Please turn with me in your Bibles here this evening to Mark, the gospel of Mark chapter 10, and Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler, which is found in verses 17 through 31. Mark chapter 10, beginning at verse 17, Our text is going to be found from 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31. I'll read that for you in a moment. Mark 10, verse 17, congregation, hear the word of the Lord as it is read for you tonight. And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. And he said to him, teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him. and said to him, you lack one thing. Go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, well then who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, with man it is impossible. but not with God. For all things are possible with God. And Peter began to say to him, See, we have left everything and followed you. Jesus said, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold, now in this time, houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. but many who are first will be last and the last first. Thus far, the reading of God's Holy Word. May His Holy Spirit bless it to our hearts as we consider it together tonight. Our text, as I mentioned, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Let's ask God's guiding hand upon his word as it's brought forth here this evening. Heavenly Father, we do pray that indeed you would ask of us our full attention and our guidance here this night. Lord, lead us into the green pastures of your holy word. Teach us what it means even more to hallow the holy name of God. Heavenly Father, help us in this, for too easily we think only of ourself. So save us from ourself, we pray, and show us our Savior. Grant us this grace, lead and guide us this evening, in Jesus' name alone we pray, amen. Beloved congregation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to begin this evening, I have a question for you to contemplate. I want to ask you this question because you see there are many believers in the Lord who are rather confused over that very first part of the Lord's Prayer. And so in order to gauge your own spiritual aptitude here this evening, tell me that first line of the Lord's Prayer, hallowed be thy name. Is that a declaration or a petition? Are we saying with that that we're stating a fact that God's name is hallowed and holy? Or are we asking God to make his name more hallowed, more holy, more revered all around the world? What do you think? That very first line of the Lord's Prayer, a petition or a declaration? Well, beloved, it is for good reason that that phrase, hallowed be thy name, is known as the first petition of the Lord's Prayer. For we are, in fact, making a request of our thrice holy God that his holiness, his hallowedness, would be even more known all around the world. And by praying this, we're also asking God to use us to make this happen. To be that avenue by which and the conduit through which God would bring his hallowedness to the watching world. So let me ask you here tonight, as we begin this evening, What kind of an avenue of holiness have you been for the Lord this past week? How well have you shown God's holiness to the watching world? How clearly have you conducted the hallowedness of God to the people all around you who you interacted with? What kind of a holy representative for God have you been? Turn with me in the backs of your Psalter hymnals to Lord's Day 47. You can use the Forms and Prayers book as well if you prefer to find the catechism there. If you use your Psalter hymnals, it's page 894. you use your forms and prayers book, it's page 254. Question and answer 121. We have just one question and answer in this Lord's Day on this issue, but what a powerful and challenging one it is. Lord's Day 47, question 122. What does the first petition mean? The answer comes, hallowed be your name means help us to truly know you, to honor, glorify, and praise you for all your works and for all that shines forth from them, your almighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. And it means, Help us to direct all our living, what we think, say, and do, so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us, but always honored and praised. There is a lot there, congregation, and we need to take this apart bit by bit to properly organize this in our minds so that we then can incorporate it into our lives The full ramifications of this first request must begin with a definition of hallowedness. What are we really asking for? You know, one reason why so many Christians have a hard time perhaps distinguishing whether this first line of the prayer is really a petition or a declaration might be because since we were very young, we have been taught that God's name is already holy. And so how can we then be asking it that it become more so? That would sound like we're asking for the impossible, doesn't it? If this phrase is really a request, a petition, it almost seems like a contradiction then. Just as God is already glorious, how can we then glorify him even more? Well, beloved, realize that with this request, we're not asking to increase God's holiness as if it were lacking somehow in some way. It's not. Rather, what we are asking for in this first petition is for us to be better used in the service of God as He manifests His holiness through us to the watching world around us. Now think about that, beloved. God's name is already supremely holy. It cannot be added onto, increased by us in any way. But it is not recognized as holy by many, if not most of the people that we interact with throughout the week, is it? And so we are asking the Lord in this first petition that in us and through us and by us may the holy triune God of all heaven and earth receive all of the honor and the reverence and the glory and the worship and the praise that he justly deserves. So what a tremendous request we are making here. So here's the definition then. To hallow God's name means to make holy and to keep holy God's name in our every thought, word, and deed. When we say hallowed be thy name, we're really praying for us. that God would work in us and through us to magnify the holiness of his name to all around us. We're asking, Lord, may my thoughts, my words show reverence to you, a true worship of you, Lord. And may all my attitudes, my actions better glorify you, oh Lord. So what a powerful and truly life-encompassing request we are making. So congregation, let me ask you again, with that definition ringing in your ears, in this past week, how well has your life displayed to the world the holiness of God? Boys and girls, let me ask you, in the way you treated your brother or your sister just this afternoon while you were home, how well did you show reverence to God's name? Young people, our high schoolers here, in your activities just this past weekend, Was