Honoring God’s Name

Take pen and paper. Write name. Study it closely. You have seen that name on…

- checks

- letters

- application forms

- school assignments

- legal documents

You have seen that name thousands of times. It’s special. It represents you.

Now say your name out loud. It even sounds special, doesn’t it? When you are in a crowded room and you hear your name spoken, you prick up your ears. When the new pastor comes to town and, after weeks and weeks of trying, he finally learns your name, it makes you feel good, doesn’t it?

I have a friend in Buffalo whose name is Jim Smith. Just for fun, recently, he attended the national Jim Smith convention. There were thousands of people there, and all of them were named Jim Smith. At least nobody had to wear name tags!

Even if it’s as common as Jim Smith, there’s magic in your name. Your name expresses your identity as a person. It’s the first thing you receive when you come into this world, and it’s the only significant thing you’ll leave behind when you’re gone. If you want to dehumanize someone, you take away his name. They do that to prisoners; they take away their name and give them a number instead.

The reason that the Viet Nam memorial in Washington is so powerful is that there are 56,000 names on it. 56,000 individuals who died. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but when it comes to a name, a word is worth a thousand pictures.

We come today to the third commandment which deals with the name of God. In our study of the Ten Commandments, we have found that they can be divided into two sections. Jesus summarized the 10C like this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Commandments 1-4 deal with our relationship with God. Those four commandments amplify what it means to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.

C-1 says that if you love the Lord your God that way, you will put him and him alone at the center of your life. You will give him your exclusive, undivided love and loyalty.

C-2 says that if you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, you will never allow any person or idea or thing to take the place of God in your life. An idol is any substitute for God.

Now Commandment 3 is going to tell us more about what it means to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. It says…

Exodus 20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

First, I want to tell you what it says. Then, we’ll talk about what it means. First, it says “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God”.

A person’s name, in OT times, was a very special thing. It stood for a person’s character, his personality, his reputation. People took great care in how they named their children. If you lived back then, and you didn’t like somebody, you might write that person’s name on a piece of pottery, and then break it. And by breaking his name, you were actually calling down a curse on his person. That is how significant a person’s name was.

When it came to God’s name, the Jews were afraid to even say it. Only the high priest would utter that name, and only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. Because the name of God stood for the person of God, in all his holiness and majesty and power.

That is why the Bible says…

Psalm 124:8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

The name of God is synonymous with the person of God.

Now C-3 says “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” The KJV says “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” That expression “in vain” means “futile, empty, worthless, barren, fruitless”. In other words, don’t let the name of the Lord your God become an empty or barren thing.

A lot of people think that this commandment simply has to do with swearing; with using the Lord’s name as a cuss word, or using his name as an exclamation, the way people say “Oh my God!”

And you might say, “‘Well, I don’t do that, so I’m in the clear on this one.” In fact, you’re probably thinking that this might be your week to relax. But let me tell you that this commandment has a lot more to it than how you use the name of God in conversation. It goes way deeper than that! Let me tell you why:

I have a good friend in NY who is the president of an airline. When his airline hires flight attendants, his director of flight personnel screens the applicants and then narrows the field down to just a handful. Then my friend, the president of the airline, sits down and interviews each one of them personally. Why does he do that?

Because when he hires a flight attendant, that person is going to put on a uniform that says North American Airlines. That person is going to bear the name of his airline. That flight attendant is going to become a representative of his airline in whatever she does, wherever she goes with that uniform on.

If her conduct is questionable inside or outside the airport, it’s going to reflect on his airline. If she shows up for work late, with her hair all askew, it’s going to reflect on his airline. If she is rude and discourteous to passengers, it’s going to convey a negative image of his airline. Doesn’t matter how good the airplanes are, how perfect their safety record, or how on-time their performance - that flight attendant has the power to shape the public’s attitude toward my friend’s airline because she bears the name, and she’s the one they see.

The word that is translated “take” (KJV) or “misuse” (NIV) is a Hebrew word that literally means, “To raise up, to lift up, to carry, or to bear.” What God is saying to us in C-3 is “Do not lift up my name in such a way as to bring dishonor to it. Do not bear my name before other people so that they will regard Me as an empty or futile God.

You are called by His name. His reputation is riding on everything that you say and everything that you do. People are going to form an opinion of who God is and what He is like by what they see in you. If you love Him with all your heart, you will want to protect the dignity and the honor of His name.

The first phrase of the Lord’s prayer is “Hallowed be Thy Name.” As Christians, our first desire should be to bring honor to the name of God. That is what C-3 is all about. That’s a whole lot more serious than just “Don’t cuss.”

So what does this commandment mean in practical terms? How is it going to make a difference in the way we live? What are some of the areas of our lives where our behavior affects the honor of God’s name.

1. People are going to form an opinion of who God is by the way we keep our commitments. Are you the kind of person who keeps his word? Who carries out his promises, who fulfills his obligations? Can people depend on you?

Ecclesiastes 5:5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

Psalm 15:1 Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man… who keeps his oath even when it hurts

Do you keep your promises, even when it costs you? Recently, I counseled a young woman who had run up $18,000 in debts on her credit cards. She wanted to know if it was right for a Christian to declare bankruptcy. To just walk away from that debt and start with a clean slate. Leave her creditors holding the bag. Take the easy way out.

