The Third Commandment: “Honoring the Name of the Lord”

Call to worship:

Psalm 113:1–3 (NASB)

1 Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord. 2 Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and forever. 3 From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the Lord is to be praised.

Intro:

The commands reflect God’s character. God gave us His commands to show us who He is.

The commands reveal our condition. When we’ve been changed by the love grace and mercy of Christ Jesus we will desire to obey them. If we don’t desire to obey the commands of God, then we have a heart or sin issue that needs to be addressed. In that way the commands show us who we are.

God’s commands are relational as well. They are about our relationship with God and our relationships with others. That’s why loving God and loving others are the two greatest commands. If we love God, we will show it by obeying His commands. If we love others, we will show it by treating them in a way that aligns with the commands of God.

Exodus 20:1–17 (NASB)

1 Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. 8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

The Third Commandment: Do Not Take the Name of the Lord in Vain

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary: Vain

1. Empty; worthless; having no substance, value or importance. 1 Peter 1:18.

To your vain answer will you have recourse.

Every man walketh in a vain show. Psalms 39:6.

Why do the people imagine a vain thing? Psalms 2:1.

6. Light; inconstant; worthless. Proverbs 12:11.

8. False; deceitful; not genuine; spurious. James 1:26.

9. Not effectual; having no efficacy

Bring no more vain oblations. Isaiah 1:13.

In vain to no purpose; without effect; ineffectual.

In vain they do worship me. Matthew 15:9.

To take the name of God in vain to use the name of God with levity or profaneness.

Honoring the Lord with your mind.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain...

Mark 12:30 (NASB)

30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

The third commandment is primarily about loving God will all your mind.

The first commandment was primarily about loving God will al you heart. Who do you serve? The one who is first in your heart it God. “No other gods before me!”

The second commandment is primarily about living God will all your soul. Idols are about worship and that’s primarily about where you are emotionally invested. The essence of you being is your soul.

The fourth commandment is primarily about loving God with all your strength. On the surface that might seem a little ironic because the command is about rest, but we will discuss that in great detail next week.

Today we are focusing in the third commandment and it is primarily about loving God with all your mind. It isn’t just about thinking of God continually, it is about HOW you think about God. How you use the name of God depends on your view of God. Do you properly esteem Him? To you honor and respect the Lord as He deserves? Is there a constant state of reverence for God in your mind? We need a healthy fear of the Lord.

The Jews has such a high view of the name of God that they wouldn’t write it down or even say it out loud. They were fearful that doing so would violate the the third commandment and they didn’t even want to accidentally take the name of the Lord in vain. That’s why we don’t exactly know how to say the name of the Lord that God gave Moses in the burning bush. When the scribes would write the name of the Lord they only wrote 4 letters, YHWH, or in Hebrew is it Yod, Heh, Waw, and Heh, and is known as the Tetragrammaton. There are no vowels in ancient Hebrew, but markings called niqqud would be added to each consonant, to tell the reader what vowel sound to make. But the Tetagrammaton does not have those markings so no one know for sure how to pronounce the name of God. Is it Yahweh? It is Yahwah? Yohwah? Yahovah? Is it Jehovah? The majority consensus is Yahweh, but we don’t know for sure.

Now that application became very legalistic in nature. However, it doesn’t show that in their minds, they have great respect for the name of the Lord. They feared God and highly esteemed His name.

Malachi 3:16 (NASB)

16 …those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name.

Acts 19:17 (NASB)

17 …fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.

OT Illustration:

Malachi 1:6–8 (NASB)

6 “ ‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ 7 “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is to be despised.’ 8 “But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?” says the Lord of hosts.

OT Application:

Deuteronomy 28:58 (NASB)

58 “If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God…

We are to thinking about God in the most reverent way possible. We are to have an intentional, mindful focus on loving the Lord by fearing God and honoring His name about all other names.

Philippians 2:9–11 (NASB)

9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

We need to have a high view of God and the name of the Lord. The highest!

Honor the Lord with your mind!

Honoring the Lord with your mouth.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain...

This is the primary understanding and application of the third commandment.

When the Jews did speak the name of God, they wouldn’t make attempts at the Tetagrammton, they would instead call the Lord “Adonai”. That was one way they tried to honor the Lord with their mouths. They understood how serious it was to treat the name of God with honor and respect.

Leviticus 24:16 (NASB)

16 ‘…the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary: BLASPHE'ME, verb transitive [Gr. The first syllable is the same as in blame, blasme, denoting injury; Latin loedo, loesus; The last syllable is the Gr., to speak.]

1. To speak of the Supreme Being in terms of impious irreverence; to revile or speak reproachfully of God, or the Holy Spirit. 1 Kings 21:10. Mark 3:28.

2. To speak evil of; to utter abuse or calumny against; to speak reproachfully of.

BLASPHE'ME, verb intransitive To utter blasphemy.

He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven. Mark 3:29.

1. To arrogate the prerogatives of God. (To ascribe to another that which belongs to God alone)

This man blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins but God? Math.9. Mark 2:7.

So the “Oh my God” or when some damn’s something in the name of God. To Use God’s name are a curse word or to blurt out God’s name in frustration or anger. When we make light on the name of God. These are all ways to blaspheme and there any of them are clear and obvious violations of the third commandment. To blaspheme in any form is to take the name of the Lord in vain.

There is another way we violate the third commandment with out mouths….

Leviticus 19:12 (NASB)

12 ‘You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.

Any time we invoke the name of God it reflects upon His name. When we use the name of God, in what light to others then see Him. We people preach falsely in the name of the Lord, the are in essence swearing falsely in the name of the Lord.

Jeremiah 14:14 (NASB)

14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.

If we say things like, “God told me this” or “God said to me that”, it better have been God, because otherwise you are taking the name of the Lord in vain and swearing falsely in His name.

I believe often when Christians say, “God said to me” or “God told me” , they are not trying to mislead people. They are trying to express that they felt the Holy Spirit leading them in a certain direction. So it is an unintentional violation of the third commandment, but a violation none the less. And it comes from what we spoke about earlier…it is having too low a view of God and His name.

The only time we should ever be saying, “God said” or “God told me” is if we are directly quoting from the Scripture. Anything other than that could be a very serious violation of the third commandment.

Matthew 12:36–37 (NASB)

36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37 “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

James 1:26 (NASB)

26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.

We need to honor God with our mouths.

This next verse is a great segue from honoring God with out mouths to our last point, honoring God with your manner, your behaviors, actions, lifestyle.

Isaiah 29:13 (NASB)

13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote…

Honoring the Lord with your manner.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain...

Proverbs 22:1 (NASB)

1 A good name is to be more desired than great wealth…

Gandhi famously one said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Romans 2:23–24 (NASB)

23 You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

There is a larger sense in which people today take the Lord’s name in vain. When who identify Christ and carry His name with us as Christians, but then we live in disobedience to His commands, we are taking the Lord’s name in vain.

Proverbs 30:8–9 (NASB)

8 Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, 9 That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.

Acts 11:26 (NASB)

26 … the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Luke 6:46 (NASB)

46 “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

We must honor the name of the Lord with our manner. Otherwise, we take the name of the Lord in vain!

1 John 2:6 (NASB)

6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

1 Thessalonians 2:12 (NASB)

12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

Colossians 1:10 (NASB)

10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…

Philippians 1:27 (NASB)

27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ…

Ephesians 4:17–24 (NASB)

17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

In closing…

Psalm 29:2 (NASB)

2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name…

Romans 10:13 (NASB)

13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Memory Verse of the Week:

Psalm 29:2 (NASB)

2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in holy array.