What's in a Name?

NOTE: The manuscript is only lightly edited and may contain spelling or grammatical errors, as well as possibly deviating from the actual audio of the final sermon delivery. Quote with caution.

What is in a name? It’s a question I borrow from Pastor Kevin Deyoung as we ponder upon the third commandment and its implications for today. What’s in a name? That question finds an origin in the teenage melodrama, Romeo & Juliet, finds many memorable monologues. One of which finds Juilet lamenting that her love is from the family Montague and she is a capulet. Had he any other name, their love would be fine, but his family name keeps them apart. She laments, stating aloud: 

“’Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself though, not a Montague. What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O! be some other name: What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name; And for that name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself.”

Juliet laments that her lover's name keeps them separate. These two lovers embark on a journey to pursue their love regardless, but it ends in tragedy. After all, a name is not something one easily discards.

I'm sure you mirror a growing frustration I have in watching various parents name their kids in increasingly obtuse ways. You know these parents, they go, “Oh, her name is Jessica, with two y's and an N.” And you're just sitting there confused, going, "Where is the N!? Where's the N coming from?! Where did you get an 'n' in Jessica?!" Someone call CPS on those folks.

We recognize such things are foolish because we know that a name is valuable and important. It's your identity marker; a name is who you functionally are. Your family name carries with it certain connotations, some bad and some good, some obscure, some well-known. It embodies every part of you, and thus a name is not easily discarded, nor should one be flippantly invoked. If this is true for humans, then it is most true for the Lord of all creation.

A Reminder/Recap

 As we review the third command, I remind you of the purpose of this series. We don't dive into the Ten Commandments because we want to be legalistic, funny duddies. We dive into the Ten Commandments because God's Word is beautiful. And we, as His people, want to honor Him as best as we can. Insofar as it's in our power, we want to be golden representatives of our King. We want to be the bestest ambassadors of Christ's Kingdom. How can we do that if we are perverting the very laws by which His kingdom is run?

Furthermore, we do this series as an answer to the mindless dribble of those who say that God's laws are uber simple to follow. "Just love God and love others," they might say, ignoring the fact that when you divorce the idea of love from the Creator of love, then love becomes definable by your specific terms. Love becomes an idol of your own creation.

So yes, like the first and the second laws, we might mistakenly believe we follow this third one simply because we don't live in a culture where the law would make more poignant sense. "No other gods before me" makes sense in a pantheistic culture. But in today's self-proclaimed enlightened culture, there are no such things as gods. And if we only follow one, the one true God, then, of course, we're okay. But as we learned in the first week, sometimes we follow other gods while claiming to follow the one true God.

Which brought us to part two, where we're told, “Don’t make idols.” We're not to make idols and we errantly say, "Well, of course, I don't make little figurines that I worship. I don't even set up pictures in my house of God or Jesus." Yet, all the time, what we do is we enshrine our own ideals, our own understandings, our own desires, and elevate them to God's desires. And then we have set up an idol in our hearts, revealing that we don't care about God remaking us. We just want Him to conform to our image, rather than us to be conformed to His.

Just Don’t Cuss… Easy!

Which brings us to number three: "Do not take my name in vain." To take God's name is, as I understand from my studies this week, to use it in such a way as to bring disrepute upon His character or upon His deeds, or to irreverently misuse His name in any way.

See, I wasn't raised to recognize what using the Lord's name in vain actually meant. I imagine like many of you who grew up in church, you had the same upbringing as me. "Don't swear using God's name. Don't say 'Jesus Christ' when you stub your toe. Don't say 'God' and then end that sentence (with two other words that I can't say in a pulpit)." That's the way I was raised to think about it.

Which, if that is all that this third command means, we might easily say, like we said of the first two commands, “Of course we're following this one. Of course we're being good little Christians and not using the wrong words. We say other words all the time, other words that might bring disrepute to God's name. But we don't use the wrong words. Just don’t cuss… easy!”

And I think that illuminates a fundamental issue with evangelical Christianity, especially in America, where it gets boiled down to list-keeping and rule-following. If you tick off the right boxes, you're A-OK. But if you do not tick off the right boxes, then you are not OK. Rather than recognizing who God is and being in perpetual awe and reverence of this mighty King, we instead improperly invoke His name every day by being people who forget that our identity is found in no one else but God. And that if you bear His name in the world, then you will be marked by a distinct obedience to His Word, not because you're ticking a box on a list, but because it is the best way to live.

