Learning to live well in God’s Kingdom begins with an open heart to learn from Jesus.  The Sermon on the Mount expresses the message and mission of Jesus for transforming his disciples.  As we learn to live the Jesus way, we discover the ethic of God’s Kingdom is actually more demanding than we might have imagined. Jesus does not present a soft and convenient way of life.  Instead, he calls each disciple to practice grace and truth, to embrace love and compassion, to obey his teaching.  The life of discipleship is costly and challenging but it is the only way to experience the fullness of blessing in God’s Kingdom.

In Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus addresses the practice of swearing and making oaths for the purpose of validating personal and social commitments.  The heart of this legal practice centers on truth and integrity.  How do we know what a person says is true?  Will the promise given be kept?  What happens when someone deceives another by lying?  What keeps us honest and truthful in our communication?  Why do we distort the facts or exaggerate the message?  What is the source of lies and deceit?

As I review the biblical narrative, I find an undeniable and uncomfortable truth that lying is almost epidemic.  In the OT, the serpent deceived Adam and Eve who became evasive by denying responsibility for their disobedience and blaming God for placing the serpent in the Garden of Eden.  Abraham persuaded Sarah to lie about their relationship as husband and wife.  Jacob pretended to be his brother, Esau, and lied to Isaac in order to gain the patriarch’s blessing.  In the NT, Jesus accused the religious leaders of hypocrisy because their conduct was influenced by the devil, who is the father of lies (John 8:44).  Simon Peter lied about his relationship to Jesus and denied knowing him three times.  Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and to the apostles in the early church concerning their financial contributions (Acts 5).  In Peter’s case, the Lord Jesus forgave him and reinstated his call to shepherd God’s flock.  However, the punishment on Ananias and Sapphira was lethal.

The apostle Paul reminded the early Christians in Ephesians 4:25 to practice honesty and integrity: “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”  Again in Colossians 3:8-10, Paul exhorts believers to live out the new life in Christ:  “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”  In essence, we need to speak the truth in love for this honors Jesus our Lord.

Has lying become an epidemic in society?  Even young children lie without coaching because adults lie.  It is a universal reality that everyone has given in to the sin of lying.  If we claim that we have never sinned, we lie.  If we claim to always speak the truth, we lie.  How do we discern the truth amidst the lies?  How do we know when someone is lying or distorting the truth?  What does Jesus require of his disciples in the area of personal communication?  How can we learn to live well with truth and integrity so that what we say and who we are consonant and congruent?  For this Sunday, please read Matthew 5:33-37 in different translations and reflect on Jesus’ teaching.

Finally, I wish to express our love and appreciation for all mothers in our church community for Mother’s Day.  May the Lord God bless you with wisdom and grace as you embody His love and goodness in your amazing role as mothers!

Blessings, Peter