A PATTERN FOR PRAYER
HOLY IS HIS NAME (PART 1)
"It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!" Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. Then I said, "It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies." Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, "See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven." Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?" I said, "Here I am. Send me."" (Isaiah 6:1--8, NLT)
"Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy." (Matthew 6:9, NLT)
INTRODUCTION
A plane leaves Heathrow Airport under the control of a Jewish captain. His co-pilot is Chinese. It’s the first time they’ve flown together and an awkward silence between the two seems to indicate a mutual dislike.
Once they reach cruising altitude, the Jewish captain activates the auto-pilot, leans back in his seat, and mutters, ’I don’t like Chinese..." "Oh, you don’t like Chinamen?" asks the co-pilot, "Why not?" "Your people bombed Pearl Harbour, that’s why!" "No! No!" the co-pilot protests, ’China did not bomb Pearl Harbour! That’s Japan, not China!" "Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese... what’s in a name, it doesn’t matter, you’re all alike!"
A few minutes of silence followed. Suddenly the co-pilot announces "I do not like Jews!" "Oh yeah! Why not?" asks the captain. "Jews sank the Titanic!" says the co-pilot. "What? You’re insane! Jews didn’t sink the Titanic!" exclaims the captain, "It was an iceberg!" "Iceberg, Goldberg, Greenberg, Rosenberg ... what’s in a name? No matter...all the same thing!"
What’s in a name?
William Shakespeare quotes Juliet in his famous play Romeo and Juliet as saying said "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" By this she was saying that the names of things do not matter, only what things are, thereby implying that his family name meant nothing and they should be not be separated by their family feud.
Do names mean nothing? It is interesting that as Jesus begins His Pattern for Prayer that we call the Lord’s Prayer, His first petition focuses on the Name of God. Having addressed God as Father in Heaven, He tells us to pray... ’may Your name be kept holy’
The question is ’What does it mean to keep the name of God Holy or as the older versions put it to hallow the name of God?’ For some this is just a reminder of the third commandment ... "You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name." (Exodus 20:7, NLT). Whilst it is vital to maintain this and all the other commandments, I do not believe that this is what our Lord had in mind.
To understand this petition, we need first to grasp two salient points.
1. IT’S ALL IN THE NAME...
TO THE HEBREW A NAME WAS
MORE THAN A TITLE OR IDENTIFIER. In our modern world a person’s name is chosen at birth by one’s parents. Chosen either because they liked the name or possibly because of some family connection. Whatever name is given to us it serves to distinguish us from other people. In ancient times a name had great significance attached to it such that one’s name was often a ...
A CHARACTER REFERENCE. There was a vital connection between a name and the character of the person who bore the name. This could either reflect the circumstances surrounding or preceding the birth of the child, the prayers and aspirations for the child or some significant character trait of the child. For example Jacob, which means supplanter or deceiver, was so named because he was born grasping the heel of his older twin brother. Throughout his early life Jacob sought to deceive his brother among many others!
2. UNDERSTAND THE WORD ... ’TO MAKE/KEEP HOLY’
The word used is ’hagiastheto’ which derives from the Greek word ... ’hagios ’ from which our English words holy, holiness, saint and sanctify derive. The word therefore means to treat something as ’hagios’ or holy.
The basic meaning of ’hagios’ is to differentiate from the ordinary or to separate from all other things. For example ...
AN ALTAR IS ’hagios’ ... kept separate for a specific sacrifice.
GOD’S DAY IS ’hagios’ ... different from all other days!
Ceremonial laws required that CERTAIN HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS ARE ’hagios’, kept separate for specific purposes.
THEREFORE
THE FIRST PETITION ’may Your Name be kept holy’
MEANS ...
LET GOD’S NAME BE TREATED DIFFERENTLY FROM ALL OTHER NAMES
LET GOD’S NAME BE GIVEN A SIGNIFICANCE ABOVE AND UNIQUE TO ALL OTHER NAMES
In short ... to keep God’s Name Holy is to give God a unique place in the scheme of our lives which His Character deserves and demands!
