, honor, and adoration.
Jesus wasn’t reciting some nice words about God. Instead, He opened a whole dimension of respect, reverence, glory, and worship for God.
Granting due place and honor to God; failure to do this is not without consequences
Moses by striking the rock
Saul in
Uzzah in
John MacArthur offers these helps when mentioning 1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
Acknowledge God Exists: . Don’t let your mind wander as you pray.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Know the truth about God: believing inaccurately about God equals irreverence
Alone with God How to Hallow God’s Name
Some people think that taking God’s name in vain is swearing or cursing only, but that is not the case. You can take the name of the Lord in vain every time you think a thought about God that’s not true, or when you doubt Him, disbelieve Him, and question Him. The early church father Origen said in his rebuttal to the Greek philosopher Celsus that the man who brings into his concept of God ideas that have no place there takes the name of the Lord God in vain (book 1, chapter 25)
Have we fallen into the sin of Job in ?
But You have become cruel to me;
With the strength of Your hand You oppose me.
We cannot revere a God whose character and will we do not know or care about. Are you in the Word of God that you might know Him?
We cannot revere a God whose character and will we do not know or care about. Even when we know and revere Him that is still not enough.
Be aware of His presence:
I have set the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
MacArthur, John F., Jr. Alone with God. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1995. Print. MacArthur Study Series.