No Seven Day Operations (Part Two) -- Exodus 20:10b

“in it (the Sabbath of the Lord your God – from the first part of the verse) you shall not do any work, you or our son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.”
 

Above we dealt with what this verse actually says.  Now we ask ourselves some “but what about” or “but what if” questions related to doing various work on the Sabbath:

If we keep the Sabbath, can we cause others to work on the Sabbath?  A perfect example of such a situation would be to own a restaurant that you close on the Sabbath, but going out to eat in someone else’s establishment after church on Sundays.  A question closely related to that is “Whose Sabbath are we concerned about? Is it our Sabbath, or that of the person who is working? Perhaps his/her Sabbath is on a different day of the week.”  And still another is, “Is it okay to expect non-Christians to work on our Sabbath or not to have a Sabbath at all?”  The more we think about this the more complex it becomes.  So each one of us has to answer all those questions for themselves.

If I go into the neighborhood restaurant after church on Sunday and I see young Billy, a youth volunteer leader at my church, waiting on tables, am I and others that frequent the place on Sundays causing him, albeit indirectly, to break the commandment?  And is that the same as going into my favorite Jewish delicatessen for lunch after church where all the staff are Jewish who had their Sabbath the day before?  At face value, clearly the latter situation is preferred over the former.  But when we look closer at the former situation of young Billy, we may find there are extenuating circumstances – such as this is the only job he could get to help his single mother feed and take care of him and his three younger siblings.  “But Billy should be praying for another job.” “But this is the job that God has given Him for now.”  “Are you sure it was God?”  And so on.  There is no end to the reasoning or ridiculous arguing that one can apply in defending one position versus another.  So, clearly that is not the approach to take here.

What if our maid, or cook, or gardener, or chauffeur is not a Christian; is it okay to use their services on our Sabbath?  First of all let me make it clear that I have never had a maid, cook, gardener, or chauffeur work for my family or me and I do not suppose that the majority of us have, but the question is still a relevant one.  Several considerations come to mind here.  First, our goal should be to win these people that God has put in our households to Him.  With that in mind, we need to be a living example of all that Christ is for them.  Second, we as a family would need to determine what we expect to be done on our Sabbath and what we expect to only be done on other days.  That would take care of the tasks of say a maid or a gardener.   What about the cook for we need to eat and the chauffeur as we need to get to church?  Let us deal with the cook first assuming that while much could be prepared on other days for us to eat on the Sabbath, some kitchen work still has to be done on the Sabbath.  I can only share what I hope my family and I would do had we ever been in a position to have a cook.  First, I would have our family members (including me if they were willing to have me) help the cook with his/her duties.  Secondly, I would make sure that at least on those special days of Sabbath (if not every day) the cook would be sitting down at the table with us, as one of us.

As for the chauffeur, I would give him (or her) the day off and have us drive ourselves to our Sabbath destinations.  If we were not able to drive for one reason or another, we would invite the chauffeur to take us (being considerate of his/her own family needs) and when he/she drove, we would sit up front with them – as equals not as their bosses, reading the paper in the back.  But again, these decisions cannot be made with a cookie-cutter solution template.  The answers to these type of questions must lie somewhere else.

What about those who work in the emergency services sectors such as police, firefighters, ambulance and other EMT’s, medical workers in hospitals?  The simple answer to that is another question, “Would I expect to be rescued or physically saved on a Sabbath?”  And the answer is definitely “yes”.  Jesus Himself made reference to that when He was challenged about His disciples working on the Sabbath – in fact, He gave as the example, not the rescue of a human being, but the rescue of one’s oxen.  How much more important it is to do work on the Sabbath that saves a human life.

When it comes to those who work on restoring utilities, I prefer to think that where the restoration of the utilities means the difference between life and death of anyone, then it should be treated as an emergency service.  On the other hand, the loss of electricity that prevents me from watching television can wait.

Did God intend for all of us to have the same Sabbath?  I cannot speak for God.  What we do know is that He gave His people the fourth commandment that involved a single Sabbath.  Ideally the entire Judaic and later the entire Christian-Judaic world should or could have had the same Sabbath.  Unfortunately, that was not what happened.  And then even some of so-called Christendom became divided on which day was the appropriate Sabbath with Seventh-Day Adventists, for example, opting for Saturday.  What we do know is that God wants us to “keep the Sabbath” and to keep it “holy” for it is His.

