I wonder if you've heard the joke about two men who one day found themselves walking through a graveyard.
! And the first man away in the distance spots a gravestone, and it's got some engraving on it.
And he turns to his friend and he says, what does it say?
So the second man runs all the way to the gravestone and slowly begins to shout it back to his friend.
Here's what it says.
Here lies a politician and an honest man.
The first man hears him, smirks to himself, laughs and replies, strange that, isn't it?
Why on earth would they bury two people there?
Clearly a good enough joke that I feel I need to explain it.
It's a joke about how you can't be a politician and an honest person.
But the thing is, if you search online, you will find those kind of jokes for, what did I write down?
Lawyers. I'm happy to take that. He's an ex-lawyer.
Car mechanics, social media influencers, estate agents, journals, and on and on it goes.
There are people in life who we find difficult to take them at their word and find difficult to trust their word.
And I just want to add on the fact that for many of us that will be really painful.
It's not a kind of joke that. It will be really, really painful.
And hang on in there for the good news of this passage that Jesus is going to give us.
But we find it in life difficult to trust some people and take them at their words.
A couple examples of that this week in the news, if you've followed it.
It is like a political drama that you see on Netflix playing out down in Westminster right now, isn't it?
I have lost count of who's in, who's out, who's standing for running against Keir Starmer, who's kind of supporting him.
Kind of lost track of the whole thing.
It's interesting, isn't it? People in circles saying things.
People distrusting, trusting people's words.
Playing out down south, isn't it, at the minute.
It's also playing out if you're into football.
I know it's a raw day to mention football.
But the Premier League playoffs, if you've noticed it down south, they're heading towards their final.
The semi-finals clouded in controversy.
To get to the final, they call it the £100 million game to get promotion to the Premier League.
Again, there was massive controversy this week because Southampton were accused of spying on their opponent, Middlesbrough.
A total breach of the fair play rules that they signed up to at the beginning of the season.
And I loved it.
And a bit of football banter, the Middlesbrough fans all turned up at the game with binoculars.
It was quite funny.
But we live in a world, don't we, where we used to talk about my word is my bond.
We used to talk about gentlemen's agreements.
But nowadays, no one really talks like that.
But friends in the U.S., the phrase that they always use is, now we live in a lawyer-up culture.
But that's the world out there.
But this passage today is going to ask us to take a much closer look at home.
And ask us whether people today would describe us as people of our word.
Are we trustworthy?
It's been well documented, hasn't it, that people today, what do they value?
They value keeping their options open until the last minute in case a better offer presents itself.
Can I give you a little example of this?
I was reading the latest book from Ramesh Ranganathan, you know, the Radio 2 DJ.
He's one of my favorite comedians.
And I've always kind of tracked his career because we're kind of, he's a few years older than me, but we're at the kind of same stage of life.
And I was reading over the Easter holidays his newest and very relatably funny book, which is all about his midlife crisis.
And about how he's noticed these growing behavioral patterns in his life that he now perceives.
And here's what he wrote about plans.
And I know the font is small, but I thought I'd give you the whole quote because I thought it was really funny.
See if his honest humor, call it like it is, connects with you.
He says this,
I became convinced for a while that I had a condition that has been dubbed cancellation ecstasy.
I love cancelling.
It's glorious.
You've arranged to go out for dinner or a night at the pub.
And as the time approaches, you start to dread getting ready and leaving the house.
You start thinking it feels more hassle than it's worth.
And then you start to resent the fact that you're having to go out at all.
A few hours before the event, you convince yourself that the right thing to do for your mental health is to not go out at all.
And you cancel.
Actually feeling noble because you are taking steps to protect yourself.
Now, how relatable is that?
I love what he called that particular chapter, just really simply flake.
But see, when you bring all that together, we are living what I read somebody described recently in the aftermath of the elections last week.
We are living today in a low trust culture.
And so Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount to his disciples about the shape of life in the kingdom of God,
who he's calling us to be as his saved people, saved by grace.
These are so timely.
And they will make them, if we take them to heart, they will make us so distinct.
Really simply because he's encouraging his people to be people of their word.
And it comes in the context of Jesus' teaching about oaths.
It's not language that we use much these days, but hopefully you can kind of connect with that word.
And a bit like last week, before we read it together, here's the question.
Why does Jesus care so much?
So let's read it together while we, the words will go on the screen, but you follow along in your own Bible if you can.
This is Matthew 5, 33 to 37.
We'll pick it up at verse 33.
Jesus speaking to the crowd, to his disciples.
Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago.
Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.
Verse 34.
But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all.
Either by heaven, for it's God's throne.
Or by the earth, for it is his footstool.
Or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
And do not swear by your heads, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
All you need to say is simply yes or no.
Anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
And God will bless the reading of his word to us this morning.
So we pick up at verse 33.
Do you see it?
You have heard it said.
Now that's a phrase that Jesus has been using throughout this sermon.
And it's indicating to us once again that he's challenging the teachers of the law and the Pharisees.
Now what were they teaching?
We'll see it there at verse 33.
Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.
Now, strictly speaking, that is not a precise quotation of any one particular law of Moses.
So you won't find that exact phrase in the Old Testament.
But what it is, is an accurate summary of several Old Testament commands.
Ones where God's people were encouraged to make promises to God and follow through on and fulfill those promises.
Really simply make a promise to God and keep it.
Simple as that.
Give me a couple examples on the screen.
Here's one from Numbers 30.
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.
Do you see it?
Or here's another one.
You can scribble these down if you want.
Deuteronomy 23.
If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it.
For the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.
So the concept at verse 33, their quotation, is certainly an accurate one.
But the Pharisees and teachers of the law, as they teach the people, and remember in their day, their role, they're doing more than teaching the people.
They're also called to set the pace when it comes to holiness, godliness.
Just like they've done with divorce.
Remember this last week.
They're doing the same here.
They're demonstrating the fact that they're sticklers for the letter of the law, but totally missing the heart of the law.
Now we thought last week, if you get back into what's going on in this sermon, remember we've thought about this every single week.
The mistake is to think that this is a moral lecture from Jesus.
It's not that at all.
It is about what life inside his kingdom looks like.
And we thought last week that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, if you remember this, they're presenting to the people a botched version of the original.
And Jesus has come to restore it to its beauty and its original intention and to display that to his disciples, not just in his teaching, but in his life.
And somebody insightfully asked our growth group this week, as we consider that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.
Somebody asked, why are they getting it so wrong?
That's a good question, isn't it?
Why are they getting it so wrong?
And I think the answer, if you remember back to the first week, first couple of weeks we spent in the sermon on the night, the answer is that they are trying to make it easier to obey.
They are trying to drop the bar so low that anybody can feel like they've got over it.
Because who doesn't want to feel like we're all in God's good books?
So when it comes to righteousness, what they're trying to do is achieve it on the cheap.
When it comes to righteousness, they're trying to achieve it on the cheap.
And so when it comes to oaths, in an attempt to make it easier to obey, got to notice what's going on here, what they're doing.
They are just shifting the emphasis.
Hold with me, track with me.
Take that phrase, fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.
Now the emphasis is mine just for the purposes of this.
Take that phrase, fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.
Now it doesn't require too much thinking to realize that the emphasis in that sentence, where is the really important thing?
It's on the Lord, isn't it?
It's on the Lord.
This is about who the Lord is.
This is about who he is.
This is about what he has done.
This is about what he has said.
And it's in light of his character that we'll come back to in about 10 minutes time.
It's in light of his character that we want to obey.
So the stress is on the Lord.
However, in their day, what they've done is they've just switched the emphasis.
They've shifted the emphasis to the vow.
And they've come up with this elaborate scale by which people can assess the seriousness of the vow that they have made.
And maybe to get your head around what I'm talking about, this is a bit like, if you remember back to the playground at school.
Do you remember this?
Unless your friend would promise to do something and you would take them at their word.
Or maybe you were that person, I don't know.
Friend would promise something, you would take them at their word.
You would act on what they said.
You would come back to them and say, why didn't you do what you said?
And they would say, oh, sorry, I made that promise all the time having my fingers behind my back.
So technically, it doesn't count.
And that's kind of what they're doing when it comes to the vows that they are making.
And see, later on in Matthew's gospel, you kind of get a worked example of this.
This is chapter 23.
Jesus speaking.
I'll go on the screen.
He says, woe to you blind guides.
And that's strong language, isn't it?
You say, if anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing.
But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, it's bound by the 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 anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.
You blind men.
Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
So can I give you the Shanks-inspired paraphrase of what's going on here, right?
They've created this bizarre distinction where somebody makes a promise saying, I swear by the temple, right?
I swear by the temple.
And when they don't follow through on that, they would say, ah, well, technically, technically, I only swore by the altar.
And so it doesn't count.
And so they've developed this whole system whereby your promises only count if you make them in a certain way and you make them according to a certain formula.
And the three examples, I think, in the text, I think that's what Jesus is saying to them.
Do you see them there?
Heaven, earth, and Jerusalem.
You can imagine that.
I swear by heaven.
I swear by earth.
I call upon Jerusalem as my witness.
You kind of get that, right?
And Jesus comes along and looks at this whole charade and says, what utter nonsense.
And two reasons it's nonsense.
The first one is implied in the text.
And it's what the very existence of the oath tells you.
Now, last week, if you remember last week, if you were here, we thought about the fact that the certificate of divorce with that,
Jesus was implying that it only exists because of the hardness of your heart.
This week, Jesus, I think, is implying with the oath.
Do you know what?
It only exists in the first place because of your untruthfulness.
I mean, if you're having to convince someone to trust you by appealing to an oath,
essentially saying to them, I really, really, really, really mean it this time,
then that doesn't reflect well on your character, does it?
You're having to convince somebody, beg somebody to trust you.
I mean, what kind of person has to twist someone's arm to get them to trust them?
Answer, an untrustworthy one.
So it's implied in the text.
Why do oaths exist in the first place?
Think about it.
But I think the second reason is, again, implied in the text.
And it's this.
Because commentators generally agree with this,
that what had happened here is that they had developed this system,
that if you use the Lord's name, then your vow is really serious.
But if you didn't use the Lord's name, it's not as serious.
And Jesus is saying, do you see the futility of thinking
that you can somehow keep God out of this by not using his name?
Do you see how that is utterly absurd?
This is how I've been thinking about it this week.
It's a bit like that constant theme in Lord of the Rings
when Frodo, any time he puts on the ring,
the all-seeing eye of Sauron kind of sees him and looks at him,
and all of a sudden he's got him.
And if he takes off the ring, he's invisible again.
It's that kind of thing that they're trying to do with the vows.
We mention the Lord's name, all of a sudden he sees.
But see, if we don't mention the Lord's name, he doesn't see.
That's the mindset.
Thinking if we just keep him out of it,
if we just keep him out of it
and try and get around the back door with our oaths,
then we're doing okay.
Because we still kept our oath,
because technically we swore over something else.
So technically we're okay.
Do you remember we said this last week,
they are looking for loopholes?
And just as an aside,
that was the precise logic of the famous atheist philosopher A.C. Grayling.
He talked about how society's reliance
on thousands of CCTV cameras in public places
was proof of the fact that people today
don't believe that a divine being is watching them.
So I've always found it interesting
why he thought that that proved the unreliability of God.
When I think actually all it does
is just show the unreliability of the human heart.
But you can make your minds up on that one if you want.
But Jesus is reminding his disciples here really simply
that God sees it all.
And it's a great time to remind ourselves,
every time we come up against this stuff,
remind ourselves who the Lord is.
I'll give you two words.
The Lord is the omnipresent one.
So that word omni just means all present everywhere.
He is the all everywhere one.
And he is the omniscient one, right?
Omni, again, all science, knowledge.
