Nehemiah 10:28-29 - Oaths and Vows in Worship

Nehemiah 10:28-29 - Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding, are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given through Moses, God’s servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of God our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes;

Message: Oaths and Vows in Worship

Time: Nehemiah is the author and written from a first-person perspective. We meet him as an adult serving in the Persian royal court as the personal cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. It opens in the Persian city of Susa in the year 444 BC and concludes around 430 BC. Most of the book centers on events in Jerusalem. He was a layman not a priest and his life is a study on leadership. He gave God the credit for his successes.

What the Lord is Saying: What are oaths and vows and what place do they hold today in worship? This is a subject I have not ever considered. The Westminster Confession of Faith 21:5 mentions oaths and vows being a part of special occasions. The proof texts are:

Deuteronomy 6:13 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

Nehemiah 10:29 They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes;

Isaiah 19:21 And the Lord shall be known to Egypt,

And the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day,

And shall do sacrifice and oblation;

Yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it.

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. 5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

And then one more scripture from Jesus:

Matthew 5:33-37 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

James 5:12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.

As I look at these verses above, Deuteronomy 6:13 says to "swear by his name." Nehemiah 10:29 says "they entered in an oath." Isaiah 19:21 says "they shall vow a vow unto the Lord." Ecclesiastes 5:4 mentions "when you vow a vow unto God." But in Jesus' words he says to not make an oath at all. And James agrees maybe by saying do not swear no make an oath. 

Swear

I think to swear by his name it simply means to proclaim God as the only true God; believing in Him is the only way. Paul quotes in Romans 14:11 "that every tongue shall confess" from Isaiah 45:23 -- "Unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear." Thus, to swear is to confess. This type of vow seems proper and of good practice. 

Oaths

In these verses in Nehemiah 10:28-29 is the simple admonition that all the people that have chosen to live by the Law of God or who have separated themselves from the way of the world, it is these individuals that make an oath to walk in His law - to keep it and observe all that is written - but if one does not then they take on all the curses that are mentioned in this book of the law. Thus, on one hand is a promise to keep the law and conversely a curse if one breaks it. 

The only oath that I think is prevalent in society is the oath one takes when testifying in a court. In that context, it is a statement of fact or promise that the words one speaks will be true. At that time, it is interesting that one will place their hand on the Bible. It is not clear to me why the Bible is used. It seems to mean that if words are not true, then I have no defense. By placing a hand on the Bible I am stating that the Bible is true. 

Yet, Jesus says in Matthew 5:34 to make no oath at all. Is Jesus talking about all oaths here? He seems to be upping the ante as he often has been doing in these verses in Matthew 5, by looking at a principle from the law and then taking it to a new level. And yet in reading the passage, his statement does not end with "make no oath at all" but he clarifies that no oath should occur in the name of heaven or earth. 

There seems to be two views about what Jesus is saying here. Tabletalk and maybe other reformed thinkers don't think Jesus is outlawing all oaths. They think that Jesus is speaking to a specific issue among Jews that oaths that are sworn by anything other than the name of God do not have to be fulfilled. Jesus was therefore challenging the notion that one could get of keeping an oath if it was voiced by swearing upon something other than God. And so he is saying that as long as the oath is lawful it should be followed. And he ties this all up by saying, let your yes be yes and your no be no. By Jesus saying do not make an oath he is saying do not make light oaths that have no intention really of being kept. Thus, the ante that he is upping here is that all oaths, whether in God's name or not should be valid promises. The other view on this verse is that Jesus was in fact stating to never make an oath. But from the standpoint of what is mentioned elsewhere regarding the way he upped the ante on keeping commandments like adultery and murder it seems that this is also what he is doing here instead of repealing Moses' law.  

This line of thinking would be correct for Paul in Acts states that he was keeping a vow. Acts 18:18 -- Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow.

I suppose in this lesson I am stuck on these words -- oaths, vows and swearing. Perhaps I am not looking at the principle which seems to be that we need to be people of our word, but also we need to be making promises to God or commitments. Maybe this is what is kind of missing in our lives. I think a few songs by DeGarmo and Key on this idea. One song was called Man of His Word -- the lyrics go:

Never a syllable wasted
Each and every promise was true
Every commandment He spoke of
He proceeded to do

He was a Man of His word

Blessed is the man who swears to his own hurt
Do what you say be a man of your word

Interesting words there that Jesus kept his promises and are we keeping our promise. Am I making promises to act or be a certain way? Another song was the Pledge. 

It's a world of choices, patterned to confuse
Distracting little voices whisper what to do
Searching for the pieces, one step from the edge
Turn your heart to Jesus, make this solemn pledge

He died for me, I'll live for Him
He died for me, I'll live for Him

Above all lords and regents, He is King of Kings
I'm pledging my allegiance through these words I sing
Take this oath of service, write it on your wall
It's our only purpose for living life at all

Wow. Look. It is right there. "Take this oath of service." "Make this solemn pledge." Tabletalk also gives the idea that this is what we do often in our church services each Sunday as we gather and choose to sing - proclaiming truths and listening to the Word of God, agreeing with what is said and not simply stimulation understanding but wanting to follow God. 