glory shown to the triune God through you? To our young ladies here, in the way that you dress, in the way that you acted, in the things you said, especially on social media, tell me, was God's hallowedness obvious? to everyone who observed you? To our young men here, in your thoughts and your attitudes shown towards those young ladies, was God's name honored? Men, in your jobs, out in the workplace this past week, was honor brought to God's name by how you worked, the attitude you had toward your work, and toward those who you worked with. Ladies, in your care for the home and for that next generation, Perhaps in your care then for the previous generation, for your elderly parents and grandparents was respect and glory brought not to yourself, but to the Lord by what you did and how you did it. Beloved, can you begin to catch the implications of this brief little request which we make so glibly? Oftentimes, hallowed be thy name. You see, I stress this because only when we properly understand what it is that we're asking for, can we then properly ask it. So our request for God's hallowedness is really an expression of our own desire to be more holy. So do you even have that desire? To be better able to show forth God's hallowedness to the world through you. So there's, very personal definition of hallowed be thy name. Now that very naturally leads to the question of how. How are we to do this? to be more holy, better conductors of God's hallowedness to the world around us. Well, this is the second point of the message then tonight, the way of hallowedness. Look again at how that very first part of answer 122 tells us. Look at that again. Hallowed be your name means, here it is, here's how we do this, help us to truly know you, to honor, glorify, and praise you for all your works and for all that shines forth from them, your almighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth. Congregation, our catechism writers are telling us with this explanation that in order for us to be those proper conductors of God's hallowedness to the watching world, we ourselves must focus more and more upon God. So this is not a matter of okay, I gotta go from here and try a little harder and be a little better and there, then I will be more holy. Notice how the focus and the attention in the first half of this answer is all on God, not on us. Help us to truly know you, Lord, our catechism starts us out. And when we really do know God and his mighty power, wisdom, kindness, justice, mercy, and truth, as it puts it, then we will have a better understanding of ourselves. because you see congregation to truly know the hallowedness of God will help us better understand the hopelessness of ourself. This is what Isaiah discovered in that famous chapter six, his vision of this holy God when he's confronted with this God's hallowedness. When he has this vision of God sitting on his throne, the angels in heaven, the seraphim flying around the throne, crying out, holy, holy, holy, endlessly. What is Isaiah's response? Woe is me. Because I'm not holy. I can't even come close to what I'm seeing here with my eyes. See, when we understand God more, better, more fully, it will bring humility and repentance to our hearts. And humility is the key to properly praying this first request. because humility is the way of hallowedness. The aggrandizement of God and the lessening of ourself, the increase of the Lord's glory and the decrease of our own personal pride, that is the way God's hallowedness will be made manifest in us, beloved. And this is exactly where the rich young ruler went wrong I wanted us to read from that passage from Mark chapter 10. Jesus was teaching his disciples that in prayer, as really in all of life, the focus of the true believer, the one who will inherit eternal life, must always be upon the Lord, not upon ourself. But this rich young man has this exceeding, exactly backwards. The rich ruler thought that he could get somewhere in God's sight through his own efforts. by making himself better, by trying hard. After this man asked what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus lists what is basically the second table of the law, those commandments dealing with our neighbor. And notice how the rich young man very confidently declares, all these I have kept from my youth. He thought he was sitting good. in the sight of God. But then our Lord touches on the one area that is truly hindering this man, keeping him from displaying God's hallowedness. Jesus, knowing the man's heart, understands that the second table of the law is not this man's problem, but the first. The man, while being a fine moral citizen, perhaps, a good neighbor to others, maybe, was really an idolater. He was serving another god, his riches. So that when Jesus tells him about the one thing he lacks, the man walks away sad because he's unwilling to give up his possessions. This one area of this man's life was more important, more hallowed, than God, more meaningful to Him than was the true God of all heaven and earth. And beloved, if we're honest with ourselves, we must admit that we all have these meaningful idols, these favorite pet sins, don't we? We don't call them idols, of course, anymore today. But we all have those parts of the deepest recesses of our heart that we don't really want to turn over to God and made holy. Those favorite items or pet sins that we want to keep for ourself and not have God's hallowedness come and invade them, cleanse them, restore them. But beloved, you see, if we truly and honestly pray, hallowed be thy name, we cannot keep on clinging to those sins. Those so-called riches. And notice, beloved, it's not just actual money that trips up people. Jesus, in verse 29, expands on what these idols, these pet sins might be. Look at verse 29 for just a moment. Jesus said, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time. Houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life. Now what is our Lord saying here? The Lord's challenging his disciples to think on what they're really clinging to in life. What is most important to you? Where in your life are you not allowing God's hallowedness to rule? Where self is stubbornly refusing to back down? For many it is money, as with this young man, For others, it's family, husband, wife, children. Or maybe it is your lands, your fields. In other words, the work that you do. Or maybe it's your boyfriend or your girlfriend. What is the one thing that Jesus would look into your heart and say is hindering you from truly hallowing the name of God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength? You see, with this first petition, we're asking God to come and invade that spot of our heart. And are you willing to pray that prayer? To have that be done? Or will you cling to it and walk away sad with the rich young man? Beloved, the way of hallowedness is the way