The Third Commandment (Exodus 20:7)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Is here we are in Exodus chapter 20. we are working our way through the book of Exodus if you don't have a Bible there should be a blue one in the little Rack in front of you it'll be on page 35 if you don't own a Bible take that one home with you we want you to have a Bible and so that's our gift to you we are working our way through the book of Exodus and we've made it to the Ten Commandments and we are slowing down and going through the Ten Commandments looking at each one in turn and trying to wrap our heads around as.
God has rescued this people out of Egypt he's making them into his people and he's saying this is what it's going to look like to follow me we're trying to understand what that is and what he commands them to do and how that applies to us so Exodus chapter 20 verse 7 the third commandment you shall not in vain that is the verse we're looking at today that is the Commandment we're looking at today I'm going to read it one more time you shall not take the name of the.
Lord your God in vain Lord we pray that you would help us this morning to understand what is being taught to understand what you are calling us to and calling us away from and then we ask Lord by the empowerment of your spirit for us to to walk in Repentance and obedience to this command and to um enjoy praise and glorify Christ as we do them in Jesus name amen now as we started the Ten Commandments one of the things we said was that it was we thought it was helpful I'd been reading some books on morality and how cultures think about morality and we had we mentioned two books The Righteous Mind.
For our good always and we said that the psychologist Jonathan height had come up with uh some Concepts as he studied morality in different cultures he had come up with some Concepts that we thought were helpful he's not a Christian and so he's not talking about God's version of morality but he is looking at culture and talking about morality and he gave us five categories that we mentioned a few weeks ago when we started he called these moral foundations Authority loyalty sanctity fairness and care that these are moral foundations.
For how people understand what is right and what is wrong and that different cultures value or appreciate different versions of these different ones of these with to a greater or lesser degree and so the first two Commandments deal primarily with authority and loyalty you shall have no other gods before me and you will make no graven images you'll have no carved Idols with which to worship me or to worship other gods that's mostly in the Loyalty Authority category of Jonathan Heights categories not a Bible category as far as like a moral Foundation.
But it's trying to help us understand how we approach this culturally to what we're looking at today is sanctity and so we showed this chart a couple of weeks ago which is this is in general how Americans westerners decide whether or not something is right or wrong and we're going to talk more about this at our upcoming training weekend so if this is interesting to you we're going to spend a little more time diving into that but basically care and harm is our highest one does it hurt somebody.
Then we know it's wrong if it doesn't hurt somebody it's probably not wrong but then we have fairness some sort of of Liberty justice for all those kind of ideas we also care about and so we ask questions about is it fair is it just and if it doesn't break one of those zones if it's not sideways with one of those then it's probably not bad we don't really care and you'll notice that sanctity is way down on the list we aren't a people culturally that holds much as sacred.
Therefore not to be tread upon as I was looking at this and thinking about this I was reminded of there's a a little science experiment you can do where you have three bowls of water the bowl in the middle is just regular room temperature water you put one ball on one side that you put ice in you put one bow on the other side that you put hot water in and you place your hands in the ice water and the hot water.
And when you do this this feels very hot this feels very cold I mean you just stand there I feel like a minute and what happens is this hand gets used to the Heat and this hand starts getting used to the cold water and then after a minute two minutes something like that you take your hands out you place both hands in the room temperature water and then a very weird things happens to you one is your brain knows this is room temperature water.
But your right hand thinks it's cold and your left hand thinks it's hot and you can see both hands sitting next to each other in what you know to be room temperature water doesn't mess with your head if you're bored this afternoon go for it and what what I want us to understand is we approach God's law is assume God's law is the room temperature it's the right temperature let's just assume that that's the right temperature that God says this is how the world ought to work.
But our cultures are like the hot water or the cold water that as Americans we've been soaking in the icy cold water of secularism and so as Christians when we move our hand over here when we show up on Sundays and we open our Bibles and we're going I'm going to learn this I'm going to follow this and we read a command like this that God cares about the use of his name we can mentally say that matters that's important but it's like telling this hand you're in room temperature water there's no way to change how it feels not easily not quickly we actually have to soak here.
For a while before it'll change on us and so I want us to understand as we approach this that we are not culturally well set up to understand or appreciate sanctity because we don't hold much sacred and we think if you do you're wrong and you should just deal with it as I was reading through Jonathan Height's book he has this quote and I want to read through the quotes and talk to you how I was processing it as I read.
