But I Tell You: Part 4 | Matthew 5:33-37

Matthew 5, 33 to 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 simply yes or no, anything beyond this

comes from the evil one.

Good morning everyone. Thank you Rob and Des and Dave for leading us in prayer

and such. Sorry, I'm getting used to this new pulpit that we, you may have noticed,

that we have, built by the brilliant Matt Vanderveld. Is that right? Yes, I've said

the name right. And there's a bit of history in this because he got the wood

and sourced the wood from an old barn, but more importantly from Clem White's

library. These were his old shelves. So it's wonderful to have a bit of history

here with us this morning. But yes, Matt played the role of Noah and he put this

thing together and it's beautiful. So yes, if you are wondering you can come

and pass it later and you can even smell it because it smells amazing. But in

saying all of that, why don't we come to our Lord in prayer before we come to His

Word this morning. Father, we are so thankful that we can be together here

this morning to be so public in our worship, to be led in prayer, to be led

in song, to have your Word read without shame or compromise among us this morning.

We are so thankful for these things. We pray Father that as we come to your Word

this morning, that our Lord Jesus would be held high among us and that we would

be changed by the Word and we ask for this in Jesus' name. Amen. So for the past

couple of days I've been reading Elizabeth Rogers' book, Stories of

Australia's Christian Heritage, in which she presents a number of essays about

the spiritual lives of some of Australia's greatest explorers. Now what

I found so fascinating about the different essays is that though there

was a race to become the most famous adventurer in which to map Australia

out, the explorers that made it into the history books, though tempted, never

exaggerated or made up their claims as to what they had reached or discovered.

And they gained a reputation as being brutally truthful. Now in a day and age

where no one could really verify what they had claimed, it's interesting that

no one ever made these explorers take an oath or a vow to verify if they were

telling the truth or not. That's because the early settlers knew that these

explorers held the truth to be the most important factor in the whole world

because these men knew for people to survive, for society to flourish, that

their word was the only thing that the settlers had to go on. And so these

explorers were taken at their word. Fascinating stuff, a great read, whole

families, whole towns trusting in the word of a couple of men because of their

reputation of being honest and truthful. What a reputation to have, right? To be

so the people of truth that complete strangers are willing to bet their very

lives on nothing more than your yes being yes and your no being no. This is

the very picture that Jesus would have for his church. But first let's get a bit

of context to our passage this morning. So for the past few weeks we've been at

the feet of Jesus who has been teaching the crowds and more specifically his

disciples on this mountain about what it is to enter into the kingdom of heaven

and how one should conduct themselves in this world and looking forward to the

day of its full manifestation which is still to come, which Jesus likened to

being the salt and the light of this world. That's what the disciples of Jesus

do, right? We hear the gospel, we repent and trust in Jesus and we enter into the

kingdom of heaven instantly. That's what happens when anyone calls upon the name

of the Lord. Yet as we know we're not instantly and physically transported

into that kingdom but continue to live here on earth looking forward in hope to

that day when heaven and earth finally meet. But in doing that says Jesus, in

following him as the king of this world, in being a citizen of the heavenly

kingdom, in being the salt and the light of this world, well we will also come

against all kinds of persecution in this world. So we might ask the question here

what might make this dark world hate the light of the kingdom so much? Quite

simply because all disciples of Jesus are meant to live and breathe and have

their being in following Jesus Christ, the King of this kingdom. That's what

disciples of Jesus do, they follow Jesus and seek to obey him in all that they do

and say because he is our Lord and King. But this is the rub. Jesus isn't some

hippie cult leader where his motto is all is children, it's going to be okay so

just do what you want as Hollywood might sell him to be. No not in any sense as it

was this very same Jesus who bought in the kingdom of heaven who said of

himself that he had not come to rid the world of the law of God but had come to

fulfill it. In other words he had come to give the law its fullest expression

and more than that he also said that all his disciples are not just to follow

what he has laid out for us but that we are also to teach all people to follow

what he has had to say on the law. That's what Jesus has been taking us through

from verse 21 onwards of chapter 5. He's been taking us through how we are to

understand the law in light of how it was meant to be understood and that's

that the law was given to expose the heart. Allow me to illustrate this in the

context of gardening. The law wasn't given as pruning scissors to exclusively

deal with the leaves on the tree as was the popular understanding of the time.

No it was given as a bobcat to dig right down past what any shovel could hope to

do so as to expose the very roots of the tree so that we might might see the rot

and damage that sin has done and call out to God for a total and utter

transplant. In other words the popular teaching of the time which came from the

Pharisees focused on applying the law to the external actions of the person but

as Jesus has been showing us over and over and over through the weeks though

the actions of his disciples must change and they really must change. Change must

happen from the very core of our being. As the law actually goes after the

thoughts and the intentions of a person to expose what's going on deep under

the surface and it's there says Jesus it's there in the very heart and mind of

a person that sin needs to be both exposed and dealt with in order that

they might truly enter the kingdom of heaven. So that's where we are so far

church. We're now just over halfway in a series of but I tell you antidotes that

our Lord has made in the face of the popular teaching of the Jewish religious

teachers of the time. So if you have your Bibles we'll be in our text quite a bit

this morning so if you do have your Bibles please look with me at verse 33.

We read these words. Again you have heard that it was said to the people of long

ago do not break your oath but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made. Now I

want you to notice a word there at the beginning of verse 33. That is the word

again and I want you to notice that word because Jesus is again taking the

popular teaching of the day the stuff that his disciples had heard and

understood in regards to how to apply the law and he's going to again contrast

what they had been taught with what the law was actually getting at. That's what

we've been seeing so far right? Jesus has said you've heard it said to the people

long ago don't murder but I tell you the Lord judges you guilty of murder in the

heart when you hate, guilty of adultery when you lust, guilty of adultery when

you tear apart what God has put together. That's how we have seen Jesus treat the

law so far. So what is he directing his audience to now? Well to their dodgy

understanding in regards to oath-taking. You see through the weeks we've not only

seen how Jesus applied the law but in contrast we've also seen how the

religious teachers of the day known as these Pharisees understood and applied

the law as well. And what have we learned about them? Well that the the rabbis

tended to be pretty permissive in their attitude towards people's actions so

long as the letter of the law was upheld. For example like we saw last week as

long as your wife received that certificate that Moses commanded to be

forgiven then your divorce was legal and permitted in the eyes of God. So it goes

without saying that that theology that they held to also leaped into other

areas of their teaching as well and we'll certainly see that when it comes

to their teaching about oaths and vows. But before we dive into this greater

detail we have to have a good think about where this theological

knife fight lay. Well that battle lays with the phrase, do not break your oath

but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made. Now something to note here

this phrase in and of itself is a summary of a general principle that

can be derived from a whole bunch of passages that come out of the law and

put together. For example Leviticus 19 12 we read, do not swear falsely by my name

and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Hear that the stress is not on

swearing falsely. Again numbers 30 verse 2, when a man makes a vow to the Lord

Numbers 30:2

or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge he must not break his word but

must do everything he said. Again this passage takes up the idea of not

breaking your oath and applies it to the people of God. Deuteronomy 23 21, 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. Okay so with all

of these verses put together and there's a few more we get an idea that this

general saying would have been what was on view here in verse 33 which was

basically if you make an oath in the name of God make sure you do what you

have said that you would do. Now church the question might be asked here why did

people use to make vows at all these oaths and vows at all? What was the point

of them? Well believe it or not vows, oaths as they're used interchangeably

here are more common in our day and age than you might think and they were very

very common in this context. You see vows are a way of calling down a higher

judgment upon ourselves than ourselves because people simply don't trust one

another. In other words it's calling on God to witness what is said so that

people will be assured of one's honesty. To put it simply vows are a way of

solemnizing an agreement an arrangement or a promise and calling God in as the

legal witness. If you're a fan of whodunnits you would have seen something

similar to this when someone puts their hand on the Bible to make a vow in court

to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. They're calling God to witness the

testimony that they're about to give. We even see world leaders doing it when

they're sworn into office though admittedly less and less here in

Australia with our Prime Ministers. Now what seems to be on view in our passage

this morning is very similar to what we see in our courts in that the Pharisees

taught that vow taking was very important business in the context of

their civil courts. I mean we've seen it in just those few verses that I've read

they weren't rejecting what had come out of Leviticus at numbers and

Deuteronomy. No they taught that you had to be truthful especially when a solemn

promise had been given in the name of God. Yet there seemed to be a problem

with how they both were both understanding and applying the law when

it came to this vow taking. Read with me verses 34 through to 36. It says Jesus

speaking, 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. Now I say that there must have been a problem

with their application because like we've seen in previous weeks Jesus isn't

hitting back against what God had revealed through Moses in any which way.

No far from it he's been deepening and broadening the shallow and external

teaching that the Pharisees had taught the people. You have heard it said Jesus

says. So in no sense should we take this as Jesus saying that we mustn't be

truthful nor is he saying that vows are completely off the table and we'll come

back to that in just a moment. Now Jesus's problem seems to be with the

pharisee to call restriction of the law. You see in verses 34 through to 36 we

see something emerge that Jesus was challenging and that wasn't what God

revealed about oath-taking in his name but the pharisee to call system that had

developed around it. You see as we've seen through the weeks the Pharisees

were obsessed with the letter of the law and so because they didn't want to

break the law well at least externally they developed these little man-made

laws known as the traditions of the fathers which actually kept people from

following the big God-given revealed law. Think about it like this. Imagine you

have a pool and you didn't want anyone falling in the pool because you were

scared that they would drown. So the responsible thing to do would be to put

a fence around that pool right? Well admittedly it certainly seems like the

safer option but where it had all gone wrong with the Pharisees is that the

fence had become the be-all and end-all. So instead of teaching people about water

safety let's say the Pharisees busied themselves with telling people all about

the fence and nothing about the pool and in that way that's what we're seeing

here. God had revealed in the law the way in which one could lawfully take a vow

and make an oath in his name yet because the Pharisees were terrified of breaking

this law they developed a fence around the law to make the binding of any oath

any vow a little more squishy. Here's what I mean. The Pharisees were saying

that if you make a vow in the name of the Lord well that needs to be kept no

matter what but to avoid that kind of commitment if you make an oath in the

name of let's say Jerusalem well a city isn't on the same level as God nor is it

going to hold you to the same account. So maybe swearing on that is a little bit

more flexible if things don't work out. Same goes with heaven and earth and even

your own head but whatever you do if you make a vow in the name of the Lord well

there's no getting away from that. It's incredibly serious and whatever you

swore to do well that thing needs to be done because you made it in the name of

the Lord and it's this theology that Jesus is challenging because at the end

of the day though they thought they were honoring the law with these fences they

were actually playing fast and loose with the truth. Now before we unpack what

Jesus is really getting at here I want to go back and ask that question is it

ever wrong to take a vow or an oath? I mean we do it in marriage vows with

church membership vows we even pledge ourself as a church to those who are

being baptized among us to help them in their Christian walk which we're going

to do on the 11th of June with the Decker family. Is Jesus saying, she's

excited to be baptized you can hear it, is Jesus saying that we have what we

have done to our spouse or even to each other as a church was that wrong? Well if

we look at the whole council of Scripture it's clear that godly people

under the right circumstances took vows. We see it with the patriarchs making

promises, oaths, vows to the living God and they weren't rebuked. We see Paul

making vows to different churches when he wrote to them under the inspiration

of the Holy Spirit Romans 1 9 for example and we even read in Hebrews 6 17

that because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very

clear to the heirs of what was promised he confirmed it with an oath.

