COME AS A CHILD LESSON 141 - RESPECTING THE NAME OF GOD

RESPECTING THE NAME OF GOD

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

So we are still up on the mountain with Moses and God is still explaining the ten best ways for people to live.  

Moses has already heard two very important commandments; “You shall have no other gods before Me ” and “You shall not build an idol or worship a graven image.”  God seems to be reminding Moses that He should be the ONE taking center stage in His people's lives, and that He should be the most important thing about our daily lives.  

God has miraculously brought the people out of a pagan culture and into a place where they can now follow Him with their whole hearts!  He is making it plain to them that everyone should always honor and revere Him as The One and Only God of Heaven and Earth.  Included in that act of worship (did you know that cheerfully obeying commandments can be considered a form of worship?)  would be the act of  honoring God’s Holy Name.  His name is sacred and very special.  It is the name above all names which is to be given all honor and glory and praise. 

If you stop and think about it you will realize that God could not have received His Holy name from anyone else but Himself.  He did not have parents to pick out his name as you and I did.  He chose it.  He chose His name with intention and finality.  He chose His name to be higher than any other name ever uttered under the heavens.  As a matter of fact, His name is so sacred that the ancient people would not even pronounce it out loud or write it down!  They were so afraid of saying it or writing it wrong!  So they chose to use a substitute that meant "for the name of God" in place of  the real name of God when they spoke and wrote.  They thought the only One worthy enough to pronounce God’s name out loud was God Himself.  Mere, human and unclean lips should not utter such a holy name! 

Strange as it sounds, we do the same thing in another way.  We say "God" for the name of God, which is given as the tetragrammation YHWH in Hebrew and frequently pronounced as Jehovah and Yahweh and written in most English editions of the Bible as "the Lord"  owing to the Jewish tradition of reading it as Adonai ("My Lord" ) out of respect. 

Moses, being more in tuned to the times than we are today, must have had a much deeper understanding of this concept when God began to explain that His Holy Name should never be taken in vain.  God had spoken His name to Moses at the burning bush.  Moses had been told to remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.  

Ancient Jewish legend has even taught that at the time God proclaimed “Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain”; the entire universe trembled!  The witnesses from below when Moses was on the mountain with God saw thunder and lightning and felt the earth quake.   The “trembling of the earth” would represent the powerfulness of this commandment and the reverent way that we should always be approaching the name of God.  It would emphasize the importance of such a time.  This statement given to Moses commanding the people to respect the name of God could possibly be interpreted to mean:  “Do not exploit my name!”

Just what does that mean anyway?  

What are people typically doing  today that exploits the name of God?
     

Different people and cultures seem to interpret this meaning in different ways. It is a topic that often comes up, even in social media discussions.  People participating in on-line discussions have a common expression that they often use called “OMG.”  It is out there like so many other popular acronyms used by our high-tech culture.  This particular acronym is tossed around a lot, and it is very offensive to many Christians because they perceive it to be taking the name of God in vain.  (Unless you are extremely southern like me and think the letters stand for “Oh my goodness!” ) 

Even if you think this little acronym means something else and DOES NOT take God’s name in vain; it is probably best not to offend people by using it.  It might be a good and righteous practise not to use this acronym simply out of respect for God and others.  This is just one small example of how this wide-ranged topic of respecting the Name of God can be interpreted.  There are a vast number of concepts to be considered when we think about the subject and how we can best respect the Holy Name of God. 

Perhaps God has even bigger concerns here than our occasional slip of the tongue (or the fingers if you are typing text.)    It might be wise to dig a bit deeper into this territory and consider that our words tend to always reveal the truth about who we are.  God makes sure to state that we should love Him with our whole heart just BEFORE He begins to give us the commandment not to take His name in vain.  If we ARE  loving God with our whole heart; we are more likely to be proclaiming good and worthy things concerning His name and most likely we will not be intentionally throwing His Holy Name into places where it does not belong. 

Have you ever noticed how the most serious moments of our lives are usually clothed in the form of vows that we take in the name of God?  

For instance, when a couple marries they are said to be “given in matrimony under the name of God.”  Therefore; in a case where a person breaks their marriage vows, they could be considered to be taking the name of God in vain.  Most people never stop to consider this aspect of that situation.  It is bad enough that a person is in a sin; doing something very wrong, but adding taking God’s Name in vain to the equation gives it even more weight on the wrong side of the scales of justice. 

