THE NAME UNDEFILED

THE NAME UNDEFILED Exodus 20:7 October 5, 2008 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction Juliet was given the line by Shakespeare: “What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet…” In spite of what Shakespeare might have said through his character Juliet, names are important. And as every expectant parent who has ever pored over endless lists and endured count- less suggestions from well-meaning others knows, finding just the right name is important. The first and second commandments have already put other pretend gods and designer gods of men in their proper place. All the gods of the nations, the philosophers and the mythologies have been given names to identify them and to somehow confer on them some great qualities, but know this: No one gave to God His name. He revealed it to us. God’s name was holy and greatly revered, as is required by the 3rd commandment we are studying this morning. "Let them praise Your great and Awesome Name - He is Holy." (Ps. 99:3) "Holy and awesome is His Name." (Ps. 111:9) "I will bow down toward Your Holy temple and will praise Your Name for Your love and Your faithfulness, for You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your word." (Ps 138:2) "My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise His Holy Name for ever and ever." (Ps. 145:21) “Hallowed (honored) be Your name.” (Mat. 6:9) In the Hebrew world, and in most cultures throughout history, the name is very significant, and great care is given to the naming of a child. The process is a mixture of precision, hope and prophecy. A Native American chief was introducing his family to an interested audience. “This is Strong Deer my oldest son. And my daughter is named Gentle Deer. My other son is named Swift Deer and the youngest is named Running Deer.” Someone asked, “What is your wife’s name?” “I call her Yes, Dear.” If names are significant, then the name of God, the One from whom Paul says, “his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name,” (Eph. 3:15), is infinitely important. Throughout His Word great value is attached to the divine names. “In the beginning, God…” and in the final chapter of this earth’s history, God has given to His only-begotten Son, Jesus, “the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (KURIOS, ADONAY), to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11) Text We’ll focus our attention on just one verse this morning, and it is the third of the ten commandments, found at Exodus 20:7 (also at Deuteronomy 5:11 where it is found in the exact same terms). You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Most of us are more familiar with the KJV rendition, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain…” The NIV is a more amiable reading for us 21st century folks, because first, taking a name in vain is a bit of an awkward notion to us, and secondly, misusing a name is much more straightforward and understandable. That’s not to say that most people know exactly how His name is misused. And that’s what I’d like to focus on this morning. I think we’ll all be a little surprised, and made not a little uncomfortable by what we learn. This commandment is a prohibition against misusing or abusing God’s name, otherwise known as blaspheming. When we abuse the name of another human being it is slander or calumny. But when it is the ineffably holy name of God, it is blasphemy. Blasphemy is any unjustified or perverted use of His name. Please notice before we move on the interesting way God emphasizes this commandment. He makes it unmistakably clear that whoever DOES misuse His name will be guilty. He uses something kin to a double negative to make His point: I will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses my name. My mother used to warn me in Carolinian terms occasionally, “…and don’t you think you won’t be sorry, young man…” Something about that double negative punctuated the warning. Bottom line, Jehovah God is quite insistent that His Name be respected and honored, because disrespect for His Name is disrespect toward God Himself. Four Instances of Blaspheming God’s Name, Using it in Vain So it is true that blaspheming God by using His Name in a perverted or unjustified way is a big deal to God. And since that is true, it ought to be a big deal to us. Well, Pastor, how exactly does one misuse the name of God? 1. One instance of misusing the name of God is by misappropriating His Name. That is, when we use His Name in any way that suggests that His character or works are evil. The converse is also true: we can misappropriate His Name when we fail to glorify Him for the good God He is and the good works He does, or, worse yet, when we attribute that good to anyone but God. God is blasphemed when He is robbed of His glory. Simply stated, when anyone gives the credit for God’s goodness to anything less than God. Romans 1 says that what may be known about God is plain to mankind. He makes it plain through His creation, through our consciences, through His written Word and ultimately through Christ. Verse 18 of that chapter says men “suppressed the truth by their wickedness,” and instead of worshiping the true Creator, they worshiped the creation itself. Verse 21 clarifies: “Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Whenever we look at our world and say that it did not come from a loving Creator, implying that it exists in and of itself, or it owes its existence to blind chance or evolutionary process, we blaspheme God. Each time a human being discovers something wonderful in the creation through scientific inquiry or dumb luck, and then takes the credit for it without giving God glory for creating it, for hiding it, and for ultimately revealing it to that ingrate discoverer, he is a blasphemer. God deserves and desires that all credit for all good flows to Him alone, along with our gratitude that He allows us to discover His brilliant design and creation. Too often God is not credited for the good that He alone does, but mankind is also guilty of blaming God for the evil we bring on ourselves, or that is the work of the evil one. When something catastrophic happens we call it an “act of God”. And when something good happens, God is usually ignored and we pin medals on the human agents He used and our praise never gets higher than the podium. The Bible says that He is the giver of every good and perfect gift and it is the devil who plunders us with evil taking advantage of our sinful choices. Blasphemy occurs when God is robbed of His glory and the devil and sinful men take the credit. It also occurs when the devil and evil men perpetrate evil and we moronically blame God. Brethren, we will give God His rightful glory, or we will blaspheme Him. 2. We also misuse His name when we use it wrongly in an oath or a curse. A man named Gordon Reid says he knows exactly when and how the profane attack on God through television began. He was there in 1976 when an executive made the announcement that they were going to push the envelope, crash the moral fence and for the first time on network television put the two words “damn” and “God” together not necessarily in that order. The TV execs waited for the outcry of the public saying, “You’ve gone too far! We’ll not stand for that on the airwaves!” But it never happened. They described the reaction as a negligible few protests. Now we are bombarded by raucous, insidious language assaulting the name of God and all things decent. And the media continues to desensitize us all to spoken evil and blasphemy. The excuses and rationalizations (or, irrationalizations) are well-rehearsed. It’s not real, it’s just entertainment, or, ironically, We’re just reflecting the language that happens in the real world, art imitating reality! Sadly, that’s true. Which of us has not had to roll up our car windows and pray the light would turn green so our car-seated children wouldn’t be exposed to the obscene song lyrics being blasted out of someone’s car speakers at insanely high decibel levels? I yelled at a guy and asked him to turn it down not long ago. Do you know what happened? Nothing: he couldn’t hear me complaining, it was so loud. What’s wrong with asking or demanding that God would damn something or someone? Very simply, it’s not our call—it’s His, concerning things and persons who will be damned. Making decisions about the eternal destinies of others is above our pay grade. We don’t understand all things like God does, and we don’t love like God does, and our sense of justice isn’t perfect like God’s is. We have no business damning anything. And we certainly have no business telling God or anyone else what He should or should not damn. It is also a misuse of God’s name to call Him to bear witness to our statements when they are little more than lies and half-truths. Saying something like As God is my witness or I swear to God is blasphemy. God says so, right here. Jesus said so, right there in Matthew 5. You don’t need to wrongfully call almighty God to back up your story, especially when you’re wrong anyway! Jesus said, “Just let your 'yes mean yes and your no mean no!” 3. Thirdly, it is a misuse and abuse of God’s name when we use it as an expression of surprise or emphasis Forgive me for illustrating so graphically, but I want us to hear these expressions and begin to get re-sensitized to them as words we ought not be saying in such insipid and hackneyed ways. You got a promotion? Well, good Lord! -- She said that? Oh, God! -- Jesus Christ! Did you see that? Oh, Christ, don’t do that! (these are expressions I’ve actually heard from the lips of confessing Christians). This morning I believe we need someone standing with a Bible at this lectern telling us such language is an offense to God and a gross misuse of His high and holy name. It slips out when we are overtaken by a surprise. A friend’s house catches fire. We hear about it and the first thing we say is “God, no!” Don’t tell me it’s a prayer (although it would be a good one if it was sincerely thought through). 99 times out of a hundred we just grab at God’s name because we feel we need to say something emphatic. God’s name does not belong in your dictionary of instantaneous vulgarities. If it is your habit to thoughtlessly spew the name of your creator and redeemer every time you are surprised, amazed or in need of a swear word, you need to break that habit. Don’t you find it interesting how often godless people say, “Oh, God!”