This Memorial Day we continue our series on the Ten Commandments. How are you progressing on memorizing the Ten Commandments?
Two weeks ago we saw the “Who” of worship when we examined the first commandment – “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2). God has always been a monotheist. Then last week we saw the “how” of worship – “You shall not make for yourself a carved image…” (Exodus 20:4a). God is the God who is seen and not heard. He is not to be worshiped by anything that represents Him. And now we return once again to the “Who” of worship.
Most of us simply think of today’s commandment as God saying not to cuss. Yet, you are about to discover this commandment is much broader than you previously thought.
Today's Scripture
“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” (Exodus 20:7).
In this commandment, God jealously guards His name. I want to ask three questions of this text: 1) How Do I Misuse God’s Name? 2) Why is God’s Name So Important? 3) What is the Penalty for My Misuse?
1. How Do I Misuse God’s Name?
Our understanding of this verse is far too simplistic. Our grasp of this verse is too superficial. We think, “It’s as if God has compiled a list of words I am not to say, and if we avoid this list, we will do well.” Yet, there are numerous ways in which both those outside the church and inside the church violate this command daily.
To take God’s name in vain is to malign God’s name. It’s to misrepresent Him. The word “vain” in verse seven is a synonym for futility. We are not to use God’s name in a futile manner or in a trivial manner.
God’s name is sacred. It’s not that His name is magical. It’s not that the three letters of His name to be used for incantations. It’s because His name represents His essence. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). He is great and weighty and lofty and consequently, both He and His name are to be treated as valuable. We should not treat Him or His name carelessly. He, nor His name, is to treated flippantly as if He or His name didn’t matter. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain....” (Exodus 20:7a).
When we take His name in vain, we empty it of its’ importance. We should treat His name as if it is trademarked property. God has graciously licensed the use of His to anyone who will use it according to His written instructions. Yet, with the use of this trademarked property, God has not released His name into the public domain. God retains legal control over His name and threatens serious penalties against unauthorized misuse of His name.
Here are five ways we commonly profane or empty His name of its importance.
1.1 God’s Name is Misused in Profanity
For those of you old enough, you remember where you were on November 22, 1963 – the day John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. His last words were reported to have been, “My God. I’m hit.” How the former president meant these words, we cannot be sure. Among the last words Jesus Himself spoke were ““My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46b).
When these words are uttered as genuine prayer, there is absolutely nothing wrong with such a saying. There is nothing wrong with saying, “Oh, My God” when you address God Himself, particularly in times of anguish and pain. Yet, in our day that expression, “My God” is a part of the normal speech patterns of millions of people. “Oh, My God,” we’ve won the playoffs. “Oh, My God,” I forgot our appointment. This reduces the serious invocation of the name of God to something trivial, to something vulgar. This violates the third commandment. Many of you will say to me this morning, “I don’t talk like that. I don’t swear.” Yet, there are other ways to profane His name.
1.2 God’s Name is Misused in Hypocrisy
A saloonkeeper sold his old tavern to a local church. Enthusiastic church members tore out the bar, added some lights, gave the whole place a fresh coat of paint, and installed some pews. Somehow a parrot that belonged to the saloonkeeper was left behind. On Sunday morning that colorful bird was watching from the rafters. When the minister appeared, he squawked, “New owner!” When the men who were to lead in worship marched in, the bird piped, “New floor show!” But when the bird looked out over the congregation, he screeched, “Same old crowd!”
We misuse God’s name in profanity and we misuse God’s name in hypocrisy,
1.3 God’s Name is Misused in Taking Oaths
So many relationships are defined by our promises: our promises are our agreements or our covenants, our relationship with our employer our relationship in sales agreements when we promise to pay in a certain amount of time. Our marital relationships are based upon promises that are certified by the taking of oaths. God’s name can be misused by the taking of an oath or a vow. Because people violate one another’s trust, making promises is elevated to a higher degree when a person made the promise with a vow or an oath. A vow or an oath lifts a causal promise into something that the other person can more easily trust. It was the custom of Israel to take a sacred oath by appealing to God as the witness between the two people. Today we say in law courts, “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?” So what are we doing when it comes to taking an oath? I am appealing to God to be the final judge of my truthfulness. I will put my soul before the searching eyes of God Himself on the Day of Judgment who knows the truth absolutely. Almighty God knows what is in my mind. I am invoking His presence as a witness to my testimony as I swear in the name of God, to tell the truth. Jesus made a big deal about this (Matthew 5:33-37).
So we misuse God’s name in profanity…
So we misuse God’s name in hypocrisy and we misuse His name in taking oaths.
1.4 God’s Name is Misused When We Pray
Jesus instructed us to pray with just this commandment in mind: “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name’” (Matthew 6:7-9). We abuse His name in empty prayers as if we are recounting magical formulas.
1.5 God’s Name is Misused When We Say “This is the Will of God”
It is acceptable Christian behavior in our day to say, “God told me to do this…” Or, “The Lord led me to do this…” Or, “The Lord spoke to me and told me to do this…” This is acceptable behavior inside the Christian community. It would be impolite if someone were to ask, “How do you know God spoke to you?” Really, is His voice a base or baritone? We attribute to God certain impulses or impressions that do not come from Him at all. The false prophets of the OT would preach their dreams rather than the Word of God. People misuse His name when they attempt to take His name for their own advantage. Before you ever say to another human being, “God told you to do this, you better have sound reason to do this.”
