The Ten(der) Commandments: “Take Care With the Name”
Exodus 20:7
Today as we continue or study of the Ten Commandments, I want to focus on the Third Commandment, found in Exodus 20:7:
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
Or, if you come from a more traditional background, “You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.”
Friends, God is holy and so is his name! God’s nature is revealed to us in part through his name. In the Bible, God’s names reveal his character. He is the Strong One; God Most High; the Everlasting God; the God Who Provides; the God Who Heals; the God Who Sanctifies; the God of Peace; the Lord of Hosts; the Lord Our Righteousness; the God Who is There; the Lord Our Banner; and the Lord Our Shepherd.
To use the holy name of God in a flippant or disrespectful way shows that we don’t take seriously the greatness and the holiness of our God. Every time we use God’s name in vain, incredible destruction comes into our lives and pours from our lives. It does matter how we use God’s name! In Matthew 12:36-37 Jesus warned his listeners,
“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. Your words now reflect your fate then: either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned.”
There are several ways that we can and do misuse God’s name. First, we misuse God’s name through our language.
We are perhaps most familiar with this way of misusing of God’s name. The first and most obvious form of this is using God’s name in conjunction with profanity or swearing. We have grown so accustomed to hearing and even using God’s name as part of a swear word that we are hardly bothered by it. How sad! You know what else is sad? There is absolutely no benefit to this sin. Think about it. If you get a flat tire and you swear at the tire, does it inflate? If you stub your toe and swear at the couch, does your toe stop hurting? There is no positive benefit to this misuse of God’s name.
A second misuse of God’s name through language comes when we use God’s name lightly. To “take in vain” literally means to use God’s name in a careless or flippant manner. What makes the casual uses of God’s name so offensive is not only the vulgarity attached to them, but also the total lack of meaning in their use. When someone hears news that catches them off guard and they blurt out, “Oh my God,” they are rarely making that statement as a prayer, asking God to intervene in the circumstances. They are just saying it, without any thought, without any meaning, without any reverence or significance. In those instances, “God” and “Jesus” have become mere words - just noise to indicate an emotion of anger or shock. God’s name when used in these ways has lost its significance and glory. It no longer points to him. It has simply become a point of punctuation like a period or exclamation point.
That’s really at the heart of the problem here. This third commandment is a warning not to treat God as something meaningless in our lives. God is holy, so never use the name of God lightly or in vain.
People may say, “Well, I just grew up around this kind of talk,” or “Well, I learned to talk this way growing up around the boys. I don’t really mean anything by it.” We try to say that what comes from our mouths doesn’t mean anything, yet scripture always links what comes out of our mouths with what is in our hearts.
Jesus himself repeated this over and over: “You brood of vipers! How can you who are evil say anything good?
For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt.12:34). “But the things that come out of the mouth come
from the heart, and these make a man unclean” (Mt.15:18). “The good man brings good things out of the good stored
up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow
of his heart his mouth speaks” (Lk.6:45).
Admit it or not, like it or not, the mouth speaks what is in the heart. The way you and I talk reflects the state of our heart, and God knows that. You cannot say, “Well, she has a vile mouth but a good heart.” You cannot say, “Well, he’s got a problem with bad language, but he really does have a heart of gold.”
No, she doesn’t! No, he doesn’t! I’m sorry, but according to God’s own words, that cannot be. The Bible says that the way an individual speaks is an accurate indication of his or her heart. How you use God’s name says a great deal about your relationship with God. Profane language coming from our lips ought to be a warning sign to us that something is wrong with our heart, and that we need to get alone with God as quickly as possible and ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse us.
There is yet another way that we can misuse the name of God. It occurs when we fail to keep promises we make to him.
Whenever we make a promise to God and break it, we have misused his name. This violation of God’s name often comes in times of
trouble. When we are in a difficult or desperate situation we often make promises like, “God if you get me out of this I will
serve you the rest of my life.” “God, help me get this job or promotion and I’ll give you 15% of my income.”
Oh, how quickly we forget when God does grant us these requests.
Look at Deuteronomy 23:21-23, as it addresses vows made to God.“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.” Making a promise to God is a serious thing, and we must never do so lightly.
A final way we can misuse God’s name happens when we live hypocritically. God is holy. He deserves our reverence and our worship - not just our words, but our genuine, sincere faith and worship. When we talk about God, we need to mean what we say. God doesn’t want you to merely say that he’s number one; he actually wants to be number one. He doesn’t want us to merely sing about lifting his name on high unless we’re really going to do it. Don’t sing, “I Surrender All” if you are unwilling to give God anything, let alone everything. Don’t sing, “Have Thine Own Way Lord” only to go out and do things your own way. When we come to Church and confess Christ with our lips, but deny him with our lives the rest of the week, we break the Third Commandment.
Oh, friends, the name of God is powerful and holy! In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught, “When you pray,
say ‘Hallowed be your name.’” When we acknowledge the holiness of God, it is impossible to treat his
name casually. Can you imagine an angel, standing in the presence of God, taking his name casually?
A thousand times no! Instead, we read that “Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come’” (Rev.4:8). We can learn from the angels
how to honor the name of God.
There is power too in the name of Jesus. (See Lk.24:47; Jn.14:13; Jn.20:31; Acts 3:16; 16:18; Eph.5:20) Do you believe that? Do you believe that the demons screamed and tore themselves from their hosts at the mere mention of his name? Do you believe that through the authority of his name the eyes of the blind were opened, withered legs were made strong, and dead bodies came up from the grave? Do not use the name of Jesus lightly!
There is honor in the name of Jesus. Think of this: there is eternal salvation in the name of Jesus. His name means life. In John 20:31 we read,
“But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that in believing you may have life in his name.” Acts 4:12 reinforces that: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
(See also Phil.2:9-11; Rev.19:12, 16.) Why would we ever casually misuse or deliberately drag that name through the mud?
How should we respond then? If you recognize that you have been taking God’s name in vain, there are several steps to take. First, recognize your sin and confess it. What we need is not a mouth-washing, but a heart-cleansing. Second, accept God’s forgiveness.
“If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared”(Ps.130:3-4). Third, practice God’s presence. Never forget that God is always here. In all that we say, remember that we are saying it in God’s presence. Remember that the proper way to use God’s name is to praise and worship his name (Phil 2:9-11); reverence his name (Luke 11:2); declare his name (Matt 28:19-20); and defend his name (1 Sam. 17:26).
Friends, in worship and praise, in prayer, in our testimonies, through our honesty and morality and actions and words, let us live and speak in a way that will not take God’s name in vain. Amen.
