Season 2 Episode 45: On Taking the Lord's Name in Vain

What happens when you throw Elvis, Mariah, and Bing into the same festive playlist? Opinions fly as we debate our favorite secular Christmas tunes. Get ready for laughter and maybe a little friendly disagreement as we rank and reminisce about the songs that make our Yuletide bright.

And then, a shift to something more reflective: what does it really mean to "bear" the name of Christ? More than just avoiding using God's name in vain, it's about embodying His character in every facet of life—including online. 

The Third Commandment calls for genuine representation, and we dive into how that translates in today's world. Whether it's through symbols we carry or the words we share, living a life that honors God is a responsibility we bear.

Chapters

• 7:39 Ranking Secular Christmas Songs by Likability
• 19:52 Understanding Commandment Three
• 27:17 Bearing the Name of Christ

Transcript

Pastor Trent: 0:06

hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. Hey, trent, it's a thursday for us. It's probably a sunday or monday for you. How are you doing, pastor bob? I'm getting better getting better. Getting better does that imply?

Pastor Bob: 0:19

well, I was out last week because I had the bug. So, yeah, just a chest cold kind of thing, but I'm getting better still. So if I cough I apologize. Still got that lingering cough but otherwise doing good.

Pastor Trent: 0:29

Was it a man cold as opposed to a? You know what a man cold is. So man cold is like when men like, oh, it's just the worst thing in the world. I mean the joke is there's like that's not me. On a pain scale, giving birth is a nine for a woman, but a man cold is number 10?.

Pastor Bob: 0:46

Yeah, no, that's not me. I don't like getting sick.

Pastor Trent: 0:49

but I don't tolerate it either.

Pastor Bob: 0:50

I just keep pushing through it. So yeah, not a man, cold guy.

Pastor Trent: 0:54

When you have a cold, what do you do? Do you sleep? What's your remedy?

Pastor Bob: 0:59

My remedies are limited because I don't take much medicine.

Pastor Trent: 1:02

Okay, sleep water. Vitamin C.

Pastor Bob: 1:06

I do all those regularly anyway, okay. So yeah, just kind of just suck it up and deal with it.

Pastor Trent: 1:11

Yeah, I immediately take vitamin C. I'm making sure I'm drinking water and I get good sleep that night. Yeah, yeah, I prioritize getting really good sleep.

Pastor Bob: 1:19

Yeah, good stuff. Kara's here with us again, Hi Kara.

Kara: 1:23

Hello.

Pastor Bob: 1:24

Are you?

Pastor Trent: 1:24

a tea person when you get sick.

Pastor Bob: 1:27

I like tea, but I don't go to it when I'm sick, necessarily.

Pastor Trent: 1:31

What about you, Kara?

Pastor Bob: 1:32

Hot tea, warm tea.

Kara: 1:33

Hot tea, hot tea with honey and lemon. That's what you do when you're sick.

Pastor Trent: 1:36

Yeah, Do you have like? Are you a NyQuil person?

Kara: 1:41

Are you a no person? Are you uh? No, we have we have all, all the vietnamese homemade remedies at home we never. My mom's very I don't know, she's like let me give you this honey the spoonful, just keep this, chew, this ginger like root in your mouth for a few hours and you'll be fine.

Pastor Trent: 1:57

Yeah, so is that called homeopathic? I don't really know what does homeopathic technically mean?

Pastor Bob: 2:06

I don't really know, what does homeopathic technically mean? I don't know. Yeah, I think it's home remedies. Yeah, home remedies, more home remedies, herbs, those kind of things.

Pastor Trent: 2:11

Yeah, I know, ginger root's a big thing.

Kara: 2:13

Yeah.

Pastor Trent: 2:14

I'm a big ginger ale fan. We've talked about this on the podcast. Supposedly that's supposed to help. Just ginger in general.

Kara: 2:19

Yeah, yeah.

Pastor Trent: 2:22

Pretty good stuff.

Pastor Bob: 2:23

I just try not to give whatever germ.

Pastor Trent: 2:24

I have to anybody else.

Pastor Bob: 2:26

Much appreciated, yeah, try not to.

Pastor Trent: 2:28

My wife got stomach sick like twice four days apart. That's no fun Five days apart and thankfully I did not get it. Unfortunately, the stomach bug.

Kara: 2:39

That's awful.

Pastor Bob: 2:40

Yeah, all night long kind of stuff.

