Names of God 1: What’s in a name? Misusing the Name of the Lord. Deut 5:11 WBC 4 Sept 2005
A burglar broke into a house and began to steal all of the valuable. At that moment he heard a voice that said Jesus is watching you. He was so scared he froze for a second. He regained his composure and started stealing again, when the voice came louder Jesus is watching you. He just about lost it right there. After regaining his composure he began to steal again this time watching very intent around him when he heard the voice again this time he recognized a shape in the corner as he approached he realized it was a bird cage. He removed the cover to find a parrot. He was so relieved when he saw the parrot he said what is your name. The parrot replied "Moses". The thief then said what kind of person would name a parrot Moses? The parrot replied the same kind of person that named a Rottweiler "Jesus".
From www.sermoncentral.com
Today we start a new series on ’The Names of God’, of which there are stacks in the Bible
- I have a book of 3,400 (if you include anything after the words ’God is’ or ’I am’ eg Jer 17:10 ’I am the one who searches hearts’)
- We are going to look more closely at the ones that are clearly names… given as names ’The Lord my rock, shepherd, provider, healer’ etc. Moving on to ’Immanuel, prince of peace, Jesus as Christmas approaches
But first something foundational: what’s so special about a name, anyway… and God’s name in particular?
- Why are we to be more careful with His name than others? If I go "Oh Pam! Why can’t I go "Oh God!"
o (it’s strange-when you have His Spirit inside you it doesn’t even feel right to say that by way of illustration!)
"DO NOT MISUSE THE NAME OF THE LORD"
God’s name is different. Unique
He tells us, if we honour Him, to not use His name carelessly or in vain
- and if we don’t honour Him it will be obvious by the way we use His name, too
o in fact- those who use His name the most respect Him the least, I reckon
" "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God"
" I think : "no He isn’t!"
" This is a sermon for these days, and our TV and Youth… as this is commonplace language, now
" Shows where we are at
o Such language can be forgiven- but God says He won’t hold anyone blameless who misuses His name
But what kind of misuse is being spoken of here?
VOWS
The first type is of a kind not so common in our society- basically because we are a society that doesn’t fear God.
It’s the "I swear to God I’ll do this or that, or didn’t do this or that" use of God’s name
- using His name as leverage… incentive… authentification of what we say
o actually, maybe it’s not so uncommon. People (Christians!) use God’s name as authentification for all kinds of their own ideas!
The misuse of God’s name for personal profit is easily applied to certain televangelists who use the name of God to make a buck off of overly trusting people, or politicians who mention God’s name in the right places and the right times in order to gain a certain constituency of voters. It is widely known that former president Richard Nixon courted evangelist Billy Graham’s personal friendship for political advantage. When Billy read the Watergate transcripts for the first time, chock-full of Nixon’s profanity, manipulation, cover-ups, and power plays, he became so upset that he went into the bathroom and vomited.
SOURCE: James Emery White, You Can Experience an Authentic Life, p. 33.
Contributed by: Joel Smith on www.sermoncentral.com
This is saying- don’t use my Name lightly
The vow context is, I think, the main focus of this commandment as God was major leverage then… and in Jesus’ day. It is this that Jesus addresses in Mat 6:9 when He says ’do not swear’
- it’s talking about the swearing of oaths
o (now we use the term ’swear words’ to cover all kind of obscenities- but THIS is what it means in the Biblical context)
MT 5:33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ 34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 Simply let your `Yes’ be `Yes,’ and your`No,’ `No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Basically- in vows they would swear by something greater, more powerful that themselves
- if they wanted to make a vow and keep it they would swear by God’s name… calling Him to deal with them if they didn’t (may the Lord deal with me...be it ever so severely)
- if they didn’t want to keep it they would swear by something lesser (eg ’my mum’s grave. Aha! She’s not dead!’)
But Jesus says- don’t swear at all. Be consistent. Let your yes be yes and no no.
- or you’re misusing God’s name by your ACTIONS (wow, there’s a challenge! It’s not just words but deeds!)
- the devil can use it
And He does!
- some of you need freedom from vows, today! (eg hasty vows ’I’ll never do that’ ’I’ll always do this’… be single)
- Want an example that zeal without wisdom isn’t good?!
JDG 11:29. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."
… he fought, and won, basically
JDG 11:34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."
JDG 11:36 "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37 But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry."
JDG 11:38 "You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed.
Doesn’t that show misplaced zeal, half-baked understanding of God and how the devil can use things, eh
- Illustr: me and LOTR book. Should have asked to be released!
If you’re trapped in a bad vow- get released! Fathers had the right to release daughters. God can release you.
So- that’s use one. To do with integrity, consistency, reliability. Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain- I use it and then not follow through
- don’t use it carelessly at all!
