Ralph Porter

© 2003

    Pleasant View Bible Church's Statement of Faith says that "We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible, and God-breathed." But do we really believe that?

    There are times when accepting the Bible as our final authority comes into conflict with what our culture tells us, or even what appears reasonable. Sometimes it appears that there must be a better answer! The passage we're going to consider this morning is one of those passages where people often assume God can't really mean what He says, though He clearly does say it! We all struggle to some extent with the literal application of what God tells us in James 5:12.

    Today's message is very simple! It really doesn't require notes! In essence, it's just the title, our Scripture text, plus six words! The basic outline of the message is just the explanation of the text, and the application. The explanation is divided in two parts: a negative statement and a positive statement. You can summarize the whole message in three or four words!

    The problem isn't in the complexity of the message, nor in the big words used! The problem's in the application. It's easy to state it. But our entire culture will rise up to stop us from doing it! That's the real problem with this morning's message. That's why this message must be preached!

    How can we pull it off? We all know it's right! But everything around us works against it. It seems "you just can't live that way!" So we want to consider carefully what James has to say about life in the twenty-first century. That's what he's describing!

    Cynicism concerning honesty in high places runs rampant in our times. Watergate scandal, Irangate scandal, Pearlygate scandal, Monicagate scandal. Stock scams, property scams, phone scams, internet scams. Political leaders perjuring themselves after swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Everybody's skeptical about anybody's claim to tell the truth!

    A cartoon in The New Yorker several years ago shows two clean-shaven, middle-aged men sitting together in a jail cell talking. One of them says, "I thought our level of corruption fell within community standards."

    Mortimer Adler, who knew something about books said: "Books . . . gain popular attention to the extent that they flout the truth--the more outrageously they do so, the better."

    Perjury under oath is epidemic. Marriage vows are broken almost as frequently as they're made. And God's name is invoked daily by blatant liars witnessing to their truthfulness.

    In hard times, it's hard to tell the truth, especially if telling the truth will result in greater suffering. Nobody likes to suffer. So we tell lies to avoid the pain. It's easier to follow the pattern Peter followed when he denied our Lord. Matthew 26:72 tells us that he denied that he knew Him with an oath! "I swear by heaven!" Or "I swear by God's name!" Or, "I swear on a stack of Bibles!" "I don't know the man!" "Cross my heart! Hope to die!"

    In James day, the church has been going through hard times because of their faith in Christ. James urges us to respond to the hard times with a living, fruit-producing faith. In the introductory summary, James tells us two major characteristics of that kind of faith. A living faith endures tribulation (1:2-12). Also, he tells us, a living faith overcomes temptation (1:13-27). The majority of the book of James is dedicated to showing us how those principles are seen in our daily life, when the pressure rises.

    James concludes his message with three practical exhortations for God's people facing hard times. His first exhortation is an exhortation to wait patiently on God (5:7-11). He encourages us to hang in thereto remain faithful. He urges us to endure the suffering and wait to see the blessing God wants to send us through all the suffering. Wait for the spring rains--the rains that come at the end of the hard times and produce the harvest.

    The second of these concluding exhortations is found in the passage we're considering this morning. It's an exhortation against oaths (5:12).

    "Above all, my brothers, do not swear --not by heaven or by earth or by anything

    else. Let your 'Yes' be yes, and your 'No,' no, or you will be condemned."

    James introduces the passage with the introductory phrase "Above all." Literally this expression means "above all." It means exactly what it looks like it means. It's hard to imagine that this is most important thing James wants to tell us! In any case, whether it's marked in red or is just a conclusion to what he has been saying, it's apparent that James thinks this is important.

    Wiersbe comments: "The exhortation seems out of place, for what does 'speaking oaths' have to do with suffering? If you've ever suffered, you know the answer: it is easy to say things you don't mean, and even bargain with God, when you're going through difficulties." That's what people do in foxholes when they're under fire by the enemy. That's what Peter did when he denied the Lord. Christians do it, when it can get us out of the hard times.

    James tells us to stop swearing by anything! The original wording James uses implies that this is something they have been doing. James tells us to stop it. "Cut it out!" Don't swear by heaven. Don't swear by earth. Don't make any other oath.

    Instead of making oaths and swearing by everything in sight, we ought to Give straightforward "yes" or "no" answers. Let your "yes" mean YES. Let your "no" mean NO. He asserts that the reason for doing this is so that we won't be judged. It's assumed that people who make such oaths will end up condemned for bearing false witness--for perjury!

    James originally heard this message from the lips of Jesus Himself, recorded in Matthew 5:33-37:

    "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your

    oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear

    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. Simply let your 

    'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

    I have struggled with this biblical exhortation for years. Early in my Christian life I was shown this passage. When I apply for a driver's license or testify in court, I still "affirm" that what I am saying is the truth, rather than "swear" that it is. While I'm convinced that isn't the important truth James, and our Lord before Him, are trying to tell us in these verses, I can't escape the fact that the passage does say that. Since I believe the Bible is "our final authority for faith and practice," I do what it says! I don't think that's the point of these verses. But I'm still pressed by the double statement to stop it. "Don't take an oath!"

