The Second Commandment – Feel the Spirit of Christian
Living at Epiphany on June 17, 2007
Grace, mercy, and peace are yours through God our Father who promises to show love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Amen.
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.”
The Proper Use
of God’s Name
Author Paul Dickinson has a hobby
of finding strange and unusual names. He says there are names that can sometimes
be prophetic. These are real names from his book simply titled, “Names.” Joe Bunt
became a baseball coach. Dan Druff became a barber. Two men, Mr. Goforth and Mr.
Ketchum became police officers and actually became partners (can you imagine: “Who
do we send?” “Send Goforth and Ketchum.”). Two other men became partners in church
equipment, Mr. O’Neill and Mr. Pray (I love that one). Will Crumble became a plaster
contractor. And Tom Carr does the traffic reports for
A name says something about a person. Each one of my daughters has both first and middle names from the Bible. Their name is hopefully expressing their Christian character. I remind my girls that what they say and how they act in public reflects on their name. They are Zarlings, and that stands for something. A while ago, my sister-in-law, Becky, was talking about her pastor, but then forgot his name. I said, “Becky, you’ve been going to that church for two years. How can you forget your pastor’s name?” She replied, “Mike, I only need to remember to call him pastor.” She’s right. That title of pastor says something about who he is. Whether it is your first name, your last name, or your title, take that name seriously.
God takes his name very seriously. Look at how God feels about his name in the second commandment. "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” He is saying, “Don’t misuse my name. Don’t abuse my name. Don’t take it lightly or for granted or use it thoughtlessly or flippantly of degradingly. Learn the proper use of my name and then use it well!”
Martin Luther explained the second commandment this way: You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we do not use his name to curse, swear, lie or deceive or use witchcraft, but call upon God’s name in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.
Did you know there is a difference between cursing and swearing? Most people lump cursing and swearing into the category of profanity or cussing. We ought to know the difference. Cursing means to call down God’s wrath on someone or something. How many hammers have been damned to hell? Don’t misuse God’s name to damn the traffic. That means nothing and makes God’s name nothing. And don’t use the name of the Lord to damn a person. No matter what that person has done to you, that is a person for whom Jesus has shed his blood. It is a true act of Satan to wish to damn someone to an eternity of punishment in hell.
In 1939, “Gone With the Wind” created
a commotion when Clark Gable uttered the word, “damn” in that movie. Today if the
worst word used in a movie is “damn,” its probably “G” rated. God has outlawed the
four-letter curse words that are in your vocabulary. The Bible says a Christian
is not to curse in any circumstances. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and
do not curse.” (Rom
Swearing is something
else. To swear means to take an oath. Not all swearing is sinful. In fact, Jesus
himself swore. When Jesus was before the high priest the high priest said to him,
“I charge you under oath by the living God:
Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.”
You may use God’s name to take an oath as a witness or in the military. You make
a God-pleasing oath at your confirmation, marriage, or as a sponsor for a baptism.
However, it is a sin to swear if you do it for careless or frivolous reasons. Pinky swears, “swear to God, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye,” or even making needless promises or oaths at work or to your children that you cannot or should not keep are all careless, needless, harmful, and wrong. John the Baptist was killed because King Herod took an oath to give his stepdaughter anything she asked. She asked for John’s head on a silver platter. Jesus says that on most occasions you do not need to make promises or swear oaths. People should automatically trust you as a faithful Christian. Jesus says, “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’, and your ‘no’, ‘no’. Anything beyond comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37)
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” When my girls watched “Trading Spaces,” when the room was revealed, the owners would respond, “Oh, my God!” Do not use God’s name frivolously. A fourth grader asked me, “What about ‘Gosh,’ ‘Jeez,’ ‘Shoot,’ ‘Friggin,’ or ‘Darn’? I answered, “In respect to God, your Christian character and those around you, don’t even use those words. People know what those words are substituted for. If you have to say something, say like in the old Snickers commercial, ‘Great googly-moogly.'”
There’s something wrong when we use the Lord’s name in vain. There’s something wrong when we don’t give the Lord’s name the honor and reverence that is due him. There is something wrong when we feel the necessity to curse or swear, or use profane, vulgar, offensive language. You can ask Shelley, she hasn’t heard me swear in twelve years of marriage. You might think, “Well, that’s because you’re the pastor.” In truth, not using profane language has little to do with my being a pastor and everything to do with my being a Christian. As Christians, each one of us won’t want to pepper our conversation with profanity because it is against the second commandment. Instead of cursing, why not pray, “Come, help, God!” “Take away my anger, Lord!” “God counsel me! Give me your strength and peace!” That is exactly what God is telling you to do in his second commandment.
