Uprooting Duplicity

INTRODUCTION:

On October 11, 1975, Bill and Hillary Clinton were joined in marriage. Before God and witnesses, they entered into a covenant promise.

Seventeen years later, Bill Clinton was elected the 42nd president of the United States.

With his hand on the Bible, he took another oath before God to faithfully execute the office of president.

But in 1998, both of those commitments came under public scrutiny. His adulterous affair with Monica Lewinsky stained his public image. In addition to the shame of adultery was his duplicity in covering it up.

On January 26, 1998, President Clinton looked into the camera and said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman — Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time, never. These allegations are false”

But the allegations were not false. And his statement was functionally dishonest. His words had been carefully crafted to give the appearance of innocence without actually telling the truth.

Later, under oath, he parsed the technical definitions. He famously said in a legal deposition, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”

He may have survived some legal consequences, but he lost moral credibility.

Two commitments had been compromised: a marriage covenant and a public oath.

And while Bill Clinton is a famous example, he is not the only one guilty. What happened on a national stage happens every day in living rooms, courtrooms, offices, and churches.

People use words to conceal a truth rather than state truth plainly. They package the facts dishonest narrative, eroding any trust in their character.

They apply technical loopholes and avoid simple honesty.

Integrity is compromised by duplicity.

Set The Table

Jesus addresses this issue in the Sermon on the Mount, his masterful blueprint for the flourishing life.

A flourishing life is found in God’s Kingdom. Kingdom people have a certain kind of character.

Many philosophers had written on flourishing but none could deliver it fully. Jesus breaks in with a totally different system: a greater righteousness than they had ever known.

Jesus explains this ethic with six illustrations that follow his requirements for the kingdom.

Matthew 5:20 CSB

20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

With six illustrations he raises the bar from “what they heard” to what “Jesus had to say.” The scribes and pharisees had twisted God’s Law and lowered the bar of “righteousness.”

Kingdom righteousness starts in the heart. It’s not just our actions but motive beneath the surface: from anger, to lust, and deception.

Righteousness isn’t just what you avoid. It is about what you love and desire.

Ethics aren’t measured by external actions but the character of the one who does them.

Jesus is asking “What kind of person are you becoming before God?”

In the first illustration, Jesus addresses anger and shows us the need for giving mercy. In the second illustration he addresses lust and shows us the value of purity.

Both of these themes correspond with the Beatitudes described in Matthew 5:7-8

Matthew 5:7–8 CSB

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Matthew 5:31-37 gives us the third and fourth illustrations: marriage and personal oaths.

In it, Jesus makes a connection between flourishing and keeping our commitments.

At first, they look like separate topics, but together they expose the same disease. Both expose a heart of duplicity and promote a life of integrity.

Read The Text

With that in mind let’s read our text. Matthew 5:31-37

Matthew 5:31–37 CSB

31 “It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce. 32 But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 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.

Divorce and and oath-breaking both violate a promise. Each one deals with human failure.

Divorce legally severs a bond whereas oaths provide addition protection. Both are dealing with human duplicity whether before or after the fact.

In the kingdom of God, neither apply because the ethics of heaven will reign. Their obsession over technicalities had caused them to miss the invitation.

Jesus will give them a concrete picture of the greater righteousness of God’s Kingdom. His New Covenant people will have his New Covenant law written upon their hearts.

Before we begin, let me just say, I know this issue is charged.Some of you might be in a divorce. Others have just survived.

Few people come from a place of neutrality and many are carrying real scars.

This sermon is not some “drive-by” guilting or way to inflict greater pain. My goal is to offer hope and help through the truth that Jesus gives.

Many have used this passage to do the opposite. That’s why it’s important to read it rightly.

So, instead of starting with the topic of divorce we’re going to first deal with making oaths. What Jesus says about those vows will frame his comments on marriage.

KEEPING YOUR COMMITMENTS

With divorce and oaths, Jesus rebukes their obsession with legal technicality.

As they had with with murder and adultery they were totally misreading God’s Law.

Concessions and loopholes can thwart God’s design and that is the warning from Jesus.

To fully appreciate what Jesus critiques, we need to know the cultural background. Let’s pick it back up In Matthew 5:33.

Matthew 5:33 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.

