Introduction
This morning, we continued an expository sermon series through the Lord’s Prayer. Christians throughout the centuries have prayed these 70 words (in the KJV) from the lips of Jesus. Below is an excerpt from the sermon followed by a link to the full manuscript.
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Sermon Excerpt
Notice, as well, that this is a request, “Hallowed be thy name.” When we pray these words, we are asking God to do something with his own name. We’re praying that he would make his name separate, set apart, and reverenced; which leads us to ask a question. Is God’s name not holy? I thought holiness was a basic attribute of God. How could his name lack holiness such that we should ask for it?
Well, the fact is that God’s name is holy. There is nothing lacking in his name. There is nothing inadequate in God or his name. What is lacking, what is inadequate, what is missing is a holy reverence for God’s name on the earth. The human beings that God created have not and do not ascribe to God’s name the kind of worth and value, and reverence that he is due.
In fact, if you look down a few lines you’ll see the words, “in earth as in heaven.” That phrase can be applied to all of the first three petitions of the prayer:
- Hallowed by thy name, in earth as it is in heaven.
- Thy Kingdom come in earth as it is in heaven.
- Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
In heaven, God’s name is treated as perfectly holy. Isaiah 6 gives us the vision of the throne room of heaven where God sits and rules over all of creation. And it is in that throne room that the angelic hosts fly around the throne day and night crying to one another “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty!” So honored reverenced is God in heaven, that the seraphim won’t even look at his glory. They cover their faces with their wings.
But that is not how God’s name is treated in the earth. On earth, God’s name is treated often treated either with contempt or simply with a thoughtless attitude.