Be Honest and Live Generously

Intro: Ask a student to make an oat and promise to do whatever I tell them, then make it impossible.

Why did you decide to do that?

Why didn’t you do what I had asked?

Has anyone ever made a promise that they couldn’t keep?

Well this week, we are going to be talking about being honest and living generously.

Matthew 5:33-42

Be Honest

Matthew 5:33-37

So, this first section is all about giving oaths, but that’s not typically what we call them anymore

What is an oath?

A vow or a promise that is given to do something or act a certain way

When do people give oaths?

Typically before they’re about to do something very weighty, or when they’re trying to convince someone of change

Why do people give oaths?

Ancient:

Divine retribution and accountability

If I don’t do this, may God destroy me

Modern

Legal accountability.

If I don’t do this, you can sue me.

Background

Jesus, when He starts this section, just like every other section, quotes a passage from the Old Testament (actually, it’s a few passages: Lev. 19:12, Num 30:2) about giving oaths.

Deuteronomy 23:21 ESV

“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.

So, according to this, if you give an oath and don’t keep it, then you were liable to judgement

Jewish people at the time, knowing this verse, would then take that and adjust what you put your oath on. So, instead of putting an oath on God, they would put an oath on something else, which is when Jesus says in vs. 34

Matthew 5:34–36 ESV

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.

So, Jesus tells the people that it’s not just Who you place your oath on, it’s making an oath in the first place.

Why shouldn’t we give oaths

An oath implies some ownership or responsibility in what you place your oath on.

“I swear on my mother’s life” implies that you will kill your mom if you don’t make it happen.

A follower of Jesus has no need to swear by anything because their word itself is a commitment that won’t be abandoned.

If Jesus really is your Lord and your God, then we don’t need to give oaths because we are already absolutely trustworthy! What we say is true, and we don’t say what isn’t true!

How do we live this way?

That’s really hard to do though, right?

It’s sometimes easy to make a promise we don’t intend to keep.

Or, we can make a promise that we mean to keep while things are easy, but then when stuff get’s hard it’s much more difficult!

Commit to what you say.

If you say that you are going to do something or live a certain way, actually do it!

I know that it’s hard, but if you live in such a way where people can’t trust you because you live dishonestly, it will not benefit you at all, and beyond that, it’s going to be really hard for you to be someone who can point out Jesus to others!

If you promise that you are going to love your friends, then you have to be a light for Jesus to your friends

If we promise that we will run from sin, then we must, with every fiber in our bodies, run from sin!

Be careful what you commit to.

This is going to be really hard (at least it is for me). DON’T SAY SOMETHING THAT YOU DON’T MEAN!

In all senses of the term, if you don’t mean what you’re going to say, then don’t say it! You will not be benefited by saying it.

It’s really easy for me to commit to something, but then actually doing it is exhausting!

Signed up for a 30 day ab challenge, made it to day 4!

The reason why Jesus talks about this is partially because if we are to be the people of God, then we must be people of grace and truth.

Imagine what it would be like if you were known as the person that does exactly what they say.

How would that affect your ability to tell people about Jesus?

You would look so very different from anyone else, because the rest of the world can make promises and never keep them.

We, as the people of God, are supposed to be able to live out Jesus’ plan for our lives, and that means living honestly.

Live Generously

Matthew 5:38-42

So, after this section on being honest and committing to what you say, Jesus then talks about retaliation.

He starts by quoting the Old testament again (Dt. 19:21, Ex. 21:24)

Leviticus 24:19–20 ESV

If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.

This was the Old Testament way of understanding justice, strict retaliation. BUT, this was not just a chance for you to get even, it actually was a way to start getting the people of Israel to understand something of justice

Old Testament vs. New Testament

In the Old Testament, it was common for a system of revenge and retaliation to run the day.

So, if someone damages a fencepost, you damage two to show them how bad it was.

If someone kills your ox so that you can’t get your work on the farm done, you kill a few of them to make it “even”

If someone kills the dog that your dead wife gave you, you kill like 50 gangsters and 10 assassins to prove a point (that was a John Wick reference in case you didn’t catch it)

So, God started moving the Israelites toward a system of actual justice by ending revenge.

