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In the last episode we looked at the big picture for how to live life well — love God and love others.
We need to always keep that in mind, but today we want to go beyond the big picture and get very specific.
God has a tip for us on how to live life well.
It’s a very simple concept.
Ready?
Jesus shared this teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). After telling His listeners they shouldn’t focus on oaths and promises, He explains …
“Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”
Jesus Matthew 5:37 (ESV)
I told you it was simple.
I mean how much simpler can it get?
Yes means yes. No means no.
But think about it.
Does your “yes” mean “yes”?
Does your “no” mean “no”?
Like I said, it’s a simple concept.
But If you’re like me, while it’s a simple concept, it can be a little more difficult to live out.
Let me give you an example.
Basic Training
A few decades ago I was in this thing called the United States Army. Everyone who entered the Army at that time went through this 24/7 experience called Basic Training.
We learned how to salute, march, make our beds, get shots, stand in line, shoot rifles, throw hand grenades, and even kill someone in hand-to-hand combat … among many other things.
The experience lasted two months.
Two months!
Trust me, when those two months were over, we were all ready to have Basic Training be an experience in our past.
We turned in our gear and were given a single sheet of paper to sign.
I made the mistake of reading the paper.
There were a list of activities all soldiers were supposed to have completed. I think the Army was just covering its bases in case something happened to us during the war they wouldn’t get in trouble for not teaching us what we needed to know.
As I looked through the list I realized I had completed all of the items except for one — the live fire drill. That’s where you crawl on the ground and they shoot real bullets above you to give you the “feel” of being shot at.
On the day my company did that particular activity, I was doing KP (Kitchen Police) — helping the cooks, cleaning the kitchen, serving food, cleaning the dining room. Every day they picked out a group of trainees to work on KP. And on the days you worked on KP you missed the training activities the company did that day.
I missed the live fire training.
I would like to say I was ignorant of Jesus’ teaching, but before I went in the Army I had memorized the Sermon on the Mount and I knew what Jesus said about my yes being yes and my no being no.
So, what should I do?
I went to the drill sergeant and explained my predicament.
He didn’t seem upset or angry. He smiled and very calmly said, “No problem. You’ll just have to repeat Basic.” And he walked away.
Repeat Basic Training?
He couldn’t be serious.
I looked around. Everyone in my company had been on KP at various times. Surely they were going through the same struggle I was having, but no one seemed concerned about the issue.
I stared at the paper.
Another two months of Basic Training?
That wasn’t fair!
Before I tell you what I did I have a question for you.
If you were there and I turned to you for advice, what would you have told me?
If you had been in my situation, what would you have done?
Again, I looked at the paper.
I knew what Jesus said.
Despite that, I signed the paper indicating I had completed all of the required activities. I turned the paper in, and went on about my Army career.
No big deal, right?
That was over fifty years ago and I can still see that moment in my mind. I don’t know where the Army keeps their paperwork, but if you have access to whatever archive they are in today, you would find one of those papers from a soldier who completed Basic Training had my signature on it.
And now you would know that on that day back in 1970, my “yes” did not mean “yes.”
Let me give you another example.
Fitness Club
To say I am out of shape would be kind.
I used to work out when I was in high school and college and I figured maybe I should start that activity up again. Perhaps if I went to the gym and did a good physical workout several times a week my body would appreciate it.
A local fitness center was running a special so I went to sign up.
When I walked through the door, I was assigned to someone who gave me a tour of the facility then took me to his office and presented my options. He set a contract in front of me and explained there was a sign up fee and monthly charges that were more than I thought. I realized there was no way I could afford this approach to getting into shape.
I started to leave but the salesman motioned for me to come closer. He whispered that there had been a sale that would bring the cost down to what I could afford but that the sale ended a couple of days earlier.
He pointed to the contract, looked around, and then continued. If I would sign the contract, he would “pre-date” it and no one would know it wasn’t signed while the sale was on.
My sign up fee would be waved and the monthly fees would be down to a range I could afford.
What a deal!
What should I do?
I needed exercise and I could afford what the salesman quoted … but the date on the document would be wrong.
I’m sure this was just a sales tactic to get me to sign but we would both know it wasn’t true.
If that company is still in operation and you could search back through its records, I’m glad to say you would not be able to find a membership document signed by me.
On that day, I let my “yes” be “yes” and my “no” be “no,” and I would not sign document.
One more story.
And in this story there are no documents and papers to sign.
My Wife
When my wife comes home from work, she will often ask me if I ate well. I have to admit I know exactly what she means.
Eating well to her means things like carrots, celery, cucumbers, and stuff like that.
Not eating well to her means things like ice cream, sodas, chips, … you know, stuff that tastes good.
When she asks me if I ate well, if I did eat well, the answer is easy.
Yes!
If I didn’t eat well, I have a choice.
If I tell her “No, I didn’t eat well,” then I’m going to hear about the importance of a good diet. Everything she says will be true, but I don’t like hearing it.
If I didn’t eat well and I tell her “Yes, I ate well,” she smiles and life goes on without me feeling bad or me having to hear the lecture about the importance of good food choices.
There is no paper trail documenting my response, so does it matter?
Yes, it does.
Jesus’ teaching on this topic is very simple:
“Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”
Jesus Matthew 5:37 (ESV)
Over the next few days pay particular attention to your words.
It’s a simple teaching but it is an important part of living life well.
Jesus finished His talk in the Sermon on the Mount with this statement:
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
Matthew 7:7:24-25 (ESV)
Choose to build your house on the rock.
Make it your goal this next week that your “yes” will mean “yes” and your “no” will mean “no.”
TIPS "Yes means what?"