You already know how this works. "I'll try to make it." "We should get together sometime." "I'll pray for you." These phrases sound like commitments. They function as polite exits. And somewhere along the way, we stopped noticing the difference. In week seven of First Christian Church's journey through the Sermon on the Mount, Pastor Justin Sturgeon opens Matthew 5:33–37 and Jesus's surprisingly pointed words about oaths — and what they reveal about the slow erosion of our own integrity. Not out there in politics or media (though we get there), but in the gap between what we say and what we actually mean. The sermon starts with a promise Pastor Justin makes to the entire congregation — and then breaks. On purpose. Because that sting of a commitment made and walked back is exactly what this passage is about. Jesus isn't giving a lecture on legal oath-taking. He's diagnosing something much closer to home: the way we've learned to use words as social lubrication rather than carriers of actual meaning. The way "I agree" has become something we click, not something we mean. The way we make resolutions to ourselves and quietly stop believing our own word. The way we can sing "I Surrender All" on a Sunday and never think about it again on Monday. And he traces it back further than bad habits. All the way to a garden, and a question: Did God really say? If you've ever caught yourself adding "honestly" before something — and wondered what that says about everything you said before it — this one is worth your time. Learn more about First Christian Church at fcctd.org.