The holy use of God’s Holy Name – that is our focus today with the 2^nd Commandment. As in the past weeks we are following the outlines of meaning found in Martin Luther’s Large and Small Catechisms, and some thoughts from the book No Other Name by Rev. Arthur Graf, former pastor at Faith Lutheran in Jeff City. Each week we look at how the Commandment applies to our life – looking at the 3 uses of the Law: Curb, Mirror, and Guide.

Let’s read the Commandment and meaning together from the back of the bulletin. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

In his Large Catechism Luther says: Just as the First Commandment instructs the heart and teaches faith, so this commandment leads us outward and directs the lips and tongue into a right relationship with God.

Respect for God’s Holy Name was written in our hearts, along with the other commandments, to be a curb – to keep order in the world by some outer signs of respect toward God. In our hearts it is supposed to be a reminder that there is a God over all things, and that we should treat Him, and even His name, with respect.

Let’s focus on that just a minute. God’s name should be respected. Throughout the Bible, many names are used for the True God. Each one of them describes Him or something about Him. YHWH, the Hebrew name usually translated as LORD (all capital letters) in the Old Testament, means I AM – telling us something about the eternity of God. The name Jesus means "YHWH is Salvation" or simply "Savior."

God’s name should be respected. Children in school or even we adults do not like our names to be used as some kind of joke or ridicule. Companies spend tremendous amounts of money to protect their brand names, so that no one will take advantage of them or ruin their reputation. How much more important it is to keep God’s name holy in our lives. Our lives and our language should always show respect for the One in whom we trust for all things.

Since sin in all of us has blurred severely our memory of this commandment, God gave His Commandments to Moses to pass on to us in writing. As it is written in the Holy Bible, the 2^nd Commandment becomes a spiritual mirror. When we look at it as we do today, in the many ways it touches our daily life, it shows us our sin. We will see once more how we have used God’s name in ways that are not pleasing to Him, and that we too often have forgotten the right uses of His name. The last half of verse 7 is a chilling reminder of the wages of our sin: "The LORD will not holy anyone guiltless who misuses His name."

For us Christians the 2^nd Commandment has a 3^rd use, as a guide to help us in the new life of faith. This new life comes to us as a gift from God. It is totally undeserved – that’s what "grace" means. It comes to us as full forgiveness for all our sins, and the promise of life eternal. It comes to us because of Jesus Christ alone. His perfect life was lived for us. His innocent death was suffered for us. His resurrection becomes ours through Holy Baptism. And in this new life we want to thank Him for all this grace. The Commandments – including the 2^nd – help us know what we can do to thank Him for His love.

Each time we remember Luther’s words of explanation, this same thing should be impressed on our hearts. For us believers, the keeping of the Commandment is a response of faith and thanks to God. In fact, Luther wanted people to remember that we can begin to keep the Commandments only when we have true faith in God. We should fear and love God so that … Each explanation from 2 to 10 begins this way. We should fear and love God so that we will want to obey Him, in order to thank Him for our new life in Jesus Christ.

Also, Luther sets a pattern of showing us the negative and positive sides of each commandment, the things we should not do and the things we should do. We will begin with the negative – what we should not do. In general, Luther says this: "It is a misuse of God’s name if we call upon the Lord God in any way whatsoever to support falsehood or wrong of any kind."

We should not use God’s name to curse. That includes using His name to speak evil of Him or mock Him. But more often we think of cursing as using His name to call down God’s anger or punishment on someone or something. At times it seems we are immersed in a flood of profanity. All around us are terrible misuses of God’s name. Some people seem to call on His name a great deal. They use His name – frequently following the word "OH ..." or use His name followed by the word " … damn." Do they ever top to realize they are speaking a prayer, in the first case – asking for His help, in the second case – asking for His wrath? Brothers and sisters in Christ, this should not be in our lives. Yet even when we have the best intentions to keep God’s name holy, it may slip through our lips or echo in our thoughts. For this we pray God’s forgiveness.

To Swear. Swearing means to take an oath or make a promise, calling on God to witness to the truth of what we are saying. The Bible gives examples of when swearing is right or permitted. In Romans 13:1 Paul instructs us to submit to governmental authorities. Because of that we permit swearing an oath in God’s name when called to testify in court or in taking an oath of public office. Another example would be the promises we make in ceremonies like confirmation and weddings, vows made "in the presence of God and these witnesses." These oaths and promises should always be made with sincere hearts, committed to the truth. But any such oaths or promises made carelessly, or made with the intent to tell something other than the truth, or do something wrong – any of these oaths becomes sinful swearing. Luther says: misuse of the divine name occurs first of all in business affairs and in matters involving money, property, and honor, whether publicly in court or in the marketplace or wherever someone commits perjury and swears a false oath in God’s name or by his own soul.

