“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.” Exodus 20:7
Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 16:8-36
Memory Verse: Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. Psalm 34:3
Introduction:
If you were to say that one commandment was not as important as the others, would you say it was the third commandment? Why does God tell us it is wrong to misuse the name of God? We need to understand why this is important and what it means to disobey this commandment.
Names mean something. This is true especially with the name of God. The proper name of God, which is often translated as LORD in our English Bibles, is YHWH in the Hebrew Bible. God explains His name to Moses in Exodus 3:15, “Moreover God said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: “The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.”’” This is the name that God is to be remembered by for all generations. Beyond that, God revealed who He is to Moses in that same passage when He describes Himself as “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). “I AM*” is translated from the verb that means “to be.” And He says to tell the people of Israel that “I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). By these words God was describing His nature. He is not a god of man’s creation like other gods. He is beyond our comprehension. He is all powerful. He is all-sufficient. He is self-existent. He is perfect. He is the God of justice. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is I AM. These concepts of the LORD God are described throughout Scripture. By these descriptions, we learn to trust in Him and to receive encouragement and rest in challenging times. Because of who He is, He is worthy of honor above any other god and we should not dishonor Him with how we use His name.
The commandment says we are not to take the name of the LORD in vain. We need to understand what it means to obey this commandment. We can abuse and misuse the name of God in three ways: by swearing, by lying, and by hypocrisy. When we use the name of God as a swear word to strengthen the importance of what we are saying, we blaspheme the name of God. When we use the name of God in anger, we use His name in vain. We misuse the name of God when we make a vow under God to love and cherish our spouse and then don’t carry through. When a Christian business portrays itself as “a Christian business” and cheats or lies to their customers, their hypocrisy misuses the name of God. We misuse the name of God when we joke about it in a hypocritical way. or when we treat His name irreverently.
Lesson Questions:
- What are some names of God revealed in Scripture? Genesis 1:1; 14:18-20; 17:1; 22:14; Exodus 3:14-15;
17:15-16 - Which of these names most strengthens your faith as you think on its meaning?
- How does Mary, the mother of Jesus, speak of God’s name? Luke 1:46-49. How does David describe His name? Psalm 111:9
- Why is God worthy to receive glory and honor? Psalm 33:9-11; 135:13; Revelation 4:11
- Describe how the Jews in Jeremiah’s time profaned the name of God. Jeremiah 34:8-16
- How did Israel profane God’s holy name and cause others to blaspheme? How did God remedy that? Ezekiel 36:19-22, 36. See also Romans 2:23-24.
- What does the Bible say about swearing and profanity? Ephesians 4:29-32; 5:1-5. The Hebrew and Greek words for profane speech both carry the meaning of defiling, polluting, or treating as common.
- How did Jesus enlarge upon the meaning of the third commandment? Matthew 5:33-37; Mark 7:6-9; Luke 6:46-49