Sermon for Sunday, March 1st, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament Reading:
[Deu 23:21-23 ESV] 21 “If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. 23 You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.
New Testament Reading:
[Jas 5:7-12 ESV] 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
Gospel Reading:
[Jhn 8:39-47 ESV] 39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father–even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
Sermon Text:
[Mat 5:33-37 ESV] 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.’ 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. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Introduction
The sermon title today is “Be true to your word.”
We’ve seen Jesus address points related to the 6th and 7th commandments. Thou shall not kill and thou shall not commit adultery. Now, he references the 9th commandment. Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
We often think of that commandment in legal terms. As if we are going to be on the witness stand in a court room.
But, more broadly this is a commandment to tell the truth. To not lie. “You shall not swear falsely.”
Again Jesus is speaking of Pharisaical alteration or minimization of this commandment. “You have heard it was said to those of old.” Jesus is referencing the Old Testament no doubt, but critiquing the Pharisees understanding of it. The commandment, he contends, is not just limited to telling the truth when you give a vow or an oath, but extends to truth-telling at all times. “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’”
From this, I want to focus on three points. All practical. All applications.
I. Speak with Integrity.
II. Speak Plainly and Clearly
III. There are yet Lawful Oaths and Vows
First,
I. Speak with Integrity
I suspect that some people say “I swear” as if they expect this to move their speech to a higher level of trustworthiness.
But if people don’t trust your regular speech, they are unlikely to be persuaded by your “swearing” something to be true.
And indeed saying “I swear” might actually weaken people’s confidence in your regular speech.
So it is better if we mean what we say without having to swear at all.
When we speak with integrity, we will be believed all of the time.
Naturally, this includes living with integrity that matches your speech.
These go together; integrity in speech and integrity in action.
You indeed are to “perform what you have sworn to the Lord” so long as what you vowed was moral in the first place.
We are to speak with integrity.
Of course, there are times where it will turn out that something you’ve believed and said turns out to be false.
For example, Can you change a tire for me in 30 minutes? Yes I can, you reply. But then it takes 45 minutes. (Or even long as it took me earlier this week)
As for unintentionally false statements like saying how long something will take you, there’s not much you can do about that, except perhaps improve your estimating skills.
But with integrity of speech, we are looking at more black and white issues.
If someone asks:
“Will you give me $45 for a bouquet of flowers.”
And you say, “Yes, I will.”
Then you must give them the money when the flowers are delivered.
And you don’t need to say “I swear I will pay you.” Just say “yes.”
Speak with integrity, intending to follow through on your promises.
II. Speak Plainly and Clearly
Then, speak plainly and clearly.
There is a tendency for some to speak in technical terms, or a sort of circular poetry so as to never be clear in their meaning. This might be a defense mechanism so they can always says “that’s not what I meant.” Or it might be to make people think they are smart.
But I have noticed about theological discussions that such “talkers” are trouble.
For a few years, I’ve been saying a statement that I think I might have invented.
“Obfuscation is the hallmark of heretics.”
Well, that word – obfuscation – is quite unusual itself. And so I need to define and explain in order not to be guilty of exactly what I am arguing against.
Obfuscation is intentionally verbose and confusing language.
And when it comes to theologians and even schools of theology there are a number that come to mind.
One of the first is Kart Barth and the school of Neo-Orthodox theologians of the 20th century which infiltrated even much of the Presbyterian world through Princeton Seminary.
Then, there is N. T. Wright and the school called the “New Perspective on Paul” who say that Martin Luther (and the rest of the Reformers) didn’t understand the apostle Paul.
And today there is Douglas Wilson and those who are called Federal Visionists. Similar to the advocate of the New Perspective on Paul, this group seeks to change our understanding of the very Gospel. But they don’t agree among themselves, and Douglas Wilson even says he left the name “Federal Vision” behind, even though he hasn’t left the ideas!
If you read any of these theologians you’ll quickly be confused. But that is because their theology is confusing. Or to say it another way, their theology is wrong. True theology comes from God who is not the author of confusion.
None of these names and schools of thought might not be known to you. That’s ok. Probably for the best!
But they are examples of people who redefine terms, giving them their own idiosyncratic meanings.
We find these tactics also today with political-social causes like “Critical Race Theory” which redefines “racism” and redefines “whiteness” seeks to pervert the truth and cause animosity and distrust among men, sowing seeds of discord. Clearly this is not of the Lord.
Now, the opposite of all of this is plainness and clarity.
We are to speak plainly and clearly.
You can use big words, as long as they are normal enough, or you define them. And if they are from some language other than English, you’ll want to explain clearly.
A friend of mine includes among obfuscators also the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church saying “Just listen to what comes out of the Vatican for sheer waffle.” You might know there are conservatives and liberals in the RCC. The current Pope is liberal. A number of cardinals in line to be the next pope are conservatives. And while the conservatives have some challenge over clarity and plainness because of the centuries of complicating and contradictory church pronouncements, the liberals have a far worse situation trying to reconcile the church’s views on sexuality with those of the world. The current pope even loosened up standards to allow for a sort of homosexual marriage, and one of the cardinals in Africa apparently argued against the pope and got some sort of exception to Rome for his area.