Using expletives is not only a grievous sin against our Almighty Lord who deserves better that that, but it is also the result of someone with a weak mind and poor vocabulary skills. It is especially a sin that deserves eternal punishment. Don’t forget the second part of this commandment where God says, “the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” That is a serious threat. Revere his name. Rediscover the reverence that God’s name is due.
The way we use God's name is also a sure indication of our personal relationship with him. Our speech either confirms or contradicts our allegiance to our Savior God. When we are close to God, acting as a child of our heavenly Father, then we will use God’s name properly. To take God's name in vain, irreverently or disrespectfully is like a sailor laughing at the North Star. To disregard God is to be lost! Jesus shows us a better way. He called God "Father" and said "Hallowed be thy name." Let us do the same!
With every commandment there is a positive and a negative. There are things we should not do and there are things we should do. Martin Luther explained, “But call upon God’s name in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks.”
A thief broke into the house and began to steal the valuables. He froze in terror when he heard a voice, “Jesus is watching you.” After a moment he regained his composure and began stealing again. The voice was louder, “Jesus is watching you.” He just about lost it right there. Again, after a moment, he began stealing again. This time when he heard the voice, he saw a shape in the corner of the room. He was relieved when he saw it was just a parrot who had been speaking to him. The thief asked, “What is your name?” The parrot replied, “Moses.” The thief laughed, “What kind of person would name a parrot ‘Moses’?” The parrot replied, “The same kind of person that named a rottweiler, ‘Jesus’.”
There’s power in the name of the Lord. Peter announced to a man crippled from birth, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And he walked. There’s power in the name of the Lord when we’re sick. Jesus promised his disciples and you and me, “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” There’s power in the name of the Lord when we feel alone. Jesus told his disciples to baptize “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” There is power in that name to make sinful creatures into children of God, the power to give them the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
Peter told the crowds on Pentecost, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” There’s power in the name of the Lord when our sin troubles us. Peter and John stood before the rulers of the people and said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” There’s power in the name of the Lord when our faith wavers. Jesus promises, “The Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” There’s power in the name of the Lord when we pray.
Listen to how we end each one of our prayers “in Jesus’ name.” That is not some magic incantation we add to our prayers, hoping God will hear us. When we pray in Jesus’ name, that is trusting that God will absolutely hear our prayers for the sake of his Son, who lived, died, and rose for us. It is his name and our faith in that name, that gives power to our prayers.
In my prayers, I bless my kids in the name of the Lord. That’s not a good luck charm. That’s calling the most powerful and loving God to care for his kids – to protect them from monsters under the bed in their younger years and from Satan’s influence in their growing years. When the pastor raises his hands to pronounce the blessing of the Lord at the end of a service, that’s not just a punctuation mark to let you know the service is almost done. That’s a call on the powerful name of God to go with his people all week long.
There’s power in that name of God. Names have power. Think of it: the kids are down the hall playing. There’s a squabble. One of them comes running, “Mom, he hit me.” Mom says, “Go tell your brother I said to stop it.” So the child runs back and what’s the next thing you hear? “Stop hitting me! Mom said!” That name “Mom” gave the child power.
There is power in God’s name. It is
a shield against the attacks of Satan. It is a sword to go on the offensive against
the devil’s forces. God’s name is a weapon of warfare. How many times do we sit
there with this power and just let our families be eroded and our businesses dried
up and our lives feeling empty and destitute? We are sitting there with all the
weapons necessary to defeat evil, but we don’t use it. We abuse God’s name by not
using it. Unleash the power! Pray with the psalmist, “My the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
(Psalm
God has given us his name. His name stands for everything that he is – the Almighty Creator of the universe, the ultimate Judge of right and wrong, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Savior God, a God of love, a God of justice, a God who loves us enough to punish his Son so that we might be set free from our sins, and on and on. Did you know that there are 256 names given in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ? I suppose this is because he is so infinitely beyond all that any one name could express. God’s name is greater than all others!
God has given us his name. There’s power in it. Don’t take it lightly or treat it like it means nothing. Hold it as precious and revere it. Show others your close relationship with God by the way you use his name. We take God’s name seriously because the name of the Lord is really all that he is, all that he’s done, and all that he promises to do for us. Get the name of the Lord right. Because the Lord has suffered and died to make us people who bear his name, we will call upon his name in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks. Rediscover the reverence that is due the name of the Lord. We do it all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.