Date: June 27/30, 2019
Text: James 3:6-18
As we talk about the Second Commandment, we talk about God’s name. The Second Commandment says, “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.” We need to know what is meant by God’s name so that we know when we are misusing his name. God’s name is everything we know about God from his Word. At first that seems like too broad of a definition. But think about how any name carries with it the reputation of that person. When you think of a person you think about who they are and what they have done. It is the same with God. We can list names that God uses for himself such as God, Lord, Creator, Jesus, Good Shepherd, Savior, and so on. Those names help to describe who God is but he is so much more than just those names. We have to look at everything about him. The only way to do that is to look at everything that he has revealed to us in his Word. Obviously we don’t have time to pack all of that into one sermon. As we meditate this morning we focus on what Luther told us in his explanation to the Second Commandment. We meditate on how we use God’s Name to Pray, Praise, and Give Thanks.
Part 1: Consider all the times we fail to pray, praise, and give thanks
When we talk about God’s Name, part of our focus has to be thinking about how we can honor God’s name. This is also described in the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer. That petition is “Hallowed be thy name.” Luther says this when he describes how God’s name is kept holy, “God’s name is kept holy when his Word is taught in its truth and purity, and we as children of God lead holy lives according to it…But whoever teaches and lives contrary to God’s Word dishonors God’s name among us.” We bring honor to God’s name when we shape our lives according to his Word.
As I said before, God’s name is everything that the Word tells us about him. For example, it is not just his love but also his justice. We look at everything about him even the parts of his Word that our sinful nature doesn’t like to hear. One of the big sins against God’s name is when people pick and choose which passages of Scripture they think are true. At times people will even declare that one passage in the Bible is from God while another passage in the Bible is not from God. We may wonder how people could dissect God’s Word like that. However, we know that the sinful nature doesn’t want to listen to God’s Word. The devil is going to do whatever he can to change the message of Scripture. He wants people to join him in hell and if he can twist and distort God’s Word, he will succeed in his evil mission.
There are many false teachers who dishonor God’s name through the way that they misuse God’s Word. God spoke about these kinds of false prophets in Jeremiah 14:14. He said, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.” We need to diligently watch out for these false teachers. We need to know our scriptures and know them well so that we are not led astray by these false messages which could lead us toward Hell. At times, people follow after these false messages and they think that they are following the true message of scripture. The Pharisees at the time of Jesus thought that way. They thought they were on the path toward heaven.
Jesus warned them that they were actually going to their destruction. Jesus tried to warn them. He said, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men’” (Matthew 15:7-9). On the outside, these Pharisees looked like the holiest people in the World. But they were not honoring God’s name. They were following their own ideas rather than the pure Word of God. Jesus even warns of a frightening reality regarding Judgement Day. Some people will think they are going to heaven and they will receive a surprise. Jesus said, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:22-23).
All these passages serve to remind us of the importance of keeping our focus on the truth. We don’t want to speak the truth of God’s Word in one breath and then say something completely false about God in the next breath. Our sermon text warns about that when it says, “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be” (James 3:10). That statement makes me think about the Apostle Peter. Peter was bold to praise Jesus. He was the one who boldly confessed that Jesus was the Christ. But he is also the apostle who had one of the greatest moments of spiritual weakness.
Think about Peter in the high priest’s courtyard when Jesus was on trial. He denied that he knew Jesus. He even took the Lord’s name in vain when he did that. It says that he called down curses on himself and swore that he did not know Jesus. This means that he called on God as his witness to emphasize that he did not know Jesus. Certainly it was an 8th Commandment sin because it was a complete lie. But it was also a 2nd Commandment sin to misuse God’s name in that way.
There are times that we sin like Peter. We might not openly deny knowing Jesus in that way but we do downplay our faith or perhaps we hide our faith when we are around certain people. We are afraid that people won’t want to be our friends if they knew that we followed Jesus. We are afraid that people will get angry with us if we speak the truth of God’s law to them. We find it easier to just avoid religious discussions. Our life may seem easier, but we have to remember that it is dishonoring God’s name when we hide our faith and fail to speak his truth.
We also want to have an active prayer life and we are to live a life of thanksgiving. That also brings honor to God. Think about when Jesus healed the 10 lepers. Those 10 brought their prayers to God. They wanted to be healed. But after they were healed, only one of them returned to thank God. Jesus even points out that the other nine should have thanked him. I think about how we do the same at times. We ask God to bless us but we fail to give him proper recognition when he does bless us. There are times that we come to God only when we need something. When things are going well, we sometimes fail to thank him for how he has provided for us.
Part 2: Jesus forgiveness motivates us to continued service.
How fortunate we are that Jesus is our Savior who obeyed the law in our place. Read through the gospels and see all the ways that he fulfilled this part of the law. You see plenty of examples of how he honored God’s name. He proclaimed God’s Word in all of its truth and purity. That seems like such an obvious statement since Jesus is God but at the same time, he obeyed that part of the law for all the times that we fail. He prayed many times throughout the gospels and he gave thanks to his heavenly Father. All these things are natural for the Son of God and yet they are also ways that he obeyed the Second Commandment as our substitute.
Even when he was on trial, he obeyed the Second Commandment. It says this in Matthew 26, “The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’ ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied” (Matthew 26:63,64). At the same time when Peter was taking sinful oaths to deny Jesus, Jesus was confessing the truth that he was the Son of God. Jesus properly obeyed the Second Commandment as he confessed the truth. Not that long after that confession, he suffered and died for our sins. We thank and praise him for that forgiveness.
Now through faith we honor God’s name in several ways. Psalm 50:15 reminds us of one of those ways when it says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” Just like the 10 lepers we bring our troubles to God. Like the leper who returned, we give honor to God for what he does. Romans 12:14 reminds us that we even pray for our enemies. It says, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” Rather than asking God to curse or condemn our enemies, we pray for them. We pray that he may overcome their sinful hearts and bring them to faith. This is a God-pleasing attitude to have toward those who would persecute us for our faith.
We also honor God’s name when we follow the example of the disciples from the day of Pentecost. We see their bold confession of faith and we too want to carry out our role as proclaimers of God’s name. We want the world to see Jesus for who he is. We want many more to see the fact that he is the Savior. As Christians we are part of the priesthood of all believers. 1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Our calling certainly involves time in worship so that we can be strengthened with Word and Sacrament. We make use of devotional resources and Bible study so that we continue to grow in that faith. Through the Holy Spirit working in our hearts, we become bold in our faith so that we can confess Jesus to many people. Only through the power of the Spirit can we resist those temptations to hide our faith. Through the power of Jesus’ forgiveness, we are able to honor God’s name and proclaim the truth.
Conclusion
We can think of examples of ways that people misuse the name of the Lord. People misuse God’s name when they quickly speak God’s name to wish condemnation because they are upset. People misuse God’s name when they use it to express surprise or excitement. We also know that there are many more ways to misuse God’s name. The biggest takeaway today is to remember that we are to honor God’s name by honoring everything the Bible says about him. This means that we proclaim his word in all its truth and purity. Thanks be to God that he has forgiven us for our sins against this commandment. May the sacrifice of Jesus continue to strengthen us as we live for him.