A Hallowed Name
Matthew 6:9-13,
When we come to prayer meeting, we often focus upon prayer. And we should. Prayer is a great privilege, and just like in every area of our sanctification, we can always grow. I think prayer is one of those disciplines where we can never say we've got it all together, or that we don't need to grow, or that we have arrived. Probably any area that Christians struggle with the most is when it comes to prayer, and I think most Christians would agree that that is the case. That explains, I think to some degree, why there is so much instruction in our Bible and so many encouragements in our Bible when it comes to prayer, even from the book of Acts. We've been going through the book of Acts in the Sunday school hour, and those two great disciplines come through again and again. I don't know how many times, but well over 30, 40, 50 times, the whole matter of praying and preaching. Those are the two great pillars, you could say, of the Christian life and the church life, praying and preaching.
And no doubt the early church learned to pray from our Lord's only example. He was the perfect man of prayer, and even here, they come and ask Him, “Teach us how to pray.” At least eleven different occasions in Luke's Gospel alone we find Jesus praying. But when you come to Matthew 6 and Luke 11, these are two distinct separate occasions. They're not the same occasion, one is earlier than the other. Probably in all likelihood, Matthew 6 comes before Luke 11, and the first time He teaches them how to pray. It's the Sermon on the Mount. We know exactly where it is, it's on the mountainside. But the second time, in a certain place, we don't know exactly where He was, but His disciples come to Him and ask or request, “Teach us how to pray.”
And we should never grow tired of asking Jesus to teach us how to pray. How to pray more fervently, how to pray more boldly, how to pray more faithfully, how to pray more consistently, how to pray more perseveringly; and how to pray more God-centered prayers as opposed to me-centered prayers. It's not wrong to pray for yourself, but there is a difference between a God-centered prayer and a me-centered prayer. And again, to help us how to pray, Jesus is the perfect example. But if you ask Jesus, “What is the greatest, biggest concern or burden when He prayed?” What would He have said? Well, I think the prayers that He teaches tell us. How does He start things off? “Hallowed be your name.”
This is what Jesus desired more than anything else, that God's name be honored, revered, praised, adored. Every time we come to prayer, that should really be on the top of the list, God's glory. Nothing more important than God's glory. More important than our needs, more important than our wants, more important than our cares. We are to bring our cares to Jesus, our needs, our burdens to God. I'm not saying we're not, but this is more important.
And it struck me, even when Jesus prays that last prayer with His disciple friends in the upper room, what is it shaped by more than anything else? God's glory. God's glory. He asked the Father to glorify Him, but He also asked that the Father be glorified. He uses that word, glory, seven times in the upper room discourse. Seven times. Seven is sometimes called the perfect number. Seven times. John 17:1, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.” Same chapter, verse 4, “I glorified You on earth having accomplished the work that You gave me to do.” Verse 5, “Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.” Verse 10, again, John 17, “All mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.” Verse 24, “That they might see My glory that You have given Me.”
When I thought of Elijah this past week, why is Elijah on Mount Carmel? And why is Elijah on Mount Sinai? God's glory. God's glory. The worship of God. He climbs two mountains, you could say, because this is his burden, God’s glory. And that should be our greatest burden. Why do we want sinners saved? God’s glory. Why do we want to grow in grace? God's glory. Why do we want our marriages to be strong? God's glory. Why do we preach sermons? Why do we listen to sermons? God's glory. Why do we teach Sunday school classes? God's glory. Why do we take care of our bodies? God’s glory. Remember what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether we eat or drink, (pretty mundane activities, we do that every day), whether we eat or drink, do to the glory of God.” Think of that. The most mundane activities of everyday life, eating and drinking we are to glorify God. When it comes to prayer that arguably is one of the greatest, greatest activities, the most important activity that we can engage in. And we should have this on our minds more than anything else, “Hallowed be Your Name." Hallowed be Your Name.
And I hope that's why you're here, to glorify God. We want to give Him the attention, give Him the praise. I think you could say this about most people, “Every sinner wants to be famous.” Every sinner says, “Look at me. Aren’t I great? Aren't I wonderful?” But if we're truly Christians, we want to make Him famous. We want to make Him famous. We want the world to see how great our God is, how good He is, how loving He is. There's no one like Him. So let's hallow God's name.