Pastor Trent: 2:42

Yeah, well, hey, we're almost to Christmas. We are. How many days away now? What is today? Today is the 12th, 13 days away. There you go, good math. Were you wondering if I was able to do the?

Pastor Bob: 2:56

math I was. I was wondering let's see the math skills come out online.

Pastor Trent: 2:59

So we start celebrating kind of Christmas Eve right, christmas Eve service happens around here. Celebrating kind of Christmas Eve right, christmas Eve service happens around here. We open one gift with our kids on Christmas Eve. You see the lights out and so I mean we're 14 days away from math here. We are 12 days away from that sort of celebration.

Pastor Bob: 3:17

And your son, judah, has a birthday. He was born on Christmas Day.

Pastor Trent: 3:20

He has to compete with Jesus, so we are going to do something special for him for his birthday. But we won't do it exactly at the same time. You do it before or after. In the past we've done it after, sure. The reason is, I think, people start traveling around this season and so to try to do it early, when there's programs and traveling and families in town, is difficult. By the time January rolls around, everybody's back to normal. It has nothing on their schedule.

Pastor Bob: 3:43

You just have to be intentional with it. Ben's birthday is the 22nd, so now he's a grown man so we don't do much. But back when he was smaller, you just had to be intentional and make sure he knew. Okay, we're going to celebrate your birthday, but Christmas is kind of a big deal.

Pastor Trent: 3:59

We're going to do that too. Last year we gave him a note that we're going to take him to, or a picture that we're going to take him to Legoland, and we took him to Legoland last summer. So we waited until the summer to take him, but that was his birthday present Cool, big birthday present.

Kara: 4:08

Very nice.

Pastor Trent: 4:09

Hey, I have a question for you. Technically this is like the fact, but question, and here's what we're going to do Okay. So, Pastor Bob, NFL is in full swing. Just won the AFC championship. There are eight NFL teams without cheerleaders. Did you know?

Pastor Bob: 4:26

that I did not know that I don't know why, I would know that. I did not know that.

Pastor Trent: 4:31

I just figured you're a big NFL cheerleader fan. No, I'm just kidding. Who would these teams be?

Pastor Bob: 4:37

Who are the?

Pastor Trent: 4:37

eight NFL teams without cheerleaders.

Pastor Bob: 4:40

So you know, it's not the Cowboys, cowboys, cheerleaders, it's a well-known thing. No, it's not the Bucks, it's not the.

Pastor Trent: 4:45

Chiefs. Chiefs have cheerleaders. Okay, so I have no idea. I really don't, but I would. There's two markets. Most of these teams are in Well.

Pastor Bob: 4:52

I would go If I had to guess. It's going to be some of the older teams. Okay, Okay. So maybe Buffalo.

Pastor Trent: 5:11

You're three for three. Now you're in primarily you're in three markets, but mostly two markets.

Pastor Bob: 5:19

I'm just trying to think of some of the older teams the Jets maybe the Jets is on that list. You're four're four for four, oh look at me so again, I'm gonna it's gonna get bad from here on those markets, though.

Pastor Trent: 5:31

Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly who else is around that area, new york jets new york.

Pastor Bob: 5:38

Well, the giants are up there too, but I mean, that doesn't necessarily. I said markets okay, so we'll go with giants five for five okay very similar markets here, uh, and then you got to get another part.

Pastor Trent: 5:50

Uh, well, yeah, because you get. You're kind of a little spread out now you got new england up there.

Pastor Bob: 5:56

You got pittsburgh up there patriots do have cheerleaders, yeah um, yeah, five for five, you've got three left. Yeah, I'm going to draw a blank on the rest of them. Pick one, I don't know.

Pastor Trent: 6:08

Think of Northeast kind of. It's not Patriots, though.

Pastor Bob: 6:11

It's not the Colts. I've seen the Colts. They have cheerleaders. Okay, but around that area Green Bay Packers you already said Green Bay Did I already say Green Bay, okay, yeah uh green bay packers.

Pastor Trent: 6:29

You already said green bay did I already say green bay okay, yeah, ohio cleveland browns does not have cheerleaders, okay, um, uh, the bingles do, though, right, the bingles are not on this list so they must have cheerleaders so I've got six out of the eight.

Pastor Trent: 6:40

This, how do I give you a hint? Pittsburgh Pirates, so it's the story. So I was trying to think I was. I thought about maybe the Pirates baseball team, but then when it's in Pittsburgh, so it's the Pittsburgh Steelers, and then I think there's one other team and it's in California well, what teams left?

