RULES FOR THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
THOU SHALT NOT USE THE LORD’S NAME IN VAIN
DR. JIM DIXON
EXODUS 20:1-17
MAY 12, 2002
God has a very personal name. God revealed that name to Moses on Mount Sinai 3,200 years ago as recorded in the Book of Exodus, the 3rd chapter, verses 13 and 14. Theologians refer to this very personal name of God as the Tetragrammaton, a compound Greek word which means four letters. Indeed, the personal name of God has four letters. When these letters are transliterated into English, they become YHWH. This is the Tetragrammaton, the very personal name of God.
Now, of course, all four of these letters are consonants because ancient Hebrew had no vowel points. When you add the vowel sounds, the name of God becomes YAHWEH. The name of God is pronounced “Yah-way.” In Hebrew that name means “I Am.” Or, more completely, it means, “I am He who is,” or perhaps, “I am He who causes to be.” But the name of God is Yahweh. In the Bible, the Tetragrammaton is used in the Bible 8,648 times. The Bible tells us that that the Tetragrammaton is holy. It is holy and because the name of God is holy. The Jewish people in biblical times were afraid to speak the name of God and they left the name of God unspoken.
When they were reading the Torah aloud and they came to the Tetragrammaton—when they came to the personal name of God—they would substitute the Hebrew word Elohim (which means God), or the Hebrew word Adonai (which means Lord), or the Hebrew word, Shekinah (which means “the one who dwells with us”). But they would not speak the name of God. Even today amongst Orthodox Jews, it is so. They leave the name of God unspoken. In this day and age where so few things are sacred, it is perhaps comforting to know that there are some people who hold the name of God in such reverence. But it is tragic in a sense because God does not want His name to be unspoken. God wants us to speak aloud the name of God, but He doesn’t want us to speak that name in vain. He wants us to honor His name. That is what the third commandment is all about. Honor the name of the Lord your God.
This morning I have two teachings, and the first teaching is this: Honor the name of the Lord your God in all that you say. Honor His name in your speech. The Watergate scandal was perhaps the greatest political scandal in the history of America. The Watergate scandal made famous the expression, “expletive deleted.” Of course, the word expletive refers to an obscene word or a word of profanity. At the center of the Watergate scandal was a manuscript of a conversation between former President Richard Nixon and Bob Haldeman and John Dean. In that conversation, Richard Nixon instructed Haldeman and Dean to promise clemency to Howard Hunt and to offer Howard Hunt $120,000 if it would buy his silence.
The transcript of that conversation was brought to Leon Jaworski, the Special Prosecutor, and he couldn’t read it. He could not read it because all of the expletives have been deleted. Former President Richard Nixon had used so many obscenities, so many profanities, that, when they were removed, there was very little left over. He used the name of God as a swear word in his conversation. He profaned the name of God. The word profane comes from a Latin word meaning, “to desecrate the Holy.” He used obscene words. Obscene comes from a Latin word meaning, “offensive.” He used obscene and profane words, so many that when they were deleted from the manuscript, very little was left over and Leon Jaworski had to go back and listen to the original tapes just to figure out what Nixon had said.
We live in a world where profanity is a very small sin, if a sin at all. Of course, for Richard Nixon, in the context of Watergate, profanity was the least of his worries. But, do you understand that profanity is a very, very real subject with regard to God? God hates profanity and God doesn’t like obscenities. God cares about the way we speak. The Bible is very clear on this. God never wants us to use His name as a swear word.
How’s it going with you? Do you ever use any of the names of God as a swear word? Do you ever use the name of Christ as a swear word? Do you use obscene words, which, at least in many subcultures, are still offensive? Or do you seek to represent the name of God in all you do and say? On this Mother’s Day, I thank God for my mother, who is approaching 90 years of age. In all of the years of her life, I never remember my mother ever using the name of God as a swear word. Not once. In all the years of her life, I never heard from her mouth one word of profanity. In all the years of her life, I never heard from her mouth one word of obscenity. My father died 6-1/2 years ago, just short of 82, and I don’t remember my father ever taking the name of the Lord in vain either. I don’t ever remember my father using obscenities or profanities. That’s really amazing because he was mad from time-to-time. But, you see, they set, for my brothers and for me an example in their speech.
God cares. I want you to understand why He cares. In a few months, when we’re finished with Rules for the Road Less Traveled, we’re going to begin a new series on life lessons from biblical characters. We’re going to go through all of the major characters of the Bible—both Old Testament and New, male and female, good and evil—and we’re going to see what lessons we can learn for our lives from their lives.
There’s one character named Belteshazzar we’ll probably not deal with because Belteshazzar was not really a major biblical character. But you find his story in the Book of Daniel, the 5th chapter. Belteshazzar was king of the Babylonian Empire. Really his father Nabonidus was king, but he was away campaigning for ten years. Belteshazzar was Crown Prince and functionally co-regent, and he ruled the land.
