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Announcer (00:00:00): It is time to think about the Bible like you never have before. This is Christian Questions. After this episode, go to ChristianQuestions.com to check out other episodes, Bible study resources videos, download the CQ app and more. Today's topic is, "Are My Promises Reliable?" Coming up in this episode, if you make a promise, you should keep your promise. Well, that's what may have been taught at one time long ago. It's easy to look at others that are not keeping their promises. But what about me? Am I someone others can count on because I'm as good as my word? How do I get better at this? Here's Rick, Jonathan and Julie.

Rick (00:00:38): Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over 25 years, and Julie, a longtime CQ contributor is also with us. Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?

Jonathan (00:00:51): Ephesians 4:29: "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear."

Rick (00:01:05): If we make promises we should keep them. This statement seems simple enough, and yet when we look around, how much confidence do we have in it? Do we see an unequivocal keeping of promises in our political leadership? Do we see it in the business world, the world of advertising or education? Do we even see it in our family and social interactions? In our last episode, we spoke extensively about the fact that God is absolutely a God of promise. What He says, He always does. We as Christians are bound to His promise-keeping standard of excellence as the model for our own words and actions. So how do we go about raising the bar with our own commitments? What instructions can we find in God's word that will focus us on keeping our word?

Julie (00:01:55): In our last episode, #1287, we looked up the definition of "promise" in the dictionary, and it's as we would have expected. It's a declaration that "one will do or refrain from something specified, or a legally binding declaration that gives the person to whom it is made a right to expect or to claim their performance or forbearance of a specified act." We talked about how the New Testament defines the word "promise" and the keeping of God's promises to us.

Rick (00:02:25): So keeping promises really is all that we think it really is, but maybe we don't want it to be. So here we are now taking a look at our own promises and our own word.

Jonathan (00:02:38): There are three closely-related Greek New Testament words for "promise." The root word is a verb and means "to announce upon, to engage, to do something, to assert something respecting oneself." This word gives us the sense of a focused intention that precedes deliberate action. In other words, stating your intent. The second word is a noun and means "self-committal." It means "an unequivocal commitment to future actions" and is unique in that it is only used twice, both times referring to God's personal commitment. The third word, also a noun, means "an announcement; the act of promising, a promise given or to be given, a promised good or blessing." This word focuses on this proclamation of a promise as a basis for a sure and binding expectation.

Julie (00:03:30): In all, these words for "promise" are used seventy times in the New Testament. Get this; sixty-five of those seventy uses refer to God and His promises. The New Testament is loaded with God's promises. The other five refer to our human commitments; and a heads up, they mostly describe negative circumstances.

Rick (00:03:51): So already this is a little bit surprising and we want to really, really unfold this. So when we look at just the introduction, what's our first Speaking and Keeping My Word lesson?

Jonathan (00:04:05): As Christians, we are to first and foremost realize that the Bible is overwhelmingly full of God's plans, purposes and promises. This should be the first and highest motivation for us as mere human beings to strive for godliness in every part of our lives.

Rick (00:04:23): So when we look at the idea of promises, the knee-jerk reaction when we think about promises-- that's what our heavenly Father is made of. Promises made, promises kept. And that's the theme for us keeping our word as we will unfold this. So we're going to look at those five times that these words for "promise" are used in relation to humanity. And we're going to look at two of those five uses for "promise" in the New Testament to begin with here in our first segment. So let's take a look at these first two. 1 Timothy 2:9-10:

Jonathan (00:05:00): "Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for a woman making a claim to godliness." "Making a claim" here is that "promise" word meaning "to announce, to state your intent."

Rick (00:05:24): Interestingly, this is the most positive use of this word for "promise" in the New Testament relating to humanity. So this in the New Testament for this word is as good as it gets.

Julie (00:05:37): We don't want to take these scriptures from the Apostle Paul out of context. His audience was newly converted wealthy Christian women in the first century. They and their husbands had just come out of paganism. Many of these new Christian women were apparently constructing elaborate hair designs using wire frames. They wore flashy clothes, expensive gold jewelry in an attempt to outdo the other women. The principle is to hold godliness as our highest objective. We should dress to honor God, not to impress others or ourselves. And when people look at me, do they see a reflection of Jesus in my behavior, or are they distracted with the Look at me! kind of clothing and jewelry? We can quickly cross a line of what's appropriate, causing us and others to act sinfully.

Jonathan (00:06:25): When a man and woman promise godliness, we need to deliver. How we look spiritually is more important than how we look physically. Be careful of vanity.

Rick (00:06:37): All right, so this making a claim to godliness is making this announcement, look, I'm godly. Look at me. And we want to understand how to keep it in its appropriate context. To claim godliness is to claim reverence for and submission to the God of all things. So think about that. If I am claiming godliness, that is what I am claiming; reverence for and submission to the God, the Creator of all things. The sense of that reverence needs to be first and foremost. Let's look at 1 Peter 3:3-4:

Jonathan (00:07:17): Your adornment must not be merely external--braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God."

Julie (00:07:34): Here, the Apostle Peter is giving a similar message that we just read that Paul gave. They're not forbidding women for all eternity from wearing jewelry or braids. Instead, they are instructing women to concentrate on good works and a right attitude rather than trying to impress others with an immodest or inappropriate or gaudy appearance.

