Main Thing Podcast
This podcast encourages others to love God and people by leading them to know and follow Jesus’ truth.
Main Thing Podcast
Yahweh — The I AM Who Is With Us
We trace the meaning of Yahweh from Exodus 3 to John 8 and ask what God’s holy name demands of our worship, language, and daily lives. We wrestle with suffering, the seeker-sensitive drift, and why awe must return to the center of the church.
• Yahweh as God’s covenant name and self-existence
• Reverence for the Name and careful speech
• Worship drift from holiness to approval seeking
• Suffering, sovereignty, and counting it joy
• Practical ways to recover awe in worship
Main Thing Podcast with Pastor Steve, equipping you to respond and thrive in the world we live in today. Keep the main thing the main thing has been a saying that Pastor Steve has told for decades. It means no matter what is happening around us, Jesus is what we need to have front and center in our lives. There couldn't be a more powerful reminder for us to recall in today's divisive and dark culture. From foundational truths and scripture to the hot topics of today's culture. Allow this podcast to inspire and motivate you on your faith journey. Alright, well, good morning, Pastor Steve. Good morning. Glad to be here with you again.
SPEAKER_03:Good to be here.
SPEAKER_00:The last three episodes we're with Pastor Brent about the history of the church. And so now we're gonna change gears a little bit and look over some names of God. Through my research, I was reminded that there are over a thousand names of God that describe his characteristics and his attributes. And Yahweh, that we're gonna talk about today, um, is used over 6,000 times in the Hebrew Bible. So uh it's significant. So let's let's dig in. I want to read Exodus three and John eight, fifty-eight, and then we'll we'll jump in together. All right. So Exodus three, ten through fifteen, therefore go, I am sending you to Pharaoh, so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. But Moses asked God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt? He answered, I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you when you bring the people out of Egypt. You will all worship God at this mountain. Then Moses asked God, If I am to go to Israelites and say to them, The God of your ancestors has sent to me, sent me to you, and they asked me, What is his name? What should I tell them? God replied to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites, I am has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, Say this to the Israelites The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. This is how I am to be remembered in every generation. And we also see in John 8 58, Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I am. So we get this idea of God being eternally existent. He he didn't have a beginning and he doesn't have an end. And um, so let's dig into just some questions to talk about this a little more, Pastor. What what does the name Yahweh reveal about God's nature and his relationship with his people?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, there's there's a there's a lot there. Um God's nature is such that because he is not created, he is not dependent on anything or anyone, uh, he does not need us. We need him.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And so the word originally was Y-H-W-H. There was no vowels in it. And um, so if you read that in the Hebrew, it doesn't say I am that I am, it says y'all. Yeah, you know, uh, which and that's what it means. I am that I am, uh, I will be uh what I am. And um so they they often referred to him uh as Jehovah or and Adonai we're gonna talk about in the next session because they had such reverence for the name of God that that they would not even speak it. And so uh I I think it speaks volumes to where we are in today's world. Well, we we throw God's name around very casually. Uh, but the Jews had such reverence for the name of God that they wouldn't even speak it out loud.
SPEAKER_00:Right. And it's interesting, and I don't know if you ever heard of the uh plugged in. It's uh focused on the family. They they look at movies and do movie reviews, and anytime we before we watch a movie, we just check it out just to see what it's about. And um the even the PG movies, like just normally you'll see blaspheme, you know, using God's name. And it's like you said, it's used so flippantly in our culture. And uh so do you think that's because we have removed ourselves so far from God as a culture, or is it because it's just been desensitized and normalized?
SPEAKER_03:And I think some of both. I think, I think um uh I would expect a pagan, someone who doesn't know God, uh, doesn't have a relationship with God, to either out of ignorance or a vain mind to use God's name in negative ways. Uh, but with within the Christian community, I think we've we've become very casual um about our faith in general, and that leads to a casual approach to the holiness of God, the majesty of God, who he is. And so we even as Christians sometimes uh will use his name in very casual ways, if not profane ways, ourselves, uh, without a real understanding uh of of the majesty of God. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right. We we talk you talked about this, you mentioned how the name Yahweh was too sacred to pronounce. Um and and in our reverence today, I was raised in a liturgical denomination. So it was taught very early on. I can remember, you know, when you're in church, you're silent, you're you you treat the holiness of God in a very reverent way. What has made us lose our reverence today in worship in all denominations?
