Old Testament Reading Deuteronomy 6:1–15

“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the just decrees that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

“And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you, for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God, lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

Epistle James 2:14–16

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

Holy Gospel Luke 11:1–13

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Grace to you, and peace, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The text we are looking at this morning is the same as it was last Sunday, and will be for much of the summer. From Matthew 6:

When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They like to stand in synagogues and on street corners to pray so that everyone can see them. I can guarantee this truth: That will be their only reward. When you pray, go to your room and close the door. Pray privately to your Father who is with you. Your Father sees what you do in private. He will reward you.

When you pray, don’t ramble like heathens who think they’ll be heard if they talk a lot. Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

This is how you should pray:
Our Father in heaven, let your name be kept holy.

I said it last week, three times Jesus says, “when you pray…” “When you pray, you don’t be like the hypocrites…” “When you pray, go to your room and close the door….” “When you pray, don’t ramble like heathens…” “When you pray…” “When you pray…” “When you pray…” Jesus assumes you pray. Luther once said:

“A Christian without prayer is as just as impossible as a living person without a pulse.¹”

The assumption does not stop there. Jesus goes on to say, “This is how you should pray…” He also knows we need to be taught how to pray. Without His instruction we do what everyone does. Without God’s Word we imagine God in our image. Without God’s Word we don’t understand God as our Father, and ourselves as His children. Without God’s Word we will ask God for things we don’t really need, and fail to ask for those things we do need. We do this because God says:

My ways are higher than your ways,
and my thoughts are
higher than your thoughts.²

If we listen to Jesus we will pray for those things our heavenly Father knows we need, and He wants to give to us. When we pray like this we do it with the confidence that He hears our prayers, and will give us what we ask.

It is in this context Jesus teaches:

Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find, and for the one who knocks, the door will be opened.³

God is our Father, and a loving Father who is not going to give us what is harmful to us, no matter how much we may ask. He is our Father, and in His love for us He is going to give us what is good for us, no matter how contrary that might be to the things for which we ask.

Here in the Lord’s Prayer, the Lord gives us seven things to ask for, as dear children as their dear Father.⁴ These seven petitions can be divided into two groups.

The first three petitions are “Your” petitions; or if you prefer the older King James, “Thy” petitions. “Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

In these petitions looking to the Father who is in Heaven. Jesus is teaching us to lift up our hearts. James says:

Every good present, and every perfect gift, comes from above, from the Father who made the sun, moon, and stars.⁵

The first three petitions are ‘vertical’ in nature.

Then come the final four which are all “us” petitions. “Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Here we are taught to ask the Father for those things concerning our life together in this world. These petitions are all horizontal in nature. They are about the things we receive from God that are necessary for our well-being in this world in which we live, move and have our being,⁶ until that final day comes when we are removed from this world and these things no longer concern us, and all of the Thy petitions are finally and forever fulfilled.

The thing we should be sure to understand here, and that should mold the way that we pray, even when we use our own words to do so, is the Thy petitions come first and the us petitions come second.

That is often the opposite from how we would pray on our own. The Lord’s prayer is a very unnatural way to pray. We are often so self-focused that the content of our prayers is too often too focused on our well-being in this world, with little or no thought to the Name, Kingdom, and the Will of our Father in Heaven.

Jesus’ teaching is changing the direction of our life.

Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.⁷

As contrary to our nature as this may sound, this is precisely what is best for us. With that introduction let’s look at the first of the three Thy petitions: “Hallowed by Thy name.” In the Large Catechism Luther explains the 1^st Petition by saying, “This is not a common way for Germans to speak.” I think that rings true for most Americans as well.

Now I would bet we never use the word, “hallowed” except when we pray the Lord’s Prayer. “Hallowed” is short for “may it be made holy.” God’s name is how the eternal invisible God makes Himself known to us.

At the burning bush, Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”

God said to Moses, “I Am who I Am.⁸”

In the book of Leviticus God speaks through Moses saying, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.⁹” In the book of Isaiah, the prophet sees the angels in Heaven over the throne and hears them singing the unending hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of armies.¹⁰” In his Revelation, John sees and hears the same thing. “The four living creatures… day and night never cease to say, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.¹¹”

So, when we pray, “hallowed be Thy name,” we are not asking God to make His name holy. That would be like saying, “may the water be wet,” “may the fire be hot,” or “may the tree be wood.” God says, “I Am who I Am.” “I the Lord your God am holy.”

When Jesus says, “Pray like this …Hallowed by Thy name…” He is refocusing our thoughts to their proper relationship with the Father. We are taught to pray that we would believe God is real, true, good and right, and everything contrary to God is not. Luther says about this petition, “I know of no teaching in all the Scriptures that so mightily diminishes and destroys our life as does this petition.¹²”

There is only one man in whose life the Name of God is truly ‘hallowed,’ and that is Jesus, the one who says, “Pray like this, ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name…” In fact every petition of this prayer is answered perfectly only in Jesus. It is the only-begotten Son who ‘hallows’ the name of the Father. Jesus Christ is the One upon whom the Father has written His holy name. We hallow the Name of the Father through faith in Jesus His Son.

It is through faith in Jesus that we may stand up straight and lift up our heads praying “hallowed be Thy name,” with the complete and total confidence it has already been done, and it is to that one, true, holy, living God we pray, and in whom we place our trust and have our salvation.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen.