Having a Kingdom Attitude 13

The next session is Matthew 5:33-37, in where Jesus teaches His children, "You shall not make false vows....but let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil." We have learned that Jesus will always side with life, scriptures, and marriage; next we will see that Jesus will always side with truthful talk. A few years back a book was published called The Day America Told the Truth. In this book we read about surveys taken in America about this cultures fascination with lying. In this book, 91% of those surveyed said that they lie on a regular basis. 86% said they lie to their parents regularly. 75% said they lie regularly to their friends. 69% said they lie to their spouses. Lying is glorified in our culture, and yet we wonder why we are such a stressed out society. Deception and lying only fosters an environment of stress and high blood pressure. In Matthew, Jesus commands His children to speak only the truth, because He is the author and source of Truth (John 14:6).

We see in this passage that Jesus is teaching us that the citizens of God's Kingdom hold truth to be sacred in every conversation, at all times. Why? First, because all oaths were sacred acts of truth (5:33). In O.T., all vows and oaths were entered into with sincerity and sacredness. When when Jephthah made a foolish vow, he fulfilled it (Judges 11:29-40). Numbers 30:2 reads, "If a man makes a vow to the LORD...he shall not violate his world...". Second, we learn that all oaths invite God into your situation. When one makes a promise, "pinky swears", or swears on God's name that what they are saying is truth, they automatically are calling God into that promise - because God is Truth. And if that oath was a lie, then you are directly assaulting God's truthful character. Last, Jesus instructs us that every oath should flow from a truthful heart (5:37, James 5:12). We should not manipulate the truth or mask the truth, Christians are to be men and woman of the Truth. And if we purpose to live this way, then you a guaranteeing yourself a less stressed life. Until next time, keep walking close with Christ.