April 18, 2024 • 23 mins
In episode 27, we will give you an iron-clad handshake that it's more than the wedding alter that Jesus wants our vows to be commitments others can rely on! Those Crazy Bible Study Guys really dive into Jesus' desire for us to say Yes or No as those are strong commitments either way. They then dive into learning in their own lives how sometimes it's difficult to say no when you are asked to do something because you don't want to let someone down or hurt their feelings. However, saying that difficult "no" is not only better than saying yes now (only to break your promise later), it frees you from a vow you know you can't keep as well as allows the person asking to find someone who can provide a committed "yes!"
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hello everybody and welcome to episode 27
I'm Jim and I'm
Dale and we are those crazy Bible study guys oh man happy day to you Jim hopefully
I won't joke too much here I just choked on some coffee right before this make
(00:23):
some throat noises anything forgive me guys I'm sorry Hey man,
if you're going to choke this morning, make it some coffee.
You got to get that caffeine in one way or the other. Hopefully we don't choke on this episode.
I know, I'm a little nervous about this one.
Today we've gone from some pretty serious topics.
(00:44):
We've gone from anger to lust to divorce, and now we're talking about some vows.
Of course, I think instantly you think of marriage vows, but I don't know.
I think this is going to be a, this might be all over the place when we talk
about vows. This could be pretty interesting, I think.
Yeah, I like kind of how he's got some transition with his items here with the
Sermon on the Mount here.
(01:06):
So, yeah, let's learn about some vows today.
And I'm looking forward to this one because, to me, that's a really important
part of any relationship, right?
Right, is, is, you know, making commitment, you know, that in itself has some
difficulties, but it's not anything like upholding the commitment, right?
(01:30):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what a vow is, right?
I mean, it takes it to the next level of just being like, yeah, sure.
I can do something like that for you. Like, no, I, I promise I'm going to do that.
And, you know, so yeah, it's, it's, it's a serious deal when you make a vow
and it's amazing how Now, you know, it's, I don't know, actually like looking
at it right now, just on top of here is like, it is interesting how he's got this staged, right?
(01:54):
Like, I mean, literally how we've gone through, he's went from the law,
then you get angry about the law and then you got lost and then you've got divorce.
And now we're talking about vows and commitments. Like, and of course,
you know, next time it's going to be about revenge. So I feel like we have more stories.
Yeah. But, you know, it's interesting, like you're saying, his layering of this.
(02:17):
And again, all topics we deal with today, that's the same. It's been around 2,000 years ago.
We can change the technology and we can change the things in front of us a lot
of times, but the same problems are still there.
Yeah, it seems like, you know, I mean, I know they didn't track divorce rates
back in the day and stuff or just people's lack of making a commitment and sticking to them.
(02:41):
But you know I wonder if it was just as big a problem back in the day I mean
probably not because some of the consequences like.
You know stoning people to death for for adultery
and stuff like that you know that's pretty extreme so
i'm sure that limited some stuff but
it just seems like today like you know
(03:03):
bows are almost for lack of a better
term cheap you know people say they're going
to do things don't back them up but but the good
news is i think there's a lot of a lot of bows
and commitments and stuff people make that
that are being upheld out there so you know
part of it's funny how we read through the
the bible here and a friend of mine and i were talking about
(03:26):
this the other day of just he's like you know things really haven't changed
that much right and jesus talking about this stuff like you just said it's so
applicable to us today even yeah i mean we just don't realize how you know i
mean again we think oh you know the bible it's an older book you know two thousand
years ago really like that?
That's not going to relate to today. Oh man, does it ever really?
(03:47):
And that's why we call it the living word because it is ever, ever living.
I mean, it's always, you know, with us through the ages of time.
And, and yeah, it's just, I mean, again, the same situations they dealt with
is the same situation. Now they didn't have social media.
Like we know it today, but boy, I mean, I guarantee there was some gossip and
(04:07):
social media going around socially and groups and things.
But yes, I mean, it's just, it's all the same
it's just a different format yeah kind
of like you know you think about like microsoft word you know you can
type a sentence up but you can change the the font you know
but it's still the same sentence i think that was better i was i was going to
(04:28):
go with like the remakes of music right how they like kind of remake some music
and sometimes you know it's still the same song but it's different but i like
your i like your analogy better yeah actually Actually, I saw this guy.
I can't promote him. I can't tell. I don't even know his name.
But I did see where he was a comedian and he joked about just,
(04:50):
again, fonts and how they can relate.