R.C. Sproul said it this way "When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate. He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us. To be holy is to be "other", to be different in a special way." (RC Sproul)
(SLIDE 3)
This begs the question ... HOW DO WE KEEP GOD’S NAME HOLY?
I want to suggest three ways, but to do justice to this we need to split it over two sessions...
Firstly we keep God’s Name Holy ...
1. WHEN WE ACKNOWLEDGE WHO HE IS!
NEXT TIME ... We will consider ... We keep God’s Name Holy ...
2. WHEN WE APPROPRIATE WHO HE IS!
3. WHEN WE APPLY WHO HE IS!
(SLIDE 4)
WHEN WE ACKNOWLEDGE WHO HE IS!
"No religion is greater than its idea of God" (AW Tozer)
Brennan Manning writes this: "The whole universe is too small to contain his immensity. We can no more catch a hurricane in a shrimp net or Niagara Falls in a coffee cup than we can grasp the infinity of God’s reality."
(Brennan Manning)
There is no greater need today than for believers to recapture a reverence and awe of Almighty God...
Whilst many know this intellectually and many express it with their lips during celebratory worship, few practically acknowledge who God is by reverencing him as He DESERVES AND DEMANDS.
Hence Jesus instructs us before all else to RECOGNISE AND ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS! Sadly so often we rush into God’s presence in prayer scarcely giving thought to whom we are praying. Because we have free access to the Throne of Grace, it does not negate our necessity to pause and reflect on who God is ... Yes as we saw last time He is our Heavenly Father but He is Almighty God the Sovereign God of the Universe. When Moses approached God at the Burning Bush he was told ... "Do not come any closer," the LORD warned. "Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground." (Exodus 3:5, NLT). When Isaiah encountered God in the Temple He was overwhelmed by God’s Holiness and his own sinfulness. When John encountered the Risen Lord at the commencement of his vision he recounts ... "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead." (Revelation 1:17, NLT) and later he is given a vision of heaven itself where the four living creatures proclaim ... "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty-- the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come."" (Revelation 4:8, NLT) and the 24 Elders proclaim as they lay their crowns before the Throne ..."You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased."" (Revelation 4:11, NLT)... Beloved, when you pray BE AWARE OF WHO GOD IS!
But ... HOW DO WE DO THIS?
I suggest this involves FOUR ESSENTIALS...
1. BE AWARE OF HIS EXISTANCE
This almost seems too obvious. But by being aware of His existence involves more than an intellectual assent that there is a God. For this surely is obvious to anyone with more than one brain cell operating. The Universe with its ordered complexity demands a belief in a Creator God. As ludicrous as me believing that a watch comes into being without the intervention of a watchmaker with the parts just miraculously falling into place, so is a belief that this World in which we live with all its complex intricacies came into existence by a Random Big Bang.
But being aware of God’s existence involves more than a mind belief; it must affect how I live. To be aware of God’s existence is to live in a manner that recognises that God is and that God has a plan for the World in general and a plan for you in particular. You were made by God for His Purpose and His pleasure therefore life has a meaning.
"God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10, GW)
David Friend puts it this way ...
You are who you are for a Reason
You’ve been formed by the Master’s rod
You are who you are, beloved
Because there is a God!
(David Friend quoted in ’Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren)
That is why the writer of Hebrews says ...
"Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find him." (Hebrews 11:6, NCV)
What is faith other than living to please God through a restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on Calvary?
2. BE AWARE OF HIS CHARACTER
Whilst you and I can recognise that there is a God from contemplating the natural order, as Paul says... "For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God." (Romans 1:20, NLT)
However, the only way we can begin to come to understand who God is and experience Him as He desires ... is if He tells us, if He reveals Himself to us. This He has done through the Word of God, the Bible! Eugene Petersons paraphrase of this puts it well ...
"The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, " (Romans 12:3, The Message)
"Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O LORD, do not abandon those who search for you." (Psalm 9:10, NLT)
So who is God? How has He revealed Himself... Look at the names He has called Himself...
