Navigate Podcast
Welcome to Navigate, we are two long term friends doing life and ministry together. I got tired of the same ole answers when I started looking for help when it came to my walk with God. So together we go deeper than most would on topics that most people have heard or were taught but never fully understood. It is our way of simplifying concepts that we may have over complicated throughout our lives. Bringing theology and life experience into each episode. It is our hope and desire to help Navigate your Christian walk with you
Navigate Podcast
The Power of Words and Christian Identity: Commandments Pt.3
TJBHpodcast@gmail.com
Our Christian identity is not just a label; it’s a call to authenticity and resilience. Through the lens of Ezekiel 36 and Psalm 1, we explore what it means to carry the name of Christ with conviction. This episode encourages living a life that’s not just reflective but also a bold testament to faith. From discussions on religious imagery to the weight of taking oaths, we challenge listeners to walk with purpose and integrity, embodying the strength and promise that come with being a follower of Christ.
guys, welcome back to navigate, justin what is up, my bro, how? Are you?
Speaker 2:buddy, dude, I'm doing good, yeah, doing good. You just had a child, my, my fifth, your fifth, my fifth, your fifth.
Speaker 1:So many wonderful immortal souls are you going for like a half a dozen, so you could say that, or are you going for like the baker's dozen, five and done?
Speaker 2:Five and done. That's what I always say Five and done.
Speaker 1:I think you said that at two and done. Yeah, and then three and done yeah, and then four and maybe I think it was.
Speaker 2:You can hear the addict in me, can't you?
Speaker 1:One more, and that'll be it.
Speaker 2:Listen, there's a reality we should probably talk about at some point like a larger podcast the reality that children are a type of wealth. You know what?
Speaker 1:I mean they are.
Speaker 2:This is the arrows you carry, it's the legacy you leave, it's the transformation that goes beyond you after you die. This is the army that you hand your sword to when the grip leaves your hand, and I think you need to remember that, as a, as a father, as a, you know, as a mother, as somebody who is parenting children, this is a large investment, um, and you know it's, it's something glorious that God has given to you. That will be wealth that will live far beyond you. They'll do a good job with it, right.
Speaker 1:So I tell you, though, my two girls have been sick the last week, fevers and all, and my two-year-old has had some epic meltdowns. She's so strong-willed and she drives me crazy, and every time I'm like why do we keep having these? I don't understand yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean it's and you text me.
Speaker 1:Hey, my fifth was born. I'm like how I can't survive with these two.
Speaker 2:I'm dying over here A 15-year-old.
Speaker 1:At least he's somewhat independent now.
Speaker 2:It's like anything else and I'm trying to think the verse in Proverbs, but it basically says you know there's no crap if you don't have any oxen in the stalls. But you got a lot of oxen. There's a lot of crap.
Speaker 1:There's no way. That's a verse, oh hang on.
Speaker 2:All right, hang on. We're going to find this. I'm going to find this for you.
Speaker 1:Oxen and crap. Huh, I'm going to find it.
Speaker 2:Hang on Proverbs 14, 4. Where there are no oxen in the manger, where there are no oxen, the manger is empty. But from the strength of an ox come an abundant of harvests. Okay, that's a nicer way to say that Without ox and a stable is clean but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.
Speaker 1:So it's like, yeah, you don't have to show me, I can see how you got there.
Speaker 2:There you go, there you go, that's interesting when there are no ox and the manger is clean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's the same idea.
Speaker 2:I'm basically there.
Speaker 1:Tim, you know A lot of oxen, dirty stable, dirty stable.
Speaker 2:And in my house, you know that's true there's a lot of diapers. Although my wife has got this gift I will tell you right now of like getting the pot of training thing done quick. Like my son, Knox is not even two and he's 98% there. Like he needs a diaper for bed you know what I mean before he goes to sleep, but like he's crushing it.
Speaker 1:I'm proud of him.
Speaker 2:These are the weird things you get proud of when you have five children.
Speaker 1:My wife has the gift of getting the dirty diapers as close as possible to the trash, but never actually getting it inside of it.
Speaker 2:That's so funny. That's fun Just like little presents she leaves around the house.
