A Name to Be Used

Well, good afternoon, brethren. Welcome to Sabbath Services. We’re having a wonderful day out there. Fall has come early. Summer’s starting to fade away. I’m not heartbroken over that.

So let’s jump right into the message, brethren. There is a name that is both life-changing and nature-changing, and you want it. Let me ask, who wants this name? Who wants the name? It’s good. I’m in the right room. Well, brethren, good news. You already have it. You have this life-changing, this nature-changing name.

We first received it, and we carried it with us. Eventually, it is not just with us, it is within us, brethren. It’s tied to the Holy Spirit. It is, it’s tied to your protection. It’s tied to your joy. It’s tied to your hopes and your dreams. Brethren, it’s tied to your awesome potential. What is this name? Well, open your Bibles and turn to Exodus, chapter twenty. Exodus, chapter twenty, brethren, and verse seven. Exodus twenty, and verse seven, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.” That name that we have, that we carry, that we have taken, brethren, it’s the name of God. That is that life-changing, that is that nature-changing name, the name of God.

Now, brethren, we are not to take God’s name in vain, but make no mistake, we have taken God’s name. There’s a difference in that, taking it and taking it in vain. So let’s look at three key words just to get the message rolling a little bit more. Three key words in Exodus and verse seven.

The first key word is take. That word, take, means lift. What’s not in the definition is setting it back down. If we lift something, what are we doing? We’re holding it. We’re carrying it. Brethren, we take it with us wherever we go. So if we’ve taken God’s name, it’s with us. We’re carrying it with us.

The second key word that I’m going to touch on is name. Name has several defining aspects in the definition, but there are three that leap out. They are honor, authority, and character. These are defining aspects of name, that name of God. Honor, authority, and character.

And then the third key word is vain. Vain is simply uselessness; lack of use. So let’s reread verse seven. “You shall not take,” lift up, carry, take it with you wherever you go, “the name of the Lord your God uselessly.” We can’t do that, brethren. Why? Because God does not hold us guiltless if we do. If we take his name, and we have taken it, we’re carrying it. Some with, some within. As I mentioned, it’s tied to the Holy Spirit, and it is a gift, and we’ve taken it.

It is not a light thing that we’ve taken and that we are carrying God’s name. We can’t look at it flippantly. We can’t look at it as, “Oh, that’s just something else. Not important.” Brethren, it is all important. The name that we carry. When we as Christians took God’s name, we took the responsibility to be useful with the honor, the authority, and the character tied to and associated with that life-changing, nature-changing name of God. If our Christianity is vain, if it’s useless, brethren, we’ve broken the third commandment, and God will not hold us guiltless.

I’m driving this point home for a reason because this topic is so important. Because everybody in this room, everybody sitting in halls around the world, have God’s name. As I mentioned, some with, and at a point, at baptism, some within, but we carry that name. It’s not this message is like, “Well, I’ve heard messages about taking God’s name in vain.” This one’s different.

I’m not talking about, yes, we don’t curse, yes, we don’t use the euphemisms, and we don’t flippantly just say God’s name without meaning. We don’t do those things, but that’s not what this message is about, brethren. Today, we will look at how to use God’s name, that honor, that authority, that character associated with it on a daily basis. How we can be useful with what we carry daily. So still setting it up a bit, does God have names for the useful and the useless?

So let’s look at a couple names here. We’ll jump around in this scripture. Turn to Matthew chapter twenty-five. We’re going to jump around in the Parable of the Talents and see if God applies names to the useful and to the useless, the vain. We’ll begin in verse nineteen. Well, let’s just begin in, well, verse nineteen. Let’s start there. “After a long time, the Lord of these servants came and reckoned with them.” Okay. Now, and so he that had five talents came and brought another five talents. The same with the one who had received the two talents. He came and brought another two talents.

Verse twenty-three, God says, “His Lord said unto him,” say unto both of them, it’s what he told both of them, “...well done, good and faithful servants. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many. Enter you into the joy of the Lord.” Verse twenty-four. “But he that had received the one talent and said, Lord, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not strawed. And I was afraid and went and hid the talent in the earth.”

Did nothing with it, useless. Lo, there you have it. There it is. I’m giving it back to you because I’ve done nothing with it. “His Lord answered and said unto him, you wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I sowed not and gathered where I have not strawed. You ought therefore to have put my money to the exchangers,” done something, anything with it, but you didn’t, “...and then at my coming, I should have received my own with usury.” At least a little bit of profit to see that you did something, appreciated this gift.

