Sermon by Rev. Tom Kline

Sermon: This morning, we want to talk about a holy or sacred place. Can you think of a holy or sacred place? One example of a holy place is right here in Church. This is called a sanctuary and it comes from the Word to be sacred or to be holy. This is a special place that is dedicated to the Lord and when we come here, in the back door there, it says “The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth be silent before Him”. There’s a little plaque that says that on the door and it doesn’t mean that you can’t talk when you come in, but it means to silence all the other things that don’t have to do with the Lord and so here we speak the Lord’s Word and we think about the Lord’s Word and we can even think about things in our life. We think about them with the Lord present and notice also how this is a holy place because when you come in, where is your attention focused? Where is the light? What’s the thing that’s in front of you? Of course, it’s the Lord’s Word. When we open the Lord’s Word, it is like saying, “This is a holy and special time and place”. Now think what it would be like if you said, “Well I’m going to come here and I’m going to ride my bike”. Think if you brought your bicycle in here and rode it around, that wouldn’t feel right, would it? It’s not that the Lord doesn’t like bicycles or that there is something wrong with riding bicycles, but it’s just something that you wouldn’t do in the holy place because this is a place you want to keep special for thoughts and feelings about the Lord and holy things. That would mix up things from your life that are of a different kind of feeling and a different kind of thought. Or suppose you were sitting here in Church and somebody said to you, “I just want to tell you a funny joke that I heard the other day, it’s really a good joke”. And you might say to yourself, “No, this isn’t the time or place to do that. Not that there’s something wrong with jokes but this is a holy and sacred place and I don’t want to bring those thoughts or feelings into a place that is sacred with me. This is a hallowed place and it’s dedicated to the worship of the Lord”.

Now I want to tell you something else and this is even more important. Did you know that there’s a holy and sacred place inside of your mind? Just like this is a holy and sacred place that we come to once a week or maybe more than once a week to think about the Lord and His Word, there’s a holy and sacred place in your mind where the Lord wants to dwell and you might even be able to find it. It’s a place where you have good feelings about the Lord. It’s a place where you have memories of worshipping the Lord and it’s a place deep within your mind where the Lord stores up all the truths from His Word that you’ve ever learned. Think about a time when you heard the Christmas story and when you heard it, you suddenly had beautiful feelings about the Lord coming on earth and being born with us. The Lord takes that Christmas story and the feelings with it and puts it in a holy and sacred place separate from all the other places in your mind because there’s where he wants to dwell, the inmost chamber of your mind.

Recently, you celebrated Easter and all those feelings that you heard and had. Maybe you sang Easter songs or were thinking of the flowers on the chancel or bringing a flower to the Lord. All those feelings are stored up in a special place in your mind. Yes, a holy and sacred place, just like this Church is a holy and sacred place for you to come to. And what the Lord wants you to know, and this is so important, is not to bring other things, especially negative or frivolous things into that holy or sacred place. And that’s why he gives us this commandment not to take his name in vain.

What does it mean to take the Lord’s name in vain? You know sometimes that happens. Somebody might use the Lord’s Word, His name, in a time of anger. They hurt themselves and they say the Lord’s name. You know what they’ve done? The Lord says don’t do that because now you’ve taken that anger, that feeling of anger, into that holy and sacred place and you’ve mixed it with the power of the Lord’s name. Or somebody (and watch this because it’ll happen), somebody will begin to tell you a joke and it might even sound like a funny joke or they might tell you this is a good joke, but when you begin to hear the joke, you begin to realize this is a joke about the Lord’s Word. It’s a joke taking some story like the Christmas story, or a Psalm or the Sermon on the Mount, and they’re making fun of it. And you might say to yourself, “I don’t want to hear the rest of that joke, please don’t tell it to me because I don’t want to be in the place where the next time I hear that story being read from the Lord’s Word, that joke is going to come into my mind and I’m going to mix that humour with the holiness of the Lord’s Word in my sacred place”. You could actually say that, “I don’t want to hear the rest of that”. Or you might be watching a television show or a movie where suddenly there is a story from the Lord’s Word or a quote from the Lord’s Word being portrayed in that movie, and you might say, “I don’t want to watch that because they’re making fun of it and that’s going to hurt me because there’s a sacred place where the Lord keeps all those stories and all those feelings holy in His name and I don’t want to take away the power of those stories”.

I knew a person once that had a very special song (it was a Christmas hymn) and it was special to them. It had a special place in their heart and they were watching a TV commercial and there was that very song being played as a jingle in that TV commercial and it was selling some toy. They were making fun of that song and they said that ruined that hymn for them because when they came to Church and they began singing that song here in Church, guess what they began thinking of, that commercial and the toy that they were selling. They said for a while, it ruined that song for them and it took them a long time to get that out of their mind because that sacred place had been invaded by something that was frivolous.

So the Lord says don’t take His name in vain. And here’s the powerful good sense of this commandment. The Lord says don’t take his name in vain and keep the holy place because there’s a power in His name. The Lord knows that there are going to be times when you say the words “Jesus Christ” in a most powerful way and He’s going to be present with you when you say those words. You just say someone’s name and they are before you in your mind. So the Lord knows that if you say His name, “Jesus Christ”, He will be present with you and the Lord doesn’t want you to lose that power. There will be a time in your life when you’re hurting, when you need to be close to the Lord. When you say, “Lord come and help me”, and you will be able to kneel down and say the Lord’s name, “Jesus Christ, my Heavenly Father, please be near me”. And if you’ve protected that name in your life and kept it pure in that holy place to the best of your ability, there will be a power there that is going to make a real difference in your life and the Lord will be present with you in His holy place.

This room is dedicated to the worship of the Lord and when you enter it, you enter it with a sphere of silence and holiness and awe. The Lord is here and also know that there’s a special place in your heart and your mind and the Lord says keep that place holy, pure and clean. Keep the stories of His Word separate from feelings of anger or feelings of joking so that the Lord can help build that holy place that He’s building right now where He can come and be with you and dwell with you.