“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”
Luke chapter 11:1,2,Now, Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.’”
When we come to prayer meeting, we often focus upon prayer. And we should. Prayer is a great privilege, and just like in every area of our sanctification, we can always grow. I think prayer is one of those disciplines where we can never say we've got it all together, or that we don't need to grow, or that we have arrived. Probably any area that Christians struggle with the most is when it comes to prayer, and I think most Christians would agree that that is the case. That explains, I think to some degree, why there is so much instruction in our Bible and so many encouragements in our Bible when it comes to prayer, even from the book of Acts. We've been going through the book of Acts in the Sunday school hour, and those two great disciplines come through again and again. I don't know how many times, but well over 30, 40, 50 times, the whole matter of praying and preaching. Those are the two great pillars, you could say, of the Christian life and the church life, praying and preaching.
And no doubt the early church learned to pray from our Lord's only example. He was the perfect man of prayer, and even here, they come and ask Him, “Teach us how to pray.” At least eleven different occasions in Luke's Gospel alone we find Jesus praying. But when you come to Matthew 6 and Luke 11, these are two distinct separate occasions. They're not the same occasion, one is earlier than the other. Probably in all likelihood, Matthew 6 comes before Luke 11, and the first time He teaches them how to pray. It's the Sermon on the Mount. We know exactly where it is, it's on the mountainside. But the second time, in a certain place, we don't know exactly where He was, but His disciples come to Him and ask or request, “Teach us how to pray.”
And we should never grow tired of asking Jesus to teach us how to pray. How to pray more fervently, how to pray more boldly, how to pray more faithfully, how to pray more consistently, how to pray more perseveringly; and how to pray more God-centered prayers as opposed to me-centered prayers. It's not wrong to pray for yourself, but there is a difference between a God-centered prayer and a me-centered prayer. And again, to help us how to pray, Jesus is the perfect example. But if you ask Jesus, “What is the greatest, biggest concern or burden when He prayed?” What would He have said? Well, I think the prayers that He teaches tell us. How does He start things off? “Hallowed be your name.”
This is what Jesus desired more than anything else, that God's name be honored, revered, praised, adored. Every time we come to prayer, that should really be on the top of the list, God's glory. Nothing more important than God's glory. More important than our needs, more important than our wants, more important than our cares. We are to bring our cares to Jesus, our needs, our burdens to God. I'm not saying we're not, but this is more important.
And it struck me, even when Jesus prays that last prayer with His disciple friends in the upper room, what is it shaped by more than anything else? God's glory. God's glory. He asked the Father to glorify Him, but He also asked that the Father be glorified. He uses that word, glory, seven times in the upper room discourse. Seven times. Seven is sometimes called the perfect number. Seven times. John 17:1, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You.” Same chapter, verse 4, “I glorified You on earth having accomplished the work that You gave me to do.” Verse 5, “Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed.” Verse 10, again, John 17, “All mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.” Verse 24, “That they might see My glory that You have given Me.”
When I thought of Elijah this past week, why is Elijah on Mount Carmel? And why is Elijah on Mount Sinai? God's glory. God's glory. The worship of God. He climbs two mountains, you could say, because this is his burden, God’s glory. And that should be our greatest burden. Why do we want sinners saved? God’s glory. Why do we want to grow in grace? God's glory. Why do we want our marriages to be strong? God's glory. Why do we preach sermons? Why do we listen to sermons? God's glory. Why do we teach Sunday school classes? God's glory. Why do we take care of our bodies? God’s glory. Remember what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether we eat or drink, (pretty mundane activities, we do that every day), whether we eat or drink, do to the glory of God.” Think of that. The most mundane activities of everyday life, eating and drinking we are to glorify God. When it comes to prayer that arguably is one of the greatest, greatest activities, the most important activity that we can engage in. And we should have this on our minds more than anything else, “Hallowed be Your Name." Hallowed be Your Name.
And I hope that's why you're here, to glorify God. We want to give Him the attention, give Him the praise. I think you could say this about most people, “Every sinner wants to be famous.” Every sinner says, “Look at me. Aren’t I great? Aren't I wonderful?” But if we're truly Christians, we want to make Him famous. We want to make Him famous. We want the world to see how great our God is, how good He is, how loving He is. There's no one like Him. So let's hallow God's name.
Posted in Pastor Devotional