The 10 Commandments: Commandment 3

Exodus 20:1 - 17
 
Introduction
We are continuing our series on the Ten Commandments.  For the past couple of weeks, we have looked at the overall purpose of the ten commandments and I talked about what they were and were not.  The commandments were not given as a means to make us holy and righteous, but instead they were given as a way to reveal our sin nature and our inclination for rebellion against God.  Thus, when we have a proper view of the law, or the 10 Commandments, they should bring us to our knees and point us to our great need for a savior found in Jesus Christ.  At the core they show us that we cannot reach perfection and we cannot keep the commands perfectly.
 
The first commandment warns of worshiping the wrong god (there are no gods besides me) He is the ONLY God; He is not one of many gods and He certainly is not the greatest of multiple gods. No, He is one God and there are no other gods except for Him. The second commandment warns against worshiping God in the wrong way.  This includes imagining the true God as like yourself or something lower.  This means we have the tendency to make God into something of our own limited understanding, likeness, or ability to control. Today I will talk about the third commandment and it warns against irreverently misusing and abusing God’s Holy name.
 
What’s So Important About a Name?
Our names identify who we are on a personal level, but over time our name embodies who we are.  If you have known me for a period of time and you hear the name “Jeff Holton” you would immediately have a mental picture of my physical appearance and probably associate my name with a characteristic or personality trait I have.  The mention of my name could bring a positive, negative or indifferent response.  Really names trigger positive or negative responses all the time.  When I mention the names Charles Manson, Adolph Hitler, or David Koresh they would probably trigger negative responses and thoughts in your mind. But when I mention Mickey Mouse, Mother Theresa, or Martin Luther King Jr. they probably trigger a positive response or thought.
 
So, what’s the big deal about names?  For parents, choosing a name for a child can be sort of a big deal and sometimes a daunting task.  I remember with our first daughter, Carrie and I would spend countless hours talking about, researching, and debating over the name of our first daughter. Truth be told this was a long process for all of our children.  We wanted our children’s names to have a biblical significance and meaning to them, honor a loved one, be unique and not start with the same letter as anyone else in the immediate family.
 
So really our names are precious, which is why we don’t like our names ridiculed, twisted or made fun of. I remember a nickname that was given to me as a teenager that I wasn’t overly fond of.  I have always been a big boned boy (at least that’s what my mother said) so I have been on the heavy side for most of my life and having the name Holton doesn’t bode well with being fat… You know Whole Ton… As in Jeff weighs a Whole Ton!  Yeah, kids can be mean. But the nicer ones would call me “Half ton”. I honestly don’t miss my teenage years. But, before you go and say, “Poor Jeff people made fun of his name,” I had my fair share of name calling myself.
 
On the other hand, sometimes we give cute or fun nicknames to one another as terms of endearment or surnames.   Ultimately our names do not define us, they identify us.  However, this is not the case with God.
 
Commandment 3
“Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.” (Exodus 20:7)
 
The LORD’s Name
I have spent some time talking about the importance of names and how they describe us yet do not define us. God’s name is different, His name is who He is. Let’s go back to Exodus 3 when Moses encounters God in the desert.  It is in the encounter that God commissions Moses to be the one to lead the Israelites out of captivity.  Moses says, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”  God tells Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.  This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”  God also tells Moses, “The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.  This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation."  In this passage God gives Moses His proper name “LORD”.  Whenever you see the word LORD in all capital letters, you know that this is referring to the proper name of the GOD. In Hebrew, the name had four letters YHWH ( (which is called the tetragammaton: which means “four letters” יקוק yodh, he, waw, he) and the widely excepted pronunciation is Yahweh. This pronunciation was almost lost because Jews considered it so holy that they replaced its vowels with those of other divine names.  The Jews came to respect this word with such reverence that they would not speak the name because they did not want to unintentionally take the name in vain. So, whenever they came to this name in their reading, they pronounced the word adonai which means my lord. The English versions have basically followed the same pattern. They translate the proper name Yahweh with the word LORD in all caps.
 
We see the name of God is LORD (YHWH) and that gives Him a title, but how does this name define Him?
 
