OMG!

I can remember as young boy when I learned to cuss.  I was about 10 or 11 years old. Me and a few guys went bicycle riding. We rode to the high school because the high school had sidewalks all around it. We used to race around the high school.  I actually won a few times. This one particular day though we stopped to read some of the graffiti. In the graffiti were some nasty words. Like the “S” word and the “F” word and the “GD” word.  When I said those words, everybody laughed!  So I kept saying them. As I said them everybody continued to laugh. I, soon, had one of the foulest mouths on the block when my parents or brothers weren’t around.  I could cuss with the best of them. I never cussed when I was at church. For some reason, I knew it was wrong. Not only was it wrong but the words I was using were very unattractive. I was taught those words were bad because of the 3^rd commandment. Using those words are not taking the Lord’s name in vain.  This commandment came way before these words we use were even in our vocabulary.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think it’s right to yell out God’s name or  Jesus name when  you lose your temper or something happens to you that causes you to say those words.  I simply want to state those words aren’t bad because of the 3rd commandment. They are words that are just flat-out disrespectful, sometimes ugly, and it’s our church culture that has deemed certain words as bad or not good to use. The way these words are used make people look ugly.

I had a neighbor who said “F” this “SH” that, and “GD” this whenever I was around Him. We spent quite a few evening talking together. He loved to fix my kids bike. In fact he helped teach one my kids to ride their bike in the alley way between our houses. I brought one my kids over to his garage just to sit and talk one day, thinking, “surely he won’t talk this way in front of my kids.”  Well, he did.  In this case he wasn’t being disrespectful. He wasn’t trying to teach my kids these four letter words. I knew that because I knew him.  In fact he was the son of a Southern Baptist preacher. Since I was a kid I was always taught that this is what this 3^rd commandment referred to (just four letter words). Since then I have been taught that “GEE” and  “GOSH”,  “O My God”, and “O My gosh” and God Bless America are bad.

This 3^rd commandment has a much deeper meaning than just about a bunch of four letter words or those words that sound like the four letter words and even those certain phrases that have been deemed as bad. The third commandment is this – Exodus 20: ⁷ “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

In the Jewish culture the name of God is profoundly sacred. The orthodox Jew would not use the name of God. They would not pronounce the name of God. In fact, when the scribes were making copies of the Holy Scripture, when they came to the name of God they would place their pen down, rise, go, bath themselves and put on different garments. Then they would come with a pen that had never been used before and with a brand new pen they would write down the holy name of God. In some communities they feared misusing the name of God. So they wouldn’t say it. They figured if they didn’t say it – they couldn’t misuse it. They got so obsessed about with the name of God, they came up with a lot more rules to keep you from accidentally misusing the name of God. By the time Jesus came along they forgot what this commandment was all about.

The commandment says, you should not misuse use the name of the Lord our God. What this means is:

1. Don’t associate the name of God with something God is not associated with. (Andy Stanley).  Like racism or bigotry.  An example: at one point in our history we used scripture to justify slavery.

2. Don’t leverage the name of God in order to accomplish something that God has nothing to do with.

3. Don’t use the name of God to accomplish your means, your agenda, or make your ideas sound spiritual. Don’t use the name of God to get your way.

Think of it this way.  Identity theft.  People can steal your personal identity and buy things on your credit card or steal your pay check.  A few years ago, a guy from Mexico stole my daughters identity and used her information to get her paycheck.  This guy misused my daughter’s name for his gain. To misuse God’s name  is similar to identity theft. We misuse his name for our personal gain.

Here’s how we do it (how we misuse His name):

• When we make a profession of Him but do not live up to that profession.
• When we use God’s word to manipulate others.
• When we play the judge in someone else’s life.
• When we make false or glib claims about Him or His word.
• When we make frivolous vows.
  • ex: “I will do this God if you do this for me.”

• When we make up rules in the church in the name of God that aren’t spiritual or help someone spiritually at all. They are simply rules and nothing else. There is nothing spiritual about them.

