A few weeks ago, President Clinton spent Saturday and Sunday huddling with his lawyers preparing for his grand jury testimony. As I thought about that, it seemed a bit odd. If your goal in going before a grand jury is to tell the truth, to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, why does it take hours and hours to prepare for that? Now, I'm not going to spend my time criticizing the President today. Plenty of other people are doing that. I'm sure most politicians who were being called before a grand jury, of which they were a target, would spend time with their lawyers preparing for their testimony. Most of us in this room would probably want to spend time rehearsing our testimony if we were in that situation. The sad fact is that when it comes to our current legal system, there has been an erosion of honesty. Defense attorneys and prosecutors are often interested in other things besides the plain and simple truth. They often seem interested in creating or shaping a truth that can be used to their benefit.
But, it would be foolish to think that lawyers are the only people who like to play games with the truth. A recent survey found that most Americans think it is wrong to lie under oath, but see failure to tell the truth as only a minor problem in many situations, and as not a problem at all in some situa-tions. In other words, sometimes it's OK to lie, but other times it's not, especially if you promise you are not lying. This reminds me of grade school ethics. Remember, if you have your fingers crossed when you speak, you don't have to keep any promises you make. Did you do that? I remember my brother saying something like, "But, Dan, you said you would give me your baseball card of Harmon Killebrew, if I washed the dishes for you." "So what, I had my fingers crossed, I'm going to give you Frank Quilici instead." Pretty much like, as long as you are not under oath, it's OK to lie. Of course, folks who think that way will probably lie under oath too, if they think that is to their benefit. Some of us have discovered through experience that handshakes, verbal pledges, or even written promises are no guarantee that someone will keep his or her word.
This erosion of honesty which plagues our society stands in sharp contrast to the instructions we as Christians are given in the New Testament. There we are simply told, "Tell the truth. Tell the truth, period." Or to use the Biblical phrase, "Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No' be 'No.'" Today we want to explore some interesting words about truth-telling that Jesus gives us in Matthew 5:33-37. Now, this is a passage we looked at a few years ago, but because of the integrity crisis we face today, I think it is worth exploring again. As we do so, I believe the Lord will use His Word to help strengthen our commitment to speaking nothing but the truth. Let us pray this would happen.
As we look at Jesus' instruction for us, we see that He says: Speak nothing but the truth. Matthew 5:33 "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.'" There is no particular verse in the Old Testament which gives this command, but it is an accurate summary of what the Old Testament law says. When you make an oath, you keep your word. 5:34-36 "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." Now, why is Jesus so opposed to making vows? Oaths are designed to en-courage people to tell the truth, but Jesus knows that the Pharisees, the religious leaders of His day, have twisted things so that oaths had become an occasion for clever lies and deception. Jesus spells out how perverse things have gotten in Matthew 23:16-22 "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.' 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 if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it." Do you catch what is going on? The Pharisees were teaching that some oaths were more binding than others, and that some oaths were not binding at all. In other words, if you took a particular oath, it was OK to lie, but if you made another oath, you had to speak the truth. Does that sound familiar? Jesus says that that is ridiculous. In Matthew 23 He reminds us that no matter what we swear by, we are swearing by some-thing God has made, and thus we are in-directly swearing by God Himself. There is no such thing as a non-solemn vow. Every vow a person makes is binding. So, nothing but the truth should ever come out of our mouths. Thus, Jesus says that there is really no reason for oaths and vows at all. The system of using oaths had been corrupted beyond repair, and He just tosses it out.
Matthew 5:37 "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." Just so we understand Jesus' words are meant for all Christians, these words are repeated in James 5:12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear -- not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned. Some of you remember the Dr. Seuss story, Horton Hatches an Egg. It is the tale of an elephant who promises to sit on an egg and hatch it for this bird. As the days and weeks go by, Horton just keeps on sitting there. All of his friends encourage him to forget his promise and play with them. Do you remember his response? "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, an elephant is faithful, 100%." Jesus' command to us is similar. Don't worry about making vows, just say what you mean, and mean what you say. When we open our mouth, let nothing but the truth come from those lips.
