PROMISE KEEPERS
By Pastor Jim May
It is ever good to break a promise?
We all know that people have the “right” to "change their minds" from time to time. It is understandable that circumstances can arise after a promise is made that can make following through on commitments impossible. But, a promise is a promise, and if we break our promises all the time, then there comes a time when no one can trust us or depend upon us anymore. All credibility is gone. Our word is no longer our bond, but useless chatter. We become branded as talkers, but not doers.
The problem is that we often like to “Paint ourselves into a Corner”. We don’t know how to just say No!
How many times have I seen people make all kinds of promises and never follow through, or maybe they do follow through, but you can see that they really don’t want to and they are miserable the whole time.
I would rather that someone would be honest and truthful in the first place than to make promises that they don’t intend to keep.
If you are like me, I might be a little let down when someone says No, but I respect their honesty. There is nothing more discouraging than to have someone make a promise and then not show up and fulfill that promise. Any of us can come up with an excuse. We don’t mind making promises that we know we won’t keep because we can always come up with an excuse at the last minute and let me tell you that I’ve heard some good ones. I guess people must think that no one but them has the ability to reason or to think at all. Some of the excuses are about as lame as a wounded duck.
Let me give you a few examples of some real excuses used by parents for kids in school.
Please excuse John for being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, & 33.
Mary could not come to school because she is bothered by very close veins.
John has been absent because he had two teeth taken off his face.
Please excuse Ray Friday. He has loose vowels.
What about Excuses for accidents involving drivers? Here are a few good excuses that have been submitted on Insurance Claim forms.
An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car, and vanished.
The other car collided with mine without warning me of its intention.
I had been driving my car for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had the accident.
As I reached an intersection, a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision.
I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment.
The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him.
The telephone pole was approaching fast. I attempted to swerve out of its path when it struck my front end.
The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.
The indirect cause of this accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.
Christians aren’t any better at making up excuses than anyone else. In fact, we have made ours seem more “holy”.
Well, brother, I have to pray about it first and I haven’t been given direction by God.
I was listening to the preacher on the radio or TV and lost track of time.
I only get one day a week off and I have to rest sometime, so we went to the beach Sunday morning and then came home late and mowed the law just before dark.
One church came up with a novel idea. They created a “NO EXCUSE SUNDAY”.
To make it possible for everyone to attend church this Sunday, we are going to have a special "No Excuse Sunday. Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say, "Sunday is my only day to sleep in." There will be a special section with lounge chairs for those who feel that our pews are too hard. Eye drops will be available for those with tired eyes from watching TV late Saturday night. We will have steel helmets for those who say, "The roof would cave in if I ever came to church." Blankets will be furnished for those who think the church is too cold, and fans for those who say it is too hot. Scorecards will be available for those who wish to list all the hypocrites present. Relatives and friends will be in attendance for those who can’t go to church and cook dinner, too. We will distribute "Stamp Out Stewardship" buttons for those that feel the church is always asking for money. One section will be filled in with trees and grass for those who like to seek God in nature. Doctors and nurses will be in attendance for those who plan to be sick. The sanctuary will be decorated with both Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who never have seen the church without them. We will provide hearing aids for those who can’t hear the preacher and ear plugs for those who think he’s too loud! Hope to see you there!
Really though, I don’t think that most of us would make promises with the intention of breaking those promises. The problem is that we often make them without thinking it through and counting the cost. When the time comes to fulfill our vow, the price of doing what we said we would do is just too high.
There is one incident in the Bible that I want to point out to you this morning. It can be found in the Book of Judges and it concerns a man named Jephthah.
Judges 11:1-4, "Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah. And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman. Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him. And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel."
Jephthah was a man born with a stigma that would haunt him all of his life. He didn’t know who his father was. His mother was a harlot and so, as it is today, when Jephthah was born he was cast aside as an unwanted child. In our day, he would be cast into a dumpster, or left to die on a street corner somewhere, or most likely, would never have been born because he would have been aborted.
He was adopted by Gilead and given a chance for life, but even that didn’t last long. His adopted family began to have children of their own, and jealousy caused the other children to drive him away. So now he was a man with no family, who didn’t know his father, and who probably never saw his mother again. He had many excuses for becoming an outlaw. He could have began stealing to survive, or joining the anti-establishment movement, but instead, Jephthah determined to make something of his life.