Jonathan (00:07:55): Overall is our appearance to please God or to please ourselves and the world? 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "...whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God."

Rick (00:08:07): Again, whenever we talk about things that have to do with godliness, there's always a mirror in front of us; not so we look good, but so we think clearly, so we can reflect back "what is it that's in my mind?" Now, be sure that this lesson, these two scriptures, is not just for women, but it's for all of us. The lasting quality of a gentle and quiet spirit is a fundamental basis for our words and actions to be nothing less than honest and trustworthy. That's what we're supposed to be. Nothing less than honest and trustworthy. This is all about who we are before God and how we reflect that to others in our standing before God.

Jonathan (00:08:54): The next use of the word "promise" in the New Testament relates to a disturbing event in the Apostle Paul's life. He was at Jerusalem and was being accused and threatened by the Jewish leaders to the point of their planning his murder. Julie, could you please sum up the context for us?

Julie (00:09:12): Sure. So in Acts chapter 21, a Jewish crowd in Jerusalem attacked Paul. They accused him of teaching against Jewish laws and wrongly accused him of defiling the temple by bringing in a Gentile. A riot breaks out as they try to kill Paul, but a commander in the Roman regiment gathers troops and takes Paul to a fortress into what today we would call protective custody. Paul had certain rights as a Roman-born citizen. But the mob grew so violent that the soldiers had to carry Paul on their shoulders to protect him. The next day, he is brought before the Jewish High Council of Pharisees and Sadducees to sort out what happened, but the council is divided and they fight bitterly. Each side was literally pulling on Paul and the commander again feared for his life and ordered him back to the fortress. The next morning, over 40 Jewish men took an oath to not eat or drink until they had killed Paul. They told the priests and leaders to have Paul brought back to review his case, and the men would kill him on the way. What a plot.

Jonathan (00:10:20): Paul's nephew heard of the plan and told Paul and the commander about this secret plot. Incidentally, this is the only record we have of Paul's family. His nephew saved his life. Let's pick up the account. In Acts 23:19-21: "The commander took him (Paul's nephew) by the hand and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, What is it that you have to report to me? And he said, The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Council as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him." "The Jews have agreed" means they came together and consented to make the decision. They contractually bound themselves with an oath. This is like a promise. Continuing with verse 21: "So do not listen to them, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him who have bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him; and now they are ready and waiting for the promise (the announcement) from you." I wonder if they followed through and all died of starvation since the Romans kept Paul safe.

Rick (00:11:35): Yeah. No, no. And that's the point, isn't it? They made that agreement between themselves. But of course, we have a different ending to this circumstance. And this kind of agreement that they made between themselves is going to come into play a little bit later in our discussion on people keeping their word. And it really ends up being not a really great thing, as it is here. They are sort of combining together so they can get him, and it's a dramatic thing that they are putting in place. In contrast to that, this Roman commander seems to have been a man of his word, as the Jews under false pretenses were waiting for him to deliver Paul as they were going to ask him to agree to do. Upon finding the truth of the matter, this commander stood for the highest principles of honesty and integrity and delivered Paul to the governor.

Julie (00:12:29): And in the end, Paul was sent to the Roman headquarters of Caesarea under the protection of, get this, 200 Centurion soldiers, 200 spearmen and 70 horsemen along the way. And he got to witness to Governor Felix, King Agrippa, and the next governor, Festus. Jesus had assured him that he would even stand before Caesar in Acts 27:24, but the Bible doesn't provide that account. But look at the protection that they gave Paul, as that Roman citizen, to make sure that he wasn't torn apart by the crowd.

Rick (00:13:01): That really shows the integrity of the commander; "Not on my watch! This Roman citizen will not be murdered on my watch." He went overboard in his protection because he was standing for what he believed to be the higher principles. And so from this unbelieving (as far as we know) Roman soldier, we can learn a lot about not saying something that we're not going to do. He stood for something much, much higher, and he protected innocent life. So Jonathan, Speaking and Keeping My Words, what do we have?

Jonathan (00:13:39): The words we speak should be based upon our best knowledge of truth in whatever situation we are in. If we find that what we are supporting and committed to is wrong, we are obligated to reestablish our stand on the foundation of truth.

Rick (00:13:55): And you can see that before that Roman commander made that commitment, he understood what was right, and he followed through on what was right, and didn't matter the consequence. Following through on what's right, that's the first lesson that we're looking at here and now. Being a person of your word is critical. Being a person of your word which is based upon godly truth, is a profound step beyond.

Jonathan (00:14:21): So keeping our word based upon the truth is critical. What did Jesus teach us about making and keeping promises?

Rick (00:14:29): Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly, Jesus in his ministry did not say anything about keeping promises. It's like what? However, he did talk about being firm and truthful, and he lived the life of one who keeps his promises on a higher level than any human being ever did. There is much to learn from what Jesus did and did not say. So he didn't tell us, I am telling you to keep your promises. He said, "Love one another as I have loved you." He said, "Take up your cross and follow me." He never said a word about keeping your promises and you think, well, wait, what's in its place? Principles are in its place. We need to be very clear. Here's how Jesus taught us the principle of being trustworthy. Matthew 5:33-37:

Jonathan (00:15:24): "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, Yes, yes or No, no; anything beyond these is of evil." Yes, here is a strong affirmation. It is definitive. It is not, "Eh, if I feel like it," which could change tomorrow.

Rick (00:16:08): We will look at that and think, wow, there's a powerful, powerful clarity in this very, very straightforward, simple statement. Julie, just a short commentary from J. Vernon McGee:

Julie (00:16:22): "When a man says to me, I'd swear on a stack of Bibles a mile high, that is the fellow I do not believe because I think the lie he's telling is a mile high."

Rick (00:16:32): And that is such a well-stated response. And we want to be sure that we don't have to go to great lengths to make ourselves heard and understood and believable.

Julie (00:16:46): I get suspicious when people start a sentence with, Well, to be honest," or "To be totally honest," because it implies everything they said previously is a lie. I also found a great commentary by David Guzik. He said this: "The scribes and Pharisees had twisted the Law, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," to permit taking virtually every other name in a false oath. Jesus reminds us that God is part of every oath anyway; if you swear by heaven, earth, Jerusalem, or even your head, you swear by God--and your oath must be honored. Having to swear or make oaths betrays the weakness of your word. It demonstrates that there is not enough weight in your own character to confirm your words. How much better it is to let your Yes be yes and your No be no."

Jonathan (00:17:37): Apparently this was a common way Jewish leaders would speak today. We might say something like, "I swear on a stack of Bibles," "Cross my heart," or "As God is my witness." These are all unnecessary and in the case of invoking God's name, it's actually offensive.

Rick (00:17:55): And that's why Jesus gave us that principle. Let your statements be "yes." And further, when somebody wants more clarification, "Yes, that is what I said," or "No, no, I will not do that." The point that Jesus is making is, be the person who keeps his word. That's the point. You don't need more than simply being that person. And that's exactly who and what Jesus did and showed us. The next use of this word for "promise" in the New Testament relating to humanity is not positive. And Julie, you had given us an allusion to that already. As a matter of fact, the final three humanity-related uses of this word for these words for "promise," they're all negative and they're really kind of badly negative as we'll see. But there's a significant lesson for us in all of these, and we want to go over them because it helps us to understand the principle that Jesus just laid out and how we are to be bound by that principle instead of all of the actions that people normally go through to try to be looked at as credible. So let's look at this first example, this negative example of the use of those words for "promise" in the New Testament. It's in Mark 14:10-11. Before we read this scripture, we are going to be looking at the three accounts of the gospels that give this event because it unfolds a larger picture. We're going to start with Mark 14:10-11. You are going to know exactly what we're talking about right away:

Jonathan (00:19:29): "Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. They were glad when they heard this, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how to betray him at an opportune time."

Julie (00:19:45): They promised to give him money. In other words, they announced it, they made the proclamation, "We will pay you to identify Jesus so that we can get rid of him."

Rick (00:19:55): So what we see is that the other gospels are also going to reflect this event, but they're going to add layers of understanding to it as we go through it. Now let's look at the exact same event in the book of Matthew and see the details that are put in place. Now, when Mark said "they promised, they announced, hey, this is what we're going to do, we're going to give you money," Matthew 26:14-16 expands that:

Jonathan (00:20:20): "Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, What are you willing to give me to betray him to you? And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. From then on, he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus." They showed, physically, money to Judas. They weighed out probably one coin at a time to really whet his appetite for money. One...two...fifteen...thirty...Their devious and sinful commitment was on display to be delivered when the deed was done. They backed up their promise with an enticing physical action.

Rick (00:21:08): They did. And the interesting thing is, in this account, Judas asked the question, "What are you willing to give me? How much is it worth to you?" So you've got this interchange that adds to the concept of "Yes, we're announcing we'll do this." You can see the interchange in how deep this was on both sides. Now let's go to Luke. Luke adds how wholeheartedly this promise was given and received. Let's look at Luke 22:3-6:

Jonathan (00:21:38): "And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve. And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. They were glad and agreed to give him money (this word "agreed" is the same "coming together" as the 40 men who wanted to kill Paul and is never used in the Bible in a positive sense). So he consented (meaning "acknowledged openly"), and began seeking a good opportunity to betray him to them apart from the crowd."

Rick (00:22:10): So you can see that in the Luke account, it's adding more depth to this promise. "Yes, we'll pay you off." So it's much deeper than that. It's much more devious than that. It's much bigger than that.

Jonathan (00:22:25): The equivalent today would be, "Do whatever it takes, even if it crosses the lines of integrity." This opens the door for a marginal gray area, even darkness, to be justified as being light.

Julie (00:22:38): Historically, some churches compromised and incorporated pagan rituals into Christianity for the sake of attracting people; darkness justified as light.

Jonathan (00:22:48): Today, some churches water down truth and make it more of a social event in order to try to make the message more attractive. Whatever it takes to bring them in. How sad.

Rick (00:22:59): When we look at this use of this word for "announce," you can see there's all kinds of negativity attached to it. There's deviousness, there's evil, there's darkness, there's no integrity, there's nothing there of value. And the thing we're looking at is the simple, quiet principle of just be that person who keeps their word. That's how Jesus described it. We don't need more than that because that's what he gave us to work with, to work on, to become. And the idea of having to make promises and having to count it out, 1...2...3...,all of that is beyond what Jesus taught us to do. This is important, and this is something that we probably don't think about too often. So Jonathan, Speaking and Keeping My Word, what do we have?

Jonathan (00:23:52): The contrast between the principles of righteous commitment that Jesus taught; "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no," and the dark dealing with the conniving of Judas and the chief priests could not be greater. We are clearly taught to have a character that simply stands and speaks for righteousness. No need for dramatics and deals.

Rick (00:24:15): It's simple. If you are truly a Christian, there is no need for dramatics. There's no need to swear on a stack of Bibles. There's no need to say, "Well, to be honest with you," there's no need for those things. There's the need for the personal integrity from the inside out to be a person of your word. Let's look at the theme scripture for our discussion today, its context. And what we're going to see in the context is a recipe for truthful and godly words, truthful and godly beliefs, truthful and godly discipline and truthful and godly faithfulness. There's a recipe written in the context in Ephesians 4:25-27.

Julie (00:25:00): So first, we want truthful and godly words. The scripture says, "Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor..."

Jonathan (00:25:10): Next, truthful and godly beliefs, "...for we are members of one another." That's the core. This belief has to be a driving factor.

Julie (00:25:20): For truthful and godly discipline, the scripture continues with, "Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger..."

Jonathan (00:25:28): Lastly, truthful and godly faithfulness; "...and do not give the devil an opportunity."

Rick (00:25:34): You see the simplicity here and how it reflects the simplicity of Jesus saying, "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no." Be that person with your words, reflecting the simplicity and the beauty of God's will, with your beliefs showing that you are abiding by God's will, with the discipline of your life being that reflection of God's will and faithfulness, saying, "That's the only thing that drives me." It's the integrity of our words that relies on the power of our belief. It always comes down to the same word that it always comes down to every time we talk about anything with character development. And that word is humility. It comes down to humility. We can be people of our word if we are first humble before God through Christ, and then look to grow through that humility. So to speak and keep my word, I must be humble and see my life through God's greatness. And this is the paradigm shift. This is, how do you get yourself into that frame of mind, that frame of being? Let's look at Psalm 24:1-5 and put some things in order here:

Jonathan (00:26:52): "The earth is the Lord's, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it. For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand at His holy place?" Look at how great He is. The New Testament promises are overwhelmingly about God's promises. All He says and does is magnificent. All He has done is confirmation of all He is going to do.

Julie (00:27:22): One of my favorite quotes is by Ralph Waldo Emerson, "All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."

Rick (00:27:32): This is the way we can begin to put ourselves in a position to say, "Okay, how am I going to speak and how am I going to act?" Look at the greatness of God and the fact that His word is history and it is also facts that are not yet revealed. We want to follow that pattern. And now as we go further with these verses in verses 4-5, it becomes about us. We look at the greatness of God. And now what about me?

Jonathan (00:28:02): "He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation."

Julie (00:28:15): It's about me having clean hands and a pure heart, and that means not promising what I can't deliver. And on the flip side, not coming together and scheming against others like those against Paul and Jesus. It means not compromising my Christian principles and always living by a higher standard. Easier said than done sometimes, but true.

Rick (00:28:35): Well, easier said than done often times, but necessary. Clean hands, pure heart, not lifted up your soul to falsehood, not sworn deceitfully. Those are qualities and characteristics that bring blessing. And that's exactly what Jesus said. "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no." It's really simple, it's really straightforward, but we miss it because we're so insecure about our own capacity sometimes. And we'll expand that a little bit as we go. But Jonathan, right now, Speaking and Keeping My Word, what's next?

Jonathan (00:29:10): Humility brings us to genuine appreciation of God through Jesus, which makes us want to be people of integrity, which will bring us blessing and salvation.

Julie (00:29:20): Here's a good question to ask in the mirror. How clean are my hands? How clean is my heart? How clean are my words?

Rick (00:29:28): Where am I in relation to the simplicity of following after Jesus and all that he said and taught and all the things that he didn't say as well? The whole idea of keeping our promises is based upon the simplicity of following Jesus and being a person of godly integrity.

Jonathan (00:29:52): It's easy to see how being a person of your word is so important. How do we handle it when we do not keep our word?

Rick (00:30:00): Hmm, okay. As Christians, not keeping our word should be a major concern, for in so doing, we not only sully our reputation, but the reputation of God, Jesus and Christianity as well. Left unchecked, not keeping our word can and usually will create a domino effect with all that is godly and righteous in our lives as the chief casualties of that problem. Things just start to fall apart when we start to not keep our word.

Jonathan (00:30:35): Rick, a challenge to me is not to overexaggerate things. It is easy to embellish what we did or what we're going to do. We should pause before we speak and be as accurate and as truthful as possible. And I'm working on it.

Rick (00:30:51): Well, we're all working on it. Jonathan, you have to decide, "not in a million years will I ever say one single word that would ever be out of harmony with the will of God." That's the exaggeration that we avoid, okay? Don't try this at home. Really, we want to understand that exaggeration can be the beginning of the domino effect. Because by exaggerating, we're taking things out of their appropriate context, out of the simplicity of "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no." You don't need a whole lot of promises if your "yes is yes and your no is no." Now, so we want to be truthful, obviously. There is a difference between being a chronic promise-breaker and being one who does not live up to all of our promises. There is a difference between those two things. While both don't bring goodness to anyone, we need to understand who we are when it comes to keeping our word. When thinking about this, there's an old saying, "My word is my bond." Well, Julie, where does that old saying, "My word is my bond" come from?

Julie (00:31:59): That's an idiom, meaning that you are ethical and that you keep your promises. And its origins, when we looked it up, interesting, it included the use of creating binding agreements without the need for written contracts. And it's long been the motto of the London Stock Exchange. Can you imagine buying and selling stock on just a verbal promise? Can you imagine perhaps going to the bank for a loan? And the bank says, sure, pay this amount every month for the next 10 years, pleasure doing business with you! Taking out a house mortgage now means months of applications and stacks and stacks of documents to sign and contracts and wording. And, but my word is my bond.

Rick (00:32:40): And it really shows us a dramatic degrading of our word from a human perspective. You just realize how bad we are, how far away we've come from that sense of integrity as the most important thing. And again, and I know I'm a broken record on this, "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no." That's how Jesus taught us about keeping our word. It's that simple, that straightforward. Jesus gave us the principles of understanding how it is that some keep their word and some do not. So now he's looking at, okay, here's what happens in both cases. Matthew 12:33-35:

Jonathan (00:33:29): "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil." Well, if we have been a tree that is not good, we need to transform that tree.

Julie (00:34:00): Or like Jesus also said, we need to find new treasure.

Rick (00:34:04): So he's giving us a couple of different illustrations to wake us up. Okay, maybe you weren't the good tree bringing forth good truth, but so make it good. Find a new treasure that's actually valuable in the sight of God, not in the sight of men. Not keeping our word can be a symptom of wrong heart motivation. Or, not keeping our word can be a symptom of an unrealistic perspective on what we're capable of doing. Now, there's a big difference between the wrong heart motivation, "I'm just going to say it to get out of trouble, I'm just going to say it so I can just move on with things. I really don't care what they think. I just want to get this over with." That's that wrong heart motivation. The unrealistic perspective based on what we're capable of doing, that's an entirely different thing. We "overpromise" because we really want to. That's a good desire, but a bad conclusion. And we are going to expand that in a little bit.

Julie (00:35:05): So it's like, "I'll call you on Thursday," but I don't get around to it. We don't want to be lazy in our commitments. Do what you say.

Rick (00:35:12): Right, so you don't want to speak those words idly, so that you're filling time and saying, "Yeah, this is really what I want to do," but not taking the words that you speak seriously.

Jonathan (00:35:24): In light of the need for transformation, let's look at another use of "promise" relating to human actions in the New Testament. This clearly shows us a wrong heart motivation. 1 Timothy 6:20-21: "O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge which some have professed (meaning "announced") and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you."

Julie (00:35:56): So we read, "which some have professed." Interestingly, this is the same Greek word we read in 1 Timothy 2:20 for those women, remember, they made a "claim to godliness." They professed godliness, but it was false. They were more concerned with their external looks. Well, it's the same concept here. Through the grace of the spirit, the apostles and those close to them had the ability to properly interpret scriptures, but others filtered it through their own thinking. They corrupted the message, falsely calling it knowledge. It might have looked the same on the outside, but it sure wasn't the same on the inside.

Jonathan (00:36:31): They proclaimed false truth as truth.

Julie (00:36:35): Exactly. And in the Bible commentary "Barnes Notes on the Bible," they said under "Which some have professed--evidently some who professed to be true Christians were attracted by false philosophy, and soon, as a consequence, they were led to deny the doctrines of Christianity. This result has not been uncommon in the world."

Jonathan (00:36:56): Some churches today focus on healing and speaking in tongues. The Bible told us these gifts would cease and only the apostles could directly pass these gifts on to someone. But people in the congregations were being taught error for truth. This does a lot of damage to the name of Christ.

Rick (00:37:15): It really does. And it's something that we need to be very, very careful about. And the idea in this scripture is that you had these professions of goodness, but they were not spiritually sound. And when you have these professions, these promises, these announcements, we get ourselves in trouble because we're following the wrong things. "Let your yes be yes, let your no be no." Follow after scripture. That's really, really, really what it all always boils down to. So we need to become that other tree, find that new treasure. It's about personal transformation. Our personal transformation to Christlikeness is a common, very, very common thread in scripture. Again, let's go back to our theme scripture context. Let's go to Ephesians 4:28-29 now:

Jonathan (00:38:10): "He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." "He who steals must steal no longer..." And "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth..." This is about transforming what you were to what you need to be. It is moving up the ladder, of living a life of true integrity in both actions and words. This is the complete package of walking in Jesus's footsteps from where we were to where we want to be.

Rick (00:38:54): And not only that, but the apostle adds a very interesting dimension here. He says, "Look, clean up your act. If you were cheating on things, stealing and all that, don't do that anymore." Do things honestly and with wholesome vigor, if you will. Why? So you can be right before Christ, but also so you can be in a position to help others. So it's not just about me, it's about what I do with what I have created with integrity, with honesty, with letting my "yes be yes" and my "no be no," so I can be that Christian example of reaching out to others who may be in need. Personal transformation. Again, personal transformation is not a straight line. And it begins with recognizing our sins and bringing those sins before God. Another scripture that we commonly quote, 1 John 2:1-2:

Jonathan (00:39:47): "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he himself is the propitiation (or satisfaction) for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." It is okay to make mistakes and fall down on the path, but we need to keep getting up. We can bring our sin before God through Christ as our advocate. This helps us not to be discouraged so that we can keep going.

Rick (00:40:19): So when we are trying to let our "yes be yes" and our "no be no" and we make mistakes, it's okay. We bring those sins; Jesus advocates for us. We know that his sacrifice covers us, and we get up and we try it again and we work a little bit harder and we refocus and learn from our previous mistakes.

Julie (00:40:39): The account of Zacchaeus is going to be helpful to our discussion. He was a rich tax collector. He climbed a tree so that he could get a glimpse of Jesus as he walked by. And from him, we learn that if we haven't kept our word, we need a willingness to mend our ways swiftly and generously. Let's drop in on what happened in Luke 19:5-9:

Jonathan (00:41:00): "When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house. And he hurried and came down and received him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much. And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham." Jesus saw the sincerity of Zacchaeus' heart and knew he would follow through. He speaks directly to Jesus, ignoring the crowd talking bad about him.

Julie (00:41:49): What a contrast. This crowd is grumbling that of all people, Jesus picked a yucky tax collector, but Zacchaeus displays this deep regret for wrongdoing and voluntarily offers a generous restitution based on his heart change.

Jonathan (00:42:04): And not only would he give half his possessions to the poor, but so far as he overcharged, he would make it right by giving back four times as much. Julie, what do Bible commentaries say about that number?

Julie (00:42:19): Albert Barnes' "Commentary on the Whole Bible" explains that in the Jewish law, if someone stole a sheep, but confessed to himself without a trial, he had to restore what was stolen and add a fifth, or about 20% of its value. But if you were formally tried and convicted of the theft, you owed four times as much as what you took. Zaccheus would have known the law, he was a numbers guy. He was voluntarily confessing, which meant 20% was appropriate. But to quote Albert Barnes, "The sincerity of Zacchaeus' repentance was manifest by his being willing to make restoration as great as if it had been proved against him, revealing his sense of the wrong and his purpose to make full restitution."

Jonathan (00:43:06): And in the face of public ridicule, Zaccheus did the right thing. He acknowledged his flaws and committed to more than the reparations necessary to mend his past, so that his present could be open to the joy of following Jesus. This is a great example of a pathway toward letting "Your yes be yes, and your no be no."

Rick (00:43:28): And it's interesting how Jesus, when Zaccheus made that proclamation, "Here's what I will do," Jesus knew he was sincere. He knew it because Jesus' reaction is, "Today, salvation has come to this house because he, too, is a son of Abraham." So you see this example of mending our ways swiftly and generously. And that before God is a wonderful thing because it sends a message not only to the people around us, it sends a message to our Heavenly Father and folks, it sends a message to me. It sends a message to me that I will stand for something higher by simply letting my "Yes be yes, and my no be no." Jonathan, Speaking and Keeping My Word; where are we?

Jonathan (00:44:09): The principles of honesty in word and deed cannot be overstated. The motivation and actions of diligently correcting our own course and righting our own wrongs indicates that we are Christian transformation "works in progress." Even if our sincere efforts to make up for a broken promise are not fully received, our heartfelt actions are blessed in God's eyes.

Julie (00:44:37): They may be blessed, but what if we haven't been a person of our word in the past? We've gotten sloppy with our relationships. After hearing this episode, we want to change, but no one believes us or takes us seriously because they have been burnt by our lack of follow-through in the past. What should we do?

Rick (00:44:53): I think the answer is really simple. It's quoting Jesus. It's "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no." People can say, "yeah, sure, whatever, whatever, Rick." But what we can do is live up to it, whether they like it, whether they recognize it, whether they acknowledge it, whether you're complimented or not. Even if you're still criticized, if you continuously say and do the same things--you say you're going to do it, then you do it, you live up to it in a godly way, it eventually makes a statement. If people don't want to accept it, that's fine, because it is accepted by our heavenly Father. Simply do the right thing whether anybody else likes it or not. And especially with our word, keep your word in a godly way and you are receiving godly blessing as a result. Promises and commitments we have not kept can devastate others. Our sincere and constant corrective actions, they are critical.

Jonathan (00:45:56): With all of this concern about mending our broken word, how do we continually strengthen our word moving forward?

Rick (00:46:03): Applying a continuous, promise-keeping approach to every aspect of our lives really is the absolute bottom line for our whole conversation here today. Inevitably, we will find that being as good as our word at all times and in all places is one of the primary ways that we as Christians can truly glorify God in our everyday life activities. So the whole point here is we send blessings to God when we live in the image of Jesus. Did he ever not do what he said he would do? Did Jesus ever need to say, "I promise on the holiness of the temple?" No. He just did those things that were before him, and his character and his actions were looked at and they were exactly the same; godly. His character was godly, his actions were godly. His words in between the character and actions were godly. "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no."

Jonathan (00:47:10): God is pleased when we become a person of integrity.

Rick (00:47:14): It's really that simple. What more do you say? And if you can please God, I don't know, I think I want to be in that line. Okay, pick me! The stark contrast to this attitude is the final example of that word for "promise" in the New Testament relating to human thinking. So we're going back to that word one more time. This example is the Apostle Peter writing about false prophets. So the fact that he's writing about false prophets, incoming, you know it's not going to be good. 2 Peter 2:17-19:

Jonathan (00:47:48): "These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising (or announcing) them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved." Well, here the word "promising" is again used in that negative sense.

Julie (00:48:22): These false teachers try to lure followers to corruption for perhaps ego or financial benefit of the leader, away from that which is simple, sincere, reverent and godly. And this reminds me of the so-called "Prosperity Gospel" leaders. Bible commentary by David Guzik on this "springs without water" phrase; It means "these ungodly false teachers are empty." They are "as useless as wells without water and like clouds that bring only darkness and no nourishing rain."

Rick (00:48:53): And think about that for a second, because when you have a spring, what do you expect from it? Pure water. When you have that dark cloud, especially if you're in a drought situation and that dark cloud comes, what are you looking forward from it? Rain.

Jonathan (00:49:07): Rain.

Rick (00:49:08): So what it's saying is you have an expectation, and it's absolutely unfulfilled. And that's where promising them freedom, it's an absolute denial of what the expectation really is looking for. That's how convoluted the idea of promising, of announcing, ends up being in scripture. It's exactly what we don't want to be, where we don't want to be. Wherever we were, cannot, should not, diminish what we are becoming. Look, maybe we weren't people of our word. Doesn't mean that we have to stay that way.

Julie (00:49:49): What are we doing with where we're going?

Rick (00:49:52): What are we doing with where we, how is it actually changing me? It's just not intellectual. It has to be firm in our actual actions. Let's go back to our theme context one more time. Ephesians 4:30-31:

Jonathan (00:50:07): "Do not grieve the holy spirit of God, by whom you were sealed by the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice." Be the person of your word who stands for godly integrity and truth. Don't hold grudges.

Rick (00:50:27): It's so simple to say it, isn't it? It's just so simple. Say, sure, I will do that. I will do that. Folks, being that is the heart that says, I want to live up to something and I'm going to strive as best as I possibly can to actually fulfill every detail of those things that I'm trying to say so that I will do them. Jesus' parable about building a tower gives us the principles for truly being Christians who keep our word. Now this is important because it's not just about I believe in Jesus, I'm saved, everything's great. It's not just about that. There is a process to becoming a true Christian. There's a process to deciding how to get into that mode of thinking. Let's look at this parable or part of this parable anyway in Luke 14:27-30:

Jonathan (00:51:18): "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish." This commitment and following Christ is for our entire life. Before we make this serious commitment, we need to think before we act and think before we speak.

Rick (00:51:55): That's exactly right. And counting the cost, that's really what this parable is showing us. Counting the cost is a necessary and responsible approach to true discipleship, to the big picture. But counting the cost of our words, of our verbal commitments and communications, is also an important aspect of our Christian life because it displays spiritual maturity. Count the cost of your words before you speak them. "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no."

Julie (00:52:24): How do we strengthen that value of our words so it can be counted on? I want what I say to be a reflection of who I am in Christ, not who my flesh still is, but I'm working on it.

Rick (00:52:35): And we have to work on it. And it's not something that we're immediately going to be able to transform overnight. So what we want to do is introduce several thoughts that are building blocks to help that process, that working on it, so that we can be simply like Jesus and "letting our yes be yes and our no, be no," putting our words into spiritual perspective. First thought; let's remember that our commitment to sacrificial Christianity requires us to speak wisely. Here's a simple "Yes be yes, and no be no." Colossians 4:5-6:

Jonathan (00:53:10): "Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person."

Rick (00:53:24): "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. Let your speech always be with grace. Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. Let your speech always be with grace. Let your speech always be with grace." Are you getting the point? It's God's grace that helps us to have the simplicity of our "yes, yes and no be no."

Julie (00:53:48): A picture that I think of is Jesus had the grace of God mastered so that his words were always filtered through that grace. It's who he was. So as I'm speaking, I want to think about God's grace as a filter to make sure it's coming out right.

Rick (00:54:04): Yeah. And that's the point. That's what Jesus did. That's what we must do. Let's go to the next thought. Let's remember that just because we in an emotional moment, feel like we can keep our word does not by itself make us capable of following through on that word.

Jonathan (00:54:24): You know, that does happen, doesn't it?

Rick (00:54:27): It does, it does. We have great intention. Matthew 26:31-35 is a very, very good example of this:

Jonathan (00:54:36): "Then Jesus said to them, You will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. But Peter said to him, Even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter said to him, Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. All the disciples said the same thing too."

Rick (00:55:10): It's interesting. Peter is almost arguing with Jesus. "No, no, I won't fall away. No, I will not deny you." He's almost correcting Jesus. "Don't you understand how much I love you and care for you?" That's how he felt. His promise is emphatic, perhaps partly as a gut reaction to the shocking prophecy that Jesus had just given, as well as partly because in that moment, I thoroughly believe that Peter believed that he would never deny his Lord, because he was so attached and he was so committed to him.

Jonathan (00:55:45): Sometimes we believe what we say, but lack the follow-through. Peter's a great example for us of success after failure. If the Apostle Peter failed and succeeded, we know with the Lord's help we can too.

Rick (00:55:58): And the process for that success after failure is Jesus showed him what was going to happen. Jesus taught him what was going to happen. Jesus let him fall into his own conclusions so that he could learn from it. And Jesus prayed for him. He didn't stop the process. He didn't short-circuit anything. He allowed the growth to happen so Peter could grow into "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no." It's a very, very dramatic lesson for us as Christians. Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew, but we want to be focused in on the most important things. Another thought; let's remember to focus our words and actions on that which is reasonable based on our capacity in Christ. Just like we just heard, our word should be based on God's will and word in us, not how I feel. 1 Corinthians 1:26-31:

Jonathan (00:57:00): "For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Julie (00:57:41): That expression just jumps out at you, "So that no man may boast before the Lord." Why is this so important? Well, it goes back to that humility that we talked about earlier, because God is bigger and greater than we are. And without God, through Christ, we're just dust and ashes. Anything good in us comes from God and we are just reflecting Him.

Rick (00:58:02): So learning "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no" requires our recollection of who we are and where we came from. We're not the greatness that we may think we are. We are much less, and therefore we have God's grace to lift us up, not our own ego, not our own accomplishments; God's grace to lift us up. Next thought; let's remember to focus our words and actions on a loving and clear understanding of God's truth. Ephesians 4:14-15:

Jonathan (00:58:30): "As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ." We can speak the truth and not do it in love, and it can be as damaging as speaking falsehoods because we aren't representing the full truth. We need to be people of our words. Speaking the truth in love is a growing up process that helps us to mature. It's not the end result, it's the process of letting your "Yes be yes."

Rick (00:59:12): Yeah. You know, that's a really good point. We can speak the words of truth, but only sort of parse through them, instead of speaking the truth of the words. And we want to put that in its proper perspective. And just one side note. What about kids? What about kids? We're talking about keeping our words and say, okay, we shouldn't be making promises. It is important to teach children to make and keep promises. Why? Because they need to learn the principles of committing yourself to something and following through on it, of committing yourself to something and following through on it. As you become an adult, and the adult in the situation, when you're with your kids and they want this or want that, hopefully you get to a point where saying, "Dad said that that's what we're going to do." And you don't need to say, "Oh, I promise, I promise." It should just be "Well, no, that's what dad said, and doesn't dad always do what he says he is going to do?" That's the level of parenting we want to get to, and we want to teach our children how to grow up into that level of thinking and integrity and maturity. Finally, last thought. Let's remember to have our words simply and always be a result of dwelling on that which builds us up spiritually. And last scripture, Julie, this is one of your favorite scriptures, so you're going to have to be the one to read this. Philippians 4:8:

Julie (01:00:34): "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." And this verse is so deep that we did a two-part series on it, episodes #1281 and #1282 called "We Are What We Think About. So, What Are We Thinking About?" We learned that this is not just a nice phrase to put on your coffee cup. Each one of these is so meaningful and to dwell on these things, it's very important for us. So excellent, excellent scripture to end with.

Rick (01:01:14): It helps us understand, "Let my yes be yes, and my no be no." Speaking and Keeping My Words, Jonathan, let's wrap that up.

Jonathan (01:01:22): One of the keys to true spirituality is the ability to speak not only what is true, but also that which is attainable. For Christians, this only happens when we have our hearts and minds working together to attain and maintain Christlikeness in every aspect of our lives. The value of our word truly represents the value of our character in Christ.

Rick (01:01:47): That's a powerful statement. The value of our word represents the value of our character in Christ. If I am not one who keeps my word and works really hard at keeping my word, what does that say about my character in Christ? Folks, these are very important, difficult, challenging tasks before us. To simply learn to be a person of your word, just like Jesus was, to not need to go to all great lengths and dramatics to have people believe you, but simply be the person that people will believe because that's a person that can be believed. That's who Jesus was. We are his footstep followers. That's what we should become. "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no." Think about it. Folks, we love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes at ChristianQuestions.com. Coming up in our next episode, "How Do I Know if I Have Really Forgiven Someone?" How do I know? Talk to you next week.

Final Notes (01:02:50): copyright @2023 Christian Questions. In addition to this transcript, we provide comprehensive CQ Rewind Show Notes for every episode. They include every scripture quoted during the podcast, as well as graphics, illustrations and bonus material. Click the "CQ Rewind Show Notes" button near the audio player or sign up to receive these weekly at ChristianQuestions.com. This transcript was created using artificial intelligence. While we believe it to be accurate, we apologize for any errors that may exist.