Sermon on Third Commandment on 10/9/11

Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain--The third commandment. What does that mean? Many other versions besides the King James phrase it differently. The New International Version says “misuse the name of the Lord”.  The New Century Version says, “not use the name of the Lord your God thoughtlessly”. The Common English Bible says, “use the LORD your God’s name as if it were of no significance”. And perhaps the New Revised Standard offers the best translation when it says, “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God”.

But again I must ask, “What does that mean?” What exactly is the third commandment talking about, and why is so very important to God, and why should it be so important to us.

Most of us grew up with the understanding that taking the Lord’s name in vain referred to an excited utterance of the divine name in a moment of frustration or great excitement.  Probably the best illustration of how this kind of behavior is demonstrated by a story a pastor friend of mine told.

Pastor Mark accepted Christ when he was 17. He grew up in Jerome, Idaho. Jerome had a strong Mormon influence, and this pastor friend of mine loved to play basketball. It so happened that the Mormon church in town, like most Mormon churches, was built with a gym inside it. And in the summer it is where most of the kids in town would play in the evenings.

Well, soon after his conversion, Pastor Mark made a strong effort not to exclaim the divine name unnecessarily. Especially while he was playing sports (If you have ever had to struggle to give up cussing, the athletic arena may be one of the hardest places to exterminate the habit).

Well, most of the LDS kids were taking the Lord’s name in vain while they were playing ball. And he decided he would do something to make a point. Every time he missed a shot he would shout, “Joseph Smith” or “Brigham Young”. Needless to say, my friend did not make many friends, but he did make his point.

I was a spirited, strong-willed child as a little one. A fact that I am often reminded of. Because I was a spirited child, and because I was raised in a traditional, old-fashioned manner, I was often spanked as a child. I do not remember all my beatings, but I do remember a few. The first one I remember was from my father for pushing my sister off of the top bunk after placing her inside a cardboard box. I had told her she could achieve space flight. She did not. She got a bloody nose. I got a very sore rear end from a very spirited spanking.

The second spanking I remember recieving was for utterance of the divine name upon entering our home. Our dog had gotten into toilet paper and strewn it all over the house. I walked in and uttered the second person of the Trinity’s full-name. I was promptly swatted by my mother and sent to my room. She washed my mouth out with soap. She asked me where I learned to talk like that. I told her I had learned such language from her, which she firmly denied using. It was such a strange question in retrospect. All of our family friends were redneck loggers, who spoke the Lord’s name as often as took a swig of cheap beer. Which was quite often.

Certainly, when trying to understand what it means to use the name of the Lord in vain, such uses of the divine name as if it were a cussword are an appropriate example of how people treat the name of the Lord as if it is worthless or useless. But, it certainly is not the only way a person can take the Lord’s name in vain. It may not even be the primary way this is done.

As I began to study this issue, I discovered that many of the Reformers and early commentators on this commandment understood taking the Lord’s name in vain quite differently than we do today. Both Luther and the early Presbyterians in the catechisms of the 1500s and 1600s related the third commandment to taking oaths.

Haven’t you ever heard someone say, “I swear to God”? Or seen someone swear that they are going to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth with their hands on the Bible? Or say, “God as my witness”?

Have you ever seen someone do all of this, and then go ahead and do something false?

This is, in many ways, the way that several people have interpreted the commandment. They have believed that making dishonest oaths and living dishonest lives before God is a violation of the third command.

I agree that this also is a form of taking the Lord’s name in vain. I do, however, think taking the name of the Lord in vain is about more than an excited utterance, or a concern about oaths.

When one digs into this verse and does a little bit more of a word study, then one discovers some interesting insights. You see the word for “vain” is an interesting word. You might have guessed that from the varieties of translation of that one word that I read earlier.

The word “vain” is related to several concepts. One is a “lie”. The other is related to “emptiness”. It also has the connotation of being narcissistic, that is overly-concerned with self.

Thus, one of the ways that people have also understood taking the Lord’s name in vain is misusing the Lord’s name for personal benefit. Certainly, Jesus says this is especially common among church leaders. Jesus said that many people will come to him and say, “Lord, Lord….I cast out demons in your name.” and that he will have to say, “depart from me, I never knew you”. They acted like they knew God. But, they really did not.

Certainly, in our world we see people who use the name of God to shadily garner business through the name of Jesus.  I see it all the time. Especially once people find out I am a pastor, or are eager to do work for the church. Either way, they tend to visit a lot about how godly they are, or what church they go to, or how they govern their company on Christian principles. I remember when Craig Manchego and I were out trying to get some exercise. We came around the corner to the house. And we saw the man making his way down the street. He was going to be at the parsonage about the same time as I was. We knew what he was. He was a guy hired by a roofing company to go door to door and rustle up roofing work for some company based out of town. We visited with him.  Before he left, he shared he was utterly surprised that the parsonage was in fact a parsonage. He also shared that he was studying for the ministry, and that his school was named “Charis” just like our daughter. In other words, he was pimping Jesus for his own benefit.

