The third commandment is probably the one we think of as being the most commonly violated of any among the 10. People not only use God's name in an empty, irreverent manner, but they invoke God's name to give themselves credibility and shelter from their own dishonesty.

Just like the rest of the 10 Commandments, the command to not "take the name of the Lord in vain" is part of the Law of Moses. But while it is not directly imposed on Christians, it reflects an eternal principle that has been true from the beginning of creation. God's name is holy because God is holy. And while the first command tells us to honor God above all in our hearts, and the second tells us to honor God above all in how we perceive Him, the third tells us to honor God above all in how we speak about Him.

Is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit "literal?" Is the Spirit actually inside the child of God? That seems to be where much disagreement lies within many churches of Christ. And the perception seems to be that if you believe the Spirit is somehow in the Christian literally, it means that person has given up free will and is under the control of the Spirit. And if you do not believe it's literal, then the Spirit has no real activity in our lives. And while some do take those extreme positions, most seem to be in the middle, and our disagreements often end up being questions of semantics!

We know there is a figurative element to the question - the Bible talks about God, Christ, love, truth, God's seed, faith, and hope all dwelling in us. Sin can also dwell in us! And we also see that as Christ and God dwell in us, we dwell in Christ and God. 

But there's clearly a message intended for us to understand in the image of the Spirit being within us - and that is seen best in the analogy Paul makes with the temple of God - also called the temple of the Holy Spirit - in 1 Cor. 3 and 6. We see the idea of a close relationship with the Spirit - as with Christ and with God - in both the individual Christian and the collective local church.

The Bible is very clear that the Holy Spirit dwells in all children of God (2 Tim. 1:14, Rom. 8:8-9). But there's a good deal of disagreement on how that works; what is the Spirit doing when He is dwelling in me? Is he taking a fully active role, controlling my actions and thoughts, teaching me and instructing me verbally on what to do as I live my daily life?

The Bible does not show us this picture. It instead shows the picture of the Spirit controlling us not by force, but by the compelling nature of the gospel. The Spirit teaches us through God's revealed word - which came to us through the Spirit by way of the apostles and teachers who received direct revelation (John 14:25-27, 1 Cor. 2:10-13, Eph. 3:4-6). But the Spirit did not convert people - whether by teaching them the gospel directly or by entering and changing their hearts, compelling them to accept what they previously would have rejected. In fact the Biblical model always shows human teaching as the means by which people heard, believed, and obeyed the gospel. (1 John 2:23-25, Rom. 10:14-15, 2 Tim. 2:1-2)

We can easily be intimidated by studying the Holy Spirit, and as a result, we often spend less time talking about him than is warranted. Scripture is replete with examples of the Spirit working first in the Old Testament, then through Christ, then in the early work of the church. It's treated as a vital topic in the scripture, and as such, it's something we need to pay attention to it.

Because we don't teach about the Spirit often enough, or because we make the subject more complex than it has to be, we are seeing more and more departure from even the most basic teachings on the Spirit. And while there are certainly areas where we may not be certain and may not develop a complete and perfect understanding, the Bible does make some aspects of the Spirit and his work clear.

This week, we talk about three specific truths that the Bible reveals about the Spirit:
1. The Spirit is a "person," a being, not an impersonal force or a tool to be used by the Father and the Son.
2. The Spirit is God - every bit as divine as the Father and the Son
3. The Spirit is authoritative - not only is the Spirit divine, but the Spirit is shown as exercising authority not only in teaching the early church, but in directing the activities of the apostles in many instances.

As we continue studying through Romans, we get to Paul's concluding remarks, as he sums up his treatise on salvation by grace apart from the law of Moses. And he brings home a theme that has weaved its way throughout this book, which is the subject of hope.

Paul refers to God as the "God of hope" in this chapter, as well as the "God of endurance and encouragement, and he shows God has provided avenues by which His people can maintain hope during a life often characterized by suffering.

In chapter 15, he mentions three areas where God has provided us a means of sustaining hope: the support of the local church, the teaching of scripture, and the example of Jesus.

