What Is the Big Deal About God's Name?
“Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.” Jesus has
graciously invited us to see God as our Father, and to pray to Him with the
confidence of sons. But what is a son to
ask of His almighty, heavenly Father?
We
begin by praying that God’s name would be hallowed, or kept holy. Luther’s explanation in the Small Catechism
says:
“God’s name is kept holy when the Word of
God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also
lead holy lives according to it. Help us
to do this, dear Father in heaven! But
anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God
among us. Protect us from this, heavenly
Father!”
That’s
interesting isn’t it? The petition
taught by Jesus is about the name of God being kept holy, and Luther jumps
straight into talking about the Word of God.
So what is the connection? What
does the Word of God, and us keeping it and living according to it, have to do
with God’s name?
Well, think
about it this way: There is a man getting married. His last name is “Jones”. His new bride takes his last name, as is our
custom, and becomes Mrs. Jones.
Likewise, the Joneses then have several Jones children.
Isn’t it true
that the way Mrs. Jones and the Jones children speak, act, and live will reflect
upon Mr. Jones? If his wife is always
dressed in rags, or if his children are unruly and disrespectful, that sends a
message to the rest of the world about Mr. Jones. Conversely, if Mrs. Jones can't brag enough about the kindness of her husband, or if the children are well mannered and well behaved, that too reflects upon the one who gave them his name. Their lives reflect, positively or
negatively, upon his name.
And so it is
with the children of God. We have been
given God’s name in our baptism. The
name of Christian means “little Christ”.
So how the church, the bride of Christ, speaks, acts, and lives reflects
upon the name of God. How the children
of God behave tells the world something about their heavenly Father.
And where do we,
as children of God learn what we are to believe and how we are to act? Why, from His Word of course. In the Scriptures we learn what it means to
be a Christian. We learn what we are to
believe for our salvation, and how we are to act to bring glory and honor to
the name of God, rather than bitterness and derision.
We are to
believe and live rightly. To have the
right faith and to live a godly life is what we call sanctification. We are justified, saved from the punishments
of death and hell, purely by the grace of God given to us in the death and
resurrection of our Lord Jesus. And that
same grace sanctifies us as we grow in faith, knowledge, and good works.
We are praying
for a true and trustworthy faith, one that clings to the doctrine of
forgiveness in the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are praying for the strength to live a
godly life, one that conforms to the image of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus.
And that is why
it becomes imperative that we pray for good and orthodox teachers. As Christians we need to be in constant
prayer, imploring our heavenly Father to send His children preachers of the
Word, men who will teach the faith and lead us into all godly living.
There are many
false teachers out there. You can find
them on your television set. You can
listen to them on the radio. Their books
cover the shelves of Barnes and Noble.
And I am not even talking about the non-Christians. Within the Church, half-truths and outright
lies abound.
So Jesus teaches
us to pray, not simply that God’s name would be kept holy, but that we would be
blessed with men to preach the Word as it was handed down by the prophets and
Apostles, and so we would keep His name holy in our lives too. We are to pray that we would live and breathe
according to His Word.
We should pray for
our seminaries and universities, that the professors there would remain true to
God’s Word and that they would encourage the students under their influence
toward godly vocations.
We should pray
for the students, that they would take their studies seriously, that they would
grow in faith and holiness to be able to go into the church as pastors,
teachers, and other vocations, leading others to Christ and building them up in
the Christian faith.
We should pray
for our pastors, that they would rightly divide Law and Gospel, that their
teaching and preaching would deliver Jesus Christ unveiled to a world that
desperately needs Him, that they would not neglect teaching and encouraging us
to all good works.
Yes, I want you
to pray for me. Pray that my words are
not really mine, but God’s. Pray that I
would speak boldly all that Christ has given me to say, no more and certainly
no less. Pray that I would be the
instrument of God in answering this petition.
The preaching
and teaching of the Church is God’s means to bring glory to His name and
salvation to us. You see, when God’s
name is kept holy, when it is glorified, it spells salvation for the people of
the world.
I will leave you
with the example of Rahab. Rahab was a
rather scandalous woman. She was a pagan
prostitute, not your typical demographic for conversion. Yet when Joshua sends two men to spy out the
city of Jericho it is this sinful woman who offers them shelter. She saves their lives.
And why? “For we have heard how the Lord dried
up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you
did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and
Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts
melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth
beneath.” (Joshua 2:10-11)
Rahab hears of
the work of Yahweh, the LORD. She knows and fears the name of the LORD. His fame and glory, His name, has spread, and
she has believed. Therefore she is
saved, and so are we, for Rahab becomes an ancestor of King David, and also an ancestor
of Jesus Christ.
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