And so by changing just the different types, like one from like,
you know, Times New Roman to it's like the thriller font, which is like more
of a bold kind of, you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Kind of scary. look and he's like you know the same sentence can kind of be
transparent just because of visual looks and so i just thought that's kind of
(05:12):
funny but again it's still the same sentence.
And so i just i thought that was pretty no that's a comedian using that to his
advantage no i think that is a perfect analogy so so what does jesus teach about
vows yeah well let's find out man we're in matthew chapter five we're only gonna
read a few verses today again 33 through 37.
(05:34):
So as we kind of flip to that i'm going to open us in prayer and we'll dive right in so,
lord we thank you for this new day lord you made a i i think phil feels like
for me you You made a vow for us when you said, I love you, and I'm sending
my son to bridge that gap.
And, Lord, that vow was committed.
(05:55):
You did do what you said.
And, Lord, that's what's amazing about you, God, is you always do what you say.
And you are forever and always. And we just thank you for all that you do.
Pray that you'll just help us learn from your words today, learn how we can
incorporate them into our lives as we've been doing for the past several thousands
of years over time. time, Lord, because you knew what we needed.
(06:16):
You knew right now, this moment, we need this message for a reason.
So Lord, open our mind's eye to understand what that is so that we can live out our lives for you.
And we just thank you for all things. Thank you for Jim. Thank you for our listeners.
Thank you for our families and the support we get. We just give it all to you,
Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Yeah. You know, just your prayer alone was just another reminder of,
(06:42):
you know, God setting that example for us, you know, in all that he does.
And yeah, vows are, vows are huge. And those commitments he made to us and.
Know fulfilled them you know you think about christ going to the cross right
of what a what a huge vow commitment to yeah for the whole human race i mean
(07:05):
that's knowing what's coming and and.
And still going through because you know the importance of that is just that's powerful.
Right when when people committing those
you know even just like committing vows to
someone or something and when the
(07:26):
going gets tough right you still
stick to it and figure out ways to work through those
things that's where that's the
beauty in the vow yeah yeah that that
full-on commitment never let go and i mean yeah amazing how
we have like again god knows all we need he's like hey how
am i gonna bridge these gasp i'm gonna send you the you
(07:47):
know you know a savior your own man he's going to lead by
example i mean how much do we learn from
a leader who actually leads by example and and that's
what i love about it you know he was the great teacher so yeah
so let's jump in matthew 5 we're going to start at 33 and it goes like this
again you have heard it you again i remember start that over again you have
(08:09):
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 but But I tell you,
do not swear an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by earth,
for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
(08:30):
And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
All you need to say is simply yes or no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Hmm. My, my definitely different perspective of how we were looking.
Yeah. I have to admit, I like, I like what my verse 30, how they worded my verse 37.
(08:54):
Yeah. Please read. I'm not bragging or nothing here, but simply let your yes be yes.
And you know, be no anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
We, I, again, I'm going to bring up a softball analogy because we were working on that.
This, this week is, you know batter watches a strike go by and they look at
(09:18):
me and i'm like i don't care you just made a no decision i want to yes and give
me a solid swing or no i don't want a partial swing because,
that typically turns into an out because you're
not giving it all you got right the the hot or
cold or you know that yeah you're walking right into the lukewarm perspective
(09:40):
yeah it's either be hot or be cold they'll be in the middle yeah nothing good
comes out of that so um i i like this just let your yes be yes and you know
be no yeah and then i like that's where you went to.
Because if you if you really think about it right the maybe is is an if right,
(10:03):
If this was a good pitch, I should be swinging at it, you know,
and we know, we know where those if questions come from, right? Comes from the evil one.
Yeah. I mean, which is interesting how that verse 37 follows again with the
simply yes or no anything beyond comes from the evil one, which is hard.
(10:24):
It's kind of hard. I'm having a hard time. Like, you know, again,
I'm excited to get into our footnotes to see like, why, why was that specific to it? Right.
I'm over here laughing at verse 36, which again, I know it was not a laughing
matter at the moment. It was very serious.
But as it says, do not swear by your head for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
And I'm thinking, you know, that's true. But I guarantee you my son is making my hairs go gray.
(10:51):
So it's like, I know it's not me. I know that's other people making me age out
pretty fast or lose my hair.
So I was thinking of a funny, goofy term there.
Yeah. because mine aren't white or black i've
got a combo going so so i feel
like i'm in that maybe zone on the top of my head i'm
just glad there's some hair up there so that's all
(11:12):
i'm praying for man yeah i hear you there oh that's it
it's yeah yeah it's like
lord i know i know i can't change it you know on my
own but i'd please let there be you know some type of prosthetics
or something and that can be me to have hair oh
she oh my goodness oh boy but yeah
i do think it's interesting like i think it's easy for
(11:33):
us to think of vows as like we kind of started off with its marriage right because
that's where most of us kind of learn that perspective it's it's on the altar
you got the groom you got the bride they're telling how much each other they
love each other to death that you part kind of a thing and that's a vow right
it's a huge commitment right there are
other commitments because we're talking also about an oath.
