SPEAKER_01 0:01

Integrity. To say what you mean and to mean what you say. It's easy to define, but not so easy to live out. This morning, Pastor Wei preaches from James chapter 5, verse 12, challenging us to form the habits of integrity and to put God first.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Amen. Church, this morning we are looking at just one verse, right? And I think that's a good thing, isn't it? I think by the end of this sermon you can say that you remember most of the text that was preached this morning. Yeah. And I mean this verse happens to be a verse that is, I think, somewhat familiar, at least partially. We kind of hear it thrown around from time to time, right? And I'm sure I know, I'm sure we know some people in our lives where you offer something to them, they'll say, no, I don't want it, you know, don't need to get it for me. But actually they really want it. Right? And you only find out after the fact that they were longing for it all or desire all along, right? And we like to say to them, let your yes be yes and your no be no. Right? Don't say no when I ask you if you want fries, only to steal my fries later. Don't say you don't want anything and then get angry when I did not give you give you something. Um, this can be frustrating, right? When you have to uh you know kind of deal with with the situation uh like this. And so we like to say, let your yes be yes and let your no be no. Um the use of this verse in that way is not wrong per se, but uh as we look at James today, I want us to see that James was kind of pointing to something uh deeper than just that. And as we see from the first half of the verse, the context is about swearing an oath. Right? Specifically, James is trying to stop his readers from ever swearing an oath. And in fact, James has picked it up from Jesus himself, right? James sort of uh simplifies the message of Jesus, but the the main points are still there. So if you just uh have the next slide, we see in Matthew chapter 5, the Sermon on the Mount, uh, from verses 33 to 37, we see Jesus saying this. Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is a city of the great king. And do not take an oath by your head, for you can for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply yes or no. Anything more than this comes from evil. Uh that presents to us kind of a problem uh within scripture. Right? Are we entirely prohibited from taking an oath? Because Old Testament laws don't outrightly rule out or forbid uh oath taking, right? It only forbids swearing by God's name falsely. But if you can swear by God's name truthfully, right, it seems that Old Testament uh scripture allows for it. Right? In fact, in the New Testament, Paul himself invokes an oath two times in his letters, right? In uh 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 18. I'll just quickly read it out for us. As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no. Right? He is basing his word on God's faithfulness. Uh, in Galatians 1 20, in what I am writing to you, before God I do not lie. Right? Paul seems to be swearing an oath here, right? And Jesus himself, uh, when he was before the the Sanhedrin, uh, he would only testify when he was put under oath. Uh that is in Matthew chapter 26, towards the end of his uh life, right? And the issue James and Jesus were combating actually isn't so much about swearing oaths per se, but it was something deeper, something more cynical and more um you know evil in the hearts of the Jews because something was going on amongst the people uh at that time. They understood how seriously it was to swear by the name of the Lord. They understood if I say by the Lord's name, I will do this, they have to do it, right? And so being very clever, people they try ways to circumvent it, they try ways to uh I I guess trick God, uh if you will, right? Um they will swear an oath, um, not by God's name, but by other things, right? By the heavens, by the earth, by Jerusalem, right? Uh as we as we read Jesus uh telling us, right? They'll swear by all these other things. And the logic is simply this these things are not God. So if I swear by heaven, if I back out in the end, it's okay. It is not life-threatening to me. Right? If I swear by the earth and I feel at the end, hmm, I think this does not benefit me. I want to back out. I can do that. Right? They were essentially making uh what some have called light oaths. Right? That and these light oaths actually don't mean much, if at all. Right? It's it's a bit like today we say, uh, do you promise me to go have ice cream with me? You say yes, right? Do you pinky promise me they will have ice cream with me? Right? Somehow it is a pinky that makes it an oath, right? Uh uh biding contract. Um and many of the Jews were just not taking oaths seriously anymore. Right? It has been devalued in society and they were just taking uh they were just not taking their words seriously, they never meant what they say anymore. Uh in other words, they never intended to keep their words uh if it becomes difficult or unbeneficial. Right? That is deceptive, that is being two-faced, and that is being what we know today would say also hypocritical, right? Um and and in fact, the Greek word uh for for the word hypocrite, it means a stage actor, right? A pretender. Uh and and actually refers to the mask that um that they will wear on stage, right? Um people who were untruthful, who were swearing oaths they don't intend to keep, were being hypocritical. They were putting on masks and telling people one thing, things that they want to hear, but they actually meant another thing.

unknown 7:10

Right?