What then is the key to how we deal with our Sabbath?  As we can see from all the possible arguments for and against how or by whom the Sabbath is to be kept that we have tried to fairly present above, the issue is too complex for anyone to say you can or cannot do such and such on the Sabbath.  What matters is that each one of us deals with this issue individually.  I live with my wife, my daughter, her husband, and their three children.  I can only deal with the Sabbath for me.  What will I do or not do on the Sabbath given my understanding of what the Word says and how I believe the Spirit is challenging me personally with respect to that.  I can try to influence my spouse and perhaps model my behavior for my children and grandchildren.  But I cannot impose my ways on them.  I am sure the same is true of each one reading this.

My goal in sharing the above with you remains one of having you personally consider your Sabbath, what you do and what you do not do now, and whether or not any revisions may be in order.  I pray God will help us all see that keeping the Sabbath holy and His is indeed very important to Him.  I pray He will show us how best to do that.  How we deal with the Sabbath is an indication of our love for Him and our recognition of Who He is and what He has done for us.  I leave you with this modern Hebrew salutation – “Shabbat shalom”  -- which being translated means, “may you have a Sabbath of peace”.

_____________________________________________________________________

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

________________________________________________________________________

 

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

No Seven Day Operations (Part One) -- Exodus 20:10b

“in it (the Sabbath of the Lord your God – from the first part of the verse) you shall not do any work, you or our son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.”
 

As I study this part of Scripture, I ask myself, “Is it any wonder we, as an entire Body of believers, are not being blessed as much as we could be, or that we are not be being the blessing we could be to others when we have tried to do things our way?  We seem to even change what God says about His commandments so that they can be interpreted to allow what we want the meaning to be.”

My intention here is to first look carefully at what the text says about work in relation to keeping the Sabbath, then to raise some difficult questions as to how the text may be applied in our modern lives and their implications.  So, bear with me.

You may well tell me that I am living in the Old Testament (or as a friend of mine says, the Old Covenant) and that I need to get under the New Covenant implying that Jesus said we are no longer under the “law given to the Isralites and later on tablets to Moses”.  But then these same people are not brave enough to state out rightly that they no longer believe in the keeping of the Ten Commandments.  The fact is that you cannot have it both ways.  Either we are intended to keep the Ten Commandments or we are not.  I believe these laws are unique to the believer in God.  While it is true we cannot, in our sinful nature, keep all the laws all the time, we have been given ten laws that we could keep if we wanted to.  We have been given ten laws that, unless we are ready to throw them out the window, we have to focus on keeping.

And if that is the case, then this fourth law that we are to observe says “no work” on the Sabbath.  And just so we do not try to pass our work on to others, God goes on to say no work for your family.  It specifically mentions our sons and daughters.  Our spouses are covered in the “you” part.  And our extended family is covered in the “son or daughter” part.  So no, you cannot use your niece or nephew to do your work for you.

God goes on to say, your servants (read employees today) cannot do any work on the Sabbath.  Some may ask, “Why did God mention male and female servants separately?”  That is a good question and I do not claim to have the definitive answer.  I can only take an educated guess based on a study of some other themes in scripture.  There is no doubt that the culture of the day, including that of the Israelites, was that somehow there was an inequality between the genders.  That was not God’s intention for the two sexes.  The roles He gave each one of them when He created them were somehow misinterpreted and the man became the superior one in his own mind and acted accordingly.  Throughout Scripture, and later as we move into the New Testament, Jesus, made great strides in correcting that perception that man had about his helpmate.  And here in Exodus 20:10, God is pointing out that this commandment of His applies equally to one’s servants (and thus by inference to all members of the family) be they male or female.  It was the Israelites’ job to facilitate that keeping of the Sabbath for all their workers.

The text goes on to say that your cattle are not to do any work either on the Sabbath.  Now we have two ways to interpret that for modern day living for the majority of us.  We can either claim that God mentioned ‘cattle’ because He really considers animals to be very special and certainly places them above inanimate objects, or we can assume He refers to them as representative of what the majority of Israelites used to help them with their primary means of making a living and providing for their families.  The first would make my daughter-in-law, an avid animal lover, very happy.  The second would appeal more to my way of thinking.  Perhaps a third and preferred alternative would be to believe that He had both reasons in mind.  Again we do not know for sure, but let us go with this interpretation.  God says ‘no work’ is to be done by anyone or anything for your enterprise on the Sabbath.  Farming stops.  Manufacturing stops.  Billable hours stop.  That’s what the commandment calls for.

