영어설교 본문 : 예레미야 14:13

God’s Name

Jeremiah 14 : 13

According to the Supreme Court of Korea, in the year 2008, 120,000 people officially

changed their name to Ji Won. In 2nd place was Seo Young, followed by Seo Yeon in 3rd,

Min Seo in 4th, and Sue Yeon in 5th. All the women wanted a beautiful sounding name

and the men preferred a “cool” sounding name.

Speaking of interesting names, I would like to tell a story that took place in America.

A Black American Sailor was walking along and he saw a drunken Korean man

staggering his way down the street. This sailor wanted to help this man so he approached

the drunken man and cheerfully asked him “What is your name?” The drunken man

mumbled a response back to the sailor. This response caused the sailor’s face to harden

as he again asked the drunken man “What is your name?” The drunken man mumbled the

same response. This time the sailor, with a face full of rage, asked “What is your name?”

After the Korean man answered with the same reply, the sailor pulled out his gun and

shot him. The next day, in order to identify the body, the police searched through his

pockets and found his Korean ID card. His family name was listed as “Park” and his first

name was “Kyu”. Believe it or not, this is tale often told.

A name is an essential part of a person’s identity. That is why God changed Abram’s

name to Abraham and Jacob’s name, which meant deceiver, to Israel. In the Gospels,

our Lord Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter and Saul’s name to Paul. Back then,

there must have been many bad names. However in these days people have beautiful

names. Our own church is filled with people with beautiful names. Our church itself has

a beautiful name, the Dream Church. Once in a while I would a receive phone call from

people just because of our name. They called to say that they saw our churches’ name in

the newspaper and they just had to call.

In today’s message, I would like to talk about God’s name. Does anyone here know

God’s name? God’s name is Jehovah. His Hebrew name is Yahweh. God’s name means

a name that is above other names, a most precious name. We are not worthy to say his

name with our own lips.

In the Old Testament times, they did not dare to call God “Yahweh”, instead they called

him “Lord”. In Hebrew, Lord means “Adonai”. I’m sure you are asking yourself: then

how did they read the scriptures? Isn’t God’s name repeated throughout the scriptures?

In those days, when reading the scriptures, whenever they came across the written words

“Yahweh” or “Elohai”, instead of reading what was written, they called out “Adonai”.

They dared not speak out God’s name. That is why God’s people have lived their lives

never once calling out God’s name. However there was only one person allowed to

call out God’s name. Once a year, the High Priest entered the tabernacle and cried out

“Yahweh”, and if the High Priest had not been cleansed of any sin (or found to be with

sin), he would be struck dead on the spot. That is why no one dared to cry out God’s

name. His name was fear itself.

But look at our present time, God’s name is not exalted or feared. His name is not taken

seriously. People say that “Now is not like the old days! God loves unconditionally.”

They repeat that “God is love” like a parrot. At our present time, the name of God is not

feared but taken in vain. Today, God will not strike anyone dead when they call out his

name. In Exodus 20:7, it reads “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God,

for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” It is safe to call out

“Jehovah”, Gods name. However, we must keep in mind that his name is sacred and not

to be talked about or called out in foolishness. In Hebrew, the word for foolishness is

“Sawi”. Sawi means vain and worthless. We must not take God’s name for granted. We

cry out “Oh! My God” or “God damn” without much thought.

In today’s scripture verses, we will take a look at some prophets who used God’s name in

vain. We will find out how these prophets so devalued God’s name that the Israelites did

not take his name seriously.

1) First, these prophets falsely prophesized in God’s name. (14)

Here is the background story of Jeremiah’s time. The Israelites have fallen from God’s

favor by their idolatry and abandonment of God’s Laws. Jeremiah 13:10 says “These

wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their

hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them”. In other words, the Israelites

rejected God’s Laws, they lived the way they wanted, they went where they wanted, ate

what they wanted and even worse, they sought out foreign gods and worshipped them.

Our present time is not much different from then. Many profess their faith in Jesus but

they do not live their lives based on Jesus’ words. It was the same back in Jeremiah’s

time, many claimed to believe in God but their lifestyle was as far as you can get from

God’s laws. Among Christian believers, there is a common misunderstanding. We think

“Just believing in Jesus is enough” That is not true. We must also live out our daily lives

based on Jesus’ words. What happens if we believe in Jesus but we do not do what he

says?

People! I know I am always telling you this but just believing in Jesus does not make

your salvation complete. We must live out our lives according to his words in addition to

our belief. We must fight the good fight and in the end we will receive a victor’s crown.

In today’s passage, the Israelites are committing the same sin. They claimed to believe in

God but did not live according to his laws. In order to punish them, God sent a drought to

their land. The masters sent their slaves to draw water from the wells but the wells have

all dried up. The land was completely dried. Even though the land was devastated, there

was not one person was willing to repent before God. Jeremiah the prophet was the only

one who seeked after God.

However there was an even bigger problem. Instead of preaching repentance to the

Israelites, the prophets were falsely prophesying in God’s name. Jeremiah 14:14 says

“Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not

sent them or appointed them or spoken to them”. In verse 15 God says: “I did not send

them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land’. What does this

mean? God says I did not send them or talked to them but they are lying and also telling

everyone that I had said those things. These false prophets were taking God’s name in

vain.

In the last days, false prophets will deceive the believers using God’s name. The false

prophets are people who lie and say that they had a revelation from God. False prophets

are also those who profess their faith in God but their lives contradict their words.