Liar Liar – Matthew 5:33-37
Amish buggies probably don’t have speedometers.
How do they know if they’re breaking the law? They just know they’re not because you can’t speed in a buggy – you’ve got a two horse power vehicle.
You always know you’re going far beyond the demands of the law, even in a school zone.
Amish guys don’t have radar detectors. When they see a police car turning on its lights, they don’t say, “Oh man, is that for me? How fast was I going?” I say this not only to make fun of Amish people, but to make a point: They’re built to live above the demands of the law, and so they never worry about breaking it.
One of the purposes Jesus has in preaching his sermon on the mount is, not to create Amish people, but to call us to live so far above the demands of the law of God, that we almost don’t need to wonder if we have obeyed the standard. He is speaking to build a people who live by a radically different standard:
Luke 10:27 YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
If we are radically devoted to that standard, we are automatically keeping the law. Because it is such a high standard that all of the law is automatically included in it.
If we ever find ourselves looking up at the demands of the law, we know we’re in sin – not because we under obligation to keep the letter of the law (Christ kept it for us and it was fulfilled in him.) But if we, ini our efforts to love God and love people, find ourselves not living up to the demands of the law, something is wrong. Because the command to love builds in to us the ability to go far beyond the law.
Let me give an example: the tithe. The Old Testament law was that people were to give the first ten percent of their increase (it was actually more complex than that and amounted to more than 10%.) But for the sake of argument, say 10%.
And it is true that that tithe was for the Israelites and connected with the temple system. The temple system was torn down and replaced with Jesus so we are no longer under temple law (that temple doesn’t even exist anymore.)
And there is no new testament command for believers to tithe. We are told to give as the Lord prospers us. But, if we ever find ourselves giving less than 10%, we can be sure we’re not loving properly. So the law continues to be a spotlight on our lives to expose faith, to expose sin, to expose a love for God or lack thereof. When we have to look up to see the demands of the law, we need to ask, “Am I loving?”
Because we have been set free: not to break the law, but to live so far above its demands that we don’t need to worry about having a speedometer.
And the area of the law that Jesus expounds for us tonight is the area dealing with our speech.
I. Vows and Oaths – Good Things Turned Bad
Matthew 5:33-37 33 Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.
People had always been commanded not to lie. They knew from the ten commandments that telling the truth was a good thing.
But they would often solemnize that truth by swearing an oath. By swearing that oath, they allowed the people who heard them to have much more confidence that what they were saying was true: If I told you I would pay you for a field, you might believe me, but you might doubt: he wasn’t being serious. He was lying. He wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying. He was speaking hypothetically.
But if I made an oath to pay you a certain amount of money for a field, you would know I meant what I was saying, that I wasn’t joking, that I wasn’t lying, because I would swear by the name of God and I would have him to deal with if I broke my oath.
In Deuteronomy 10:20, God had even told people to swear oaths by his name “20 You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.”
And that law was designed to encourage truthfulness.
But people did what sinner will do: they used the fact that oaths existed as an excuse to lie when they did not swear an oath. “O, I said I’d buy that field for that amount, but I didn’t swear an oath so my word was not binding.”
And then the people developed an elaborate system of oaths.
One Rabbi wrote that if you swear by the city of Jerusalem, you don’t have to keep your oath. But if you swear toward Jerusalem, you are bound by your vow.”
So the oath system became a system of rules that said when it was OK to lie and when it was not. So instead of strengthen the cause of truth like oaths were intended to do, they weakened it. You could learn to swear in a very evasive way to deceive people!
So Jesus comes and cleans house:
II. Jesus says everything we swear by is God’s
34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 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 take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
What is Jesus saying here?
People in his day would take oaths by lesser things than God: like I swear by heaven that I’ll do this, or I swear by all the earth that I’ll do that. And they thought that by swearing by something that was not God’s that they wouldn’t have to answer to God for breaking their oath.
But Jesus masterfully relates everything back to God.
He says, “Did you think you were being tricky by saying you swore to heaven that you’d pay for that lumber? Did you think you averted God’s displeasure by swearing to heaven and not to God?
Well Isaiah 66:1 says “This is what the Lord says:
Heaven is My throne,
and earth is My footstool.
Did you think that by swearing to all the earth that you’d build a barn for that man that you kept yourself safe by not technically swearing to God? The earth is his footstool! Its still his, you’re still messing with him.
What about Jerusalem? Psalm 48:2 says its GOD’s city.
What about swearing by your own head? God owns your head too – deciding when to make every hair white or black.
So don’t think you can use your oaths to be a liar, because no matter what you swear by, you are swearing by something over which God has control.
You’re using oaths to lie – so don’t use them at all. Why would a follower of Jesus need an oath? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” If he’s the truth, his children should speak the truth.
III. Jesus reminds us of the truth – everything we say should be an oath
37 Let what you say be simply Yes or No; anything more than this comes from evil.
Everything we say should be an oath. When you say “Yes I’ll do something”, whether you had a contract or not you should do it. When you’re speaking, whether you swore on a bible or not, you should tell the truth.
He’s calling us to live FAR BEYOND THE LAW!
Everything we say is just as solemn as if we had said, “May God strike me down if this is not true” before we said it.
The fact that we swore an oath should never be what makes us truthful. The fact that we’re Christians should. The fact that we are sons and daughters of the true and living God should. We don’t need legal restraints to be truthful.
Now nobody lives like that. Did you see Liar Liar? It was a whole movie about how funny it would be if someone told the truth all the time!
Lies serve as the lubricant to keep the gears of a society turning.
