SERMON ON THE MOUNT
TRUTHFULNESS – OATHS
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 5:33-37
JULY 29, 2001
The Essenes were a Jewish sect that flourished in the time of Christ and in the centuries before Christ. The Anabaptists were a Christian sect that flourished in the 16th century during the time of the Protestant Reformation. These two groups, separated by 1,500 years had one thing in common, and that was that they refused to take an oath. Even in the context of a civil court of law, they refused to take an oath. Now, the Essenes refused to take an oath because of the Decalogue because of their interpretation of the third and the ninth commandments. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain,” and “Thou shalt not swear falsely.” They were so afraid of telling a lie under oath that they refused to take an oath. The Anabaptists refused to take an oath because of the Sermon on the Mount and their understanding of our passage of scripture for today.
Jesus said, “Do not swear at all, either by heaven for it is God’s throne, or by earth for it is His footstool, nor by the city of Jerusalem for it is the city of the great King.” For the same reason today, Quakers and Jehovah’s Witnesses will not take an oath, even in a civil court of law. If you look at the Bible and you look at Matthew’s Gospel, the 26th chapter, you see that Jesus Himself submitted to the taking of an oath in the legal context of the court as He submitted to the oath under Caiaphas the High Priest. Certainly, Jesus is not telling us that we cannot take an oath in the context of the courtroom.
To understand what Jesus is talking about, we need to take a look at the context in which He said these words. You see, at the time Jesus lived in Jerusalem and Galilee, the Jewish people distinguished between two different types of oaths: binding oaths and non-binding oaths. The Jews told oaths all the time. They used oaths all the time. They swore that things were true. They did this conversationally when they told a story. When they gossiped, they used an oath, swearing that it was true. But they could use a binding or a non-binding oath. A binding oath was an oath that was sworn in the name of God. A non-binding oath was an oath that was not sworn in the name of God. An entire tractate in the Mishnah is devoted to binding and non-binding oaths.
Now, you see, if the Jews believed they lied under a binding oath, if they lied while swearing in the name of God, it was a grave sin. But if they lied under a non-binding oath—if they lied but did not swear on the name of God—then it was a lesser sin (or perhaps not even a sin at all). So, in their swearing and in their taking of oaths and in their conversations, they would use circumlocutions for the name of God. They would swear on the name of heaven. They would swear on the name of earth. They would swear on the name of Jerusalem. They would swear by the hairs on their head. And these were considered to be non-binding oaths and therefore lesser sins or maybe not sinful at all. They felt free to lie. So they would lie with non-binding oaths.
In this passage of scripture in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is really dealing with the subject of lying, and He’s really dealing with the subject of truthfulness. “Don’t lie at all. Be people of the truth. Everything you say is under God. Everything you say is before God, whether you swear by heaven or earth or Jerusalem or your head, it’s all under God. It’s all before God. Tell the truth.” If you’re really a truth teller, if you’re really honest, if you really have integrity, you won’t even need to swear. You won’t even need to use an oath because people will trust you as a person of your word.
This morning as we focus on the subject of truthfulness and the telling of lies, I want us to examine four reasons that people lie. Perhaps in this room, many of us have lied for one or all of these reasons.
First of all, people lie because they want to impress. Have you ever done this? Have you ever told a lie because you want to impress? Have you ever exaggerated because you want to impress? There’s a man who lived in the 19th century, into the 20th century. His name was Louie Derogaman. In the year 1898, he wrote a book called “Thirty Years Among the Cannibals of Australia.” That was the title of the book. He told about how he had been shipwrecked off the coast of Australia. He told how he had come to live amongst cannibals and how he had actually joined in cannibal feasts. He told about how he had built a house out of pearl shells and how he had ridden on the backs of 700-pound sea turtles. He told about pelicans that he had sent forth as messengers and how he had sent messages all over the world in six languages. He told about all of his adventures and all of his experiences in Australia, living amongst the cannibals.
He became well known, and he became a famous speaker. He lectured at scientific societies on two continents. He taught at universities and colleges all across America. The only problem was that it was all a lie. Louis Derogaman never even went to Australia. He never even had any of those adventures. He just made it up. When they asked him why, “Why did you fabricate this?” his answer was simple. He said, “I wanted to be somebody! I felt like such a loser. Nobody looked up to me. Nobody was impressed with me. I wanted to impress people.”
Isn’t that why sometimes people lie? Perhaps you’ve lied or fabricated or exaggerated the truth in an effort to impress people. Sometimes people like about their golf scores. Sometimes people lie about their education, their academic background, or their athletic background. They want to impress people. Sometimes people lie about their company—the number of their employees, the amount of profit. They just want to impress people. Sometimes people even exaggerate with regard to their children’s accomplishments because they want to impress. They want to be liked. They want people to look up to them.
In the Bible, we’re told of the Pharisees. Jesus really was upset with the Pharisees. Their whole lives were lies because they were hypocrites. You see, the Pharisees were always seeking to impress people. They were not trying to impress people with their journeys or their experiences. They WERE trying to impress people with their education, their training, and their academic background. They were also trying to impress people with their spirituality, and they feigned spirituality. They practiced piety before men, wanting to impress people. Jesus saw right through it. He saw that it was all a lie. They were living a lie. They weren’t spiritual in their hearts. It was all a lie, an effort to impress people.
We need to ask ourselves if we ever do this. Are we what Scott Peck called the “People of the Lie”? There’s nothing more refreshing than people of the truth, nothing more refreshing that meeting a person who has come to the cross in humility and confessed his or her sin, somebody who knows that they are a sinner saved by grace, somebody who doesn’t put on airs, somebody who is just a regular person and isn’t trying to impress. As Christians, we shouldn’t seek to impress the world. We shouldn’t seek to impress each other. The truth is, as we said in the early days of our church, we’re all bozos on this bus! I mean, that’s really the truth. There’s nothing more refreshing than people who are honest with themselves and honest with other people. No need to impress.
Well, secondly, sometimes people lie in order to protect. Is that not true? People lie in order to protect. If there is such a thing as a white lie, I think it would be in the context where there is an effort to protect somebody else.
You go to Joshua in the Bible to the second chapter, and you read about Rahab the harlot. She lived in the city of Jericho. It was in the time of Joshua when the children of Israel had not yet crossed the Jordan River, but they were about to cross the Jordan River. They knew they would have to conquer the city of Jericho, a fortified city if ever they were to receive or inherit the Promised Land.
And so, Joshua sent two spies across the Jordan to check out this fortress city of Jericho. Now, Rahab the harlot, had heard of the Israelites, and she had heard that they had cross the Red Sea “as if upon dry land, and they had done this by the power of God.” She had heard that they had conquered the Amorites, and she believed that they were the people of God and no one could stand against them. And so, she received these Jewish spies, and she protected them. Somebody saw her receive them, and word came to the king of Jericho. He sent officers to inquire. “We hear that Jewish spies have entered the city. Do you know where they are? Are you harboring them?” She lied. She lied to protect the spies. She said, “Two people did come by, but I didn’t know where they were or where they were from or even why they were here.” It was a lie. She said, “They left with the setting of the sun. Go quickly! You might catch them.” It was a lie. She was hiding them on her roof. It was all a lie, and yet she is listed in the New Testament in Hebrews, chapter 11, amongst the Heroes of the Faith.
We read in Joshua, chapter 2, how the children of Israel entered into covenant relationship with her because she protected them. They promised to protect her and her children and her loved ones. A lie to protect other people. Controversial. In fact, John Calvin, the reformed theologian and the leader of the Reformation, as well as St. Augustine, condemned Rahab for this lie. They acknowledge that she certainly served the cause of Israel, but they said the lie was still wrong. Martin Luther, on the other hand, concerning Rahab’s lie said, “It was a bold and wonderful lie.” You see, even in the history of Christian scholarship, you see a house divided on a sensitive issue like this.
You come to Exodus, chapter 1, and you see the story of the Hebrew midwives. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is concerned about the growing population of Jews in Goshen. He issues a decree to the midwives that they are to execute the Hebrew males upon their birth so that the Jewish population would not grow. The midwives feared God, and they refused to do this. When the Pharaoh summoned them and asked them about this whole thing, why the Hebrew babies were not being killed and why they were allowed to live, the midwives lied. They said, “Well, Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women.” It was a lie. They said, “Hebrew women don’t have labor. They just immediately give birth, and the midwives can’t get there in time.” Just a lie. But it was a lie to save lives.