This quote from Jesus effectively summarized several Old Testament passages. (Lev 19:12; Num 30:2; Deut 23:21.) They didn’t so much prohibit oaths as caution making oaths to the LORD.

Leviticus 19:12 CSB

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

Numbers 30:2 CSB

2 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

21 “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.

These restrictions flow from the third of the ten commandments. The CSB says, “Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God.” Most memorized it as “Thou shall not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.” (Ex 20:7; Deut 5:11)

Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t saying “God” before the “D-word” when you stub your toe.

It’s attaching to God what he doesn’t represent. It effectively profanes his name.

For example, God is holy and cannot be tempted nor does he tempt anyone with evil. To say “God told me” to justify your sin is to violate the third commandment.

To say “God told me” for unrighteous cause is to associate God with what he hates. Any attempt to do so thereby blasphemes his name.

Similarly, when you “swear to God” but fail to keep your oath, you’re essentially putting on God on the hook for dishonest speech and duplicity.

The Jewish people took this warning very seriously and rarely used the name of God.

Instead of swearing to God they developed alternatives.

They would get as close to God without saying it directly, to hold the tension between emphasis and blasphemy.

We do something similar today but we start at the bottom and work from there.

When we were kids we would swear on our “life” but nobody took that very seriously. So we’d raise the bar to swear on the Bible or even swear on our mother’s grave! Finally, if needed we would even swear to God.

Jesus alludes to that same dynamic in verses 34-36. They started with heaven and worked their way down from there.

First is was heaven. (Mat 5:34)

Then it was the earth. (Mat 5:35)

Then it was Jerusalem. (Mat 5:35)

Finally, the least significant was swearing on your life (Mat 5:36)

Caustic Words

What might’ve began with noble intentions began to justify sinful duplicity.

Laws that were given to curb blasphemy were twisted to justify dishonest speech.

They created a random list of casuistic phrases that would determine whether one’s oath was truly binding.

If you swore by the temple then your oath could be broken. But if you swore by the gold in the temple, then you were bound by your oath. (Mat 23:16)

Jesus address this head on in Matthew 23. He strongly rebukes the scribes and pharisees for their misuse of the Law of God.

Matthew 23:16–17 CSB

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?

They had made distinctions between the altar and the gift upon it. Or swearing by heaven versus the God who sits in heaven.

Their casuistry concealed their dishonest motives.

Jesus concludes in Matthew 23 what he concludes in Matthew 5.

Matthew 23:20–22 CSB

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.

In other words, you think you’re innocent because you avoid the name of God. But you can’t swear by the temple without swearing by God as well.

Everything you swear by in heaven or on earth essentially belongs to God: including your very life.

You can’t swear by heaven because it’s the throne of God. (Mat 5:34)

You can’t swear by earth because it is his footstool. (Mat 5:35)

You can’t swear by Jerusalem because it’s God’s Holy City. (Mat 5:35)

You can’t swear by your head because God determines it’s color. (Mat 5:36)

There are no special words that can free you from your oaths. Which is why your words must communicate the truth.

Credible Speech

Jesus makes a simple point in Matthew 5:37. It brings the focus back to the heart.

Matthew 5:37 CSB

37 But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.

Jesus isn’t saying you cannot take an oath. But he IS saying those oaths should not be needed.

The people of God don’t need to swear an oath because the words that they speak are the words that they mean.

In other words, stop using fancy words to cover over what you mean. Just say what you mean using words that will convey it.

You should not lead people to believe one thing while secretly taking them a different direction.

This applies to so much more than just the making of oaths. This applies to every word you speak to every person. Strive to be a person who means what they say as well as a person who says what they mean.

Christian speech should be credible.

With our Father in heaven, you can trust what he says. We are his children and should reflect his design. (Mat 5:48)

The absence of credibility makes us like the Father of Lies. Jesus says so at the end of verse 37.

Matthew is fond of this phrase, “The Evil One.” He uses it in the Lord’s Prayer and other places in his Gospel. It’s a reference to Satan, the best liar ever. He has been lying from the start and in a certain way.

He deceives the world as an angel of light. You see it in the Garden of Eden and again in the temptation of Jesus. He doesn’t deceive using falsehoods. His deception is more subtle through twisting the truth.

