Jesus on Oaths

Introduction:

RED LETTERS II: “The words of the Teacher”

Jesus’ New Torah is the Best

Early in Jesus’ ministry, teachers may have been asking if he was doing away w/ the law

Trying to reformat it or twist it to his adv.?

Every1 had own interp.—X challenged standard views & convo. ‘been happening for centuries…

So, right up front in sermon, begins with:

Matthew 5:17,20 ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them… For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

He says the the Law was good, but it needs to be summed up, ‘filled full’, made complete.

He claims that HE, Jesus from little town Naz’th has come to fill them full…

Jesus claims that his Way of seeing the Torah will lead to even greater righteousness than the Bible nerds of His day…

But what does Bibley word "Right’ss" Mean?

‘Right’ is key part here. Any way that endears you to or helps you relate well with someone.

Right’ss essentially means good behavior, fair treat’t; but it always involves others.

Relational wholeness.

Yhwh ALWAYS interacts rightly w us, so HE is righteous. We can aspire to or learn His way…

Jesus’ “Greater Righteousness” = the Best way to live rightly with God & others.

The Phar’s were not treating their fellow Jews well… nor God… & X knew it!

So he breaks down Examples of what he means:

Two ‘Triplets’ about treating everyone with dignity & navigating conflict.

The first triad/triplet we’ve looked at: Murder/bitt’ss, & [lst wk] Sex & adult’ry. Divorce is the final hot button topic Jesus covers.

The running theme in this triad is: treating everyone w/ DIGNITY & RESPECT.

Not holding bitterness, but offering forg’ss; not lowering some1’s worth to their body/sex; valuing marr. covenant ‘til death do you part…

TODAY:

We begin a new triplet on navigating [inevitable] conflicts.

Even tho we treat others with dignity, still room for offense & conflict—diff. lvls!

We can’t control 100% how others react to what we say/do.

We CAN control how we react.

So JC addresses that: Oath-keeping, Revenge, & Rivalry

The first of the three is on >>

Ancient Oaths

Jesus preached:

Matthew 5:33–37 ““Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

Want to take you back to Ancient Israel quickly—bc the context completely lost on us.

In ancient Israel, swearing oath to someone in God’s name more common practice.

“I swear by the name of YHWH that I will return your rented donkeys with interest!”

1 Samuel 28:10 “Saul swore to [the witch] by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.””

Carrying w the 4 consonants, divine name givn to Moshe, were ideas of transcendence, hugeness, power, & unending unstoppability.

Unfortunately, our OT doesn’t have a very good view of these oaths to YHWH:

Freq. broken or foolish in OT. So not even seen as nec. good.

PROB: From the time that our OT canon was completed to Jesus’ day, ppl stopped saying the divine name.

Out of reverence & speciality, ppl didn’t say it

Needed to find something else to swear by…

By the first century AD, people would swear oaths by elemental forces or structures that were great & associated with Yahweh… w/out using His name.

Unfortunately,

People would make excuses as to why they were not obligated to fulfill their promise—find loopholes.

“I swore by the sun? It’s cloudy out!” “I swore by the gold in the temple? Didn’t swear by the temple itself!”

There was planned escape hatches in their promises which they didn’t really plan on making good.

Going on in early church, too. Or James would not quote Jesus so directly:

James 5:12 “Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.”

Now, how many ever signed a lease or mortgage note by swearing to YHWH? Sun/moon?

None, good?

Difficult to relate—Ask: “how does this affect me?”

Get to the thing behind the thing and that is our takeaway. >>

Integrity in Your Word…

We actually do this all the time; more than care to admit!

Make a lame excuse for s'thing, invoke a spiritual cliché, or an exaggerated text message to protect your image or get out of a commitment.

The first way you can have integrity in your promises is to >>

1. Watch your Words

Think about the modern digital invitation—a Facebook event, an E-vite, or a group text about a weekend get-together.

It feels socially awkward and a bit harsh to explicitly click "No."

So, to preserve the relationship in the short term, you click "Going" or say, "Count us in!"

But the entire time you are typing it, you have your fingers crossed.

In your head, you have already decided that you aren't going

Already started drafting the excuse you will use on Saturday AM: "So sorry, we woke up with the sniffles!" or "It's been a crazy week, we need a family day."

MAYBE you do say no up front, but your excuse is SO lame/false… need an alibi!

