{"id":3827,"date":"2021-07-24T19:16:49","date_gmt":"2021-07-24T19:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/?p=3827"},"modified":"2021-07-24T19:16:49","modified_gmt":"2021-07-24T19:16:49","slug":"the-second-commandment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2021\/07\/24\/the-second-commandment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Second Commandment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Rev. Rolf Preus| August 15, 2010<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/TrinityTen2010.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou 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.\u201d Exodus 20:7<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>What does this mean?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God gave the Ten Commandments to a specific nation at a specific time of history.&nbsp; He gave them through Moses to ancient Israel about 1,400 years before the birth of Christ.&nbsp; Sometimes we use the term \u201cmoral law\u201d to describe the Ten Commandments.&nbsp; By \u201cmoral\u201d we mean that they are a standard for all human conduct.&nbsp; The Ten Commandments aren\u2019t time bound.&nbsp; They teach permanent truths about what is right and what is wrong.&nbsp; Right and wrong don\u2019t change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ten Commandments served as civil law for ancient Israel.&nbsp; To a large extent they still serve as civil law today.&nbsp; For example, the Second Commandment, \u201cThou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain,\u201d forbids perjury.&nbsp; That\u2019s against the law in every state in the Union.&nbsp; Of course it forbids more than that.&nbsp; Any misuse of God\u2019s name is a sin, even when it isn\u2019t a crime.&nbsp; To use God\u2019s name as an expletive, as if it is a four-letter word, is a sin.&nbsp; When Christians say \u201cChrist\u201d and \u201cGod\u201d as expressions of surprise, disgust, annoyance, or anger, they dishonor the one whose name they bear in Holy Baptism.&nbsp; The Second Commandment forbids every misuse of God\u2019s name.&nbsp; To curse your neighbor, calling God\u2019s anger down on him, is a sin.&nbsp; To use God\u2019s name in service to any kind of lie is a sin.&nbsp; To say that God said it when God didn\u2019t say it is a sin.&nbsp; To use God\u2019s name to cover up any kind of wrongdoing is a sin.&nbsp; And God takes this sin against the Second Commandment seriously: \u201cThe LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ancient Israelites were quite legalistic in the way they applied the Second Commandment.&nbsp; The name of God in the Hebrew of the Old Testament is Jahweh.&nbsp; Our English language Bibles simply render this as L-O-R-D in all capital letters.&nbsp; The Hebrew word, Jahweh, comes from the Hebrew for I AM.&nbsp; It is the name that God gave to Moses at the burning bush.&nbsp; The Israelites were so concerned about the guilt they would bring upon themselves by taking Jahweh\u2019s name in vain that they came up with a simple solution that would prevent them from ever breaking this commandment.&nbsp; They never used the name Jahweh at all.&nbsp; Whenever they spoke of Jahweh, they called him by name title, \u201cLord,\u201d instead of by his personal name, Jahweh.&nbsp; They figured that they could hardly misuse God\u2019s name if they never used it at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But they were wrong.&nbsp; As with all of the commandments, it is not just a matter of what we must not do, it is also a matter of must we must do.&nbsp; And so Luther\u2019s explanation is quite right when it explains that we must not \u201ccurse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by God\u2019s name\u201d and then goes on to say that we must \u201ccall upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.\u201d&nbsp; To use God\u2019s name in service to a lie or a sin is a sin of commission.&nbsp; To ignore God\u2019s name altogether is a sin of omission.&nbsp; God says, \u201cCall upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.\u201d (Psalm 50:15)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously, using or misusing the name of God goes much deeper than the mere use or non use of such words as Lord, God, Christ, Jesus, and so forth.&nbsp; God\u2019s name is not a magical sound.&nbsp; God\u2019s name is everything the Word of God says to describe God.&nbsp; His name is his reputation.&nbsp; His name has to do with his honor.&nbsp; The most serious violation of the Second Commandment is not using God\u2019s name as a cuss word, it is rather attributing to God a teaching or message that is not from God.&nbsp; In this way God\u2019s reputation suffers among those folks who believe the teaching comes from God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luther makes this point in the Large Catechism on the Second Commandment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The greatest abuse, however, occurs in spiritual matters, which pertain to the conscience, when false preachers arise and peddle their lying nonsense as the Word of God. (Large Catechism, Part I, paragraph 54)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason people don\u2019t care about false doctrine is because they don\u2019t care about God.&nbsp; They don\u2019t care to honor his name.&nbsp; The Second Commandment is simply putting into practice the First Commandment.&nbsp; The First Commandment deals with the heart.&nbsp; Who you do fear, love, and trust in the most?&nbsp; To whom do you look for all help in your every need?&nbsp; On whom do you rely?&nbsp; Your faith is either in the true God or an idol.&nbsp; The First Commandment deals with who our God is.&nbsp; The Second Commandment deals with what we say about him.