Reflecting reliable faithfulness

Introduction:

Do we have any fans here of the TV show, “The Office?” It’s probably my favorite show ever. And fans of the show largely agree that one of the most difficult episodes to watch from the show is an episode titled “Scott’s Tots”. If you aren’t familiar with the office this means nothing to you so here is some background info…

Michael Scott, the main character, is the regional manager of a paper company and he’s got a good heart, but not a lot of critical thinking skills. But this episode is so rough because we find out at the beginning of the episode, years ago Michael promised a group of local third grade students that he would pay for them to go to college. Now these kids are getting ready to graduate high school and there’s a big problem... Michael has no way of paying for these kids to go to college. The kids worked hard to get into position to graduate and go to college and we get to watch Michael uncomfortably come clean and tell the kids that he will not be able to pay for their college.

So that’s TV. But its not unrealistic. We have all broken promises. We have all experienced broken promises. —> And there are undeniable consequences . Relationships are damaged, trust is lost, the feeling of disappointment fills the air.

These promises and commitments that are far too often broken or forgotten really matter to God. Numbers 30:1–2 says

Numbers 30:1–2 NIV

Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: “This is what the Lord commands: When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.

God had demonstrated his steadfast faithfulness to the Israelites time and time again. He rescued them out of Egypt, and he provided for them in the wilderness. —> The proper response to God’s faithfulness is faithfulness in our relationship with God… Not only is it the proper response, ...God commands it from his people.

As we finished reading the book of Numbers this week we are able to look back and see this story of the Israelites journey from mt. Sinai to the border of Canaan. — And the Israelites have not been model citizens. They have been dishonest with God, and they have disobeyed him.

And this is a big deal. The entire overarching story of the Bible is God actively working to bring his people back into relationship with him. —> this is why these commitments matter to God, how can anyone come into the presence of the HOLY, TRUE, and FAITHFUL GOD while they are actively deceitful and dishonor their vows with God?

As we have established already, because of their brokenness, the only way for Israelites to come into the presence of God was through adhering to the law and the covenant God had established between them.

Now you may be wondering, “what’s the deal with these instructions regarding vows, what does it have to do with keeping the covenant?” —> In Old Testament culture, the making of vows was not all that uncommon. But the thing about vows that we can figure out from these instructions is they are to be taken seriously, meaning people were not supposed to approach them mindlessly… people were not supposed to rush into oaths and commitments that they either had no ability or intentions of fulfilling.

— And because these oaths were to be taken seriously they were generally only seen as last resort options. —> At this point, with the Israelites history of disobedience and dishonesty their word or their “integrity” does not really amount to much. It’s kind of like, when someone who you know lies constantly makes a promise and all you can think to yourself is something along the lines of “sure, thing...whatever, pal.” And because their word doesn't really mean much they have to swear by something else to prove they mean it. For the Israelites this looked these vows where they would invoke the name of God as a witness of truth to whatever they were promising.

— And this is what the command here is getting at… if you are making a vow and invoking the name of God, you better be prepared to do every aspect of everything you said you were going to do.

But this continued to be a problem. People continued make vows in which they called upon the name of God and then broke their vows. People would invoke the name of God either directly or indirectly by swearing by Israel, Jerusalem, or Heaven and earth. and they would do this to manipulate their situations and avoid their responsibilities. And this is something that Jesus addresses directly in Matthew 5:33-37 when Jesus says:

Matthew 5:33–37 NIV

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

And the heart of what Jesus is saying about keeping your commitments is really the same as what we heard in Numbers, but Jesus adds a new wrinkle. Jesus doesn’t say that his followers should be fulfilling the oaths that they make, but they should not be swearing oaths at all… So why this shift?

So it was necessary for the Israelites in the Old Testament to make their vows by invoking the name of God because their word alone was unreliable and carried little value. —> But Jesus says for anyone that claims to be his follower they should not need to swear oaths because their word should be enough. —> If you have integrity and you are true to your words and commitments then you do not eed to call upon the name of God in order for your word to mean something!

And when we are faithful, reliable and true, we are faithful in our relationships with God because we are reflecting the character of God to everyone that we interact with. —— and maybe someone here is thinking, “well, I would say, generally I am pretty honest, so I can check this off because I’m all set here.” — but think about it… the only proper response to God’s faithfulness is for us to be faithful in the same way that he has shown us. — When we say, “ I am a Christian, or I am a follower of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” and we proclaim this for all of the world… do we keep our commitments to God? —> or are we unreliable, and unable to commit 20-30 minutes a day to spend time in prayer or in scripture? —> When we see the faithfulness of Jesus, our God taking on flesh and dying a horrible horrible death so that you may live do we reply in faithfulness lived out by a lifetime of steadfast devotion… or do we take it for granted and prioritize every other commitment before him? Do we live for God or do we choose every baseball game, volleyball game, swim meet, student council meeting, or whatever it may be before God.

When we commit our lives to following God we are making the commitment of living our lives in a way that reflects the character of God. and when we dishonor our parents, disrespect others, and choose all of our other commitments before God we are coming up short. And all too often we don’t recognize this! We don’t recognize how we are living our lives like the rest of the world!

God’s faithfulness that we see in abundance throughout all of history, throughout all of the Bible, the faithfulness that surrounds us today and carries us into the future is such a beautiful testimony to how incredibly much God loves his people. To How incredibly much God loves you! —> — There is nothing more true that God’s ever-reliable faithfulness. Friends… let the way we live our lives be a testament to God’s faithfulness. As Christians we bear the name of Christ for the whole world to see it. Do not take his name in vain and dishonor our commitments by living in the ways of the world. Step into the life that reflects truth and life. The Holy Spirit of God lives in all of us… in all of his people. The Holy Spirit guides us as we seek to respond to God’s faithfulness. so go and be faithful because God has been so faithful to us!

Let’s pray: