Taking Commitments Seriously
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning!
Please keep your bibles open to James, chapter 5.
It is good to be back with you today - As many of you are aware, last Saturday I was diagnosed with brain tumor roughly the size of a box of matches in terms of rectangles or a ping-pong ball in terms of spheres, in the frontal lobe of my brain. That is the portion of the brain that controls executive functioning - it answers the question: “What did I walk into this room for again?” or “Where did I put my keys and my wallet?” I wasn’t here last week because initially, the doctor was talking about getting me in for emergency surgery to have the tumor removed when my good friend, Tore Bertrand offered to step in and bring the word for me. After those arrangements were already made, they decided that the tumor didn’t pose an “emergent risk” and decided to go through the normal process of having a neurosurgeon review the findings and schedule a consultation. I decided not to come last week, however, because while I was dealing with that, I caught probably the worst cold I’ve had in my adult life - No joke!
Before I get too far, my family and I would like to express our most profound gratitude to each and every single one of you who reached out to us on Facebook, through e-mail, text message or phone calls. We’ve been so overwhelmed with the love, care and compassion that Christ’s church should be known for, that it makes responding to everyone honestly a really difficult task, just due to the sheer number. So if we haven’t responded to your texts or emails on this matter - rest assured we have read them and are cherishing them in our hearts and are very grateful for your love and support - Thank you!
All that being said - you probably had a lovely service all geared up to talk about what actually happens in James 5:12, then to be met with a sermon in the book of Ephesians - which I can’t blame Tore for, he was more well studied in Ephesians at that moment, but now here we are, after two long weeks, we finally get to continue in the last few weeks of our study in James!
By way of reminder - James’ overarching goal for the entire book is to remind Christians living in the world to live in a way that accurately reflects the faith. Let me be crystal clear on this point though - it is not to live in a way that accurately reflects our individual, particular faith - no! We are to live in a manner that is commensurate with Gospel of Jesus Christ - our lives should show that forgiveness of sin is real, because we pay forward a forgiven balance that we could have never have paid that God had every right to call due. Accurately representing Jesus and the doctrine taught by the Apostles is James’ goal for his original readers and for us who read it today. Just like they were strangers in a strange land, we too are sojourners waiting for our Dad to come pick us up and take us home. We don’t belong here, but while we are here, we had better be sure we are examining ourselves and taking James’ plea’s to heart so that we enjoy the blessing of living for Jesus every day.
I’m sure a time will come, probably quickly knowing my sense of humor, when I can joke about how I started preaching through James where he says to consider trials pure joy, and before I got done preaching through the book, my mom died, my dog died, the closest thing I had to a father in law died, and I get diagnosed with a brain tumor - sheesh! But what does James say? Consider it pure joy because God’s going to use these things in my life to make me more like Jesus! He’s going to weed out the things in me that are selfish and give me eyes to see Him despite whatever pain I may be enduring.
But probably the largest section of this book focuses on different ways we get ourselves into trouble through our speech!
He tells us that because of speech that not everyone should aspire to become teachers because of the stricter judgment teachers will face because - of all people, we should know better - and no one can escape the tongue, it is a restless evil. So not only should some people avoid the role of teacher, but we need to be careful not to boast in anything, save in the name of the Lord our God. We shouldn’t boast of our plans because, our life is like a vapor - and we simply don’t know! I’ll tell you, church - in my younger years, I could run my mouth in circles around some of the crudest people you could think of - so learning to control my speech was hard, I had to learn not to speak when I got angry out of fear of a lack of control over what might leave my lips - because you know once it leaves your lips, there’s no getting it back. We use the tongue for all sorts of evils, so much so that James spends nearly 40% of the book talking about how to conduct ourselves in terms of our speech.
As we come to our passage today, James reminds us that words are not just pithy sounds that fall out of our mouths and flutter away as meaninglessly as they came, but that we use our words to make commitments - and as believers, we accurately reflect the Lord in our lives when we take the commitments we make with our words seriously and follow them. As such, he gives us some great wisdom and guidance for how to handle ourselves as we interact with others in terms of these three thoughts:
The Priority of Integrity
The Prohibition Against Oaths
The Practice Of Simple Truth
Our passage today isn’t long, but it stands alone in how the text is structured, and the content of it deserves a deeper look than we could give it if the verse was merely appended onto another sermon.
