presence are you approaching him are you attentive
secondly and this is much like the first
they're very similar these two sections
kind of parallel each other pretty
closely but when you vow a vow to God
when you make a promise you're not
delaying paying it for he has no
pleasure in fools Pay What You vow it is
better that you should not vow than you
should vow and not pay let not your
mouth lead you into sin and do not say
before the messenger that it was a
mistake why should God be angry at your
voice and destroy the work of your hands
for when dreams increase and words grow
many there is Vanity but God is the one
fear I don't know about you but when
when I read this and I hear this I can
go jeez take it easy
man give us a
break don't you know that you're making
God sound like like an overd demanding
boss that lacks Grace and
honest it is sobering it is jarring the
preacher is doing this
intentionally because he wants us to
draw attention to that that the true
go these vows these promises that hey
I'm going to I'm going to do this thing
matter our promises and our actions
matter remember that the fool is one who
lives as if God and His will are of no
consequence someone who promises and
then goes oh it doesn't really matter
that's fool they're not living in a a
world where God matters and his will
matters the truth matters int
matters and it seems like in our world
it doesn't it's easy to see where words
don't matter just that's what Twitter
is or Facebook people just spout all
these things or politicians they they
make promises after promises I'm going
to do this no none of them ever follow
through on a single
one here's the
deal even we have language oh they're
going to walk it back right we have
language that says well we're going to
walk back promises because we're so used
to not hearing them
fulfilled one commentator says do you
know the reason we make promises we make
them we can excuse what we promise well
you're taking it out of context it's not
really what I
meant or which which I I love
this he
goes don't let your mouth lead you into
sin and do not say before the messenger
that it was a mistake in other words
they made the the idea is someone comes
to the temple and they said hey I made
this promise of a sacrifice and they go
to the messenger or the the the probably
the temple priest and the temple priest
is going Hey where's your promise he
goes I it was a mistake
I didn't really mean
it I mean I said I said it but
I this is what kids do when when they go
say something mean to their siblings
joke we can say it I was just kidding kind
of and I will own this and I invite you
to to we often I often make promises to
God saying that I'm going to do
something that I back out of or flat out
fail to follow through with and the
peach preacher says that well I may not
think that that's a very big
matter I'm aware that I want my words to
matter when it requires more of somebody
else but I want them to carry less
what happens then is I'm often very hard
on those who break their word to me but
I am very kind to when I break my word
alone I make vows and Promises to God
and even to others because I think that
it will score me
points that it will assuage God and
others I will do so even if I really
don't mean it or have no haven't really
fully considered what it will require of
me only to back out thinking it's no big
deal because I often presume upon God's
kindness and grace and the kindness and
Grace of others when I was about 20
years ago my best friend Jeff and I were
walking around our our our college
campus I had just graduated it was the
first time I had gone back to the campus
I went to York College just a little bit
down the road and I'm walking around and
and I saw about seven or eight people
that I had that I went to school with I
hadn't seen in a couple months and I
said hey man so good to see you he goes
hey how long you in town I was in town
for 36 hours and I said they said let's
hang out I saides and they said somebody
saw somebody else let's hang out yes
I'll give you a call yep I'll give you a
call I must have promised seven people
and my best friend Jeff I love him he's
still my best friend of the day he goes
you know that you promised to hang out
with seven people I came in into town to
hang out with
Jeff he goes you know that you promised
seven people that you were going to be
hanging out I said yeah he goes do you
have any intention to call that people I
said no he goes then why didn't you say that
because I didn't want to say no I didn't
I didn't want I wanted to make them feel
good I didn't want to feel weird and so
I made promises that I did not intend to
keep and I think this is how we often approach
God to live this way to live
unintentionally is fruitless how much of
our lives are are just unintentional
life is happening to
us and we are
unintentional I know I am and I have
been over the past probably four years
I've been in intentional and trying to
intentionally when we do this when we
live unintentionally we we miss the
point because we think it's about
external work and performance if I just
agree to this thing it'll all be okay I
can earn my way back we presume upon the
grace and kindness of
God and once again this is these are not
Commandments that that that they're
promising like I I will not murder
these are extra things that they're
trying to earn more points before God
and this is also something that the
Israelites would have heard very clearly
that Moses also wrote in Deuteronomy he
says if you make a vow to the Lord your
God you shall not delay fulfilling it
for the Lord your God will surely
requireed of you and you will be guilty
of sin but if you refrain from vwing you
will not be guilty of sin you shall be
careful to do what is past your lips for
you have
voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God
what you have promised with your
mouth again these vows are voluntary
they're not required but out of some
desire to commit an aspect of their
lives to God now I want to be careful
done with sobriety and
sincerity these these steps are can be
helpful for example I just noticed
myself looking at my phone way too much
so over this this season of Lent and
these months leading up to Easter I am I
turned off social media and like candy news
news
sites it's like it's unhelpful for me
