7^th Sunday after Pentecost – A Review of the Second Commandment – July 19, 2009

What’s in a name? When a person stops and actually thinks about that question, you realize that there is an awful lot in a name. Oh, while it’s true that your name doesn’t change who you are it does say who you are. It may not define you, but it does identify you. For example, what comes to mind when you hear the name Barry Sanders? No doubt you think about football…the Detroit Lions…and perhaps one of the greatest running backs of all time. Or what about Kwame Kilpatrick? The same can be said of any name: Barak Obama, Osama Bin Laden, Sarah Palin, Michael Jordan, Kid Rock, Miley Cyrus, Brett Favre, Dakota Fanning, Joel Neumann. Each of these names, when spoken, stirs up an image in your mind – a set of characteristics and accomplishments. It brings to mind emotions and feelings you have toward that person. And so, a name is more than just a title – it carries with it everything you know and believe and feel about someone.

And so it is with God’s name. And what is his name? His name is everything he has revealed to us about himself in his Word. His names say who he is. They identify him. They describe him. And his name is important to him. He revealed it to us so that we might be saved. And he wants us to know it. Therefore, when it is misused and mistreated he says there is hell to pay – literally. That’s why he gave the 2^nd Commandment to Moses - to protect his name, to help us diligently avoid any misuse of his sacred name, and to teach us how to use it in an acceptable and pleasing way. Listen carefully to what God says about his name in Exodus 34:5-7:

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

So, how would you describe God? When you hear his name, what images are stirred up in your mind? What set of characteristics and accomplishments do you think of? What emotions and feelings are aroused? I would imagine each of us would have answers heavily influenced by the words of our lesson this morning. Here on Mt. Sinai, God gave Moses a summary of all that his name contains. Most of us are probably very familiar with many of the names God uses to refer to himself: God Almighty, LORD, Jehovah, Jesus Christ, Messiah, Holy Spirit, Immanuel, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace and the list could go on. But here, in our lesson, we learn more. We learn that his name is compassion and grace; it is abounding in love and faithfulness; his name means maintaining love, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin; his name is slow to anger.

When you realize what God’s name is, you realize that we have all the reason in the world to trust his mercy. And when we realize what God’s name is, we realize that we can step back and see how he has perfectly lived up to that name. You see, God had every right to be angry. Recall that this was now the second time that Moses was with God. Remember the first time he came for the Law of God? God sent him back to deal with the people – who had made and were worshiping a golden calf. In fact, shortly after the creation of the world people gave God reason to be angry. Adam and Eve transgressed the one commandment He had given them. Cain took the life from his brother and broke God’s commandment. The people of Moses’ day chose idolatry in place of the worship of the true God. Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets God sent to call His chosen people to repent of their sins and return to serving the true God were shunned and sometimes even killed. But did God withdraw his grace from them? NO!

God was willing, and by his very nature wants to forgive wickedness, rebellion and sin. He came to Adam and Eve in order to call them to repentance. He sought Cain’s confession. He allowed himself to be influenced by Moses’ intercession on behalf of the nation of Israel. And he kept sending prophets to his Old Testament people. He did this, because from eternity God is compassion and love, and in this compassionate love he prepared a plan to cancel out the devastation and destruction of sin. He made a way for sin to literally be lifted off and taken away from the sinner. So, in time, that forgiveness was fully purchased and guaranteed by the death and resurrection of God’s own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. By God’s very own description he assures us that he is abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands. We can expect mercy from God.

Yet at the very same time, do not be mistaken. God’s mercy does not do away with his justice. Although the Lord’s grace is boundless, this does not mean that he disregards the seriousness of sin. There really is such a thing as the wrath of God. Every sin is an abuse of God’s glory since it breaks his holy law. No sin, therefore, goes unpunished. You see, God’s name is not only compassion, love, faithful, and slow to anger, it is also righteous, judge, holy, the one who punishes, and just. His name tells us we have reason to fear the Lord’s wrath. Listen: “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Can there be any doubt that when we stand before God what we deserve is his wrath, condemnation and eternal death. It isn’t only Adam and Eve, Cain, and the people of Israel who have given God reason to be angry. So have we! The truth of that is made evident when we look at these words in the context of the Second Commandment, which we are reviewing today. “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.” How well have we done? Let’s see how well you measure up…Do not use My name to curse, God’s says. Ever done that? Ever called upon God’s name to damn someone or something when they’ve made you so mad or it hurts so badly? Its then, isn’t it, that that phrase rolls so easily from the tongue that really means, “God, send evil upon this person or object, and send them to hell.”

