Hallowed be thy name
Hallowed be thy name –
John MacArthur “Someone has said that many Christians offer their prayers like sailors use their pumps-only when the ship leaks. But to be obedient disciples of Christ, to experience the fullness of communion with God, and to open the floodgates of heaven’s blessings, believers must pray as Jesus prayed. In addition to that, we must know how to pray”. God’s supreme purpose for prayer, the purpose beyond all other purposes, is to glorify Himself. Although nothing benefits a believer more than prayer, the purpose in praying must first of all be for the sake of God, not self. Contrary to much emphasis in the evangelical church today, true prayer, like true worship, centers on God’s glory, not on man’s needs
Weow enter to the context of the prayer. ‘Hallowed be thy name – sanctify be thy name. In this petition, we pray that God’s name may shine forth gloriously, and that it may be honored and sanctified by us, in the whole course and tenor of our lives. The hallowing of God’s name is to be the most important thing we do in the course of this life. To hallow is to set apart a thing from the common use, to some sacred end. As the vessels of the sanctuary were said to be hallowed, so, to hallow God’s name, is to set it apart from all abuses, and to use it uprightly and reverently. John MacArthur - To hallow God’s name is to revere, honor, glorify, and obey Him as singularly perfect[1] llowing God’s name is to give him high honor and veneration, and render his name sacred. Psa. 20:7. Each of the names of God shows a different facet of His character: He is called, for example, Elohim, the Creator God; El Elyon, “possessor of heaven and earth”; Jehovah-Jireh, “the Lord will provide”; Jehovah-Shalom, “the Lord our peace”; Jehovah-Tsidkenu, “the Lord our righteousness”; and many others. All of those names speak of God’s attributes. His names not only tell who He is but what He is like.
How can we hallow His name?
1- We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we have a high appreciation and esteem of him, and set him highest in our thoughts. Where does God rank on your thought list? Where is your mind occupied during the day and evening? The Hebrew word to honor means to “esteem precious”.
2- We hallow and sanctify his name when we trust in it. ‘We have trusted in his holy name.’ Psalm 33:21. No way can we bring more revenues of honor to God, or make his crown shine brighter, than by confiding in him.
3- We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we never make mention of it but with the highest reverence. To speak vainly or slightly of God is profaning his name, and is taking his name in vain.
4- We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we love his name. Thus we hallow God’s name by giving him such love as we give to none else - a love joined with worship.
5- We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we give him a holy and spiritual worship. Lev. 10:3 - It is the purity of worship that God loves better than the pomp. It dishonors his name to bring anything into his worship, which he has not instituted. When we give to God the same heart devotion in worship that he has appointed. ‘Fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.’ Ro . 12: 11. The word for fervent is a metaphor, which alludes to water that seethes and boils over; to signify that our affections should boil over in holy duties.
6- We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we hallow his day. We must in a solemn manner devote ourselves to God on this day; we must spend the whole day with God. Some will hear the word, but leave all their religion at church; they do nothing at home, they do not pray or repeat the word in their houses, and so rob God of a part of his day. It is lamentable to see how God’s day is profaned. Let no man think God’s name is hallowed while his day is broken.
7- We hallow and sanctify God’s name by obeying him. How does a son more honor his father than by obedience? ‘I delight to do thy will, O my God.’ Psalm 40:8. ‘To obey is better than sacrifice.
8- We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we lift up his name in our praises. God is said to sanctify, and man is said to sanctify. God sanctifies us by giving us grace; and we sanctify him by giving him praise. What were our tongues given for but to be organs of God’s praise? ‘Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honor all the day.’ Psalm 71:8, Psalm 149:5, 6, Psalm 111:1,
9- We hallow God’s name when we are zealous to stand up for His truth.
10- We hallow God’s name when we prefer the honor of God’s name before our own credit. The saints of old have, for the honor of God, been willing to endure reproach. ‘For thy sake I have borne reproach.’ Psalm 69:7. Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Heb. 11:26, Acts 5:41.
a. When we prefer the honor of God’s name before our worldly profit and interest. ‘We have forsaken all, and followed thee.’ Mt. 19:27. When these two, God and estate, come in competition, we would rather let estate go than God’s love and favor.
b. When we prefer the honor of God’s name before our own life. Thomas Watson - the honor done to God’s name is not by bringing the outward pomp and glory to him as we do to kings, but it comes in another way, and that is by the sufferings of his people. When the world sees how entirely his people love him, that they will die in his service, it exalts and honors his name. When God’s glory weighs heaviest in the balance, and we are willing to suffer the loss of all rather than God’s name should suffer, we do, in a high degree, hallow God’s name.
11- We hallow and sanctify God’s name by a holy conversation (life). 1 Pet.. 2:9. Ro . 2:24, so by our holy and Bible conversation we honor God’s name. A holy life speaks louder than all the anthems and praises in the world. Matt. 5:16- When our lives shine, his name shines in us.
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[1]MacArthur, J. (1989). Matthew. Chicago: Moody Press.