Weighty Words
Notes
Transcript
Me
Me
Growing up, my dad used to tell Cam and I:
“We may not have a lot of money,
but you do have a good name around here. Your grandpa and I have worked hard to keep it respected. Don’t throw that away!”
And as a kid, I did not fully understand how valuable that was.
Or as Proverbs 22:1 says:
“A good name is to be chosen over great wealth.”
The older I get, the more I realize:
Trust takes years to build and moments to damage.
A good name is not built through perfection.
It is built through integrity.
Through truthfulness.
Through people learning that your words actually mean something.
Because the weight of our words is revealed when honesty becomes inconvenient.
That is where integrity gets tested.
Not when truthfulness is easy.
Not when it costs us nothing.
But when honesty becomes
Uncomfortable, expensive,
Embarrassing, or inconvenient.
Growing up, one of the pastors who deeply shaped my life was Pastor Clem.
He was the kind of man whose words carried weight
Because his life consistently backed them up.
One day he was doing some work around the house, He needed a pick-axe
So borrowed one from his neighbor.
But somehow, it got lost.
And suddenly honesty cost something.
Money.
Embarrassment.
Responsibility.
Now Clem could have made excuses.
He could have avoided the conversation.
He could have hoped the neighbor forgot about it.
But he was a man whose word meant something.
So he went out,
bought a brand-new pick-axe, and brought it back to his neighbor.
And when he handed it over, he explained:
“I lost yours, so here’s a new one.”
And the neighbor laughed and said:
“Well, would you like to borrow my car then?!?”
Because integrity builds trust.
Words carry weight when people consistently choose truthfulness
Even when it costs them something.
We
We
And honestly, all of us know the difference between words that feel cheap, and words that carry weight.
Some people constantly overpromise.
Overexplain.
Exaggerate.
Say “trust me bro” every few minutes.
And somehow,
The more words they use, the less believable they become.
Then there are people whose words carry weight because their lives consistently reinforce what they say.
People like Clem
I think part of the reason this resonates so much is because we live in a world where words often feel disposable.
Post now.
Delete later.
Promise now.
Excuse it later.
React now.
Clarify later.
And somewhere along the way,
We have become so accustomed to inflated speech, exaggerated claims,
And broken promises that trust itself starts becoming fragile.
I think part of the reason integrity matters so much
Is because we know how fragile trust can be.
That is why humanity has always created things like:
Contracts, vows, oaths, signatures, and witnesses.
Because we know words can become cheap.
And by the time we get to Matthew 5,
People had built entire systems that gave the appearance of truthfulness
While avoiding the heart of integrity.
Because words lose their weight when the life behind them no longer matches them.
And so, Jesus is confronting a world full of weightless words.
God
God
Sinful People Make Words Worthless (v.33-36)
Sinful People Make Words Worthless (v.33-36)
When Jesus begins talking about oaths here,
He is not mainly correcting bad vocabulary.
He is exposing a deeper problem underneath human speech.
Because sinful hearts have a tendency to separate words from character.
Matthew 5:33–36 “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.”
That is exactly what the Pharisees had done.
They had created entire systems around oath-taking.
If you swore one way, it counted.
If you swore another way, it did not.
If you swore by the temple, that was less binding.
But, if you swore by the gold of the temple, that counted more.
People had learned how to technically sound truthful,
While avoiding full responsibility for truthfulness.
And we still do this all the time.
Fine print.
Lawyer-speak.
“Results not typical.”
“I technically never said that.”
Carefully constructed word salads that sound honest,
While side stepping the full cost of being honest
But before we are too hard on the Pharisees, let’s ask a question:
Why do oaths exist in the first place?
Why do people say:
“I swear to God.”
“I swear” while placing their hand on a Bible.”
“I swear on my mother’s grave.”
It seems that deep down, we know something,
Words by themselves are fragile.
Trust is fragile.
And when people do not trust our ordinary words,
We try to strengthen them by appealing to something greater than ourselves.
So, an oath is a way of saying,
“Don’t just trust me,
Trust the authority behind me.”
It is a way of giving our words more weight than they can carry on their own.
The problem is not that oaths are evil.
The problem is that sinful people will always find ways to misuse them.
The Pharisees thought the solution was better oath systems.
Jesus says the problem is not weak oaths.
The problem is weak character.
Because our words only carry weight when our lives support them.
The reason I know that this is not just a Pharisee problem, is because I have experienced it in my own life.