Pastor Bob: 7:02

in California, everybody's left.

Kara: 7:04

San.

Pastor Bob: 7:05

Diego is out there, so can't san francisco. They have cheerleaders, so I'm gonna go chargers.

Pastor Trent: 7:09

I guess that's chargers, so here's your really the chargers don't have.

Pastor Bob: 7:12

Chargers do not have.

Pastor Trent: 7:13

That one surprising the bills, the bears, the browns, or three b's the packers, the chargers, the giants, the jets and the steelers yeah, that's eight teams, not intuitive.

Pastor Bob: 7:23

the, the, the early teams kind of make sense to me, but other than that, I don't know it's basically early teams, and then the northeast region, yeah, that whole area.

Pastor Trent: 7:32

So, as it gets south, good country living, you got cheerleaders, yeehaw, yeehaw, all right. Well, hey, it is Christmas season and so with Christmas season, there are many well-known Christmas carols, but there are also well-known Christmas songs, so well-known Christmas carols and hymns. We're going to leave those out, okay, not of our services, but leave those out of this conversation. We're going to consider Christmas songs, secular Christmas songs, secular Christmas songs. Okay, and I want you to give me rank these secular Christmas songs in likability one, two at least like, not likability 10, or however many.

Pastor Trent: 8:15

I have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. Here they are. It's the most wonderful time of the year by Andy Williams. Have yourself a merry little Christmas. By Frank Sinatra. White Christmas by Bing Crosby. I'll be home for Christmas by Bing Crosby. The Christmas song by Nat King Cole Rockin' around the Christmas tree by Brenda Lee Blue. Christmas by Elvis Presley.

Pastor Bob: 8:40

She was like 14 when she recorded that Rockin' around, maybe younger Deck the halls. By the way, she was really maybe younger, sorry.

Pastor Trent: 8:47

Deck the Halls by the Everly Brothers Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms. All I Want for Christmas is you by Mariah Carey and Last Christmas by Wham. I'm with you, but when you look at top Christmas songs, she's like one or two as far as it being played and sold, not a fan. All I Want for look at top top christmas songs, she's like one or two as far as play it being played and sold, not a fan. All I went for christmas is you by mariah carey and the last is last christmas by wham okay, so we're going top to bottom or bottom to top let's do bottom to top.

Pastor Trent: 9:12

What is your least favorite there? So I love 11 of them least favorite.

Pastor Bob: 9:16

Uh, last christmas by wham, that's your least favorite okay, you like, you like, you like mariah carey better, that's 10, 10.

Pastor Trent: 9:22

That's 10? Okay, yeah, those two.

Kara: 9:24

I think there's 11 here. There are. There is Okay, got it, got it, got it, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Pastor Bob: 9:28

So the newer ones. I'm more old school, I like traditional stuff, so Okay, yeah. So you have a list in front of you. Put deck the halls, probably at number nine, okay, uh, this is not going to be popular.

Pastor Trent: 9:50

I'm going to put elvis blue blue christmas at eight. I'm not popular, but I'm good with you.

Pastor Bob: 9:52

I'm good with that um seven, probably rocking around the christmas tree. Oh for sure, I think I would probably even put that lower, um or higher. Technically, jingle bell rock at six okay, it's the most wonderful time of the year. Five, okay, christmas song at four, that's a good one I like that one, I do like that one. Uh, have yourself a merry little christmas three but that one sounds, so christmas it is very christmas. They're all christmas. Yeah, it just sounds so christmas I it is very Christmas-y.

Pastor Bob: 10:24

They're all Christmas-y. Yeah, it just sounds so Christmas-y. I'm a Bing Crosby guy, so I'll be home for Christmas at 2 and White Christmas at 1.

Pastor Trent: 10:30

Okay, do a little bit of White Christmas for me. No.

Pastor Bob: 10:35

How does it go? You don't know White Christmas? No, I do. I just can't think of it off the top of my head for some reason I can't think of the top of my head.

Kara: 10:40

You're going to have to sing it.

Pastor Bob: 10:42

All right, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.

Pastor Trent: 10:45

I'm dreaming.

Pastor Bob: 10:46

That's the words I needed.

Pastor Trent: 10:48

Okay, so we'll list those again, so favorite. Well, we'll go least favorite to favorite. Last Christmas by William All I Want for Christmas is you by Mariah Carey. Nine Deck the Halls by the Everly Brothers. Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley. Rocker on the Christmas.