“You won’t surely die… Did God really say? He knows that you’ll be like God, knowing good and evil… Since your the son of God… Bow to me and I’ll give you everything…”

Just like the scribes and pharisees used “righteous speech” to justify their evil, so Satan uses “biblical truth” wrongly applied.

Don’t allow yourself to be deceived by those lies. And don’t become guilty of the same.

Divorce Certificates

But that’s not the only technical loophole they had found. They also applied this loop hole to the covenant of marriage.

Matthew 5:31 CSB

31 “It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.

Matthew 5:31 is a paraphrase of Deuteronomy 24:1.

The quotation was taken to mean, “divorce is just fine if it’s done by the book.”

The problem with their certificates is that they corrupted God’s initial design.

Moreover, their obsession with legal concessions distracted them from God’s intent. Because they’d missed God’s heart they would never enter his kingdom.

They would never become merciful or pure in heart because their vision of righteousness was deficient.

As with murder, adultery and oaths before, their focus was not on the heart. Their focus was on the legal concessions that loosened God’s righteous expectation.

These “rules” were given in Deuteronomy 24 which is what Jesus quotes in this passage. Before we read Deuteronomy 24, I want to read Matthew 19.

The Marriage Debate

Matthew 19 is an interpretive key for understanding this passage on divorce.

The pharisees had challenged Jesus to take a side on the “divorce debate.”

Matthew 19:3 CSB

3 Some Pharisees approached him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on any grounds?”

Two theological camps had developed on the question of divorce. The phrase “any grounds” helps to shed light light on the debate.

The question wasn’t “whether” a person could file divorce but rather what “grounds” made divorce permissible.

There were two schools of thought, each appealing to Deuteronomy 24. Specially two words in the middle of verse 1.

Deuteronomy 24:1 CSB

1 “If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, he may write her a divorce certificate, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.

The words “something indecent” (erwat davar) is literally “a naked matter.”

The school of Shammai took the phrase in a narrow sense and made the grounds the act of adultery.

The school of Hilel took a broader view and argued grounds for any indecency.

The view that won the day was the school of Hilel. By the time you get to the second century the concessions were out of control.

Convenience or Covenant?

These so-called “grounds” for divorce made a mockery of covenant marriage.

Here’s a list of some of the most egregious rationales.

Barren, Deaf, Mute, Warts, Leprosy or Epilepsy

Funky Head, Eyes, Ears, Mouth, Hands, Knees or Toes

Bad Figure, Big Feet, Bony Ankles or Bowed Legs

Poor Cook, Bad Name, Loud Mouth, Nagging Voice

Sexual Dissatisfaction or Finding “Someone Better”

We might look at this list and think it’s ridiculous but we’re not much better today.

Except we don’t appeal to some outside standard. We simply call it “irreconcilable differences.”

Jesus rebukes this mindset towards marriage because it corrupts God’s design. This is true at two levels. Look again at Matthew 19.

Matthew 19:4–9 CSB

4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that he who created them in the beginning made them male and female, 5 and he also said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Notice what Jesus does. He points them away from Deuteronomy and points them back to the book of Genesis. He’s trying to bring them back to God’s purpose.

That law in Deuteronomy was never supposed to be the focus. God’s original design can be seen in the Garden of Eden.

It was a one flesh union between one man and one woman in a life-long commitment until the very end.

As you might imagine, they were slow to get the point. So they then raise the question about Deuteronomy 24.

Matthew 19:4–9 CSB

7 “Why then,” they asked him, “did Moses command us to give divorce papers and to send her away?” 8 He told them, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts, but it was not like that from the beginning. 9 I tell you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery.”

On the one hand, Jesus sides with the school of Shammai. But he takes that position for a totally different reason.

Instead of focusing on the technical interpretation of Hebrew words. He points their attention to God’s original ideal.

Marriage was designed to be a permanent covenant.

The concession wasn’t given to justify divorce. The concession was given to protect the victims of it!

From the beginning men have mistreated women. Even in Israel, they were treated like property. Wife swapping was common even in Israel. Deuteronomy 24 is addressing that specifically!

