What’s in a name? In Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet," Romeo asks that very question: "What’s in a name? A rose by any other name still smells just as sweet." Romeo would have us believe that names are just arbitrary ways of saying who we are.
But names are far more important than Romeo would have us believe. Names often reflect a person’s character and personality. Just ask Frank Zappa’s children "Moon Unit" and "Dwezel" about the power of names. Those names tell you more about Frank Zappa’s weirdness than anything else. Or think of names like Jeffrey Dahmer, Adolf Hitler, or Saddam Hussein. These names conjure up all kinds of feelings, memories, and experiences. Yes, names are much more than arbitrary words.
We’ve been in a series through the Ten Commandments called LANDMARKS FOR A NEW MILLENNIUM. So far we’ve looked at the prologue to the 10 commandments, as well as the first and second commandments. In the first commandment we learned that there’s nothing more important than having the right God in the right place in our lives, and in the second commandment we saw that God is passionate for us to worship him accurately and on his terms. Today we’re going to look at the third commandment, that commandment against taking God’s name in vain. Today we’re going to discover why God reveals his name to us, ways we tend to misuse that name, and ways we can honor that name.
1. God Reveals His Name
Let’s begin by reading the third commandment: "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name" (Deuteronomy 5:11 NIV).
Now let’s make some basic observations about this passage. This third commandment reads differently than the first two. In the first and second commandments God speaks in the first person singular: "You shall have no other god before Me" and "You shall not make an image because I the Lord am a jealous God." But here we find a shift from the first person to the third person. Instead of, "You shall not misuse My name," we find, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God." The reason for this subtle shift is to call our attention to the word "Lord." The Hebrew word translated "Lord" here is the Hebrew name Yahweh, and we’ll talk more about this name in a minute.
Now to "misuse" God’s name is to "take" the name in an "empty" manner. In fact, this command literally reads in the Hebrew, "You shall not take the name of Yahweh in an empty way." The word "take" means to "lift up, carry or raise high" (NIDOTTE 3:162). So the emphasis of this commandment isn’t so much on saying the name, but on carrying the name.
Orthodox Judaism teaches that this means no one should ever pronounce this name, that it’s so holy, so awesome, so incredible, that to even pronounce the name Yahweh is to misuse it. But the prohibition here isn’t against saying the name, but lifting it up or carrying it in the wrong way.
So the text means: "You shall not carry the name of Yahweh your God in an empty way."
The word "empty" or "vain" means to use the name in a "worthless" or "deceitful" way, to use it to promote falsehood. This is why many Hebrew scholars believe this commandment originally addressed the issue of people making false oaths in the name of Yahweh. But I’m going to argue that this commandment deals with a lot more than false oaths.
Now the phrase "Yahweh will not hold anyone guiltless who lifts up his name for an empty purpose" is a motivation clause. This is God’s way of saying that he’s not going to just look the other way and pretend like nothing happened when we misuse his name.
Now let’s look a little deeper at the meaning and background to God’s Old Testament name Yahweh. Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ’The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ’What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ’I AM has sent me to you.’" God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, ’The LORD [Hebrew: Yahweh], the God of your fathers-- the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob-- has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation (Exodus 3:13-15 NIV).
This is God’s calling to Moses from the burning bush, where God summons Moses from out of the desert to confront the Egyptian Pharaoh and to lead Israel out of their slavery. Here God identifies himself as the same God Israel’s ancestors worshipped, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When Moses asks for God’s name, God says, "I am that I am." In the Bible a person’s name embodied his personality, so the name was the sum total of a person’s character, authority, power and reputation (Kaiser 321). "I am" is God’s way of saying that he’s eternally existent, self reliant, the living God, who exists in the past, the present and the future. In the context, this is God’s way of saying, "I am he who exists and who will be dynamically present then and there in the situation to which I am sending you" (Kaiser 321).
Now the name Yahweh comes from the Hebrew verb "I am" (Kaiser 324). So whenever a person called God by his name Yahweh, he was identifying God as the eternal one, the one who was, who is and who is to come.
