There was recently a study that said that only 22% of adults in America believe there is even such a thing as absolute moral truth. But what was surprising was among Christians who were defined as regular church attenders, only 32% of adults and only 9% of teenagers said they believe moral truth is unchanging or absolute. Falsehoods are 70 percent more likely to get retweeted or shared than accurate news. Some 63% of people say that there are no longer any objective news sources they can trust, and 66% say internet news and content is dividing people rather than uniting them. What is more, more than 50% agree that political and social issues around the world have gotten worse over the past year.
We wonder why people have such a hard time telling the truth to each other. Well, apparently, most people can’t even identify who the truth is in the first place! Yes who. Truth is a person.
Our virtual world helps us to twist the truth, exaggerate the truth, or hide the truth in powerfully destructive ways. Take a segment here, or a clip here, add some epic music, but some dark clouds in the background, and ad some background commentary, and you have made a person into the devil himself. Society seems to care less about integrity and more about fame. Less about actually being authentic, and more about looking authentic. It cares less about truth then about making your side look better.
The words we are considering were spoken by the One who declared Himself to be the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) – The One whose Word IS TRUTH (Psalm 119:160). And He presents us with a standard of truthfulness that is infinitely higher than the standards of men.
Jesus empowers us to keep our word.
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Keep your Word
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Applications
Keep Your Word
“Again you have you have heard it said to those of old, “You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.” But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
Before we dive in. let’s make sure we understand what Jesus is saying and not saying. He is not saying you are never allowed to make a vow. The Bible is full of them. Even God himself takes one in Hebrews. No, he is talking about honesty. He is saying God is always your witness. The God of Truth the God of the covenant. If he is your Father, then you will look like him and act like him.
Peter says, if anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.”. When we take an oath, it is not to force us to speak the truth, but for the sake of others. That is also why God takes an oath, not because he needs to hold himself accountable but so that we can hold him accountable.
If the only reason you are taking an oath is to be honest, then we are mocking God, and might as well not swear at all. If you swear, swear by God or nothing at all, otherwise you make a god of it. Don’t swear by anything else because nothing else can know your heart. God alone knows your heart. As Leviticus 19:12 says, “And you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.” if you want to be held truly accountable call God to account.
You see, the pharisees had a way of speaking that allowed them to avoid speaking the full truth and nothing but the truth. Our world does something similar. We say things like “I promise. Honestly. I am not lying. Seriously. I am not joking.” When people say this a lot it always worries me. I think, “Does this mean you have been lying with everything else?”
People can be more interested in being believed than they are in being truthful. More to the point, they were more interested in being believed than they were in being GODLY! This is about character! If you are more worried about whether someone believes you then actually being truthful, we have a problem.
Jesus tells them, “do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Let what you say simply be “yes” or “no”. Our Lord emphatically points out that God alone is sovereign over all things – heaven, earth, Jerusalem, and you – you are sovereign over nothing, not even your own hair. No matter what you choose to swear by, it is God to whom you and I and every other created thing are accountable, and you’re accountable to Him whether you swear an oath or don’t swear an oath. You’re accountable to Him every time you open your mouth. For every single word that comes out of your mouth. Yes. Every last one.
He is saying better not swear at all if you use it as a way to avoid accountability. Don’t fool yourself, God cannot be mocked. He can see right through you. If you think you can twist the truth a little by swearing, then it comes from the evil one. This goes after the religious leaders and their hypocrisy. Jesus is against hypocrisy in all its forms, and he's for straightforwardness and transparency and honesty and responsibility in all its forms.
James seems to echo the words of our Lord in his epistle when he says, “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but let your yes be yes, and your no, no; so that you may not fall under judgment (James 5:12).
As a disciple of Christ, you are defined by whetheryour speech matches your actions. One of the first documents of the early church, the Didache says, “thou shalt not perjure thyself, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not speak evil, thou shalt not cherish a grudge, thou shalt not be double-minded nor double-tongued; for the double tongue is a snare of death. Thy word shall not be false or empty but fulfilled by action.” I like that last part, “Your word shall not be false or empty, but fulfilled by action.”
Finally before we move on. A couple things. The truth will cost you. And the truth will set you free. The truth will Cost you. For in submitting to truth in all its forms you are submitting to the Lordship of Christ. And you are going to face this world and yourself as you really are. Broken. Sinful. Full of evil. It also means you honor your word no matter what the cost. In fact, it was the truth of who he was that hung Christ on a cross. And a relentless pursuit of truth in a world full of lies will cost you. It will also be humbling. Because the truth about you is far less pretty then we care to believe. It will say I am not the center. God is. I am a sinner. Insignificant in the grand scheme of things. It is in God that we have our significance.
But it is also freeing. A lie is complicated. A lies requires more lies to make sure that you can cover for the first lie. A lie hides the real you. A lie causes there to be tension between who you are and who you know yourself to be. But when we come to know Christ who is truth, we can be honest about ourselves, without fear of condemnation. We can confess all sins. The bad and the ugly. And not worry about judgement. We can be vulnerable. We can keep our word even when it hurts. People will quickly catch on.
