Radical Truthfulness
Living the Kingdom life involves radical truthfulness. Kingdom people, followers of Jesus Christ, are people of the truth. They speak with, live out, and practice radical truthfulness. They do not need oaths, vows or promises to confirm the truth or to back up their words. Kingdom people are people of integrity; people of their word. They do what they say they will do. They walk their talk. Their radically truthful lives, words, and actions gives a powerful witness to the Truth, Jesus Christ.
1. The Problem of Truth or The Problem of the Lie
Mt 5:33 — “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.’”
How many times have we heard, or how many times have we ourselves used the words, “I swear.” “I swear that’s the truth. I swear by all that is holy. I cross my heart and hope to die. I swear by God. I swear on my mother’s grave.” These days it seems as if people are also swearing directly or indirectly by the media. “It’s true! The Internet says so.” You could say, “I swear by Google.”
It seems as if our word is not enough. It seems as if we expect that people would lie, break their promises, and not fulfill their vows. So, we must back up our words, give our statements more weight with some higher authority or powerful thing. Why?
Because we are living a world of lies. We are living in a world where there is a serious shortage of truth. We are living in a post-truth society where there is a “pervasive indifference to truth-telling … Perjury (lying) under solemn oath is epidemic. The sacred vows of marriage are broken … God’s name is invoked by blatant liars who [claim] to be witnesses to the truth.” (Hughes)
This is not new. We have actually been living in a world of lies since Satan deceived humankind with his lies. That is why the Old Testament had laws on oaths and vows.
God’s people must not swear falsely. They must not commit perjury, that is, to willfully and intentionally lie, make a false statement, give a false witness or testimony, while under oath.
Lev. 19:12 — “Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.”
When God’s people do make vows they must not break them. They must ensure that they fulfill them; do what they promised under oath.
Numbers 30:2 — “This is what the Lord commands: When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.”
Deuteronomy 23:21-23 — “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.”
In those days swearing an oath or making a vow was a very serious matter, not like today’s world where it is a mere legal formality. In those days people actually believed that the oath confirms what is said. Hebrews 6:16 — “People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.”
When you made a vow, you made it before God and on your life. And if you swore falsely or break you vows, God’s judgment and condemnation will come down on you as we see in Jeremiah 7, Malachi 2 and 3, and 1 Timothy 1:9-10.
But the rabbis and the teachers of the law were very clever. In Jesus’ time they taught that an oath was not binding if it did not include God’s name or imply God’s name. Therefore, if you swore by anything else but did not mention God, you were not bound, and by implication it means that you could swear falsely, break your vow and not fulfill your promises.
2. God Sees All, Hears All, Knows All
In response Jesus says, “But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.” (Mt 5:
God created all. God is the sovereign Lord, who controls everything. God sees all, hears all, and knows all. So whenever and however you make a vow, whatever you invoke or swear by, you are swearing that oath before the living God and on God. If you swear falsely, you are lying, not only to others, but to God. If you do not fulfill your vows, you are breaking your promise not only to the other person but also to God.
In Matthew 23:16-22 Jesus told the Pharisees and teachers of the law, “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.”
The problem with vows and oaths is that they become instruments of the lie itself. We live in a world of lies. People are liars. People are suspicious and expect others to lie. Therefore, we use oaths and words of honor to impress and convince others of our sincerity and reliability. And sometimes, we use them to make lies or half-truths appear as truth. Basically, we are swearing falsely to impress people.
Dallas Willard explains that oaths and vows become devices of manipulation. We use them to convince people to accept what we say and to do what we want. “To get others to believe you and let you have your way.” That is evil and not right. That is not kingdom righteousness, and that is not how kingdom people should deal with other people. That is not love.
Every word we speak is spoken in God’s presence. Remember, God lives in us. He knows our hearts. We cannot lie to him. He knows the truth. There is no need for an oath. If I claim to be a child of God — I will speak the truth, be a person of truth. We are …
3. We Are People of Our Word, People of Integrity, People of the Truth
Mt 5:37 — “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”
Jesus destroys the lie by forbidding oaths altogether. Kingdom people are people of the truth. We speak with, live out, and practice radical truthfulness. We do not need oaths, vows or promises to confirm the truth of or to back up our words. There must be no lies, untruths, or even half-truths in the life of the believer.
The focus here is on our everyday common speech and conversations. Oath-taking is permitted in special circumstances like in the courtroom or when we make our marriage vows. And when we do that we must take those very seriously because we are doing them before the living God. Even Jesus honored the official oath when he appeared before Caiaphas (Mt 26:63-64). Paul called upon God as his witness a couple of time in 2 Cor. 1:23 and Rom. 1:9.
Beyond that, oath taking is not encouraged, not permitted, and is not needed because we are people of truth. Jesus calls us to a life of radical truthfulness. Our words matter. They are important. Our words are external signs, expressions, of the condition of our hearts, of what is going on in our hearts. Matt. 12:34-37 — “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Anything beyond our truthful words are from the evil one, are lies. We live in a deceptive world. One author explained it like this, “We are awash in a sea of media deception. … Rivers of hyperbole and exaggeration flow through advertising, political campaigning …” And we can add, deception, lies, half-truths, exaggerations flow through the Internet and social media.
Let us be honest with ourselves, and look at how many time we embellish the truth without even realizing that we are doing so. Fish get bigger. The 3-point buck turns into a monster buck. Profits gets bigger. Let me ask our teenagers — What are you exaggerating, what stories are you twisting to impress your friends?
Many years ago the Chaplain of the Kansas Senate prayed this prayer: “Omniscient Father, Help us to know who is telling the truth. One side tells us one thing, and the other just the opposite. And if neither side is telling the truth, we would like to know that, too. And if each side is telling half the truth, give us the wisdom to put the right halves together.”
A necessary and relevant prayer for today, I think, but perhaps also a cynical prayer.
The world desperately needs truth, and it is our calling to show the world the truth. As kingdom people we must walk our talk. We must say what we mean and mean what we say. We must do what we say we will do. Our integrity, our radical truthfulness can make a difference in this world. When people know that we are truthful, when people see that we practice what we preach, when people see that we truly love God and others in our actions, then the testimony of our truthful lives will have more effect, and will be more powerful than any theology or preaching we could throw at people. Our radically truthful lives, words, and actions gives a powerful witness to the Truth, Jesus Christ.
Implication — Do not participate in spreading lies, half-truths. Check your facts. Think critically. Don’t do it. Don’t click on that share button just because you like it or it sounds good, but you don’t know if it’s true.
Yes, it is not easy to be a radically truthful person today, but because we follow Jesus and he lives in us we can be genuinely truthful. We know the truth. On the cross God revealed the truth about us, about the world, and about himself. Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, we know who we are. We are sinners, but saved and forgiven sinners. God loves us and the world. On the cross the evil one and all lies have been destroyed. Everything has been revealed. Because of the cross we have nothing to hide. There is no more need for lies, oaths and vows. We know who we are in Christ. We have new, eternal life and by the power of the Holy Spirit we now live in the perfect truth of God. We can live with radical truthfulness in the world and before the world so that we will shine forth the light of Jesus Christ, who is the Truth and the Light of the world.
For the sake of our witness, and for the sake of the unity of the church, let there be no more deceptions, lies, falsehoods, half-truths, or alternative facts in our lives. Let our yes be yes, and our no be no, for the sake of and the glory of our Lord.