We misrepresent God’s promises when we fail to keep our promises...

This week we have been looking at a section of perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus ever preached, which we know today as the Sermon on the Mount. Tuesday, we looked on as Jesus dealt with the issue of divorce and remarriage.

Jesus quoted from a section of a letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the Old Testament called the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 24:1-4, we see the Lord, through Moses, address the issue of divorce that had begun to occur amongst the Jewish people. However, the Jewish people of Jesus day had twisted and manipulated the Lord’s words through Moses in such a way that made it easy for people to get a divorce. The Jewish people of Jesus day did what we all have a tendency to do, which is to only quote a part of what the message and teachings of Jesus have to say in order to justify behavior that may go against what the message and teachings of Jesus have to say.

Thus, the Jewish people would only quote the first part of the passage in order to justify getting a divorce for any number of reasons. Jesus then explained to the crowds listening that regardless of whether or not a woman had committed adultery, for a man to divorce her is to portray her as an adulteress who becomes an adulteress if she remarries. In addition, Jesus points out that the person who marries a divorced woman, regardless for the reasons for the divorce, commits adultery. Jesus point is that both the divorced wife and her new husband are guilty of adultery. Jesus point is that everyone in this scenario is guilty of adultery.

Jesus here is taking an external commandment and is internalizing the true meaning of that commandment. Jesus here is revealing the true intent of this commandment as given by God. But this morning, what if Jesus is making a greater point than the issue of divorce? What if Jesus is using the issue of divorce as an opening illustration to address an even deeper spiritual issue? And if that is the case, if Jesus is using the issue of divorce as an opening illustration to address an even deeper spiritual issue, then what is the deeper spiritual issue? We see Jesus reveal the deeper spiritual issue in Matthew 5:33:

 "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.'

Here we see Jesus continue His sermon by quickly moving from the issue of divorce by quoting from two different sections of two different letters that are preserved and recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible. First, Jesus quoted from Leviticus 19:12 “You shall not make false vows. Jesus then quoted from Numbers 30:2 “but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord”.

When the Lord commanded the Jewish people “You shall not make false vows” this command refers to failing to do what was promised under a vow or an oath. Now a vow, or an oath, was a voluntary promise that one made to another, that once made was binding. The Lord commanded the Jewish people to make sure that they did not fail to keep a promise or commitment that they had voluntarily made.

Instead, the Lord commanded the Jewish people to fulfill your vows to the Lord. In other words, the Lord commanded the Jewish people to make sure that they kept the obligation that they had made to keep any promise or vow that they had made. Again, for those in the crowd listening to Jesus sermon, no one would be surprised at Jesus words here. For those in the crowd listening to Jesus sermon, no one would disagree with Jesus words here. For the Jewish people it was a common and accepted principle that a person who engaged in failed to do what was promised would certainly be guilty of breaking this commandment. However, once again, what the crowds listening to Jesus were not prepared for was what Jesus had to say next. We see what Jesus said next in verse 34-37:

 "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. ³⁶ "Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. ³⁷ "But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes ' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.

Now to fully understand what Jesus is getting at here, we first need to understand some things about the culture of Jesus day. In the culture of Jesus day, when a person made a vow or an oath, they would often invoke God as the guarantor of their word. We see this happen on occasion today, don’t we? Isn’t this what we are doing when we say: “I swear to God”? In addition, to break an oath or a vow after invoking God was to misuse and profane, or disrespect, God’s name.

As a result, the Jewish people of Jesus day, just like today, developed a system of innocuous substitutes for the name of God instead of the name of God. Jesus lists three of those here: by Heaven, by the earth, or by Jerusalem. In addition, Jesus lists another common substitute, which was by your head. Jesus here is explaining to the crowds listening, and to us today, that a person should make no oath at all.

Jesus then exposed the ridiculous nature of using such innocuous substitutes for the name of God instead of the name of God by explaining that Heaven, earth and Jerusalem are inseparably linked with God. Heaven, earth, and Jerusalem are inseparably linked to God as they are all places where God dwells and are His creation and His possession.  Jesus also exposed the ridiculous nature of using such innocuous substitutes as your head instead of the name of God by explaining that not only are we His creation, but we have no power over the color of our hair. While we may try to control the color of the hair we have with dye, the reality is that it is God who determines to color of hair since He is the Creator and sustainer of all things.

Jesus here is exposing the reality that all such oaths are superficial and irreverent to God. All such oaths are superficial and irreverent to God because God requires truthfulness. And because of that reality, Jesus, in verse 37, states “But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes ' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.” Now if Jesus was giving this sermon in 2017, this phrase would have sounded something like this: “But let your words be your word. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Anything that goes beyond a simple yes or no is evil.”

 Jesus point is that our word should be so trustworthy that oaths are unnecessary. Jesus point is that God’s expectation is that people are so trustworthy in keeping their vows and promises that oaths are unnecessary. Once again Jesus is addressing the temptation that we all face, which is to look at the message and teachings of the letters in the Bible as though they simply address external behavior. Jesus here is addressing the temptation that we all face, which is to make our lists and charts for what we believe is spiritual and what we believe meets God’s standard of obedience, while missing the reality is that our lists and standard looks nothing at all like God’s standard. Jesus here is taking an external commandment and is internalizing the true meaning of that commandment. Jesus here is revealing the true intent of this commandment as given by God.

And it is here that we see Jesus reveal for us a timeless truth about the true nature of what it means to obey the message and teachings of Jesus and the true nature of a lifestyle that is living a right relationship with Jesus.  And that timeless truth is this: We misrepresent God’s promises when we fail to keep our promises.

You see, once again, Jesus is confronting us with the timeless reality that our words and our actions are the overflow from what is going on inside of our hearts. And because of that reality, we are guilty of misrepresenting God’s promises when we fail to keep our promises. We are guilty of misrepresenting God’s promises when we fail to keep the promises that we make in marriage. We are guilty of misrepresenting God’s promises when we fail to keep the promises we make in marriage because marriage is designed to be a word picture to the world around us of the eternal covenant relationship that Jesus has with His followers. And because of that reality divorce mars and misrepresents God’s promise and God’s covenant commitment that He makes to His followers.

We are guilty of misrepresenting God’s promises when we fail to keep a promise or commitment that we have voluntarily made. We are guilty of misrepresenting God’s promises when we break a promise after invoking God so as to disrespect God’s name. We are guilty of misrepresenting God’s promises when we develop and use a system of innocuous substitutes for the name of God instead of the name of God so as to try to avoid any consequences from God when we fail to keep our promises. And we are guilty of misrepresenting God’s promises when we lack the ability to be so trustworthy that oaths are unnecessary.

So, with that in mind, here is a question to consider: Do you represent God’s promises by keeping your promises? Are you a person who says what you mean and mean what you say? Are you a person of your word who is true to your word? Are you so trustworthy in your word that oaths and vows are unnecessary? Are you a promise maker and a promise keeper?

Because, as Jesus points out, we misrepresent God’s promises when we fail to keep our promises. We misrepresent God’s promises when we fail to keep our promises because Jesus is not simply concerned with our external behavior.

We are guilty because at the end of the day Jesus is concerned with our internal heart condition. Jesus is concerned with our internal heart condition because Jesus knows, and human history has shown, that eventually what is in the heart will spill out. Human history has shown us that when we fail to keep our promises, we misrepresent God in a way that will ultimately spill out into other aspects of our lives and in a way that will hinder our ability to be a part of God’s kingdom mission in the world…