1. “May Your Name Be Made Holy”
The Lord’s Prayer – Part 4

2. In a far away galaxy, in a solar system much like ours, with a sun like ours, and on a planet much like ours, there lived a group of people called the Lumilites. Unlike us, however, instead of having to eat food they had to spend at least 4 hours a day under the sun in order to replenish their energies.
For the first few thousand years of their existence, that wasn't much of a problem. The skies were clear, the sun was bright, and everyone was content with their way of life. They would spend half their day soaking in the sunlight, enjoying the company of others doing the same.
But science and technology evolved and soon people began to build factories to churn out stuff. When someone acquired some new stuff, others too, felt the need to acquire the same stuff. Quickly enough, the race was on to acquire more stuff, the newest stuff, the best stuff. With the race came more factories.

3. As more and more people spent time with stuff, they spent less and less time outside. As more and more factories were built, more and more pollution began to cloud the air and obscure the sun. It shouldn't have been surprising that strange diseases and illnesses began to appear among the Lumilites.
In response, scientists came up with a cure: full-spectrum lighting to mimic their sun. But instead of just four hours a day, the Lumilites now had to spend at least 8 hours a day exposed to the artificial light. One might think that would be a problem, but no so, because by now there were so many interesting things to do indoors.
The factories continued to churn out both stuff and pollution. After several more generations, the skies were so obscured that no sane Lumilite would dare venture outside for too long. Even if they had protected themselves from the pollution, the intensity of the light from their sun was now cut to a quarter of the original brightness. It would take 16 hours outside, whereas they could still receive the necessary energy indoors with just 8 hours. They were getting sicker and their lives shortened due to the pollution, time spent indoors, and lack of physical activity.
Most of this generation of Lumilites thought of the sun as something that was reddish orange, obscured by haze, and not anything terribly useful. They saw the old stories about the sun and its brightness as fairy tales, as simply legends from a time long past. Indoor lighting was the brightest thing they could see and could possibly imagine. Anything brighter would have to be improved lighting - better light bulbs and more power.
One day a man arrived on the shores of Lumilus, a man they had never before seen. He came to tell them about a better life they could have, and of the sun's brightness. He could show them how to turn things around, if only they were willing to listen and follow his lead. But that would require a whole change in lifestyle. It would mean shutting down much of their infrastructure. If would mean having to believe that something brighter than artificial lighting actually existed. It would mean believing in the old stories about the brightness of the sun.

4. *How do you describe the sun’s “brightness” to someone who has always lived under a dim sun?
*Has the sun’s brightness changed?
*If the sun’s inherent brightness doesn’t change, then what changed?

5. The Lord’s Prayer
*Our Father who is in heaven, may it be made holy, your name. Let it come – your kingdom. Let it be done – your will. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
*“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:9b-13 (ESV) (Some manuscripts add For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.) 5 5 5

6. Why Pray? *Does God only work in response to our prayers?
*Does prayer cause God to work in certain ways?
*Does prayer give God power to work in ways he otherwise cannot?
*Does prayer somehow gain us merit in God’s eyes? (Earlier sermons on this topic should have answered this one.)
*Is the prayer for God, or for us, or both?
*Why do we pray prayers of worship, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of petition, prayers of confession?
*Does prayer change God, or us, or both?
*As we continue to work through the Lord’s Prayer, I hope that we can pick up on some reasons why God wants us to pray.

7. Structure of the Lord’s Prayer
Three “Thou” petitions
Making holy the name of God
The coming of the kingdom of God
The fulfilling of the will of God
Three “we” petitions
Daily bread
Forgiveness in community
Freedom from evil
*Exegesis by Kenneth E. Bailey in Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels, InterVarsity Press, 2008
*Each involves something God does and something the individual does, in order to positively impact and build a community

8. Lord’s Prayer compared to…
Islam
“Guide us in the straight path”
“… the path of those who Thou hast blessed, not of those against whom Thou are wrathful, nor of those who are astray.”
The straight path is the path laid out by Islamic law
Law is the center of Islamic religion
*Each of the monotheistic faiths has a well-known and well-used prayer.
*Islam
*Definition of “path”