When I was in 10th grade Honors English,
I had put off a major assignment until the night before it was due.
I was exhausted.
Stressed.
Having 1am regrets about all my life choices.
So naturally, I came up with what felt like a brilliant idea.
Instead of doing all the chapter summaries honestly,
I took summaries from Cliff Notes, changed a few sentences,
mixed in some of my own work, and convinced myself it would probably be enough.
Except for one teeny tiny problem:
Turnitin.com
So I got caught.
And what hurt most, was not the grade consequences, or losing out on AP English
It was the realization that I had publicly been an outspoken Christian in that class.
My teacher led the LGBT alliance at the school,
And I had openly represented myself as someone who followed Jesus.
And suddenly, I became another example of a hypocritical Christian
Another Christian publicly proclaiming to follow Jesus,
Whose life does not match his words
Looking back, what scares me most is how easy it was to justify.
I was not thinking:
“I want to become a dishonest hypocritical Christian!”
I was thinking:
“I am tired.”
“I can barely function right now”
“I can’t manage this project, and I’m going to fail if I don’t get this in!”
I was too short-sighted to realize how careless words on a page could do such damage
To my trust, my witness, and the name of Jesus I publicly claimed to represent
I think this is exactly the kind of heart issue Jesus is confronting here.
The tendency to want our words to be believed
Rather than allowing God to shape the character behind them.
Because our words only carry weight when our lives support them.
So Jesus says:
Do not swear by heaven.
Do not swear by earth.
Do not swear by Jerusalem.
At first glance, that sounds strange.
Why does Jesus care what object they swear by?
The problem was the Pharisees had turned oath-taking into a game of technicalities.
A system of loopholes.
A way of creating different levels of accountability.
Their logic was simple:
“If I swear by something less sacred, I am less obligated to keep my word.”
But Jesus completely dismantles that thinking.
Because heaven is God’s throne.
Earth is God’s footstool.
Jerusalem is the city of the Great King.
Even when they swore by their own head,
Jesus reminds them that they cannot even change the color of a single hair!
We cannot escape God’s authority by choosing a different object for our oaths.
I think the natural question for many of us is
Why would God be so angry over something we don’t think about today?
That is because this was never merely about broken promises.
It was about broken witnesses
When God’s people use God’s name, it reflects on how people view God!
For example in Ezekiel,
King Zedekiah had invoked God’s name for the oath of a political treaty,
And then acted as though God’s authority no longer mattered when politics made it inconvenient, and so he broke the treaty!
To a Worldly perspective it looks smart and strategic
From God’s perspective it was covenant treachery, it was high treason!
And that is exactly why Jesus speaks so strongly here.
Because words carry weight.
Promises carry weight.
Truthfulness carries weight.
When our words become disconnected from our lives, trust begins to collapse.
And when trust collapses, God’s name is dragged down with it.
Jesus Forms a People Whose Words Carry Weight (v.37)
Jesus Forms a People Whose Words Carry Weight (v.37)
And that raises an important question:
If the problem is not weak oaths,
If the problem is not finding better words,
If the problem is not creating stronger promises,
Then what is Jesus’ answer?
Jesus’ answer is not better oath-taking.
It is becoming the kind of people whose ordinary words can be trusted.
That is exactly where Jesus has been taking us.
He is not merely exposing how sinful hearts make words worthless.
He is inviting us to become the kind of people whose words carry weight
37 But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.
At first, that sounds almost too simple.
Just say yes.
Just say no.
But Jesus is not giving us a communication technique.
He is describing a transformed life of character
Think about how radical this would have sounded.
In a world full of loopholes, oath systems, and technicalities
Jesus imagines a community where ordinary speech is trustworthy.
Where people do not need elaborate promises.
Where people do not need to constantly say:
“I swear.”
“I promise.”
“Trust me.”
Because their lives consistently reinforce their words.
Their yes means yes.
Their no means no.
Their character gives weight to their words.
This is why Jesus is not merely interested in making us better promise-keepers.
He is making us into people of integrity.
Not perfect people.
Not people who never fail.
Not people who never need forgiveness.
But people whose lives increasingly align with what they say.
Like Clem, or my Dad
This kind of character is not produced by stronger rules or trying harder
It is produced by abiding with Jesus.
Because the longer we walk with Him,
The more our lives begin to reflect His character.
Jesus never used words to create an impression that His life could not support.
He simply spoke the truth.