Matthew - a book written primarily for Jewish Christians in the first century - reflects its purpose immediately in the first two chapters, establishing Jesus as the Christ through lineage and prophecy. But the book also points back to a number of predictions from the minor prophets focusing on the Gentiles. And Matthew uses the story of the wise men at Jesus' birth to show the different attitudes between the magi of an Eastern country coming with gifts to the one born king of Israel, contrasted with the people of Israel who showed little interest in the news of the Messiah's birth apart from Herod's intense fear and desire to remove Jesus as a threat to his throne.

The warning is there for Christians today as well: do we appreciate the king and the covenant that we have? Do we cultivate a sense of joy and wonder at the grace of God through Jesus? Or have we lapsed into entitlement? Do we see the coming Messiah as something to be dealt with when the time comes? Or as the thing on which every hope hangs, and for which we wait every day?

One of the reasons that we sometimes struggle to explain the gospel message to a skeptical atheistic world is that those of us raised in homes focused on scriptural and theological discussions aren't always prepared to talk on a philosophical level concerning questions of good and evil. "Did God create evil?" "How can a good God create people He knows will sin, and then punish them for sinning?"

The satisfaction we take in the answer to those questions has no relevance on whether God exists, and in most cases, objections to God tend to be built around the idea that someone simply cannot accept the picture of God presented to them. "I don't like the way He runs the universe, I don't like what the Bible says about Him, and therefore I do not believe He exists." But a lot of the ethical questions surrounding the God who judges and condemns (as well as justifies and forgives) are honest and need to be addressed.

Ultimately, understanding God has to begin with the concept that God is good, that His creation is good, and that His purpose for humankind is good. And that the evil we see in the world isn't a created thing, but rather the reaction of God's creation rejecting His design and purpose.

The creation account in Genesis implies:
- All good things originate with God because God is good
- Creation reflects God's goodness
- Creation implies a purpose for good
- Good requires free will - I can't be coerced or controlled into being good
- Good requires an object to its expression of goodness
- Good requires that an creation can still be made righteous
- Good requires an ultimate separation from evil

In Ephesians 5, Paul encourages the church there to "make the best use of your time," or as the NKJV translates, "redeem the time." And the implication is that time is a finite thing with inherent value, and it matters how we choose to use it. That's true of all people, but especially those called to be stewards of God's grace.

In the passage, Paul describes what redeeming the time looks like in the context of living lives that are focused on not only serving God, but avoiding the lure and influence of the culture around us. And while he gives a number of specific admonitions as the section goes on, Paul starts by showing how God's people are to live and work together to create a culture that helps keep us moving toward God, thinking about how we can use every opportunity in our lives to glorify God and serve each other.

The Little Drummer Boy is one of the most beloved Christmas carols, with a message of bringing gifts to the king Jesus, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. There's a lot of value in that concept, but in many ways our society interprets this as a license to bring ANY gift, no matter what. "Jesus doesn't care how you worship him, and he doesn't care how much it costs you, or how much time or energy you spend on it. Whatever you like, he will like. Whatever you choose to give, he will appreciate." 

But that's not the message of the Bible. When Jesus sees the poor widow giving two coins into the temple treasury, he isn't impressed by the fact that she gave two coins. He's impressed that she gave "all that she had to live on." The size of her gift was small, but relative to what she had, it was everything. And that's what Jesus calls for us to give: ourselves. All we have. All that we are. And once we truly give ourselves to the Lord, the question stops being "What do I think Jesus wants," and starts being "What has Jesus asked of me?"

When Jesus healed a group of 10 lepers, only one came back to give thanks and glory to God, leaving Jesus to ask "Where are the nine?"

One of the points Luke brings out in this section of his gospel is the importance of humility in our approach to God. He consistently draws comparisons between the marginalized in that culture - the poor, the sick, the Gentile, the Samaritan - and the wealthy Pharisees who had grown comfortable and entitled in their own position in God's covenant. 

We start to see that our willingness to submit ourselves to God and humble ourselves is directly linked to how grateful we are for God's blessings and God's offer of salvation, and because gratitude isn't always a natural reaction for us, it's a quality we are called to develop and cultivate in ourselves every day.