The Jewish people of the New Testament were commanded by God to be honest. The 9th of the 10 commandments says, “Do not false witness against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16) And throughout the Scriptures, God instructs people to be honest. Just as God does not lie, we should not lie.
And yet, how could Jews live under the
oppression of the all Romans, and not lie?
Think about it. Suppose you were
in their shoes and some Romans soldiers came to arrest and execute your
brother, who was hiding in your basement.
And they demanded, “Where is your brother?” And you say, “I don’t know! He isn’t here.” Your lie may save his life. And yet, in lying, you broke God’s command not
to lie.
The Romans weren’t stupid. They knew the Jews would lie for each other; who wouldn't in that situation? But they also knew the Jews were religious and
they feared God who told them not to lie.
So they might make the Jews swear a vow.
“Swear to God you don’t know where your brother is?”
An oath or vow like this was a very serious
business to ancient people—especially the Jews.
Jews believed more than any other people that God was real and all
powerful and all knowing. Lying to God
was a serious offense and He would punish you. The Jews believed that wholeheartedly.
Now that’s a problem if you live in
occupied territory. What were the Jews
supposed to do? Well, Jewish religious
leaders came up with some work arounds so Jews could lie to the Romans and not
offend God. We can deduce some of these
from Matthew 23:16-22. They could make a
vow “by God’s Temple” as long as they didn’t make the vow on the “gold of the
Temple”. Or they could make a vow “by
heaven” as long as it was not “by God in heaven”. So these were ways Jews could use a vow to sound
honest but actually lie.
That’s convenient. If we found ourselves in their shoes, we
could probably all appreciate the practicality of being able to lie to the enemy like that. Kids who live in abusive
households often learn to lie for very similar reasons. In order to avoid abuse and unfair
punishment, they learn really quick it’s easier to lie and cover up than to be
beaten. It’s a coping mechanism and it often works.
The problem for many kids who learned to
lie because they're abused is they grow into adults who are
habitual liars. Even though they are no longer
in an abusive situation, they are still in the habit of lying because it’s more
convenient. Sometimes it’s just easier
to lie than explain the truth.
The unfortunate Jews who lived under Roman
occupation learned to be good liars. They even learned to feel good about lying by using vows to cover it up with
religious language. But what was to stop them from using religious language to now lying to each other?
Nothing.
And into this world of lies and
deception, Jesus speaks the Truth in His Sermon on the Mount.
33 “You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ 34 But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. 35 And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. 36 Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. 37 Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.
Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. His preaching often started with words like Matthew 3:2, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” Now the people to who He preached (just like us) lived in the real world. The real world is a place where people lie and cheat and steal. The real world is a place where we must look at all the bad options available and pick the least evil one. Right? You know what I mean. We live in the real world, not some fantasy.
It’s
ironic that we call the broken world we live in “The Real World”. It’s real to us, because it’s all we’ve ever known. But Jesus came to show us this isn’t the way the world is supposes to be. He met our broken world head on and challenged all its broken people and broken
systems. And Jesus refused to bow down to the way things work in our broken world. It may be one of the main things that annoyed the religious and political leaders
most about Jesus—that He refused to get with the program about the way things
work in the “real world”. And so, when
Jesus refused to cave in and play along by the rules of the “real world”, they arrested and executed Him. They
said, see, this is what happens to people who don’t play by our rules, you die
in shame and agony on a cross.
But
then an amazing thing happened. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day because He is Lord! You see, in the “real world” honesty and integrity may get you rejected and killed. But in the Kingdom of Heaven, those who follow Jesus rise to new life—eternal life. And we all have to decide which is really the “real world”. Is it this broken world of lies or is it the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus preached?
Jesus
challenged all His followers, “Pray like this:
Our Father in Heaven… Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on
earth as it is in Heaven…” (Matthew
6:8-10) Jesus came to overthrow our broken world and He calls all His believers to have
faith to live as though His Kingdom is the true reality and this so called “real
world” which we believe is reality is really a corruption and a lie that is
passing away. God’s Kingdom is coming, and we are called to live by the Kingdom’s principles.