Do not use My name to swear, God says. Ever done that? Ever used the phrase, “I swear to God” over some trivial thing? How many times have you carelessly and to express shock – not to offer up a pleasing prayer to God – let fly the words “O my God” or text-messaged the abbreviation “OMG?” Do not practice superstition/witchcraft, God says. Ever done that? Ever picked up the newspaper or magazine and went straight to the horoscopes, just, just to check? Ever “knocked on wood?”

Yet even after that review, maybe you’re still thinking, “You know. I think I’ve got this 2^nd Commandment down pretty well. I keep a pretty tight reign on my tongue. I don’t use God’s name to curse or swear. I certainly don’t practice witchcraft. Yet the truth of the matter is that we break this command not only in what we do, but also in what we don’t do. How’s your prayer life? How often do you pause in your day to thank God for abounding in love and faithfulness to you? Do you regularly use his name to praise him, not just on Sunday, but every day? And it gets worse. At our baptism each of us was given a new last name: Child of God. We were brought into his family. And just like children reflect their parents and carry their name, we are God’s representatives, his ambassadors. We carry his name.

How well do you carry God’s name? What impression of him do people get when they watch you as his ambassador? Do they even know you are God’s ambassador? Or do you misuse his name by failing to mention it at all?! When we carry the label “Christian” and openly sin, we misuse God’s name. When we misrepresent who God is by what we say, we misuse God’s name. When we hide the fact that we are his representatives we misuse God’s name. And for such sins, we deserve to be stripped of our title. We deserve to have God remove his name from us and say, “You are no longer my children! You who call yourself Christian are not! You’re not in my family any more!” We deserve to be dealt with by God the righteous, holy and just judge who “does not leave the guilty unpunished.” We deserve to be sent to hell where we forever curse our own names for failing to honor his. There is hell to pay for misusing God’s name.

Because of our disobedience and unfaithfulness, we cannot demand love and faithfulness from God. Our only hope is to humbly fall before him, confessing our wretchedness and unworthiness, and to trust in his mercy. And God’s heart is overflowing with mercy and forgiveness because, and only because, the debt of our sin and guilt has been paid by someone else, our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, it is in the person of Jesus and at the place of the cross that God’s justice and mercy meet.

It was against Jesus that all of God’s righteous hatred against the sinner and his sin was aimed, and God, the just judge, punished sin by making Jesus suffer and die in your place. It is in Jesus that all of God’s glorious compassion and love is made evident, as he tells us that in love and mercy he accepted Jesus death as the punishment for your sin. Jesus took your name on himself, with all of its guilt and all of its shame and all of its rebellion; and God poured out his entire wrath against him, even hell itself. For you Jesus always kept God’s name holy. He often withdrew to a solitary place that he might have time to pray to God. He called upon God in trouble, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). He praised God’s name. And he has given this perfection to us. Jesus has removed your guilt in breaking the second commandment. Easter Sunday and the empty tomb are God’s stamp of certainty that this is truly the case. Thanks to Jesus, who lived, died and rose again, those who trust in Jesus as their Savior will never experience hell.

So, it is solely because God’s name is “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin,” that you and I are sinless in God’s sight. When he sees you and me, in whom trust in Jesus as our Savior has been created, he sees perfect saints, and we are called by his name.

In Biblical times a person’s last name was “son of” followed by the name of his Father: Joshua, son of Nun, David, son of Jesse, Simon, son of Jonah, James son of Zebedee, and so on. You and I, now, have our Father’s name placed on us: I’m not just Joel, son of David, but now I am also Joel, son of God. And your last name is son or daughter of God too.

And having his name placed on us, we long to honor that name! We want to show how proud and grateful we are to have his name placed on us. We call upon him in the day of trouble, confident that he will deliver us. We want to honor him and praise him, not just in worship, not just in what we say, but in all we do. We want to live our lives in such a way that all who know us know that we are Christians and want to know more about that name we bear. We want to give him thanks and praise in all we do and honor his name by sharing it with others.

So what’s in a name? When it comes to God…everything! He has revealed his name to us to save us. His name is holy and worthy of respect and honor. Because of the name of Jesus—which means “the Lord saves”—his name is now placed on you! Therefore, go and honor that name. Amen.