A Sermon On:
Exodus 20: 7
Leviticus
24: 10-23
PREPARED BY
KEN GEHRELS
PASTOR
CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
NEPEAN, ONTARIO
I want to begin this morning with a quiz. I'm going to say a phrase and would like you to
guess what sort of person would speak this way. Who would use the following sort of
sentence?
Let's check your score -
How'd you do? Anybody get them all?
Some of them you probably guessed right off the bat. Obviously - you said. Only a
computer programmer speaks that way. Only carpenters talk about cantilevered joints. Who
else but insurance people talk about "facultative placement, and excess loss
provisions"? You can tell right away.
All of which is meant to help us see again that the way we talk often says something about
us - who we are, or what we are like. The words we use can speak volumes about our
character:
Guarded, diplomatic phrases
Gentle, encouraging tones
Derogatory, profane comments
People form a certain attitude towards you as a result of hearing you use these
sorts of statements. We may say, "Oh, I didn't really mean it.... Sorry, that was
an inadvertent slip of the tongue..." But it doesn't matter. It came out. From
somewhere inside we found the resources to make statements like that. And people notice.
Which is something Jesus said, "The mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
(Mt 12.34).
What we say -
People notice, and it reflects back on us - our reputations.
It also affects the reputation of the thing or person we happen to be talking about.
No matter how you cut it - even if you joke about it, when we speak in belittling terms
about a person, event, place or institution it does not build
up. Such talk compromises them, at best. It can be very hurtful at worst.
We'll talk more about that when we come to commandment #9. This morning we're dealing with
the third commandment, one concerned with certain phrases, who speaks them, how, and why -
namely, phrases that refer to Almighty God, or somehow make reference to His name.
God notices them.
He is concerned about them.
And He warns us to be very careful if we begin to delve into using such phrases.
Maybe that sounds uptight.
Does it?
Certainly today's society seems to condone very fast and easy use of language. We're
hearing vocabulary on TV today that 20 years ago would have been censored out.
Conversations on shows like Jerry Springer would never have been public viewing material a
generation ago.
It seems as if everything goes. Nothing matters.
Say what you want. It's OK.
That's the general message.
But friends let me tell you - it's a false message, a lie that can shatter lives. What we
say does matter. It matters about each other, and it matters in
the way we speak about God.
"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God...."
Handle His name carefully - much as you would handle a package containing a valuable
piece of jewellery. Remember that huge gem stone on the necklace in Titanic, the
one that got chucked into the ocean at the very end? What if you were holding that
necklace in your hand? How would you handle it?
The name of God - more valuable than jewellery:
Handle with care!
God's very jealous of His name. He cares passionately about it.
Which ought come as no surprise to us. Not really - because names are important. Names are
more than a convenient label pasted on us to help identify us out of the crowd.
We still speak of someone having "a good name."
We "make a big name for ourselves."
We get our "name dragged through the mud."
Make fun of someone's name and you run the risk of hurting them deeply. Forget a
name and people feel they are forgotten.
Speak a person's name and their reputation comes to mind. That, in turn, dictates
how we react to that person.
I say, "Jean Cretien" and I'm sure that pictures go through each of
your minds of something that you associate with our Prime Minister. Some good, and some
bad - but for all of us the name is more than a collection of letters.
God's name and His reputation are also linked. In fact, the bible uses a total of over 300
different variations on the name of God to help paint and colour His divine reputation.
Each name tells us a little more about the person and character of the Lord.
"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God."
We could paraphrase it this way:
"Protect carefully the reputation of the Lord your God."
That's what lies behind the events described in Leviticus 24. In the very graphic
and often harsh manner of the Old Testament God illustrates to His people down through the
ages how seriously He takes our handling of His name and reputation and what serious
consequences arise from the sin of blasphemy.
A fight breaks out. Someone uses, God, His reputation, and His name in a manner that
is entirely careless and unwholesome. And God demands the life of that person.
Perhaps we find that overreacting. Why so harsh a punishment?
The clue comes in the strange verses found in the middle of the story.
Here is the scene of the blasphemer and the fate that God has in store for him, and
right in the middle of it we are put on hold and taken on what seems to be a strange
tangent with some talk about "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" -
vv.17-22.
At least....
It seems strange until we realize the gist of it - one gets back what damage one has
inflicted on the wronged party.
