Those four words cause me to cringe whenever I hear them — and I hear them often. Think for a moment about what those words are really saying. They say that God said to me what I’m about to say to you, and as such, they carry the same weight as the words He spoke in Scripture. But wait, it’s not the same these people contend. However, it is the same. When God speaks, He speaks — and it is authoritative and final. That is ultimately the problem with “God spoke to me.”
I admit that in ignorance, I have used those words before, and I am ashamed to have taken the name of my All-Sovereign God in vain. God does speak to me — everyday in fact, through His written and canonized word. No worries if it is maybe the pizza, rain outside or my own flesh marring the message, for it is already written and ready for me to read.
John Piper wrote on this issue:
It is a great wonder that God still speaks today through the Bible with greater force and greater glory and greater assurance and greater sweetness and greater hope and greater guidance and greater transforming power and greater Christ-exalting truth than can be heard through any voice in any human soul on the planet from outside the Bible.
The great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God by hearing his word personally and transformingly in Scripture. Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired word of God. Let us cry with the psalmist, “Incline my heart to your word” (Psalm 119:36). “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). Grant that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know our hope and our inheritance and the love of Christ that passes knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 1:18; 3:19).
I only wish I could get this message across to my brethren who sincerely believe that God is still “speaking” to them. He has already said everything He needs to say to us. To assume anything more is needed or given is bordering on unorthodoxy.
22
May 08
Currently Serving…
Each week I’ll post some thoughts about whatever my mind is “currently serving.” In other words, what’s on my mind in particular for that week. The first “currently serving” is regarding the fourth commandment.
Taking God’s name in vain.
This commandment has always mystified me until recently, and I’m still not sure I have a sufficient grasp on it. Reading in Exodus 20 the other night, I came across this verse and checked the study notes in my study Bible (I can’t remember which one I was reading). It made a simple statement about what it means to take God’s name in vain: attach His name to emptiness.
Think about that — attaching God’s name to emptiness. A quick definition check on webster.com shows that vain is defined as “having no real value.” It means to use His name in an empty way, serving no purpose. Phrases such as “oh my g-d,” “g-d,” “J-sus Chr-st” and certainly “g-d d***” certainly qualify as empty uses of God’s holy name.
Christians should certainly not use any of the phrases above. The question then becomes, should Christians watch television shows or movies that contain such uses of God’s name — however slight or explicit they may be. Well, let’s talk about that later (though the answer is obvious for many).