This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 29, 1989.
About this sermon
The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer asks for something specific, and Ezekiel 36’s promise of a name vindicated among the nations gives it eschatological weight. The already and not yet governs this petition as it governs the whole Sermon on the Mount. Those who truly pray for God’s name to be hallowed will stand in the day of his coming.
Sermon transcript
This morning we are reading from the prophet Ezekiel. This is Ezekiel chapter 36, and we are beginning with verse 16. We will be reading through verse 32. And after we read this, we return to the New Testament passage in Matthew chapter 6. Hear the word of God. Ezekiel 36, verse 16. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings.
Their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Therefore I poured my fury upon them, for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it. And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries according to their way, and according to their doings I judged them. When they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name. When they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel hath profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake. which ye have profaned among the heathen whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all the countries and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and ye shall be my people and I will be your God.
And I also will save you from all your uncleanness and I will call for the corn and will increase it and lay no famine upon you. and I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. But not for your sakes do I do this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.” And then from Matthew 6, verse 9, After this manner, therefore, pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Your son, our God, stands outside of the tomb, the tomb of a man four days dead. He has called forth faith from those who knew the man. He asks them to believe in him. But before that tune, he utters his voice, the word goes forth, and there is life. So the dead come to life. They rise. They rise unto a life of righteousness. by the word. Oh Lord, may we be those raised to newness of life through the word which we have heard. For Jesus’ sake, Amen. How will it be thy name? The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
It is very important that we get off on the right foot, that we move along the right path at the first petition, so that our course may be established as we move through the other petition. Get this petition right, and you have a leg up on all the other petitions.
Miss the point! Very likely you won’t get back on track as you move through the other petitions. You remember how Jesus presents is terrible, the first one he gives to his disciples, seemingly, is that one concerning the sower. But you recall the words of Jesus in Mark 4, verse 13, where he says, if you don’t understand this first of the parables, how will you understand any of the parables? If you don’t understand this petition, how will you understand any of the petitions?
It is important, then, that you get it right. I would say the same with regard to beatitudes. Many of you have been discouraged because I belabored the beatitudes so much. But, you see, it’s so important that we get those beatitudes correctly. If we get the first beatitude right, We are well on our way to understanding the other Beatitudes that follow.
So it is here with the petition. The first petition sets the tone. You get a hold on this one and there is then that good chance you’re going to understand the petitions that follow. So strain yourself a bit this morning. Stretch yourselves in your minds and in your hearts. Set yourself now, in the time we have, to get the first petition right. Understanding the Lord at this point will help you greatly, not only in following Him in this prayer, but also in being a person of prayer.
The first petition is the chief petition. It sits atop the heap for a reason. It is the primary petition, the crown of the petition. Among all possible petitions that could have been listed, or even an altered arrangement of the petitions that we have in front of us here in the prayer, of all the possible rearrangement of the petitions. This petition is first. It has primary position. It is the chief.
This petition, in a very unique way, in a very wonderful way, introduces us to the superlative nature of the true religious spirit. We’ve been dealing here in this section of the Sermon on the Mount with the religious spirit and proper piety, the practice of righteousness. But with the ascendancy of this petition, we are introduced to the superlative nature of that true religious spirit.
What is religion? What is religion? What is it for us to be called religious, devout, and pious? Do you know what the word religion means? It means to bind, to tie, to bind back, to tie again. Why would such a word be used in relationship to spiritual matters? The whole idea of the binding and the tying has to do with servitude. To service. And to that most hated of words in our modern world, submission. Submission. Many want to live in a so-called religious environment. They want to live religiously. They want to be known as religious people.
But the whole notion of, and the reality of, that word religion, they are a stranger to those things. to be tied, to be bound. That’s what religion means. The binding and the tying of those who are in servitude and thus in submission. That is what religion is all about. Strangely enough, it is not Christianity that gets it right. It is Islam. And that’s what the word means. Islam means submission. Islam is a rebuke to Christianity regarding the primary feature of the religious spirit.
But of course there’s more to this word religion than just the binding. You see it’s a binding back and that’s what Islam means. You see, it also includes the notion of redemption, salvation, the binding back of those who are rebellious and recalcitrant. Redemption in Islam is forgotten. It is the absolutization of submission without any concept of redemption. But in so far as they have spoken about submission, they are a rebuke to Christianity. So Christianity seems to miss this all too frequently.
This petition, the first petition, introduces us to the superlative nature of that true religious spirit and the submission that is brought before us in the expression of that religious spirit, by that religious spirit. Submissiveness, then, is at the very heart of the religious spirit, and that superlatively is expressed by this petition, hallowed be thy name. Now it’s important for us to understand precisely the character of the submission in view. The submission in view in this petition is most frequently misunderstood, misappropriated, misgrasped.
The submission in view, you see, in this petition does not pertain to my own personal hallowing of God’s name. As if it were a sanctification that was brought before our eyes, I’m praying in this petition then that I might be one in whom the name of God is hallowed or sanctified. No, that’s not what is in view in this petition, even though that is what we are often taught. My recitation of this petition is therefore not a request of God that I might hallow his name, that I might sanctify his name. Neither is it a petition by which, in the repetition of it, God’s name is automatically hallowed or sanctified.
