Hello, and welcome to this week's service at Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church. We are located out of Prayer View, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago. We are so glad you decided to join us today. This is our next sermon in the series on the Lord's Prayer by Pastor Brett Malin. Our scripture reading will be Exodus 20, verses 1-11, and Romans 11, verses 33-36. Our sermon text will be Matthew 6, 9-13. What is in a name? What is in a name? Names are very, very important. The singer, Jimmy Croce, says in the previous decade, I got a name. I've got a name. He says, and I carried it with me like my daddy did. The great philosopher, Bono, speaks about the name of love in the name of love. What I want to drive home to you is the importance of a name. When I was young, I had a little brother. I have a younger brother. When I was young, there were certain ways that I could get at it. His name was Chad. And I would call him Shaddy-waddy-paddy. It irritated him to no end. I had a stepsister. Her name was Anna. If you really wanted to get under her skin, I didn't do this. But her siblings certainly did. You called her Anna Bonet. You ever think about how frustrating it is when someone makes fun of your name? Why is it? Why do we care so much that someone makes fun of our names? Because... Truly we can say that the person is associated with a name in a deep and intimate way. So that to make fun of you, you can make fun of someone's name. To make fun of someone's name, you make fun of the very person. That is true of us today, true of people during Bible times, and it is true of God Himself. Why do we choose names in our culture? In our culture, we choose names because we often like the way they sound. Why do you choose to name your children the way you do? Why do you name your dog or your cat the things that you name them? Because you like the way that it sounds. That is not how the Bible often does things. And that's not even how previous generations of people did things. People used to name things and people after things that spoke about them, spoke to their characteristics. spoke of their person. There are a number of examples of that, just a couple from the Bible. Abraham, God names him Abraham, and that is to say that his name is father of many. Isaac, his son, has to do with laughter. In other words, he will laugh. Why is that? Because the idea of a man who was as old as Abraham was and his wife having a child, that brought laughter. It's an absurd idea. And when he does come, that brings rejoicing, laughter. Well, Abraham has his son Isaac, of course, and Isaac eventually has Jacob. His name is something like He catches the heel or heel catcher. Why? Because he was born holding on to the heel of his twin brother. Of course, that same man, Jacob, later on would be renamed after he wrestles with God. His name would be Israel. Why? Because he wrestles with God. This is what that means. Moses. has to do with drawing from water. Why? Because you may know the story that he was placed in water to save his life. He was drawn from the water and found by Egyptian royalty. Names matter, especially in the Bible. They tell us something about who a person is. It takes with people in vital times. We understand what it's like to be made fun of or for someone to bring dishonor to our name. How much more so, God? How much more so, God, who has many names and all of them describe who He is. They describe what matters to Him. And I want to lay this before you and screw this into your head. To bring honor to a name is to bring honor to a person. To bring dishonor to a name is to bring dishonor to that person. What I want you to take away from this is that you must, when you go to pray to the Lord, when you pray speaking to the Father, First and foremost, we want His name to be hallowed. We want His name to be honored. We want His name to be glorified. We come to this portion of the Word of God and call it the First Petition. Why is that? Well, because there's a preface in the Word of Prayer. The preface is, Our Father, in heaven, or our Father which art in heaven. Speaking to us of the communal nature of our prayers, oftentimes that we have a Father in heaven by faith in Christ. And He is our Father, that is, the people of God's Father. And He is not like our earthly Father, although there is an analogy there. He is a perfect Father. So that is the preface, but now we come to the first petition of the Lord's Prayer. The first petition is really the first of three that deal with God himself, and then the latter three deal with us in relation to God. We could say that there's an analogy between the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. You may know the first four commandments deal with our sin against God, and the latter six deal with our sin against our fellow man, our neighbor. Similarly so, we would say the beginning of the prayer, the first half, the first three petitions have to do with God himself, and the latter three have to do with us in relation to God. You use this word We use this word hallowed in your daily conversation. I don't think we use it very often. The hallowed something. But I want you to understand this word, even if it's not one you use very often, it is one that most of us do know to set something apart as special, as holy, as particular, different from common use. same word is used in the fourth commandment, right? To hallow the Sabbath day. God tells us that he hallowed the Sabbath day. We are to hallow the Sabbath day. What does that mean? We are to set it aside as something different, something special, something as uncommon In the same way that certain days, six days of the week, or most days of the week, we might use