Promise Keeping (4 of 5)
Series: He Said What?
Craig Smith
Matthew 5:33-37
I. Introduction
II. Main Body
A. Text
33 ''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.' (Matthew 5:33)
Now, let's just pause here for a minute. At first glance, it probably seems like what Jesus is talking about here is promise-keeping, but that's not quite right. What Jesus is talking about here is actually truth-telling. He actually breaks the pattern a little bit. Typically in this section of Matthew, he quotes a single Old Testament commandment, but what he does here is summarize a whole bunch of Old Testament commandments about swearing...not like swear-words but swearing like ''I swear to God I'm telling the truth.'' That's the kind of swearing oaths or taking vows that he's talking about here. The OT commands Jesus is summarizing were formal declarations that you were telling the truth. Now that might be about what had already happened, like when we get sworn in at court and we say ''I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.'' Alternatively, this could be about people swearing that they were telling the truth about what they were going to do, like ''I swear to God that I'm going to pay you back next week.'' So that's what Jesus is talking about here.
Now, if you've been with us throughout this series, then what you expect Jesus to do at this point is to raise the standard. Like maybe he would say something like ''but I tell you that anyone who tells even a little white lie is in danger of the fires of hell.'' That's kind of been the pattern up to this point. But instead he goes in what feels like a very different direction.
34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 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 swear by your hea ...
Series: He Said What?
Craig Smith
Matthew 5:33-37
I. Introduction
II. Main Body
A. Text
33 ''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.' (Matthew 5:33)
Now, let's just pause here for a minute. At first glance, it probably seems like what Jesus is talking about here is promise-keeping, but that's not quite right. What Jesus is talking about here is actually truth-telling. He actually breaks the pattern a little bit. Typically in this section of Matthew, he quotes a single Old Testament commandment, but what he does here is summarize a whole bunch of Old Testament commandments about swearing...not like swear-words but swearing like ''I swear to God I'm telling the truth.'' That's the kind of swearing oaths or taking vows that he's talking about here. The OT commands Jesus is summarizing were formal declarations that you were telling the truth. Now that might be about what had already happened, like when we get sworn in at court and we say ''I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.'' Alternatively, this could be about people swearing that they were telling the truth about what they were going to do, like ''I swear to God that I'm going to pay you back next week.'' So that's what Jesus is talking about here.
Now, if you've been with us throughout this series, then what you expect Jesus to do at this point is to raise the standard. Like maybe he would say something like ''but I tell you that anyone who tells even a little white lie is in danger of the fires of hell.'' That's kind of been the pattern up to this point. But instead he goes in what feels like a very different direction.
34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 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 swear by your hea ...
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