God says that this is his name forever, that it’s not going to change.
Now that causes lots of people to wonder if God’s name did change when Jesus came into the world. After all, the New Testament never uses the personal name Yahweh, not once. And the New Testament seems to put the emphasis on the name Jesus, not the name Yahweh. Christians are told to pray in the name of Jesus, to baptize in the name of Jesus, and so forth. The name of Jesus is identified in the New Testament as the name above all other names, and that a time is coming when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess the Lordship of Jesus. So some have wondered if it’s really true that Yahweh is God’s name forever, since the New Testament puts such an emphasis on the name of Jesus.
Look at Matthew 1:21-- "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
God is the one who gave Jesus his name. The name "Jesus" or its Aramaic form "Joshua" is a combination of two words: Yahweh and salvation. So the etymological meaning of the name Jesus is "Yahweh saves." That’s why the angel told Joseph to name the child Jesus, because he would bring salvation. So whenever you say Jesus, you also say Yahweh.
The Bible starts by revealing God by the title "God."
Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
This isn’t a name, but it’s a title. But somewhere along the line in the Old Testament--perhaps with Abraham--God revealed himself by name as Yahweh. This moves us beyond referring to God by a title, so we can refer to him by his name. The New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis says,"Giving the name entails a certain kind of relationship; it opens the possibility of...a certain intimacy in relationship. A relationship without a name inevitably means some distance; naming the name is necessary for closeness. Naming makes true communication and encounter possible...By giving the name God becomes accessible" (4:1297).
While the other nations knew God by his titles--the creator, God almighty, and so forth--to the people of Israel he revealed himself by name. Then when Jesus is born God takes another step in closeness. Not only does he reveal himself by name, but through Jesus Christ he enters into our world, he becomes one of us, so he can bring his salvation to us. This is why the name "Jesus"--Yahweh saves--takes center stage in the New Testament, because it builds on the foundation of Yahweh and God.
Why does God go to all the trouble to reveal his name? GOD REVEALS HIS NAME SO WE CAN KNOW HIM PERSONALLY.
This is the difference between knowing a policeman as "officer" and knowing him as Joe. This is the difference between knowing a judge as "your honor" and knowing her as Julie. It’s the difference between knowing a king as "your Majesty" and knowing him as Bill.All the other designations for God in the Bible are titles. Titles like "God," "Lord," "the Eternal one," "Father," "Almighty," and so forth fill the pages of the Bible. And if these titles were all we had, we’d relate to God from a distance, like a person living in England relates to the royal family. Titles alone imply a relationship of distance. But a name implies a closeness, an intimacy, a bond of trust and love. God doesn’t want us to relate to him as some unknown God, as merely the judge of the universe, or as a far off monarch, but he wants us to know him personally. So God took off his "God uniform," he laid aside his judge’s robe, he took off his crown, and he took on human flesh in Jesus Christ, and said, "Here I am, here’s my name."
Many of the people in our community are very religious. About 95% of Americans say they believe in God. Even on TV more and more popular shows are talking about God. But for the vast majority of people, this God is an unknown God, a God known only by titles not by name. Most of the people in our community don’t know God by name, they haven’t encountered God as the one who brings salvation through Jesus.
But God revealed his name--Yahweh and then Jesus--because he wants to enter into a relationship with Him.
2. Misusing God’s Name
Now when God revealed his name he took a risk. Think about it: By revealing his name, God took the risk of his people misusing that name.
Remember who the 10 Commandment were given to. Moses didn’t go to the Israelites while they were still in slavery and say, "If you live by these 10 commandments, God will set you free." God’s grace came first; God saved them freely and unconditionally, as an act of grace, and only after he saved them did he give them the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments were not given to the world, but they were given to God’s people, to men and women who’ve come to know God by name. It would be easy to give examples of how people who don’t have a relationship with God break this commandment, but that would miss the point. Until a person encounters God’s grace, of course they’re going to break this commandment, as well as the other nine.
