HALLOWED BE THY NAME (Exodus 34:5-8) INTRODUCTION We have been looking at the Lord s Prayer as a model for how to approach God in prayer and what we should be praying. Jesus taught his disciples this prayer and I believe He expects us to use it as a model of praying in a way that pleases God. He taught us to address God as our heavenly Father as we begin. Doing this reminds us that we come to God as the One who calls us His children and wants to lavish His love on us. We are the children of God through faith in Jesus and through the work of the Holy Spirit regenerating us and giving us the Spirit of adoption, whereby we call God, Abba, Father. I hope that as you have been praying the Lord s Prayer each day this week that you are reflecting on God as your heavenly Father in your prayers and thereby expanding your worship of Him. A side note on praying the Lord s Prayer in church: When we pray it in church we are using the one in Matthew s gospel, not Luke s, we are basing it on the King James translation, not the NIV, and we normally modify a couple of words from the KJV: ( who art in heaven in place of which art in heaven and thy will be done on earth in place of be done in earth. ) There is more than one version of the Lord s Prayer, but this is the basis of how we use it here and in most churches. Too often our prayers are only self-centered requests, but this prayer teaches that we are to start and finish praying with God s interest in mind. After addressing God as our heavenly Father we have three petitions related to God s Name, God s Kingdom, and God s Will. This first petition related to God s Name. Hallowed be thy Name. This is the petition we are looking at today. What are we asking when we pray Hallowed by thy Name? I would venture to say many who pray this don t really understand fully what they are asking. To hallow something is not something we do every day. WHAT DOES HALLOWED MEAN? σου What does it mean to hallow something? The Greek is α γιασθη τω το ὄνομα January 29, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 1
The word hallow comes from the same Greek word for to sanctify or to make holy. Now we don t make God holy, but we are to treat His name as holy. This is the idea of this petition. May Your Name be treated as holy. The Psalmist tells us that God s name is holy and awesome, Psalms 111:9 NIV He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever-- holy and awesome is his name. God s Name is holy and we should treat it as such. Albert Barnes comments, The word hallowed means, to render or pronounce holy. God's name is essentially holy; and the meaning of this petition is, Let thy name be celebrated, and venerated, and esteemed as holy everywhere, and receive of all men proper honors. It is thus the expression of a wish or desire, on the part of the worshipper, that the name of God, or God himself, should be held everywhere in proper veneration. The psalmist shows us how he hallowed God s name in several ways. Psalms 5:11 NKJV Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. Psalms 7:17 NKJV I will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. Psalms 61:5 NKJV those who fear Your name. Psalms 96:2 NKJV Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Psalm 96:8 Give to the LORD the glory due His name. so. The Name of God was very precious to the Psalmist and he wanted to treat it WHY IS SO IMPORTANT TO TREAT GOD S NAME AS HOLY? holy. This leads us into considering why is so important to treat God s name as Shakespeare may have thought that a rose by any other name would still be a rose, or would still smell as sweet. But this is not true in the Bible. The importance of a name in the Bible is that it reflects in some way the character of the person. When God changed the name of Abram to Abraham He was signifying that Abraham was going to be the father of many nations. (Gen. 17:5). When God gave the name of Israel to Jacob He was saying that was because Jacob had wrestled with God and prevailed, signifying an characteristic of Jacob. January 29, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 2
When speaking about the name of God it is talking about the character of God or to the person of God. His Name tells us the way He relates to us and how we respond to Him. That the Name of God points to His character is seen when God proclaimed his name before Moses. Exodus 34:6-7 NIV And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. There are many names for God in the Bible. These reflect how He has revealed Himself to us. Elohim He is the mighty Creator (Gen 1:1) Adonai He is our master or Lord ( Gen 15 Abraham) El Shaddai He is God Almighty (Gen 17 Abraham) El-Elyon- He is the God Most High (Gen 14 Abraham) El Roi He is the God who Sees (Gen 16 Hagar) El Olam He is the Everlasting God (Gen 21:33) When Moses asked God whom should I say has sent me, God said, I am that I am. God s Name is the Great I AM. From that