Deuteronomy 24:2–4 CSB

2 If after leaving his house she goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 and the second man hates her, writes her a divorce certificate, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house or if he dies, 4 the first husband who sent her away may not marry her again after she has been defiled, because that would be detestable to the Lord. You must not bring guilt on the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

The Creational Ideal

Notice what Moses is saying. The hardness of your heart doesn’t change God’s design.

You can’t treat your marriage like it’s not a life-long covenant. If you divorce your wife and she marries another man, you can’t take her back like nothing has happened!

Concessions do not cancel God’s initial design.

That’s the entire point. God’s initial design for covenant marriage was one man, one woman, one life-long union. Sex is the seal and gift of that union and it’s only permitted within that covenant context.

Breaking that covenant for any other reason other than the reason of sexual immorality may be justified in the eyes of other people but it is not justified in the eyes of God.

That divorce really symbolizes a hardness of heart and personal rejection of God’s good design. You may still do so but there is moral culpability.

Matthew 5:32 CSB

32 But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Did you notice how the focus is on the husband in this passage? The same kind of language is in Deuteronomy 24.

Some of that is due to the cultural norms of that time. A woman could file for divorce but that was really uncommon.

Women were economically dependent on men for their provision. Without a husband and children you simply did not survive.

The certificate was a mercy in that it gave the woman legal cover to marry another man without the social shame.

Jesus would not be contradicting Deuteronomy. But that context does make application much more challenging.

Today, it’s just as likely for a WOMAN to file for divorce and for the husband to be a victim in the process. I’ve seen many spouses just decide to up and quit. There was no sexual sin or biblical justification.

Special Cases

While the application might messy, one thing IS NOT TRUE. Jesus isn’t saying, remarriage is off the table.

I’ve seen and heard this passage used as a prohibition against all remarriage. I think that misinterprets what Jesus actually says.

For example, if your spouse cheated on you and then in shame files for divorce. Or maybe they file for divorce to be with that other person. If that happens to you, you are a victim of a hardened heart.

That DOES NOT MEAN remarriage is off the table. It does not mean, your fated to a life of singleness. There would be people who disagree with me. When we get to Matthew 19, I’ll try and address the nuance.

For now, just take note of who Jesus holds accountable. The moral stain of the adultery isn’t placed on the victim. It’s rather the hardened heart that put that person in their predicament.

There are thousands of situations and they bring up important questions. I can’t address them nor does Jesus attempt to try. His goal in the sermon on the mount was to pull people beyond concessions and loopholes!

Christ-Like Love

Jesus is concerned that we get back to God’s true purpose. The law of God was given so that he might heal our hearts.

But what the Law does well cannot save our soul. It reveals our sin but it’s powerless to save.

That’s why God sent Jesus to do what the Law could never do. And Jesus did that work through his death and resurrection.

It’s the good news of this Gospel that Christian marriage represents! “The marriage mystery is profound because it’s points to Christ and the Church!” (Eph 5:32)

The beatitudes of Jesus are descriptive of this bride. But the way God makes us holy is through the love of Christ.

Jesus washes us clean with the water of the Word. Jesus motivates our submission through his sacrificial service.

Christian spouses should be known for their Christ-like love.

That love is not conditional or driven by convenience. This love that we pour out is first poured in by God.

That love was first revealed as the Father sent the Son and then it was poured out through his death on the cross.

Through his life and death Jesus paints the picture. True flourishing is found through sacrificial love.

Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.

Blessed are the peace makers for they will be called Sons of God.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.

CONCLUSION

I wish this life was easy but that was never promised. But it is available to every single person.

What’s required of you is repentance and belief.

Repentance is agreement with God about the facts. Repent of deficient righteousness and cry out for God’s mercy.

In humility cast yourself upon the mercy of the Lord, trusting in his provision through the person of Jesus Christ.

It’s in the dying to yourself that true life will finally start. And it’s in living for Jesus Christ that a flourishing life is found.

Our experience of that life doesn’t not happen quickly. But it is inevitable if you will walk by faith.

A flourishing life requires consistent.

This morning is God’s call for you to start that process. Jesus has provided everything you need.

All that you must do, is give yourself to him. Let God fill your heart with the love of Christ. Then, in service to him, pour out his love on others.

Starting in your marriage, through your Christ-like love.

Extending to your words that you speak to every person.

Be a person known for true integrity. Blessed are the pure in heart for THEY WILL SEE GOD.