Let that be a lesson to all of us. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances of your birth may have been. It doesn’t matter how unfairly life has treated you. What matters is, “what are you going to do with the rest of your life? Will you live in pity for your circumstances, or will you rise above them to make your life count for the Lord?” You can make excuses, or you can produce fruit – the choice is yours to make and you will live or die by those choices.
Jephthah chose to become the best that he could be. He learned to make promises and to keep them. His word became his bond. He was a man that you could count on when the going became rough. He never backed down from a commitment. He was the kind of man that all of us would have been proud to know. He was a mighty man of valor, courage, great strength and strong character. But he had a flaw.
Remember this statement always. It will help you when your leaders let you down. “Strong leaders have strong weaknesses.” Somewhere, at sometime, that weakness will show through and become very evident. Just remember that, if they had not been your leader, you wouldn’t care of their weaknesses. We are all human and subject to mistakes, even the leaders among us.
Let’s read of Jephthah’s weakness.
Judges 11:30-40, "And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands. And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year."
What was Jephthah’s weakness? He was too quick to make promises. In his zeal for gaining honor, and showing his gratitude to God, he made a promise that would come back to test his character like few men have faced.
Abraham, faced this same test, when he had to offer Isaac as a sacrifice upon the mountain. He would have passed the test, but God stopped him at the last moment.
Why did God stop Abraham from sacrificing Isaac and then turn around and allow Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter? The reason is that Abraham was acting under the direction of God, but Jephthah was suffering the consequences of making a rash promise and his own pride.
We have to admire his daughter’s commitment to her father and to God. She paid the price for Jephthah’s sin with her life. I have no doubt that, from that moment on, Jephthah’s life was forever changed too. I doubt that he ever made a promise again without carefully considering the consequences.
What brought Jepthah to this place in life where he would make such a rash vow? He finally had everything a man could want. He had turned his life around greatly. He now had a family of his own, with a wife, lands, a house and property, and a daughter. He had created a reputation among his neighbors as a man of valor. He had everything going his way. He was a self-made man who had lifted himself up by his own bootstraps and made something of his life. He was proud of his accomplishments, proud of his hard work and ingenuity, proud of his family, proud of his reputation and proud of the fact that he would stand up to any man who would dare to bring up his past.
And that pride, in all that he had become and all that he was, became his worst enemy. It was pride that forced him to make such a rash vow before the Lord.
Judges 11:6-11, "And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress? And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head? And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words. Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh."
Israel was in trouble and Jephthah knew it. The Ammonites were invading the land and Israel was running scared. They needed a leader, a hero, someone who would stand up to the Ammonites, and Jephthah was their man.
Now he could have his revenge for all the times they had whispered behind his back about the circumstances of his birth. Now was the time for him to get even for all the times that he had been rejected, abused, misused, hated and forced to make it the best way he could. Now he was in the driver’s seat and he was going to really prove how good he was, and how wrong everyone else was in what they had done to him.
He made some demands of Israel before he would be involved in their fight. He didn’t go to war to protect Israel. He didn’t go to war to protect his own family. He didn’t choose to fight for Israel because of his sacred honor, or to fulfill his duty as a good citizen. He did it all to fulfill his own pride.
He demanded that, if he were to go and lead them in battle, and win the fight, then they would have to make him king. That would be the ultimate victory for his own ego. He wanted to show all of Israel that he was the best of the best and no one could keep him down. He had a lot to prove and being the king of Israel would be the ultimate proof.
When they accepted his offer and made the deal, then Jephthah was in over his head and he knew it. It was time for the showdown. Was he as good as he made out to be? Was he up to the task? What if he lost the battle? Then he would surely be the laughingstock of Israel and his whole family name would be trampled into the dust forever. When he realized what was at stake, he could only think of one thing to do. Take it to God in prayer.
I have to admire his consideration of prayer to God in this time of crisis, but how many of you know that we can pray in the wrong manner and with the wrong motive if we aren’t careful?