Speaker 1:It's worse when I wake up and have to sneak through my room and just step on something wet. Step on a diaper it breaks open you slip and just die.
Speaker 2:Just die in a pile of your own children. Yes, yeah, finding diaper in my pockets.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're doing it. How is she doing this? Even my work backpack. I have diapers from three years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just listen If you weren't sure where we're at in our like life. You know phase right now it's real.
Speaker 1:I also haven't chatted with Jess in a while, so this is kind of a catch up, it's true, it's true, you're.
Speaker 2:You are a bystander right now, as me and Tim, you know. Yeah, all right, we're going to continue. Let's go yeah, let's get back at it.
Speaker 1:We're doing the third commandment today.
Speaker 2:Commandment number three.
Speaker 1:Commandment number three we're going to get after it.
Speaker 2:By the way, my wife told me something about the second commandment that I should throw in here. Oh, okay, real quick. She pointed out to me that the Catholic Church, tim, has actually removed the second commandment from the Decalogue. They have actually removed the second commandment from the Decalogue and they've turned the 10th commandment into two commandments, precisely because of all the confusion around the iconography that they have Idolatry. Yeah, I was like there's no way, that's not true. Looked it up, they a hundred percent did that.
Speaker 2:The second commandment is not there. They literally removed it and I was like, well, maybe they did the first and second together and they call it one commandment. No they just pulled it out and I was like dude, that's bonkers, that's bonkers.
Speaker 1:So just as an FYI.
Speaker 2:All right, now we're moving on. We'll get out of commandment two, which I'm still stuck on, a little bit, but shout out to my wife for catching things that are awesome. Commandment number three. You want me to read it. Yeah, I'm going to read the one out of Deuteronomy, but again, for anybody following along, deuteronomy five and Exodus 20, all are awesome. So, okay, 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. Okay, cool.
Speaker 1:I've heard two different iterations of this, so I'm curious on where you're going to go with it. Hit me Well. One is obviously don't use the Lord's name so like oh my God right, okay, oops yeah. The other one was and this is always kind of confusing how to explain it but don't say you're going to follow God and then not do what he commands you to do by saying oh, I'm a believer in God, but I'm not doing what God wants me to do.
Speaker 2:There's actually a good. There's a good reason for that. For a lot of reasons, this is closely connected to the ninth commandment, where you shouldn't bear false witness, and I'll get into this here in a second. But I think there's kind of a, let's say, a range of places that this touches. But let's just dig into it a little bit. Ultimately, tim, what's your favorite?
Speaker 1:book in the Bible, ecclesiastes.
Speaker 2:Ecclesiastes. Tell me what is the main thrust of Ecclesiastes? It's all meaningless.
Speaker 1:It's all meaningless. What's the word?
Speaker 2:Vanity. The root of vanity is vain, vain. So when it's talking about not taking the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, I want you to think about the concept of something being made superfluous, something being made empty, chasing after the wind. It's extra, it's surplus, it's something that doesn't actually matter, it's vapid, if you want to say it that way, like it's just, it's something that no longer holds the weight or meaning that it's supposed to hold Interesting.
Speaker 1:I can think of a lot of modern words now that have that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that, have that, that, have that Exactly. So we use the word love now, right, and it's like what has happened to that word? Everything? And that's the problem. We've taken it and we've ringed it out and we've used it in so many different ways and inappropriate ways that now it no longer holds the meaning that it was meant to hold.
Speaker 1:Like somebody who swears a lot. Yes, it doesn't even matter.
Speaker 2:It doesn't mean anything because the old words that we used to have have been wrung out and stretched and used so inappropriately or hijacked by people for all kinds of horrible things that we feel the need to kind of abandon them altogether, and now we only use those words in cliche ways or throw it out in a way that doesn't make sense because they've been used wrongly so often. This really is the case of a lot of language in general. So, like the, the Israelite people, tim would not write out the name Yahweh like on a on a piece of paper, like they wouldn't do it because it was going to be something that was thrown away, like unless it was scripture itself in a scroll that was going to be cared for forever and held up in a special place. Like this is why some Jewish people still online when they write God, if they're writing something we'll put a.
