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The Lord's Prayer: Our Father, Hallowed Be Thy Name

Writer's picture: Pastor PeggyPastor Peggy

Pastor Peggy's sermon notes from Sunday, January 19, 2025


As we come to our Scripture in Matthew today, we hear Jesus teaching a new way to address God. In the Old Testament, often it was Lord, God Almighty, and the idea of God as Father was very rare though in Deuteronomy 32:6 it says to Israel, “Is not he your father who created you, who made you and established you?” The Old Testament Jews did not think of God as an intimate Father. He was the Lord God Almighty, the One who dwells in the heavens. He was the God who came down as fire and whirlwind and the Shekinah Glory Cloud on the mountain with Moses. The Lord God of the OT was to be feared because of the various things that happened such as Uzzah dying when he reached out and touched the Ark of the Covenant. Even in the New Testament in Hebrews 12 it says that our God is a consuming fire.

Jesus, however, came teaching us to call God by a new name, Our Father—in doing so Jesus is telling us that we can have a unique relationship with our heavenly Father.

One thing to we want to keep in mind is that the Lord’s prayer really is an invitation to join Jesus in prayer.

The prayer is offered not so much as a command but a beautiful invitation to share in the life of Jesus. He gave guidelines (much like a Rabbi would teach his students) in how we are to conduct our regular daily prayer life.

Jesus gives priorities in the Lord’s Prayer that are very consistent with both the Old Testament and New Testament practices that establish the primacy of God in both national and one’s personal life.

In the first 3 petitions, Jesus calls the disciples and us to focus on the preeminence of God. The final 3 petitions guide the followers of Jesus for personal needs in a community context.

This prayer starts with an invocation—Our Father in heaven—the term, ‘father’ is Abba, which is a name used by children for their earthly father which normally would bring the connotation of warmth and intimacy in the security of a loving father’s care.

Jesus himself called God, Father. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father but by me.”

We become God’s children when we believed and we enter into God’s family—and as a child of God, we can call Him, Father.

God has many names and titles. You could call Him God…Almighty One…the Lord of Hosts…my Rock etc. Each title reveals a different task he does for his people. As you read through the Psalms you will find many different ways God is addressed and those names reveal how the Lord had been with and helped them.

To my Mom, I am daughter, to Wendy, I am sister, to you, I am Pastor, to my doctoral students that I advise, I am Dr. Wobbema---all the same person, just different in relationship and task.

For some, the idea of God as Father may be difficult if you had an abusive father or did not grow up with a father at all. The invitation is to look beyond that to see who God, our Father really is.

None of God’s many names and titles, though, is as intimate as His name, Father. When God is our Father, we can say with Paul, “Abba, Father.” The Greek word for father is pater. But in Romans 8:15 Paul uses both words, Abba, Father. Abba is Aramaic which was the spoken language of Jesus.

The word, abba, was a term of endearment. Both Jesus and Paul were telling us we can use intimate terms of endearment with the Father. God is a Father who is near and dear to us.

NOT ONLY IS GOD OUR FATHER, BUT HE ALLOWS IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO HIMSELF

You can pray anywhere---our Father which art in heaven! Your prayers enter into the throne room of God and you have His attention.

We can understand that God is everywhere. Colossians tells us that by him all things are held together. Psalm 139 tells us that he knows the ups, downs, and inside outs of the world and of you and me.

God is near you, over you, around you, and inside you. He hears everything you pray whether out loud or in your heart because he knows your thoughts from afar.

Jesus promised a new and intimate relationship with Him and the Father. Jesus prayers in John 17:21. “That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.”

Because of this amazing intimacy with God, we get to call him, Father.

Jesus could have instructed the disciples, when you pray say, O God, or My Lord, or Dear Master, or My Shepherd, or Almighty King—but no—Jesus chose to use one that speaks of a more intimate relationship, Jesus told us to call God, Our Father.

When you begin to pray, you are like a little child of a king, who walks right into the presence of his father. The guards do not stop the child, and none of the executive staff interfere. He is the king’s child. He has immediate access to the king because they are related. The king is the child’s father. When you pray, “Our Father—or My Father” you know that you belong to God and that He belongs to you. IT IS A RELATIONSHIP OF INTIMACY!

What about the Lord’s Prayer—it is a special means of approaching the Father. Jesus didn’t say “a” father—but our Father—why?

Why did Jesus tell His disciples to use the plural pronoun “our” when addressing God? Why did He introduce this prayer with “our Father?” Was it because the disciples as a group asked Jesus to teach them how to pray so Jesus gave them a corporate prayer to use as a body of believers?

Some people think the Lord’s prayer has the plural pronouns our, us, and we because it should be prayed in a group, as congregations today pray corporately the Lord’s Prayer.

All these views are interesting, but notice who is teaching the disciples how to pray—it is Jesus. He taught us to pray, “Our Father.” Those who heard what Jesus said realized He was inviting them to join Him in prayer. He meant for us to pray with Him. When you pray, “Our Father”, the plural pronoun means you are coming with Jesus to the Father. Although it is appropriate to pray the Lord’s prayer with others in our public worship services, God hears your prayers because you come into His presence with Jesus.

