|
“I Vow to Thee”
Nehemiah 10 18 November 2007
Andrew Lim
Have you ever made a vow in your life?
Most of you will immediately think of the wedding vow
which those you here who’re married / would have made
The Catholics as a people quite regularly make vows to God
some take the vow of silence / others the vows of celibacy
A vow is more than a resolution or an oath
A vow is an oath taken not merely before human witnesses
but an oath taken before God and actually asking God
to be the recipient of the promise
A vow is a binding promise made to God
The Bible speaks clearly about taking vows
Numbers 30:2: “When a man makes a vow to the Lord
he must not break his word but must do everything he said”
Ecclesiastes 5:4 “When you make a vow to God do not delay
in fulfilling it He has no pleasure in fools Fulfill your vow”
And Jesus warns against using empty oaths in Matthew 5:33-37
In Judges 11 Jephthah vows to the Lord
that he is given victory over the Ammonites
then whosoever is the first to greet him when he returns
that person shall be offered to the Lord for a burnt-offering
As it turns out it is his own daughter who is first to meet him
and with great grief in his heart he sacrifices her to the Lord
- keeping his vow
But there have been many who have made their vows only to break them
In Exodus the Israelites promise to do “everything the Lord has said”
But in less than six weeks these same people construct a golden calf
bowed before it and worshipped it
And you’ll remember Samson. Samson made the Nazareth vow
But repeatedly he broke his vows not once but a number of times
And Jeremiah tells us that God’s people repeatedly broke the covenant
Peter promised our Lord saying “Even if all fall away I will not”
Only hours later Peter denies the Lord three times
People make vows today for at least two reasons
First, vows help some people sharpen out focus on our commitment
Second, some people find that making a vow to God
helps them express their love for and commitment to God
Couples make vows during a marriage ceremony
to express their life-long commitment to one another
and only until death will they be apart
We need to be careful that we not make vows carelessly
But the once we make to God, God holds us to them
Let go to our text now
The people in the Nehemiah story
come to be convicted by God about their rebellion
and after hearing what God wanted from them
they are now wanting to make this “binding agreement”
to follow the Lord wholeheartedly
Read 10:29: “All these now join their brothers the nobles
and bind themselves with a curse and an oath
to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God
and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees
of the Lord our God”
And they are serious about submitting to God
they are willing for the curses of God to fall on them
if they do not carefully obey what He says
They made three solemn oaths before the Lord put it in writing and sealed it
The first vow they made they vowed to be separate from the world
“We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land
or take their daughters for our sons” Nehemiah 10:30b
They vowed to be totally devoted to God no matter what the cost
When a man and a woman get married
they vow to separate themselves from all other possible mates
they vow to give themselves completely to each other
In the same way the Israelites vow to separate themselves
from the peoples around them so they may devote themselves to God
Some people have taken this verse to mean that Christians people
should not inter-marry with people of other races
but that / is not what is taught here
This is nothing to do with ethnic pride
It has everything to do with how they honor God
When God forbids Christians from marrying non-Christians
He is concerned about the purity of our faith
and the holiness of our lives
By refusing to marry outside of their faith
the Israelites were vowing to God
that they would not dilute their obedience to Him
by bringing unholy influences into their homes
The Bible explicitly prohibits a believer from entering
into marriage with a non-believer
In Deuteronomy 7:3, 4. God warned the children of Israel
not to marry the children of Canaan
because “they would turn your sons away from following me
to serve other gods”
Nehemiah / in 13:26, 27 / pointed out to the surviving children of Israel
that the great King Solomon was led astray
by his relationship with women who served other gods
This teaching is consistent in the New Testament
2 Corinthians 6:14 states in no uncertain terms
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers
Of course this passage does not specifically mention marriage
but it remains in principle / the clearest warning
against forbidden intimate relationships
and what human relationship could be more intimate
than that of a husband and a wife
The passage goes on to say
“What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?
What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
What do righteousness and wickedness have in common?
What fellowship can light have with darkness?”
