Sermon
Word Power
February 6-7, 1999
Pastor Leighton Sheley

Thank you Lord that nothing can separate us from Your great love. And now Lord as we open Your word we ask Your spirit to minister to us. Open our ears, our eyes, our heart that we might hear, see, and apply that which You open to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 

I'll invite you to take our Bibles and open to Matthew chapter 5 as we continue our study in the Sermon on the Mount. The sermon is entitled 'Word Power' and we're living in a time when millions of dollars are being spent in an effort to achieve greater success, greater influence, or greater independence in living. People think that if they can just expand their vocabulary or learn some more powerful words or the correct sequence of those words, they're going to be some how or other more powerful and influential people. But the real secret of word power is nothing more than telling the truth, always telling the truth. Say what you mean and mean what you say. 

There's a story that's found in a book that's entitled 'God's Little Devotional Book for Men' that tells a story of Rosalie Elliot and the story is entitled 'Honor is better than Honor' as it reads thusly. The moment was a tense one. Rosalie Elliot had made it to the 4th round of the national spelling contest in Washington. The 11-year-old from South Carolina had been asked to spell the word avowal. In her soft southern accent she spelled the word, but the judges were not able to determine if she'd used an 'a' or an 'e' as the next to the last letter. They debated among themselves for several minutes as they listened to tape recording playbacks. The crucial letter, however, was too accent blurred to decipher. And finally the chief judge put the question to the only person who really knew the answer. Rosalie was that an 'a' or was it an 'e'. Now by this time being surrounded by the whispering of young spellers, Rosalie knew the correct spelling of the word. Still without hesitation she replied that she had misspelled the word and she walked from the stage. The entire audience stood and applauded, including some 50 newspaper reporters, and the moment was a proud one for her parents. In even defeat, she was a victor. Indeed more has been written about Rosalie Elliot over the years than about the unknown winner of that particular event. Being a person of truth even when it is against us will bring great honor. One wonders in the current cultural climate if Rosalie would have been applauded or scoffed at for being such a fool to tell the truth. 

We're in Matthew chapter 5 it's verse 33 and following. "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' "But I say to you, do not swear at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; "nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. "Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. "But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Now the application of this passage to contemporary society is so manifest it hardly requires much illustration. We are living in a nation that has traveled far from its Puritan pilgrim roots. 

Someone sent me an e-mail this week that's sort of a humorous anecdote on the contemporary concept of telling the truth. It's dialogue between a father and son. The father calls his son, Son come in here we need to talk. What's up Dad? Well, Son there's a scratch down the side of the car. Did you do it? Well Dad, I don't believe if I understand the definition of scratched the car, that I can say truthfully that I scratched the car. Well Son it wasn't there yesterday and you drove the car last night, and no one else has driven it since. Can you explain the scratch? Well Dad as I've said before, I have no recollection of scratching the car. While it is true that I did take the car out last night, I did not scratch it. But Son, your sister, Monica, has told me that she saw you back the car against the mailbox at the end of the driveway, heard a large scratching sound, and said you got out, examined the car and then drove away. So again, I'm going to ask you, yes or no, did you scratch the car? 

Well Dad, you mean you think you have evidence to prove that I scratched it. Well you see, I understood you to mean did I scratch the car. I stand by my earlier statement. I did not scratch the car. Now Son, are you trying to tell me that you did not drive the car into the mailbox? Well Dad, you see I was trying to drive the car into the street. I mishandled the steering of the car and it resulted in direct contact with the mailbox, though that was clearly not my intent. Aha! So you are admitting hitting the mailbox. No Dad that's not my statement. I refer you back to my original statement that I did not scratch the car. Okay, Son, the car did hit the mailbox and the car did get scratched as the result of this contact. Well Dad I suppose you could look at it that way. So you lied to me when you said you did not scratch the car. No, no Dad that's not correct. Your question was, did I scratch the car. From a strictly legal definition, as I understand the meaning of that sentence, I did not scratch the car, the mailbox did. I was merely present when the scratching occurred. So my answer of no when you asked did I scratch the car was legally correct although I did not volunteer information. And the story continues. 

You know, credibility gaps are not a recent phenomenon. Lying deceitfulness has existed from the very beginning of mankind. When he was confronted about his disobedience in the garden, Adam's response was deceitful. And when he was confronted about Abel's whereabouts, Cain's response was deceitful. Am I my brother's keeper? I'm not responsible for his whereabouts. And Abraham the great father of our faith employed deceit whenever he found it personally beneficial. Isaac and Jacob followed their father's example and the sons of Jacob lied to give an excuse for Joseph's disappearance. It looks like he got eaten by a wild animal Dad. Joseph used deceit to determine his brother's trustworthiness before revealing his true identity. And the Bible is so full of illustrations even of godly men who use deceit and lies as just tools of their trade. 

The practice of deceit and lying continues today. Business people, advertisers, salespersons, commentators, news reporters, lawyers, doctors, tradesmen, teachers, writers, clerks, politicians, and even some if not most ministers are suspect. Deceitfulness is a part of the very makeup of mankind. You know, I cannot recall ever having a conversation with either of my children that went like this. Son I want to talk with you about something. You're now of age and it's time I give you some tools that you're going to need to get ahead in life. It called lying Son. And it works like this. Now Son, I'm not an expert at it. If you want to see an expert, you need to look at Pastor so and so. You know, I never had to teach my children how to lie. It comes natural with them. What I'm working on is teaching them how to tell the truth because it doesn't come quite so natural.

Deceitfulness is a part of the very makeup of mankind. You know, our whole cultural system; politics, government, education, business, science, newspaper, television, even family life is so built upon falsehoods and outright lies, that if the truth were to be revealed, society as we know it would disintegrate immediately. We tell white lies, half- truths, we shade the truth, exaggerate, we flatter, we cheat, we fail to keep our promises, we betray confidences, we give excuses as a common part of our daily routine. You know, even in the most corruptive societies there's a recognition that truthfulness in certain areas is essential to maintain the fabric of that society. Organized crime uses deceit as their stock and trade yet they severely punish one of their members who uses deceit inside of the organization. You know, if a dealer lies to their drug kingpin, he may find himself taking a very long walk off a very short pier clad in concrete slippers. 

The justice system requires witnesses to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Why? Because without the truth there can be no justice. And that's why perjury carries with it such a severe penalty. Unless, of course, someone is above the law and outside of its application. The roman orator Cicero once declared truth is the highest thing a man may experience, and Daniel Webster wrote there's nothing as powerful as truth and often nothing as strange. Individually, men are inclined to tell the truth only when it serves their own personal interest. 

Now in this passage Jesus sets forth first the original Mosaic teaching, and then He reveals the distortion that was part of the Rabbinic teaching tradition, and then He restates God's original intent. Matthew 5:33, "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord,' Now the words that are translated here vows or oaths are actually two different words with the same basic root meaning. The first one means to perjure oneself or to swear falsely or to make false vows. The second word means literally to enclose as with a fence or to strengthen or to bind together. Now isn't that concept of corralling words interesting. It was as though they were powerful wild animals, horses perhaps, that if not corralled would lead to chaos and ruination. 

Now this statement that Jesus quotes is not really literally found in the Old Testament, but it's a teaching of the rabbis and it was a composition of ideas that were based on three scriptures. They are Leviticus 19:12, Numbers 30:2, and Deuteronomy 23:21. Let me read them for you now. Leviticus 19:12, 'And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord. Numbers 30:2 , "If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. Deuteronomy 23:21, "When you make a vow to the Lord your God. You shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. In fact, if you made a vow and did not fulfill it, you realize that you had in error made that, you were required to bring a trespass offering. Now it was because of man's inclination to deceit that God provided for the making of oaths in His name as a means of emphasizing the significance of a promise or a statement. And any oath that is done in God's name invites Him to be a witness of the truth thereof and to avenge if it is a lie or deceitfully declared. 

It was not uncommon for Old Testament saints to make oaths in God's name. For example, Abraham confirmed his promises to the king of Sodom as recorded in Genesis 14 with oaths in the name of God. He also made his servant Eliezer swear by the Lord the God of heaven and the God of earth that he would not take a wife for Isaac from among the pagan Canaanites. That's recorded in Genesis chapter 24. And David and Jonathan made an oath of brotherly love and mutual protection, and that's recorded for us in 1 Samuel 20:16. And there are numerous other examples. You know to this day we take oaths as well. As God is my witness, or I do solemnly swear, or before God and these witnesses. Even God on certain occasions made oaths. To Abraham He said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son – Indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven and the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. Genesis chapter 22. God declaring an oath by His own name. 

Now the writer of Hebrews explains this verse thusly, in Hebrews chapter 6. Since God could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself. He made an oath. He guaranteed His own statement. Now, how can this be? Obviously, God does not lie. Numbers 23:19 says, "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? God is not a man that He should lie. What are some of the reasons why men lie? Well, for one thing we don't always know what the future holds. I might tell my children, children let's plan on going to McDonald's tonight without knowing that my wife has other plans, and to my children who are looking forward to McDonald's or Burger King, that's perceived as a lie. Or, we might be looking forward to vacation. We're planning and we're saving and all of a sudden I get struck by a bill that was unexpected and I have to make a choice. I either pay the bill or I pay the vacation, and the bill comes first and we're not able to take the vacation because of my limited resources. And my children look upon it as being a lie. These are some of the reasons why men are not able to keep their word. Because they don't know everything and they're not all powerful and they don't own everything. 

That doesn't apply to God. God knows everything. There are no surprises to Him. He doesn't have to make contingency plans. God never makes contingency plans. God never has a plan 'B'. He doesn't need plan 'B'. And secondly, there's no limit of the resources that God has; power, might, wealth. You name it. If He doesn't have it, He can create it. God is not a man that He should lie. Furthermore, it's against the very nature of God to lie because God is truth. So then if God doesn't lie, why does God call upon His name to make an oath? In effect saying now I'm truly saying this to you. He's not saying, you know some of the other stuff I said may or may not be true, but this is true. That's not what God is saying. What God is saying when He calls upon an oath, as He does many times in the Old Testament, is now what I'm about to tell you has special significance. Pay attention to what I'm about to tell you. 

You know, Jesus used the same principles in His teaching. For often He would say truly I say unto you or truly truly I say unto you. Was that because something else that He said was not true? No. Jesus always told the truth. What was His purpose in saying this oath? Truly I say to you or truly truly I say to you. It was to get special attention. Now I want you to pay special attention to what I'm about to say because this is very important. So He would begin His statement with an oath, truly I say to you. Matthew 5:34 , "But I say to you, do not swear at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; "nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. "Nor shall you swear by your head, because, you cannot make one hair white or black. Obviously, it was declared before Clairol. 

You know, God's law is so demanding that it is impossible to attain it by human abilities. When God created mankind He put them in the garden and gave them one commandment. One instruction only. You can partake of all of the trees, but there's one that you cannot partake of. Could mankind keep one commandment? How do you think he's going to keep ten? Can't be done. And so what the religious rabbis did, the organization, is they created a whole new sub-religion and they reinterpreted the words of God to make a form of righteousness available to the common man. For instance, God's command to mankind in Leviticus 9:12 is, 'And you shall not swear by My name falsely. Or, you shall not take My name in vain. God is very jealous about His name. His name is truth, and He doesn't want truth associated with lies. He says I'm very jealous of My name. You will not, you will not make vows using My name in vain. That was conveniently reinterpreted to read you shall not swear falsely by My name, but any other name is okay. So if you want to swear by heaven, it's okay, by earth, by the temple, by your head. 

You remember when we were kids growing up and someone would ask us to make a statement we didn't really want to make? And we would do something like this (fingers crossed behind back); and we would make the statement, and we would walk away thinking that we know it wasn't true but we were covered. Well that's what the rabbi and the Rabbinic tradition did, it provided a whole bunch of alternatives to making oaths in God's name so that you could be covered. And it created all kinds of witnesses and the witnesses were limited in their jurisdiction. 