But surely there is an exception for certain types of services?  We will look at that later, but at this point, the direction is pretty clear.   In fact, God goes on to say, that if you have anyone staying with you at your house for a period of time (that is what a sojourner is), they cannot do any work for you or themselves either.

Do we get the idea?  No work period on our Sabbath.  That is what God asks.  Yes, He asked it of the Israelites in the desert.  But He gave it to them in the Ten Commandments and thus He asks it of anyone who believes they should honor and keep these ten laws.  No work period on the Sabbath.

Next we look at some real crucial “but what about” or “but what if” questions as we try to get a ‘faithful’ handle on what God would have us do or not do on the Sabbath.  Our only hope is that “Scripture answers Scripture” when it comes to that, for as far as this text goes, the message is clear.

_____________________________________________________________________

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

________________________________________________________________________

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

The Sabbath Is Not About Us -- Exodus 20:8-10a

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God;”
 

Have you ever lost a day?  It happens to me regularly.  Life is moving so fast that I miss what day it is.  Or if I have enjoyed a statutory holiday in the middle of the week, I wake up the next morning thinking it is Monday when it’s not.  I have a dear acquaintance of mine who will be 100 years later this month; we will celebrate it with her.  She is in a nursing home and often asks her visitors “What day is this?” for to her they are all the same.  Life is like that, we forget what day it is for various reasons.

But God says, “Remember the Sabbath day.”  If we want to walk with God and in obedience to His commandments, we must not, as long as we are mentally able, forget the Sabbath.

When I was younger, and hearing various ministers preach on this topic, the key thought that was driven home to me, was “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  We had to be careful not to do anything ‘unholy’ on the Sabbath.  As a rebellious youngster, I got fired from my summer job at a Christian family resort for actually swimming on the Sabbath.  Clearly that was a no-no back then.  But as society changed, with our ever-increasing ability to cram more things into our life (or so we thought), Christians too had to start doing many other things on the Sabbath.  We started washing our cars, mowing our lawns, and doing other garden or exterior housework.  (Up to that point, many were carrying on interior housework away from the neighbor’s eyes.)

This went on to the point where the general teaching on the main focus of this verse started to change.  Along with our ever-growing appetite for a “healthy body”, pastors started preaching about the importance of the Sabbath for our own physical well-being.  That is, our bodies needed the break (along with good nutrition, of course).  I remember hearing, “If God took a rest on the seventh day, then you surely need one.”  And many of us accepted that as Old Testament truth and ran, or should I say, ‘sat’ with that.

Many years later as I now study this portion of Scripture more carefully, I believe the emphasis that preachers put on this verse when I was a youngster was more correct.  There is nothing in this verse or the ones that follow that suggest that keeping the Sabbath is for the purpose of our physical (or even mental) rest.  Do not get me wrong; our bodies do need rest and a good rhythm in order to function best.  But that rest could come anytime, whenever it is needed, not just on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath is about God, not us.  Making it about us does not mean we’re “keeping the Sabbath” as it was intended.  Our Sabbath day must be “holy”.

God wants us to work for the purpose of our earthly sustenance for up to six days a week, but on the seventh day, He wants us to consider it totally His and we are to go out of our way to “keep it holy”.  That does not mean the other days we can participate in unholy things, but on this day, our focus should be on keeping it “holy”.

Now what does keeping something holy mean?  And more specifically, what does it mean in a 21^st century society, in 2014 and beyond?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives us five definitions for the word “holy”.  They are:

1. exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness
2. divine holy — Psalms 99:9 (Authorized Version)>
3. devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity holy temple> <holy prophets>
4. having a divine quality <holy love>  and venerated as or as if sacred <holy scripture> holy relic>
5. -- used as an intensive holy mess> holy terror when he drank — Thomas Wolfe> ; often used in combination as a mild oath <holy smoke>.

