Sermon on the Mount: Hallowed

Sermon on the Mount – Hallowed be Your Name

Matthew 6:9-13

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

1. Introduction – Last week we started a journey through the Lord’s Prayer.

a. It is the centrepiece of the SM. Located at the very heart of Jesus’ great sermon.

i. Linguistically its at the centre…but theologically it is also at the centre.

1. Remember…the SM is al l about how to live righteous lives on earth.

a. And part of right living is right praying….

i. Not praying loud prayers for the acclaim of your peers…so that this week’s “Amen” is louder than last week’s.

2. Not praying long-winded prayers hoping to win God’s attention by your big fancy words and incessant repetitions.

b. Instead Jesus tells his followers to go in to a locked room and pray in secret.

i. Pray short, frequent and fervent prayers…and Jesus gives us a model to follow…and words to pray in vv.9-13…the Lord’s Prayer.

1. It is incredible…and the more I study it the more I appreciate it.

a. The more I see it’s beauty, it’s depth and its thoroughness.

i. Last time we were together we learned that in prayer we can come to God like a child comes to his or her father.

b. But the balance of the opening statement of the Lord’s Prayer is incredible.

i. It teaches us about God’s closeness as a Father…but also about his power, because he is in heaven.

c. And this week, we come to the 1st petition of the Lord’s Prayer.

i. And this prayer starts where everything in life should start…with God.

1. Giving God the honour, praise and reverence he deserves.

a. I have to tell you…in the almost 600 sermons I have researched and written in my time here…this has been one of my favourite weeks.

i. My heart was soaring as I was reading my research…

1. My heart was racing as I was making my outline and putting this sermon together…

a. Why??? Because I was staring directly into the glory of God this week.

ii. I was writing about God’s holiness, God’s attributes, God’s character…and there’s no better place to be than dwelling on those things.

d. So that is what we are going to do today…stare into God’s glory.

i. Hallowed be your name is the petition before us.

1. What’s the significance of God’s name? We’ll expand of what we looked at last week.

a. What does “hallowed’ even mean?

i. How is God’s name hallowed? Why is this request first…not only in order but in priority?

1. How are we affected by this petition?

a. These are the questions we’ll answer along the way.

b. Hear God’s Word – Matthew 6:9-13.

2. Priority – But before we study the two main words of this petition…I want to first touch on the priority of this petition.

a. This prayer starts…not with us…not with our requests or our needs or our will and our names or our kingdoms…

i. But this prayer…and the way Jesus teaches us to pray is this…start with God.

1. Prioritize God’s name, God’s glory, God’s kingdom, God’s will.

b. Notice this…we are to pray for God’s glory to be revealed…for God’s name to be hallowed…even before we pray for food.

i. Hallowed be your names comes before “give us this day our daily bread…”

1. This does 2 things. First…it places God’s glory and name at the forefront…not only of our prayer lives, but our entire life.

a. When we pray…before we come with our requests, our needs and our concerns…we are first to remember who it is we are praying to.

i. Our Father in heaven…who’s name must be hallowed.

c. The second thing this petition does is it removes us from the centre of our prayers.

i. By first of all praying for the hallowing of God’s name…then praying for his kingdom to come and his will to be done…

1. We take ourselves out of the centre of the picture and we give that place to God.

3. Name – So this petition establishes priority in our prayer lives…and in the rest of our life too.

a. We give priority to God’s ways in prayer…and in the rest of our lives we talk and act in a way that glorifies God’s name to the people around us.

i. Now today…we are actually going to work backwards.

1. We are first going to study the word ‘name’…then we’ll study the word “hallowed.”

a. As a disclaimer…this is not a recommended Bible study habit…I in no way endorse this method…but studying the verse this way and help us better understand and grasp this petition.

i. We’ll have to trust me…I’m a trained professional!

b. So let’s first focus our attention on the last word of this petition…name.

i. What’s in a name and what are we asking when we pray “Hallowed be your name?”

1. For us, a name is something we are called, something we are known by…a way to differentiate one person from another.

a. It’s a combination of letters by which we are known.

i. So, is that what we are praying for here? That the combination of G-O and D will be hallowed?

ii. Well, in order to fully understand the weight of this petition and the weight of the word name…we have to grasp the word ‘name’ from a 1st century perspective.

1. For the people of Jesus’ day - someone’s name wasn’t simply what they were called…

a. But was thought to express the sum total of that person’s character.

i. So in regard to the hallowing of God’s name…it doesn’t simply refer to the a combination of letters…

1. It doesn’t simply refer to the name that he called…

a. God’s name…God’s names…reveal who he is.

b. God’s names reveal his character, his attributes and his essence.

c. In the ancient world one’s name is one actual identity 0 not what someone is thought to be.

i. Name refers to one’s real identity, as opposed to rumours or fabrications.

1. So when we pray ‘hallowed be your name’ we are praying that God…as God really is…will be revealed.

a. It is a petition to know God…as God really is. It’s a petition for the world to know God as God really is…not what he is thought to be.

i. There are a lot of different ideas about what God is like, but in this petition, we are praying that God…as he has revealed himself…will be honoured.

1. That God will be known…as he has made himself known.

ii. Throughout the Bible, there are many different names for God. We talked about a few last week.

1. God is Provider, a refuge and strength.

a. God is our help, he is our righteousness.

i. God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

1. These names are revelatory…they reveal God’s character…they reveal God as he really is.

a. They reveal his essence, his attributes, and his essential characteristics.

iii. And when we pray for the hallowing of God’s name – we are to think of all the attributes and characteristics that stand behind his name.