You used a manufactured loophole (the dreaded Sat AM text) to get the social credit of being agreeable w/o ever intending to do the work of showing up.

Our Bible addresses this.

Challenging his audience to walk in purity because of what X did for them,

AP commands the young church:

Ephesians 4:25 “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood & speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”

This ‘white’ lying affects every1—and degrades the quality of relat’s w/in church body.

instead,

You should strive for integrity in what you say—let your simple “yes” mean ‘yes’.

Ensure that our mouths don’t write checks our bodies can’t keep.

Don’t compose elaborate excuses for things that should’ve/could’ve been straightforward.

We should watch the words we say—make sure we mean them. Secondly you >>

2. Weigh your Witness

Not just social credit when we white-lie or don’t follow thru on promises we made,

Real spiritual affects, in a way.

The Psalmist says that a person who breaks an oath can’t have a close relationship w/ Yahweh:

Psalm 15:1–4 “Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?… The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor… who keeps an oath even when it hurts, & does not change their mind”

We bear God’s name falsely—that creates a gap in the mind of the other person as to what the character of Jesus is.

This is a way that Christians give Jesus a bad name: swearing a promise and not following through!

As pastor, my BP spikes when my txt msg. goes off on a Sat PM or Sun AM.

Might be worse as kids pastor.

But, I think there’s a more muddy uncomf’le way we do this… in Xian circles:

I regularly hear Christians invoke a ‘Godly’ phrase in order to make their ‘saying no’ seem more spiritual…

“God’s been leading me”; “I really feel impressed to”; “Spirit’s given me peace about”; “I just feel like God’s been showing me different things”

JUST SAY YOU WERE OFFENDED AT SOMETHING. or YOU’RE TOO BUSY TO SERVE JESUS. or whatever the real reason is…

Don’t bring the Trinity into this. Don’t use the obscure divine witness to get out of something—

bc, HOW do I refute that?? How do I say ‘no, you’re wrong’ to that kind of rebuttal.

Reminder: Offense is NEVER a good reason to break fellowship. — Word says? make it right. Go to the person, confront them, talk it out, exercise grace.

But we’re afraid of those interactions.

Jesus, in this teaching, leads us to be straight with someone—to have an uncomfortable conversation rather than commit & back out.

Honestly, I will value your honesty!

And… maybe just maybe the uncomfortableness is Holy Spirit conviction about how He has called you to serve or sacrifice your time…

To give up precious hour of your Sun [once month] to serve the families of Cross Road.

So rather than wallpaper over a lack of desire to give y‘self fully to Jesus, we make excuse in His name.

Weighing your witness also means that you have a witness to offer…

Watch ur words; weigh your witness. Lastly… >>

3. Walk the Walk

Other side of the ‘watch your words’ challenge.

This is the challenge to actually live out the promises you make.

Sometimes the house project or cleaning task Bethany and I discuss on Monday looks a lot less appealing in Friday’s heat wave.

S’times the ambitions I had in the morning’s light don’t match with 9pm’s energy levels.

I should do the hard thing anyway; keep a commitment made.

Solomon says:

Ecclesiastes 5:4–5 “When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.”

So I’m going to call us all to an integrity challenge this week.

"Yes or No” Challenge:

Let your "Yes be Yes"!

"So here is your challenge for the next seven days. I'm asking everyone in this room to take the 'Yes or No' challenge.

Drop the spin!

This week, catch yourself before you use an excuse, a spiritual cliché, or an exaggerated text message to protect your image or get out of a commitment.

Embrace the uncomfortable truth!

If you can't do something, just say, 'No, I won't be able to make that happen.' You don't need to invent a story. Just be honest.

Keep the costly promise!

If you make a promise this week, fulfill it. Even if you are tired. Even if it hurts.

"Church, Jesus is calling us out of the loophole & into a standard of radical, refreshing honesty. He is asking us to Watch our Words, to Weigh our Witness, and to Walk the Walk.

But here is the beautiful truth of the gospel:

Christ Embodied a Painful Commitment to Integrity.

We follow a Savior who perfectly embodied this.

When God made a promise to crush the head of the snake—the ultimate deceiver who twists the truth—He didn't look for a technicality to get out of it.

When Jesus said He would lay down His life for us, He didn't cross His fingers. He didn't back out when the cross became agonizing.

He spoke the truth, He meant what He said, and He walked the walk right out of the empty tomb. We keep our promises because we serve a God who always keeps His."