Faithful Integrity Keeps Us From the Guardrails
This past Sunday, Nick brought a tough sermon covering Matthew 5:31-37 on the topics of divorce and keeping oaths. While the Sermon on the Mount definitely hits on a lot of areas of sin and brokenness that cannot be overlooked, the deeper takeaway is what Jesus is pointing to in regards to our brokenness. Nick titled his sermon Fidelis Integritas or Faithful Integrity, which is one of the main themes of the Sermon on the Mount as a whole. That element is there whether we’re talking about marriage and oaths, or anger, generosity, worship or prayer, faithful integrity is an underlying issue we fall short on and is why we need a savior.
Let’s get a little practical with that and look at 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.” What James is pointing to here, as well as Jesus in Matthew 5:33, is the law from Leviticus 19:12 “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.” Which in context follows “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another” in Leviticus 19:11. Just like our previous sermons in Matthew 5, what Jesus is pointing us to is the deeper issue, which is our lack of faithful integrity.
Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’
Matthew 5:37
On the topic of divorce, it is not something that happens overnight, like Nick’s analogy of guardrails on a highway, especially a curvy mountain road, if you hit the guardrail, something has gone wrong earlier before the moment of impact. That is what the letter of the law has been, guardrails, but that is why the spirit of the law, or understanding the deeper truths behind why the laws were put in place, is more restrictive in order to prevent us from getting to the point of hitting the guardrail.
Where this can go wrong is when humans start to create more rules in order to keep themselves from getting close to the guardrail. This is what the Pharisees had been doing, which is what fundamentalism looks like in our modern times, creating rules on top of rules in order to keep you from breaking the rules. But that is not what God is asking of us, more rule following, He is asking for our hearts, which is what is accomplished when we better understand the spirit of the law, knowing why the guardrails exist, and allowing the Spirit to form us more like Christ so we naturally don’t get close to the guardrails. That’s because the effect of knowing the Spirit of the law, which comes from knowing the One who sets the standard of righteousness, is that it draws out our heart’s intentions and allows the Holy Spirit to fundamentally change us from the inside out.
So you can see where James 5:12 factors into all this. If we have faithful integrity in having our “yes be yes and our no be no” on a heart level, areas of sin that are being called out in the Sermon on the Mount would be avoided. If we had integrity with our minds, words, and actions, then divorce would be avoided, anger would be redeemed, generosity would be default, worship would be pure, etc., on through the Sermon on the Mount. To wrap up this thought, I want to remind us of the Bottom Line from Sunday night:
As Christians we are called to fidelis integritas (faithful integrity) because it is a reflection of the very character of God, whose image is restored in us through Christ.