(11:55):
Again, we make an oath if you're in the military.
When you join the military, you raise your hand and you promise to protect the nation.
Police officers promising to uphold the law.
You know you you make these oaths and like i think you you really hit a strong point man is is how.
(12:15):
Deluded have we made these vows you
know these promises of i'm going to fulfill this and this is where we realize
and i think the world struggles a lot with is people are going to fail us and
this is why you make a promise to somebody and you don't commit you don't fulfill
that that promise that you said you're going to, hey, I'm going to help you move over this weekend.
(12:38):
Well, you don't do it. You forgot. You slept in or whatever.
And that's that sting and pain of people that have failed, who didn't give us
what they said they were in that moment of help or need or whatever it might be.
And that's where we can really get impacted hard.
And why I think it's amazing that God is there to show us, hey,
(13:01):
I made promise and I fulfilled it.
And even though I know you've been burned and sting, you know,
stung by people, I'm not going to do that to you.
And I think that's just a really cool, really cool thing I wanted to mention.
Yeah, no, I like that. Cause I think, I mean, I, when I was younger, I was like this too,
where you're afraid to say no to someone, you know, they want you to do something
(13:24):
or, or they want you to volunteer for something and you just can't,
you're just having a hard time in that moment saying no to someone.
But the reality is they would rather have you say no so they can they can move
on to someone that they know is gonna come through for them then you just say
yes and then you back out on it or not do it right.
(13:47):
I think that's a hard thing for people to do. But when you realize that they're
going to appreciate, it's not easy, but it's one moment right then, right?
You just say, no, I just don't think I can, I can fully commit to doing that for you.
And it's really hard in that moment, but man, it's freeing for both you and
(14:08):
the other person because they're going to be more upset if you say yes.
And you don't follow through on that commitment. commitment so
i i i that's something i've had
to learn over time but then when you say yes and you don't really
mean yes man you just you're
carrying like you know 10 tons of
bricks on your shoulder because it's just burdening you because
(14:29):
you know you really didn't commit to it so yeah yeah
so you know i can encourage you to to
just be real in that moment and
you know people get upset with you better to
be upset because you were straightforward and honest with them
than to be upset because you broke a vow yeah yeah
absolutely yeah that's good
(14:52):
perspective man no that's good that's good perspective i mean
i just yeah like again it's it's interesting that
god speaks to this and in talking about oaths
yeah i'm excited to see what the footnotes say you know to
kind of bring a little bit more perspective because again it is it
is interesting how he starts with an old saying
kind of like we would you know I can't have your cake and eat it too right he's
(15:12):
over here saying you've heard it say do not break your oath but fulfill to the
Lord the vows you've made but I tell you so he's like wait a minute there's
more to this story so I mean I'm interested to see what these these footnotes
are gonna say yeah I'm I don't think there's anything specific but the,
do not swear at all either by heaven or.
(15:33):
I'm thinking that's related to the vow right like i
swear i'm gonna do this for you yeah so we'll
see but hey guess what we have a
folios following there you
go man i remember the folio or the folios this time but
i couldn't see the other one you can remember which way it is but yeah
and again if you can't remember folios remember it just
(15:53):
says and following that's another other way to remember and following
yeah i i i'm so proud of
myself 533 folios following or ff
it says there here jesus was emphasizing the
importance of telling the truth people were breaking promises and using sacred
language casually and carelessly keeping oaths and promises is important it
(16:19):
builds It builds trust and makes committed human relationships possible.
The Bible condemns making vows or taking oaths casually, giving your word while
knowing that you won't keep it, or swearing falsely in God's name.
I swear in God's name that I'm going to do this or something.
(16:41):
Oaths are needed in certain situations only because we live in a sinful society that breeds distrust.
Oh, that's a, that's a, that's a solid caption right there.
I'm going to, I'm going to invest some ink on underlining that one.
Yeah, that's, that's a good one. Cause again, why, why do we have to have it?
(17:03):
It's just because of the sinful fallen world of distrust and that helps us understand it.
And I think that's, what's really important to say again, how,
how careless a lot of this is.
And I don't know why. I mean, again, I come from the country.
I know Jim, you're in the country too. It's just, and, and I guess maybe we
show our age a little bit, but there used to be a stance in the country world
(17:23):
and Midwest world that a man's handshake was a promise.
