James 5:12- A Christian Is To Keep Their Word In All Things

Introduction Statement:

As we begin this morning I would like to make a confession. Our text is James 5:12 which says, “But above all, my brothers, 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.”

If James simply began with the words, “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.”, then I would have treated this passage much differently than I have done. If he had done this than I would have treated this as a stand alone topic. Today, there is a lot of confusion about the Scriptures view of oaths, swearing, and covenants. However, this was not always the case, all three of the old historic confessions (Westminster, Savoy, and the London Baptist Confession) all speak about this topic and come to the same conclusion regarding the Scriptures teaching on this.

In our text today James begins with these words, “But above all, my brothers…”. It is because of these words that I have labored to keep verse 12 within the context in which it is found and I will not depart from this passage. It is my hope that in doing so that I have honored James’ original message and intent.

The Sermon:

There is a television show that is now in its 47th season- ‘Survivor’. It has been televised since May of 2000. This show has been aired longer than my two adult children have been alive. Therefore, an entire generation of children have now grown up with the influence of reality shows such as this.

This is a show where the contestants are supposed to ‘out last’, ‘out wit’, and ‘out play’ all of the other competitors for a million dollars. To do this most of the contestants will lie, connive, plot, and scheme against each other. The contestants become more devious, calculating, and sly as the game progresses. The temptation to backs-stab, be unreliable, and to become less trustworthy increases as the game heads toward the finale. Each week alliances between people shift and promises are broken. In the end, the one who plays this type of game the best, the one who blindsides the strongest players, is most likely going to win the game.

At a certain point in the game some contestants are given the opportunity to read letters from their family at home. Everyone who reads these letters testifies that in a game where there is so much distrust, deception, and deceit these letters mean everything to them. These letters encourage them to play the game in such a way that they do not loose their character and the virtues that they love so much about them.

Like those letters on Survivor, Pastor James is sending this letter to members of his family to encourage them to remain Christ-like and virtuous in this sinful world. Christians live in a very dishonest, deceitful, and difficult world. James does not want them to be conformed to this sinful world, but to be transformed through the renewing of their minds according to God’s Word. (Romans 12:1-2) No matter how profitable sin may be in this life, it will inevitably bring God’s disapproval and condemnation upon them. (6:1-11)

Our text in James 5:12 reminds us that Christians are to glorify the LORD with our words and our deeds because he can bless that person. But if we do not live this way there are real consequences. We could summarize our text by saying, “Every believer has the responsibility to be a person who keeps their word and to be a trustworthy person. If he does not do this, he will comes under the condemnation of God.”

At first, this passage appears to be disconnected from its surrounding context. However, there are reasons why verse 12 is connected to the surrounding passages.

• First, it begins with a conjunction.

• Second, James’ instruction in verse 12 is to be heeded ‘above all things’. My friends, I have found this to be an amazing statement.

• The consideration of these things should allow us to apply James 5:12 rightly.

This Text Begins With A Little Conjunction That Has A Big Meaning!

Verse 12 begins with the conjunction, “But (δέ)”. James uses this to accomplish two things.

• First, James wants us to stop and think about what has come before. Illustration: It is like reading a psalm and coming to the word ‘Selah’.

• Secondly, James uses this conjunction to emphasize what he is about to say.

Example: Let me give you an example of how the apostle Paul does something similar in Ephesians 2:1-7. We read, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But (δέ) God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

In verses 1-3 Paul conveys that all men are spiritually dead and in a hopeless situation. In verse 4, however, Paul says, But God, being rich in mercy, and because of His great love has made us alive and saved us by His grace! This is the very sense in which we should see the conjunction when we come to James 5:12.

This Conjunction Connects Verse 12 With James 5:1-11

When we see this conjunction we should ask what has gone before? What came before can be broken into two sections: James 5:1-6 and James 5:7-11.

James 5:1-6

In James 5:1-6 it was clear that James was writing to ‘rich’ people. James says, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you”. (5:1) The question arises when we try to figure out if the ‘rich’ people are believers or unbelievers or both. One thing is for certain, if James 5:1-6 only addresses unbelievers then there is no connection to our text today in verse 12 because there James is writing to ‘brothers’- “But above all, my brothers,…”. (Ironically, I have found the application of verse 12 easier to do with this passage than with James 5:7-11 which has closer ties.)

I believe James’ words did apply to believers.

• Reason #1: The church is made up of both wheat and tares, saved and unsaved, light and darkness. (Matthew 13:24-30)

• Reason #2: The church is also made up of varying levels of maturity and Christ-likeness in believers. 1 Corinthians 2-3 describes the natural person, the carnal christian who needs to be rescued (5:19-20), and the spiritual person who is growing and maturing.

• Reason#3: Christians are tempted to be greedy, covetousness, and lovers of money. They can be miserly, money-grubbing, stingy, and desirous of wealth and prosperity.

• Reason #4: In the Scriptures there are many admonitions for believers to repent of these sins. They are to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to them. (Matthew 6:33; 3 John 2)

Application with James 5:12- These rich people needed to keep their word that they had given to their employees for the work that was done. Unfortunately, these rich individuals were doing business like the world and not according to God’s Word. They promised to pay their employees their due wages but after it was done they ‘kept the wages back by fraud’. (4) Then the rich ‘indulged themselves’ with these profits. (5)

It seemed as though the rich were getting away with this but James calls them to weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon them. They needed to repent (James 4:6-10) and the result of true repentance would be that they would honor their commitments to the poor. (5:12; Matthew 20:1-16) (Luke 19:8- “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”)

Now, let’s look at James 5:7-11? In contrast to James 5:1-6, it is clear that James 5:7-11 was written to Christians. We know this because the term ‘brother’ is used three times in those verses.

