Worship “Hallowed Be Your Name”
Worship
“Hallowed be your name”
At the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer, the word Father indicates to whom we pray, and the word our refers to those with whom we pray, God’s worldwide family of faith. Now we must examine our motives and ask, “Why do we pray?” The only acceptable answer to that question is that we pray so that the Lord alone will be glorified. That desire is expressed in the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be your name” (Matt. 6:9).
The first three requests in the Lord’s Prayer focus on God and not on the people who are praying. The glorifying of God’s name, the coming of God’s kingdom, and the accomplishing of God’s will on earth are the Lord’s “prayer priorities” that we must prioritize as well. If we begin with these priorities and pray accordingly, then the way is open for the Father to answer us when we share our personal needs with him. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33). Among “these things” are daily bread, forgiveness of sins, and victory over temptations and trials (Matt. 6:11–13). If the provision of our personal needs doesn’t in some way help to accomplish God’s eternal purposes, then why should he answer our prayers?
Right motives are essential to a healthy Christian life. Other people see our actions and hear our words, but the Lord understands our motives and judges us accordingly (1 Cor. 4:5). What we do for him and how we do it are certainly important, but why we do it is also important. “People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). Hypocrites pray only to be applauded for their piety, a practice that Jesus soundly condemned (Matt. 6:5; Luke 18:9–14).
One of my professors often said, “The purpose of preaching is to express and not to impress,” and the same truth applies to our praying, especially our public praying. We should pray because we want the Father to be glorified, not because we want to impress him or anyone else with our vocabulary or our theology. How tragic to please everybody except God!
This first request in the Lord’s Prayer makes it clear that prayer and worship go together. Too often we rush into God’s presence, pour out our requests, and then rush back to our daily responsibilities, never pausing to worship him or even to thank him. David knew how to wed prayer with worship when he wrote, “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice” (Ps. 141:2). He was referring to the two altars in the tabernacle: the brazen altar where the animals were sacrificed and the golden altar before the veil where the incense was burned each morning and evening. David probably wrote Psalm 141 while in the wilderness, far from the tabernacle; but this didn’t keep him from worshiping his Lord. The lifting up of his hands represented the giving of himself to the Lord as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1), and his prayer was like fragrant incense rising to heaven; God accepted both. David was king, but here he saw himself as a priest, worshiping the Lord from his heart.
When we pray “hallowed be your name,” we should pause to worship. We know that times of true worship give us better perspectives on the matters that concern us. The things that bother us don’t seem quite as threatening when we quietly contemplate the greatness of our God and worship him. Children who speak to their parents only when they want something are selfish and forfeit a great deal of love, peace, and wisdom.
According to Numbers 13:26–33, ten of the twelve Hebrew spies who explored Canaan said they felt “like grasshoppers” when they saw the giants in the land. Had those ten men lifted their eyes of faith higher and beheld the greatness of the Lord, they would have seen that it was the giants who really were the grasshoppers! The unbelief of the ten spies discouraged the people, and as a result the nation wandered in the wilderness for thirty-eight years. Unbelief is always expensive. I’ve known individuals and ministries to suffer the same discipline because they would not obey the Lord and claim their spiritual inheritance by faith.
The Greek citizens in first-century Athens worshiped many false gods, including an idol inscribed “to an unknown god” (Acts 17:22–23). One of the Greek writers said that it was easier to find a god than a man in Athens, but at least the other deities had names. In his sermon to the members of the Areopagus, Paul identified this “unknown god” and told them about Jesus.
Names are important for identifying people, places, things, and events. The Lord gave names to the areas of his creation, such as day and night, sky and land (Gen. 1:5, 8, 10). Names involve not only identification but also authorization. Only those with authority have the right to give names or to change names. God gave Adam the authority to name the animals because Adam exercised dominion over creation (Gen. 1:27–30; 2:19–20; Psalm 8). It’s important that God’s children know their Father’s name.
When God called Moses to return to Egypt and liberate his people, Moses wanted to know God’s name just in case the people asked who had sent him. After all, who gave the fugitive Moses the right to tell the whole nation what to do? Moses had been off the scene for forty years! The Lord’s answer was, “I am who I am” (Exod. 3:13–15). He also called himself “LORD” (note the capital letters), which is a translation of the Hebrew “Jehovah” or “Yahweh,” from the three Hebrew letters rendered YHWH in English. Together they mean “to be” or “being” or “becoming.” Jehovah is the personal, eternal, continuous, and absolute self-existent One, the living and true God, the I am. The many names for God found in Scripture are derived from what he does—his mighty works—but Yahweh is derived from what he is, his person and personality, his glorious attributes.