Definitions 1 and 2 above refer strictly to our God.  Definition 5 is a misuse of the word, maybe even an abuse of it.  But we would do well to heed definitions 3 and 4 (highlighted above).

As I read these definitions, we keep a day “holy” if we devote it and us entirely to our God or to the work of our God and we treat it as divine or sacred.  It is interesting that the world defines it in a way that uses the word “entirely”.  Maybe that is just to trip us Christians up, but I don’t think so.  Something cannot or should not be, part holy.  We either keep the Sabbath holy or we do not.  It is our choice.  So what does that mean for us today if we wish to obey God on this commandment?

First, let me state that here is not the place to argue about which day of the week we are to observe.  Just note that our verse only says it is the last day of seven.  Enough said on that now.  Now back to the main question of what it means for us.

It means that in all our activities on our Sabbath, we are to satisfy the relevant definitions above.  We are to have and exhibit a divine love in our actions, words, and thoughts, as if we are sacred because our God is Holy.  It also means we are devote the entire day to our God and to His work of service.  Church is in.  Family is in because God wants us to pour into our families.  Friendship and relationships are in because God wants us to cultivate those for His purposes.  But what we do at church; what we do with our families; and what we do with our friends, must have a divine or holy quality and purpose to it.

I can serve in church, worship in church, etc., but I cannot go there to gossip or show off my new clothes or automobiles or make everyone envious about the holiday I just had (something I should not do any day of the week).  I can spend time with my family building them up and developing our relationships, but I cannot partake in activities with them that do not have a divine quality to them – such as watching movies with questionable language or action or taking in a show that does not glorify God.  I can spend time with my friends, but not at a place of their choosing if that is a place that God is not being glorified.  This is His day.  Again, don’t get me wrong – I am not suggesting we can go to inappropriate movies on the other six days or visit a strip club on any day but our Sabbath.  But our Sabbath is His Holy day.  We need to keep it in that manner.

So let me ask you and in the process, ask myself, “How are we doing with respect to this commandment?”  It’s your move, but remember, it’s about Him.

_____________________________________________________________________

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

________________________________________________________________________

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Perversion of the Lord’s Name Today; Allah Is Not God

Exodus 20:7: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” as it relates to the use of “Allah”.

These comments form the conclusion to our look at Exodus 20:7 and the various ways we may be taking the Lord’s name in vain.  Earlier we covered the meaning of “taking something in vain”.  That led us to “abusing, misusing, and perverting” something.  All three aspects were covered with respect to the Lord’s name.  One area of discussion under the category of “perverting God’s name” was left for now.

On June 28, 2014, newspapers all over the world reported on a major decision made by the Malaysian government.  I read my account of it as found in the National Post column written by Robert Fulford.  Robert Marshall Blount Fulford, OC is a Canadian journalist, magazine editor, and essayist. He lives in Toronto.  This particular piece was entitled, The Lord’s name, in vain.

In it, Fulford informs us of the following:

·      Malaysian courts have made it illegal for Christian to refer to God as ‘Allah’ verbally or in writing

·      Many Muslims celebrated the news indicating they would defend the word Allah as theirs to the last drop of blood

·      Much of the world sees the two as synonymous and Allah as an Arabic term for God

·      In recent years Muslims have come to regard the word Allah itself as sacred, untouchable by non-believers in Islam

·      On this occasion, as on many occasions in recent times, the conservative, hyper-sensitive version of Islam won a considerable victory

·      Authorities claimed that the word “Allah” in a Christian context might confuse Muslims, causing them to become Christians

·      Malaysian politicians spend their days worrying about problems of racial and religious differences and their evenings congratulating themselves on how well they’ve solved them

·      Abdullah Zaik, the head of a passionate Muslim-Malay rights organization, has said the Christians should, in the name of national unity, set aside their stubbornness. Mohd Sani Badron, a leading Islamic scholar, has said that the use of “Allah” for “God” must stop because it “erroneously represents the two religions as equal” and may cause Islamic anger. Another leading Muslim said that Christians who go against the ruling are deliberately “trying to cause chaos,” raising the possibility of disharmony

·      This bizarre form of Bible censorship is another way of reminding Christians and Buddhists that they are not to consider themselves legitimate citizens of Malaysia

·      If a government in the West dared to intrude into an editorial decision on the publishing of the Koran, and if the courts supported that position, Muslims would be furious, and with good reasons.  But in many Muslim majority states a similarly outrageous decision is considered entirely within the rights of government.