The Priority of Integrity
The Priority of Integrity
Read with me:
12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment.
James starts off with a Greek word that is, for some reason, omitted from the CSB - it is the word δὲ which is conjunction most commonly translated as either “but” or “now” - it’s purpose is to offer contrast from what was said previously -
In verses 7-11, James talks about the importance of waiting on the Lord and not complaining, or grumbling about one another. This is all part of the greater section in James that started all the way back at the beginning of chapter 3 that focuses on controlling our speech so our speech doesn’t control us. So, the use of this δὲ conjunction, as it’s rendered in the ESV as “but” offers a contrast on all the previous instruction as of to highlight the importance of what he is about to say - which is why he starts of with “Above all…”
More importantly than anything else about the tongue I have said - listen to what I am about to say.
Its almost his way of trying to get the reader to stop and really consider what he is saying. He is playing a high priority on what is communicated in verse 12. Spoiler alert - what he is speaking about in this verse is integrity. He wants to see believers living interleaved lives that brings life to one another - the biggest part of the purpose of the Christian church is to help reinvigorate weekly the passion and fervor of believers to follow after Jesus. In order to do this well, we have to strive after being people of sound integrity.
The main point I’m getting at here is that James starts this verse off with “Above all…” as a way of pointing out the importance and place of priority this verse has.
But he’s not the only one in Scripture to talk about the priority we should have on integrity.
Solomon wrote this in
9 The one who lives with integrity lives securely, but whoever perverts his ways will be found out.
or
1 Better a poor person who lives with integrity than someone who has deceitful lips and is a fool.
To Solomon, the wisest person in the Old Testament, integrity was rightly seen to be an “above all” kind of priority.
And also consider the words of Peter in
16 Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.
We follow Jesus and trust him with the results. We live with integrity in following him and trust him to be our defense and justification when people bring accusations against us. If we live with integrity as an “above all…” kind of principle in our lives, we press into Jesus and make our aim to please him and we follow through with what we say and do - live as people who hold integrity to be our most important attribute.
The Prohibition Against Oaths
The Prohibition Against Oaths
James continues on:
do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath.
Let’s remember the perspective of the author - James was the very brother of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine what their early sibling rivalry must have been like? But James had a unique perspective as someone who grew up with the Lord and spent a great deal of time not believing in Him or His message. He would later become so devoted to Jesus that he would be executed for his faith. His desire to teach people accurately the will of Jesus is reflected by how closely he mirrors what Jesus himself said in…
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.
Jesus himself denounced the practice of making oaths and vows. This would later get Paul into trouble toward the end of the book of Acts where most theologians agree that because of this, Paul was in sin for making a Nazarite vow and shaving his head. If he were following what Jesus said, as the theologians argue, shouldn’t he have just let his “yes” be a “yes” or his “no” be a “no?”
James follows Jesus prohibition of oaths because the risk of breaking that oath, likely made in pride and boasting of the tongue, is too high a risk and the risks simply do not outweigh the rewards. This is another lesson in humility - to avoid the oath entered into because of boasting, because you will be held accountable by God for breaking your word and not being a man or woman of integrity. Remember - James is trying to get people to live in a manner that accurately reflects the person of Christ and integrity is a big issue. It’s not to dissimilar from a bumber-sticker I saw recently that said, “Jesus, protect me from your followers…” Their is a reason hypocrisy becomes an atheist’s number one objection to Christianity - because perfect integrity is impossible; and yet that is somehow the world’s expectation on us. Are we ever going to make that happen this side of heaven? Not in this lifetime. But that’s why there is grace and why God recorded His word for us so that we can constantly be reminded of his faithfulness to us.
Or how about when Jesus called out the Pharisees for trying to manipulate the process of making oaths for their own posterity? He said:
16 “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.’
