Username: Jesus- The Master Teacher- Matthew 6:9

“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name” Philippians 2:9

Can you imagine what it would be like if to enter heaven you had to have a username and password, but you forgot it? Imagine the frustration you would feel if there was no forgot username/password available to you. Of course, you try all the old usernames and passwords you could remember, but what if you were immediately blocked from continuing to try, and there was no customer service contact to email you a link to fix it. That name, that one username, would become very important to you if it was linked to your eternal destination. After all, we get upset if we forget our online banking information and suffer the inconvenience of an actual brick and mortar branch to get access to our money. That’s temporary. When eternity is on the line it would be insufferable. It would be… Hell to pay.

Now imagine if you could get anything on the internet, access to anything you wanted, at an amazing speed, without having to surf through the identification firewalls, all because you had a username that you logged on with only once. The world was at your disposal, and every grain of knowledge out there was yours for the asking simply because of the initial keystrokes you made. Google was at your command, nothing was blocked, and every published work that ever existed was at your beck and call, free of charge, just because of the username. What power would that wield? Could you handle it?  Would you resort to feeding your fleshly desires, or your mind, or your spirit? It’s such a temptation, isn’t it?

But what if, that username came with one condition? What if that username belonged to someone else, and you just had access to it? What if when you used it, the navigations you made reflected on that person? Would that make a difference to you? Would it make you feel more or less responsible for your actions?

This scenario is one I encourage us to consider as we go through our lives and act as “Christians”. As we come to the next lesson our Master Teacher calls us to, and we examine only one verse in the Bible, we need to consider   which manner we carry His name into our daily lives.

“Pray, then, in this way:

‘Our Father who is in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Matt.6:9

The very idea, at the time, that Jesus gave instruction on how to pray to the multitude was mind blowing, but to take the next step, and to lay out the actual manner of approaching God, the Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with words from their mouths, was something they could not understand. In their culture, it was the priests who spoke to God on their behalf. They gathered in corporate settings or at appointed times to make contrition to God. They needed an intermediary in their worldview, but for the average Jew to pray was something he could only hope to do, but for the most part didn’t expect that he alone could be heard without a priest making intercession for him. Yet Jesus had just told them that God did hear their prayers. The average man sitting there was probably thinking, “Then what do I say to Him?” So, Jesus began to lay it out by taking them to the base, the foundation of the relationship. First, everyone needs to know the username.

          “Our Father,”

          Wow! That is not what they, or we should expect. Jesus calls on the person to have a relationship with the God of the universe, the great Creator, the One who spoke everything into existence, and address Him as Father. What does that mean? If you were blessed to have a good father, it means love and affection, and if you didn’t it means you can finally have what you missed from your fleshly parent. God is the best Father. He lavishes His love on us. “The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zeph.3:17 This is the image of a Father who loves His child, and you are that child. Put that into perspective. Wouldn’t that child then reach up to the Father and in love be ready to receive whatever good thing He has for him or her?

          The next two words give further definition to the greatness of God, our Father. “in heaven”. There is something here I want to make clear. Heaven isn’t a place. It’s a presence. It is being in the presence of God. There are places within that presence that we will occupy, but it is to be in the presence of God and not be able to be separated from Him. Hell, on the other hand, is to be out of His presence. Where He is not, I do not want to be. “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Ps. 84:10 

What does it mean to be “Hallowed?” I know it means to be revered and honored, but in the words, “Hallowed be Your Name” what is the point the Teacher is making? We tend to brush over it and say it without ruminating on it. The dictionary doesn’t really give credence to it because in our time we’ve lost the ability to know what it means to honor someone just because of their position. Yet, as believers we are supposed to give honor to those in authority over us, regardless of whether we ‘voted’ for them. “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.” Titus 3:1-2 If we can’t be honoring to those we can see, how do we expect to be honoring to the One we can’t see? If we understood the power that His Name wields when we use it, then we could give it the Honor it deserves.

          In Exodus 3:14, Moses asks God who he should tell the Israelites has sent him. And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Why would God choose those two words for His name? The answer is because of the questions we ask Him. “Who’s going to help me with this problem?” His answer, “I AM.”  “How will I pay this bill; make it through this illness; see the end of the situation alone; is anyone there?”  He says, “I AM.”  It’s the perfect Name for a perfect God who loves us perfectly.  For the Israelites their question was, “Who will lead us?”  Isn’t that the same question we ask today? Who will lead us? God says, “I AM.”

      There is no doubt that when you name drop ‘Jesus’ in a public forum it stirs up controversy at the very least, and, more often than not, it will divide people. There are people who will come to blows over our right to say His name, or not to say His name in a school, court, or other ‘public’ building. The Name has power. It was prophesied in Acts 3:38-39 when Gamaliel spoke of him saying, “And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.” People still react with the same vehemence they did back then to the Name of Jesus. It’s almost as though it’s a forbidden word, yet we hear cuss words dropped in conversation as though it was proper etiquette to use them. Jesus told us this would happen. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.” John 15:20 If it was happening two millennia ago on the heels of the resurrection, why would we expect the enemy to have changed his strategy since then?

          How we act as believers is a direct reflection on our LORD as long as we are claiming His Name as our identity. When you wear that t-shirt with He>I, or the fish symbol on your car, or you blast the gospel music out your windows, you are reflecting Christ, no matter what your countenance is like. If that t-shirt houses an angry, tense body, that car is cutting people off and breaking the rules of the road with total disregard for every other driver, and that music is to drown out the conversations of people around you, then perhaps the vision of what the world sees as Jesus is skewed. We all fall short in our representation of our Lord, but we should strive to be better each time we’re sent out. As the moon, which is just a rock floating in space, reflects the light of the sun, so we should reflect the light of Christ. Sometimes we aren’t so bright, but at other times we make that night is day. Our life username gives or denies us access to more than just what we can find on the internet. But in the light of eternity, what name we place our faith in is where our identity really lies.

 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Col.3:17