Matthew 5:33-37 (ESV)
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Day 1: Loving God
Reflect:
By “two unchanging things,” (1) the unalterable purpose of God (Heb. 6:17), and (2) the unbreakable oath, God promised to save us (Heb. 6:18). By not one, but two unchangeable things, God guarantees all of His good promises to us! When we take an oath, we swear by God, because “people swear by something greater than themselves” (Heb. 6:16). If we swear by our own name, it’s not worth much, but if it’s by God’s name, then it ends “all … disputes” because His name is so great that no one should ever dare to take a false oath in His name. But when God takes an oath, He “[swears] by himself,” “since he [has] no one greater by whom to swear.” This is why we can be certain without a shadow of doubt that God will keep all of His promises to us, for “it is impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18). God fulfilled His promise to us in sending Jesus Christ, His only Son. Jesus, though He never lied, died on the cross for liars like you and me! He kept God’s oath for oath-breakers like you and me! He took our punishment and bore our shame! And Jesus was raised from the dead to give us eternal life! This is how Christ became to us, “the way … the truth … the life”! Jesus is the truth! And it’s through our union with Christ through faith, that we are conformed more and more to the image of Christ, the true and faithful witness. The more Christ-like we become, the more truthful we will be.
Recommended Song: “Promises” by Maverick City (Find it on our church’s Spotify playlist, “Trinity Hymnal,” at http://bit.do/trinityhymnal)
Pray:
• Spend some time praising God for His eternally unchanging character and faithfulness, and the implications of that for your life.
• Ask for forgiveness for the ways you have lied, broken vows, and sworn falsely.
• Pray that God would grow you in the fear of God, so that you become a person who “swears to his own hurt and does not change” (Ps. 15:4).
Day 2: Loving One Another
Reflect:
Jesus says in verse 37, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” Vows and oaths are concessions to the hardness of the human heart. If we all of humanity practiced transparency and simple honesty in all of our speech, vows and oaths would become immediately obsolete. That is God’s ultimate standard! This is why Jesus’s teaching applies to all forms of deception and manipulation. Why do we swear falsely? Why do we break our vows and promises? Why do we exaggerate and embellish our stories? Why do we flatter and say things we don’t really mean to gain people’s confidence and favor? Why do we betray people’s confidence? Why do we tell half-truths? A half-truth told as a whole-truth, is a whole-lie! We do it all to gain a selfish advantage. To get people to believe us, to like us and not them, to get them to do what we want them to do. And all of this is “evil” in God’s eyes! Instead, be simple truth-tellers who need no oaths. “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No.'”
Recommended Song: “Yes and Amen” by Housefires (Find it on our church’s Spotify playlist, “Trinity Hymnal,” at http://bit.do/trinityhymnal)
Pray:
• Confess the ways in which you have sought to manipulate and use other people for selfish advantage with lies, exaggerations, flattery, gossip, slander, and false oaths.
• Ask God to give our church members integrity and honesty in all our words and deeds, so that there might be trust that undergirds all of our relationships.
• Ask God to bring reconciliation to strained or broken relationships in our church.
Day 3: Sharing the Love of Christ with Others
Reflect:
What if all our yeses were yeses and all our no’s were no’s? What if we were so manifestly truthful in all that we ever said that people actually took us at our words? We should be such steadfast truth-tellers, that when we tell people that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins and was raised from the dead to give us eternal life, our words are weighty and people can’t easily dismiss us, so that it makes them pause and ponder, so that even if they reject the gospel, they do so at their own peril, without a shadow of doubt in their minds about our earnestness and trustworthiness as witnesses. This is how we imitate Jesus, “the Amen, the faithful and true witness” (Rev. 3:14).
Recommended Song: “Your Words Are Wonderful (Psalm 119)” by Sovereign Grace Music (Find it on our church’s Spotify playlist, “Trinity Hymnal,” at http://bit.do/trinityhymnal)
Pray:
• Pray that we would be “not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16), and simply let our yes be yes when opportunities to share the gospel arise.
• Pray that God would make us a church that shares the gospel with our unbelieving friends and neighbors every week
• Pray that God would raise up teams of full-time missionaries from our church who would go to the unreached people groups to proclaim the gospel.