Jephthah’s prayer wasn’t one that said, “Lord, I’ve made a mess of this. I repent of my prideful spirit. Please help me to do thy will and I will surrender to whatever your will is.” No, that wasn’t his prayer at all.
Jephthah’s prayer wasn’t a prayer to seek the will of God, but to make a deal with God, so that Jephthah could keep his reputation intact before Israel.
The problem was that Jephthah had allowed his pride to make promises that he wasn’t able to keep on his own. His pride, and his desire to keep his reputation, clouded his mind and he made a rash vow before God. In his desperation for God’s help, he vowed to sacrifice the first thing that came to him after the battle was won.
God never asked him to make a sacrifice. God never told him to even go to war. God didn’t call and anoint him to be Israel’s king or leader. It was all Jephthah’s choice.
God would have given Israel the victory without Jephthah but when the battle was over, and the Ammonites were driven away in defeat. Now came the real test of Jephthah’s pride.
The first thing to come to him was his only daughter. What could Jephthah do now? He had made a promise, and he had a reputation to fulfill. He was the king now. He had reached the pinnacle of success. He couldn’t allow his vow to God to be broken or it would be a sign of weakness to the nation that had just made him king. He feared disobeying God and not keeping his promise, but he also feared losing his power and position.
His own pride and ego would not allow him to repent of his rash vow. His pride forced him to continue on the path that would destroy his own life.
The scriptures don’t refer to this, but I can just imagine that when Jephthah sacrificed his only child, that his wife left and never was same again. His own heart and life were forever affected. I can imagine that even those who had made him king would forever think of him, just like we do today, as a man who was rash and prideful, and would stop at nothing to maintain his reputation as a man of his word. The thing that he desired most, the respect of other men, was tainted by his own weaknesses.
Keeping promises is a wonderful thing, but there is a higher purpose in this story. That purpose is the destruction of pride and arrogance in our lives. Being a promise keeper at the expense of losing all that is good in your life, is not worth the price. Jephthah learned that lesson the hard way, if he learned it all. The rest of his years as a judge in Israel, Jephthah was involved in civil strife and fighting among his own people. There is no record of Jephthah repenting of his pride so perhaps he never learned to overcome his pride and died in that sin.
Jepthah’s daughter gave her life in obedience to her father’s words. She had been raised in a home where she was taught, every day of her life, that whatever we say, we must do. She knew that a promise must be kept, even a rash one, especially if it was made to the God of Israel. She gave her life willingly, to see that her father’s reputation and promises were kept. I’m not totally convinced that her sacrifice accomplished anything in the sight of God. I’m convinced that her sacrifice was unnecessary to obtain the blessings of God. Nevertheless, we must admire her commitment to her father and her love for God.
But we must learn a lesson from Jephthah. We must learn that it is better never to promise anything than to make promises we can’t fulfill. It’s better to never make a vow than to make a vow that you will be forced to break.
I see people making marriage vows one day and then breaking them the next.
I see people promising to serve the Lord if he delivers them and then promptly forgetting God when the trouble has passed.
I see people promise to serve the Lord and to do a work for him, and then turning a deaf ear to pleas for help in ministry.
I see people pledge their undying love to God, giving their hearts totally to Him, and then turning their backs on him and living in sin.
The fact is that is they had never made that marriage vow, or never promised to serve and love the Lord, no one would have thought any less of them. But because they made a vow and then failed on fulfilling it, they are forever branded as a “liar”, “undependable” or a “promise breaker”.
God is looking for some real “Promise Keepers” this morning. He is looking for someone who will not only make a vow, and give a promise, but who will fulfill that promise.
Will you promise to serve the Lord with all your heart?
Will you promise to Love the Lord all the days of your life?
Will you promise to live a life of praise and service that will give honor to God?
Will you promise to work in the ministry and reach out to the lost?
Will you promise to put God first above anything or anyone else in your life?
Are those some promises that you can make? If you make them, fulfill them and become a Promise Keeper, not belonging to some organization by that name, but a Promise Keeper unto the Lord. Keep your vows before God because of your love for Him.
God has made many promises to each of us and has never failed to do what he said he would do. Let’s be honest with Him in return and fulfill our promises too.