of humility and repentance. It's the way of focusing on God and the giving up of ourself. And that leads us to the goal of hallowedness, the third point of the message tonight. By knowing God more, by having Him reign within us fully, That is when, beloved, He can then use us out in that world to show God even better to the watching world. Look at how our catechism describes us in that last half of answer 122. And it means, help us to direct all of our living Now look, the first half was focused wholly upon the Lord. Now once we understand who God is and what he's requiring of us, now we turn and look at ourself. Help us to direct all our living, what we think, say, and do, so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us, but always honored and praised. You see, congregation, when we ourselves know God better, we then can show God better to the watching world. And that's our ultimate goal as Christians, isn't it? As true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are repentant of their sins, who want to flee the evils of this life, who want our hearts fully cleansed, isn't our first concern, our highest priority, the glory, the hallowedness of our Father's name? And you see, that's why I chose the verse that I did for our text tonight. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, what is perhaps his thesis sentence for his entire first letter to the church in Corinth. Here is the guiding principle that he uses in order to answer all of those concerns and the questions that the Corinthian church is asking of him. That's really what the whole letter of 1 Corinthians is about. We don't see that overall reach if we just read one chapter at a time, bit and piece here and there. I would encourage you sometime this week, sit down, read the entire first letter of Corinthians from beginning to end. Yeah, it'll take you 20 minutes or so, but read it. And what you'll see is the Corinthians have this list of questions that they've given to Paul. questions on meat sacrifice to idols, how to make moral judgments, lawsuits among believers, marriage, the Lord's Supper, spiritual gifts, on and on their list go. You see, these were new believers just coming out of total paganism. And so these Corinthians had all kinds of questions covering a wide variety of life. And in our text, Paul reveals the one principle that he uses to answer all those things. Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all to the glory of God. Paul is saying, in essence, you see, that no matter what situation you might find yourself in, just remember God's hallowedness. Remember who it is that owns you. Do what glorifies the Lord and not yourself. Now the immediate context for our text in chapter 10 is the question of whether or not a believer's freedom in Christ allows them then to eat meat sacrificed to an idol. or to participate in what otherwise would be considered questionable activities with others. But this principle that Paul lays forth in our text holds true for all these other aspects that the Corinthians question him about. In all of life, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. So you see, our catechism writers, some 15 centuries after Paul gives this advice, is simply really repeating this principle in their own words. When they tell us that we are to direct all of our living, what we think, say, and do, so that God's name will never be blasphemed because of us, but always honored and praised. is another definition for hallowedness. You see, God's glory, the ultimate goal of this first petition, hallowed be thy name. We're saying, Father, help me to know you better so that I can glorify you more. When we pray, hallowed be thy name, we're recognizing and admitting that the absolute worst thing that could ever be said about us is that we are an obstacle to God's glory, a roadblock preventing others from hallowing God's name. And beloved, the flip side of that then is that the very best thing that could ever be said by others about us is that we were an avenue, a conduit that brings others closer to the Lord. So beloved, as we close here tonight, this first petition challenges us in the way we live our lives, in the outlook we have on why we're even here in this world. It asks us what kind of people we have been Is your life in thought, word, and deed an avenue, a roadway that leads people closer to or farther away from this holy God? Given that question, beloved, we all stand condemned, don't we? Because we so regularly fail in doing this. Nothing goes more contrary to our fallen human nature than this first petition. The naturally fallen heart will never have God's hallowedness on the forefront of their mind. We'll only have me, myself, and I on the forefront of our mind. Our depravity tells us to be more concerned about ourself, our glory, our desires. Who cares about God? Beloved, this is why we need to hear the gospel. The fact that Jesus has come and has in fact, in every aspect of his life, perfectly hallowed the name of his heavenly father. Showing to the world God's holiness. He came and did that because we can't. And so our only hope is to look to Jesus, to find in Him our own holiness, so that we then might hallow the name of God aright. And with the Lord Jesus in control of our heart, then we have a new attitude toward life, a new desire that leads us in life, that the name of our Redeemer be forever praised and hallowed. And so if we truly understand God more, and we humbly repent of our sins before him, the Lord Jesus then will become the new desire of our heart. And praising Christ will become the new goal of our life. Yes, in this life, we will still forget this truth all too often. we will need to seek the forgiveness of God. Our lives will have too much of self and not enough of God in them. But sooner or later, the Holy Spirit will ensure that the cross of Jesus Christ will once again regain its proper focus in our heart, in our life, and in our mind. So congregation, go out into that world this week. Remember all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you and pray with all your heart, hallowed be thy name. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do give thanks that indeed you work upon us through the power of your Holy Spirit to teach us of our own faults and failures, to understand even better what who you are, what you have done for us, how Christ himself has come and lived out hallowedness perfectly because we could not. So, Heavenly Father, lead us ever closer to our Savior even here this night. Guide and be with these, your people, as they go out into the world and hallow your name. Help them to do that with all their might for the glory of your name. in the power of your Holy Spirit, with Jesus Christ leading, guiding, and blessing them every step of the way. Keep us, guide us, and bless us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.