it's a it's a Time suck and I'm choosing
I I want to commit that to the Lord that
intentional but the issue so so there
there is a time where we can do this
well but it's a voluntary thing but we
often do this as a posturing as as a way
to earn our way back
and when we do so we're trying to
leverage God or achieve some spiritual
Merit so we commit to something like
I'll never sin [Music]
[Music]
again I'll never miss another Sunday I
promise spouses parents I'll never yell
again I won't ever get angry good
luck I'll never say a dirty joke just
one more there's
um if you get me out of this Jam I
a.m. see we're trying to leverage God in
our religious
effort and God is not
fooled see our words matter they matter
when we speak to our
friends our spouses our kids our
neighbors and especially
before God Jesus Echoes this very idea
in his Sermon on the
Mount again you have heard that it was
said that of those old you shall not
swear falsely but you shall perform to
the Lord what you have SW sworn but I
say to you do not take an oath at all
either by heaven for it is the Throne of
God or by the Earth for it is his foot
stol or by Jerusalem for it is the city
of the great king and do not take an
oath by your head for you cannot make
one hair white or black let what you say
be simply yes or no anything more than
Evil this is being intentional with our
words and and so we see this in our
culture we go I swear to
God we're trying to to swear to
something great as if it gives us some
Supernatural power to uphold
it we're leveraging the power or the
beauty of or the the sanctity of
Jesus is saying stop
posturing stop
playing simply live in an integrated
wholehearted life mean what you say and
mean we don't have to try to appear to
be more spiritual or religious we don't
have to try to make up ground with
God rather we can simply be faithful we
can actually say what we mean and then
we can mean what we say you see the
heart of an intentional worshipper is
aligned with his or her words and
actions friends what how would we be a
testimony how would we be a light if our words
words
mattered how would we show up with
intentionality in our homes if our words mattered
mattered we will fall short but I think
this intentionality is something to
strive for and what the preacher calls
us to particularly as we think about
Worship the preacher says that talk is
cheap so we need not run our m mouth and
make empty promises as if that's a way
to deeper
spirituality in fact he says that that's the
the
opposite when we run our mouths not
listening to God and making empty
promises we see that those efforts will
prove to be meaningless because God is
not fooled even if others
are that's how it connects to the previous
previous
passages look at verse six let not your
mouth lead you into
sin and do not say before the messenger
that was a mistake look at the second
part of the verse why should God be
angry at your voice and destroy the work
of your
hands God's not fooled that that's cha
that's religion that chases the wind
it's trying to fool God and God goes I
am not fooled your efforts are like
chasing the wind it is
meaningless so the word work that just
tries to compare our work to others or
are the pleasures that just I need it
filled up God goes that's all chasing
the wind so is religion that is just
playing the formula game it's chasing the
the
wind I if you remember there's a story
in the book of Acts about ananas and
Safa in the early church
people willingly they sold the early
Christians they sold all that they they
had and they put it in a communal pot
it's not communism just take a breath
okay so but they put it all together God
never de commanded this but ananas and
saf they sold everything and they
brought the money to Peter and Theo and
the other disciple the other Apostles
and they kept some of the money
back they made this vow oh we vowed to
God that we would give it all to the his
people but they kept some back they were insincere
insincere what
what
happens God they are struck dead right there
serious they didn't keep their word they
weren't intentional they weren't honest
they weren't
sincere friends I just want us to check
in on how are we doing living
God it's
beat to be
attentive and to
decide am I going to follow Jesus am I
gonna just follow the lord here and to
be intentional yes or
no it isn't being just carried by The
intentional at and at the foundational
level true worshippers understand who
they are and who God is
this is why they're attentive this is
why they're intentional because they
have Clarity and reverence that God is
God and we are not friends you are not
in control we should lay down the
illusion this is why we see then that in
the last part the true worshippers are
in all of God the the New Living
Translation translate this last verse
talk is cheap like Daydreams and other
useless activities you know what
Daydreams produce nothing
just like talk he goes fear God instead
that's the foundational truth when we
play religion we may fear what others
think or fear the situation we find
ourselves in but that is the wrong
mindset we are to have a fear of God now
I want to say what does this mean it
doesn't mean that we should be scared of
God it doesn't mean that he's out to get
us rather it speaks of a healthy
reverence I grew up by the beach in New
Jersey still keep my jersey number okay so
so
there's you learn from an early age that
you need to have reverence for the
water hurricane season Tides rip tides
big waves even Olympic swimmers can get
pulled out by the rip and they have no
power over Surfers you can be a great
swimming go I'm going to try surfing
you're going to go over overhead days
fast the water will remind you who's in control
it will easily overpower you and it
should give you a healthy respect and
awe this is what the the preacher is
saying is inviting us into to have an
awe of who God
us it's meant to help us to be sober
minded and our dealing with him that
he's not going to be easily fooled or
controlled by our efforts one of my um
one of my favorite passages I've been
thinking about more recently is from The
Book of Proverbs and the beginning of
the Book of Proverbs begins with the
fear of the Lord is the
what the beginning of wisdom when we
actually have a healthy fear we get wise
about the world around