GotQuestions.org explains what taking the Lord's name in vain means this way: 

"In the Old Testament, bringing dishonor on God’s Name was done by failing to perform an oath or vow taken in His name (Leviticus 19:12+). The man who used God’s name to legitimize his oath, and then broke his promise, would indicate his lack of reverence for God as well as a lack of fear of His holy retribution. It was essentially the same as denying God’s existence. For believers, however, there is no need to use God’s name to legitimize an oath as we are not to take oaths in the first place, letting our “yes be yes” and our “no be no” (Mt 5:33-37+). There is a larger sense in which people today take the Lord’s name in vain. Those who Name the name of Christ, who pray in His Name, and who take His Name as part of their identity, but who deliberately and continually disobey His commands, are taking His Name in vain. Jesus Christ has been given the Name above all names, at which every knee shall bow (Philippians 2:9-10), and when we take the Name “Christian” upon ourselves, we must do so with an understanding of all that signifies. If we profess to be Christians, but act, think, and speak in a worldly or profane manner, we take His name in vain. When we misrepresent Christ, either intentionally or through ignorance of the Christian faith as proclaimed in Scripture, we take the Lord’s name in vain. When we say we love Him, but do not do what He commands (Luke 6:46), we take His name in vain and are possibly identifying ourselves to be among those to whom Christ will say, “I never knew you. Away from me” in the day of judgment (Matthew 7:21-23).  The name of the Lord is holy, as He is holy. The name of the Lord is a representation of His glory, His majesty, and His supreme deity. We are to esteem and honor His name as we revere and glorify God Himself. To do any less is to take His name in vain.”

 To take the name of God in vain was a matter which merited severe punishment. In the time that these words were written, there was a severe punishment for blaspheming the name of God— the offender would be put to death. In Leviticus 24:16, we read that 'Whoever utters the name of the Lord or blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death.' Blasphemy is to speak as an insult to the Lord or to show contempt for the Lord, to disrespect the lack of reverence. 

Now, there are many atheists who will do this, and it makes sense as to why they would do this. What makes no sense is why there are people who claim Christianity and do this. Obviously, as stated before, the command to not take the Lord’s name in vain prohibits a false oath. In Hosea 10:4, we read of people who “make many promises, take false oaths, and make agreements; therefore, lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.” Leviticus 19:12 simply reads, “Don't swear falsely by My name, and so profane it.” It's a very severe thing to take an oath under the Lord's name. It’s downright horrendous to do so and then renege on your promises.

There are many false prophets and teachers that run around invoking God's name despite the fact that they speak with falsehoods. Of these, they were also to be put to death. Deuteronomy 18:20 speaks plainly: “If any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.” Feel free to pull out that next time you witness someone who falsely prophesies; “You ready to die for what you wanna say?” 

Simply put, it's a severe matter to take the Lord's name in vain. And yet people do it all the time. How many times have we heard somebody say, 'The Lord showed me, the Lord told me, the Lord revealed to me”? But if the Lord didn't reveal it to them or speak it to them or put it on their heart or whatever, they say they speak in vain. A name is an embodiment of who someone is, so it is a violation of their name when you invoke it to falsely legitimize yourself, to ridicule them, make fun of them, manipulate them, or otherwise. And God takes His name very seriously. 

Psalms 29:2 says very plainly, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.” The very opening of the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6:9 reads,  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” That word 'hallowed' means greatly revered. It’s translated from ἁγιάζω (hog-ee-ood'-zoh). It means to “make holy, treat as holy, set apart as holy, sanctify, hallow, purify.” A hallowed name is a name of utmost significance.

This is a name worthy of all honor; it is a holy name. In fact, that's how the CSB translation tranlates that word others translate to 'hallow.’ They say, “Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy” The impression we get from this is that the very first thing we must do before we even begin to pray, before we begin to approach God, is to understand that He is holy, to understand that He is worthy of all our glory, all our worship, all our utmost respect and deference. 

Long story short, there’s more at stake than just cussing. 

What's In Your Mouth?

