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The Lord’s Prayer III
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Last week in our exposition of the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer we examined the meaning of the invocation, “Our Father in heaven.” Now we come to the first thing we ask of our Father in heaven, that is, that he would hallow His name, or set it apart and make it holy.
Again we notice that we do not start off our praying with a long list of personal needs and requests. In fact, in saying and praying the invocation, “Our Father, who is in heaven,” we have taken time to rest in the truth of our adoption as His Sons, and we have worshiped and praised Him as our mighty Father, one who is in heaven, infinite and mighty and over all things.
The invocation has prepared our hearts to focus our attention on our Father. Now, with that attention focused, we consider our Father’s honor, His agenda, His purposes. Suddenly all of our needs fade in immediacy and in significance.
This reminds me of that wonderful line in Psalm 37, verse 4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
First we delight ourselves in Him, His person, His attributes, graces, His promises, His will, His word. When we do this the desires of our heart are impacted profoundly. When He becomes the center of our delight our desires are changed, and He delights to grant desires molded by our delight in Him.
The first thing that Jesus has us pray about as we focus our hearts upon the Father is His honor, His reputation, His glory.
He does this by having us pray, “Hallowed be your name.”
Now this word “hallow” is an English word we don’t use anymore. The translators of the New International Version retained use of this word probably due to the weight of traditional usage of the Lord’s Prayer, even though the word really makes no sense at all to the modern reader.
The Greek word “hagiazo” translated by this English word “hallow” is of a group of words often translated by our English words “holy,” and “holiness,” and “to make holy.” Just to make things confusing many Bibles translate these “holiness” words using the English words “sanctified,” “sanctification” “and “sanctify.” Sometimes the phrase “set apart” both as an adjective and a noun is used to translate these “holiness” words.
Something that is holy or sanctified is something that is set apart. It is set apart either because it is of great intrinsic worth, or it is set for a special use.
A beautiful diamond is set apart from all other things because of its inherent worth and value. A family heirloom is set apart from all else due to its intrinsic value to the family.
Most families have a set of china that is brought out only on special occasions. This china may have some intrinsic worth in that it may be expensive or it may have been a wedding gift. But primarily it is set apart to preserve it for its more special use.
God is set apart. He intrinsically is of a different order of being. His value or dignity is inherently of a different order. He is other. He is infinite. He is sovereign.
He is also set apart in that He is utterly pure and untouched by sin, which is contrary and opposite to Him and His nature. He is pure. He is perfect. He is light.
God cannot be properly known for who He is apart from this otherness from us, this separateness from all that is touched by sin. Nor can he be properly known apart from His unique power and majesty as sovereign Lord over all things.
To say “God is holy” is almost like saying “God is God.”
When we as human beings were created we were created in His image, to reflect back his character and his nature. He gave us charge over the works of His hands. In fulfilling this charge we were to reflect His glory in our godlike character, and to cause His glory and wisdom and beauty and power to be seen more and more throughout creation as we worked it and cared for it.
It is central to who we are as creatures that we are the most happy, the most fulfilled, the most joyful, the most whole when we related to God as One who is above, who is the boss, who is in charge, who is Lord, who is King, who is perfect in all His ways; that is, as One who is holy.
It is part of the very nature of the universe that when we do not relate to Him in this way, everything is out of whack. It is not right. It is all messed up. It is an assault upon the honor of the One who made us and all things.
And so when we pray that God’s name would come to be hallowed, we are expressing our desire that things be right again, that God’s person and nature and character and word be rightly revered and respected, and that His honor be restored.
Please notice that by asking God to “make holy” His name we are not asking God to change Himself. He already is Holy. He can’t be more holy than He is. He is the definition of “holy.”
The request that God would hallow His name is not a request for God to do something in Himself to change Himself, but to do something in us to change us. When we say to God, “Let your name be set apart,” we are asking Him to work in us that we would revere Him, honor Him, treat Him with the respect due to Him, and bring glory to Him in our lives! And by asking Him to change “us” we mean first of all we who are praying, but we also mean ultimately everyone, all creation.
Now the wording of the Lord’s Prayer is that God’s name would be set apart. We pray, “Hallowed be your name.”
Why does it say that his name should be hallowed, and not simply that He should be hallowed? Well, to say that we long that God’s name be set apart is to say that we long that God Himself be set apart.
