[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon THE SECOND WEDNESDAY IN LENT 03 March 2010 "For the Love of God: Our Tongues and Lips" Exodus 20:7 LSB Series C Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

In his Treatise on Good Works, Luther wrote:

1. The first thing to know is that there are no good works except those works God has commanded, just as there is no sin except that which God has forbidden. Therefore, whoever wants to know what good works are as well as doing them needs to know nothing more than God's commandments.¹

Everything starts with the First Commandment. It demands faith above all. There is "fear, love, and trust in God above all things." The Second Commandment moves us from the heart to the tongue and the lips. Like all the others, nothing can be done without faith, otherwise it is hypocrisy and sin.

"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, ESV)²

The English "in vain" comes from the Latin "in vanum," It means "uselessly," "for no good purpose." It seems that the last phrase comes pretty close to the center of the Commandment, "for no good purpose." It follows that the opposite must be an evil purpose, one which is not good in the sight of God, something not intended by God. Luther sometimes translates it as "abuse" or "misuse."

Hebrew puts forward the negative, that is literally,

"Not shall you utter the name of Yahweh your God for no good purpose. Not will leave unpunished Yahweh him who utters his name for no good purpose." [My order]

The Second Commandment alone has a threat of punishment added to it. God watches over the use of his Name. His Name is connected with his person, who he is and what he does. To misuse his name is to blaspheme him. To use it apart from faith is to sin. The Second Commandment gives expression to what is in our hearts, taking us back, as do all the Commandments, to the First.

How you handle the Name of God speaks about your relationship with him. In the ancient world names were inseparable from the person whom they identified. To call upon God's name is to put yourself into his presence. These are more than just words, even though modern man seems to think that they are empty words. Perhaps that is quite true for those who do not have faith. In the first instance, then, the misuse of God's name in emptiness, for no good purpose, betrays a lack of faith that there is a God or that he is present. In our society God's name is invoked millions of times a day but never in faith. It is used as filler in our speech, thus denying that this Name has any power. Whatever form it takes, even if it is breathed as frustration, "God!" or in surprise, "Oh my God," or even text using OMG, the result is the same. One does not seriously believe that God is or can be present. Thus, his holy name is treated as commonly as other profane expressions, and it is true that God's holy name is often mixed with very profane, crude language. In fact, by mixing God's holy name with such other expressions and words, one denies any relationship with God. We make God's name useless for what God intends. We have trampled on it, treated it with contempt, desecrated it. God reminds us that those who do this will not get away guiltless.

Why do we do it? What is the reason? To play God? To challenge him? Luther points that one either praises God or one praises himself. For the Christian it is the struggle against the inner Pharisee. Albrecht Peters wrote: "In this way also, the prohibition against misusing the name uncovers the original sin of man: We refuse to honor the God who discloses Himself to us in His name and Word, that is, in Jesus Christ" [Ten Commandments, p. 157]. Sin against the Second Commandment shows a heart [First Commandment] that is already out of joint with God. The tongue proves what is in the heart.

The sin against the misuse of God's name is more grievous in God's eyes than murder and adultery, writes Luther [AE 44.43]. Why? First, it is a sin against God, not merely a sin against our neighbor. Second, because we do not easily recognize that misusing his name is sin. Murder and adultery can easily be seen, but what comes out of our mouths is less subject to our condemnation. It is so slippery that we cannot grasp it. We think that it doesn't matter because they are only words. But is God's Name only a word? Is it devoid of power? Is he really present as we speak it? Is that what we believe?

Nowhere is it more serious than in what Luther terms "lying and deceiving by his name." Here man lusts after what belong to God and tries to get it for himself. Here especially false doctrine is condemned because such a person claims to speak for God when he speaks only for himself. He tries to wrestle away from God what he wants by claiming that he speaks for God! His false words reveal a heart that is not right with God. He has not kept the First Commandment.

Our world is full of this kind of sin of the misuse of God's holy name. Luther remarked that "No more shameful cover for infamy has been found on earth than the most holy and blessed name of Jesus Christ!" [AE 44.53]. Indeed, our world continues in its shameful blasphemy of God's holy name because it does not believe God. When those who call themselves by the Name of Christ contradict God's plain Word of the Bible, they are guilty not merely of empty words, but they have set themselves in opposition to the holy Name. When homosexuality is openly promoted as pleasing to God and marriage is desecrated in the name of God, then we are dealing with blasphemy. The prophet Jeremiah warned:

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.' But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers." (Jeremiah 7:21-26, ESV)

"For the Love of God" commands that we obey this Commandment by keeping God's name holy, that is, use it for only holy things. The Jews took it so seriously that they would not even utter "ha-shem Yahweh," that is, "the name Yahweh." Unfortunately, that was a mere technicality because they did not use it for holy purposes. Keeping the Commandment does not consist in merely refraining from speaking it. A pagan could do that. Rather, it consists in using God's holy name in faith, that is connected to the First Commandment.

Simply Luther instructs us in the Small Catechism,

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not curse, swear, practice magic, lie, or deceive using God's name, but instead use that very name in every time of need to call on, pray to, praise, and give thanks to God.³

Here are the holy uses of God's name and one can use it properly only in faith. God has given you his holy name in Holy Baptism to use for good purposes. In Holy Baptism God put his holy Name on you, calling you're his child for the sake of Christ. Calling upon God in every need shows faith. It shows your dependence upon God as your only good [First Commandment again]. In answering the question, "what is it to have a god?" Luther answers:

A god is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe him with our whole heart.⁴

Your tongue and your lips speak forth this faith.

So too, Luther presents the positive side of the explanation to "pray, praise, and give thanks," when he instructs us to pray the meal time prayers as well as morning and evening prayers with the good habit of making the sign of the holy cross, praying the Apostles' Creed and the Our Father, recalling how he has put his Name on you in Holy Baptism. All of this is done in faith in Christ. Luther said that those who wish to be true Christians "confess the Gospel with hand and mouth" [Peters, p. 164]. Here then are tongues and lips and hands.

"For the Love of God" we must have cleansed tongues and lips so that we may use the holy name of God the way he wants it used. He bids us come to him in all need, especially our need to be forgiven our sins of the misuse of his holy name. Seldom have I heard Christians confess this to be a sin, but they should! It is more serious than other sins because it offends against God and his holiness. It denies our connection to him, and for that there must be repentance.

Call upon the holy name of Christ, beg his forgiveness, and ask him to hallow his name among us, just as he instructs us in the Our Father, "Hallowed [holy] be your Name!" Yes, also in me!

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

¹Martin Luther, vol. 44, Luther's Works, Vol. 44 : The Christian in Society I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther's Works, 44:23 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999, c1966).
²The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001.
³Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 352 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000).
⁴Theodore G. Tappert, The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 365 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2000, c1959).