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Colossians
3:8
You
must rid yourselves of all such things as these:
anger,
rage, malice, slander, and filthy language…
Luke 6:45
…the words that the
mouth utters come from the overflowing of the heart.
Timothy
6:20
Turn
away from godless chatter.
Psalm 111:9
Holy and reverend
is His name.
Psalm
19:14
May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart
be
acceptable in thy sight Oh, Lord.
Psalm 8:1
O Lord, our Lord,
how glorious is your name over all the earth.
Psalm 112:2
Blessed
be the name of the Lord both now and forever.
The Third Commandment is not a suggestion – not an item for debate,
it is a commandment. When
we take God’s name in vain, we trivialize it.
To take God’s name in vain is to lift it up for unholy motives. “GD you,” someone will say and if they really
mean it, how can one so blindly and blandly say it. And if someone says “GD you,” and does not
mean it, how can one be so frivolous with the name of God?
Lift up the name of God in praise, or throw it to the dogs in the
midst of idle chatter.
Lift
up the name of God in praise, or trample it underfoot in anger or angst.
Lift up the name of God in prayer and praise, or make light of the
Creator as a habit gone badly astray.
Or as
someone put on a billboard You say His
name often enough on the highway. Why
not try saying it in church?
“Jesus Christ is my Savior,”
says the man or woman who would not even consider taking the name of Jesus in
vain. “Right-wing, conservative,
fanatic,” cry out some.
“Jesus Christ” and it is a curse and many think, “That’s cool
man. I can see you’re not up
tight. You’re alright.”
We
repeated The Lord’s Prayer this morning; “Our Father who art in heaven…” We did not begin the prayer, “GD you who art in
heaven…” Why
is that? Why, indeed? for does not The Lord’s Prayer continue, “hallowed be thy name…”
If a Christian uses God’s name as a curse is it worse than if an
atheist says it? Does the fact that a Christian believes in God and an atheist
doesn’t make a difference? Should not a
Christian be called to a higher ethical conduct when it comes to speaking of, naming
and calling attention to God?
Proverbs
23:7, “As a man thinketh, so is he.”
Indeed, let me put it this way, “As a man speaketh, so is he.”
It isn’t enough to say that someone who takes
the Lord’s name in vain doesn’t really mean anything by it.
Of course, he means something by it. It means he doesn’t care. Hasn’t even thought about it, and not
thinking about it is exactly where he or she really is.
They don’t consider that when they use the word Jesus as a curse
they are using the word that means “Messiah” in a way they should think about
it before they say it. Perhaps if some
of His other names were used as curse words; Emmanuel which means God with us or The King of Kings, or The Lamb of God, or The Lord of Lords, or the
Alpha and Omega, perhaps, just
perhaps then the eternal WOW of what they were throwing around as a curse word
would finally sink in.
If he
or she is not a Christian? Well, not
good, but understandable. If he or she
is a Christian? Well, not good, and definitely not
understandable.
I'm always puzzled that the film industry calls it adult language, as if praising God were not adult and profaning Him is.
Why do little boys of seven and older boys of seventeen and not so
grown-up boys of seventy-seven swear with no more problem than ordering a coke
and a hot dog?
There is a chap at the tennis court where I
used to play who in every respect looked the perfect gentleman. His speech was cultured. His attitude toward people, gentle. But if you stayed around him for awhile,
you’d hear him utter GD this and GD that with ultimate ease. And it bothered me. And what bothered me even more was that it
didn’t seem to bother many others who also seemed to be gentle gentlemen. Did I say something to him? Sure did.
Did he and the others stop? Sure
didn’t.
At one time, I played with a top notch woman tennis player. I stopped playing with her because every bad
shot she hit brought out a string of curses – as if God were to blame for her
miss-hits. I missed playing her because
she was very, very good. I didn’t miss
her mouth.
Have
you ever walked away from someone who was carrying on in such a manner and
explained why you were leaving? Or have
you stayed around feeling uncomfortable, wondering why you were staying while
all at the same time knowing why you were staying. Wouldn’t want to be thought of as a goody two
shoes, and besides a little mud on ones shoes shows that one is tolerant. Tolerant, ah yes, gotta be that at any cost.
Have I ALWAYS spoken up when I should? Confession is good for the soul but bad for
the reputation. I haven’t. But I should have.
The
Mafia are bad people but they don’t necessarily run around in public bragging
about it. Most
people, if they commit the crime of stealing from their bosses, don’t pass out
that information in normal conversation.
Most people, when they sin against God or man, want it kept a
secret. Why then is the 3rd
commandment not considered a sin? Why are
profane curses openly projected for any and all to hear? Because any and all have accepted it as
acceptable behavior. Because any and all
don’t make the people who give out such verbal trash feel ashamed. In fact, most such people who GD this and
Jesus Christ that are proud of their profanity.
They believe it proves they are a man.
Of course, I’m not sure just what such comments prove a woman is.
We,
in Miami, are a multi-lingual city.
Therefore, do many of the people from other countries coming here
immediately and automatically believe we are a Christian nation because of all
these vocal references to God they hear?
That is until they learn the language a little
better and realize that most of what they have been hearing were not moments of
Godly praise or invitations to worship.
I share with you part of a prayer that Paul Harvey recited over
the airwaves. It was given at the
opening of the Kansas State Senate.
“Heavenly
Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your
direction and guidance. We know your
Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we have
done and are doing. We have lost our
spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and
called it Pluralism. We have neglected
to discipline our children and called it building self esteem…We have polluted
the air with profanity…and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of
our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us…and set us
free. Amen.”
How many people, when they get to heaven
are going to say, “Well, GD, here I am.
What do you know?” Oh, no. I think God and Jesus Christ will, at that
time, be said with great reverence and concern, kneeling with the angels before
the throne of grace. I think at that
moment all the good old boys and all the good old girls who didn’t mean
anything by their taking of the Lord’s name in vain will realize that now is
the time to mean something by what they say and how they say it.
Why
did we win the Revolutionary War? For
many reasons, but as David McCullough in his priceless book on that period
says, “We won because there were a few good men who because of their character
changed the destiny of a nation.”
(paraphrased) It has always been
this way – men and women of character who will not, cannot, be denied.
Profaning God stinks. It
turns the soul into a skunk and pollutes the air. Indeed, let me do something this morning I
have never done before. Close by reading
the same scriptures I read at the beginning of this sermon because they so
emphasize what is right and proper and what God expects of us.
“You
must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander,
and filthy language…” (Colossians 3:8)
“…The
words that the mouth utters come from the overflowing of the heart.” (Luke 6:45)
“Turn
away from godless chatter.” (Timothy
6:20)
“Holy
and reverend is His name.” (Psalm 111:9)
“May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy
sight, Oh Lord” (Psalm 19:14)
“O
Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth.” (Psalm 8:1)
“Blessed
be the name of the Lord both now and forever.”
(Psalm 112:2)
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