Oaths and the Need for Truth

Introduction

[Walking through the sermon on the mount]

The sermon on the mount is a detailed teaching of what it looks like to repent

To no longer think our own way, but to think God’s way

To no longer act our own way, but to act God’s way

In our text this morning, Jesus is going to confront how we speak

We live in a time when people are increasingly careless with their words

As a society, we have a low view of truth and so we have a cavalier view of the things that we say

Empty promises

Insults covered up as jokes (Or just plain insulting)

Social media has only made this worse because there is no apparent consequence to being careless with your words

[People weren’t nearly as careless with their words when duels were a thing…]

But today, it is so easy to be careless with our words that we don’t even realize we are doing it half the time

And this creeps into the church as well

If we are not careful, we will end up speaking like the world and being careless with our words, just like the world

But kingdom people must speak differently, our words and our lives should reflect the truth and be careful, not careless

And Jesus is going to confront being careless with our words and show us how to be careful to speak the truth

So let’s give these words our full attention

Matthew 5:33–37 ESV

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

These are God’s words for us

Big Idea: Kingdom people speak the truth because they live the truth. [7:00]

Our lives should be built on the truth and that truth should then be what we speak, precisely because it governs how we live.

The truth is not something that we all simply agree on

There is something called Truth that exists

Regardless of my opinion

Regardless of what the masses say

The truth is the truth

And that is because there is a God who is over all, who is the source of all truth

It isn’t that things are true and so God says them

It is that God is the source of truth and so what he says is true and is the basis for truth

Not only that, God is a god who speaks

Speech is part of God’s nature

And when he speaks, what he speaks is truth because he is a God who speaks and he is a God who is true

So what can we say is the truth?

The truth is that which agrees with who God is and agrees with what God says

And as kingdom people, we must speak the truth - our words should not be careless, but carefully aligned with the truth of God

But we speak the truth because we live the truth

Our lives should be aligned with the truth of God

And from that life, we speak the truth.

[BRIDGE QUESTION] What does living the truth look like? And how does it impact how we speak the truth?

[Outline]: A truthful life has…

Faithful Integrity (33-34) [10:00]

Matthew 5:33 ““Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’”

Paraphrase that combines a few verses

Leviticus 19:12 “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.”

Numbers 30:2 “If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”

Deuteronomy 23:21 “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.”

Summarize the OT view of oaths

Making oaths was acceptable, but it was serious, so it wasn’t common

Deuteronomy 23:22 “But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin.”

Safer to not make an oath

Because they had a high view of the name of God

You don’t take the name of the lord lightly

3rd commandment - Don’ take the name of the LORD in vain

Take = Carry, lift up

Meaning, don’t take it on yourself and then not live like it

1st Century practice of oaths

Such a high view of God’s name - They would not speak the name of God

But then how do you take an oath?

They would swear by other things

But this presented loopholes

Cf. Matthew 23:16–22 ““Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’…”

Summary: People were casually making commitments, not following through and then cleverly justifying it, all the while still appearing righteous

Well, I didn’t swear by the gold in the temple, I just swore by the temple, so my oath doesn’t count.

We need to see this: The problem is not the oaths that people were making

The problem is that they lacked integrity and used oaths as a cover-up for it.

Now, while we might not make oaths, per se, we certainly have our own ways of adding to our words in order to add credibility

I promise

I swear

(As kids) Cross my heart, hope to die…

You have my word

And here is the deal: When I feel the need to add words in order to improve the credibility of my claims, it is actually revealing something about me, more than it is making my words more credible.

It reveals that my life isn’t believable on its own.

When I have to say, “I swear I will do it” or something like that, it is betraying the fact that my life lacks credibility

In fact, listen to the way that R.T. France puts it: “An oath is needed only if a person’s word alone is unreliable; it is an admission of failure in truthfulness.”

Needing to validate the truth of my words just shows that I don’t speak the truth very often…

And I have established a pattern that has sown distrust in my words

We have an agreement that I take care of all the vehicle maintenance

And Jeannie trusts me to handle it because she hates doing it

Months ago Jeannie’s car was due for an oil change and she told me that the alert on her dash said it was past due

And I said I would take care of it

And then a couple weeks later she asked me if I had scheduled the oil change and I said I hadn’t yet but I would do it

And then a month later, we got in her car to drive somewhere and the alert came up on the dash

And I remembered…

And what did I say next, “I promise I will get it scheduled and take care of it this week.”