Speaker 2:G and then two dashes next to it, because they don't want to put the name of God on something that is disappearing and doesn't matter. Why would I put something valuable on something that is transient? Just disposable.
Speaker 1:You get what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, they're saying this should never be disposable, like the Hebrew word for weight. I love it, it's just, it's a wonderful word, but it's the same word for glory Chavod, chavod, say it. I'm not even trying. Chavod literally is like. It means a weight, a weightiness to it.
Speaker 2:And when we think about the name of God, what's the significance of a name? It's an identity, it's a representation, it's a mark of what something is, what it holds. When Colossians is talking about Jesus being the image of the invisible God, the word used is icon, like we use this when we look at a computer screen. There's an icon, it pops up. What is it? It's a representation of the fullness of what something is. When we think about the name of God, it's take what represents the fullness of who. God is, the one who spoke the world into existence and empty his name of meaning. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. It's such an interesting thing, tim, when you talk about like, even things like transgenderism, people understand this a little bit. They'll talk about like dead naming. How dare you name me by my old name, my new name? Well, why? Because identity has meaning for them and they're saying how dare you point out the reality of what I'm supposed to be when I've tried to give myself a new icon. I've tried to give myself a new icon. I've tried to reinvent myself. It's the same package, it's just a different look. It's like Jaguar's new marketing scheme. It's a mess. Don't look that up if you all haven't seen it already.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so when you think about this, right off the bat, I want you to think to yourself okay, ultimately, what this is saying is that I should not be emptying the name of God of meaning. And when you think about how we use language, when you think about I'm going to point this one out and I don't want people to get upset with me on this because, like, this could be a problem for you because you're just nervous when you pray, some people use the name of God 36 times in like a 30-second prayer. You know what I mean and, god, I just hope to God that it would be right. Like they just go on and keep. I would say at that point, it doesn't mean anything. You're not praying and thinking about what you're saying and trying to add value to the statements that you're saying. You're just running your mouth and it no longer. It doesn't mean anything anymore.
Speaker 2:Like Jesus talks about this, they need to get to be heard because of the repetition and all the crap that they're saying and he's like no, what is important is the oomph and thought and the ethos that is going, the very essence of who you are, that is going into the prayer to give it substance. And we live in a decadent culture, tim, where everything is about the fixings. Everything's about the little extra sauce, the little extra thing that you have, the sticker on your hat, whatever it might be that it's superfluous, it's just we're all about extra. And decadence leads us into vanity. Or you could say decadence is the reason or the substance of vanity. Everything becomes more extravagant over the top and when you do that, it actually makes everything less valuable, not more valuable, and we're in a world that does this. So when we think about this, I want you to think about how this touches your life, how this touches how you think, how you communicate.
Speaker 2:Jesus tells us I think it's in Matthew 12. Yeah, yeah, matthew 12, 36. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they will give an account for it on the day of judgment, for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. This is a big deal. So Jesus isn't just saying, hey, you shouldn't just take my name in vain. He's saying stop making words vain. Stop making words that you speak mean nothing. They need to have substance. Don't just talk. Say things that matter.
Speaker 2:This is why I have a big issue with profanity, and we've had conversations about how there is, let's say, profanity in the Bible. That's used, but it's not superfluous, because it's used in a way to actually denote the meaning and push forward the thing that you're trying to communicate, unlike somebody who's just spewing out swear words, because that's how they've learned to talk and that's what they are In fact, because we speak out of the overflow of our heart. That's kind of the picture of who we are at some point, and I speak with words either that are rich and deep with meaning, that are thought through, or I speak like somebody who is as shallow as a puddle of water and, unfortunately, somebody who can't stop swearing to me represents somebody who's incredibly shallow. And what's funny is like you know, you're a younger kid, you think you're so cool, you know you use this language of that. It's like, oh, I'm fitting in. It's like, oh, you're. All you're doing is becoming more shallow and more stupid.
Speaker 1:You know, the words that we say, a lot of people would say it's honest.
Speaker 2:What's funny is it might be yeah, right, but honest if you're a liar, right Like. Honest about being a liar isn't a good thing. The goal would be cool. Then you should probably change that. But if honest means this is what I am, I'm never changing. Well, that's just stupid. And now you're honest about being stupid. I'm never changing. Well, that's just stupid. And now you're honest about being stupid.