But it shouldn’t be so among us – what lies do for the world (imperfectly) the Gospel does for us.
The people of the world lie to defend themselves in tricky situations.
We recognize that we’re guilty, don’t cover it up, and trust Christ for our defense.
The people of the world lie to make money.
God proved on the cross that he would provide everything for us, so we trust him to provide our needs.
The people of the world lie to maintain social relationships.
We confess our sins to one another and pray for one another, forgiving others as we were forgiven.
How truthful are we?
Do we tell little white lies for social benefit?
Are we dogmatic when we shouldn’t be?
Can you say, “I don’t know?”
Do we exaggerate?
Are we honest in business? With the IRS?
Do we say we’ll do something “to our own hurt?”
Are we honest about our sins and struggles?
Can people around us trust that what we say is reliable?
Or do we only tell the truth in a contract?
Do we attempt to deceive in any way?
We can make any number of excuses for why we deceive, but every one of them shows a lack of faith.
If I’m honest on my tax return, I won’t have enough money (not trusting God to provide.)
If I’m honest with this person they’ll think badly of me (not trusting God to bring reconciliation or to be faithful to be enough for us when relationships are broken)
If I’m honest about this sin, people will reject me (not really believing the gospel that we’re all worthy of rejection).
IV. Should we Take Vows and Swear Oaths?
What about vows and oaths? Should we avoid them altogether?
I don’t think that’s what Jesus is giving a prohibition against swearing vows – it just doesn’t fit the tone of this sermon and it contradicts other scriptures. For example:
Paul calls “God as his witness” in 4 passages like
Romans 1:9. “1:9For God, whom I serve with my spirit in telling the good news about His Son, is my witness that I constantly mention you,”
Paul didn’t take the command absolutely - Jesus wasn’t against oaths
God himself swears and makes vows – Genesis 9:9-11 9:9Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,
9:10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth.
9:11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.
A covenant was a firm promise made under oath of blood.
Hebrews 6:17 6:17So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,
Here we see why God swore an oath – to convince us of something.
Swearing a vow can be loving toward those with whom we must deal who do not know our character. It’s better if people just know us and trust us.
Like Geoff – we’ve been friends since we were about 8 years old. I know him really well and I trust him. We rented a jackhammer together last spring, and we agreed to each pay half. I never had to say, “I’ll need to see that in writing, Geoff. I need some collateral, I need your mastercard number to hold your half” So among one another we shouldn’t need contracts and vows and “I swear to Gods”.
But we understand there are dishonest people in the world, and sometimes we have to deal with people who don’t know us so well. If it helps them trust that our dealing with them will be honest, we can swear a vow or sign a contract or say a pledge.
But we should never look at that vow as a reason to be honest – we would be just as honest whether we swore on the Bible or not.
If we ever have to say, “I really need to tell the truth in this court because I swore on the Bible”, we are way off track in the way we’re living. If we ever have to say, “The IRS could catch me so I better be honest,” something is wrong and we’re living under law. Remember that the command to love always lifts us above the minimal demands of the law.
So what about wedding vows?
Pledge of allegiance?
Oath of office?
Swear on a bible?
They are fine vows to take for the benefit of those we’re dealing with, but whether we vowed or not should make no difference in whether we are true to our word.
What about James 5:12? This is a passage that seems pretty absolute:
12 Now above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. Your "yes" must be "yes," and your "no" must be "no," so that you won’t fall under judgment.
When would you fall under judgment for swearing an oath?
- If you lied under oath
- If you failed to fulfill what you promised.
James 4:13-16 shed some light here “13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit." 14 You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring--what your life will be! For you are a bit of smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes. 15 Instead, you should say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”
We should never say we’ll do anything we’re not sure of – we should always qualify unsure things with unsure words – “Lord Willing”. I can’t control everything about my circumstances, but as far as it depends on me I will do this…
Also, remember, oaths were being used so people could lie. James says, “don’t even swear an oath so you can lie, you’ll fall under judgment for that.” When you say something, mean it.
It seems to me that James is clearly talking about the oaths that were taken to deceive. He is saying, “Don’t swear an oath, BE HONEST” Don’t try to use legalese to justify a lie, when you say something, mean it, don’t try any of this, “I swear by something less than God” so you don’t have to answer to God, you can be judged for that!
[ I’m going through all this not because I think you guys are stuck on it at all, nobody has ever come up to me with a conscience that is just vexed after signing a mortgage contract, but there are groups out there (Jehovah’s witnesses, for one) that take this more absolutely than I would, and I don’t want you to hear something and then have false guilt over something you do. ]
The broad principle is: LOVE FREES US TO LIVE BEYOND THE LAW, NOT BELOW IT.
OUR CONSCIENCES SHOULD BE BOUND TO SPEAK THE TRUTH IN ANY SITUATION BECAUSE WE ARE SONS OF OUR FATHER WHO IS THE TRUTH, NOT BECAUSE WE SWORE AN OATH.
EVERYTHING WE SAY SHOULD BE A VOW: WHEN I SAY YES, I SHOULD MEAN IT. WHEN I SAY NO, I MEAN IT. ON THE STAND OR ON THE TELEPHONE TO A BUSINESS ASSOCIATE.
BECAUSE THAT’S HOW JESUS IS: Faithful and true. Everything he says he will do.
Look at the cross:
He said he would punish sin, so he did.
But he said he would forgive, so he does.
But that was an expensive thing to say – to say he would forgive sin and that he would punish sin meant only that he would have to take that punishment for our sin.
He swore to his own hurt, and he fulfilled every word. Let’s be honest like Him.