Kara: 11:04

Tree by Brenda.

Pastor Trent: 11:05

Lee 7, 5,. Where's 5? It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams. A Christmas Song by Nat King Cole. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Frank Sinatra. I'll Be Home for Christmas by Bing Crosby. And your favorite White Christmas by Bing Crosby. Kira, do you want to play?

Kara: 11:22

Wait, so you both have White Christmas at the top.

Pastor Trent: 11:24

No, no, no, oh, you were saying his he was repeating mine.

Pastor Bob: 11:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah, this was Bob's.

Pastor Trent: 11:31

So the Christmas song, I think it would be my favorite.

Pastor Bob: 11:34

All right, kara. Are we going with Kara next? Yep, all right, kara. What's your list?

Kara: 11:38

My least favorite. I changed it a little bit, but it's Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree at the bottom. That's your least favorite.

Pastor Bob: 11:46

Okay, deck the Halls is 10.

Kara: 11:48

Deck the Halls is 10. Jingle Bell Rock.

Pastor Trent: 11:50

Wait, what was your least?

Kara: 11:50

favorite Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree probably.

Pastor Trent: 11:52

Got it.

Kara: 11:54

And then Deck the Halls.

Pastor Trent: 11:55

Okay.

Kara: 11:56

Just the fall la la la part. I feel like every year it just gets more and more annoying. It's not a bad song, though. Jingle Bell Rock then and then All I Want for Christmas and then Last Christmas Wait, wait, wait wait, you're just flying.

Pastor Trent: 12:10

So, okay, rocking on Christmas Tree, then Deck the Halls, then Jingle Bell Rock, then what?

Kara: 12:14

Then All I Want for Christmas by Mariah Carey.

Pastor Bob: 12:18

Is number eight Is eight, okay.

Kara: 12:26

And then Last Christmas is seven and then it's the most wonderful time of the year is six, white Christmas. I put at five Blue Christmas. I like Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley. I'm not judging that, yeah, it's just homey and nice, and then I'll Be Home for Christmas. By Bing Crosby I have at three. I got the Christmas song at two and I have have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas at number one.

Pastor Trent: 12:51

I just want to listen to one real fast I only have some slight judgments in here, but not many, you're pretty you're alright?

Kara: 12:58

yeah, that's still my number one.

Pastor Bob: 13:01

I'm just listening to it.

Pastor Trent: 13:02

It's so good, alright let's still my number one.

Pastor Bob: 13:05

I'm just listening to it.

Pastor Trent: 13:05

It's so good. Okay, all right, let's do this. So should I read hers back? Let's do that. Rockin' on the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee is Lee's favorite. This is Kara's Deck, the Halls is number 10. Nine is Jingle Bell Rock. Eight is All I Want for Christmas. Is you Then? Last Christmas by Wham, we're six. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Vanny Williams Five. White Christmas by Bing Crosby, blue Christmas by Elvis Presley. I'll Be Home for Christmas by Bing Crosby, the Christmas Song by Night King Cole, and then your favorite is have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Kara: 13:40

Yes indeed.

Pastor Trent: 13:41

Oh, this is hard to do. Okay, here we go. I'm going to try. All right, all I want for Christmas is you would mail these favorite. Not that I don't like it per se, it's just at least the last on this list. Then we'll go last Christmas, number 10, and we'll go nine. Deck the halls, let's see Nine, okay. Then we'll go eight, jingle Bell Rock. Seven, rock Around the Christmas Tree. We'll go what am I at? Seven, six, blue Christmas.

Pastor Bob: 14:25

You've had the most time to think about that. I know, yeah, but I've been charting y'all. Okay, sorry, we know.

Pastor Trent: 14:28

Yeah, but I've been charting y'alls. Okay, sorry, we'll go five. Okay, let's go five, I'll be home for Christmas, which is great. Four it's the most wonderful time of the year. Three we'll do white Christmas. Two, we'll do have yourself a merry little Christmas, and the Christmas song is one. Yeah, that's my list. So we mostly put, uh, the ones that are a little more upbeat and not, as they're more, a little more modern, we put those lower. So, last christmas, all for christmas. Is you? How old is jingle bell rock? I don't know who bobby helms is. Oh, that's a little. It's been around a while. Okay, yeah, we, we all kind of put that a little bit lower. And then Deck the Halls, we all put a little bit lower.

