Article 20: Truth and the Avoidance of Oaths – may my yes be yes
May 1, 2011
BMC- Matt 5:33-37
Introduction: Duct Tape Tie
Some of you have probably noticed that I am wearing a special tie this morning. It’s a teal tie that is made from duct tape and it was made by Becky Wilkins. So why am I wearing this tie this morning and why am I using it as my first illustration for my sermon this morning on Article 20 of the Confession of Faith on Truth and the Avoidance of Oaths?
Well, it’s quite simple really. I told her I would. Becky came up to me one day and told me that she was going to make a tie for me out of duct tape and I told her that if she made me a tie out of duct tape that I would wear it on a Sunday morning. I told her that I would do it and so I am doing it. I didn’t swear any oath to wear the tie. I simply told her that I would do it and so I am. And by doing so, by wearing this tie on a Sunday morning, I have told the truth and my yes has been yes. See the connection now and the practical application?
This morning we return to our confession of faith series and focus on Article 20, the first of our last five articles in this series. Like Article 14: Discipline in the Church, Article 20: Truth and the Avoidance of Oaths harkens back to the first Anabaptist confession of faith, The Schleitheim Confession. Written in 1527, it only contained seven articles, one of which was on “The Oath.”
While our modern article is much more brief and to the point than the Schleitheim Confession on this topic, it remains an important part of our understanding of the gospel and discipleship. It is summed up in its opening statement with three points, “We commit ourselves to tell the truth, to give a simple yes or no, and to avoid swearing of oaths.”
Truth Telling
We begin with telling the truth. Now to some this may seem like such an elementary concept of faith that it does not even warrant the time to sermonize about it. Yet I would suggest that in our modern culture of false claims and twisted truth this is essential. After all, how many of us were taught that we are not lying if we don’t tell the truth while we have our fingers crossed behind our backs?
Moreover, how often do we find ourselves even in the church having to deal with lies. How often do we as believers face daily challenges to tell the truth when it seems like a lie would protect someone from pain or keep us from getting in trouble? How often are we tempted to rationalize a “little white lie,” as OK?
Ultimately telling the truth serves at least two important purposes. First, it keeps us from sinning. Bearing false witness or telling lies is a sin as defined by the Ten Commandments.
Second living as people of integrity is essential for our witness to the world. Isn’t it difficult enough to convince an unbelieving world that they should believe in Jesus Christ, without dealing with accusations of lying? How can we expect unbelievers to accept faith for themselves and the truth of the gospel if they are not sure that we can be trusted to tell the truth? How can we expect them to believe in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit through the saving grace of Jesus Christ, when they hear us tell lies and do not see evidence of that transformation within us?
Oaths
So telling the truth is the right thing to do and it is important for our witness. “But what does telling the truth have to do with swearing oaths?” You may ask. Certainly, telling the truth is an important part of a life of discipleship, even our culture would claim honesty to be an important virtue. So why NOT swear an oath? Doesn’t that only add credibility to our claims about telling the truth?
At first glance, one might think so; yet as our article points out, to swear an oath that one is telling the truth implies that when one is not under oath that one is not speaking as honestly or held to the same standard of truthfulness. Jesus is clear in Matthew 5:33-37, that at all times, our yes should be yes and our no should be no. Therefore there is no need for us to swear an oath to that reality. It is always our reality as disciples of Christ.
In our culture, we see this played out primarily in two circumstances. First, it happens on the playground at school. How often did we as children growing up say that we would do something or say that someone said something only to hear back, “Pinky Swear?” The one we were speaking to doubted our integrity and needed an assurance that we were telling the truth or that we would follow through on our promise. As innocent as this may seem, the reality is that the practice of the pinky swear, which still happens today, is the swearing of an oath and an assertion that one may not be telling the truth unless they are bound by an oath.
Second, we often associate the swearing of an oath with our legal system. Before a witness takes the stand in court they place their hand on the Bible and claim “to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help them God.” Once again, this is done to provide assurance to the listeners that the truth is being told. If someone’s testimony comes into question, they are often reminded by the lawyer or the judge that they are under oath and that if they lie, they will get in trouble for it.
Yet as disciples of Christ, we are instructed by Jesus himself that our yes should always be yes and our no should always be no. We can affirm that we will tell the truth, but we do not swear to tell the truth because that implies that at other times, our words may be something less than the truth. To some this may seem like splitting hairs, and yet these are Jesus’ instructions to us.
Swearing Allegiance
But as Jesus so often does, he then takes this one step further. These instructions come within the Sermon on the Mount. In this section of that, Jesus takes what faithful Jews know to be true and reinterprets it for them, calling them to greater faithfulness.
“You have heard that it was said…you shall not murder…but I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable for judgment.”
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery.”
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist and evildoer.”
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
And of course, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all.”
