This sermon is part six in a series of messages on the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus. This message is concerning the topic found in Matthew 5:33-37. The series, "Laying a Firm Foundation," ties all of Jesus' themes to the words found at the end of his sermon in Matthew 7 - "Whoever hears and does these sayings of mine will be like a wise man that built his house on the rock... and whoever hears but does not do these sayings of mine will be like a foolish man that built his house on the sand...."
Written Excerpts:
Introduction:
[There was a] man who wrote a famous tract, which was mightily used of God, entitled, Come to Jesus. Soon after writing that tract he became engaged in a theological dispute that led him to write an [attack] article bristling with sarcasm, and [was] as sharp and cutting as a razor. Reading it to a friend, he asked, “What do you think of it?” The friend replied, “It is a masterpiece of criticism. You fairly flay him alive. What have you decided to call it?” “I have not thought of a title,” said the author, “Can you suggest one?” “Well,” said his friend, “how about calling it, Go to the Devil, by the author of Come to Jesus?” (QuickVerse, Illustrations of Bible Truths, "Violating the Gospel")
This story might bring a chuckle to our lips, but it illustrates how our words can sometimes portray the exact opposite image than what we had hoped. Or, in some cases, our attitudes and actions can end up completely contradicting our words. We often refer to these people as HYPOCRITES.
Again today we are continuing our series of sermons dealing with the “Sermon on the Mount” recorded in Matthew 5-7. Today’s text specifically addresses the topic of swearing, and at first glance, we might suppose that these words of Jesus merely warn us against profane speech. However, I think we will soon learn that the real message here relates not merely to our speech, but to our character as well. The real issue seems to be this: does what I say match up with the way I live? So, in reality, Jesus is certainly addressing our speech, but He is also addressing our character, our level of integrity, or our level of hypocrisy.
The specific verses that we will be examining today were read to us earlier in the service this morning, but let me quickly read them again. As we consider this text today, I want to approach it in the following manner:
First, I want to examine some background information that will shed some light on cultural practices of the day. Secondly, I want to explain what I believe Jesus is NOT saying. Finally, I want to explore primary meaning of His message.
1. Examination of Background Information
In order to give you some of the background surrounding this text, I am sharing information from William Barclay’s commentary, which very often does an excellent job explaining the customs surrounding biblical texts.
In Jesus’ day there were two unsatisfactory things about taking oaths. The first was what might be called frivolous swearing. That means the taking of an oath where no oath was necessary or proper. It had become far too common a custom to introduce a statement by saying, “By thy life,” or, “By my head,”… etc. The Rabbis in Jesus’ day had claimed that using any form of oath in a simple statement was sinful and wrong.
It was wrong to use solemn or sacred language in a thoughtless, irreverent or frivolous manner.
A Second Jewish custom might be called evasive swearing. The Jews divided oaths into two classes, those which were absolutely binding and those which were not. In their opinions, any oath which contained the name of God was absolutely binding; any oath which succeeded in evading the name of God was considered non-binding. The result was if a man swore by the name of God in any form, he would rigidly keep the oath; but if he swore by heaven, or by earth, or by Jerusalem
This ended up being a method whereby someone could make a promise or oath that sounded good or trustworthy, but could be evaded later if it seemed expedient. The idea behind this view was that, if God’s name was used, then God became a partner in the transaction [or testimony]; whereas if God’s name was not used, then God had nothing to do with the transaction or testimony.
However, Jesus is essentially telling them, “Rather than having to make God a partner in any transaction, no man can keep God out of any transaction because He is already there. Heaven is the throne of God; earth is the footstool of God; Jerusalem is the city of God
2. Explanation of Misunderstood Meaning
Next, I think it is essential to explain what Jesus is NOT saying in this text. Jesus is NOT saying that all oath-taking (or “swearing,” properly so called) is wrong. He is not forbidding the use of oaths in the proper context and in the proper manner, such as a court of law.