So what does this look like practically for us. Well a few things:
Applications
First social media. I know you have heard me talk about this before but it is important. Don’t post news unless you have verified it by two or three other sources or it is posted by a source that has checked its sources. This is a basic biblical principle. For our age it seems exceedingly high. Jesus cared deeply about never sharing a half truth. And I don’t think Jesus would have shared half of what we share. Wait till more than one news outlet reports it, or people say multiple sources say it. This is just a way of being a yes and no Christian in social media. All stats can be used to show a particular view. Be careful. I am not saying doubt everything. But check everything. Do the work. People will respect you for it.
Also social media is notorious for lying about who you are. In a popular secular journal called “Psychology Today” there was an article titled Honesty and Lying on Social Media. They write, “The truth is that people tend to lie on these platforms. How? First, people directly lie about their lives, which is often an effort to make themselves look more desirable or positive.”
For example, in a study only 18 percent of men and 19 percent of women reported that their Facebook page displayed “a completely accurate reflection” of who they are. Most commonly, participants said that they only shared “non-boring” aspects of their lives (32 percent) and were not as “active” as their social media accounts appeared (14 percent).
Think about how our lives contrast online with the social media account of Israel, or the disciples in the Bible. They tell the whole story of the human experience, and that gives glory to God – because that is what Jesus came to redeem. He did not come to save the righteous. Those who want to pretend like they have ti all together, but sinners. Broken, hurt, sinners.
We all know reality is filled gut-wrenching struggles that never get posted. The reality is you are not in a constant state of vacation, eating out, and blissfully parenting perfect kids. This is simply not true, so don’t make it sound like its true. Let your yes be yes and your no, no. Anything more comes from evil.
I am not saying don’t share anything. But why are you sharing. To make your life better then it looks, or truly out of love for your neighbor. You can share something, because you love people and want them to know it, or share it so that you get a lot of likes.
Second watch out for the person always being nice, and flattering you. This is a satanic weapon which works by feeding your ego to only bring you down or use you to your own ends. Satan did this with Adam and Eve, flattered them. He tried it again with the Lord Jesus in the desert, and he is not about to give up on stroking your ego. Watch out: For As psalm 12 says, “With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaks great things;” or proverbs, “A lying tongue hates those it crushes, And a flattering mouth works ruin.”
A flatterer means nothing with his words, he just wants something from you. He will ruin you. Every one of us needs more encouragers and people that can rebuke us in a godly way then flatterers and cynical criticizers.
Another way we twist truth is by exaggerating. You know the half truth about the fish. I caught one this big. But it was actually a lot smaller. Reality belongs to God; you really think you need to exaggerate that which God made. Again Satan tried this trick in the garden. “Did God say you may not eat of any tree in the garden?”
Be honest even in the small things. . And lets ask for forgiveness when we don’t. if we say ‘Yes’ to a dinner date, a business meeting, a business deal or meeting a friend for coffee then that is exactly what we intend to do and nothing short of a disaster will shake us from that yes. We said yes and yes it will be.
Imagine for a moment how it would transform our lives if our culture functioned like that. No more, ‘hey, still on for tomorrow morning?’ texts.
It is courageous. For it recognizes that once you’ve said yes other offers might come along, better offers. But you will not let FOMO (Fear of missing out) rule you. Instead you will make your decisions and stick to them with the courage of your convictions and the courage to live out what matters to you. You will refuse to be constantly worried that something better will come along. You will refuse to be perpetually halfhearted about what you are already part of. You’ll be able to give yourself wholeheartedly to people, and projects and things and you’ll love it.
Also if you have children let you yes be yes. It has a great impact because our children learn a lot about what God is like from watching us – and they DO watch us! When you say “Yes” to your child, can he count on what you’ve said, or does your child sense that you’re not accountable to him because you to treat your word to him casually?
One of the most beautiful things in all of human experience is a child who accepts “No” from his mother or father the FIRST TIME. THAT is a child who has a good head start on understanding the character of God!
In conclusion. There was a test in the OT if a man was a prophet of God or not. Would his words fall to the ground? Something that falls to the ground is light, and empty it carries not weight. It does not go far – it’s out of your mouth and has no effect on your surroundings. The people of God are not like that. They are people of truth, in Christ who is the embodiment of all truth. We know language is sacred, conversation is a gift, and we dare not waste it. We dare not empty it of its power by being babblers. That is the way of the world. Many men and women of many words. Few men and women of action.
As long as the words of Jesus are not obeyed, we will continue only to expand contracts, fine print, and lawyers will have more and more work. The less truthful a society is the more lawyers a society will have.
So lets be a church that is passionate about truth. In great and small matters. If we are not passionate in the small matters, then we can preach about the great Christian doctrines all we want but they are emptied of their power, because people can’t even believe us when we commit to meeting up for coffee. We all struggle with this. I know I do. Let’s pray. Let’s repent. That is the Christian life. Open honest prayer repentance. Lets let the Spirit convict us here. I know he has done so with me. And lets desire to be in Christ. We will not speak truth in our hearts if we are not in love with the One who is Truth.
Everything that Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount comes back to the reality that God sees straight into our hearts. He sees anger. He sees lust. He is the only lie detector with 100% accuracy! The righteousness that comes from God cares infinitely more about what God sees than about what man sees! May God see a people that are pure in heart. They are the blessed ones who will see God. Only in Jesus can we afford to be this truthful about ourselves and the world we live in.
Amen.