Now hang with me, because I would venture a guess that most of us have grown up thinking that this First Petition has to do with our own personal pursuit of holiness and sanctification, and the hallowing of that name in ourselves. But the focus of it is something much different than that. You see, what I’m actually praying with this petition is an address to God to which I myself have submitted personally. My prayer is an indication of my acceptance of the chief and most exalted focus of God’s purpose, namely that His name be sanctified and hallowed. And my submissiveness, therefore, is in relationship to that purpose, that the purpose of God, the intention of God, namely the hallowing of His name, may be my chief my chief aim and desire, my chief focus. God shall surely sanctify and hallow his name And what I am praying in this prayer is an expression of the submissiveness of my heart to that purpose and intention of God that he shall surely hallow and sanctify his name.
Well, he brings all things to conclusion. So the focus of the petition is not upon me first and my circumstance. The focus of the petition is upon the end of the world. When God’s purposes will be perfected and His name will be perfectly hallowed and sanctified.
And that objective, for the purpose of God, I, in paying the petition, have made my own, I submit to it. everything else in truth, including our interpretation of the petition. We allow everything else to intrude. Every other aim is legitimate. We say, and every other petition has chief place. We make it that way.
The house, the kids, the husband, the job, whatever, everything else, world conditions, poverty, the plight of the homeless, struggles in Central America, world peace, whatever it is, we may face it. My own holiness, my own sanctification, my own spiritual well-being.
The hallowing of God’s name in the perfection of God’s purpose. when in fact we shall complete this purpose by bringing this world to an end. Do you like what you’re praying? Will you bring the world to an end? Do you hear what you’re praying? Come, Lord Jesus. Even so, quickly come. And that is my chief, foremost impulse, desire, and ambition. You are being trained and disciplined by the sufficient. Everything else pales into insignificance. Everything. It is the exaltation of God, and the perfection of His plan, and the accomplishing of all that is intended. The hallowed and sanctified of His plan. And that, above all else, is what we want and crave. Is it true? Is it true? Bring me the smoke. Jesus says, pray this way, I will be thy name.
But this petition also articulates so wonderfully and so perfectly the tension of our present circumstance. First we said that it introduces us to the superlative nature of that true religious spirit, and now we say that it articulates for us so wonderfully, so perfectly, the tension of our present circumstance.
We are praying that the Lord’s name be hallowed, because presently it isn’t being hallowed. And it will not be hallowed perfectly until God brings his purposes to conclusion, to consummation, until the end of the world. We pray for the hallowing of God’s name above all else, that being most important, because in our present circumstance, his name is not being hallowed. This petition, therefore, is one that is uttered in the setting of distress, when in fact the complete and full sanctifying of God’s name is yet in abeyance. It hasn’t yet been realized. Our prayer, then, through this petition for the hallowing of God’s name is a call for God to act conclusively and finally in vindicating his name.
It is a prayer for him to bring this world to a close in the incomparable exaltation of his name. You see, the proof of what I’ve been saying here to you this morning is this. The petition is not that we might hallow his name, but that he might hallow it. Which he will do. You can count on it. After consummation.
So then the petition introduces us to the superlative nature of that true religious spirit. It also articulates so wonderfully, so marvelously, the tension of our present circumstances. We’re praying for the hallowing of his name because his name in the world presently is not being hallowed. And finally, this petition captures the heart, the core. the quintessence of faith. Of faith. For though the circumstances warn of distress, those who oppose God and refuse to hallow his name, yes, they set in opposition to him, yes. But in the midst of that distress, we are not those who despair.
We are those who pray this petition with absolute certainty. For it is absolutely certain that Christ will come again. It is absolutely certain that this world is going to end. And it’s only if you will live and pray in light of the end that you will live and pray alive. This petition captures the heart and core of your faith. And the disposition expressed here is one of utter confidence that the Lord will in fact act. Do you believe it? Is Christ coming again? Is this world going to end? If he is coming, if this world is going to end, there isn’t anything more important than I can tell you than that you pray in light of the reality of those eventualities.
Our faith, so well expressed then by this petition. Our faith expressing itself in utter confidence that the Lord will act. But there’s also something else to be said here with regard to this faith, and that in conclusion. The faith that is at work here is a disposition that is utterly confident in the faith of the Lord’s coming actions.
You are praying now that the Lord’s name be hallowed in light of the day when his name will be perfectly hallowed, and you who are praying that prayer can stand then in that day as those in whom God will perfect the glories of his name. You praying this prayer with comprehension and understanding, you grasping its significance, looking unto that day, you praying this prayer in that fashion, know that when that day comes, you, having prayed that prayer, will stand. You will stand. and you will be vindicated in the great vindication of God himself and he will bless you with his name and you will know that name as you’ve never known it before and in that day he’ll give you a new name which only he knows and that name will completely interpret you as his name interprets him and you will dwell in the blessedness of holiness and righteousness with him forever and as it is portrayed to you in that light you cannot help but want it all the more to come So you pray, Lord, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. Come Lord Jesus, even so, quickly come. Amen.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.