Jesus Hates Hypocrisy
Even More Than You Do!
Part 3 –Swearing (But Not Cussing!)
Matthew 23:16-22
January 11, 2009
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Me/We:
One of the most powerful phrases in the English language is “I swear.”
When people say that, they’re saying, “I mean it.”
Some people say things like, “I swear on my mama’s grave,” or “I’ll swear on a stack of Bibles,” or “I swear to God.”
I used to say stuff like that, especially growing up.
Most of you have either used words like that or heard others use them, right?
But what’s at the bottom of words like that? Why do people think that saying things like that make them more believable?
Have you noticed that sometimes the people who say this stuff the loudest are those who have the most to hide or are lying through their teeth?
The perception is that if you say this, then people will believe you, even if you have a history of lying.
Swearing is something that’s gone on for thousands of years.
And depending on the person taking that oath, it can underscore the truthfulness of the person making that oath, or it can serve as a cloak to hide a person’s deception.
Jesus has a few things to say about swearing, and my hope is that as we go through our time today, you’ll learn about a character quality that everyone can develop to become a person who avoids the hypocritical kind of swearing Jesus talks about.
God: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I began this series we’re in right now, which comes as we continue to walk through the gospel according to Matthew.
Then Thanksgiving and Christmas came, and I put it aside until we could get back into in right now.
In the beginning, I toyed with the idea of just calling it, “Jesus Hates Hypocrisy.” But the more I thought about it, the more I remembered conversations I had had with people who would complain about Christianity, and the Church by saying it was just a bunch of hypocrites.
My response to these folks is that, yes – there are lots of hypocrites in the church, and truth be told, I’ve been one from time to time, though I’m not proud of that fact.
And I say, “You hate hypocrisy? You should see what Jesus says about it. He hates it even more than you do!”
And if they let me, I show them the portion of Scripture that contains what we’re looking at today, explaining that Jesus saves His harshest words for the hypocrites.
In part one of these series we looked at how hypocrites love to do everything for show – especially their religious activity.
They go to church, memorize Scriptures, pray lengthy and flowery prayers, not because they want to know God better or become more like Jesus, but because they want people to look at them and go, “Wow! Aren’t they something? They’re ‘spiritual!”
And Jesus say, “Get real. God isn’t fooled. God honors humility.”
In part 2 we looked at the verses just before this where Jesus discusses how hypocrisy is a hindrance to heaven because it gives people a bad taste of what Christianity is supposed to be about, and it causes them to reject Jesus Himself.
Hypocrisy is an ugly thing, folks, and Jesus doesn’t look kindly on it. He hates it.
Today we continue to look at the issue of hypocrisy in how people play games by swearing oaths that don’t mean anything.
That’s why I thought I’d best mention that the issue isn’t “cussing.” We can talk about that another time, okay?
Matthew 23:16-22 (p. 700) –
16 "Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ’If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his 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 if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
This is the second time Jesus references swearing oaths. He also did it back in chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount.
In fact, I’d like us to take a look at that passage in a few minutes, because I think that they serve to complement each other.
In this passage, Jesus was pointing out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders as it applied to people making oaths to God using the temple and the altar as the basis for their oaths.
Notice how these guys nit-picked about things: if the person swore by the temple, it wasn’t binding, but if they swore by the gold in the temple, it was binding.
If they swore by the altar, it wasn’t binding, but if they swore by the gold on the altar, it was binding.
It would almost be like saying, “If you swear by this prayer railing, it’s not binding. But if you swear by the varnish on it, then you’re bound to it.
Kinda silly, huh?
What was Jesus really complaining about here?
The religious leaders had put into place all sorts of loopholes that a person could use to get out of a commitment they had made, whether they made it to God or to someone else.
By attempting to make distinctions in oaths, these leaders had lost sight of the fact that all oaths are made before God and should be equally binding. In other words, no oath should be made with a loophole. (LACNTC)
Jesus condemns them for playing games with God, either to get out of one’s commitment or to trump a prior commitment. (NIVAC)
And that brings up this other passage:
Matthew 5:33-37 (p. 684) –
33 “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.’ 34 But I tell you, Do not swear 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 Simply let your ’Yes’ be ’Yes,’ and your ’No,’ ’No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”
How basic is that? When you say yes, you mean yes, and when you say no, you mean no.
These passages compliment each other in the bottom line of both of them is that when you make an oath or commitment, you understand that God is involved, whether you think so or not, or whether you say certain words or not.
I was in sales for a number of years, and still do some for New Trends.
And it’s mighty tempting at times to hide the truth about your product in order to get the sale, or to stretch the truth about it to make it more attractive to the customer.
But I had resolved to be completely truthful about my products and services, even if it meant I lost the sale.
I wouldn’t tell my customer that my product would do something it couldn’t, or inflate my price because I knew they would buy from me regardless.
And I lost some sales. It happened again just the other day. I didn’t have what they needed.
But I know that when I do make a sale, I can look them in the eye and tell them they got a good deal, and that whatever I’m selling them would meet every expectation they had of it, and most importantly, I would back it up if something went wrong.