I mean, if you, if a man shook your hand to do something, by golly, it was going to get done.
And I think of that and, but again, even to today's age, day and age,
I mean, how many times are we using words in a careless motion?
You know, some of the big words that are used carelessly and I'm just going to call them out.
(17:46):
I'm sorry you know that's a big one my son who's learning you know things it's
constantly oh I'm sorry okay well again sorry it means something so thank you
but why do you keep doing the same thing over and over and over and of course
I'm sure that's what God's looking at me over and like really Dale like you
keep doing the same things over and over and over.
You know, so, you know, but again, like how careless do we use it? I'm sorry.
(18:09):
Carelessly. Do we tell people, Oh, Hey, well, Hey, I love you,
man. You know, and it's like, we don't really mean it. You know,
we're instantly able to just bypass that person.
You know, there's, there's a lot of sayings that we've always just carried that
have been very careless acts.
I think this was that same purpose of, Oh, you're, you're gonna be there for me. Okay.
(18:29):
You know, I need you to promise me you're going to be there because I don't trust you.
You know so yeah the the handshake
thing we were right on the same page that was what was setting on
my heart too i mean that was that was pretty much like a formal legal contract
right like you shook someone's hand and that was ironclad yeah 100 yeah you
know you you knew as a man not you cannot break that right right yeah yep and
(18:55):
the rumors get around about you that,
that's just a handshake.
It is not a commitment there.
So nowadays, man, we need to spend a whole lot of money for a handshake, right?
Because we need to get a lawyer involved for a legal contract to formally hold
people to what they're committing to.
(19:17):
All right, I'm going to wrap up. We just got one other footnote today on this,
so hopefully this will kind of take it home here. Oaths or vows were common,
but Jesus told his followers not to use them.
Their word alone should be enough. Did I...
Yeah yeah that's what i did read it right okay not yeah yeah oaths
(19:40):
or vows were common but jesus told his followers not to
use them their word alone should be
enough and that's in james 5 12
are you known as a person of your word truthfulness seems
so rare that we feel we must end
our statements with i promise if we
tell the truth all the time we will have less pressure to
(20:03):
back up our words with an oath or promise that's what
i was thinking he was he was i was confused at that
at first but basically basically the oath
or the vow is like the backing of it right like yeah
versus he's just saying hey if something
comes out of your mouth that you shouldn't have to reassure people that that's
(20:24):
like i promise yeah again going back to that midwestern mentality i think of
like Like a lot of the times you see an older person who's sitting there real
quiet, it's because they're absorbing.
And when they speak, you want to listen, like you're, you want,
everything's going to stop because you want to hear the words of the wise.
And, you know, again, it, it, yeah, just simplicity.
(20:46):
Again, I think it's what I love about Jesus is just keep it simple.
You know, of course the old kiss analogy, I keep it simple, stupid,
but you know, I mean, he did it in a nicer way.
Just don't do this. Yeah. But yeah, but I mean, that's, that's it.
If we're if we do what we seek out
to do and what we're called to do and we just keep it simple with a yes or a
(21:07):
no that that should be enough and but of course it also means challenge yourself
to make sure you when you say yes do a follow-through with that handshake kind
of a mentality you know stand on stand on your word and that's what's going
to make that yes or no very simplistic.
Yeah. The, the, I promise at the end is almost like, what, do you have a problem
(21:29):
with making a commitment?
Do you have to back, you know, you know, when someone says something and they,
they back it with, I promise you or something like that, you're kind of like,
why, why do you have to add that additional information?
And I think that might be part of what Jesus is saying is just be known as a
person that your word is your word and you don't have to try to sell it.
(21:52):
You know that's a good that's a good perspective because
when you were saying that i was thinking man today in
our world we're very sensitive today like it seems like
everything is very sensitive but it's almost like you would say
it to really reassure somebody and like listen i
i'm really going to do this because how many
times have people failed us so much that it's almost
(22:12):
like the here that i promise means there's a glimmer
of hope but it goes back to like what you
were mentioning very beginning is you know we have a leader we
have you know again our savior who
demonstrated the actions and then
led by example and that's the thing why
are we so sad why are we so sensitive that you know
(22:33):
and distrustful because we've been burned so many times but
like you're saying hey just do what you say you're going to do and then
that reassurance of someone saying wow like you
know this person said yes to help me move and they're here
they're on time they're not sitting around they're actually taking
up stuff and saying let's roll you know like wow like
how much trust does that really bring to somebody so.