We don’t have a pope. We have the Bible. So we can be clear. And we don’t have to, we don’t want to mix the Bible with the world’s views. And we can simply use the theological concepts of the Scriptures as they are intended and seek to understand God and have other people understand us.
That is not just for theological discussions, but life in general.
The call to “let your yes be yes and your no be no” is a call to clarity and plainness in speech. It is a call to convey to others the truths that you know.
Don’t try to impress others with lofty speech, or to wiggle out of commitment with half-truths. Let you yes be yes and your no be no.
We’ve seen before with the Westminster Catechism how it expanded on “thou shalt not murder” and “thou shalt not commit adultery” to included more than just the bare statement. Now, lets look at the Catechism again on the 9th commandment.
Q. 76. Which is the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Q. 77. What is required in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbor’s good name, especially in witness-bearing.
Not just “against lying” but “promoting truth.” We can do so as we speak plainly and clearly and with integrity.
III. There are yet Lawful Oaths and Vows
There is then the question of whether we can AT ANY TIME take a vow or swear an oath.
Here we see that the 3rd commandment is also at play.
Not just the 9th – thou shall not bear false witness.
But also the 3rd – do not take the name of the Lord in vain.
You might notice in the text that in Jesus’s critique, none of the people are taking the Lord’s name in vain. In fact, they seem scrupulous not to do so. So they do not swear on the name of God at all, but swear upon (1) heaven and (2) earth, (3) Jerusalem, and even (4) their own head.
This is thought to be a downgrade. Instead of swearing on the Lord (as commanded in the Old Testament) they swear on lesser things, so that they might be able to back out. “Oh, I didn’t swear to God … so I didn’t really mean it.”
It has been explained:
By the time of Jesus, many Israelites avoided using the name of God in daily conversation. And so when they made oaths, they would swear by things closely connected with God, like the sky, or the land, or Jerusalem, instead of swearing by God’s own self. But this practice opened the door for manipulation. Like, “Hey, I know I promised that I would pay you back, but I only swore by Jerusalem—not by God himself!” So the oath becomes a way to trick people.
So Jesus is criticizing those forms of incomplete vows. And he says “let your yes be yes, and your no be no.”
But we don’t believe he is getting rid of oaths and vows entirely. Some do believe this. The anabaptists – today’s Amish and Mennonites – will not give an oath at all.
But we hold that there is a place for oaths and vows. And in fact, there is a whole chapter in the Westminster Confession on the subject of Lawful Oaths and Vows. It has seven paragraphs on the subject and I remember Rev. Richard Hicks in North Carolina going through these in detail in our adult Sunday School class. I’ll narrow down the discussion for the purpose of this sermon.
To sum up the confession on this point it says
1. That “the name of God only is that be which men ought to swear.” “An oath is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone.”
2. In important matters “an oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the new testament as well as under the old; so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters, ought to be taken.
And of course,
3. No man may vow to do anything forbidden in the Word of God
But you might wonder how it is that the writers of our catechism came to the conclusion that we may give vows or oaths.
Well, naturally, they say it as Scriptural, as we today today.
In the Old Testament such verses as:
[Num 30:2 ESV] 2 If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
[Ecc 5:4 ESV] 4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.
And in the New Testament by the example of Jesus:
[Mat 26:63-64 ESV] 63 But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
And the example of Paul:
[2Co 1:23 ESV] 23 But I call God to witness against me–it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth.
So we must understand that Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, is critiquing the mis-use of oaths and vows, not their use entirely.
Conclusion: Our Obedience and a Greater Obedience
Now, one final area of discussion as we conclude. Let us consider our obedience to this commandment to tell the plain and clear truth and the greater obedience of Jesus Christ.
Much like the previous passages in the Sermon on the Mount, we again have Jesus stating that we must have greater obedience. He is calling us to do so in our speech. Previous it was in regards to our actions (not to murder or commit adultery) and in regards to our thought (not to lust or anger). But now it is also in regard to our speech.
This is a high standard.
And we are not to take this passage as an opportunity to merely bash the Pharisees.
But we should see that it points out to us our own sinfulness.
How truthful are we?
How honest are we?
What white lies do we tell? What subtle lies and mistruths we tell or display for our own benefit.
And what obedience do we have to the commands of God? It is not stellar. It does not raise up to the level that God demands. Our obedience is wanting.
We need a greater obedience. We need the obedience of Jesus Christ. That perfect obedience of the man (indeed the God-man) whose words are ONLY truth with no lies, no obfuscation, no dishonesty.
So we are to see Christ as our exemplar; the example we are to emulate.
But even more we are to thank Christ as being our savior, for He alone lived perfectly and is our salvation.
We are indeed to be “true to our word.” And, even more, let OUR WORD be true to HIS WORD.
Let us pray.