Because I think it's helpful he says when an artist submerges a crucifix in a jar of his own urine or smears elephant dung on an image of the Virgin Mary do these Works belong in art museums can the artist simply tell religious Christians if you don't want to see it don't go to the museum now as I was reading this um I don't know if you picked up on this so far but I'm not Catholic and so I'm not especially attached to crucifixes or the Virgin Mary.
But not the same way that a Catholic would be but still this is a representation of Christ a representation of Mary and they're being Dishonored but as I'm reading this I'm kind of used to it I don't think my heart rate went up and when it says if you don't like it don't show up I feel like I've heard that a lot that's a general if you don't go to the museum you don't have to like all art and then he says this or does the mere existence of such Works make the world dirtier more profane and more degraded he's pressing on this idea of where is your line.
For what is sacred where's your sanctity line that's what he's trying to do in the book he's not a Christian he's just trying to press on this and so then he says this it's the next paragraph if you can't see anything wrong here try reversing the politics imagine that a conservative artist had created these Works using images of Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela instead of Jesus and Mary could such Works be displayed in museums in New York and Paris without triggering angry demonstrations and might some on the left feel that the museum itself had been polluted by racism even after the paintings were removed I read that paragraph and I felt that I.
Thought oh don't don't do that now I'm a Christian and I'm supposed to respond that way specifically to the name of Christ to the representation of Christ to how he's treated but I read this one and I thought okay yeah no that would be a problem and I was really stuck on the line where he says might some feel that the museum itself had been polluted by racism even after the paintings were removed and I thought yeah there would be a call.
For a cleansing a removal of certain people that worked there would be call for some sort of something some sort of a sacrifice some sort of a a a ceremony where you redid and re-made this a place where people could be I could feel that now maybe that's still for you politically you're like which I think we should care that people are represented well and treated well but maybe for you it would be if uh in London and Paris that there are museums they submerged an American flag in urine and put dung on George Washington maybe that's the thing that would make you think this is unacceptable.
But the reality is we do have some things that we hold sacred we do have some lines of sanctity we do have some understanding of pollution and what God is saying is that his name his glory matters and the way we speak of him matters and the way we think of him matters and that we are not to Sully or dishonor his name so as we look at this 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 I think there's three things three things three words that we need to Define and we're going to spend our time doing that this morning we're going to Define name vain and take and we're going to Define name and vain quickly and then we're going to spend the rest of our time looking at the word take but in order to understand make this coherent we need to know what he means by name we need to know what he means by Vain and we need to know what he means about take.
And then we can apply this name when he says name what is he talking about do you not take the name of the Lord your God in vain what is the name of the Lord God well in Exodus chapter 3 Moses asks what is your name and God said to Moses this is Exodus chapter 3 verses 14 and 15. I am who I am and he said say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you now that I am who I am and that I am is four letters in Hebrew no vowels yhwh or j h v h depending on how you translate it into English this is where we.
Get the name Yahweh or Jehovah because they go in later and add how you would pronounce it but it means I am I exist I'm the ever existing all sufficient one that's what he's saying I am what I am I will be what I will be that he is he stands on his own and he is the only being that stands on his own that is not derived from something else that is not in need of something else pre-existent ever existing sufficient that's what he's saying.
But then he says this and we need to look at this real quick says the Lord so he says go tell them say this to the people of Israel the Lord the God she lured there where it's all caps that's the way that that yhwh is going to be treated in most Bibles English Bibles from then on so if you see all caps Lord It's the Divine name of the Lord there but it's keeping in a tradition where the Jewish people would not pronounce the Divine name as they try to keep the.
Third commandment and so they actually at times wouldn't even write the Divine name they would write out some sort of shorthand version of it and our English translations instead of putting the Divine name put this in keeping with the same idea of how do we keep the third commandment but it's not just that Divine name there that if as long as I don't say Jehovah or Yahweh I'm okay then I can say whatever I want because when he describes himself he says things like the.
Lord the God of your father is the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob has sent me to you this is my name forever and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations when he shows back up in Exodus 34 as he's declaring his name he does the same thing he says the Lord the Lord but then he gives descriptions of him and so his name is whatever we invoke to bring him to mind call him to our mind or the minds of others.