So now you have the story and how at least Robert Fulford feels about it.  But here’s my take.  The only thing I can say is, “Amen!”  Why did it take the Malaysian government to force Christians to stop doing something that they should not have done on their own account?  And here’s where I lose some of you as promised . . . I believe substituting the word Allah for our one and only true God is indeed perverting the name of the Lord.  If you’re still with me, let me explain why I believe that.

When one takes on the use of a word that comes from a religion which is a) anti-Christian, b) anti-Judaic, and c) further wants to eliminate those who do not want to become Muslims, then there is no way we are talking about the same God, and the use of Allah should therefore not be used by us.

Secondly, if as I believe many Christians who do use Allah, as a substitute for God, do so for the purpose of aligning themselves with Muslims in order to reach them, then they are compromising on who God is.  He does not need a pseudonym for His impact to affect people – even Muslims.  Many are turning to Him without the need for His witnesses to refer to Him by the word Allah.  As Christians, we are so good at compromising our tenets and our ways and watering down our beliefs in order to attract more to our faith.  We could well take a lesson from Muslims in that regard.

Now let’s look at some of the things that Fulford informs us about:

• Of course, as Christians it would be wrong for us to make it illegal for our own people to refer to God as ‘Allah’.  We are not that kind of religion.  And we are not a political force.  But that should have happened out of our own collective free will.  It did not, because too many were interested in taking a pluralistic approach to God.  That was a mistake.
• We could learn from the celebrating Muslims and be ready to state that we would defend the name of the Living God, our Lord to our last drop of blood.
• We need to stop seeing ‘God’ and ‘Allah’ as synonymous. Others do not and in that we should agree.
• God’s name to us must be sacred and we should object to those using it in vain much more than we do.
• Not only are Muslims possibly confused when Christians use the word ‘Allah’ but I believe we are slowly confusing our current and future generations of Christians when we say it is okay for us to use the word ‘Allah’ for our God.
• Perhaps we would all live in greater peace if we kept to our God and let the Muslims stick to their ‘Allah’ and thus allay the fear of many Islamic politicians who worry about problems of racial and religious differences causing trouble.
• I am not sure we should do it in the name of national unity as Abdullah Zaik calls for, but Christians should set aside the use of the name of Allah as God because it should be us that does not want to erroneously represent the two religions as equal, not them.  They are anything but.
• As Christians we should not be trying to cause the chaos they accuse us of by stealing their nomenclature for their deity.
• And Christians do indeed need to be reminded that not only may they not be legitimate citizens of Malaysia, but we need to realize that ultimately our citizenship is in heaven, not on earth.
• Finally, let us be thankful that most of us live in countries where such an “editorial decision” on the publishing of the Koran would never take place.  I pray that this remains the case.

For all of the above, I would say thank you to the Malaysian government for the action they took recently on this topic.  We, as Christian believers should have been there long ago.

_____________________________________________________________________

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

________________________________________________________________________

 

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Taking God’s Name in Vain -- Exodus 20:7 (Part I)

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”
 

What does “take something in vain” mean anyway?  Here’s what the Free Dictionary by Farlex says: changing the inherent purpose or function of something; abusing the system; misusing something, especially funds.”  Synonyms include: abuse, misuse, pervert.

So God here in this third commandment is saying, “do not abuse My name, do not misuse it, and do not pervert it.”  Let us consider for a moment just how we might do any of those things.  What follows is not an exhaustive list by any means, but enough to give us an idea of what it may well mean to take the Lord’s name in vain.

Abusing God’s Name:  One cannot venture too far from one’s home these days towards anywhere there are people – a busy street, a sports arena, a shopping mall, a schoolyard without hearing God’s name being abused.

Abusing God’s name takes place in many ways.  Here are just a few examples. It occurs when we employ the word when unnecessary as in “God this” and “God that”.  It occurs when we relate His name to anything that surprises us as in “Oh my God!”  It occurs when we attach the word “damn” to it as in “G** D*** snow!” While originally saying that may have tried to indicate that the snow, or the rain, or anything we detested at that moment was ‘damned’ by God, that type of use today implies that we are assigning to God the blame for whatever it is we wished wasn’t happening or wasn’t the case.