the same exact forks and knives and spoons and the same exact plates, but there are special times, and maybe it's today, maybe for good reason, we'll use a certain particular sort of china or a certain type of extra special silverware in place. Why? That's to say, we have hallowed those things. We've set them aside for special particular use. It's not common. We do not take it in a common way. God is zealous for the hallowing, for the setting aside for the glorifying of His name. When I was in college, sitting at tables, there was this one friend of mine, we weren't close friends, but we were friends enough that we could kid with each other. He knew that I believed the gospel. He knew that I was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here's what he did. He said, I don't know what he said to his own self, but I know what he did. He started using God's name as a swear word. So many people did. And notice how often people use God's name as a swear word. And he did it intentionally and consciously. Just because he wanted to be close to God. I wasn't as irritated about that as he probably wanted to be. You know how I settled it? I'm always trying to get one up on someone. I learned that if you really want to get at someone when it comes to God's name, you use their name. High-stress environment, like a restaurant, as high-stress or comparable to an air traffic controller, nursing, medical tools, and that sort of thing, his name was for And I remember thinking, he'd done this for a while, using God's name, Jesus Christ, and that sort of thing. What in the name of CORE is going on here? Just shouted out in the room, not outside in the dining room. You know what, he stomped up. He stomped, because what? He did not like his name being used in such a vain way. It's hard to use your name as a spare word. He desires that his name might have honor, that it might be hallowed. And what do we do? We say, damn this, and all this sort of thing. Jesus Christ, man, we swear to you, the story of the people. Meanwhile, the wrath of God hangs over people who do that. The wrath of God hangs over them. broken the third commandment. In others, God is zealous for His name. As we sang in Psalm 8, O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! It is describing the glory of God's name, especially with regard to creation. This often challenges us as believers who tend to have somewhat of a scientific understanding of things, a naturalistic understanding of things. And we look at the beauty of creation. We see the sun and the stars and the moon. We see rainbows and we see rain clouds and all these glorious things. And we think, oh, that's good. That's interesting. Good weather today. I hope it's nice tomorrow. We think in a naturalistic way. Meanwhile, what we should be doing is we should be thinking, This is God showing me His glory. He's showing us the glory of His name. He's declaring it for us. How excellent is thy name in all here. One of my favorite pastors, commentators of the previous century, he talks about in his commentary on Psalm 19, he talks about the sun and the moon. creatures of the glory of God. I like to think of them that way. And so should you. Really, the sun, the moon, the stars, there they are in the sky. And they bring warmth, and they bring such wonder and beauty. And they cause things to grow. The sun, especially, causing things to grow. But as we think of them, and as we see them, we have to say, are the rulers of the night and of the day. And there they are proclaiming the glorious name of the Lord who created them. We want God to have glory. We want God to have glory more than us. And that ought to be our prayer as we begin to pray. Oftentimes we ask for things For our glory, James chides the people who receive this verse. He says, you ask for these things to fulfill your lusts. That's why you ask for things. Instead, Jesus shows us that we ought to begin by saying, hallowed be thy name. Let it be set apart, let it be honored, let it be glorified. Psalm 115 says, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. That ought to be our prayer. That ought to be the beginning of our prayer. Let the name be hallowed, especially with regard to my life, where you have actually a single matter. The psalmist wants God to praise wherever the sun shines. which is also found in very similar words in Malachi chapter 1, which we've read in previous Sundays. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised. Let's think about that for a moment. God's name is praised by the sun, the moon, and the stars. But wherever the sun shines its brightness, there God's name is to be praised. Therefore, wherever it is shining, let God's name be called upon, magnified, and glorified as we worship Him, as we sing to Him, and as we pray to Him, may He have the glory. May He have the glory for Glomau. Psalm 101, but if you're not used to sitting in that, you might think, well, that's really violent. A little bit strange, isn't it? Remember those words that we were just saying? I'll uproot him who slyly his neighbor vilifies. I'll not endure the proud heart or him with lofty eyes. My eyes are on the faithful that they may dwell with me The one whose walk is lameless will serve and wait on me. And then it's even more so in the fourth part. The one who is deceptive will not abide with me. He'll not keep his position who speaks deceitfully. Each morning, here's the key, each morning on the wicked, destruction I look for to free from evildoers the city of the Lord. You might look at that and say, That's violent, and that's probably really bad. Well, if you're looking at it in that way, then we might have missed the point. Certainly, there is some violence there, but the point is not