So that you can't say well as long as I don't say this or do this about this one particular name but I can refer to the God of Abraham however I want it's not how it works it's whatever would bring him to mind whatever would invoke him whatever would call him to our minds to the minds of others and so it's any version of speaking about him you've got him wonderful counselor if you called him Mighty God if you called him.
Jesus if you called him Christ all of these would be under the umbrella of his name so that's defining name it's anything you would use to bring God to mind to invoke God as you prayed or as you spoke about him or that other people don't understand what you're talking about that's name what does vain mean nothing nailed it that's it vain means empty it means nothing means wasted he tried in vain to get a date and then hung out at the house by himself like that's that's the idea it means nothing it means it was wasted.
And so what he's saying is you won't do anything that takes my name and treats it like it's nothing you won't take my name and treat it like it's nothing like it's empty like it's worthless like it has no value like it is not precious like I am not precious and valuable and holy and Worthy you won't speak about me treat me take me so this that's what vain means and it matters to him Ezekiel 20 verse 9 and he says this repeatedly in Ezekiel I just took one to try to help us.
See this he says I acted for the sake of my name that it should not be profaned in the sight of the Nations among whom they lived in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt he's talking about this The Exodus where he brings his people out and he says that he worked for the sake of his name that God cares how his name is perceived because it is through that that we perceive who he is it's his name that calls him to mind that invokes him.
So is he powerful is he good is he just is he righteous so he cares about his name he cares about his glory it matters because he matters in humans caring too much about your name can be Petty or sinful but God is Worthy is Holy and that to belittle his name is to not just get sideways with God but it's to get sideways with reality and it's ultimately very bad for us and you need to hear that because the thing that we care most about as Americans is care and harm and you need to know that it is harmful to disregard the name of.
God because it puts us sideways with reality and it puts us sideways with a glorious God who is very good but that will not be mocked so what does take mean if he says you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain the Lord will not hold him Guiltless who takes his name in vain what does take mean and I think after studying and looking at this and looking how the Scripture is treated take means to there's two primary ways to take his name one is to speak it we can take his name in vain with words we can also take his name in vain with actions and again.
If you'll think about invoke or this idea of bear or carry the name that we can do this with words or with actions we're talking about words first within in general this is how we often think about taking the lord's name in vain that's what Jesus says when he says as he's teaching his disciples how to pray to pray Hallowed be thy name or may your name be honored as holy that we would treat your name with honor and respect so certainly it means we don't use God's name as a swear word we ought not to say oh my.
God if you would pray if you would come in here and sing my God my God and you would mean my God and you would be calling that God and you would be talking to that God you shouldn't say oh my God when you hear that Justin Bieber has released a new album you shouldn't say oh my God when your favorite pizza place runs out of a topping or is closed on Mondays now because they can't get people to work we shouldn't say.
Jesus in some sort of a way like it's an expletive like we're calling him in because we stubbed our toe we we should certainly not do that but it's beyond just that we should speak in a way that honors him that glorifies him that treats him with respect and dignity as if he's precious to us as if he's glorious because he is Psalm 139 verse 20. it says they speak against you with malicious intent your enemies take your name in vain they the enemies of.
God speak about him as if he isn't holy as if he isn't good as if he isn't glorious but the people of God shouldn't they speak about him in a way that's flippant so this means we should consider how we joke I was talking to um Jamie Kern who's currently she's doing Mission work in uh Lebanon and she's learning Arabic she said one of the first things she did in Arabic she was hanging out with the people in the Kurdish Church and they were talking and they talked about Pastor Ben which is Ben Johnson who she works.
For and they were talking about Pastor Ben Pastor Ben and she said in Arabic one of her first phrases she'd learned she said oh Ben Ben's crazy which if you know Ben but that's a normal thing we'd say he's crazy she said the whole room it was like someone just sucked the air out of the room everybody went and then the lady went we don't say that about pastors and she told me I was talking on the phone she said they've drawn a line and anything that has to do with the.
Lord anything that has to do with Scripture anything that has to do with the Church anything that has to do with anything in that zone they treat with a lot of reverence to try to honor the Lord and not dishonor the things that matter to him now if you hang out with us long enough you will know that we don't take our pastors too seriously and we have said before that we don't want to take ourselves too seriously we want to take the.