It gets to the point that if someone is trying to sell me something, and then they start talking about their faith, and how Christian their business is, and where they go to church, I immediately view them with suspicion. I believe that they cannot be trusted. I believe that they are using their supposed Christian faith to sell me something for selfish gain. I am usually right. A lot of people take the name of God in vain in this way.

What about those people who protest military funerals, seminary graduations, and people being put on trial for murdering homosexuals? You know who they are. They are from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka. They are all trained lawyers, which means that they are very skilled in their abilities in suing people. And so they go to funerals saying God hates soldiers and gays and about anyone else they can think of. They speak the name of the Lord. They decide to speak for God is ways that do not honor him, and that allow them to have substantial financial gain when people touch them, bump into them, get angry with them. They say they are God’s voice. In fact, they are taking the Lord’s name in vain. They are using the Lord’s name for empty lies and selfish gain.

In the New Testament, there was a couple named Annanias and Saphira that conspired to lie to the church by selling their land, and then telling the church they had given all their money when in fact they had held some back for a rainy day. When they chose to come into the sanctuary and lie about it, each of them were struck dead right on the spot. Don’t think that this is just an Old Testament concept. The commandment to not take the Lord’s name in vain makes its way to several places in the New Testament as well.

Besides the word “vain” the other word we obviously need to look at in this commandment is the word “name”.

One thing we know about the word “name” is that names actually meant something in Bible times. How you named a person had power. It is not like our time, where we often choose a name because it sounds cute, or because it is common or popular, or the same name of a favorite sports star or actor.

Knowing someone’s name gave you power. And the name you had branded you one way or another for your entire life. Thus it is interesting that God changed Abram to Abraham, Sarah to Sarai, Saul to Paul. It is also evident that a name is more important to us than we might expect.

One’s name also spoke of one’s familial identity, as it still does today.

My last name lets people know that I am descended from Walker men.

But one’s family name can also mean something very special and powerful.

One’s name can establish a culture. For instance, at one point I will probably say to my beautiful daughter, “That is not the way we as Walkers do things’

Taking on a name implies ownership and power.

Also, we can sometimes in business authorize other people to speak on my behalf. To do things in “our name”. We give them power to speak for us and to be our representative. When we do this, our good name depends on the reputation of those we have given the power to do work in “our name”.

As the people of God, we are people of God’s name. As believers in Jesus, we call ourselves Christian. We take on God’s name. As a church we are called to live and work on God’s behalf, as God’s representitives in this world.

Throughout the Old Testament, God keeps telling the Israelite people that they were called by HIS NAME. Jesus says that we need to minister and do things in HIS NAME. What they are saying is that we are called to live in this world as his children AND his representatives.

Thus, when we are commanded to “not take the name of the Lord in vain” a big part of what we are asked to do is to not take our role as God’s children and as God’s representatives in the world for granted. Instead, we are to live and speak in a way that brings honor to God. We are to make commitments that bring glory and honor to God. We are to uphold our family name as Christians in word and action.

We are coming here today, in part, to gather together to support Shelby and Macenna in baptism. They are having the courage to stand up in front of everyone, and say that they are not taking God’s call to be obedient disciples for granted. They are not taking the Lord, or his work, in vain. They are taking on the name of Jesus, in public. They are saying, yes, I stand with Jesus.

Both of them have accepted Christ a few years ago. They have quietly taken time to listen and learn. They have not rushed to be baptized. They have prayerfully made the decision to follow Christ in this way. Now, they are standing up and saying that they are committed to publically take on the name of Jesus. To not take his gift of salvation for granted. And thus, they have to obey the call of Jesus to be baptized publically. They have chosen to claim Jesus, and to let him claim them.

As Shelby and Macenna are baptized, we are challenged to remember rightly. To not take our faith for granted. To not take God for granted. As they are baptized we are challenged to remember who we are. We are God’s children. We are people he has given his name to.

And as they are baptized, we are prompted to remember who we are. We are Christians. We are people who have taken on the name of Jesus. We are people who have been called to be his hands and feet here on earth. To live and work on his behalf as long we have breathe.

In this tender moment, we are reminded to not take our faith for granted. To not take the name, the name that is above all names, the name that has saved us, the name that has freed us, the name that has mended our brokenness, and found us in our lostness, we are encouraged not to take the name of God in vain. Instead we are called to honor God’s name by how we live, love, trust and follow the one in whom, as Paul said, “we live, and move, and have our being.” Amen.