Marsha West in her May 12, 2006 blog on NewsWithViews.com writes this: “Some people punctuate each word, “Oh - my - God.” Others say it as if it’s one word, “OhmyGod!” And there are those that shorten it to “Oh God.” If he or she’s a person of few words, just saying “God!” gets their point across. For a little extra punch, certain people will add a damn.”

I am certain readers could add their own list of ways God’s name is being abused regularly in the world and perhaps in our lives today.

Misusing God’s Name: One misuses God’s name when he/she invokes it for his/her own manipulative purposes, as in “I’m sure God would not approve of that.” (Just how sure are you?  Does Scripture speak against it or just you?)  Or, here’s another well used one, “God told me that you should. . ..”  (A good question for us to ask one who utters that would be, “Well, how come He hasn’t told me?  When He does, I’ll be sure to let you know how right you were.”)  We misuse His name when we deliberately pretend that we are working for Him when in fact we are more interested in our own welfare and benefit, as in “Send us your money and we’ll send you a square inch of the Turin Shroud or a preserved piece of palm leaf that was used when Christ entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday.”  You get the idea.

Perverting God’s Name:  To address this form of taking God’s name in vain, we must start with the meaning of the word ‘perversion’ and for that we turn to the Oxford dictionary online.  Here is what we find:

1.  Distortion or corruption of the original course, meaning, or state of something: the thing which most disturbed him was the perversion of language and truth: a scandalous perversion of the law

2.  Sexual behavior that is considered abnormal and unacceptable: his book revolutionized ideas about sexual perversion: he indulged in most perversions you could care to name

Origin: late Middle English, from Latin pervesio, from the verb perverte meaning to “turn about”.

How then can we ‘pervert’ the name of God?  Based on the definition of perversion above, three ideas come to mind, but again I am sure that more are out there.  Let us deal with the more obvious one first, the one dealing with the second definition of the word, the sexual connotation of its meaning.

I am reminded of man’s attempts over the years to turn a monotheistic faith in God into a religion of practices that involve sexuality of some form or another.  We need not go into details here, but suffice it to say that many have tried to introduce sinful sexual practices into their acts of worship, or as part of God answering the prayers of others or meeting their needs.  I remember while in Africa, I read a local paper’s account of how many women were being tricked by rogue ministers to give them sexual favors in exchange for God’s blessings and healings.

A singer who is more interested in his or her sexual appeal and presentation, as well as how they look and move, when performing Gospel or Christian songs is, in my opinion, perverting the Lord’s name – even if he or she believes they are doing so with a pure heart and for the right reasons – to engage the non-believer in matters of faith.  Speaking of misdirected ‘good motives’ I remember a young female university professor complete with a Ph.D. who had recently come to Christ telling a small group of her new Christian friends that she still slept with many men in order to direct them to Christ.  That just does not work and it is perverting the Lord’s name.

We also pervert His name when we personify images of God or His Son and speak to them or pray to them.  I know of eastern Christians that want to pray in their so-called prayer room where all their images of God and Christ are, believing their prayers would be better heard and responded to if done there.  These types of acts violate both the second and the third commandments.  There is a clear difference between this and doing what Jesus commended us to do, “When you pray, go into your closet.” (Matthew 6:6)

Finally, there is another form of perverting God’s name that has arisen lately, and I am sure here I may lose some of you. It has to do with some recent headlines with respect to a decision made by the Malaysian government that impacts Christians and God’s name.  But that is a big topic and I will address it next.

In the meantime, our current text tells us once again there are consequences to breaking God’s commandments.  God says, if you take His name in vain, He “will not leave (you) unpunished.”  I do not know what that means.  I am not suggesting we will lose our salvation.  Not at all – unless of course in taking His name in vain, we commit the unpardonable sin, and grieve the Holy Spirit as we are told in Mark 3:29 and Matthew 12:31.  So what God means here in our current text by not leaving us ‘unpunished’ may well mean that we will not benefit totally for the kind of relationship we could otherwise have with God – our joy may not be as full; our blessings may be curtailed, for God is not to be mocked.

_____________________________________________________________________

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

________________________________________________________________________

 

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.