That's where we get science from if you're into that.
Omni, he is the all-knowing one.
So he's the all-seeing one.
He is the all-knowing one.
He is the holy one.
He is the one who's so far above the things of this earth.
And they have reduced him to,
he only sees when we kind of bring him into the equation.
And Jesus says, how wrong, how twisted.
How twisted.
How foolish.
And I think what Jesus is getting at here
is what the Puritans used to talk about
using that Latin phrase, coram deo,
meaning always in the presence of God.
Always in the presence of God.
All of life, always in the presence of God.
And that's what Jesus is encouraging in his disciples,
I think here.
Now, remember that shift in emphasis?
The Pharisees seeking to make it easier to obey,
dropping the bar.
They're seeking to put the emphasis not on the Lord.
They're seeking to place it on the vow.
I think really simply, if you want to understand this,
Jesus here is just seeking to shift the emphasis back.
And so here's his simple conclusion and plea to his disciples,
verse 37.
All you need to say, remember,
in light of everything he's just said,
in light of who the Lord is,
all you need to say is simply yes or no.
Anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Now, what is he seeking to create in the hearts of his people?
I take it really simply, truthful speech.
People whose words can be trusted.
Now, listen, you might hear that and think to yourself,
well, listen, I never come out with lines like,
I swear on my auntie's dog's grave, right?
Or as God is my witness.
I never come out with lines like this in my life.
But Jesus won't let us off the hook so easily.
He loves us too much for that.
Because so often we do this in subtle ways.
Can I ask you four questions that as this passage has had me
in a headlock this week and wrestled with me,
that I've freshly realized that I am so guilty of
and sometimes I don't even notice it?
And try these on for signs and they all begin with over.
See if they connect.
Friends, are you guilty, first of all, of maybe over-promising?
Right?
Saying that you'll make sure that something definitely happens
and then being casual on making good on those words.
Some of my biggest regrets in life
and some of my biggest pains I've received in life
are all to do with that.
Hurt people by the things that I promised would happen
and never happened.
Or was led up the garden path to think that something was going to happen
and it never happened.
Really hurtful.
But Jesus is saying,
are you prone to over-promising?
Secondly, are you prone to over-committing?
Saying you'll take something on,
saying that you'll be at something
and then realizing that you've written a check
that you can't cash?
Just, oof, find this really hard.
Third, these are really quick.
Are you prone to over-egging?
Exaggerating stories for effect?
Using superlatives?
Replaying conversations in your mind
where you're always the one who comes off 100% in the right?
Maybe fourth, are you prone to over-speaking?
Pretending you have answers
when really you have no answers?
You know, our phones,
I think this happens all the time in my life.
My phone tricks me into thinking
that I'm the one who's omniscient.
All-knowing.
So all I need to do is just go on Google
and I can find out answers to things.
And all of a sudden,
I can be an expert
in any kind of things.
Horticulture, politics, anything.
I can be an expert
and give me five minutes
and I can rustle up a conversation.
That combined with social media
and feeling the pressure
to be an expert in everything,
to give your hot take,
to give your opinion
and the speed of the news
that comes at us these days
in our 24-7 news channels
that says you need to be informed
on everything.
You know, friends,
can I tell you the lecturers at uni
that made the biggest impact on me
were the ones who I could tell
were the cleverest people in the room.
I mean, their knowledge.
I cannot begin to even fathom
the things that they know, right?
But here's the thing.
When they were quizzed on something,
when we used to have a Q&A
at the end of class,
it's 10 minutes Q&A,
anyone got any questions?
And they got asked a question
that they didn't know.
So instead of waffling an answer,
they would just humbly say,
do you know what?
I don't know,
but great question.
I want to find out.
I think we feel the pressure,
don't we, sometimes,
of having to know everything.
But friends,
see when you bring
those four things together,
over-promising,
over-committing,
over-egging,
over-speaking,
I think here's what
we need to see.
Is that a great question
to be asking
with these four things?
And there's lots more
we could have said, right?
