The Third Commandment
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If you grew up like I did, you probably remember the kids song, “Oh be careful little eyes what you see.” Well, it goes on to say, “Oh be careful little tongue what you say, for the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful little tongue what you say.”
The tongue is a powerful thing. In the book of James, he describes it as a bridle that controls a whole horse, a small rudder than directs a whole ship, or a spark that sets a whole forest on fire. In short, it is one of the most dangerous things about us. The Bible regularly speaks about feet that run to violence and hands that shed innocent blood, but there is nothing that more quickly and easily sins against the Lord than our tongues.
Now, it’s not only how we speak of others, but how we use the name of the Lord that He is concerned with and that is what we want to look at today in Exodus 20:7
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Today, we will look at what it means to take God’s name in vain. And as we do, we will find that taking God’s name in vain is using God’s name for worthless, wicked, or wrong reasons.
So, as we look at this text, I want us to imagine this as functioning as a mirror that shows us something about those who use God’s name in vain. First, when we use God’s name in vain, we are:
Devaluing God’s Person
Devaluing God’s Person
So, the other day I saw a post by a page called, “Little Bubby Child.” In this cartoon, a boy comes home to his dad and says, “Dad, guess what. I have this friend Michael at school and he said that his parents named him after Michael Jordan because he could jump so high.” To which the Dad says, “So they just called him ‘Baby” until he could jump?” And the boy goes, “He lied to me.” When each of us were born, our parents looked at us and gave us the name that would stick with us the rest of our lives and this was one of their first acts of authority over us as our parents. This names are like boxes that we wear that our character will fill up with meaning as people grow to know us and use our name.
However, when it comes to God, there was no one to give Him His name. Rather, He reveals His name to us as the One who is in absolute control. The place where we are shown the greatness of His name in the Bible is in Exodus 3:13-14 which reads:
13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 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.’ ”
Now this isn’t just an empty set of words, but it reveals something to us about God’s character. What He showed Moses and what He teaches us all when we think of His name is that He is self-existent, self-sufficient and sovereign. It is God revealing to us that He is the main source, that there is nothing and no one beside Him and that He is God alone.
So, when we go about misusing the name of God in worthless, wicked, or wrong ways, we are openly revealing that we devalue the very person of God Himself. In Luke 6:45, Jesus says:
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
What this reveals is something about our second point, which is that when we take the name of God in vain, we reveal:
The Depravity of Human Conduct
The Depravity of Human Conduct
Now, at the beginning I said that taking God’s name in vain is using His name for worthless, wicked, or wrong reasons and that wasn’t for no reason. Throughout the Bible, there are examples of people taking God’s name in vain that fit within those three categories and this will help us understand what it looks like to take His name in vain so that we can be aware of it and fight against it in our own lives.
Reckless Usage
The word “Vain” in this verse is used all throughout the book of Ecclesiastes as well and has to do with emptiness or pointlessness. In essence, God is forbidding the frivolous or careless use of His name and this is something that we see almost everyday. What does it look like? It looks like jokingly using the name of Jesus such as those lame T-Shirts that say things like, “I need a whole lot of Jesus and a little coffee” or “I love Jesus, but I cuss a little.”
Another way of using His name emptily is irreverently saying thinks like, “Oh my God” or “Jesus Christ” as though they are curse words or when you drop your coffee you go, “Thank ya, Jesus!” in sarcastic way. These are irreverent uses of God’s name.
Finally is thoughtless usage. When I lived back in South Carolina, we had a member of our church who was a sweet brother. But when he would pray he would say things like, “Dear Lord God, we just come to you, dear Lord God to ask, dear Lord God...” One time I counted that he said that over thirty times in one prayer. These are the empty usages that Jesus warns about in Matthew 6:7
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
What God wants us to do is to be conscious when it comes to using His name because it is the name that teaches us of the very person and glory of God.