The Bible tells us in Daniel, chapter 5, that Belteshazzar threw a great feast for a thousand of his lords and concubines. There was a huge party with lots of eating and drinking, gluttony and drunkenness. Suddenly, a divine hand wrote on the wall of the banquet hall. It was the handwriting on the wall. The hand of God had a message for the king of Babylon. Three words were inscribed on the banquet wall: “mene, tekel, and parsin.” Those words are Aramaic words, and they were known to Hebrews and even the Babylonians. This Babylonian king, when he saw those three words, knew that they were monetary units. Mene, tekel and parsin were like “dollar, dime, and cents.”
The king of Babylon knew that, but he didn’t know the deeper meaning of the message. He looked at the wall and he saw, “dollar, dime, and cents” in Aramaic. What was the message for him? He summoned Daniel, his counselor, his interpreter anointed by God, and Daniel came. Daniel understood the root meanings of these three words. Even in English, if we took “dollar, dime, and cent,” most of us in this room do not know the root meaning. We know that dollar refers to a hundred pennies and dime refers to ten pennies and cent refers to one penny, but we don’t know the etymology of dollar, dime, and cent or even the word “penny.” Most people in America are not even aware of the fact that the word “dollar” is actually related to Christ because dollars were first minted in the Valley of Saint Joachim called Joachimsthal. That valley was named after St. Joachim, who was the father of Mary, who was the mother of Christ, the grandfather of Jesus Christ. Coins were minted in Joachimsthal and they were called Joachimsthalers. Eventually, instead of Joachimsthalers, they began to be called “stallers,” and then staller was changed to dollar, and there you have it .
Most people don’t know that. Most people don’t care. But the same thing was true in Babylon with King Belteshazzar with regard to these monetary units, “mene, tekel, and parsin.” But Daniel comes along and he knows the etymology. He knows that “mene” means “to number” and “tekel” means “to weigh” and “parsin” means “to divide.” By the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he knows how these words are to be applied to the king of Babylon. He says to King Belteshazzar, “Mene—your days are numbered;” “tekel—you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting;” “parsin—your kingdom will be divided and given over to the Medes and the Persians.” That very night, the Bible tells us, history tells us, the armies of Cyrus the Great, King of the Medo-Persian Empire, swept over the royal city of Babylon. And Belteshazzar, Co-Regent, King of Babylon, fell, and his life was snuffed out.
What did he do? What did he do that so angered God? What did this king of Babylon do that invited the wrath of God? The answer is, he profaned that which was holy. The Bible tells us that in the midst of his party, as he was celebrating with a thousand of his concubines and lords, he commanded that the sacred vessel taken from the Jerusalem Temple under the siege of Nebuchadnezzar be used in the temple worship of the one true God. He commanded in this moment of drunkenness that those vessels be brought into the royal banquet hall and that those vessels be used in serving people further food for gluttony and further drink for drunkenness. He desecrated that which was holy, and God was angry.
In the Bible, God tells us that certain things in His sight are holy. The Greek and Hebrew words for holy mean, “set apart for God,” and “set apart from the world.” Set apart. God watches how we treat these things that He calls holy. In the Bible it is very clear that God views His name as holy, set apart from the world. How you treat His name is very important to Him. If you abuse His name, ultimately the handwriting is on the wall.
God looks at the heart. God looks at your heart. God looks at my heart. That’s where His focus is centered, but He still cares about our speech. The Bible says, “Before Him, no idle word is spoken.” The Bible says, “God is not mocked” and you cannot profane His name. If, in your normal speech you are using obscenities, if you use any of the names of God as a swear word, resolve today that you’re going to stop. Repent of that and from this day forth seek to change. By His grace and mercy, by the power of His Spirit, seek to change that you might honor His name in your speech. Avoid any promise in His name that you really aren’t planning on honoring.
On this Mother’s Day, we had infant dedications at the first service and infant baptisms at the second service. Moms and dads and grandparents came down front and made a promise in the name of God to rear these children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You, the people, sat there and you made a promise in the name of God to support these families as they seek to rear these children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. God is not mocked. Before Him, no idle word is spoken. If we honor Him in all that we say, then we’d better make certain that we plan on keeping those promises made, promises to our children.
Secondly and finally, we need to honor the Lord’s name in all that we do. We honor Him in all that we say and in all that we do. Some of you have heard of Henry Ward Beecher. He has been called the greatest preacher in American history. He came from a famous family. His father, Lyman Beecher, was the president of Lane Theological Seminary and the Founder of the American Bible Society. One of his sisters was Catharine Beecher. Any of your encyclopedias will have a biography on her life. She’s considered perhaps the foremost pioneer in women’s education in America. Another one of his sisters was even more famous. Harriet Beecher Stowe, an author, wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” a powerful anti-slavery novel.
