Sermon on the Mount

Small Words, Huge Impact”

Part 5 of 10 - Matthew 5:33-37
We live in a world that has a problem with honesty and one of the reasons is that we are surrounded every day by messages
that give false promises.

Last week I received a letter from Time Magazine and I was moved by the message. Imagine, that huge corporation,
owned by Time Warner misses me. How touching. They even declared it on the envelope for all to see.

And that is not all! Some of the ads promise incredible life changes for me if I use the products advertised.
With one simple supplement I can get rid of 15 pounds of intestinal sludge that’s caked on my colon like paste. Sorry I
think I just wrecked your appetites.
With Perry Ellis fragrance for men I could finally relax. I would have a totally different attitude about life. I assume I
could stop worrying about day-to-day problems and simply float through life without a care. Oh, the pure joy of it.
Now with Prada cologne I could apparently regain my youthful appearance. I would become the young man I think I am.
Not even owning a shirt but just lounging around with an open coat, and feeling just great. I would be young again.

Propecia promises me my hair back. I can be young, vital and look like Rod Blagoavich. Well maybe I’ll pass on that
one.

Then there is my absolute favorite. I saw this infomercial for a six second ab machine. The ad said in just two weeks I
would be toned and have abs of steel, a six pack where my stomach used to be. I bought it and was excited when it
arrived. I used it for 6 seconds a day like the commercial said and then noticed that nothing was happening. Not exactly
as promised.

Think back to last Summer when Tim Russert died there was an overwhelming response to his death. Over and over
people spoke of him as having a “profoundly moral center.” In every remembrance there was talk of his integrity and
honesty, about his character and deeply imbedded faith. The outpouring was out of the ordinary because his character
was out of the ordinary. What a sad commentary on our world when honesty and integrity are thought of as extraordinary
character traits.

We live in an age when “truth” takes on many different meanings. In fact, the lack of truth has created a whole new word
in our vocabulary. We used to think that “spin” was something people with coordination could do on a dance floor, or had
something to do with a wash machine, until we came to learn that is has something to do with rearranging the truth as we
use the term “spin doctor.” We work hard at making the words that we say mean whatever suits the situation, to make our
thoughts acceptable to everyone We are at a point in our society where it seems we just can’t trust anyone anymore.

In Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, He took on the General Prevailing Attitude of His day and turned it
upside down. In fact, He wasn’t turning things upside down, but rather putting things right side up. In this message Jesus
calls us to have integrity; to make our speech simpler, less exaggerated, more down to earth, and even in a certain sense less
outwardly spiritual, less filled with spiritual formulas and platitudes.

Jesus attacks the prevailing attitude of the day. The religious leaders were helping to mold a society that was shaping
religion to suit themselves rather than to serve God. It was taking the words of God and trivializing them.

To help them understand what He was getting at, He asks them to look at how they were using words in the form of oaths

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or promises they were making to each other every day. What were their contracts like and how had they learned to trust
each other?
God had given some clear commands in the Old Testament, which was part of their instruction manual:
Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of the Lord your God. I am the Lord. (Leviticus
19:12)
When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his
word but must do everything he said. (Number 30:2)
If you make a vow to the Lord our God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it
of you. (Deuteronomy 23:21)

The point of these passages was that God wanted to remind Israel that words themselves are not cheap. They have
tremendous power, the ability to invoke trust and the ability to break relationships. The problem with promises is that they
are easy to make–especially in the heat of a moment when there is need to express caring, gratitude, or a desire for
reconciliation–but can be more difficult to fulfill than first imagined.

If you are stuck in a life raft on the Pacific Ocean, with nothing to eat, not water to drink, and sharks circling
around, you are likely to make an unconditional commitment that some in this situation have expressed:

Dear God, if You get me out of this alive, I’ll serve You forever!

Somehow it just doesn’t’ have the same ring to say,

All right God, if You save my life, I’ll be loving to people when it’s convenient, go to church when I’m not too
busy, and give You all the money I have left over after comfortably taking care of myself.

A promise that is worth more costs more because it binds in an absolute way and does not change with circumstances. An
Israelite who made a commitment to the Lord had to honor it if he or she did not want to dangerously damage the
divine-human relationship. Over time much effort was made to twist the words so that they sounded good but had a
different meaning from what was intended.