HE IS
’Elohim’ -- The Creator God
’El Elyon’ -- The Most High God
’El Roi’ -- The All Seeing God
’El Shaddai’ -- The All Sufficient God/Almighty God
’El Olam’ -- The Everlasting God
’Yahweh/Jehovah’ -- ’I Am, Who I Am, I Will Be’
’Jehovah Jireh’ -- The Lord Will Provide (Gen 22:14)
’Jehovah Nissi’ -- The Lord Our Banner (Ex 17:15)
’Jehovah Shalom’ -- The Lord Our Peace (Jud 6:24)
’Jehovah Rapha’ -- The Lord That Heals
’Jehovah Sabaoth’ -- The Lord Of Hosts (Joshua)
’Jehovah Raah’ - The Lord My Shepherd’
’Jehovah Tsidkenu’ -- The Lord Our Righteousness
’Jehovah Shammah’ -- The Lord Is There (Ezek 48:35)
’Jehovah Mekoddiskem’ -- The Lord Who Sanctifies
’Adonai’ -- The Lord God
But ... SUPREMELY HE IS
JESUS CHRIST ... His ultimate revelation ...
Listen to the writer of Hebrews ... "Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God." (Hebrews 1:1-3, NLT)
Listen to Paul ..."Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation," (Colossians 1:15, NLT)
When perplexed ... "Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus replied, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?" (John 14:8-9, NLT)
HE IS
Lord
Saviour
The Living Water
The Bread of Life
The Light of the World
The Good Shepherd
The Resurrection and the Life
The Way, The Truth And The Life
The True Vine
3. BE AWARE OF HIS PRESENCE
Not only aware of His existence and His Character we need to be aware of His Presence...
David said ... "I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me." (Psalm 16:8, NLT).
We need to recognise that the God of the Universe is with you at all times ... I do not come into His Presence ... I am in His presence 24/7 365!
David says ... "O LORD, you have examined me, and you know me. You alone know when I sit down and when I get up. You read my thoughts from far away. You watch me when I travel and when I rest. You are familiar with all my ways. Even before there is a ⌊single⌋ word on my tongue, you know all about it, LORD. You are all around me--in front of me and in back of me. You lay your hand on me. Such knowledge is beyond my grasp. It is so high I cannot reach it. " (Psalm 139:1--6, GW)
In the 17th Century, a French monk, Bro Lawrence, a humble cook living in a monastery wrote a classic called ’Practicing the Presence of God’. He wrote of his ability to turn even the most menial task into an act of praise and communion with God.
Beloved this is being aware that there is never a moment, never an activity, never a place that you go, where God is not!
"Everything you do can be ’spending time with God’ if He is invited to be part of it and you stay aware of His Presence" (Rick Warren)
"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31, NLT)
"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." (Colossians 3:23, NLT)
Being aware of His Presence means being comfortable to allow God into all you do, at home, at work at play! Living in the Awareness that God is always there!
Acknowledging who God is requires that we BE AWARE OF HIS OWNERSHIP, His claim upon our lives!
He created you for a purpose, your life is not your own. Our time on earth, our time, talents, treasures are a trust from God which one day we will need to give an account. Paul says...
"Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19--20, NLT)
John in his vision of heaven records the elders saying ... ""You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased."" (Revelation 4:11, NLT)
David says ... "The Lord’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love." (Psalm 147:11, NLT)
So how do we keep the name of God holy recognising His ownership of our lives and our responsibility towards that trust? Paul shows us in the key passage in Romans ...
"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2, NLT)
You keep God’s name holy by honouring that which He entrusted to you!
(SLIDE 5)
When Jesus said ..."Pray like this: ... may your name be kept holy." (Matthew 6:9, NLT)
He was showing you that when you pray you KEEP GOD’S NAME HOLY AS YOU ACKNOWLEDGE WHO HE IS ... BEING right at the outset of your prayers ...
AWARE OF HIS EXISTANCE
AWARE OF HIS CHARACTER
AWARE OF HIS PRESENCE
AWARE OF HIS OWNERSHIP
Beloved prayer begins as an act of rededication. When we recognise WHO GOD IS, there is only one thing for us to do, that is to say with Isaiah Here am I Lord, I commit myself afresh to pleasing you by fulfilling the purpose for which you created me! In this attidude we are ready to pray!
"Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?" I said, "Here I am. Send me."" (Isaiah 6:1--8, NLT)
