God’s 3rd Commandment – Exodus 20:7

Posted on January 31, 2024 by dkoop

Respect God’s Name:  “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”   Exodus 20:7

Paul Dickinson has written a book called Names.  He has a hobby of collecting strange and unusually names.  He says sometimes names seem to be prophetic.  In 1941 there were two men who were executed in the electric chair in the Florida state penitentiary and their names were Burns and Frizzle.  There was a Montreal window washer who died by accident, falling as he was washing windows.  His name was Will Drop.  Others, he says, seem destined for certain occupations.  Joe Bunt became a baseball coach.  Dan Druff became a barber.  Jeff Treadwell became a podiatrist.  Goforth and Ketchum, two guys, became police officers and partners.  O’Neill and Pray became partners in church equipment.  Wonderfully Trembly, a psychologist.  Zoltan Ovary, a gynecologist.  P.P. Peters, a urologist.  A plaster contractor, Will Crumble.

Here in the Austin area there is Dr. Chop who does vasectomies.  His first name is Richard, is his nickname Dick?   Also there is a Dr. Barker, a Veterinarian

Have you noticed names come and go in cycles?  There would be years when say, “Lisa” was very common. Or Michael.   My Grandmothers’ name was “Maxine, “ her sisters were Mildred and Veatrice, and my Grandfathers name was Emile.”  They are the few people I know with those names. The days when they were popular are apparently gone.

Sometimes parents don’t take the responsibility of naming their children seriously enough and give names to their kids that become a real burden for them to bear. Like the former Governor of Texas, Jim HOGG, who gave his two daughters the names “IMA” and “URA.”

But fortunately most parents don’t follow the examples of Governor Hogg and use the task of naming their children as an opportunity to make a joke. Most parents take the task seriously because they realize that a person’s name is important.  We carry it with us all our life and it becomes a summary of who we are.

In the culture of Moses and the people of Israel names had even greater significance. In those days a name was much more than a way to distinguish one person from another and much more than an identifying label. It reflected the ESSENCE of a person. It was similar to the way we use a “nickname” like “shorty” or “red”.” But it was much more than that. In those days, names were also important because a person was felt to actually have been present in the name in a manner in which he would not have been present apart from the name.  The name WAS the person, so to speak.

God’s Name Represents His…

Character

When I bring up a name,  we will automatically think of that person’s character. What character comes to mind when you see: Hitler? Mother Teresa? Charles Manson?  Billy Graham?

Many times in the Bible when somebody changed their character, their life was changed; and God often gave them a new name.  Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel, Simon became Peter.  Saul became Paul.  God would change their names because He said it represents the person’s character.

God’s name represents His character of being the creator, being holy, all powerful, all knowing and all present.

Presence

“I am with you always”  Matt. 28:20

We need to remember that Jesus has promised to be with us always.  Since that is true we don’t usually take somebody’s name in vain that is standing right by us. When we recognize and realize that we’re never without God presence we’ll be a lot more disciplined in our speech, because He hears it all.

Power

“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Matt 28:18

The name of Jesus isn’t just another name. There is special power in His name! The Bible says that demons screamed and writhed and tore themselves from their hosts at the mention of this name. In the authority of this name the eyes of the blind were opened and withered legs were made strong and even the dead came out of their graves.  In the name of Jesus alcoholics have been made sober, harlots have been made pure. At the name of Jesus atheists have been made believers.  Addicts have been set free. Eternal life is found in this name.

How Do We Misuse God’s Name? 

Profanity.  The word “profane“ means “debasing or defiling that which is holy or worthy of reverence.” So to “profane” something is to take something that is perfect and holy and yank it down in the mud to our level.

Impulse:   When we use God’s name as a convenient expression of fear or anger or joy or amazement or surprise.  “I just caught a 10-pound fish!  Oh My God!”  “Suzy’s pregnant!  O, my Lord!”  “I just split my pants, Oh My God!”  This is one that I have to remind my kids of often.  We’re reducing God to a level of a Wow! or a Far out!  We want to avoid making God an exclamation point.  God says, “when you use my name you take it seriously.”

“In Vain” literally means “empty.”  We can’t turn God into a cliché.  Insecure believers do this a lot.  They often try to prove how spiritual they are by their jargon, by using continuous religious phrases, spiritual clichés.  I feel like the more I use the name Jesus in a sentence then the more spiritual I must be.

Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.”  Matt 6:7 (NKJV)

Have you ever seen someone use God’s name as a filler in prayer?   If Niki made a great dinner how silly would it sound if I said, “Oh Niki, I just want to thank you, Niki for this bountiful harvest of a meal, Honey, Sweety it will nourishes our bodies, O Niki.  We just thank you sugar Baby.  She would think I was smoking crack!   Huh?