Speaker 2:But you're acting like it's more venerable or more honorable to be somebody who is stupid than to be somebody who is changing into something better. Right, I would at least have somebody who is not all put together work that direction, act that way out of like a respect, kind of like a young boy not being a man but trying to act like his father you know what I mean until he gets to a place where he can be that then somebody blatantly say well, you know, I'm not an adult, so I'm going to stop trying to act that way and then stay a child their entire life. The boy raises the man right, and so it's worth noting that. So when Jesus is saying you're going to be judged for every empty word that you speak, how much more are you going to be judged for emptying the name of God himself of meaning. This is why saying things like you know GD bug me really bad, or when people say the word Jesus as a profane word, it's disgusting to me Like I want to punch those people in the mouth. It's a big deal to me because you're taking his name and you're emptying it of meaning and you're acting like that's fine. It drives me crazy when I hear five-year-old girls taking the name of God in vain and people are like well, that's not really what it means, right, that's not the fullness of what it means, but it's not less than that, 100%. You should not be using that name as some kind of explicative on the end of a statement or some kind of exclamation on the end of a statement. God is not an exclamation. He's not Quit using it that way. It drives me crazy, tim.
Speaker 2:We talked a little bit last week about putting images of Jesus on t-shirts and things like that. This would fall in this category as well. Not only is it the second commandment, you shouldn't make a graven image, but if you did have an image of something, do you really want to put something valuable like the name of God on something that's transient, that's being thrown away or is virtually garbage, and I would say you would want to be at least thoughtful about that. The other side of this and maybe you have questions about that, I don't want to run past you the other side of this, tim, is the and it's not different, but it may be a way that you need to think about it. It has more to do with oaths.
Speaker 2:The language that's being used here is trying to communicate the reality that taking a name is a lot like swearing on something. All right, so you think about, in a court of law, you swear on the Bible. Why? Because what you're saying is I am responsible to this name. I'm responsible to this truth. I'm not going to take the name of the Lord in vain or empty it of its meaning by not being an extension of the very truth and reality that I espouse and say I believe.
Speaker 2:Okay. To make this more simple, you could say I'm not going to tell people I'm a Christian and then empty the name of Christian of meaning by living like hell. Right, yeah, okay, but specifically, this is talking about courtroom language. Don't you dare take the name of God and then live in a way contrary to what God has called you to do. Don't you dare swear on the Bible and then tell a falsity.
Speaker 2:This is why I was saying it's deeply connected to the ninth commandment and bearing false witness, like how that plays out.
Speaker 2:It's ultimately first connected to my allegiance to God, and when people talk about the 10 commandments, tim, they'll talk about the two tablets of the law or the two tables of the law, right, two tables being first the first four and the last six, right yeah, this kind of picture of here's the you could say, the inner life and my reverence to God, and then here's how that those four play out in these six. When I love my neighbor, right, right, so you could see these two connected in a big way and how this would play out. But really, what this is saying is, if you're going to take an oath, if you're going to vow, don't you dare call on the name of God and say you know, I swear to you in God's name that I will do this. You're in the name of God, I'm going to you know, don't you dare do that, and then live like hell or go opposite of that or live a lie or say something that doesn't make sense along with those lines.
Speaker 1:There's an Ecclesiastes verse that says it's better not to make a vow and keep it than to make a vow and not keep it. Why Ecclesiastes?
Speaker 2:Because you are evoking something far beyond you. You're touching things that you don't even fully understand. So if you do this, you would better be serious about this. Better be serious about this. Now, a lot of people confuse this, because you have places where Jesus says things like hey, let your yes be yes, right, and let your no be no. What is it? Matthew 5.
Speaker 2:I say to you do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is the footstool of Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not take an oath by your head. If you cannot make one hair white or black, let what you say simply be yes or no. Anything more than that comes from evil. His point in this is not hey, you shouldn't make an oath in a court of law. He's not saying you shouldn't make a pledge, like, for instance, when you put, let's say, you sign up for a loan or something.
