Thoughts on the 3rd commandment

When I was growing up, I believed that the third commandment, "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) principally had something to do with swearing. You know, saying bad words. There were a couple of them that specifically included the words "God" or "Jesus" that I was pretty sure broke the commandment, but some others were murkier. I knew the F-word was bad and probably took God's name in vain but felt a little less clear about some of the others. What did I know? In hindsight, that was a pretty incomplete understanding of the third commandment.

Taking the Lord's name in vain refers to claiming God's name in support on a dishonest vow as well as not treating His name reverently or respectfully. According to the ESV Study Bible notes, "Yahweh is warning Israel against using His name as if it were disconnected from His person, presence, and power."

When I read the Bible, I try to approach each passage with an eye toward how it relates to relationships, both vertical and horizontal (e.g., a relational hermeneutic). When I think of the implications of taking God's name in vain relationally, I think about how we speak of God's name and its implications for relationships.

I have been wondering, what if one of the ways we take the Lord's name in vain has to do with how Christians speak about one another? Too often, our words about other believers fail to honor God. We speak poorly about others who bear the name of Christ when they disappoint us or even when they disagree with us. We tear down rather than build up. We reject biblical principles for relationship while still claiming Christ as Savior. I wonder, if Christ can save us from God's justice by his grace, can he not also save our relationships? If he is able to reconcile us to himself, can he not also reconcile us to one another?

As Christians, let us not take Christ's name in vain in our relationships. Let us believe that he has the power to heal broken relationships, and especially with those who are brothers and sisters in Jesus. Let us practice other-centeredness, always with an eye toward forgiveness, just as we have been forgiven.

Speak evil of no one

avoid quarreling 

be gentle

show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Titus 3:2

First Be Reconciled

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift.--Matthew 5:23-24

I have meditating on these words from Jesus a lot over the past week or so. I think a part of what Jesus was telling his disciples was that, more important than the activities of the church, or temple worship, or sacrifice, or tithing, were people. Jesus was telling his hearers that it is relationships that really matter. The whole Bible is about relationship--God with us, and us with one another.

Relationships are messy. Broken people loving broken people. Forgiveness and reconciliation need to be a part of the fabric of what marks us as Christians. It will likely be required of us often (In Matthew 18, Jesus mentioned something about 7x70 times). Yet, more than any other act of worship that we may be involved in--singing, tithing, service--Christ calls us to relationship. 

Forgiving God?

I have heard people mention the concept of forgiving God a few times and it always makes me cringe.  Sam Storms, who is much smarter than I, has addressed this issue in a useful essay today. 

He wrote, "My primary concern, however, is with the idea of humans forgiving God. What are we to make of this?"

and then later,

"But my struggle is with the language of 'forgiving God.' For one thing, I don’t find it ever used in Scripture. That alone ought to give us pause before we incorporate such language into our Christian vocabulary or allow it to shape our theology or our understanding of spiritual formation.

"Also, a person can only be truly forgiven if that person has truly committed a sin or some wrong. Forgiveness assumes guilt on the part of the person being forgiven. If there is no sin, there is no guilt, and if there is no guilt, there is no need to be forgiven. Typically we say, 'I forgive ______ for having gossiped about me,' or 'I forgive ______ for having broken a confidence,' etc.

"But God never has, cannot, and never will sin against us. Nothing he does is wrong or misguided or ill-informed or unwise or unloving. That doesn’t mean we will always see it that way! Far from it. We often think that God has missed a step or failed us in some way, but he hasn’t. If he had, he wouldn’t be God!
 Read the rest here.  

Thinking God will run out of welcome home banners

Jon over at Stuff Christians Like wrote a great piece on forgiveness. He said, "Forgiveness is the thing I ask for the most. In my head maybe I know that God’s forgiveness is eternal and inexhaustible but in my heart I feel like He’s going to run out of it. That He’s got a limited supply. And I’m burning them up, one by one, sin by sin."

I struggle with this in my own mind. I wonder how God can forgive me again for doing something sinful. It comes to a point when I think, "I'm scared to ask again. What if He says no this time? If I were Him, I wouldn't forgive me. I don't even deserve to be in His presence." Yet I muster up the courage and ask...again.

He welcomes me home, not because I am good, but because He is merciful.