Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent
Taking the Name of the LORD
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus
Christ! In today’s Old Testament, God the Father commands and promises, “You
shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not
hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
· As you heard, God speaks a warning to you in these Words: “the LORD
will not hold him guiltless who takes His [the LORD’s] name in vain.”
· God also speaks a rich and wonderful promise to you: “You shall not
take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” That is to say, when God gives you
His Name—when you have upon yourself the powerful “name of the Lord your
God”—it shall never be in vain. God’s name shall never fail you or withhold its
blessing from you.
Dear Christian friends,
1. As every confirmation student knows—or at least has heard—God’s Second
Commandment forbids the sins of the tongue. Perhaps you have memorized at some
point in your life: What is the Second Commandment?
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse,
swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every
trouble, pray, praise and give thanks (Small Catechism, Second Commandment).
That is a very good start, especially for teaching small children, but God’s
Second Commandment goes far beyond the sins you commit when you lie or deceive
or when you fail to pray as you ought. Sins of tongue and mouth are just one
small detail of the much larger painting. Listen to the commandment again. God
does not say, “You shall not SPEAK the name of the Lord your God in vain.” God
says, “You shall not TAKE—you shall not pick up, you shall not lift up, you
shall not carry or bear—the name of the Lord your God in vain.” These Words
paint a bigger picture!
· Yes, God certainly forbids that we misuse His name with our tongues.
God does not wish for us to take His name into mouths and then to spit His name
out before the world in a vain or inglorious way by cursing, lying, etc. Such
uses of God’s name dishonor the name of our God among us!
· Yet God also forbids that we CARRY and WEAR His name vainly. “The LORD
will not hold guiltless him who TAKES—picks up, carries, bears and wears—His
name in vain.”
2. In order to see the bigger picture concerning the Second Commandment, listen
to how God taught the priests (Aaron and his sons) to bless to the people.
First, God gave the priests specific Words they must say:
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you
shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, ‘The Lord bless you
and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace’” (Numbers 6:22-26)
Then, after telling the priests what Words to say, God when on to explain what
happens to you when the priest speaks these Words: “So shall they [the priests]
PUT MY NAME UPON the people of Israel” (Numbers 6:27). Did you catch that? When
you hear the Words—“the Lord bless you and keep you,” and so on—God’s name is
getting laid upon you like a blanket or a cloak. With those Words, God’s name
gets set upon your head like a hat, or handed to you to bear and to carry as
you would your drivers’ license or photo ID. “So shall they [the priests] PUT
MY NAME UPON the people.”
“PUT MY NAME UPON the people of Israel.” It is as if God said, tell the people
of Israel—tell all God’s people of every time and place—“You shall not take the
name of the LORD your God in vain.” God’s name shall not be powerless for you.
You shall not pick up and carry, you shall not wear or bear God’s name
uselessly, because “the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in
vain.”
By all means, think about the sins you commit with your tongue.
We SHOULD fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts,
lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise
and give thanks (Small Catechism, Second Commandment).
Do not stop there! Think also about your Baptism, where the good and gracious
name of God was given personally to you, and where you were baptized into “the
NAME of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). In
the Second Commandment, God forbids us to take THAT name—the name given in
Baptism—in vain. Stated another way, God forbids us to live as if we were never
baptized.
This Commandment is God’s warning to those who would dare to baptize their
children and then disappear from worship, not bothering to teach their children
the Christian faith. “The LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name
in vain.” Tell your loved ones: the Lord will remember those who take His name
in Baptism but then want nothing more to do with Him. But then also turn this
commandment upon yourself!
· What are you and I really doing, when we treat our neighbor harshly,
when we withhold forgiveness or nurse a grudge, or when we ignore someone’s
need? We each should think of our loveless acts toward neighbor as acts of
taking our LORD’s name in vain. God’s name contains ALL the power and strength
we need for patient and generous neighborly love, and God’s name has been given
to us! We simply do not use it. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your
God in vain.” Stated another way, do not act as if God’s name has never been
given to you.
· How about when you or I decide to wallow in self-pity, wringing our
hands in despair? Self-pity makes the deceptive suggestion that we might have
been forgotten. Despair entertains the satanic lie that no forgiveness and no
hope can be found. Yet we have been given the name of the Lord our God! God’s
name has been laid upon your head and placed you’re your heart by God Himself!
Where God’s name is, there also is the full forgiveness of every sin, created
for you by Christ Jesus. Where God’s name is, there also is security and
confidence, even in the darkest hours of the night. Where God’s name is, there
also is hope and expectation and certainty, standing fast against all fear.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” In other words, do
not allow yourself to think that you have been forgiven by God; do not think
that you might not have been forgiven of every sin in Jesus’ name. Do not allow
yourself to be fooled or
deceived into thinking that God might not or cannot or will not raise you up,
even from the dead. After all, you have the name of God upon you! God did not
give you that name in vain and for no purpose!
Really, that is the blessing of the Second Commandment, even though it sounds
like a warning and a curse. God has said, “You shall not take the name of the
LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His
name in vain.” Remove God’s mask, so to speak. Peel back the harshest part of
these Words, the end part. Focus upon the first part of these Words. Do not
listen to these Words exclusively in terms of a commandment or demand. Rather,
listen to these Words as if God were stating a fact to you: “You shall not take
the name of the LORD your God in vain.” Stated other ways,
· It will never be not worth it for you to carry the name of the Lord
your God, both upon your forehead (Revelation 14:4, 22:4) and upon your heart
(Psalm 33:21).
· It shall not be useless or unproductive for you to take the name of the
Lord your God. Amidst struggle or hardship, terror or despair, all of God’s
Christians may fearlessly say, “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made
heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8). And again, “The Name of the Lord is a strong
tower, [we] run to it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10, NIV).
· When God’s name is given to you—as it most certainly has been given
—His name shall not fail to do what it promises you! God’s name has been
repeatedly given to you, so that you may never doubt that His name is upon you.
God’s name was given in Baptism and it is re-given at the beginning and end of
every worship. Because of this name you carry and bear—this name which is above
all other names (Philippians 2:9)—you may say and confess with the confidence
of King David,
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but WE TRUST IN THE NAME OF THE LORD
OUR GOD. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright (Psalm 20:7-8).
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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