2. Why is God’s Name So Important?
Each of the Ten Commandments has both a negative and a positive side. Each of the Ten Commandments operates as a coin with both a negative and a positive side. In other words, the commandments tell us what not to do and what to do. We’ve begun on the reverse side on what not to do. But what are we to do?
What does this commandment command us to do? Because His name represents His character, God’s name is to be treated with great care. He is great and weighty and lofty and consequently, both He and His name are to be treated as valuable. To understand the big impact of verse seven, you must know that God’s name signifies His very essence. An example of this is Jesus’ name. Jesus’ name wasn’t given at random. Instead, it was given because His name means, “Yahweh saves.” Or again the proverb: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). No person can run inside a name to hide. Names do not provide shelter in times of trouble. Instead, the name signifies God Himself. When righteous people are in trouble, they run into God. The righteous find safety in God. The word “name” in the original language of Exodus 20:7 refers to the “fame, honor, power, or the reputation” of a person. There is a connection between God’s name and His reputation in the pages of Scripture that you need to note. For example, God’s “name” is used when the Queen of Sheba hears of King Solomon’s fame: “Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions” (1 Kings 10:1). She recognized that Solomon’s status originated not in his work but in God’s work. The point wasn’t for the Queen of Sheba to hear of the fame of Israel’s King Solomon but of the fame of God.
God’s fame throughout the universe is His driving motive in everything He does. “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isaiah 43:7). When we take His name in vain, we empty it of its’ importance. We should emulate God at this point. We exist to spread the fame of His name (i.e. worship and evangelism). Our #1 sin is a counterfeit copycat of God’s great goal of fame – only we don’t strive to make His name famous but our name famous.
Our goal in life is not to empty His name of its importance but to flesh out the full majestic meaning of who God is. You are to take great care with God’s name because He Himself is so precious. He Himself is so valuable. So have learned something not to do – Don’t take His name to be meaningless. And we have learned something to do – Spread the fame of His name throughout the lands.
Now lastly…
3. So What if I Abuse His Name?
What if I fail to in either direction of this command? What if I do take His name as meaningless? What if I make my own name meaningful at the expense of His name? “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” (Exodus 20:7). This is a sober warning. God does not specify the specific punishment. The way in which the end of verse seven is phrased is unique and scholars have a special name for this expression. A modern equivalent would be “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Little is stated but much is intended. It does point to an ominous danger of being held guilty by God. You can count on this… God will hold you guilty if you misuse His name.
On January 8, 1697, at two o’clock in the afternoon, Thomas Aikenhead was taken to the gallows on the road between Edinburgh and Leith. The hangman pulled away from the ladder, the body swung, and the theology student, not quite nineteen years old was dead. An act of the Scottish parliament in 1695 decreed that a person who was “not distracted in his wits” that railed or cursed against God or persons of the Trinity was to be punished with death. In the prosecution of the case against Thomas Aikenhead, James Steward (the equivalent of the Attorney General) spoke to the accused: “It is of verity, that you Thomas Aikenhead shaking off all fear of God and regard to his majestic laws, have now for more than a twelvemonth made it as it were your endeavor and work to vent your wicked blasphemies against God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” The nineteen-year-old theology student was hung for blasphemy.
More recently, at a high school carnival in 1969 in Westminster, MD, Irving West, a truck driver just out of the Army, got into a fight. When a local policeman seized him, West snapped: “Get your g-d hands off me.” The next day Judge Charles J. Simpson sentenced West to 30 days in jail and a $25 fine for disorderly conduct. That came as no surprise, but the twenty-year-old veteran was totally unprepared for what followed. He was hit with an additional thirty-day sentence and another $25 fine for violation of Maryland's 320-year-old blasphemy law. Maryland's law has now been deemed unconstitutional because it violates the free-speech and establishment-of-religion clauses of the First Amendment. The Maryland statute provides for a maximum of six months and $100 “if any person, by writing or speaking, shall blaspheme or curse God, or shall write or utter any profane words of and concerning our Saviour Jesus Christ, or of and concerning the Trinity, or any of the persons thereof.” While the state of Maryland cannot hold you responsible for blasphemy, none other than God Himself is watching with His 20/20 eyesight. And God promises a penalty much more severe than fines and a little time in jail. He promises to pounce on any and every infraction. “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak…” (Matthew 12:36).
Please note that this commandment (like all the other 10) is not something of only outward conformity. Instead, this command is to obey from the heart. To obey any of the Ten Commandments there must be a marriage of outward conformity to inward delight. God’s yardstick of judgment is measuring not only the words you speak but the heart they come from. “This people honors me with their lips,?but their heart is far from me…” (Matthew 15:8). I came today to convince sinners that they have no hope outside of Jesus Christ. I come to you today to tell you there is only one name where mercy is offered: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). I come to you today to that this offer is made to any person under the sound of my voice: for “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