SPEAKER_02 7:10

They were pretenders who had no intention of keeping their oath. And so Jesus says in Matthew 5, and today James says in chapter 5, verse 12, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. They were flipping the the issue on its head, right? If the people were thinking, um, I I really in order for me, my words to hold weight, I need to swear, right? No, it is no longer enough for me to just say things, I need to swear by this, I need to swear by that for in order for you to believe me. Right? That was the the thinking back then, right? Jesus and James are saying, no, no, it should be the other way around. Your words should be so truthful that you do not need to swear. People should hear the words that come out of your mouth and immediately believe in you so that you don't even need to take an oath. Jesus and James are saying you need to be careful with what you say and you need to mean what you say. Let your yes be a yes and the no be a no. If you are truthful that way, you will never need to swear. You know, you will never need to swear, you will never need to make an oath. Now, why why was why were Jesus and James so hard up about this issue? Right? What is so important about this? Um it is a question of integrity. It is a question of faithfulness and truthfulness, right? Um and uh integrity comes from this uh this word integer, right? It means uh whole, it means complete, right? It means that there is uh simplicity, right, in the sense that you are without parts. It means not being uh duplicitous, not being two-faced, not being uh this and that. Right? That's what being uh that's what having integrity means. Uh it means being sincere, it means being dependable and trustworthy. So that you mean what you say and you say what you mean, and people will believe you without you having to swear. And and so why this why is this so important? Uh I would like to just kind of uh uh propose that that there are there are two important ways, in two important types of relationships uh where integrity is vital. And the first is a vertical relationship between us and God, right? Integrity is important in our relationship with God. In Numbers 23, verse 19, it says, God is not man that he should lie, or a son of man that he should change his mind. Has he not said and will he not do it? Has he spoken and will he not fulfill it? In other words, scripture is saying God is the one who is true, is completely true, completely upright. His yes is always a yes, and his no is always a no. There's no falsehood, there's no hypocrisy in God. And by calling us to have integrity, to have uh faithfulness, truthfulness in us, God calls us to demonstrate who we are in Him. Because you're never more like God when you speak the truth, right? You're never more like God when you speak the truth. And as Christians, we are people who have chosen to say our yes to God, to say our yes to following Jesus.

unknown 11:18

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SPEAKER_02 11:19

And God has brought us into his church that he formed so that his manifold wisdom may now be made known to the world through us, right? Through who we are, through the way we live, through the way we act, through the words we say, and the way we never fall back on our words. Because our God never falls back on his words. So a pastor by the name uh Brian uh Chapel, uh a pretty well-known preacher, says this we live with integrity before the watching world because we want the watching world to know the nature of our Savior by our testimony. We want our yes to be yes and our no to be no. We want to live a life of integrity because we want to live it as a demonstration of God's truthfulness to a watching world in need of a savior.