Why did I have to say, “I promise”?

Because the pattern leading up to that point was that me saying I would do it, wasn’t actually truthful

When we have to invoke stronger language to validate our words, we are just exposing the fact that our words aren’t believable because they are spoken out of a life that contradicts our words

[ I did get the oil change done, in case you were concerned about that ]

So Jesus confronts this by saying Matthew 5:34 “But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all…”

Now, let’s be careful that we know what Jesus is saying so we don’t make him say something he does not mean…

Some have taken this to mean that you cannot make any kind of verbal commitment whatsoever

There are some who even refuse to testify under oath in court because Jesus says, “Do not take an oath at all…”

Is that what Jesus means?

No, because the Old Testament allows it and if Jesus were saying it was not allowed, then part of the OT would be passing away, but he said in v. 18 that none of it would

Jesus is not saying, “You can never use the word ‘promise’ or ‘oath’”

He is confronting the heart that uses oaths and promises to try to prove that he or she is telling the truth.

Jesus is saying, “Your life should validate the truth of your words.”

When your life has faithful integrity, you never have to use stronger words to convince people of your truthfulness

Your life is proof of it.

You have a pattern of following through, of saying what is right and appropriate, of representing things honestly

So Jesus words here should cause us to ask ourselves:

How do my words reveal the patterns of my life?

Do I make commitments that I don’t plan to keep?

Do I make statements that my life would disagree with?

Kingdom people must live lives of truth that are marked by faithful integrity.

Second, a truthful life has…

Reverent Accountability (34-36) [20:00]

It is easy to compromise the truth when you think no one is watching

It is easy to not follow through on our words when we think there isn’t really a cost to it

I know I said I would do that thing

I know i said I would go to that thing

But no one is going to know.

But the truth is, there is always an audience to our words and our actions

During the Protestant reformation, the reformers emphasized that all of life is for the glory of God alone and they began using a latin phrase

Corum Deo - “Before the face of God”

They rightly emphasized that there is not a set time for God’s glory, but all of life is lived in his presence, for his glory.

There is no such thing as a secular life

There is no sacred/secular divide.

In a world where God is God, all of life is lived before his face

So life should be lived reverently, knowing that we are accountable to God for our lives.

But when you don’t think this way, it is easy to think that there are things I can do that are disconnected from God

People would swear by lesser things, things in this world and because they felt less important, they were more willing to violate their oaths

Remember, rather than swearing by God’s name, they would swear by the temple or by Jerusalem

And then when they wouldn’t follow through with their vow, they wouldn’t see it as a problem, because it’s not like I swore by God’s name…

But here’s the deal… You can’t get away from God

All of life is lived before his face and all my words are ultimately accountable to him.

Matthew 5:34–36 “But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.”

“By heaven, for it is the throne of God”

“By the earth, for it is his footstool”

“By Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King”

“By your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.”

What do these all have in common?

God alone has authority over them and because of his omnipresence and his supremacy, there is nothing you can invoke that doesn’t ultimately serve God

All of life is lived in God’s presence, under his authority, so any statement I make, God is witness

This is why the psalmist says in Psalm 139:7–12 “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”

The psalmist and Jesus are making the same point: You can’t get away from the presence and authority of God, so wherever you are, God is witness to your words and will hold you accountable to them.

Because all of life is before the face of God, all of my words are accountable to God.

Every commitment I make

Every statement I make

Every empty promise

Every bend of the truth for my own benefit

He is witness to it all and we are accountable for it all.

This is why Jesus warns in Matthew 12:36 “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak…”

We are too often careless with our words, saying things without thinking them through, whether out of frustration and anger, or out of a desire to force some kind of outcome, or to make ourselves feel better

And then we try to minimize our words later by saying we didn’t really mean them

And while people might be misled by our words

God is not fooled and God is not mocked.

He hears every word and he discerns every motive and intention

So we stand before him accountable and completely exposed

Nothing is hidden from his sight

When we recognize that the words we say are ultimately said in a world over which God is sovereign, all of my words, all of my commitments, all of it is said before the face of God

the right attitude is to be reverent, to take seriously the words we speak, the commitments we make, and make sure they are coming from a heart of truth.