What’s in a name? Romans 10:13 says, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Consider your salvation is only found in this name. The pathway to heaven is in this name. It's the way to move away from our sinful, selfish ways. By this name and no other. There is no other name by which we can seek salvation.

As Philippians 2:10-11 tells us, "at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." This name will be praised and glorified in the heavens and on the earth, everywhere. Who is worthy of such honor and glory? Only one who bears this name. 

To take such a name in vain is foolishness. Pastor Phil Ryken describes the seriousness of breaking the third commandment this way:

"A more serious way to break the third commandment is by using God's name to advance our own agenda. Some Christians say, 'The Lord told me to do this,' or worse, they say, 'The Lord told me to tell you to do this.' This is a false prophecy. God has already said whatever he needs to say to us in his word. Of course, there is also an inward leading of the Holy Spirit, but this is only an inward leading and it should not be misrepresented as an authoritative word from God."

We often frivolously tack the word of God onto our plans and decisions, violating this commandment. It happens all the time. We presume to know and follow God's words, yet we may presume too much. Perhaps it's because we assume our words are powerless and meaningless. We think no one listens to us, so we say whatever we want. However, God knows our hearts, even if we get the words wrong. So what's the big deal, right?

Let's remember that words have power. They've shaped people into greatness and broken others  down into husks of their former selves. Words have built kingdoms and torn down strongholds. Words are powerful, so we should never assume our words are powerless.

Yet, knowing the power of our words, we often misuse them. We speak things into existence, utter lies over our own lives, speak harshly to our spouses, or rudely about our co-workers. Perhaps we don't even invoke the name of God, but as Christians, people know who we are, and God's name becomes imperceptibly and inseparably attached to the words we speak. So, what comes out of our mouths reflects God, for good or ill. 

Of course, few American Christian operate as if this was the truth. As evangelical Christianity synergizes personal piety with consumeristic trends that go along with the cultural flow, we might lose sight of what we’re commanded to do and who we’re commanded to be. American Christians are often given a checklist, and if they follow it, all is well with their souls. This checklist mentality can lead to a dangerous attitude. We believe we don't speak as foully as non-believers, yet our lips may still be tainted.

God reminds us with His third commandment that mere abstaining from idolatry is not enough. We must also honor and revere the name of God. He knows our hearts and knows it's altogether too easy to find ourselves making an idol out of God, trying to fit Him into our reductionistic ideals, morals, and theologies. We may claim sinful desires and selfish ambitions, even sanitizing them in His name. God hates that.

So let’s not take God's name in vain trying to fit Him into our small world and ideas of right and wrong. Let's not presume that what makes us happy makes God happy. Let's not assume that just because something was successful in our lives, it honored God and gave reverence to His name. Let's not remold and redefine God to fit what we want. We should either drift towards self-worship or worship God fully. Because trying to have it both ways is not what God desires. He almost seems to say, “If you're going to attempt to have your cake and eat it, I prefer the pagans to you.”

John Piper, answering how he defines taking the Lord's name in vain said this:

“So it doesn't just refer to a certain tone of voice or a certain use of the word. It's dealing with God and speaking of God in a way that empties him of his significance. This includes both throw-away words—like ‘God!’ or ‘Jesus!’—as well as speaking about him in trifling and flippant ways. Not just swear ways but cheap ways, low and insignificant ways that just treat him like a commodity. And when you hear them you sense that there is no weight to that sentence, no corresponding emotion to that statement. It seems to have just been gutted. God, Christ, the cross, the things he is and the things he did are great, and they're weighty. And there's a certain corresponding demeanor of worship that should be there. So I think taking the Lord's name in vain is more than ‘O my God!’ or ‘Jesus Christ!’ It is that plus more. The positive way to look at it is to revere God, love God, delight in God, know God, fill up God with all that he is. And then out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak.” 

You see, we often, as Piper says elsewhere, misuse His name and empty it of its significance. We empty the name of its weight and glory. During my study this week, I came to my own sudden crushing realization. There have been times even in my own life when I've incorrectly invoked God's name. I've said, 'Well, I feel like the Lord told me,' or, 'I feel like God drew me in this direction, and you should go that way too.' That's taking His name in vain.

