Third Commandment

My favorite genre of movie is the historical sports movie. Maybe it's because these are the few movies that my wife and I can watch together, but I also love sports. I love especially when they take a historical event bigger than the sport and they tell the story there within the game. Some of my favorite movies. Hoosiers. Rudy. Remember the Titans. This morning we're going to be looking at the movie Miracle. Think about the movie Miracle. This is set in 1980. It looks at the U.S. Olympic hockey team. And the bigger picture is the Cold War. There's communism and capitalism. And then you have these 20-year-old men who are coming from all different colleges to play for one team with the weight of the Cold War on their shoulders. The game clearly has bigger implications than just a medal. The key turning point in the story, after all these young men have gathered together, they're rivals with one another, they don't always, they don't all like one another. They have been beaten by, I believe it was the Netherlands. And the coach has all the team line up afterwards. Says they're going to do suicides. Means they're going to skate back and forth. He keeps blowing the whistle again. He blows the whistle again. All the other coaches, the doctors, they're telling the coach, you've got to stop. Someone's going to get injured. And he says, no, we're going to keep doing it again. The whistle blows again. The whistle blows. During this time, he keeps asking the players, who do you play for? And they would state the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin. And over and over again, he would say again, the whistle blow. Well, it gets so bad that the people who run the arena, they turn the lights off, hoping that this would end this insanity. And then Rizzo shouts out, I play for the United States of America. Coach says, that's it, go get dressed. He's trying to teach them a lesson. A key quote in the midst of all this, the name of the front of the jersey is a lot more important than the name on the back. There's an important lesson there for us. These young men who were coming together from all different backgrounds, all different rivalries, they were supposed to take on a name that represented their neighbors, their friends, their family, their teachers, the world, their nation, America. We as a church, we come from all different nationalities. We come from all different backgrounds, and we have to learn that the name that we come under is more important than our own name. We have to learn to love that name more than our own name. We have to learn to be united under that name, and that name is Jesus Christ. This morning, we're going to be looking at the Third Commandment. We have been in a series now. Well, this is the third week. We're in the Third Commandment. We've been looking at the Ten Commandments, and this morning we're going to Look at chapter 20 of Exodus, verse 7, and this is what we're going to see. We are called to lift up the name of God with our words, our works and our worship. We are called to lift up the name of God with our words, our works and our worship. Here, the command of God. 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." Now, there are three basic elements to this command that we have to first understand. Name, take, and vain. Those are the three parts that comprise this command. We have to understand what is the name? Why is this name so sacred? Why is this name so holy? Why is the name so important? Then we'll explain what does it mean to take a name, and then we'll be looking at what it means to take a name in vain. And then we'll look to application from our works, our words, and our worship. First, the holy name. The name that God has revealed to Israel, His special personal covenant name, is Yahweh. The name is important because it reveals Who God is, his nature, his character, who he is and his relationship to Israel. In Israel, when a parent gives a child a name, they're making a connection oftentimes with a distant relative. And so I know a lot of families, there are names given to children who are grandparents names or great grandparents names. So it was in Israel that the name was important because it would connect you with your ancestors. Furthermore, the name was connected with the hope they had for the child. The name would be given so that they would identify, the child would identify with that name. It was a connection to their character and essence. Let me give some examples of names and why they're important. God gives Avram the name Abraham. This name is important because he is going to be the father of many. This connects with the fact that Abraham was promised numerous children, more children than the stars, the sky and the sand on the shore. He is named father of many Samuel, which means he is heard by God or the one who hears God. We know this story of Samuel. He is called God calls out to him and he comes and he says, Here I am, Lord. God hears him and He hears God. John the Baptist. Here we actually see that connection with the family. When John is born, Zechariah, he says his name will be John. And everyone says, well, nobody in your family is named John. Where did this name come from? And he says it was revealed by God Almighty. And that name means graced by Yahweh. And