violence for violence's sake. Keep in mind, it does have some Old Testament ideas and themes, things having to do with the government of their day. Set that aside just for a moment. We want to see the seriousness of what's going on. He's talking about the city of the Lord. He's talking about a very particular place. He's talking about Jerusalem. Jerusalem is very important in an Old Testament context. Why? Because the temple of the Lord is there. The temple is hallowed for God's name in 1 Kings 9-7 it says, Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them, and this house which I have hallowed for my name will I cast out of my sight. Here's what the psalmist understands even if it offends our sensibilities. Even if it offends some of us. Here's what he's saying. They allow wickedness and unrighteousness to come into the city of Jerusalem. Then there are going to be great consequences for that. And if you allow evil and wickedness to come into the temple, then what's going to happen? God is eventually going to lose his patience. His patience will be exhausted. God to cut off Israel whom he has caused to dwell there. Therefore, the psalmist understands that he must protect the city and also the temple. For whatever some Old Testament ideas, time when we were less evolved, not a, not a, not a bit, not a, not a bit. What are we to take from this? It's open to the preview of what it's going to be like when Jesus comes back. Because Jesus has sealed for the name of his father. And he is going to cut off all who slander. He is going to cut off all who live deceptively. and simply in his sight, he is going to cut off all who have not placed their faith in him, who have not seen him in his humiliation and looked upon him on the cross and said, there is one who is taking away what I deserve, he's taking my punishment. Therefore we must look to the cross now, we must look to the cross and see Jesus suffering for us, and His perfect righteousness being imputed to us, and our sin and our wretchedness being placed upon Him, that is not a description of you that must look to Christ and have faith in Him. Otherwise, this cutting off in the city of the Lord and God's zeal for His house is coming. Therefore we simply say this, not because we are concerned for you, we are concerned for all people that they would repent and believe in Christ lest they be cut off for all of eternity and endure consequences for all of eternity. Furthermore, Abraham intercedes for Sodom and Gomorrah and he does so on the basis of God's name. He is saying, don't destroy this city. Why? because there might be righteous and wicked in that city. Abraham's zeal is for God's name. What will people say if you do that, if you cut off righteous and wicked? In Exodus 32 verse 12, something similar to Moses has taken the children of Israel out of Egypt to cross the Red Sea. They have begun their wilderness wandering, and they begin to sin against God. God says, I'm just going to destroy them. And Moses intercedes, and he says, you can't do that. You've made promises to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. What will the Egyptians say? He says, between the lines, he says, Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, and slay them in the mountains, and consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people." Basically, Moses is saying, if you slay them in the wilderness, then the Egyptians are going to say, he humbled us, he humiliated us, the Egyptians, so that he could just bring them out and kill them. What is Moses' zeal for? Moses' zeal is for the name of God. Not unto us, not unto Moses he put, unto your name the glory of God. All this wrath and all this destruction serving as a warning to all of us if we do not look to Christ. There's forgiveness. There's redemption. There's adoption into the family of God. There's justification. That is a declaration that you are right in God's sight. Not for anything that you've done, but because of God's oneness. The glory of the Father was Jesus' prayer. in John 12, 28, Jesus says, Father, glorify thy name. Notice that. Father, glorify thy name. So similar to our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. So similar to beginning with the Father and desiring the name of God. In the name of God the Father, my people, hallowed, that it may be set apart honor and glory might be given to him. Father, glorify thy name. And then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have glorified him and will glorify him again. Jesus' prayer is for the glory of his Father. And the Father will have the glory that Jesus Christ wants. Not just in glorious celestial realm that testifies to how glorious He is. And not just the glory of the people of God down here upon the earth, worshiping and magnifying Him and serving one another and serving their neighbors, loving God and loving their neighbors. Not just that, but He will also have glory of Jesus Christ, and that is how the Son of God, who is the ultimate answer to His own prayer, brings glory to the Father. He brings glory to the Father by obeying His Father, and going to the cross, and suffering, and having the wrath of God poured out upon Him, dying in the graves. show that he conquers death, that death has no power over him, and that death will ultimately be defeated. Indeed, Jesus shows that he has all power in heaven and in earth. Jesus shows that he has defeated Satan, and he will defeat Satan. He has defeated death, and he will defeat death. Jesus shows We ordinarily pray for what we want. Often times when we pray, we're nervous. We don't know what to pray. We're concerned. We might fumble. Nothing might fumble. So we don't pray. And then we say, well, no, we're going to pray. That's a response