Kara: 15:16

It's the follow, all the laws.

Pastor Trent: 15:18

Deck the Halls, jingle Bell Rock. All I Want for Christmas is you and Last Christmas were all. It didn't make our top five there you go.

Kara: 15:28

Definitive list there's that one celebrity who went viral for singing this song. Weird, I'll be home for christmas. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Pastor Trent: 15:35

no where she's like I know fergie, when fergie sang the national anthem whoa do you hear that? Yeah, oh, that was weird. It's like roseanne back in the day that was so odd and it showed like the, the basketball players, while she was singing, like try not to like, make faces like what is she doing? I mean like she, she intentionally changed it. I mean it's not like she just hit a bad note yeah, all right, what were you saying?

Kara: 15:59

oh, that was it, I just made this look. She says like I'll be home, and then she says quizmois and it went viral.

Pastor Trent: 16:06

Do you remember that? Who? Who is this?

Kara: 16:07

I think it was Camila Cabello. Oh, it was so weird oh. Gwizmoise. She says like Gwizmoise, I'm sorry she tries to tell me.

Pastor Trent: 16:15

Glad.

Pastor Bob: 16:15

I haven't heard this one.

Kara: 16:16

Oh, it's so bad. We'll show it to you after oh good.

Pastor Trent: 16:26

So I really like Ben Rector's Christmas album. So I'm just going to who's this? This is Ben Rector. You know Ben Rector? I know the name. Yes, yeah, he was in a lot of our wedding songs, so let me look here the Christmas song I just like how he does it.

Kara: 16:40

Here we go, chestnuts roasting on an open fire. I like the guitar Jack Frost nipping at you now.

Pastor Bob: 16:54

Yeah, I like it. I like the guitar, it's good.

Pastor Trent: 16:57

Well, hey, we want to talk, or I want us to talk. I don't know what our listeners want, but you know what? They're not here. They don't get to say this.

Pastor Bob: 17:07

It's a dictatorship, that's right.

Pastor Trent: 17:09

You know that reminds me of a movie, An oligarchy. We need to do Christmas movies. Next episode have we done that already? Maybe we haven't done that already. Did we do that already? I don't think so.

Kara: 17:16

I don't think we did. I don't think so.

Pastor Bob: 17:23

I know you're a big fan of one of them. It's just not that good even watched it. Which one yeah Fragile.

Kara: 17:28

Yeah, like my the Christmas Story.

Pastor Trent: 17:29

The Christmas Story.

Kara: 17:30

He doesn't like the Christmas Story. I just saw it for the first time last year. It's not that good. I've never seen it before. It wasn't that good, was it? No, it's pretty good. It's good stuff. He's just a hater.

Pastor Trent: 17:46

That's okay, go ahead. What were we going to go to? I don't remember. Oh, I was thinking. You said it's a dictatorship.

Pastor Bob: 17:53

Yes.

Pastor Trent: 17:54

You know what movie that reminds me of?

Pastor Bob: 17:56

I do not.

Pastor Trent: 17:57

Do you know what movie that reminds me of? It reminds me of Remember the Titans. This is not a democracy, it's a dictatorship. Remember that.

Pastor Bob: 18:04

That's a great movie. That is a good movie Not a Christmas movie, but a good movie Don't get blood on my uniform If you fumble my football.

Pastor Trent: 18:10

Yeah, there's so many good lines. Left side, strong side, it's a good movie. I'm a sucker for the temptations. There's just so many quotable lines in that movie, so good.

Kara: 18:24

So good.

Pastor Trent: 18:25

Who was the running back? He was a Christian and would like to share his faith. What would they call him preacher? They called him preacher, is that?

Pastor Bob: 18:34

right, yeah, it's a great baby quarterback actually that was the quarterback. You got injured okay, I can't remember. Ran the beer, the option yes, yeah, sunshine.

Pastor Trent: 18:44

oh, it's such a good movie. Okay, okay, hey. So I want to spend some time the next few weeks looking at particular commandments of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament. If we're looking at the book of Exodus commands that God gave Moses to give to the people of Israel we probably know the Ten Commandments by seeing them in our homes, maybe on different public government buildings at one time, outside of churches, inside of churches, or maybe you recited it as a young kid in a Juana or kids ministry. But I want us to look at a few of those commands and just kind of ask the question what does this, what does this mean, especially for the Christian in the new covenant? So we're going to look at commandment number three today, are we?