unknown 12:16

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SPEAKER_02 12:16

We want to live a life such that the nature of God matches with our lives, with our words and with our works. That we have said yes to God, to the God of truth, to the God of righteousness. And so we will stay truthful to the things that we say. And that's the first part of it, right? In our vertical relationship with God, we are people living with integrity. We mean what we say because we reflect who God is. But Brian Chapel continues to say that when we live in a consistent way before the Lord, he becomes real even to us. It is not just a testimony to the watching world, it is a testimony to our hearts as well. It is a very real way of experiencing God. A question the gospel puts before all of us is this Do we believe that Jesus is really the way, the truth, and the life? Do we really believe in that? Do we believe in what God has spoken through the Bible? And do we long to know that? Not just in our heads, but in our hearts, that those words are indeed true. If so, then we make his way our way, his integrity our integrity, so that we may know him more deeply, more intimately. When we see uh Psalm 25, right, verses 4 and 5 and then 21. Um, the psalmist says this make my make me to know your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths, lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. For you I wait all the day long. Right? Teaching God's truth, God's word, God's path has benefits for us. So teach me, lead me, guide me. And verse 21, towards the end, the psalmist says, May integrity and outrightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Um, Brian Chapel puts it this way: Living out the purpose of God for us to be like Christ, um, to have no duplicity, but to have integrity in our faith, in the way we live, right? In that wholeness that we have when we say yes to Jesus. It's a testimony to ourselves. Because a lot of times we come to church on Sunday, we know what it feels like to sing praises to Him, right? We know what it feels like to be close to Him. We know what it feels like to sit and listen to His word. We know what it's like to be a worshiper today, and then tomorrow comes, and then we become atheists. Suddenly, God is not in the picture, suddenly all the yeses we said on Sunday have become no's on the Monday, right? And we question ourselves is God real? All that I felt yesterday during Sunday service, all that I felt even just this morning, they sort of dissipated. Is God real? And we feel that way because we are okay with God within the four walls of this century, we are okay with God within the confines of this church, but once we step out of the compound, suddenly God doesn't seem quite real. Because we don't live for him, at least not fully. We don't remember our yes to him. And so there's this separation, there's no integrity there, right? There's no wholeness there, there's this separation in our heart. We don't feel whole, we don't feel put together, we feel like we are being pulled apart. We feel disillusioned by the faith. And so living with that integrity in God is a way for us to experience that God is indeed real in our lives when we give our whole lives to Him faithfully. And perhaps some of you are feeling that way today, right? You you come into church, you're feeling torn apart, you don't feel like you are a whole person, you feel like you're leading a double life before God. God caused all of us to live for him, to be holy, to be set apart for his purpose, to live with integrity, even when things get difficult, or precisely when things get difficult, so that through the difficulties our faith may come alive and may be built up. Even as, as the psalmist says, integrity and uprightness preserve us. And all we have to do is wait for God and hide in Him. And so that's the first uh importance of integrity, our vertical relationship with God, right? That when we have we live a life of integrity, when we we mean what we say and say what we mean, right? We reflect a God of truth and we experience the realness of God in us. And the second is of course then the horizontal relationship that we have with one another. And we all know this, relationships are built on trust. Without trust, without being able to believe what you say is true, right, any relationship will fail. And I am almost certain that all of us here today have been hurt by someone else because what they say did not match what they did. Maybe someone told you that you are BFs, right? Best friends forever. But two months later they found someone else to be best friend with. Maybe you were promised a promotion only for it to go to your colleague once you have put in all the hard work. Maybe you were promised uh confidentiality only to have your secrets shared around in a gossip during afternoon tea. Right? Relationships, and in fact, the whole of society are built on our yeses and our no's. And we and when we flip-flop, right, when we say one thing but we do another, we hurt one another. Right? So in our relationships with our spouse, with our children, with parents or with people at work, integrity more than ever is terribly vital if we want to form healthy relationships. And so there's the vertical relationship, there's the horizontal relationships. Um and so what shall we do, right? Um, what are the applications that we can glean from, uh glean from James chapter 5, verse 12 today? Um, offer three uh short things for us this morning. The first is simply to be careful with what we say, right? Be careful uh of the things that we say yes or say no to, right? To watch what we say so that we are not flippant with making promises either to God or to people. Even Jesus