James Merritt - Take My Word for It
There was a guy who was applying for a high-profile job at a major corporation and they’re gonna pay him like a half a million dollars a year. I mean, it was a big deal. So he submitted his resume and I mean, submitted it one day. And that afternoon they said, «You gotta come in for an interview». So the next day he goes down to the interview and he sits down and the CEO of the company is interviewing him. And he said, «I wanna tell you,» he said, «I never interview anybody,» but he said, «I’ve got to interview you». He said, «Your resume is unbelievable». He said, «You’ve got a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Yale»? «Yes, sir». «And you have a master’s degree in engineering from MIT»? «Yep». «You have a PhD in leadership from Harvard»? «Yes, sir». «You served in the administration of two presidents, one governor, and you were the chief of staff for a United States Senator»? «Yes, sir». He said, «I wanna tell you something, I’m ready to hire you on the spot right now. I’ve just got one question». He said, «Well, sure, what is it»? He said, «Can you name just one fault that you have? Can you just name just one shortcoming»? And the man said, «Yeah. I’m a habitual liar. You can’t believe one thing I say».
Now, we laugh, and yet that fictional story illustrates a real crisis we’re having in America, is a crisis of trust. According to poll after poll after poll, never in our nation have we lost more trust in the government, the economy, the media, higher educational institutions and each other. In fact, the Pew Research Center estimated that in 1993, 47% of Americans believe that most Americans could be trusted. Today, 32%. Only one out of three people you meet believe you can be trusted. They believe you are a truth teller. They believe that they can rely on you. That gets worse for the government. Only 16% of Americans trust the government to do what is right always, or most of the time. That’s the lowest trust measured in nearly 70 years of polling.
As a matter of fact, we’ve got some in our church, don’t get offended, but we have become so convinced that politicians and lying go together, it’s just become a big joke. In fact, I read about a bus full of politicians, they were speeding down a country road, and they swerved into a field and crashed into a tree. Well, the farmer who owned the field heard the noise, went to investigate, recognized who they were, dug this gigantic hole and buried all of them right there. Well, a few days later, the sheriff drove by, and he saw this bus overturned and he went up to the farm house and knocked on the door. The farmer came the door. He said, «Mr. Smith,» he said, «we’ve been looking for that bus for days and we just found it. And all those politicians were missing. Do you know what happened to them»? He said, «Yeah, I buried them». The sheriff said, «Well, were they all dead»? He said, «Well, some of 'em said they weren’t, but you know how politicians lie».
Now, here’s the truth. We all lie. We’re living in a culture where people lie about their age, their profession, their income taxes, marital status, golf scores, grades, health, schedules, education, work experience, finances. The list goes on and on and on. Just like the story I just started out with, lying on resumes has become so common that now employers are forced to conduct time-consuming, costly background checks on job applicants just to make sure that they’re telling the truth. So lemme just give you some statistics. If you think I’m overhyping this, let me just give you some statistics. An average person lies one to two times a day. For example, I would’ve say to you, «Hey, are you glad you came to church today»? You wouldn’t wanna say, «You really wouldn’t wanna answer that question,» some of you wouldn’t. «No, it was cold, it was dreary, I’d rather stay home».
Okay? 60% of people lie at least once in a 10-minute conversation. Men lie six times a day on average, while women lie three times a day on average. Each week, Americans tell 11 lies. In one day, the average person lies four times, totaling 1,460 lies every year. 90% of people lie on their online dating profiles. 81% of people lie about their height, weight, or age. And I’m at the point I lie about all three. And politicians lie on average once every five minutes during a debate, that’s probably low. By the way, people in my profession, we don’t go unscathed either. A Gallup poll found that only 37% of people have a very high or high opinion of the honesty and ethical standards of ministers. 58% said the honesty and ethics of a minister is at best average or even lower. A 37%, listen to this, we get, guys like me, people who do what I do, only 37% give us a positive rating.
That is the lowest Gallup has recorded since they started doing the poll in 1977. Nobody is trusting anybody because so many people lie. So many people fudge the truth. So many people prevaricate. They just do it. And yet, over against all of that, we read one thing in the Bible, God is a God of truth. He’s a God who loves truth, and he loves truth telling. So that leads us to this really interesting passage in the Gospel of Matthew. And if you brought your little notebook today, if you wanna just turn to page 32, that’s where we are.
