The Third Commandment

This sermon was preached on 23/12/2010

The first four commandments are concerned with our relationship with God and the other six with our relationship to our neighbours. We could summarise them by saying that the first four concern our worship and the other six concern our witness. Given that the third commandment refers to our speech, we might think that it should be found among the six commandments because others may hear how we speak about God publicly. Thomas Boston pointed out that ‘as the first command respects the object of worship, and the second the means, so this third hath respect to the right manner of worship.’ We can also note that the fourth details when we should worship God in an organised way, although we also know that all of life should be dedicated to him. It is interesting that God often describes his appointed location of worship as the place where he put his name (e.g. Deut. 16:2, 6).

Worship involves every aspect of our bodies as well as of our minds. The proper use of our tongues, therefore, is essential for true worship, whether in private or in public, whether on specific occasions or in life in general. The main reason we have the facility of speech is that our tongues should glorifying God by speaking to him or about him. After all, if God only wanted an inner response from us, he could have made us without the facility of speech. Public worship involves praising the name of God: ‘Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!’ (Ps. 34:3). Private fellowship with God includes thinking about his name: ‘Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name’ (Ps. 119:33).

What is the name of God?

First, under this heading, we can include his actual names. Many such names are recorded in the Bible and we should make an effort to understand what they signify. After all, when we meet a person, we usually ask him his name. Usually we do so for two reasons: one is so that we have a means of intelligent identification; the other is that the name may give us clues as to their identity, especially if we know the individual’s place of origin. We would not treat his name with contempt or indifference. As I said, God has several names. For example, he is Yahweh, the self-existent God who keeps his covenant with his people; he is Elohim, the powerful God; he is Adonai, the sovereign Lord. He told Moses, when calling him to serve as the deliverer of Israel from Egypt, that with regard to the patriarchs he ‘appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them’ (Exod. 6:3). Sometimes other words are combined with these titles in order to form compound names such as Yahweh is called the Lord our righteousness or the Lord our peace. In the New Testament, God is revealed as a Trinity; three persons in the Godhead (the Father, the Son and the Spirit). We should notice these different names and how they are used by the biblical writers.

Second, in addition to particular titles, we can include his attributes under the general theme of his name. When we speak of a ruler as a King, we include within that title all the functions of a king (for example, his wisdom to govern, his authority over his realm, his affection for his subjects etc.). It is the same with God. When using his name, we also are referring to his attributes (his characteristics and abilities). He himself gave us an example of how to think about his name in Exodus 34:5-7 when he revealed his name to Moses: ‘The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”’ In that self-explanation of his name, God refers to several attributes such as mercy, grace, faithfulness and wrath.

Third, under the general theme of his name, we can also include God’s purposes. Imagine what would happen if a person treated with contempt the various intentions specified by our government each year in the Queen’s speech that she reads to Parliament. No doubt, the government would take contempt as a sign of disrespect. Of course, they might never be able to implement their purposes because of other factors. Yet their purposes are identified with their name. It is the same with God. His name is linked to his purpose. Peter reminded his hearers on the Day of Pentecost that Jesus became a sacrifice for sin ‘according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God’ (Acts 2:33).

Fourth, church meetings and activities are connected to the name of God. Jesus indicated that he would be present where two or three were gathered in his name. Baptism is an engagement connected to the name of the Trinity (Matt. 29:18-20). The benediction is done by using the name of God. Indeed, as Paul says, ‘whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him’ (Col. 3:17).

Treating the name of God in vain

In what ways can we do this? ‘Vain’ means to treat lightly, as unimportant. We also have to bear in mind that initially this commandment was addressed by God to his people. Sometimes we are prone to imagine that the third commandment only refers to worldly people, but such a thought is wrong. It also applies to us who profess his name. In Israel, there were three particular ways in which God’s name was misused: it was misused when they mixed it with ideas from false religions, it was misused when false prophets pretended to speak in his name, and it was misused when persons told lies under oath. We can identify how those ways could be reduplicated today by involvement with wrong religions, by listening to many false messages that have been sent forth as if from God, and by not keeping one’s promises made in court. Yet we can refrain from these public ways of misusing his name and still do so in other ways.