Answer: Absolutely nothing
Never venture into forbidden ground
Marriage between believers and unbelievers is forbidden by God
2 Cor 6:17 / “Therefore / Come out from among them / And be separate
says the Lord / Do not touch what is unclean /and I will receive you”
Now beware when you read a verse like this
For separation does not mean isolation
If we isolate ourselves from the world
we will never be salt and light to them
There is nothing wrong striking good friendships with unbelievers
but that is as far as it should go
You clearly cannot marry an unbeliever
Why? For how could a marriage ever hope to survive / if you disagree
on the most crucial issue in the universe - the Lord Jesus Christ?
In a relationship where two people
are supposed to become one in spirit and in body
these two people are divided at the deepest level
torn apart by the vast gulf that separates heaven and hell
Marriages with non-Christians are disastrous for a number of reasons
There are abundant historical evidence that unequally yoked marriages
have led to a decline in Israel’s spiritual and moral life
Nehemiah 13:26 asks the question
“Was it not because of marriages like these
that Solomon king of Israel sinned? / Among the many nations
there was no king like him / He was loved by His God
and God made him king over all Israel
but even he was led into sin by foreign women”
We do not care to admit it / but we influenced by other people
People in spiritual leadership can testify
to how Christians in mixed marriages have often led
to the Christians eventually walking away from God
When a believer marries a non-believer / the stage is set
for conflict / for compromise and finally for conformity
Some Christians think that they may marry a non-Christian
because their influence over the non-Christian will be helpful
but too often / their noble aspirations become weakened
they become entrapped in Satan’s net
through a chain of circumstances
One false step leads to another / till eventually yield their faith
The reasons God forbids a Christian marrying outside her faith are clear
If a Christian marries a Hindu or a Buddhist or an unbeliever
they are divided at the very heart of their marriage
And because God wants us to marry for a lifetime
having a common faith serves as a powerful bond
to hold a man and wife together
When children come to a family / if they are of different faiths
there will be a desire on the part of each parent
to raise the child in his or her faith
This will certainly cause serious conflicts for the child
nit to mention a constant source of conflict for the couple
I urge you / on the authority of God’s Word
do not deliberately disobey God in this area / you’ll come to grief
The question is not / “Will this relationship work out?”
The question rather is / “Am I not disobeying God
by having this relationship with this non-Christian?
If you are truly submitted to God and His Word
you will know that that command is a non-negotiable
If you are truly submitted to God
you will never even begin a relationship with a nonbeliever
The people make a second vow
After vowing never to give their sons and daughters to marry unbelievers
they vow to keep the Sabbath holy to God
Verse 31: “When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain
to sell on the Sabbath / we will not buy from them on the Sabbath
or any holy day
Every seventh year we will forgo working the land
and will cancel all debts”
In Nehemiah’s time the Sabbath was a day was set aside to honor God
It was distinctive from other days
It was a day and given wholly over to God
so that they might offer their worship to Him
without being distracted by the demands of everyday life
On top of the weekly Sabbath
the Israelites also promised to observe the “Sabbatical Year”
This means that on every seventh year
they will let the land lie idle / so that it might restore itself
It takes a lot of trust / to obey God regarding the “Sabbatical Year”
Because it means planting no crop and keeping no herd
They surely needed to trust Him for food and provision
They will have to not make any effort to provide for themselves
with the belief that God is able to provide for them
even on a day when they do no work
There is a vital teaching for us all here
From the early beginning of the church Christians made the Lord’s Day
their appointed day for worship / rest / service and witness
God has made all the days
but he has blessed and hallowed the seventh day
And God says Six days you shall labor and do all your work