would say to count the cost of discipleship before following me. If you want to say yes to Jesus, count the cost first. In Acts chapter 5, um, there is a story about uh Ananias and Zephira. Um not sure if you are familiar with it, but uh it actually goes a little bit before that. So in the end of Acts chapter 4, we read about a person, um, his name is Barnabas, right? He um, I guess moved by the Lord, sold a piece of his land, sold a piece of his property, right? Um and he gave all that money to the apostles and to the church, right? So that's how Acts chapter 4 ends. Acts chapter 5 opens with this couple who probably saw what Barnabas did, maybe saw how much adulation he was getting in church, and says, hmm, we want that same adulation, we want that for us as well. So, what did they do? They sold off a piece of their property as well. They did the same as Barnabas, right? They sold off uh that uh one one of their their their lands, one uh, I think a piece of their property, and then and then they gave money to the church and to the apostles. Um honestly there was no requirement to do such a thing. Nobody, nobody in church was asking everyone, those who have property, please sell everything so that you can give up. No, no one was asking for it. But Ananias and Sephirah took it all on themselves to do it. Fine. But when they gave the sum of money to the apostles, scripture tells us in Acts chapter 5, they kept a portion for themselves. Umanias was the first to be struck dead by the Lord, and it's Sephira comes in, not knowing what had happened. The apostles asked them, Did you give the full sum? Sephirah says, Yes, yes, I gave the full sum. Right? But her yes was actually a no. And so she too was struck by God. They brought judgment on themselves. And of course, today we don't hear news of people getting struck down like this. And thank God nobody is getting struck down in church when you try to cheat God. Um but let's not be mistaken here, right? Let's not be mistaken here. Don't mistakenly think that God is not bothered anymore with cheating and lying. Don't think for a moment that God is not bothered about us lying and cheating. Because scripture tells us in Numbers 32 that our sins will find us out. And in Galatians 6, Paul writes, God is not mocked. Whatever we sow, we will reap. And so that's the first thing. Be careful, be mindful about what we are saying to, yes to or no to. Being careful. Second thing, form habits. Right? Form habits that will help us stick to the narrow road that leads to life. It's not about waiting for that big moment to make the right decision. If you have not prepared yourself, most likely you hit you you reach that point, right? You will fail. It's about making tens and hundreds of small decisions that are with integrity. So that when we do have to make major decisions in our life, what career should I go for? What what uh who should I marry, you know, and and and so on and so on. Um, when we have to make these sort of decisions, it becomes easy to do the right thing. And there's one particular man in the Bible which uh who is known for I think his integrity before God and before men. And that person is Daniel. Um I'm sure I have mentioned this example before, but if I haven't or if you have forgotten, good. I think it's good to reiterate scripture uh from time to time. Right? But Daniel's story is quite interesting, especially towards um the end in Daniel 6. Right? Um during the exile uh in Daniel chapter 1, right, we read that Daniel and his three friends were brought to the Babylonian king's palace. Right? They were supposed to be groomed, they were supposed to be taught and trained so that they were served in the king's palace. Right? Um, we read that right from the beginning, Daniel was resolved not to defile himself. Right? He was resolved not to defile himself with the with the king's food and his wine. And so he kept himself clean throughout uh his his entire uh life in Babylon. Um chapter six is where it gets uh really interesting, at least for me when I first uh you know saw this in chapter six. Um it is the it is titled Daniel in the lion's den and Daniel in the lion's den. Right? We all get very excited about the towards the end. Uh Daniel gets thrown into Lion's Den, but the next day he comes out, wow, miraculous! The lions did not touch him. Then we then the king sent the all the other uh officials and inside instead. Then wow, yes, victory, right? We get very excited about the end. Um what is interesting and what really stood out uh for me was actually somewhere in the middle. Um the story actually starts with uh you know the high officials, the satraps. Um they were jealous of Daniel. They were jealous of how well he was doing in the courts, right? So they wanted him executed. They have no good way of getting him executed though, because Daniel was upright. Daniel was uh was doing his job well, there was no cause to to to uh get him into trouble. So they had to come up with a scheme. That scheme is simple. Go to Darius, convince him that you should just uh out of nowhere issue an edict saying no one can make a petition to any other god or to any other man except to King Darius for 30 days. Right? And the king was convinced. Well, that sounds like a good plan. He signed the edict, it was passed, and the reason why they wanted to do that was uh this they knew that Daniel prayed to God every day. They knew that Daniel will be caught today, making a petition to someone else other than King Darius. They knew they got Daniel, and in verse 10 of chapter 6, we read, When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he had done previously. You know, these few words are so powerful here. As he had done previously.