The holy name Yahweh was spoken publicly only once a year on the Day of Atonement when the high priest blessed the people (Num. 6:22–27). Not wishing to violate the third commandment and perhaps incur judgment, the Jewish people refrained from using the sacred name Yahweh and substituted either the Name or Adonai—“the Lord” (not all capital letters). Among the Hebrew people, the phrase “his name” became a substitute for the holy name Jehovah.
For example, the tabernacle was the place where God dwelt and therefore where he put his name (Deut. 12:5). Those who spoke for God spoke in his name (Deut. 18:19–20). When the Jews praised God, they blessed his name (Ps. 96:2; 145:1) and made music to his name (Ps. 92:1). To pray was to call upon his name (Gen. 12:8; Ps. 79:6), and to love God was to love his name (Ps. 5:11). To extol his character was to “sing in praise of his name” (Ps. 68:4).
Christian believers know the Father because we know Jesus Christ the Son. Jesus said to the Father, “I have revealed you [Greek: ‘your name’] to those whom you gave me out of the world” (John 17:6). The Jesus of the new covenant reveals the Jehovah of the old covenant. “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:26). Believers who allow the Holy Spirit to teach them from the Word will grow in their understanding of God’s name and God’s person.
Moses heard the name I am who I am, and when Jesus ministered here on earth, he literally “fleshed out” that name as recorded by the apostle John in his Gospel record. Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life” (6:35); “I am the light of the world” (8:12; 9:5); “I am the gate [KJV: door]” (10:9); “I am the good shepherd” (10:11); “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25); “I am the way and the truth and the life” (14:6); and “I am the true vine” (15:1). Jesus is I am who I am and reveals the Father to us. The Savior becomes to us whatever spiritual blessing we need. God the Father revealed himself to Moses in a name; God the Son reveals that name to us in his person; and God the Holy Spirit reveals that person to us in our hearts from the Scriptures.
To Plato, God was “the idea of the good,” and to Aristotle, “the Prime Mover.” Hegel saw God as “the Absolute” and Herbert Spencer as “the Unknowable.” Julian Huxley said that God was “a product of the human mind,” and Sigmund Freud called God “an idealized superman.” But to the family of faith, God is very real to us as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of Jesus and praise God in the name of Jesus. The Father has given to his Son “the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9–11).
We are able to worship and pray because we know his name, but this is only the beginning.
The phrase “hallowed be your name” implies not only that we know God’s name but also that we reverence God’s name in every area of life. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). In ancient Israel, blaspheming the holy name of God was a capital crime (Lev. 24:10–16). This included using his name in a profane manner and even violating legal oaths (Lev. 19:12). Unlike society today, how a person spoke about God was a serious matter in ancient days.
To hallow something means to set it apart as special, to dedicate it, to consecrate it to God for his special use. In the New Testament, it’s a translation of the Greek word hagiazo, which is used in John 10:36 and 17:19 with reference to Jesus being “set apart” for his ministry. In John 17:17 it is applied to believers being set apart by the Word of God (see also Eph. 5:26). Abraham Lincoln used hallow in his famous Gettysburg Address: “In a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.” About the only familiar use of hallow today is found in the word Halloween, which is a contraction of “all hallows evening,” the night before All Saints Day (October 31). It was once a sacred day on the church calendar, but in recent times an unbelieving society has made it quite something else.
“LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” wrote David in Psalm 8:1. Does anyone detect “majesty” in the average church service today, in our singing, praying, preaching, or public reading of the Scriptures? The eminent British theologian P. T. Forsyth tells of being in a meeting where a young man prayed, “O God, we have come to have a chat with Thee.”13 I’ve heard preachers refer to the Savior as “that guy Jesus” and to Moses as “this Moses character.” Trivializing the precious treasures of the Christian faith is just the opposite of honoring God’s majestic name, yet it goes on and grows worse.
God’s name is not only majestic, it is also glorious. “Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory” (Ps. 72:19). Is it God who is glorified in our assemblies or is it a great preacher or a great singer or a great choir? Only God is great! I love to hear a worship service opened with a biblical invocation instead of a folksy “Hi, folks! We’re so glad you came!” Here’s how the spiritual leaders in Nehemiah’s day opened a service: “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise” (Neh. 9:5). Hearing those words, I feel like worshiping my Lord!
God can exalt his servants’ names if he so chooses. There’s nothing wrong with the servants of God being known widely for their faithful work for the Lord. God promised to make Abraham’s name great (Gen. 12:2), and he said to David, “Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth” (2 Sam. 7:9, and see 8:13). Both Abraham and David had their faults, but in their heart of hearts they loved the Lord and sought to magnify his name. God magnified their names so that others might recognize that Jehovah was the true and living God. The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses” (Josh. 3:7). Paul wrote about “the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel” (2 Cor. 8:18), and he told the believers in Thessalonica to appreciate and love their faithful leaders (1 Thess. 5:12–13). There is nothing wrong with giving thanks to God’s faithful servants, just as long as all the glory goes to God alone.