But a great question
to be asking
is always,
why do I do it?
Why do I do it?
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
What is the heart motivation
in these things?
Have you ever thought
last week about
so often the devil
tempts us to think
that red flags
are actually bunting?
And friends,
can I suggest
that these things
might just be warning lights
that are going on
in our hearts?
Can I give you
my honest answer
why I so often do it?
I so often do it
because I think
I want people
to think better of me
than I actually am.
And our words
really are
windows into our hearts.
A great question
to ask yourself
with these things
is what's going on
in my heart.
Again,
as my American friends
used to say,
you've got to learn
in life to pop the hood.
What's going on
in the heart?
And so why are we
to be truthful people,
right?
How are we going to change?
Because I take it
none of us are sitting here
thinking,
do you know what?
I love lying.
But it comes so naturally
to us.
I think this is why
Jesus is speaking
into this area.
It's like we're born
with the seeds
of deceptiveness
in our hearts,
isn't it?
It's what happens
in Genesis 3.
And Jesus has come
to woo us back
to life in the light.
How are we going
to change?
Well, I take it
it's a bit like
what environmentalists
will tell you
about water pollution.
It is in a way
pretty futile
to spend your time
cleaning up
the actual river.
In actual fact,
what you need to do
is go way back
to the source.
And I'm convinced
this is what Jesus
is doing in this sermon.
We often get
focused on the river.
But he's saying
he wants,
if we're going to change
and he longs to change us,
he will take us
right back to the source.
What's the problem
with murder?
It's the evil thoughts,
angry thoughts
in your heart.
What's the problem
with adultery?
It's the lust
that exists in your heart.
So don't,
this is bad,
but this isn't
where the problem is.
The problem is here.
And sometimes we need
to go way further upstream.
And I think this is
what Jesus is doing here.
And here's somebody
who puts it way better
than I will.
This is a man
called David Gibson
up in Aberdeen
in his book
called Radically Whole.
And can I just recommend
that you get it?
It's on the book of James,
but it is
so applicable here.
Try this quote on for size.
Never try to fix your words
by mending your mouth.
Instead,
the heart needs to change.
Since the tongue
is the hinge
on which the door
of the heart turns,
we need to open
our hearts to God,
first of all.
And then,
when we open
our mouths,
things will be
different.
And the answer,
I think here,
that Jesus is
wooing us towards
is knowing
who the Lord is.
That's what's upstream.
Not our words,
not our truthfulness.
We don't start there.
We start by getting back
and knowing the Lord
who loves us
and has saved us.
Remembering his character.
Remembering the Lord,
the one who is faithful.
Remembering that the Lord
is one who never
changes his mind.
There is no shadow
due to change
with him.
Remembering that the Lord
is the one who always
delivers
on his words.
He is the one
who speaks
truth.
He is the one
who is outside
of time.
And on and on
and on we could go.
It's by remembering
who the Lord
is.
Friends,
when I use my words
to improve
what others
think of me,
it shows
that I've forgotten
that the most
important
and defining
thing about me
is what God
says is true
of me
in the gospel.
When I live
for the praise
of others
instead of his praise,
that's exactly
what it shows
me in you.
And remembering
the Lord,
remembering what
is true of us
of the gospel.
What is true?
And so often
what this gathering
is,
we gather every week
as one body
is all about
remembering
what the Lord
has said
is true.
What is true
of us in Christ,
of our,
and you might be
here feeling like
it is a mustard
seed faith I have
in Christ.
Seems to me
that the tenderest
words of Jesus
for people
are those in the
gospels for whom
that is true.
If I can just
touch the hem
of his garment.
Lord,
I believe,
help my unbelief.
It is those people.
But what is true
of us
that God declares
over us
in Christ
because of our
faith in him?
The Christ who
went to the cross,
the Christ who
came and lived,
the Christ who
is risen,
and as we sang
at the start,
who has our names
graven in his hand.
What is true
of us?
We are a new
creation.
The old is gone,
the new has come.
