Living The Lord’s Prayer, Part, Mathew 6:6-13
“Hallowed Be Thy Name”
Introduction
It’s a funny thing about our names. Many of us are very particular about our names. When I first met Christina it was of the greatest annoyance to her that so often people will call her Christine rather than Christina. She would always say that it just seemed odd to leave off the “a” at the end of Christine when it is so obvious that it is there. She has become much more forgiving of this.
Two year old Ephram has adopted the deepest interest in people’s names. Everywhere we go he asks me “Dat name? Dat name?” He is really interested in knowing people’s names. I think he picked this up from his older brother Sebastian who is also interested in people’s names but Ephram has taken his brother’s interest and turned it into a near obsession!
I read the story of a man named Mr. Simpkin, who gets frustrated with people who persist in adding a final “s” to his name. One day as he watched a clerk fill out forms while he supplied the information, he saw her make the same exasperating error. “Simpkin,” he admonished kindly but firmly; “just one ‘s.’ “
The flustered clerk made the correction—and the man stared hopelessly at her revision: “Impkins!”
Transition
Names are important. Some names have meaning built right into them etymologically. The name itself means something. Our daughter to be born in the next several weeks will be named Felicity, which means happiness or joy.
Jesus given name, Yeshua, in Hebrew means both “Salvation,” and the concatenated form of Yahoshua, is “Lord who is Salvation.” Names matter.
The second statement of the Lord’s Prayer says that God’s name is holy. “Hallowed be thy name.” That is what we will discuss today: the holiness of God and the beauty of His name. He is our loving Father, yes. He is also special above all else. We are beckoned into both a loving and reverent relationship with God.
Exposition
It is interesting to note that the Lord’s Prayer, at least the core elements of it, did originate in the Gospel account or even with Jesus. Since Jesus is the incarnation of God it is fair to say that all things originated with Him, however historically, the primary tenants of the Lord’s Prayer are much older than Jesus.
“Kaddish (Heb., Doxology) prayer in praise of God recited at the end of principal sections of Jewish service. The rabbi recites, “May his great name be magnified and sanctified in this world that He has created by his will, and may his kingdom come, in your lives and in the lives of all Israel.” To which the congregation responds, “May his great name be praised eternally.” The prayer is characterized by eschatological emphasis and hope for the speedy advent of the messiah. It is also recited by mourners.” (Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period)
It must be noted that Jesus was (is) the Jewish Messiah. The Christ (Greek “Christos” or anointed one) is the savior of the world who came through the line of the Jewish prophecies foretold by Adonai, the One True God.
As such, we expect to find our savior drawing on the theology of the sages of Israel to explain His true nature. We Jesus time and again drawing on ancient Jewish thought and even expounding upon the true meaning of Jewish tradition.
This is not to say that rabbinical teaching and the teaching of Christ are the same. The logic of this is something like saying grass is green. Money is green. Therefore grass is money. Both Yeshua, Jesus, and the modern rabbis share common roots, but their fruits have distinctly differing value.
The significance of noting that the Lord’s Prayer has a close commonality with the Kaddish is to notice the beauty of God’s eternally unfolding revelation. He is congruent with Himself and the teaching of Jesus and the New Testament authors are consistent with Old Testament prophecy, poetic writings, Judaic prayers, etc.
Notice the pluralistic phrasing of the Lord’s Prayer: “OUR” Father; give “US”; lead “US”; forgive “US.” The plurality of the prayer echoes the common prayers of Judaic national identity, as they pray for God to deliver “THEM.”
Likewise, we are one body – the covenant people of God – We are not isolated.
Do you at times feel alone? Has the brokenness of this world left you feeling isolated? In the modern era one may have a belt loaded with 3 means of communication, a laptop connected to billions of other computers through the internet, be seated next to a spouse whose eyes are glued to the television and yet have a soul which is empty, isolated.
Our Father who art in Heaven, “Holy (Hebrew: Yitgadal v’Yitkadash), Magnified, Sacred, Blessed, Sanctified, is your name.”
It is because of His holiness that He cannot look blindly upon human sin but at the very core, the very center, of His holiness is found the ember from which the heat and light of His holiness emanate – His love for you and for me.
To say that God is holy is to say He is pure. To say that He is pure is to say that He is absolute, complete, without change, immutable, omniscient, omnipotent, without fail. To say that God is holy is to say that He is unfailing.
In Psalms 52:8 the author writes, “But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love forever and ever.” (NIV)
Just as God called the Israelites as one people, one nation, through who to deliver His promise of salvation and fulfill His promise in Christ, our Heavenly Father, the one who is holy, completely other and sacred and worthy, has bound us together according to the sovereign decree of His love for us!
The famed devotional writer, Oswald Chambers, says it this way, “There is a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals, not first the love of God, but the intense, blazing holiness of God, with his love as the center of that holiness.”
“Holy is your name.” The Lord’s Prayer points to a time when the Lord’s name would no longer be taken in vain, used as a punch line or a careless statement of frustration which dishonors the loving God of our salvation, to a time when His name would be understood as extraordinary, exalted high above every name.
If we are to pray for the day when the name of God would be hallowed then we must live in light of that blessed hope today. It is not enough to praise Him with our lips, to pray with our tongues but downplay His holiness in our actions.
Conclusion
Comprehension, receipt, fully grasping the holiness, the worth, the perfection, the dazzling beauty of the sacredness of God has the ability to transform our prayer, our worship, and our actions.
“Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:44-46 NIV)
When we pray, “OUR Father (Abba, my personal Father, intimacy, love) who are in Heaven, Holy is your name,” we are affirming the reality that we have both intimate connection to God and responsibility in light of His worth, His holiness.
Have you noticed the new design of the $100 bill? The Treasury Department tells us that counterfeit bills have become such a problem, a completely new design was necessary to combat the copycats. The new bill looks so much different from the old, it can easily be mistaken for “play-money,” however it contains a high-tech watermark, and other features that should prove difficult to duplicate. Counterfeit dollars have always been in circulation in this country; yet, no one has ever refused real money just because counterfeit money is abroad.
Nothing can be more foolish than the excuse which some people give for not becoming Christians. They say that so many professors of Christianity are hypocrites that therefore they will stay out altogether. While there is now and then a counterfeit life, it remains true that the life of Jesus is ever the same divine and holy career, and for every counterfeit Christian there are many whose lives ring out true every time. Men would not counterfeit $100 bills if real bills of that denomination were not abundant and valuable; so men would not counterfeit Christianity if it were not so precious a thing.
He is holy and worthy of total adoration! He is precious and the greatest treasure in this life is not to stumble upon gold or diamonds, but to know personally, Daddy, Abba, He who is holy, worthy, and precious. Amen.
