Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning, everybody.
[00:00:07] Good morning. If I have not had the joy to meet you, my name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the village church. And for some of you, what I'm gonna tell you is gonna be great news. And for some of you, it's gonna be terrible news. Today we are finishing the book of Leviticus.
[00:00:25] I know. It's like, we should put everybody who loves it on this side. Everybody hates it on this side. I know that'd be terrible. No, but I never. I mean, okay, there is one sermon, ask me privately series, that was as, like, divisive as this one, but, like, I am shocked. People are like, bring on two corinthians. Like, we can't get there fast enough. And some of you are like, I have never learned more than I have in the book of Leviticus. So whatever it is this morning, it shall be finished. If you have a Bible, open up to Leviticus, chapter 27. And if you've been with us for a little bit of this book, what you have figured out is that the book of Leviticus is very invasive. So there is no part of the life of the people of God that his word does not speak into bluntly and directly. Whether it is your private personal life, it is your marriage, your children, your heart, your mind, your public life, the word of God is fairly invasive into every single aspect of our life, and Leviticus 27 does not disappoint. So what I want to do is I want to prepare us by reading a handful of scriptures to kind of prepare our hearts and our minds for Leviticus 27, numbers, chapter 30, verse two.
[00:01:38] If a man vows to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do it according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. Deuteronomy chapter 23, verses 21 to 23.
[00:02:00] If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it. For the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth. Psalm 70 611.
[00:02:34] Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them.
[00:02:40] Let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared.
[00:02:46] Ecclesiastes, chapter five, verses four and five. When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Okay, so there's a few themes I just want to draw out from these. So number one, it is good to make vows to God. And if you're in israelite specifically to make vows to God and to the temple. In fact, it's not just good. Making a vow to God is a sacred act.
[00:03:27] Breaking a vow is evil. In fact, the person who breaks their vow to God is considered a fool. And none of us want to be that person.
[00:03:37] It's also, we see this, it's just better to not make a vow than to make a vow and break it. Like some of you. Like you know you're going to make a commitment, but you're not quite sure if you're actually going to follow through on it. And so it is better to just keep your mouth shut than to make a promise or a commitment or a vow that you actually don't know, or even worse, have zero intention on following through on. Now, if you've ever been on the receiving end of that, can I get an amen? Like, it is better to keep your mouth shut than to make promises that you're not going to keep. So let's reflect for a moment. Have you ever made a commitment to God, to the church, or to a ministry, and not followed through?
[00:04:22] So here's what I expect. I expect that the Holy Spirit is going to be working as he does when the word of God is preached. And so what I expect is there might even be things that you haven't thought of in quite some time that the Lord might bring to your mind where you live, left someone or something in a lurch, or there might be like a pattern in your life, and the Holy Spirit may end up revealing this pattern. And so we're gonna talk toward the end, like, what are some so whats and next steps? But what I want to ask you to do is we talk about vows and commitments to the Lord from Leviticus 27. I just want to ask you that you have a particularly tender and humble heart to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
[00:05:04] And if there is something that he is calling, maybe you to go make something right. We want to be people who are not just convicted of sin, but if we have the opportunity to make right some of the things that we've made wrong, here's what I do know. I'm gonna go with 99.9% again, pastor math, but I think it's accurate.