• In verse 7 these ‘brothers’ are to be patient as they look to the LORD.

• In verse 9 these ‘brothers’ are not to grumble against each other as they wait upon the LORD.

• In verses 10-11 these ‘brothers’ are to consider the prophets and Job who remained ‘steadfast’ and ‘persevered’ and ‘remained solid under pressure’ while they had to face very great pressures.

With this in mind you can see that there is a very close connection between James 5:7-11 and to what James says in verse 12 when he says, “But above all, my brothers, 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.”

Important: The instruction in verse 12 has a strong connection as to how these poor suffering Christians are to behave while they are being patient (7-8) and remaining steadfast (11) during suffering.

In James 5:7-11 James uses different words concerning how a believer is to respond during difficult times. Christians are to be patient and they are to remain steadfast. Patience and steadfastness are similar but they are not identical terms.

Patience speaks about how I am to respond to God and to other people during these difficult times. Patience speaks about how we relate to one another, therefore, we are to strengthen our hearts and not grumble against one another. (5:9) Patience pertains to a grace virtue found in relationships. During trials I am to walk by faith and receive God’s grace which accesses the patience given to me through the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23) As I do this I receive the strength to not grumble against God or other believers during these difficult times.

• If I give into grumbling I will respond badly and become impatient and throw in the towel and break my commitments.

• If I don’t grumble I will continue progressing in patience and remain steadfast to my commitments to God and His people.

Illustration of the relational aspect of this word from Judges 10:6-16: In Judges 10 God’s people have sinned greatly against God. They have turned to idols and had forsaken the LORD who had saved them again and again. Therefore, God said, “I will save you no more”. Can you imagine hearing those words from the LORD? These words, however, are not an indication of the absolute determination of God’s will towards His people. If they will sincerely repent God will respond. Therefore, when they do honestly repent we read these words, “So the people put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD. And He became impatient with the misery of Israel.” See the beautiful relational nature of the word ‘patience’.

Steadfastness, on the other hand, speaks of how a believer is to persevere and bear up under pressure. A believer who applies their faith and receives God’s grace will not throw in the towel when things get hard, difficult, and miserable.

How does patience and perseverance connect with verse 12 which speaks about being a person who keeps their word, their commitments, their promises?

Double Danger: First, when we get impatient with others, when we stop persevering in our circumstances, we are more prone to make rash vows, oaths, and promises. Secondly, we are also more prone to break our vows, oaths, and promises. Because of these things we can see the importance of the instruction in verse 12.

The Importance Of The Instruction Of Verse 12

James says at the beginning of verse 12, “But above all…”. Could James pick a different phrase that would be any more emphatic than these to stress what has come before and also what he is about to say?

In James 5:1-11 James has spoken to the rich and to the poor. He has spoken the Word of the LORD with passion, courage, and conviction. Then, right after he does this, he says, “Above all of these things....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.”

We might read those words this way, “Above all of these things, brothers,.…to the rich who repent and to the poor while you wait patiently and remain steadfast...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.”

James is saying that these believers are not to let their present circumstances change their understanding of good biblical theology? They are not to let their present circumstances undermine their Christian virtues worldview and obedience to the scriptures.

• Every Christian is to be a man or a woman who keeps their word even to their own hurt under difficult circumstances and not only when it is easy. (Psalm 15:4) They are to keep their word in the small things and in the big things.

What would this look like?

• The rich should let their ‘yes’ be yes and their ‘no’ be no. Pay what they promised and even be generous. They are to be above reproach.

• The poor who have been treated fraudulently should not become jaded, hardened, and calloused. In other words, they cannot say...

  • “If this is how everyone else acts then why shouldn’t I?”

  • “In this sinful world there is no other option but to act like them if I want to get ahead!”

  • “Under these circumstances, we don’t have any other options but to act like them. When in Rome, do as they do!”

The Word of God shows us how to live and God empowers His people by His grace to do this in all circumstances. If we are going to follow the examples of people we should not choose the wicked and ungodly. Instead, we should look to the writers of scripture and to examples like Job. (5:10-11; Hebrews 11) Informed by God’s Word, and having received wisdom through prayer, we are to be faithful and honest people who keep their commitments and promises to God and to others.

One final thought. We live in a world where very few people keep the commitments that they have made. They have a very low view of the responsibility they have to let their ‘yes’ be yes and their ‘no’ be no. Is it any surprise that we also live in a culture that does not think highly of oaths, swearing, and covenants. Illustration: Recently I even saw a man take an oath, not by laying his hand on a bible, but on a comic book! That was terrible and I don’t know how anyone could trust a man like that.

However, being a person who lets their ‘yes’ be yes and their ‘no’ be no is the baseline and foundation of faithfully living as a Christian. This does not mean that a Christian cannot enter into oaths and covenants; however, because of this foundation of promise keeping these sacred vows, oaths, and covenants become all that more meaningful. A righteous and faithful person will swear before God and therefore they will keep it or face condemnation. A righteous person who lives honorably in the big and little things uses vows before God to make his intentions even more sure.

This is what God did in Hebrews 6:13-20, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater by whom to swear, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely I will bless you and multiply you.’ And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desires to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

A faithless and wicked man, however, will enter into vows quickly without any thought or reluctance because in the end he plans a way to break that vow if it becomes to difficult or unprofitable. A Christian is not to be anything like that; rather, they are to reflect the nature and character of God and they are to let their ‘yes’ be yes and their ‘no’ be no.