17 Blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
18 Also, ‘Whoever takes an oath by the altar, it means nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the gift that is on it is bound by his oath.’
19 Blind people! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
20 Therefore, the one who takes an oath by the altar takes an oath by it and by everything on it.
21 The one who takes an oath by the temple takes an oath by it and by him who dwells in it.
22 And the one who takes an oath by heaven takes an oath by God’s throne and by him who sits on it.
I have spoken at length at points about Martin Luther - the father of the Protestant Reformation. He is famous for making a vow to God while on a road actively being pummeled by lightening strikes. He vowed to God to become a monk if the Lord only spare his life on the road that night. And guess what - this laywer who had just graduated with his law degree uphelp his oath and God used him to shape the out-folding of Christendom and the western world for centuries to come. But Solomon warns about making oaths to God…
4 When you make a vow to God, don’t delay fulfilling it, because he does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow.
5 Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.
The Practice Of Simple Truth
The Practice Of Simple Truth
“Let your yes be yes and your no be no…”
It’s not often in my business when I deal with a customer who is especially cantankerous or mean spirited, but I was reminded that they are, indeed out there and all too willing to make some demands that are unreasonable. I was speaking to someone this week who phrased his request as a demand, knowing my situation, knowing my recent medical diagnosis, told me that I had “better have something done by the end of next week…” I was so happy that I had been in the word for this sermon for so long, because this idea of letting our yes be yes and our no be no and the importance on not making oaths came to mind. I said to him I would have it done as soon as I could and it would be ready when it was ready. I would try to have it done by when he’s asking, but I cannot promise - especially because of the fact that I have a looming brain surgery ahead, I have customers ahead of him in line - also waiting on their products, and there are more unanswered questions in my life than answered ones and I simply can’t promise anything. I was unwilling to hand out a “yes” because I knew that if I had said “yes” that it would be taken in that situation as an oath and I would have no recourse but to submit to the request - no matter the personal cost to me.
This is just an example of allowing the Scripture to dictate how we respond to different situations in life. Business, for me is an obvious example because I find myself in the midst of business discussions all the time - and the longer I have been in this, it seems, the more and more unreasonable and unrealistic the expectations are and the more and more people scoff at the cost - not realizing part of the cost is handling them and their demands. We need to be on guard and emphasize the importance of our own integrity in not allowing our words to to write checks in the form of commitments that we aren’t able to cash in by following through with them.
The simplicity of allowing our “yes” be “yes” and “no” be “no” means that we aren’t adding to the “yes” and we aren’t adding to the “no.” We aren’t adding in some sort of oath that we will or wont do something and allowing our words to follow the pattern of sinful bragging that he has described throughout this entire section. We don’t pile on to our commitments by invoking a higher power as a witness, or binding agent to our commitment. We are simply to say “yes” or “no” and follow through with however we answer it.
25 Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another.
Here, we notice a priority of integrity and reliance on the simple truth - there is no need to muddy the water by making an oath - we rely on the truth and press into our relationships with one another - this section of Ephesians focuses on our conduct within the church as it relates to being part of the body of Christ - integrity and simple truth is a huge part of that.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices
Here, Paul again stresses the importance of allowing the truth to be the truth - simply and plainly. Our ordinary, every day speech should be enough - reliable, and not needing the additional covering of an oath. We should value integrity that highly as a community that when we say we’ll do something or that we won’t do something, that our simple word on the matter is sufficient and not needing to be expanded on by some kind of an oath.
When kids are making their deals and promises, one of the ways they enforce the agreement is through the old adage, “Cross my heart and hope to die…” We remember this somewhat fondly because I would imagine that most of us have said this at some point in our lives!
Conclusion
Conclusion
In today’s culture, one of the most difficult things, in terms of applying our passage today to every-day life, is the fact that we often don’t notice when we are volunteering to go beyond a simple yes or no and enter into some kind of oath. We don’t notice how flippantly we are enticed to enter into oaths or how easy it is for us to break them. Integrity doesn’t mean what it used to and that makes the Devil happy.
