2005-01-28
Good Morning Treasured Ones,
If that greeting seems too flowery for you, remember that it’s how God feels about each one of you. We tend to forget that in our everyday constantly hustling lives. If the Lord didn’t feel that way about us, He wouldn’t have left the legacy of His word, His invitation for us to make changes in our lives so that we can come back to Him for a blissful eternity, his desire for us to join Him in His work, or labor so hard in the on-going process of our sanctification. We must remember that God is providing the devil a carefully measured chance to bring trouble into our lives so that we can work through it and be spiritually and emotionally strengthened by this work. The adversary knows what God is doing, which is why in REV 12: 12, we are shown that he is so angry because he knows his time is limited.
Today, the Holy Spirit directs me to write about the subject of taking or making vows. To understand God’s will in this matter, we must begin with EX 20: 3,5, “Worship no other god but Me…Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate Me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.” God’s entire purpose in setting Abraham and his family apart from his land of origin in Ur of the Chaldes is to establish a people who don’t worship idols, the Jews. Of course an integral part of that purpose was to cause a lineage to come into being which would eventually lead to a King for us all, the line of David leading to Jesus Christ. It was the reason that God made a vow with Abraham called the Abrahamic covenant in which He established a people and their Promised Land, and the Davidic covenant promising a King [GN 12: 1-3, GN 15: 13-21, 2 7: 12-13, & PS 89: 3-4]. When God makes a vow, He always keeps it. The question arises: Does mankind always keep their vows? I think the answer is pretty clear that they don’t, and therein enters some terrible problems.
The Bible not only reveals God’s mindset, but it also shows us mankind’s imperfection in following the true intent of God’s laws. A good example is what happened to the Jews when they entered into a poorly-conceived vow with the Gibeonites during Joshua’s time. First let’s look at God’s attitude from JS 1: 3-7 in the light of what has been said above about God’s will that the Jews will be given a land and will not practice idolatry. Remember that all the Canaanites where idolaters. [God speaking to Joshua, son of Nun] “As I told Moses, I have given you and all My people the entire land that you will be marching over. Your borders will reach from the desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north; from the great Euphrates river in the east, through the Hittite country, to the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Joshua, no one will be able to defeat you as long as you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will always be with you; I will never abandon you. Be determined and confident, for you will be the leader of these people as they occupy this land which I promised their ancestors. Just be determined, be confident; and make sure that you obey the whole Law that my servant Moses gave you. Do not neglect any part of it and you will succeed wherever you go.” That is a bold and all-encompassing vow God gives here. Now, let’s see what happened when Joshua and the Jews get themselves into a jam by not sticking to the letter of God’s Law.
In JS 9: 3-6, 14-19, The Gibeonites [who were Hivites, one of the Canaanite groups] heard of Joshua’s victories and decided to deceive the Jews into making a vow to save themselves. The Gibeonites told the Jews they were foreigners in this land and had heard of their great victories. They lied about bringing food and being told by their leaders to offer their service to the Jews. They wore tattered clothing and worn shoes to make their lie seem authentic. The unsuspecting Jews agreed to do this, forgetting to seek God’s will in such a matter. The Jews accepted some food from them, not consulting the Lord about it. Joshua made a treaty of friendship with the people of Gibeon and allowed them to live. The Jewish leaders vowed to keep the treaty. Three days after the treaty had been made, the Israelites learned they had been deceived and that the Gibeonites lived close by. But they had made a vow and now could not kill them, because that vow had been made by their leaders in the name of the Lord, Israel’s God.
These views of the establishment of clear directions from God in the OT have their foundations in Jewish life, as seen in LV19: 1- 2, NU 30: 2, and DT 23: 21. “The Lord told Moses to say to the community of Israel, ‘Be holy, because I am holy,’…When a man makes a vow to give something to the Lord or takes an oath to abstain from something, he must not break his promise, but must do everything that he said he would…When you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not put off doing what you promised; the Lord will hold you to your vow, and it is a sin not to keep it.” Today, we have looked at the issue of vows from the OT to give the basis for Christ’s teaching from the Sermon on the Mount which will be discussed in next week’s message. We must remember that to swear by God’s name means He is your witness that you are telling the truth. This should give each of us cause to think twice about making vows in God’s name.
PRAYER: O Lord, once again You call our attention to a matter which is very important to you, the taking of vows in Your name. The truth is the foundation of Your word. When we lie or take vows carelessly as the Jews did with the Gibeonites, it either says we don’t know Your will, or we don’t care about Your will, or both. We stand before You today to confess that in our lives we have done these things or never really understand how much they matter to You. Our confession is genuine as is our desire to change this behavior to that which honors You. Because of our spiritual poverty, we ask You today and always to be patient with us, to continue causing us to hunger for Your word, and to speak to us through it, to give us the self-discipline to seek Your will, and through prayer to help us to obey it. Those of us who entered into marriages which You ordained have taken vows before You that we will love, honor, and be faithful to our spouses. We take those vows seriously and act on them. Those of us who have vowed to serve You in a faithfully obedient way, including clergy who are ordained to be Your servants to their congregations or special ministries, take these vows with all our hearts. Many of us who enjoy special friendships where faith in Your teaching is shared may not have taken vows in ceremonies, but we have agreed at the time of our baptism and/or confirmation to be part of Your family. We understand the supernatural bond that You have forged, known by the Greek word “koinonea,” between Yourself, a believer, and all other believers. We consider honoring Your will by loving each other and You [JN 13: 34-35] to matter tremendously. You gave us Your only begotten Son so that we could be saved and experience Your grace. We thank and praise You for Your wonderful presence, wise direction, and promise-keeping in our lives. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
Next week we are going to look at Christ’s teaching on the making and keeping of vows from MT 5: 35-37. We can see the historical foundation and God’s consistency of teaching in the Scriptures on this issue of taking vows. I don’t know any humans who have ever been as consistently righteous or wise as our Abba is. Anyone who spends daily time in the Scriptures with faithful humility can’t miss God’s love, patience, compassion, and wisdom toward mankind who as sinners wish to be sanctified. God knows that we struggle with issues like the taking of vows, the use of our language, and learning to communicate genuine love for each other and for Him. The name, “Israel,” means “he struggles with God” in Hebrew. While most of you reading this message are Gentiles [non-Jews], it must be remembered from RO 11: 24, “You Gentiles are like the branch of a wild olive tree that is broken off and then, contrary to nature, is joined to a cultured olive tree. The Jews are like this cultivated tree; and it will be much easier for God to join these broken-off branches to their own tree again.” As the wild olive branches grafted in to the cultured olive tree, all of us together fall under the dictates of God’s laws. Paul described the struggle we take on in RO 7: 14-25a, the conflict between our outer fleshly self and the inner Spirit which God has so graciously given us. Later in GA 5: 16-26, he shows how Spirit and flesh oppose each other. We find ourselves in a battle that Christ will lead us to win. Take comfort in 2 COR 4: 16, “For this reason [God’s grace], we never become discouraged. Even through our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day.” Our God’s love for each of us in this struggle can’t be measured!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn