(The forty-first in a series of sermons on Exodus, preached October 16, 2011.)
Exodus 20:7 “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.”[i]
Listen to these
names: Paul . . . Judas . . . George Washington . . . Benedict Arnold . . .
Florence Nightingale . . . Lindsey Lohan . . . Margaret Thatcher . . . Bill
Clinton. To each we react differently. Some names evoke admiration; others a
shrug of indifference; others disgust. Some make us think of lives well-lived;
others of lives squandered. Some names serve almost as synonyms for stability,
maturity, and honor; others of recklessness, immaturity and betrayal.
Names identify
us, enabling us to distinguish, say, Charlie from Eric, or Lynne from Susan.
But names are more than just a way to distinguish people. Names also stand for
the reputations behind them. The reputations of George Washington and
Benedict Arnold couldn’t be more different. For many decades,
George was the one of the most popular American male names; our admiration for
Washington’s achievements is limitless. I suspect that after the Revolutionary
War, the name Benedict was not quite as popular as before. Behind a name stands
a reputation.
How many boys do you know named Paul?
How many adorable little Judases do you see bouncing on proud fathers’ knees?
Behind a name stands a reputation. That is why Proverbs tells us to seek a good
name: “A good
name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver
or gold” (Proverbs 22:1). Few things count more than a good name and
a good reputation.
What does all
this have to do with the third commandment? Everything!
“You shall not
take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” Honor his name by the
way you speak and by the way you act. Turn his name into a joke or a swear word
or deploy it as a punctuation mark and you’ve broken this commandment.
Moreover, if you or I behave badly, we defame the name into which we were
baptized. The third commandment covers just about everything.
So, honor the name. Honor God’s name by
your speech. Don’t dishonor the name by taking it in vain.
To take God’s name in vain is to treat
it with anything less than the absolute reverence it deserves. The Psalmist
commands us: “Ascribe
to the Lord the glory due his name” (Psalm 96:8). The word “glory”
is bound up in the reality of weightiness. God’s name is weighty and
substantial, and must never be spoken lightly or used trivially. Every time
God’s name is on our lips we should use it with the utmost respect possible. We
ascribe glory to the Lord when we honor his name.
We love our
mothers and fathers. Let someone slander them, and the gloves come off. We’re
furious. To assault their character is to assault us. Our parents gave us life;
they cared for us and protected us.
Or, to be more
specific, through your parents, the Lord gave you life, care and protection,
and the third commandment won’t let you forget that the Lord is your
God. “You shall
not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” He delivered you
out of sin’s grotesque bondage. He saved you by the blood his own Son. If you
would never treat your parents’ name lightly, then be all the more devoted to
the reverent use of God’s name.
Honor the
name of the Father. Treat it with reverence and fear. If you pray in his
name without thinking, if you sing his name without thanksgiving, if you praise
his name without love, and if you listen inattentively to the word that comes
in his name, then you’ve failed to honor his name.
Honor the
Father’s name. And honor the Son’s name. Paul writes, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him
the name that is above every name, so 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, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians
2:9-11). Jesus, the Savior’s name, who died for our sins, is fully
man. He is also fully God, the second person of the Trinity. He bears the
divine name “Lord.” To him we owe obedience and worship. Only in Christ are we
right with God; only in his name do we worship the Father. Why would we ever
want to do anything less than honor his beloved name?
Honor the name. Honor the name of God by
guarding your theology. Remember, the name stands for both the person and
his reputation. Our theology must do justice to the way God reveals himself in
scripture. If we deny, for instance, the miracles, or the deity of Christ, or
the infallibility of God’s word, then we have said that God is not who he says
he is in his word. Our theological statements must do justice to the truths God
reveals about himself in the Bible.
Honor the name. Don’t put words into God’s mouth.
A simple
example: you may say to me, “God told me
to join your church.” Now don’t get me wrong: I’m glad you’re here. Still,
God didn’t tell you to join my church, or anyone else’s, for that matter. What
he does command is that you identify with a church, placing yourself under the
preaching of God’s word, the administration of the sacraments, and the
discipline of elders. You can know with certainty that God tells you to
identify with the church; his word is unambiguous. But no place in scripture
tells you which congregation to join. You must heed the general principles of
the word regarding church membership, seek the advice of godly friends and
family and elders, pray for wisdom, and trust God’s providential leading as you
make your decision. But God never tells you which church to join.
You will never hear
a voice from heaven telling you whom to marry. So it’s wrong to say that God
told me to marry this person. Again the resources of the word, godly friends,
prayer, and trust in God’s providence are available as you decide whom to
marry. You’re going to have to think: Am I the kind of man or woman the Bible
commands me to be? Is my potential spouse pursuing godliness? Do we share
common spiritual and material goals? Can we solve problems together? God will
not speak verbally to you or send signs or write a message in the sky. He gives
the biblical principles, but you will have to apply them prayerfully and
carefully. There are no shortcuts. As an image bearer of God, you must think,
evaluate, and reach a decision.
I have seen
people deeply hurt because a theologically illiterate man or woman claimed to
speak for God. “God told me your dad will
be healed of cancer,” and he died. “I
received a word of knowledge that your child will become a believer,” and
faith never came. “You will get
pregnant,” and the years of childlessness continued. We violate the third
commandment when we put words in God’s mouth. We claim he speaks when he
hasn’t.
Honor the name. Don’t swear falsely or
recklessly. Oaths are serious. What is an oath? “The oath is swearing with appeal to the name of God, who serves as
witness that a person is speaking the truth or intends to fulfill a vow.”[ii] In an oath, we
assert something to be true or make a promise to do something. We call upon
God, who alone knows our hearts, to be our witness that what we say is true and
that our resolve is pure. Godly oaths honor because they confess that his
knowledge is limitless; his penetrating gaze extends to the hidden thoughts and
desires of our heart.[iii]
The wise man refuses to take an oath casually, because he believes God’s
threat: “the
LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” Oaths
should not be commonplace, but reserved for the most solemn and serious
occasions.
There is ample
biblical support for oath taking. In the Old Testament, oaths were not only
permitted but also commanded. A little biblical background: “You shall fear the
Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you
shall swear.” (Deuteronomy 10:20) In the New Testament, we find
Jesus responding to the high priest under oath in Matthew 26:63. Paul often employed
oaths (Romans 1:9, 2 Corinthians 1:23, 11:31, Galatians 1:20, Philippians
1:20). God confirmed his promise to his people with an oath (Hebrews 6:17).
What’s at stake for you when you take an
oath is the fact that you live before the face of God. Nothing you say escapes
his holy scrutiny.
In Psalm 15, the
Psalmist asks, “O
Lord, who shall dwell on your holy hill?” (Psalm 15:1) A good
question! You should want to know what kind of person stands under God’s favor
in his holy presence. The Psalmist answers, “[he] who swears to his own hurt and does not
change” (Psalm 15:4). Let the words sink in. “[He] who swears to his own hurt and does not
change.” A Christian keeps his word not only when honoring a
commitment that is advantageous to him, but also when it will cost him dearly.
Contrast that
with many pagan religions and cults: keep the commitments you make to fellow
members of your group, but you can break vows made to those of other religions.
The Bible knows nothing of such duplicity. As Christianity has spread into
pagan cultures it has brought along with it a commitment in principle to
telling the truth, and legal systems with severe penalties for perjury.
Now you may ask,
“What about today’s New Testament lesson? Doesn’t Jesus forbid all oath
taking?”
