Sermon On The Mount: Part 18

Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord [as a religious duty]. But I tell you, Do not bind yourselves by an 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. And do not swear by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black. Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one. Matthew 6:33-37

I was raised in Full Gospel, Bible in the left hand and sword in the right, kind of churches. The preachers loved to talk about how our words were placing everything into motion in our lives. 

If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless (futile, barren). James 1:26

And the tongue is a fire. [The tongue is a] world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth (the cycle of man’s nature), being itself ignited by hell (Gehenna). James 3:6

I was always being reminded how the words that I was speaking were destroying my life. I would try desperately to change and always to no avail. But a beautiful thing happened in my 20’s, Our Father took me into the Bible and He showed me the Truth and the Truth set me free.

The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright (honorable and intrinsically good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45

A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

I was always being preached to that I had to control my own tongue, but the Bible told me that our Father was responsible for changing my heart and spirit so that I would speak His Truth. When our Father showed me that it was on Him and not me, that is when my tongue began to change. I hope that you have seen this Truth: "we can do nothing on our own and we are never asked to or expected to."

I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. John 15:5

Jesus is always the power and the greatness that dwells within us. It is His Faith, His Hope, and His Love that we are now one with and it is His power that makes us the glorious and perfect church that our Father wants us to be.