If there is such a thing as a white lie, it would be to save lives. Of course, the odds are you’ll live the rest of your life and never have the opportunity to save a human life through the telling of a lie. Even when we seek to protect other people through a lie, it’s normally wrong. When we lie in the context of a civil court to protect another person, it’s perjury. The reality is that most of the time when we lie to protect someone, that someone is ourselves. We lie to protect ourselves. People lie because they don’t want to be caught. They lie because they don’t want to be embarrassed. Usually, if we lie, it’s to protect ourselves. This, of course, is sin. This is sin.
In the year 1968, I was 22 years old. I was driving my car—I had a ‘55 Ford—and I was driving it in Glendale, California. It was raining, and I had a little accident. I smashed into five other cars. This was not easy to do, but it really wasn’t my fault. You see, there were three lanes of traffic moving in my direction and three lanes moving in the other direction. I was in the middle lane. In the midst of the rain and the wet roads, the car to the left of me in the fast lane lost control. The guy who was driving that car swerved into my lane, smashed into the side of me, and then I began to ricochet off the cars on either side.
All five of us pulled off the road and we exchanged angry looks and various information. Everyone said they were innocent, including the guy who had smashed into my car starting the whole chain reaction. As it turned out, that guy had the same insurance company that I had. Even more incredibly, we both had the same insurance agent. We filed our reports to the same guy, he read them both, and he knew something was up. Somebody wasn’t telling the truth. Somebody was telling a lie.
He met with us, and he asked this other guy, “Is it possible that you swerved into the middle lane and hit Mr. Dixon?” Confronted face-to-face, he confessed. He said, “I did do that. I did swerve out of my lane, and I ran into the side of his car, but it wasn’t my fault.” He said, “Somebody to the left of me ran into my car and that person never pulled over and joined us afterwards. It wasn’t my fault. I was hit by somebody else.” The insurance agent said, “You know, I don’t think that’s possible because to the left of you, there wasn’t another lane. There was a grass divider with trees, and I think you’re lying.” This guy was caught. Why did he lie? He lied because he was seeking to protect himself. This is the warning of Christ. We don’t lie to impress. We don’t lie to protect.
Thirdly, sometimes people lie in order to destroy. They actually lie because they want to hurt somebody. They actually lie because they want to harm somebody. That’s what the lie of slander is all about. You’re lying in order to destroy.
Now, I know that all of you have heard of Lloyd’s of London. Lloyd’s of London was established in 1688 in London, England, as a marine underwriting company. They were established to insure ships and ship’s cargo. But, of course, through the years and really through the centuries, they have expanded the scope of their service. Today, Lloyd’s of London will insure almost anything or anyone.
It was Lloyd’s of London who paid the claims on the Titanic when it went down. It was Lloyd’s of London who paid the claims on the Hindenburg when it went down. It was Lloyd’s of London that paid the claims in San Francisco in 1906 during the Great San Francisco Earthquake. Through the years, Lloyd’s of London has insured everything from coffee shops to circus acts, from singers’ voices to dancers’ legs. But you notice, they really don’t make anything safe. They didn’t make the Titanic safe. They didn’t make the Hindenburg safe. They didn’t make the buildings in San Francisco safe. They can’t even make singing or dancing safe because the truth is, we live in a world that isn’t safe.
The Bible makes it extremely clear that your speech is not safe. Your tongue is not safe. The words you speak can be very, very dangerous. They can be very, very damaging and they can destroy. That is why, in the little book of James in the New Testament, the Bible says, “If anyone makes no mistakes in what he says, he is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body as well. If we put bits in the mouths of horses that we may control them, we control their whole bodies. Look also at the ships. Though they are so great and driven by strong winds, they’re guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. The tongue also is a little member which boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire. And the tongue is a fire, an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, reptile or sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind but no human can tame the tongue, a restless evil full of deadly poison.” That’s what the Bible says.
How careful are you in the things you say about other people? Do you ever lie about another person in a way as to hurt them? Do you ever exaggerate just because you want to hurt them? This is a grave sin.