We dishonour God’s name when we use it thoughtlessly and indifferently. The common way of doing so is by doing the right actions in the wrong spirit. Note Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees in Mark 7:5-7: ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”’

We dishonour God’s name when we speak about him in ways that we know are contrary to his Word, that is inconsistently. I have heard established Christians, in the middle of a discussion, say something about God that they knew to be wrong, and the reason they said it was because they did not want to lose an argument. Their words could have led others astray, but the real fault with their words was that they knew they were wrong. Theological lies are still lies, and we should never use the name of God to support ourselves. If we know something to be true about God, we should never say the opposite as if that were the truth.

We dishonour God’s name when we use it manipulatively, usually to promote a particular agenda. No one can argue with a person who says, ‘The Lord told me to do this.’ Sometimes such a desire may be based on an inner urge, which may or may not be from God (such urges should be examined by other tests, and God can easily make his will known through providence if people seek his face for guidance); at other times, it can be based on verses from the Bible taken totally out of context.

We dishonour God’s name when we use it superstitiously or irrationally, and this is often seen with regard to the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Take the issue of baptism. We believe it is right to baptise children and we don’t believe it is a shot in the dark as to whether or not it is a sign of blessing. But it will only be a blessing if it is done by faith. With regard to the salvation of children, God may own the faith of the parents very quickly or he may own it many years later. The point is that since God’s name is involved, we have to regard baptism as he wants, which is that he wants us to respond to it by faith.

Of course, there are other aspects apart from children coming to faith. Note the comments of the Larger Catechism 167: ‘How is our Baptism to be improved by us?’ Answer: ‘The needful but much neglected duty of improving our Baptism, is to be performed by us all our life long, especially in the time of temptation, and when we are present at the administration of it to others; by serious and thankful consideration of the nature of it, and of the ends for which Christ instituted it, the privileges and benefits conferred and sealed thereby, and our solemn vow made therein; by being humbled for our sinful defilement, our falling short of, and walking contrary to, the grace of baptism, and our engagements; by growing up to assurance of pardon of sin, and of all other blessings sealed to us in that sacrament; by drawing strength from the death and resurrection of Christ, into whom we are baptized, for the mortifying of sin, and quickening of grace; and by endeavouring to live by faith, to have our conversation in holiness and righteousness, as those that have therein given up their names to Christ; and to walk in brotherly love, as being baptized by the same Spirit into one body.’

The Lord’s Supper has often been regarded with superstition. We are aware of the issue of the Mass in the Roman Catholic church and the misuse made by liberals in other churches. The Larger Catechism 175 has some words about this: ‘What is the duty of Christians, after they have received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper?’ Answer: The duty of Christians, after they have received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is seriously to consider: How they have behaved themselves therein, and with: What success; if they find quickening and comfort, to bless God for it, beg the continuance of it, watch against relapses, fulfil their vows, and encourage themselves to a frequent attendance on that ordinance: but if they find no present benefit, more exactly to review their preparation to, and carriage at, the sacrament; in both which, if they can approve themselves to God and their own consciences, they are to wait for the fruit of it in due time: but, if they see they have failed in either, they are to be humbled, and to attend upon it afterwards with more care and diligence.

ConclusionThe location of the third commandment indicates its connection to the worship of God. Honouring his name includes adoration of his greatness, acceptance of his lordship, acquiescence of his providence, and anticipation of his purposes. It involves using our tongues in such a way that he is glorified, but it is essential that our correct words are the expression of a true heart and dedicated lifestyle. Obviously we will fail at times because we are sinners, yet we must make it our aim to please God, otherwise we will discover eventually that he is passionate about the honour of his name. One of the saddest possibilities is to arrive at the judgement seat of Christ imagining that we had honoured the name of God and to discover that we had not.