Overwhelmed by the sheer goodness of God… awe-struck by the supremacy of God as Creator… humbled by the rehearsal of God’s track record at the Levite chronicled God’s unrelenting faithfulness… quieted by God’s overwhelming mercy and grace… and now fully convinced in every regard of the righteous character of God… we read these ominous words in Nehemiah 9:38: “In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”
I wonder, have you ever been so bold as to make a vow before God? We saw last week in Nehemiah 9 how the Levites chronicled Israel’s history of failure and unfaithfulness. No matter how good a thing God did… no matter how great a sign or wonder God worked… no matter how dramatic God’s intervention… no matter how exceedingly profound God’s mercy, deliverance, protection, guidance, provision… God’s people were prone to failure.
In Nehemiah 9 you have painted, one of the grandest portraits of the goodness and greatness of God in all of Scripture. But the brushstrokes of the brilliance of God play off the utter darkness and depravity of man.
God You… You… You… Light Light Light! But they… they… they… Darkness Darkness Darkness. They’d become arrogant, and stiff-necked. They wouldn’t obey God’s commands. They refused to listen, to remember God’s works. They would appoint and follow ungodly leaders. They would erect idols and credit their idols for their good fortunes while blaspheming the holy name of God. They shrugged their shoulders at God’s warnings, they killed God’s prophets, they kept doing what was evil in God’s sight, they became wicked in every regard.
In view of all that, why does this group of people now decide to make a binding agreement before God? I mean, do you really think you’re going to be exceptional? Do you imagine yourselves more sincere, noble, trustworthy, and faithful than your ancestors? Isn’t it just like human nature—to think ourselves of better character than our ancestors? Oh, how we like to sit in judgement, convincing ourselves that had we been in some time and place we would have acted more nobly. In Jesus’ day, even as they plotted to kill God’s One and Only Son Jesus, sent into the world… the Jewish leaders boasted that they would have never killed God’s prophets. How is it that we can be so arrogant and full of ourselves?
Just take a look at Nehemiah 10. These people were willing to have their names written down, to be forever remembered. There in Nehemiah 10:1 is Nehemiah’s name. Then follows the name of every priest, Levite, and leader!
And then in Nehemiah 10:28-29 we read how, “The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand— 29 all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord.”
Let me just ask two questions. First, would you ever dare make a vow before a holy and righteous God, binding yourself with a curse should you fail? Would you ever have the audacity to say to God, “May I be damned if I fail!”
This is Nehemiah 12. We won’t give our daughters to foreign men in marriage. We won’t take foreign women for our sons. We will not do business on the Sabbath, we will keep it holy. We will honor the year of Jubilee—and make sure all debts are canceled every seventh year. We will carry out proper service within the house of God. We will give the offerings we’re due. We will honor the festivals appointed in the law. We will give the firstfruits (tithe) of our crops, vineyards, flocks, and herds. We will dedicate our firstborn sons to you God. We will fulfill our duties. Nehemiah 12:39, “. . . we will not neglect the house of our God.”
Would you ever dare bind yourself under a curse! That’s the question. And the second question is, “Would it matter if you did?” I think of that moment Jesus tells his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer, be crucified, and die. In Luke 22:33 Peter boasts, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” But the Lord tells Peter in Luke 22:34, “Peter, you’ll betray me three times today (you will deny that you know me three times today) before the rooster crows.”
I wonder how God, in his righteousness, must see all our well-intentioned vows, and pledges, and binding agreements? Are they worth the paper they are written on? All these people wrote their names, binding themselves to God. Are our vows before God anything more than hollow boasts? Naïve at best? Arrogant at worst? Jesus saw through Peter’s vow just a few hours into the future, and he tells Peter… the day won’t end before you fail again… and FAIL BIG!
When I was a child attending church camp, you would always rededicate your life to Jesus in some way. One time, the leaders had us write a letter to our future selves. They said, later this summer you will forget the commitments you are making today. Write down what you would say to yourself and seal it in an envelope. Later that summer they mailed our envelopes with our letters to ourselves. Sure enough… we’d forgotten our commitments.
Do our flimsy vows mean much of anything to God? In Nehemiah 11, all the people settle into the large and spacious city. The city is becoming a city. You can see all the names of the residents there in Nehemiah 11-12. You can imagine what happens as the routine of life sets in again. Will the people remember (will they honor) their pledges and agreements?
At the end of Nehemiah 12, the people dedicate the wall of Jerusalem, and throw a raucous celebration. They sought out all the Levites for the special occasion, and brought them to Jerusalem, (v. 27) “… to celebrate joyfully the dedication with sons of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps, and lyres.” (v.28) “musicians were brought together from all around Jerusalem.” (v. 30) the priest and Levites purify themselves ceremonially, and they purify the people, gates, and the wall. (v.31) Nehemiah assigned two large choirs to walk on top of the wall to give thanks. One went to the right, and one went the opposite direction.
Nehemiah 12:43, “And on that day [the people] offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.” Many of us grew up in small towns, and if you did, you remember what happened about every Friday night. The football field would be lit up. The roar of the crowd, the marching band, cheer leaders, and choir of students chanting their victory cries, could be heard miles away. Only instead of celebrating football, the people are celebrating their God.
Here is how I wrestle through the two questions I asked earlier. The first question is, would I ever make a vow to a holy God, binding myself with curses, should I happen to fail? My answer is we don’t have to! “God, I’m really really really serious this time. I know I failed last time, but this time, its going to be so different. I promise, promise, promise.” In Jesus’ day people, sensing the hollowness of their vows, would try to bolster their vows by swearing against their own head, or the temple, or even the gold on the temple!
Jesus forever released us from the tyranny of words when he spoke these words in Matthew 5:33-37, “Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord. 34 But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. 36 Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.”
I don’t think God likes word salads. Ecclesiastes 5:2 says, “Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. After all, God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.” Words do not bolster our standing, our integrity, our righteousness before God. He sees through our words right into our future. No amount of words is going to change this one fact: the same grace you need today will be the same grace you need to sustain you tomorrow. You aren’t ever going to outgrow your need for God’s grace. These people in the book of Nehemiah would fail yet again. They would need grace again and again.
But I want to say this. Little did these people realize that in Christ, God would soon release them from the very curses they willed upon themselves. In Galatians 3:10 it says, “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed.” Listen, its not that we don’t deserve death for our sin. It’s not that our curse isn’t deserved. It’s that God in his great mercy doesn’t demand we pay sin’s curse, which is death. Our gospel declares that (Gal 3:11), “the righteous will live by faith”—by trusting God! Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
What an amazing gift! God chose to take our curse upon Himself that we might be released from our sin, and sin’s wage, death. We’re no longer cursed by our failed vows and hollow words, we’re saved by the faithfulness of Christ, by the power of the living Word come flesh who stood in our place taking our cross. We deserved death, but instead God has given us life.
Did you know baptism is a kind of pledge of allegiance? Some people imagine that when they are baptized, they are vowing never to disappoint nor fail God ever again. And when people lapse later in life, they doubt the sincerity and legitimacy of their earlier confession. “I didn’t really mean it back then. I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was just a child. I’ve sinned and failed so much since that time, I think I need to baptized again but for real this time!”
Baptism isn’t a vow that you’re never going to fail again. Baptism is a vow that you are always going to trust God for grace, and welcome the purifying power and presence of God’s Holy Spirit until you draw your last breath on this earth. God, I pledge to live under your grace again and again. I accept your death in my place (righteous for unrighteous). I bury my old self in the water. I allow you to raise me up and seat me in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. Thank you for taking whatever curses and death I deserve to give me the life I don’t deserve. And in communion I celebrate Jesus' body given and blood shed for me.