Can I trust you?

I’m not an avid fan of the show but The Vicar of Dibley does make me smile when I watch it. There’s one character in the show who stammers the opposite of what he means before coming out and saying it (to great comical effect): “Yes yes yes yes NO”.

This character of from The Vicar of Dibly seems to personify what Jesus is saying to us here as he continues to preach his life changing sermon:
"You have heard that the law of Moses says, `A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a letter of divorce.' But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
"Again, you have heard that the law of Moses says, `Do not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say, don't make any vows! If you say, `By heaven!' it is a sacred vow because heaven is God's throne. And if you say, `By the earth!' it is a sacred vow because the earth is his footstool. And don't swear, `By Jerusalem!' for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Don't even swear, `By my head!' for you can't turn one hair white or black. Just say a simple, `Yes, I will,' or `No, I won't.' Your word is enough. To strengthen your promise with a vow shows that something is wrong.” Matt 5:31-37

We are not really that far into Jesus’ sermon and already I am aware of how radically different the way of life Jesus is calling us to is from the one that I often lead. With Jesus’ words still ringing in our ears we become aware that God is calling for there to be a new degree of honesty in our lives.

I always remember a warning that my mum would occasionally give us: “If you don’t have anything sensible to say, don’t say anything.” A strange bit of advice that has actually helped me a great many times. Now, if only I could apply it more often :o)
You see words are important. We sometimes forget this because we are surrounded by them in books, magazines, newspapers, posters, signs, on the internet, they’re everywhere in fact; as a result it is as though they loose their significance to us. When it comes to the spoken word it is worse still; the air is full of radio and TV signals packed with chat shows covering some new inane topic of no significant value. Even our conversations loose sincerity the less we talk about things that matter to us.

God, however, is passionate about words.
He is the ultimate linguist; His eloquence creating everything. At their best our words can create images in our imagination, but God’s words actually create things! He said, “Let there be light.” and there was! No-one had even conceived light before God spoke it into being. The creative simplicity of that sentence is awesome. Similarly, when Jesus told a little dead girl to wake up people laughed thinking that his words were nonsense. But death on the other hand recognised the truth in Jesus’ voice and slipped away like sleep does as we wake in the morning.
Here is the rule: Truth creates, deception destroys.
(This is true whether it is us who has been deceived or if we are party to a deception).

Vows are created using words, and unless we are willing to adhere to them at all costs for all time, God’s advice is not to make vows at all. A vow is not a sentiment, it is a promise. People only trust us by how we are able to keep our promises.
It is the same with God. He takes vows very seriously. He therefore decides to trust us only in measure to the way in which we keep our promises [to Him and each other]. Flippant promised and rushed into vows are our down fall.
It would be better not to make a vow or a covenant if we can’t be trusted to see it through.

I recall one incredible church meeting in which I decided to dedicate the following day to God, to fast and to pray. My spirit was obviously geared up for this, excited by the prospect of intimacy with God. My body was less eager to remember my vow. In the end things came up and I did not fast. The effect that this had on me was that my spirit felt grieved (although because I had spent the day ignoring it I found it difficult to identify this as the source of my feeling); I felt torn apart inside and it was one of the worse days I can remember. Not that anything dramatic happened, but I was aware that I had cheated myself and God. There is a seriousness [which we often forget] in making a vow.

It hurts me to think that we are such a faithless people that Jesus was compelled [by the Father] to have to say this to us.