7 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will
not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
- Exodus 20:7, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House) 1984.
"The Second Commandment"
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God that we do not use his name to curse,
swear, lie, or deceive, or use witchcraft, but call upon God’s name
in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks.
Dear Friends in Christ,
The trademark line of a present day comedian is "I don’t get no respect." Perhaps you’ve heard some of his routine. Most of it deals with jokes about people not treating him properly, and then ends with the repeated refrain: "I don’t get no respect."
Today, as we continue our series on the Ten Commandments, we will be talking about the respect that we owe to the Name and Word of God. In this regard there are many in our world today of whom God could certainly say: "I don’t get no respect." Unfortunately, among them are also many within the Church – believers who know better but have allowed themselves to get into habits they see as far less serious than God does...
With that in mind and with the resolve – out of love for Christ – to always treat His Name with the utmost respect and use it according to His wishes, let us now turn our attention to
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT
"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name." In the Large Catechism, Martin Luther makes a logical connection between the First and Second Commandment: "As the First Commandment has inwardly instructed the heart and taught faith, so this commandment leads us outward and directs the lips and tongue into the right relation to God. The first things that issue and emerge from the heart are words..."
I believe there are two keys to understanding this commandment. First, we must recognize what we mean by God’s "name;" then we must understand how it is misused. We will turn to Scripture to gather information on these two essential points...
What do we mean by God’s name? The self-evident answer is that God’s name is every expression which God uses to refer to Himself (such as... God, God Almighty, Lord, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, etc.). Just as our personal name is that by which we are called or known by others, so God’s personal name is that by which He is called or known.
But there is more to God’s name than the sequence of letters that form a word. God’s name is also everything that God has revealed to us about Himself in His Word. Our Old Testament lesson (Exodus 34:5-7) is a striking example of this. When God revealed His "name" to Moses, it was not just the letters G-O-D but a description of who and what He is. So by extension God’s name also means His Word, because it is in His Word that He reveals Himself to us. Therefore, when we talk about misusing God’s name, we mean both His personal name and His Word...
How is God’s name misused? The explanation of the Second Commandment in our catechism mentions five specific ways in which God’s name is not to be used. We are not to use it to 1) curse, 2) swear, 3) lie, or 4) deceive, and we are not to use it 5) superstitiously (although the most recent catechism gets more distinct and says, "use witchcraft"). We might spend just a moment looking at this list...
We often talk about "cuss" words as being any kind of language not befitting a disciple of Christ, but the original definition of "cursing" is using God’s name to wish evil on somebody or something, or actually asking God to send evil on someone. The most common curse is when people ask God to damn this or that. And we’ve all heard people make such requests. In fact, the word "damn" used alone as an expression of anger or an adjective attached to another word has just about reached the level of social acceptability – so much so that many people use the word without even batting an eyelash. And that includes Christians.
But here is the fact of the matter. God alone has the power to damn. Consequently, every time this word is used in anger or to emphasize a remark... we are cursing. And cursing in this way is breaking the Second Commandment because it misuses the name of God.
Related to this is using God’s name flippantly or as an expression of disgust or surprise, or any time we are using it in a way which does not give God glory or praise. Again, I’m sure we’ve all heard people mention the name of Jesus Christ in a way that was not intended to honor Him. Likewise the phrase "O my God" is so very common. What is that? Is it a prayer? Is it an expression of praise? Usually not. Usually it is a mindless expression that flippantly misuses the name of God... And God doesn’t like it.
Let me tell you why God doesn’t like this, as well as three specific problems involved when God’s own children use language of this type. First of all, it is an insult to God. He has given us His name to bless us and comfort us and strengthen us; not to be used for cursing or as some sort of emphatic language to get peoples’ attention.
Secondly, it is simply unnecessary. A man once said to his minister, "Pastor, I know it’s not right, but when I use God’s name in this way, I don’t really mean it." To which the minister replied, "That’s precisely the point. When we use God’s name we are supposed to mean it."
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it completely undermines our Christian witness. If we are in the habit of cursing, it is simply not possible for us to be effective witnesses for Christ. Remember Peter on the night of Jesus’ betrayal? When Peter wanted to convince others that he was not one of Christ’s disciples, he cursed loud and long. And it worked. His foul mouth successfully camouflaged his relationship to Jesus.