[00:05:22] 99.9% of us have made a commitment and not followed through and we have left people in lurches, and hopefully those are long gone and forgotten. But if by chance the Lord brings something up and lets your heart know, I don't think that this thing has been resolved, then let's follow through and make it right. All right, turn with me. Leviticus 27. And what we're going to do is we're going to look at Leviticus 27 talks about vows for old covenant Israel. We're going to look at each of these vows, and then we're going to look at how the New Testament picks up this theme and applies it to new covenant christians. And I actually think for most of us, it's a little bit surprising how the new covenant applies this principle. All right. Leviticus 27. One, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, if anyone makes a special vow to the Lord, a vow is very simply a solemn, voluntary promise. Is anybody forcing the Israelites to make the vows that are going to be referenced in Leviticus 27? The answer is no. These are voluntary, solemn promises. And in the ancient Near east, which is when the book of Leviticus was written, it's the context it takes place in. There are three basic ways to make a vow. The first way you made a vow is with your mouth. You made a verbal commitment. The vast majority of vows made are going to be with your mouth. Number two, you could make a lifelong or a life altering or an extended season vow through a ceremony. So this would be like marriage or a nazarite vow or a coronation or a covenant. These were kind of bigger, longer term, more serious vows. The third way you could make a vow would be through a contract. So you sign your name to this. It's official. But three ways you make a vow. But the vast majority of vows ever made are going to be with your mouth. Now, in the nation of Israel, one of the most common vows that an israelite would make would be that of an above and beyond gift to the functioning and working of the temple. And so if you know anything about that temple, it is a well oiled machine. It relies on the tithes, the legal giving for the nation of Israel, but it also relies on the above and the beyond voluntary gifts of the nation of Israel to the temple. Okay? And so all of the perks and benefits that you would get by being an israelite of the temple, like daily sacrifices and all the teaching and the training of the law and the execution, execution of law, all of these things happened because the temple was funded. And so, just like in the New Testament, like, the local church, needs to be funded. This is normal from the old covenant to the new covenant. If you are new with us, let me just give you a little bit of, like, fair warning. We tend to be very blunt, very direct, very. Just kind of like, this is kind of what it is. And so, like, in the. In the church, in the american church, if you're new with us, like, you may not have heard this, but it costs $2,000 per person per year for the basics of a midwestern church. If you go to the west coast or east coast, it's actually more money. And so, like, this is kind of the reality. And that doesn't even take into consideration the above and beyond the planning, et cetera. This is like basic 101, $2,000 a person. So, like, when you think about old Covenant Israel, they actually had, like, financial commitments. They actually had to make every single household to make sure that this thing functioned. And then there was the above and beyond the vows, and that's how this would work. Now, what's interesting in Israel is that if you made a voluntary vow to the temple or to the priests and you didn't follow through, that was illegal.
[00:09:16] And so aren't you so glad we live in the new covenant where if you make a promise to give money to a church, the elders don't show. Show up at your house demanding payment. Wouldn't that be. That would be culty and creepy. So we don't do that. Okay. Leviticus 27, it describes the four main voluntary vow gifts that the Israelites would bring, and they were themselves or their children. So people, number two is animals. Number three is houses, and number four is land. And so God knows that whenever there is a gift or an exchange of money or resources, that this is a great opportunity for division. It's a great opportunity for confusion and anger. And so he closes out the book by legislating, making actual laws for the nation of Israel. Like, how do we go about giving voluntary gifts to the temple? So we're going to explore each of these gifts, and then we're going to apply each one of them to sort of what they might look like in a new covenant, present day context. And then we're gonna look at the New Testament and see what God does with vows. Now, believe it or not, this is not a message on giving or tithing. And you'll see that at the end. Giving offerings is actually a catapult to the real thing that God wants to address with Israel. Verse two, if anybody, if anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons. It's a weird way to say it, but here's what's happening that you could give as a gift to the temple, yourself, your time, or your children.
