Let Your Yes Be Yes: The Weight of Our Words
Notes
Transcript
A. Rapport for the time
B. Reading of the text
12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
C. Review of the text
James is a book of pushing us as Christians to live according to what we believe. Can you imagine the God of the universe saving a people to live the way they have always lived? The beloved are called to live a holy life pleasing before the Lord. But not in our own power and definitely not in our own ways. Life is lived by the power of the Holy Spirit to live worthy of all that we have been given. James 5 has been teaching us about patience and what it looked like in the life of farmers, prophets and in our good buddy Job. You and I have been instructed to be patient with one another as well as ourselves. Realizing that we are not the judge of the universe instead we are in the hands of the perfect judge, who never gets anything wrong.
D. Relevance of the text
For the context, some say this is the coherence between the former matter and the present verse: men in affliction are usually impatient, and impatiency bewrayeth itself by oaths and curses,—a conceit very injudicious, and no way complying with the intent of the apostle
The verse this morning is a bridge to the end of James. We have looked at many moments in James in which he changes topics from one thing to another. And we find ourselves going from the talk of patience back to the last talk about our speech. As we dive into this verse this morning we look to carry ourselves with integrity letting what we say be truly what we mean.
T.S. James begins with Embracing Simple Speech.
1. Embrace Simple Speech
1. Embrace Simple Speech
12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
Chapter 3 of James taught us all kinds of new stuff about our tongues.
4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,
The example given to us in these texts taught us how the God desires for us in the power of the Lord to control that which comes from our mouths.
A heart of stone that has been made alive will make our mouths sound different. It will produce in us a different way go about our daily activities and James 5:12 is exactly that.
But above all, my brothers do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath
To make sure we understand the context it is helpful to use the Sermon on the mount verses read earlier.
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.’
34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
It’s not that we can’t take an oath, like in a court room, or use an oath as a commitment like God does.
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,
14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.”
15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.
17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,
18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
The problem is in the way we take the oaths in everyday events or every day language.
MacArthur
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
What Christ is forbidding here is the flippant, profane, or careless use of oaths in everyday speech. In that culture, such oaths were often employed for deceptive purposes. To make the person being victimized believe the truth was being told, the Jews would swear by “heaven,” “earth,” “Jerusalem,” or their own “heads” (vv. 34–36), not by God, hoping to avoid divine judgment for their lie. But it all was in God’s creation, so it drew Him in and produced guilt before Him, exactly as if the oath were made in His name. Jesus suggested that all our speech should be as if we were under an oath to tell the truth (v. 37
As a Christian, part of the brothers, we are not able to take the authority of God for granted and use it for our own personal gain. This is not a servants heart and not one that is looking to be a representative to the King. Swearing by heaven or an oath is trying to convince someone that what I said is true and factual.
T.S. This is why its not only embracing Simple speech but truly avoiding empty oaths
2. Avoid Empty Oaths
2. Avoid Empty Oaths
12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
James is calling us to live a life of integrity as we walk in this world. This is repeat of what would be:
37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
The Letter of James, Second Edition A. Oaths and Truthfulness (5:12)
our truthfulness should be so consistent and dependable that we need no oath to support it—a simple “yes” or “no” should suffice
The Lord warned about this very thing when talking with the scribes and the Pharisees in:
16 “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.’
17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?
18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’
19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it.
22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
There is no need for us to use God flippantly in our life. He alone is God and is able to do all that he says but we do not have this same authority. I do not know what tomorrow holds for myself or anyone else. No need to pretend like I do and speak as though I can control things that I can’t control. Christians are in danger of of relying on promises instead of hones, everyday commitments. The integrity in our daily communications serves as a powerful witness to those around us. The encouragement is to recognize that our truthful words honor Christ, who is the Faithful and True witness.
T.S. Embrace simple Speech, Avoid Empty oaths and Acknowledge Speech consequences.
3. Acknowledge Speech Consequences
3. Acknowledge Speech Consequences
12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
Beloved, the lost act as though they are lost. Meaning the redeemed should live as though they are redeemed.
As believers the things that James has warned us about can’t be patterns of our life or we will find ourselves amongst the unredeemed.
So that you may not fall under condemnation.
He has warned us a lot in James.
4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Even last week
9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
Application:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Ultimately James is telling us how we speak truly matters in our walk with Christ. The Gospel relationship with the God of creation will change our day to day habit and life that is found in him alone.
