Taking the name of the LORD in vain

In finishing a recent book read (which I highly recommend - Not God Enough by JD Greear), I ran across a thought that I want share, as well as noodle on it's implications for my life.  It's a thought about the third commandment.

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain." - Exodus 20:7

Many of us have been taught that this command (the third) is basically the "do not cuss" or use God's name as a cuss word command.  While I do believe that application applies (although I think that is actually a more serious thing), it's not the totality of this command.  

"The name" of the Lord, in the ancient Hebrew context, reflects God's character and how we associate ourselves to Him.  In the book I've been reading, the author points out that we as Christians can take the Lord's name in vain by the way that many of us live.  As an illustration (I'll use my own example), almost 2 years ago Amanda Strnad stood with me at Wolf Mountain Vineyards in front of many of our friends.  In that moment, we pledged our lives to each other and in that moment she took on my name.  She is no longer Amanda Strnad anymore but she is now Amanda Willis, which means that she has taken on "the name" of Willis.  This comes with all of the privileges and honors that comes with that name.  In another example, Amanda also loves Gilmore Girls.  Fans, imagine that Rory Gimore had ACTUALLY married Logan Huntsberger (spoiler - she doesn't!) but still lives on pop tarts and frozen pizzas after taking the name of the newspaper baron's family.  That would, in some way, dishonor the name of "Huntsberger" as she's not living in line with the name that she would have taken on if many fans had gotten their way.  

If you think about this, by accepting God's offer of grace through Jesus Christ we are in fact doing this.  We are giving up the name of {insert your name here} and taking on the name of Christ.  This means, when thinking about how I represent the name of Christ I have now taken on, that the command takes on a new meaning in a new covenant context of being in Christ.  Here are a few thoughts:

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? - 1 Corinthians 6:15a

The context that Paul is taking about is sexual immorality here, but there is a principle here.  What we do with our bodies reflects on Christ.  Paul later says "did you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit?" - indicating that the presence of God Himself resides within our bodies and that we are to use our bodies to worship God and not in self-indulgence (again, the context for his readers being sexual immorality but the principle remains... we have taken in the name of our God within our bodies).  

This begs the question.  Do we see how we care for our physical bodies as a reflection of God's ownership of us?  Or... do we adopt the false Gnostic attitude (which Paul was challenging) that what we do with our bodies didn't really matter and only "spiritual" things matters?  Paul is clear - what we do with our bodies DOES reflect on God and I believe that in light of that fact that what we do with our physical health matters in our worship to God.  We can take the name of the Lord in vain when we take on the attitude that "well, I'm going to die anyways" and don't put good things into our bodies or exercise regularly.  You don't need to go vegan or run a half marathon every month, but you do get to manage the Holy Spirit's temple and you owe it to Him to manage it well. 

Punting on holiness by using the "I'm just a sinner saved by grace" line.

This is a common catchphrase in Christian circles, and like every false thing it's about 95% true.  Yes - you and I are going to sin.  Often.  Even as believers.  We need God's grace everyday and the fact that God continues to pour out His goodness on me is something that continuously amazes me.  John tells us to continuously confess our sins to one another to receive God's healing forgiveness.  It's a great truth.  However, there's one thing that's not entirely true about this statement that has become cliche.  

When we accept Christ, we take on His name.  And HE is righteous.  

We may not act righteous, but that's what God says we are when we are in Christ.  He doesn't see us as "sinners" anymore and obviously through grace He wants to work in us to make that more of a reality in our everyday life.  This line really is saying "I can't help myself and I know I can just go back to the grace well and get forgiven, so (like Brittany Spears often says) 'Oops, I did it again.'"  This isn't the gospel.

This is the implication of the Gospel: 

So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” - Romans 8:12-15

Our recognition of our need for sanctification should lead us to run to Jesus and receive forgiveness and healing, followed by worship.  The "saved by grace" carries more weight than the reality of the sins we still struggle with.  We (I) need to act like it.  Christ had no sin, so if we carry His name we can't cling to the "sinner" label anymore.  

Living in fear

Think about what you just read above.  God calls you his child and He promises to never leave you.  If we no longer have to fear the wrath of God and know that we can use the affectionate term of "daddy" or "papa" or "da-da" (which could be the most accurate translation of "Abba") to talk to GOD, when what do we really need to be afraid of? 

By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. - 1 John 4:17-18

When we have taken on Christ's name, we don't need to fear punishment because ultimately Christ has taken that for us.  Because of Christ, we will be instead welcomed.  If you think of the extent that Jesus went through to bring us home, what seriously do we need to be afraid of?  

Timid Prayers 

"For every beast of the forest is Mine,

The cattle on a thousand hills.

“I know every bird of the mountains,

And everything that moves in the field is Mine." - Psalm 50:9-10

God's sovereign will is a reality - God won't answer every prayer that we pray in the way that we ask him.  I know he doesn't mine.  However, God is not a miser either.  He wants to give us good gifts, similarly to the way that a good dad wants to give his kid ice cream for dessert... just because he loves his kid.

When we have taken on Christ's name, do we live and pray in the reality that we are aligned with a God of unlimited resources and unlimited power, or do we pray as if He's restricted?  Or.. do we pray for stuff that we can pretty much get by working hard for it anyway?  I do believe (and scripture I believe backs me up) that God is honored when we pray bold prayers (things that if God doesn't show up, this whole thing fails) and then trust God for the results and rest on His sovereignty if He doesn't answer in the way that we desire Him to respond.  

Just because God's will may be a little bit different than what our pea brains are praying for - doesn't mean we shouldn't pray, or pray expecting Him to respond.  But, we shouldn't... 

Treating God like a cosmic genie 

The other side of praying timid prayers is the presumptive "name it, claim it" prayers that assume that God is some kind of cosmic butler that will act at your command.  We have pray knowing and acknowledging that our Heavenly Father is much smarter than us and is very capable of running His universe (and our lives) without our help.  He does love us and desire to give us good gifts, but He does so in His timing according to His will.

Job said it this way:  

“For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him,

That we may go to court together." - Job 9:32.  

God can't be bargained with or negotiated with.  We pray to God on His terms, not ours.  Jesus modeled this for us as He said that He didn't act outside of what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19). He taught us to say "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." (Matt 6:10) acknowledging God's sovereign purposes for the world and for our lives are we pray.  God's best for us are those things aligned with His sovereign will, and we need to be okay with how He answers knowing He's got the world in his hands and knows us better than we even know ourselves. 

Sometimes our prayers aren't answered as we expect because He has something different and better for us, and His ultimate good for us is that we are conformed to be like Christ. (Romans 8:29)  This may not (and likely will not) equate to getting "your best life now" but it will bring what God knows is best for us both now and for eternity.  Someone I read recently said "even when we don't understand what God is doing, we can trust His heart."  That's a good promise to hold onto.  

Finishing this thought

I don't know if I intended to write this much, but my brain started rolling.  I got into my "blog box" as Mark Gungor would like to say.  I am pretty guilty of many (if not all) of these items, especially the "bold prayers" item.  I would hope that all of us that read this (and take things with a grain of salt but I hope are genuinely helped by this) would be encouraged to live lives worthy of the grace that we have been given, whether that means that you give up fast food, start exercising, combat fearful thoughts, pray more boldly, or give up our demands of God and rest in knowing that He is good even if we aren't getting our prayers answered as we would wish.  What would it look like if the world saw more Christians content, healthy, and confident in the strength, resources, and wisdom of our God.  Good things, I believe... Honestly, good things.