Ecclesiastes 5:4-7
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When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it, for He takes no
delight in fools. Pay what you vow! It is better that you should not vow
than that you should vow and not pay. Do not let your speech cause you to
sin and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a
mistake. Why should God be angry on account of your voice and destroy the
work of your hands? For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness.
Rather, fear God.
These verses look at making and keeping vows.
The word VOW in the Hebrew is NA-DAR and in its simplest sense means to
make a promise to take something you possess and give it to God.
But as we examine the word it becomes more involved.
1. The direction of NA-DAR is always to God. Other words are used to describe
a promise to give something to another person.
2. The making of a vow was not a spiritual requirement of the OT Law. Hence
it was something done purely out of one's freewill and desire.
3. It was verbally made. The one who made the vow would do so to God in
words, out loud in prayer which was the common for prayer in the Ancient
World.
4. The thing vowed or promised could be a sacrifice or something material
as in an offering, but it could also be a promise of one's self to serve.
5. Whatever was promised had to be owed by the person making the vow. It
had to be clean in that it was not something that was illegally or immorally
gained (the wages of a prostitute could not be vowed).
6. The MA of the one making the vow was important, it was to be an attitude
of devotion and joy. God did not demand vows and in Psalm 50:9-13 makes
it clear that vows do not supply to God something He lacks.
7. Vows have been called supererogatory acts of love and devotion to God.
8. Once a vow was made, out of one's free will, there was a demand that
it be paid.
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5
When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it, for He takes
no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! It is better that you should not
vow than that you should vow and not pay.
We have already seen in v 1 that the sacrifice of fools is their empty and
meaningless words.
Here the empty words comprise a vow, a promise made during worship that
is not kept.
In the CA we do not have vows such as believers in the age of Israel.
We do, however, see in the NT Scriptures those who made vows.
In Acts 18:18 we have Paul at the end of his second missionary journey shaving
his head as part of the keeping of a vow. This was the beginning of some
bad decisions for Paul as he began to try to win over the Jews who had rejected
him.
In Acts 21:23-24 we have four men who had shaved their heads as part of
a vow made to God.
In both these cases we have an attempt to bring the Nazerite vow of the
O.T. into the C.A. as a sign of devotion and dedication .
This was not proper and as a result these vows created great problem in
the church.
In another place in Acts we have some people making a vow to give something
to the church.
Turn to Acts 4:36-37 Barnabas had a piece of land, sold it, and gave the
money to the Jerusalem church. This was at a time in which there was great
need among the believers and Barnabus, of his own free will, chose to do
this.
So he decided, or vowed to do this, and did it.
NEXT CHAPTER: Ananias and Sapphira.
Read Acts 5:1-11
The difference we see between the vow of Barnabas and the vow of Ananias
and Sapphira is the difference that is made in Eccl. 5.
Ananias and Sapphira made a promise out of their free will but then decided
to default on their vow. Added to this was the lies that they told.
Acts 5:33, Peter called this lying to the Holy Spirit.
So we can see that whether in the age of Israel or in the C.A., when we
make a promise to God to give Him something we must follow through.
WHAT IS THE GREATEST VOW WE CAN MAKE TO GOD TODAY?
Romans 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual service.
We are to give God ourselves.
1. We are to freely do this: Paul urges us, not commands us.
2. We are to be motivated by God's mercy: The principle of mercy, as well
as grace, is God's justice satisfied at the cross and at confession and
our point of contact being God's love for us as believers.
3. The sacrifice is to be living and holy: In contrast to the slain sacrifices
in the O.T.
4. The sacrifice is not to propitiate God: He is already satisfied with
the sacrifice of His Son. Therefore, this sacrifice will be acceptable or
well-pleasing to Him.
5. It is our spiritual service to do this: Again, indicating our free will.
The phrase used here can also be translated logical or reasonable service.
This giving of ourselves to God who has saved us makes sense.
6. And how do we do this? We present ourselves to God.
PRESENT is the Greek word PARISTJMI and, in its simplest form, means to
take a stand along side.
It its used, however, for a sacrifice or the giving of something by way
of a vow.
Luke 2:22 And when the days for their purification according to the law
of Moses were completed, they )Mary and Joseph) brought Him (Jesus) up to
Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord.
Even here we can see that we are never called upon to do that which Jesus
has not done first. He was presented to the Lord as a baby by His earthly
parents and continued to do so His entire life.
We see four decisions of presentation with Jesus Christ.
1. To be born, as we decide to be born again
2. To make God's business and Word His highest priority.
Luke 2:49 When Jesus was twelve He remained in Jerusalem at the Temple:
And He said to them, Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not
know that I had to be in My Father's house?
Luke 2:52 And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor
with God and men.
3. When He was thirty He presented Himself for Public ministry and was baptized
by John: and God declared that This was His beloved Son in whom He was well
pleased.
4. Then in the garden He made the final decision to go to Cross. Setting
His Father's will above His own.
Jesus Christ, in His humanity, lived Romans 12:1. He made the vows and He
kept them by the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Word.
We PRESENT ourselves to God.
In Romans, the word PARISTEIMI is most often translated YIELD.