Lord seriously but one of the things that is a danger for us we're most of us are not in danger of of honoring our pastors too much or taking this all too seriously but we can be in danger of dishonoring the Lord with the way that we speak I'm not talking about how you talk about me or Spencer especially Spencer we will joke about things that that aren't funny that aren't light that aren't jokes we will read cartoons about people meeting at the Pearly Gates and Peter's talking to them we'll we'll have little cartoons or little jokes about how.
God created the world we'll tell jokes about Jesus playing golf we'll joke about things that are precious and worthy and dear and we'll hold them like they're a joke we ought not to joke about the spirit we ought not let familiar familiarity with something wonderful and holy make it less valuable to us and we ought to be very mindful and this isn't just how we joke but it seeps into how we think y'all we just gathered in here as the people of.
God those Redeemed by Christ and we sang about Jesus and how about how beautiful this name is but were we paying attention were we really worshiping yeah I'm back there I know I'm gonna say this my phone buzzed in my pocket and I had it in my hand before I have his reflex and I'm still singing the words but I'm not worshiping we come in here and we sing there are times where you're singing to the Lord about how glorious his name is and you're thinking I wish the bass guitar was louder you're singing to the.
Lord and you're thinking I don't really like this song you're singing to the Lord and then you stop and just whisper to someone about what you want to eat for lunch and then you go right back into it you don't even notice that we so devalue his name and his glory when we treat him with no respect so it matters it matters how we think about the Lord and how we approach the Lord I was trying to think about how to help us wrap our mind around this.
Because we we just don't have this things are sacred Things Are Holy so let's talk about babies for a second we all agree babies are precious and it's a nice thing to say if you see an ugly baby say what a precious baby because not all babies are cute but they are all precious they're all valuable they are all love they are all dear and one of the reasons they're precious is that they're delicate God is Not delicate but he is Holy.
So don't put delicate in there but but keep the word precious valuable deer if someone says you want to hold my baby and you're doing something you don't keep doing something with one hand and go yeah toss it here you prepare yourself to hold a baby you clean your hands you get ready I because of the preciousness of baby babies have both rejected holding a baby or letting someone else hold my baby I've had people be like you want to hold my baby and I've said no no I do not and it's not.
Because I don't like your baby I'm sure he's fine it's that he's precious and I don't know you that well I don't need to hold you like just and I've also had people go can I hold him and I've gone no but you can look at him back up a few feet because he's precious we prepare our minds for it we think about it we we hold in a specific way you've never been like oh can I hold your baby and grabbed its foot and just picked it up like it was a catfish good one we're mindful and y'all our culture doesn't care about.
Jesus but we ought to we ought to be mindful of how he's spoken about and how he's treated and how he's how we speak and treat we ought to be mindful of that I was at my grandmother's house and she had a doormat and I was talking to her I like the design on and she said well you can have it as you're sitting in a garage this was when I was in high school I took it home stuck it in my room I had it I think at the door to my room my dad came he opened the door and he just stopped he looked at the doormat and he said that belonged to.
My sister Cindy and she had passed away when he was 18 in a car accident and he said I want that because I don't want anything to happen to it and he took it now last time I was at his house I was in one of his his like work rooms and he had a doormat high up on the wall well cared for he was afraid I was going to treat it like a doormat it's not a doormat to him it was precious and how how dare we not care about the preciousness of Christ and the glory of our.
God who not only is he really Worthy but he is personally good to us that he would rescue and redeem us and make us his we ought to watch how we speak we ought to care about how other people treat the name of our Lord we can do that in a gracious way we can do that in a way that exempts us from certain movies and shows and interactions with people but we ought to care way that we can do this that we can take his name is through actions that we carry his name we read this a.
Second ago it's Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 9 but I want you to see something there's something assumed here that we need to wrap our head around God says but I acted for the sake of my name that it should not be profaned in the sight of the Nations among whom they lift they being the people of Israel in whose sight I made myself known to them that's being the Nations and bringing them out of the land of Egypt what he's saying is I put my name on the people of Israel.
When I rescued him out of Egypt they carry my name they bear my name that's what we read in chapter 19 where he says you're going to be a kingdom of priests you're a holy nation that you're going to carry my name that in some ways it's like they have a banner that has the Lord on it and they March under his Banner so that there is a way to carry the name to take the name of the Lord that has nothing to do with how we speak.