Hear that even even God took an oath in his own name. So with what we've seen the

law reveal about vows and what we see the whole council of Scripture speaking

to us about which is beautifully summed up in chapter 22 of the Westminster

Confession we have to conclude that it is not vow taking per se that Jesus is

totally against here. Now in context to what he is addressing in regards to the

phariseedical teaching on oaths Jesus is totally and utterly against committal

speech that attaches itself to a seemingly solemn truth statement yet had

an escape plan or escape clause in the fine print. That's what Jesus is opposing

here. He's against people who make vows but in their hearts are thinking well

it's not like I'm calling on God and using his name here. So we might ask the

question what is Jesus saying? What is he speaking to us as disciples about? What

is he warning us? Well fortunately for us brothers and sisters Jesus actually

picks this very theme up again and challenges the Pharisees on this very

hypocritical teaching later on in his ministry which gives us an incredible

insight as to where all of this is coming from and what he is wanting us

his disciples to think about when it comes to the way we speak. We read in

Matthew 23 16 through to 22. Woe to you blind guides, that's to the Pharisees. 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. You blind fools which is greater

the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred. You also say if anyone

swears by the altar it means nothing but anyone who swears by the gift of the

altar is bound by that oath. You blind men which is greater the gift or the

altar that makes the gift sacred and this is where I really want us to pay

attention this morning church. Jesus goes on therefore anyone who swears by the

altar swears by it and everything on it and anyone who swears by the temple

swears by it and the one who dwells in it and anyone who swears by heaven

swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it. Notice that church again

Jesus takes us to the very heart of the law by making it clear that everything is

God's everything is his. So whether people swear by Jerusalem by the earth

by some created thing or even by God's temple everything that is belongs to him.

It's all under him and so because of that the Pharisees had fallen into the

grave error into grave error because they thought that they could compartmentalize

truth and bind themselves absolutely only when they had taken an oath in the

name of the Lord. No says Jesus that doesn't work because everything it's all

under God everything is his and so by implication of that fact Jesus is

teaching his disciples that all our speech is meant to be the truth not just

when we make vows. That's what Jesus is getting at here he's teaching that

everything that we say as believers is a reflection on God because we bear God's

name as people of his kingdom. We are his people the salt and light of this world

and that's all our speech must be seasoned with the truth not just our

vows and promises. This is the solemn warning church there is nothing that we

should say nothing that we should look to vow on that is any less binding than

when taking an oath in the name of the Living God. No says Jesus everything we

say everything we say we will do must be said in the light of knowing that it is

all said under the watchful eye of our Creator. This means that everything we

say we we promise we vow must be the truth because truth mustn't be

mentalized and tied to greater or lesser binding statements. That's because every

promise is made under God every vow is a promise before God. Verse 37 Jesus makes

it clear for us all you need to say is yes or no. Now in light of all of that

we've seen this morning Jesus is simply saying to be very careful with what we

say keep a watchful eye on your words be careful about making those promises that

we're not able to keep. The Pharisees thought they had found a way to say one

thing with their mouth all the while having their fingers crossed behind

their back. I don't know if you've ever seen your kids do that. Jesus says you

don't need to enter into that word spaghetti just simply do what you say

will do or if you can't be upfront say no. Anything beyond this comes from the

evil one. And church again we find ourselves at the feet of Jesus listening

to how the popular teaching of the day totally fell short of what the law was

always meant to do. And this morning we've seen that because God keeps us in

this world to advance his kingdom it is vitally important that we individually

and as the church reflect him in all that we do and say. And the fact of the

matter is this brothers and sisters it is Jesus who called himself the way the

truth and the life. And this morning he's drawing us into that realization that as

his disciples as his followers as the ones who bear his name Christians truth

must permeate every commitment we make as everything that we commit to do we

are doing in the name of the Living God who is truth. That is no small thing. If

we think about it Jesus is reminding us here this morning that we all every

single one of us in this room who have called upon the name of the Lord we are

ambassadors who represent the Living God wherever we go. This means we take him

into the workplace so when we say we'll have something done let's get it

done. When we make a business deal it had better be done in the light. No shady

bits going on in the background. Husbands when we give our word to our wives about

doing the dishes or fixing that fence we're not just bound to doing these

things from good will. No these those words they have a weight behind them.