(22:56):
All right father god man
thank you for for just reminding us make our yes be a yes make our no be a no
help us in those situations where it's it's tough to say no but it will provide
freedom for us and that other person thank you for our study today we ask and
pray all this in jesus name.
(23:17):
Man beautiful stuff today man yeah let your yes be yes and your no be no and
until next time enjoy the gift of today.
Music.
Hello everybody and welcome to episode 27
I'm Jim and I'm
Dale and we are those crazy Bible study guys oh man happy day to you Jim hopefully
I won't joke too much here I just choked on some coffee right before this make
(00:23):
some throat noises anything forgive me guys I'm sorry Hey man,
if you're going to choke this morning, make it some coffee.
You got to get that caffeine in one way or the other. Hopefully we don't choke on this episode.
I know, I'm a little nervous about this one.
Today we've gone from some pretty serious topics.
(00:44):
We've gone from anger to lust to divorce, and now we're talking about some vows.
Of course, I think instantly you think of marriage vows, but I don't know.
I think this is going to be a, this might be all over the place when we talk
about vows. This could be pretty interesting, I think.
Yeah, I like kind of how he's got some transition with his items here with the
Sermon on the Mount here.
(01:06):
So, yeah, let's learn about some vows today.
And I'm looking forward to this one because, to me, that's a really important
part of any relationship, right?
Right, is, is, you know, making commitment, you know, that in itself has some
difficulties, but it's not anything like upholding the commitment, right?
(01:30):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what a vow is, right?
I mean, it takes it to the next level of just being like, yeah, sure.
I can do something like that for you. Like, no, I, I promise I'm going to do that.
And, you know, so yeah, it's, it's, it's a serious deal when you make a vow
and it's amazing how Now, you know, it's, I don't know, actually like looking
at it right now, just on top of here is like, it is interesting how he's got this staged, right?
(01:54):
Like, I mean, literally how we've gone through, he's went from the law,
then you get angry about the law and then you got lost and then you've got divorce.
And now we're talking about vows and commitments. Like, and of course,
you know, next time it's going to be about revenge. So I feel like we have more stories.
Yeah. But, you know, it's interesting, like you're saying, his layering of this.
(02:17):
And again, all topics we deal with today, that's the same. It's been around 2,000 years ago.
We can change the technology and we can change the things in front of us a lot
of times, but the same problems are still there.
Yeah, it seems like, you know, I mean, I know they didn't track divorce rates
back in the day and stuff or just people's lack of making a commitment and sticking to them.
(02:41):
But you know I wonder if it was just as big a problem back in the day I mean
probably not because some of the consequences like.
You know stoning people to death for for adultery
and stuff like that you know that's pretty extreme so
i'm sure that limited some stuff but
it just seems like today like you know
(03:03):
bows are almost for lack of a better
term cheap you know people say they're going
to do things don't back them up but but the good
news is i think there's a lot of a lot of bows
and commitments and stuff people make that
that are being upheld out there so you know
part of it's funny how we read through the
the bible here and a friend of mine and i were talking about
(03:26):
this the other day of just he's like you know things really haven't changed
that much right and jesus talking about this stuff like you just said it's so
applicable to us today even yeah i mean we just don't realize how you know i
mean again we think oh you know the bible it's an older book you know two thousand
years ago really like that?
That's not going to relate to today. Oh man, does it ever really?
(03:47):
And that's why we call it the living word because it is ever, ever living.
I mean, it's always, you know, with us through the ages of time.
And, and yeah, it's just, I mean, again, the same situations they dealt with
is the same situation. Now they didn't have social media.
Like we know it today, but boy, I mean, I guarantee there was some gossip and
(04:07):
social media going around socially and groups and things.
But yes, I mean, it's just, it's all the same
it's just a different format yeah kind
of like you know you think about like microsoft word you know you can
type a sentence up but you can change the the font you know
but it's still the same sentence i think that was better i was i was going to
(04:28):
go with like the remakes of music right how they like kind of remake some music
and sometimes you know it's still the same song but it's different but i like
your i like your analogy better yeah actually Actually, I saw this guy.
I can't promote him. I can't tell. I don't even know his name.
But I did see where he was a comedian and he joked about just,
(04:50):
again, fonts and how they can relate.
And so by changing just the different types, like one from like,
you know, Times New Roman to it's like the thriller font, which is like more
of a bold kind of, you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Kind of scary. look and he's like you know the same sentence can kind of be
transparent just because of visual looks and so i just thought that's kind of
(05:12):
funny but again it's still the same sentence.
And so i just i thought that was pretty no that's a comedian using that to his
advantage no i think that is a perfect analogy so so what does jesus teach about
vows yeah well let's find out man we're in matthew chapter five we're only gonna
read a few verses today again 33 through 37.