but on the seventh / keep the Sabbath
God appointed the Sabbath for two reasons:
for “rest” and for “remembrance”
First / the idea of rest / The command to keep the Sabbath
is based on the fact that God rested on the seventh day
after working six days to create everything
God creates us with a sensitive biological rhythm
which affects our hearts / bodies / emotions and minds
The fourth commandment / “You shall keep the Sabbath holy”
is not just a law written on stone tablets
it is a law written into every cell of the human body
and in all of nature
The tides rise the tides fall / the days turn into night and into day
- the seasons change / we get drought / we get rain
- there is summer / there is winter where life pulls back to hibernate
- there’s a time for fruit / a time for fallow
In the same way / there are unseen pulses that regulate the human body
between work and rest
Dr Hagler of Switzerland once conducted a series of experiments
about oxygen and the human body
He discovered that your body uses up more oxygen
than your body is able to restore in one night of rest
A weekly day of rest is needed / to restore the cumulative loss
of oxygen from the six days of labor
We are wrong if we imagine
that the command to keep a Sabbath is written on tablets of stone
This commandment is most profoundly written
on the tablets of our hearts
But it is also a day to especially remember the Lord
So / the Lord says: “In it / you shall do no kind of work”
God is saying: / “I have given you six days / for your work
I ask only for one day / for my own service”
The Lord is saying: / “The Sabbath-day is my due
No one else has any claim to it
If you rob me of this day / and put it to common use
you commit a sacrilege
The person who spends Sunday for worldly business
is a worse thief than the robber / for the robber steals from man
but the one who cheats God of the Sabbath / steals from God
We keep the Sabbath by consecrating and dedicating this day to God
We can’t just do nothing
If we just did completely nothing on the Sabbath
then the ox and the ass keep the Sabbath as well as we
for they too rest from labor
We can’t just do nothing / Instead we should dedicate the day to God
In other words / we’re not only to “keep” a Sabbath”
we’re to “sanctify” a Sabbath
But how are we to sanctify the Sabbath?
We sanctify the Sabbath by our worship / our reading of His word
to attendance to prayer and meditation
We need to retire into our inner sanctum and there solemnly reflect on God.
We need the courage to keep our poise
and not feel the compulsion to struggle against the threat of starvation
The people now makes a third and final vow
They vow to generously give of what they have to support God’s Work
verses 32-39
The phrase the “house of our God” is used nine times here
Verse 39 sums it all up
“We will not neglect the house of our God”
This passage records for us / how very generous they people are
One / they gave as an act of obedience
verse 32 says they were “carrying out the commands to give”
as it “is written in the Law” / vv 34, 36
Two / they gave systematically
they did not give impulsively / or haphazardly
verse 32 / says they were to bring a third of a silver shekel each year
verse 34 / says lots were drawn to determine
when families were to bring a contribution at set times each year
verse 35 tells us that first fruits were brought each year
they were giving in a planned / orderly way
And the New Testament teaches the same principle
1 Corinthians 16:2: “On the first day of every week
each one of you should set aside a sum of money”
Three / they gave proportionately
God recognizes that not everyone could make the same kind of offering
According to Israel’s sacrificial system
if someone couldn’t afford to give a young bull
a male goat or lamb
they were able instead to offer two doves or young pigeons
Again the New Testament teaches the same principle
We should give in proportion to how we’ve been blessed
1 Corinthians 16:2: “On the first day of every week
each one of you should set aside a sum of money
in keeping with his income”
Fourth / they gave what the Lord prescribed
they gave a “tenth” / a “tithe” of their crops to the Lord / verse 37
Christians all over the world
have long been giving a tenth of their income to the Lord
And it is a God-honoring guide for Christian giving
As Dr Ironside so loved to say
“If the Jews under the Law gave a tenth
Dare we under grace / give less than a tenth?”
