Let Your Yes Be Yes and Your No Be No

James 5:12
September 12, 2021
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

Today’s passage is just one verse. But it is a verse of great significance. The first three words, “But above all,” puts this verse at the top of a working list. But a working list of what? If you zoom out and look at the context, you will see that James is talking about what wise Christian living looks like in the church among other brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a list of good works. It is a list of love.

Let’s review this list. Remember that we are supposed to humble ourselves before the Lord instead of quarreling and fighting with one another. And we are not to speak evil against fellow believers and be a judge over them. This is the list of love.

Remember that there are commands for rich church members who do wrong against poor church members. And there are commands for poor church members when they are wronged by rich church members. This is the list of love.

Remember that we are called to show our faith by our works. If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? This is the list of love.

Remember that we must never show partiality. We are to be merciful and not judgmental toward one another - mercy triumphs over judgment. We are to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. We are to visit orphans and widows of the church in their affliction. We are to boast in our humiliation and exaltation in Christ. We are to count it all joy. This is the list of love.

But above all, above all of this, 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. Wow. This means that this command is very, very significant for the life of our church - for your Christian life here at Highland. Being truthful. Being a man or a woman of integrity.

What is an oath or a vow? The definition is pretty simple. An oath or a vow is a distinct promise of yours that you make special by calling upon God to be your witness. When you say an oath or a vow, you use God’s name to increase the value and weight and significance and trustworthiness of your words. This means that oaths or vows are very profound.

When used rightly, oaths or vows are useful and wonderful and good. Think about our most recent marriage ceremony for Fabian and Grace and the oaths and vows they made to God and to one another. Think about the ordination vows of what will hopefully be several English-speaking deacons in late October. And think about God himself and all the oaths and vows that he has made to us (more on that later in this sermon). When used rightly, oaths and vows are great.

But when used wrongly, oaths or vows are bad. Oaths or vows can be used wrongly in basically two ways (though I’m sure there are more ways). First, people may use them to compensate for a lack of integrity on their part. They may use them to cover or hide their dishonesty. Second, people may use them to show prideful righteousness on their part. They may use them to look good before others. Our Lord Jesus Christ confronted both of these legalistic and pharisaic behaviors in his sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:33-37.

The solution to a lack of integrity is not oath-taking. And true righteousness can never be reduced to a cheap and easy outward verbal performance of a vow with God’s name somehow attached to it. These solutions don’t work because they don’t get at the heart of the problem. The problem is a lack of truthfulness and humility. And a lack of truthfulness and humility is not solved by just compensating for it with a nice oath or vow. A lack of truthfulness and humility is solved by first repentance and then obedience - by just having the very truthfulness and humility that is lacking.

This is what today’s passage is all about. Our Lord Jesus Christ commands us to let our yes be yes and our no be no. Be truthful. Be sincere. Be honest. Say what you mean and mean what you say. And fear the Lord. That’s it. You should have integrity in such a way that oaths and vows would be unnecessary for you (with the exception of things like marriages or ordinations). Let your yes be yes and your no be no. This is wisdom. This is godliness. This is what it means to be a loving person. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Truthfulness and humility is a gospel grace from God. Please don’t think that this passage is easy or elementary stuff. Because of Adam’s sin and because of our own sin, you were dead in your lack of truthfulness and humility. Perhaps you never really struggled with the abuse of oaths or vows. But never forget that when we were sinners, we were profoundly full of lies and half-truths and deception and false assumptions and gossip and slander and misunderstandings and more.

But out of his mercy and love for us, God saved us. God made a covenant of grace with us. And throughout redemptive history, in several key parts in the Bible, God made oaths and vows to us. He promised that he would provide us with forgiveness of sins. He promised that he would give us a new eternal resurrection life. He promised that he would sanctify us and give us wisdom. He promised that he would give us himself.

When we make an oath or a vow, we call upon God to be our witness. But when God made his oaths and vows to save us, who did he have to call upon to be his witness? The answer is this. He called upon himself. God used his own name, his own character, his own truthfulness, to increase the value and weight and significance and trustworthiness of his covenant of grace for us who struggle with trust. This seems circular and strange, but it is not. Listen carefully to the words of Hebrews 6:

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself. For people swear by something greater than themselves…. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

God’s oaths and vows are useful and wonderful and good… for us. God’s oaths and vows are used rightly and perfectly. God did not use his oaths and vows because he had to compensate for a lack of integrity on his part or cover or hide any dishonestly. God is not a liar; God is true. God never crosses his fingers behind his back. And God did not use his oaths and vows to show prideful righteousness on his part or look good before others. God used his oaths and vows to help us with our lack of faith and lack of assurance. God’s oaths and vows are useful and wonderful and good… for us.

And praise the Lord! All of the oaths and vows of the covenant of grace have found their yes and amen in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says this. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises of God. Jesus is the consummation of all the covenant of grace. Jesus was without sin. He speaks no lies. But Jesus took our sin and made it his own and died and paid the penalty of our sin for our salvation. Jesus took your lack of truthfulness and lack of integrity and he shed his blood because of it to save you. Jesus took all of your lies and half-truths and deception and false assumptions and gossip and slander and misunderstandings and more and he suffered humiliation and death because of it to save you. Now, your sins are forgiven. Now, you have been credited with and covered with his perfect righteousness. Now, you are free from the slavery of not being truthful. Now, you can - and you will - be a person of integrity. Now, your yes can be yes because God’s yes was yes. This is the relationship that we now have with God.

Dear Highland, shouldn’t we strive to have that same kind of… relationship… with others at church as we wait for the coming of the Lord?

Remember, we are now at the top of a working list. A list of good works. A list of love. The book of James is much about what wise Christian living looks like in the church among other brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, being a person of integrity is very, very significant for the life of our church - for your Christian life here at Highland. Without truthfulness, it will be very hard to have good relationships and biblical community and forgiveness and reconciliation here at Highland. May our yes be yes and our no be no as we wait for Jesus’ return.

And without letting our yes be yes and our no be no, it will be very hard to be the salt and light of this world and reflect God’s words and God’s promises when our words and our promises do not mean much. Parents, let your yes be yes and your no be no when you speak with your children. Those of you who are students or workers, let your yes be yes and your no be no when you are at school or on the job. Let us be truthful and humble before this world and let us fear the Lord with wisdom as we wait for his return.

And as I near the end of this sermon, I would like to offer just one application. Just one application, but it’s a doozy of an application. And I believe that you are all smart enough to come up with more applications on your own after I share this one.

The application is this. Procrastination. Procrastination can be a complicated thing. And I am not saying right now that procrastination can be reduced to what I am about to say. Please don’t dismiss me right away. But I do believe that it is possible that some of our moments of procrastination is not merely rooted in things such as laziness or forgetfulness or busyness or perfectionism or fear of criticism or depression or lack of motivation or inability to focus or other things (while these are all real factors that can really matter). But could it be that when you say to yourself that you’ll do something in a certain way or by a certain time and then you don’t follow through - could it be connected to today’s passage? Could it be a struggle to let your yes be yes and your no be no? It is often the case for me personally. And while I haven’t fully overcome my tendencies to procrastinate, James 5:12 has been useful, wonderful, and good for me. I like my yes’s and no’s to be open-ended. I like to be flexible and non-committal. I like to keep all options open and be maximally free. But I think that perhaps I have a few problems with truthfulness and humility. And I think it shows in some of my procrastination. Just a thought. Perhaps this might be of some help to some of you.

Please pray for me. Please pray for yourselves and for others. Let us ask God for wisdom. Let us go to him with repentance and with the fear of the Lord. It’s time to let our yes be yes and our no be no. These are the last days. Jesus is coming back. This is not a time to lack sincerity and love. Dear Highland, let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Come soon, Lord Jesus!

May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.

Soli Deo Gloria