Pastor Bob: 19:31

just doing the odds. I don't know, you're just randomly picking commandments. No, they're not random. Oh okay, there's a reason behind it. There is a reason, but it won't be numerical.

Kara: 19:42

Correct. You won't tell us the reason either way, you won't, it'll be a surprise every week.

Pastor Bob: 19:45

We'll just walk in and go, hey.

Pastor Trent: 19:52

Yeah, well, I think there's some commands that might be a little more straightforward than others, and then some that may even cause a little bit of disagreement between Christians of what exactly does this mean?

Pastor Trent: 19:59

Like the Sabbath, for example, okay, there are different views of the Sabbath. There are not many different views of you shall not murder, right, don't murder. And then Jesus obviously clarifies that. To say, don't hate someone, right, don't murder. And then Jesus obviously clarifies that to say don't hate someone, right, you've already committed murder in your heart. So he gives a lot of clarity to those commands. This was one of those commands.

Pastor Trent: 20:19

Help us understand what all it means, pastor Bob, and I'm going to try to help. So it's commandment number three and I want to ask the question what does it mean to use, to take or use the Lord's name in vain? Commandment number three reads in Exodus, you shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. I don't know why I put Exodus 7. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. So here's a command. And then, of course, also is a strict warning the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. So to get us started, pastor Bob, my mom taught my sister and I that saying oh my goodness, substituting goodness with God's name, was the worst curse word. Is that what it means to take the Lord's name in vain, saying OMG, if you will, when you're happy, when you're surprised, when you're angry or when you're sad. And if not, what does it mean?

Pastor Bob: 21:19

It doesn't not mean that, okay, but it doesn't only mean that.

Pastor Trent: 21:22

So it means more than that, but not necessarily less than that, correct?

Pastor Bob: 21:27

Okay, that's how I would interpret it. It doesn't necessarily mean less than that, but I do think it means much more than just a curse word. Whatever that curse word is or that phrase that you might use. Others would say GD is the use of this. Oh okay. So yeah, it's not just that. I think that's the surface level understanding of what's getting at.

Pastor Trent: 21:48

GD is great dominoes. Great Dane Got it. Sorry, Meaning that using the word in some sort of frivolous or a way that you're not thinking through, or profane way or profane way or profane way, Frivolous or profane Would be unhelpful and most likely would be unwise. Unhelpful and most likely one way to understand this, but not the full way of understanding this.

Pastor Bob: 22:20

Correct. Okay, I don't think it's a wrong way to understand it. I just don't think it's the depth of what is intended here.

Pastor Trent: 22:28

Okay.

Pastor Bob: 22:29

So what is intended?

Pastor Trent: 22:29

here. Okay, so what is intended here? Well, maybe a short conversation.

Pastor Bob: 22:31

It's a little bit of a short conversation and that's okay, Since you guys went an hour. Last time you guys had a conversation.

Pastor Trent: 22:36

You have a certain way of saying that.

Pastor Bob: 22:37

So you guys, you guys crack on my age every time, so I can crack on how long you went in your podcast last time.

Pastor Trent: 22:45

So the people were blessed by hearing about Babby's history. I didn't say they weren't.

Pastor Bob: 22:51

I did not judge the content of the podcast, just the length. Did you listen to it?

Pastor Trent: 22:58

I haven't had time to listen to all of it yet. I knew you hadn't, so I was trying to set you up there.

Pastor Bob: 23:04

I did start and I listened to the one previously where Kara cracked on my age. Thank you very much. Yes, it was you. I expected from him.

Kara: 23:13

Was it towards Trent?

Pastor Bob: 23:14

Oh, no, no no, no, no, it was definitely towards me.

Kara: 23:16

Oh really, I'm forgetting. I'm sorry, 100%.

Pastor Bob: 23:19

Anyway, thou shall not take the name of your pastor in vain. I don't think that's what that says.

Pastor Bob: 23:25

So I think deeper. You have to look at the big picture of the 10 commandments. So, jesus or Jesus, when God introduces the 10 commandments he starts with I am the Lord, your God. He introduces himself I'm the one who brought you out of Egypt, I'm the one who brought you out of slavery. Um.

Pastor Bob: 23:43

And then the first commandment is don't have any other gods before me. I am God, don't have another God. The second commandment is don't have any other gods before me. I am God, don't have another God. The second commandment is don't make any idols, don't worship things that aren't me. And he says I am a jealous God. He repeats I am the Lord, your God. I am a jealous God.