I’ll give you another example of this. When I was going to seminary I worked at a warehouse unloading trucks. One guy I worked with (I’ll call him Bill) was, by his own admission, an atheist. Another guy (I’ll call him Tom) was very up front with the fact that he was a Lutheran. In fact, a WELS Lutheran who taught Sunday School at his church. The problem with Tom, however, is that he had a quick temper, told off-color jokes, and had a foul mouth...
Bill wasn’t very open to spiritual conversations, but one day the timing was right and natural and he started to ask about why I was going to be a Lutheran minister. However, before the conversation hardly got off the ground, apparently something inconvenient happened at the other end of the warehouse to Tom, the good Lutheran, who loudly began bellering and cursing for all to hear.
At that moment my atheist friend kind of smiled and identified Tom as being one of "us." He then went on to say that if Tom represented what Christianity is all about, he really wasn’t interested. And with that, the conversation came to an end. I believe the opportunity for Christian witness that day was closed because of a blatant sin against the Second Commandment.
Let’s very briefly take up the other four ways God’s name is misused according to the catechism’s meaning of the Second Commandment...
It is a misuse to "swear" by God’s name, meaning to call upon God as a witness to the truthfulness of what we are saying. There are times when the Bible tells us swearing is permissible (such as at the command of our government or for the defense of God or our neighbor), but invoking God’s name to verify something we know is false (like Peter did in the courtyard), or needless swearing, or swearing in matters we cannot be certain of – is sin.
It is unacceptable to lie or deceive by God’s name. To teach false doctrine as the Word of God or pervert Scripture in any way is to lie by God’s name. To use religion as a cloak or cover-up for a life of willful hypocrisy would be deceiving by God’s name...
Finally, we are not to use God’s name superstitiously. Anytime God’s name is connected with superstitious things like fortune telling, palm reading, etc. (and there are those who say they get such power from God), it is a misuse. Lately I’ve seen some things come across the internet instructing a certain prayer to be said and then passed on to ten other people or so with the promise that God will then grant your prayer. That’s a 21st Century example of using God’s name superstitiously.
I’m sure we get the picture. Using God’s personal name or His Word in any way that does not bring Him glory and honor would constitute a misuse of God’s name...
Let’s look at the other side now. How do we correctly use the name of God? How do we make use of it in a way that pleases God and brings Him glory and honor? Again we can turn to the explanation of the Second Commandment. There we are given these directives: God’s name is to be 1) called upon in every trouble, 2) it is to be used for prayer, 3) for praise, and 4) for thanksgiving.
As a positive example of using God’s name in all four ways just mentioned, I’d like you to recall our Gospel lesson for today. It is the familiar account of Jesus healing the ten lepers. I’m going to read it again, and as I do, concentrate on how God’s name was
1. Called upon in time of trouble
2. The object of prayer
3. The object of praise
4. And, by the one man, the object of thanksgiving
Read Luke 17:11-19
So, what does the Second Commandment mean? We should fear and love God that we do not use his name to curse, swear, lie or deceive, or use it superstitiously; but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks.
So, how are we doing? What will we see when he examine ourselves in the mirror of God’s law in general and the Second Commandment in particular? Where we have strayed and sinned against this commandment...
For the times we have failed to honor God with our lips and our mouths...
For the times we have brought shame upon the name and person of Jesus Christ by using His name in a way which was improper or did not ascribe to Him the glory He deserves...
Let us repent.
And then let us rejoice that 2000 years ago Jesus came to our planet and kept this commandment perfectly for us in our place.
Let us rejoice in the fact that every sin we have committed against this commandment was nailed to the cross and then buried in the tomb of Christ, our Savior, so we stand forgiven and sinless in the eyes of our Heavenly Father.
Then, motivated by our love for Him who bears the Name above all names, let us strive to give God the respect He is due – with our lives and with our mouths. Amen.
"In what you speak bring Me no shame;
Do not misuse My holy name,
But call on me in troubled days;
Give me your thanks, prayers, and praise."
Have mercy, Lord!
(Christian Worship 285 verse 3)