Let’s look again
at the passage: “Again
you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely,
but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not
take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the
earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the
great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair
white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than
this comes from evil.” (Matthew 5:33-37)
In the Sermon on
the Mount, Jesus both explains and applies the law of God and corrects common
abuses of the law in Israel. He does not forbid all oath-taking. He does not
say “Don’t ever swear by God.” He does take aim at oath-taking that deceives.[iv]
He forbids swearing by some created object in order to avoid using God’s name.
After all, anything you swear by, he made. Foolish men thought that if God’s
name were not included in an oath, then the oath’s seriousness was diminished. Some
oaths were counted binding; others were not. Jesus loathes such trickery. One
writer says well, “The implication seems
to be that if the name of God is dwelling in a believer by the Spirit, then the
believer’s word should be as good as God’s and need no extra swearing.”[v] Let your yes be
yes, and your no be no. Ordinarily, that’s enough.
Honor the name. Honor it by keeping your
promises. Every promise made is a point of honor, and your reputation and
the reputation of God depends upon your keeping them. Christians who bear God’s
name must keep their word.
Listen to the
words of another generation: “The
preservation of integrity should be superior to all other considerations, and
it is a miserable confession of weakness that the love of life or limb has been
stronger than the love of virtue . . . It cannot be too earnestly inculcated
upon the young that to break a pledge is apt to be followed by the total ruin
of one’s virtue. Transgression is not a transitory thing. The single act is
soon done and over, but it leaves an influence behind, which, like the adder’s
poison, may grow and operate and spread until it reaches the seat of life and
triumphs in the ruin of the victim.”[vi] This writer knew
what so many of us don’t. Sins are not isolated acts; they set in motion
behavior patterns that propel one’s life down a road to destruction.
Promise-breaking becomes a soul-destroying way of life. God’s name is
dishonored, a life is ruined, and the reputation of the church scandalized.
What does a
person who makes and keeps promises look like?
A person who
makes and keeps promises is consistent. He’s not always changing his core
commitments depending upon his physical impulses, circumstances, and public
opinion. Consistency is harmony of character, and a desire to keep our promises
regardless of circumstances.
A young
person has integrity when she keeps her promises to the Lord when she’s
with the youth group, and when she’s in a crowd that pressures her to immoral
behavior.
A husband
is a man of integrity when he’s committed to his wife when he’s at home, and
when he’s alone in a motel room on the other side of the country. He lives by
the promises he made to her before the Lord.
A businessman
is a person of integrity when he discloses his full tax obligations, even when
it jeopardizes his business. He lives out his commitment to be a person of
truth.
A person who
can’t make or keep promises lacks consistency. No core commitments govern
him. He’s conflicted: in one situation he acts like a follower of Christ, and
in another it’s as if he’s never even heard of Christ. He is driven by
feelings, dominated by the passion of the moment and not by the word of God.
When we are
tempted to break our word, we should remember whose reputation is on the line.
Ours is, of course, and how terrible to forfeit it! But of far greater
consequence is the name we bear by election and baptism, the name of the true
and living God. You have been baptized in his name. Throw away your reputation,
and certainly, you hurt yourself. But you also damage the reputation of the One
whose name you bear. And you run the risk of making his church the subject of
ridicule and mockery.
There’s much to
think about when we hear God’s command: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” These
words break our hearts because of the many times we have spoken and acted
carelessly, sending us to the cross for God’s forgiveness. And this commandment
sends us to the throne of grace to obtain courage to defend God’s name.
Honor the name!
[i] Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotations are from The Holy
Bible,English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division
of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[ii] J. Douma, The Ten
Commandments: Manual for the Christian Life, trans. by Nelson D.
Kloosterman (P&R, 1996), 87-88.
[iii] Douma, 90.
[iv] Douma, 93.
[v] Clowney, How Jesus
Transforms the Ten Commandments, edited by Rebecca Clowney Jones (P&R:
2007), 41.
[vi] James Henley Thornwell, The
Collected Writings of James Henley Thornwell, vol. 2 (Banner of Truth,
1986; first published 1875), 559.
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