“Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Exodus 20:7

Many consider it a light thing to misuse God’s name in their language and speech. They curse, swear, lie and deceive by it. Some use God’s name or His Word, the Bible, to support their own false beliefs and teachings. Some use it superstitiously, as though their use of God’s name or things connected with it will bring them good luck and fortune. And, all too seldom, is God’s name used rightly to pray to Him, to praise and glorify Him, and to give Him thanks!

God says that He “will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” It is not a trivial offense with God to abuse His holy name, but a serious offense which will bring His wrath and judgment!

This commandment condemns us all for our misuse of God’s name and for our neglect to use it rightly in ways which bring to the LORD God honor and glory and praise. God’s Word applies to each of us, when it says, “The LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”

Our only hope is in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, for He kept this commandment perfectly for us and used God’s name rightly. Jesus called upon His Father in prayer and praises. He taught God’s Word truthfully. And His whole life brought honor and glory to God’s holy name – whether that be through His manner of living, His teaching or His miracles.

And, in His death and resurrection too, Jesus brought honor and glory to God’s holy name. He willingly carried out His Father’s will and went to the cross and bore the guilt and shame and punishment for the sins of all mankind that God might show us mercy and give to us forgiveness in His Son, Christ Jesus. And Jesus rose again and is ascended to the right hand of His Father and continues His work of bringing life and salvation to lost sinners.

Jesus, rightly prayed, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent…” (John 17:1-3).

Jesus Christ, on the tree of the cross, brought glory to His Father’s name and bore the full punishment for all our sins.

He desires that we, too, bring God glory by repenting of our misuse of God’s name and of our failures to live and speak in ways which bring God’s name glory. He desires that we turn to Him for mercy. And, in His Word, He promises that forgiveness for all our sins and life everlasting, as well as the help to use God’s name rightly, are ours through faith in Jesus’ name.

And placing our faith in Jesus – trusting in Him alone for forgiveness and life – brings glory to God’s name!

O LORD God, forgive us for taking Your holy name in vain and for neglecting to use it rightly. Graciously help us to hallow Your name among us. We ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ and His innocent sufferings and death upon the cross to redeem us. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 10:25 (Read Luke 10:25-37)

Responding to this question from a man who sought to be justified by his own works, Jesus directed him to God’s law. We are to love God with all our being and to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18).

The Jewish lawyer was testing Jesus with the question: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

When Jesus asked him, “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” he answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

Jesus responded: “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.”

And, indeed “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7:12). The problem is as Paul describes in Romans 7:10-11: “the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.” And, in Galatians 3:21, he writes: “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”

Therefore, if a person were able to love God and neighbor perfectly in his thoughts, desires, words and deeds, he could earn his way into heaven. The problem is: Who can?

This lawyer, wishing to justify himself but, perhaps, now a little troubled over his own love for his neighbor, questioned just how far this command extended with the question: “And who is my neighbour?”

And with the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus teaches us that our neighbor is not only the person next door, our friends, or even those whom we might consider worthy of our love and respect. Our neighbor includes anyone and everyone with whom we in some way have contact or the ability to help and serve. Our neighbor includes all people.

Like the good Samaritan, we should care for the stranger in need, even if he is our enemy. Cf. Matt. 5:43-48. We should not be as the priest and the Levite in this parable who, probably out of fear for their own safety, passed by the man who had fallen among thieves and was in need of help. They failed to love their neighbor. But the Samaritan risked his own safety and gave of himself even more than most would expect in order to help.

And, if we truly love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we will use every opportunity and do all that we can to help those in need.

But back to the question of what we must do to inherit eternal life, who has such love for God and his neighbor?

The Bible points out the problem: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and “there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Eccl. 7:20). No one has such perfect love for God! And while men may think they love their neighbor, this parable reveals our utter failures here, as well!

Yet, for those who have come short of the demands of God’s perfect Law, there is another way to be justified and acceptable to God, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ who had perfect love for God and neighbor and then took our sins (even the sins of the entire word) upon Himself and suffered our punishment. Cf. Romans 5:6-8.

All who look to Jesus and His cross in faith are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24; cf. v. 21-26; 10:4; John 3:14-18).

We cannot justify ourselves with God’s commandments as this Jewish lawyer sought to do; but through faith in Christ Jesus who died for our sins and rose again, we stand forgiven and justified in God’s sight (Rom. 3:28; Eph. 1:6-7). And then, as a fruit of our faith, we seek to love our Lord and Savior above all things and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (1 John 4:9-11, 19.).

“Oh, teach me, Lord, to love Thee truly with soul and body, head and heart, and grant me grace that I may duly practice fore’er love’s sacred art. Grant that my every thought may be directed e’er to Thee. Amen.” (The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn #399, Verse 5)

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]

Do you ever feel like hiding from God? Are there times when, because of sin in your life, or sin in the lives of those around you, you wish you could hide from God’s presence?

Are there times when you feel that God is not with you or that He doesn’t know what is going on in your life? Does it seem as though God is not aware of all the troubles you are facing?

And what about your thoughts and feelings? Does God know the troubles of your heart?

Consider the following psalm of David and the truths it reveals about God, His presence with you and how well he knows you and all you suffer. Consider also what He desires for you.

PSALM 139
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. 19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. 20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. 21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Consider the following questions:

1. How well does God know you? See v. 1-5. Is there anything in your life which God does not know? What does the Bible say God knows about you?

2. Can we understand God’s knowledge of us and of all our thoughts and ways? See v. 6. Cf. Isaiah 55:8-9.

3. Is there anyplace we can flee to escape from God? See v. 7-12. Was Jonah able to escape from the presence of the Lord when he tried to get out of going to warn the people of Nineveh? See Jonah 1.