“Take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which has ten for under everyone that has shall be given and he shall have abundance. But from him that has not,” that was useless, “...shall be taken away, even that which he has. Cast you the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing at teeth.” Note first, these are servants of God. These are people who have taken God’s name. All three of these were servants. God gave him gifts, his goods.

Think of gave them his name. Now, what names did God give to the useful and the useless? Called the useful good and faithful. He called the useless wicked, slothful and unprofitable. Brethren, a gift not used is unprofitable, it’s useless, it has become a vain gift. If we choose to take God’s name, one of his goods, and we have taken his name, we have the responsibility to use it profitably. Gain, grow, that’s our responsibility. It’s profit for us, but it’s also profit for God.

Profit for us because we’re growing closer to God. We’re learning. We’re growing. Profitable to God because he’s seeing the creation of a future son, a future God being. That’s profitable to God. But the outcome of the unprofitable servant, brethren, was outer darkness, destruction. That cannot be us. So today, we’re going to learn how to avoid that. We’re going to learn how to be useful with the name of God daily. Our daily use.

First, for me it’s the first thing I do in the mornings. It’s prayer. That’s useful to God. Prayer. Turn to Proverbs chapter fifteen. Proverbs chapter fifteen, and we will read verse twenty-nine. Proverbs fifteen, verse twenty-nine. “The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” Righteous people, brethren, are those that carry God’s name. The righteous are the servants of God, the useful of God, and he hears our prayers. Start your day off with a prayer.

It gets you off on the right foot. It sets the mood. It sets goals. It sets potentials. It’s a great way to ask for, Father, I need help all day long today. And God hears those righteous prayers. Start your day off. It’s a wonderful way. Turn to Matthew six. Matthew six, verse five. This is the lead up to the model prayer. Matthew six, verse five says, “And when you pray, you shall not do as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the street that they may be seen of men.”

Because of their vanity, brethren, their uselessness. It is useless at that point. “Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But you,” brethren, righteous, “...when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut the door,” when you’re one-on-one with the Father, “...pray to your Father, which is in secret, and your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly. But when you pray, use not vain,” useless, “...repetition as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them, for your Father knows what things you have need of before you even ask.”

Brethren, prayer is a conversation with our Father. That’s who we pray to, and it’s a conversation. When you have a conversation with someone, and they say the exact same words every time, you start to dread the conversation. You start to avoid them. You kind of tune them out. That’s vain repetition. Make your prayers personal, as if, not as if, you are talking to your Father. Let Him know what you need. Let Him know how your day went, how you hope your day will go. Thank Him.

Whatever you need, we go to our Father. Lean on your Father, our Father, whose name we carry. Make your prayers unique. Make them unique. Turn to James chapter five. James chapter five, verse sixteen. “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed.” The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, one with the name of God, one who is useful, brethren, avails much.

Think of our expanded and new further understanding about where God’s throne is, where we come before God in prayer, how close it is. Think of what we learned about the scent of our prayers. Let this new knowledge inspire you to make your prayers more effectual, more fervent, more frequent. Prayer daily. Wonderful way to be useful with God’s name.

The next way to be useful with God’s name, brethren, is glory, glorifying. Turn to Psalms, please. Psalms twenty-nine. Twenty-ninth chapter of Psalms, pick it up in verse one. “A Psalm of David. Give unto the Lord, O you mighty. Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” God’s name is due glory. We carry it. We owe God to glorify His name. It demands it.

Well, brethren, since we carry God’s name, how can we glorify God’s name that we carry personally? Well, present the best you that you can at all times. The best you, you can be. And every day we can make improvements. We can grow. We’re supposed to grow. We’re supposed to learn. If we’re presenting, because how we are presenting ourselves is how we’re showing the world the name of God that we carry. Our attitude.

Do we have a frown on our face? Are we just mopping around? Are we angry or do we have a smile? Are we excited? Are we eager? And does that come forth just when people look at us? Our attitude should. You can see someone from across the room, say you’re out in public. You can see someone and kind of determine, all right, what kind of mood they’re in. Show the best “you” you can be, the best mood. You’re in God’s Church. You’ve got God’s name. Be excited.

How we dress, how we physically present ourselves to the world. I think back to my grandparents and their era. It was uncommon for someone not to walk out of their home and not look their best. You don’t have to wear a suit and tie. Ladies don’t have to wear dresses every time you walk out of your house. But neat and orderly, clean. If you’re going in the public, brethren, you’re representing God. You’re carrying his name. Dress that way. Have the attitude that exhibits that.