Only after God saves us by grace do we carry his name. We’re like Tiger Woods once he signed his contract with Nike: now whenever Tiger Woods plays golf he carries the Nike logo with him. The people of Israel in the Old Testament carried the name Yahweh; God placed his name on them like a logo.
The New Testament reiterates this idea for Christians in 1 Peter 4:16, where it says, "However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name." If you’ve become a follower of Jesus Christ, you bear the name of Jesus--Yahweh saves.
How do we tend to violate the third commandment? WE MISUSE GOD’S NAME WHENEVER WE MISREPRESENT GOD.
Whenever we mask or distort God’s character in any way we misrepresent the name we carry. Many professional athletes now have a "morals clause" in their contracts. When NBA basketball player Latrel Spreewell tried to choke his coach a few years ago, the Golden State Warriors tried to terminate his $32 million contract for violation of the morals clause in his contract. A morals clause prohibits conduct that’s scandalous, contrary to community standards, or brings the athlete’s team into disrepute.Well when we trust in Christ and become his followers, it’s as if we put on a uniform bearing Christ’s name, and whenever we misrepresent God or Jesus we dishonor that name.
Now what are some of the ways we as Christians tend to misrepresent God? An obvious way is by using profane language. It would be easy to attack TV, movies or popular music here, but I want to focus on how we as followers of Jesus tend to use profane language. To "profane" is to take something holy and make it common. Whenever we use the words "God" or "Jesus" without thinking, in empty ways, we profane God’s name. When we use Jesus or God as a punctuation mark in our conversation, we’re misrepresenting God.
Another more obvious way we misrepresent God is with false teaching. The New Testament has a lot of warnings about people who teach things in God’s name that are untrue. Yet everywhere we look people do this very thing, teaching things in Christ’s name that are contrary to the Bible.
False teaching is an obvious violation of the third commandment. A more subtle way we misrepresent God is with sorcery. Now at first, most Christians would say they’ve never get involved in sorcery or witchcraft. But the heart of sorcery is using a name as an incantation to try to manipulate supernatural power to get your way. Lot’s of people treat the name of Jesus as a magical formula to get God to do what they want him to do. Some people even teach that if you just claim riches and health in the name of Jesus that God is obligated to give those things to you. That’s a form of sorcery, where a person tries to use Christ’s name as a magical spell. To pray in Jesus’ name means to ask what Jesus would ask, to pray according to Jesus Christ’s character and will. Treating Jesus’ name as a magical formula that twists God’s arm violates the third commandment.
Another way we misrepresent God is with broken promises. Psalm 15:4 tells us that the person who loves God will keep his or her promise even when it hurts. It’s easy to keep our promises when there’s no price, when it doesn’t cost us anything, but the real test of fidelity is keeping that promise when everything within us wants to break it. When Jesus talked about the third commandment, he said that his followers shouldn’t need to swear oaths in God’s name because we already carry God’s name. So any promise a follower of Jesus Christ makes has the same power as an oath, because it’s made in the name of Jesus whether we invoke his name or not. That’s why Jesus said, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no" (Matthew 5:37). Broken promises misrepresent God.
Another way we misrepresent God is by cursing people. Whenever we use the words "God" and "damn" in the same sentence, we’re calling down a curse on that person whether we realize it or not. By damning someone we’re actually asking God to bring eternal punishment on that person. Jesus was very clear about this: "Bless those who curse you" (Luke 6:28). Since we bear Christ’s name and we live in an age of God’s grace, our words need to communicate God’s salvation, not God’s damnation. The time of God’s judgment will eventually come, but for now our job is to bring God’s grace, to share good news, not bad news. So whenever we curse people we break this commandment.