“Let them praise your great and awesome name,” says Psalm 99:3. The Father gave to the Son “the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9), yet his exalted name is dragged into the sewers of filthy human speech day after day. Even well-meaning people carelessly use “minced oaths” to express themselves, words that are substitutes for the originals. They say “gee” or “jeez” instead of Jesus, “jiminy crickets” for Jesus Christ, “gosh” and “golly” for God, and on it goes. I saw a newspaper headline that read, “Lordy, Lordy, Now She’s Forty,” which is not only very poor poetry but terrible manners. The name of the Lord is great and awesome, as many people will discover when it’s too late to change.
While we live in this world, one of our responsibilities is to magnify the name of the Lord. If we truly reverence Jesus in our hearts (1 Peter 3:15), we will ask God to use us to magnify him before an unbelieving world. “[L]et your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). To most people, Jesus seems very far away, so we should be like telescopes that bring him closer so people can see him in us. Jesus seems very small and insignificant next to the media celebrities and sports heroes that people adore, but we should be like microscopes that make him larger and very important. We need to imitate Paul when he prayed “that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death” (Phil. 1:20). To magnify Jesus Christ and bring glory to him is our calling, no matter what our vocation might be.
Whatever the Lord does for his people, he does for the glory of his name:
Do we need his help and forgiveness? “Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake” (Ps. 79:9).
Do we need wisdom and direction? “He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake” (Ps. 23:3). “[F]or the sake of your name lead and guide me” (Ps. 31:3).
Are we seeking victory in one of life’s battles? “May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God” (Ps. 20:5). “All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them down” (Ps. 118:10).
Are we losing our hope? “And I will hope in your name, for your name is good” (Ps. 52:9).
The result of all this blessing is what Paul called “glory in the church and in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 3:21).
“For the sake of the name of the Lord” is a key to answered prayer. This is why we pray “in the name of Jesus,” requesting what he would request and allowing the answer to glorify his name. As I’ve mentioned before, the purpose of prayer is not just to have God supply our needs but for God to be glorified in the answers that he sends.
We rob God of glory when we magnify ourselves and take the credit that rightly belongs to him. This is the mistake Moses made at Kadesh when in a fit of temper he struck the rock instead of speaking to it and said to the thirsty people, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” (see Num. 20:1–13). God graciously sent the water, but he rebuked Moses for his pride and prohibited him from entering the Promised Land, even though Moses prayed that God would let him enter the land.
We rob God of glory when we profess one thing and practice another. “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him” (Titus 1:16). It was this sin that led to the destruction of Israel (the northern kingdom) and to the Babylonian captivity of Judah. “For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock. . . . And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed” (Isa. 52:5; see Rom. 2:24). The Babylonians taunted the Jews and said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion” (Ps. 137:3), but the captives had lost their song and were unable to magnify the Lord. The prophet Ezekiel, living with the exiles in Babylon, told them that their captivity was for the sake of honoring God’s holy name, which they had “profaned among the nations” (Ezek. 36:22–23). Israel claimed to worship the true and living God, yet the nation was in bondage to pagan idol worshipers!
The nation of Israel was privileged to have special blessings from the Lord that no other nation possessed. Foremost among these blessings was the presence of God’s glory in their midst (Rom. 9:1–5). The cloud of God’s glory hovered above the tabernacle, and when the nation marched the cloud guided them through the wilderness (Exod. 40:34–38). God’s glory also dwelt in the temple (1 Kings 8:10–11), but the rulers and the people so defiled the temple with their wickedness that the glory moved out (Ezek. 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:23). Over the great city of Jerusalem, Israel could write the name Ichabod, meaning “the Glory has departed” (1 Sam. 4:21–22).
Has the glory of God departed from some of our homes, churches, and parachurch ministries and we don’t realize it? Is there really “glory in the church” or just crowds of people seeking religious entertainment? Not to desire to glorify God is the beginning of sin and leads to a dark and foolish heart (Rom. 1:21). God in his longsuffering gave his people many years to awaken to their need and forsake their sins, but they refused to listen. Are we imitating their bad example?
Magnifying the name of the Lord is one of the major themes of the prophet Malachi. The Jewish priests showed contempt for God’s name by routinely going through the motions of ministry but keeping the best for themselves (Malachi 1). They had no fear of the Lord and were dishonoring him among the Gentile nations. The priests were unfaithful to their privileged calling and had turned away from the Word of God (2:1–9). The people had broken God’s covenant and refused to bring their tithes to God’s house, so the Lord held back the rain (3:6–12). However, there was a faithful remnant in the land, people who revered God’s name and prayed, and the Lord heard their prayers and blessed them (3:16–4:6).
