Ungodly Word Games | Matthew 5:33-37

Scripture

• Matthew 5:33–37

About this sermon

Introduction: The best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture. Sometimes we come to a passage of Scripture that seems like a puzzle. If we take it at face value, based only on what we read in the immediate context, it seems to say something that is conflict with other portions of Scripture. Whenever that happens, knowing what Scripture is — knowing that it does contradict itself — we begin thinking and comparing with Scripture to arrive at a legitimate understanding of what that puzzling section truly means. In this case, at face value it seems that Jesus is disallowing ALL taking of vows, ALL swearing of oaths. But we know that Jesus did not come to contradict the Word of God. He is God in human flesh. It is HIS WORD. He is not contradicting ANY portion of Scripture. When you consider all of Scripture it is plain to see that there are legitimate uses of vows and oaths. We will see that today. Jesus cannot mean that He opposes that. When you rule that out and pay careful attention to what Jesus is saying here, what becomes clear is that Jesus is dealing with THE MISUSE of vows. A misuse that involved WHEN a vow should be taken, and HOW a vow should be taken. Yet even then, when we recognize THAT, I still don’t believe that we have gotten to the heart of the issue. WHAT JESUS TAKES ISSUE WITH IS NOT FIRST AND FOREMOST ABOUT VOWS. IT IS ABOUT SOMETHING THAT VOWS AND OATHS ARE CONCERNED WITH. What Jesus is concerned with has to do with why people take a vow — why they declare an oath. JESUS IS CONCERNED ABOUT OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD TRUTHFULNESS. What Jesus demonstrates is that true righteousness is concerned with the truth. True righteousness is not dishonest. True righteousness hates insincerity. True righteousness hates manipulative communication. True righteousness is not characterized by guile — by hidden motives. It does not engage in deceptive, manipulative, pseudo spiritual, word games. True righteousness is straightforward, it is transparent, it is honest, and it is all those things because it reverences God. True righteousness understands that God takes our words seriously, and telling the truth is a serious matter. And, like everything else Jesus talks about, this is really a heart issue. ESV Psalm 15:1 A Psalm of David. O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? 2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; 3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. When we get hold of the principle, we see that the issue is more than just when and how we should take a vow. The issue is how godly people communicate with other people. We don’t play word games. We tell the truth. • WHAT THE PEOPLE HAD BEEN TAUGHT (vs.33) BEFORE WE THINK OF THIS IN MORE DETAIL, I WANT TO GIVE ONE GENERAL OBSERVATION. What the scribes and Pharisees had done with the law of God about oaths reflected the world of sin around them. They had simply made room for common sins in their religious system. Everything that Jesus offers as examples of the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees — everything they either ignored or distorted — reflected compromise with what we see in society around us. Sinful anger. Sexual immorality. Disregard for the sanctity of marriage. And now, a disregard for telling the truth. NEVER FORGET THAT WORLDLY RELIGION IS SIMPLY WORLDLINESS. Worldly religion is the domain of darkness on display in the name of God. It mirrors everything you see in the world, only with a religious twist. We should have no problem recognizing this because we live in the same world of sin that men and women knew in the first century. We live in the world where men and women hate each other. We live in a world where we have an explosion of sexual immorality. The implosion of marriages and of the nuclear family. A society in which truth is thought to be determined by the individual. “Truth is what I say it is, and there is no need for my claims to be consistent.” And lying is not a big deal if you’re lying to accomplish a “higher good.” This is worldliness, and this is what was being excused by the false righteousness of the Jews. The first two examples that Jesus gave involved the scribes and Pharisees ignoring the spirit of the law. Their teaching was notable for what it LEFT OUT — where is stopped.