So here in Matthew chapter five, and by the way, we’re in a series on the, that we’re calling Get Used to Different. Once again, Jesus says something that is so different, and he takes on a matter that you would think you wouldn’t even think about, but it’s this whole issue of being honest. And he reminds us that people ought to be able to say one thing about us. If you can’t say anything about you, make sure you can say this about you. Make sure you can look at someone and just simply say one thing, «You can take my word for it,» and they can. That ought to be true about every one of us. You can take my word for it and you can. You can take it to the bank.
So as we look at this passage in Matthew 5, here’s the key thought I want you to take with you today. You ready? The word you and the word true should always go together. The word you and the word true should always go together. So Jesus tells us three things to remember about this whole point of just tell the truth. He says three things. First of all, Jesus says, «Be honorable in whatever you say». Whatever you say, whatever comes outta your mouth, be honorable in whatever you say. Now he begins by quoting a principle that’s taught in the Old Testament, in fact, it’s kind of a quote. He says, «Again, you’ve heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath but fulfill to the Lord the vows that you have made.'» Very simple statement. Jesus said, «Look, if you promise to do something, if you take an oath, do what you promise to do. Do what you swear you will do».
Now the reason why back in that day and today that people were take an oath is they wanted to simply verify that what they were saying is true. And we live in a culture, as you know, where oaths are taken every day. May you’ve been like me, most of if you have, you know what I’m talking about. I have been in more than one court case, not that I was having an issue, but I’ve been called as witnesses into court. And you know, you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God. And you take that, we do it every day. It’ll be done tomorrow all over America. Now the problem is that oath does not keep you from lying. You can take the oath and still lie, but it does make you liable to a crime called perjury.
Now, that’s not the type of oath that Jesus is dealing with here. He’s not talking about an oath you take in court. Here was the problem. Once again, the Pharisees, the religious hypocrites, they come through like champions. They were always looking for loopholes. They knew that an oath that was taken before God had to be kept. So they said, «Okay, how can we get around this? How can we take an oath but really not keep it»? And they said, «Oh, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll just take God out of it. We just won’t invoke the name of God, because if we don’t swear to God, then all bets are off». But what they didn’t realize and what Jesus is going to tell them is, Hey, it’s not just what you say. It is how you say it that really matters to God.
And Jesus is actually pointing out a problem with taking an oath and swearing. And here’s the problem, if you really think about it. If you have to swear that you’re telling the truth, then it really means that you may normally lie. And it may mean that normally you can’t be trusted in what you say because, think about this. If you are a person that always tells the truth, you never need to take an oath. You never need to swear. The reason why you have to swear to tell the truth and the whole truth and nothing but the truth is real simple, 'cause people lie. The judge knows they lie. The jury knows they lie. Police officers know they lie. We all know they lie. So don’t, sorry, you’ve got to take an oath.
The problem is, what Jesus is saying is, «You know what? Your word should be enough». You should be able to take, wouldn’t it be great if we lived in a world where everybody was so honest that rather would go into court and having to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth so help you God, wouldn’t it be great if you could just say, «Take my word for it. I always tell the truth. I never lie. I never deceive». And so to prove yourself to other people, to be a person of honesty and consistency and integrity, you don’t need to swear to anything, especially if you remember one thing, don’t ever forget this. Everything you say, we forget this so often. Everything you say, God is listening. Maybe nobody else is listening, but God is listening and he’ll catch you every time.
Kinda like a police officer I heard about one time that he pulled a car over that was speeding. And he walked up to the window and he said to the man driving, he said, «Sir, can I see your driver’s license»? And the man said, «Well, sure. What’s the problem»? He said, «Well, you know, you were going 75 miles per hour in a 55-mile-per-hour speed zone». And the man said, «No sir, I was only going 60». His wife said, «Now, Harry, you know you’re going 75». Well, the officer then said, «Sir, I’m also gonna have to give you a ticket for your broken taillight». And the man said, «Broken taillight. I don’t know anything about a broken taillight». Just watched, said, «Now, Harry, you’ve known about that taillight for five weeks».
The officer then said, «Well, sir, I’ve also got to give you a ticket for not wearing your seatbelt». And then they said, «Oh, I’m sorry, I just took it off when you’re walking up to the car». And the wife said, «Now, Harry, you know you don’t ever wear your seatbelt». Well, at that point you can imagine, Harry’s had enough. I mean, he’s up to here. He turned to his wife and he’s, «Sarah». He said, «Would you just shut your big fat mouth»? And the officer turned to the woman and said, «Ma’am, does your husband talk to you that way all the time»? She said, «No, just when he’s drunk». Now… if you make a habit of lying, it’s gonna catch up with you, because God is listening, God knows it.
So Jesus is saying, «Look, just be honorable in whatever you say». Now I haven’t told you anything that you don’t know. I haven’t told you anything you haven’t taught your kids, your grandkids, right? You know what you always teach, «Hey, always tell the truth». I had to teach my three boys, always tell the truth. My dad had to tell me, «Always tell the truth». That’s not really the thing that Jesus wanted to emphasize 'cause he keeps going deeper. Remember, get used to different. Now he’s gonna get real different. Because he says, «Not only should you be honorable in what you say, honorable in it». He says, «You should be impeccable in however you say it».
Be honorable in whatever you say. But be impeccable in however you say it. Because at this point in this part of the sermon, you’ve got these legalistic, alt-religious conservative Pharisees, and they’re feeling pretty good about themselves. I mean, they prided themselves on keeping their vows and telling the truth. But they were clever devils, 'cause here’s what they had done. They invented a system where they could determine whether or not a vow or a promise that they made really had to be kept, and here’s why. Because many rabbis didn’t think it was not a sin to break a vow as long as you didn’t make it explicitly in the name of God.
So if you said so help me God, you had to do what you said. If you swore by the name of God, you had to swear what you said you were doing. If you put your hand on the Bible and you made an oath, you had to keep that oath. But if you don’t swear by God, you can get away with it. So Jesus is dicking deeper. He’s really getting under the surface. And what he does, when I studied this passage, I thought that only Jesus would do that. He is so brilliant, 'cause this is what he says. You ready for this? He said, «It’s not only wrong to be dishonest. It’s wrong to be deceptive».
So you can be deceptive without really being dishonest. Yeah, it’s one thing to be honorable in whatever you say, but it’s another thing to be impeccable in however you say it. So now listen to what Jesus says. He’s gonna nail them to the wall. Watch this. He says, «But I tell you, do not swear in oath at all». He says, «Forget, just forget the oath-taking business. Either by heaven, for it’s God’s throne, or by the earth, for it’s his footstool, or by its Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King».
Now, some of you’re going, «What in the world did he mean»? Well, here’s what had happened. These religious leaders had taught these people, you can divide oaths into two classes. Those you had to keep and those you didn’t. They said, «Now if you invoke the name of God, you’ve got to keep it. But if you don’t invoke the name of God, you don’t have to. If you don’t invoke God’s name, you don’t have to mean it, you don’t have to keep it». So let me give you an analogy that you’ll relate to. When I was a kid, we used to have a little trick we would use, and I’m sure you’ve done it before when we wanted to lie. We wanted people to think we were telling the truth, but we really weren’t. So we would put our hands behind our back. And what would we do? Yeah, we’d cross our fingers as if that made everything right, right?
So we crossed our fingers. We thought that was a get-outta-true free card. So I had my fingers crossed. It really didn’t count. So in other words, I wasn’t just being dishonest, I was being deceptive. Now, what Jesus is saying is, «Hey, it’s one thing to be dishonest. It’s another thing to be deceptively dishonest». So this is the way the Pharisees would, this way they’d get around it. They would say something like this. They wouldn’t say, «I promise to do something, so help me God». They would say, «I promise to do something so help me heaven,» or «so help me Earth,» or «so help me Jerusalem». And it was kind of their way of crossing their fingers. But Jesus said, «You got a problem. Heaven is God’s throne. And earth is God’s footstool. And Jerusalem is God’s city».
And the point that Jesus is making is, «Look, everything you swear by anywhere in the universe is something that God made, is something that God created, it is something that belongs to God. So any appeal you make to anything, you’re still appealing to God. Whether you realize it or not, you are invoking the name of God». Now let me give you an example in which we can all relate. We’ve all been here. And I’m preaching to me like I’m preaching to you. Sociologists and psychologists who study things tell us that the most prevalent lie that we tell almost every day, you’ve heard this little phrase, is called a little white lie. And, you know, that makes us feel better. Well, it’s not big, it’s little. It’s not black, it’s white. It’s a little white lie. It’s a lie that we think is small, it’s unimportant, and you know, you don’t wanna hurt somebody’s feelings or you don’t wanna be embarrassed, but it still amounts to deception.
So let me give you a modern day, this is true. I read a book, it’s a fascinating book. And this is the title of the book. It’s called «The Lexicon of Intentionally Ambiguous Recommendations». Now you’ll notice, L-I-A-R. Right? Liar, okay? L-I-A-R, liar. So if you own a company, I’m about to help you out. If you got some employees that you wish somebody else was paying and you wish you could get rid of them, and you’re not quite sure how to do it, 'cause you wanna make sure today that you don’t get sued or get, you know, somebody sues you for liable or defamation of character. And yet, if a company comes along and they’re thinking about hiring a person that works for you and you really want to get rid of them and you wanna do it in such a way that you can do it and not be dishonest, lemme give you some illustrations of how you can do it.
So let’s imagine you’ve got someone that works for you and they are lazy. They just don’t work. And somebody wants to hire them, here’s your recommendation. «In my opinion, you’ll be very fortunate to get this person to work for you». That’s true, but it’s deceptive. How about this? You’ve got a person with a criminal record. You can do this. «This is a man of many convictions, and I’m sorry we let him get away». How about an employee that’s just not trustworthy? You just can’t depend on him. You can’t believe anything he tells you. Okay, «His true ability’s really deceiving». Well, how about a guy that’s just incompetent? I mean, he just can’t get the job done. What do you do about him? Here you go. «I can most enthusiastically recommend this person with no qualification whatsoever».
And how about for the person that works for you and you wish you had never hired him? And I mean, he has no redeeming qualities at all, none. Here’s how you recommend him. «All in all, I cannot say enough good things about this person to recommend him too highly». You’re not being dishonest, but you’re being deceptive. And Jesus condemns both dishonesty and deception. Now, we may think it’s slick, but Jesus said, «Truth has no shades whatsoever». Jesus says, «In God’s eyes, a half truth equals a whole lie. A white lie is a black eye in his eyes». So Jesus said, «Hey, don’t be dishonest. Be honorable in what you say, but don’t be deceptive. Be impeccable in how you say it».
This is a true story. I was pastoring my second church, little country church when I was getting my PhD at seminary. And we had a lady that you don’t see them much anymore. We had a lady that I can’t even describe the hat she’d wear to church. I just can’t describe it. She came to church one Sunday, I’m not making this up, honest to God, it looked like something you’d shot in Africa and mounted it the same day. And she walked into church and I just happened, I was at the door and she happened to walk in. She said, «Pastor, how do you like my hat»? And I mean, God was so good. I said, «I want to tell you, I have never seen a hat like that in my life». That’s all I said. That’s it. «Oh, thank you so much». All I said. I wasn’t dishonest, but it was deceptive. Jesus said, «Be honorable».
Now you say, «Well, why weren’t you honest»? What am I gonna say? «Where did you shoot it»? I mean, what are you gonna say, right? Jesus said, «Be honorable in whatever you say. Be impeccable in however you say it». But then he says, the third thing. He said, «Be reliable whenever you say it». Be reliable whenever you say it. Now Jesus gets right to the very heart of the matter. I mean, he cuts right to the quick. He says, «And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black». I just wish I could make mine grow. «Do not swear by your head, you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply yes or no. Anything beyond that comes from the evil one».
Now, simply put, Jesus said, «Why don’t you just become the kind of person that you don’t have to swear anything? You don’t have to take any kind of an oath. Just live by one simple rule. You can take my word for it. You can believe what I say». Because again, think about it, if your word is good, you don’t need to swear or take an oath. And if your word’s no good, what good does it do to swear or take an oath at all? For example, let’s say you borrow some money from somebody. You don’t need to say that, «I just want you to know, just as surely as God is in heaven, just as surely as the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, just as surely as the Pope is a Catholic, just as sure as it’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog, I’m telling you, I will pay you back». Nope, all you gotta do is say, «I’ll pay you back». That’s it. You’ll get your money back. He said, «Let your yes be yes. Let your no be no».
I mean, if you think about it, you don’t even need to bring God into the picture at all. I don’t know why people do that. For example, somebody will say something like this, «Pastor, with God as my witness, I’m telling you the truth». And what I wanna say to them is, «Wait a minute. If you’re telling the truth, why do you need God as a witness»? Just tell the truth. You don’t need to bring God into anything. Now let me just add one thing so you want me to understand what Jesus is saying and what he’s not saying? Jesus is not saying you should never, ever take an oath. 'Cause I can give you examples in the Bible where people did take an oath, and I think it’s necessary, and I think it’s good, particularly if you’re testifying in a court of law or you’re giving a deposition, both of which I’ve done.
If you’re doing that, I think it’s good that, or somebody’s life is at stake, that you take an oath, that you’ll tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And there should be a legal penalty for perjury. As a matter of fact, the reason why all of us, again, should be required to take that kind of an oath is because some people lie even when they take an oath. The principle that Jesus is teaching, though, is this. You know, if you’ve got to always swear by something, if that’s what you always feel like you’ve gotta do, aren’t you really acknowledge that maybe you can’t be trusted? Or aren’t you really acknowledge that maybe they can’t take your word for it?
By the way, there’s a reason why Satan is called the Father of Lies. That’s what Jesus called him. He said, «He’s the father of all lies». You know why he said that? You are never more like the devil than when you tell a lie. And you are never more like Jesus than when you tell the truth. Honesty’s not just the right policy, it is the best policy. Incidentally, a little pop quiz, the two fastest animals in Africa are the gazelle and the cheetah. You know that, they’re the two fastest animals. Bet you didn’t know this. And in every race, the gazelle never loses to the cheetah. You know why? Cheetahs never win. Now, that was a dad joke.
Now what I wanna do is I wanna close one of the most inspiring, incredible stories I’ve ever read in my life. And it illustrates the beauty, it is illustrates the honor, it illustrates the importance of a person that can be taken at their word. I want you to listen to this story. This is mind boggling to me. Huntsman Chemical Corporation chairman, his name was Jon M. Huntsman. He was negotiating this large business deal. And he was in length in negotiations with a man named Emerson Kampen, who at that time was chairman and CEO of the Great Lakes Chemical Company. Well, they had come to an agreement that Kampen would purchase 40% of a division of Huntsman’s company for $54 million. That was the agreement. And the negotiations had taken a long time. They had been very, very tough. But they came to an agreement, and they shook hands.
Well, Huntsman said, he didn’t hear from camping for, in fact, four months, not a word. So one day he got a call from Kampen’s lawyers, and they wanted to draft the documents to go through the agreement. Well, they’d been dragging their feet, which sometimes people do. And it took, you know, after that four-month period, it took another three months for that simple purchase agreement to be put on paper. So the time lapse between the time they shook hands and the documents ready to be signed was now seven months time gone by. Well, in the interim period, the price of raw materials had decreased substantially. The profit margins of Huntsman company were at an all time high.
As a matter of fact, his profits in that seven-month period of time had tripled in value. Now remember, nothing had been signed, no documents had been executed. So Kampen calls Huntsman with this proposal. He said, «Hey, Jon». He said, «I know what’s going on in the market». He said, «40% of your company today is now worth $250 million according to my bankers». Jon said, «That’s right». «Look,» he said, «I know you and I shook hands. We agreed on a $54 million price over six months ago». Huntsman said, «That’s right». So he said, «Well, you know, I don’t think I would’ve to pay the full difference, but I think it’s fair if you’ll let me pay at least half of the increase». And he offered to do that. So he says, «I’m willing to up my offer by $120 million».