Are we today a part of God’s faithful praying remnant, or are we among the bored believers who give God second best and can hardly wait for the church service to end so we can be early at the restaurant or the golf course? The prophet Malachi asked the careless priests and worshipers, “When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you?” (Mal. 1:8). Do we prepare to worship the Lord with the same care we would exercise if we had an appointment with the governor or the president of the United States? Do ministers prepare their messages knowing that the Lord is the most important listener? Or are we just “getting by” in our service to the Lord? Are we satisfied with religious mediocrity?
When I see worshipers arriving late and walking into the sanctuary carrying cups of coffee, I wonder if they would arrive late to see the president at the White House and carry their cups into the Oval Office. We try to arrive at the doctor’s office early, even though we may have to wait, but it’s convenient to arrive at church late and make a grand entrance. I recall visiting a famous national historical site, and the sign at the door read: “No Smoking—No Food—No Chewing Gum.” I wanted to get copies for the church I was serving. Standing on a church platform, I’ve often seen people in the congregation chewing gum one minute and singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” the next minute.
There is a better way for those who revere God’s name (Mal. 4:2).
God’s name is glorified when God’s people know his name, reverence his name, and magnify his name before an unbelieving world by trusting him to accomplish his work in them and through them. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Before those early believers went out to serve, they waited and prayed for ten days behind closed doors. But when the Spirit came upon them, they opened the doors and went out to evangelize the Roman Empire.
Many different names are recorded in the book of Acts, but the most important name is the name of Jesus Christ. It is the name of Jesus Christ that is the secret of success in the Christian life and in the ministry of the Christian church. God’s people gather together to worship, not in the name of a denomination, a preacher, or even the church, but in the name of Jesus (Matt. 18:20). God’s people pray in the name of Jesus (John 14:13–14; 15:6; 16:23–26) and declare boldly that Jesus is the only Savior (Acts 2:21; 4:12). The world at large doesn’t appreciate or accept this message, so God’s people suffer for the name of Jesus and thank God for the privilege (Matt. 10:22; John 15:18–25; Acts 5:40–42). Or do we?
I’m not suggesting that effective ministry requires us to perform signs and wonders as the apostles did, because people who perform apostolic miracles must have apostolic gifts. I am saying that the effective ministry of the early church was because they had faith in the name of Jesus. They prayed in that name (Acts 4:23–31), preached that name (4:12–18), and were willing to suffer for that name (5:41). The power of his name is released by the faith of his people, and this power can bring forgiveness (Acts 2:38; 4:12; 10:43), healing (3:6–10; 4:8–12), deliverance (16:18), and boldness (4:29–30). The world doesn’t care if we use words like God or Lord, but if we use the name Jesus we declare war. Not to speak the name of Jesus is to announce our defeat and abandon the very purpose for which God left us on this planet. We cannot pray “hallowed be your name” unless the lives we live and the work we do depend on the power of Jesus’s name.
The religious leaders in Jerusalem commanded the apostles to stop preaching in the name of Jesus because they had filled Jerusalem with his name (Acts 4:18–22; 5:27–28). But the believers persisted in their witness. We certainly cannot be silent about such an exalted name as the name of Jesus, “the name that is above every name.” People who today shake their fists at the mention of his name will one day bow their knees and confess that Jesus is Lord (Phil. 2:9–11). Yes, the name of Jesus is an exclusive name, because he claims to be the Son of God and the only Savior—and he is! Peter said it clearly: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Ps. 20:7). If you want a twenty-first-century application of that verse, I suggest: “Some trust in money and management, others in clever promotion and sophisticated equipment, and some in Hollywood-style religious entertainment, but we will give ourselves to prayer and God’s Word and trust in the name of Jesus.” I’m not suggesting that we abandon the use of excellent ministry equipment, only that the people who handle the equipment know how to pray and trust God to use them to be a blessing. “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you” (Ps. 9:10).
While rereading the book of Revelation, I was struck by the number of times John uses the word name—thirty-eight to be exact. John describes the contrasts and conflicts between heaven and earth, Jerusalem and Babylon, the bride of Christ and the harlot, Christ and the antichrist, the Lamb and the beast. The saints he describes are true to Christ’s name and willing to endure hardship rather than deny his name (2:3, 13; 3:8). They revere his name in spite of the opposition of Satan and his demons (11:18). The beast slanders God’s name (13:5–7) and insists that everybody obey him and wear his mark (13:11–17). The world worships and serves the antichrist, but the saints worship and serve Christ and honor his name (15:3–4).
It costs something to be identified with the name of Jesus Christ, but when you consider the end of the story, you see that the blessings are worth the price: “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Rev. 20:4).
If we anticipate wearing his name in the future, let’s glorify his name today; and when we pray “hallowed be your name,” let’s really mean it.