I’ve dealt with far too many people that take God’s name in vain; as I’ve attempted to pastor away from self-destruction they claim God is pulling them in another direction. When you reject the advice of others and insist that 'God told me to go this way,' you're misusing His name. You're merely seeking approval for your own desires. When you use a scripture out of context to support an idea you want to be true, you're using God's name in vain. As a pastor, if I ever teach, write, or speak from scripture in a careless way, I'm misusing His name, emptying Him of His significance, weight, and glory in my life.

We must remember who God is. God is here to remind us. He says, plainly,

'Don't take My name in vain.'

“I Am Who I Am, so Don’t Use My Name in Vain”

What is God's name? What's in His name? From the burning bush, He said to Moses,  'I am who I am.' Yahweh. This name is utilized over six thousand times in the Old Testament. It suggests the timelessness of God, the very foundation of all existence. All other creatures are named. The creator names himself.

This is a powerful name. Jewish tradition revered it so profoundly that people even refused to pronounce it for fear of breaking the third commandment. In older Bibles, you'd see the word 'LORD' in all capital letters, showing respect for God's name. God says, “Here's My name. I delivered you from Egypt. I and I alone did that. Do not use my name incorrectly. Put some respect on My name.”

Does your tongue reflect and respect God? Are you careful with what you say?

As the Apostle James says in James 3:5-6, 'How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.' With your words, powerful words, you can either set a Godly tone, or set a wildfire to the things in your life and burn them down. You can set a wildfire to your marriage, your children, your co-workers, and your fellow church members, burning their lives down. I've had people say heinous, horrible things to me that almost burnt me down. Why did they gain this purchase in my heart? Because the tongue is powerful.

What would happen if you used the power of your words with the reverence for God that He is due? If you remembered that you are His and He is yours? If you respected that and understood this name, you'd never fail to remember that God is the one who rescued you. Show Him gratitude by not misusing His name, saying things inappropriately, or using His name as a curse.

God's name is His reputation. He acts for the sake of His name (Ezekiel 20:9), He leads us for the sake of His name (Psalm 23:3), and He even saves us for the sake of His name! As Psalm 106:8 says,  “He saved them because of His name, to make His power known.”

What's in a name? That's in a name. The greatest name of all.

How often do we, in the course of our lives, participate in or hear others cheapening God's name? Cheapening it by turning such a crucial element of His character into little more than an expression of pain, anger, or frustration at the normal things that happen in life? Stubbed toes. Unexpected bills. Moronic politicians. None of these things will change by the time you reach your 50s. (Sad to break the news to you this way) And yet, we sometimes take God's name in vain by using His name as an expression of anger at these completely normal things in life.

But also remember, it's more than simply avoiding cursing using His name. The word 'vain' in Hebrew can also mean thoughtless or meaningless. So, you have all these Christians who don't curse, but they are participating actively in a religion of going through the motions of thoughtlessly praying to God as a mere form of lip service. The actual name of God as His personal covenant name deserves better. Not treated as a cheap metric for how righteous we are, but as the greatest treasure; the treasure of knowing that we can be in a relationship with the Almighty.

Just as we would not want to go through motions in our relationships with our dearest friends and families, so too God does not want us merely to go through the motions in our relationship with Him. I wonder how many of us do end up going through the motions.

First, we might say that there are no other gods, and we mean it with our hearts. We then smash our idols, recognizing that an idol is because we said it should be. God is just because He is. He doesn't need us to sustain him. Unlike idols, which we name, Yaweh names himself. And after all that, the implication is that we change how we operate in life, even down to the words we speak, knowing that we bear His name on our foreheads.

Preachers are a big target here (Teachers and prophets notwithstanding). How anyone can speak casually from the pulpit blows my mind. If you are not shaken when you have to preach, if you're not crushed by an overwhelming burden of having to speak from the Word of God, if you're that guy who's coming in saying, “It's so great to see everybody! Who's having a fantastic Sunday?! Let me tell you a story about my family that barely tangentially relates to the text I just carelessly read.” 

Reality is, if you come up here, you are speaking under the crushing weight of God's Word. Yet all across America today, thousands upon thousands of men and women are profaning the name of God, blind to the weight of His Word. They're far too quick to tell people in their congregations that 'God told me' as opposed to just letting that go and saying, 'Here's how I understand things, and I am humbly open to God correcting me on the matter.'