1. The Psalmists loved to praise God’s name. “O Lord, our Lord, howe majestic is your name in all the earth.”

a. The Psalmists delighted in celebrating God as our rock, peace, shepherd…the ever-present help in trouble who will never leave or forsake us.

i. And this petition is asking that the whole world comes to recognize God the way we have.

2. Like the Psalmists, we are to have a burning passion for the name of God – and we are praying here that God…as he has revealed himself to be…will be honoured the world over.

a. This request, this first petition is an expression of a burning and deep desire to honour God’s name.

d. One last thing about name and then we’ll move on to hallowed.

i. To know God’s name, to call him by any of his names, especially that intimate title “Father…”

1. It affirms that God is a personal God.

a. God is not a distant deity…he’s not out there somewhere, far away, completely detached and disinterested in life on earth….

i. No, God is a personal God. God is a knowable God and he is a revealing God.

1. He has revealed his character to us in the pages of his Word.

a. He has revealed his love for humanity in the sending of his Son Jesus.

2. God continues to reveal himself to us through nature…the heavens really do declare the glory of God.

ii. To pray “Hallowed be your name…” affirms that God is a personal God…that he can be known and called on.

4. Hallowed – So that’s God’s names…we can know him, we can know his essence, his character, his attributes.

a. We pray for God, as God has revealed himself, as God really is…to be hallowed.

i. But what does that word ‘hallow’ mean? It’s not really a word we us in our ever day conversations.

1. To hallow something means to set something apart from the common use for a sacred purpose.

a. To sanctify something.

i. To hallow God’s name means to hold it in reverence…to hold God and all his attributes in reverence…to honour him, to glorify him, to exalt him.

b. But think about God’s name in our world today.

i. Far from being hallowed…God’s name is insulted, disrespected and abused.

1. Not only the letters that make up his name, but his character is misrepresent also.

a. God’s name is a favourite curse word in society.

i. God’s name isn’t hallowed at all…it gets dragged through the mud on a daily basis

1. It isn’t revered…it’s not set apart from common use for a sacred purpose…people say it, and probably don’t even realize it…

a. God’s name is abused, misused, and overused.

ii. Oh how God’s people need to pray fervently this petition.

1. Not mindlessly repeat it because that’s what we do…but passionately and fervently pray for God’s name to be honoured, and glorified on earth as it is in heaven.

c. Now understand this about this petition. This isn’t a petition that requests God’s name to be holy…to be made holy…because it is already holy.

i. That would be like saying, “May the fire be hot.” Fire, by its very definition is hot already.

1. So to, God’s name is already holy – we are not praying that it becomes more holy.

a. Rather, we are praying that more and more people recognize and acknowledge its holiness…but giving God the reverence which he is due.

i. We can add nothing to God’s essential glory---but we are praying for God’s glory to be seen as great in the eyes of others.

ii. This petition is a burning desire that the whole world may bow before God’s glory, his name, his weightiness – in adoration, reverence, praise, worship honour and thanksgiving.

5. How?

a. But how is God’s name hallowed on earth as it is in heaven?

i. How??? Through us. Through God’s people.

1. Paul wrote that as God’s people we are Christ’s ambassadors…God making his appeal through us.

a. We are representatives of God’s kingdom.

b. We hallow God’s name, we magnify God’s name on earth by our words, by our lives…

i. And by being reflectors of the greatness of God.

1. People around the world will hallow God’s name when they see God’s people hallowed and revering God’s name…as they are being reflectors of God’s greatness.

c. But why? We’ve looked at what hallowing is…revering and honourning…

i. We’ve looked at how…through our words, deeds and being reflectors of God’s greatness.

1. And the last question we have to ask and answer is the all-important question – why?

a. Why do we pray hallowed by your name? why do we need to hallow it?

ii. The answer is quite simple…because glorifying God’s name is why we were created…why we were put on this earth.

1. The very first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks about the meaning of life…it’s main goal.

a. Question 1 asks – what is man’s chief end?

i. And the answer is this…to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

1. Isn’t that beautiful? Why are we here?

2. Not to make as much money as we can…not to be uber successful…our main purpose in life is to glorify God.

d. To make much of him…to magnify his name in all the earth…

i. To hallow his name, so that more people will join you in hallowing God’s name.

1. In this first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we learn to make the chief concern in this life the hallowing of God’s name…

a. Our main purpose in this life is to bring glory to God and other people will join use in that.

ii. In a way, when we pray “Hallowed be your name…” we also are praying, “Make me holy. Grant that I may revere your name…

1. “Work in me and through me so that others will recognize, acknowledge and celebrate your unsurpassed and glorious holiness.

e. One last thing to chew one and we’ll close.

i. Thinks of the enduring quality of this petition. We will never stop praying it.

1. Think about it – when all things are made new…when heaven and earth pass away and are replaced with the new heavens and the new earth…think about….

a. We won’t need to pray for God’s kingdom to come, because it will have come already.

ii. We won’t need to pray for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven…because his will will be done perfectly.

1. No need to pray for daily bread because provisions will be met perfectly. No need to pray for forgiveness because there will be no sin.

a. No need to pray for not being led into temptation, because Satan will be vanquished.

i. No need to be delivered from evil because evil will be wipe out.

f. But…the hallowing of God’s name…will endure.

i. We will never stop praying this request because the honouring and glorifying of God’s name is the primary request.

1. First in order and first in priority…and the one request that will never go out of date.