Young ones if your parents ask you have you done your homework make sure that

you don't deceive them because your words aren't just random vibrations

hitting somebody else's eardrum. Parents if you say no to something stick to it

even when your little one gives you that gorgeous little puppy dog face because

we're teaching them that our yes means yes our no means no and that our words

really matter in this dark and deceptive world. What have we seen here this

morning? Well we've seen that when we make a commitment the world is watching

therefore we must be truthful in what we say. Yes is yes no is no and we stick to

what we say because we are representing the living God in all we say and do.

Imagine for a moment if that was the reputation of the church in this world

imagine it. Well brothers and sisters it can start here in Armidale at this

church this morning because that's how Jesus directs us to conduct ourselves in

this world. He directs us to keep truth central in all that we say and do in

public and in private. This means that we must conduct ourselves in the knowledge

that all that we do is done in the sight of the living God. This is the warning

when we deceive when we hide the truth we don't just run the risk of ruining our

reputation we bring the name of God into the mud as well. So if you are here this

morning and you would say you really struggle with keeping the truth central

in business in marriage in parenting in life in general then I want to remind

you that there is a battle raging and that we are not yet perfected. We're not

entirely sanctified and that struggle with deceit on this side of eternity

dealing with our fallen natures that attempted to protect ourselves will

happen until Kingdom come. Now I don't want to downplay this at all this

morning. The sin does have its consequences not only in our lives but

also it affects the lives of other people and before God but people lie for

a plethora of different reasons. The people usually lie tell half truths and

exaggerate not usually because they're wanting to completely ruin themselves

and other people but usually because the truth can paint them in a bad light

whether that's to do with our past or something that we haven't done well or

even something that we want to be true. That's where we usually find ourselves

not telling the truth and nothing but the truth or hiding the truth to make

things seem a little bit better even when we attach that word promise to it.

But we need to see that for what it is brothers and sisters. That is fear of

what others will think. That's usually why we play loosely with the truth

because we fear what others will think of us but this is the thing if you have

called upon the name of the Lord your identity is no longer defined by your

past. Your abilities, your talents no longer give you that worth. No in Christ

because of his perfect truth-keeping and truth speaking from the very heart in

all that he did live which has been given to us we stand justified before

the creator of the universe at this very moment. We have nothing to prove in

Christ we are worthy in Christ. So I want to remind you here this morning we have

a gracious God. A gracious God who desires to work in us to bring truth and

integrity into all we say and do in all areas of our life. And so if you see your

sin, you hate your deception then might these words from the Lord Jesus Christ

be held high among us this morning. It is he who says blessed are the poor in

spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for

they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.

Church the kingdom is open to every and anyone who realizes their sin and turns

to God. Though we might struggle though we might mourn in that struggle and

battle we have one who invites us to go to him in our mess over and over and over

and over again. So this morning church would you join me in praying to the only

to to to not only be a truth seeker in this world but a truth speaker in all

that we say. Let's pray. Father God we thank you that your word is indeed the

double-edged sword. And Father we thank you that in Christ that where we see

where we fall short we can look to the beloved we can look to the one who has

kept the law perfectly. Not just in all that he did but in all that he said and

all that he thought all that he intended to do he never once sinned against you

in that area. We thank you Father God that that life that perfect life has

been given to us. Father we are keenly aware that we are on this side of

eternity that we're in different contexts in business in work in parenting

being young university whatever it might be where truth can sometimes be something

that we're tempted to hide. Father would you please help us would you please

change us. Might this church here in Armidale be a place that is known to be

truthful, truth in love that we are not a bashing symbol a clanging gone but a

place that holds the truth of the gospel high in this city and that you would

draw all manner of people to yourself. We ask for this in Jesus name. Amen.