We try to invoke God's name like it's some magic, thinking that tacking on 'in Jesus' name' to our prayers means we can make whatever we want to happen happen, all the while profaning the name of the Lord. A Lord, who by the way, speaks on His own behalf. Works on His own behalf. In Ezekiel 36:26. He says very clearly to His people, 'It is not for your sake, Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of My holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you came.'

Christians, let's get one thing straight. If you bear the name of Christ, it is not because of anything you did. You are not who you are because of who you are or because of what you've done. It's because of who He is, and He has done so for His sake.

As I said before, this word we get for 'vain' is the Hebrew word 'shav,' and I apologize for my horrible Hebrew. “Shav” means desolate, worthless, and consequential, unrestrained, futile, false, magic. The Israelites were warned to restrain from speaking other gods' names or swearing by them, thus proving that they had a covenant with God. Similarly, if you think about taking someone's name in our culture, that usually refers to when a bride changes her last name to her husband's name as a sign of their marriage covenant. He makes a covenant with His people, and part of this covenant is that they are not to treat His name as worthless or inconsequential. They are not to be unrestrained with His name. As God's people, they are not meant to invoke it for false means.

 I think American Christians forgot that they are in a covenant with God. I don't think we got into post-Christendom in America accidentally. I don't think we were just bumbling along our happy, merry ways, diligently preaching and adhering to the Word of God, and then, whoops, all of a sudden, the West has a post-Christian mindset. How did that happen? 

I'll tell you how it happened. Hundreds of thousands of Christians, every single Sunday, take the Lord's name in vain. Silly example, just one. Every Sunday, people would come from church in their Sunday best and treat waiters and waitresses like crap and not tip. Used to blow my mind as a worker in the restaurant industry; “They know where you came from! They know what you just did! They know who you claim to be and who you claim to follow!”

It's just one example, but over time, instead of pursuing reason, people change to what is 'reasonable.' You know, that's what post-Christianity is. It's not what you pursue by reason, because any reasoned individual will have to come to the conclusion that either there is a God, or everything they try to base their lives upon—morals, ethics, pursuits of happiness and joy—are all ultimately futile. But post-Christendom doesn't rise because of reasoned individuals. It rises because of individuals who say, 'Let's pursue what is reasonable.' We're not pursuing what God wants; we're pursuing what is reasonable.

Churches are losing people, so what do they do? They do what is reasonable and change the system to fit culture. They change the metrics to fit consumeristic practices. Post-Christendom arises not because of reason but because of an endless pursuit of what seems reasonable.

And now, we come to where we are today. It's not reasonable to follow a God who doesn't affirm you and what you want to do with your life. It's not reasonable to expect people to surrender to an authority that is higher than themselves. It's not reasonable to suggest that God's will might not align with the will of our age. I've said that so many times. I'm probably going to start gaining a reputation as an unreasonable person. But I don't care about being reasonable if I am profaning the name of God. He's so much greater than I could ever dream of being, so why would I confer my words onto His name when something better can be spoken?

Post-Christendom Christianity, what they do is they demythologize, dehydrate, and outright deny many aspects of God. To say nothing of denying His wrath, which happened a long time ago, but also deny that He might, weird idea, want the people who follow Him to conform more to the image of Christ and lessen their self-made images? And because Post-Christianity has demythologized, dehydrated, and denied these aspects of God, essentially profaning His name, the surrounding culture sees themselves as free to disparage and deny the Almighty without fear. Who knew that when you soften the picture of God to appeal to the masses, the masses think God is soft?

“But… we're not cursing, we don't use specific words.” No, but you trivialize God; you've made Him trite in the eyes of the surrounding culture. We're so used to people getting up on stages and being charismatic, giving dollar-store TED talks: “God said, God showed, God wanted.” We're so used to praying in Jesus' name, using it superstitiously, like if we just tag on that phrase at the end of a prayer request, it's a magic passcode that can get us whatever we ask heaven for. It's vain, it's thoughtless, it's false, it's waving our little fingers like we've said the magic words and now God dances to our tune.

'In Jesus' name, I'm more than a conqueror.'

'In Jesus' name, my finances will be filled to overflowing.'

