Do not take the Name of the Lord in vain
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your
God, for the Lord will
not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” Exodus 20:7
The third Commandment
As a teacher it somewhat amusing to me
when your pupils find out or want to find out your first name. It is usually couched either as a statement
“I know your ‘real’ name.” or as a question “What is your ‘real’ name”. I find the phrase ‘real name’ quite funny as
if my title and surname are not ‘real’ or somehow ‘made up’. When children are
privy to the information they can often gather round in groups sharing the
‘secret’ and then one of the braver ones will announce “Your ‘real’ name is…”
as if this will also come as a shock to me.
This little ritual has taken place in every classroom in every school I
have taught in for 20 years and as harmless and humorous as it is woe betide
any child who would be so presumptuous to address me by my first name in a
formal classroom setting.
The Name of the Lord?
Now, if that's true on the horizontal level, how much truer it is on the vertical level. As we think of God, his character, his name, that there is to be an appropriate respect and appropriate honour for who he is. When we talk about the name of the Lord, it's more than a label. It stands for the whole essence of God's being, who he is. All that is represented in the name is all that God is: his nature, his works, his attributes. And we have many names in the Bible that are given of God. He is Elohim. The mighty one. He is El Shaddai. He is the Almighty. He is a God of all power and strength. In Exodus 3:14, as Moses is at the burning bush, he is saying, "Who shall I say to the children of Israel that has sent me to them?" God commands him to tell them 'I AM' has sent you. I AM THAT I AM. I AM, the self-existent, the sovereign God. So it is associated with his nature and with all of his attributes. We might think of the whole panorama of God's attributes, that is all a part of his name.
Taking the Lord’s Name in vain
I suppose the most obvious way we can take the Lord’s name in vain is to use it casually (the OMG) or worse as a replacement for a swear word. I am aware of the argument that the command refers only to God’s specific name which is why the Jew’s would not even write it out (using YHWH instead) let alone say it. However, in our Western context when we hear of use the word ‘God’ it is synonomous with the God of the Bible. It is so common place today that we hardly even notice it when we hear it in public. Most people would not even see it as a problem yet as one evangelist challenged someone “If I were to use your mother’s name as a swear word – would you be offended?” Of course, we would. Now I am not saying that we can change or police the speech of others but if they knew that we were offended by the Lord’s name being blasphemed they may, at least, not do it around us.
Dishonouring the Name of the Lord.
How else can we violate the third Commandment? When we act in such a way as to bring dishonour to God’s name. Our conduct should bear out our confession. As someone once said – If Christianity were to be made illegal tomorrow and your work colleagues and neighbours were brought forward to bring testimony against you – would there be enough evidence to convict you? Nothing so tarnishes the Name of the Lord as one who claims to be a believer but lives no better than the world. There are many who are put off (or at least ‘claim’ to be put off) Christianity because of all the ‘religious hypocrites’. A friend of mine once said that he would never put any Christian symbol on his car; not because he was ashamed of Christ but rather he so honoured His Name that he was fearful should he do something careless in traffic and someone saw his sticker that it would dishonour God’s name. You may disagree but the point is we should seek to live our lives to as to never besmirch the Name of the Lord.
Oaths
The third way, and this one may not be so obvious, that we can take God’s name is vain it to use God’s name in taking an oath. Now I’m not talking about in a court of law (if they still do that); but rather to invoke God’s name so as to back up a promise of a claim. Jesus said in Matthew 5 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Whole sermons have been preached on these verses but one simple reason we do not invoke God’s name in an oath is, should be fail to keep our promise it is not only our word that is broken, God’s name and your testimony is brought into question.
Summing it up
We as Christians should hold the name of God in high esteem, not only should it never be used lightly, we should seek to honour God’s name in all we do.
Song for the day
Can be found here
Prayer for
the day.
Our Father in heaven hallowed be your Name,
Let that, Lord, always be our desire. May we hold the honour of your name so highly
that we would never say it in such a way that is blasphemous. Let our actions be such that we would not
bring dishonour to you or your name.
Father, we confess that we do let you down in thought and deed may we be
quick to repent and seek that closer communion with you and not be seen to be a
hypocrite to a watching world. Allow our
promises to stand without the need of a oath and that we be know as people of
our word as we are ambassadors of yours.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen
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