? The most hardened atheist is given some terrible news, and instantly he’s a praying maniac: O, good Lord! If these are real prayers—and I doubt it—then one would expect to see some fruit of repentance. And about the time the words, and God bless America become so routine for politicians, they ought to stop. I’d like to suggest a couple of alternatives—and their biblical. You hit your thumb with a hammer and everything in you wants to use terminology in a scream that you’d rather not use, right. Try Zaphenath-paneah! (the Egyptian name Pharaoh gave to Joseph). Just heard some bad news? How about Well, Tiglath-Pilezer! (king of Assyria during the reign of Pekah, king of Israel). You hit another slice on the course & you want to shout something at the ball (or your club, or yourself), maybe you should say You Philistine! You drive into the bumper of the car in front of you – just say, Zerrubabel! The point is, God not only doesn’t enjoy having His righteous name used thoughtlessly, but He also says that kind of careless verbiage is going to be judged! One more illustration. You lightning-thumbed text messagers, I challenge you to stop and think of what you’re really saying when you shortcut “OMG” to your friend. Do you really mean to call on the almighty, omnipotent God in that moment of frivolous, arcane cyber talk? We need to stop and think of what God thinks. He says it is an offense to Him to have his name blithely tossed about, abused and misused by those who don’t give a whit about Him as they recklessly blurt out His name in unjustified and perverted ways. 4. Fourth, we use God’s name in vain when we mindlessly use it even in worship I want to refer again to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6, just before He teaches the disciples with the model prayer. Right before He prays, “Our Father in heaven…” He tells them to not be like the hypocrites who when they pray they love to be noticed by others, and He says the hypocrites pray, “babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” A man fell asleep during the sermon but awakened to holy behavior when the preacher made an emphatic point. In fact the preacher said, …and some folks actually gamble away their offering money at the race track! The man woke at the sound of the preacher’s loud voice and shouted Amen! Please understand when I tell you that I’m not thinking of anyone in particular in this congregation when I say what I’m about to say (and I don’t want you to think about anyone else. Just apply whatever truth you receive to yourself, okay?). When some people pray aloud, they must think God either doesn’t know His own name or He is terribly insecure and needs to hear His name over and over again. And dear God, we just ask you God…that, God, you’d meet all our needs…God. And, Lord, I ask you to heal so and so, Lord God. And Father, I’m reminded of brother what’s his name, God. O God, would you please speak into his heart, Lord. And Lord God we thank you for hearing our prayers, Lord God. Amen. Honestly, if I called Charlotte on the phone and said, Hi, Charlotte. Honey, I’ll be a little late, darling. So Charlotte, if you could just hold dinner for a little longer, Charlotte. Thank you, Charlotte. Goodbye, honey. And, Charlotte, I love you, Charlotte. What would she think? Probably lots of things, but one of them, I guarantee you, would be, why was he saying my name so much? Did he want to make sure he didn’t have the wrong number? Talk with God like you’re really talking with Him! I’m not suggesting that the patterns we get ourselves into when we pray aloud are all wrong and sinful. All I’m suggesting is that we hold up the way we pray alongside God’s pretty clear desire to NOT have His Name repeated meaninglessly, and at least consider that the God of truth might want us to pray in as sincere and thoughtful a fashion as we can. The number one rule about praying is TALK TO GOD—JUST TALK TO HIM! No mantras. And since I’ve already offended you, let me make another observation that, if corrected, might make our prayers more palatable to God and man. See if you can pray for a mere five minutes without repeating the word “just”. Just a thought! A Word About Profanity One quick word about profanity and the art of “almost” using God’s name in vain. We humans are so tricky, and we think we’re so smart. When we decide we don’t want to out-and-out curse or swear or use the Lord’s name in vain, but we still want that fulfillment of saying something bold and vulgar enough to be satisfying in a moment of surprise or pain or elation, we will come up with EUPHEMISMS. These are gadgetry little terms that sound like or almost sound like words we know we don’t want to use, but they’re not cussing! I believe it would be a good idea for believers to judge with discerning hearts what we say and why we say it. For example, what am I really saying (or trying to avoid actually saying) when I use a term like “gosh darn” or “dang it” or “hot dang”? When we go to great lengths to coin phrases that sound like curse words, or have the same number of syllables or tempo as the real thing, but we “don’t actually curse” have we really stopped offending God? Someone said that “Profanity is the feeble attempt of a small mind to express itself in forceful language.” I had a friend—a Christian brother—who used to say quite regularly, “Jesus, Mary, Joseph”. He gets an A-plus for getting the family’s names all right, but what’s really going on when I have to borrow otherwise religious language to “almost curse”. I have another friend who used the term “freakin” all the time as an adverb. We were golfing one day when he used it again. I had prayed for this man and his language, and had decided I should probably confront him in love the next time I heard this euphemistic replacement. So I started to say the difficult words, and just as I opened my mouth he turned to me and said, “You know, I recently decided that word is not the best language for a Christian and that I wasn’t going to say it anymore. Sorry if it offended you. I’m really going to quit saying it.” How about the expression, “Jeez”? What am I really saying when I say Jeez? Let’s close with a reading from Ephesians 4.     [Back to Top]