SPEAKER_03:I think it's multifaceted. I think one of the problems is we have become so seeker sensitive. Um we we want to attract those who are not in God's family in an effort to grow. That we we become very much like secular marketers. We're interested in appeasing them, appealing to them, wanting them to be happy with the product, if you will. And that's not at all who we ought to be. We always want to be sensitive to lost people. We want them to know that we're happy, they're here, we love them, we care for them. But I think we have gone overboard in this effort to make people happy. I I'll give you an example. I remember when we we first started uh getting into the uh social media digital thing here at church, and and all of a sudden we allowed people to put reviews. Now, I don't want to say that we shouldn't be interested in being evaluated, but we do that as a team with each other, I think, pretty well. But if a lost person comes to church and does not meet God that day, their reviews probably won't be that great.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know? Uh so if you start worrying about how many likes you get or how people feel about you, uh, I think you get away from the importance of why we're here. A worship service is for the family of God to give praise and thanksgiving to holy God.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Uh and everything else is secondary to that. And so I think as the church, we've we've gotten off the tracks a little bit out into the weeds, if you will, uh, and we forget. I think what I'm saying is I think it's our own fault.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Uh you can't blame us on a lost culture because we we control how we do church, we control uh how we view God. And I think we're the ones that's allowed it. You know, I'm I'm not one to wear a coat and tie. Never have been. I think the guy who invented the tie ought to be dug up and they ought to hang him again with one, you know. But with that said, R. C. Sproull, who was the great Reformed theologian, uh makes a really good case that you should never come before the Lord casually in any way. Attitude, dress, your your giving, your offering. Um all of those are important elements when you come before the King of Kings. Right. You know. And so I I think a lot of it is we've just kind of gotten this American attitude uh that we can do whatever we want and God's okay with it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. I was just um this is this is coming from a plethora of studies, not one in particular, but uh newer studies are coming out, especially within the last six months, that the millennial generation and the Gen Z generation are actually tired of that seeker-sensitive movement in churches and they're seeking more of an authentic, genuine worship experience. Yes. And so that that's encouraging to see.
SPEAKER_03:It's very encouraging. You know, Sproul said, you know, I've always taken the attitude, uh, look, we're just glad you're here. Yeah. Sproul said, trust me, uh, you would not come before holy God in your shorts and flip-flops. You know, I mean, you just but uh there's Sundays I walk in here and people walk by and I'm like, oh boy, you know, here we go. So uh I mean I'm convinced we've got some that come in their pajamas. They don't even get dressed, yeah, you know, to come. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00:How did Yahweh's worship develop uh from local tribal devotion? What I mean by that is there are some theologians that say uh Yahweh, there were little G gods that were called Yahweh, but obviously we know that Yahweh established his name uh with his people. But how did it become, how did the the Israelites become this group of people, this body of believers that worship the one true God? And how did they get to the place where it was incorporated in all facets of their life?
SPEAKER_03:Well, the Lord made it clear to them that Yahweh was his covenant name. I'll be your God, you'll be my people. And so with them from the very beginning, this is important because in the history of the world, Judaism was the first ever monotheistic religion. Yes. And so for the first time ever, there's this rebuttal of multiple gods, a God for the weather, a God for the crops, a God for fertility, you know, all these things. And there was one, and and it's repeated often throughout scripture, one true God, the real God, the the actual God. And um, so yeah, it was an entire retraining uh of the human mind and how they looked at deity.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Right. I funny side note, just reminds me of all the the little pins my grandma used to give me, you know, like this saint will protect you from wrecks, and I had that in my car, and like this saint will protect you from any injury. And I would have it just when you said that, it reminded me of that, how sometimes we still do that today in certain faiths. Um, why Pastor Steve, why does God's name matter for covenant and identity?
SPEAKER_03:Oh goodness, because it it identifies the greatness of God, which is hard for us to comprehend. He's self-sufficient, he's whole in and of himself, he lacks nothing. Uh, he is everything. Um, and as I said earlier, he does not need us, he desires us.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Uh we need him. And so ironically, a human either desires God or he doesn't, you know. Uh, and so it's important when we talk about God's name to understand what that name encapsulates. Um, it you you could go on for days about what it means. Uh, you know, he is adequate in every way in everything we need. Amen. In every part of our life, he is sufficient uh in totality for our lives. And so, yeah, that's why it's important.