Ah ha - that means we can see the damage that is inflicted on God by the abusive
misuse of His name. Eye for eye. Tooth for tooth. The person is to be punished in measure
with the damage he has caused. The blasphemer is executed... Which means he
committed murder by cheap use of God's name!
In a very real sense, then, he killed God!
By dragging God's reputation through the mud in the way he did he degraded God and made
people take God less seriously, even to the point of ignoring God, living their lives as
though
God, for all practical purposes,
WERE DEAD.
"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God."
Remember our little exercise at the beginning?
What you say tells people something about your identity, and about what you are like
inside. If you walk around with the label "Christian" you are openly
associating yourself with Jesus Christ.
Remember what that involves.
Speak and behave accordingly.
We who bear the name Christian walk around with a stigma attached. Like it or not, when
people discover that you are a Christian they will scrutinize your words and deeds
closely. You will be in the spotlight.
The question which the third commandment raises for us is:
"Do we, who wear the placard 'Christian - person associated with Jesus
Christ' live in a manner that makes people take notice of His reputation and take Him
seriously, or do we live in a manner that allows people to take Him less seriously,
perhaps even to the point of living as though God, for all practical purposes, were dead?
DO WE KILL GOD?
There are phrases that instantly tell people we are doctors, carpenters, computer
programmers and the like.
There are also a lot of phrases - and I don't need to recite them, you've heard them
far too often -
phrases that instantly tell people that the one speaking them doesn't think God
matters, or even lives with any form of effective power.
It's bad enough when people in general use those sorts of horrible, God-dishonouring
expressions. But what about you and I?
People know we are Christians, right?
At least, I hope they know. If they don't we'd better get to fixing that quick.
They see an outer label - "Follower, devotee of Christ."
What label does the language we use paste to our forehead?
One that indicates we take God, His name and reputation seriously?
Or do we use God-degrading phrases that pin the label on us - "She doesn't
really take God seriously..... not really."
And if you've got someone outside the faith, looking in, and watching that kind of
inconsistency radiate from you -
What do you think it does to their opinion of the Lord?
Will it make them more likely to search for a relationship with Him?
To investigate the claims of Christ more seriously?
Or to walk away with the thought,
"See, I knew it really didn't matter that much."
God has been - so to speak - murdered before their eyes.
Don't misuse the name of God.
By the phrases that come from your mouth....
AND
By the actions that come from your hands and feet.
Remember the outer label you wear - the name of God you carry by your public identity as Christian.
Strive to have your actions and words reflect the beauty, compassion, love and
majestic holiness of our God.
Avoid those actions that slander God by giving a false picture of Him to other
people and that drag His name through the mud.
When we say, "I'm a Christian, a follower of the compassionate and loving Jesus"
we follow the third commandment when we seek to enter the lives, hopes, dreams, trials,
and hurts of our fellow human beings for whom Christ came to earth.
We transgress the command when we spend our time in bickering with fellow believers over
relatively trivial matters while all the world watches and marvels at the stupidity of it
all.
We transgress the command when we ignore the needs of the world and retreat into the safe
haven of a sheltered church congregation that takes no active interest in the sufferings
of the community in which it lives.
When we say, "I'm a Christian" we obey the third commandment by
striving to study the life and character of Jesus Christ and live in a manner that He
lived. Which is the whole point of all these bracelets and stickers you see floating
around today - WWJD. Standing for "What Would Jesus Do?" Before you do
something ask, "What would Jesus do if He were in my place?" and then
live out as best you can the answer to that question. That's obedience to the 3rd
commandment.
We transgress it by living a life barren of any recognizable attributes that point to who
our master is; when no one can tell the difference between us and our non-Christian
neighbours.
We break the third commandment by saying, "I'm a Christian" and
conducting our daily work habits in the self-centred, if-it-works-do-it pragmatism that
characterizes so much of the working of our western economic system.
We obey the third commandment by saying, "I'm a Christian" and seeking
to cultivate a reputation of utmost honesty and reliability in the community, making our
character and word as rock-certain as that of our God in heaven.
We transgress the third command when we, deliberately or otherwise, develop a
reputation of making commitments, real or perceived, and not following through on them -
be they with family, friends, on the job, involving money, or anything else.
Friends - we send signals out every day, whether we intend to or not.
The deadly lie says, "Don't worry about the signals you send. Just do your
thing." The life-building truth of God's word says, "Pay attention to
those signals. God's precious, jewel-like reputation is on the line. Handle with
care."
How will you do this week?