Building A Godly Worldview
Part 3: "Honoring God: What?s in A Name?"
Exodus 20:7
Have you ever stopped to wonder why namnes are so imprtant? Why names mean something special? For instance, today is Super Bowl Sunday, so to tell someone that you are a Patriot or Ram today carries some special significance. Since it?s SSuper Bowl Sunday, I thought I would take the opportunity to show what kind of fan I am .. so I brought my jersey to wear.
(ill) Which jersey I choose to wear is important .. it says something about who I am. For example, I could have chosen to wear the red, white and blue #88 jersey that belongs to New England?s Terry Glenn. Glenn is a former AAll-Pro wide receiver, who has served several drug related suspensions, and will not be allowed to play in the game today, by order of his coach, because he has been divisive in the locker room.
* I would make a statement by wearing Terry Glenn?s jersey... frankly, a statement that I don?t want to make.
So instead, I am going to wear the jersey of one of my personal favrite players. He has twice been named the league?s MVP. He is a devout Christian, and a role model who shows faith, courage and persistance. I?m going to wear the blue and gold #13 of Rams QB Kurt Warner.
* This makes a statement, too. About which team I support. About what kind of player I admire. Wearing this jersey doesn?t make me a NFL QB .. but ti does reflect how I feel about Kurt Warner.
T/S: Exodus 20:7 is Commandment #3 in our series about Building A Godly Worldview, and in this verse we learn something about wearing names. The commandment says: "You shall not take the name of the Lord Your God in vain." (NKJV)
Now, if you remember what we have been doing for the past two weeks, we have recognized that God is less concerned that we live by a set of rules, than He is concerned we live life knowing Him. We have discovered that Scripture serves, not as a rulebook, but as a revelation of Almighty God. Every commandment is a declaration about the nature and character of God, so as we unpack the command, we are trying to learn Who God is, and What God is like from these passages. Then, we can build a worldview, or a way of looking at life, that reflects God?s attitudes and desires. That?s what we?re after .. living life to please and serve God.
And God says: "Do not take my name in vain." I?m wearing this football jersey today to make it easier for you to visualize two concepts that surround this commandment. There is a temptation for Christians to wear the name of Jesus like this jersey ... as an external marking only. To declare their allegiance to Christ for appearances? sake .. with no real effect on "who" they are.
Secondly, God reveals in this text, clearly, that His name represents Him ... so how we wear His name is important.
What I want to accomplish this morning, is to talk about the name of God, and what we can know about God from his name. That should help us see why taking His name seriously and reverently, is so important. Hopefully, as we examine God?s character through what the Bible says about His name, we will all be led to deepen our sense of honor and respect, not just for the name, but for the Person of Jesus.
Do you know what God?s name is? Moses asked God, so that he would knw what to tell Pharoah. And God told Him that His name was "Yahweh" which meant "I Am." His very name reveals that God has always existed, that He exists everywhere and that He cannot be contained by human distinctions of time or place or space. There is no adjective or adverb suffcient to describe Almighty God. He is.
Jews so reverenced God?s name, they were not allwedd to speak or write it. When scribes were copying the Scriptures, they would leave out the vowels, and only write YHWH. They later took the vowels from the generic word for Lord "adonai" and filled in the spaces and what emerged was the word Jehoveh. So Hebrews would refer to God as Jehoveh God, becasue they didn?t want to dishonor Him by calling Him by His personal name, Yahweh.
What made them feel like that? A deep appreciation for God?s holiness. A clear sense of the great gap that seperated God?s characte from man?s character. We have lived in a humanist age, where we have heard and been taught so much about the greatness of man, the potential of man, the glory of man. I think it is a natural temptation for humanity. Remember the Tower of Babel. 5000 years ago, men started thinking too highly of themselves. Modern man has erected a great many monuments to his own ego and pride as well. And I think that is the motive behind Commandment #3.. That to maintain a proper relationship with God, we have maintain a proper understanding of the glory and holiness of His character, and how much greater He is than us.
It seems that is the foundation of our relationship with God, but what does that look like in our lives?
For my mother, that meant teaching me not to use God?s name in cursing. And I think that is often how we see this command. But the language here also reflects what happens in a marriage .. that is, a wife "takes the name" of her husband. There is a very biblical theme of our relationship to God being described as a marriage. Jesus talks about the bridegroom leaving and then returning for his bride in Matthew 9. Paul talks about a spotless church being presented as a bride to Christ in Ephesians 5. And Revelation 18 describes a wedding feast for the bride when Jesus the bridegroom returns to heaven with His church.
