Friday, July 9

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear 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. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. - Matthew 5:33-37

I used to think when I first became a Christian that all prayers had to end with the phrase "in Jesus' name, Amen," sort of like an e-mail address; if you didn't put that in there, God wouldn't receive it and it would bounce back to you because you hadn't addressed it right. That thinking came, of course, from the Lord's words: "Whatever you ask in my name will be done for you" (John 14:14). But what he meant was that to pray in Jesus' name is to pray with full consciousness of who he is, his character, promises, glory, mercy, and love. When we pray in his name, it means that his glory and his personality fill every thought and word. It doesn't really matter what verbal formula we begin or end with.

The same is true of our other communications. We often use inflection or body language or adjectives to mislead each other, to orchestrate a response that is not based on truth? Do we give ourselves the right to say one thing and mean something else? All of that was the kind of problem Jesus was addressing in this section.

The OT law was actually pretty clear on this issue. For instance, the third commandment in Exodus 20:7 says, "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain...." Leviticus 19:12 says, "Do not swear falsely by My name, and so profane the name of your God; I am the LORD." Deuteronomy 23:21 says, "If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it." All of these are reminders that God is concerned about our word and our integrity and we should take them seriously.

But the problem was that the Pharisees and teachers of the law interpreted these passages inaccurately. What they had done over the centuries was to teach people to rationalize, manipulate, introduce exception clauses, and find a way around some of the hard realities that the Law demanded.

For instance, those who had commented on these Old Testament statements and principles said that the key issue was the verbal formula that was used in taking oaths. The Lord meant, If you take a vow, keep it for God's sake. But it had gotten twisted to mean, The only vows or oaths you are responsible for are those that have the phrase "in God's name" attached to them. If you could learn to be slippery with your language and vow something without actually using God's name, you were not really required to keep that vow.

So Jesus is saying, “Don't swear or take any oaths at all. Just do what you say you are going to do.” Jesus' words here are a powerful reminder that we have the capacity not only to lie to and mislead others, but we have a remarkable capacity to lie to ourselves. You are who you are: Either your "yes" means "yes" and your "no" means "no," or they don't. The phraseology you use, and the intensity of your language, are not going to make you more or less likely to keep your word. You are a man or woman of character, or you are not. You are someone whom God is transforming within so that you are trustworthy, or you are not.

But we do not have authority over heaven or earth; we can't swear by them. God has all the authority. He is the only one who can make us different than we are. He is everywhere and he owns all things, therefore, every oath is made in God's name. Every declaration we make, every opinion we offer, every word that we speak, whether true or false, he takes seriously.

So Jesus says no expression of change in your life is going to make you different if you're not different. You can't swear by anything and be more likely to tell the truth. Your only option is to say humbly, "By the grace of God, and only that, I'm going to tell myself the truth, and I'm going to tell you the truth. If I say "yes," it's "yes." If I say "no," it's "no." If I offer an opinion, it's my truly felt opinion.

Questions for reflection:

Have I lied to or misled anyone recently?

Have I twisted the truth to, or colored my words to give anyone a false impression?

Have I said anything to anyone that I did not really mean?

Have I been lying to myself in any way?

Sovereign Lord, you are the God of all truth. You are light, and in you there is no darkness at all. Transform us by your Holy Spirit to become men and women of truth and integrity in our hearts. May the light of your truth shine through our hearts and lives - Amen.

Jeff Frazier