When a person goes to court to testify they are asked to put their hand on the Holy Bible and swear using the words “so help me God.”  This is to insure that they are telling the whole and honest truth.  To swear a lie would be to take the name of God in vain.   Usually a sin is a sin; is a sin, but in this case the sin grows!  Not only have you told a lie, you have misrepresented your honesty before God with your lie.   

Our high officials also take an oath in front of God to protect the citizens of our country.  This is to hold them accountable to the highest power that is in existence.  If they are not honest and not accountable to the people; they dishonor the name of God with their service. 

An oath taken under the name of God is a very serious thing!

The scriptures make it very plain that God does not condone perjury!  He will not take deliberate deceptions made in His name lightly. 

We are reminded in the holy scriptures to let our “yes” mean “yes” and our “no” mean “no.”  In other words; say what you mean and make sure it is true!  When we lie, as children of God (even when we are not under oath); we take His name in vain because He has written His name across our hearts and sealed us as His children.  We are to represent His ways through how we live out our lives.  God NEVER lies and He doesn’t want His name associated with lies that we tell either.  When you are a Christian the act of misrepresenting God is surely a sin; and it could be considered to be taking God’s name in vain.  Most people never give a thought to this.  How many little white lies have you told today?  Please don’t ask me to answer the same question!  We all are subconsciously guilty from time to time. 

 

Even though curse words are probably the shallow water in the whole over all flood of this deep, deep problem in our society; they too are to be considered.  We must guard against using curse words in our language because we are representatives of the One True God who lives within us.  

James 1:26 says:  “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.”  Don’t let your mouth defile your witness as a child of God; that would be taking the name of God in vain and it would totally destroy any goodness of the testimony of your daily life.  It is good to let everything that comes out of our mouths be pleasing and acceptable before God.

Another common way we encounter the misuse of the name of God is when people twist the meaning of scriptures and use them to their own advantage in order to get their own way instead of conforming their lives and ways to the true meaning that God intended.  Using God’s power to get your own way is truly a sin.  This too would be a form of taking God's name in vain. 

   

The up-side of keeping this third commandment of God is the fact that it keeps truth in our lives.  Truth always leads to true justice and freedom.  This is what God wanted for the Israelites as He brought them out of a pagan culture and led them toward the land of promise.  We would all do well to take such a spiritual journey in our own lives.  Coming out of pagan ways brings us to the place of living inside God’s promises. 

We must continually be aware of the fact that to lie in the name of God is blasphemy.   We have so many good scriptures that can be used to bring us through these stormy waters whenever we are feeling unsure of what we want to say.  The three scriptures below are very useful to memorize and remember concerning our speech and actions as God’s representatives on this earth:

1.  Proverbs 10:32:  The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse.

2.  Colossians 3:8:  But now you must put them all away; anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

3.  Ephesians 4:29:  Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

These scriptures are very helpful; and focusing on the full meaning of this commandment is crucial to fully understanding their full meaning.  If all one needed to do to keep the third commandment was to avoid certain socially unacceptable words, it would be the easiest of all the commandments to keep.  This isn’t the case!  The meaning goes much further than that. 

It is possible that God could have been saying:  “Don’t speak for me; let me do my own speaking!”  

Have you ever been around someone who constantly states that “God told me to do this” and “God told me to do that” and then you come to realize that they are simply justifying reasons for their own desires and using the name of God to make you agree to it; or to make what they are doing wrong or selfishly or in greed sound holy?  This happens all the time.  

The ancients used to do this with the names of their pagan gods.  They would say “Baal is going to send good weather” or “Zeus is going to get revenge on my enemies!”  God did not want his people using His name in such a casual and common way, as if they could decide what God would be thinking for the day!  The pagans made the name of their false gods seem common and ordinary.  The One True God wishes for His holy name to be used in relation to the extraordinary.  It should always proclaim the sacredness and holiness of Who He is.

And so we come to the end of the giving of the first three best ways to live.  They all portray how man should be relating to God.  God gave a very good explanation to Moses of how He wished to be treated by those whom He has chosen to love.  He desires to be revered, respected and honored.  He wants first place in our lives and our hearts.  This would be the groom's part of repeating the wedding vows of the covenant, and God is clearly stating his desire for the sacred relationship of the marriage covenant with Israel.   

We all must be careful to obey these first three commandments that draw us closer to God, especially the one discussed here today that states we are to treat the name of God with great respect and holiness.