This is like praying, “Lord, because you are holy and praiseworthy, make your name to be holy and praiseworthy.” How is it that we can we pray this way? Because God’s name and God Himself are so closely linked. His reputation and His honor are closely linked to His name. God and His name cannot be separated.
We see this over and over in the worship of God displayed in the Psalms:
Psalms 29:1-2 Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
Psalms 96:2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
Obviously, to praise God’s name is to praise God Himself!
When we think of that place where God most intimately and graciously made His presence known to His people in the Old Covenant era, that is, in and through the temple and its ministry, we note that the temple is the place that God chose as a dwelling place for His name. He had spoken to the people before entering the land, warning them of the danger of falling into worship like that of the people inhabiting the land:
Deuteronomy 12:4-5 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling.
God was very clear that His name was not to be profaned, and that it indeed had been profaned by His people over and over again.
God’s holiness, His otherness, His set-apart-ness, is something central to His being and central to our relationship to Him. We cannot know Him properly if we do not respect and honor Him for how He is above and different and set apart from us.
But God is not an object that we would treasure like we treasure an heirloom. He is not visible. We cannot set Him apart in spatial terms. We cannot put Him in a special place like a piece of china.
His invisible person is represented to us by His name, which represents His person and His character. To set Him apart, to treat Him as holy, then partly means to attach the right associations of thought and honor to His name.
In the days of Israel, what did people think of and say when the name of the God of Israel came up? Was there hushed respect, awe, reverence, submission? Or was there mockery, scorn, belittling, jokes? How people treated God’s name had a lot to do with how they respected His person, and whether they set Him apart and revered and honored Him as God.
It is much like this in human life. How people respond to my name says a lot about how they respond to me, what they think of me. It takes a lot of time and work to build up a good name. A good name can be ruined in a moment. It is very hard to rebuild one’s name and reputation.
And so, God’s honor and His name go together.
OK, so in the Lord’s Prayer our very first request is that God would cause His name to be set apart, revered, and honored. But how might He answer this prayer? What are some of the ways this could come about? What are the ways His name is rightly used and set apart?
I will mention several ways that God would cause His name to be hallowed, to be set apart and revered and honored. We can think of these coming about in several areas – in our lives personally, in our families, in our local church, in the church in the city, in our nation, etc.
First of all, God is honored when we call out to Him through the name of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:12-13 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
God is the great Savior of sinners, so it honors Him when we call out to Him for salvation, when we call upon His name to save us.
Second, we hallow His name when we hold right beliefs about Him. This is one of the goals of reading and studying Scripture -- not that we would merely know about God but that in knowing right things about Him we would know Him rightly for who He is.
What if a person kept coming to you and calling you by a different name, and always making reference to all kinds things about you that were just not true about you. At some point you would say that that person just does not respect you, and that there can not really be a relationship. He does not honor you if he will not know you for who you are.
We have a duty to search the Scriptures and to get to know more about God so that we can know Him more truly. This is one way we revere and honor Him for who He is.
Third, we hallow His name through our speech. One way we do this is in the manner in which we use His name in our speech. Negatively speaking, we do this of course by not using His name in a flippant or shallow or inappropriate or profane manner. This is the third commandment, “Do not use the name of the Lord your God in vain.” We also do this in the manner in which we speak of Him, the manner in which we encourage our brethren in their faith, the manner in which we defend His name and honor when opportunity arises.
Fourth, we hallow His name as we assemble before Him with reverent hearts and words of praise and adoration. When we come together as a corporate group we are coming by invitation of the God of the universe to assemble before Him. We should be prepared in our hearts to worship Him; we should be on time, neatly dressed, ready to honor him, regardless of how we feel. We should be ready to greet His saints in His name. We should be eager to offer words of praise and thanksgiving when opportunity arises during the public assembly. We should be eager to sing out His praises. Our momentary mood or the degree to which we like the particulars of the worship is not highly relevant. “OK God, I’ll hallow you when I’m in a good mood.” I don’t think so. When we have a chance to offer praise we should desire to do so to honor Him.
Fifth, we hallow His name in and through the reality and the witness of our love one to another. Jesus said that by our love the world would know that we really his disciples, that we really do belong to His name. He said that by our oneness of heart we bear witness to the truth that Jesus is from the Father. When churches have schism and party spirit, when the people of God criticize and hold grudges against one another, then God’s name is dishonored.
