The Urgency of Faith [part III of “Faith at Work”] 1/25/48
Scripture: Matthew 5: 33-37
Text: Exodus 20: 7a; “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain....”
The third discussion in this series takes its start from the third commandment: “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.” It is a shorter statement than the one discussed last Sunday, and is usually shortened further to the first phrase of the verse.
Probably we think immediately, when we think of this commandment, of profanity. And well we may. As was remarked once, during our recent “week of prayer” meetings, most balanced people don’t like profanity. We regard it as at least regrettable, if not a downright weakness in the character of an otherwise great and able people . We disapprove its use in cultured society, and apologize for its slips if a clergyman be present. Presiding officers do not permit profanity in our governmental assemblies.
On the theory that it is an emotional release, it is used and tolerated by many, as well as in line with the slangy notion that “it’s a great life if you don’t weaken -- but a little spicier if you weaken just a little bit.” As a people, we tend to drift carelessly into verbal expressions that take the name of deity and of sacred things lightly, until parents get concerned over it; preachers deplore it or recall a bit of prophetic brimstone; and Catholics accelerate organization of their Holy Name Society.
Generally speaking, we don’t approve it. If we are thoughtfully concerned for the spiritual basis of our culture we sharply disapprove it! For it is hardly possible to have a deep conviction of the Fatherhood of Almighty God and a certainty of the consequent brotherhood of man if we lightly and disrespectfully kick around the words we reserve for that Greatness. If an individual or a nation becomes profane, it betrays a weakness in character.
All this, the words of the third commandment suggest to our minds. But the meaning of that commandment goes much deeper than the “bad form” in profanity. Elton Trueblood remarks that “The worst blasphemy is not profanity, but lip service.”
Look back over the Decalogue - the Ten Commandments - with a question in mind. Is there anywhere in the Decalogue a condemnation of atheism? Do you find some such statement as “Thou shalt believe in a god” or “Cursed be the man who believes not in God?” Nowhere does this appear. The commandments are all addressed to believers.
Jesus, in his day, directed his strongest condemnation and censure not against infidels and pagans, but against those who claimed to be believers -- hypocrites -- those who might be saying, “Lord, Lord” with apparent fervor but with no intention of taking seriously what He said.
The first commandment is not in condemnation of those who fail to believe in God, but of those whose first loyalty is wrongly placed. The second commandment is not directed against atheism, but is pointed at the fashionable tendency to think that one way is as good as another. This third commandment is not a condemnation of those who fail to believe, but condemns those who say they believe and do nothing about it!
There may be sound reasons why atheism is not condemned in the Commandments. In the first place it was rare, and may even have been non-existent. It seems that everyone believed in some sort of spirits or deity. Their concern was only over whether they had the right one! In the second place, atheism is a very dull position to hold. It makes people sad. To entertain the notion that there is no spiritual power supporting and sustaining puny man makes intelligent people very sad indeed. Only a man who is extraordinary in his honesty, could adopt the view that man really stands alone. And superlatively honest people are seldom dangerous.
What is really dangerous is not intellectual atheism, which is really unpopular; but mild religion, which unhappily is very popular indeed. To say “Lord, Lord” -- to be counted a believer, a Christian, feeling reasonably secure in that respectability, but doing nothing about it, is really to take God’s name in vain! It gives lip service to moral standards, but does not take them seriously. The sin lies not in rejecting God’s name, but in taking His name without any sense of urgency.
That is the situation in the west today. More particularly it is the situation in the United States which we know best. A generation ago, America prayed God fervently for a victory in arms in defense of the 4 freedoms. Yet we did very little about building those freedoms. We are still not putting more than a tenth of the cost into building peace that we put into our own military budget. We seriously continued compulsory military service for years, despite the fact that every great power that has done so in the past has headed into disaster. [Let us rejoice that our present army is a volunteer army.] And while we have done this, we organized no more than a handful of trained rebuilders to bring a fallen world up on its feet. We have said “Lord, Lord” -- and we fear the Soviets. But we have done little to demonstrate what we have that is better. We allow our concern for political party victory at the next election to overshadow the very desperate need right this moment for actions that will steady us as a people, while whole nations sink deeper and deeper into suffering and despair.
After World War II, General McArthur asked for missionaries for Japan in the belief that any successful democracy for that country must be rooted in the spirit of the Christian religion -- and he was right. A tremendous urgent opportunity was wide open there. And with what response? Well, the Roman Catholics sent about a thousand. And all the Protestants together? About 200! We’ve been cutting back on Protestant Christian missions all over the world for years, and if we don’t wake up, how can we ever even know that we’ve been asleep? Do we Christian Americans have to sit around in the vague hope that God will somehow mysteriously start some kind of revival? before we get excited enough to lunge at the opportunities to demonstrate and test our belief in God now!
We’ve never known a time when the situation just aches and thunders for Christian sincerity and vigor as our time right now - this year!
If the world’s situation -- and ours for we can’t help being an important part of it -- has deteriorated sharply in our time, that has its spiritual roots deep in a terrible trifling. We are taking the name of the most high God lightly, unbelievingly, faithlessly, with no seriousness, no urgency -- and that means, “in vain!”
Prayers at the opening of Congress and the Legislature, God’s name on our coins, chaplains in the army and navy and marines, invocations and benedictions at public functions -- excellent as they are -- are not even a scratch on the surface of our spiritual life, unless we people, all of us, get sincerely excited about serving the highest, the great Holy God of Good!
We of our church are a body of people covenanted with each other and with God. The Church of Christ universal is a spiritual fellowship of those who have at their knowledge the only power that can bring good to the world. Why not get really excited about it now?
The one great ancient commandment that is completely pertinent to our contemporary predicament is the third: “Thou shalt not take the name of the lord Thy God in vain!” Of all the commandments it hits us hard, because it reveals our life at its weakest point and shows us that the only salvation is an urgent, active devotion to truth.
I said at the beginning of this morning’s discussion that we usually think of profane language as what it meant when we repeat the 3rd commandment. This is a clever, self-deceptive mental technique for avoiding the greater implications of the commandment. Profanity, disgusting and damaging to our self-respect as it is, is a mere peccadillo in the light of the greater sin of mental and moral vanity.
The terrible, withering blasts of Jesus Christ’s spiritual teachings were leveled at those who got occupied with the little technicalities of their contemporary religious procedure, to the effective exclusion of the greater responsibilities of justice and mercy and love and service. An empty, meaningless faith, a faith occupied with peccadilloes, a faith not taken seriously, may thus actually be worse than none!
Our faith in God, tested through centuries and millenniums of the experience of mankind, is the only workable basis for right relationship between people.
There are alternatives to it that come to mind. One is the faith of the totalitarian state, like the beauty of the beast of prey in the natural order of man. A formidable alternative is the official position of Soviet godlessness. This combines an intellectual rejection of the Jewish-Christian faith with a vigorous assertion of brotherhood in a classless society.
It loses its possibility, however, in ruthless cruelty -- which is to be expected without a recognition of God -- and in effect it creates a new gradation of class. But at least that viewpoint has vigor!
We can no longer exist with a cut-flower version of our faith. Neglect is worse than denial in a time like this.
Rise up O men of God;
have done with lesser things.
Give heart and soul and mind and strength
to serve the King of Kings.
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God lightly, unadvisedly, insincerely,” but shall love and serve Him with all thy mind and strength and soul and sincerity! In this sincerity lies our only hope, and all of our hope!
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Dates and places delivered:
Wisconsin Rapids, January 25, 1948
Waioli Church, January 26, 1975