4. How is God’s omnipresence (being present everywhere) sometimes frightening to us? Cf. John 3:19-20. How is God’s presence with us everywhere comforting to us? Cf. Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 6:31-33.

5. Who formed us in the wombs of our mothers? See v. 13-16. How do these verses describe this? What do these verses say to abortion (in connection with Exodus 20:13)?

6. What kind of thoughts does God have toward us? See v. 17-18; cf. Ezekiel 33:11; John 3:16-18; 2 Peter 3:9; Ephesians 1:3-14. What does God desire for you?

7. How does God feel toward those who persist in their wicked and sinful ways? See v. 19-22. Can Christians love lost sinners and desire that they repent and believe in Jesus as their Savior and also have godly hate for those who continue on in impenitence and unbelief? Can their unbelief and impenitence grieve us? What do these verses say?

8. What does David pray that God would do in verses 23-24? Does David ask that God would reveal to him his sins that he might repent and look to God for mercy in Christ Jesus and then seek to amend his life?

9. How can David’s prayer in verses 23-24 be an example for us? Why is it important that God reveals to us our sinful and wicked ways? Read 1 John 1:7 – 2:2. What would God have us do in regard to our sins?

10. What is the way everlasting in verse 24? Cf. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; John 3:16; 1 John 5:11-12; Mark 16:15-16.

O omnipresent and omniscient God, thank You for creating me and giving me life, for being present with me and watching over me in every situation, for desiring and working for my eternal salvation through faith in Your Son and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world, for preserving me in the true faith by moving me to repent of my sins and looking to Jesus and His cross in faith for Your pardon and forgiveness. Graciously keep me in the way everlasting, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:3-6

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

The Bible tells us: “What doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul…” (Deut. 10:12); “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut. 6:5); and, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Prov. 3:5).

Therefore, Luther explains this commandment: “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”

The question is: Do we? Do we truly fear and respect the LORD God enough that we hear and obey all His commandments? Do we sincerely love Him with all our heart, soul and mind, or do we just pay lip service? Do we trust Him in all things and believe that his Word and His ways are truly good and right even when our own thinking and understanding would tell us otherwise?

While we may not make graven images out of wood, metal or stone, we do often seek to make our god in our own image – we think of God on our terms and with our views rather than accepting the holy God of the Bible. We prefer a god who winks at sin and is satisfied with our efforts to please him instead of the holy God of the Bible who condemns every sin in thought, word or deed and demands perfect righteousness (cf. Matt. 5:17-20, 48).

And, if we truly have no other gods before the LORD God, why is it that we so often neglect His Word, fail to worship and serve Him from our hearts, disobey His commandments? Do our own interests, our jobs, our families ever come before the LORD?

Perhaps one of the easiest self-checks is to simply look at our worship and devotional life. Do we take church attendance and letting Him minister to us with Word and Sacrament lightly, as something we can skip when it is not convenient? Do we love God enough to read His Word daily and to share it with our family members and those with whom we come into contact? What about our giving? Do we seek to honor Him and give to Him all we can from the heart, or do we do only the least we think is required or expected of us?

Disobedience to this commandment is no small matter! Look at the judgments of God upon His people for their failure to obey this commandment! When they became lax in their fear, love and trust in the LORD God, and when they began to join together with the peoples around them in their pagan worship, God’s judgments came upon them – they suffered famine, wars, diseases, death and destruction.

And yet we seem to think that we can be lax in our love for God and that we can join together with those around us who worship and serve other gods besides the Triune God of the Bible or that we can join together in the worship and service of those who teach false doctrine or tolerate open disobedience to God’s commandments. If we do not repent, God’s judgments will come upon us, as well.

God says: “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images” (Isa. 42:8). He warns: “I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Ex. 20:5).

God calls upon us all to repent, and that is not just to say the words, “I’m sorry, forgive me,” and then continue on in our sinful ways. It is to agree with God that we are wrong and that we have sinned and to agree that we deserve nothing but His eternal wrath and punishment for our sins. And it is to look in faith to Christ, to His holy life and His innocent sufferings and death in our stead for our sins, and to believe God’s promise that He will pardon our sins and accept us as his dear children when we trust in Christ Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

The Bible tells us: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them … Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:10, 13).

The Bible tells us in John chapter 3, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:14-18).

Jesus, who had perfect love for God, who trusted Him in all things, who always honored God and obeyed God’s commandments, was lifted up on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the world and all who look to Him in faith will live – they have God’s pardon and forgiveness!

And, of course, as a fruit of true faith in Christ, we will also then begin to desire to fear, love and trust in God above all. We will want to hear His Word and worship Him and we will desire to obey all He commands us in His Word. We look to Christ’s perfect obedience alone for our salvation; but the Holy Spirit, working in those whom he has brought to faith in Christ, also regenerates us and gives us new thoughts and desires which are in accord with God’s Word.

I, therefore, ask you before God: Do you acknowledge that you have sinned? Do you confess and agree with God that you are guilty and deserving of his wrath and punishment?

Do you trust that Christ Jesus has truly redeemed you from the curse of God’s law? That He fulfilled the law’s righteous demands and then took your sins upon Himself, along with the sins of the whole world, and suffered your just punishment when He died upon the cross?

Do you also believe that Jesus, in the Sacrament, gives you to partake of His body and blood which was given and shed that your sins might be forgiven you?

As a fruit of your faith, do you truly desire and seek God’s help to amend your life and live it in accord with God’s Word?

If you are truly sorry for your sins and look to Christ and His atoning sacrifice upon the cross for pardon and forgiveness, I announce unto you the grace of God and, in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. +