unknown 27:32

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SPEAKER_02 27:33

After this verse, we are told the officials were just kind of waiting, stalking uh his house, looking uh waiting for you to appear, and he appeared, uh, waiting to catch him. Uh he was arrested, he was thrown into the lion's end, and we know the rest of the story. Uh yeah, let's put on your thinking hat for a while. What would you do in Daniel's shoes? Will we try to be clever? Right? You just pray in the dark, right? I mean, prayer is between me and God, right? Just pray in the dark. No one else needs to know. Just close the window. Why do you need to open the window and let people see what you're doing at home? Right? We can have some privacy. Just close the window. It's only for 30 days. Come on. You just need to last through the 30 days, and then you can go on with your regular schedule. Daniel could not do that. He couldn't. He knew that his prayer routine was publicly known. Actually, it was probably intentional that his prayer was made public. It is his statement of faith in the foreign land, uh, worshiping a foreign God. And to pray at the window every day without fear was his testimony to the one true God, the God of Israel. So Daniel was facing a difficult challenge. Should he preserve his life? Should he pray in darkness? Should he close the window? Should we just wait? No. Actually, I would think that the decision for him was a uh was a simple one. It was not easy, probably, but it was a simple one. He did as he had done previously. He did as he had done previously. When we live a life of integrity and when we make it a habit to do so in all the small decisions in our life, we will have an easier time facing major challenges. Because our option becomes very clear. We just do as we have always done. And we just take our refuge in God, can what may. Right? So form habits of integrity before God and before man. And it can be as simple as keeping your word with your friends. When you promise something, go through it. I'm sure we have friends who uh I always say, I'll be there, I'll be there, I'll be there, but they don't turn up or they turn up really late. Right? It can be as simple as just keeping your word. Or booking grab, right? We we get very angry when grab drivers cancel on us, right? Has it happened to you? I mean, it has happened to me multiple times. You're in a rush, you are you're late already, and then all you finally got cap, and then two minutes later, cancelled. Why what do you got canceled? I mean, let your yes mean yes, please, right? Um and and you know, that that's that's it's it's I mean, right, I guess, right to be angry with that. But often, especially when I'm with people and like like I think I've done it my before myself, on our end, sometimes we book multiple or book taxis on multiple apps, right? Or we have a group of friends, okay, everyone take out your Tada, your Zig, your your Grab, your what else, what else are there? Go jack, yeah, everyone book, book, book, book, book, right? Um and and and you know, sometimes multiple people get uh a driver, right? So what do we do? We see eh, which one is nearer, which one is cheaper? Oh, this one is cheaper. You say yes to the person, never mind, cancel on the driver. It's okay. So how is it that drivers, we have a problem with drivers canceling on us, but we don't have a problem canceling on drivers. We have to go beyond this mindset of consumer is always right, the customer is always right. Right? And so that means sometimes to be able to do what is right, even though it comes as a cost, at a cost. And if we have accepted something, if you have accepted an engagement or a job, right, that pays you this much, two days later you're offered a job that pays you this much. Do you suddenly say, okay, I I immediately tender, I'm gonna go there instead, right? What do you do in situations like this?

unknown 32:06

Right?