Many Christians have rightly said / “the tithe is a good place to start”
so long as we don’t get hung up on that figure
because truly / all we have is His in the first place
Giving a tenth / or what we call “tithing” is a most helpful way to give
but there are dangers
It can easily lead you to give with the wrong motives
It is easy to imagine that just because I tithe
nothing more can be required of me as far as giving goes
and I can do whatever we want with the 90% that’s mine
It can also easily lead us to give out of a sense of a rigid duty
not of love for the Lord
It can also cause us to give out of an unhealthy motive
thinking that since I tithe my income / God must prosper me
Anyway / the people in Nehemiah’s day gave what the Lord prescribed
they gave a “tenth” / a “tithe” of their crops to the Lord / verse 37
Fifth / they didn’t get hung up on a tenth
they went beyond a tenth / they gave sacrificially
They brought to God’s house the “first fruits” of their crops
“and of every fruit tree” / verse 35
Giving to God the first fruits of their crops is their way
of making a declaration
that God was the giver of all things / that everything belongs to Him
that He is worthy of the best we can offer Him
The principle is this / Give sacrificially
And while it is true / that not everyone can give the same amount
everyone can make a sacrificial sacrifice
The amount given may not be equal / but the sacrifice can be equal
Mother Teresa once said
“If you give what you do not need / it isn’t giving”
C.S. Lewis expressed the same thought in another way / He said
“I don’t believe / one can settle how much we ought to give
I’m afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare”
Sixth / they gave of everything they had
- not only bring their crops / not only their money
but they also brought their first-born sons and their animals
to the Lord / verse 36
Ultimately / God isn’t interested in what we offer to Him
He says / “My son / give me your heart” / Prov 23:26
And if God is looking for out heart
then the really crucial question we need to ask
is not / “How much should I give?”
but rather / “How much dare I keep?”
Let me put it this way
God is calling us all / to go out and spread the gospel
to the unbelieving world
This mission will demand a huge investment of commitment and money
In the face of this / any thought of trying to settle the question
of how much we should give / by any fixed percentage
like a tenth / is simply out of the question
John Piper says that his own conviction
is that most middle and upper class Americans / who merely tithe
are robbing God
He says / “In a world where 10,000 people a day starve to death
and many more than that are perishing in unbelief
the question is not “What percentage must I give?”
but / “How much dare I spend on myself?”
He reminds us that it is a biblical truth beyond all dispute
that all your money is God’s (Psalm 24:1)
and has been loaned to you as a steward
to use in ways that maximize the glory of God
And it is irrational to think / that giving ten percent
of that money to the church settles the issue of good stewardship
Surely in a world / where so many go to bed hungry
and so many die without having found Jesus to be their Savior
the issue of giving / must never be settled with the question
“Shall I give a tenth?” / but rather
“How much of God’s trust fund dare I use
to surround myself with comforts?
Of course a tenth is a great place to start
but at the same time / to even talk that way
is really to miss out on the spirit of giving / God desires of us
Our giving needs to go beyond counting dollars and cents
Our giving needs to be more radical than keeping to percentages
Just take a look at the New Testament view of discipleship
“He who has two coats / let him share with him who has none”
Luke 3:11 / that's 50% not 10%
Zacchaeus said / “Behold / Lord / the half of my goods
I give to the poor” / Luke 19:8 / a gain that’s 50%
Jesus said to the rich young man / “If you would be perfect
go sell what you possess and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven / and come follow me”
Matt 19:21 / that's 100%
Jesus also said / “So therefore / whoever of you does not renounce
all that he has cannot be my disciple” / Luke 14:33 / again 100%
Right there in those verses / right there in the words of our Lord Jesus
we capture the spirit of the New Testament giving
The question is not “How much must I give?”
but / “How much dare I hold back for myself?”
The question is not “Can I afford to tithe
but can I justify the life-style that consumes 90% of my income?”
John Piper says this of his church Bethlehem
The question whether the work of Christ here at Bethlehem
will be adequately supported / is really the question
of where your treasure is
And where your treasure is, there is your heart
I want to close with a poem / anonymously written
“Dug from the mountainside / washed from the glen
Servant am I / or master of men
Steal me / I curse you
Earn me / I bless you
Grasp me and horde me
A fiend shall possess you
Covet me / take me
Angel or devil / I am what you make me”
Money / Money is not evil
It is “the love of money” / which is the root of all evil
In the hands of a good person / money can be a great blessing.
In the hands of a selfish person / money can become a curse
Money has been spoken of / as “the acid test of a man's character”
Your view of money and what you do with it
is a barometer of who you truly are
Through our contact with money
our character is either ennobled / or deformed by it.
Separating from the world that covers who we spend time with
Practicing a Sabbath rest that deals with how we spend our time
Supporting God’s work which involves how we spend our money
|