[00:10:58] So you could go and say, I vow my oldest child to go serve with the temple priests, and then your child would have to leave and go fulfill that vow. Now what's interesting is that every person would be valued. They would be valued by age, and they'd be valued by gender. But the reason that they would do this is very strategic. They would do this so that if somebody made a vow and did not follow through on it, they would know what the cost of that vow was to them. Also, if you vowed, let's say, your daughter or your son to do something, they got in the middle of it and they were like, daddy, get me out of this thing. You could actually go and you could pay the cost and get your child out of this thing. And so, like, what they wanted to make sure was that every single vow made in the nation of Israel was fully 100% kept. Because we are people of our word, because we serve a God who is a God of his word. Our God does not make promises, pull out and then leave people in a lurch. And so therefore, the people of God, we don't make promises, pull out and then leave the people of God. Especially in the Old Testament context, the priests, the Levites, and the temple infrastructure in a lurch. Okay, so what might this look like in a New Testament context? Because we don't exactly commit our sons or daughters to ministry, do we? In the same way, like, usually the person has to commit themselves if they're going to go into some kind of full time ministry. What this looks like for a new covenant context, I think the easiest application is the gift of your family's ministry to your local church.
[00:12:53] You might come forward and freely, voluntarily say, my family and I are going to serve in Awana every Monday night for the duration of this year. We believe in the word of God and the gospel being put into the hearts and minds of the next generation. We know that it requires more than just erratic volunteering, but it requires an actual vow or commitment for about nine, eight, nine months period of time, every Monday night, unless you're sick, don't come because they don't want that. But other than that, like, we are making a vow because we believe in what God's doing. Now, nobody's forcing you to do this, but there are multiple families who have said no. Like, we believe in this, and we're gonna make a commitment. And Awana works on Monday night, serving hundreds of kids because people make special vows and fulfill them and keep them. I'm going to respond to the invitation to serve as a student ministries leader. Like, if somebody comes to you and says, I want you to, like, consider this, and you pray over it, and they're like, no, I'm gonna do it. Student ministries works because we make commitments and then we follow through on them. I'm gonna commit to leading an event. Hey, we have this project, this event. Someone comes to you and says, would you be willing to lead this? And the only reason these things work is cause people say, yes, I'm gonna commit to it. Here's the duration of time, and I'm going to serve as unto the Lord, or my kids will babysit. I will volunteer them and send them in, because I know that women's Bible study on Wednesday mornings needs it. I know that on Monday night they need it. I know that on Sunday mornings there's different aspects where it needs to be done. So we volunteer our children for extended periods of time to meet some of the needs that are happening real time. Every single church works because incredible men and women and students and children actually make vows and commitments to the Lord and to one another to come through and make sure that we can put the word of God to the best of our abilities and the gospel in the hearts and the minds of all who come through this place. I am blown away by the hundreds of men and women, students, and children who faithfully vow, commit, follow through. It's a beautiful thing. Now, there are so many examples. I'm gonna pull out three. This person is going to kill me. I can tell you that right now.
[00:15:16] Erica was our 2024 VBS director, and she made a commitment last year. And it is okay. I might be, like, really, really bad at recruiting, as I say this, it is hundreds of hours. And it didn't just start, like, two weeks before our decor started. It started, like, a year prior to vbs and the six months prior. It just amps up and amps up hundreds and hundreds of hours. And guys, our vbs, this last year, it was off the chains. We got to watch kids personally trust in Jesus for the very first time. We had all of these kids who were unchurched, and we get to help the word of God and the gospel be put into their heart and their souls. Like, what a beautiful thing. And so, like, people like Erica put hundreds of hours. What an incredible, beautiful, wonderful gift. And that's just one example. Our elders and deacons, when they come on, they make vows, they make commitments to serve and to serve for a period of time, knowing. And anybody who's been an elder or deacon, a village church, they should be able to, like, communicate this to you. The moment you become an elder deacon, you put yourself in the crosshairs of demonic warfare, and it is terrible and frustrating, and they keep doing it. And there's others who are like, I'm ready. I'm ready to take that fight. I'm ready to be in the crosshairs again. Or I think about our production team. Like, you don't even see them until there's, like, feedback, which actually never happens because Mark's a genius. And so, like, you have all of these men and women who show up at 615 in the morning. They are here all morning long. God bless the propresenter who has to listen to my sermon three times and, like, literally listen for every cue and, like, boom, boom, boom, so that we can ground or anchor your brain as I talk. So you know where I'm at, right? Little things. And so, like, the gift of these people faithfully serving, and I cannot even remember the last time somebody just no showed because they wanted to sleep in and didn't care. The vows, the commitments, the fall through on your word, everything. Your businesses work because people keep their word. Your families work because people keep their word. Your ministries work because people keep your word. And when the people of God keep their word, we can work and do the work of ministry. It's beautiful. All right. The second thing in Israel I could vow would be an animal. I have honestly never had anybody bring an animal to vow it to, like, as a tithe they're offering. But if it's a cute dog, we'll see what we can do. Verse nine. If the vow is an animal, that may be offered as an offering to the Lord. All of it that he gives to the Lord is holy.
