Oaths

Pre-Intro

Excited to dig into the scriptures tonight

Last week

Most people we’ve ever had here in the middle of the semester

68

We had close to 80 this summer

But in the middle of the semester we’ve never had 68

Thankful

Grateful

The Lord is working

Discipleship Groups

Guys wrestling with a call to ministry

Jason and I are just honored to be here while God does what He wants to do

I do have a date for you to put on your calendar

Nov. 3rd

If you’re feeling called to ministry or wondering if you might be called to ministry, Jason and I want to do what we can to help you in any way.

We want to meet with you on the 1st Saturday of every month beginning on Nov. 3rd.

That morning

Show you how we prepare sermons

Do our best to teach you the ins and outs of ministry

Give you projects

Maybe have you guys preach occasionally

But we’ll start after soccer is over so our first meeting will be the morning of Nov. 3rd. Early. Probably 6.30 or 7ish.

Why so early?

So Jason and I can get back home to our families.

If you have your Bibles we’re going to be in Matthew 5

We’re in a series going through the sermon on the Mount titled “built to last.”

At this point in the sermon, Jesus is explaining what true righteousness is.

The common idea of the day was that it is primarily external and outward. Look this way. Follow these rules. Jesus’s definition is primarily internal. Has less to do with the letter of the law and more to do with the spirit of the law.

Passage

Matthew 5:33–37 CSB

33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord. 34 But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. 36 Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.

Intro

About 10 days ago, it was a Sunday afternoon I think, I got a message from my father-in-law (It was sent to a whole group of us in the family) that said there was another assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

There were no details in the message. It just said, “Another assassination attempt on Trump.”

I had no idea and wasn’t sure of the details so I grabbed my phone and began to google it.

I typed in “Trump assassination” and hit searched.

Of course there were several articles that were all written in the last few minutes all with slightly different titles but they were all about this apparent attempt to shoot president Trump while he was golfing.

Here was the issue…

I had no clue what details to believe. There were articles from all the popular news sites. There was CNN, Fox, ABC, New York Times, NBC, New York Post, AP News. And I knew every single site had an agenda.

Some media outlets lean more conservative while others lean more liberal. Some lean left while others lean right. Some aren’t even leaning, they’re just completely on the left side of the political spectrum while others are completely on the right side of the political spectrum.

That’s okay. We have the freedom of speech here so they have every right to express their opinion.

But it’s hard to separate the facts from their agenda. I knew it was going to be tempting for certain sites and news outlets, on both sides of the political spectrum, to spin the story in a way that supports their cause. Or said more strongly, it was going to be tempting to try to manipulate the people into viewing this incident in a way that supports their cause.

Sometimes it’s hard to trust these sites.

I don’t like that I feel that way.

When I watch presidential debates and I hear the promises that are being made I typically listen with a lot of skepticism.

It feels like promises are being made to gain votes with no real evidence that they’re going to be able to keep their promises.

I just come away thinking… I have no clue what to believe.

Transition

In a world with so much noise, how do we know who to trust?

With convincing conspiracy theories about literally everything, it causes me question everything and everyone.

Who killed JFK?

Is covid even real?

Did the covid vaccine have the mark of the beast in it?

Recent one I heard…

When the eclipse happened this summer… They switched our sun out for a different sun.

“Signs in the heavens…”

This new one we have is actually shaped in a hexagon

It would be nice if we had someone we could trust.

Someone where we knew if it comes out of their mouth, we can trust it. They’re not going to lead us astray. They’re not trying to manipulate us. They’re not trying to use us for their benefit. They don’t have an agenda.

Not trying to tear down the government.

Not trying to get me on their team.

They’re trustworthy.

If they said it, we can believe it.

Harder Transition into the Passage

And it’s that that Jesus speaks to in this passage.

Those in leadership were doing some sketchy things in order to get their way. They were making promises and then finding excuses not to keep their promises.

So Jesus speaks to the crowd and says…

People should be able to trust your word. Every. Single. Time.

The Jewish view of oaths

Let’s break down this passage

Matthew 5:33 CSB

“Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord.

This isn’t a direct quote from any one verse in the old testament

This seems to be a combination of 3 verses in the Old Testament

Leviticus 19:12 CSB

Do not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God; I am the Lord.

Numbers 30:2 CSB

When a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to put himself under an obligation, he must not break his word; he must do whatever he has promised.

Deuteronomy 23:21 CSB

“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to keep it, because he will require it of you, and it will be counted against you as sin.

We see oaths made all throughout the Old Testament

Often, in order to strengthen their oath, they would invoke the name of God in their oaths

Typically the phrase that they would use

“May God do to me…”

We see Solomon do this in 2 Kings 2.

“May God punish me, if I don’t have Adonijah killed by the end of the day.”

Modern translation… “I swear to God, I’m going to kill Adonijah.”

The difference…

They lived in a culture that highly revered God

We live in an almost atheist culture so it’s just become a phrase

For them, it meant something

For us, it’s just a figure of speech

So what were the commands all about?

If you’re going to invoke the name of God, you better keep your word

It was a way to ensure honesty

While our culture may be becoming more and more atheistic, we still do a version of this when we swear on the Bible at court.

This hasn’t been mandated for a long time

Some courts still do this

Why?

Feel like it ensures a little bit more honesty

They were intended to be used to uphold truth

To make an oath using the name of God was intended to be used to uphold truth

If you use the name of God in your promise, you’re going to keep your promise

A little history

By the time Jesus comes around, the Jewish people are terrified to use the name of God

Our of respect for God, no one is willing to say the name of Yahweh

They’d replaced the name Yahweh with Adonai (Lord) and Elohim (God)

The name was only spoken allowed on the Day of Atonement

When writing the name the scribes would pause and would often cleanse themselves before writing the name of Yahweh

So now that they’re no longer using the name of Yahweh, what are they basing their oaths on?

