Pay Your Vows to God

Vows and Commitment

Each new year that comes makes us all think about what the year ahead will be like. Many people decide to start off the new year with some plans... very often called "new year's resolutions"... usually focused on some form of self improvement.

New year's resolutions are a running joke in our culture... because they are most often abandoned sometime within the next few months. Modern culture has a low expectation of commitment [we don’t expect much of our self and we don’t expect much of others]... this affects marriage and families, business and employment, politics, international relations etc.

People might have logical or emotional reasons for avoiding commitment... but having a good reason for avoiding commitment does not protect us from the harm that a non-committal approach will inevitably bring... both personally or socially.

Commitment and follow through are an essential ingredient of a functional healthy society, and for our purposes in this message commitment is necessary for a person who is growing in grace, knowledge and putting on the mind of the God family.

Today I will approach the subject of commitment by looking at what the bible says about vows. Then I'll follow up with a brief section on setting some spiritual goals based on the gifts of the spirit.

blog URL for syndicates https://ucgraleigh.blogspot.com/2021/01/pay-your-vows-to-god.html

Biblical Perspective on Vows

Vows have been an integral part of human culture for a very long time... its a practice older than the bible. We have archaeological evidence of vows in Egyptian, Hittite, Phoenician, and Babylonian culture. Vows are part of human's perception of how a human being can deal with and interact with a conscious thinking spirit realm.

Jeremiah 44:24-27 example of vows made and fulfilled in context of Ishtar worship [a religious practice imported from Babylon]. God is angry that they are conscientious about fulfilling their vows to Ishtar but will no live up to their covenant Him

A vow is a solemn promise that some gift or service will be given to a god usually in return for some sort of favor or blessing. In the bible vows made to the living God are conditional upon God's prior fulfillment of a specific request made by the worshipper.

A vow is a built around a basic IF/THEN statement:  If [ you God] do this.... then I will do X . This is similar to a covenant except that a covenant is initiated by God towards people... and vows are initiated by people towards God.

Deuteronomy 23:21-23 God does not require that we make vows, they are entirely voluntary. There is nothing wrong or negative about avoiding vows. But if humans do make a vow unto God... He expects them to follow through and treats the vow as serious business and a binding agreement.

The danger with vows is that they tend to lead people to believe that can manipulate/control the spirit realm... a big feature in occult and pagan religion. Within the bible record God is willing to work with vows if they are made unto Him and if they conform to His will.

Swearing and Oaths

These are a bit different from vows. Swearing and oaths concern a deal or promise made between two individuals [or groups of people] who call upon God as witness to their sincerity. I believe this is what is being discussed in Matthew 5:33-37. In Jesus' day swearing and oath making had degenerated into a common and frivolous practice that folks said and did without much thought…  to secure gambling wagers, or business deals. Using God's name frivolously is definitely "of the evil one".

God takes stuff like this very seriously. Using His name frivolously is a violation of the commandment.

A person might swear or speak and oath to another person... but a vow was only made to God and therefore is seen in the context of prayer [either public or private prayer].

The Role of Vows in Israel

Vows played and important role in all periods of Israel's history. It was a matter of personal religion. Because is was so common the bible includes some very specific legislation to regulate vow making:

· A vow generally arose from a time of personal distress when a man or woman seeks some form of deliverance.

· Vows could  be a very personalized agreement between a person and God, or related to a very specific situation.

o A vow could be a simple commitment to perform public praise Psalm 69:29-31... "deliver me from my enemies and I will publicly praise you"

o Some vows are differentiated as "difficult" such as a specified sacrifice of costly animals or the vowing/dedication of a person

· A person could choose the predetermined parameters of the Nazarite vow as their part of the agreement. Numbers chapter 6 covers what a person would do to fulfill a Nazarite vow.

· Numbers 30 is an entire chapter concerning vows and how they could affect families. A husband had to agree to vows his wife or daughter made or they were absolved.

· A foolishly made vow concerning a person could be redeemed with a payment of redemption. This is covered extensively in Leviticus 27. The value of any substitution had to be of higher value than the original [about 20% higher].

A vow is a personal interaction with God… but that does not make it any less binding or subjective. We are warned that a vow made with God was not to be made rashly, in haste, or without giving consideration to your ability to fulfill... because fulfillment was serious business Proverbs 20:25, Ecclesiastes 5:1-6.

We see a lot of these elements in the first chapter of 1 Samuel: Elkinah comes before God yearly to fulfill his vows [probably sacrifice or offerings]. One year his childless wife Hannah prays to God in her distress asking for a child. She promises to dedicate the child to God [even throwing in elements of the nazarite vow]. God gives her the child she desires. Her husband consents to the vow and they give the child [Samuel] to God. God is very pleased and gives her blessings beyond what she asked for.