[00:17:53] So, in the ancient near east, and for the people of Israel, animals were currency. So there are two really kind of kinds of currency that they dealt with. Number one is going to be animals and crops. That's one form of currency. The other kind of currency would actually be the shekel or coins that came out of the temple. If you lived in the city, you would work with coin currency primarily. But if you lived out in the rural part of Israel, which is the vast majority of Israelites, your primary currency, it was going to be animals and crops. And when somebody would come to the priests or to the Levites, and they would give them an animal. This was a huge, huge gift. It could be sacrificed so that they could perform their duties. Some of them were used in the temple farms so that they would raise more animals. They were used to feed the priests. And so if you brought an animal as a voluntary offering to the Lord, the priest would get that and be like, praise God. Thank you. We need more animals.
[00:18:53] So what might this kind of giving look like for a New Testament Christian? This would be the regular giving of tithes and offerings.
[00:19:03] So every quarter, we get this super helpful report of just what's happening financially, because we want to steward everything well. And so I really appreciate one section. It is a comparison of how many people regularly give in 2023 versus 2024. And every time I see that number, every single human being who decides to not spend money on themselves, but to generously give, to bless other people, every single number is a miracle. And when you consider inflation and you consider how ridiculous the last couple years have been for, like, actual on the ground costs and people still saying no, I'm going to. To believe that giving is better than receiving. And so in 2023, there were 312 regular givers. Like, they gave on a regular, consistent basis. 2024, we're halfway through the year, I guess two thirds of the way through the year. Wow.
[00:19:59] Do the math. I don't do math. 346 or 312. So, like, even more people are like, I'm burdened. And this is all voluntary gifts to not spend on yourself. Do you know how much money people could spend on themselves? Do you know how many amazing vacations to Bora Bora people could take every year? And they're like, you know what? The kingdom of God is worth it. It's a miracle. Every time I see those numbers, the third thing an Israelite could vow would be a house.
[00:20:26] Now, I appreciate that the Bible addresses the generosity of those who are poor and the generosity of those who are rich and the generosity of those who are very rich. So verse 14 says, when a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord. All right, so one of the things that we want to do in preaching is, I want you to understand the context better. So when most christians think about the temple, we think about sacrifices. When I think about the temple, I think about the administrative cost.
[00:21:00] I think about all of the things that have to happen behind the scenes to actually make the sacrificial system possible. I think about all the material they have to gather. I think about storehouses. I think about the people who actually have to make clothes. I think about the cleaning up of all of the thousands of gallons of blood. I think about the butchering of meat, the storing of it, the distribution of it. I think about the oil. I think about the lamps. Like, this is an administrative feat of epic proportions to run the Old Testament temple. And so when somebody would come to the Levites and say, I have an extra house, you can have it. I think to myself, that's amazing. So a couple applications of this. The housing was for priests and Levites who served the temple, so they had a place to live. It was for storage and logistics, storing things like grain, oil, wine, other offerings that are brought by people.
[00:21:56] It was used for administrative functions like record keeping, financial management, storing all of those records, coordinating various activities and services. You also have hospitality and guest accommodations that provided temporary lodging for pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem and other major festivals. These houses could serve community purposes, such as venues for teaching and religious instruction, training the law, having meetings and gatherings.
