Mat. 6:9b

You will see in this model of prayer given to us by the Lord Jesus that immediately after the preface of the prayer which is in the words:

"“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven...”

We see that there are six petitions that follow.

The first three mainly relating to God and His honor: Our Father’s name, kingdom, and will.

Then the last three to what concerns us: bread, pardon for sin, and victory over the evil one.

This point sets the nail that Jesus is going to drive home to our hearts in v33:

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” ()

So the first thing we seek for in terms of God’s Kingdom is to maintain a zeal for the name of the Lord.

“Your name be honored as holy.” ()

These are the words we want to consider this morning.

Seeing that God’s Name be regarded as holy is top priority.

God’s Name PRIORITY. “Your Name”

Seeing that God’s Name be regarded as holy is top priority.

This is prayed before we ask for daily bread.

As Christ stressed concerning love: "This is the greatest and most important command.” () Which was to love “the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

So to here, the greatest and most important petition is that God’s Name be honored as holy.

It’s top priority.

God’s Name PRIZED “be honored as holy” It’s prized above all the other petitions because one day, we won’t have to pray for our daily bread.

Because, there will be no hunger where we are going.

Or “forgive us our debts” because there will be no sin, nor,

“do not bring into temptation” because the old serpent is not there to tempt, where we’re going.

Yet the honoring of God’s Name, shall be of great done for ever and ever, in the singing of hallelujahs, which is nothing short of honoring His Name.

Every person in the blessed Trinity, God the Father, God the Song, God the Holy Spirit, must have this honor, to be honored as holy.

We intentionally set God’s Name above every name and not only admire God but adore Him!

His Name is to be honored.

Seven Glimpses of the Name of God

Here is a brief glimpse of the Name of God.

Here is a brief glimpse of the Name of God.

1. God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel, I AM has sent me to you” ().

The most fundamental thing that can be said about God is that He is.

And the most staggering thing to our imagination is that He never had a beginning.

He simply is—from all eternity.

2. God said to Moses again, "He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”” ()

At the heart of God’s name is the reality of His sovereign freedom.

He makes His choices on the basis of His own infinite wisdom.

He alone in all the universe is self-determined.

3. Again God said to Moses, "I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, ...’” ()

Not only does God exist in sovereign freedom, He is infinite in power so that He cannot be thwarted in any of His free choices.

Almighty omnipotence is the guarantee of His faithfulness.

4. When God came down a second time to Mount Sinai,

the first thing he did was to declare his name:

"The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, "maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished...” ()

So we learn on Mount Sinai that the existence, the freedom, and the omnipotence of God stand in the service of His mercy and His love.

5. God says to John in the book of Revelation (21:6), “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”

Every human being, great or small, had his beginning in God,

but even more important, will have his end in God.

God is everybody’s Omega.

Everyone present this morning is going to meet Him

either as a fountain of life or as a lake of fire.

6. To Isaiah the Lord says, “I am the high and lofty One whose name is Holy” (57:15).

He is holy.

He is above and separate from all that is common and ordinary, because He has extraordinary value.

Coins and stamps and diamonds are valuable in direct proportion to how rare they are.

If they are one of a kind, we separate them from the run of the mill

coins and stamps and diamonds,

and put them in some out of the way place.

So God inhabits a place infinitely above our ordinary world.

And the wonder of the gospel is that in Christ

God comes near to dwell with crushed and humble saints.

7. Finally, God declares again on Mount Sinai,

"Because the Lord is jealous for his reputation, you are never to bow down to another god. He is a jealous God.” ()

Which translates out to His Name is Jealous!

God has created us to love and enjoy Him, and He feels a

holy indignation when our hearts are lured away to love and enjoy other things more.

So our God exists from all eternity,

He is free,

He is omnipotent,

He is merciful,

He is the beginning and end of every person that will ever live,

He is holy, and

He is jealous for our undivided affection.

That is His name.

Jesus teaching us to pray this way is God’s way of bringing our priorities in line with His.

We are to bring our hearts into line with the jealousy of God to hallow His Name and we will pray with great effect.

May our first and all determining prayer be for the honoring of God’s Name!

So what’s it mean to honor God’s Name as holy?

Let’s look at a couple of ways that this word honor or treat as holy is used in relationship to God.

Flip to Isaiah 8.

Moses has had it with these complainers and strikes the rock twice with his staff and the water gushed out and so did the stinging words of God:

And notice the key words: “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”” ()

These words give us our first answer to the question: what’s it mean to honor God as holy?

It’s to believe Him.

John said, “He who does not believe God has made him a liar” ().

When you make somebody a liar, you profane that person’s name.

This is the opposite of treating the person as holy.

Not trusting God is the exact opposite of honoring His Name as holy.

"Do not call everything a conspiracy these people say is a conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified. "You are to regard only the Lord of Armies as holy. Only he should be feared; only he should be held in awe.” ()

Here’s a text that explains what it means to honor God’s Name as holy.

We honor His Name as holy by not fearing what men fear but fearing God.

Very practically it means that when God commands you to take your stand for him in a hostile situation,

you fear displeasing God more than you fear the hostility of man.

Don’t fear losing your house or your wife or your children or your bank account or your prestige!

Don’t fear losing your house or your wife or your children or your bank account or your prestige! Instead, fear the prospect of saying no to God. He will compensate you for all your worldly losses when you obey him. But when you set yourself to oppose his will, no one can compensate for the eternal consequences of that.

Instead, fear the prospect of saying no to God.

He will compensate you for all your worldly losses when you obey Him.

But when you set yourself to oppose His will, no one can compensate for the eternal consequences of that.

Flip back to . In our second text v8 God tells Moses to speak to the rock and that it would yield to them water.

Moses has had it with these complainers and strikes the rock twice with his staff and the water gushed out and so did the stinging words of God:

And notice the key words: “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”” ()

These words give us our first answer to the question: what’s it mean to honor God as holy?

It’s to believe Him.

John said, “He who does not believe God has made him a liar” ().

When you make somebody a liar, you profane that person’s name.

This is the opposite of treating the person as holy.

Not trusting God is the exact opposite of honoring His Name as holy.

Keep flipping back to Leviticus.

"“You are to keep my commands and do them; I am the Lord. "You must not profane my holy name; I must be treated as holy among the Israelites. I am the Lord who sets you apart,” ()

We honor God’s Name as holy when we keep his commandments.

We profane the name of God when we break His commandments.

Our last text in Lev. 10.

"Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his own firepan, put fire in it, placed incense on it, and presented unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them to do. "Then fire came from the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. "Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has spoken: I will demonstrate my holiness to those who are near me, and I will reveal my glory before all the people.” And Aaron remained silent.” ()

God’s commands are to be obeyed.

Notice very carefully the words in v1 (at the end)

They came and “...presented unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them to do.” (v1)

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers

How do we honor God has holy? We approach Him in the explicit manner that He’s commanded us.

So we honor God as holy by “our Scriptural call to worship”

Just reading Scripture.

Why? Because Paul commanded Timothy (under the Spirit influence and guidance to write: "Until I come, give your attention to public reading, ...” ()

WE preach the Scriptures because we’re commanded to: "I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom: "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.” ()

We pray the Scriptures because Paul tells pastor Timothy: "First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,” ()

Jesus says in that His Father’s House shall be called a house of prayer! (v13).

Sing the Scriptures. "speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord,” ()

The whole Ephesian church was commanded to build one another up and praise God through song.

Part of pastoral leadership, then, is to facilitate this kind of edifying worship.

But again, Jesus uses His Word to build or edify the church.

So it makes sense that we only sing songs that use His Word both accurately and generously.

The more accurately applied scriptural theology, phrases, and allusions, the better—

because the Word builds the church, and

music helps us remember that Word, which we seem so quickly to forget.

We see the Scriptures in the ordinances of the church. Jesus said in , “Do this in remembrance of Me”.

The bread and cup in the Lord’s Supper portray Christ’s body and blood broken and poured out for the remission of our sins,

a visual reminder of Christ’s Cross-work on our behalf ().

In the same way, baptism portrays our spiritual death to sin,

our symbolic burial with Christ, and our resurrection with Him to new life ().

The ordinances, then, are where we see the Gospel enacted, and our participation in it- dramatized.

So how then do we APPLY the reality that:

we bring honor to God through obedience, we’re led to a place where we see our sin and weaknesses.

This causes us to grieve over our sin of not honoring God as holy.

Think of the pride in your heart.

That vile affection and desire through which we seek our own praise and glory and not God’s.

It’s hard at times to discern because of the blinding effects of pride...

none the less while our pride is fed and nourished God glory is neglected,

so when we desire to glorify God’s Name, we must acknowledge and grieve over this inward corruption.

How about our lack of zeal for God’s glory? Do you grieve that how cold and dead your heart is towards God and the things of God?

Our remaining sin and corruption debases the Lord in our hearts and takes away the high esteem of God which ought to be in us.

A cold heart causes us to omit glorifying God.

We omit

defending His cause

honoring of His Name

when others disgrace and bring reproach to Him.

Our cold hearts dampens the contending for God’s glory and this should greatly grieve over this sin.

