Hallowed be Thy Name

SERMONS FROM ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH Place du Canada, Montreal 18th Sunday after Pentecost, Sep 21, 1997 11am Family Eucharist "Hallowed Be Thy Name" James 3: 1-12 The Rector, The Rev. Brett Cane

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have taught us to honour the name of our Heavenly Father; teach us now, by your Holy Spirit, what this means and how we can carry it out in our daily lives, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

Introduction

There is a story of a little boy who came home from church and told his mother that he knew what God's name was. She ask him what he thought it was and he said, "Harold." "Why do you think that," his mother asked? The boy replied, "Well, every time we pray to God we say, "Our Father, who art in heaven, Harold be thy name!"

This phrase is the subject of this, our third sermon in our series on the Lord's Prayer. It might be considered the most unclear or confusing section of this prayer we know so well. What does "Hallowed by thy name" really mean? We shall examine it in three ways: the meaning of "name," "hallowed," and how we can hallow God's name in our daily lives.

Getting Priorities Straight

First, though we need to see where it fits in overall. When I pray, I am very eager to give to God all my requests and concerns. I am the "shopping list" type of prayer. I want to let God know what he should be doing. But Jesus shows us that this is not the way to begin. "Hallowed by thy be name" is the very first petition of the Lord's Prayer after the basic address, "Our Father, who art in heaven." We do not begin with our own needs, but with God. As a matter of fact, the whole first half of the prayer is about God, not about us. Jesus is telling us that, if we really believe in God as our Heavenly Father, we will want to put his concerns first, to see things from his perspective. It is then that we will be able to know how to pray for ourselves and those around us. So, the first thing we must pray for is that God's name be hallowed. But what does it mean?

Name

In Biblical times, names of people were much more significant than they are today. They were a means of describing a person and their character. For example, Abram's name was changed to Abraham after God had promised he would bless all the nations of the world through him. "Abram" means "exalted father"; "Abraham" means "father of many nations." A modern example would be if I said to you "Rolls-Royce," or "Mercedes" what would come to your mind? High quality workmanship, a car of distinction. Companies guard the names of their products with great care because they have come to represent what their products stand for.In the same way the meaning of the word "name" for God here does not equal the combination of the letters "G-O-D"! It stands for the person who bears it - God's whole character and activity, his nature and personality. God's name represents God as he is and as he has revealed himself to us. We must use it in the right way - and so we come to the word, hallowed.

2. Hallowed

Hallowed is a very old English word that has come down through English translations right from the time of King Alfred! It is directly related to the word, "holy." "Holy" means a combination of the following: sound, solid, wholesome, without blemish, set apart, unique, different, exalted. "Hallowed be thy name" means "may your name be treated as holy, may it be held sacred, respected greatly, held in reverence." We desire that God's name be given the honour and significance it is due.

And so, putting "name" and "hallowed" together, we are praying that we might give God the unique place his character and nature deserve and demand. We cherish God's revelation of himself and pray that his name will be acknowledged everywhere - in our lives - in the church - in the world. We have a deep concern and are deeply hurt when has name is profaned or ignored.

How then do we reverence God's name in practice? We will look at three areas: in our minds, in our mouths, and in our motions - or, in "thought, word, and deed."

Hallowing God's name in practicea.

a. In our minds: If we are going to hallow God's name or truly give him the place he deserves and demands in our lives, then we must acknowledge in our minds that he exists. And by acknowledging he exists does not mean mere mental assent to his being but not ignoring him, acting as if he didn't exist. There is a catchy saying, "Disbelief in God is not the problem; ignoring him is."

When we ignore God, he doesn't go off in a corner and cry in self-pity - we do it to our peril. We cut ourselves of from the source of life and think we can go it alone. This is the "original sin" in the Garden of Eden. "Did God really say..." In other words, "You decide what's best for you...leave God out of the picture. Ignore him." This brings disaster.

To hallow God's name in our minds means to say to him, "God I acknowledge your existence; but more than that, I acknowledge your claim on my life. Without you I am lost, partial, broken; with you I am found, complete, whole."

For those of us who acknowledge God as Saviour and Lord, to reverence God in our minds means to bring every thought captive to Christ, to develop a Christian mind that will begin to see things from God's perspective. The world and our own lives are full of complex situations and problems; there are no easy or clear-cut answers in many situations; we need the mind of Christ to sort things out. This is what reverencing Christ as Lord in our minds means - to fill our thought patterns with the thought patterns of the Bible so that we might meet the challenges of the moment in the same way he would. Hallow God in your minds.

In our mouths:

To hallow God's name in our mouths is for some of us a little difficult. Let us first look it this negatively. Hallowing God's name is the positive side of the third commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." Taking God's name in vain obviously applies to swearing, but perhaps even more significantly and subtly to using God's name in an empty or thoughtless way - which we religious people can do very easily. When we say, "Lord willing," do we really mean it? Do we really want his will to be done or do we get angry when things don't go the way we think they should have? Do we use God's name idly to sanction our actions? In our meetings, when we pray it is easy to ask God to bless what we have just decided. It is much harder to come to him first and seek his face and wisdom on an issue. I have heard of one church council that spends two hours in prayer and half and hour in meeting. I am not suggesting we do the same, but what about balancing our meeting times with more prayer and listening to God, seeking his will? In this way, the words of our mouths will honour him more when we pray earnestly seeking his will.

On the positive side of reverencing God's name with our mouths, a major way is through worship. Terry Fullam, in his book, Living the Lord's Prayer, describes two miraculous healings that took place, not through a healing service, but simply because the individual was lifted up in the context of praise to God. When we praise God's name, we lift it on high, we exalt God and give him the glory and honour due his name,. When this happens, we set God and ourselves in true perspective and his will is done, such as in these healings. This is the principle behind the Marches for Jesus, that as God's name is extolled on the streets of our cities, he will be recognized and exalted for who he is and his healing will be upon our land. When we meet for worship and we sing or chant or pray, we are not merely mouthing syllables and words - we are extolling the King of kings and Lord of lords. When we praise God, we are not just making a statement, we are affirming his glory and reality and having it affirmed within us. In this way we hallow God's name with our mouths.

In our motions (actions, deeds):

But the ultimate way we reverence God's name comes through our motions - our deeds and actions, our lives lived out in faith. Jesus said, "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." How often have you heard, either spoken or unspoken, the accusation, "And you call yourself a Christian!" One who names the name of Christ is under scrutiny. We are the most visible ways people can come into contact with God and his Kingdom. The Spirit lives in us that we might be the ears and eyes and hands of Christ. Do we bring credit to God by our actions, our relationships, our business dealings, our studies, our use of time, our use of money? An age-old rule of thumb is, WWJD - "What would Jesus do?"

If people fault us for following that principle, then we take criticism or suffering for Christ's sake. We suffer for his name because we represent him. With the apostles in Acts, we rejoice because we have been "counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name." Phillip Keller sums up how we can hallow God's name through our actions by praying the following prayer each morning: "Father, Your reputation is at stake in me today. May I live in such a way as to do your person great credit. Because of my behaviour, may people see you in me, and so honour your name because of it."

Conclusion

When we truly hallow the name of Jesus in our minds, mouths and motions, we will grow in the likeness of his character and nature. As we hallow the Lord's name for the person he is, we become the people we are meant to be and his Kingdom is advanced.

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