9. Lord’s Prayer compared to…
Judaism
Emphasis on Jerusalem and temple
Sacred book identified and loyalty to it
Emphasis on suffering and need for relief and rescue
Forgiveness requested, but not offered
Call for an attack on enemies
*Vouchsafe unto us – knowledge, understanding, and intelligence
*Lead us back to Thy Torah, bring us near to Thy service; cause us to return.
*Forgive us.
*Look on our affliction; fight our fight; redeem us speedily.
*Heal us from all our wounds.
*Bless this year and all of its yield.
*Blow the trumpet for our liberation; gather our exiles.
*Restore our judges; establish our innocence.
*May no hope be left to the slanderers; may all thine enemies be cut off.
*Grant mercy for the elders, scribes, house of Israel and righteous proselytes.
*Return to Jerusalem; build her speedily.
*Cause the horn of David to sprout and bring victorious salvation.
*Hear our prayer.
*Return the sacrificial service to the altar of thy house.
*Grant peace, happiness, and blessing, grace, loving-kindness, and mercy upon us and upon all Israel Thy people; bless us, our Father, even all of us.

10. Uniqueness of the Lord’s Prayer
No mention of law or writings
No specific geographic location
No specific buildings
No attacks or condemnations
No request for God to fight or right wrongs
A concern for all people, not just a group
Forgiveness tied to forgiving

11. “Hallowed be Your Name”
“May it be made holy, your name”
What does it mean to make God’s name holy?
Isn’t God’s name already holy?
Can God’s name be made more holy than it already is?
Why should we pray for God’s name to be made holy?
What part might we play in holiness?

12. God’s Name Name describes a person or a being
Name is the basis for relationship
God’s name is found in Ex 34:5-7
Moses asks for God’s name because he wants a relationship with God

13. God’s Name
5The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Exodus 34:5-7 ESV

14. Holiness of God’s Name
16The word of the Lord came to me: 17“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 

15. Holiness of God’s Name
20But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. 

16. Holiness of God’s Name
22“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 

17. Holiness of God’s Name
23And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
Ezekiel 36:16-23 ESV
*Ezekiel continues to write about how God will gather together Israel and restore them as his people and give them back their land.
*Well known: “26And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
*God’s holiness, the holiness of his name, does not change. However the deeds of those who claim to be his people can defile and corrupt the perceived holiness of his name.
*God acts to preserve the holiness of his name.
*God’s holiness is demonstrated by his acts of salvation and redemption, his acts of healing and restoration.
*Because God is holy, his people, by definition, must be holy.
*How does a person become holy? Through sacrifices, through piety, and through observance of the law?

18. Becoming Holy
1In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to another and said:
    “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
    the whole earth is full of his glory!” 

19. Becoming Holy
4And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 

20. Becoming Holy
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.
Isaiah 6:1-7 ESV
*When Isaiah encounters God’s holiness, what happens?
*He doesn’t make a sacrifice, as one might expect. After all sacrifices, according to the Law, were supposed to be the means of cleansing defilement and bringing purity and holiness.
*Rather, Isaiah, after realizing his uncleanness, confesses it.
*And then it is God that acts to make Isaiah holy. God sends an angel to take a coal from the altar and cleanse Isaiah.
*After Isaiah is purified, he becomes willing to accept God’s role for him.

21. Holiness of God’s Name God’s name describes his character
Merciful, gracious, patient, loving, faithful
Holiness is the purity of his character
Holiness can be defiled by actions outside of God
People can either maintain or defile holiness
God acts to restore holiness
Members of God’s family take on His name
*When we become a part of God’s family, we also adopt God’s name; i.e., his character and his holiness.
*God makes us holy; our part is to become willing let go of our uncleanness and accept God’s holiness.

22. “Hallowed be Your Name”
*We pray that God will continue to act to preserve the holiness of his name in this world.
*Our prayer implies that we are willing to be used as agents of God’s holiness in bringing a clearer picture of God’s character to the world.
*This first part of the Lord’s prayer shows God’s actions, our part, and how together God and we bring light to the darkness and haze into the communities of the world.
*Haze, pollution, and darkness – wrong ideas about God – have caused many to turn away from the true light and seek light in things and ideas fashioned by human hands and minds.
*As disciples of Christ, we go into the world to show that there is a light, the God who is in heaven, that is brighter than any light that can be fashioned by human hands.
*We also go into the world to show that this light has come into the world, not as a stand-offish divine being, but as a personal friend and family who wants us to know him.
*In doing so we grow the new spiritual community, inaugurated by Jesus Christ, called the church.