We are forgiven,
we are chosen,
we are loved,
we are adopted,
we are sealed
with his spirit,
and we have a
glorious future
ahead.
That's what's
true of us,
and the call
here is to
take that truth
about who the
Lord is
and have that
impact and change
our words.
And we're going
to think more
about this
next week.
that the Lord
is transforming
his people
into those
who increasingly
reflect something
of his character
to the watching
world.
And in this
case,
what is that
truth?
It is his
truthfulness and
faithfulness.
Do you see how
that changes
any little
lies,
little exaggerations
we are tempted
to tell,
ways that we're
tempted to promise
things,
and all
these things,
we can glorify
God in those
smallest of
moments.
The call here
is to make
your words
matter.
And we can
build our
lives there
on who the
Lord is.
You know,
just as we
close,
I've got my
grand's funeral
on Wednesday
next week.
You can pray
for us with
that funeral.
She was 95
when she
died.
Suffered
from vascular
dementia the
last season
of her life.
got a
funeral
Wednesday.
And my
dad this
week,
or the
tail end
of last
week,
was cleaning
out her
flat,
thinking what
on earth
are we going
to do for
the funeral?
And as it
turns out,
a lot of
people like
her in that
generation,
she'd written
the funeral
plan before
she died,
but she
didn't just
write it a
week or
even a month
before she
died.
She wrote
this thing
12 years
before she
died.
And she
was still
fit as a
fiddle.
And he
sent us
a screenshot
of it,
and she's
written this,
she was like,
I would love
to use this
funeral director.
The funeral
director is not
going anymore,
right?
I would love
to use this
minister,
my minister.
I had to
drag the
guy who
retired
late 80s
to come
and do
the funeral.
It's fine,
so we're
having a
joke about
the things
in this
that have
totally
changed.
But then
we start
reading,
I want
these
readings,
things,
and I
want these
hymns,
and these
to be
themes that
come out
of my
funeral,
and all
of a sudden
you're laughing
at the
things that
change,
but the
whole thing
is built
upon the
things that
don't
change.
The whole
thing,
our whole
life is
built on
the fact
that the
Lord is
truthful,
he's
faithful,
and we
can stake
everything.
It doesn't
matter how
long in
advance you
want to
plan the
end,
the Lord
is saying
the end
is written,
it's done,
it's sealed,
and you
can live
your life
backwards.
So it
doesn't
matter how
much of a
running you
have to
the end,
how many
days,
hours,
weeks,
months we
have left
on this
planet,
by God's
grace,
you can
stake it
all in
the fact
that I
am truthful
and not
going to
change.
So do
you see
how that,
knowing that,
knowing who
the Lord
is,
it impacts
friends.
Our
words.
It impacts
our words.
Here's the
words of
Isaac Watts,
and I love
this quote,
and we'll
end with
this.
I believe
the promises
of God
enough to
venture an
eternity on
them.
Let me
pray.
And so
Father,
we pray
today for
just a
greater view
of you.
thank you
that you
have not
left
yourself
without
witness.
Thank you
that we
can look
around,
we can
see,
and we'll
think a
bit more
about this
next week,
we can
see your
goodness
in
creation,
we can
see your
power in
creation,
we can
turn,
though,
to the
pages of
the Bible,
we can
see your
plan,
your
purposes,
your
track
record,
and we
can look
at Christ
and see
perfectly
who you
are.
Father,
thank you
that you
have not
left
yourself
without
witness.
And we
pray,
Lord,
that we
would leave
here today
having
increased in
our knowledge
of who
you are,
and may
you in
turn,
continually,
day by
day,
moment by
moment,
and word
by word,
turn us
into a
people who
increasingly
display your
truthfulness to
a watching
world.
Father,
we thank
you for
your love
for us
this morning,
and I
pray,
Lord,
for all
of us,
wherever
this has
landed,
that they
would be
both conviction,
and comfort.
Lord,
we leave
here with
an increased
desire to
live for
you,
and we
pray all
of these
things in
Christ's
precious name.
Amen.