Promise Keeper - Masterclass
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is probably the single greatest “Masterclass” that has ever been given. A Masterclass is simply a lesson given by an expert of a particular subject to students of that subject. Jesus’ teachings were Masterclasses as He is the ultimate expert. The sermon on the mount contains many teachings, but ultimately it is about how the life of a Christian will look if we are truly following Jesus.
A Christian shouldn’t need to swear by anything.
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.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” —Matthew 5:33-37 NIV
This passage is easy to just read past, but as I stopped to take a closer look at its content, I was convicted to give it more attention than I had before. I had heard growing up in church that I shouldn’t “swear” to God or “swear” on anything else, but I never considered or learned why until I looked closer at this passage; I had always assumed that it had to do with not using God’s name in vain. But in reality, the reason behind a Christians abstinence from swearing oaths based on collateral is that we must humbly recognize that nothing we swear by is really ours to leverage:
Don’t swear by heaven because that’s God’s throne.
Don’t swear by earth because that’s God’s footstool.
Don’t swear by Jerusalem because it is God’s city.
Don’t swear by your own life because God is in control.
When we make a promise with collateral, we are leveraging God’s sovereign will against our own inability to keep our word. So Jesus summarizes that we just need to say yes or no, or as other versions say, “Let your ‘Yes’ mean yes and your ‘No’ mean no.”
Humans by nature are dishonest.
We understand that humans are not by default going to keep their promises, so we expect a promise to be made with conditions. Pinky promises, as an example, have some interesting origins. We think of them as child-like promises, but in actuality, the implication of a pinky promise is that the one who breaks the promise will have their pinky broken by the other. We rarely take someone at their word, yet Jesus teaches that His followers should not make promises or oaths in this conditional way.
12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment. —James 5:12 NKJV
James echoed this teaching from Jesus in his letter.
Christians should be known for their honesty.
To follow Jesus means that we will be honest. We keep the promises we make, and we don’t make promises that we can’t keep. Living this out is difficult. Life throws curveballs at us. Maybe you told a friend that you would help them move last weekend, but something came up and you had to cancel. No one would be quick to blame you for that, but that friend would be slow to trust you again. Or maybe you promised someone that you wouldn’t tell anyone else the secret that they just shared with you, and yet it happened anyway. In both these situations, ‘Yes’ did not mean yes, and ‘No’ did not mean no.
Following Jesus’s teaching will likely mean that you need to stop saying ‘Yes’ to so many things. It is okay to say ‘No,’ and it is okay to say ‘I’m not sure right now.’ But when we say ‘Yes,’ it’s important to understand that it’s not just about us. As a representative of Jesus in this world and to the people we interact with, our promises are held to a higher standard.
20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. —2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV
God keeps all His promises, and the recognition of those kept promises results in His glory and in people turning to Him. Keeping our promises will reveal that there is something that sets us apart from what other people are like, and that is how we can point towards God as the ultimate Promise Keeper.