I was just about to give up on this lesson, thinking that I don't know how it applies, but it does apply. It is rich. And It makes me wonder about my words and my commitments. Am I really making many commitments in my life? I think I do. Each morning I have been walking to pray and also to pray the words of the fruit of the spirit, committing to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 

So that is my pledge, but what are my other pledges or oaths. I do want to live differently. Pamela and I made a pledge to not kiss till our wedding day, but we only made it to a few weeks after being engaged, succumbing to the pressure of others, like my dad. Maybe we made it a big deal when we should have kept quiet about it. 

Summary - In regards to oaths and vows in Worship, these are promises or pledges we make each Sunday as we gather, as we sing songs, about God but also about who we are in Christ. If we speak these words, may they be so in our lives. 

Promise: Our worship itself can be seen as a vow to serve God. That is one of the reasons why it should be taken seriously. Worship is a holy occasion on which we meet with our holy God to swear allegiance to Him. It is not a time for frivolity. 

Prayer: O God, you are Lord of All. I am stating this and swearing by this. Lord, help me in my words to be true to them and to be a man of my word and to be careful maybe about what I promise, but also to make sure that I am following through on what I am saying. I do often say things that people want to hear but then I don't back up those words with action. I need to be a man of my word at work, but also towards You. I pledge my allegiance to you. You died for me, I will live for You. I will live for You. I want to do this in my life. 

Acts 2:42 - Sacraments in Worship

Acts 2:42 - They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Message: Sacraments in Worship

Time: Clearly written by Luke, this book follows the lives of Peter and then Paul after Jesus' ascension into heaven. The book was completed about 62 AD as Paul sat in prison. It provides an account of the growth of the Church and spread from Jerusalem, from a small group of frightened believers in Jerusalem transformed into an empire-wide movement of people who had committed their lives to Jesus Christ, and it should help us to be bold and have zeal in our walks with God.

What the Lord is Saying: An initial thought here is thinking that those groups that want to pattern themselves off of the early church often don't realize that the scripture of the early church was often the Old Testament scriptures. So they would have been teaching of the Old Testament scriptures by the apostles as well as new revelation given by Christ. My guess is the sermon on the Mount was probably a big part of that teaching since it is probably the message that Jesus repeated the most. 

This verse in Acts mentions that the church devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship. And also breaking of bread and to prayer. Even today, we want to mirror these practices. And yet I wonder if there becomes a desire by many to group these practices into almost a checklist of things that must be done by participants when people gather. I think checklist Christianity is a big concern because it becomes more about doing the checklist than exploring the relationship with Jesus. 

A couple of days ago I gave a ride to Albuquerque from Durango an engaged couple after I attended a wedding with them. As we discussed things, the gal asked me about the difference between Methodist and Baptist. It was an interesting question and one in which I found myself being stumped answering. From her perspective, having grown up attending non-denominational churches, she really did not understand the different between the two churches or beliefs and I found that I struggled in explaining it. 

And yet each of the denominations we have (Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, etc.) is really a product of a group of people that have come together to agree on a structure of how the Bible is to be applied and lived out and how worship is to be conducted each time people gather for worship -- after the reformation. I mention that because it seems that this idea of the application of sacraments is a chief reason for those different manifestations of churches or different denominations. Even those that call themselves non-denominations come together to agree upon something.

I referred to my Oxford Dictionary on the subject of Sacrament. It is a term not found in the Bible - but by the 3rd century was being used to describe baptism and the Lord's Supper or Eucharist. Later in the 16th century, at a time when the Reformation was occurring and Protestantism was becoming more prominent - the Council of Trent of 1564 defined 7 sacraments. The Council of Trent was the formal Roman Catholic reply to the doctrinal challenges of the Reformation.  These sacraments are Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Marriage. Again, hopefully the practice of these is not simply to perform a checklist but rather to experience the relation or encounter between God and human beings. 

As I personally think of these sacraments in my life and how I maybe grew up performing them (attending a Baptist church most of the time the emphasis was on baptism and Lord's Supper) - for me these acts represented an identification of my union with Christ - baptism and the Lord's Supper was an identification or union with Christ's death and resurrection. Baptism was a one time experience whereas the Lord's Supper was more often. Currently, I am content in this. Also, for both of these they are done in community  - with others and with Christ. There is a community testimony of sorts that occurs. I'm not sure if I see a problem with expanding these acts if churches have more of them as long as they remain an experience to identify with Christ and other believers. 

I do not think these are requirements of salvation, but I also think they are things the Christian would want to do as they encounter God. 

Summary: In our sacraments, we worship God, encountering God as we identify with Christ. At a minimum these acts should include baptism and Lord's Supper. 

Promise: Sacraments are public ordinances and we participate in them rightly in the context of public worship. 

Prayer: God, I come to You even in prayer to have community with You, to acknowledge You as God and my need for You daily and your help in my life. Thank you for this. Lord, you have clearly instituted ways in which we encounter You as we gather together - acts that we do together - such as baptism and the Lord's Supper. In these Lord are ways to come together and worship You and encounter You as both a Body and as individuals. Thank you for making these significant in our lives - to show us we are not alone and that we are about being a 'together' people. Give me patience as I come in contact with those that perhaps take a different perspective on these or have a greater emphasis on some items. Lord, keep us in communion with You and let these acts not simply be a checklist to perform in thinking doing them alone is what is needed. Keep helping me understand this Lord. I praise You.