YOUTH GROUP: God’s Word on our words
May 15, 2024 / JamestownFirstAssemblyThe Word Search
God’s Word on our words
Matthew 5:33-37
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Intro:
Message:
Matthew 5:33-37 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.
The of Your Word
What is the truth? What does it mean to speak the truth? Do the words you speak have any value? Do you mean what you say? Do you keep your promises? Can people trust what you say?
What is the value of your word? The world we live in today is quick to let truth be the first casualty in conversations. We treat our words with such little value that we have no discernment on what is actually worth something! We let the nonsense hold the same value as the truth! How can we live in a world where we cannot value one word over another?
If everyone’s truth is then no one’s truth is . In order to live in a world like this, in order for our words to have value, we need two things. We have to have a basis for truth, and we have to have biblical discernment.
1. for Truth
The prevailing thought in society today is that truth is relative and the Bible is not the inspired Word of God. A study done by the Barna Group shows that 64% of American believe truth is relative to a person’s situations, and 83% of the believe morals are circumstantial! A study done by Gallup asked the questions “Is the Bible the actual word of God to be taken literally, The inspired word of not, not all of which is to be taken literally, or is it a book of fables?” 26% of the people interviewed believe the Bible is just a collection of fable, fairy tales, and myths. I think Gallup does a disservice in the way they asked the questions, and they made it more clickbait than it should be. The Bible is the Inspired Word of God and it contains many of God’s very Words that He spoke throughout history. There are many literary elements used throughout the Bible and some of which, like hyperbole (if you sin, cut off your hand) are not to be taken literally but every thing the Bible says has massive weight and applications for our lives. So should it all be taken literally? Nearly all of it. Should it all be studied in order to apply it to our lives? Absolutely.
The Bible is our basis for truth. When we do not have the bible as our basis for truth, we are using flawed reasonings.
John 8:32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
. . .
We cannot possibly decide what is true, or moral, on our ! If we are the basis for truth what makes the Holocaust wrong? If we are the basis for truth, what make rape and abuse wrong? If we are the basis for truth what makes stealing, lying, assault, slavery, and murder wrong? We might think it’s wrong, but the person doing it might think it’s right. If that is the basis of truth and morality no one’s thoughts matter and it devolves into chaos. We are seeing that chaos right now! People are furious because they cannot see the truth and in turn continue to live a life perpetuated by the lies they sell themselves. WE ARE LOSING OUR MINDS.
Without the Bible as our basis for truth and morality, our words, our actions, our thoughts, have zero value. That is why we need discernment. Even more than that, we need biblical discernment.
2. Discernment
Discernment is being able to make a smart or wise judgment about something. I want us to not just strive for discernment but go further and strive for Biblical Discernment. Spend time in the bible, read the Word of God, know it thoroughly, and use the Word of God to make smart and wise judgments of the world around you.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Through Biblical Discernment it is possible not just to see truth or value in the words of others, but it is possible to see the intentions and the motives of the heart! The word of God helps you see past people pretenses. You can see past the facades, the fronts people put up. 1 Samuel 16 confirms this for us.
1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
The Lord looks on the heart and by using the words of the Lord, by using Scripture, we too can look on the heart and be discerning of what is good and valuable, versus what is evil and cheap.
Biblical Discernment doesn’t stop at just helping us find value in our words, or seeing what is good and evil, it goes deeper and even helps us understand the .
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
A person who uses the Bible as their basis for truth and uses biblical discernment is unable to be conformed to the world but will inevitably be transformed by the renewing of their (which Pastor Jeff last Sunday shared with us that this comes from meditating on the Word of God) and then they will be able to know, to understand and make judgments to follow and approve the Will of God as the way for their life.
These are two crucial steps when you are finding the value of your word. Without them you cannot defend your basis of truth and therefore nothing holds inherent logical value. That was all common knowledge to the Jews. Jesus glossed over this teaching here, because it was something they all already agreed on. What needed to be addressed now was not the basis for the value of their words but for the actual words themselves.
and
Matthew 5:33 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.’
Oaths are something that the Lord takes very seriously, but it is also something that God has never required of us to do. God does not require us to make oaths when we say we will do something, but if we do make an oath to the Lord like, “God I promise to go to church every other week this year.” God is going to require you to do that or else you have
Don’t believe me? Look at these verses with me.
Numbers 30:2 If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
Deuteronomy 23:21-23 “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.
Your oath, your promise, holds . Especially if you are making it to God. As Christians, people who believe and follow Christ, our words are reflections of God in the world around us. We have got to honor the things that we say, and we have got to be careful with the things we pledge to do. The Pharisees, the religious elite around the time of Jesus, knew this all too well. They wouldn’t dare make an oath to God. They wouldn’t dare swear to do anything in the name of God because if they did and failed to do so, Scripture says it would be sinful.