[00:22:22] The property could actually be given to them, and it could be sold for funds so that they could have money for maintenance, repairs, and other operational costs. Like, all of the benefits that Israel got from a functioning temple happened because of the administration behind the scenes. And most people don't consider that. So when you bring somebody a house in ancient Israel, this is a huge gift.
[00:22:44] So for a New Testament Christian, I think a good analogy would be some of the large financial gifts or assets that people bring that can be turned into usable money, because it costs an obscene amount of money to live in your home, to live in your apartment, to live in a condo, to live anywhere, to be honest, and also to run a church. And so this is normal. And I don't think. And somebody corrected me, I guess, after the service so that I could actually get it right for the next one. I don't think in the history of village church, we've ever been given outright property. If we have, it would have been this one. But I will put a shameless plug for two things. So Pastor Craig of village church east and Carol Stream has had the same prayer for six years now, and his prayer is, God, would you have somebody give us property in Carroll Stream for a buckley? And that has been his prayer over and over and over and over again. And so they're always looking at properties because they're set up, tear down, and they're trying to find the right place. But he's just like, lord, I know there's someone out there who has property in Carroll stream. Whether that property is something they take and sell so they can buy something, or it's an actual church home. No script, no idea. But he's always like, I just know the Lord has a property for a buck somewhere, someone. He's been praying that forever. Now, I also want to put a shameless update and plug in. All right. I am dyslexic, so I have to figure out what direction I am. Is Devon over there? Yes. Okay, so nobody's responding. Devon is that way. Can I get confirmation, or is it.
[00:24:16] We're gonna have a fight? It's so good. It's generally this direction. So we have looked at that property, and then it was not possible, and then it was possible, then it wasn't possible, then it was possible, and it wasn't possible. Then they were going to sell it to somebody else, and that fell through. And so we are like, this is. I have to phrase this pretty carefully, because we are very seriously looking at the possibilities. Should a number of boxes be checked off, that that might be a really viable property for us to purchase. And so, like, for some people, you're like, I could buy that property with my eyes closed. And so, like, you might come and say, hey, there's a house over there. I want to buy the house and the property. What incredible gift. If, by the way, the box is checked, so we're not ready, but you might come to us and say, hey, whenever it comes up, I want to pay for it. Please don't back out if you say that. Okay.
[00:25:08] Keep your vow. All right. The fourth thing an israelite could vow would be land. Verse 16. If a man dedicates to the lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed, the land. I mean, this would also be a great gift, because the land could be used to farm. It could be used to raise animals for the temple and the sacrificial system. It could be used to feed the priests, to build synagogues throughout the nation of Israel, to feed the poor. When the priest heard that someone has land, the priest's vision was like, I know what I could do with land.
[00:25:47] What might this look like for new Testament Christians?
[00:25:51] This would be like giving gifts, like crypto or endowments, or things that could be transferred to usable assets. Like, here's what's interesting. The vast majority of large giving in the future will not be cash, because most people don't sit on a million dollars. It's going to be on the millions of dollars in investable assets that they have. And there are these incredible ways that you can actually give, not with cash, but you can give with assets and have that turned to cash. And not everybody is called to do this. But there are some people who have land, and there are some people who have houses, metaphorically, there are some people who can make huge, huge differences. And you know who you are. And I just so appreciate that in Leviticus 27, God's like, listen, we're going to talk about. We're talking about vows, and he talks about everybody, from the normal giving to the wealthy people, to the poor people. And he's like, wherever you're at, you don't have to do anything.
[00:26:42] But if you are going to do it, let it be said that we are people who say yes, and then do it.
[00:26:50] Now, was any of this forced? No, this is all voluntary.
[00:26:56] But there's a funny little catch.
[00:26:59] If you volunteered a gift and then didn't give it, there was a charge.
[00:27:08] And if you volunteered something like land or a house and then said to yourself, I regret doing that, you could buy it back with a charge.