Read Exodus. 34:5 – 7
The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.” 6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:
The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.”
The LORD is…

1. Gracious
2. Compassionate - merciful
3. Slow to anger - patient
4. Abounding in faithful love – all loving
5. Maintaining love
6. Forgiving iniquity - forgiving
7. Just -

Since the Israelites respected and revered the name of God fervently, I think it is appropriate for Christians today to also understand that God’s name is not merely something to help us identify with a greater power or divine authority.  His name is to be revered, honored, and respected.
 
Misusing the name of the Lord…
This brings up the question, “What are the consequences for profaning or misusing the name of the LORD?” 
 
According to the Levitical law for the nation of Israel one should be put to death for misusing the name of the LORD.  Thankfully this law does not apply today because it was a civil law given to the nation of Israel. However, the law does show the severity of breaking this law.

1. Deuteronomy 5:11 “DO not use the name of the Lord for worthless purposes.”
2. Leviticus 24:16 “Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death; the whole community is to stone him. If he blasphemes the Name, he is to be put to death, whether the resident alien or the native.”
   1. The word blaspheme may be translated as “misuse”, means to “bore through or to pierce.”
   2. This can mean that misusing the name of the LORD amounts to
      1. Some sort of verbal aggression against Yahweh himself
      2. Pronouncing a curse against the man using the name “Yahweh”
      3.  Simply pronouncing the name “Yahweh” and thereby blasphemed, since the “Name” was never to be pronounced (a standard Jewish explanation).

How we dishonor God’s name
We have already established that we are not under the law but under grace, so how is it that we dishonor or profane the name of the LORD today.  Here are four ways.

1. Using God’s name in falsely
   1. This is usually in reference to oath keeping.  When one makes a covenant or promise to another by swearing on the name of the LORD this is binding.  We dishonor or misuse the name of the LORD when we make oaths, promises, and covenants in the name of the LORD and break the binding covenant.
      1. This is often the case in court room scenarios… “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God?”
   2. We also break this commandment whenever we attach God’s name to lies, half-truths or ill-conceived purposes
      1. Speaking on God’s behalf to intimidate, manipulate or control (i.e. If you disobey me, you are disobeying God”
      2. We should never slap God’s name onto something that we want to see happen. (i.e. God told me…)
2. Using God’s name frivolously or carelessly
   1. This is often the case when we use God or Jesus’ name as a curse word
      1. We reveal our attitude toward God when we speak his name lightly or irreverently.
      2. When we use God’s name as a means of profiting
         1. Peddling books, relics, sacred items, art, or philosophies for the sake of getting rich.
3. Using God’s name to promote phoniness
   1. This can occur in the area of worship. 
      1. Sometimes people will raise their hands, close their eyes or fall to their knees for showy purposes.  They want people around them to think or perceive that they are in a posture of worship, but in reality, they are only trying to look holy or impress someone other than God.
   2. Saying things in God’s name but not really meaning it. 
      1. We do this often when we say, “God Bless you…” and really we are just saying it as a means of saying “goodbye” or to give the perception of being a Christian.
         1. This happens politically all the time: Politicians know they can win votes by using God’s name, but they rarely if ever mean it.  “God bless us all and God bless America.”  Now this is a wonderful thing to say if it is heartfelt and genuine, but when it is used for personal gain, it becomes blasphemous.
         2. This also happens perceptively:  This is when people give a false impression that they are committed followers of Christ… They may use Christian jargon and use God’s name as a way to have others perceive you to be someone you are not. 
4. Our behaviors. 
   1. Romans 2:23 – 24 (Read)
      1. If we are called by the holy name of God, then we need to be careful and mindful of how we live so that we do not dishonor God through our sinful lifestyles.

Conclusion
As I conclude this message today, I want to challenge you to pray today, as you reflect on the holiness, sovereignty and greatness of our God, and determine do your words, worship, and actions bring honor or dishonor to our great and mighty God?  I will warn you that if you do accept the challenge, you will be convicted (we all will) and you must determine in your heart today, am I going to commit to living my life to bring honor to God’s name in my home, workplace, and neighborhood.