Sermon 2 of 10 on Ten Commandments, God's Words for living a happy life.
Sermon 2 of 10 on the Ten Commandments
6/28/2009
Do not misuse the name of the Lord
Ten Words from God for living a happy life.
Last week I started the series on God’s Ten Words for living a happy life, by talking to you about the First Commandment, “You will have no others gods before me.” In that first sermon you learned that the first commandment does not condemn us, even though we don’t always keep it. The First Commandment does not condemn us because Jesus kept it perfectly, just as he did all the Commandments. He kept them perfectly and then willingly let those involved murder him, all for our sake. We, as all of those who trust in Jesus as their Savior are free of the condemnation that this First Commandment carried, for God on account of Jesus cannot condemn us.
We, now that we are free of the condemnation of the commandments are to use God’s commands in a positive joyful manner so that we can live happier lives, as God wants us to do. When you keep Jesus number one in your life you are living the way God wants you to live.
"My God, are you just going to sit there?" "Jesus that was a close call!" "By God, I'll get even with you!" “My Lord” or the one I am quite often guilty of, “Lordy, Lordy.” Statements like these, which misuse God's name in a thoughtless way to add color or emphasis, are a commonplace thing in our world today. While most of us are not, for the most part aware of using the name of God inappropriately many people seem almost to be unable to say even one sentence in which God's name is not abused or some crude vulgarity is not inserted. Sad to say, even in some Christian homes the names of God and of our Savior are sometimes abused and profaned, instead of being spoken reverently and lovingly in prayer or praise or testimony.
The reasons why there is so much profanity in speech may vary. It may be a long-standing habit stemming from a childhood in a home where father and mother did not guard their tongues. It may be a social habit picked up from surroundings and associates. It's interesting in this regard that a person may find himself abusing God's name in certain circumstances, to be "one of the group," while ordinarily he does not. Profanity and crude vulgarity may be just the result of laziness on the part of people who do not take the time or invest the effort needed to learn to speak well with proper words – nouns, verbs, and especially adjectives. For others it may just be a habitual way of letting off steam under tension or when frustrated or angry. And what makes all of this so difficult is the fact that you almost have to have something to say when you hit your thumb with a hammer or when you bark your shin on a chair in the dark.
But whatever the specific reason for a person's misuse of God's name on a given occasion, the real reason behind the misuse of God’s name, whether it be God, Lord, or Jesus, is that it has to be that the person misusing God’s name shows that he doesn't really appreciate or value the one whose name it is.
The Second Commandment comes to us this morning as one of God's Words for a Happy Christian Life. When we remember that he gives his commands for our good and not for his, we will surely want to receive his instruction, his correction, his guidance, his inspiration, also in this matter of not taking the Lord's name in vain.
The Second Commandment, this Word for a happy Life, is not a narrow restriction to be satisfied just by avoiding saying certain sounds and syllables. Quite the contrary! Its thrust does forbid misuse and abuse of God's name – but that implicitly encourages us to give our ears to thoughtful, attentive hearing of his name and our tongues to a sanctified speaking of his name. In fact, it calls for consecrating our very lives to continually exalting his name. What is God's name – but every title, every word, every message, by which he wants to show himself to us as our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier? Isn't his name his entire revelation of himself by which he wants to draw us into a meaningful and life-giving relationship with him as our God?
"Jesus" is a Grecianized way of pronouncing this name that is above every name. When Jesus wore it, it was probably pronounced Yeshua; that is Yahweh saves.
The name Yahweh revealed God to Israel as the living God, the "I AM", the one whose promises could be trusted. As important as Yahweh is as it tells us about God, it has been superseded in God's own will by the name that is above every name, the name Yeshua or JESUS. It is when we know God as Jesus, and invite Jesus to be Lord of our lives, that we know that nothing can separate us from God's love, not even our sins. Therefore, God highly exalted Jesus! Therefore, we, too exalt him and glorify his name.
Martin Luther, in explaining this commandment, very practically suggested that the way to stop profaning God's name is to learn to speak it properly as Christians.
When we pray we honor him above all names. How much we have to talk over with our Lord and Savior when we want his guidance in all of our life-decisions, or when we speak to him out of our need or our neighbor's need! How eagerly we should "take it to the Lord in prayer" when we hear him assure us, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."
When we offer up our praise we honor him above all names. One hymn writer has reminded us that "our noblest work is to adore." We call the forms that we use in our worship our "liturgy" – which comes from a combination of Greek words that means "the work of the people." It's our privilege as Christians to praise the name that is above every name – and we surely ought to work hard to do our best in praising him, whether in church or in our daily living.
When we give thanksgiving we honor him above all names. Jesus, you remember, experienced how thoughtless and thankless people can be. He healed ten lepers. Nine went on their way; only one returned to thank him. The other nine, no doubt, continued to enjoy the blessing of their healing, but the one who returned enjoyed also a relationship with the Healer. That's what returning to Jesus again and again with thankful hearts does also for us. It deepens and strengthens our relationship with him whose name proclaims that he is our Savior.
His name is too holy to be a careless expression, but it is not so holy that you dare not say it in faith and love as some Jewish people still do today. It is the name that is above every name, but it is a name for you to speak reverently in prayer, sing joyfully in praise, use when giving thanksgiving, and wear proudly and thankfully as Jesus’ people, for that is who we are as Christians who want to do more than anything to exalt the name of Jesus, the name above all names in all we do and say. Amen
6/28/2009
Do not misuse the name of the Lord
Ten Words from God for living a happy life.
Last week I started the series on God’s Ten Words for living a happy life, by talking to you about the First Commandment, “You will have no others gods before me.” In that first sermon you learned that the first commandment does not condemn us, even though we don’t always keep it. The First Commandment does not condemn us because Jesus kept it perfectly, just as he did all the Commandments. He kept them perfectly and then willingly let those involved murder him, all for our sake. We, as all of those who trust in Jesus as their Savior are free of the condemnation that this First Commandment carried, for God on account of Jesus cannot condemn us.
We, now that we are free of the condemnation of the commandments are to use God’s commands in a positive joyful manner so that we can live happier lives, as God wants us to do. When you keep Jesus number one in your life you are living the way God wants you to live.
"My God, are you just going to sit there?" "Jesus that was a close call!" "By God, I'll get even with you!" “My Lord” or the one I am quite often guilty of, “Lordy, Lordy.” Statements like these, which misuse God's name in a thoughtless way to add color or emphasis, are a commonplace thing in our world today. While most of us are not, for the most part aware of using the name of God inappropriately many people seem almost to be unable to say even one sentence in which God's name is not abused or some crude vulgarity is not inserted. Sad to say, even in some Christian homes the names of God and of our Savior are sometimes abused and profaned, instead of being spoken reverently and lovingly in prayer or praise or testimony.
The reasons why there is so much profanity in speech may vary. It may be a long-standing habit stemming from a childhood in a home where father and mother did not guard their tongues. It may be a social habit picked up from surroundings and associates. It's interesting in this regard that a person may find himself abusing God's name in certain circumstances, to be "one of the group," while ordinarily he does not. Profanity and crude vulgarity may be just the result of laziness on the part of people who do not take the time or invest the effort needed to learn to speak well with proper words – nouns, verbs, and especially adjectives. For others it may just be a habitual way of letting off steam under tension or when frustrated or angry. And what makes all of this so difficult is the fact that you almost have to have something to say when you hit your thumb with a hammer or when you bark your shin on a chair in the dark.
But whatever the specific reason for a person's misuse of God's name on a given occasion, the real reason behind the misuse of God’s name, whether it be God, Lord, or Jesus, is that it has to be that the person misusing God’s name shows that he doesn't really appreciate or value the one whose name it is.
The Second Commandment comes to us this morning as one of God's Words for a Happy Christian Life. When we remember that he gives his commands for our good and not for his, we will surely want to receive his instruction, his correction, his guidance, his inspiration, also in this matter of not taking the Lord's name in vain.
The Second Commandment, this Word for a happy Life, is not a narrow restriction to be satisfied just by avoiding saying certain sounds and syllables. Quite the contrary! Its thrust does forbid misuse and abuse of God's name – but that implicitly encourages us to give our ears to thoughtful, attentive hearing of his name and our tongues to a sanctified speaking of his name. In fact, it calls for consecrating our very lives to continually exalting his name. What is God's name – but every title, every word, every message, by which he wants to show himself to us as our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier? Isn't his name his entire revelation of himself by which he wants to draw us into a meaningful and life-giving relationship with him as our God?
"Jesus" is a Grecianized way of pronouncing this name that is above every name. When Jesus wore it, it was probably pronounced Yeshua; that is Yahweh saves.
The name Yahweh revealed God to Israel as the living God, the "I AM", the one whose promises could be trusted. As important as Yahweh is as it tells us about God, it has been superseded in God's own will by the name that is above every name, the name Yeshua or JESUS. It is when we know God as Jesus, and invite Jesus to be Lord of our lives, that we know that nothing can separate us from God's love, not even our sins. Therefore, God highly exalted Jesus! Therefore, we, too exalt him and glorify his name.
Martin Luther, in explaining this commandment, very practically suggested that the way to stop profaning God's name is to learn to speak it properly as Christians.
When we pray we honor him above all names. How much we have to talk over with our Lord and Savior when we want his guidance in all of our life-decisions, or when we speak to him out of our need or our neighbor's need! How eagerly we should "take it to the Lord in prayer" when we hear him assure us, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."
When we offer up our praise we honor him above all names. One hymn writer has reminded us that "our noblest work is to adore." We call the forms that we use in our worship our "liturgy" – which comes from a combination of Greek words that means "the work of the people." It's our privilege as Christians to praise the name that is above every name – and we surely ought to work hard to do our best in praising him, whether in church or in our daily living.
When we give thanksgiving we honor him above all names. Jesus, you remember, experienced how thoughtless and thankless people can be. He healed ten lepers. Nine went on their way; only one returned to thank him. The other nine, no doubt, continued to enjoy the blessing of their healing, but the one who returned enjoyed also a relationship with the Healer. That's what returning to Jesus again and again with thankful hearts does also for us. It deepens and strengthens our relationship with him whose name proclaims that he is our Savior.
His name is too holy to be a careless expression, but it is not so holy that you dare not say it in faith and love as some Jewish people still do today. It is the name that is above every name, but it is a name for you to speak reverently in prayer, sing joyfully in praise, use when giving thanksgiving, and wear proudly and thankfully as Jesus’ people, for that is who we are as Christians who want to do more than anything to exalt the name of Jesus, the name above all names in all we do and say. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 3:55 AM
|
0 comments