Finally a final way we misrepresent God is with crusades. Now I’m not talking about a Billy Graham Crusade or a Summer Harvest Crusade. The word "crusade" comes from the military crusades back in the middle ages. Christians in the middle ages took up a flag of the cross and marched as an army to conquer cities in the name of Jesus. Thousands of bodies were left in the wake of the seven major crusades during the middle ages. Building on that idea I’m using the word crusade to describe any time we try to use God’s name to justify our sins, when we drag God’s name through the mud by appealing to that name when we sin. The name of Jesus is used to justify all kinds of sinful behavior, whether it’s racism, hatred, homosexual behavior, or whatever. I’ve heard men who’ve left their wives for a lover justify their action by saying, "God brought this person into my life. I’m just trying to follow Jesus." These kinds of crusades misrepresent God.Whenever we misrepresent God we’re violating the third commandment.
3. Honoring God’s Name
But the third commandment also has a positive side. Since followers of Jesus carry God’s name--like Tiger Woods carries Nike’s logo--God wants us to honor his name. Just locking ourselves in our house and taping our mouths shut so we don’t misrepresent God isn’t living by the third commandment. But there’s more to the third commandment than avoiding misrepresentation of God, and that’s honoring God’s name.
WE HONOR GOD’S NAME WHEN WE ENHANCE GOD’S REPUTATION.
This is the positive side of the third commandment, honoring God’s name, building God’s reputation. Instead of misrepresenting God, God calls us represent him honorably.
How can we enhance God’s reputation? We enhance God’s reputation in our WORSHIP. Psalm 34:3 says, "Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together." The key word here is the word "together." In the Bible worship is always a corporate act, where God’s people gather together in the name of Jesus to celebrate God’s presence, hear the Bible taught, to sing praises to God, to remember Christ’s sacrifice through communion, and to welcome people into the Christian faith in baptism. When we worship together, strange and wonderful things happen in the unseen world of the spirit, as we build God’s name together. So whenever we gather together to worship, we’re honoring the third commandment in our lives.
Another way we enhance God’s reputation is through our WITNESS. The apostle Peter said about Jesus Christ that "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Those are strong words, incredibly powerful words, that it’s in Christ’s name that God’s salvation is offered to every man, woman and child in the world. When we bear witness to this universal offer of God, we build God’s reputation. Whenever we reach out to an unchurched friend or neighbor in Christ’s name, when we gently and lovingly invite them to know Christ, when we bring them through our church doors to introduce them to Christ, we’re obeying the third commandment. Our witness enhances God’s reputation.
Finally our LIFESTYLE has the power to enhance God’s reputation. Colossians 3:17 tells us, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Whatever we say and do--that pretty much covers everything--Paul says to honor God’s name by doing these things in God’s name.
The way we choose to live our life--our lifestyle--has the power to build God’s reputation. Whether it’s buying stock or commuting on the freeway, filing our income tax or going to a concert, folding the laundry or changing a diaper...all of it can be done in Christ’s name. In fact, if we can’t do it in Christ’s name, we probably shouldn’t be doing it at all. Whenever we live in such a way as to build up God’s reputation we’re honoring his name.
Conclusion
The bottom line of the third commandment is this: As followers of Jesus Christ, we carry His name wherever we go and whatever we do. If we’re followers of Jesus, we don’t take off the uniform when we’re not in church, but we carry his logo--his name--with us wherever we go. We carry his name into our homes and into our offices, into our classrooms and into the gym. Whenever we misrepresent God we violate the third commandment, but whenever we enhance God’s reputation we keep the third commandment.
It’s a funny thing that some people try to carry God’s name without really knowing God at all. It’s like the person who wears a Yale University sweatshirt but who’s never been to Yale. It’s like the baseball fan who wears their favorite player’s jersey. About a third of the people in our community claim the name Christian. They wear the name Christian like our the girl wears the Yale sweatshirt, like the Dodger fan wears a Kevin Brown jersey. But God revealed his name so we can known him, and we only bear his name if we’ve entered into a personal relationship with him. Honoring the third commandment begins with a relationship; after all that’s why God revealed his name in the first place.
Sources
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