Second Presbyterian Church

"What's In a Name Anyway? The 3^rd Commandment"
March 30, 2003

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2003 » Sermons for March 2003

#4 in the Series on The Decalogue
The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Exodus 20: 7
• Amos 5: 21-24
• 1 John 4: 13-21

Names are important! Either we love our names or we hate them. Sometimes we like one of our names better than the other name. Either the middle name or the first name embarrasses us. Perhaps J. Henry likes to be called Henry, because he does not like his first name, Jill. Sometimes men who are named after their father use the middle name (vice versa) so that he is not confused with father. Some people feel better if they have a middle name, or at least a middle initial! President Harry S. Truman was most often referred to as Harry S. Truman. What did the "S" stand for? Nothing, he had no middle name!

Often our names express our heritage; from what part of the world we came. One has a sense of a person's heritage when the name is Sean, Ian, Helga, Aristophanes, or Ricardo. My name is English, the home of my ancestry who bore that name. So, names are important and they say something about who we are.

Yet, the importance of names in our time seems to pale in comparison to the importance placed upon a person's name during the time of the ancient Israelites. In those days there were no "objects." There were no "its." Even rocks and trees were either a "he" or "she." Today we too often run the risk of objectifying people, or placing people in dehumanizing circumstances. But in those days the Israelites personified inanimate objects. Even a rock had personality and character.

Names were given to a person at birth based upon the parents' impression of the child. The names given by their mothers, to the sons of Jacob were based upon the mother's experience of why that child was born. For example, when Leah gave birth to Reuben, her first son, she said, "Because the LORD has looked on my affliction; surely now my husband will love me." (Gen. 29:32) The name, Reuben, means, "See, a son." The famous leader of Israel, Joshua, his name means, "The LORD saves;" and it is the Jewish equivalent of the name, Jesus.

Since the names for Hebrews expressed something about the character of the child, if that person experienced a major change or transformation then he/she would receive a new name that reflected that change. Thus Abram and Sarai became Abraham and Sarah. Jacob, after wrestling with the LORD, became Israel. Even Saul, after he became a Christian, became Paul. And so it goes, even into recent history in which a convert received a Christian name once he/she had been baptized.

Now, the story of the LORD's name will also help us to appreciate the commandment to not take the LORD's name in vain. In the 3^rd chapter of Exodus we have the famous story about Moses to call him out of the desert and to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. When you recall the story you will remember that Moses was very hesitant about taking on this assignment from God. Moses was not very sure about this plan. So Moses, in what seems to us as in all innocence, asks God for His name.

If I come to the People of Israel and say to them, "the God of your Fathers has sent me to you," and they ask me, "what is his name?" What shall I say to them?

Moses was asking for much more than just for a handy nomenclature with which he could conveniently refer to God. Moses was asking for an understanding and some possession of the very nature and essence of God! If God gave Moses his name, then Moses would have some power to manipulate God. In the ancient Hebrew culture if someone knew your name, they had at least some power and could exercise some control over you.

I believe that we can all appreciate Moses' predicament. If he is to go into a hostile country and try to deliver an enslaved people out of that country, then Moses would definitely want to possess at least some power to manipulate God.

And God answers Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," or I CAUSE TO BE." It is a marvelous name. Even in the very definition of that name for God it does not permit the person who knows it to manipulate God. And yet it does describe God in all His mystery: the essence of existence, the one who causes existence to happen!

Now, stay with me here. Not only is the name of God, represented in English by the four letters, YHWH, impossible to possess even when known, but for the Hebrews the name of God WAS TOO SACRED TO PRONOUNCE! The name of the LORD was too holy for a mortal to pronounce, FOR FEAR OF PROFANING IT AND TAKNG IT IN VAIN.

Whenever someone read the Old Testament and came across the name of the God he would substitute the word, "Lord," instead. The Hebrew word for Lord is ADONI. It can be translated as Lord, as in "your lordship" or to be in more familiar terms we could translate Adoni into "SIR." So whenever the name of God, the four letters YHWH appeared in the text the reader would read "Adoni," which means "LORD." To check this out all you have to do is open your Bibles to the Old Testament and whenever you encounter the actual name of God, YHWH, you will see that the word, LORD, is written in large case letters. The name of God, YHWH, is God's actual name, just like mine is Daniel. It is not an abstract, or generic name, such as "God" or "human being:" it is THE actual, specific name of God.