Sixth, we hallow His name by sharing the good news of the gospel of His Son. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ His Only Son is precious to the Father, sharing it pleases Him. But even more, as He applies that word to the heart of another person, that person comes to faith in Him through Jesus, and then comes to worship and love Him and honor His name. You know, the honor of God’s name is perhaps the greatest motivator for evangelism and missions. Are we content with so much of the world dishonoring the name of Jesus, not knowing Him as Savior, and opposed to Him? Even if we don’t arouse ourselves for the sake of the lost, let us arouse ourselves for the sake of the honor of God’s name.
Seventh, we hallow Him through the truthfulness of our words, and the soundness of our promises. Jesus tells us that as his followers we do not need to play games with our oaths and promises. All we need to do is let our “yes” be “yes” and our “no” “no.” Why? Because it goes without saying that we bring our God’s name and honor into it when we utter truth or falsehood, when we are good to our word or not good to it. There is no escaping it, so we must be truthful.
Eighth, we hallow Him through our thankfulness and gratitude. Nothing causes His name to look worse than when his children who represent Him in the world complain and grumble. Why? Because it makes it look like He is doing a bad job. It makes it look like He is not taking care of us. It makes it look like He is not providing for us. It makes it look like He Himself doesn’t mean very much to us, that all we care about is what he gives us or doesn’t by way of pleasant circumstances. If we’re so unhappy with our circumstances then it looks like we don’t believe that He is either good or almighty or both. It also makes the gospel look unattractive. I’ll admit that complaining people often attract complaining people to them, but they do not attract them to the gospel, and they do not cause God’s name to be honored.
Ninth, we hallow God’s name through our obedience to His word in our daily life. To revere and honor God is to accept His authority to order and direct our lives. It is to respect and honor the Word that He has given to us. We do this not by keeping our Bibles on our coffee tables but by knowing and submitting to and obeying what it says. When my child disobeys me He dishonors me. When he disobeys me in the sight of others He dishonors me even more.
On the positive side, as we obey His word, we cause others to praise our Father who is in heaven. This is a central part of what it means to be salt and light in the world!
Tenth, we hallow Him by doing all things in His name.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17).
To do a thing in Jesus’ name is to do it for Him, it is to do it as representing Him, and it is to do it through or by Him. We make our humblest tasks holy, and we honor God as the Holy One, when we do all things for Him as a gift of love to Him. Even the most monotonous or dreary or difficult task glorifies Him and His name in this sense, and thus causes His name to be hallowed.
Now, if you are anything like me after that review of many of the ways that God’s name comes to be hallowed, you’re thinking, man, do I ever have a long way to go! I look into myself and I know how little regard I really have for God’s honor, for His name, and for His kingdom.
But you see, God knows that His creation cannot be made whole until His proper place as its Lord and King is honored and known. And we cannot be complete and whole human beings until we rightly revere Him and honor Him. We are created for this.
And so he has taught us to get first things first, even when we pray. But we know how stubborn and resistant we are to take an interest in God’s honor as compared to or as opposed to our own personal immediate interest. We know how caught up we are in what presses upon as the need or the emotion of the moment or the season.
Knowing us as he does Jesus teaches us to ask Him to do the very thing in us that is so hard to do in ourselves! He is teaching us to ask our Father to work in us in such a way that we would properly hold His honor and reputation as the center of our concern. It is a prayer that our prayers would not be selfish. It is a prayer that we would not be selfish. It is really the most profound prayer for God to change our hearts. There is no other way for us to become whole until we are trained to desire His glory and His honor as the primary concern of our lives. Otherwise we are just ghosts of what we were created to be.
Only then, when God becomes the delight of our hearts, when our hearts delight in nothing as much as in Him and in His honor and glory – only then are the desires of our hearts appropriate and only then does He delight to grant them to us.
And as we pray this part of the Lord’s Prayer, many requests will pour forth from our hearts and from our lips as we think of all the ways we would desire to see His name hallowed, in our personal lives, in our families, in our local church, in our city church, in our nation.
So first off, right after coming before Him, after acknowledging Him as your Father in heaven, take time when you pray to draw out the ways you would desire to see Him hallow His name.
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
Amen |
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