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Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661
Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org
OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”
Nobleton Community Church
Date January 25, 2026
Text Matthew 5:33-42
Pastor Paul Lehmann
Perhaps you remember when I have mentioned in the past; Former astronaut Michael Collins, speaking at a banquet some years ago, quoted the estimate that the average man speaks 25,000 words a day and the average woman speaks 30,000; Then he added; “unfortunately, when I come home each day I’ve spoken my 25,000, but my wife hasn’t started her 30,000 yet.
According to statisticians, the average person spends at least 1/5 of his or her life talking. Ordinarily, in a single day, enough words are used to fill a 50-page book. In one year, the average person’s words would fill 132 books, each containing 400 pages.
Our words are important, not only what we say, but how we say it. A man who is known as “a man of his word” is respected. It seems that today it is becoming more and more difficult to find those who will always speak the truth. Situational ethics became accepted in the early 1960s and continues to this day. It is even more normal today than ever before. It is the guiding principle for many professing Christians, instead of the Word of God. If it is more convenient to lie, as long as it doesn’t seemingly hurt anyone, this has become an accepted way, or whichever solution offers the greatest good, whether it goes against the clear teaching of God’s Word or not. We see in our text the beatitudes in practical form. Jesus gives us examples. He has moved from the doctrine of the beatitudes to exhortation. When he stated that blessed are the pure in heart, we begin to understand that unless there is pureness of heart, there will be pollution of our lips. God’s ideal is that our word is a pledge. There is no need for oath-taking to support your word and ensure that you speak the truth, or emphasize what you say with an explicative. Jesus sets forth the challenge to end resentment and retaliation with love for our enemies instead of just our neighbor as the old standard demanded.
We can be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect ( further down in verse 48), if we see that perfection as functional. A thing is perfect if it fully realizes the purpose for which it was planned, designed, and made.
This morning, let’s look at three functional exhortations which lead to Christian perfection as it should be Biblically understood. The first exhortation is:
I. THAT A WORD IS A PLEDGE.
We as Christians should be able to say yes and have people believe us, or no and be understood as speaking the truth. In Numbers 30:2 we read, “When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.” Then in Deut. 23;21,22; if you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do.
Now, in the time of Jesus, there were two unsatisfactory things about taking oaths. One was what might be called,
- Frivolous swearing. Taking an oath when no oath was necessary or proper. It had become far too common a custom to introduce a statement by saying, “by your life” or “by my head” or, “may I never see the comfort of Israel or Jerusalem if that isn’t true…” An example for us today might be: “I swear on my mother’s grave” or “I cross my heart and hope to die.” These are old and not used much anymore; we just stick an explicative in our sentence. The Rabbis said that to use any form of oath in a simple statement, like “That olive tree produces a lot of olives, was sinful and wrong. How many times do we hear people make a simple declarative statement, but add an explicative to it, perhaps preceding the statement, or adding it as an adjective? Most people who do that have gotten into so much of a habit of doing this that they don’t even realize that they have done it. They don’t think of it as swearing, unless they have used vulgar language.
The ideal is that we should never need an oath or explicative to guarantee the truth or make the person think that something was a big deal. A person’s character should make that unnecessary. In fact, when a Christian does this, even unbelievers might wonder if you are a Christian. The principle which Jesus lays down is quite clear. In effect, he is saying that no one can keep God out of any transaction. God is already there. Life cannot be divided into compartments. Not one kind of language in church, and another outside of church during the week. He doesn’t have to be invited, or His name used in vain, even when expressing astonishment in a situation. Usually when that happens, his name isn’t being invoked “in prayer.’” He is always there, and all promises are sacred, and all circumstances include him in some way, even though we aren’t aware of it.
There is a big difference between Islamic nations and the West. In our culture, we have made an issue over the separation of church and state. In France, it is worse than in the U.S. In Islam, there is no such thing as the separation of church and state. Everything in life is religious and is referred to in either the Koran or the Hadith, which are the writings about what Mohammed said or did. There is no separation between the religious and the secular, for in orthodox Islam, there is no secular. That is why it would be quite a blow to our way of life to follow Shariah Law, as Muslims would like to see happen. They certainly think that God (Allah) is in every transaction. As Christians, God should be a part of our daily living situations, if we are living for him, and have Jesus in our lives, but we shouldn’t be content to follow Islamic law, which is based on some interpretation from parts of the Old Testament, and also declarations by Imams in the past.
The second Jewish custom was in some ways even worse than frivolous swearing; it might be called:
- Evasive Swearing.
The Jews divided oaths into two classes: those which were absolutely binding and those which were not. In our culture today, it’s kind of like crossing your fingers when you don’t really mean something. Many people, including some professing Christians, seem to have no problem with telling so-called “little white lies” if it is to protect themselves or someone else, in moments when the truth would be condemning. We are either truthful people, or we are not. Often, we use inflection or body language or adjectives to mislead each other, to orchestrate a response that is not based on truth? Do we give ourselves the right to say one thing and mean something else? All of that was the problem Jesus was addressing in this section. Have you ever gone up to someone and said, “Hey, it’s good to see you,” and everything about you says that you’re enthusiastic, but you can’t wait to quit talking to them? Or maybe you go out of your way to avoid greeting and talking to someone that you have something against. Have you ever been in a setting where you hear a person advocate a position and you say, “That’s a great argument, or that’s a great point, very thoughtful presentation you’ve made there.” But at the next meeting, you vote against their proposal? If asked, “Weren’t you in favor of it? –You say, “No, I thought the proposal was great, but I just never agreed with it.” Yet the impression you left with the person was that you agreed with their point and would support them when the vote came up. We learn to use language to fool and manipulate people, get our way, open doors, and advance our cause. And we do it in such a way that we can’t be strictly called liars, but in fact, we are. That is what most politicians do when they are campaigning.
Having said that, I must also say that we must not deliberately say things to hurt another, even if it is the truth. We first must earn the right to speak into another person’s life by spending time with them and getting to know them. Also, there are different ways to say things that are truthful, but do not destroy the person or discourage them so much that they do not want to see you again, let alone talk to you. Think about your relationships with family, friends, in the body of Christ, and those who don’t believe in or know Christ. Have you ever said things in a way that you know hurt someone, and your attitude is simply—“Well, it was the truth.” And there is no attempt at an apology or reconciliation. Oh yes, then there is when you don’t say everything—- you didn’t evade the issue, you hit it right on, so like the Pharisees, you can say that you were not guilty of evasive swearing to something that wasn’t quite the truth, but in the meantime you have destroyed another child of God.
When Jesus said, “Do not swear at all” (verse 34), He was laying down the principle that the Christian must not have two standards of truth, but that his ordinary speech must be as sacredly true as his oath. In the kingdom of God, that principle holds true; oaths, which were common in Old Testament times becomes unnecessary.
Then the second Functional exhortation, which leads to Christian perfection, is:
II DO NOT RESIST AN EVIL PERSON
Jesus clarifies the ancient law that we have in Deuteronomy 19:21: “Show no pity; life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” These laws are often quoted as amongst the bloodthirsty, savage, and merciless laws of the Old Testament, but before we say that, we must understand certain things. This Old Testament law was, in fact, the beginning of mercy. Its original aim was definitely the limitation of vengeance. In the very earliest days, the vendetta and the blood feud were characteristic of tribal society. Even in what we would call modern day, about 60-70 years ago in Irian Jaya (Indonesia), if a man of one tribe injured a man of another tribe, then at once all the members of the tribe of the injured man went out to take vengeance on all the members of the tribe who committed the injury, and the vengeance desired was nothing less than death.
Now, this law in Deuteronomy deliberately limits vengeance; only one man must be punished, the offender. It was never a law to give this right to a private individual, but a court. It was to guide the judge. It was not usually carried out literally and soon became a money matter where something of equal value was accepted. A bad tooth might be taken out as vengeance for a good tooth that was lost, etc., then finally, money became the way to satisfy grievances, as it is mainly for us today.
In the third world, like where we were in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, corruption was rampant, so it wasn’t money to satisfy grievances, but paying the judge in order to get a favorable decision. The ancient law of life for a life is upheld quickly also. If you hit a pedestrian with your vehicle, it doesn’t matter if it was their fault or not. You are guilty. The public will try to kill you, even before if the person is dead or not.
This eye-for-an-eye way of judging in the Old Testament was not the whole ethic, but many times mercy was shown. Now in spite of these guidelines and the fact that this law was to limit violence, Jesus obliterated the very principle of that law, because retaliation, however restricted, has no place in the Christian life.
This is A new spirit of non-resentment and non-retaliation. Verse 39, “if someone hits you on the right cheek, (a back of the hand gesture of contempt), then turn the other cheek for him to hit too. Make it twice as insulting. Jesus is saying, even if a man should direct at you the most deadly and calculated insult, you must on no account retaliate, and you must on no account resent it. The committed Spirit-filled Christian has learned this. Jesus himself was called all kinds of names; “son of Beelzebub (which is Satan), “a gluttonous man” (not only piggish in eating habits, but a hog or swine, a double insult for a Jew to be categorized as a pig, an unclean animal for them; also he was called “a wine bibber” (KJV old English– meaning an intemperate guzzler, a wino or drunk). A friend of tax gatherers (like our I.R.S.), only the tax collectors of Jesus’ time were thieves ( I know you think our government is stealing our money with our taxes too), but these men habitually took more from the people than what Rome demanded. They skimmed off the top, charging the people so that they could turn in what the government required, but then have plenty extra for themselves. Since the population couldn’t do anything about it, tax collectors were a despised people. Also, a friend of prostitutes. Pretty insulting names, always with the implication that he was like the company he kept.
The early Christians were called cannibals because of communion, and the statement that Jesus said—“This is my body,” and they were accused of immorality, gross and shameless, because their services included the love feast.
People are insulted time and time again because they are not invited to do certain things in church, a note of thanks is omitted, or in some way they did not get the recognition they thought they deserved, or perhaps they didn’t get their way. Does this mean that we don’t need to thank people and make them feel appreciated? Of course not—-quite the contrary, but we must learn to forget insults, for the true Christian has learned from the Lord to accept any insult and never resent it, and never seek to retaliate, no matter how badly they have been wronged. Never resent what people say, or what they do or don’t do to us.
You may be thinking, Pastor Paul, that’s not me. I just can’t let people walk all over me. No, you can’t, but Christ living within you– can! We must say, ‘I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength.”
Then the third exhortation that Jesus gives is in verse 40. He tells us; If someone wants to ‘sue you’ and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. So we see that:
III. YOU SHOULD GIVE FREELY OF YOUR GOODS AND OF YOURSELF
This is easier said then done. —-The Tunic was a long sack-like inner garment (but not undergarment) made of cotton or linen. The poorest man would have a change of tunics, because it was equal to our shirts. (thus we have the expression-for a generous person; “he’d give you the shirt off his back.” Then, a Cloak is an old English word used to designate an outer coat. (Remember in school when we used to call the place where you would hang your coats, the “cloak room?” Well, a cloak was the outer garment or coat, still used in the middle east of those who wear robes. It was a heavy outer robe. A person would most likely have only one, and it was even used as a blanket at night. We read in Exodus 22:26,27, that if you take a cloak as a pledge (collateral—something of value), you should give it back at night because he needs it—he only has one. By rights, a man’s cloak couldn’t be taken away from him. So you see, it’s like—you don’t take out a home equity loan for a certain amount of money, and the lender says, fine I will take your house until you pay this amount back. No, your equity is the collateral, or insurance, if you will, against default of the loan. So this outer garment is very important and a man has NO RIGHT TO TAKE IT AWAY. –
-but Jesus says if a man needs a tunic, give him your outer garment as well. Unbelievable! You see, as Christians, we should never stand on our rights; a Christian never disputes about legal rights at all with their fellow believers. Some people are forever standing on their rights, suing people about anything and everything. But you see, WE HAVE NO RIGHTS. A Christian should think not of his rights, but of his duties; not of his privileges but of his responsibilities. The Christian is the man who has forgotten that he has any rights at all.
Finally, in verse 41, Jesus talks about going the extra mile. Carry something for someone (usually Roman soldiers demanded this), two miles, if he compels you to carry it one mile. Don’t resent this. The truly committed Spirit-filled Christian will never stand on his rights, but rather believe he should have. But always his responsibility to help and to give, and demonstrate the love of Christ.
May the Holy Spirit convict us and show us where we have failed to be an encouragement to others. May He help us to act the way Jesus would act.
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