Moments in the life of a Pastor

James series – “The Litmus Test for life”James 5:12

Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

Next we see:

• The intentionality of individual integrity

“Just say a simple yes or no” It’s really that simple, isn’t it? Let your yes always mean yes and your no always mean no. Often we hear people talking about the good old days, when a man’s word was his bond and deals were sealed on a handshake. And while the world in which we live has changed, we need to remember that people have always struggled with telling the truth. Ever since Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, we have lived in a fallen world. The reasons we have so much paperwork and contracts today is because people didn’t always honor their word. Because that person in the past didn’t honor their handshake that trusting person got burned. So, to protect himself, he required a little bit more than a handshake the next time. He required a little bit more than a simple “yes” or “no”. Today we have created a culture that trusts in contracts instead of character. But Christ calls us to be people of integrity who don’t try to replace character with contracts. Sure while you live in this world, you will still have to sign and write contracts. You will still be required to put up collateral and have credit checks, but Christ is calling you to be a person of character, who walks out their word so that their yes means yes and their no means no. And the only way to do that is to be intentional about it. Be purposeful, if you tell someone you’re going to do something or be somewhere do it. So why do we break our promises?

1. Overenthusiastic—People who fall into this category have a real hard time saying “no”, especially when it comes to doing something they’re excited about. They tend to say “Yes” before they really think about it because they are excited and want to help. Their enthusiasm causes them to commit to things they can’t carry through on.

2. Overextended—Often when we want to get something done we look to the busiest people because they have a proven track record of getting things done. It’s a well-known fact that in many churches 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Often, we overextend ourselves taking on more than we can handle. We commit to things we can’t complete. Example of guy asking me to disciple him. Are you motivated by God or guilt?

3. Overestimate —Our abilities or time. We make promises based on unrealistic expectations of how much we can accomplish in a given period of time. Sometimes we overestimate our memory. We promised to pray for people only to realize a week later that we have forgotten to pray. It’s easy to say you will pray but are you going to not just make time, but take time to pray? Sometimes I wonder if “I’ll be praying for you is the Christian equivalent to “how are you doing”

We all struggle to walk out our word and keep our promises. How many times have you told your kids, “I’ll be at your game.” And then something comes up at work and you can’t make it. Or promised to help your spouse and failed to follow through? James calls us to be intentional, to let our yes be yes. But there is also a flip side to this coin, what about our no. When you tell your child or grandchild, “no”, can they pester and pester until your “no” becomes a “yes”? When your buddies at work or kids at school try to get you to do something you know you shouldn’t, does your no mean no? Or do you give in to peer pressure? I remember when I told my kids that if they didn’t have their rooms cleaned we were not going to the movies, they didn’t and I was tempted to give in because I wanted to see that movie. But what was more important my word or watching a movie?  We need to commit to keeping our promises even when they cost us. Psalm 15:4b, says this about a person who is pleasing to God, that he is one “…who keeps his oath even when it hurts.” David Jeremiah says that integrity is: “keeping my commitment(s) even if the circumstances when I made the commitment(s) have changed.”

James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 5:12

Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

The second issue is:

• The implication of individual integrity

Look a little bit farther in verse 12, “never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else.” So, what exactly is James getting at here, is he saying that it is wrong for Christians to make oaths? Well, obviously that can’t be the case because it certainly isn’t wrong to take an oath when we testify in a court, or when get married. Likewise, the Bible doesn’t forbid oaths; in fact, it offers us many examples of those who took oaths. Abraham, David, Paul and many others made oaths. The purpose of an oath was to call upon someone, or something greater than yourself as a witness to the promise you were making. By calling on the name of God in an oath, you were saying that God was a witness to your promise and, therefore, you were seriously intending to keep that promise. So to understand what James is getting at here in verse 12 it is helpful to turn to Jesus words on the matter found in MATTHEW 5:33-37. In order to understand what kind of oaths Jesus and James are forbidding we have to understand the Jewish customs in Christs day. By the time of the New Testament, the Jews had developed an extremely complex system of swearing oaths. In many ways, it was similar to our legal system today. It was extremely complex and there was almost always a loophole. So, because of the complexity of the system, there were people who would find ways to get out of nearly everything. They would swear an oath to do something with the full intention of wriggling their way out of it. It was done the same way that some shady businesses use contracts today. The contract has all the good stuff in big, bold print. But all the loopholes and legal jargon is in super fine print that you need a magnifying glass to read. Developing a deceitful contract where you have no intention of following through is the kind of swearing Jesus and James are talking about. These are words we mouth instead of words we model. Some people enter marriage with that type of attitude, saying, “Well, if it doesn’t work out, we’ll just get a divorce.” Making solemn wedding vows before the Lord with that escape clause in mind is just the kind of swearing this passage is talking about. We need to think before we make a vow. The implication of this statement really has more to do with your individual integrity than it does with whatever promises you make. If you make a promise with the intention of breaking that promise, it doesn’t matter what kind of contract it’s on. Even if you intend to keep the promise, but intentionally leave yourself a loophole, it reveals that your word is worthless. And if your word is worthless, your integrity is worthless—above all things. There are implications to your individual integrity. The implications are that if you make promises with even the slightest intention of breaking them, you have no integrity. So why do so many people feel the need to lie?

1. Self-Protection—people lie because they’re motivated by fear and want to protect themselves. Afraid of getting in trouble. Or that they will be rejected. Or caught up in the middle of a confrontation. Or they will hurt someone’s feelings. Or we’ll lose our job.

2. Self-Centeredness—secondly, people lie because they benefit from their lies. They might get recognition, a promotion, a job, a date, a credit card, or sympathy. How many people lie on their income tax for that very reason? How many people call in sick when we really aren’t? 

3. Self-Importance—thirdly, people lie because of their pride. These are the lies that feed our flesh and puff us up with self-importance. Either we lie to save face, or to cover our mistakes, or to be liked, or to appear more important, or more successful than we really are.

We have all kinds of reason to lie, but the truth is, when it comes right down to it, we lie because it is the easiest thing to do. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but the wrong thing is often the easiest thing. Satan is always tempting us with the easy way. The way of least resistance is usually a slippery slop to sin. Eventually our lies will catch up with us and our integrity will suffer. C. S. Lewis once said, “A little lie is like a little pregnancy it doesn’t take long before everyone knows.” God doesn’t call us to search out the easy way, He calls us to seek the right way, the way of truth and integrity. Our effectiveness as Christians demands that we be a people of integrity. Edward R. Murrow, an American journalist and television and radio figure in the 1950’s once said, “To be persuasive, we must be believable. To be believable, we must be credible. To be credible, we must be truthful.” You and I will only be a pervasive light for Christ if we are truthful.