Romans 6:13 Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments
of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the
dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone
as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either
of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
We have freewill and have a choice to whom or what we will yield or present
ourselves.
As with the OT vow, the choice is ours, it is a supererogatory act on the
part of our volition s. We are encouraged even motivated to do this but
not commanded to do so.
In Romans 12:1 PARAISTEIMI is an infinitive that sees this vow on our part
as being a result of other things in our souls.
As with the O.T. vow we should have an attitude of devotion and joy in presenting
ourselves to God.
As with the O.T. vow, whatever is presented must be pure, clean. In Romans
12:1 we are to present ourselves as a holy sacrifice.
Hence, before we present ourselves we must confess our sins and look to
the work of Christ by faith.
Comes after confession, not before, not during.
Once we present ourselves, just like with the O.T. vow, we are fools to
not fulfill the vow.
And as fools, and we are fools because we do take our lives away from God,
we are carnal, out of fellowship, and back in the flesh.
Let's consider what specifically we can offer to God when we present ourselves
as living and holy sacrifices.
Hebrews 13:15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice
of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
We offer a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving
Hebrews 13:16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices
God is pleased.
Our mutual helpfulness with other believers is a pleasing sacrifice to God.
Philippians 4:18 But I have received everything in full, and have an abundance;
I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent,
a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
Although the one receiving the gift was Paul, it was a sacrifice well pleasing
to God.
Philippians 2:17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon
the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with
you all.
The death of a believer in service to the faith is a sacrifice acceptable
to God.
Romans 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual service of worship.
We present ourselves, we make ourselves available to God for His use, this
is well-pleasing to God.
Before we go back to Eccl. 5 let's briefly examine what it means to present
of yield ourselves to God.
1. It means to take our stand along side of God. Not God conforming
to us, but us to Him.
2. When we stand alongside someone we are identifying ourselves with Him,
we are then not claiming any merit, any value of works as we present ourselves
to God, but we are identifying ourselves with Him.
3. There was a military aspect to this term that look at a recruit presenting
himself to his commander. To present one's self under orders.
4. Another military aspect of this word means to surrender. And when the
defeated troop surrenders he does one thing, throws up his hands and gives
up. That is what we do, we give up the flesh, putting up our hands in the
presence of God.
5. It had a legal meaning as one stood before a judge and we do stand before
God, the all righteous judge, but His justice was satisfied by Jesus Christ.
6. It had a meaning within the court of a king for a minister or official
who stood beside and waited to do the king's business. This required patience
and we present ourselves to God and then wait upon Him and His perfect timing.
7. And it was also used for friends who stand along side each other. And
God loves us and we can be friends of God and stand with Him in friendship.
Ecclesiastes 5:6,7
Do not let your speech cause you to sin and do not say in the presence
of the messenger of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry on
account of your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For in many dreams
and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God.
While we may mentally vacillate on paying a vow to God, the believer here
makes a decision not to pay it and expresses that to the messenger.
This decision and declaration locks the worshipper into sin. Prior to this
point, he had an option. Now the option not to pay the vow is taken.
With that decision and declaration, there has to be some rationalizing.
"It was a mistake, I didn't mean it, I was only kidding, I wasn't serious."
SO HERE WE HAVE AN ADDITIONAL PROBLEM. Not only has he decided not to pay
what was promised, but he refuses to recognize this non-payment as sin.
So it goes unconfessed and when sin goes unconfessed it becomes very easy
to fall into that sin again.
1. When we confess are forgiven of sin, both known and unknown.
2. If we fail to confess a known sin, we remain carnal.
3. If we rationalize a sin as not being a sin and it goes unconfessed, we
are still carnal
4. The more we rationalize and make excuses for sins the easier it becomes
to sin those sins
5. This is the principle of sin lying at the door . . .
Genesis 4:6-8
v 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why has your countenance
fallen?
He was feeling sorry for self, and accusing God of being unfair. this was
the way he was excusing what he had done.
v 7 If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do
not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but
you must master it.
To master it is not some system of self discipline. The Hebrew word RULE
or MASTER here is MAS-HAL and means to set something as an all important
feature.
The all important feature here is to recognize sin as sin and not rationalize
a bunch of excuses.
v 8 And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in
the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
In I John 3:12 we read: Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother.
And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his
brother's were righteous.
The word SLEW is SFAZW and is found only here and in Revelation. It is a
technical word meaning to slay as a sacrifice, to make a blood offering.
Principle: In rationalizing and excusing his sin, Cain came to the point
of evil and sacrificed his own brother.
The most dangerous thing we can do with sin is to rationalize it. Now we
will sin, but when we do, confess it. Recognize sin for what it is, it is
sin and must be confessed.
If we rationalize sin we will go from sin to evil which is right in the
middle of Satan's plan for the believer.
Do not let your speech cause you to sin and do not say in the presence of
the messenger \of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry on
account of your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
The potential for chastisement (divine discipline) is stated here also.
Why should God be angry with you on account of your declaration not to pay
the vow? He will destroy the works of your hands.
The cost of not paying the vow may become much more costly than if we had
paid it.
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