"Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy." (Matthew 6:9, NLT)
(SLIDE 2)
INTRODUCTION
A pastor was building a wooden trellis to support a climbing vine. As he pounded away, he noticed that a young boy that he recognised from the Sunday school was watching him. The youngster didn’t say a word, so the pastor kept on working, thinking the lad would leave after a while. But instead he didn’t and just silently kept watching the pastor pounding away with the hammer and nails. Finally the pastor thought he would engage the youngster in conversation so he asked, "Well, son, are you trying to pick up some pointers on gardening?" "No, Sir" replied the young lad, "I’m just waiting to hear if a preacher practices what he preaches when he hits his thumb with the hammer."
What you believe means nothing until you put it into action. Knowing is not enough, it must be used to be of any worth!
Last time we began looking at the first petition in our Lord’s Pattern for Prayer. You may recall that we saw that …
THE FIRST PETITION… ‘may Your Name be kept holy’
MEANS
LET GOD’S NAME BE TREATED DIFFERENTLY FROM ALL OTHER NAMES, recognising that in the Bible the name is not just an identifier of who the person is. A name in Scripture speaks of who the person is; their character, who they actually are! Therefore let God be treated differently from all others beings. Furthermore it also means …
LET GOD’S NAME BE GIVEN SIGNIFICANCE ABOVE AND UNIQUE TO ALL OTHER NAMES. Let God, who He is, be preeminent, unsurpassed, paramount in my life. Isaiah captures this when He asks …
“To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him? … To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. … Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.” (Isaiah 40:18,25,28, NLT)
That begged the question …
HOW DO WE KEEP GOD’S NAME HOLY?
LAST TIME
WHEN WE ACKNOWLEDGE WHO HE IS!
HOW?
AWARE OF HIS EXISTANCE, living in a manner that recognises the existence of God and that He does have a plan and purpose for this world, and in particular that He does have a plan and purpose for my life!
AWARE OF HIS CHARACTER, recognising who God is and we saw that the only way that we can know who He is, is if He reveals Himself to us; which He has done in Scripture. First through the through the prophets of old and then supremely in Jesus Christ. He has also revealed that He wants to have a relationship with us and to be involved with us in fulfilling this plan that He has for us.
AWARE OF HIS PRESENCE, recognising that 24/7 365, God is with us and wants to be involved personally in fulfilling the Plan and purpose He has for us through that love relationship that He has brought about through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
AWARE OF HIS OWNERSHIP, recognising that the God who has and Plan for your life, Who wants to be involved and by virtue of who He is, is involved 24/7 has a claim of ownership on your life …“Don’t you know that your body is a temple that belongs to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, whom you received from God, lives in you. You don’t belong to yourselves. You were bought for a price. So bring glory to God in the way you use your body. ” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, GW)
But just acknowledging it is not enough… We keep God’s Name Holy, as we will examine two further aspects …
THIS WEEK
WHEN WE APPROPRIATE WHO HE IS!
WHEN WE APPLY WHO HE IS!
(SLIDE 3)
WHEN WE APPROPRIATE WHO HE IS!
Not only does God reveal to us His holiness, not only does He show us He is a Holy God, not only does He want us to recognise His Holiness but He makes it clear that we who belong to Him must follow in His footsteps as it were. Early in His dealings with man, as He lays down His law for His people Israel, He said …
"I am the Lord your God. Keep yourselves holy for me because I am holy. (Leviticus 11:44, NCV)
In effect what God is saying is that to be in the love relationship with Him we need also to be holy even as He is Holy; being Holy means that He can never have any part of that which is not holy.
And later in Leviticus, God says … "“Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy." (Leviticus 19:2, NLT) … note the reason why we are to be Holy… Because He is Holy! Therefore the very Holiness of God requires from us the need to be holy.
Peter confirms this … "But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”" (1 Peter 1:15-16, NLT)
Paul concurs … "We should try to become holy in the way we live, because we respect God." (2 Corinthians 7:1, NCV)
Beloved, do you see that … Because we respect God, i.e. want to keep His Name Holy, we must endeavour to be holy in the way we live.