Speaker 2:That's an oath. You're saying I'm promising, by who I am and what I'm able to do, that I'm going to get this done and accomplish it. Those are what those things are. He's saying superfluous stuff. Quit swearing. I swear to you, I'm going to make this happen. Quit doing that. Quit telling people. You know. I swear to God that I'm going to make no. Stop it Like you are evoking things that are so far beyond you and you're emptying what that's supposed to mean of its meaning by making it so stupid and small and insignificant. Dare I say pusillanimous, Tim Pusillanimous.
Speaker 1:What did the word promise be? The same meaning here.
Speaker 2:Promises is basically saying I'm going to do something. An oath is evoking something else in that process, like on the grounds of right. So an oath is promising to do something by evoking some kind of on my honor right, I'm going to do this particular thing, or because of this, which is a way of saying, if I do this wrong, that is shamed. If I do this wrong, this isn't going to happen. Which is why, all throughout the Old Testament, you have people well, new Testament too but people saying aren't you the God who did this and aren't you the God who did that? And for your own namesake, would you go and do this particular thing?
Speaker 2:Because the name of God was such that it held such a standard and a weight that to say God, they're defaming your name was a way of saying Lord, you have to uphold this standard. They're trying to make your name, they're trying to take it in vain, they're trying to make it less than it actually is. That can't be the case. That can't be the case. That can't work. In fact, let me give you one of my favorite texts real quick, tim, can I? In Ezekiel, chapter 36, and I'll be careful not to spend too much time in this text because it could take us to a different place.
Speaker 2:Ezekiel 36, I think it starts in verse 22. Yeah, check this out. Therefore, say to the house of Israel thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake, o house of Israel, that I'm about to act, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares Lord, when I prove myself holy among you in their sight. And what he talks about is taking these wretched people, who are awful, and making them clean and giving them a new heart and a new spirit. Ultimately, what he's saying is the people who are supposed to be a representation of me have gone out and not been a representation of me, and now I look bad, my name is being profaned because of the way that you're living and the reality that you have not lived up to what I told you to do and how I told you to act and the way that I called you to be and the light that I called you to carry. And he's saying so I'm not doing this for you because you haven't done anything right but profane my name. What I'm going to do to defend my name is I'm going to place my spirit inside of you and I'm going to give you a new spirit, and I'm going to give you a new heart and I'm going to wash you with clean water, not because you're awesome, but because my name is worth defending.
Speaker 2:This passage, tim, in Ezekiel 36, is the passage about the new covenant. This passage is about Christ coming and giving you his spirit and being in a new covenant with God, where he would cause you to live in his statutes because of the spirit that he's placed inside of you. Because, apart from that, you are not able to walk in the way that you were supposed to. Because, apart from that, you are not able to walk in the way that you were supposed to, god is saying in this passage the reason I am saving you is because you are profaning my name and I will no longer allow you to profane my name. So, in my good nature, and because my name is being profaned and I can't stand that, I will save you and I will allow you to actually be an ambassador of my name so that it would be upheld the way that it is supposed to. This passage is saying the reason for your salvation is ultimately because, apart from it, you were profaning the name of God and he was not going to stand for it.
Speaker 1:That has a whole new responsibility. It's a whole dimension to Christians. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes. So when you bear the name Christian, let's just go there for a second. We should feel the weight of that. Yeah, oh, of all the names to be called, christian doesn't have to be the name that comes after Christ himself. I would rather be called something like attempting Christ.
Speaker 1:I'd rather be called follower of somebody who's doing it right, so it feels less weighty.
Speaker 2:But to be called a Christian is to bear the name of Christ and unfortunately, texts like what we just saw in Ezekiel 36 are making this point that it's like man. You are profaning that name among the nations. You are taking his name in vain, not because you're just using it improperly, although it is certainly that as well. It's because you're emptying it of meaning. God has placed his name on you so that you would represent it well and tell people what it means. Your life with God is a covenant, it's an oath with his name on the top of it, and when you live like a non-Christian, you were taking the name of God in vain and you were breaking it.