But has everything to do with how we behave and Daniel that we're going to read through a handful of passages because they understood this Daniel says and and Daniel chapter 9 he says oh Lord hear O Lord forgive oh Lord pay attention and act delay not for your own sake oh my God because your city and your people are called by your name so he says work on our behalf for your own sake because we're marked by your name Isaiah 43 6-7.
Because I will say to the north this is God speaking give up and to the South do not withhold bring my sons from afar and my daughter's from the end of the Earth everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory whom I formed and made that God marks people with his name and they represent his name and they're called by his name and somehow his name is attached to him this is what the writer in proverbs 30 understands he says remove far from me falsehood and lying give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with the food that is needful.
For me lest I be full and deny you and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of the Lord the name of my God sorry as he's speaking when he profanes the name of the Lord no he's stealing when he profanes the name because he's marked by the name he's waving that flag but then acting that's what Jeremiah 34 God speaking to the people of Israel he says but then you turned around and profaned my name.
When each of you took back his male and female slaves whom you had set free according to their desire and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves so he told them to set him free they'd set him free and then they changed their mind and took him back and he says you've Dishonored my name y'all carry my name but you don't care Leviticus 22. so you shall keep my Commandments and do them I am the Lord and you shall not profane my Holy Name that I may be Sanctified among the people of Israel I'm the.
Lord who sanctifies you who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God I am the Lord she says you'll obey me and he says you won't profane my name and certainly that has to do with how they speak and how they worship but it also has to do with how they obey that they won't dishonor His Name by being his people and running after sin and acting in ways that dishonor him the same way that you might have had a parent.
Look at you and use your last name to remind you how to act you might have had a friend over and he said my friend does that and the parent looked and said yeah there are Williams Phillips says don't act like that you belong to a different name you belong to a different people and that's what he's saying and this applies to the Church second Corinthians 5. all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ.
God was reconciling the world to himself reconciling means making things good again bringing us back into relationship not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation therefore we are ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us and we implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled for God so Paul's writing and says we're ambassadors for Christ and as Christians I think that it generally applies to us as well we've been given the name of Christ we are ambassadors meaning we represent Christ to the world.
And so it matters that we don't carry his name in vain we don't take his name in vain so this is you getting a job and saying hey I can't work on Sundays and I can't work on Tuesday nights because that's when my community group meets and I can't work on Sundays because I'm a host team or I serve in Kid City um and then being the laziest person at the job having other people clock you in or out lying to get sales you're bearing the name in vain it's showing up to work and looking like all your other co-workers and caring nothing about whether they know Christ it's carrying the name in vain is.
Being a boss and making a big deal about how you're a Christian and being unfair unkind unhelpful it's a dating somebody and it's not going well so you sit them down you say I think the Lord's leading me into a season of singleness you make God co-sign the fact that you don't want to deal with the uncomfortableness of breaking up with somebody and you've prayed how much about this it's not the lord it's just easier to have them be mad at the.
Lord or for you to sound holy as you walk through this process it's getting into a relationship and I'm so thankful for God he's finally answered all my prayers as you and your new boyfriend or your new girlfriend are actively involved in sexual sin when the people in your community group point that out say I don't think this is a good relationship for you you say things like well I prayed about it and I don't feel bad and God wants me to be happy you made.
God cosign things that he doesn't co-sign and you carry his name in vain this is Instagram posts of being blessed and highly favored but really you just want to brag about your shoes or your job or your car and you don't want to say looking at my great shoes job in car without you just say you make it look like you're praising the Lord but you actually aren't really all that thankful and you've never actually submitted your finances to him so you're just carrying your name in his name in vain we can do this all the time in.
So many ways this is actually the other half of the Church discipline process Church discipline when we think about it so often we think of it as just the last step in the process which is the the one that I think maybe most sticks out in our mind but when we talk about Church discipline it's actually just the Church caring about the Church and so it happens all the time if you've ever had someone in your group say you probably shouldn't talk to your wife like that hey you need to repent here hey I'm going to hold you accountable here hey that's Church discipline and it's good and we.
So often because culturally how we think about things we so often think about it in relation to it's good for you to have people care about you because sin is harmful but also we care about Church discipline because we don't want to solely the name of Christ by co-signing unrepentant sin that we care about the name of Christ we care about our witness as Christians who say we belong to Jesus and if someone's an unrepentant sin it matters this is what Paul says in.
