August 21, 2013
IT'S TIME TO STAND BY YOUR WORD
Numbers 30
Bryan Jackson
Central Truth
A faithful God desires His people to keep their word just as He keeps His Word.
Key Verse | Numbers 30:2
"If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth." (Numbers 30:2)
Numbers 30
Men and Vows
1 Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the people of Israel, saying, “This is what the LORD has commanded. 2 If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
Women and Vows
3 If a woman vows a vow to the LORD and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father's house in her youth, 4 and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. 5 But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the LORD will forgive her, because her father opposed her.
6 If she marries a husband, while under her vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, 7 and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. 8 But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he makes void her vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself. And the LORD will forgive her. 9 (But any vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, anything by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.) 10 And if she vowed in her husband's house or bound herself by a pledge with an oath, 11 and her husband heard of it and said nothing to her and did not oppose her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she bound herself shall stand. 12 But if her husband makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge of herself shall not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the LORD will forgive her. 13 Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself, 1 30:13 Or to fast her husband may establish, 2 30:13 Or may allow to stand or her husband may make void. 14 But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges that are upon her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard of them. 15 But if he makes them null and void after he has heard of them, then he shall bear her iniquity.”
16 These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses about a man and his wife and about a father and his daughter while she is in her youth within her father's house.
Dive Deeper | Numbers 30
What should mark God's people? Should we be followers of Christ, putting God first and the interests of others before our own? Absolutely! Should we be people of the Word, memorizing Scripture so that it informs our lives daily? Without a doubt! But because we are a people of the Word, we also need to be people of our word.
When Moses was leading Israel through the wilderness, he reminded them how to live like God's people. In Numbers 30 Israel got a crash course in commitment. God's people are to be men and women of their word. They are to be committed people because they represent a committed God to an unbelieving and, frankly, uncommitted world. God is committed to His Word because He is completely faithful in all of His promises (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
Our culture, and especially my culture of twenty/thirty somethings, rarely commits to anything, and I'm just as guilty as anyone else. We like to keep our options open and don't want to invest too much in one place. But just because our culture leans one way, that does not give a follower of Christ an excuse to bend with the tide. If anything, we are to stand against culture when it crashes against God's Word and attempt to transform the culture from within.
Being a people of their word was important to not only Moses but to Jesus as well. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:33-37), Jesus addresses the importance of being men and women whose conduct matches their word. We are to be faithful because God is faithful. We are to be intentional with our words because God is intentional to keep His promises.
We are to be men and women of the Word, yes; but also we are to be men and women of our word. Committed Christians stick it out, especially when it gets hard. They love, especially when they don't feel love in return. Their yes is yes and their no is no. Always. Why? Because God loves us and is committed to us when we don't love Him back. His yes is always yes.
Discussion Questions
1. Take an inventory of your life. Where do you need to "double down" on a commitment?
2. What does it look like to be a committed believer in your career and at home?
3. What is God calling you to commit to (community, membership, family, etc.)?