Oaths

One day Jesus was at a well at high noon any encountered a woman from Samaria. Jesus knew everything about this woman and she sensed that he was more than just some men. She sensed that he was more than just some teacher, she perceived him to be a Prophet.

And if this is your honest thought, that you are speaking with someone who directly communicates that God and tells people what God is saying, you do not waste time you ask a question. You want to know the truth and that was your opportunity to know the truth.

So after she perceived him to be a Prophet she asked him a question. the question was essentially where is the proper spot to worship. The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other very badly. The Jewish people viewed the Samaritans as mixed blood.

They were not pure blooded Jews therefore the Samaritans were beneath them. The Samaritans had their own religious practices they had their own temple on mountain that was within their region and they believed that was the proper spots to worship.

So all this animosity and all of these different opinions, this merits in woman it is like I have this Prophet right before me I can find out right here right now and for certain what is the truth. So where is this proper place to worship.

Jesus told her that they worship what they know and this merchants worship will they not know but there will come a time when all of God's people well worship and spirit and in truth. In spirit and in truth.

Those are two things that cannot be separated when it comes to our worship those are two things that cannot be separated when it comes to our walk.

And we love the spiritual. We love feeling spiritual we love the idea of being led by the spirit. Oh spirituality is a good thing. And everybody talks about how spiritual they are. I am a spiritual person. I don't have a religion I have a spirituality.

People love the concept of the spirit. People love the concept of spirituality. But truth, truth is not nearly as embraced is 1 might think. And yet Jesus stated that we will come and worship in spirit and in truth.

As the people of God this means that we must be people of the truth. Truth at all times not just selective truth but truth at all times. We are living in days where there is more confusion and chaos in the academic realm, in the scientific realm , and in the theological realm.

This, at times, can make truth alittle difficult for some people when it pertains to certain areas. There are many different thoughts about creation but the fact of the matter is only one truth exists when it comes to creation.

There are many different opinions about the way of Salvation but one fact remains there is only one truth that pertains to the topic of Salvation. It's not a question of whether or not you know that truth, at least not yet, the fact of the matter is that there is truth.

And truth exists regardless of our opinions regardless of our ideas regardless of our feelings and regardless if we believe them or not. Truth exist when we are wrong truth exists when we are right truth is always present.

One person can ask us when it comes to creation did you physically and visually witnessed the creation account to verify how it happened. And every single one of us in every single field of study will answer no.

There is not one of us who has witnessed the creation account to testify what it actually is. Doesn't matter, the truth of creation still exists. Whether we know it or not whether we witness it or not the truth is always there.

When it comes to essential truths , God was very gracious to mankind and revealed those essential truths. When it comes to truth, all truth is God's. All truth is God's truth. He is the source of all truth.

And because he is the source of all truth I rely on his written revelation, the word of God, to reveal that truth to me so I may know it, believe it, live by it all by his grace.

But even when I don't have the answers and you don't have the answers, there is a truth that always exists. Sometimes , sometimes we go through things in life where we do not have the answers. We go through terrible things and we wonder why did God allow me to go through such thing or why did God take this loved one from me.

Or why did God allow me to have this sickness or allow me to experience this hurt. Questions like that are in our lives all the time. And often we never have an answer to those questions. Even when we do not have the answers to those questions there is a existing truth about those situations.

We are the ones that just do not happen to know it but that does it mean it's not there, there is the truth of the matter. So because God is the source of all truth and because all truth is God's truth we must be the people of truth.

Whenever we proclaim to be the followers of God we must be the people of truth at all times. This is something that will not make you popular. This is something that is often met with hostility. But we must be the people of truth at all times.

Like the topics we have discussed in the past this too is a very serious subject. This specific subject though is one that is not looked at as often as others. But what is true of the past topics that we have studied in recent history is true of this topic.

That there is so much more to the law than what we give it credit for. That the intentions of God and the richness of God and the depth of God is something that is absolutely unsearchable and we have to consider that attribute when we are looking at the laws that come from God.

They're not just mere external works and they're not solving easy checklists for us to follow. The point of it all was to measure us up against the law and to see if we are the ones who are the fulfillers of all righteousness.

And hopefully, by now, you are learning that this is not you. That the intentions of the law that Christ is giving is so much more than what we like to give a credit for. We are not the only ones, The Jewish people of our Lord's day we're guilty of the very same thing which is why he is preaching what he is preaching.

What began his conversation was Jesus telling the disciples that unless their righteousness surpassed that of the scribes and Pharisees they will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. That seam warning is there for us for this very day.