We acknowledge that in and of ourselves we cannot be holy. Within ourselves we could never become holy. That holiness can only come as a righteousness that comes through what Jesus accomplished on our behalf in His death and resurrection.
Peter emphasizes this when he says …“Realize that you weren’t set free from the worthless life handed down to you from your ancestors by a payment of silver or gold which can be destroyed. Rather, the payment that freed you was the precious blood of Christ, the lamb with no defects or imperfections. ” (1 Peter 1:18–19, GW)
So it is only those who have had their sins forgiven through faith in Jesus and what He accomplished on Calvary and are now made right with God, who can pray ‘May Your Name be kept holy’ because they have been made right with God (i.e. Holy) not with a righteousness that come from themselves but a righteousness that come through faith in Jesus!
“Holiness is not the way to Christ, but Christ is the way to holiness." (Anonymous)
So … TO PRAY … ‘may Your Name be kept holy’
IS NOT ONLY TO ASK THAT GOD’S NAME (WHO GOD IS)
BE REVEALED TO YOU
BUT ALSO TO ASK THAT GOD’S NAME (WHO GOD IS)
BE REVEALED IN YOU
THEREFORE TO PRAY … ‘may Your Name be kept holy’
IS TO PRAY … THAT EVERY DETAIL OF MY LIFE will be a reflection of His Holiness and therefore … WILL BE LIVED FOR HIS GLORY. Is this therefore not also a prayer that God will reveal in us who He is; will implant in us His Character and help us to strive to make His Glory uppermost in all we do.
Chuck Colson said it well, "Holiness is the everyday business of every Christian. It evidences itself in the decisions we make and the things we do, hour by hour, day by day." (Chuck Colson)
WHEN WE APPROPRIATE WHO GOD IS! We recognise that … “Holiness is living to please God alone”
May I ask a question? CAN I WRITE … ‘may Your Name be kept holy’
OVER EVERY DETAIL OF MY LIFE
MY PLANS, my dreams, my ambitions, my desires? Are they honoring God’s Name
MY CONDUCT, how I live, how I deal with all the things that happen in my life, the sorrows, the joys?
MY ACTIVITIES, what I do and how I do it?
MY RECREATION, what I do in my spare time? The books I read; the movies and shows I watch?
MY HABITS, things I do without thinking?
MY RELATIONSHIPS, how I relate to others? My family, my loved ones, my enemies?
MY SERVICE
To pray this prayer is not only to bring a NEW REVERENCE into my concept of Who God is, but also to bring a NEW RADIANCE in to my conduct that mirrors His Chatacter and honours God.
“Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me
All His wonderful passion and purity
Oh, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me”
That is also what I am praying when I pray ... “may Your Name be kept Holy”
(SLIDE 4)
WHEN WE APPLY WHO HE IS!
TO PRAY … ‘may Your Name be kept holy’
IS NOT ONLY TO ASK THAT GOD’S NAME (WHO GOD IS)
BE REVEALED TO YOU
BE REVEALED IN YOU
BUT ALSO TO ASK THAT GOD’S NAME (WHO GOD IS)
BE REVEALED THROUGH YOU
There is a lovely couplet that comes to mind …
The gospel is written a chapter a day
By deeds that you do and words that you say.
Men read what you say, whether faithless or true.
Say, what is the gospel according to you?
God’s name is kept Holy by the way I reflect who God is to the unbelieving world around me. Is this not what Jesus had in mind when He said a little earlier in the Sermon on the Mount? … “In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:16, NLT)
Do you recall a statement Nathan made to David as he was confronted with his sin of adultery with Bathsheba? David having confessed his sin is confronted with God’s judgment in the death of the child of the adulterous relationship with these words …
“However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” ” (2 Samuel 12:14, NKJV)
Beloved be warned, behavior that ignores the Lord’s purposes, precepts and principles always hurts others, including the “innocent”; indeed this is one of sin’s most terrifying realities. Recognise also that behavior that ignores the Lord’s purposes, precepts and principles also damages the Name of God because it gives God’s enemies cause to dishonor and blaspheme God.
