Hallowed Be Your Name

Invite everyone to stand and read Matthew 6:9-13- Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Recap.

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

Pray.

We come to the petitions. Three concerning God- notice the word “Your” or “Thy”

1. The vocabulary.

Name

Consider the purpose of the various names of God given throughout the OT.

Jehovah Jireh- Genesis 22:14- The LORD will provide.

Jehovah Rapha- Exodus 15:26- The LORD your Healer.

Jehovah Nissi- Exodus 17:15- The LORD our Banner.

Jehovah Shalom- Judges 6:24- The LORD our Peace.

Jehovah Ra-ah- Psalm 23:1- The LORD our Shepherd

The names represent the realities of who God is, what is His character, and what He has done, particularly in relation to man.

There is a bigness to this concept- mentioning God’s name rather than merely the word God forces the mind to expand.

Martyn Lloyd Jones- “The ‘name’…means all that is true of God, and all that has been revealed concerning God. It means God in all His attributes, God in all that He is in and of Himself, and God in all that He has done and all that He is doing.”

When we speak of the name of God, we are referring to the completeness of God. Even that which we don’t understand about Him is included in our speaking of the name of God.

Hallowed.

To sanctify, to make holy, we might say to glorify.

Psalm 115:1- Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

The opposite of to profane.

Tied closely to the third command- do not take the name of the Lord in vain.

Summing up- What does it mean to hallow the name of God?

Heidelberg Catechism- “‘Hallowed be your name’ means to bless, worship, and praise you for all your works and for all that shines forth from them: your almighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. And it means, help us to direct all of our living- what we think, say, and do- so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us but always honored and praised.”

We make known the name of God- the person, character, work, and attributes of God.

We reveal them in our lives, unapologetically.

Jesus in John 17.

John 17:6- “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”

Jesus has revealed the person, the character, the action, the fullness of the Father to His disciples.

Jesus has hallowed the name of God in His own character and mission and ministry.

John 17:20-21- “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Not only has Jesus glorified the Father and revealed His character and will, but He is now praying for all believers, that they would live in such a way that reveals that Jesus is who He said He was.

This unity is meant to reveal the character of Christ, who has revealed the character of the Father.

We pray that God’s name would be hallowed, and are reminded in prayer that God reveals the truth of who He is and makes His name known first through Jesus Christ and second through His Church, the very body of Jesus Christ.

2. The priority.

It is not unimportant where this petition is placed in the prayer.

Focus on God prior to the focus on man.

Thomas Watson- “The hallowing of God’s name is to be preferred before all things. It is to be preferred before life. We pray ‘Hallowed be Thy name,’ before we pray, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ It is to be preferred before salvation. God’s glory is worth more than the salvation of all men’s souls.”

I find this to be true. So long as the name of God is not hallowed, it is merely a false idea of God that will be counted upon.

In order for salvation to occur, one must hallow the name of God in their own mind and heart.

Every other petition flows from this one.

We begin with the hallowing of God’s name, which then informs everything else that we say.

Your will be done in order that you would be glorified.

Your Kingdom come in order that you would be revealed and honored in the hearts and minds of all.

Give me bread so that you would be hallowed and trusted in my life.

Forgive me so that others would know you to be a forgiving God.

Lead me from temptation in order that your holiness would be lifted high.

Deliver me from evil so that your name would be hallowed.

Is the hallowing of God’s name our fuel? Is it the reason that we give for every request that we have?

Here is what we must understand- God does everything for His glory.

We were created for God’s glory- Isaiah 43:6-7- I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

We are forgiven for God’s glory- Psalm 25:11- For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

Christ will return for God’s glory- 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10- They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

Jesus endures His suffering and death for God’s glory- John 17:1- When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you...

Just a few examples, but these are all things in which we are tempted to glorify ourselves.

We are glorious because we are created by God.

We are glorious because we have been forgiven.

We are glorious because God will bring us home.

We are glorious because Christ will suffer and die on our behalf.

In all things, God will make much of Himself because He alone is worthy of being glorified.

We are in lockstep with our Father when we seek to do the same.

Our prayers must reflect our desire to see much made of God, rather than of self.

And equally important, our lives must reflect such a desire.

Think of how our prayers and lives would be changed if we were to begin with the priority of hallowing God’s name.

3. The application.

We pray this prayer both globally and personally.

May God be revealed, and honored, and glorified in all of the earth.

Thomas Aquinas- “This does not imply that the name of God is not holy, but rather that the name might come to be regarded as holy by all people; that is, that God should become so well known that nothing else would be considered more holy.”

Difference between Adult Ministry and Children’s Ministry- Introducing children to Jesus.

Why we support missions. Why we encourage mission trips.

May God be revealed, and honored, and glorified here in my own life.

May your name be hallowed both in me and through me.

In me- in my words, in my behaviors, in my habits, in my witness, in the fruit of my life.

By me- By my life, by my marriage, by my family, by my church family, by my friendships.

Think of how we would be completely transformed by such a simple prayer. And how all of our relationships might also be transformed.