How many of us actually read the term’s and conditions that we agreed to in order to use piece of software or one of those free social media accounts? If we use them, we are bound to, in most cases, allow them to sell our personal information or to monitor our activity - yet what is the biggest thing we complain about - these tech companies getting our information and using them to aggressively target and market things to us - but we agreed to it by using the software in the first place.
What is the specific warning that James gives us on this matter? That the judge is waiting - like he said he was earlier in verse 9 and that if we make and break our oaths that there will be judgment awaiting us.
Lets read the passage again:
12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment.
The teaching here is all “so that you wont fall under judgment.” James is a pastor and his desire and care for his people to not only live rightly before the Lord and to be a good witness and testimony to the world about what it actually means to be a believer, but to also consider the fact that even believers will face judgment and that we will be called to answer for our lives when we go before Christ. If we know the truth and still refuse to conform to it and accept it, we are leaving ourselves open to judgement from Christ himself. remember:
9 Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!
The Judge stands at the door. Integrity is our goal because we want to live in conformity to the holiness of Christ and to become more and more holy ourselves. There are moments when we realize - “I don’t think I have been doing well in this area in my life…” and guess what? That’s 100% fine - so long as we recognize it for what it is, confess it to the Lord, repent from the behavior and rely on Christ’s mercy and grace to forgive us from the sin through the power of his blood shed for us on the cross, and to sanctify us from sin toward holiness. We are all on a journey and will never be perfect in what we say or do - this side of heaven anyways.
I’ve become keenly aware of the idea that everything that happens on earth is designed to make us that much more homesick to be with the Lord. One of the things that has made me the most homesick to be with Jesus is the constant reminder that I am a sinner deserving of hell, but that God, in his good pleasure, called me through the power of the holy spirit to repent of my sin and to trust on him for salvation. The more wickedness I find in myself, the more I desire to see the author of the grace that saves me.
As a younger man, I struggled with integrity. I had a fanciful imagination and was sometimes willing to say things that weren’t true in order to stay out of trouble or buy myself more time to follow through with my commitments. As an older - and hopefully wiser man, I see the folly in such reckless behavior. Living a life without integrity is playing Russian roulette with our relationships - nothing will drive someone away further than not being able to trust what you say. We want to avoid the judgment in store for those who break their oaths and we also want to live in right relationship with Christ and others within the church. If we have struggled with this in the past, it’s not too late to get back on track - but it will be hard work. Everything with the Lord is good, so long as we really repent from our sin and turn away from that unrighteousness so that God can make us into the people he wants us to be. The harder problem is making it right with those in the church with whom we may have not dealt with as we should have - with integrity. While we serve a perfect God, we are not perfect - when people wrong us or give us reason not to trust them, we generally make note of that and it is not easily forgotten. If you are a person who has lived without integrity and are repentant and seeking the Lord’s forgiveness and sanctification in your life and you want to try to make peace with someone about a specific circumstance or just a general lack of integrity in life previously, I would encourage you to be opne and honest about your struggle - own your faults - and press into Jesus for deliverance and defense. Don’t shy away from the fact that you sinned against God and them by living without integrity; note that you are seeing how much Christ values integrity in his followers and ask for specific forgiveness.
Church - if you have been wronged by someone who has lived without integrity and it has given you a good solid reason not to trust them - as a lack of integrity often does - let me encourage you in this:
The sin that we’ve been forgiven by Jesus for so freely that we, ourselves, have committed against God - far outweighs what anyone else could have ever done to us. For a sinner to sin against another sinner is one thing - but for a sinner to sin against a holy God is completely other. If a holy God can forgive us and extend us grace when we come to him, why can’t we - mere sinners - extend that same grace to others when they sin agains us and pay the grace forward like we ought?
If I am looking at life objectively, I would imagine that there is a bit of all of us that fall on both sides of this coin - those who have acted without integrity at times and those who have been hurt by others not acting in integrity. This is what life is - a big messy pile that we need to work through. But thanks be to God who has accomplished more for us in Christ than we could ever hope for or ask, amen?
Let’s pray.
