Glorifying God in our Churching
By Paul Thompson
Bible reading: Matthew 6:1-9 
Introduction
The Last time I had the privilege to speak to you from the encouraging words of the risen Christ’s to the church at Philadelphia found in Revelation 3:7-13 . Like you they They where a church that faced trouble, but in the midst of their discouragement and fears Christ encourages them to believe they are His Church, to preserve as His Church knowing they are members of His kingdom.
You recall we discovered these are Christ’s words to you. He says you are my Church, therefore preserve in being my Church because your members of my kingdom.
Believing these words to be true I want to ask a question that logically follows
How are we to glorify God as His Church?
One way Christ says we are to glorify God as His church is in our praying together and specifically the first petition we are to pray to our Father in Heaven.
In Matthew 6:9 “Pray then like this; "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”
Let’s Pray: Oh God our Father please teach us what it means to ask You to keep holy your name and fill our hearts with an overwhelming desire obey your word. Convict us of our sins and if we don’t know you as our Father reveal Christ to us. Change us tonight for your glory we pray in Christ’s name. Amen
I will be substituting the word hallowed for the two words the amplified Bible has after hallowed– They are kept holy in brackets. These two words signify the meaning in the Greek and bring it into modern usage. I’m changing kept to keep.
The word hallowed simply means to sanctify, reverence, or honour
I want us to focus our minds on this first petition; “Keep holy Your name.”
As king Christ gives to His disciples and us about pray. It’s important to note that Christ is not concerned that we repeat verbatim His words, but to the intent of each petition
It’s important to note the context of Christ’s teaching. Look at Matthew 6:5
"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.
It’s all about their reputation, their honour instead of asking God to sanctify, reverence, honour, keep holy His name in His image bearers, men and women and boys and girls. More about this latter.
Christ may well have had Lev 22:32 in mind as He gives us the first petition we are to ask His father; “ And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the LORD who sanctifies you,
Again the context of these words concern right actions and attitudes in worship
Through the Old Testament, time after name God says; don’t profane my name, that my name may be kept holy among my church.
2ndly Why Does Christ teach us to ask God to keep holy His name
Lets see some convicting reasons God gives in His word
One of the themes of the Bible is that by nature we don’t keep holy God’s name
Here is some proofs from His Word
1stly - Christ teach us to ask God to keep holy His name yet we want to make a name for themselves
Look at Gen 11:4 we read, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth."
They wanted to be like God, They are concerned about their reputation, their honour.
Isn’t this a temptation for those of us who suffer from a so called “inferiority Complex” You feel you can never measure up to a dominate person in your life. We need to constantly remind ourselves that “In Christ” we are acceptable to God and that’s such a relief.
So If the first proof is we want to make a name for themselves and therefore don’t keep holy God’s name
2ndly - Christ teaches us to ask God to keep holy His name but we become idolaters
Speaking on why God’s wrath will come upon everyone who is not come into a right relationship with God we read In the words of the Apostle Paul, Rom 1:21-22 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. They “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie andworshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Is this a brilliant commentary on our society?
But lets be honest; don’t we exchange the truth of God for a lie when we believe; “If I only had that I would be happy or if I was only like this person I would have respect. But if that’s not bad enough notice we worship people or things rather than God and He calls this idolatry.
If the second proof is that at core we are idolaters it follows that by nature we don’t keep holy God’s name and this grieves Him greatly
3rdly Christ teaches us to ask God to keep holy His name because this is part of worshipping God.
God after he redeemed God’s people from their bondage to Pharaoh gave them 10 laws to live by. These laws where to be obeyed on the basis of his grace in saving them from the bondage of slavery under the Egyptians
In the 3rd commandment God declares Exo 20:7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
As we have seen God’s name represents His nature, He is utterly Holy. His name is profaned by our lose language. In anger we can take God’s name in vain.
But it’s not just our swearing, but our thoughts and actions. If the way we live is not consistent with what we believe, or we don’t practice what we preach to others we take God’s name in vain. To call Him Lord and disobey Him is to take His name in vain, To call Him Father and be filled with anxiety and doubts is to deny His name. To take God’s name in vain is to deny who God made us to be;
Creatures that keep Holy His name and so glorify His name. If I am not perfectly keeping God’s name holy I am guilty before this Holy God.
So Christ teaches us to ask God to keep holy His name but we want to make a name for themselves and therefore become idolaters because this is part of worshipping God and therefore glorifying Him.
2ndly Why Does Christ teach us to ask God to keep holy His name
Lets see some convicting reasons God gives in His word
One of the themes of the Bible is that we don’t keep holy God’s name
Here is some proofs from His Word
1stly - Christ teach us to ask God to keep holy His name yet we want to make a name for themselves
Look at Gen 11:4 we read, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth."
They wanted to be like God, They are concerned about their reputation, their honour.
Isn’t this a temptation for those of us who suffer from a so called “inferiority Complex” You feel you can never measure up to a dominate person in your life. We need to constantly remind ourselves that “In Christ” we are acceptable to God and that’s such a relief.
So If the first proof is we want to make a name for themselves and therefore don’t Keep holy God’s name
2ndly - Christ teaches us to ask God to keep holy His name but we become idolaters
Speaking on why God’s wrath will come upon everyone who is not come into a right relationship with God we read In the words of the Apostle Paul, Rom 1:21-22 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. They “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie andworshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Is this a brilliant commentary on our society?