These words of Jesus are rooted in the foundation of the Ten Commandments, just as the two previous paragraphs were. This section relates to the meaning behind the Third Commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” When we looked at the Third Commandment in a previous sermon, we mentioned that the underlying principle behind the command is this: speech is sacred. “Words mean things” is a phrase we have often heard, I’m sure. Speech and conduct should be in harmony; not contradiction.
(Barclay) The third commandment condemns the man who swears that something is true, or who makes some promise, in the name of God, but has taken the oath falsely.
For example: 1 Samuel 19:6 And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, As the LORD lives, he shall not be slain.
Yet, four verses later, Saul is trying to pin David to the wall with a javelin. The Bible does not condemn the use of oaths that were used in the proper setting and the proper manner. In fact, there are texts in the Old Testament that command the use of God’s name in oaths that are done properly and in the right attitude.
Deut. 6:13 “You shall fear the LORD your God, and serve him, and shall swear by his name. “
Deut. 10:20 “You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him, and to him you shall cleave, and swear by his name.”
There were plenty of examples in the Old Testament and the New Testament where godly people invoked the name of God in testimony or oaths.
See 2 Corinthians 1:23 “Moreover I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth
Jesus Himself answers directly when placed under oath at His own trial before the high priest. He previously had kept silent.
Matthew 26:63-64 “But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
The point is simply this: neither Jesus nor the Bible condemns the use of swearing under oath in the proper setting, such as a witness giving testimony in a court room.
So then, finally, … what was the real primary meaning of Jesus’ message here?
3. Exploration of Primary Meaning
Well, first of all, I remind you what I stated earlier… It is not necessary to invoke the name of God in the everyday affairs of life in order to have God as an active participant in our day-to-day transactions with our fellowman because God is always involved anyway. As I quoted from Wm. Barclay, no man can keep God out of any transaction because He is already there. Heaven is the throne of God; earth is the footstool of God; Jerusalem is the city of God… a man’s life is God’s by creation, so no one can even determine the color of his or her own hair. God is in control of that as well.
Therefore, we must not ever get the idea that we can compartmentalize our lives or our transactions and have part of them be sanctioned by God and part of them not. (Barclay) Life cannot be divided into compartments; one in which God is involved, and the other in which He is not involved.
“There cannot be one kind of language in the Church and another kind of language in the shipyard or the factory or the office. “There cannot be one standard of conduct in the Church and another standard of conduct in the business world [in entertainment, family life, or any other areas we sometimes separate away from our spiritual life].
What are we talking about here? We are talking about a daily consistent life that is genuine and authentically Christian at all times. We’re talking about not living in duplicity; in contradiction to what we say we believe; in other words, hypocritically.
Secondly, the meaning of His message as expressed in the latter portion of the paragraph is this, every person should live such a life of integrity that his “yes” means “yes” and his “no” means “no.” No one should ever have to guess whether the word of a Christian is trustworthy or not in everyday affairs.
(Barclay) The ideal is that a man should never need an oath to buttress or guarantee the truth of anything he may say. The man’s character should make the oath completely unnecessary.
Socrates – “A man must lead a life which will gain more confidence in him than ever an oath can do.” Clement of Alexandria
Again, the real truth comes back to integrity in speech and conduct. All those around us must recognize by our character our speech and our conduct that we are honest, trustworthy and genuine.
Conclusion:
What about you?
Do you live by two different standards? Is your life telling a different story on Monday thro’ Saturday than it is on Sunday?
Does your life deny or contradict what you say?
Do your actions support your testimony?
Are your promises and your words reliable? Can people, or even your own children, trust what you say?
I believe that this is essentially the core of Jesus’ message in this text.
May the Lord help each one of us to examine our speech and our conduct to see if they agree with the standard that Jesus has given us.
If we discover that it doesn’t, I am glad that God’s grace is adequate to make a dramatic transformation within our hearts that will change our character and enable us to be authentically Christian in every area of life.
Let’s close our service with the hymn, “I Would Be True.”
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