T/S: With that context in mind, how could you take the name of the Lord in vain?
1) You could talk bad about Him. Use His name deceptively or disrespectfully in conversation. That would include the cursing that Momma told me not to do.
2) You could be unfaithful to Him. When we get married and take someone?s name, it involves a vow of exclusivity. We say "I belong to you." An unfaithful spouse dishonors his or her mate?s name.
3) You could not really love Him. Marriages for conveniene or for appearances are really not marriages of trust and honor. There is nothing so empty as seeing a spouse wear their marital name without honor or respect. I hate to see a man dishonor his wife in public.
*** So how are you taking, or wearing, God?s name in your life? If you want tto build a Godly worldview while deepening your relationship with the Lord.. let me outline some practices that you can incorporate into your life, in order to wear Chrsit?s name proudly. As you apply these practices, you will grow to learn and live what it means to take God?s namee with purpose and reverance.
1. Praise His name.
"Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name" Psalm 29:2 (NKJV)
We are to be a people of praise! Specifically, a people who praise God. (ill) You know why theey don?t make a silver and blue #19 Dallas Cowboy jersey with H-E-B-E-R-T on the back? because I am not worthy of that honor!
God is not only worthy ... He is the only One worthy of our spiritual praise. No concept is more consistent or more repeated in Scripture.
"O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth" Psalm 8:1 (NKJV)
"God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name." Philip. 2:9 (NKJV)
We are to praise Him with our lips.
"Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds, By His name Yahweh" Psalm 68:4 (NKJV)
We are to praise Him with our hands.
"Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. Psalm 63:4 (NKJV)
We are to praise Him with our attitude. For Jesus taught that we approach God saying
"Our Father, Who is in heaven; hallowed be Your Name." Matthew 6:9 (NKJV)
2. Call on His name. (Ask in His name.)
"They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, 'This is My people'; And each one will say, 'The Lord is my God.' " Zech. 13:9 (NKJV)
One of the privileges of being a Christian is that we are given access to the very throne room of the King of Kings. We do not have to live our Christian life isolated from the God we follow. He begs us to bring our cares and concerns and petitions to Him and allow Him to carry our burdens for us.
We have beeen granted that privilege, not because of our own standing before God, because every one of us is a sinner. But through Jesus Christ, we have a new standing, a new relationship wiith God the Father. So we get to come to Him and ask for His presence, His power and His protection ... in Jesus? name.
And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14:13 (NKJV)
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. James 5:14 (NKJV)
Call on His name. Build your dependence on Him, annd your faith in Him.
3. Hide behind His name.
"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe."
Proverbs 18:10 (NKJV)
We are an independent creature, accustomed tto depending upon our own skills and our own resources and our own hard work to get us where we want to go. And when we live like that, and crisis times emerge in our lives, we are not prepared to trust God. Building a Godly worldview involves developing a trust in God that exists in both good times and bad. It involves recognizing, by faith, God?s might and God?s sovereignty.
"Those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. Psalm 9:10 (NKJV)
It?s gets easier to hide beehind His name, the better that you know Him. Paul knew Him well, and wrote this:
"What is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephes. 1:19-23 (NKJV)
God is God over all. He gave that authority to Jesus, who allows us to operate under that auhority and power. You want to whip life? You want to live life victoriously? Hide yourself under the name of Jesus.
4. Live in His name.
What actions reflect your Christianity? Is it your actions at church? What about your actions at work? Maybe your Christianity is demonstrated at school, or at the shopping mall, or at the ball field. The truth is, if we wear Christ?s name, we wear His name always and everywhere. Every step we take, every word we speak,.. every gesture, thought, motive and emotion happens with Jesus? name attached to it.
"All people walk each in the name of his god, But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God Forever and ever." Micah 4:5 (NKJV)
We need to become painfully conscious of how our lives reflect on Christ.
"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus"
Col. 3:17 (NKJV)
How we treat people demonstrates how we feel about Jesus. It?s such an important principle, because Jesus taught that how we treat others diirectly reflects on Him.
"Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me." Mark 9:37 (NKJV)
His desire for us is unity and love, becaause that is His nature. Paul reprimanded the Corinthian church for dishonoring Christ with their pettiness and their disagreements by writing:
"I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." 1 Cor. 1:10 (NKJV)
And can I plant this thought in your mind and heart? As followers of Christ, we bring Him with us where we go and in all we do.
"Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 2 Tim. 2:19 (NKJV)
God?s name represents God?s holiness, and we not only displease God wheen we sin, we dishonor Him. How you live shows respect for God?s name.
5. Gather in His name.
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20 (NKJV)
This time that we set aside to meet together is important time. We experience God?s presence is a unique and powerful way. We encourage each other and strengthen each other in a special and powerful way.
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)
And we make a powerful statement about God, and how we respect Him, by the importance we place on gathering to worship. The first and easiest line of our witness tto the world, is the importance we place on our membership in Christ?s body and our participation in the church. (Not necessarily the most important, but cetainly the most visible. And let?s face it .. if you can?t commit to come and worship regularly and consistently, you aren?t going to make deeper, more significant committments to serve God.)
Honor God?s name with your commitment to gather and meet with other believers regularly, and enjoy God?s presence with them.
6. Declare his name.
"For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth." Romans 9:17 (NKJV)
We were created with a purpose. To love and serve God. God made us to worship Him, that by our lives, He might receeive glory. It is the duty of those who know the Lord, to declare His glory to others. It is the example we see of believers in Scripture.
"When they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Acts 8:12 (NKJV)
"Barnabas took [Paul] and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Acts 9:27-28 (NKJV)
Bottom line: the only way to receive God?s forgiveness and mercy is through the name of Jesus. And the only way people will know Him is if we introduce them to Him.
"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12 (NKJV)
7. Be thankful in His name.
"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." Psalm 100:4 (NKJV)
The old hymn "Count Your Many Blessings" is great theolgy. And it is often lost on us because we have the tendency to whine and complain and grumble, because we think life owes us a better turn that what we are receiving. How dishonoring to God!! Our complaints say that we think we know better than God, and that we think God eeds to be doing a better job.
The remedy is thankfulness. Approach every day with a heart of gratitude, thanking God for blessings received, and blessings that are yet to be received. Conscious thanksgiving is asure fire way to build your faith and become more aware of God?s abiding presence. It changes our attitude.
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Hebrews 13:15 (NKJV)
8. Endure suffering in His name.
People are much more apt to notice the character of someone who loses graciously, than someone who wins the game. We make bold statements about ourselves, not in the good times, but in the tough times. Throughout Christianity, people?s faith has been in evidence most clearly when they were under trials and pressures.
"When they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. Acts 5:40-41 (NKJV)
This principle is certainly true when we are persecuted for Jesus? sake.
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 1 Peter 4:14 (NKJV)
But there is a larger truth at work here. How we perservere through touogh times says a lot about our God. Jesus warned the church at Pegamos to "hold fast to My name" (Rev 2:13) in the midst of trouble. The joy is that as we endure trials in Jesus? name, He seals our name in heaven.
He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Rev. 3:5 (NKJV)
9. Receive salvation in His name.
You cannot build a Godly worldview, unless you are a part of God?s world. And there is only one way to enter into God?s house, andd that?s by faith in the name and person of Jesus Christ.
"And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.'
Acts 2:21 (NKJV)
To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins." Acts 10:43 (NKJV)
That?s why we have the witness of the Bible, so that we might believe on jesus? name.
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:13 (NKJV)
"These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31 (NKJV)
The Bible clearly teaches that demonstrate our faith by becoming identified with Jesus death, burial and resurrection in baptism. We join ourselves to Chrsit?s name in believer?s baptism.
Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38 (NKJV)
"And [Peter] commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord."
Acts 10:48 (NKJV)
You may believe in God. You may live a "good" life. You may work hard. You may be honest and dependable. You may be better than most of the people you know. But if you haven?t taken the name of Jesus, you cannot be saved from God?s eternal punishment. not one of us is perfect. Every one of us has done, or said, or thought something that was contrary to God?s holy nature. And that wrong, the Bible calls sin, separates us from Him, until we place ourselves under the name and righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
The bible teaches that not only did Jesus Chrsit come once to be our Savior, but He is coming again to reclaim the world as His children from evil and sin. Revelation 19:16 says that Jesus will come with His true name emblazoned on His robe and thigh:
"KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
Rev. 19:16 (NKJV)
In Revelation 3:12 Jesus promised that those who who have placed their faith in Him will be given a "new name" and that name will be written down in the Book of Life. I want to invite you to consider Paul?s words in Acts 22
And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.' Acts 22:16 (NKJV)
The Lord has changed my name.. I once was called Faithless, but now I am Christian.
- Pilgrim from Pilgrim?s Progress
Taking A Day Off - Exodus 20:8-11