then the most important name, Jesus. His name means Yahweh saves. It's that connection to Yahweh, the old covenant name, the God who is with his people, Israel, only it's more specific. It's the Yahweh. It is Yahweh who saves or his other covenant name, Emmanuel, God with us. When God gives his name to Israel, he's revealing himself. This name connects us to God Almighty. So what is this name, Yahweh? This is the specific name that he has given to Israel, Yahweh. I am who I am, or I will be who I will be. There are three things that this name reveals. First, he is the creator and is independent. He is the creator and he is independent. He does not depend on another. He is self-existent. He's not like us. He doesn't need food. He doesn't need shelter. He doesn't need air. He doesn't need anyone else. He himself is complete and perfect and independent. This is important for us because he doesn't need his people. God doesn't need his people. His people need him. It's by His grace, it's by His mercy, it's by His free choice that He commits Himself to a people. So the fact that God is self-existent, that He is independent, He is not in need of us. It shows us the grace of God that He commits Himself to us. Secondly, we see that He's a creator, He's independent. He's also the covenant keeper. One of the key elements of Yahweh, one of the key marks of what God is saying when he says, I am, is that I am for you. He is the God who has made promises to a particular people. Those promises are for their benefit. He will keep these promises. He is for them. You could go to Exodus 6, verses 6 through 8, and you could see just these long lists of I's. I have made my promises to you. I have kept my promises. I have heard your cry. I will stretch out my mighty right arm and deliver you. I will take you out of Egypt. I will give you the land I promised you. Over and over again, it is I, Yahweh says, whom for you. If he has forced any adversary, any enemy, he is against. This is important because he reveals his name throughout Exodus. He reveals his name in Exodus with the Egyptians by pouring out his judgment upon them. He reveals his name to Israel by redeeming them. So he's the creator, he's the covenant keeper. Finally, he's the comforting God. Here we see the great declaration, I am with you. He has chosen his people. He has committed himself to his people. He has come down and he is with his people. During the exodus, he's with them as smoke, as fire, to let them know he is with them in a special and personal way. So this is why the name is so important. It connects Israel with the one true God who has committed himself to them. As we look to the new covenant, I want to point out that the name that is central for us is Jesus. Yahweh saves. A more personal name, a more clear revelation of who God is. See, we don't just know God as Yahweh and that name is still sacred, that name is still special. We know God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We know God more precisely. We know God more personally. We get to call upon God as Father. We get to call upon the name of the Son. We know that there's a spirit. Jesus is with us. And not just as a fire or as a smoke, but God himself came and took upon flesh. He has become with us in a way that is permanent and everlasting. We know the love of God because of who Christ is and what he has done for us. This is why, as we read in Philippians, every knee shall bow before the name of Jesus. So, the name is important because it connects us with God. It lets us know who God is. It lets us know who we are in relation to God. Now, what does it mean to take a name? What does it mean to take His name? To take a name is to appeal to it as an authority. This usually is taken in the context of an oath or swearing. You swear by a name. You take an oath under a name to take a name that you're identifying with that person and they have a certain authority over you and you're appealing to their authority. It's very similar to a young woman who's getting married. She changes her name. Traditionally, a young lady will change her name and that's showing that her legal authority is changing. She's no longer under the headship of her father. She leaves and she cleaves and she is now under the headship of her husband. She changes her name. We see this in our tax laws. You no longer claim your married daughter as a dependent in your home, or you shouldn't. She's now counted in someone else's household. See, that taking the name is connecting. There's an authority there. There's an appeal. So, it means to take a name is to appeal to the authority, to bring oneself underneath. What is this verse saying about taking a name in vain? Before we get into what it says about taking it in vain, let me be clear what it does not say. It does not say, do not take the name of the Lord. It simply is regulating, taking it in vain. It's saying, don't misuse it. The problem with the Hebrews is that they actually looked at the name as beyond sacred, almost superstitious. They refused to use it at all. They stopped using the word Yahweh and they started calling him Adonai. So God gives us his name so we know him, so we can speak to him, so we can call upon him. His name is meant to be known and we are meant to proclaim it. We cannot be afraid of using