And because of that, I had customers who would buy from me and not from the competitors, regardless of the cost, because they knew I wasn’t going to lie to them and that I would be fair in my pricing, even if it wasn’t quite as low as the other guy.
The disciple of Jesus should be a person who can be trusted to keep his or her word without having to “swear” to his truthfulness.
The word for this is integrity.
This is that character quality I mentioned at the beginning of the message.
Integrity is simply being a person whose word can be counted on because you act honestly toward everyone and in every situation.
When you commit to something, you do it. When you state something, it’s the truth, and people believe you without you having to say things like, “I swear on the Bible,” or “as God is my witness,” or whatever.
You let your yes be yes, and your no be no. You don’t cross your fingers behind your back when you say something.
One of the questions that comes up when discussing this kind of thing is this: What about courts, induction ceremonies? Can we swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, or to defend my country?
Well, it’s my opinion and that of some of the more conservative scholars that Jesus’ wasn’t saying you can’t say the words “I swear.” In these situations, you’re merely affirming the fact that you are being truthful in what you’re saying.
Also, courts have now begun asking whether you “swear or affirm” to tell the truth, and I’m not sure if the military has adopted that.
The issue isn’t the words, “I swear.” The issue is the truthfulness of the person.
You: Become a person who can say at the end of the day, “To the best of my knowledge, I was completely truthful and honest with everyone I came into contact with.”
This is hard – it’s easy to overstate or understate something to gain an advantage.
It’s easy to leave out certain facts that color the situation in your favor.
I was just watching the movie, “Chicken Run” the other night.
In the movie, the rooster, played by Mel Gibson has convinced two rats who scrounge for things to get them what they need to help the chickens escape the chicken farm.
The rats had been demanding eggs, but the hens had refused. But Rocky, the rooster, promises them all the eggs he can make for them.
The rats didn’t know that roosters don’t lay eggs. And when confronted by Ginger, the main hen in charge of the escape plan, he says that he didn’t lie, he “just left out “certain truths.”
Maybe what you’re saying might be technically correct, but you know that it’s not communicating the whole picture.
Or you might simply be silent about something that you know should be made known.
There are all sorts of ways to be a person in whom integrity is lacking.
But I want to show you three actions we can take to be people of integrity:
1. Resolve to never stretch the truth.
Be accurate, be honest. Don’t promise more than you can deliver, don’t exaggerate your accomplishments, and don’t embellish the details about something or someone.
2. Resolve to never hide the truth.
I’m talking specifically about things like taking responsibility for your actions, especially when something goes wrong, or if there is something wrong with your product or service.
This also includes things like answering truthfully when asked about your opinion, or your viewpoint on something.
We need to be truthful.
Now we’re supposed to give the truth in love, so be careful that in your zeal to tell the truth you don’t end up causing harm or hurt.
“Yeah, honey. That was the worst tofu and eggplant casserole I’ve ever tasted. I wouldn’t give that to my worst enemy’s dog…”
Does this mean you have to spill every detail about everything on every occasion? No, that’s not what I’m saying.
You need to be careful that you don’t give out something too soon or to someone who won’t understand it.
For example, there are simply things my kids don’t need to know yet about my past. They are shameful to me, and telling them now would actually do more harm than good, in my opinion.
And so guess what? They’re not going to hear about them – maybe ever, depending on what it is.
The issue here is that you’re not keeping back something that the other person should know in order to make a correct decision or get an accurate picture.
And that’s a good thing to keep in mind as we look at this third way to be a person of integrity:
3. Remember that nothing is hidden from God.
You can try to fool others and even yourself about what you say and do, but God is never fooled.
He sees what you do and hears what you say, and He knows what’s in your heart.
And He will call you to account for those things.
But the Scripture says that a person of integrity is pleasing to God, and is blessed by Him.
At the bottom of all this talk about integrity is trust. Trust that God will take care of you, in spite of what you’re honesty and integrity bring you from those who will take advantage of it.
But what if I’ve already blown it? What if I’m already known as a person without integrity?
You start today. Confess it to God and begin today to be a person of integrity, with the help of God – because that’s what it takes.
You may have to confess and ask for forgiveness from someone else, but God will help you with that, too.
We: Unfortunately, I come across people from time to time who don’t trust Christians because they’ve been lied to or otherwise been deceived in one way or another by someone who claimed to be a Christian.
It’s very hard to help these people see that not all Christians are like that, and that Jesus doesn’t condone it.
But people see what’s happened, and so they think that all Christians are hypocrites.
But can you imagine what would happen if they started running across more Christians who are honest, even to the point of losing something for it?
That generates respect. Respect for you. Respect for your word. And then when you get the opportunity to share Christ with them, guess what – they’re more likely to listen because they know you’re not just putting them on again.
And if you’ve been “integrity-challenged” in the past, let them see the changes Christ has been making in you.
Watch them be amazed at the fact that God is still in the business of changing lives.
And you can be a source of blessing to them.
Let’s pray.