(05:34):
So as we kind of flip to that i'm going to open us in prayer and we'll dive right in so,
lord we thank you for this new day lord you made a i i think phil feels like
for me you You made a vow for us when you said, I love you, and I'm sending
my son to bridge that gap.
And, Lord, that vow was committed.
(05:55):
You did do what you said.
And, Lord, that's what's amazing about you, God, is you always do what you say.
And you are forever and always. And we just thank you for all that you do.
Pray that you'll just help us learn from your words today, learn how we can
incorporate them into our lives as we've been doing for the past several thousands
of years over time. time, Lord, because you knew what we needed.
(06:16):
You knew right now, this moment, we need this message for a reason.
So Lord, open our mind's eye to understand what that is so that we can live out our lives for you.
And we just thank you for all things. Thank you for Jim. Thank you for our listeners.
Thank you for our families and the support we get. We just give it all to you,
Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Yeah. You know, just your prayer alone was just another reminder of,
(06:42):
you know, God setting that example for us, you know, in all that he does.
And yeah, vows are, vows are huge. And those commitments he made to us and.
Know fulfilled them you know you think about christ going to the cross right
of what a what a huge vow commitment to yeah for the whole human race i mean
(07:05):
that's knowing what's coming and and.
And still going through because you know the importance of that is just that's powerful.
Right when when people committing those
you know even just like committing vows to
someone or something and when the
(07:26):
going gets tough right you still
stick to it and figure out ways to work through those
things that's where that's the
beauty in the vow yeah yeah that that
full-on commitment never let go and i mean yeah amazing how
we have like again god knows all we need he's like hey how
am i gonna bridge these gasp i'm gonna send you the you
(07:47):
know you know a savior your own man he's going to lead by
example i mean how much do we learn from
a leader who actually leads by example and and that's
what i love about it you know he was the great teacher so yeah
so let's jump in matthew 5 we're going to start at 33 and it goes like this
again you have heard it you again i remember start that over again you have
(08:09):
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 but But I tell you,
do not swear an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is God's throne, or by earth,
for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
(08:30):
And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
All you need to say is simply yes or no. Anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Hmm. My, my definitely different perspective of how we were looking.
Yeah. I have to admit, I like, I like what my verse 30, how they worded my verse 37.
(08:54):
Yeah. Please read. I'm not bragging or nothing here, but simply let your yes be yes.
And you know, be no anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
We, I, again, I'm going to bring up a softball analogy because we were working on that.
This, this week is, you know batter watches a strike go by and they look at
(09:18):
me and i'm like i don't care you just made a no decision i want to yes and give
me a solid swing or no i don't want a partial swing because,
that typically turns into an out because you're
not giving it all you got right the the hot or
cold or you know that yeah you're walking right into the lukewarm perspective
(09:40):
yeah it's either be hot or be cold they'll be in the middle yeah nothing good
comes out of that so um i i like this just let your yes be yes and you know
be no yeah and then i like that's where you went to.
Because if you if you really think about it right the maybe is is an if right,
(10:03):
If this was a good pitch, I should be swinging at it, you know,
and we know, we know where those if questions come from, right? Comes from the evil one.
Yeah. I mean, which is interesting how that verse 37 follows again with the
simply yes or no anything beyond comes from the evil one, which is hard.
(10:24):
It's kind of hard. I'm having a hard time. Like, you know, again,
I'm excited to get into our footnotes to see like, why, why was that specific to it? Right.
I'm over here laughing at verse 36, which again, I know it was not a laughing
matter at the moment. It was very serious.
But as it says, do not swear by your head for you cannot make even one hair white or black.
And I'm thinking, you know, that's true. But I guarantee you my son is making my hairs go gray.
(10:51):
So it's like, I know it's not me. I know that's other people making me age out
pretty fast or lose my hair.
So I was thinking of a funny, goofy term there.
Yeah. because mine aren't white or black i've
got a combo going so so i feel
like i'm in that maybe zone on the top of my head i'm
just glad there's some hair up there so that's all
(11:12):
i'm praying for man yeah i hear you there oh that's it
it's yeah yeah it's like
lord i know i know i can't change it you know on my
own but i'd please let there be you know some type of prosthetics
or something and that can be me to have hair oh
she oh my goodness oh boy but yeah
i do think it's interesting like i think it's easy for
(11:33):
us to think of vows as like we kind of started off with its marriage right because
that's where most of us kind of learn that perspective it's it's on the altar
you got the groom you got the bride they're telling how much each other they
love each other to death that you part kind of a thing and that's a vow right
it's a huge commitment right there are
other commitments because we're talking also about an oath.
