Don't Take The Name in Vain
10 Commandments • Sermon • Submitted
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· 13 viewsPeople who have publicly declared themselves to be followers of God are to exalt God’s reputation by living in a way that honors Him.
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Main Idea-People who have publicly declared themselves to be followers of God are to exalt God’s reputation by living in a way that honors Him.
I. What’s In A Name?
Illustration-We take seriously the naming of our children
A name is an identifying label. Names allow us to address one another. When you see your friend across the street, you call his name to get his attention. At a first meeting, you reveal your name, which gives the new acquaintance power to invoke you. Now he can call you from across the street.
Names are self-revealing.
Names summarize family and personal history. Nicknames reveal character traits.
The ancient world teemed with gods. You wouldn’t ask, “Do you worship God?” You’d ask, “Which god do you worship?”
The name Yahweh distinguished the God of Israel from other gods. Yahweh isn’t “God-in-general.” He’s “Yahweh Israel’s-God.” By revealing his Name, Yahweh gave Israel the power to call him. Israel the son called to the heavens “Yahweh, hear us,” and Father Yahweh answered.
Like human names,God’s Name has to be revealed, and it is self-revealing. As Origen said, the Name is “the personal character of God.”
And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
The LORD is the God of compassion and justice, the patient God who won’t let us defy him forever.
Like human names, “Yahweh” summarizes a history. At the burning bush, Yahweh names himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who made promises to the fathers and now comes to keep his promises.
The Ten Words open with a story: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
Unlike human beings,God identifies and names himself. Moses asks, “What shall I say when Israel asks who sent me?” (Exod 3:13–14).
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
God doesn’t leave him guessing but unveils a Name that Moses couldn’t have known otherwise.
By contrast, we are given names. Surnames come from our parents, their parents before them, and their parents on back to the first someone who received the name.
We receive our names and identities from others, as a gift. Yahweh, who names himself, shares that Name with Israel. The Ten Words address Israel as God’s redeemed son (Exod 4:23).
And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
The Third Word assumes that family connection. As son, Israel has received the family name of Yahweh.
II. Taking The Name in Vain
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Many understand taking the name in vain to mean speaking and that it prohibits cussing or taking oaths.
This command does in fact require us to tell the truth.
And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
When we use God’s name in this way, we are calling Him as a witness to the truth of what we are saying. Oaths are self cursing. In Taking an oath we are putting ourselves on the line by saying if what I’m proclaiming is not true then may the Lord’s curse fall on me.
We find in Scripture that they are serious business.
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
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. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.
We take the name of the Lord in vain when we invoke God as witness for false statements . We take his Name lightly when we call do curses without genuine fear of God’s judgement.
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
The Hebrew verb take means primarily “to lift up”, “carry” or “bear”
The ancient Hebrew pictograph contains two crossed sticks and an ox. Combined these pictures represent an ox moving toward a mark. When plowing a field with oxen, the plowmen drives the oxen toward a distant mark in order to keep the furrow straight. A traveler arrives at his destination by following a mark.
The traveling toward a mark, destination, or person. An agreement or covenant by two where a sign or mark of the agreement is made as a reminder to both parties.
The Ten Commandments: A Guide to the Perfect Law of Liberty Commandment III: “Thou Shalt Not Take the Name of the Lord Thy God in Vain”
We bear God’s Name on our tongues when we swear, but the Name is also imprinted on our head, hands, and feet.
We bear the name in vain with....
Indifferent or disobedient worship.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
Selling out the righteous for financial gain, indifference to the poor of God’s people and inappropriate sex
Thus saith the Lord;
For three transgressions of Israel,
And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
Because they sold the righteous for silver,
And the poor for a pair of shoes;
That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor,
And turn aside the way of the meek:
And a man and his father will go in unto the same maid,
To profane my holy name:
When we lie to and steal from others.
If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour; Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein: Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.
Speaking or silent, active or passive, we bear the name all the time in everything we do.
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Every sin is a violation of the Lord’s holy Name, the Name he shares with us.
Do we fell the weight of the Name? Or do we treat it as empty breath?
When we get these things wrong, we miss the key demand to honor God’s Name.
If we give God’s Name weight, we might well become abrasive to the status quo.
In the New Covenant, we bear the Name because we’re baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. With that gifted Name comes a new identity, a new history, and membership into a church family.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
The third command is a call to mission!
How did Israel do with their call?
Each age of Israel's history is marked by a characteristic sin, which corresponds to the first three commands. During the period of the judges, Israel was tempted to worship the gods of the nations a sin against the first command.
During the time of the kings, Israel broke the second command by worshipping God in the high places and images of golden calves.
During the exile, Israel was scattered among the gentiles and they were called to bear the Name in the midst of the nations but were tempted to compromise and hypocrisy.
19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. 20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land. 21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
By the time of Jesus, it was clear that Israel had failed. The Jewish leaders claimed to be children of Abraham, but many were children of the devil.
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Jesus condemned the Pharisees and scribes as hypocrites who play-acted righteousness. They didn’t fill out the robes they wore, nor live up to the family name.
For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
Instead of leading the gentiles to praise, they sowed the seeds of blasphemy.
“Name” is a title of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son. The Father’s Name is the Son. The Father is Father only because he has a Son; his reputation is bound up with the Son; he discloses himself in the Son.
During the old covenant, the Name dwelt in the temple, sanctifying the temple by his presence. Because the Name dwelt in the house, Israel had to keep the house clean. Sins had to be scoured away, the priests had to maintain the cycle of offerings, trim the lamps on the lampstand, change the showbread on the table. If Israel and the priests failed to maintain the house, it would become polluted and the Name profaned.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As the living Name, Jesus bears the full weight of the Father’s Name, bears it until it crushes him and renders him nameless. He suffers our indifference and hypocrisy all the way to the cross, and so the Father raises him and gives him a Name above every Name, that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bow.
The living Name goes silent, so that the nations would one day proclaim the Name of the Lord.
We’re named by the Name of the Trinity and indwelt by the Spirit, who consecrates us as his sanctuary.
God binds his Name and reputation to us. Whether his name is praised or blasphemed depends on whether we bear his name with the weight it deserves.
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
It is a weighty responsibility to bear the weighty Name of the living God before the world.
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Conclusion:
Illustration- Taking the last name in marriage
At the heart of this commandment is the call for the covenant partner to do nothing that would portray God as anything less than absolutely holy, to do nothing that would seek to use him for our own ends, to do nothing that would cause the world to see him as less than he is.
Main Idea-People who have publicly declared themselves to be followers of God are to exalt God’s reputation by living in a way that honors Him.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.