SPEAKER_00:And it's it's interesting, it seems like believers know that, but they say, Yes, that plus, I need this. Yes, that plus, I need that.
SPEAKER_03:This is the battle cry of I want to be careful how I say this because I don't want to lump people, but I find it the battle cry of the retrained mind. Uh, the Christian who has bought into the secular truths as they're perceived. Uh I'm a Christian, I love holy God, but I believe in science, therefore, evolution must be true. Uh I'm a Christian, I believe in God, I know He's sufficient for me, but I really need my counselor. And I'm not putting down any of those people. I'm just saying that you hear that yeah but comment, that conjunction comes from so many Christians' mouths these days. You know, I I just listened to Rick Warren's testimony on his son Matthew, who had mental illness, who had clinical depression, and battled it for many years. And he told his dad, he said, Dad, uh I don't get it. You raised me in a godly home, you and mom, wonderful parents. You've always taught me to trust the Lord, and I do, yet I've got these issues and I can't I can't break them. And and he prayed for healing for years, and God never healed him. And um ironically, the secular stuff never healed him either, right? So Rick Warren goes on to talk about uh, and this is this is where I think the prime premise comes in that gets us off track. Uh we believe somehow or another the secular answers give us something the spiritual does not.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Right? And what Rick Warren talks about, they did the medications, they did the counseling, they they did all of that, you know. And their son still committed suicide.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And he goes on to talk about the fact is, in God's sovereignty, in his wisdom, uh, he intends that everyone will not be healed. Some people with mental illness, it doesn't matter. Physical illness, it doesn't matter. But what is the point of that? You glorify and honor God where you are, whether you're healed or not. Right. See, and that's the part we we we don't like to accept that part.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:The idea that I have multiple sclerosis and God won't heal me with Joni Tata Erickson has lived 70 years, 50 of that, as a quadriplegic, and and gives God honor and glory every day. And she tells the great story of going to the healing rallies with the faith healers, and they'd always put the wheelchairs over on the corner and out of the building away from the cameras, and they'd have people get healed. And she said, I used to sit there and go, hey, we could use a healing over in the wheelchair section, you know. Uh, and she very powerfully says, I came to a realization God doesn't intend to heal me. Do I still pray for healing every day? But he wants me to bless him and his majesty and his greatness just like I am.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:You know, so our problem is, and this is for some, this will be considered a very mean way to say it. We've become so soft in our faith that if we don't get the healing, something's wrong with God.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And that's just not true.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. No, that's good. And I mean, you've read the Fox's Book of Martyrs. Yes. I remember you saying, I mean, when you look at the suffering that so many have gone before us have gone through, they've most of them praised God through it, even though it was extreme pain, extreme suffering, extreme persecution. And uh to me, that's real faith. And would you say our culture, our society has allowed us to be so comfortable that it's hard for us to even imagine that kind of faith?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's why everybody's melting down over Charlie Kirk. And look, I I was very upset over what happened to Charlie Kirk, but I said this in church a few weeks ago. Over 50,000 Nigerians have been killed in the last few years because they believed in Jesus. Thousands of churches burned to the ground.
SPEAKER_00:Just attending church.