And the people must have thought in their minds that there is just no way. And what Jesus is doing now is he is telling the crowd, you don't even know. You don't even know, they are not righteous, they're not righteous at all and yet the works that you do must surpass the works that they do.

So we hear about murder and we find out now this is not just the act of murder this is the intentions behind murder. If there's hate in your heart that there's heat in your speed you are guilty of this very crime. If you're not preserving life if you are letting people die you were guilty.

And if you do harbor these feelings and there is somebody out there who knows your wrath who knows your anger you are to stop what you're doing and try and be reconciled to that person. Because we are not properly worshipping if we can't do that very thing.

We hear the truth about adultery the religious leaders of the days of our Lord where instructing the people that that is just the physical act. They were granting certificates of divorce left and right and it was all because the people were lusting.

The men would lust after other women and so 2 prevent themselves in not being guilty of adultery they would go get a certificate of divorce and run off with the next female. So our Lord informs us no, you so much as even think of these things you have already committed adultery you are guilty.

We are to protect ourselves from those thoughts , we are to guard ourselves from those thoughts and we are to help others when they are failing in that area. Because the laws mean so much more than what we give them credit for if we know somebody is feeling in that area and we say nothing then we are guilty.

It was never intended to stop yourself from committing the physical act it was always to the core of the issue the heart of the issue which is the heart of man itself.

So our Lord had to get serious about his teaching of adultery and so he uses the analogy he uses the image of cutting off your right hand or removing your right eye.

There must be radical transformation taking place. And after he makes that declaration he moves on to what devorce is supposed to be in should be. There is an exception in that text but our Lord still hates divorce scriptures tells us that God hates devorce.

And for the religious leaders of his day, they were using divorce as a way out to support their adultery. And the point of all that we have covered so far is that there is so much more to the law than what we could have possibly imagined.

It is so much richer it is so much deeper and there is this thing in theology that God is inexhaustible. We say he is inexhaustible because he is infinite and what we mean by inexhaustible is that we will never stop searching him.

We can search we can dig we can pry we can spend our entire lives trying to figure out who God is and we will never exhaust all of the resources and all of the richness and depth Ness that is of God he is inexhaustible.

He is infinite, therefore the holy laws that reflect his attributes that reflect his desires must be treated with that inexhaustible thoughts. These things need more than what I can possibly dive into. So we need to look at the laws in their negative forms and then their positive forms.

And by that I mean there is a law given to us by God that says you shall not commit murder but we need to understand that God is inexhaustible therefore there is no really reaching the end of what that means. So the negative form shall not murder what is the positive mean?

Well that must mean I have to do my part to preserve life to protect life. It's not good enough that I just keep myself from slaughtering another person, what is the positive aspect of it I must be upholding life. I must be seeking justice for those lives that have been taken.

We must be demanding the state do something about these murderers so they can no longer murder again. There is so much to God in his laws then we like to recognize. And friends all of that is true of this next subject that we are going to discuss.

So let us look to the scriptures and unpack what we need to cover for today.

Matthew 5:33–36 NASB95

“Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

What is being stated here is in direct relation to what was said previously. So the topic of conversation previously to this was on divorce. Which is a vow you make before God and with your spouse.

And the Jewish people were handing out certificate of divorces every time they just didn't feel like being with a woman anymore and God is reminding them the seriousness of truth and the seriousness of taking an oath.

Now the words used here are interesting words and when you read it and English it doesn't really capture what's being communicated. So it is easy to misunderstand this section of scripture.

So our Lord says you have heard from the ancients and you were told you shall not make false vows but you shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.

That was the way it was stated and then Jesus comes in and says but I say to you don't make any vows or oaths at all. Now when you read that it sounds like Jesus is saying never ever make an oath.

Even though this is directly connected with the topic of divorce so if people are making an oath to God and to their spouse and that is what marriage is why is Jesus telling us now to never do that?

Well this is in relation to the type of oath that is being made not in relation to all oaths. So the type of oath that is being forbidden is a direct oath and not a passive oath. As a matter of fact we are commanded , at times, to make a passive oath.

A passive oath is not you just making an oath for the sake of making an oath it is more of a public testimony because the passive form of the word means 7. So it is an oath with witnesses present.

This would be something like a marriage this would be something like being called as a witness in investigation. It is that specific type of oath that is actually not being condemned here what is being condemned here is a direct oath and what the Jewish people have turned it into.