When we come to God praying, “Our Father,” it is like saying, “We—Jesus and I—are coming in prayer.” Because we belong to Jesus—it is both of us!

When we come to God in prayer—we are coming on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus, not our own. God our Father will hear our prayers because they are based in our relationship with Jesus and that we come through the shed blood of Jesus which gives us full access to God.

Hebrews 7:23-28 reminds us that Jesus is our High Priest and that because of His sacrifice for each of us it says that “he is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

IT IS VITAL FOR US TO REMEMBER THIS! SCRIPTURE SAYS THAT WITHOUT HOLINESS NO PERSON SHALL SEE THE LORD!

When we come to the Father with Jesus, we come through His blood that gives us access to Him. Paul says in Ephesians 2:18, “For through Him, Jesus, we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

As you read through the New Testament—notice how many times the word Father is used in regard to God. Even from Jesus youth, when Mary and Joseph found him in the temple, Jesus said, “did you not know I must be about My Father’s business?”

1 John 1:3—That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:17—That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

WHEN WE BEGIN WITH OUR FATHER—IT IS A RELATIONSHIP OF FATHER AND CHILD.

WHEN WE THEN SAY: HALLOWED BE THY NAME--  IT BECOMES A RELATIONSHP OF GOD AND WORSHIPER.

In the beginning of the prayer God’s name is to be “hallowed.” To “hallow” means to hold it in reverence, to honor, glorify, and exalt Him.

This hold up in essence the first 3 of the ten commandments:

1.     You shall have no other gods before me

2.     You shall not make yourself an idol in the form of anything

3.     You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God

It is important to understand that God has a name and we honor that name because we esteem Him for who He is, not just because of a title we give Him.

When you begin your prayer, “Our Father”, you begin praying in an intimate relationship with God—that of a father and a child. He is your Father who can be approached on an intimate basis. The Lord’s prayer is not just for you and me, it is also for God. He desires to be glorified.

When you pray, “hallowed be your Name” you recognize how meaningful God is to you and your life. Jesus, in using this, is stretching us to a new level of worship—a new level of respect for God and reverence for His person. You are recognizing who he is and what He has done for us.

Another way of saying it is “let your name be made holy.”

You might ask the question—what is in a name? Because we often give so little meaning to names, we must look at names as the Hebrews use them to fully understand the phrase.

God has three primary names in the Old Testament.

1.     God’s first name is Elohim—God the Mighty Creator—Genesis 1:1—in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2.     God’s second name is Yahweh which means “The Lord who is the covenant-keeping God.”

3.     Third name is Adonai, which means “Master or Lord”

In Jesus’s times, the Jews so reverenced the name of God that they would not say the sacred name Yahweh because it was so holy. They took the consonants out of the name Yahweh and the vowels out of the term Adonai, put them together and formed a new word, that the KJV translates as Jehovah.

When Jesus told us to pray, “hallowed by Thy name”, He was telling us to make the presence of God real in our hearts—placing God on the throne of your heart.

When you begin your prayers with hallowed be Thy name or Lord your name is holy, you are not rushing into God’s presence to demand something, nor are you concerned about your sins, or about your ability to pray. You come into His presence recognizing who God is. You are not making a deal with God or placing any conditions on Him for answers to prayer. We need to understand that when we use the Lord’s prayer, we are desiring to put His glory on display in our life.

When we use Hallowed be Thy Name—we are understanding that all of God’s names become more intimate to you. And all that God is, when you enter the family room of Father-God, who is concerned about your hurts and needs, you also enter reverently and fearfully into the throne room of a God-King who demands obedience and reverence.

Hallowed in the Greek means holy. When we pray Hallowed be your name, we are really saying Lord, let your name be holy on earth as it is holy in heaven—but our relationship with the Lord takes it a step deeper to say, Lord, let your Name be holy in me. Our prayer should be like the angels in heaven who cry out, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.

When you pray hallowed be your name you are setting God apart in your thinking and in your feelings—treating Him with all the respect that is due His character.

Worship is giving to God the “worthship” that is due him. You are recognizing all of God’s attributes, who He is. All that God is, is embodied in His name.

God wants us to praise Him!

When you pray, remember that God’s glory is greater than your problems…greater than your needs…greater than your fears…greater than anything you want to do for Him. Begin your prayers with “hallowed be Thy name’ because the most important thing in prayer is that God’s name is magnified and exalted.

The purpose of the Lord’s prayer is to set God in His rightful place in our lives. When we pray, hallowed or holy be your name, we are giving God a platform in our lives from which He can manifest his glory.

Because God can perform miracles, He doesn’t need our help…

Because He is all-knowing, He doesn’t need our advice…

Because he is all-powerful, He doesn’t need our help…

Because He is rich, He doesn’t need our money…

Because He is God, He wants our worship!

WORSHIP IS A CHOICE!

Psalm 96:9 commands God’s people to “worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness.”

Praise is a two-way street. Your needs are met when you glorify the Father. When you go to God with your worship, He comes to help you with your problems.

GOD REACHED DOWN TO TOUCH YOU AS YOU REACH UP TO TOUCH HIM!

OUR FATHER—HOLY IS YOUR NAME!

 

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