He came from a very famous family. Henry Ward Beecher was said to be the greatest preacher in the world, which covers a lot of space. He was said to be the greatest preacher since the Apostle Paul, which covers a lot of time. He preached at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York, in the years preceding the Civil War and in the years following the Civil War. For the last 40 years of his life, that’s where he preached. People came from all over the world.
Abraham Lincoln was president of the United States. At that time during the Civil War when Lincoln was President of the United States, Henry Ward Beecher was getting a salary twice the size of the president of the United States. He was a man who liked wealthy things. He always carried uncut diamonds in his pockets. He liked to show them off. He was a handsome man. He had an eye for beautiful women. There were rumors.
Finally, in the year 1874, Theodore Tilton, Beecher’s best friend and protegee, accused Beecher of seducing his wife. Beecher was brought to trial. This was a different time in America’s history. Henry Ward Beecher was brought to trial. Of course, it was of national interest. They sold tickets to the trial, something that would never be allowed today. Every member of the jury agreed that Henry Ward Beecher was guilty of adultery. But they also felt that some of the evidence was circumstantial, and he was never convicted. He served out his years in the ministry. But the name of God was dishonored. The name of Christ was dishonored.
Fifty years later, Aimee Semple McPherson was preaching in the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, California. Aimee Semple McPherson was certainly the most famous woman preacher in this nation’s history. In 1922, she built the Angelus Temple, a multimillion-dollar structure. She was only 32 years old. She founded the International Church of the Four Square Gospel, a church which is still flourishing globally today. She was a pioneer in radio evangelism, the first to take the gospel on the radio in the year 1922.
She had a massive ministry with multiple choirs and a 90-piece orchestra. She was perfect for the roaring 20s! She was flamboyant and she was beautiful, but there were rumors. She’d been married three times and there were lots of rumors. Finally, in May of 1926, while Aimee Semple McPherson was taking a swim in the Pacific Ocean, she just disappeared. For 36 days, the authorities sought to find her. Finally, they did find her. They found her in a Mexican border town. She said she had been kidnapped. She said she had just taken a 5-day trek across a barren desert, but the authorities found it wasn’t true. They found that she spent most of that time in Carmel, California, in a cottage with a married man from her staff. She continued in ministry until she died of an overdose of barbiturates at the age of 53. Her death is shrouded in controversy, but the name of God was dishonored. The name of Christ was dishonored.
In more recent time, we have seen televangelists such as Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggert who, by their behavior, dishonored the name of God. Jim Baker was fiscally irresponsible, pilfering money from his ministry. He was morally irresponsible, participating in adultery by his own admission. He was tried, convicted, and incarcerated. Jimmy Swaggert was caught with a prostitute. His tearful confession to his own congregation was carried on national television. Subsequently he was found with a carload of pornography and confessed to tragic sexual addictions. The name of God was dishonored. The name of Christ was dishonored.
Today, we see the current scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, the alleged sexual abuse of little children and pedophilia. So, far, 177 Roman Catholic priests have been defrocked. The Roman Catholic hierarchy, the ecclesiastical authorities including Boston’s Cardinal Law, have been accused of cover-up.
I did a wedding yesterday at a Catholic Church with a Catholic cleric, St. Vincent De Paul. I was talking to him before the wedding. I could tell yesterday as I talked to him that he loves Christ. He loves Christ and just wants to serve Christ. He had tears in his eyes as he told me about what was going on today in the Catholic Church and how grieved he is. He said to me, “You know, it’s just a small percentage… most Catholic priests are faithful. They love Jesus. They’re faithful in their ministry.” I believe that. I believe most Protestant ministers and most Catholic priests are faithful. They love Christ and they’re seeking to serve Him faithfully. Most are. But all ministers and all priests have taken an oath in the name of God. When first we were ordained, we took an oath in the name of God. That oath was a promise to serve the people of God, to proclaim the Word of God, to honor the name of God, to not engage in any activity unbecoming the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What a tragic thing it is when the name of God is dishonored. What damage is done. What a tragic thing it is when the name of Jesus Christ is dragged through the mud. But remember. You, too, have taken the name of God, and you, too, have made a sacred oath. If you’re a Christian, you were baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and you took what the early church called the sacramentum, the sacred oath, when you promised to follow Jesus Christ all the days of your life and to receive Him as Lord. You bear His name as you call yourself “Christian.”
In this third commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” the word “take” there is the Hebrew word, “shith” which means “to take up” or “to lift up.” It can also mean “to carry.” In the form of “tissa,” it can mean, “to wear,” as it is found in the third commandment. “To take up, to carry, to wear.”
As a Christian, you’ve taken up the name of Christ. You carry the name of Christ. You wear the name of Christ. But do you wear it well? Do you wear His name well? Do you seek to honor Him in all that you say and in all that you do?
Who are the best moms? For that matter, who are the best dads? The best moms and dads are those who seek to honor the name of God in all they say and in all they do. The best moms and dads, the best people, are those who seek to honor the name of Christ in all they say and in all they do. Let that be true of you. Let’s close with a word of prayer.