Upgrade Your Connection Series

Can You Hear Me Now? Good! Week 2

“UPGRADE YOUR CONNECTION”

Matthew 6:9b and Isaiah 6:1-5

INTRODUCTION:

Most wireless providers will allow you, even encourage you to upgrade a number of things. You can upgrade your phones, you can upgrade your calling plan, even upgrade a number of accessories. But I know of no wireless provider that will allow you to upgrade your connection. Try going into a company and saying, “Look, I want a stronger signal, a wider calling range (at no extra cost) and clearer reception.” An honest wireless provider will tell you that is not an upgrade and actually would require a different provider.

Well, you don’t have to worry about that in the spiritual realm. Upgrading your connection is not only available it is promoted. God wants you to be as close to Him as a child with a perfect, loving Father can be. And no matter what connection or relationship you have with Him now, He always will welcome a stronger one. But while we are to have an intimate relationship with God we are also to understand that He is the ultimate Provider and as such, deserves our respect and honor. That is why Jesus includes “we honor your holy Name” as the second phrase of this prayer.

Rick Warren tells about hearing a little boy who prayed: "Our Father, who art in heaven, Howard be your name." Well, it’s important that we get God’s name right because His name tells us a lot about Him. And in looking at this phrase I believe we will not only discover it’s definition but we’ll find out what it means both to Our Father and to us when we say, “honor Your Holy Name.”

I. UNDERSTANDING THE PHRASE: “Honor Your Holy Name..”

Remember, what we want to do first is understand each of these phrases in the context that Jesus used them. The word Jesus uses for “holy” is a word that has two distinct meanings. (1) The root meaning means simply to “set apart.” In that basic use the word means to take something that is ordinary and make it special. It’s used that way in the O.T. when in the Ten Commandments it talks about the Sabbath being holy. Take the ordinary day, for the Jews it was Saturday, and set it apart for worship, rest and spiritual priority. It is used in the N.T. in describing Christians. 1 Peter 2:9 calls Christians “God’s holy nation.” A follower of Christ is set-apart by God’s forgiveness and should be set-apart from those who do not believe by the way they live. 2Tim. 1:9 says that God has “saved us and called us to live a holy life.”

But Jesus chose the second meaning of the word “Holy”here. You see if Jesus has used the first meaning than God and His Name would of had to be first unholy or ordinary and be made holy or special. But God did not become holy. He is, always has been, and always will be “holy.” (2) So, there is a second meaning. It means to treat as “sacred” or hold in highest“esteem. In decades past it would be a name to be revered. John saw a perfect illustration of this in Revelation 4:8 where all the living creatures give God honor - “Day after day and night after night they keep on saying: `Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.’” Day and night they hold God as sacred, the One worthy of honor. Jesus, is teaching us in this phrase that “You are to honor God as Holy.. For He is the only one worthy of your worship, so we “honor Your holy - Your sacred & esteemed..”

“... Name.” We all know names are important. I told you last week that my daughter is pregnant. I did not tell you that my daughter-in-law is also pregnant. Janice, my daughter-in-law is due the end of January, Marlo, my daughter is due the end of February. It is exciting for them both to experience this first “blessed event” together. And both families are giving a great deal of thought to what name they will give a boy or a girl. For Ryan and Marlo a boy will bear the name Derrick Timothy Holbert. A girl: Gabrielle ? Holbert. For Rusty and Janice if it is a boy it will be Trey or Weston Alan Smith. They’re still working on girl’s name and pouring over baby name books. But ask any new parent, choosing the right name is important. You want to give your child a name that will be pleasant to the ear and also honor the family. But sometimes the “right” name for some might seem a little strange. John Train has collected some really surprising names that parents have inflicted on their kids. In his book, Remarkable Names of Real People, he lists some actual names that are a little hard to believe: Some are not too bad like the John Tune naming his daughter June so she’d be “June Tune.” But how about the parents whose last name was Agony, naming their daughter, Constant. Or the parents whose last name was Odor name their son Ivan. The topper may be the man in Houston, Tx. Who’s last name was P-i-g-g and actually named his two daughters, no kidding, Ima & Ura. Naming your child some of those names makes you wonder what a parent was thinking.