Lord's Prayer 2- Hallow or Hollow?

Mark 8:31-38; Matthew 6:9

Lent 2, March 12, 2005

Commentary on Mark 8: Jesus predicts his death; “take up your cross and follow me”.

Here we are in Lent leading to Easter; we follow Jesus.

Prayer

Jesus had a great deal to say about prayer, mentioning the topic 42 times in his teaching, reaffirming to us that prayer is vitally important to our faith.

“The Lord’s Prayer”, which we are studying this season of Lent, has been called a “dangerous prayer” because God just may answer it. These words are unequaled in simplicity and yet they sizzle with power. This prayer is poetic and beautiful and yet profound and brief.

Unfortunately over the centuries the Lord’s Prayer has become a mechanical, routine part of worship. When it does, it becomes less than Jesus meant it to be and we lose the truth that this pattern of prayer has for us today.

In the September 5, 2005 issue of Newsweek, several studies were cited to show that America is a spiritual nation. One example is that 64% of Americans say that they pray every day.

Let’s take a look and see what we’re praying about. (show PRAYER video)

Last week we looked at Matthew 6:5-8 and how not to pray.  In our verse from Matthew for today, we will begin to look at how to pray.

The model for prayer that Jesus gave to His followers can be divided into two sets of three elements each. The first set of three (hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done) deal with God’s glory. The second three (give us our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses or debts, lead us not into temptation) deal with our welfare.

So the model is that prayer is to begin with the character of God. And, the reason we pray and the reason God answers is to show His glory. Incidentally, about half of the words in this prayer are devoted to who God is; the other half is focused on our needs. That’s a good ratio to keep in mind as we pray for God’s glory and our welfare in our own prayers.

If you have your Bible with you, turn to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter six.  Matthew 6:9 reads, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…’” We’re given a couple guidelines for prayer before the praying begins.

First of all, pray with community in mind. The verse begins with “this is how you should pray…”—“you” is plural. Jesus uses the plural pronoun here to indicate that prayer is to have a corporate element to it. Prayer is not to be selfish, but to be done with a sense of community and togetherness. Most of us come to the Lord with a lot of “I, me, and my” in our prayers.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he used no singular personal pronouns. Listen: “Our Father…give us…our daily bread…forgive us our debts…we also have forgiven…lead us not into temptation…but deliver us…”

Pray with your family, your sisters and brothers in Christ, your church family, and the ministries of the church in mind.

Secondly, pray to God, not to each other. “Our Father in heaven.” When we become Christians, Romans 8:15 says that we receive the Holy Spirit who makes us children of God, “and by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” This word “Abba” means “daddy,” and communicates the intimacy and nearness of God. He wants us to come boldly into His presence, having the confidence that He is eager to hear the prayers of His children.

Arthur Pink perceptively adds, “The words ‘Our Father’ inspire confidence and love, while ‘in heaven’ should fill us with humility and awe.”

Loving fathers protect their children. In the ancient world the father was the clan’s protector and defender. You see this in God’s attitude over and over in scripture, ultimately in Christ’s death on the cross.
Remember Jesus telling his followers that when a son asks for a fish a father doesn’t give them a snake? Then Jesus tells us “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)

God’s desire is to give us even more than we expect.

Now listen, I understand that the truth is that many have been hurt or let down by earthly fathers, but you cannot allow that human failure to interfere with a relationship with your Father in Heaven.

After acknowledging God as our Father, Jesus gives us three God-centered requests that have to do with God’s glory.

The first is “Hallowed by your name.” Hallowed = To personally render sacred - to make holy.
In other words, when you call out that name, there is a sense of wonder connected with that thought. "Hallowed be your name!"
It’s not that God should be made holy—God is already holy. 

We must, however, regard God as holy.

God is intimate like a Father and He is infinite in holiness. God’s nature is like a daddy but His name is holy. Our open access to Him should not destroy our esteem for Him. He is not the “big guy in the sky” or “our buddy.” He is the holy and awesome God of Israel, before whom we should tremble like Isaiah did in Isaiah 6.

While we have a relationship with God we must also revere Him. God is our friend but He is also a consuming fire as Hebrews 12:29 says. He is other than us and yet He is ours. He is personal and He is powerful. He is mine and He is majestic.

In my Bible reading this week I came across Isaiah 57:15: “For this is what the high and lofty One says-he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”

In a way, praying “hallowed be your name” is a safeguard against self-seeking prayer. Friends, we have to guard against becoming flippant in our view of God. We must avoid using His name irreverently. For some of us, that means that we need to stop using His name as a cuss word. For others it means that we need to avoid just saying God’s name tritely or using the Christian equivalent to a swear word. We all know someone who is only a Christian when something goes wrong and they need to yell at someone.

We also need to break the habit of saying “Oh, my God” if we are not directly addressing God.  Remember the 3^rd Commandment: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your god, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” (Exodus 20:7)

Use the phrase “Oh, my gosh” instead.

Too many of us treat God’s name as hollow; to remedy this we must hallow His name.

And so “Our Father” sets the whole stage for our prayer. For it is the perception of God that we have that informs how we communicate with God.

If we see God as a celestial killjoy we end up praying in order to convince him to do things our way. If we imagine God to be some doting old grandfather then our prayers can become something like a letter to a Santa Claus. If God is mean then we come to Him afraid. If God is distant, then we come trying to get His attention.

God, the creator of the universe and of you and of me, is as near as our breath, and loves us as a loving parent loves their children.

After resurrecting from the dead, Jesus made this statement to Mary Magdalene:
John 20:17 (NIV)
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ’I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ "

I love what the Apostle John says:
John 1:12-13 (NIV)
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- [13] children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Here’s the greatest news of the “Gospel”. God becomes our Father not because we’ve been created by God; but because God has adopted into His family those who have given their lives to Jesus, His Son.
John tells us “to those who received him, who believed on His name [Jesus] he gave the right to become children of God.” Do you know anyone who has been adopted? When a person is adopted they are chosen. When they are born into a family you are the victim of DNA roulette. When you’re adopted you were wanted and many times were the desire of years of waiting.

God waits for us to come to him so that we may be his children.

So when you pray, come to God with the intimacy as to a loving parent; yet with awe and reverence to the Holy One, the creator of the universe.

Recite together Lord’s Prayer version from the Hymnal.