How would my words be different if I was consciously aware that God is present?

Am I consistent in how I speak so that God would say that I am?

Or do I speak as if I am only accountable for what people hear?

Kingdom people speak the truth reverently, knowing that they are accountable for how they live and what they say

So we should live like it - Doing everything for the glory of God

And we should speak like it - Speaking as if God sees and hears all of it

Because he does.

Third, a truthful life has…

Honest Simplicity (37) [30:00]

A maxim in life that I have found to be true time and time again is that the truth is very simple.

Because the truth is simple, it is consistent

You never have to remember the truth

Because the truth is simple, it is straightforward

You never have to complicate the truth

There is a simplicity to a life that is honest and loves the truth

When you have to tie people up in philosophical pretzels just so that you can be right or so that you can claim that you’re telling the truth, something is wrong.

So when we are living as God’s people, embracing the truth in our lives, our speech should then be simple

I don’t have to add a bunch of words and caveats…

I just speak the truth because my life is a reflection of the truth.

Jesus says, v. 37 “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’”

When I say yes, it means yes and I live accordingly

When I say no, it means no and I live accordingly.

When I will be there, I say I’ll be there, and I show up when i said I would

When I know the truth, I tell the truth

When I don’t know, I don’t pretend to know

What I say is what I mean

A truthful life doesn’t change on a dime, it doesn’t say one thing to your face and then say something else to someone else

A truthful life has honest simplicity - It says the truth and it means it.

Plain and simple.

Often, when someone wants to cover something up, they add layers of explanation and are really careful with the words they use

Saying just enough to not be lying, but not saying enough to tell the whole truth.

You walk away from every interaction with that person confused because it seems so convoluted and complicated

When my life lacks honest simplicity, it is a sign that I am not living in the truth and that is why I am not speaking the truth.

And that’s why I am hiding the truth

Something is wrong in my life and it is affecting the way I am speaking

Look at what Jesus says, “Anything more than this comes from evil (or the evil one).”

This is an echo from the opening chapters of the Bible, and to understand what Jesus is getting at here, we need to go back to Gen. 3.

The serpent questioned the truth of God’s word

The woman wanted something

By embracing the lie, she took hold of what she wanted rather than what God had commanded

So what does this tell us?

Complicating our words is manipulation of people for selfish gain

That’s the world’s way

It is all too common in the world to twist words, leave information out, over-emphasize one aspect of the story

Why?

To get the outcome that I am looking for

But kingdom people speak the truth with honest simplicity, not distorting the truth for selfish gain

We don’t leave details out to look better

We don’t tell a half-truths in order to cover up the bigger issue

We don’t embellish and exaggerate to be more convincing

We don’t twist other people’s words or manipulate

Kingdom people speak the truth honestly, simply.

[GOSPEL CALL]

The truth is that it is impossible to speak the truth and love the truth when there are things in my life that are lies

Hidden sins

Patterns that are out of step with holiness

Attitudes and thoughts that are not pure or good or lovely

Jesus said that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks

So often when our words do not reflect the truth, it is because there is something about our lives that is out of step with the truth

And what is happening in my heart is distorting what is coming out of my mouth

And when that is the case, we need to repent, change out minds, run back to Jesus

See his way as right and good

And ask him to change our hearts to love the truth and to change our words to match the truth

If you follow Jesus by faith, but there is dishonesty and falsehood in your life or your words, cry out to him for forgiveness

Bring the truth into the light

Confess and receive his mercy and grace

And the spirit of truth will guide you to walk in the truth

If you do not follow Jesus by faith, you must know that the world you are living in is a distortion of the truth

There is a life that God intends for you that is right and good

It is true life - Truly living

A life that is lived in his presence, speaking the truth, living the truth, and enjoying all of the benefits of his purposes for your life.

But the only way to live that true life is to come to the one who is the way, the truth, and the life

Jesus Christ

Confess your sin to God and be forgiven

Repent of your old life and turn to him, and let him give you new life.

True life.

[CONCLUSION]

And that true life will be marked by

Faithful integrity

Reverent accountability

(and) Honest Simplicity

Because Kingdom people speak the truth because they live the truth.

Amen.

[38:00]