[00:27:22] We'll call this an inconvenience fee. In verse 31, if a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add one fifth to it.
[00:27:34] It's almost like God knew that people would be uniquely inclined to break their word to the temple in ways that they would never do with their boss, their family, their friend, or their community.
[00:27:47] And so God's like, I get it. I get it. This is going to be the place where you're most quick to break your word. And so he legislates this. Now, as an american living in a country with soaring inflation, verse 25. It's my favorite verse. In Leviticus 27, every valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary. So what is the standard weight of a shekel, you might ask? I know this is like a burning question on your soul.
[00:28:14] 20 geras shall make a shekel.
[00:28:18] So the value of the national currency is tied to something called agera, gerah, and era is the smallest form of measurement that Israelites had, specifically, 0.57 grams. By tying their currency to something stable, God effectively made inflation almost impossible. In the nation of Israel. Is our God not a genius?
[00:28:43] Verses 26 and 27, they also identify two things you can't give to God. So in case you're wondering, here's number one. You can't give your firstborn animal to God. Why can't you do that? Because it's already his. That's part of the tithe. You can't be like, I'm gonna make a special vow of the thing that's already his. Like, you can't do that. So he's like, you don't get to make special vows and make yourself look all spiritual and awesome by vowing something that the Lord already personally owns. It's like saying, I'm gonna give you this piece of meat, and I'm gonna vow the fat to the Lord. And if you've been a part of Leviticus village church, all fat is whose?
[00:29:19] The Lord's. And so, like, you can't give him what's already his. The second thing you can't give him is in verse 27. You can't give him an unclean animal. And if you do, you gotta buy it back. You actually have to buy it back. So you're like, oh, I gave this gift. Now you actually go pay. Pay for that gift.
[00:29:36] All right, let's go to the New Testament. So Jesus picks up the theme of vows in Matthew, chapter five, verses 33 to 37. I want to read this.
[00:29:46] It says, again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.
[00:29:57] But I say to you now, he's not saying making vows is bad, but what I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven first, the throne of God, or by the earth first, the footstool. His footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair, black or white. Let what you say be simply yes or no. Anything more than this comes from evil.
[00:30:27] So, as a pastor and a Bible teacher, you might be under the illusion that everything I teach, I already knew. Okay, that is not the case. We study because we don't know. And as we study, we try to give you all the stuff we're learning. I had this text unlocked for me over the last month in ways that I never even knew the context. And as I unlocked this, I was shocked. And so let me help you understand what was going on and why Jesus says the words he says, so if you were in the first century and you're like, I'm going to make a big promise to God. I swear by heaven. They make these big, grandiose promises, but then they would lead verbal loopholes so that they never had to fulfill legally the promise. Let me give you some examples.
[00:31:17] You could swear by the altar, but it was a non binding vow. I swear. I'm going to show up and serve at this ministry by the altar. But if you said by the altar, it's a non binding vow. But this is really interesting. If you swore by the offering on the altar, you can't break that vow. You swore by the offering on the altar. These are the verbal loopholes. So they created an extra biblical legal system that would allow them to make promises and then break them based on the words they did not say. Here's another one. You could swear by heaven and earth, and that is nonbinding because you didn't invoke the name of the Lord. But if you invoke the name of the Lord, that is now binding. So if you say, I swear by heaven and on earth and my mother's grave, I will do this thing. You don't have to do it. You can just make yourself look really good. Here's another one.
[00:32:17] You can swear by Jerusalem, and it is a non binding vow. But so help me God, if you swear and vow toward Jerusalem, that is a binding vow. You can't swear toward Jerusalem. You should have said by Jerusalem. If you don't want to fulfill your promise, you use the wrong words. Here's another one.