PROFANITY
Another use is profanity. Again- we use this word for anything nasty, but in fact it has to do with how you handle the holy
- profane means literally ’away from the temple’
- it means taking something sacred and using it away from the temple… in a commonplace way
o making it lose its holiness… set-apartness
This applies to our constant use of sexual language. It loses the holiness God intended for it. It applies primarily to our use of God’s name… in an unholy way
- "Oh my God. Jesus this, Jesus that. Or if you’re RC: ’Jesus plus all the saints as well’.
Stuart Murray tells of a boy who heard the Christmas story for the first time at 11yrs in school. Went to teacher afterwards and said "thank you... That was marvellous. Just one thing- why did they name the boy with a swearword?"
Mum- at her church in Wambrook doing flowers. Teenage girls come in & see booklet entitled "Jesus Christ"- ’oh look Jesus Christ!’ they said. (swear word is the only context in which they knew the name)
I can remember debating this at age 11 with people at school. "You shouldn’t use God’s name like that!"
- interestingly, they came back at me! "You say ’oh my gosh! That’s the same". Tom Collett stepped in ’no it’s not!’ and we sent them packing
- but we do need to think! I now realise ’oh my gosh… Jeee… Jees’ originally were ’euphemisms’ for profanity
o I now use ’oh my goodness’- but you could argue that is wrong
o I think the answer is to ask God, today, and be sensitive!
BLASPHEMY
The other use is close to this but is more distinct. Blasphemy. =
- to claim divinity for self. (what got Jesus killed)
o watch it, New Agers!
- Say something inappropriate about God. (to strip Jesus of His divinity.. or charge Him with evil)
o What Job wrestled with. JOB 1:22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
- To direct abusive comments to Him. Jeremiah comes close Jer 20:14! Does all but! Day of birth. Birth messenger etc!
So- care is needed. Why? What’s in a name?
"HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME"
Well- a name in the Biblical word conveys the nature of the holder
- and because God is pure and holy, His name is to be ’hallowed’
o Kept holy. Revered. Jesus Mat 6:9
I don’t want to steal other’s thunder, but (as an intro!)- you will know the name God gave to Moses was too holy for the Jews to pronounce
- so would say ’Adonai’. Lord
- in preparation read re Rabbi who ran away for 3 days on hearing
- in many cultures names are special
o even in ours: did you avoid certain names for your children because of the nature they conveyed?
" Certainly no Judas’, Jezebels, or Adolfs!
o Some cultures you wouldn’t say the name of the dead (respect and fear!)
o My brother’s culture wouldn’t give your name as it gave power over you. "Me here. Who there? ME here" on phone
- Not dissimilar to Bible days. God pulls rank on Moses’ asking His name by saying ’I will be who I will be!" that’s my Name!
Companies will spend millions to get their name right and make sure it is not defamed
- hence Trademarks and lawsuits!
Well- God’s name is even more important.
- AS we learn His names we learn about His nature…
- And we bear His name.. His trademark. The name of Christ, because we are ’Christians’
o And so we should be very careful the way we act so that His name is not defamed because of what we say or DO
o Rom 2:24 24 As it is written: "God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
At Gallipoli, WWI Turks (Muslim) charged (clutching their Korans, Jihad) at Allied forces (ANZACS Australia and new Zealand..) shouting "Allah...!". Allied forces replied "come on you bastards, I’ll give you Allah!" The Turks eventually asked whether ’’bastard’ was the name of our god, as they heard it shouted in response.
I need to close- but this sermon does raise some other issues, yeah?
"I SWEAR TO TELL THE TRUTH"
What about oaths in court? Swearing on the Bible?
- well, the issue is to put the individual under the penalty of the law for a lie
o so, even though you might not have to swear on the Bible (certainly in USA) you will have to give an oath
o Christians have been martyred because of not doing this
o Illustr: Imagine again you were a Kikuyu Christian in Kenya at the time of the struggle for independence forty years ago, and your family or your village were asked by the Mau Mau to go through an oath-making ceremony to be faithful to them. You know that there were Christian Kikuyus would not swear that oath and were subsequently murdered
Well- the issue is hasty, vain oaths, primarily… and this coupled with the fact that there are oaths in the Bible
- Abraham’s servant with hand under thigh to get wife for Isaac
- Boaz swearing to Ruth (Ruth 3:13)
- Elijah saying ’as surely as the Lord lives’ 1 ki 18:5
- Paul shaving hair in Acts 18:18… saying he calls God as his witness 2 Cor 1:23….
… these things make me think it is okay for Christians to take such vows… if their consciences allow them
- in fact, I think they should- as they are the minority who should be in awe of God and their solemn duty
"DO NOT LET ANY UNWHOLESOME TALK"
And the other issue is ’swearing’ as folks use the word, nowadays. Naughty words etc!
Now- this isn’t addressed by these passages… and we need to be aware some of it is culturally defined… so things change with culture and time
- but the bottom line scripture that applies to this is Eph 5
EPH 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
EPH 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
EPH 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7
The guideline for this one is: stick close to the Spirit of God and you will know when you’ve grieved Him!