to the kindness and grace that was shown to me. So what do we do? Just go in and have a list of things that we want. That's fine, there's a place for that. First and foremost, I encourage you, go into your secret place, and by faith, pray to the Father, in union with the Son, and ask, and beg the God, the Father would be glorified in your life. He might have the honor, over all things. Jesus encourages us to begin with hallowing God's name. The Apostle Peter writes, let him speak. Let him speak. to the Apostle Paul talks about the Old Testament as the oracles of God. Think about that. If you're willing to speak at all, may you do so as if you are the Bible itself speaking. That's quite a load Do you realize we're going to be judged for every single word we've said? Every single vain word that's come out of our mouths? We're going to have to give an account of that on the day of judgment. Certainly that's me. There's a lot of other words. Before I throw it on Christ, we've seen a few of this in the blood of the covering. It's not a get-out-of-jail-free card. so you don't have to roll dice or something like that. It is a covering. We begin to hate the vain words that we've said, the times that we have not spoken as if we were the oracles of God, as if we weren't the Bible itself. And the apostle Peter goes on to say, if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth. And then it says that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. When we speak or when we serve, Peter is encouraging us to do so for the glory of the name of God. There are different ways that we approach things. Sometimes we don't even think of God's name. We don't think about it at all. We just do. We're called to stand back and say, are you living for, seeking to do, the will of God or His glory? But sometimes we seek to fill our lives with good deeds. We're helping this person and helping that person. Hiring ourselves out to help people. We stand back and say, you know what? I realize I'm doing this for me. I'm doing it for my name. So that people will say, oh, she is so busy. So busy helping people. He is such a servant. He just does and does and does. And the praise and honor and glory is heaped upon him or heaped upon her. This prayer not only calls sinners to seek to hallow his name, but also calls the righteous, it calls the people of God, who may be doing and may be serving, to stand back and say, I am serving, I am doing, but am I doing it for God's glory or for my own? We'll solve this one, 15. Not unto us. to your name give glory. So we must examine ourselves. It's right for us to consider our speech. Christians who use filthy jokes and off-color jokes and off-color language, what happens? Unbelievers around us hear this and they say, well, this language isn't so great. is bring honor and glory to our Father in heaven. And in our service, any service, whether it's from work, or things around the house, or helping someone else, we don't always do it to the best of our ability. Why? You might say, well, it's good enough for government work, or something like that. I'm just doing enough to get passed, to get the job done. But no, the saint, the believer in Christ says, I am going to give all my ability, not for my glory, but because that's what glorifies. That's what hallows the name of my Savior in the most and the greatest way. God the Father and Jesus my Savior are magnified and glorified. Our work, service, our worship, and all of these things, and our keeping of the Lord's Day. of keeping of the Lord's Day as well. The Lord's Day, for the Christian, we understand it's a grace. And that's not like the Old Covenant, where we're picking up sticks on the Sabbath day, and they're executing a man, to show how serious God was about it. But in the New Covenant, we understand we're not executing I think we would be right to oppose it. However, how do we keep Sunday? How do we keep the Lord's Day? Notice that the Bible calls it the Lord's Day. It's not my day. So is God gonna have me stoned because I waste a bunch of time and do a bunch of stupid stuff? No, not ultimately. Not here, the elders are not gonna The thing that brings the most honor is to spend the day, all day, in the worship and service of the people of God. The worship and service of God, and of course the service of the people of God. Not so that I can have praise and honor and adulation, but so that the Father in heaven might have that. And so that Jesus might have that. and that the Holy Spirit might show that the Father is glorious in His giving of His Son, and that the Son is glorious in that He goes to the cross and suffers for us and dies for us, so that all men might come to know that Jesus Christ is the wonderful name that we call upon to be saved, because there's no other name in heaven or on earth that we call upon that we might be saved. Therefore, I close and conclude with this. First, Corinthians 10, 31. It says, whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Notice he chooses a few particular things. Whether eating or drinking, do it to the glory of God. Whatsoever else you do, that covers everything. Two particulars, then basically the rest of the 24 hours that you spend each day saying, do it all for the glory of God. May that be your prayer to your Heavenly Father, that you would seek to do so in response to the grace that you have been shown. May you seek to bring glory and honor to the name of God the Father through Jesus Christ our Savior. Thank you for tuning in. Please review our Facebook and YouTube pages for further teachings. We pray you will join us next week. If you are interested in or have questions about visiting us in person, please contact us at secretary at wrpc at gmail.com. Thank you.