(11:55):
Again, we make an oath if you're in the military.
When you join the military, you raise your hand and you promise to protect the nation.
Police officers promising to uphold the law.
You know you you make these oaths and like i think you you really hit a strong point man is is how.
(12:15):
Deluded have we made these vows you
know these promises of i'm going to fulfill this and this is where we realize
and i think the world struggles a lot with is people are going to fail us and
this is why you make a promise to somebody and you don't commit you don't fulfill
that that promise that you said you're going to, hey, I'm going to help you move over this weekend.
(12:38):
Well, you don't do it. You forgot. You slept in or whatever.
And that's that sting and pain of people that have failed, who didn't give us
what they said they were in that moment of help or need or whatever it might be.
And that's where we can really get impacted hard.
And why I think it's amazing that God is there to show us, hey,
(13:01):
I made promise and I fulfilled it.
And even though I know you've been burned and sting, you know,
stung by people, I'm not going to do that to you.
And I think that's just a really cool, really cool thing I wanted to mention.
Yeah, no, I like that. Cause I think, I mean, I, when I was younger, I was like this too,
where you're afraid to say no to someone, you know, they want you to do something
(13:24):
or, or they want you to volunteer for something and you just can't,
you're just having a hard time in that moment saying no to someone.
But the reality is they would rather have you say no so they can they can move
on to someone that they know is gonna come through for them then you just say
yes and then you back out on it or not do it right.
(13:47):
I think that's a hard thing for people to do. But when you realize that they're
going to appreciate, it's not easy, but it's one moment right then, right?
You just say, no, I just don't think I can, I can fully commit to doing that for you.
And it's really hard in that moment, but man, it's freeing for both you and
(14:08):
the other person because they're going to be more upset if you say yes.
And you don't follow through on that commitment. commitment so
i i i that's something i've had
to learn over time but then when you say yes and you don't really
mean yes man you just you're
carrying like you know 10 tons of
bricks on your shoulder because it's just burdening you because
(14:29):
you know you really didn't commit to it so yeah yeah
so you know i can encourage you to to
just be real in that moment and
you know people get upset with you better to
be upset because you were straightforward and honest with them
than to be upset because you broke a vow yeah yeah
absolutely yeah that's good
(14:52):
perspective man no that's good that's good perspective i mean
i just yeah like again it's it's interesting that
god speaks to this and in talking about oaths
yeah i'm excited to see what the footnotes say you know to
kind of bring a little bit more perspective because again it is it
is interesting how he starts with an old saying
kind of like we would you know I can't have your cake and eat it too right he's
(15:12):
over here saying you've heard it say do not break your oath but fulfill to the
Lord the vows you've made but I tell you so he's like wait a minute there's
more to this story so I mean I'm interested to see what these these footnotes
are gonna say yeah I'm I don't think there's anything specific but the,
do not swear at all either by heaven or.
(15:33):
I'm thinking that's related to the vow right like i
swear i'm gonna do this for you yeah so we'll
see but hey guess what we have a
folios following there you
go man i remember the folio or the folios this time but
i couldn't see the other one you can remember which way it is but yeah
and again if you can't remember folios remember it just
(15:53):
says and following that's another other way to remember and following
yeah i i i'm so proud of
myself 533 folios following or ff
it says there here jesus was emphasizing the
importance of telling the truth people were breaking promises and using sacred
language casually and carelessly keeping oaths and promises is important it
(16:19):
builds It builds trust and makes committed human relationships possible.
The Bible condemns making vows or taking oaths casually, giving your word while
knowing that you won't keep it, or swearing falsely in God's name.
I swear in God's name that I'm going to do this or something.
(16:41):
Oaths are needed in certain situations only because we live in a sinful society that breeds distrust.
Oh, that's a, that's a, that's a solid caption right there.
I'm going to, I'm going to invest some ink on underlining that one.
Yeah, that's, that's a good one. Cause again, why, why do we have to have it?
(17:03):
It's just because of the sinful fallen world of distrust and that helps us understand it.
And I think that's, what's really important to say again, how,
how careless a lot of this is.
And I don't know why. I mean, again, I come from the country.
I know Jim, you're in the country too. It's just, and, and I guess maybe we
show our age a little bit, but there used to be a stance in the country world
(17:23):
and Midwest world that a man's handshake was a promise.
I mean, if you, if a man shook your hand to do something, by golly, it was going to get done.
And I think of that and, but again, even to today's age, day and age,
I mean, how many times are we using words in a careless motion?
You know, some of the big words that are used carelessly and I'm just going to call them out.
(17:46):
I'm sorry you know that's a big one my son who's learning you know things it's
constantly oh I'm sorry okay well again sorry it means something so thank you
but why do you keep doing the same thing over and over and over and of course
I'm sure that's what God's looking at me over and like really Dale like you
keep doing the same things over and over and over.
You know, so, you know, but again, like how careless do we use it? I'm sorry.
(18:09):
Carelessly. Do we tell people, Oh, Hey, well, Hey, I love you,
man. You know, and it's like, we don't really mean it. You know,
we're instantly able to just bypass that person.
You know, there's, there's a lot of sayings that we've always just carried that
have been very careless acts.
I think this was that same purpose of, Oh, you're, you're gonna be there for me. Okay.
(18:29):
You know, I need you to promise me you're going to be there because I don't trust you.
You know so yeah the the handshake
thing we were right on the same page that was what was setting on
my heart too i mean that was that was pretty much like a formal legal contract
right like you shook someone's hand and that was ironclad yeah 100 yeah you
know you you knew as a man not you cannot break that right right yeah yep and
(18:55):
the rumors get around about you that,
that's just a handshake.
It is not a commitment there.
So nowadays, man, we need to spend a whole lot of money for a handshake, right?
Because we need to get a lawyer involved for a legal contract to formally hold
people to what they're committing to.
(19:17):
All right, I'm going to wrap up. We just got one other footnote today on this,
so hopefully this will kind of take it home here. Oaths or vows were common,
but Jesus told his followers not to use them.
Their word alone should be enough. Did I...
Yeah yeah that's what i did read it right okay not yeah yeah oaths
(19:40):
or vows were common but jesus told his followers not to
use them their word alone should be
enough and that's in james 5 12
are you known as a person of your word truthfulness seems
so rare that we feel we must end
our statements with i promise if we
tell the truth all the time we will have less pressure to
(20:03):
back up our words with an oath or promise that's what
i was thinking he was he was i was confused at that
at first but basically basically the oath
or the vow is like the backing of it right like yeah
versus he's just saying hey if something
comes out of your mouth that you shouldn't have to reassure people that that's
(20:24):
like i promise yeah again going back to that midwestern mentality i think of
like Like a lot of the times you see an older person who's sitting there real
quiet, it's because they're absorbing.
And when they speak, you want to listen, like you're, you want,
everything's going to stop because you want to hear the words of the wise.
And, you know, again, it, it, yeah, just simplicity.
(20:46):
Again, I think it's what I love about Jesus is just keep it simple.
You know, of course the old kiss analogy, I keep it simple, stupid,
but you know, I mean, he did it in a nicer way.
Just don't do this. Yeah. But yeah, but I mean, that's, that's it.
If we're if we do what we seek out
to do and what we're called to do and we just keep it simple with a yes or a
(21:07):
no that that should be enough and but of course it also means challenge yourself
to make sure you when you say yes do a follow-through with that handshake kind
of a mentality you know stand on stand on your word and that's what's going
to make that yes or no very simplistic.
Yeah. The, the, I promise at the end is almost like, what, do you have a problem
(21:29):
with making a commitment?
Do you have to back, you know, you know, when someone says something and they,
they back it with, I promise you or something like that, you're kind of like,
why, why do you have to add that additional information?
And I think that might be part of what Jesus is saying is just be known as a
person that your word is your word and you don't have to try to sell it.
(21:52):
You know that's a good that's a good perspective because
when you were saying that i was thinking man today in
our world we're very sensitive today like it seems like
everything is very sensitive but it's almost like you would say
it to really reassure somebody and like listen i
i'm really going to do this because how many
times have people failed us so much that it's almost
(22:12):
like the here that i promise means there's a glimmer
of hope but it goes back to like what you
were mentioning very beginning is you know we have a leader we
have you know again our savior who
demonstrated the actions and then
led by example and that's the thing why
are we so sad why are we so sensitive that you know
(22:33):
and distrustful because we've been burned so many times but
like you're saying hey just do what you say you're going to do and then
that reassurance of someone saying wow like you
know this person said yes to help me move and they're here
they're on time they're not sitting around they're actually taking
up stuff and saying let's roll you know like wow like
how much trust does that really bring to somebody so.
(22:56):
All right father god man
thank you for for just reminding us make our yes be a yes make our no be a no
help us in those situations where it's it's tough to say no but it will provide
freedom for us and that other person thank you for our study today we ask and
pray all this in jesus name.
(23:17):
Man beautiful stuff today man yeah let your yes be yes and your no be no and
until next time enjoy the gift of today.
Music.
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