'In Jesus' name, all these demons that are attacking me will be fleeing in my presence.'

That third one actually came from somebody I spoke to once, and without blinking, I told her, “I think you're just pretending you're under constant demonic attack because you don't want to acknowledge that you still have flesh that you refuse to crucify.” I'm an unreasonable person, sue me. I don't have any interest in serving a God that I can manipulate with my words. What sort of God would that be? Not one worthy of my worship, I tell you that.

Do You Tremble?

I told you earlier that the third commandment was taken very seriously by ancient Israel. I don't think I emphasized just how serious it was. At one time, scribes wouldn't even write down the name Yahweh until they first took a bath and changed their clothes. Then, after they had written it, they would take another bath and change their clothes again because they trembled before God.  I wonder, friends, do you tremble? Deuteronomy 28:58-68 reads,

“If you are not careful to obey all the words of this law, which are written in this scroll, by fearing this glorious and awe-inspiring name—the LORD, your God—he will bring wondrous plagues on you and your descendants, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses. He will afflict you again with all the diseases of Egypt, which you dreaded, and they will cling to you. The LORD will also afflict you with every sickness and plague not recorded in the book of this law, until you are destroyed. Though you were as numerous as the stars of the sky, you will be left with only a few people, because you did not obey the LORD your God. Just as the LORD was glad to cause you to prosper and to multiply you, so he will also be glad to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be ripped out of the land you are entering to possess. Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. You will find no peace among those nations, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despondent spirit. Your life will hang in doubt before you. You will be in dread night and day, never certain of survival. In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread you will have in your heart and because of what you will see. The LORD will take you back in ships to Egypt by a route that I said you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

Boy howdy, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I’m aware this isn’t a particularly cheerful message. But I’m not in a cheery mode. I’ve got to tell you what’s in God’s Word, unadulterated and unfiltered. This, what we just read, is genuinely what these people believed. This is how much they revered the name of God, for a time at least. 

When the name of God is revered in your mouth, when you are speaking of Him in a way that honors His name, you thrive. Who would have known? And even when everything in life is crumbling around you, you still remain steadfast. You still remain a stalwart pillar. Why? Because you've placed your hope in something higher. You've got an awe-inspiring God who's glad to prosper you, to multiply you, and is also glad to cause you to perish and destroy you. Whatever happens, God is glorious, and it is by His will that I even breathe and have my existence. So, I will thank Him for every breath, for every beautiful morning, for every day that I get to have Him as mine.

That's what's in His name.

To be sure, we can have an overt focus on the word itself, which might overlook the broader implications of the commandment, which, as I have expressed thus far in this sermon, is that we are forbidden to invoke His name in a way that is frivolous or empty. People co-opt the name of God and use it for their own means all the time, and it likely makes God vomit. “Which God do you serve?” the world silently asks.

 I serve the prosperity gospel God. 

I serve the Word of Faith God. 

I'm sure you've heard of feminist God or patriarchy God. 

I'm sure you've heard of queer God. 

What about nationalistic God? Republican God or Democrat God? 

People in churches, and in gay bars, in clubs and on platforms, in front of thousands of people - politicians, pastors, profiteers, whoever - invoking and co-opting God's name and using it for their benefits. This is something that you would expect a pagan to do. But for people who claim the name of Christ, it is nothing less than horrific, and it makes God seem inconsistent and misattributes things to Him that never belonged to Him. Jen Wilkin, in her book '10 Words to Live By,' put it this way: “Speaking hallowed words but living hollow lives.”

Dear church, do you tremble at the name?

“Do What I’ve Commanded”

 Or do you go several days, weeks even, where you pay little mind to the reality that you are His? How, indeed, are you doing with the first two commandments? You probably evaluated your life and maybe you saw one or two things that you really need to start looking at. But as we get even deeper, you'll start to realize the implication of the first and the second commandment echoing everywhere in our lives and realizing, “Look, there's yet another idol that I didn't realize I had. There's yet another place where God doesn't have first place in my heart.”

What's in a name? This name is not a name of confusion but a name of clarity. But the American church has definitely made His name unclear to the masses in a way that we have schizophrenically represented, or I should say misrepresented, His name.