Huntsman paused for a moment and he said, «No, Emerson», he said, «that’s not fair. And I don’t agree to that». And Kampen thought, «I knew he’d be this way». And then he said, «You shouldn’t have to split the difference. I shouldn’t have to split the difference. And we’re not going to use the appreciated value. You and I shook hands and made a deal at $54 million, and that’s the price you’re going to pay me». He was stunned. He said, «You’re giving up almost $200 million. That’s not fair to you». He said, «Emerson, you negotiate for your company. I’ll negotiate for mine. We had a deal. We shook hands. I gave you my word. You can take me and my word. The price is $54 million».
Emerson Kampen never forgot that handshake. He never forgot the honesty and the integrity of that man. Took it with him to his grave. At his funeral, when he died, Huntsman got a surprise phone call. He said, «Mr. Huntsman, you probably have heard that Mr. Kampen died». He’s asked two people to speak at his funeral. One is Governor Evan Bayh, who went on to become a United States Senator. «You’re the other one». He said, «Me»? He said, «Yes, me». Huntsman said this, I’m quoting. «I never was personally close to Emerson, but he never forgot a valuable lesson that I taught him. And that is I never had to wrestle with my conscience or to look over my shoulder. My word was my bond».
If what Jesus said is true, and if you are a follower of Jesus, your word is worth more than $200 million. Your word’s worth more than a billion dollars. Your word is worth more than all the popularity and all the fame and all the fortune this world can give you. And you know why I know that’s true? Because I’m going to heaven. I have eternal life. I’ve been forgiven of all of my sins. I go to bed every night knowing I am right with God. How do I know that? I take him at his word. Jesus gave his word, and he doesn’t lie. He doesn’t deceive. He doesn’t prevaricate. He doesn’t shade the truth. You can take his word to the bank.
So I wanna make a practical application, we’ll be done. Well, the next three weeks, we’re going to be entering into a financial campaign we’re calling Preparing The Way. When John the Baptist hit the scene, he said right up front, «I’m not here for me. I’m here for what’s coming after me. I wanna prepare the way». We started this church 20, almost 21 years ago to prepare the way for the next generation. And we’re gonna be sharing with you a vision with how we here and now can prepare for the way for those who will be here tomorrow after we’re gone. Because after I’m gone and after some of you are gone, I want the next generation, I want these guys right down here and their wives and their kids, some of you young couples that will be here after we’re gone, I want you to continue to point people to Jesus and inspire them to live the cross-shaped life, both here and around the world.
So on February the 11th, we’re gonna be asking every one of you, every one of you to make a promise. Not take an oath, just make a promise, of whatever God lay on your heart to help prepare the way. And here’s all I’m gonna ask you to do. There is no pressure, no high sell, no guilt trips. I just want all of you to do one simple thing. You go home, you get on your knees, you get before the Lord, and you say, «Lord, what would you have me to give? What would you have me and my wife, what would you have me and my family to give to this campaign to prepare the way»?
For some of you’ve been with us for 21 years, or maybe almost as long you’ll get what I’m about to say. We started this church behind the 8 ball, financially, and we stayed behind the 8 ball for 18 years. And God graciously led us, after 18 years, to pay our debt off three years ago. Now we’ve got an opportunity to do a campaign that we’re not using to pay off debt. We’ve got some dreams, big dreams, of things we wanna do bigger and better for the Kingdom of God. And so I’m gonna ask you not to give, I’m going to ask you to invest in the next generation in who is coming behind us and who is coming before us. And just give what you believe God wants to give through you. And then no matter what happens, we’ll take your word for it. That’s it.
So my question to you is this. Have you taken his word for what will happen to you when you die? Because Jesus has given his word, positive and negative. Jesus said, «I give you my word. If you trust me, if you put your faith in me, if you will surrender your life to me, if you’ll repent of your sin, if you’ll give me your heart, I give you my word, I will forgive you, I will give you eternal life, and I’ll reserve for you a home in heaven, and you’ll live with me forever and ever». But he’s also given his word. «If you don’t, you’ll spend eternity separated from me and my Father».
So my question to you is, who have you, maybe listening to me right now, watching me right now, in this room right now, who have you, you’ve just never taken this word for it. You’ve never really believed it, but maybe today’s the day and now’s the time and this is the place where you need to do that. So I want you to bow your heads, close your eyes just for a moment. And I’m just talking to that one person. I’m talking to that one single individual, that one person, one person.