This requires a little bit of history in a little bit of context. When we continue in verse 34 which completes a thought by the way, he says make no oath at all either by heaven for it is the throne of God or by the earth for it is the footstool of his feet or by Jerusalem or it is the city of the great King.

When we go through the Old Testament you will find an deuteronomy in Isaiah in the psalms, you will find consistently make an oath unto the Lord. Overtime the Jewish people feared at the name of God Yahweh, and so they did what they could to avoid uttering that name.

This is actually how we almost lossed the name of God and assuming it was jehovah and not Yahweh. Because there was so little on what that word is and how it's pronounced. They so feared uttering the name of God in vain that they avoided saying it altogether.

Apart of that was avoiding making a proper oath unto the Lord. So they began to swear bye heaven or by earth or by Jerusalem. And this became a tradition but would also began to happen was they were vain oaths taking place.

People work consistently swearing by heaven, earth or Jerusalem in everyday casual conversation. And what this has created was a lack of sensitivity to the seriousness of an oath. It began to mean nothing it was becoming absolutely meaningless.

This prevails in our culture to the extreme. This is violated so often God is so blasphemed that when people swear by God or two God we don't believe them. I don't know how many episodes of cops where a person was caught red handed and still sore to God that they were innocent.

It is a very common statement in our culture it is so common that it has no bearing effect on us whatsoever. It is so common that people who are serious about it no one will ever know how serious.

It is built into our court system where somebody places their hand on the Bible Anne raises their right hand and swears to tell the truth and the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But how many acts of perjury have taken place in a record system?

Now say we may not swear by heaven earth or Jerusalem but we do have other things we swear by that we think is an acceptable thing to swear by. How many times do we here I swear on my mother's grave.

Some people like to give an extra emphasis I swear on my mother's grave in the grave of my children. What do I care if you swear by your mother's grave, your mother is not holy. you are children are not holy.

That is a meaningless nonsense statement. When one is taking an oath what they are doing is there inviting the divine presence of God. And you were saying I am evoking truth 'cause God is the source of truth and what I am saying is truth.

And if what I am saying is not truth then I deserve the wrath of the divine himself as I am swearing by him an I have violated that oath. When oath making was taken in the serious form they knew what they were doing.

They were calling God as a witness they were calling God to evoke truth and they were calling God to punish them if they were in violation.

So one didn't dare to swear by God if they were lying and one didn't dare make an oath that was unnecessary to call on the divine. And So what our Lord is telling us is stop making these oaths all the time period these direct oaths.

And at the same time stop making these oaths by other things, because you're not avoiding judgments you are not avoiding inviting the divine and here is how our Lord explains it.

You can assume you are avoiding blasphemy you can assume that you are avoiding judgement by swearing to heaven but that is where God dwells.

You can assume that you're avoiding all the seriousness of overtaking by swearing by earth but it is still the footstool of God. And perhaps you are using plus city and in their thought process the holy city, as something to swear by but you are not avoiding God in this because it is the city of the great King.

To swear on the life of a loved one that is a life that God gave you were not avoiding God. And to make those type of olds you were actually heaping wrath onto yourself. Our Lord says you shall not make an oath onto yourself and that is something that we hear all the time.

I swear on my life. Well one your life is not holy the two you didn't give yourself life you are not the creator of your life. You are not the one who can make your hair black or white. Sure, one can dye their hair but one can't naturally change their hair color.

you can't make your hair a different color that grows naturally you have to manipulate it through chemicals. And when you do it is temporary. The hair continues to grow and then you have the roots that revealed the true color that you have no control over.

There is no avoiding God in any oath that you take this all belongs to him. What is the instruction that our Lord gives us?

Matthew 5:37 NASB95

“But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

Do not be walking around always promising always making promises. We should not be validating people by saying do you promise and a person reassuring another person by saying yes I promise.

We make blind oaths all the time and what our Lord is telling us is stop it. I can stand here and promise you all that tomorrow I will cook you breakfast but I have no control if I see tomorrow or not.

It is a vain promise. If I promise you all that is a promise that means nothing 'cause I cannot guarantee that I will see tomorrow. And so our Lord is saying do not walk around making these blind promises making these blind oaths rather let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Tell the truth at all times and your yes be yes in the most difficult situations and you know be no in the most difficult situations and you stick to your guns on that. The people of God are the people of truth and the world should never have to question if we are ever telling the truth.

We, above all, should have the reputation of truth. So the statements don't just simply mean making oaths but it means telling the truth at all times and having a reputation of truth.