Respect His name
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Exodus 20:7
Matthew 5:33-37
We come today to the third commandment.
There really is a progression to these commandments, they almost build one upon another.
I Am Your Lord - Thou Shalt have no other gods before me.
In which we looked at Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, spirit, soul and strength.
Then we saw last week - No idols - don’t worship anything other than the one true God.
Now in this third commandment we see, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
Why is a name so important?
In the classic skit “Who’s on First?” Abbot and Costello create a humorous situation between a peanut vendor and a baseball manager.
The players on the team have confusing names, such as the first baseman, whose name is “Who.” Thus, when Costello asks the question, “Who’s on first?” the manager answers:
“Yes.” The answer is obviously confusing and frustrating for Costello and leads to the following exchange:
Costello: I mean the fellow's name.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The guy on first.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The first baseman.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The guy playing…
Abbott: Who is on first!
Costello: I'm asking YOU who's on first
The point of the exchange is that words and names are important and if you don’t fully understand the context of it then it can lead to some pretty confusing situations.
The third commandment is about the importance of understanding a name and using it correctly.
By doing so, we avoid a situation that, as followers of Jesus, we should never find ourselves in!
When the Bible talks about taking the name of the Lord in Vain it is more than cursing with His name.
It also deals with promises, oaths, and swearing in or by something.
Here in Matthew 5 he tells the people gathered there to Swear not at all.
Jesus was enlarging the law governing oaths to include all swearing by any thing in heaven or on earth.
Where the Command found in Exodus speaks of swearing by God’s name - We might say today, I swear to God, As God as my witness, etc.
Jesus enlarged the command to show the true scope of the command:
34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:
35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Any oath we make evoking God, or his dwelling place, or his footstool or his creation evokes God himself, since it is all related to Him.
So what was Jesus answer to this...
37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Your word should be enough - Yes means Yes, No means No
You do not need to evoke the name of God or any of His creation to get your point across.
If the person you are talking to does not believe you, you have two choices:
Change your behavior, so that you appear more trustworthy
Walk away knowing that your being honest.
But the broad command is to not take lightly the name of God.
We see in both the command in Exodus 20:7, and here in Matthew 5 three valuable applications in our lives that will help us keep these commands of Respecting the Name of our God.
I. Do Not Promise by Him
I. Do Not Promise by Him
We are told in Matthew 5:34
34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:
This has a leaning toward the idea of making a promise by something.
Jesus is telling us that this is taking the name and all things that regards God in vain.
There are many examples of oaths made in the Bible, by Paul, and many Old Testament saints as well.
But Jesus is saying, it is best not to go there.
Just live in a way that your yes means yes, and your no means no to the people who know you.
You can’t always make people take your word.
There are times that we are called upon to swear by something that we are telling the truth.
Swear before the Lord
20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
Swear with our hand on the Bible, as in a court of law, where we may be compelled to do so.
But to offer a promise or oath made by evoking some sacred name or object is unwise.
And if you do swear by something, you better keep it!
God does not take this kind of thing lightly!
Vowing to God, or by God’s name puts the person in debt to God.
To break this vow is an act of lying to God.
Ananias and Sapphira lived in the First century church.
The collection for the saints were being collected, and they made a vow to God that they would sell a possession and give the money to God.
But Ananias and Sapphira decided in his heart to keep part of the money, and laid the rest at the Apostles feet.
But the Holy Spirit revealed to Peter that they had lied to the Holy Spirit and not kept their vow.
Peter told Him...
4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
Ananias dropped dead right there in front of everyone.
About three hours later his wife came looking for him.
She knew what her husband had done, and Peter asked her, “Did you sell the land for this amount?”
The smaller amount he had given to the offering.
She said, “yes that is right.”
She too fell dead a the apostles feet.
They died not because they gave a smaller amount.
They died because they lied to the Holy Spirit and did not fulfill their vow.
It may seem harsh, but this is how important God takes a vow.
The people of the Old Testament understood this.
4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
When you promise something to the Lord, you better follow through!
You may not drop dead right back there at the offering box.
But troubles and trials can come into our lives because the blessing of God are removed.
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
James tells us if you do not keep your promises, you can fall into condemnation.
If we will repent, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
So Do Not Promise by Him.
II. Do Not Curse by Him
II. Do Not Curse by Him
This is a negative side of the promises made by His name.
We often use words and phrases without really understanding or fully meaning the full force of the words.
People will use God’s name connected with Forcefully condemning someone.
Typically the idea is to condemn someone to Hell, or to wish it to be done.
We should truly realize that All power belongs to God.
In reality, no man has the power to do anything, including changing our own stature...
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
It is quite presumptuous to try to wield the power that is God’s alone for our own purposes.
Words have real meaning - although meaning can shift in time, it is important for us to realize that God does not change.
How important the tongue is!
8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
Someone today might say, “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
Why?
Because with one mouth we are blessing our mother and cursing men.
It should not go along together.
Whether we are attempting
to condemn someone to eternal suffering
or wish upon someone that something vile and wicked happen to them.
Or whether we are calling them a name that would be demeaning, born out of wedlock, or a female dog, or a son of a female dog,.
or any other curse - It comes back around to the idea that words have meaning…And God takes our words very seriously.