Commitment and follow-through is very important, and pleasing, to God.

Do Vows Matter Anymore?

Sacred vows and sacrifice are not part of our thinking in 21st century society. But people do still operate in their minds this way without thinking of it as a vow in the biblical sense. I heard a story a few years ago of a person caught in a rip tide and swept out to sea. She called upon God to save her, promising in return to attend church every week from that point on. She was saved. That's a vow; a prayer, distress, an if/then offer contingent on God's help, a means of fulfillment that is pleasing to God, public praise.

You might have done something like that... or perhaps not. Its a personal matter.  But a promise made to God is serious business.

Question: knowing how seriously God considers vows [we could also think of them as promises]... wouldn't it be better to avoid making any commitment like that... "if I never make any commitments then I can never fail". I must confess I have gone through periods of my life where I have reasoned in this way… “I’ll do my best but I don’t want to commit to any specifics”.

Answer: God wants you to make commitments... and He wants to see you follow through on them. Promises made and promises kept are one of the many ways God reveals His own personal character to us... one who is faithful, trustworthy, engaged, starting projects, taking on challenges... and seeing them through.

I believe that will be the dynamic of interpersonal relationships in the kingdom of God. But for now... we still live in a cynical, low commitment world, and it is rubbing off on the Church. In our society we expect people to let us down... we know others expect to be let down by us... morally and spiritually we have set the bar of success so low we are guaranteed to win even if all we do is trip over it and fall on the other side.

"Follow you heart" and "Do what seems right to you" are not demanding challenges that require follow through and commitment.

Spiritual Good Works, Goals, and Challenges

The sort of challenges that will truly benefit us and train us for service, joy, fellowship in the kingdom of God are spelled out in the words of your bible... "He has set before us good works to do so that we might walk in them".

You might set a personal goal for fasting, how about time spent in prayer, or a commitment to accomplish a bible study goal such as; memorization, writing out and entire section of scripture, etc.. 

But a challenge and a commitment is more that merely saying "yeah, I need to do better at that". Meaningful challenges and commitments have a measurable goal that can be quantified, measured, accomplished, and documented.

How about committing your self to using the gifts of the spirit God has given you?

The gifts of the spirit are different from the fruits of the spirit. The fruits are the natural outcomes of the holy spirits active presence in all believers. The gifts reflect God's preference for diversity and variety.

Note: the gifts of the spirit are listed in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 2:7-11, 1 Corinthians 7:7 -- Prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, contributing money, leadership, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, distinguishing of spirits, speaking in different languages, marriage, celibacy...  These gifts are given to us in different measure... some have one gift but not another.. and all are to be used to build up the Church which is the body of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 4:7-11 in this section Peter summarizes the gift of the spirit into three main categories: hospitality, speaking, service. For simplicity lets consider those:

Hospitality - perhaps you should set some definable goals for personal hospitality, fellowship, breaking bread with others: commit getting together with other members after Sabbath services once a month, or to invite people over to your home 6 times in the next year.

Speaking - if you have the responsibility of speaking and teaching set some goals for yourself. However, speaking could encompass "being ready to give an answer", take a doctrinal point(s) commit to memorize the relevant scriptures so you are prepared and ready. Speaking could encompass music, set a goal for yourself, commit to providing special music once a month, or six times a year.

Service - this could be service within your community or neighborhood, it could be a commitment to provide assistance, it could be a goal to donate to "Good Works" projects. We also need people to help at Sabbath services. I have heard people say "I am always willing to help out whenever I'm there"... that is not commitment. We need people who are willing to sign up, agree to a schedule, to be there, and follow through.

Self Assessment

I have three questions for you to ask of yourself;

1. Am I going to cautiously avoid promises, challenges, and commitments to spiritual development in the coming year, or will I actively take them on? .... Your Father wants you to take on challenges, commitments, initiate projects and follow through. Don't worry about failure, God is merciful, He knows how you are formed, He is kind, He is gentle, He is patient...but He is not pleased with slackers, and people whose word is not reliable.  

2. Am I living up to the promises and commitments I have made to God in the past? Consider things you might have said in times of distress, consider the declaration you made when you were baptized. Are you following through on your commitments?

3. Have I committed myself to delivering on some difficult promises in the past [promises of time, attention, money, service]... but am following up by offering sacrifices of lesser value? Substituting total attention with partial attention, a weekly sacrifice of time with a sacrifice of time when it fits into my busy schedule?

Malachi 1:6-14

Conclusion

God  likes the spiritual character that develops when promises are made and then conscientiously fulfilled. Its a reflection of his own faithful character growing in you and it is pleasing to Him. So, commit yourself and live up to your commitments  .