Yes Means Yes - James 5:12 Series

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.

Introduction

Fraud

According to one criminologist, the #1 crime in America today is fraud. I don’t know how many convictions there are, but it seems to me hardly any of the scammers ever get caught. There are so many scams out there.

• Wholesale furniture or other buyer’s club scams

• “You’ve won a free vacation” scams

• Tech Support scams – they call you and offer to fix your computer.

• Collection Agency scams – they say you missed your court date, or you owe this money, but pay us a few hundred dollars and we’ll take care of it.

• Vacation Property Rental scams

• Timeshare Resale scams

• Dating and Relationship scams

• Work from Home scams

• Fraudulent Check scams – someone buys your car with a fraudulent cashier’s check, and then when you go to cash it, you are the one committing a crime.

• Investment schemes

• Cemetery scams

• Identity theft

Dishonesty is one of the things in this world that makes life really hard.

But as aggravated as we might be over people like that, very often we have our own forms of dishonesty or unfaithfulness. They aren’t as obvious as running a scam to rip people off. But very often lack of integrity can creep into our hearts. We put on masks in church to make it seem like we don’t have any embarrassing sins. I give everyone the impression that I have got it all together. I laugh at a joke I didn’t even get because I don’t want to look dumb. I pretend to know something I don’t know. I say things that mean one thing to me, but I don’t concern myself with the possibility that it might mean something else to the person I’m talking to.

There are so many subtle forms of dishonesty. How about when we aren’t honest with people regarding where they stand with us? Relational dishonesty. We are upset with someone, but we won’t go talk to them about it. So that person thinks everything is fine, but it’s not. We smile and act like nothing is wrong, but something is wrong. That is lying.

And our struggles with integrity go beyond just dishonesty. We also struggle with unfaithfulness. Lying is when you intentionally deceive someone. Unfaithfulness is when you don’t follow through on your word or your responsibility. I might tell you that I am going to do something, and I mean it with all my heart at the time I say it, but then I fail to follow through for one reason or another. You can’t count on me. That is unfaithfulness. It is an integrity problem.

You say you’ll pray for someone and you don’t. You say you’ll be there, but you don’t show up, or show up late. You sign up for a ministry, but over time you get discouraged or lose interest and let it go by the wayside. (And blame it on whoever discouraged you.) You vow to be faithful to your wife, but then you lust after other women. You vow, “Till death do us part,” but then when it gets hard, or someone else shows you the attention you crave, you divorce without biblical grounds.

Whether it is a really big issue like leaving your spouse, or something more common like putting on a mask at church – lapses in integrity are a very serious matter.

The Stakes of Integrity

Take a look at what is at stake.

James 5:12 … Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be condemned.

What is at stake here is nothing less than condemnation. It is not talking about the judgment of believers – this is the word for being condemned to hell. Revelation 21 is a description of that wonderful day when believers will enter the New Jerusalem where we will live forever.

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain… 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this … 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral … all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life … 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

All liars will spend eternity in the lake of fire.

“What if I lie but then repent?”