They developed a new system

They began to swear on different things that were God adjacent

I swear on the heavens

I swear on the earth

I swear on the temple

Matthew 5:34–35 CSB

But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King.

This then became a means of manipulation and deception

The people would make promises…

I swear on the temple!

And then wouldn’t keep their promises… They’d have excuses.

I didn’t swear on the name of God

I just swore on the temple… theres no law that says I have to keep that promise

It’s the Old Testament version of having your fingers crossed behind your back

Jesus speaks directly to this in Matthew 23:16

Matthew 23:16–17 CSB

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever takes an oath by the temple, it means nothing. But whoever takes an oath by the gold of the temple is bound by his oath.’Q Blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?

What are you doing?

Coming up with these rules so that you don’t have to keep your promises

One of the rules they had

If you swear by the temple, it’s not binding

But if you swear toward the temple, it is binding

Your rules don’t even make sense

and they’re evil

Matthew 5:36 CSB

Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.

I know what we’ll do…

We’ll swear by our own head

Jesus…

You think you own your head?

Even that is mine so you’re still invoking my name

The entire oath system had become a means of manipulation and deception

They’d say things that made them sound trustworthy and serious just to get what they want out of someone

Our view of oaths

We do the same stuff

Consider when you were a kid

At the pool with your friends

Jumping off the diving board

Your mom says it’s time to go

You respond

“Just one more jump.”

She argues back.

“You said that last time… come on.”

You respond again…

“I promise I’m just going to jump one more time and then I’ll get out of the pool.”

What’s the goal here?

Manipulation to get what you want

You can trust me mom… I’m just going to jump one more time… I promise

Secretly you’re hoping for 10 more jumps

Get a little older

Start wanting a phone

Your parents don’t want you to have one because you’re going to spend all day on it

“No I won’t. I promise.”

Why do you say that?

Because you really want a phone

And if you promise that you’ll be good, you’ll have a better chance of getting a phone

A little older

You’re dating someone now

Your girlfriend accuses you of being selfish

You never consider her feelings

You never consider what she wants to do

It’s always all about you

Your response…

“I’ll do better…”

“You’ve said that before…”

“No I’ll do better… I promise.”

Why do you say it?

Because you know you’ve been a loser and you deserve to be dumped but if you promise you’ll change you’ll get to keep your girlfriend

And then we even add weight to those promises just like the Jews did

I swear to God

I swear on my mother

I swear on my mother’s grave

I swear on my life

We do this thinking it adds weight to our promises

Why do we have to promise in the first place?

Because lies exist

We probably feel the need to swear because it’s not just that lies exist in general but because we’re personally guilty of lying

I like the phrase “no lie.”

Why say that?

Because there’s so much deception you feel the need to add weight to your sentences

It’s seen all over the place

Promises made to deceive and manipulate people

Promises made that are completely selfish in nature

And then when we break those promises… we come up with all kinds of excuses as to why we’re still in the right

We’ll what I meant was…

You misunderstood me

something came up

Examples

In the consumer world

We see promises made all the time

Then when you take them up on their offer and seek fulfillment of the promise they point out the fine print that absolves them from their end of the deal

Sales and advertising

Different things promised

Just to deceive you

Just to convince you to buy their product

Politicians

Promise you things just to get your vote

In a world full of lies and deception and selfishness

Jesus offers us a challenge…

Jesus’s view of oaths

Matthew 5:33–37 (CSB)

“Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord. (34) But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. (37) But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.

Let’s do away with the need for oaths

They were intended to give support for the truth

But they’re being used for deception

Let’s do away with the need for oaths completely and let’s just be honest people

Let your yes mean yes

And your no mean no

If you say you’re going to do something, do it

If you say you’re not going to do something, don’t do it

The letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law

Because their focus had been on the letter of the law they had found a loophole

Oh… If we use the name Yahweh in our oath, we’re obligated to keep it

But what if we don’t use the name Yahweh?

Then we’re not bound to our word

This has been his point all along

Murder

Let’s learn not to hate people

Adultery

Let’s learn to be pure in heart

Divorce

Divorce may be allowed but that doesn’t mean it’s good

Oaths?

Why do you need oaths?

Why don’t you just be honest people without the need for a promise?

To deceive aligns you with the evil one

The story of Satan in the beginning

Deceives Adam and Eve using the word of God

He puts God on his team

The same way we do when we “Swear to God” or use his faithfulness to try and buttress our own

Trail of deception throughout the Old Testament

Oaths coming back to bite people

Saul

I’m going to kill whoever eats

Jonathan eats

Bound by oath to kill his son

Jephthah

I’ll kill whoever walks through that door

Then his daughter walks through the door

He’s bound by oath to kill his daughter

What was initially intended to be an avenue of truth, is now an avenue of death

Let’s just be honest people

No intention to hurt people

No intention to deceive

No intention to manipulate

The Application

Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no

Shouldn’t need a promise to back up your word

Foolish to promise anything in the future

Be honest. Open. Vulnerable.

On the job

In your relationships

At school

With your family

He always does what he says he’s going to do

You can always rely on her

Conclusion

Why is this such a big issue?

- Because we represent Jesus

- Jesus is the way, the truth, the life

God is a God of truth

Cannot Lie

Always keeps his promises

Even against all odds

As his children, we should be men and women of truth

How can we expect to point people to the God of faithfulness when we’re not faithful.