So it became a pharisaical practice to swear an oath by something greater than themselves. It became a contest on who could swear an oath by the greatest thing without sinning according to the Law. That is why Jesus makes such a clear statement in verses 34-36
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.
The Pharisees had begun to swear oaths in the names of other things! Yet Jesus refutes all of them. You can’t swear by heaven because that is where God resides. You cannot swear by the Earth for that is God’s footstool, He is over it all. You cannot swear by Jerusalem because that is God’s city and He gave you the land it sits on! Do not swear by anything because everything is God’s! Other books in the New Testament address this as well!
James 5:12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
Hebrews 6:16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.
Do not swear your oaths. There is no need for it. The person that swears their oaths is swearing to someone or something greater than themselves. The peasants would swear by their land. Knights would swear by their kings. Kings would swear by their kingdoms. The person that swears their oaths, the person that makes promises in the name of someone or something else is saying they have no value in their own words.
The Pharisees in that day had a hard time keeping their word. They had little value in what they said but they still wanted to come across like they were good and someone to be trusted. To do that they would swear by everything expect God, so that incase they didn’t follow through it wouldn’t be sinful according to the Law. Yet is that not just lying? Saying you will do something yet not doing it. In their sneaky ways of trying to avoid breaking the Law, they broke it in a different way.
Jesus tells us to just avoid making these kinds of oaths and vows entirely. Not because they are bad, but simply because it holds us to a higher standard. Jesus did not abolish the law, He elevated it. We ought to live in such a way that every time we say we will do something, we do it, and everytime we say we won’t do something, we don’t do it. We ought to live with the knowledge of the value our words carry, the weight of our oaths, and the power they all contain.
The in your
Through words you can be built up. You can be encouraged and celebrated. You can also be humbled and scolded. You can be insulted, cursed, slandered, but you also be blessed, complemented, and spoken highly of. Our words could tell lies and exaggerations or our words can share truth and wisdom. We all remember some things that were said which really hurt us. We also remember things that were told to us that were incredibly kind! The words you say have power to influence others Christ or him.
James 3:1-12
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,[a] and set on fire by hell.[b] 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,[c] these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
The tongue is such a hard thing to tame. The words you say require so much thought and effort that for many it is best to not speak in an attempt to teach. That is what James (the brother of Jesus and leader of the Church in Jerusalem) was telling to his people. People were wanting to teach the things of God but they had no control over their own words. What a shameful witness for Christ! We have got to work on our speech!
Blessings and cursing cannot come from the same source. Just like salt water and fresh spring water do not come from the same source. It is wiser to share the gospel with someone and leave them in the company of others who have control of their speech, than to share the gospel with someone and sin in front of them.
In all cases the gospel. However, when you start sharing the gospel, be aware that now you are being looked to as an example of what godly speech and conduct looks like.
Are your words sharp? Can you respond kindly in negative situations? Do you curse simply because the people around you do? Are you quick to compliment, or faster to complain? Are you manipulative with your words? Do you lie, even just the little ones? Are your words meant to intimidate others? Are you insulting people behind their backs? Are you a spreader of gossip and rumors? What are you saying online, or over chats where no one really knows you? Are you quick to vocalize your anger instead of your praise? How tame is your tongue?
The power that rests within the words you speak either flows from your love of God, or your lack of God. Either way there is power, but one is good and the other is evil. The words you speak from the overflow, the abundance, of your relationship with God, set hearts on fire for the gospel. It sets minds on fire to know the word of God. It sets the spirit on fire to hunger and thirst for righteousness! The blaze started out of the overflow, leads to Christ.
The words you speak out of the lack of God, always leads further from him. A wildfire out of control. It sets hearts on fire for the things of this world. It sets minds on fire to focus on self. It sets spirits on fire to pursue worldly passions. The blaze started out of the absence always leads to destruction.
How seriously do you take your relationship with Christ? How seriously do you understand the Value of your words? When you understand it, you will have to change. The realization of the burden you carry as a Christian, while it is not heavy (Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”) it beckons you to make a change.
What steps are you taking to change?
Would you all stand with me tonight? That is our call tonight. What steps are you taking to change the words you say? IS it going to be to stop swearing or cursing? Is it going to be focusing on complimenting others? Is it that you are going to stop complaining? Are you going to stop gossiping? What change are you going to make?
I have these notecards here and I want everyone to take one and a pencil. I want you to write down the steps you are going to take, and when you are done. Come back up and give me the pencil.
Before I pray and dismiss, Everyone hold their notecard up high! Now, fold that notecard, put it in your pocket and take it home with you. When you pray tonight, Pray over each step that you are going to take. Ask God to help you see the value of your word, to honor the things you say, and to use the power of your word for the Glory of His Kingdom!