The Prayer That Turned The World Upside Down - Session 3 - Hallowing The Father's Name

The Church of Divine Guidance Sunday Morning Adult Bible Study Group studying the book Prayer That Turned The World Upside Down: The Lord's Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution by R. Albert Mohler, The President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The Lord’s Prayer is the most powerful prayer in the Bible, taught by Jesus to those closest to him. We desperately need to relearn its power and practice.

The opening words of the Lord’s Prayer have become so familiar that we often speak them without a thought, sometimes without any awareness that we are speaking at all. But to the disciples who first heard these words from Jesus, the prayer was a thunderbolt, a radical new way to pray that changed them and the course of history.

Far from a safe series of comforting words, the Lord’s Prayer makes extraordinary claims, topples every earthly power, and announces God’s reign over all things in heaven and on earth. Study along with us by getting a copy of the book by clicking this LINK or the image of the book in the study notes. 

From Seven Hebrew Words Every Believer Should Know

TEFILLAH: Which means PRAYER

How often do we use prayer as nothing more than an emergency call or a cold call to God?

Too often we only pray when we need or want something from God - which is understandable considering the English word "pray" means to "ask or beg". But the Hebrew word for prayer - tefillah - means to "self evaluate”. So to the Jews of the Bible, prayer was not a time when they asked God for things … it was a time when they examined themselves. They would use prayer as a way to compare their actions, behavior and attitude against God’s holiness.

Matthew 6:5-13 (NIV) “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.   “This, then, is how you should pray:  “ ‘Our Father in heaven,  hallowed be your name,   your kingdom come,  your will be done,  on earth as it is in heaven.   Give us today our daily bread.   And forgive us our debts,  as we also have forgiven our debtors.   And lead us not into temptation,   but deliver us from the evil one.   ’

Review

Last week talked about what Jesus told His disciples how not to pray.  The first thing is to not pray as the hypocrites.  

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you”
 (v. 6).

Do Not Pray to Impress

Not only does Jesus warn us not to try to impress other people He also warns not to try to impress God.

Matthew 6:7-8 (NIV) And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

God is not looking for long words, long prayers, and mindless repetition. And he is not impressed by the length or complexity of our prayers.

Do Not Pray to Impress

Not only does Jesus warn us not to try to impress other people He also warns not to try to impress God.

Matthew 6:7-8 (NIV) And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

God is not looking for long words, long prayers, and mindless repetition. And he is not impressed by the length or complexity of our prayers.

This week we start looking at the prayer.

WHERE AUTHENTIC PRAYER BEGINS HALLOWING THE FATHER’S NAME

  Matthew 6:9 (NIV) This, then, is how you should pray:  “ ‘Our Father in heaven,  hallowed be your name,

As the second member of the Trinity, Jesus gives us God’s perspective on prayer. In Jesus Christ, God himself is teaching his people how he wants us to approach him.

Because he is fully human without any taint of sin, Jesus led a life of perfect prayer. Jesus knows what it is to pray because he shares our nature and even now is interceding for us at the right hand of God

Hebrews 7:25 (NIV) Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Every word we utter in prayer, every idea and concept that we form as we pray, and every emotion that flows out of our heart is a reflection of what we believe about God and about the gospel of Christ. The well-known Christian formula “As we believe, so we pray” underlies this very reality. Nothing uncover the true state of our souls, both to ourselves and to others, as does prayer.

God does not take the worship of himself lightly. God regulates and sets the parameters for our worship, not us. 

  Leviticus 10:1-2 (NIV) Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord , contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord .

How do we enter the heavenly court and speak to almighty God?

THERE IS NO “I” IN PRAYER: COMBATING INDIVIDUALISM IN OUR PRAYERS

Our prayers, from beginning to end, are often marked by petition and that in itself isn't wrong. In fact the Lord's Prayer is full of petition,  but that's not how Jesus taught His disciples to start their prayers.

Jesus does not begin with requests. He begins, instead, by identifying the character of the God to whom he prays while at the same time challenging our individualism in prayer. Jesus does all this in the first two words, “Our Father.”

It's significant that He says Our Father and not My Father. Jesus is reminding us that when we enter into a relationship with God, we enter into a relationship with his people.   One way to notice this emphasis is simply to read through the prayer and stress each first-person personal pronoun: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The point is not to deny our own sins or our own needs, but to never leave the focus solely on ourselves. The first-person singular (I, me, my, mine) is completely absent from the Lord’s Prayer. Evidently, prayer should not center on you or me.

One of our greatest problems and deficiencies in prayer is that we begin with our own concerns and our own petitions without regard for our brothers and sisters. Many of us falter in prayer because we begin with the wrong word: I instead of our. Jesus reminds us that we are part of a family, even when we pray. Thus the first word of Jesus’ model prayer is the word our. We are in this together.

A FATHER IN HEAVEN: OUR IMMINENT AND TRANSCENDENT GOD

A Father God is identified by many titles throughout Scripture. He is called “Lord,” “Most High,” “Almighty,” “King,” even “the judge of all the earth.” Yet in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus does not refer to God by any of these titles. Instead, he refers to him as “Father.”

Of course, there is a sense in which God is fatherly toward all his creation. But Scripture affirms that we only come to know God as our Father personally when through faith in Christ we are adopted into God’s family.  Indeed, God is fatherly toward all his creation. God exercises a “providential care over the works of his hands. He is fatherly in relationship to everything he has made and everyone he has made. The fact that any human being anywhere exists and lives and breathes is a testimony to a paternal and benevolent relationship between the Creator and his creation. But as the confession of faith points out, God is properly Father only to those who know him through the Son.
        
