Sermon on the Mount: Taking Oaths

I Swear

We’ve all done this one… made a promise to someone that may have seemed a little out of our reach. In the moment, our intentions were good, but there was something about the promise that didn’t feel quite like it was enough. It needed that final value add…. an assurance of some type.

In comes some famous idoms:

If I’m lying my God strike me dead

on my child’s life

On my mothers grave

These statements are intended to reveal the serious nature of our promise. When humans swear we are typtically trying to do two things.

1 - What we are saying is extremely serious in nautre

2 - This is the highest form of truth that we can express.

We may even go so far as to say something like, “I swear to God.”

So far, Jesus has addressed the 6th and 7th commandments:

Do not murder

Do not commit adultary.

Now, Jesus is continuing his biblical exposition and is moving into a commandment that has at the center not necessarily an offense towards another person, but towards God himself.

The 3rd Commandment & Taking Oaths

Matthew 5:33 ““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.’”

The Commandment on the table here is the 3rd in the famous list of 10.

Ex. 20:7 ““You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

Remember, the audience that Jesus is speaking too is a Jewish/Hebrew aduience that didn’t have to stretch far to connect the dots.

You might be wondering how in the world does the 3rd commandment fit within the idea of making an oath?

Most of us hold to the idea that when we are using the Lord’s name in vain, we are uttering a blasphemy. Which is a very serious offence towards God.

Use the Name of the Lord in Vain goes much deeper than simply using God’s name as a cuss word….

“Don’t take the name of Yahweh your God in vain,” means “Don’t take God, or anything that his name expresses about his reality, in vain.” God is I Am, absolute being, Jealous, Holy, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Jesus, Word of God, King of kings, Lord of lords, “the Alpha and the Omega” (Revelation 21:6). That is who he is, his name, his reality, his God-ness. Don’t take him or any aspect of his being, his name, in vain. - John Piper

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-we-take-gods-name-in-vain

What Is Vanity?

That leaves the question then of what is Vanity

Let’s allow the Old Testament to help us define Vanity:

Jeremiah 2:30: “In vain have I struck your children; they took no correction.”

Jeremiah 4:30: “In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you.”

Jeremiah 6:29: “In vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed.”

Jeremiah 46:11: “In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you.”

Malachi 3:14: “You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge?’”

In vain means futile, empty, pointless, wasted: (Jer. 2:30, 4:30, 6:29, Malachi 3:14)

You spank the children, but there’s no correction. You put on makeup, but there are no lovers. You put the wicked through the refiner’s fire, but there’s no repentance. You take the medicine, but there’s no healing. You serve God, but there’s no profit. It all happens in vain.

Now, there’s the practicle side of this idea… we don’t own anything to swear by.

Matthew 5:34-36 “But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.”

Apparantly I can’t make one hair on my head stay either

There’s a humility that has to come with this idea that we are unable to swear by anything.

Ps 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,”

There’s a sense of pride that can well up within us when we start to try and support our actions with authority and possessions that are not our own.

Very few of us though are going to honestly make promises with colatterial by something we do not own.

Afterall… what good is a promise if I tell you that I will do something and I use Mike’s house as collaterial? It’s not my house to give in the transaction.

There’s something deeper happening here though…. God has been internalizing these commands for his audience.

Murder was no longer just an outward act, but a inward attitude of the heart

Adultry was no longer just a physical relationship with a married person, but an inward lusting of the heart

How does swearing falsely… taking oaths become an internal problem?

Family…. do you take the name of God (expressions of his reality) into your thoughts, into your emotions, into your words, and into your actions in such a way that your thoughts and feelings and words and actions are futile, empty, pointless, wasted?

Matthew 15:8-9 ““ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ””

See family,

The idea of swearing has at it’s core the idea of worshiping a God who is Holy and all togther other.

Jesus’s remedy is simple.

Don’t go beyond your authority or capacity. Matthew 5:37

Matthew 5:37 “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”

Oaths & Worship

For the beleiver all of life is worship… (Romans 12:1-2, 1 Cor. 10:31, Col. 3:17)

Romans 12:1-2 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

1 Cor 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Col 3:17 “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Jesus says two things cause the worship of God — the name of God — to be empty, futile, pointless, wasted. (Matthew 15:9)

1. “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” The heart is emptied of affections for God, for his name — love, admiration, reverence, cherishing, treasuring.

2. The second thing that makes the worship “in vain” (Matthew 15:9) is that “they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Words, statements about God, have been emptied of God’s truth and replaced with human opinions.

When the heart is emptied of affections for God, and words are emptied of the truth of God, all thoughts, all words, all emotions, and all actions are empty, pointless, futile, in vain.

Therefore, to take the name of God in vain is to take up some expression of God’s reality into our thoughts or emotions or words or actions when the truth of God has gone out of them, and true affections for God are missing.

“Fill your words with the weight of God’s truth, and fill your hearts with affections for his name.” - John Piper

Don’t treat me — my name — as empty, futile, pointless, trivial, inconsequential, insignificant. Don’t let your words be empty of my truth. Don’t let your hearts be empty of your affections. Revere me. Love me. Trust me. Treasure me. Satisfy your heart with me.

For your name’s sake, O Lord,      pardon my guilt, for it is great. (Psalm 25:11)

Deliver us, and atone for our sins,      for your name’s sake! (Psalm 79:9)

He saved them for his name’s sake. (Psalm 106:8)

The name of the Lord is a strong tower;      the righteous man runs into it and is safe. (Proverbs 18:10)

Don’t treat this tower like a crumbling shack. It’s not. It is your life.