SPEAKER_02 32:06

I want to encourage us to form habits to do the right thing so that when big, major decisions happen in our life, we know how to handle them. So the first is to be careful with what we say, the second is to form habits, and the third and lastly is to be resolved to keep your word and your integrity, right? Even if it means at a cost or at a loss. Um well, I don't know if many of you know this movie called Chariots of Fire. When I was young, um I've heard it uh cited in sermons uh quite a few times. I have to I have to admit, I've never watched the show before because it's a really old show. So oh yeah, I see I see some looks of disapproval. Um yeah, uh, but I've I've heard the story uh uh multiple times. It is based on the story of a true story of uh this this Scottish athlete named Eric Lyddale. Right? He won gold at the 1924 Paris Olympics. Yeah um and it's an inspiring film. Also, I've heard that it's an inspiring film, right? But the real story I think is even more inspiring, right? Um so in the movie, um he he he is kind of getting on the boat, heading off to Paris. Uh so it's from uh from UK, right? He's heading towards uh Paris, and it was only on the boat that he found out that uh the hundred-meter race, the one that he is known for, the one that he is best at, it will be held on a Sunday. And he didn't he rejected running on that day because Sunday for him was Sabbath. It was to be treated with reverence. It was not a day for him to do anything. And so he said no to the race. Right? In the movie, it was while he was on the boat, so it was just a few days away from the race. In actual life, real life, he knew about it months before the event. Right? He knew the schedule months before. Um and he announced I will not run that 100-meter race. And for months, for months he was heavily criticized on media. He was being called a traitor to the country. For months, people were just angry with him, but he stuck to his guns, amazingly. Right? Through the months, he just kept saying, No, I will not run, I will not run. Um, in the end, he, I mean, being a hundred-meter sprinter, he ran the 400-meter race. Um I I think he said a quote, something like, uh, how so how how do you intend to run the race? Some someone asked him. Uh I think he said, I will just uh run the fastest I can and pray that God will give me enough strength for the rest, for the second half of the race. Right? He had no plan run going going to this race, right? 400 meters, and he won goal. Um and for me, the inspiring part was really him being able to say, I will keep true to my word through that agonizing months when people were just uh berating and um calling him a traitor. And you know, we can argue, we can debate, we can say, is it just not silly for him to not run a race just because it's a Sunday? Right? It's very very silly, right? And we I'm sure we can find out find good reasons, uh, maybe some excuses to say it is okay, lah, it's just one Sunday, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, right? Who knows if he will qualify four years from now? Who knows if he will still be in the game? And come on, it is just one Sunday. Right? We may think that he was being silly, but that was his commitment to the Lord. It was his word to God, and he kept it till the end, even if it meant missing out, missing out on his strongest event, missing out maybe the chance of winning a goal. If we think that it is not wrong, and I mean I don't think it is wrong if you have chosen to run on their Sunday, if we say that this is not wrong, then where do we draw the line? Right? What will we not give up our Sunday worship for? Is that list long or short? Right? Or do we just kind of give the Sunday up just for uh uh many, many things? Exams, tired, I was out late last night. Right? Do we just have many, many reasons to for us to just skip the Sunday? Right? Are we able to keep our commitment to God and know where to draw the line there? This kind of line drawing, this kind of decision making, right, uh will happen even at workplaces and and and often, I mean, those in the marketplace, I'm sure some of you will have had uh moral dilemmas, quandaries in in your workplace where you have to make a decision that may cost you money, they may cost you your job. Right? Um I encourage you again from Psalm 25, verse 21. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. In other words, do what is right and trust God with the results. Do what is right and trust God with the results. Um, I understand it's not something we can do perfectly all the time, right? We may give in to pressure from time to time, but we should be aiming for this, right? To do what is right and to trust God with the result. And by doing so, you know, may we experience God's grace and faithfulness even more. So let me just conclude um for today. Whether it is to God or to one another, Jesus and James tells us, let your yes be yes and let your no be no. So let us not make promises we don't intend to keep, let us not say words we don't mean, uh, but treat the things we say as if it is already an oath. Right? So that in our integrity we may testify that God is upright and true, and that we ourselves may experience God in deeper ways, in real ways, to have integrity in our faith and in our life, and so that we may build strong, trusting relationships with others.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

We pray that you've been ministered to the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about the Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglic.com.