Possible props:
Crown
Picture of Martin Luther King Jr. and of Hitler
This past Monday & Tuesday, we had a remarkable 2
days. Monday was Martin Luther King Day,
and what was Tuesday (Presidential Inauguration Day)?
(Hold up picture of MLK)
Martin Luther King had 4 children. Did you know that one of Martin Luther King’s
sons was an honored guest at President Obama’s inauguration yesterday? Why would Obama want one of King’s children
there?
The children of Martin Luther King Jr. are very, very proud
of their father and their family name because of the good and brave things
their father did to help end racism in our country. When people see these children, they think of
their father.
But not all family names are names to be proud of. Many of
you have heard of a man named Adolph Hitler.
He lived about 60 years ago and was the leader of Germany. He was a cruel and clever man. He was the one who began World War II and his
plans to rule the world caused millions of people to die.
What most people remember about him is that he hated Jews
and made a horrible plan to kill every Jewish person. He succeeded in having millions killed. Many countries went to war against Hitler to
stop him, and many soldiers died trying to defeat Germany.
Maybe your grandfather or great-grandfather fought in this
war.
When Hitler was finally defeated in 1945, many hoped he
would be arrested and the whole world could see him punished for the evil he
had done. Instead, just as the army was getting
close to where he was hiding, he decided to kill himself. He never had to pay for the awful crimes he
did – at least here on earth.
As people learned more and more about the evil this one man
had done, the last name Hitler became a name the whole world hated.
Like any other name, Adolph Hitler was not the only person
with the last name Hitler in the world.
Just like there are many people named Lee or Joseph, there were other
Hitlers. But after Hitler was defeated, suddenly
no one admitted they had the last name of “Hitler”. Anyone who’s name was Hitler immediately
changed it to something else.
They did not want anyone to think they were related to this
evil man. By his evil actions, he
destroyed the family name of Hitler and now no one has that last name.
What this man did by all his evil was to destroy his family
name. What you do can ruin your family name like Hitler did or you can honor
your family name.
God,
too, cares about his name. Will you open
your Bibles to the second book, Exodus and look for chapter 20:7
This is the third commandment God gave to Moses. Can you tell us what this commandment tells
us NOT to do?
What does it mean to take someone’s name in vain?
Vain means – it has no value. God says you cannot treat my glorious name as
if it is trash, worthless.
Let’s use an example.
Imagine that someone made a beautiful crown out of gold and diamonds,
pearls and the rarest jewels in the world.
This is something of so much value that no one could really guess what
it is worth.
So say somehow I was able to get this priceless crown, and I
took the crown and went out into my back yard and used the crown to dig a hole
in my garden.
Why is that crazy?
Right, the crown has such value, and I am treating it like
it is an ordinary shovel.
Now let’s imagine that this crown belongs to God, and
because it is His crown, it represents everything good that He is. His goodness, his kindness, his hatred of
evil, his power, his love for us to die on the cross. This is the crown of the best king who has
ever lived in this world.
Then using the crown for such a dirty job would be doubly
awful. Not only is the crown worthy of
more care because it is made of gold and jewels, but also because it is Jesus’
crown, it should be treated with even
more honor.
Boys
and girls, we don’t have God’ crown to care for. But we do have Jesus’ name, and this
commandment tells us that we are to treat his name with as much honor as God
himself.
The commandment also tells us that God is not going to
ignore it when people use his name in a way that is disrespectful or careless.
Now many of you, sad to say, have heard people swear and use
bad language. This commandment is not
really about saying bad words. It is about one particular way that people
swear – when they use God’s name along with other words.
Many, many times, even on television, I hear people use bad
language, but I have even heard people who are angry blurt out the words –
Jesus Christ. Are they really talking
with Jesus? No. They are using Jesus’ name in vain.
Boys and girls, it’s not just adults to break this commandment. Even kids can break this important
commandment. You don’t have to be an
adult to use God’s name in a bad way.
And I am sad to say that even kids who call themselves Christians can
use God’s name in a bad way. This is
particularly sad because it is a great honor to be a Christian.
Do you remember at the beginning I talked about how after
Adolph Hitler died, everyone who had the last name Hitler changed their
name? They were ashamed.
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are part of God’s
family. You have reason to be proud of God’s
name far more than the children of Martin Luther King Jr. should be proud of
their name, or any other family. You
would never catch Martin Luther King’s children dishonoring their great
father. Boys and girls, never, never
dishonor the name of your good and great God.
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