Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity: July 11, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝
Our Old Testament reading today proclaims the whole Ten Commandments, which we normally repeat when we rehearse the Catechism. As we read the entire Ten Commandments, what strikes us especially is what our Lord says about His own Name. God the Father says to you and to all Christians of every time and place, “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.” And you have read the other, more modern words for this Commandment, You shall not misuse the Name of the Lord your God. While that still gets some of the idea across in translation from the Hebrew original, I put forward to you that we should still be familiar with the idea of “take in vain,” and what that means.
Because there is a harsh and terrible warning for you in these Words: “the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His [the LORD’s] name in vain.” There is also a rich and wonderful promise for you, too: for when God gives you His Name—when you have upon yourself the powerful name of the Lord your God—that Name shall never, ever be in vain, or rendered useless. That is to say, God’s name shall at no time fail you or withhold His promised benefit and blessing from you. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon complained that vanity, vanity all is vanity—well, that may be true for anything in this sinful, “under the sun” cursed world, but vanity will never describe what our Lord’s powerful name has done for you in Christ Jesus.
Going back to catechism and confirmation class, the Second Commandment is usually taught so that it 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 (or use witchcraft), 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 a foul mouth are just one small detail of the much larger painting. Listen to the commandment again, this time with a literal ear. God does not say, You shall not SPEAK God’s name as a swear word, and so forth. But He says, “You shall not TAKE—you shall not pick up, you shall not lift up, not carry or bear—the name of the Lord your God as though it were nothing.” These Words paint for us a bigger picture!
Yes, God certainly forbids that we misuse His name with our tongues. That is still part of it. Stated another way, God does not wish for us to take His name into our mouths and to lift it up or speak it out before the world in a vain or inglorious way, cursing, swearing, using witchcraft, lying, and deceiving. Such uses of God’s name dishonor the good name of our God among us!
Yet God also forbids that we CARRY and WEAR His name vainly, and not only in what we say. “The LORD will not hold guiltless him who TAKES—picks up, carries, bears and wears—His name in vain.” To illustrate this wearing of God’s Name in addition to speaking it, listen to how God taught the priests (Aaron and his sons) to bless to the people. First, God specified certain vestments for the priests to wear and the clothing had an inscription on it: Holy to the LORD. Then He gave the priests specific Words that they were to say: 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 went on to explain what happens to you when the priest speaks these Words to you: “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 of the Lord’s blessing, then at that very moment God’s name is getting laid upon you like a blanket or clothing you like the priests’ vestments. When you hear those Words, God’s name gets handed to you to bear and to carry forth into the world much as you would your driver license or your photo ID. “So shall they PUT MY NAME UPON the people of Israel.” And as God’s baptized people, you have God’s Name put on you, so that the power of God’s name would be evident to the whole world in and through you. If you do anything, including speaking, that makes it appear to others that that Name of God isn’t so powerful, or that it really is worthless and nothing, then the Lord has every right to hold that against you. When He gave you His name, He didn’t give you a piece of junk, He gave you something truly precious and powerful! So 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.” So yes, by all means, think about the sins you commit with your tongue, how you offend the Lord every day by what you say, or when you neglect to pray. Yet, Do not stop there! Think also about how little you recall 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—and bear it up before the world in vain. Stated another way, God forbids us to live as if we were never baptized, or as though our heavenly Father never came through for us and helped us when we needed Him.
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.” That is to say, the Lord knows and the Lord will remember those who take His name in Baptism but then want nothing more to do with Him. Yet that’s too easy for you to hear, because here you are attending the Divine Service! And this commandment does more than speak to the other guy!
What are you and I really doing, when we treat our neighbor harshly, when we withhold forgiveness or nurse a grudge against them, or when we ignore someone’s need? When we withhold love from our neighbor, in the various forms that are described in all of the other Commandments, we should think of it also as an act 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 is our gift! “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” Stated another way, God’s name is yours! Why would you make it look like that Name was worthless? You have a truth that must be confessed, not only with the mouth but with your whole being.
How about when you or I choose to wallow in self-pity, or when we wring our hands with despair? Self-pity pays attention to the deceptive, devilish suggestion that we might have been forgotten. Despair entertains the satanic lie that there is no forgiveness and no hope to be found. Yet we have been given the name of the Lord our God! Where God’s name is, there also is the full forgiveness of every sin, created for you by Christ Jesus, paid for by His Blood on the cross. 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, be comforted! Do not allow yourself to think that your faith is in doubt, or that full release from every sin has not been given to you in Jesus’ name, even in your darkest hour. Do not allow yourself to be fooled or deceived into thinking that God cannot or will not raise you up, even from the dead. After all, you do not carry and bear the name of God 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. In order to spot the blessing and the promise, take the words not merely as a command for you to do something. Rather, listen for a moment 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, God has assured you: 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). Also, “Save me, O God, by Your Name,” (Psalm 54:1) 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—and most certainly it has been –His name shall not fail to do what it promises you! God’s name has indeed been given to you, both in Baptism and at the close of Service. Because of this name you carry and bear this name which is above all other names (Philippians 2:9) and 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 Name that saves and forgives you, is the Name that will also strengthen and keep you steadfast to life everlasting.
In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Readings:
Ex. 20:1–17 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt
Psalm 19 The heavens declare the glory of God
Rom. 6:1–11 Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Matt. 5:17–26 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.