Speaker 2:What's so interesting, tim, is that the language of salvation is forensic, it's courtroom. It's very much like you are guilty of sin, you are going to hell, you are dead, you are wicked, you are a hater of God. God takes his own son, punishes him for your sin, gives you his righteousness for your sin, gives you his righteousness, and the gavel comes down and he declares you righteous, like the court of law, like an oath. Is being like you're putting your hand on something, or Jesus is putting his hand on you and saying this now belongs to me, and I will see this through to the end. You are now the extension of that covenant, that oath and God's name is on you. This is why Isaiah says things like my names are graven on their hands right, or I will call my people by a new name. They'll be known by this. You know, it's this picture that you bear, the very name of God itself.
Speaker 2:So you have the oath that you're talking about on your life is what you're saying, yes, in a very real way, or you could call it a covenant right, right, and God can't back out of that with you anymore.
Speaker 2:Well, I would say the ones that are truly saved that he's actually died for. Yeah, I would say God does it, in fact, in oh gosh, is it where? In Genesis is? I want to say it's Genesis, chapter 12. But there's this picture of the covenant that God gets into with Abraham and he has him basically cut these animals in half. Fun fact. So he cuts these animals in half, places them on different sides, symbolizing it's like a blood covenant to the death, and normally in these times, if you were making a covenant, somebody would separate these and then both of you would walk together through these animals that were split in half, as a symbol of saying we're in covenant together to the end.
Speaker 2:What happens in Genesis with Abraham is that God has him set this thing up and then he basically walks through the thing himself as a symbol of saying you're not going to be part of this. I'm going to do it not because of you, but because of me, again, upholding his name and his bargain, not because we're great, but because he is, he's glorious, he's glorious. So, yes, so when God saves, someone, calls you know, elects, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies, all of this that is his decision and something that he is doing and ultimately he will bring it about, which is a great reminder. Like when I read that verse, it should make you feel small and, at the same time, incredibly grateful. God wasn't like.
Speaker 2:This guy finally gets it. I want him on my team. Thank goodness. He's like listen, I'm sick of you emptying my name of meaning. I'm sick of you making me look bad. I'm saving you. You're done. You're in my kingdom now. You work for me. You're out of the kingdom of darkness, you're in the kingdom of light. You cannot bear my image and not represent my name anymore. Either you have to die and be destroyed or you have to be ultimately redeemed, and that is the great end game of everything that we're doing.
Speaker 1:God doesn't do that with everybody, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So either they're ultimately destroyed for profaning his name or they're redeemed because they were profaning his name. I just don't think we think about salvation and these terms ever. But when we look at the Ten Commandments and what is he saying? Like I have redeemed you. I am God, don't worship anybody else, don't make other idols, don't make graven images and do not empty my name of meaning.
Speaker 1:Well, speaking of vain words, I feel like salvation in the Christianese has been vain.
Speaker 2:Yeah it can be, it's been used a lot.
Speaker 1:I'm saved by grace, I'm good you know Right.
Speaker 2:Right, we can take words and we can say them as a type of I wanted to use the word talisman but like what's the like a lucky charm? You know, like if I say these special words, it means something. The thing is not if it doesn't represent the fullness of what it's supposed to be, which is again the whole point of this. If you evoke these words, you would better understand the fullness of what they mean, and if you don't understand what's behind that word, then you are emptying of its meaning and instead meaning and and instead trying to play something else there that it can't hold.
Speaker 1:And doesn't sustain. I've been thinking the whole time of just the Pharisees, just as an example too.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, they were really well versed and belief and they could tell you their beliefs, but then they crucified Christ.
Speaker 2:So funny, interesting Cause literally the, the temple, is called Ichabod. Literally means like God has departed, like that's what it's called Ichabod, yeah, yeah, I'm trying to think. In Ezekiel they literally say the temple is going to be like it's Ichabod, Like the Lord has departed, the substance has departed.
Speaker 1:I just remember the Headless Horseman when I hear of Ichabod yeah, okay, ichabod Crane, okay.