Notice the last part of this verse…  for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”   Exodus 20:7

To get a good understanding of this the best example I can think of is a word, that cannot be used lightly.  When it is used it is not thought of as a joke, it is serious you can be taken into custody by the law just by referring to it.  Here it is, The word is “BOMB” We know this is not a joking matter because we have all seen the power of a bomb.  The power to rip apart buildings, turn concrete to dust, to dismember bodies and extinguish the life out of anyone near by.  Authorities everywhere will just like the verse says, not hold anyone guiltless who misuses This name. 

Let’s respect the name of God.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

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God’s 2nd Commandment – Exodus 20:4-5

Posted on January 30, 2024 by dkoop

Idols Disappoint –  Exodus 20:4-5 “You shall not make for yourself an idol.”

Our culture here in the United States has become very good at finding substitutes for almost everything in life. Walk the aisles at HEB or Randalls and you’ll see all kinds of food substitutes: sugar and salt substitutes, butter “I Can’t Believe It’s NOT Butter!” cheese substitutes, cream substitutes, Niki used to like those Cream substitutes for coffee; French vanilla, caramel toffee, There are egg substitutes, bacon substitutes a crab substitute and more.

One time we were driving along I 35 and I instinctively hit the brakes when I spotted a police car on my left. It wasn’t until we passed him and I looked in my rear view mirror that I realized it wasn’t real officer,  just a  patrol car, a substitute for the genuine article.

All this is to say that in America substitutes, are big business. And I don’t think God is necessarily against this but as you can see in today’s text, He makes it very clear that when it comes to our relationship with Him, He will tolerate no substitutes.

This second law insists that the object of our worship must never be something of our own construction or something that is under our control. We must never make these things the focus of our day to day existence. Only God is to have that place in our lives.

Obviously we are more powerful and wise than anything we make on our own.  We can control the works of our hands. We can make many amazing things these days, but none of them are deserving of our worship.

Another truth we should understand as we study this 2nd commandment is that the impulse to worship is universal.  Anthropologists tell us that anywhere you go on this planet among any race of people from anywhere or any time period you will find people engaged in worship of some kind.  This is a God-given inclination.

There is a God-consciousness in the heart of every human being.   There is the desire of human beings to turn objects or people or even ideas into objects of worship.  God says don’t do that.

And when people take this natural inclination to worship and instead of directing it in its proper direction toward God they worship other things or images, this is idolatry.

The reality is that idolatry in our culture today is very widespread.  In our culture we worship the gods of materialism, sexual indulgence, and personal power. Their messages don’t just line the streets as they did in Athens in Paul’s day,  here they fill the magazine racks & airwaves!

The images and their deceptive offers go across the nation by satellite, cable, Internet, and slick four-color printing.  In our country we are surrounded by more false images than ever before in the history of mankind. They leer at us from billboards and magazine covers. They call to us in powerful visual impressions.  And, as every good advertising or network executive knows, the objective of these ads is to absolutely “capture” as many people as possible. They want to capture our attention, our imagination,  our money, our time and our commitment.   We see images of power, sex and happiness.

Have you ever thought, “when I get ______then I’ll be happy!”  That degree, marriage, job, car, body, position, $, vacation, etc.  Then we get that and we are not happy at all. Then we look to the next thing.

There is nothing wrong with money or a new car or wanting to wear attractive clothes or wanting to succeed in business. It’s just that these things and a hundred others may become idols to us as they begin to control our thoughts and desires.  We don’t worship objects as much as we worship images:  images of success, images of wealth, images of status, images of sensuality.

But you know, I think the most-worshiped false god in our society is SELF. We idolize our individual FEELINGS….we make and base major decisions on how we FEEL rather than on what God says. We worship happiness and self-esteem at all costs.  We care more about personal rights than God-given responsibilities. We worship how we look.  We especially bow down to our careers.  Whenever anything other than God becomes the absolute focus of our attentions and activities, that is idolatry.

One problem with idols is that they DISAPPOINT.   Advertisers say, “Wear our label and you’ll be popular, buy our product and you’ll be successful, drink our beer and it doesn’t get any better than this, buy our toothpaste and you’ll have sex appeal.”  They always promise more than they can deliver.

Have you ever ordered something or bought something that promised something and when you got it you were disappointed with what you got?  Anytime we put any person, any thing, any product in the place of God, anytime we expect anyone to solve all our problems or guarantee all our happiness we’re going to be disappointed.  Idols will always disappoint us.   They take and never give back. They use us up, drain us dry, and then discard us.

