June 19, 2015
The Third Commandment: Do Not Misuse The Name of the Lord your God. Reverence of God Is Required For Salvation
THE WORST SIN YOU CAN COMMIT IS LACK OF REVERENCE FOR GOD
God instructs us to respect His Name. At one time some of the Jews were so concerned about breaking this commandment that they referred to our Father as HaShem meaning the name, so as not to misuse His Name. When Moses relayed God’s (the anglicized version of His Name, Jehovah) instruction to Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery Pharaoh scoffed at the authority of the God of Israel and His Name. Pharaoh showed dismissive disrespect for God and His Name. See Exodus 5. Pharaoh was soon destroyed for this and the accompanying hardness of his heart. Reverence is shown by how we respect someone’s name and God deserves reverence.
DO NOT BLASPHEME GOD BY OUR CONDUCT
Christians debate as to which is the worst sin. Breaking any of the ten makes one guilty, however only one of the commandments has this wording ‘For the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain’. Misusing God’s Name means to bring ill repute to God, because of the way we carry ourselves. It means committing evil in God’s name. People who murder or worse, commit genocide in God’s Name not only are committing murder, they are murdering God’s reputation. They will be punished severely for such violations. Deaths that have been caused by non-Christians are somewhere around 90 million in past 18 centuries not including the 100 million killed by communist in the 20th century. Christianity is perhaps responsible for one fifteenth of that number. Many atheist and progressives use the history of religious violence to justify their rejection of religion and morality. They of course conveniently ignore that Christ said to LOVE your enemies and that Christianity has had a good influence on the world as a whole. It helped Europe catapult ahead of other parts of the world, especially in human rights. The lost ten tribes that migrated into Europe already had acquired a God, Bible based, more merciful society. See I Kings 20:31. They were a good influence on Europe.
The positive side of this equation is that we true Christians should show the world the positives of being a believer. We should be ambassadors for Christ as shown by our light to the world. Note what Christ said in Matt 5:13-18. Further see Romans 2:21-24. If we don’t show our love and faith, we can hurt God’s reputation. See II Cor 5:20.
RESPECT FOR AUTHORITY BEGINS IN OUR MINDS AND HEARTS BY THE WORDS WE USE
The apostle Paul told true Christians to respect authority as part of obedience to God. See Romans 13:1-7. Respecting authority leads to a well ordered society and peace. We should first show PROFOUND REVERENCE AND respect for God and then for parents and then other authority figures. The use of God’s name in a degrading or in any way disrespectful manner expresses an attitude of disdaining the ultimate authority. Our relationship with God is our most important one. God demands that we respect Him for our good. Respect is the cornerstone of any good relationship. It is good for us when we love and respect God. Honoring Him begins in our thoughts. See Ps 104:1, 33:8.
NO PROFANITY SLANG OR VAIN REPETITIONS INVOLVING GOD’S NAME
Improper use of God’s and Jesus’ Names are the number one method that our base society uses to impugn our Creator. The Devil’s obvious influence can be seen in all the cursing. He wants to ruin our relationships with God. He needs for this society to disrespect God and it is working. God’s Name should never be used in abusive, vulgar and irreverent slang and jargon. It is nearly universal in the world today. Do not flippantly use God’s Name. We all need to repent of attitudes that lead to irreverence. We need to guard our speech.
CONCLUSIONS ON UNDERMINING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
The following is a list of things that destroy our vital relationship with God. Cursing God, profaning His Name, misrepresenting God, pretending a special calling from God to make personal gains, using God’s Name to manipulate others, using God’s name to make vows you do not intend to keep. All of these statements and actions defy the spirit of the Third Commandment.
False prophets who lied in God’s name to gain power and influence were to be put to death in Israel. See Deut 18:20.
We all know to take care not to curse at spouses, parents or children because it would diminish the status in which we hold the person and damage the relationship. Likewise every time we curse or misuse Gods name we risk estranging ourselves further from God.