The classic comedy sketch 'Who's on First' by Abbott and Costello sprung to mind when I was thinking about this. It's a humorous situation between a peanut vendor and a baseball manager. The players on the team have confusing names, such as the first baseman whose name is 'Who.' Thus, when Costello asks the question, 'Who's on first?' and Abbott answers, 'Yes.' The answer is obviously confusing and frustrating for Costello, which leads to the following exchange: 

“Costello: I mean the fellow's name. 

Abbott: Who. 

Costello: The guy on first. 

Abbott: Who. 

Costello: The first baseman. 

Abbott: Who. 

Costello: The guy playing…

Abbott: Who is on first! 

Costello: I'm asking YOU who's on first”

A classic. Watch it if you haven’t seen it. The point of the exchange is that words and names are important. If you don't fully understand the context of the names, you can get into some pretty confusing situations. People are confused about what the name of God actually means because they see all these different misattributed usages of God's name floating in the air.

And yet, it could be fixed if we stop taking the Lord's name in vain, stop speaking in a way that is lying or deceitful or meaningless. Be careful that you don't represent or use God's name in a way that is disingenuous or dishonest. Remind yourself that He has meaning in His very name; it's not just another name. It is the name above every name, and His name will receive proper deference at the end of all days. As the classic children’s hymn reminds us:

“Oh, be careful, little tongue, what you say,

Oh, be careful, little tongue, what you say.

There’s a Father up above looking down in tender love,

Oh, be careful, little tongue, what you say.”

Revelation 15:4 states it plainly: “Lord, who will not fear and glorify Your name, for You alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before You because Your righteous acts have been revealed.” In Matthew 12:36, Jesus promises that we must give an account of every word that we speak, every idle word. We bear His name, and every single word we utter will be brought to judgment. My first thought when reflecting on that earlier this week is that there's a lot of Facebook theologians that might want to consider logging off for a while. Some people might even take a vow of silence… seems a wise move.

But I think the implications of the command go deeper than merely shutting your mouth and being mute all the time. Because whether speaking or remaining mute, whether you're being passive or being active, every single thing you do bears His name. The question is, are you bearing it well?

C.S. Lewis, in his book 'Mere Christianity,' which every Christian should read, said that Christians should be little Christs. Paul said to “follow me as I follow Christ.” Be a person who emulates Christ, who lives a life that reflects Christ in all aspects of your life, a stunning reflection. 

In Luke 6:46, Jesus asked those harrowing words that should make us all pause, if only for a moment: “Why do you call Me Lord and not do what I tell you to do?” Do you call Him Lord and not do what He tells you to do? Acknowledging that God is our Creator and so we belong to Him, our Lord, and so we follow Him, our Savior, so we are grateful to Him and then living a life that completely contradicts that is another way of taking God's name in vain. If He is Lord, then shouldn't we do what He tells us to do? And if we do not, how is that honoring the name of God? 

It’s a difficult thing to wonder if we’re being proper reflections. It’s a better thing to do than live mindlessly representing the name above every name without working through how we act. Brennan Manning, who was a priest, said it this way: 'The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him in their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world will simply find unbelievable.'

By the act of living lives devoid of integrity, of claiming the name of Christ and using His name in vain, we dishonor Him and fail in our Christian witness. When we try to evangelize, we fail in our mission to tell all the world about the risen Savior. We take God's name in vain.

Friends, I ask you, do you take God's name in vain? When people look at your life, is there something distinctly Christian about you? Is there something distinctly Christian in how you speak, how you operate, or do you live a vain life? I don't want to get to the end of my life and know that I have said most things that were meaningless, which is why I'm always second-guessing myself, triple sometimes quadruple-guessing myself. Every errant word that slips past my lips will be judged.

The encouragement for today, if the negative imperative is to not take the Lord's name in vain, the positive command is this: live a life that is meaningful, puts weight upon the name of the Lord. This means that you must remind yourself that there is weight behind every word you speak, weight behind every deed that you do, every moment that you do or say something to anyone or any place. It is an opportunity to either be an ambassador of the beauty of God's grace or to profane the name you claim. As Colossians 3:17 reminds us, 'Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.'

I leave you, reminding you: with God, we ask, 'What's in a name?' With God's name, friends, everything. The greatest calling you will ever be called to in your lives is to bear that name well. I pray you rise to the task.