 Scripture attests to the unique fatherly relationship God has with his people on numerous occasions:
        
 In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. (Eph. 1:4–5)
        
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Gal. 4:4–5)

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Rom. 8:14–17)

Paul made clear in Romans 8:14–17, only those who have the Spirit of God (called the “Spirit of adoption”) can call out to God as “Abba! Father!”

While all the names of God are important in many ways, the name “Abba Father” is one of the most significant names of God in understanding how He relates to people. The word Abba is an Aramaic word that would most closely be translated as “Daddy.” It was a common term that young children would use to address their fathers. It signifies the close, intimate relationship of a father to his child, as well as the childlike trust that a young child puts in his “daddy.”

The benefits of being adopted children of God are many. Becoming a child of God is the highest privilege and honor that can be imagined. Because of it we have a new relationship with God and a new standing before Him. He deals with His children differently than He deals with the rest of the world. Being children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords calls us to a higher standard, a different way of life and a greater hope.

As we come to understand the true nature of God as revealed in the Bible we should be amazed that He not only allows us, but even encourages us, to call Him “Abba Father.” It is amazing that a holy and righteous God, who created and sustains all things, who is the only all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present God, would allow sinful humans to call Him “Daddy.” As we come to understand who God really is and how sinful we are, the privilege of being able to call Him “Abba Father” will take on a whole new meaning for us and help us understand God’s amazing grace.

Scripture is thus unambiguous. We can only relate to God as Father because we have received the Spirit of adoption as sons and daughters through the objective, atoning work of Jesus Christ. In other words, we can call God
  “Father” not because we are his children by virtue of being his creation, but because we are his children by virtue of adoption. Our Father has adopted us through his Son, in his Son, to his own glory.  because we have been adopted as sons and daughters of God, those who are in Christ can truly pray to God as “our Father.”
        
 Furthermore, the word Father also says something about God’s disposition toward us. Whereas we were once God's enemies, now, in Christ, God loves us no less than he loves his own Son.

  Romans 5:6-11 (NIV) You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

There's more.

 Galatians 3:26-29 NIV So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

 1 John 5:1 NIV Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

Jesus reminds us of the gospel and the gracious disposition God has toward us. The God who has delivered us from our sins is also the Father who loves us and welcomes us. The God who saved us by the work of Christ on the cross is the same God who invites us to become part of his family. The God who so graciously spoke to us in and through his Son now remarkably invites us to come speak to him. He is both transcendent and immanent—in Christ he is close to us.
        

 A Father in Heaven

This is the God who rules and reigns from on high. This is the God enthroned over all creation he enjoys the unending worship of the angelic host. This is our high and holy God. Our Father is in heaven; he is transcendent (transcendent meaning: greater, better, more important, or going past or above all others). 
This mention of God’s transcendence is a reminder that God is distinct from his creation.  Even though we have a precious relationship with God made possible by the work of Christ, we should not therefore think that God is simply a grandfatherly figure in the sky or worse, “the man upstairs.” Jesus shows us that even as we can come to God as his children and approach a loving Father, we must not forget that the Father to whom we come is none other than the almighty God of the universe. 

Last year when we talked about prayer beginning with our relationship with God as one between friends we can now say it is even more than that. It's between a father, Abba Father and a child. But we still have to remember that He is God and we are not. We still have to remember that we are to fear God much like we are to honor and fear our earthly parents.

The transcendence of God is emphasized time and again throughout the Old Testament.
        
Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. (Deut. 4:39)
        
There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. (Deut. 33:26)

For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. (Ps. 97:9)
        
In Ecclesiastes 5:2, Solomon connected our understanding of the transcendence of God To the proper practice of prayer. He wrote, “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.” Our knowledge of God’s transcendence should shape our prayers by reminding us that prayer is a humble and reverent enterprise. This is why I believe that one of the most helpful things to do in prayer is to pray the Scriptures. In this way, we can make sure that God’s words are many and that our words are comparatively few.

HALLOWED BE THY NAME: JESUS’ FIRST REQUEST 

Jesus is not merely saying that God’s name is hallowed; rather, he is asking God to make his name hallowed.  The verb hallow, however, simply means to “make holy” or “consider as holy.  Just as we speak of “having a good name” as a way to refer to a good reputation, the Old Testament uses the same idiom to refer to God’s reputation.  A name is something personal. It always feels more or less unpleasant when others misspell or garble our name: it stands for our honor, our worth, our person, and individuality. . . . There is an intimate link between God and his name.

God repeatedly indicates that when he acts he does so for the sake of his name, that is for his own glory.
        
 For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great. (Ps. 25:11)
        
 Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory. (Isa. 43:6–7)
        
For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isa. 48:9–11)
        
  I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. (Ezek. 20:14)
        
 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name. (Ezek. 36:22)

Jesus is asking God to somove and act in the world that people value his glory, esteem his holiness, and treasure his character above all else. We must not miss this: Jesus’ first request is not that his personal needs be met, but that God’s glory and holiness be known and loved as it deserves. What a remarkably God-centered prayer.

How then does God “hallow his name” in the world? First, “hallowed be your name” is a request that the church be sanctified. The church is the steward of God’s name.  We must petition God to “hallow his name” in our discipleship, in ourprayer, in our preaching, in our witnessing, in our work, and in eternity. Our ultimate concern is not that our lives be comfortable, but that God be glorified, and that our lives, even our prayers, put God’s glory on display.  Faithfulness in the Christian life makes the glory of God go public.

The first line of Jesus’ prayer focuses our attention on God and not on ourselves. Jesus teaches us that God is our imminent Father. He is the transcendent one in heaven. He is the one who reveals and names himself. And our chief concern in prayer is not our own comfort but God’s glory.

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