Pastor Bob: 23:59

He's establishing who he is, what his name represents. His name isn't just what we call him. His name represents his attributes, his character, who he is. And he's telling them worship me and worship me alone. And if you're going to be my people, then represent me well. So take on my character, my attributes. So I'm the Lord, your God. Don't have any other gods, don't make any idols. I'm Lord, your God. I'm a any other gods. Don't make any idols. I'm Lord, your God. I'm a jealous God. Then he gets to the third one Don't take my name in vain and I think the clause at the end the Lord will not leave unpunished those who take him in vain isn't that's important. We have to understand strict warning. It is a very strict warning, so it's. I don't think it's just the flippant use of his name that he's concerned about. I think it's much deeper, and so I think we have to talk about what does his name mean? And then what does it mean to take it in vain? Okay, right.

Pastor Trent: 24:56

So you're saying correct me if I'm wrong Jesus is in some way identifying himself with his people, right? You are my people, right. And so his people are showing and telling the world around them who God is and what God is like. And so language is not the only thing God is concerned about in his people, it's also their lifestyle, because the way that they live shows the God that they serve, reveals the God they serve, shows what he's like and who he is right. And so they're not just they don't need to be careful with verbiage they are bearing his name where they go, no matter what they say, exactly.

Pastor Bob: 25:43

Okay, and I would argue that the Ten Commandments are. They have a dual function they reveal to us God's character and they reveal to us the standard by which his children are supposed to live. So it's revealing who he is. So each one of the 10 commandments is based on a characteristic of God, in an attribute of God, and then he's telling us this is how you should behave If you're going to bear my name.

Pastor Trent: 26:06

This is what it looks like.

Pastor Bob: 26:08

So don't take my name in vain. Don't just not use my name correctly or flippantly, or even profanely, but if you're going to take my name, then act like me. If you're going to claim the name of God, if you're going to claim the name of Christ, then here are the attributes you need to represent Okay, new covenant, if we can jump all the way to the new covenant. Absolutely.

Pastor Trent: 26:29

Christ fulfills the law. He lives a perfect and righteous life where no person on earth could. He dies a sacrificial death, and there are commands of God that no longer pertain to Christians, like eating certain foods. Right, because Christ fulfilled those laws. How should we think about, as New Testament Christians, this particular commandment? Exactly the same, more so Different in any sort of way. It's funny because in the book of Acts, we see that the followers of Jesus are named Christians, and so they're actually identified as bearing the name of the one they follow, the God they claim to follow, and so people are seeing what Christ is like by looking at these quote little Christians, right, right, yeah, little Christs, yeah.

Pastor Bob: 27:36

So Well in the New Testament, jesus, matthew 15, I want to say he says these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. In vain they worship me. They're not following me. They're teaching doctrines of men, and he's quoting Isaiah there. He's going back to the Old Testament and he's saying these guys are paying me lip service, but they don't serve me. They're in vain. And it's the same terminology, vain, that we find in the Old Testament and we find it in the New Testament. In the Old Testament we see it where it basically means to be empty, futile, worthless, meaningless. So what you're doing is worthless, what you're doing is meaningless In vain. You do these things and they don't do what you think they're doing. And that's what Jesus is saying. He's saying these people think they're honoring me with their lives and with their worship, but they're not, because they're following man-made commandments, not what I've taught them, what my character is.

Pastor Trent: 28:37

So if vain or making the Lord's name vain is to make it meaningless, we ought to consider hey, is there any way that I'm using the Lord's name in language that would cause it to lose its significance or meaning or honor? And then not only in my language. I would try to look at my life. Is there any way that I'm making meaningless what it means to follow Christ or what it looks like to honor the Lord? Those might be the questions to ask oneself. Think about the Old Testament, in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 33. There's this promise that Jeremiah makes, a prophecy given to him by the Lord. He says that in the future, god will write the law, his renewed covenant, on the hearts of his people. And so God has given us his law and impressed it upon our heart, and so we ought to be convicted if, as Christians, we are not giving glory to God and making his name appear as, or be understood as, less than it is.

Pastor Bob: 29:42

Yes, and I think it's both of those things. It is being aware of how we use the name of God, not flippantly, not just throwing it out there, not using it as a curse word. That is part of it. But as you're articulating it, I think the deeper level of what God is saying here is if you're going to bear my name, don't do it meaninglessly, don't do it uselessly, don't do it wastefully. So let's let's, let's.