And His life consistently backed it up.
That is the kind of person Jesus is forming.
A person whose words carry weight
A person whose actions consistently reinforce what they say.
This is why abiding people should be careful with their commitments.
Not because they are unwilling to serve
Nor because they are unwilling to help.
But because they understand that words and commitments carry weight
It is better to give an honest “no” than a careless “yes” that never materializes.
Jesus is not merely after truthful speech.
He is forming truthful people.
People whose words and lives increasingly move in the same direction.
And as Jesus forms that kind of character in us,
Our “yes” becomes yes.
Our “no” becomes no.
And our words begin to reflect the truthfulness of the One we follow.
You
You
I mean, most of us are probably not tempted to swear by heaven or Jerusalem.
But we are tempted to say yes too quickly.
To overpromise.
To exaggerate.
To make commitments we have not really counted the cost of.
To present a version of ourselves that our lives can’t fully support.
Most of us do not struggle because we intend to deceive people.
We struggle because we want to be helpful.
We want people to like us.
We want to avoid disappointing others.
We want to look better than we really are.
And before we know it, our words start outrunning our character.
So what does abiding look like this week when it comes to the words we speak and the commitments we make?
It might mean slowing down before you answer.
Before saying yes.
Before making a promise.
Before committing to something.
And instead asking:
“Can I genuinely follow through on this?”
“Am I saying yes because I can do it, or because I don’t want to disappoint someone?”
“What would honesty look like right now?”
Because abiding teaches us that we do not need to impress people
We simply need to listen to what Jesus would have us do
Our identity is already secure in Christ.
Which means we are free to tell the truth.
Free to say:
“I can’t do that.”
“I made a mistake.”
“I forgot.”
“I was wrong.”
“I need help.”
Those may not sound like spiritual words.
But they are often the words of a person who is abiding.
Because abiding people are learning that honesty is more important than appearance.
However, abiding also means honoring the commitments we have already made.
Not because we always feel like it.
Not because it is convenient.
But because our words matter.
Growing up, our church had to set up and tear down every week
My dad, my brother, and I were already part of the setup and teardown team.
But, there were times when people who had signed up to help would call off.
Sometimes there were legitimate reasons.
But sometimes they just did not want to come.
When that happened, my dad would grab my brother and me, and we’d go help with setup.
Not because I always wanted to.
Honestly, most of the time I didn’t.
I’d rather stay watching Saturday night cartoons!
Now, I never remember my dad turning it into a complaint session.
Instead, he taught us something simple: Your Word Matters
If you said you would help, then help.
If you made a commitment, then honor it.
Looking back, I realize we weren’t just stacking chairs.
My dad was teaching us what it means to be faithful.
We were learning what it means to keep your word when it becomes inconvenient.
We were learning that honoring our commitments is one way we honor Jesus and His church.
Sometimes maturity looks less like making exciting new promises
And more like faithfully keeping old, or ordinary ones.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is show up and do
What you already said you would do.
So abiding people embody two things:
To be thoughtful before they commit.
And to be faithful after they commit.
Not perfectly.
Not without failure.
Not without needing grace.
But increasingly.
Because Jesus is helping us closing the gap between what we say and how we live.
And as He does, our yes begins to mean yes.
Our no begins to mean no.
And our words, and lives, begin to reflect the truthfulness of the One we follow.
The good news is that Jesus is not merely exposing where our words and lives fail to match.
He is not standing over us looking for reasons to condemn us.
He is inviting us into a different way of living.
A life where we no longer need to manage appearances.
A life where we no longer need stronger promises to compensate for weaker character.
A life where our words increasingly reflect the reality of who we are becoming in Him.
And that transformation does not happen overnight.
It happens one conversation at a time.
One commitment at a time.
One honest answer at a time.
As we continue abiding with Jesus.
So this week, before you say yes.
Before you make a promise.
Before you explain yourself.
Pause.
And ask:
“Is this true?”
“Can I faithfully follow through?”
“What would it look like for my words and my life to move in the same direction?”
Because Jesus forms people whose words carry weight.
Not through stronger oaths.
But through transformed hearts.
Benediction
Benediction
From Psalm 15, a Psalm of David:
“Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?
The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind;
Whoever does these things will never be shaken.”
Church, may we abide in Jesus this week.
May our words and lives increasingly move in the same direction.
And may our yes be yes,
and our no be no,
As we reflect the character of the One we follow.
Amen.
