The 3rd commandment instructs us to not misuse the name of the Lord our God. How do we not only refrain from misuse, but actively seek to honour and glorify the name our God.
Good morning, it is a joy to be here with you this morning, thank you to Paul and Claire for inviting me.
As Claire said my name is Charmaine, as our commandment this morning is about God’s name, I thought I would have a look at the meaning of some names. Its slightly hard to pin down the meaning of Charmaine – the one I like is ‘filled with delight’. Slightly easier is my middle name, Fiona, which is Gaelic and means fair or blonde (not quite sure of the suitability of that one!!). I also looked into some names you may know – Claire – which apparently means illustrious. Now I know my parents didn’t chose Charmaine because of what it means but rather because my mother liked the name. However in the Bible names were often very important. For instance prophets often were asked to name their children a name that reflected the message God was sending to his people – for instance the prophet Hosea named his daughter Lo-Ruhamah – meaning ‘not loved’. That is hard name to have to carry around. Often in the Bible people are renamed by God given a name that reflects something of who they are in his story – like Abram who God renames as Abraham meaning father of many nations. Names can have great significance in the Bible.
This morning we are looking at the 3rd commandment in your series on the 10 Commandments. “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” So far God has set in place the commandment that we are to have no other gods before him. He is our only God and we are to have no idols. We are not to worship anything we have created ourselves. Today’s commandment focuses on the name of God.
God’s name is something he has revealed to Israel. Back at the beginning of Exodus when God appears to Moses from the burning bush, Moses asks him what he is to tell the Israelites if they ask him what God’s name is and God answers:
Exodus 3:14 –
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am . [b] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ “
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, [c] 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, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.
God reveals his name to his people – he is the I AM – the God who has always been and will always be. He is the God who is – the I AM.
And it is an immense privilege for the Israelites, and today for us, to know God’s name. In fact Israel held God’s name in such reverence, that they did not dare even speak his name, instead they used the consonants YHWH, which today we translate and use as the word LORD – in fact no one really knows how it is pronounced as Israel never said the personal name of the Lord – that was how much they revered it. YHWH or the LORD, the covenantal, faithful God.
It is an amazing privilege to be able to know the name of God. To be called into a relationship where we know him by name. As the people of God, Israel had been given the privilege of knowing the name of God. As Christians we have even a greater privilege that we get to call God, Father, and we get to call his Son, Jesus. These are intimate names, names that reflect a close relationship. Jesus teaches us, to call his Father, Father along with him, but as he does he also teaches us to have reverence for his name. In Matthew 6 as he teaches the Lord’s prayer he teaches both intimacy and reverence – we are able to call God Father – great intimacy and yet we are to hallow his name – to honour and respect his name. We are not to use God’s name casually, even the right to call him Father we must remember it is a great honour. Which is why God gives us a commandment about the use of his name. His name is powerful, it is an honour to use it, we are not to misuse it.
I want us to think about 3 ways in which we use God’s name.
Firstly a don’t: The most obvious way to not misuse God’s name is to not use it as a swear word. We do not use the name of our Lord – any of his names as a swear word or an exclamation. It is so prevalent around us that sometimes it is easy for us to slip into the habit and not even realise. And even more easy for us not to realise that others are doing it even if we don’t ourselves. How common using the name ‘Jesus’ as a swear word has become is that if you look it up in the dictionary – this is the definition you would find:
[as exclamation] an oath used to express irritation, dismay, or surprise
Most dictionaries will also give you a short description of Jesus the person.
And I am sure this is one of the most common ways that we see Jesus’ name misused in the world around us, whether that is at work, school or with friends and family.
However it is not only the name Jesus we misuse – we also misuse the word God – often saying things like ‘God knows’. Without really thinking about what we are saying. Have you ever felt inclined to reply – ‘He does’ when someone says that.
These names are precious to us, they are the names of our God, and we want them to be revered and honoured. The name of Jesus is powerful, it is the only name by which we can be saved. It is a name through which people are saved and healed.
I don’t have many regrets in my life, but there is one thing about my working life before I started working in churches that I do regret. I had colleagues who swore quite a lot and they would always apologies for using words like the F word but never for using the name of Jesus, and I really regret that I never had the courage to say to them that I didn’t care what words they used as long as they didn’t take the name of my God in vain.
Jesus’ name is precious to us and is to be used with honour and reverence and intimacy but not as a swear word.
Secondly, We can name drop
Now that sounds a bit strange really doesn’t it – its not like we’re going to go around saying ‘guess who came for dinner last night – God’. But we do name drop – we use God’s name to justify things. We’ve done it through the ages. Many wars have been fought in the name of God – for which God probably did not will it to happen. And today we can easily do the same – claiming God is on our side to help us justify our position. Apparently during the American Civil war, a woman said to Abraham Lincoln ‘Oh Mr President, I feel sure that God is on our side… don’t you?” to which Lincoln replied ‘Ma’am, I am more concerned that we should be on God’s side.”.
But there are two ways I think we do it even more. Its not so much that we put God’s name to things that are not of him but even more we don’t give him the honour and credit that is due to him.
Do we take time to thank God for what he has done for us? To give him the credit when something goes well – because honestly it really is him and not us on our own we would accomplish so little. We need a smaller picture of ourselves and a bigger picture of God – and that happens not so much by lowering ourselves but by elevating God. We need to keep reminding ourselves of who he is and what he has done and is doing and is going to do. Keep a picture of a big God in our minds and remember to give him the honour – to accept it and pass it on to him untouched by our own egos.
I know in my own life I can be very good at asking God for things but less good at remembering to thank him. It’s why we say grace – a reminder that all things, including the food we eat comes from him.
And thirdly and this one really made me think – we need to make sure we don’t live an inconsistent life. We bear the family name of Christ – Christ-ians. We bear his name. do we live up to the family name. And so we need to live in a way that brings honour to his name. So often we don’t –
Titus 1:16 says They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
And we do the same – we claim to be Christians and to know God but so often our actions say anything but. And the worse thing is that it doesn’t just make us look foolish or hypocritical it can actually lead to others mocking God. They look at our behaviour and they mock God because it reflects on him how we behaviour.
We need to live lives that honour God and the name that we bear – that of Christ.
The name of our God is powerful, majestic and awe-inspiring. The name of Jesus is the name of our King, the name of our saviour. It is a great privilege that we get to call him by name, that God reveals his name to us and calls us into relationship with him. Intimacy, relationship, love and grace.
It is a privilege and one we are to honour by giving glory to the name of our God, resisting the ways of the world and standing out for being those who do not misuse it but rather bring honour and glory to it through our lives, our words and our actions.
St. George's Church Ramsgate 