ESTABLISH A REPUTATION FOR HONESTY

    The exhortation not to swear by anything is primarily a call to establish a reputation for honesty. In a dishonest pagan society people use an oath to guarantee their word. In a Christian society-in the church-we shouldn't need a guarantee!

    Jewish philosophers rejected oaths. They argued: "Don't guarantee your word with anything material because you can't guarantee what will happen tomorrow." Nothing is sure.

    Philo said, "You ought to avoid oaths, or if you have to make one, be sure you carry it out carefully." His first choice was not to swear at all. Second choice would be, if you have to do it, be sure you do what you say. Worst of all was to lie. His ideal was a person who never needs to make an oath to anyone about anything because everybody knows his word is good. His word is a mighty oath. "I gave them my word!" Philo's attitude was that the same mouth shouldn't speak God's Name and tell lies.

    The significance of taking an oath comes from the meaning of its name. "To swear" means literally "to grab hold of something firmly." When we make an oath, we "grab hold of" something as a guarantee. God can do that, since He's the most sure thing in the universe (Heb. 6:13-18). He holds everything in His hands. The problem is that we can't do that. There's nothing we can grab hold of that firmly- not even our own life (as in "cross my heart, hope to die!") We don't control tomorrow!

    Therefore, the best counsel is to give a simple yes or no answer, and then do it! People will learn that we mean what we say. Oaths to tell the truth give testimony to people's basic dishonesty. The Essenes affirmed: "If a man requires an oath to make him tell the truth, he is already branded as untrustworthy." The fact that our courts find it necessary to place a witness under oath is an acknowledgment of the fact that people are congenital liars!

    Oath-taking is necessary because people are liars! Therefore, God's people ought to establish a reputation for always telling the truth, so people will trust us. Christians shouldn't need an oath to guarantee our word! We should be known for telling the truth. Period. Then an oath becomes unnecessary.

    An oath "on a stack of Bibles" means nothing to a liar. He can just as easily say, "Cross my heart, hope to die!" He doesn't believe it will happen anyway!

    If we establish a reputation for always telling the truth, the oath is meaningless. We don't need it! If we establish a reputation for always giving a clear and honest answer, that inspires confidence. People know they can count on us. He says, "Forget the oath. Just tell the truth!" "JUST DO IT!"

    My concern is that in days when we aren't suffering for our faith, . . . when there's nothing at stake, ... we don't always tell the truth!

    We make threats, but we don't carry them out. When I was in college, I was asked to help as a counselor at a Junior summer camp. Early during the week, one of my campers disobeyed something I told him, so I responded with a threat. Something like, "if you do that again, I'm going to make you sleep outside on the ground." It was a threat I would never carry out. Our youth pastor heard the threat. He later called me aside and advised me never to make a threat I couldn't carry out. I learned a lesson that day that I carried with me the entire time we were raising our kids! "Speak softly and carry a big stick!" is still true-but the "stick" must be based on the truth!

    We tell people we'll do something but don't do it.

         "I'll do such and such!"

         "I'll be there at such and such a time!"

         "Yeah, sure!"

         "No really! I swear! Cross my heart!"

    J. Vernon McGee recalled: "I remember one time my dad went to the bank to borrow money for a cotton gin. The banker was busy and told my dad to just take the money. My dad said, 'But I haven't signed the note.' I'll never forget what the banker responded: 'If you say you'll repay it, that's as good as a note. Come in later and sign.'"

    That's what our word should be like! When's the last time you heard someone say: "Mrs. Jones told me!" So everyone knew it was true?

    If we tell our kids "tomorrow we're going to do something" Do they believe us? If we tell them to head for the car because we're leaving now, do they know that means it's time? Or, have our own children become skeptical of our promises?

    I've become used to listening to conversations between parents and their kids at the store: "Just be good for five more minutes, then we'll . . . !"

         "Do you promise, mommy? Cross your heart, hope to die?"

    Have we established a reputation for telling the truth?

    Forget about the oaths--we don't need them! Do I tell people the truth? Do people know that if I tell them something, I'll keep my word?

    Promise Keepers has been a prominent movement among men today. Why has it made such an impression in the lives of so many men?

    There's a Broadway show tune entitled "Promises, Promises!" In the song, a female singer laments all the promises she has received from the men in her life. She's become a skeptic because they are usually empty promises.

    According to the dictionary, a promise is an agreement to do something, or not to do something. According to the Bible, a promise is to be kept. God keeps His promises and expects us to do the same.

    Jesus says we don't have to swear to keep our word, "Just do it!" When we say "yes" that should be as good as a promise, or a sworn statement.

    God still values promise keepers!

         Are we known as promise keepers?

              Do we do what we say?

              Do people know that if we tell them we'll do something, it's a "done deal!"

    Let your yes be yes! Let your no be no! Forget the fancy oaths.

    We live in a world of skeptics. Nobody expects people to keep their word anymore. We don't expect it from our politicians. We don't expect it at the office. We don't expect it from the kids at school. We don't expect it from our husband or wife. Frankly, our kids don't expect it from their parents!

    It's time for God's people to be different! Don't take a fancy oath! Just say what you mean, and mean what you say! JUST DO IT!!!