August 19, 2007

Lesson: Matthew 6.9d

Sermon Title: God's Last Name Isn't Damn

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INTRODUCTION:

Saying Nothing (1)

After the visiting preacher finished, a woman came up and said, "You were much better than the preacher we had last Sunday. He spoke for an hour and said nothing."

"Thank you," the visiting preacher replied.

"Yes," she continued. "You did it in fifteen minutes."

**********

First Apartment (2)

Having moved into his first apartment, our son invited my husband and me for a visit.

As we walked in, our son asked if we'd like a cold drink.

Mentally patting myself on the back for teaching him to be such a gracious host, I said, "Yes, what do you have?"

He walked over to the refrigerator, opened the door, studied the contents, and then replied, "I have pickle juice or water."

    1. This morning we are offered more that water and pickle juice.

    2. What are we offered?

    3. We are offered a thoughtful reminder of that it means to hallow the name of God.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. Jesus said: "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, (Matthew 6:9, NRSVA).

    1. Hallowed by your name means that we come before God as his children.

      1. We do not come haphazardly or lightly.

      2. We do not come not thoughtlessly, taking God for granted.

      3. We come before God with reverence and respect.

      4. We come before God with a spirit of adoration and praise.

      5. We come before God with some understanding of his name.

        1. The full name of God is properly a description of him which embraces all that he really is.

        2. We have only a limited view of "all that he really is."

        3. The name of God is limited to that part of his nature and qualities which can be expressed in human terms that are already made known to us.

    2. Jesus is the revelation of the Father.

      1. Jesus is the one who make the Father known to us.

        1. 19Then they said to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also." John 8:19 (NRSVA)

        2. 45And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. John 12:45 (NRSVA)

        3. 6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

8Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." 9Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. John 14:6 through John 14:11 (NRSVA)

        1. 1After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

6"I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. John 17:1 through John 17:8 (NRSVA)

        1. 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; Colossians 1:15 (NRSVA)

        2. 3He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Hebrews 1:3 (NRSVA)

    1. Jesus is the one who teaches us to hallow the name of God.

      1. When we are invited to pray, "Our Father," we are given the form and the name by Jesus.

      2. Jesus also calls God Father.

      3. We are saying his name together, Jesus and you and me, together.

  1. We may have heard many sermons where we were to taught to hallow the name of God.

    1. Most of them as I recall were speeches against cussing.

    2. We were not to swear.

      1. God's last name was not damn.

      2. Don't use "darn" it is a substitute for damn.

      3. Don't use "gee whiz", "gee is a substitute for Jesus.

      4. Don't use "gosh," gosh is a substitute for God.

      5. And there were more.

    3. To hallow the name of God goes much deeper than this.

  2. What's at stake here is the reputation of God.

    1. Again Jesus upholds the meaning of name and the reputation of his Father.

    2. This is something that in my adolescence I did not understand.

      1. During 1949-1950, I was a student at Fletcher Academy, Fletcher, NC.

      2. Mrs. Marguerite M. Jasperson was the principle, and had been since 1920.

      3. I am afraid that I was not the ideal student.

      4. One day I was sent to Mrs. Jasperson's office.

        1. Though it was not said directly the implications were clear and not to be forgotten.

        2. She said that she knew my father and grandfather and they were wonderful people.

        3. The implication was, "What in the world has happened to you!"

      5. I did not realize it at the time, and would only come to learn much later in my life how important was from families reputation.

Nina Utne, "What's in a name?" speaks about her name: (3)

When I was growing up, my surname was Rothschild. My grandfather used to say that we were the "Brooklyn branch" of the fabulously wealthy European bankers. If there is a family connection, we never found it, but people nonetheless made a lot of assumptions because of the name. I learned that it was useful for making restaurant reservations.

    1. Jesus is deeply concerned with upholding the reputation of the family.

      1. In Luke 11.15-19, Jesus has a discussion with those who accuse him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul.

      2. He reminds the people that he is casting out demons by the finger of God, and if so than the kingdom of God has come to them.

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  1. So how do we hallow the name of God?

    1. We hallow God's name,

      1. With our lips, when all our conversation is holy, and we speak of those
        things which are meet to minister grace to the hearers.

      2. In our thoughts, when we suppress every rising evil, and have our
        tempers regulated by his grace and Spirit.

      3. In our lives, when we begin, continue, and end our works to his glory. If
        we have an eye to God in all we perform, then every act of our common
        employment will be an act of religious worship.

      4. In our families, when we endeavor to bring up our children in the
        discipline and admonition or the Lord; instructing also our servants in the way of righteousness.

Rachel in "Baby sitting blues, demonstrates" this point (4)

Five-year-old Drew stood in the yard, red-faced and screaming: "BRA-A-A-A-D! Give me the baseball bat!" Drew then snatched the plastic bat from his 2-year-old brother and whacked him on the back.

While I'd baby-sat Drew and Brad many times, I couldn't remember when they had been so wild.

What made the day worse was the summer heat. I longed for air conditioning. The boys didn't. They couldn't be budged from the back yard, not until suppertime when I coaxed them inside ...