Pastor Trent: 30:09

I'm going to go some application here just real quick, Cause I, I I'm going to go through some application here real quick. I have a couple ideas here. So if you are going to call yourself a Christian publicly, you should consider this warning. If you are going to wear a cross around your neck, you are in some way identifying yourself publicly. I'm a Christian. That would be the implication. That would be the implication. And so be very careful what you do with a cross around your neck. Be very careful what you do with a tattoo of Scripture on your wrist or what have you or the bumper sticker on your car, the bumper sticker on your car right.

Pastor Trent: 30:50

These are reminders. Hey, you are identifying yourself publicly. You are choosing to identify yourself publicly with the Lord. Your character, it always matters, but consider the fact that you're doing so in a very public manner right, which is great. Take stock in the fact that people are watching you and they are taking, and what does this mean? To bear the name of Christ?

Pastor Bob: 31:13

Yeah, colossians 3.17,. Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord. So it's a reminder of whatever my action is, whatever my thought is, whatever my words are. Can I honor God with those actions, words or thoughts? And if I can't, then I ought not be participating in those things.

Pastor Trent: 31:30

Yeah, and I think too, I mean, that doesn't mean what I need to necessarily just keep myself from. So okay, so on Facebook I wrote a nice verse and then the next post I write something really angry comment or something like that. But that also maybe concerns. Okay, I write a nice verse on Facebook, identify myself as a Christian on Facebook and, of course, in my life too. But to the person who doesn't know me, they see that my feed is just filled with complaints. I mean, maybe they're couched in the nicest of words, right? Sure, we see in the book of Philippians that we're supposed to shine as lights in the way that we don't grumble like the rest of our generation, right, wicked and twisted generation who grumbles a lot. Let's shine his light and let's not complain. So that's a way in which we could bear the name of Christ in a positive way or in a very negative way, sure.

Pastor Bob: 32:22

Yeah. Or if you claim the joy and peace of Christ but you're a miserable worry ward all the time. Yeah, that's troubling.

Pastor Trent: 32:29

Yeah, so in short, bearing the name of Christ or taking the Lord's name in vain specifically doesn't end at your language, but includes all of your life. It's not just speaking, that command for what you shouldn't say, but as well how you should live. Any thoughts, anything we didn't cover.

Pastor Bob: 32:54

The Lord will not leave him unpunished. Who takes his name in vain? That's a stark warning. Don't claim my name and don't live for it. Yeah.

Pastor Trent: 33:03

Well, thanks for listening, merry Christmas. We would encourage you to enjoy the Lord and to give great witness to who he is, what he has done. And, merry Christmas, are you about to play that song? Which one is this?

Kara: 33:22

It's your jingle bells, jingle bells.

Pastor Trent: 33:25

Rocking around the Christmas tree. That's a little yeah, yeah. Well, is there any other songs that I left out of there that you'd be like? This is just the my least favorite song, or this is a really good song you didn't put on the list?

Pastor Bob: 33:46

Well other than like kids songs like.

Kara: 33:49

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.

Pastor Trent: 33:51

Holly joolly Christmas? Yeah, is Holly Jolly Christmas a kid song Not?

Pastor Bob: 33:55

really it's Burl Ives, but it's not really a kid song. I don't know who Burl Ives is. Have you seen Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?

Pastor Trent: 34:02

The snowman that speaks, the one that's like almost like a.

Pastor Bob: 34:05

He's the singer and the actor. Animatronics yes.

Kara: 34:13

Not not animatronics.

Pastor Trent: 34:14

What he's got, uh like a claymation or a stop, stop motion, stop motion. Um, we'll talk about movies next week. We're still in the air, by the way.

Pastor Bob: 34:19

Um, people have left a long time ago, but we're still here, that's fine we're at 34 minutes um santa claus is coming to town I know darren really doesn't like felice navidad.

Pastor Trent: 34:29

I'm not a fan, at least just because it gets stuck in your head. I know, darren really doesn't like Feliz. Navidad. I'm not a fan. Feliz Navidad.

Pastor Bob: 34:32

Just because it gets stuck in your head.

Pastor Trent: 34:34

Feliz Navidad.

Kara: 34:37

What's a good one is your Mean One, Mr Grinch.

Pastor Trent: 34:40

Your Mean One. I like that one a lot. Yeah, that's good, all right. Well, thanks for listening to the episode. See you later. See you.