So, what is the meaning of Jesus' teaching for us today? First of all, let's deal with the question of whether or not a Christian should ever take an oath. Some people, the Jehovah's Witnesses and Chris-tian groups like the Mennonites, insist these verses mean that it is wrong to go into court, put a hand on a Bible and say, "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God." They maintain that a Christian should never take a vow of any type. Now, I respect that view, but I don't think this is what the Lord requires. Jesus' objection is not to the oaths, but to the deceit. He is concerned about truthfulness. If vows can be servants of the truth, I don't believe Jesus would oppose them. I say this because the Bible tells us that God Himself makes vows, Hebrews 6:13-17. We also see the apostle Paul taking oaths 2 Corinthians 1:23 I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. And in Matthew 26:63,64 Jesus Himself testified under oath at His trial. To focus on whether or not it is appropriate to make a vow is to major on the minors. That is the same trap the Pharisees were constantly falling into. Jesus' focus, the one on which we should major, is speak the truth. Speak nothing but the truth.
Next, I want to point out what is probably the most important lesson this text teaches. We need to ask forgiveness for not always telling the truth. Reading these verses makes us realize we are not people who are always honest. Our yeses don't always mean yes. Now, I know quite a few people whom I would consider to be very honest folks. There are many of you in this room who, if you came up to me and said, "Pastor, can I borrow $20, I'll pay you back next Sunday?", I would say, "Sure." I would not require you to sign a slip of paper or even to shake hands. I believe most of you are honest individuals. I believe I am an honest person. But, when I read Jesus' words, I find His standard of honesty is a little higher than I am used to. Is every "yes" I speak a yes? Do I speak nothing but the truth? When the IRS asks us on the tax form how much money we made in 1998, will we tell them the truth? Will we remember to report the $100 in cash we got for doing an odd job? On the other hand, do we ever find ourselves exaggerating our income or our accomplishments in order to impress other people? Pastors have been known to do that. We often get caught in a numbers game. When I was in college and an evangelist came to our church one Sunday, at the end of the sermon he asked people to raise their hands if they wanted to receive Christ as their Savior. During the prayer, he said, "I see that hand, thank you. I see that hand. Yes, I see that hand." Later, one person told me, "I had my eyes open and no one raised their hands."
I doubt if anyone in this room can honestly say, "I speak nothing but the truth." Jesus knows that. So the most important response our text calls for is that we turn to Jesus Christ and say, "Lord, I'm a liar sometimes." Now, maybe you are a pretty good liar, and you've never been caught, or maybe you're not so good at it, and people know you can be dishonest. Whatever the case, we need to confess our sin and experience the forgiveness that only Jesus Christ can offer. Friends, maybe you are here this morning and have been pretending you don't need this Christianity, that you are good enough the way you are, that you are more honest than most people who go to church. I hope the realization that words other than the truth coming from your mouth will help you admit that you are guilty of being a liar. Once you admit that, then I pray that you will stop trusting in yourself and turn to Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior. If you are not sure exactly what that means, you can talk with me or with someone who can help you.
Jesus wants us to admit we are liars, turn to Him for forgiveness, and then He desires to help us be people who speak nothing but the truth. Our response is to strive by His grace to do that. I want to mention three areas that many of us need to work on. We need to be more diligent in telling the truth by: #1) Confessing our sins and failures to other believers in Christ. In Colossians 3:9, Paul says, "Do not lie to each other." One way we often ignore this com-mand is by trying to cover up our weak-nesses, struggles and failures. I like the true story of a woman named Mary who had gone shopping. When she finished, she went out to the parking lot and, sure enough, the keys were locked in the car. Mary went back inside and called her husband to come with another set of keys. She then went out to the car, checked and, sure enough, one of the back doors was unlocked. Knowing her husband was already on his way and know-ing he would be a bit upset that she had him drive across town when the door was open, Mary opened the unlocked door, pressed the lock down, and slammed it shut.
Now, maybe you have never done that, but I know most of us, because of our pride and desire to impress others, have tried to cover up our mistakes. Sometimes we have a real hard time admitting when we've mess-ed up. James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins to each other. This is not always easy to do. Frankly, in certain contexts it may be unwise to do. Gossip that proliferates in some churches, some folks are just plain nosey and want to know things which are none of their business. But, the Bible says that we need to stop lying to one another. If a Christian friend asks how things are going in our Christian life, in our marriage, in our quiet time, most of the time we just need to tell the truth. We must not pretend things are OK when they are not. It is good to tell the truth about who we really are, so others can pray for us, encourage us, and help us overcome the mistakes we have made.