Speaker 2:Well, it turns out names have meaning, right, and for the record, if you look all throughout scripture, everybody's name, the name, has a meaning, it has a root, it's denoting something. Your children's names when you name them, it has a meaning, it has a root, there's substance there. But, like so, one of my favorite stories, tim is in Luke 17, with the 10 lepers. Oh yeah, right, and he has the 10 and he basically tells them to go back to the temple, show yourself clean, yeah, and they go back to the temple, he heals them, and then one comes back.
Speaker 2:One of them turns around and comes back to him and falls at his feet and worships. Right, and here's what's interesting, those 10 are going back to a religious system. The one understood that Jesus is the temple, he is the substance, he is the fullness of what it's supposed to be, and drops at his feet and begins to worship. These people have been burned by a religious system that is actually supposed to care for them, love them, walk with them, help them feel like God actually loves them and the God actually that does love them. They end up abandoning anyways and leaving and never coming back. But the one who understands the substance of what the temple is supposed to be finds himself at the feet of Jesus worshiping.
Speaker 1:Here's a hot take real quick, then. And that story. This just came to mind, so forgive me, this is stupid, but couldn't you argue that that religious system that you're talking about is the one that led them to Christ to begin with?
Speaker 2:Totally, yeah, yeah, I mean so. I think I've probably said this five or six times on the podcast. If you haven't heard me say this before, you don't listen that much, and that's okay.
Speaker 1:You say a lot of things, I do. I talk a lot yeah.
Speaker 2:The. He says this. He says, if you're, the thing about dancing is that you have to first learn to count, and thing about dancing is that you have to first learn to count. And so if you start dancing, um, with you know, with, let's say, your wife or whatever you're learning to dance, it's hard to focus on the person you're dancing with, because you're just trying to keep time One, two, three, one, two, three and you're trying to get it right. He says after a while uh, your body does it for you and you don't have to count anymore, so you can focus on your wife. The problem is now, because I don't have to focus on the counting, I can also, instead of focus on my wife, focus on another girl while I'm dancing with my wife.
Speaker 2:Okay, this is important, because he was talking about liturgy and the point he was trying to make is the very things that we put in place to help create checkpoints so that we would have to think about what we were doing and why we were doing it. The goal is to get them down so it becomes more fluid and easy. We were doing it. The goal is to get them down so it becomes more fluid and easy. But then the problem with something becoming fluid and easy is that you don't have to think about it anymore and you can be thinking about something totally wrong while you're supposed to be thinking about the right thing. The whole group of you know, pharisees, became this group of people that got the counting down so well that they were constantly thinking about themselves instead of the Lord that they were actually serving. They became proficient in making their own laws and coming up with little steps they could do in between the timing and this and that and forgot. The whole point of dancing is to enjoy that time with the person you're dancing with.
Speaker 2:And this is why Jesus said things like hey, man, you search the whole scriptures, you think that in the end you have hope. These are the scriptures that testify about me, but you're not coming to me that you would actually have life. So they took the name of God, they espoused that, they said that that's our father. And Jesus said actually, no, your father is the devil. And for them that's like the worst thing ever, because they believe no, we're a representative Abraham's, our father, and this and that and he's like dude before Abraham was is me, I am.
Speaker 2:What is he saying? My name? I am Ego emi, which, by the way, is literally saying I am, I am. Ego is means I am and emi means I am. So when he says ego, emi, he's saying I am, I am, like it's a, it's a bit like he's saying I am the, I am like he, he.
Speaker 2:Again he's evoking the name of God and saying I am that name that you don't know who that is, because I am him and the one you're saying the name that you think you're taking is standing in front of you and you don't recognize him. And I hate this because I think so many churches today, tim, and so many people who take the name of Christ would have that exact same thing happening happening he could be standing in front of them, the personification of who they're saying they're trying to be, and they would not recognize him because they've made the name of Christ superfluous, they've made it vain, they've been living a life in vain taking the name of Christ and, by that, taking the Lord's name in vain, and they think it's a word about a swear word that they shouldn't use, which they probably constantly do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I always heard growing up, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's the smallest version. Let's say it's the smallest. I don't want to put a value statement on it, but let's say it's the easiest and smallest version of that that you can slip into. The problem is, if you don't grow in your understanding beyond that and why is it wrong to take that name in vain? You don't understand that your life can be in vain if you don't understand who Christ is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when you're using these words then, like God or salvation Christ, whatever, is it best then? To just avoid those words at all costs until you mean it.