If you lost an ox, they had to cover an ox.

If they broke your arm, their arm was broken.

It was a way for the Israelites to stop thinking about revenge and start thinking about justice.

Here’s the other big thing - it was REGULATED

You didn’t go and break their arm or take their ox, you brought your case to a government official and they took care of the justice side of things.

You weren’t encouraged to go John Wick on people

Then, when Jesus shows up, He changes the game

He gives 5 different examples on how to do this

Don’t resist one who is evil

If you get slapped, turn the other cheek to them

This was less about pain and more about the disrespect. It was like a challenge to get slapped

If you get sued, give them more

Imagine if that happened now!

If you’re forced to go one mile, go two

This is a Roman law that Jews had to live by. If a Roman soldier told a Jewish person to walk with their packs, they had to do it, but only for a mile.

Give to the beggar and borrower

This system ends the idea of retaliation, and instead, it paints a picture that the people of Jesus are instead going to give up our ability to get even.

This idea is also on the individual level and not the governmental level. It’s not like God hates justice, but the idea of getting even is never going to work!

So, now that we’ve talked about it, I know that there are some objections to this idea. This ideology has always been disliked, and that’s no different now.

Does this open me up to abuse and oppression?

YES! It does!

This way of living, of going the second mile and allowing damage to happen to you for the sake of love absolutely opens us up for harm.

However, that’s not to say that you have to live in it!

This type of generosity does not mean that you have to live in such a way that you are constantly being harmed. There are legitimate times to leave a relationship or a situation because it is not safe. That’s totally fine!

However, we are going to be people who can put up with a lot because we love our Lord even more.

Isn’t this being weak?

I think that dudes especially are going to have a problem with this one because our culture makes such a deal out of male pride - but don’t worry girls, I’m confident this will be really hard for you too!

It is not weak to live generously.

The people that I see that give everything of themselves to others so that the name of Jesus might be made known cannot be seen as weak by anyone.

The dude in your class that has to fight you if look at him wrong, or the girl at school that has to spread as vicious rumors if she feels like you aren’t idolizing her enough: that’s weakness masquerading as strength.

A Law of Taking vs. a Life of Giving.

When Jesus says these things, it can feel like all that we are doing here is just hurting ourselves for no reason.

“I get hurt and say nothing because that’s what I’m supposed to do?”

In reality though, this changes the game on oppression.

Imagine, for a second, that you are a Jewish person who has been forced by a Roman centurion to walk a mile with a heavy pack on your shoulder. You’re exhausted, he’s acting all smug, and then you make it the full mile. Instead of taking the pack off of your back, you look him in the eye and say, “I can keep going, lead on!”

Now, first, it’s actually illegal for the Roman soldier to force you to walk any further, so if he’s caught, he could be punished. But, more importantly, he was taking something from you in the first mile: you were giving something to him in the second mile.

Here’s another example, that might make a little more sense to you:

Have you ever been grounded? What were you grounded from?

What if, when that happened, you thanked your parents and asked for more time?

“You know, I’ve spent a lot of time on my phone recently, thanks for encouraging me to give that up! In fact, could you keep it for longer?”

They would freak out!

This way of living is a way for you to live generously with others. You can give of your time and your energy and your effort, because it’s a way for you to live like Jesus and live kindly.

How does this work?

If someone insults you, respond kindly

Live peaceably even when the people that you don’t like are around.

This is so very clear in the life of Jesus.

Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, was brought before multiple different governmental and religious rulers. Even while He was beaten, He didn’t retaliate. As He was crucified, He asked for the forgiveness of the people who had crucified Him!

And that’s just the physical stuff! He went to the cross because I have sinned and have hurt God and made a distance between Him that I can’t cross. And still, because of the love that God has for me, He crossed that distance and took all of my sin on Himself so that I didn’t have to pay for them. It was a gift of love and sacrifice that Jesus went to the cross, and it was for you, that you might come and be with the One who made you and loves you! Let’s start living that way!

If you had to collect one weird thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Do you think that people take you at your word? Why or why not?

What does it look like for you to become a person of your word?

How can you live sacrificially like Jesus does this week?