For instance, if you were in a business setting you might make a vow, a contract with your potential business associate, and you'd make the oath and you would call upon your head. You'd make the oath upon your head. Knowing full well that any oaths made upon your head only applied in the family setting not the business setting, and therefore you were covered. You see? Now when God established the concept, the idea, of oaths He had two intentions. Number one; you were to make oaths only in God's name. Only in God's name. And number two; you were only to make them on special occasions. It was not supposed to be a daily part of your business and personal interaction. The number of witnesses grew to the point where you had to have a lawyer to make sure you were using the correct witness to accomplish your goal. In fact, Jesus addressed this as recorded in Matthew chapter 23 verses 16 and following, 'Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.' 

And Jesus was saying there was a teaching going about that if you made an oath and you made the oath in the name of the temple, you were covered, you didn't have to fulfill it. But if you made the mistake of swearing the oath by the gold of the temple, you had to fulfill it. "Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? "And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that in on it, he is obliged to perform it.' "Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? "Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. "He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. "And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. And what Jesus was saying here is that everything belongs to God. Heaven is God's. Earth is God's. Jerusalem is God's. The temple is God's. Every person's head is God's. Therefore it is simple to call upon anything that belongs to God as a witness to false statement or a promise. You see God doesn't have any separate categories for that which is sacred and secular. That's a false concept. It's been very popular in Christianity in the last century.

We have a tendency of thinking of some things as sacred and some things as secular. Some people get up on Sunday morning. They get into their Sunday clothes. They fix their Sunday hair. They use their Sunday vocabulary, which is limited. They use suitable subjects of conversation, but that only applied to Sunday because it's different the rest of the week you see. Because only Sunday is sacred. Some people limit it even more. When they hit the parking lot that's when they change the conversation. But to God there is no sacred secular dichotomy. Everything, every place, every time is God's. William Barclay the great biblical scholar and commentator wrote this, he said here's a great eternal truth; life cannot be divided into compartments in some of which God is involved and in others of which He is not. Now because Jesus Himself made oaths it's obvious He's not telling us that we can't make any oath at all. So then what is Jesus saying when He says don't make these oaths? 

Well first off, He's declaring that the making of oaths, promises, or statements of fact is not to be used as a cloak for deceit. Now today the equivalent of an oath might be found in the form of a contract or warranty. And yet, how many times have you had what you thought was a contract or a warranty that had so many exclusions and so many escape clauses that it turned out to not be worth the paper that it was printed on? Promises of no value. Jesus is saying don't write contracts as a pretense for intended deceit. 

And secondly, He was saying don't make trivial oaths. Scriptures are full of numerous examples of oaths that were made without proper consideration. Joshua made an oath, a treaty with another nation, without having properly consulted God. And Herod made an oath to give away up to half the kingdom and it resulted in the head of John the Baptist. 

And one of the saddest examples is found in Judges chapter 11 the story of Jephthah, one of the judges who was going off to war and he just felt like he had to make some kind of vow, and it's recorded for us in Judges 11:30. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, "If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, "then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering." He was greeted by his daughter. So an unnecessary, an oath made without sufficient thought, we shouldn't enter into contracts without thought and prayer. Now, must believers always tell the truth in every circumstance, in every situation.? Are there times when not telling the truth is a more godly course of action? 

Well there's a story in the Old Testament it's found in Exodus chapter 1. The Israelites had dwelt peacefully in Egypt for centuries since their invitation there by Joseph and his pharaoh, but a new pharaoh had taken the throne and he was very concerned about the clannish independent and powerful Israelites. And so he developed a plan to eliminate them in one generation. The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, (now)," When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and you see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not so as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them. "Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?" and the midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them." They lied. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them. 

Now these Hebrew midwives had chosen to lie to Pharaoh and not abort newborn Hebrew male children because they feared God more than Pharaoh. Now some might think that any form of lying might be an instant cause for God's wrath, but there's no indication of God even reprimanding these midwives for lying. Some might suggest, well, you know, it was for a good cause. It was the saving of lives so the two kind of balanced each other and God kind of looked the other direction. That's not what the scriptures tell us either. Scriptures tell us that God blessed the midwives for lying to the Pharaoh by giving them households of their own. Hear that? God blessed them for lying. Now why if God is truth would He bless these midwives for lying? Well, in an effort to simply state a complex concept, God has a hierarchy of principles, and some principles are more important than others. Leighton didn't say that, Jesus said that.