And in God’s Kingdom, there’s no reason to lie. There is no sin or abuse. There is no Enemy. We are called to live with honesty and integrity. We’ve got to let go of our habits of lying. We should be such honest people we no longer need vows to prove we’re telling the truth. So the person who says, “Yes” is just as believable to as the person who says, “I swear to God, yes!” In fact, the person who says yes may be more believable than the person who makes a vow. Because why would you even need to say, “I swear to God…”? If you have to swear to prove you’re telling the truth then it almost implies the possibility that you may have lied at other times when you didn’t swear to God. In the Kingdom of Heaven, where Jesus is King, people are always honest. Yes means yes and no means no.
Some Christian denominations interpret Jesus words about vows to mean Christians should not make vows or take oaths of any kind. For instance, Quakers, Mennonites, and the Amish interpret Jesus’ words in Scripture to mean they should not make vows or swear oaths of any kind. In fact, George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement (officially called the Religious Society of Friends), was put in prison because he refused to swear on the Bible to tell the truth. Ironically, Fox was a deeply religious man and argued the very Bible he was being compelled to swear upon required him not to swear an oath.
Was George Fox right? Does the Bible forbid Christians from making
vows or swearing oaths? No. I don’t believe it does. That’s not the point of what Jesus is saying. Besides, Jesus was involved in a trial where an oath were used. When Jesus was on trial
before the Jerusalem High Council (Matthew 26:63-64), the high priest said, “I
demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the
Son of God.” Jesus replied, “You have
said it.” That’s not much different than
when the judge asks you in court, “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” and you respond “I do.”
Other Christian denomination may see it
differently, but Methodists (and the vast majority of Christian denominations throughout
history) have allowed and even encouraged Christians to make vows in certain
situations—like when you get married and say, “I do” or when you become a Christian
and join a church and are asked, “Do you confess Jesus Christ as Savior, put
their whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as their Lord?” and
you respond, “I do.” So the point is not to prohibit vows. The
point is to uphold the high value of honesty and integrity in God’s people in
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus reveals once again that the demands of holiness in the Kingdom of Heaven are beyond the reach of our sinful hands. We fall so far short of God’s glorious standards. We’re so accustomed to living in a broken and sinful world, we don’t even realize how much we sin. Jesus points out our sin—not to shame us, but—to wake us up to our desperate need of salvation.
Do you struggle with honesty? Are you a liar? Before you deny it, reflect honestly and deeply. Some of you learned to lie when you were in an abusive situation—maybe an abusive relationship or marriage, maybe even as a child who could not be honest with your parents and still survive. Now you are free of that abuse, but you still cling to your habit of
lying. Maybe it’s just easier to lie than tell the truth. Isn’t it time to ask God to heal you so you can start to value honesty as Jesus
does?
Some of you think you are honest. You may even be proud of how honest you are. But think about it.
Did you ever laugh at someone’s joke when everyone else laughed even though it
wasn’t funny? That was dishonest. Why did you lie? Were you trying not to look foolish? We’re you just being polite?
Have you every smiled and pretended understand
someone when you couldn’t really hear or understand them? Have you ever covered up your physical flaws to make yourself look better than
you really do? Maybe put on a little makeup
or dye in your hair or wore clothing that covered up your flaws. Isn’t that in some sense dishonest?
Friends, we’ve all lied. If we’re honest about it, we can all see it
and admit it. It may be a small thing to us, but we’re talking about the absolutely perfect and holy standards of God. You see? We can’t fulfill it. And when we’re proud of our honesty, we can see even our pride is misplaced and
sinful. We’ve nothing to be proud of. Even our so-called
righteousness is but filthy rags.
But with Jesus there is mercy and grace
and forgiveness. With Jesus, there is
salvation. We must lay down our false righteousness and throw ourselves upon the mercy
of Christ. Repent and turn to Him today and seek to live by the principles of His Kingdom.
For we all must decided what is real. Is this world we see around us, with all its corrupt rules and customs, the “real
world”? Or is the real world the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus taught about and showed
us with His life? You must decide. Make your choice today,
right now, this very moment.