Cursing by God’s name, or by a part of God’s creation, it is not fitting…it is not proper for a child of God.
We are to exemplify a life that has been changed by Christ.
But when we reveal spirit that would curse someone else, we are revealing several things:
a graceless heart
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
a problem with self-image - we are a child of God
10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
a Thoughtless mind
18 There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: But the tongue of the wise is health.
23 Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue Keepeth his soul from troubles.
You may save yourself quite a bit of trouble.
If we feel that we need to use words that a Christian ought not use just to express ourselves fully, we are cheating our own mind.
Ask the Lord to show you alternative ways to express yourself in a way that He wants us to express ourselves.
We have not because we ask not - Ask God to change your mind about it.
Realize that a mind that is working well does not need to use lower language to express your point.
So, we should not promise or make an oath by anything, especially His name.
We should not Curse by anything, especially His Name.
And then thirdly,
III. Do Not Be Flippant With Him
III. Do Not Be Flippant With Him
Websters dictionary defines flippant as: lacking proper respect or seriousness
Websters defines vain as: having no real value
The Bible dictionary tells us that the Word vain in Exodus 20:7, means emptiness, vanity, useless, worthless.
So when we are flippant with God’s name, and with His creation…we are using His name in vain.
God is saying he doesn’t want his people to use his name in a way which is dishonest!
When we are flippant with His name, we are dishonestly presenting God to the people around us.
This means we need to be very careful how we use God’s name in our everyday speech.
We do not want to present God in a way that is dishonest or disingenuous.
God also wants us to remember that there is meaning in his very name.
It is not just another name.
And so when we use his name, we want to make sure we reflect a proper deference for God.
In the days of the Old Testament scribes would copy the books of hte Bible that they had to make sure that the Word of God could be spread, and preserved for future generations.
But they revered the name of God so highly that whenever the scribe would come across the holy name of God, he would stop to take part in a holy ritual.
This consisted of going into another room to change out of his outer garment, ceremoniously washing himself, putting on a clean outer garment, then coming back into the main room just to write those single holy letters.
Immediately after, the scribe would take the utensil in which he wrote the holy name and destroy it.
He would go back into the second room to change out of his new garment, ceremoniously cleanse himself again, put on a new garment and then come back to finish his text.
And this would be done over and over, each and every time the scribe would ever come across the name of God.
Why? Because back then the name of God was revered and honored.
Now we have devolved to take the Lord’s name in vain - count it as worthless.
Saying the Name of Jesus Christ as a swear word...
Saying Oh my God, or even OMG…because everyone knows what that stands for and immediately makes them think of the flippant words.
God never changes - but we have been far too careless with His name!
Whenever you are reading your Bible and you see the word LORD in all capital letters, that is an example of the editors showing respect for God’s name.
In those instances, in the Hebrew Scripture, God’s actual, personal, covenant, name is being used.
But we don’t see that, and we don’t read it because they don’t even translate his name.
God says in verse 2, “Here’s my name; I’m the one who did the delivering,” and now he is saying, “so don’t use that name incorrectly. Show me some respect!”
Does your tongue respect God?
Be careful with what you say!
The apostle James tells us to tame our tongues because of how dangerous we can be with our mouths.
He says,
5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Again, God wants us to respect his name.
We can show we are thankful to him for his rescue by not putting him down by misusing his name or saying things inappropriately about him or using his name as a curse instead of a blessing.
God wants us to respect him.
We need to think about our words!
I remember when I was a kid my mom or dad would say, “Think before you speak!”
That was often hard for me, because the thoughts of my ADHD brain were spinning around a thousand words a minute.
And things would sometimes fly out of my mouth before I really thought about what I was saying.
I still have to be careful about this, because I have a tendency to think out loud.
It can get me in trouble, or offend someone, especially those who are very calculated in their thoughts and words.
God’s name is in many ways, his reputation.
He acts for the sake of his name
9 But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.
He leads us for the sake of his name
3 He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
God even saves us for the sake of his name
8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, That he might make his mighty power to be known.
That’s how important God’s name is to him.
How often do we, in the course of our lives, participate or hear others cheapen God’s name?
They cheapen it by turning such a crucial element of his character into little more than an expression of anger, pain, or frustration at life.
In doing that, we take the Lord’s name in vain.
Not taking God’s name in vain is more than simply avoiding cursing with it, though.
Remember, the word vain in Hebrew can also mean thoughtless or meaningless.
We do not want to simply have a religion of going through the motions of thoughtlessly praying to God as a mere form of lip service.
The actual name of God is his personal, covenant name.
We should treat it as a great treasure that we can be in a relationship with God.
And just as we do not want to go through the motions in our relationships with our dearest friends and families, so too God does not want us to merely go through the motions in our relationship with him!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Whether we are using the Name of the Lord our God to strengthen a promise, or to curse someone else, or just being flippant - it is a breaking of a command of God.
Do not use His name in vain.
But Jesus expanded this even farther!
Not just His name, but His creation - whether it is Heaven where He dwells
whether it is earth which is His creation and His footstool.
whether it is His city Jerusalem, which more applied to the people of Jesus’ day
Or even upon your own head - God’s creation and something you cannot change...
Just let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no.
If we did not live in this imperfect world oaths and promises would never be needed.
But while we are here, let’s do what God wants us to do!