With regards to promises and words Jesus says, later in Matthew’s gospel:
Woe to you, blind guides! You say, “If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by
the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.” You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple
that makes the gold sacred? You also say, “If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone
swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.” You blind men! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that
makes the gift sacred? Therefore he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who
swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by
God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. (Matt. 23:16-22)

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were adept at creating ways to circumvent the intent of words. So, instead of
“promising” on the name of the Lord, they would do it “on the temple” or on the table in the temple, or on something on
the table.” Nothing less than changing the promises to suit themselves. They twisted and stretched and reworked the
promises in order to justify themselves and still look as though they were keeping their word. If they just swore “by the
right thing,” then they were covered.
What we have here is a condemnation of the flippant, profane, uncalled for and often hypocritical promises, used in
order to make an impression or to spice daily conversation.

Jesus exposes them and radically simplifies things. The ancient purpose of vows was to insure the telling of the
truth. So Jesus states it simply and plainly, Vows shouldn’t even be necessary, but just...

Let you “yes” be “yes,” and your “no,” “no!” (Matt. 5:37)

How would our life, our family relationships, our workplace, our society change if we could heed this instruction?

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Think about how we use words in our world. We use them to control, to manipulate, to impress and to exemplify.

Jesus encourages us to stop trying to get the formula right but just to get the intent of the words right. Never mind how
you phrase it, just say what you mean and mean what you say. Just think of the political process in our day where every
word is measured and calculated for its effect. If a word or phrase is wrong, disaster for the politician follows. It is no
different in everyday life. It isn’t about a formula, but it’s about integrity in word and deed. We need honesty back in our
communications.

Groucho Marx said,

There’s one way to find out if a man is honest–ask him. If he says “yes.” you know he is a crook.

John Stott the author of our Bible Study points out that promising or “oath taking” is really a pathetic confession of our
own dishonesty. Why do we find it necessary to introduce our promises by some tremendous formula? The only reason
is, that we know our simple word is not likely to be trusted. So we try to induce people to believe us by adding a solemn
oath. Christians should say what they mean and mean what they say. Our unadorned word should be enough, “yes” or
“no.” Why waste our breath by adding more?

We do add more however. The personal conviction of Jesus’ message is that we are like the religious leaders of His day
and we too use words to flatter, intimidate, manipulate, apply subtle pressure, play on people’s sympathy and garner
concern for ourselves. We leave out details to make ourselves look better. We change the numbers that we are asked to
report so that the situation looks better. We change definitions to justify our behaviors.

That is who we are and that is why Jesus spends time in this sermon to remind us that Kingdom living requires a
Kingdom heart. When what is “up there comes down here,” we have to relinquish control and lean into God and trust
Him for everything. It is having the heart of God inside us that changes everything including our conversations.
Kingdom living makes an internal change.

Jesus saw words as sacramental and signs of our integrity, for they were outward signs of an inward condition. Jesus said
in Matthew 12:34,
...Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matt 12:34)

We need a truthful spirit that brings forth an increasing honesty of speech. Our words are freighted with eternity. We
would do well to take this seriously.

James talks about the importance of words in his little letter at the end of the New Testament. Addressing the issue of our
use of words he says:
Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider that a great forest is set on
fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It can corrupt the
whole person. (James 3:5-6)

Christian speech is described by Jesus as having two characteristics, simplicity and honesty. Honesty, in fact leads to
simplicity. The more sincerely we speak, the more simply may we speak, for others will learn to believe our word alone.

Take Home:
We are called to be people of integrity. Let our word be our word in all circumstances. We have to be careful that we
don’t use words to coerce or manipulate because words in themselves have great power. Jesus says that we are not to
come up with formulas or fancy phrases but that our words must reflect our lives. If we live moral and truthful lives then
our words will reflect that character. Mark Twain said: If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.

Keep our promises. Let our word be trusted. When we say: I’ll pray for you.” Lets make sure that we really do that.

Let us praise God at all times. The final piece is that we are praising God at all times with all that we do and say as
believers. Let us honor and praise God with all our thoughts, motives and our words.

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