Speaker 2:I think you should reserve words um as best as you can for their proper meaning. Now, I'm not saying you can't turn a phrase, not saying you can't use words in fun ways. God gave you language um to use in special ways to make it beautiful. And then it's a crazy idea, too right, because it's literally sound from my vocal cords, because God has given me, you know, skin flaps that vibrate. And then you got a hammer in your ear that picks up on the vibrations and now that's sound. You're hearing words like. That's how that's working for us. You know, crazy.
Speaker 2:God spoke everything into existence. You know what I mean With words. He says something and literally creation comes into existence because he understands the fullness of who he is and when he speaks it is Right, like so cool, to think about it that way. But for us, when we think about words, we should think about the substance of what they are, and if you don't really understand something, you should tread lightly. If you're going to talk about something that is supposed to or should have weight, even if other people don't talk about it that way, you should when you talk about Christ, when you talk about our Lord, when you talk about his law. When you talk about the things he's called you to reverence, be very careful about laughing at things that would make God burn with anger, like if other people are saying jokes about him. Um, that that a hundred percent, uh, are assaulting who he is and his standard. There's something very wrong with that and I would just caution you, christian, don't go there. I would caution you If you're somebody in your life that does, let's say, use the name of God in a superfluous way, stop, because that is an expression of what you actually believe inside of you, of what you actually believe inside of you when you are saying things that are stupid, that are emptying things of meaning.
Speaker 2:What that tells me is that your life in some way is making light of who God is and the weight that you carry with the name Christian. You should walk like you're in a suit of armor, with the brand Christ across your back, in a field full of demons, with a couple of brothers that you're walking with and you're going to war, because the Bible says that's actually what's going on around you. And if you're making jokes about the king that you have and throwing your armor around and acting like it's not a big deal, imagine how quickly that goes south, and I think a lot of people have become a haunt for the demonic in their life because they've thrown aside all the things that actually have meaning, that were to be a shield for them and for their children. In the name of not taking it as seriously as they should, everything goes back to the garden, did God really say? Is it really that important? Yeah, just take the armor off, not a big deal.
Speaker 2:Don't dilute yourself, christian. Do not dilute the name of Christ, and don't forget that you dilute the name of Christ when you walk like a non-believer as opposed to somebody who bears the name of Christ. Nice.
Speaker 1:Amen, yeah, yeah, that's great Cool.
Speaker 2:Might be a little early, but that's a great point to end on. Hey, I'll tell you guys, walk with your head held high and you should be a potent person in your life because you bear the name of Christ. This statement here is not just saying don't empty something of meaning. What it's saying is it has an immense amount of meaning and Christian Christ's identity is on you, his blood is covering you, his spirit is filling you. So when his words fill your mouth, they should mean something special, they should be something significant, and you should realize that you are like a real person, walking amongst a bunch of wraiths and people that are damned. You have been given everything. Don't make light of that damned. You have been given everything. Don't make light of that. Walk with your shoulders up and your head high and be something different than the rest of the world. Give them a show. You know what I mean, and I don't mean. I don't. I don't mean entertainment, although sure, maybe there's a smack of that. I mean something real in a world full of fake, something um, uh and a world full of things that are just blowing away and chaff. That doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:Psalm 1 is one of my favorite bits about this right. Blessed is a man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the seat of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. His delight is in the law of the Lord and in it he meditates day and night. Right offers is delight is in the law of the Lord and in it he meditates day and night right. It'd be like a tree, firmly planted by streams of water, who yields its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does, he prospers.
Speaker 2:Not so the wicked. They're like chaff that the wind blows away. You know what chaff is, tim? They were taking wheat. They would sift it and throw it up in the air and the husk would blow away with the wind and the seed drops down. What's real stays, what's fake and vapid disappears. You, christian, remain for all of eternity and what you do matters for all of eternity, because the name of Christ is on you. Embrace that, walk in it and let everything else that's going to blow away blow away. Don't be blown away with it. Amen, yeah.
Speaker 1:Great Thanks, man, well hey.