Now you can see how so very important a name is to the ancient Hebrew people. So, when we read the 3^rd commandment, we can begin to appreciate its admonition, "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain." As mentioned, the Hebrew took this commandment so seriously that they refused to pronounce the name of God at all!

So far I have shared with you a lot of different "stuff" about names and their use and importance. I assume that some of you found this interesting and that some of you are wondering, "what's the point?"

The point is that I hope that it gives us a sense of the seriousness that this commandment had back in those days. And we might become more appreciative about how important names were to the Hebrew in the first place, especially as it pertains to the name of God.

So let's start with the familiar. The 3^rd Commandment does include what we have usually assumed: that we are not to swear, or cuss by using God's name. This does not include all cuss words, but it does mean NOT to use Gods name when we swear, or cuss.

A common phrase today, used by too many people, is "oh my God!" And it is said so casually. I have trouble with that because it invokes God many times when the person is not really serious about praying to God. Most of us have probably used the Lord's name in vain, some time or another and I would encourage you to not do that.

There is another way that we may well be breaking this commandment. I find this way even more troubling. In our day, we do not think about this commandment as one that is referring to how we worship. It has largely been taken out of worship and understood apart from worship.

But the context of the third commandment was IN the worship setting! It was stating that the people of God are NOT to use God's name vainly, or lightly, while worshiping God! While we are here and worshiping God DO NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD IN VAIN! In other words, don't call on God, of you really don't mean it!

How does one take the name of the LORD in vain while in a worship service? Let me give an example. Whenever we pray and call upon God, but do not offer our lives to God's service, then we have broken this commandment! Almost every Sunday we pray the Lord's prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven, HALLOWED (or holy) BE THY NAME. There it is, the congregation is calling upon the holy name of God. Therefore the congregation had better mean what it says when it says:

Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth (yes, GOD'S will on earth, not MY will!) as it is in heaven.

Do we REALLY MEAN THAT? Or are we just saying it by rote! If it is by rote, then we are guilty of taking the name of the Lord in vain. Our Lord demands us to give up our hypocrisy. Do not fool around with worship of God, for God demands honesty and humbleness from us. God demands sincerity! God does not care for empty, pious words sprinkled liberally with God's name. That is hypocrisy and it would be breaking the 3^rd commandment.

So when we are worshipping God we better mean what we say! In the book of Amos, an Old Testament prophet, we see one of the several places where God speaks out against worship as empty ritual, rather than genuine response by people who live according to the will of God.

Amos 5: 21-24, the LORD speaks:

I hate, I despise your feats,
And I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings,
I will not accept them,
And the peace offerings of your fatted beasts
I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
To the melody of your harps I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

This quote from Amos gives you a sense of what he 3^rd Commandment is demanding the followers of the LORD.

Since we don't do animal sacrifices, perhaps God, through Amos, would say the following to present day Christians, at least to some.

I hate, I despise your sermons and your special holidays.
I take no delight in weak and listless recitations of your creeds and Congregational prayers;
Even though you pay your pledges and your offerings, I will not accept Them,
And your practice of Sunday School, Communion and Baptism I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs, pianos and organs;
To the melody of your music I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

1 John, in our lesson is essentially stating the same thing:

We love, because he first loved us. Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars.

It's as if John were saying:

Stop bickering and complaining.
Don't talk about others behind their backs.
If you have a problem with someone, remember to pray for that person,
and try to approach that person in love and compassion.

When we worship God with our lips and contradict God with our behaviors and habits, then we are taking the name of the LORD in vain. This is the name of the God who has delivered us from death through the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is the LORD, the God whom we are to worship and praise.

It is so easy for us to get caught up in every day living and everyday concerns that we do not have the time to allow the Spirit of Christ to enter our hearts and transform our lives. It is too easy to see our religious practices just be those habitual rituals we only do on Sunday morning and on certain religious holidays. It is too easy to experience it as just a small part of our overall schedule. But God is inviting us to put off our feeble attempts toward religious practice and to respond with our entire lives to God's love, power and grace.

Our religion is not supposed to be a Sunday morning practice. It needs to become the pervading process from which we live every moment of our lives - as women and men who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ.

"You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name."

We are to refer to God with up-most reverence and awe, knowing that we are referring to the One who is Almighty, who created and who redeemed us. Especially in worship, we are to not take lightly, at all, our songs and prayers to the LORD, but back them up with committed daily living - committed to being faithful to the One God who really is God.