Exodus 20:7 Study Guide: Do Not Take God's Name in Vain

Community Group Study Guide — The Third Commandment - Do Not Take the Lord’s Name in Vain
Exodus 20:7

Study Information:
The first four of the ten commandments relate to how we love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength. Love for God includes undivided allegiance, whole hearted worship, reverence for who he is and an active trust that he will provide as seen in the Sabbath command. From a genuine love for God flows a love of our neighbors which is the focus of the next six commandments. How do we love God in such a way that we revere and represent him well? That is the focus on the third commandment and what it means to “ not take the Lord’s name in vain?” This is more than just not swearing using God’s name or being to flippant with how we talk about God. As we will see, the idea of a “name” was more than what you called somebody, it was how you thought of their character and what made them who they were. The third command is calling us to revere God and live in a way that reflects his glory to the world. 

What’s in a Name?
Exodus 3:14, 20:7, 24:19 
If you have kids or have thought about names for future kids, what has influenced the names you’ve considered? Some of us have thought about family names, or deeper meanings of names.., but often we just want something that sounds good. If you look at naming trends you can see patterns develop and changes in which names are popular. For example, my name, David is still somewhat common, but during my birth year it was the 4th most popular name for baby boys. Not only does the name sounds great, but it means “beloved,” what more can you ask for?! 

In the Ancient Near East names were more likely chosen for their meaning. If you survey the names of people in the Bible they usually relate to that person’s story and how God intervened in their life. Abraham meant “father of many nations,” Elimelech meant “God is my king,” and Hannah meant “grace or favor,” Joshua meant “Yahweh saves.” Each one of those names connected the individual back to a key part of God’s character in the story of scripture. In the ancient world to say something about someone’s name was to equate that to the person’s character, who they were. 

When Moses asked God for his name, the Lord told him “I am who I am (Exodus 3:14).” Later on in the book of Exodus Moses asked God to show him his glory and the Lord replied “my goodness will pass before you and will proclaim my name.” God’s name is associated with his glory and reputation. With that in mind, we break the third commandment when we do not reflect the glory and reputation of God’s name through our faith and life. Once again, this feels like a command that is impossible to keep. Let’s not forget that we do not earn God’s favor through our obedience and his grace went first (Exodus 20:1-3).

Walking in a Manner Worthy of the Gospel
Ephesians 4:1, Philippians 1:27
Paul gave both the Ephesians and Philippians the command to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, meaning their lives were to reflect what it meant to belong to God. Exodus 20:7 warns us not to take the name of God in “vain.” Vain means empty or worthless. Along with this is the warning that God will not hold those who take his name in vain guiltless. No one is saved by their actions but we should be careful that our outward life reflects the internal reality that we being to God and that how we revere him, what we say and how we live are all reflections of God’s glory. Do you make it your aim to live in a manner worthy of God? 

Keeping this Command:
How can one reflect God fully in what they say and do so that his name is not used in vain? That is a big question! 

First, have reverence for God in your heart and actions. There are many names and titles given for God in the scripture and chief among them are the titles of Lord and Father. Jesus taught his followers to pray “our father who is in heaven…” and that we should pray “holy is your name!” So, let’s not be flippant in how we think about our God. We are invited into friendship with God but God is not like us. Revere God in your heart and treat him as holy. 

Second, followers of Jesus should speak with integrity. In the Sermon on the Mount, the disciples were told to make their “yes be yes” and “no be no.” Behind this command was a practice people had during the time of Jesus to use holy or spiritual objects as verbal collateral for their actions. They’d swear by the sacrifice on the altar or the gold on the temple, or make an oath by the throne of God. They used God to justify their plans and to add credibility to what they pledged to do. Similarly we can use spiritual language to present a false front to other people and by doing so we can profane the name of God and his character. Sometimes this is “I swear to God!” or we use spiritual language to say things like “I will pray about it” or “God told me” and essentially we try to move forward with our own plans with a spiritual veneer on them. Leviticus 19:12 says “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of God: I am the LORD.” We should be careful to not use God’s name as spiritual lip service, and rather let our “yes be yes” and “no be no.”  

Finally, strive to have your outer life and your inner life match. God made humanity in his image and called his people with the ten commandments to live in such a way that they reflected his beauty, goodness and glory to the world. We will never do this perfectly, but that should not prevent us from trying to be light to the world and a faithful witness of God. Jesus’s harshest words in the gospels were for the Pharisees, specifically for their hypocrisy and how their inner spiritual life did not match their outward actions. Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah in his critique of the Pharisees saying “this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me; (Matthew 15:8). In Matthew 23 Jesus pronounced “woe” on the Pharisees and told the crowds “do and observe whatever they tell you but not the works they do. For they preach but do not practice (Matthew 23:3).” God does not expect perfection and he is gracious beyond what we deserve, so please do not hear this as a means to earn God’s favor. But with that said, we ought to make it our aim to have our faith in Jesus flow out to what you do and know that you reflect God’s character and glory as light in the world today. There will always be areas of our lives where our internal beliefs about God do not match with your actions, where is God calling you to repent and trust him today?

At your community group:
Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week? 

Discussion Questions:
Read Exodus 20:1-17

How is the concept of someone’s name in the ancient near east different than how we think about names today? 

What does the word vain mean? If God is infinite, all powerful and holy, how could someone ever make God’s name vain with their words or actions?

What are some reasons we can be tempted to put a “spiritual veneer” on our plans and actions? How did Jesus warn his followers against that?

How can you grow in your reverence for God this week? Do you have areas in your life where what you believe about God do not match your actions? How can you bring that to God and start to see some change by his grace?