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"33 Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." ~ Matthew 5:33-37
Today, we continue our study on the Sermon on the Mount, a sermon the Lord Jesus gave in order to instruct His hearers of their religious notions. At the beginning of this teaching the Lord Jesus spelled out how we enter into a personal relationship with Himself; through our recognition of our spiritual bankruptcy. It is out of our utter bankrupt state spiritually that we turn to Him for His free gift of forgiveness of sin. This is where our relationship begins and it is furthered as we grow in our relationship of trust in Him to accomplish His will in and through us. This process is called sanctification which is different than our justification. The only thing that justifies us is His work on the cross of Calvary.
Most believe their good behavior earns favor with God. This is not biblical. In today's passage, the Lord Jesus attempted to help His hearers to see the freeing nature of the truth. In order to reach this goal, the Lord Jesus directed His hearers to their practice of making oaths. Those who heard the Lord Jesus that day knew that when they swore on something, that meant they had to do it. In the first century people made oaths for all sorts of reasons. This is why God had made it clear in the Old Testament that man should not make any oath by the name of God. So the people swore on all sorts of things to make their claims believable. The real issue the Lord was addressing that day was man's inability to trust.
In v.33 of today's passage we read, "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.'"
Truth and trust go hand in hand. It is essential to any relationship that truth reigns therein. Again, the Lord Jesus utilized another of the six "you have heard it said" statements used in context that day on that mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee. He used it in order to draw a contrast between the words of the Lord and the words of men. Even though man may be convinced that being a man about our words is one of the wisest things we do, we are not consistent in doing so. Through these six statements of contrast, ultimately, the Lord Jesus was trying to help the people see that their fallenness limited them in their understanding of the truth which led them to believe that they somehow earned God's favor through their good behavior. In addition, the Lord was addressing the self-righteous approach to others that we all have been known to employ. Humility is a must if we are to enjoy meaningful relationships with Him and with others.
With these words the Lord Jesus revealed His main point which is the condition of the human heart. Often when we make oaths because we have lost control and we want to regain it. We have all said to God, "If you will get me out of this, I will never do this again." There are times when we want others to act a certain way, and we employ these same kinds of tactics to get them to go along with our will, only to be found manipulative. The old law said that when we dress up our words by taking an oath, we had better be telling the truth. But, as is always the case, the Lord Jesus went deeper. He went to the heart of His hearers which had been dragged away from the truth by the evil one. A large part of our sanctification, which is a long and arduous process, is learning to be defined by truth.
In v.34-36 of today's passage we read, "34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black."
The Lord Jesus then told His hearers not to even make oaths at all. He tackled the little tricks we use by directing us to our real problem within our hearts, our desire for control. When things don’t go our way and we wish it were different, when we desperately feel out of control and we want to force things to turn out according to our will, we use certain words or tactics to manipulate those with whom we are in relation. We sometimes even bend the truth to get our way. Of course, these tactics are dysfunctional and they never produce the desired end we long for. And, all of this does not happen without consequences. When we use our words to bend the truth, people get hurt, relationships get fractured, and trust is undermined. This is what the Lord Jesus was addressing that day. But, when we are being defined by the kingdom of heaven, we will relate with others differently. To be defined by the kingdom of heaven is to obey the King of heaven. The solution the Lord Jesus provides us is for us to be truth tellers! Once we come face to face with our tendency to bend the truth in an effort to control our world, the cure is simple, behave in the way God desires to define us with the truth.
In v.37 of today's passage we read, "But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.'"
When we speak just the truth, we protect our relationships. When we are honest we avoid giving the enemy a foothold in those relationships. When we tell the truth, we will have nothing to hide. This is why the Lord Jesus said, "For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." The truth itself is the enemy of the evil one. When we only speak the truth, we will live in and out of the truth. The Lord Jesus desires to transform hearts with His truth so that we can accept the truth even when it is about us. He wants to embrace us with His truth so that we can embrace Him and others sincerely through the truth. The incredible thing about embracing the truth is that it is nowhere near as scary as we fear. All those things that we want to hide, those areas that we would love to change, they melt away when we embrace and are defined by the truth. And, the greatest truth of all is that God loves us no matter what. I can say this because it was the Lord Jesus who earned our acceptance in the first place. This is the truth, the truth that our justification in Him makes us right before the holy God. And, it is this truth which forms the foundation of everything else in our lives.