[00:32:39] You could swear by the temple that was non binding. I swear to God by the temple. But if you swore by the gold of the temple, how dare you not fulfill your promise? You swore by the gold of the temple. And these are the legal loopholes that they wrote so that they could look really good with big, awesome vows and then they would not have to fulfill it. It's sort of like somebody being like, oh, I promise I'm going to do this thing. Well, why don't you fulfill it? Well, my fingers were crossed. I mean, my fingers are crossed. I'm not obligated. It's like the laws of finger crossing. Now imagine, right? The president is like, we're going to make a law. If I cross my fingers, I'm not responsible for any of the political campaign promises I make. And I don't have to show you this is ridiculous.
[00:33:24] We're actually not that much better, for what it's worth.
[00:33:28] Let me illustrate.
[00:33:30] If I tell you I'm going to do something that is different than I swear to you I will do it, you feel the weight of it now. You're like, I promise you. Which is even different than I am signing my name to a contract.
[00:33:50] No, you can't break your contract.
[00:33:53] You put your name in pen. That's sacred, right? So which is worse, breaking your word, breaking your promise or breaking a contract?
[00:34:04] And Jesus breaks through all this and he's like, stop it.
[00:34:08] You're asking all the wrong question. Your yes is your yes and your no is your no. And that is it. It does not matter to me if you said yes flippantly. It doesn't matter if you said yes with a swearing. It doesn't matter if you signed your name to it. We are the people of God. You represent my character everywhere you go. And when someone from the people of God say yes, it is yes because behind them is a God. When he says yes, that is the response.
[00:34:31] Okay, which is worse?
[00:34:34] You sign up online for village kids but then completely ghost everybody and ignore them.
[00:34:41] Or you go up to the village kids scheduling team and you say to them, I'm all in. I can't wait to serve, I'm so excited. And then you ghost them or you start serving and then you just never show up again. And don't respond to any emails. Now, which is worse, ignoring, digitally ignoring personally or ignoring after you started and Jesus would chime in and say, you're all asking the wrong question.
[00:35:08] You don't have to swear. You don't have to promise. You don't have to call down the temple and its gold. You are the people of God. Your yes is your yes. Your no is your no. We don't need to put stipulations on it.
[00:35:24] You are my people and I'm a God who keeps my promise. Therefore, when you say yes, that is your yes.
[00:35:32] And Jesus, I mean, he's so direct. Verse 37, he says, let what you say be simply yes or no. Anything more than this comes from evil. I want to share with you a really good principle, but it's very inconvenient.
[00:35:48] Sometimes we have to follow through on a thoughtless commitment to uphold our character.
[00:35:54] Guys, I'm a talker. I say dumb things, like the amount of dumb things I've promised to do. And I have learned the hard way, if it's not sin, I need to either keep my mouth shut or fulfill all the things that I said I was gonna do. And there have been a lot of things that I have done and I did not want to do them because I made a thoughtless comment and commitment to do it.
[00:36:17] I wanna share with you three. So what's as we close, if you're new with us or so what's. We do this as a way to say the scriptures aren't just to be studied to gain knowledge. They have a demand in our life. So what is the Holy Spirit asking you to do next? Here's one option.
[00:36:34] Your word. It is sacred and holy to the Lord.
[00:36:40] I don't know that we know this. I need you to walk away knowing this information. Jesus half brother, James, he quotes Jesus directly, and here's what he says. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. But let your yes be yes and your no be no so that you may not fall under condemnation. James is writing to New Testament Christians now under a new covenant. And so there is. There's this condemnation. There is strong disapproval from the Lord when we commit to something and we don't follow through.
[00:37:16] Let me summarize Jesus and James point. Every non sinful commitment we make to anyone should be kept as if we made it to God himself.
[00:37:26] Like God, our yes is our yes, and our no is our no.
[00:37:31] There are so many ways that we do this, and I'd like to make this as practical as possible.
[00:37:36] Here's one. Breaking promises, committing to something and then not following through. Failing to show up for an event or not completing a promised task.