Idols are false fronts like we see on movie sets.  They look good on the outside but there is nothing behind them to back up their promises of freedom and joy. As the woman at the well discovered, you can drink all you want at the wells of the world but still be thirsty. The only way to satisfy our thirst for freedom is to be in relationship with God.

One way to put our idol to the test is to insert it into the 23rd Psalm.  Someone confessed to me that their boat was their idol.

Here’s the 23rd Psalm for our boat:     “My boat is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

My boat takes me lie down in quiet coves, and leads me beside quiet waters,

My boat restores my soul.  It guides me in paths of righteousness for my boats name’s sake.”

This can only go so far...  “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your propeller and your ski rope they comfort me?”  No, that’s not true.

Will your boat answer your prayers?  Will your boat raise you from the dead?  Will your boat save your soul from hell?  Will your boat welcome you into heaven?

Let’s put back the genuine article into the Psalm and into our lives, “The LORD is my shepherd!”

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/watch-now/leander-campus-videos

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God’s 1st Commandment – Exodus 20:2

Posted on January 29, 2024 by dkoop

1st Commandment  –  “You shall have no other gods before me” Ex 20:2

Do you married people remember your wedding ceremony? It probably contained some form of this phrase: “I take you, to be my wedded wife or husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, and FORSAKING ALL OTHERS be faithful to you as long as we both shall live.” Marital vows are a pledge to a lifetime of faithfulness….a lifetime of exclusiveness.

No man or woman in their right mind would allow the spouse to strike a bargain before the marriage by saying, “I’ll spend most of my time with you, but I want to enjoy intimate relationships with other people some of the time.” No.  Marriage represents a firm, exclusive commitment to each other by both husband and wife.

And God calls us to have a similar exclusive allegiance to Him. Later on in the Commandments God says He is a  jealous God. God refuses to share the glory and the worship that is due Him with anyone or anything else. We were created to have an intimate, exclusive walk with God and God alone.

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus takes the ten commandments and then shows how our problems actually begin at the heart level. Referring back to the first commandment, Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”  In Jesus day as in our day money is something we often put above God.  To rephrase the first commandment, “Do not put your money before me.”  Jesus said, “You cannot serve money and God”  We think that giving is not important, but it is vital to our relationship to God and to worship.  Every time there was worship there was giving.  Jesus spoke of giving matter a factly, he said, “when you give, not if you give, the only compliment he gave the Pharisees was that they tithed.   If God is not first in our money he is not first.  We say Christ is lord, but not over my finances, then he isn’t lord.  It’s like saying “I’m half pregnant.”

When Niki and I were going to get married I told her 3 things.  I said, “I reserve the right to take off my ring anytime and to flirt.  I want to be free and not tied down.  Keep my options open.  I want to keep zeal and passion in my life, I don’t want to be tied down.”

I also told her that, “My time is more important than hers.  I come first then my family and friends.  I will spend time with you and your family only when it is convenient.  Granted there is nothing else going on that I want to be at.”

       And thirdly, “Money is tight, I need to spend it how I want so I will not support you.  If you want anything you have to get it yourself and you will have to work.  I don’t want you to make any demands on me; don’t ask for anything and our relationship will be great!”   Do you really believe that I said that?  Of course not! If I did, some of you would think, “Who do you think you are!  What a terrible person you are!”

I did not, but…THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE SAY TO GOD!!!!

God loves you, He sent Jesus to die for you. Because of Jesus, we have a relationship with God, we are saved from eternal punishment, we have peace, purpose, the Holy Spirit inside us, spiritual gifts, the enduring presence of God with us and a future in heaven.   He has given us so much! Let’s take our relationship with God seriously.

Darrell

In the next post we will look at the 2nd Commandment.

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God Will Direct Me – Introduction to the Ten Commandments – Exodus 20

Posted on January 29, 2024 by dkoop

Josh McDowell tells of a young man named Greg. Greg lived next door from a family who had an in-ground swimming pool in their back yard. He had never gone swimming in their pool. He barely knew the people, and a high wooden fence enclosed the pool. One dark evening when Greg knew his neighbors were away, he and his girlfriend snuck behind the house, scaled the fence, and entered the pool area to go for a swim. Greg threw off his shoes, climbed the ladder and, while his girlfriend was still taking her shoes and socks off, he leapt off the end of the diving board. Greg heard his girlfriend scream just before he lost consciousness.  The pool held only a few feet of water.  In the dark Greg apparently didn’t notice this. His dive ended with a shallow splat of water and a sickening crunch of bones. Greg’s late-night dive paralyzed him from the neck down for the rest of his life. Greg ignored the fence that his neighbors had erected around the pool. He probably assumed it was there only to keep him and his girlfriend from having fun. In reality it was meant for his protection, and his disregard of that boundary cost him dearly. Similarly, God’s laws are given to protect us.  When we ignore His moral boundaries the cost can be just as devastating.