Wicked Usage
In Jeremiah 23:25
25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
Whenever we attach lies, half-truths, or our own plans to God’s name we violate the third commandment. Now, this is seen on the big scale by false prosperity preachers all over the world who claim to speak as ministers of God but are really false teachers using God’s name for their own sake.
But what about us? What about our personal lives? Well, when my sister was in high school, she dated a young preacher boy for a little bit. One day I was sitting at home with my grandpa when she walked in looking like someone just ran her puppy over. When we asked what was wrong she said, “My boyfriend broke up with me because he said the Lord told him we couldn’t be together anymore.” To which my Grandpa asked, “Did you ask him which chapter and verse said that?” Unfortunately this kind of language is used in Christianity a lot and it is a cowards way of accomplishing what they want a placing the blame or robbing the authority from God and it is sin as well.
Worthless Usage
In Malachi 1:11-14 we read,
11 For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the Lord of hosts. 12 “But you profane it, In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled; And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’ 13 You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,” Says the Lord of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” Says the Lord. 14 “But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male, And takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished— For I am a great King,” Says the Lord of hosts, “And My name is to be feared among the nations.
Here the priests are worshipping God wrongly and impassionately and God says that such worship profanes His name. There are people who use the name of God, who claim the name of God but use it for wrong purposes just like we saw above but here it is empty and worthless usage.
One really common way you might see this is from politicians today who claim that their policies are God’s will or we might see them ending their speeches by invoking God’s name by saying, “God bless you all and God bless America.” As a conservative Christian myself, one thing that seriously bothers me is seeing many politicians, especially republicans, behaving as though Republicanism and the Christian faith are synonymous. Now, while they are certainly closer in many areas, that just is not the case. So, when they go around and speak as though they are on mission for God, they are violating the third commandment.
But in our lives this kind of phony or worthless use of God’s name is just quite common. Have you ever prayed a prayer in front of a church or bible study and done it to impress someone instead of genuinely seeking God? Maybe you’ve found yourself singing through the hymns just to get through the motions so you can sit down without actually focusing on the greatness of the God whose name your singing. It might also look like a cheap prayer before a meal. Not that short prayers are sin, but treating a prayer to God in Jesus’s name like an obstacle to knock out of the way is. This is phony or worthless use of the name of God that we all need to look out for. Why? Because His name is to be loved and exalted. However, many in our society know it is wrong and still do this. Why? It is, as our third point says,
A Disregard for Divine Judgment
A Disregard for Divine Judgment
In the last bit of this verse, God makes it clear that He will not let those who use His name in vain slide, but will judge all who do so.
In Acts 19, Paul has been preaching and performing miracles by the name of Jesus. Well, there were some Jewish exorcists there who saw this and wanted to use the name of Jesus to preform some magic and tried to use His name in vain. Here’s what happened. Acts 19:13-16
13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Notice, they tried to use the name in vain and what happened? God judged them by leaving them powerless and letting them be beat. But this isn’t the full extent of God’s judgment because there is an eternal side to it.
What we need to understand today is that this commandment still stands and if you have violated this command, you are not right with God. And the reality of this is that it doesn’t matter how much you try to reform your language and behavior, in your sin you are separated from God forever because you can’t be righteous enough to restore your relationship with Him.
However, there is hope. Acts 4:10-12
10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Jesus, having come to do what we could not do in obeying God in every way, has died for our sins that we might be forgiven and He has risen from the dead and has a name exalted above every name that men might know Him and He might be glorified. Now, there are a lot of pretenders out there who know the name of Jesus and say they do a lot for Him, but they will one day hear, “I never knew you; depart from me.” But if you trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sin realizing that you can’t be saved on your own, you will be truly redeemed. What happened after that incident with the Jewish Exorcists in Acts 19? Acts 19:17
17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
Where God’s name is used in vain, there is condemnation. But where it is honored, the kingdom of God grows.
Lessons:
We should be mindful of the words that we use.
We should be mindful of our conduct as Christians
We represent His name as Christians
We should be committed to His cause
8 Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, That He might make His mighty power known.