Now, how can we glorify others that have God’s name, that carry God’s name? The saints, the brethren sitting next to you, those that we will meet at the Feast of Tabernacles, those that we meet and combine services at socials. How can we glorify the name of God that they carry? Service. Serve them. We’re not to seek people to serve us. We’re to seek to serve. Something that we are to do. If we see a need, do our best to fill it, whatever that need might be.

It might be an ear to listen. It might be helping carry something. It might be just need somebody to sit with them quietly. Serve them. Encourage them; give them encouragement. We all get down. We’re human. It happens. Give them encouragement. Go to God’s Word. The whole book full of encouragement. Right here, brethren. We’re not short of it. Get to know them better. The better we know someone, the better we know when they need something. Whether it is encouragement, whether it’s service, the better we know someone, the better we can glorify God’s name that they carry.

The third way, brethren, the third way that we can, daily, use God’s name. Turn to Psalm one hundred and thirteen. Psalm one hundred and thirteen, begin in verse one. Psalm one hundred and thirteen, verse one states, “Praise you, the Lord. Praise, O you servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the Lord’s name is to be praised.”

There’s no doubt. There is no, well, what are those verses talking about? No, we are to praise God’s name, daily. That’s useful to God. Who is it talking to? It’s talking to God’s servants again. Those carrying his name. The righteous whose prayers God hears—the brethren, you. The word praise means, a couple of the definitions of the word praise is, to be clear, originally of sound; to shine, and to celebrate. There are others in there, but those three kind of jumped out at me—to be clear, originally of sound, to shine, and to celebrate. These are words defining praise.

Well, let’s look at “to be clear, originally of sound.” How can we use sound to praise God? That very scripture is a hymn, brethren. Well, don’t we just sing hymns on the Sabbath or on the holy days? We do. We’re not limited to singing psalms on just certain days, brethren, you can sing them every day. I know individuals, that they sing them driving down the road. These are God’s words. When we sing, we’re getting, let’s call it a musical glimpse, into the mind of God, into the power of God’s name. We’re told to produce a joyful noise. I’m so glad it only said noise. If it said beautiful sound, I couldn’t do it, but I can make a noise, and I can be joyful because a joyful noise is all God ask for, and to Him, that’s praise. That’s praising God. That’s how we, who are carrying God’s name, can be useful to God. One way, today, every day, we can do that.

The next aspect was let your light shine. Whose light, brethren? Whose light are we to let shine? Turn to First John. First John, chapter one. We’ll begin in verse five. First John, chapter one, verse five. Did I get it right? I think so. “This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declared unto you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,” letting that light within us, brethren, God’s light in us, the light from His name, if we let that light shine, “...as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

It’s God’s light. But guess what it’s tied to? It’s tied to His name, which is tied to His Spirit, that we’ve taken. We’ve taken that name of God. We have His light in us. It’s not darkness, it’s light. How do we use His light to praise Him every day? Don’t hide it. Don’t put it under that bushel. Let it out. Take the leash off of it. Live Christianity. Living Christianity, brethren, praises God’s name.

There’s something that might sound a little odd, but if all we do, if we studied, we’re able to study twenty-four hours seven, we could not let God’s light shine, at least properly, because we’re not out doing, we’re not out living His word. We’re not living Christianity. That’s what it takes. Actions, brethren, speak loud, louder than just words. They resound. Live it. Let that light shine, brethren. Remember, here’s something the Church has said over the years. You know that we just might be the only Bible people have ever seen.

This Bible is the word of God. It carries the name of God. If we’re out letting our light shine, living God’s word, we’re letting His name out too. We’re just by our actions living properly. And then the last one, celebrate. You could change celebrate to rejoice. That’s what celebrating is. If you celebrate, you are rejoicing and vice versa. Brethren, find the joy in everything. It’s there. We may have to look and dig and work at it, but it’s there. Find it. Find that silver lining. Enjoy it. Rejoice about it. Help others to do the same.

Remember the good and faithful servants, brethren, in Matthew twenty-five. What was a reward that God said they were going to get for being good and faithful? Enter you into the joy of the Lord. Take every opportunity, brethren, to spend time with others that have God’s spirit too. It’s a way to celebrate. One person celebrating is great. Two together is even better. It starts to grow exponentially the more people. And it brings praise to our Father, to His name.