I told her “Not if you care about God’s reputation. You bear the name of God, and what you do reflects on him.” A Christian who weasels out of his commitments is a pretty poor representative of a God who never does.

2. People are going to form an opinion of who God is by the way we do our jobs.

Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Yet I know some Christians who are lousy employees. They’re lazy, they’re unreliable, they don’t do an honest day’s work for a day’s pay.

I had another young woman come to me and ask me if I would serve as an employment reference for her. This gal served in the church, and she was always late. She would show up 15, 20 minutes late for everything, and sometimes she just left everybody else holding the bag. I asked her “What am I going to say to an employer who phones me up and asks me if you are reliable? I’m going to tell them the truth.” She didn’t use me as a reference!

Chuck Colson once asked a Christian man what he did for a living. The man said “I’m an ordained plumber.” That man knew that the way he “plumbed” was a witness.

The way you do your job reflects on the name of the Lord your God. Are you dishonoring God in your job performance?

3. People are going to form an opinion of who God is by the way we respond to authority.

Romans 13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

When we Christians cheerfully respond to the authority figures in our lives, we will help the world to understand that God is the authority over it all, and that he works his will for us through these lesser authorities that he has established.

If a non-Christian were to watch how you respond to the authority of your boss, or your parents, or your teachers, or the elders of your church, would they conclude that you have a great deal of respect for the authority of God in your life?

4. People are going to form an opinion of who God is by the way that we respond to the impurity of the world.

Ephesians 5:11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

How do you respond when something comes on your TV that is impure and sinful and wrong? Do you just sit through it? Do you endure it? Or do you switch it off.

How about when the conversation gets a little off-color in the lunch-room, or in the locker room? How do you respond?

We destroy our testimony when we go along with the world’s unrighteousness.

5. People form an opinion of who God is by the way we speak.

Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

If we have unwholesome talk coming out of our mouths, people aren’t going to think that the God we worship is very holy.

And if we have unloving speech coming out of our mouths, people aren’t going to conclude that God is a God of love. Some Christians, who would never dream of using the name of God as a curse word, are the biggest gossips, slanderers, tale-bearers, and backbiters that you would ever want to run into. They’re bringing dishonor to God’s name in the way they talk about other people.

We also influence people’s thoughts about God when we engage in unbelieving speech. What is unbelieving speech? It’s when I engage in any kind of conversation that denies that God is the king over this world, and over my life in particular.

That includes complaining, and griping, and whining about how bad things are. When we do that, we just reveal that we don’t really believe that God is in control. That he’s not a sovereign God. Or even worse, that he doesn’t care about us. We influence others by our unbelieving speech.

There are three principles inherent in C-3 that I want you to remember.

Principle 1 - God will guard his reputation and will vindicate his name.

That’s why he gave David the victory over Goliath. Not because David was anything special, but because God was jealous for the honor of his name.

1 Samuel 17:45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head…and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

God defended his name. That’s why God gave Elijah the victory over the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Not because Elijah was anything special, but for the sake of His name.

1 Kings 18:39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”

Sometimes we Christians start thinking that God is on our side, that God will defend us. In Joshua 5, when Joshua stood outside of Jericho, he met the commander of the army of the Lord. And Joshua asked “Whose side are you gonna take? Their side or our side?” And the Commander said “I’m not here to take anybody’s side. I’m here to take over.”

God is at work in our world, not to make us look good, not to defend our cause, or our reputation, but to make known to the world the excellence of His name. And we can either get with that program, or he’ll push us aside. If you really love God, you will have the same passion for God’s name, and God’s honor, and God’s reputation that God has.

Principle 1 - God will defend his honor and vindicate his name.

Principle 2 - If you honor the Lord, he will honor you.

1 Samuel 2:30 Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.

There will be times when it will cost you to honor God. It will cost you to keep your promises. It will cost you to tell the truth. It will cost you to speak out against evil. It will cost you to defend His name against those who would drag it through the mud. It will cost you to submit to authority.

But God will pay you back. And believe me, when God pays you back, he more than makes up what you would have gained otherwise. Just ask Job.

Principle 3 - The way you live as a Christian, who bears the name of God, has an impact on the eternal destiny of other people.

That’s why the third commandment comes with a warning: “the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses (that is, dishonors) his name.” The stakes are high.

Have you ever heard an unbeliever say: “I might become a Christian, except that I know so-and-so who claims to be a Christian and they did such-and-such.”

My wife’s grandfather at one time professed Christ, but then he turned away from the Lord because the minister in town ran off with another worman. He was a strong man with strong values, and that kind of behavior from a Christian leader completely turned him off Christians, and the church, and Jesus.

I don’t know how many unbelievers in America have turned away from the Lord because of the shenanigans that have gone on in the church these last ten years. Pastors committing adultery. Televangelists embezzling funds. Christian lay-people who have become so worldly that you can’t even tell the difference anymore. And the unbelievers look on and say “If you’ve got a God like that, then we don’t need him. He’s no different than the gods we’ve already got.”

The way that you and I live as Christians has an impact on the eternal destiny of other people, because we bear the name of Almighty God. Don’t dishonor his name!