“Hallowed Be Your Name”
Matthew 6:9
The Lord’s Prayer Series #2
I wonder if this First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer might not be the most often prayed but least
understood of all the prayers that ascend to God’s throne. For one thing, we are asking God to
“hallow” His name. I don’t know about you but “hallowed” is not a word that is an every-day part of
my vocabulary. I don’t go around talking about what I’m going to “hallow” today. So, my guess is
that many people don’t even know what it is they are asking for when they pray, “Hallowed be your
name.” We are going to do our best to fix that this morning.
To “hallow” something means to “make holy.” So, we could say, “Our Father in heaven,
make your name holy.” Fine, but what does it mean to make something holy? “To make holy”
means “to set apart.” So, we could say, “Our Father in heaven, set your name apart.” We will talk
more about how that happens in a bit.
But, first, we need to understand what we mean when we talk about God’s name. There are
dozens of titles for God in the Bible. He is called Lord, Lord God, Immanuel, King of Kings, Lord of
Lords, Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and on and on.
But, when Jesus refers to God’s name in the Lord’s Prayer He is talking about God’s
reputation. When a person has a good name in the community it means that the things people know
about that person are good.
Let me give you another example. What do you think of when you hear the name Ryan Braun? A
few years ago most people would simply think of a very good baseball player. That changed when
Mr. Braun was discovered to have used illegal substances in order to enhance his ability to play. His
reputation has suffered as a result. He no longer has as good a name as he once did.
So, when we pray, “Hallowed your name,” we are asking God to see to it that He has a good
reputation. Or, to be more specific, we are asking God to see to it that WE give Him a good
reputation. Last week we were reminded that through faith in Jesus we have been adopted into
God’s family. When a child is adopted she is given the name of her new parents. From that
moment on, whatever she says and does will have an impact on that family’s reputation. We have
been given God’s name. We are Christians. What we say and what we do will have an impact on
His reputation. Notice that the first thing Jesus tells us to pray for is God’s reputation, God’s good
name, God’s glory. “God, may I never do or say anything that would harm your good name!”
I can’t say it any better than Martin Luther does in his explanation of this First Petition. He
says, “God’s name is kept holy when his Word is taught in its truth and purity, and we as
children of God lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But
whoever teaches and lives contrary to God’s Word dishonors God’s name among us. Keep
us from doing this, dear Father in heaven!”
This (the Bible) is where God has revealed Himself to us. This (the Bible) is what we know about
Him. Therefore, when we pray “Hallowed be your name” we are asking for two things – that we
teach this Word truthfully, and that we live according to it.
I. Help Us To Teach Your Word Truthfully
Why is God so insistent that we teach the Bible accurately? Well, imagine that your child is
taken from you when he is very young. Day after day you search for him hoping that one day you
might be reunited. Years pass. Your son is now a man. But, he has never met you. One day there
is a knock on the door. You open it to see a stranger standing on the porch. He says, “I can’t tell
you who I am but I know where your son is.” He hands you a piece of paper with a PO Box address
on it and walks away. You stare at the piece of paper for what seems like hours and then it hits you
– I can write my son a letter! I will let him know who I am! I will tell him how much I love him! I will
tell him how to find me! I will tell him there is a room here waiting for him! Over the next few hours
you use a pen to pour out your heart onto pieces of paper. Hastily you stuff the letter into an
envelope, fill out the address and rush to the Post Office. You wonder anxiously how long it will be
before your son will read it and know all about you. How soon will he be able to follow your
directions and finally come home?
Now, imagine that someone opens your letter and changes what you wrote. Imagine that he
changes who you are and writes lies instead. Imagine that he writes different directions so that your
son cannot not find his way home! How would you feel?
Imagine how God feels when people change what He has written. After having gone to all
the trouble of writing this book so that we could know who He is, imagine His anger when people
twist His Word making Him out to be someone He is not. After having told the world that the way to
come home to Him in heaven is through faith in His Son as Savior, imagine His anger when people
are given a different set of directions.
The reason God is so concerned about His Word being taught truthfully is because He loves
us. He wants us to know the truth about Him. When we pray “Hallowed Be Your Name” we are
praying “Lord, help us to teach your Word truthfully.”
II. Help Us To Live According To Your Word Faithfully
But there is another important part to keeping God’s name holy. We heard Luther say earlier
that keeping God’s name holy also means that we live holy lives according to God’s
Word. Everything we do and everything we say reflects on our heavenly Father because we bear
his name.
I thought of this as I watched a television program about the lives of some of our presidents’
children. There are tremendous advantages to being the child of a president of the United
States. You will never go hungry. You will never be homeless. You have connections to all of the
most powerful people in the world. So, getting your dream job probably won’t be a problem. But,
being the child of a president also brings with it tremendous responsibility. You can’t just do what
you feel like. Everything you do is scrutinized. Everything you do and everything you say will reflect
on your father.
The same is true for us – God’s children. There are tremendous advantages to being God’s
child. You have His promise to love you, and care for you and watch over you. You have His
promise of forgiveness and eternal life. But, being a child of God also brings with it tremendous
responsibility. People know you are a Christian, a child of God. What they see and hear from you is
what they think of your Father in heaven.
Does it feel like too great a responsibility to live a life worthy of God’s name? Well, you are
not alone. Luther once wrote this about the First Petition, “In all of the Scriptures I know of no
other passage that denounces and dooms our life more than this petition” (LW 42:33). We
probably don’t think about it this way very often when we pray the Lord’s Prayer. But, if we take an
honest look at out lives it quickly becomes clear that our disobedience to God has brought shame on
His name again and again. He ought to have disowned us long ago. He ought to have thrown us
out of the family forever.
But, He hasn’t. He threw Jesus out instead. On the cross, Jesus was abandoned by His
Father as He suffered the punishment for our sins. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me!” Jesus cried out. It was because of your sins and mine. Jesus was cast out so that we could
come in.
So, now we humbly ask our Father to give us the strength to live in a way that brings glory to
His name. “Hallowed be your name! Lord, may my every word, my every action, help people to see
who you are. Let my life show those who see it how wonderful and joyful and peaceful it is to be
your child.” This is what we ask when we pray, “Hallowed be your name.”
A little boy came to his pastor with the kind of question only a child is bold enough to ask,
“Pastor, why do we keep asking God to make His name hollow?” Although a little boy might be the
only one willing to ask, perhaps many of us have wondered what this petition means. Today we
have learned and, now that we know, let us pray it more earnestly and live it more
faithfully. “Hallowed be His name!” Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria