Latest / The Daily Word / April 18 – Let Your Yes Be Yes
Transcript
- Cory Barnes: Well, hello, it's Pastor Jenny here for another Daily Word podcast. It is April 18th, which means we are in Matthew chapter five as we follow along in the Life Journal reading plant, which is super exciting because that means today we are beginning Jesus's sermon on the Mount. And that means over the next couple of days, we're going to be endeavoring on reading, or perhaps if you ⁓ do any type of apps, you have the opportunity to listen to this. That's actually what I did today. And ⁓ it was really neat because typically I am reading the scriptures, but I thought, you know what, I'm going to listen to this and sit and receive as if I was able to sit and listen to Jesus live. So if you've never done that, I encourage you, maybe this is an opportunity to, as if you're hearing Jesus himself deliver this sermon. It's an incredible sermon. If you're wondering what it would be like to hear Jesus live, this is the sermon. This is the message. He covers pretty much everything in the Sermon on the Mount. So, so much. goodness that could have been pulled from this morning. And as I said, Lord, what do you want to talk to me about today? I'm excited to share with you what he highlighted for me today. And so of all the things in chapter five, what stood out to me is going to be verses 33 through 37, where he actually talks about teaching about vows. And while of course, this could be applicable and certainly applies to marriage vows, it's not. limited to marriage vows. It's talking about any vow. ⁓ So let me read it to you and we'll get, we'll dive into it. It says, you have also heard that our ancestors were told you must not break your vows. You must carry out the vows you make to the Lord. But I say, do not make any vows. Do not say by heaven, because heaven is God's throne. And do not say by the earth, because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the city of the great king. Do not even say, 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. Anything beyond this is from the evil one. Let me say that again. Verse 37, just a simple, yes, I will, or no, I won't. Anything beyond this is from the evil one. I think too often we can overlook the power in Jesus's words because we don't really take the time to understand the ⁓ weight of what he really said. When we take time to think about the fact that right here in what he's saying, he's talking about ⁓ You know, not just what we're committing to God. So, you know, how many times have we come before God and say, Lord, you know, if you'll do this, I'll never do such and such again, or I promise God I'm going to do this. And, you know, God is gracious and He's merciful, but Jesus isn't even talking about those moments. He's talking about the everyday moments that we have with others, the everyday conversations. The everyday commitments we're making one to another in friendships, in our relationships with our kids, with our spouses. What about our work commitments and relationships? What about the commitments we're making on sports teams? It's from the small to the large. Jesus says, let your yes be yes and your no be no. I have a saying that I am often in conversation with others and it's this, I simply say, do what you say. And what I mean by that is if you say it, I have an expectation that you're going to do it. And when there's a lack of doing, I, after time, I'm going to come back and say, hey, can we talk about that? Because you said this. And but time has passed and you haven't done it. So I wanna talk about it because I do take serious the words of Jesus. And so when ⁓ we say, let our yes be yes and our no be no, I'm trying my best to live that out. Again, I understand none of us are perfect in this. We're all growing, I'm growing. Have I overcommitted myself at times? Absolutely. Have you overcommitted? For sure. But I think it's important as we're growing in our walk with the Lord is I'm growing in my walk. that I understand it's important to let my yes be yes and my no be no. So there are certainly some disciplines that come alongside of this. It's leaning into the Holy Spirit and saying, Holy Spirit, I need wisdom to recognize when I should or shouldn't commit to something. If I can do something, then absolutely, let me say yes. But if I can't, then perhaps I should let someone know. You know what? I'm not gonna be able to do that. Or I don't think that I, let me get back to you on that. It's okay to not say yes. Better to say no than to tell someone yes and not be able to follow through. Now let's take it a step further because this goes on to talk about even ⁓ swearing, you know, by heaven. And he says, ⁓ definitely don't do that. When you begin to hear people say, you know, I swear, I swear I'm going to do this. I swear I'm going to do that. Why do they have to say that? Or do you catch yourself doing that? Is there a lack of credibility with your words? Is your word not enough? Because do you have a proven track record that what you say is not what you're going to do? ⁓ and so perhaps that's a litmus test to help you evaluate kind of where you're at. in this process. Again, there's no judgment on where you're at, but between you and the Lord, I would encourage you to check your heart, check yourself, and ask the Holy Spirit, Lord, ⁓ search me, know me, just as David regularly came before the Lord and said that. That's what I'm doing today. Lord, help me to see where in my life Have I allowed there to be compromise to ⁓ step outside of being able to let my yes be yes and my no be no? It's important. So let me ⁓ encourage you that God is good, that He is faithful to lead and guide us into all things. I'm so grateful for His word. I'm so grateful that Jesus is speaking to us today that he's encouraging us with his words. So may I pray for you today and speak his goodness over you, believing that he will lead you into all things as you lean into him so that he can help you to allow your yes to be yes and your no to be no today and in the days to come. Lord, we come before you and we thank you, Jesus, for your word. We thank you for the many words that you have given us. to lead and guide us into all truth. I thank you, Jesus, that you have given us your Holy Spirit that is our great helper here, Lord, that we have not been left alone, that Jesus, while you have defeated sin, you have defeated death, you have conquered the grave, and you have given us victory in all areas, Lord, I know that we are continuing to. grow and mature into the fullness of who you've called us to be in all areas. And as we do that, we're so grateful that your mercies are new each day. We're so grateful for the grace that you have bestowed upon us. And so Lord, would you search us? We're opening ourselves to you. Would you help us to see any areas where we ⁓ may be missing it here? If we have fallen short of allowing ourselves to perhaps say things that are out of alignment of what you've called us to do. And because of that, we haven't been able to follow through. So Lord, help us to stay in alignment with what you've called us to do so that our yes can be yes and our no's can be no. So Lord, as we continue to be who you've called us to be, I thank you that that will allow us. to do what you've called us to do. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.