[00:37:44] Exaggerating capabilities. Overstating one's ability to do something and then not being able to deliver on that promise. Guys, there's, like, half of these I've done, so this list is like. This is convicting. Extreme procrastination. I think procrastination is great. Extreme procrastination, that's different. Delaying actions or commitments until it's too late to fulfill them adequately. Forgetting due to disorganization. You make a promise, but everything's a mess up, and then you just don't do it. Changing priorities. Committing to something initially, but later changing priorities because something better came up.
[00:38:19] Lack of communication. Not updating others about changes in plans or the inability to keep a commitment, leading to unkept promises. And people just waiting for you to show up. And you never do because, you know, I didn't talk about it.
[00:38:32] Lack of planning. Failing to make a realistic plan to achieve what was promised.
[00:38:38] Dishonesty. I mean, this is like the story of the. Of the first century jewish leaders. Intentionally making promises with no intention of keeping them. Often to avoid conflict or to appear agreeable, or to make yourself look good. Not following through. When you commit to do or give something and choose not to do it, or worse, reallocate what you promised to be spent on yourself. Let's read James 512 again. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth, or by any other oath. But let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. So at number two, Christian, when you don't follow through, make things right. Plus, if there are faces, names, people, ministries, organizations, maybe even God himself, if you have just left them in a lurch, make it right. I don't know who or what or when, but if you have the opportunity to do it, make it right. And I put the word plus in here because I really love the inconvenience fee of one fifth that God put on there. It's almost like on top. I understand how this affected you. How do you do this? I have no script other than honest, humble conversations.
[00:39:55] And when you go to somebody that you have left an alert, they are free to look at you and say, I release you from that commitment. We're good. But they are also free and might even be right to look at you and say, I need you to fulfill your word. Like we don't have anyone else. You said you were gonna do this thing, and I know you didn't wanna do it. I know it's not your dream, but like we planned for you, we actually need, and they are right and okay to say, I can't let you off on this one. I need you to follow through. And we don't have the right to look back at them and say, how dare you, mom or dad or boss or friend or ministry leader or whatever it is. How dare you hold me to my word? We don't get to do that. Number three, the greatest vow that you can make is to trust Jesus.
[00:40:48] Surprisingly, this is not a sermon about giving. If it was, I would have gone a very different route.
[00:40:53] This is a sermon from Leviticus 27 about their voluntary vows and following through it because they represent the character and the name of God.
[00:41:02] Now, the greatest vow or commitment you can make in your life is to look at God and say, I am so sorry for my sins.
[00:41:13] I believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. I want to trust. I want to commit to following you. And what I love is that we make a lot of commitments, and this is one of those commitments that you're never going to be able to do perfectly. You will fail for the rest of your life at so many things. But what I love is that the word of God teaches so clearly that when somebody comes to God and says, I believe in the life, death, resurrection of Jesus, forgive me of my sins, he makes a vow to you. And his vow is, you are forever forgiven.
[00:41:43] You are adopted as my son or daughter.
[00:41:47] Your hope is secure. Your eternal life is in my hands. I will be with you always to the very end and forever. There is nothing that you can do that can make me unlove you or take away this gift of salvation. You are secure. And so God, who always keeps his word, says, I will help you. I will teach you, I will train you, I will discipline you, because I love you. And I will never forsake you. Village church if you are here and you have never made a vow to trust in Christ, let me tell you, it is the greatest vow you can make. And the response is, a God who vows to give you eternally everything you need. Amen. Village church Leviticus out. Let's pray. Father, we love you. We are thankful for Christ. We are thankful that you have revealed to us in your word. We're thankful for the blood of Christ. We're thankful for the Holy Spirit. We are just thankful.
[00:42:44] Help us be men, women, students and children who reflect your character by keeping our word. And when we fail, which we have, and we will thank you for your grace and your holy spirit. Would you give us the courage to have humility and extreme ownership? We love you. We pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen.