I grabbed them both, marched them into the living room and demanded they sit on the couch while I fixed some sandwiches. I hadn't gotten very far when a blur of Drew and the family dog darted past.

"I'm racing the dog up the street!" he yelled as the door slammed behind him.

I dashed out the door and soon had Drew by the arm and the dog by the collar. Still fuming from Drew's escape, I finished slapping together the sandwiches and then ordered the boys to sit down and eat.

After dinner, Drew and Brad climbed onto the couch for story time. I'd been reading about 20 minutes when Drew snuggled real close and said, "Rachel, I'm sorry for the way I acted today. I think you're beautiful and wonderful, and I'm glad you came over to watch us."

It was amazing how Drew's words changed my grumpy attitude. All the aggravations of the day melted as the boys went to sleep next to me.

  1. The way Rachel relates to Drew and Brad is not noted to be Christian.

  2. She is following Christian practice.

      1. In a particular calling or business, when we separate the falsity,
        deception, and lying, commonly practiced, from it; buying and selling as in the sight of the holy and just God.

    1. By the ways that I think, act, speak, and behave I uphold God's reputation.

      1. We have a family of origins.

        1. What we children do reflects on our family of origins.

      2. We have an adult family.

        1. What we do as adults reflects on the reputation of our family.

      3. We are children of the heavenly father.

        1. What we do as children of God reflects on the reputation of our heavenly Father.

  1. What happens when we do not hallow God's name?

    1. God gave the people of Israel the Ten Commandments.

      1. The 3rd commandment reads:

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name, (Exodus 20:7, NRSVA).

      1. This Is Illustrated a Story told about R. C. Sproul, in Students Shocked by Professor's Judgment (5)

On the first day teaching his class 250 college freshmen, R. C. Sproul carefully explained the assignment of three term papers. Each paper was due on the last day of September, October, and November. Sproul clearly stated there would be no extensions (except for medical reasons).

At the end of September, some 225 students dutifully turned in their papers, while 25 remorseful students quaked in fear. "We're so sorry," they said. "We didn't make the proper adjustments from high school to college, but we promise to do better next time." He bowed to their pleas for mercy, gave them an extension, but warned them not to be late next month.

The end of October rolled around, and about 200 students turned in their papers, while 50 students showed up empty-handed. "Oh, please," they begged, "it was homecoming weekend, and we ran out of time." Sproul relented once more but warned them, "This is it. No excuses next time. You will get an F."

The end of November came, and only 100 students turned in their papers. The rest told Sproul, "We'll get it in soon."

"Sorry," Sproul replied. "It's too late now. You get an F."

The students howled in protest, "That's not fair!"

"Okay," Sproul replied, "you want justice, do you? Here's what's just: you'll get an F for all three papers that were late. That was the rule, right?"

"The students had quickly taken my mercy for granted," Sproul later reflected. "They assumed it. When justice suddenly fell, they were unprepared for it. It came as a shock, and they were outraged."

    1. The one who misuses the name of God will not be held guiltless.

      1. This means that this one is guilty.

      2. The guilty will not inherit the kingdom.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. I discovered this online note from a scrupulosity sufferer named Joshua which reads:

    1. He is dealing with scrupulosity.

Okay, I'm still trying to deal with this scrupulosity. It's been a long while and I am so ready for a cure... . It's not our fault, but it's our fight. We have to find a cure .... We deserve to be messy. We deserve to not have to be perfect, to curse when we want, to watch a movie that has bad things in it, to go through a day without fearing GOD will hurt us or our family if we offend or disrespect GOD in some way. Yes, most of us scrupulous people know what we really think about GOD and that we mean no disrespect. We should all realize that God forgives us deep down inside. BUT I know I cannot get it out of my mind that I am somehow doing something wrong and I am offending GOD, and GOD may hurt me or my family in some way. At least this is what it feels like for me. I know it differs for every obsessive and scrupulous person. I cry for all of us. We may have different obsessions and compulsions ... but we all hurt. I think we should be able to experience having just a few minutes of quiet, serene time, time to not have to be sure or worry about GOD, faucets that aren't turned completely off. We need that time for our sanity and our health. Please find a way. I've researched a bit and found some ways that make me feel better, and they look pretty promising....

I hope you all understand you're not alone in this.

Joshua

    1. Is the answer in the Lord's Prayer?

      1. I believe it is.

      2. Jesus said: "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, (Matthew 6:9, NRSVA).

    2. To hallow leads to peace and glory.

Amen!

1. Mikey's Funnies [funnies-owner@lists.MikeysFunnies.com]

2. Thanks to Pastor Tim for this joke! Crosswalk [You_Make_Me_Laugh@lists.crosswalk.com]

3. Nina Utne, "What's in a name?" Utne, November-December 2002, 12.Used by permission.

4. Campus Life, July-August, 2000, Christianitytoday.com/cl/2000/004/11.8.html.

5. Matt Woodley, in the sermon "The Grieving Heart of God," PreachingToday.com, Retriueved from: http://preachingtoday.com/48566

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