the name. We just must, we must be guarded. We call on him. We speak to him. We know him through his name. Another thing I want to point out, when you name someone, you're exercising your authority over them. This is clear in Genesis. When God created all the animals, Adam named them. That was a way of demonstrating his authority over them. When you name your child, you're demonstrating your authority over them. We didn't name God. He shared his name with us. He has authority over us. It's the exact opposite. He renames Aram, Abraham. He names Israel. He gives us a new name. Having his name is an act of grace. And it leads us to ask, why does God give us his name? It's holy, it's sacred, and he gives it over to sinners. That's like giving a white napkin that you want to protect and keep clean to a child with ketchup all over his hands. Why would God give his name to sinners? Because it's only by calling on that name that we can be saved. It's only by knowing that name and calling upon it and submitting to it that we have any hope whatsoever. Since it is a holy name in the hands of sinners, our hands as sinners, we need to protect it. We need to revere it. We need to be careful with it. That is not, as Sam introduced the prayer, does not keep us from going boldly to the Lord and using it. So what does it mean to take the Lord's name in vain? Well, I've tried to break this up into categories. We can take the Lord's name in vain with our words. with our works, with our worship. Now, let me just make sure I'm clear. Your words and your works are part of your worship. All of life is worship. Your words, especially, are the way you worship. Your works, what you do, is worship. But I'm going to separate worship just to make a point. But I do not think that your words and your works are not worship. First, how do we use the Lord's name in vain? We'll have a couple questions to ask as we think about this. How do we take the Lord's name in vain with our words? Do you use the Lord's name as an expletive or a curse? Now, this is an obvious gross way, and this is something that's prevalent in our society. You hang out with folks who aren't Christians long enough, and you're going to hear them use the Lord's name in a vulgar way, as a curse. This is obviously shameful. and sinful. I pray and I hope it's not being done among us as God's people to take the name that saves us as sinners and then use it to sin. It's not just being that the word is common, it's degrading it to something evil. It's simply evil to take the Lord's name and use it as a vulgar word. What's amazing is that even when we are using, even if we have used Christ's name As an expletive or in a vulgar way, he still forgives us. As he has committed himself to die for us, he's committed his own life to be nailed to a cross for us as if a sinner. He knows that giving us his name, we're going to abuse it. We're going to misuse it. And he forgives us all the same. So the clearest problem in the way that we would use the Lord's name in vain is as an expletive or a vulgar word. The second question I would like us to ask, in terms of how we use the Lord's name as a word, is do you keep your word? I think this is probably the most immediate application that Moses has in mind in the Ten Commandments, that God is giving us in the Ten Commandments. Do we keep our vows? Do we keep our oaths? Do we keep our promises? It's important that we as Christians keep our promises because we are supposed to reflect God. This is last week's sermon about being God's image and not having another image. We're supposed to reflect God and what he is. He is truth. And when we give our word and break it, we're telling a lie. We're not reflecting God. When we give our word and we break it, we're not being faithful. And above all else, the thing we should be proclaiming about God is that he is faithful to his promises. We must let our yes be yes and our no be no. We must be careful not to swear upon things that we have no control over. Let me read a few passages from the New Testament that make this very clear. First, James 5. James 5, beginning in verse 12. But above all, my brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or any other oath. Let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation." Now, James is reflecting and repeating in many ways what Jesus says in Matthew 5, beginning in verse 33. Matthew 5, beginning in verse 33. 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." There you see that taking an oath and then breaking it in the name of the Lord, that's taking his name in vain. Jesus says in verse 34, 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. To take an oath under something of greater authority, such as heaven or Jerusalem or your own head. It's taking an oath in something you have no control over. You're simply saying, let your yes be yes. If you make a promise, if you make a vow, if you make an oath, keep it. Lastly, and I will read this passage, but look at 2 Corinthians 1. The Corinthians, Paul is responding to a possible accusation that he said he would come and he's not coming. And so the accusation would be that he's changing his mind on them. And Paul says, no, I'm doing the will of God. My yes is yes. My no is no. My yes must be yes, because Jesus Christ is the yes and amen of