The third commandment is most often translated: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. More modern translations have recognized the larger meaning—it’s not just a matter of speech—and now use “misuse.”
The Hebrew is more literally translated: “Do not carry the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
With that in mind, I have opted to consider putting this in the positive for my sermon meme.
How do you carry the Name of God?
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
It seems so obvious. We wouldn’t argue the point if we were discussing grapes, or squash, or pumpkins. The only way to produce fruit is for the branch to be connected to the vine.
In this section of the gospel (John 15), Jesus identifies himself as the true vine–the genuine item, the real deal. He would only make that point if there were false, fake, or dead vines people were trying to attach themselves to.
The way to know who or what we’re attached to is to examine the fruit. Good fruit comes from abiding in the true vine.
So, how’s your fruit?
If we are going to produce fruit for the Kingdom, fruit that brings glory to God, then we need to be a people of the vine.
(On Wednesdays my blog posts will be related to the text of the upcoming Sunday message.)
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6, NLT)
We just finished walking together through Lent to the Resurrection. The intention of these devotional thoughts was to get us ready to see Jesus!
How’d you do?
Each time I reach the resurrection story I am moved when I try to imagine Jesus speaking Mary’s name. I listen hard to hear him whisper my name.
But that’s not the end of the story! More work needs to be done. We have our part. God is not finished with us!
Sunday morning I will preach my first official sermon as the interim pastor of Ashland First Church of the Brethren. It is not my first time in the pulpit with these precious people. I’ve been filling in for a while.
On Sunday we embark on a different phase. We are focusing on where God wants us to go, who God wants us to be…and how we’re going to get there.
I love our verse from Philippians. For a long time I took it personally…individually. But it’s plural. Like: He began a work in y’all. And He wants to finish it.
What work has God begun in you? In your family? In your faith community–your church?
Will you join him in the work? Will you let him finish?
You hold a piece to the whole that only you can fill.
Pot of Manna 