There are many ways this can be done, but one way is to get together with a small group of other Christians and voluntarily be accountable to that group of people. Chuck Swindoll meets with three or four other men and every time they meet, each one has to answer these five questions: Since we last met, (#1) Have you read your Bible and prayed each day? (#2) Have you obtained money in any way that was inappropriate? (#3) Have you been in any situation with another woman that you didn't want your wife to know about? (#4) Have you looked at any pornography? After each of these four questions has been answered, then comes (#5) Have you lied to us in your answers to any of the first four questions? Friends, within this congregation, we need to be honest with each other. We need to be willing to confess our sins to other Christians whom we trust.
Secondly, we need to be more diligent in telling the truth by being honest in all our dealings with others. This is especially important as we deal with those outside the church. It is tragic when people, who are not Christians, hear people, who are Christians, speak something other than the truth. I've always liked this little story: Dave and Tom live in the same town. Dave attends church every Sunday. Tom has not been in church in thirty years. Dave reads the Bible every day. Tom doesn't own a Bible. Dave usually listens to the local Christian radio station. Tom doesn't know a single hymn. Dave picked up some material at the local hardware store and told the owner he would pay for it within the month. Tom owns the local hardware store. Three months have passed and the bill has not been paid. Dave invited Tom to church last Sunday. Tom stayed home and watched TV.
We are Christ's ambassadors. We are His representatives on this earth and in this community. One of the problems the American church has is that because some very visible Christian leaders have spoken things other than the truth, the church has lost its credibility. People don't always trust us. They don't believe what we say. The most damaging sins of Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, etc. were not their sexual sins, though those were very serious. What were most destructive were the lies they told in trying to cover up their sins. There are a large number of people, including some in our community, who are convinced that this church, and other churches, exist to build an organization and make money. We can tell them, "No, that is not the case. We are here to honor Jesus Christ and serve people." But they don't believe us because in their eyes the church has lost its credibility. They have heard Christians speak words that were proven not to be true, and now they don't believe anything we say. When we are at work or school, or with a neighbor, we must be very careful that nothing but the truth comes out of our mouths. As representatives of Jesus Christ, our integrity is one of our most valuable assets. We cannot afford to lose our credibility.
The third way we need to be diligent in telling the truth is by being faithful in pro-claiming the Gospel. There is a great temptation in our culture to water down the Bible message and tell people what they want to hear. We must not do that. Whether I am speaking in this pulpit or you are talking to a friend at work, we need to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. Oh, we ought to be sensitive, loving and gentle when we speak, but we must never compromise the truth. When a friend tells us he has moved in with his girlfriend, and asks "You don't think that's wrong, do you?", we have to be willing to answer truthfully. We ought not to condemn our friend, but we should tell him the Bible says it is wrong and, like Jesus, we should tell him to go and sin no more. When our neighbor calls and says her nephew was killed in a car accident, and then asks, "You think he's in heaven, don't you? He was baptized when he was a baby.", we have to be willing to tell the truth. Maybe we would answer, "I know that if your nephew was a believer in Jesus Christ, he is in heaven, because the Bible tells us that is what we must do to be saved." When someone at school says, "You are not one of those narrow-minded Christians who thinks that your religion is the only right one, and that Muslims and Hindus all go to hell?", we must tell the truth. Maybe we can respond by saying, "Well, it would be great if every-one went to heaven, but I know Jesus said 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,' and I choose to believe Jesus was telling the truth." Friends, it's not always easy to be truthful. Sometimes people have asked me for my opinion, and I have to tell them, "I don't think you really want to know what I believe on that topic." But, we must be very careful that we don't speak anything other than the truth, especially when we are talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Friends, the world around us may think that everyone should be given some latitude when it comes to speaking the truth. People we know may think it is not a big deal when someone lies about their sexual behavior or cheats on his income taxes. But Jesus has another standard for us. As Christians, our yes should always mean yes, and our no should always mean no. Friends, may the Lord help us to say what we mean, and mean what we say in all situations. May the Lord give us such a deep commitment to honesty that today, and in the days ahead, from our mouths will come nothing but the truth.
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Go to www.life.1stbaptist.org/sermons.htm for Pastor Dan's full text Bible based sermon site