He said it in Matthew 23:23. Listen to this. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law; justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Jesus calls them the weightier matters of God's law. They were of more importance than the other matters. Now it didn't mean that the other matters were of no consequence or of no importance or of no weight. It simply meant that they weighed less when compared with these matters which were more important and carried more weight. Now what were the matters that held greater weight; justice, mercy, faith. Justice, mercy, faith. Now how does this apply to the midwives? Well Pharaoh's judgment upon the male Hebrew children was unjust in the sight of God. You see, they had been unjustly sentenced to death. They had done nothing worthy of the death penalty. 

It was God Himself who established the death penalty for certain behaviors, and those behaviors are spelled out in Exodus chapter 21 and following. In fact, the very next passage that we look at in the Sermon on the Mount is taken from Exodus chapter 21. It has to do with an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Those children had been unjustly sentenced to death. Pharaoh did not have a God-given right to take away their lives just for his convenience. And so then there's at least one biblical example of God actually condoning lying, in this case to protect against the shedding of innocent blood. And it's because of this scriptural revelation about the nature of God and His justice, that we can look back with great admiration upon the heroic Christians who risked their lives to protect Jews unjustly sentenced to death in Nazi Germany. 

But to lie for personal benefit is not acceptable to God. And the fact is, that one does not fully understand the full cost of entering into a contract, does not excuse one from fulfilling their obligations. Who for instance, really knew how much it was going to cost you when you were standing at the altar making that contract with your wife? Lord, I know I promised for better or worse, but I didn't know she snored. Just not knowing the cost of entering into a contract does not excuse us from fulfilling the obligations there. The only one who really knew the price of the contract that He entered into before entering it was God who knows all things, and He knew that it was going to cost him the life of His only begotten son. But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'. For whatever is more than these if from the evil one. Now what Jesus is saying here is that the very nature of our natural daily conversations should be so consistently truthful that we don't need to call upon the name of God or any other form of corroboration as our witness. When we say something people expect it to be the truth. When we say something or make a promise, they shouldn't have to say or even think, 'Could I have that in writing?' 

Pastor Mark Hinman had an experience as a young minister that marked him for the rest of his life, and he communicated his failing to other young ministers and that has left an impression on us as well. As a young minister he had one of the successful businessmen of his church come in and he was distraught. He said, Pastor a number of months ago is entered into an agreement and now because of the circumstances having changed, the fulfillment of that agreement will probably lead to the financial destruction of my company and perhaps my family. And as a young, naive minister Pastor Mark said, well was the contract in writing? The man stood up and his face changed and his back was straight, and he said Pastor, my word is my word it doesn't need to be in writing. He walked out of that office and Pastor Mark's life was changed. 

You know, the apostle James says this in a little different way. It's recorded in James 5:12. 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", lest you fall into judgment. Lest you fall into judgment. Now, what is that judgment that James is referring to? Revelations 21:8 reads, "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." All liars' place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur, the second death. That's the judgment that James speaks of. Speaking lies and making dishonest promises is no trivial matter to God, and it shouldn't be a trivial matter to us either.

Let's pray. Lord as we open Your word this day we are confronted again by the majesty of Your holiness. How unholy we are. For our hearts, our minds are full of deceit. Our natural inclination from birth is to lie. Forgive us Lord. We confess our sin. Lord may it be that we as individuals and as a church family be the light and the salt and the truth that You've called us to be. May our light shine in the world of darkness. May we be preservative against decay and spiritual death. May our truth be confrontational against this world of deceit. May it be that we not only expect truthfulness from our selves, but from others as well and be not afraid to confront those who are in positions of authority over us no matter what they might be. To tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Give us wisdom, Lord, courage and continue the work of Your Holy Spirit in our lives we pray; making us, transforming us, changing us into the image of Your Son each and every day. Thank you Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. And together we say, amen. God bless you.