So the nature of the Ten Commandments is not harsh or unloving. I think that the Ten Commandments would be best compared to a love letter…..a tender, heartfelt message written in stone by the finger of God. To coin Ron Mehl’s phrase…they are ten(der) commandments because that’s what God is like. He is tender and loving. That’s His nature. In fact, this set of laws is one of the most powerful expressions of God’s love in all of Scripture.

Even the context of the Ten Commandments shows this truth. Listen to the things God said immediately prior to the giving of His law. Exodus 19:3-6 says, “And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” In essence God told Moses, “Before you give the people these commands…before anything else, will you please remind them that I bore them on eagles wings? Remind them that I cared for them in their Egyptian bondage—as a mother eagle cares for her offspring. Remind them that I heard their cries and freed them from slavery…make sure they remember that when the Egyptian army attacked, I parted the Red Sea I made a way when there was no way. Make sure you remind them of My loving care Moses.” So these ten laws sprang from the tender love of God for His people.

By the way, this is one of the few times in the Bible that we see God writing anything! And He wrote these laws on STONE instead of papyrus because He knew that as fallen, forgetful beings we need things written and preserved.  And we do! We need God’s law. We need it written down.  (He wrote it on our hearts).

Without a holy standard we try to define what is true and right on our own and that can be a very dangerous thing.

The Ten Commandments are Divided into two Sections

  •  How we relate to God. (Commandments 1-4)
  • How we Relate to Others (Commandments 5-10)

The first four laws guide us in the way we relate to God…the way we revere, respect, and love Him. Glance at Exodus 20:1-17 and you’ll see what I mean: LAW #1 – God and God alone is God. LAW #2 – It is wrong to worship anything material as God. LAW #3 – God’s day is to be cherished and honored. LAW #4 – God’s name is not to be used recklessly.

And then the second section…the last six commandments….deal with how we are to treat each other…how we are to love, and respect each other. LAW #5 – Father and mother are to be honored. LAW #6 – Human life is sacred. LAW #7 – Sexual purity and fidelity is demanded. LAW #8 – The rights of property are to be observed. LAW #9 – False and slanderous speaking about others is condemned. LAW #10 – The desire to possess that which is not ours is branded as wrong.

Jesus summed up the Ten Commandments when he was asked what was the greatest commandment.

 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’   This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’   Matt 22:37-39

So Jesus taught that our relationship with God and our relationships with our fellow man are intertwined. We can’t love and respect God properly if we don’t love and respect each other and we can’t love and respect each other properly if we don’t also love and respect God. Without the horizontal aspect of a proper relationship with our fellow man, our faith would become a selfish impractical thing in which we are concerned with our own soul and our own vision of God and nothing more. And without the vertical principle of loving God we wouldn’t value each other enough we wouldn’t see ourselves as special creations of God. people would be looked at as things and not as persons. The Ten Commandments then teach us that we need both a proper horizontal relationship with each other and a proper vertical relationship with God. The next time you see the intersecting beams of calvary’s cross let it remind you of this truth: We need to practice both LOVE FOR GOD and LOVE FOR OUR FELLOW MAN.

 The Purpose of the Ten Commandments are to lead us to Jesus.

Christianity did not come into the world without roots and foundations. Remember in Matthew 5:17 Jesus said, “I am not come to destroy the law — but to FULFILL it.” In other words Jesus came to show the law’s true purpose. And the law that Jesus came to fulfill began with these ten basic principles for life.

“So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.”  Galatians 3:24

In the Greek-speaking world of Paul’s day, there was a type of household servant called the paidagogos or guardian. This person was in charge of the child’s moral welfare; it was his duty to oversee the child’s character development. One of a guardian’s responsibilities was to take the child to school each day. He was not the child’s teacher, but he was responsible to see that the child was, in fact, under the teacher’s care. And in this New Testament text, Paul borrows this picture from his culture and says in effect, that the law has the same function. It is our “tutor” our “paidagogos.” So, the commandments in the Bible are designed not only to say, “Do this,” and “Don’t do that,” but to lead us to the person of Christ Himself. For as we attempt to obey God’s law we see both God’s holy perfection and our sin.

The law sheds a powerful light on our sinful state and leads us to realize how far we fall short. Like a paidagogos the law leads us to “school” where we see our need for Christ.

In the next posts we will look specifically at each commandment.

Darrell

 

www.Upwards.Church

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