First Corinthians 5 11 now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who Bears the name of brother if he's guilty of guilty of sexual immorality or greed or as an idolater reviler drunkard or swindler not to even eat with such a one that someone who would carry the name but walk in sin and not care unrepentant Paul says that's a problem because carrying the name matters um I like documentaries and I especially like Ken Burns documentaries because they are better than all other documentaries and I don't want I'm not trying to make you think that my wife and I are cool.
But we did specifically pay for a PBS subscription just so we could watch Ken Burns documentaries but in Ken Burns the war is this this quote this this interview that really stood out to me there's a Japanese American his name was Daniel inoue he ended up becoming a he ended up getting a medal of honor and becoming a Congressman this is World War II and at the beginning of World War II when Pearl Harbor happens they rounded up the Japanese Americans and they put them in basically concentration camps and would not let him join the military would not let him they took away their freedoms.
Because they were just like on the east on the west coast it was like we don't know how this is about to play out and Japanese have attacked us and they reverse course on this and this is a Japanese American whose dad worked now for the government and who was signing up to go be in the military and he says that his dad took leave from work I had to get permission from the government to take three hours off to to take his son.
So that he could enlist so he could leave he was he's leaving and he said his dad they get on the streetcar and they're going he said his dad's quiet he's not on a man who talks much he's just riding with him until they get close to where he's going to be dropping him off he said my dad cleared his throat and I knew something was coming and he said I know he's not a man of words so this was hard.
For him but he said his dad looked at him is he was taking him to drop him off for him to go be in the military in World War II he said my dad looked at me and said this country has been good to us and it's given me two jobs it has given you and your brothers and your sister education we owe a lot to this country do not dishonor this country he looked at his son and said you're about to put on a uniform that carries the name and don't dishonor it how much more should we care.
If we've been purchased by the blood of Christ that we carry his name in a way that honors him how much more should we care and how we sing and how we speak and what we watch and how we treat him and how we teach others to treat him how much more precious and valuable and good is he that if we would look at someone and say you've Dishonored the badge you've Dishonored the uniform and think that means something which it does how much more should we carry care about dishonoring the name of Christ the band's going to come back up in a moment we're going to sing in a moment we're going to take.
Communion and I want us to reckon with something for a second Exodus 20 verse 7. the third commandment 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 we're guilty we're guilty of disregarding the glory and worth and preciousness of God so what do we do well second Corinthians 5 we got right to it and we stopped he says therefore we are ambassadors for Christ.
God making his appeal through us we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God now here's the message for our sake he made him that's God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God Jesus saves us up from our sin and he saves us from the law which holds us accountable for our sin that's what he says it was for our sake that Jesus did this the message that we Proclaim is not I'm really good.
Because I'm a Christian yes we care about honoring the name but the message we Proclaim is that he's really good that he who knew no sin became sin so that I might be made righteous that my hope is in him so in the midst of us realizing that we ought to love and care about the glory of God Way Beyond the bounds of where we are right now yes we repent and we praise God that he became sin so that we could be made righteous.
Because our hope is not in our good actions but in his his work on our behalf and the cross and that's what we celebrate at Communion so if you are a Christian in the room we would invite you to repent to spend some time with the Lord and then take communion which is where we celebrate that his body was broken for us that his blood was shed for us and there's a new covenant for us for Covenant of forgiveness of sins.
If you are not a Christian communion is not for you to not partake but we would invite you to trust in Jesus because he became sins and we could be made righteous the message of the Gospel is not come be good the message of the Gospel is that you are in sin and you need forgiveness and there is hope in Christ and that's offered to you today by faith Jesus let's pray Lord forgive us forgive us for valuing you so little forgive us.
For being the people who should worship and glorify with focus and energy in our hearts who should care about how we treat your name and carry your name who should represent you well in the world and we fail and the Lord we ask you to save us for the sake of your name for the sake of the name of Jesus who will not fail to rescue any who trust in you we ask you to forgive us for the sake of the glory of Christ who has come to redeem Sinners and will not fail we pray these things in.
Jesus name all around the room right now take a moment to sit with the Lord ask him to help you see your own heart here to repent and to confess and then to celebrate by taking communion.