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A deeper reason for the prohibition may be seen in the fact that God is the one living reality to Israel.
That is why his name is involved in oaths, usually in the formula ‘as surely as YHWH lives’ ().
To use such a phrase, and then to fail to perform the oath, is to call into question the reality of God’s very existence.
We must see today’s message through the lens of grace.
Because we are studying the law if we don't, we are going to leave here today with a sermon on behavior modification.
Our goal in studying the law is to understand and apply it to our lives, but also to understand it, through the lens of grace, so that we can share it with others.
There are enough people in this part of the country that are trying to get people to change their behavior patterns.
The Gathering Place isn’t concerned with that.
We want our people to know the law, but understand that we are powerless to fulfill it, which is why Jesus came.
He did what we were not able to do; to live a sinless life, and by doing so he made a way for our sins to be forgiven which allows us to be able to join God in the relationship that He intended.
Because of our tendency to revert back to our old ways, I need your full attention today.
Make sure that you are hearing and receiving this through the lenses of grace.
As we dig in today we are going to see more than perhaps we have seen before and we need to make sure we are understanding correctly.
The last few weeks we have looked at the first two of four commandments that deal with how we relate to God.
Have no other gods before me.
Do not make an image of me
Today we are going to look at the third commandment that is found in verse 7.
Read
Do not make the name of God worthless.
The common understanding of this verse, for most of us, is that we should not use vulgar language and especially not to use vulgarity along with God’s name.
The word “Shav” is translated here as Vain.
I don’t often go into the definitions of the Hebrew word, but for the context of this verse, I think it is helpful.
This word is used in scripture to mean the following things.
Vain
False
Empty/emptiness
Falsehood
Lies
Worthless
Nothing
Destruction
Vanity
Now we are getting a true sense of what God is saying here.
If you are like me and only thought this referenced the words we choose to speak along with God’s name, doesn’t that seem like an incomplete understanding of this command?
In the context of words that we use, in the near east, it was common and permissible to both bless and curse in the name of your god.
To bless and curse in the name of Yahweh was a sign of worshipping Him.
Using the name of the Lord to curse or bless was usually in the formula “as surely as YHWH lives.”
By blessing and cursing in God’s name, they were bringing weight and validity to what they were saying.
Jesus, in later condemns this practice.
The apostle James does as well in .
The emphasis of both being that if we will keep our word, it isn’t necessary to swear an oath by anything.
If we were consistently keeping our word, we wouldn’t have to bring validity to our statement by mentioning anyone else.
b.
What we have often failed to understand is that “taking the name of the Lord in vain” is much bigger than just the language that we use.
The grander image that God is communicating here, and that we see as we look at the use of this word, is that we should not cause defamation to His name by the way we live.
– PUT YOUR GRACE LENSES ON.
We have already talked about this on several occasions through this study.
The fact that how we live matters needs to become our new standard.
The cultural norm of living a different life Monday through Saturday and then being a Christian on Sunday cannot be how we live life.
This cultural norm is primarily why the world views Christians the way they do.
This is one of Satan's favorite tactics.
If you’ve read C.S. Lewis’, The Screwtape Letters, you know what I am referring too.
If He can get us focused on the mundane, making that a priority, and then having us be satisfied with only the appearance of spiritual life is a fantastic way to destroy the church.
When people tell you that they are interested in having a relationship with God, what they mean is they aren’t interested in having a relationship with the God that has been portrayed to them by cultural Christianity.
If people truly knew Christ, we would have to start house churches all over the world because all of them wouldn’t fit in the church buildings we have and we have many churches.
People do not show interest in God because of the church.
I grew up in the church, but as I studied this week, I was gut-punched by this commandment.
This was brand new for me.
Just out of curiosity, raise your hand if you have ever been taught this commandment this way before.
I’m not making this stuff up.
It’s in the text.
Check this out.
Read with me
Have you ever noticed the commandments that Jesus calls out to him?
It’s the last six which deal with how we treat one another.
He doesn’t quote the first four, which deal with how we relate to God.
Have you ever thought about the fact that He has spent all his time, resources, and effort to make himself look good, but has neglected his relationship with God?
Have you realized yet that focusing on our perceived perception is precisely how most of us have spent our lives as “believers”?
We, like the rich young ruler, have spent all our time focusing on ourselves.
Let me say it this way.
We have been living worthless, empty, vain, and false lives.
All the while, doing it in God’s name and dragging Him down with us.
God will redeem His name.
2. God will redeem His name.
John 2:117
Side note: this is example two for my theory that Jesus had some cowboy in him.
Jesus was angry.
He was mad because His people took an act of worship, a process that was intended to bring His people back into right relationship with Him, and made it worthless.
Jesus dealt with it.
I would venture to say that the vast majority of the problems that are plaguing the church today find their roots in the breaking of this commandment.
People are living for themselves, calling it God, and eventually, God brings that darkness into the light.
I don’t want to go too far down this road because we don’t have time to deal with it today, but let me remind you that Jesus made it a priority to call out those that were misrepresenting God.
He will reveal the areas where we are vain, and we will have to deal with the consequences.
Before we leave this point today I do want to remind you of how Jesus responds to our sin.
The rich young ruler isn’t sent away.
In fact, look at Jesus response.
Jesus loved him.
He reveals the mans sin by using the law, but he offers fix the problem by inviting him to follow.
One cannot simply walk with Jesus and not learn what it means to be in relationship with God.
Jesus gives him the same offer that he gave to the other disciples.
The man chooses to leave.
He has made worthless things more important that God.
Motivated by Grace, our lives will show the world the truth about who God is.
I’m so excited for today because we have been praying for and are about to affirm a group of men and women that have heard and obeyed the call to serve the body in the roll of Deacons and Deaconesses.
They are choosing to live
These men and women have lives that are not wrapped up in serving their intrest.
They represent God well in the way they live their lives.
I wanted to take a few minutes today before we go through the affirmation process and remind us all what we learned as we studied what it means to be a Deacon or Deaconess.
ii.
They are called by God to serve the physical needs of the body.
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