Want to read my sermon?
I am considering posting my sermon transcripts here on Sunday evenings. Yes, I do write a transcript. Might or might not be interesting.
I usually follow it fairly closely. Need some room for The Spirit to move…
Well, here is the first sermon of 2012:
“Vow – Making” Over and Against New Year’s Resolutions…preached by Jason Smith – January 1st, 2012
Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
[slides 2-9]
1You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
19If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.[1]
New Year’s Day
Are you a new year’s resolution kind of person?
No matter whether you like to make them or break them – there is something refreshing about turning over the calendar on January 1st. There is something in the process of turning the page. It feels like a clean slate. Something new is afoot.
If you hang out on the internet, reading blogs or reading news articles or magazines for that matter, you have been inundated by productivity tips in the last week, helpful hints to turn a new leaf. How to get the most out of planning for the new year. How to be intentional about what comes next. How to have a plan for your life. How to make it happen in 2012. How to dream big and achieve everything you’ve ever wanted to achieve.
Some of us are jaded. When talk of new year resolutions begin, we get a bad taste in our mouth and start the self talk, “hmmm….new year’s resolutions are made to be broken.”
You might or might not know, but I had a final week of 2012 from hell. I suffer from chronic migraines. They are usually under control, but every once in about 2 years, I have one break through that won’t go away and it puts me down. Tuesday night, I did not sleep. I suffered.
I ended up in the Emergency Room Wednesday morning – nauseous, over sensitive to light – I almost threw up on the registration tech that came in with cologne on. They were able to abort the headache, but I literally lost 3 days this week as I slept off the effects of this killer migraine.
Normally, I am one who eats up the whole New Year’s resolution kind of stuff. I read articles all week. I take a retreat and reorient my personal values and my life goals and I think through what my year will be about and I usually have a written plan for how I will implement those goals.
But this week, I had a headache and then I had a hangover from that headache. And, I ended up sleeping a lot. And, although I will probably spend some time reflecting on what 2012 looks like for me, I just didn’t do much of that this week.
After a few days trying to get back on my feet, I asked God what he was trying to tell me?
Because I realized he was trying to tell me something.
I have learned over the last 10 years that there is something very centering about chronic pain. It makes the rest of the world fade away. When it comes on, you have a choice. You can either become overly self-centered and go into a “woe is me” cocoon, which sometimes is all you can do, because it just hurts so badly.
But, after time passes and you realize that there is no magic cure – that a supernatural healing might not happen – after you’ve seen all the doctors and tried all the meds and every remedy everyone you meet offer’s you – you realize you have to learn to cope and you have to deal – and the pain can be something that helps you focus.
It can help you move outside yourself. It can center you. It can actually help you pray and think about God. Every time I have one of these episodes, I am reminded that there are people who deal with this kind of chronic pain on a regular basis. I am fortunate to have it controlled. Invariably, today, there will be someone who passes on a cure to me.
So, this week, as I listened to God I found myself asking him, what he might have for me…what he might be telling me, and I heard a few things.
I’d like to share them with you.
The first thing I reflected on – the first thing I heard – was just how much stress I’ve been under at the end of this year. There is something unique to the calling of a pastor. As the shepherd of a body of believers, pastor’s are called to carry the burdens of their people. It is a very unique experience. It is a priestly responsibility and I affirm the calling within me, but it can be difficult sometimes as you walk with people in their struggles, their grief, their challenges, their decisions, you name it. Sometimes, we are called to go through that with people who choose to leave us, to betray us, or just to disagree with us. That has happened in the last few months quite a bit. It is hard every time. I am not made of steel. I have had disagreements, arguments, calm, cool, collected, conversations with people who chose to move on, received letters from people who needed to express disagreement with me and disappointment with our church and my leadership. I have had volunteers quit and had to ask volunteers to step down. Neither is easy. The latter is the hardest. I always try to help people grow toward Christ – usually, people interpret conflict as reason to run, I think it is always reason to lean in.
As I reflected a bit more upon this whole issue, I realized that I really do consider the Mason Vineyard to be extended family. We are attempting to create within this body the feeling of extended family and as we grow, we will probably have multiple extended families, but we want to always have a sense that the center of what you are attached to at the mason vineyard is family. And when the family is going through something, even the least connected members feel it.
Thinking forward, I realized that in 2012, I must be a bit more intentional about how much stress I take on in regards to the burdens of the extended family. It seemed to really snowball at the end of 2011 and get out of my control, which is probably the problem – thinking I had any control!
So…I started thinking about the whole concept of Resolutions (New Year’s or any other) in the framework of the biblical example. Does the bible even give us any indication of how to frame thinking through this kind of thing.
I began to realize that in our way of doing things, we typically sit down and make a list of things we are going to “add” to our lives when we make new year’s resolutions. If we are particularly emotionally mature, we might realize we need to compromise and cut something out to add that thing in our life. But, new year’s resolutions typically go like this: Get healthy – start exercising. Get closer to God: Add quiet time to my day. Learn Spanish: Buy Rosetta Stone, practice 1 hr a night. By the time you have finished your list, you need a 27 hour day.