Ten years ago, Barb and I were on vacation. We were driving on the East Coast. We were with my brother, Greg, and his wife, Barb. We were also with John and Ann Benson. John was an elder at the church. The six of us were in a van. We had been to Washington, D.C., and we were driving south. We were driving through Virginia, checking out historic sites, staying at Bed and Breakfasts. We were having a great time. During the day as we drove, we were kind of entertained on the radio by listening to the hearings for Clarence Thomas and the accusations of Anita Hill. Remember ten years ago?
Of course, Clarence Thomas was being considered for the Supreme Court. He had been nominated. He’d also been accused of sexual misconduct. Anita Hill was testifying against him. We could not believe, as we were driving along, listening to the testimonies and the conversations over the radio and even the comments of senators. It was very embarrassing. Of course, we knew somebody was lying. Even today, people don’t agree as to who was lying. There are some people who think Clarence Thomas was lying. Some people think Anita Hill was lying. Certainly, if Clarence Thomas was lying, he was seeking to protect himself. It was a lie in order to protect. If Anita Hill was lying, she was seeking to destroy another person. Isn’t it true that sometimes people do that? They actually lie in order to destroy? Don’t ever let it be true of you. This is the caution that we have in Christ.
“Satan is the father of lies,” the Bible tells us, and “he is the destroyer,” the Bible tells us. He seeks to lead the world into lies in order that people might be harmed and ultimately destroyed. He tells the world a lie. He tells people that they can find fulfillment through money, sex and power—materialism, hedonism, egoism. It’s all a lie designed to destroy. Satan is at work in us when we use our tongue to hurt another human being.
Well, finally, sometimes when people lie, they do it for gain. They do it for financial gain. People lie to impress. They lie to protect. They lie to destroy. But they also lie for financial gain. In California, high up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, there is Donner Pass. Some of you have been there. Today Donner Pass is a resort. It’s a summer and a winter resort. It’s also, today, a national historic site because of the tragedy that took place at Donner Pass in the winter of 1846 into 1847.
At that time, Donner Pass was not called Donner Pass. But, you see, it was that winter when the Donner party was making its way west. They had come from Illinois. They wanted to settle west of the Sierra Nevadas in California. In the dead of winter, these 82 people found themselves on top of Donner Pass in the midst of a violent storm. They tried to protect themselves. They used rock and wood and animal skins to try to build shelters. They ran out of food, and they began to eat twigs and rodents. They even began to eat their shoes, but ultimately people began to die. As they died, those who were still living ate the dead. Ultimately, before they were rescued, thirty-three people had been eaten by those who were still alive. It was the worst case of cannibalism in the history of the USA.
What were they doing there? Why were these 82 people on top of the Sierra Nevadas in the midst of winter? They were there because of a lie, a lie told by a man named Jim Bridger. Of course, Jim Bridger was a famous frontiersman. He was said to be the first white man to see the Great Salt Lake, said to be the first white man to see the Yellowstone National Park and that region. He was said to have been one of those who designed and built the Oregon Trail. But, you see, Jim Bridger owned a trading post on the Hastings Cutoff, which led over Donner Pass and to the western side of California.
He met the Donner Party, and he lied to them. He told them that instead of going north, why don’t they just go into California and go west over Donner Pass? They said, “Well, isn’t it too late? Won’t we arrive up there in the dead of winter?” Jim Bridger said, “Well, you know, most of the road is flat and smooth. Up on Donner Pass, winter comes late and it’s always mild.” He told them that lie because he wanted them to take the Hastings Cutoff so they would come to his trading post so he could have their money. It was as simple as that. He told a lie for financial gain.
I don’t think that surprises us, because we live in a world where people do lie for financial gain. Would tire manufacturers ever lie about the safety of their tires? Would the automobile industry ever lie about the safety of their vehicles? I think most of us suspect they might do it for financial gain. We live in a world of advertising where lies and exaggerations are commonplace for the purpose of financial gain. But don’t let it be true of you. Don’t let it be true of the way you run your business. Don’t let it be true of the way you conduct your life. Some people lie on their income tax for financial gain, and it is sin. If you’ve done it, you must confess it. Some people exaggerate their charitable contributions, and they do this for financial gain. Of course, that’s what Ananias and Sapphira did in Acts, chapter 5, and the judgement of God fell upon them.
I know most of you have either seen the Walt Disney movie “Pinocchio” or you’ve read The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, whose real name was Carlo Lorenzini. You know that story. You know how this kindly old man created a wooden puppet. The wooden puppet could not become flesh and blood unless it learned virtue, and amongst those virtues, honesty. But the problem was the wooden puppet loved to lie. Pinocchio loved to lie. Whenever he told a lie, his nose would grow. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if that were true? Wouldn’t that be great if every time we told a lie our nose would grow? There would be a lot of elephants in this world! You would never be deceived at any place of business because if they were lying to you, their nose would grow. It would be great! Ultimately, Pinocchio had to learn honesty and to confess his lies. That’s what we need to do as Christians.
I want to show you a little clip from a movie. The movie is called The Quiz Show. It was produced in 1994. The movie starred a man named Ralph Fiennes. He plays in the movie the part of Charles Van Doren, a professor who cheated on a quiz show back in the late 1950s when a lot of the quiz shows on television were corrupt. Participants were actually given questions in advance and given some of the answers in advance so they could create a larger audience out there in America and increase their financial revenue.
The clip you’re going to see from this wonderful movie is when he makes his confession to a congressional hearing.
In the clip, Charles Van Doren admits that he was involved in the lie of the quiz show. He says he was like a little child who acted as if by denying a fact he could make it go away. He says that eventually he realizes that there was one way out, and it was simply to tell the truth. The congressional hearing actually commends home for his honesty in that moment.
The movie was called The Quiz Show. If you’ve never seen it, I would recommend you rent it and watch it. It is a wonderful message of integrity. Charles Van Doren, the professor who was testifying before that congressional hearing, the man who cheated on national television on a quiz show, had a complexity of motives. His father and his uncle were Pulitzer Prize winners. He wanted to be respected for his mind and his intellect, and certainly there was the motive of financial gain. But ultimately, he was convicted (I believe by the Spirit of God) and he knew he had to confess and he had to come clean.
What God wants us to understand today is that if we’re involved in any lie, we need to confess and come clean. We need to confess to the Lord first of all, “before whom no creature is hidden but all are open and laid bare.” We also may be led of the Holy Spirit to confess to others, and we must be willing to do this.
As we close, I want to share with you something that happened to me. When I was in seminary, in my senior year, I cheated on a test. The class was an advanced course in hermeneutics and exegesis, and it was taught by a man named Dan Fuller who was the son of Charles Fuller of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour.
Dan Fuller had given me a take-home test because I had been sick. I took the test back to my seminary apartment. As I looked at the questions, there was one question I wasn’t sure of. I thought I knew the answer, but I wasn’t 100% sure, and the book that would give me confidence and would give the answer was on the desk right in front of me. I thought to myself, “Well, you know, it’s just one question, and I probably know it anyway. I’ll just check it.” I checked it in the book and turned the test in. I felt bad about it, but not bad enough to say anything.
Two years later, I was married and Barb and I had just come to Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora. I was in the ministry there. I don’t know the circumstances or the events that prompted it, but somehow I was convicted of the Holy Spirit that I needed to confess this. I wrote a letter to Dan Fuller who had been the professor in that class. I explained to him what I had done and how I had cheated on that one question and how I was wrong and I had sinned. I wanted him to do whatever was right. If he wanted to change my class results or even take away my graduation, I understood.
He wrote me back the most amazingly wonderful letter. It was a letter where he confessed his sin. It was a letter where he expressed gratitude that I had been honest and confessed my sin to him, and he wanted to tell me about the times that he had done things wrong, the times he had been dishonest. He gave me example after example. It was, for me, just a deeply spiritual moment in Christ.
I can’t promise you what the outcome would be if you were to confess a lie in your life. I can’t guarantee that it would turn out like that. I do know the Bible says, “God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose,” but whatever the outcome, you’ve got to do what the Spirit of God is leading you to do. If you’ve lied to somebody and you’ve caused them harm, you need to confess it and you need to ask the Spirit of God if there is anything you should confess to anyone, because ultimately, we only have an audience of one. It’s only God that matters, and He’s the one we need to please. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.