Dear St Andrews Family,

“I swear on the grave of my father Domingo Montoya thatyou will make the top alive.”

We swear, we promise, we vow…because people areuntrustworthy, because dishonesty is rampant.

· Sixty-five percent of students say that theywould be willing to cheat on an important exam.

· One noted physician says that Lying is animportant part of social life, and children who are unable to do it are children who may have developmental problems.

· Fletcher Reed says, “You won’t survive in anadult world without lying.”

Jesus calls us to do away with all oaths. That seemspretty crazy in the world in which we live. What about in the courtroom, on the wedding day, or pinky swears in the clubhouse? What then?

Let’s talk about this from Matthew 5:33-37. Andlet me paint a picture of a new world that Jesus is inaugurating. A new, more robust, more beautiful, more abundant world than you could have imagined.

Pastor Jace

Dear St. Andrews Family,

Marriages are dying. Covenants mean little and commitments are things of the past. Divorce is rampant and we treat as casual that which God calls sacred. We look for ways tojustify our affairs and our divorces and we suffer because of it. Our children suffer. Our world suffers. We are kind of a mess.

This week in Matthew 5:31-32, Jesus gives us a way out of our marriage. Kind of. But it also seems he says we shouldn’t get remarried. That is kind of concerning to me since I have been dating a divorced woman for many months. In fact, it lookslike he says that if I do marry her then she becomes an adulteress. That’s pretty heavy. But what does he mean and what does this mean for us today? Let’s visit this text together.

Pastor Jace

Dear St Andrews Family,

My guess is that everyone who is reading this is brokensexually. Some of you have cheated on your spouse and others have only dreamed of doing so. Some of you have an active lusty imagination and some of you act it out. Jesus actually has some things to say about this and they aren’t pleasant—He says, “cut it off or you go to hell!”

I don’t want to write about or even think about what “cutit off” means, but we probably should. Because I think in the background of this text is something we sometimes miss: an invitation to something beautiful. Even as Jesus steers us away from seduction, lust, and fracture, he calls us tofulfil our longings and find our wholeness in him. This is kinda cool. Take a look at Matthew 5:27-30 when you get a chance and let’s worship and think about this more.

Pastor Jace