Christian Library Australia - Glorifying God in our Churching

Glorifying God in our Churching

By Paul Thompson

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 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 3^rd 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.