So, I started researching the scriptural principle of a “sacred vow.” This intrigued me, because on one hand, essentially, when we make a resolution, we are hoping to make a “vow.” We are hoping to fulfill a promise. But, on the other, we mostly realize we don’t take our resolutions seriously. That is we tend to break them. We have great intentions, but by no means do we consider a new year’s resolution something that must be fulfilled as an act of worship to God.
The scriptural idea of a vow is pretty intense. Unlike tithing, sacrifices and offerings, Sabbath keeping, and circumcision, vow making was not something commanded by Mosaic Law. But they were considered a valuable act of worship to be brought before God in temple worship.
The purpose of a vow is to win a desired favor from the Lord,
To express gratitude to him for some deliverance or benefit (already received)
To simply prove absolute devotion to him by way of certain abstinences.
Biblical examples of vow takers were Samson (Samson was a Nazarite, who’s parents swore a vow that he would not drink wine or strong drink, eat anything unclean, or allow his hair to be cut – this vow was taken as worship to God because his mother was previously barren and God answered her prayer for a son), Samuel, was also vowed to God as a Nazarite, for the same reason, he was presented to Eli and served in the sactuary as a Levite. And, in the New Testament, John the Baptist has the same story – Elizabeth was barren and as we reflected upon in the Christmas series, his father was in the temple serving the Lord and an Angel announced that Elizabeth would become pregnant with a son. He did not believe and was struck mute. After it came to pass, John lived the life of a Nazarite – under the same type of vow that Samson and Samuel had lived.
These examples all appear to be for the favor of child bearing. If you have experienced the grief of losing children, you can understand the feeling of thanksgiving to God for a child when it comes to pass. Especially if it is in old age. I have a special place in my heart for this right now.
Frequently, however, vows were taken as a type of bargain with God. At Bethel, Jacob promised God worship and the tithe if he would protect him and supply his needs (Gn 28:20–22). Hannah pledged that if God would give her a son, she would return him to God (1 Sm 1:11, 27–28). In the Psalms, payment of vows is often associated with thanksgiving for deliverance from danger or affliction (e.g., Pss 22:24–25; 56:12–13).[2]
Most important is that once a vow is made, the obligation is serious. To refrain from making any vow is no sin (Dt 23:22), but once declared, the vow must be kept (Dt 23:21–23; see also Nm 30:2; Eccl 5:4–6).[3]
22 But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. 23 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. [4]
One thing that seems to be present in all the sacred vows in scripture is that what is given up when the vow is taken is something of luxury.
And, that is exchanged for worship to God.
So, the vow taker, searches themselves and in some cases gives up the very thing they were even praying for – a son. Provision. Riches.
In exchange for deliverance. Healing. Protection in battle. Victory over enemies. You name it.
And, it always is met with worship and prayer – in excess.
Now, before you chalk this up as an Old Covenant – Old Testament thing of the past, I wanted to remind you that we do see the apostles undertake this type of behavior quite often. And, the Apostle Paul specifically practices Vow Taking in a few different places in Acts.
In Acts 18, when Paul meets Priscilla and Acquillla, they decide to depart Corinth together for Syria, but before he leaves, he has his hair cut, because of a vow he has undergone.
Scholars are perplexed by why exactly he has his hair cut at this point, because usually the hair was cut at the completion of the vow, but later Josephus did allude to a practice of cutting the hair at the beginning of the vow. It is believed that Paul probably took on the vow in response to the vision Paul had which Luke recounts in Acts: 19:9-11
9One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.[5]
So, here, Paul is taking on a vow as thanksgiving for protection and deliverance.
Later, in Acts 21, Paul tells James and all the Elders of the church in Jerusalem about what God is doing among the Gentiles he is preaching the Gospel among. They are overjoyed to hear about what is happening, but there response is amazing. They ask Paul to join in a vow with four other men.
0When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”[6]
So, what am I saying with all this?
I guess I am encouraging you to rethink the New Year’s resolution and consider the ancient practice of taking a sacred vow instead.
How does one go about that?
Well, I would suggest keeping it very simple.
I would use the Psalm I started with today, Psalm 139. Especially the last two verses. And just pray the same prayer David prayed 3000 years ago:
]
23Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.[7]
Ask God if there is something in 2012 that is a luxury that can be given to him.
As I reflected on this, I was pointed most to simple things like:
30 minutes on the computer
30 minutes of television
30 minutes of
$25 on soda and coffee
$25 on fast food
Could I give some of those things up and offer them back to God?
I, personally, was also challenged to think about this concerning the blessing Emily and I have been given to bear a child at this stage of our life. After having 4 miscarriages and literally have a miscarriage 1 month before getting pregnant this time, the biblical example does not get passed me.
There is a specific element of consecration involved here.
When you take a vow, over and against a resolution, you must dedicate it to God in worship.
[1] The Holy Bible : Today’s New International Version. 2005 (Ps 139). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[2] Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (1288). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
[3] Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (1288). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Dt 23:22–23). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[5] The Holy Bible : Today’s New International Version. 2005 (Ac 18:9–11). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[6] The Holy Bible : Today’s New International Version. 2005 (Ac 21:20–25). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[7] The Holy Bible : Today’s New International Version. 2005 (Ps 139). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
good word. thanks for sharing. =)
Very thought provoking. I appreciate you.