every promise. There you see, Paul is wanting his life, his promises and his promise keeping to reflect God himself, because Christ is a yes and amen. He must make his yes and amen. A particular example of this that I would like to challenge you with. When we tell people we're going to pray for them, do we keep that promise? There's a certain brother who he's challenged me in that when he says he's going to pray, he just stops right there and prays. I don't ever wonder if he's praying for me because he just stops me dead in the track, no matter who's around and he prays right there. I tried to adopt that practice because it's been encouraging and challenging to me. But the warning here is that if we're going to tell people we're praying for them, we need to keep that promise. Finally, the last way we might use our words. To take the Lord's name in vain is by attributing something to God that is actually our own opinion. I fear this has happened often in the public square. Some of the worst atrocities of this, or the worst occurrences of this, have come recently with the catastrophes. A hurricane, an attack on America, and someone stands up and pretends to interpret this according to what God is doing. We need to be careful not to make our agenda wrapped with with God's name, we may be careful not to say we know the mind of God in such a way that we're telling the world exactly what he's doing and why he's doing it when really it may just be our own opinion and our agenda that we're attributing to God. The next thing we want to look at the next category is our own works. How do we take the Lord's name in our own works? Here's the question, do we represent the name with our actions? Do we honor and lift up and glorify the name of Jesus Christ with our actions? Do folks that you work with, do folks that you know and interact with regularly, would they know you're a Christian by your humility, by your work ethic, by the way you treat them, by the way you treat others? Do we represent the God who saved us with our actual works, with the works that flow out of grace and a renewed heart? Let's think about our works, let's think about how they reflect our heart and therefore look and see what is in our heart. A little harder here. Do we use the name that forgives as an excuse to sin? Do we use the name that forgives as an excuse to sin? Are you ever tempted and you think, well, Christ forgives and so I can participate in that sin? Do you ever look and say, this is a sin that is clearly an offense to God, but I know my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, he'll forgive me. That is taking the Lord's name in vain. That is looking to him as someone who gives you an excuse to sin rather than the one who has forgiven you of your sin and freed you from the slavery of sin. That is a gross way of taking the Lord's name in vain. The last way I want us to the last way our works represent God is really one that I want us to think about as a unity, as a body. Do we as a body allow and enable sin? What kind of sins do we think are acceptable and OK among one another? So we're called to watch and care for and rebuke one another. As I was studying the name throughout scripture, it was interesting to see that I kept coming back to first Corinthians five. And let me let me explain what's happening in first Corinthians five. A young man has been sleeping with his father's wife. And the church seems to have just said, this is OK. They haven't rebuked him. They haven't warned him. They haven't watched him. Paul says, this doesn't even happen among pagans. How are you possibly letting this happen within the church of Jesus Christ? Paul then continues to make his argument. In verse 11, he says, the church, you are supposed to be judging one another, not condemning. But judging, you're supposed to be watchful and looking to see who is who is in error and trying to care for that brother, guarding them and loving them. And when he says we're supposed to be judging one another, he says clearly anyone who takes upon the name brother is held accountable by the church. The issue there is if you name yourself a brother, you're naming yourself as a Christian. You're naming yourself as one who's been adopted by Jesus Christ, and therefore you are to be held accountable by the body, by the other brothers and sisters. Each body gathered is supposed to take this calling seriously, a calling to holiness, a calling to unity, a calling to love one another. So when we call ourselves brothers, when we take upon the name brother, we're saying we are under the hedge of Jesus Christ. We are united in that name, Jesus Christ, and we need to take that name seriously. What it means in terms of how we're supposed to live individually and that we're committed to holiness, we're committed to fleeing sin and forgiving others of sin. We're committed to unity, not a unity that you see in other country clubs and social gatherings, no, a unity built upon forgiveness found in the name Jesus Christ. When we take upon ourselves the name brother, we are submitting to one another as we are all submitted to Christ. See, Paul tells the church cast out this young man. Because he is taking the Lord's name in vain. He is naming himself among the brothers and he's disgracing. He's performing gross sin that is public and is publicly shameful upon the name of Jesus Christ. It's publicly shameful on the body of Jesus Christ. When we name ourselves brothers, we're coming together to focus on the serious calling of being unified under the name, being committed to our own holiness for the sake of the name and committed to one another's holiness. This is why we warn, rebuke, admonish and encourage one another. It's also important that passage, the assembly cast him out in the name of Jesus Christ. That is the authority. Brothers and sisters, let us hold fast to the name that saves us. Let us hold fast to one another by watching over one another, protecting our unity, protecting our confession of Christ. Finally, and I'm As we look at how he might take the Lord's name in vain, let us look to the topic of worship. Here, I'll invite you to read this later. I'm not going to read it in its entirety now, but Malachi 1 speaks to how our worship is supposed to be honoring God's name. God rebukes the priest. because they have despised his name. They've despised his name by taking offerings to sacrifice to God of lame and sick goats and sheep. They have taken the animals that have been stolen in violence or the animals that are lame and sick and they've offered them to God as their sacrifices. God first says that this is what I've explicitly commanded you not to do. You're supposed to take the perfect lamb because that represents the perfect son, Jesus Christ, who dies for us. He then even reasons with them. If you presented that to a governor, would he show you any favor? If you presented that to a master, would he look upon this lightly? Why would you think you could present this to God? And I would find it pleasing. Well, we we don't offer those kind of sacrifices to God, do we? Now, those sacrifices were pointing towards Jesus Christ, the one perfect sacrifice for us, the precious blood of the Lamb that Sam read about earlier, that saved us from our sins. Now, what we're supposed to be offering to God is our whole heart, a heart that truly seeks to worship him, to praise him, to lift him up, a heart that seeks to love ourselves less and love him more. Do we come and worship half-heartedly? Friends, have you come hoping that when you're here with us, when we're here gathered as a body, committed to God, committed to his praise, committed to one another in our own holiness, are we coming expecting a word from God? Are we expecting we'll be bored? Are we ready to hear? Are we ready to repent? Are we ready to lift up his name? Friends, The purpose in Malachi that God gives as a rationale is the same purpose He has for us. The purpose is that He will make His name known. He has committed His name to us. Are we making it known by the way we praise Him and worship Him? Again, how we worship God reveals what we think of God. As we conclude, I want to look at our very last part of the verse. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. The whole verse, you shall not take the Lord, the name of the Lord, your God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Now. Of the many ways we can take the Lord's name in vain, I want to assume everyone here is guilty. We are all guilty of taking the Lord's name in vain. The very fact that we were created to reflect Him, to glorify Him, we're all guilty because we resisted His right rule. We're all guilty. If you're not a Christian this morning, you're guilty before God. But here, friends, is the good news. I'm sorry for leaving it to the last for you, but here's the last word you get to hear this morning. We're all guilty. And the very name that we take in vain is the very name that can save us from that guilt. The name Jesus Christ. He is God himself who took upon flesh to live for us perfectly so that when he died on the cross, he took upon himself our guilt and therefore the wrath of God that we deserve. When we believe in him, our guilt is transferred to him. God's wrath is upon him, not upon us, and his righteousness transferred to us, so we believe in his name. We receive the benefits of his name, receive salvation, receive forgiveness. We get a new identity, we get a new purpose. Friends, if you're not a Christian this morning, don't leave here without talking to me or Sam or someone else about what that good news is, where you can have a new name, a new identity and forgiveness. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you. We thank you that you have revealed yourself so clearly. Throughout your word, throughout history, we thank you for giving your name over to us sinners. Thank you for allowing it to be taken in vain. So that those of us who take it in vain can also claim it and be saved by it. We thank you, Jesus, for coming to save us. We thank you, Yahweh, who saves. Help us to only lift up your name and to worship you. Forgive us, Lord, for taking what you have done and using it as an excuse to sin. Forgive us, Lord, for taking your name in vain by the way we have broken our oath and our promises. Forgive us, Lord, for taking your name in vain by not worshiping you with every word and with every work. Help us, Lord, as a body to be unified as brothers and sisters seeking your glory and the fame of your name being spread throughout all the world. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.