&nbsp; Do we talk of him in such a way that his reputation is honored and magnified and that his name is hallowed, as we pray in the Lord\u2019s Prayer?&nbsp; Certainly this requires, first and foremost, that we speak the truth about him.&nbsp; And surely we cannot speak the truth about God if we don\u2019t know what the truth is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some things about God that he chooses not to reveal to us.&nbsp; That\u2019s his business, not ours.&nbsp; St. Paul puts it this way in today\u2019s Epistle Lesson:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!&nbsp; For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But people aren\u2019t satisfied to leave the unsearchable judgments of God up to God and so they seek out information that God forbids them to have.&nbsp; They consult mediums, astrologers, witches, psychics, and others who make a living out of defying the Second Commandment.&nbsp; Sorcery of every kind and description is sin, and it is no joking matter.&nbsp; The devil and his angels are real enough.&nbsp; Since the holy angels obey God and surely wouldn\u2019t speak to people who seek divine guidance in defiance of God, the only possible source of information through sorcery, fortune telling, s\u00e9ances, and the like is the devil and his evil angels.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The name of God and the word of God are tightly joined together.&nbsp; Listen to how St. Paul connects God\u2019s name with God\u2019s word in his Epistle to the Romans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For whoever calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved.&nbsp; How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?&nbsp; And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?&nbsp; And how shall they hear without a preacher?&nbsp; And how shall they preach unless they are sent? . . . So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:13-17)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Calling on God\u2019s name is nothing more than an expression of faith.&nbsp; Faith comes from hearing the gospel that is preached.&nbsp; So to use God\u2019s name faithfully is to pray, praise, and give thanks to the one who speaks his word of the gospel to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The greatest worship outwardly is the preaching of the gospel.&nbsp; The greatest worship inwardly is the believing of the gospel.&nbsp; The way we use God\u2019s name simply reflects what we believe about God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God\u2019s name is hallowed, blessed, praised, and adored by God\u2019s holy people when the pure, wholesome, saving gospel of Jesus Christ is preached and believed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The law of God shows us a goodness and justice and majesty of God that must not ever be compromised.&nbsp; God\u2019s law reflects the perfection of God\u2019s holy nature.&nbsp; Any compromise of God\u2019s law is to take his name in vain.&nbsp; We do not have the right to amend God\u2019s commandments to make them more popular.&nbsp; That is taking God\u2019s name in vain.&nbsp; When the law hurts those whom we love we had better remember whose law it is.&nbsp; It is God\u2019s, not ours.&nbsp; The law does hurt, but that\u2019s not God\u2019s fault.&nbsp; It\u2019s the fault of sinful men, women, and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But we would be fools to rely on the law of God for spiritual growth.&nbsp; For that we need the preaching of the cross.&nbsp; We need to hear of Christ\u2019s crucifixion for us.&nbsp; This honors God\u2019s name.&nbsp; For in the suffering and death of Jesus God\u2019s goodness is seen it its true and eternal purity.&nbsp; Our God is full of mercy and compassion.&nbsp; People just talk about feeling your pain.&nbsp; They don\u2019t really feel it and they couldn\u2019t if they wanted to.&nbsp; But God joined himself to our own flesh and blood and became one of us.&nbsp; He joined us as a man and he suffered.&nbsp; He felt our pain.&nbsp; He faced the curses of the whole world against the holy God.&nbsp; He, the pure, innocent, God-man, bore the curse of Almighty God against sinners.&nbsp; This is what the Bible says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, \u201cCursed is everyone who hands on a tree\u201d). (Galatians 3:13)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He faced not only the curses of men, but also the curse of God against sinners.&nbsp; He faced it and he bore it and he took it away from us.&nbsp; The Second Commandment meets its goal when we with unclean lips and corrupt hearts lay before our gracious God all of our sins of thought, word, and deed, and we listen in humble faith to his words of forgiveness.&nbsp; To preach and to believe that gospel is the goal of the Second Commandment.&nbsp; Believing that for Christ\u2019s sake all our sins are forgiven, we have peace with God, and we have a home in heaven forever, is the foundation and strength of all our prayers, praise and thanksgiving to God.&nbsp; Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rev. Rolf Preus| August 15, 2010 \u201cYou 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.\u201d Exodus 20:7 What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2021\/07\/24\/the-second-commandment\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,4,70],"tags":[547,539,238,213],"class_list":["post-3827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-sermons","category-sermons-by-historical-lectionary","category-sermons-by-rolf-preus","category-trinity-10","tag-2nd-commandment","tag-exodus-20","tag-rolf-preus","tag-trinity-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3830,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827\/revisions\/3830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}