What a challenge Paul laid before his people when he said … “You brag about having God’s law, but you bring shame to God by breaking his law, just as the Scriptures say: “Those who are not Jews speak against God’s name because of you.”” (Romans 2:23–24, NCV)
What a solemn thought to realize a failure on my part can cause the name of God to be blasphemed by unbelievers. So Peter warns us to watch how we live …
"Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world." (1 Peter 2:12, NLT)
A rather pompous-looking deacon was endeavoring to impress upon a class of boys the importance of living the Christian life. "Why do people call me a Christian?" the man asked. After a moment’s pause, one youngster said, "Maybe it’s because they don’t know you."
Be warned lest we piously pray ‘may Your Name be kept holy’ on Sunday and then by our careless conduct, speech and lifestyle we drag the Precious Name of God down Monday through Saturday.
Therefore to pray ‘may Your Name be kept holy’ is to ask God to bring a NEW REVERENCE into my concept of Who He is, to bring a NEW RADIANCE into my conduct that honours who God is, but also to bring a NEW REFLECTION into all my contacts with others that they may also see who God is.
That is why Paul encourages the Corinthians…
"And the Lord makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT)
Why? Beloved that is one of the prime reasons that God did not translate us directly into heaven the moment we received Jesus as Lord and Saviour. We are to be reflectors of His Glorious Image to the world around us! Many people in the world may never ever read a Bible, attend a church service, pick up a Christian magazine but they will read your life, they will rub shoulders with you, they will be influenced by your behaviour.
May I ask another question? WHAT SORT OF MIRROR AM I AS I REFLECT HIS NAME?
Is my mirror marred by sin, spoiled by self-absorption, dimmed by ill-discipline or BECAUSE I PRAY … ‘may Your Name be kept holy’
As I live in the World CAN OTHERS SEE JESUS IN ME?
HIS LOVE
HIS JOY
HIS PEACE
HIS PATIENCE
HIS KINDNESS
HIS GOODNESS
HIS FAITHFULNESS
HIS GENTLENESS
HIS SELF-CONTROL
(SLIDE 5)
CONCLUSION
During the late 1800’s an English evangelist named Henry Moorhouse made several trips to preach in America. On one of those occasions he was taking a walk through a poor neighborhood of the town when he noticed a small boy coming out of a store with a pitcher of milk in his hands. Just then, the young lad slipped and fell breaking the pitcher and spilling the milk all over the sidewalk.
Moorhouse rushed to the child’s aid and found him unhurt but terrified. "My mum will whip me!" the lad kept crying. Moorhouse picked up the boy and carried him into the nearby store where the preacher purchased a new pitcher. Then he returned to the dairy, had the pitcher washed and filled with milk. He then carried the boy and the pitcher home.
Putting the youngster down on his front porch, Moorhouse handed him the pitcher and asked, "Will your mum whip you now?" A wide smile spread across the boy’s tear stained face, "Oh no sir,” he said “cause this is a lot better pitcher than we had before."
In grace God has saved us and is in the process of transforming us into His image. He doesn’t patch up our old lives that have been shattered by sin. That would not do. His reputation is at stake. We are His workmanship! He has made us holy because He is Holy!
So … TO PRAY … ‘may Your Name be kept holy’
IS TO ASK THAT GOD’S NAME:
BE REVEALED TO YOU
BY ACKLOWLEDGING WHO GOD IS
GIVING YOU A NEW REVERENCE FOR HIM
BE REVEALED IN YOU
BY APPROPRIATING WHO GOD IS
GIVING YOU A NEW RADIANCE FROM HIM
BE REVEALED THROUGH YOU
BY APPLYING WHO GOD IS
GIVING YOU A NEW REFLECTION OF HIM
(SLIDE 6)
This is my desire … May Your Name be kept Holy!
THIS IS MY DESIRE TO HONOUR YOU
LORD WITH ALL MY HEART
I WORSHIP YOU
ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME
I GIVE YOU PRAISE
ALL THAT I ADORE IS IN YOU
LORD I GIVE YOU MY HEART
I GIVE YOU MY SOUL
I LIVE FOR YOU ALONE
EVERY BREATH THAT I TAKE
EVERY MOMENT I’M AWAKE
LORD HAVE YOUR WAY IN ME
(Reuben Morgan)