All right, the next daily thing we can do to be useful with God’s name, brethren, is to be fruitful. Full of fruit. Turn to Galatians. I’m sure that wasn’t a surprise, what book we were turning to, talking about the fruits. Galatians. Actually, we’re going to start somewhere else. We’re going to start in Matthew. Tripped you up, I tripped myself up too. Turn to Matthew six. We’re going to start off. Kind of learn kind of not what the fruits are, but what fruits in general are.

Matthew six and verse thirty-three. Matthew six, verse thirty-three. Christ states, “But seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you.” What exactly are the characteristics, the righteousness of God, brethren? God’s righteousness, the righteousness that we are to seek, are His characteristics. His fruits, what God is. And what God is carries God’s name. And we are to seek them and then to be fruitful.

Now go to Galatians. Galatians five. I’ve explained to different people I’ve spoken on the phone with, whether they be CIs or different members in person, in different congregations, about the fruits. Again, these are characteristics that God is. Just like we know that God doesn’t have love, He is love. And love is the first of the fruits. When God gave us His Spirit, at the same time we received His name, His Spirit was called a seed. It was called an earnest.

And we are to take that seed, that carries God’s name, that we took, and grow it. Be fruitful. Full of fruit. Full of what God is. So His name would even grow in us. If we’re producing more of God’s Spirit, and growing His Spirit, we’re also growing God’s name within us. Chapter five, verse twenty-two. “But the fruits of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.”

Of course there’s no law if we have God’s righteous character. But here’s something that’s a little unique. I learned this a few years back. The word gentleness in there doesn’t mean gentleness. Meekness means gentleness. Gentleness is the Greek word chrēstotēs. You know what it means? Usefulness. A fruit of God, what God is, is usefulness. How much more meaning does that put in that we’re to be useful with God’s name? That’s what He is.

If we’re being useful, we’re building a fruit of God. And we’re going through daily activities, daily opportunities to build a fruit of God usefulness. Tied to His name. Tied to His name, brethren. Usefulness. The next thing that we can do daily to be useful with God’s name, to make His name useful in our lives, brethren, turn to John chapter five. John chapter five, we’ll begin in verse nineteen. John five and verse nineteen.

It states, “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Truly, truly, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do, for what things soever He does, these also do the Son likewise.” The Son sees the Father do it, do whatever it might be, then the Son does it. That’s what He’s saying. “For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that Himself does, and He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel. For as the Father raises up the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son.”

God’s given the Son something here. “...that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which sent Him.” God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, the honor to choose whom He will raise up, whom He will quicken. Can you imagine that honor? Now, Christ follows the Father’s will. So it’s not like, “I didn’t want you to do that. Well, you gave me the authority to do it.” Christ and the Father have the same mindset, the same goal, the same purpose. But God gave that honor to His Son.

So brethren, if we’re going to find another way to be useful with God’s name, we need to learn to and learn to improve how we honor the Son. As we honor the Son, we honor the Father. To know the Son is also to know the Father. I mentioned this a little bit ago. One way, live Christianity. Christianity is Christ-like. We’re to do our best to strive to live that perfect life, that perfect example that Christ set for us. We’re human. We’ll trip, we’ll fall. We get back up, brethren, and we hit the ground running again.

Christ set that example for us. So to honor the Son, one way is living Christianity. And one way we live Christianity, brethren, is to take that divine influence that the Father and the Son give us and be a reflection of Jesus Christ. They’ve inspired our lives. One way, God has given us His Spirit and His name. What a divine influence on our lives. Our job daily is to reflect that in whatever we do. Living Christianity. Christ always did the Father’s will.

There’s something that shocked me when I read and learned it. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ prayed three times. And in those three times, He asked, Father, let Your will be done, not mine. Shocked me. Wait a minute. Christ and the Father’s will could be different. Same purpose, same goal, different directions, for instance. “I want to get to point A. Well, I’m going to go this direction.” “No, I want you to go this direction.” Same point, same goal.

Christ said, I’m doing Your will, Father. If we emulate Christ, we’re honoring Christ and we’re honoring the Father. Do it daily. Make it part of your life. Make it part of your life, brethren. Let’s go back to Exodus twenty, verse seven. Read it one more time. Exodus twenty, verse seven. And it states, “You shall not take,” carry, lift, take with you wherever you go, “...the name of the Lord your God,” and do nothing with it. Be useless. You shall not do it. “...for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.”

When we take the gift of God, his name, and we have, we take that responsibility of use. A gift not used, brethren, is a useless gift, one taken in vain. It is life-changing. It is nature-changing, brethren. You have it, use it, and reach your awesome potential.