us we actually gain
knowledge just like healthy fear of the
water lets me know when I should go in
and when I should not
fear of the Lord actually helps us to
understand our lives in the world and
the world around
us the fear of God actually makes God
much bigger and more beautiful not
smaller he cannot and will not be
handled when a woman Annie Dillard says
this about how we come to church and
what we should think about it goes the
churches are children playing on the
floor with their chemistry sets mixing
up a batch of TNT dynamite to kill a
Sunday morning it's Madness the wear
lady straw hats and we velvet hats to
church we should all be wearing crash
helmets Usher should issue life
preservers and Signal flares they should
lash us to our pews for the sleeping God
May wake someday and take offense or the
waking God May draw us out to where we
return friends the Transcendent Eternal
here the Holy Spirit who dwell in our
Lord Jesus Christ is in you and in this
space how can we not come in anything but
but
reverence this is Holy sacred ground dear
friend when we come to the Lord this way
we will not become like the Conor
McGregor but we will come like this
friends God is kind he is gracious he is
merciful he is forgiving he is
casual he is not
flippant CS Lewis in the line witch in
the wardrobe talking about alen the
Christ character when little lucy says
finds out that he's a lion she says is
he safe and beaver goes safe he's a lion
friends God is Not casual he is not safe
but he is good and here's the deal
because he's not that he is intentional
and so he says what he actually means
when he says for the wages of sin is
death but the gift of eternal life is
Christ Jesus our lord he means it that
sin has separated us but he has given us
a gift that we can come back home he
says that if we say we have no sin we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in US but if we confess our sins he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness he's not flipping or
casual about that he means every note of
it he says to us come to me all who
weary and heavy laden and I will give
you rest take my yoke upon you learn
from me for I gentle and lowly in heart
and you will find rest for your souls
for my yoke is easy my burden is light
that I want to show you what I what I
think in my time of study was the most
shocking sentence I
read by a Old Testament commentator
named Derrik kidner he said no amount of
emphasis on Grace can justify Taking
Liberties with God for the very concept
of Grace demands gratitude and gratitude
casual let that sink
go again I'm not saying that we need to
go back to suits and straw hats and all
these things I like the drum up here let's
let's
go it's not about that it's more about
the posture of our heart it's not
external things the part how am I approaching
God we remember who God is and when we
do our hearts will be full of gratitude
which flows from reverence and leads us
attentiveness a heart that rightly fears
Lord is not
flippant it does not presume upon God
it's not
arrogant but rather it's in all that he
is God and we are not
it is instead relies upon him and not on
honest engaging in true worship is not
about a formula to follow but a posture to
to
take I invite you to consider how you've
been approaching
God friend how did you show up this
morning perhaps you've just been playing
the religion game
wind it's meant to be
frustrating it will not
satisfy but when we connect with the
true God when we connect with a True
Heart of
Worship this is what the psalmist
says awaits Us in in his presence there
is fullness of joy and at his right hand
there are Pleasures forever more the our
hearts long for God goes I'm not holding
goodness maybe this is the Sunday where
we humble our
hearts draw near surrender open
ourselves up and say Lord I'm I'm
sorry I need to I have been trying to
run the
game would you tune my heart
to one of attentiveness to be
intentional to be in reverent fear of
you the reality is we all fall short of
this and that's why Jesus came Jesus
came to bring us home he came to show us
the way he was the most attentive
intentional reverent person that ever
walked the Earth and he came so that he
would bring us back to God because we
were separated from God in our sin Jesus
came to bring us back home that we would
actually be restored in this
relationship that we would actually M do
what we were made to do we were made to
worship and he invites us back to where
true worship begins at the foot of the
cross through the finished work of Jesus
the Triune God who invites us to
come friends for those who have been
just you've just become in inattentive
haven't been
listening haven't been intentional
I'd invite you to just take a moment as
we close just say how can I Lord speak
I'm not going to talk or speak to me and
I would invite you to even just give
yourself an open posture that you might
receive from the Lord what does he have
to say to
you don't make any rash
promises just listen consider submit
father in this moment I'm aware that
there are in our worlds there are a
thousand concerns
there are a lot of things that are
yelling and screaming at us for our
attention I pray that you would help us
to silence our hearts that they would in
our eyes and our minds on you and then
as we do that we would hear that still
Small Voice that calls us to yourself
that that invites us to know something
far more deeper something far more
profound I pray that you would help us
to be attentive to your voice in your
word in the in the depths of our soul
Lord I pray that you would help us to be
intentional with our words and our
actions and that we would be
wholehearted followers of
Christ all of this grounded in our
reverent awe of who you are what you
have done for us it's in Christ's name
we pray amen hey thanks for joining us
for this episode of chasing the wind
join us next time as we continue in our
Ecclesiastes book study together and
learn more life lessons from the wisest
man who ever lived I would love for you
to check in with us before you go you
can find that in the link in the chat or
go to Branch life. Church and at the
bottom of our homepage it'll say weekly
checkin we' love to hear from you join
us again next time as we continue in our
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