Next comes the category called "witchcraft" in the 1941 translation of the Catechism, or "satanic arts" in the current version. When I learned this in confirmation class I though it was only ancient history. Little did I know that witches and satan worship would come out in the open during my lifetime. From a few things I have learned about such practices, one is that they often use Christian symbols and names of God during their ceremonies. But the symbols and names are used backwards or upside down. These are obvious perversions of the use of God’s name.

Yet there are other activities often accepted by the world around us that are less obvious, but still misuses of the Holy Name of God. Included in our understanding of satanic arts are such things as horoscopes and other forms of astrology, attempting to communicate with the dead, and many other activities often found in so called "New Age Religions."

The final negative part is what Luther calls "lying or deceiving by God’s name." Since he covered misuse of God’s name in the area of business under "swearing oaths," his focus in this section is on spiritual deception. The greatest abuse, however, is in spiritual matters, which affect the conscience, when false preachers arise and present their lying nonsense as God’s Word.

Spiritual deception would include teaching false doctrine and claiming it to be the Word of God. It also includes trying to cover up an unbelieving heart or sinful life by pretending to be a Christian. Luther has an ironic comment on our sinful nature: By nature we all have this lovely virtue that whenever we commit a wrong we like to cover it and gloss over our disgrace so that no one may see or know it. … When someone is caught, then God and his name must be dragged into it, so that the dirty business may be made honorable and the disgrace noble.

Pastor Graf has a few other reminders of ways we break this commandment: Going to church and not worshipping, sitting in the balcony but not listening, or even singing the hymns lustily without paying any attention to the meaning of the words – is hypocrisy. Of such Christ Himself said, "This people draw near to Me with their mouth and honors Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me."{p.102}

Now we flip to the positive side – what God want us to do in using His Holy Name. Let’s say the words together: But call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks!

Pastor Graf reminds us: The Bible is filled with exhortations to pray – to pray without ceasing; to pray everywhere; to pray for ourselves, for others, for the government, for friends and enemies, the saved and unsaved; to pray for forgiveness, faith, peace, joy, food and clothing, everything. Hannah went to God because she wanted a baby. The centurion went to Christ because his servant was sick with paralysis. David prayed that God would protect him while warring against the enemies of the country. Stephen prayed for those who were stoning him. David prayed for forgiveness. St. Paul prayed for the conversion of his people. Christ in the night before His crucifixion prayed for you and me, that we might be led to believe on Him and find an eternal fellowship with Him and His Father. Christians still have this privilege of prayer. … "Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged, Take it to the Lord in prayer." {p.96-97}

Praise. Pastor Graf writes of praising God for His wonderful creation in which we live, for the blessings of redemption in Jesus Christ, for God’s continuing providing and care in our daily lives, and God’s concern for our future – the gift of eternal life with Jesus Christ. For all these reasons, we speak and sing our praises here in church. Pastor Graf also speaks about praising the Lord’s name outside of the church walls. Instead of just talking about the weather or other things of life, we can praise God in the words of our regular conversations. "The Lord sure gave us a beautiful rain. The Lord provided a bumper crop. The Lord blessed me with a good job. Our home is really a gift from God. I certainly appreciate the friends God has given me." It doesn’t have to be push or crammed down people’s throats, but a simple comment in the middle of our conversations can give credit where credit is due – to God.

Thanksgiving. To give thanks to closely connected with praise. We recognize how good God is to us, and we want to thank Him in what we say and do. Praise and thanksgiving form an important balance in our prayers, so that we are not just coming to God with a list of "gimme this and gimme that."

Pray, Praise, and Give Thanks. Luther writes about the importance of using God’s name, and training our children in it, with moth negative and positive methods. I advise and urge, as I have done before, that by means of warning and threat, restraint and punishment, children be trained in due time to beware of lying and especially to avoid calling upon God’s name in support of it. Where they are allowed to act in this way, no good will come of it. It is evident that the world is more wicked than it has ever been. … All of this is God’s wrath and punishment upon such willful contempt of this commandment.

Let’s read once more the words of the 2^nd Commandment and meaning.

A final word from Pastor Graf to us: This morning you have heard again the 2^nd Commandment of God. You can now do one of three things: One, you can just ignore all that has been said and go your own way and keep on living a miserable life. Two, you can get angry about it and act as though the preacher wrote the 10 Commandments. Three, you can go to Christ for forgiveness and for power to live more fully according to God’s will. The Lord bless you and help you make the right choice." {p.102-3}

And I say: Amen!