Honesty in speech (Sermon at FFMC 22/5/17)

³³ “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.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 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 swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.(Mt 5:33-37)

This is the 4th of 6 examples how Christ radically fulfils the law (anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, enemies).

 “You have heard it said” (not, “it is written”). This is not an exact, but not an inaccurate transcription of Mosaic Law. The passages in view here are:

·         Nu 30:2 “When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.”

·         Lev 19:12 “Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.”

·         Dt 23:21-23 “ If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. 23 Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.”

 Another passage in Matthew throws light on the background of this teaching of our Lord:

Matt 23:16-22 ¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? ¹⁸ You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. ²² And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

The modern relevance of this injunction may not be immediately clear. Most of us don’t take oaths anyway, so it may seem like a particularly old, Jewish sin we don’t have to watch out for.

Furthermore, the above passages don’t say that swearing is bad. It was not wrong to swear in the Old Testament.  Israelites were told to swear by the Lord:  

·         Dt: 618 “Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name”. 

·         Dt 10:20 “Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.”

·          Ps 63:11 “But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

·         1s 65:16 “... he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth"

What is wrong about swearing? What sin is in view? I think there are 2 layers of sin involved here.

1.       A sin of focusing on externals, not internals

A)     Go beyond actions to attitudes

The situation is analogous to Jesus’ teaching on anger and lust, where He asks us to go beyond what we do to what we think and feel. With the former issue, everything is permissible if you don’t physically commit sexual sin. So, with oaths, you can lie and mislead as long as you don’t commit official perjury. You can make all kinds of arguments to justify anything you do, whether they are true or not. We need to honour truth in our hearts, not just with your lips.

B)      Go beyond giving impressions to actually telling the truth

The purpose of oaths is to bridle our tendency to tell untruths. The law is a restraint. But the Pharisees turned oaths into opportunities to give the appearance of making a binding statement while allowing themselves an escape clause.  Ex 20:7 says, ⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name”, but this was turned to. “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name., They shifted the idea of false swearing, away from not telling the truth (perjury) to not using the name of the Lord in vain (profanity). The Pharisees shifted their attention from the vow and need for the truth to the formula used to define truth. They said, it’s OK to shade the truth if you swear by “heaven, or earth or Jerusalem, or your head”.

Jesus steps in and says, stop using these formulas!  There cannot be degrees of oaths, some of which are not binding, and some of which are binding. We cannot tell the truth about big things and lie about small things. Some people tell the truth about small things and lie about big things. We must tell the truth in all things.

Swearing is wrong when it is an attempt to make questionable facts “more true”. Our words should not need emphasis to make them more trustworthy. Our conduct and speech must be such that we show a character worthy to be trusted.

C)      Go beyond legalism to sincerity

There are some people who will really, really not swear at all.

cf. 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.”

Well, wait a minute, God himself took an oath in Hebrews 6:13–18. And angels take oaths (Rev 10:5–7). And Paul at least five times heightened his seriousness in telling truth by saying he was speaking in the presence of God or Christ (see, for example, Romans 9:1–2,  1:9, 2 Cor 1:23, Phil 1:8 “God is my witness”). Jesus submitted to an oath (Mt 26:63)

Honest men should not need oaths. But it does not mean that honest men cannot take oaths when required by an external authority. Yes, oathtaking should be confined to serious matters, not for trivialities. We must not fall into a new kind of proud legalism!

If i were to stop here, we would be no better or worse than any other moral religion. We need to know why we are to tell truth. Everything Jesus teaches us comes from the character of His Father and our Father. This is the second layer of sin that Jesus speaks against.

2.       A sin of disregarding the God who is Truth

With various formulas, the Pharisees created an escape route so that the making of some oaths was no longer binding and opened the door to cheapening the whole idea of oaths.  This showed a disregard for God’s intent in the OT, a twisting of this intent to fulfill man’s intent. A faithful Israelite would swear in order to have God witness to the truth of his words. Swearing by God’s name was commanded because God’s name would be the highest value and most important reality of those who made and received the oath.  With the Pharisees, the oaths they would keep were based on their own value system. So they swore by what was of greatest value to them - what was concrete and useful (gold and gifts) before what was invisible and eternal. But,

1)  Jesus says, you can’t make false divisions – everything belongs to God and refers to Him - heaven, earth, Jerusalem, your head.  That is the truth of the spiritual world. We are not to swear by any created thing, because everything belongs to God.

2) Jesus says, it is inconsistent to swear by what we cannot change.(“your head”) It is like taking out a loan with false collateral. It is offering nothing of worth in exchange for an advantage. There is no true intent to keep our promises.

3) Jesus says, every time you swear, you touch spiritual reality. You touch the presence of God. It is wrong to try to reduce swearing to a contract (“the gold”, “the gift”) – I promise to pay you this if I do not do that. But even broken secular contracts devalue our integrity.

Actually, every time you speak, you touch spiritual reality. The one true God, glorious and holy, is our witness to every word that comes out of our mouths. ³⁶ But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Mt 12:36)  He is the greatest reality. Every word we say, every promise we make, is spoken in His presence, and oaths are therefore unnecessary. In understanding this, we see that the formula of the oath is irrelevant, the keeping of the oath is central.

When we understand that God’s nature and character is the reason why we must tell the truth, then we are lifted beyond morality to the Gospel. God always tells us the truth. Sometimes, He chooses the best time to do it, and He always speaks the truth in love.

Conclusion

There are then 4 levels of truthfulness:

1. To use words and actions without regard for the truth for the sake of personal advantage. Not being bound even when we swear.
2. To decide only to be bound by the right formula of oaths, but to be as evasive as possible otherwise.
3. To refuse to swear so that everything we say will be truthful. This can lead to a new legalism.
4. To love the God of truth and truth more than ourselves and our own convenience. Truth is that which accords with reality. We seek truth because God is truthful in how He speaks and acts with us. This is where Jesus and all of Scripture leads us.

Practical implications

1.       Be honest in our speech, especially in church. Col 3:9 “Do not lie to one another” Eph 4:15 “Speaking the truth in love”. Nowadays, we must consciously watch what we write as well as what we say. There must be no intent to deceive or create wrong impressions, either with words or with words withheld. All our honest speech should be with kind intent, because that is how God speaks to us.

2.        Take commitments and vows seriously (marriage, membership). Be whole-hearted, knowing that God is your witness. Don’t give yourself wriggle room to get out of commitments. The intent of our promises must be pure.

3.       Don’t spread unsubstantiated gossip and fake news. Even if true, consider if you are doing it “in love”. The temptation to forward an unsubstantiated matter on Whatsapp or Facebook is great because it just takes a few clicks or finger movements. If you aren’t sure, don’t pass it on

4.       Don’t try to win arguments by appealing to reasons that are untrue. Even when we angry, we should try to be open to truth from the other party. James 5 reminds us that it is when we are suffering inside that we would tend to make rash oaths and be guilty of unrestrained speech. A closed mind is never a mark of Christian maturity.

5.       Be truthful as possible even with social situations. Don’t exaggerate when you recount events so that you create a more favourable impression. Watch out for tendencies to please others (“amazing, fantastic”) “How are you?”. When we give excuses to pull out of unwanted social situations, don’t concoct untrue reasons.

6.       Don’t take a casual attitude to sacred things “OMG, JC” (cf. Ex 20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.)

7.       Be prepared to serve the cause of truth as a reliable witness and as someone who will try to speak for what is correct. But don’t pick the wrong times and do it in love.

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