The Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth

Rev Gideon Lee

Matthew 5:33-37

Jesus Forbids Oaths

33 “ Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord. ’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all:neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your “Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No. ’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

How many of you remember a musical duo? If you are close to forty, you may remember this duo. Mini Vanilli. "Girl you know it's true" was their one hit song. They lip sing. They didn't actually sang this song but claimed they sung it. Even at the Grammy Awards they lip sing and was discovered. They retired in disgrace. When asked why they did it, they knew the system of the world. And that is people lie and is deceptive. People have no qualms about stretching the truth. And Jesus felt that was important enough for Jesus to address it at the beatitude. 

Lying is what I am talking about. Anyone here never lied before? Any have told a white lie before?

A survey was done before about who told the truth. Clergy was found to tell the truth 49%. Doctors 48%. Your best friend 28%. Local newspapers 9%. Presidents 8%. Don't talk about our nation ya. (Laughs). Politicians and lying seems to go hand in hand. 

Today we have Christian politicians so I am not judging them but it is so prevalent. Are we born liars?

Psalms 58:3

The wicked are estranged from the womb;

They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

You do not have to teach your child to lie. You have to teach them to tell the truth. But this cannot be used as an excuse. Lying is prevalent in our society. We need to learn what comes out of our mouths we have to guard it carefully. We will talk about honesty, integrity and sincerity. 

1. Don't be dishonest in what you say. 

When you are supposed to keep your word you have to see the minds of the Jews. There are two categories of promises. One is a daily promise where you may not keep it but when you swear or take an oath to God you have to keep it. 

Jesus said this is the problem. You cannot say things which you don't intend to keep. Instead being only responsible when you swear by God's name. But Jesus is saying that whatever you swear you have to keep it regardless of whether you use God's name or not. 

Like in court dramas. You hear them say to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth by swearing on the bible. Why? Because people lie. 

A Christian don't have to swear on anything  because they are to be truthful at all times. You hear people say "I tell you the truth ha". Why? We should be telling the truth at all times so why have to qualify what you say. The issue of lying is prevalent and it has crept into the church so we have to address it. 

We need to be honest and truthful all the time. I have someone who came and tell me Pastor, I am brutally honest. I am saying we tell the truth but not always we express the truth. 

Like if my wife ask me "how is my dressing today. Make me look fat or not." You don't have to express the truth even if your wife is a little fat. Or Jacob sang like his lungs come out of his mouth and you tell him after service your worship today lousy la. 

2. Don't be deceptive in what we say. 

When we say something and we stretch it to bordering a lie. I have been a salesman before and they are notorious for stretching the truth. I was working in advertising with a magazine and I told myself to always tell the truth. Paint the truth. We tell all nice things for them to buy and you see it's not true. We promise heaven and earth. 

In magazine, circulation is very important. If you print 20,000 magazine, you will know how much you are spending your advertising money on for one copy. In this magazine I work with they said their circulation is 20,000 but I know it's not 20,000. But when you go to the client you say 20.000. When I found out I could not bring myself to tell the client it's 20,000. I had to resign. Nowadays you have the ABC that audit your circulation. They will issue you a certificate so that it is truth. 

Our words. How many of us make appointments and are late. Your friend ask you where are you? On the way. But where are you? Just leaving your room? Just woke up? On the way. We are not to deceive anyone in what we say. 

The Jews makes two vows, a common promise and one where they swear by God which they have to keep. As children how many times we say, promise don't tell anyone ya. Show pinky finger I seal the promise some more. What we say should be what we do. 

You see, this is the day of double talk; putting a spin on something, the forked tongue, the day of "it all depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." We just can't tell it like it is. We just can't speak honestly, simply, and plainly. 

For example: Take the business world –

One Vermont firm had to reduce their work force, but they didn't say people had been laid off. They called it "A career change opportunity."

When General Motors closed one of its plants, they called it a "Volume-related Production Schedule Adjustment."

When Chrysler closed an entire plant they announced they were beginning "A Career Alternative Enhancement Program."

Business is not the only culprit. Education is one of the worst offenders –

Students don't fail anymore, they "achieve a deficiency." By the way, can anybody tell me how you achieve a deficiency?

People are no longer "bus drivers." They are now "Certified Adolescent Transportation Specialists."

Of course, you know the government is heavily involved. The Department of Defence says that soldiers are never surrounded; instead "they engage the enemy on all sides."

Soldiers are never out numbered, they simply "operate in a target-rich environment."

Governments never raise taxes, they just "enhance revenues."

Hospital patients never die, they just experience "a negative-patient care outcome."

3. Let your yes be yes and no be no. 

Be dependable in what you say. The word integrity comes from a Latin word meaning whole or complete. Integrity includes but goes beyond honesty. Honesty is conforming our words to reality but integrity is confirming this reality into action. Integrity is what you do when no one is looking. 

Porcelain was expensive in China and when you transport them they can break or crack. Porcelain also cracks when you heat them too much in the oven. So the traders tried their best to hide the cracks and sell it off. What they would do is melt wax and seal the cracks. So you cannot see the cracks. The normal way is to pour water in to see if there are cracks and the wax would still hold the water. The discerning buyer would put these vase in the sun and it will melt the wax and it will trickle out and you can see where the cracks are. Sincere means without wax. They would stamp on their product without wax. 

Are our words, what we say, the truth? If we are a truthful person, whatever we say people will believe. As a Christian let our words come out truthfully. Don't be dishonest and deceptive. We must be dependable. When we say it, do it. I pray that we will heed what God is saying.