But lets be honest; don’t we exchange the truth of God for a lie when we believe; “If I only had that I would be happy or if I was only like this person I would have respect. But if that’s not bad enough notice we worship people or things rather than God and He calls this idolatry.
If the second proof is that at core we are idolaters it follows that by nature we don’t keep holy God’s name and this grieves Him greatly
3rdly Christ teaches us to ask God to keep holy His name because this is part of worshipping God.
God after he redeemed God’s people from their bondage to Pharaoh gave them 10 laws to live by. These laws where to be obeyed on the basis of his grace in saving them from the bondage of slavery under the Egyptians
In the 3rd commandment God declares Exo 20:7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
As we have seen God’s name represents His nature, He is utterly Holy. His name is profaned by our lose language. In anger we can take God’s name in vain.
But it’s not just our swearing, but our thoughts and actions. If the way we live is not consistent with what we believe, or we don’t practice what we preach to others we take God’s name in vain. To call Him Lord and disobey Him is to take His name in vain, To call Him Father and be filled with anxiety and doubts is to deny His name. To take God’s name in vain is to deny who God made us to be Creatures that keep Holy His name and so glorify His name. If I am not perfectly keeping God’s name holy I am guilty before this Holy God.
So Christ teaches us to ask God to keep holy His name but we want to make a name for themselves and therefore become idolaters because this is part of worshipping God and therefore glorifying Him.
Thirdly How do we ask God to keep holy His name?
As Christians
Firstly - We need to obey what Christ commands
Our text says ; “Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. We need topray, Pause “keep holy your name Father, “ as we church together.
But we need to not only obey Christ commands to ask God to keep Holy His name.
Secondly - We need to make this our first priority in our prayers
Because it come first . Why does it come first? Because as we have seen, God’s first priority before anything else is the Holiness of His name. This is why the God who commands us to “Be holy because I am Holy, can command His Son to teach us to pray; “Father keep your name holy.” This is His dominate character. Because as we have seen He made us to reflect His character, to be holy, He demands it. This is His greatest joy, this brings Him incalculable happiness that we the crowning glory of His creation keep His name holy.
But we need to not only make this our first priority in our prayers
We need to plead with God
Christ doesn’t mean we are to praise God for the holiness of His name. Nor is it giving our Father permission for His name to be kept holy. No Christ is commanding me to yearn, to desire with strong pleadings,
The verb is a third person imperative. It’s the same form as the verb “baptize in Acts 2:38 "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Oh God my Father, act! Act for the sake of your Holy name so people will keep it holy. Cause Your name to be kept holy in my life and my family and my church and my ministry and this suburb and this city and this state and this nation.
Cause you name to be kept holy as you make disciples of Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists and Jews and post modern secular westerners.
How does our text apply to us as a Church?
Because God’s name is not kept holy in this community therefore He is not being glorified. And He is grieved by this, don’t we need to think seriously and pray about returning to our roots. This church was once a missionary church,
Hungry to see sinners snatched from the flames of hell. Brethren lets glorify our missionary God and become a church on mission again so His Name may again be kept holy in this community and city. Then He will be glorified in our churching.
So how do we ask God to keep holy His name? We need to obey Christ’s command and pray, we must make this our first priority in our praying and plead with God that He would answer by more and more people keeping holy God’s name.
Conclusion –
So where does that leave you if your not a Christian tonight
Admit to God you can’t don’t keep holy His name.
Instead you want to make a name for themselves, which is idolatry. Why is this? Because as God’s word says; you have exchanged the truth about God (That He is holy) for a lie ( that it’s all about me and my happiness) and worship and serve the creature (ourselves) rather than the Creator (God)
Is God indifferent to your attitude towards Him.
No, (Pause) Because your sin is the contradiction of who He is; Holy, we read in
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
And what are the horrific consquences of His wrath verses your rebellious heart?
Listen to Christ speaking of who will enter heaven, look at Rev 21:27
“But nothing unclean will ever enter it, (Heaven) nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. By false He means our speech – which means we want to make a name for themselves and are therefore idolaters worshipping ourselves or someone or something above God and therefore not glorifying Him.
But there is good news for you…
BECAUSE GOD HAS KEPT HIS NAME HOLY IN THE GOSPEL
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to appease His Fathers blazing holiness which has been violated by our sin, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Rom 3:23 Jesus came to restore God’s glory. But this could only be done when His justice was appeased. God required an infinite sacrifice to repaired this infinite injustice against His infinite holiness.
The amazing news for all of us is that in the gospel, more clearly than anywhere else in the world God's name is keep holy — Listen to the insightful words of John Piper commenting on our text. “The infinite worth of God's holy name was infinitely treasured by the obedient suffering of the Son of God. The infinitely valuable Son of God, infinitely treasured the holiness of God's name, and paid infinitely for the vindication of God's infinitely pure, transcendent name.”
What should your response be to this incredible news?
If you agree with God and desire to change He has promised to forgive you for not keeping Holy His name.
Listen and ask God to help you respond to what He promises to do for you
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Isa 1:18
"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near,” Isa 55:6
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isa 55:7
Finally God also promises, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' Act 2:21
So Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ – the only one who can save you from God’s holiness and wrath and the certainty of Hell’s fires for ever. Do it tonight, don’t delay, Believe on His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
And as you do God will be glorified as you learn to pray, “My Father in heaven keep holy your name. Amen
Preached 9/11/2011