Jesus himself says that it is not enough to keep your oath when you make it. We should not swear an oath at all. To say anything more than our yes or no comes from the evil one. That’s a pretty bold statement. It’s not just that it is unnecessary to do it; but in fact, to do so is to act on the side of evil. James 5:12 confirms this teaching with the words, “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.”
Our article then makes another application of this principle to our culture. Our governments often require us to swear an oath of allegiance or loyalty to our nation state. Yet when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, when we commit our lives publicly to the way of Christ through baptism, we commit our lives to Christ’s Lordship alone. To swear any other oaths of allegiance is to divide our allegiance among two or more masters that may at times be at odds with each other.
In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.” And in Acts 5:29 we read, “Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!” As followers of Christ, we should not divide our loyalties.
Inheritance Cycle
For those of you who have read the first three books of the Inheritance Cycle, this is a dynamic of tension for the lead character, Eragon. He is human and has bonded with what is thought to be one of the last dragons in Alagaesia. This results in a choice. Eragon must either join with the evil dragon rider, Galbatorix or join with those who oppose him. There is no middle ground.
Yet even once that choice is made, Eragon has a complex political landscape to negotiate. As a rider, he is bonded to his dragon. Additionally, he chooses to swear fealty to Nasuada, the human queen. Yet while he spends time with the dwarves, he is adopted as a brother to the king of the leading clan. As if that weren’t complicated enough, while he is training with the elves, he becomes half elf.
As a result, he has loyalty and responsibility to a number of different people groups that do not always see eye to eye with each other. A number of times throughout the first three books, Eragon must make choices that are deeply conflicted by his multiple allegiances. The last book, entitled Inheritance, comes out in November. Until then we will have to wait to see how Eragon’s divided loyalty plays out.
This concern for divided loyalties and swearing oaths, is addressed in commentary #2 of our article which suggests that “We follow the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition, which has usually applied Jesus' words against taking oaths in these ways: in affirming rather than swearing in courts of law and in other legal matters, in a commitment to unconditional truth telling and to keeping one's word, in avoiding membership in oath-bound or secret societies, in refusing to take oaths of allegiance that would conflict with our ultimate allegiance to God through Christ, and in avoiding all profane oaths.”
We are faced with calls to divide our loyalty on a regular basis and have been at odds about this in our past according to historian James O. Lehman onpage 101 of our church history, Uncommon Threads. In May of 1918, a 9 year old Ruth Troyer was picked up for truancy. Her father, Ora, entered a guilty plea for truancy though it was discovered that “the girl [had] refused to salute the flag or take part in any of the patriotic exercises and was sent home by the teacher.” She was then sent back to school, “but owing to instructions from her parents to refuse to salute the flag or take part in patriotic exercises as required by the Board of Education” was sent home again by the teacher.
Our children are asked to pledge their allegiance to a flag everyday when they go to school. I know that many of you see no problem with this for various reasons. And I respect your opinion and your right to disagree. Yet when I read our text for today that suggests that to swear an oath is from the evil one and when I hear Jesus’ warning about serving two masters; I don’t know how to reconcile Jesus words with choosing to say the pledge of allegiance to a man made flag.
At the same time, I don’t believe that refusing to say the pledge to the flag is something that can be mandated. To have any meaning it must be a choice that is made by the individual, especially since it is the individual that will have to endure any persecution that is related to that decision.
As such, while I choose not to say the pledge to the flag, I do not require that Elam follow suit. Instead, I choose to be intentional about offering him a choice by reciting the Christian Pledge every morning as part of our devotional time before he goes to school. In this way, he declares his allegiance to Christ and he learns alternative words that he may choose to use in the future.
And while some may say that I am unpatriotic for even suggesting that Jesus might call us to refrain from doing so, I would suggest that not uttering those words is one of the most patriot things that I can do. For all of our claims to be a free country with freedom of religion and freedom of speech, it is amazing to me how bent out of shape some people get when we exercise those rights in ways that make them uncomfortable.
Just because I don’t swear my allegiance to a piece of cloth or I don’t agree with all of our nation’s actions, does not mean that I don’t appreciate much of what our nation stands for or the freedoms that it affords me. In fact, I believe that my choice it is demonstration that I take those realities very seriously; which is why I stand respectfully even though I don’t pledge my allegiance.
Conclusion:
And so as we leave our time of worship today, I invite us to take seriously our commitment to telling the truth, not only as a practice of right living but also as a witness to a world of lies. I invite us to let our yes be yes and our no be no in all circumstances and to avoid swearing oaths to give assurance of our honesty in that circumstance, but then indirectly cast doubt upon our everyday speech.
And I invite us to take seriously our allegiance to Christ alone. After all, we read in the Ten Commandments that we serve a jealous God and that we are not to put any other gods before Him. But more than that, Jesus desires our full commitment to his lordship and declares that we cannot serve two masters. May God guide us in these ways in the coming week and beyond.
Amen.
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