The hardness of our hearts. This sin keeps us from really knowing and having the knowledge of God in His Word and from discerning His:

wisdom

power

justice

mercy

Hardness of heart causes us to either pass by the works of God or uses them for ourselves and give no glory to God.

Christ’s own disciples didn’t understand the miracle of the loaves in . And in v52 is says why: “their hearts were hardened.”

So our sin of failing to glorify God and honor His Name causes us to grieve.

But it should also teach us to desire God’s grace.

Jesus’s words: “Your Name be honored as holy” teaches us earnestly to desire of God those spiritual graces that we may glorify His name in ourselves and others.

First, the true knowledge of God as He has revealed Himself in His Word,

and in the works of His power and sovereignty, for he that doesn’t know God cannot possibly glorify His name.

Second, to sanctify God in our hearts by loving, fearing, and trusting in Him above all.

This makes greatly for His glory, when we depend upon Him in soul and body for all good things.

Third, the calves of our lips, which is a sacrifice of praise to God for all His mercies:

"Whoever sacrifices a thank offering honors me...” ()

Fourth, to see God’s hand in all His works—how mighty, wise, just, and gracious the Lord is.

Fifth, to reverence the works of God for His justice, mercy, power, appearing in them.

We desire grace to see these things that we might bring glory to God in them all.

Isn’t the the true note and character that’s played by the godly person.

This one is a sanctifier of God’s Name.

A true saint absolutely and ambitiously endeavours to advance God’s Name.

The question on the front of his mind in everything that he goes about is:

Will this action, will these words tend towards the honor of God’s Name?

Paul’s chief aim in both life and in death was to honor Christ.

"...now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” ()

He sought that the crown upon the head of Christ would flourish!

So we grieve over sin, desire more grace from God.

Now I just want to exhort you...

In some of these verses we considered today, I pray that we could but catch a glimpse of God’s glory, as Moses did in the rock.

And in seeing that sight of God’s glory would draw out adoration and praise from us.

What if we could see God face-to-face as the angels in heaven do?

If we could behold Him sitting on His throne, He lives forever and ever.

If we saw that presently (right now), we’d do as the 24 elders:

"the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne and say, "Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.” ()

Oh that we’d be stirred up to this great task of honoring, adoring, and sanctifying God’s name.

To stir you up, please consider:

ONE. This is the very ultimate purpose for living.

Why did God give us our life but that our living may be an honoring of His Name!

We souls to admire Him, mouths to praise Him!

Oh it’s glorious when things function as God designed them for.

It’s the excellency of a star to give off its light.

It’s the excellency of a plant to bear fruit.

It’s the excellency of a believer to live to the honor and praise of his saving and faithful God!

The one who has life but doesn’t bring God glory, buries himself alive and exposes himself to a curse.

Christ looked at that barren fig-tree, that ought to have borne fruit, and cursed it!

TWO. God’s Name is so magnificent that it deserves to be honored. "Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!” ()

He is “clothed with majesty and splendor.” ()

Just as the sun is bright and glorious whether one admires it or not.

So to, God’s Name is majestic and glorious whether we honor it or not.

In God are all the shining perfections, holiness, wisdom, love, and adoration.

says that “the Lord, who is worthy of praise”!

He’s worthy of all our honor, love, and adoration!

He’s above all the honor and praise which the angels in heaven give Him for all eternity!

THREE. For those that won’t honor and glorify the name of the LORD, God will get His honor...

"As for me, I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, all his army, and his chariots and horsemen.” ()

Pharaoh wouldn’t honor God’s Name. In he asks Moses, “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him...”

So if Pharoah would not give his honor to God then God would get His honor from Pharoah!

God’s power and justice were glorified in the overthrow and destruction of Pharoah and his army!

Do you remember Herod being eaten by worms in ?

Listen to the reason why that happened:

"At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.” ()

FOUR. Honoring the Name of the Lord will bring comfort to you when you come to die.

This was Christ’s comfort:"I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” ()

"I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” ()

So, what a comfort will this be to us at last, when our whole life has been an honoring of God’s name!

We have

loved Him with our hearts,

praised Him with our lips,

honored Him with our lives:

we have been to the praise of his glory.

We were blessed, chosen, and adopted as God’s children…why?

"to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.” ()

At the hour of death all your earthly comforts will vanish;

to think how rich you have been, or

what pleasures you have enjoyed upon earth,

this will not give one ounce of comfort.

What comfort was it to Hezekiah, when he was on his sick bed, and could appeal to God

"He said, “Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly, and have done what pleases you.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” ()

Honoring His Name, bring all the honor that you possibly can!

FIVE.