Many Christians get out of sorts when people use four letter words. We say they are using God’s  name in vain. I remember Tony Campolo, a Christian sociologist, speaking at an international youth convention of the Church of God. There were about 5000 counselors and teens at this convention. He was making a point that the church was more concerned about themselves than people dying and going to hell. He said we are  full of SH**.  As about a 1000 people were leaving the auditorium, he went on to say that most of you are more concerned with me saying that word than you are concerned with people dying and going to hell. A point well taken. There are far greater concerns than using four letter words.

Here are the far greater concerns of misusing God’s name:

• You may not say four letter words but when you play the judge in someone’s life, you are misusing His name.
• You may not say four letter words but when you don’t live up to your profession of faith, you are misusing his name.
• You may not say four letter words but when you leverage God for your sake – you are misusing His name.

The second part of this commandment which says, “The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.”  takes on a whole new meaning. We thought only those who used four letter words will get punished.  Nope.

Right after God gave Moses the Ten Commandments,  Moses was given  another 100+ commandments based on the Ten Commandments dealing  with how to do, how to live, how to deal with marriage, money, and countless other issues. God knew (and knows our) their hearts.  He wanted them first to commit to not misusing His name. He knew that once He started giving all these commandments that we would find loop holes.  And because they were a religious community He knew they were going to use His name to support their loop holes they find in His law. In other words they are going to use God against himself in order to feel good about themselves. They create religious rules to get around God’s law and do it in God’s name. And we are continuing to do the same thing in 2014. We keep creating this superfluous rules that benefit us and not the kingdom of God.

We, the religious community, have done all kinds of things in the name of God that having nothing to do with God. We leverage God’s name  for our benefit. We leverage God’s name to get things done. We leverage God’s name in the church to justify a man-made rule. This is misusing the name of God. At one point in the church we used the name of God to keep people out of movie theatres, we leveraged the name of God to keep people from dancing, we leveraged the name of God to dictate a dress code.  We leveraged the name of God to stop people from playing cards. That is misusing the name of God.

A story in the bible that will help us understand this is in John 2:14-16

¹⁴ In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money.¹⁵ Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.¹⁶ Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

Let’s understand what’s going here:

This temple area that Jesus was in was nearly 500 yards long and 400 hundred yards wide and 15 stories high. The outer court of the temple compound was nearly the size of 15 football fields. The businesses that were there were legitimate and legal and provided a needed service. Faithful Jews were expected to offer animals. Why did Jesus get so upset? It  wasn’t because they were selling things.  The people didn’t carry sacrifices with them so they needed to buy a sacrifice when they came to Jerusalem. It was because  the money changers and the Temple priests and other local politicians created a network of deception, fraud, and money – making scheme to take advantage of the people. The money changers would charge exuberant fees and the animal sellers would mark up their prices.  The priest would take care of any competing markets. The whole system was filled with greed and corruption. The religious leaders  knew the people would an animal for sacrifice. So they charged them a huge fee. The money changers were charging them a huge fee and they were doing this all in God’s name. Jesus was upset because He saw the religious leaders leveraging the name of God and leveraging the law (you gotta make an animal sacrifice to get right with God). They leverage the name of  God and the law for their own benefit.

They were misusing the law and they were totally misusing the name of God. They created this system of belief that had nothing to do with God. The people came into temple thinking that everything was legitimate. After all, everything was taking place in the temple. The religious leaders totally manipulated the system in the name of God to make a buck. The leveraged the law of God for their own benefit.

To misuse God’s name is to play God against himself so that you can have your way.

You don’t have to cuss to use God’s name in vain. God wasn’t referring to four letter words and catch phrases that we don’t like. He was referring to doing and saying things in the name of God for your own personal benefit and personal justification.

How do you make this personal?

• Ask the question, “how am I using the name of God for my own personal benefit?”
• How am I using the name of God to justify certain actions?
• Are you living up to your profession of faith?

God knows your heart.  So answer honestly.