SPEAKER_03:Just for attending church. In America, one guy gets killed and we're all melting down. It's a statement of how, one, how blessed we are, but two, how soft we are. Uh, I'm I'm excited to see the movement that God's bringing through this thing. And to their credit, uh, Charlie's wife and those around him, that that's what they pray for, and they're promoting that, okay, this is a horrible thing that happened. An evil person did this, and we're praying God's going to use it for his glory. That's the proper response. Uh, it's really sad that the average Christian, when something terrible happens, is no different than the lost person, and that the first thing out of their mouth is why.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Why? Well, if you really believe God is sovereign king and on his throne, uh you've you have to understand that you'll never answer the why question this side of heaven.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:So your natural response as a Christian uh in Charlie Kirk's case, you can argue it was political, but he was always very clear that in spite of his politics, he was a born-again believer of Jesus Christ first, always. Uh he was killed for his faith. He was killed for his faith.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:The guy that shot him talked about his hatred because he wouldn't accept the LGBTQ community. Well, scripture is very clear about that, right? And we got a whole bunch of Christians who who won't accept what scripture teaches. It's one of the reasons we're in the place we've been in America, it's one of the reasons hundreds of churches are closing weekly in America, God's written Ichabod above their door, and He's not gonna bless them.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Uh, but they think they get to define it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:See? So the proper response of the believer when suffering, what does James say? Count it joy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Count it joy when you get to suffer for the cause of Christ. Uh that doesn't mean we don't have to go through a season of grieving and hurt. I mean, yeah, uh but I I and I forget the guy, uh one one of one of the uh popes uh of no, it was one of the emperors assigned a guy to study the Christians in the first century. Popes hadn't existed yet. So France.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think it was France, if I remember correctly.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and and he went back and he gave the report when when these people have a baby born, they celebrate. And if the baby dies, they celebrate. Yeah, thanking God for the opportunity to have had the baby. He said, These are some strange people. Well, everything in scripture teaches us we're strange people, right? We don't fit this world, so probably the greatest judgment on us is that we fit so well in this world. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:How can understanding who Yahweh is and what the name means deepen our intimacy with him?
SPEAKER_03:You know, you go back to the Old Testament, you think about the Holy of Holies. You didn't even approach the Holy of Holies. And and when a priest would go in to offer up sacrifices, they'd tie a rope around one leg. So if God killed him, they could drag him out.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Not go in and get killed themselves, right? That's what Sproul says. Sproul says if you walked into the Holy of Holies and your flip-flops and shorts, you'd be dead. You'd be dead. You know? And so I I I think I think that we just really don't comprehend the awesome nature of who God is, and that his name represents that awesome nature of who he is. It's beyond, first of all, even for those of us who've studied in college and seminary, the things of God and God and all of the history in the background, it it's hard for us to comprehend. And so I don't know that that as humans we possibly can really comprehend the majesty of God. I've always loved that song Majesty. Yeah. Um, you know, because I thought for a long time uh as the church we we didn't quite get it. And that's that song had a great impact on America. Um and um so so I I I think that we have to make an effort to understand what when we say Yahweh, what does it mean? Yeah, how does it how does it affect me? How do I approach it? How do I think about it? Um and so most Americans today we want the short version. Let me go to chat GTP. Is it GTP? GPT. I don't use it, so yeah. Let me go to chat GTP and get the quick answer. Yeah. Um yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's uh I I think it's shaped that quick answer has shaped a whole generation or two.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:And um because I'm part of that generation. I like the quick answer. And the days of when you want an answer, go listen to an hour and a half long lecture, read for five hours to study seems to be gone in our generation. It's gone. Yeah. And and that's dangerous because you get you get bits, you don't get the full context. And when you're reading scripture, you need the full context. And we've kind of got to in this rhythm of, well, I don't need the context, just let me see what I want to see and then move on. Yes, you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Well, we see this at our school all the time. Um, a kid would go to AI and write a report, and the teacher's reading it, and it's obvious. I've heard this kid talk, he can write this, you know, and when they confront the student, the student's response will be, Well, is it correct? Did I get the right thing? You know, this concept of ethics in the study is gone. Yeah, totally gone. I remember writing a paper in college on monasticism, and I had out of about 18 sources, about 12 of them were religious encyclopedias. And I got a B on the paper because I used encyclopedias, which would have been considered the quick answer rather than delving through the hundreds of pages of, and look, my generation, it was Cliff Notes. And I would always in my literature classes go read the Cliff Notes first because it helped me better understand when I read the material. Um, and and so it has a place, um, but I'm seeing a lot of studies saying it's gonna incredibly dumb down the human brain. So that there's a scary side to it too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, Pastor Steve, one last thing, um, when talking about the names of God, if there's if there's one thing you could say to encourage the listeners, encourage the church about the name of Yahweh and how they can respond to it, what would your response be?
SPEAKER_03:Remember his name is holy. It's holy. Uh careful how you use it. Um, you know, I think we obviously know people that use it in um phrases of of cussing or the proper way cursing. Um, but even as Christians, uh I I think statements like, oh God, I I I think we need to be careful with those. We need to remember um the holiness of his name, uh, even to the point of the ancient Jews to be careful how we speak it.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Yes. Amen. Amen. Well, appreciate you, brother. Thank you. Thank you. All right, y'all have a good one. See you on the next one.