name comes God personal Name Jahweh, or He is. The old way of pronouncing this is Jehovah. You would call this God s first name. Moses came to know God on a first name basis. We get to know God on a first name basis with Him. We are to pray, Hallowed by thy Name. Jehovah Jireh the Lord our Provider (Gen 22) Jehovah Nissi the Lord our Banner (Exodus 17:8-16) Jehovah Rohi the Lord my Shepherd (Psalm 23) Jehovah Rophe the God who Heals (Exodus 15:22-26) Jehovah Shalom the Lord of our Peace (Jud. 6:11-24) Jehovah Shammah the Lord is Here (Ezekiel 48:30-35) Jehovah Tsidkenu the Lord our Righteousness (Jer. 23:5-6) All these names reveal something about the character of God or what God does for us. January 29, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 3
Elmer Towns tells about a trip he made one time to Mt Rushmore in South Dakota to see the great carved images of the 4 great presidents. It was at night and he was late getting there. It closed at 11:00 p.m and he arrived about 2 minutes after it closed. The lights were out but he wanted to walk around and look at the great monument to the presidents. But it was was cloudy and rainy. It was disappointed because as he looked up he couldn t see anything, until a flash of lightning lit up the sky and mountain and he got a glimpse of the presidents. He stood there several minutes waiting for the lightning to flash and when it did he got another glimpse. It was a very humbling and moving experience for him. He did get to see glimpses of this majestic sculpture When God gives us one of His names He is revealing a little more about Himself to us. When we pray hallowed be thy Name we are praying to treat the Name of God holy, for God is holy, and we are be in awe at the revelation of God to us through His name. This is why it is so important to hallow God s Name and to pray Hallowed by Thy Name. May your Name be treated as holy because it is You are. WHAT ARE WE DOING WHEN WE PRAY HALLOWED BY THY NAME? One of the blessings of praying this part of the Lord s is that it puts us in the frame of mind of worship. It is a great way to begin our prayers in worship. Worship is the act of humbling ourselves before God and expressing our trust in Him. When we review some of the names of God we can humble ourselves before Him by trusting Him for these ways in which God related to me. I can express my by faith in God as the Almighty, He is powerful enough to take care of me. I can express my faith in God as the One who sees me. His eyes are always on me and his name El Roi reminds me of this. I can express my faith in God as El Shaddai, the God who provides all that I need. I can express my faith in God as Adonai, He is my Lord. I can express my faith in God as The Lord my Shepherd and He will take care of me. All these names of God I want to treat as holy and reflect on them as ways in which God relates to me and humble myself before Him and worship Him. MORE THOUGHTS ON WHAT IT MEANS TO PRAY THIS PRAYER Now let s consider more thoughts on praying Hallowed by Thy Name. Someone has said, In this petition the glory of God is both desired and promised on our part; for every prayer is both an expression of a desire and also an implicit vow or solemn obligation that we take upon ourselves to prosecute what we ask. We but mock God if we present to Him pious January 29, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 4
words and have no intention of striving with our might to live in harmony with them. When we pray this prayer Hallowed by thy name we are saying, Lord, my desire is that your name and your character will be treated holy in my life and thoughts. We are saying, Lord, be preeminent in my life. Let me view all of life as opportunities to reverence You according to your Name. ONE FINAL THOUGHT ABOUT PRAYING HALLOWED BY THY NAME Paul once warned the Jews,. the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, (Romans 2:24). It is a solemn thought to realize that failure on our part to hallow the name of the Lord in our daily life has disastrous consequences, in causing the name of God to be blasphemed by the world. When we pray each day Hallowed be thy name, we are saying, Father your reputation is at stake in me today. May I live in such a way as to be a credit to your person. May others see your character through my behavior and honor your name because of what they see of you in me. These are some of the things we should add to our prayers when we pray Hallowed be thy Name CONCLUSION What a deep, meaningful prayer request we are making to God when we sincerely pray Hallowed be thy Name. It gives us a time to reflect on how God has revealed Himself to us and then we are to worship Him for this revelation. So let s pray this each day this week with a fuller application than just mouthing the words. When we do then we will be praying as Jesus taught us to pray. Amen? Amen! January 29, 2017 Corntassel CP Church Page 5