The Word Made Plain

Voiceover: Welcome to the Word Made Plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 18, verse 18.

Tony Clark: All right, let's dive into the word of God together. Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 18. As we continue our verse-by-verse study through the word of God, we find ourselves in the book of Acts on Sunday mornings, and on Wednesdays, we're in 1 Samuel going through the Old Testament. It's so good to see all that God has for us.

Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would teach us this morning. Lord, I pray, God, reveal the secrets of our hearts today. I pray, God, that you would be here with us, that we would leave here saying truly God was in the midst of us. Oh God, speak to our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Acts chapter 18, we're going to be looking at verse 18. What I love about the word of God is the word of God is so deep, so wide, and so high that no matter how many times you go through the word of God, it's going to speak in a different kind of way. Now, we covered verse 18 last week, but there are some things that I didn't have time to cover last week, so I'm saving it for today. Acts 18:18, the title of this message is Keeping Your Vows.

A vow is defined as a solemn promise, solemnly promising to do a specified thing. We make vows all the time, but very few people are solemnly keeping their vows. Whether they are marriage vows, a vow to do something for someone, or vows we make to God, it is this last vow that we make to God that I want to focus on in this lesson.

By way of background, Paul is in the city of Corinth sharing Jesus Christ with the people there and establishing a church for the people to continue to grow in after he departs. However, opposition arose against Paul in verse 12, and they brought him to court saying, "This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law." Before Paul could open his mouth, Gallio, who was the judge there, threw the case out in verse 14.

This really upset the unbelieving Jews and some of the Greeks, and they took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in verse 17. Gallio turned away and took no notice of what they were doing. Now we pick it up in verse 18. So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed to Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off in Cenchreae, for he had taken a vow.

Because of Gallio throwing Paul's case out of court in verse 16, this allowed for him to stay in Corinth for many days. Then Paul felt the need to go back to Jerusalem, so he left Corinth and took Aquila and Priscilla with him, whom he met at work according to verse three. Because of the many days he stayed in Corinth—we know from verse 11 it was 18 months—he raised up capable leaders to take over the church, such as men like Gaius, Sosthenes, Stephanas, and Crispus that he mentions in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

I want to draw your attention to this wonderful couple, Aquila and Priscilla. I didn't get a chance to expound on them last week, and I wanted to take the time to do that today. They left their jobs to be with Paul. We know also from verse three that they were tentmakers. Based upon the Greek word, they dealt with making things out of leather. This shows their great devotion to Paul, that they were willing to leave their jobs to serve in the ministry.

I want to pause right here and just say, I want you to notice that they left their jobs to serve in ministry. In other words, their job did not get in the way of ministry. I just wonder how many people allow their jobs not just to get in the way of ministry but to get in the way of just them coming to church. It just blows me away.

To me, one of the greatest revivals in the history of the Christian church was the Moravian revival that took place on August 13th, 1727. As they were praying, the spirit of God came upon them in such a way that they continued praying 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for over 100 years. As a matter of fact, they call it the 100-year prayer revival, but it was a little bit longer than 100 years. Do you know what ended the revival? The Industrial Revolution, or work, ended the revival.

Work ended the work of God. I just wonder: has work ended the work of God in your life? I wonder if work is ending the work of God in your life. You were once on fire for God and once served, and now all of a sudden, work. As if that is a badge of honor that we're going to wear in heaven. How many hours did you work a week? Well, I worked 78 hours a week. How many did you work? Oh, I pulled 100 a few times. Is that what we're going to boast about in heaven? How long we worked?

You're going to bust your hump for that job and do it 20, 30, 40 years, and after you bust your hump, deny God, deny your family, deny yourself spiritually, they give you a little watch that's going to break after a month with a little inscription on the back of it: "He served for 30-40 years." We're trying to get you to just serve 30-40 minutes. I just wonder if work is destroying the work of God in your life. It didn't for Aquila and Priscilla, because they knew wherever they could go, they'd get a job. They were tentmakers. Tents were made out of leather, and they made other things out of leather. They knew wherever they'd go, they could get a job. God was for them, so God would be with them wherever they went.

I just wanted to emphasize that and ponder it because the Bible says a man who doesn't work doesn't eat. By the looks of many of us, we like to eat. Therefore, we need a job, and we need to be working. Yes, that is true. But they didn't allow work to get in the way of ministry. I love how they did ministry together. There is no greater joy than to have your spouse partaking in ministry with you. The five benefits of this are enormous.

Number one, you have your spouse alongside of you doing eternal things together. Too often, couples just do carnal things together, like going out to eat and feeding the flesh. Which is fine, everyone's got to eat. That's fine. Going to the movies, most of the time God's spirit is grieved within you by what you are watching together. Let's just be honest about it. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:30, "Do not grieve the Spirit of God by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption."

The word "grieve" there in the Greek is *lupeo*. It means to cause pain to. The spirit of God who is in us, the Bible makes very clear when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, the spirit of God comes to live within us. When we're watching or going somewhere or doing something that we shouldn't, the spirit of God is in us doing this: "Oh, oh." This is what happens most of the time, almost all the time when we call ourselves having date night and we go to some movie or we stay home and watch some movie. Nine times out of ten, the spirit of God is grieved within us. We know that. Let's just be real with it. It's not like you're always watching something on Lifetime or the Hallmark Channel. We know you're not doing that. Probably some R-rated thing, and y'all had date night together.

Seldom do you see couples doing ministry together. Now, I am very aware that some spouses aren't Christians or you might be single. Oh, but the joy of being able to serve with your spouse. This is why we encourage husband and wife teams in the children's ministry serving together. Why? Because number two, it creates a bond between the couple. Number three, it strengthens the marriage.

Number four, it brings a strong male role model into the classrooms where many of the kids don't have fathers in the home. These classrooms have a beautiful balance of the strength of a man and the gentleness of a woman there, thus showing what a home is supposed to have. I know that many of you ladies are longing to have what I just described. Let me encourage you to keep praying, keep being an example of a godly wife at home like 1 Peter 3:1-2 describes. Because God hears your prayers. He hears your prayers on this subject. So be encouraged and be faithful in your prayers and don't grow weary in well-doing, like Galatians 6:9 describes.

The fifth benefit of couples serving together in ministry is number five: it increases communication. One of the things that women complain about the most is that we men don't communicate enough. When you're serving together, you will have a lot to talk about, especially if you're serving in the children's ministry. You'll be talking about the lesson, the scriptures, how to deal with disruptive little Johnny and Sally. You will pray together about these things. There's a lot of communication going on between you two.

These are just some of the benefits of serving together in ministry. Now, here's the thing. You've heard me say many times, ladies, the fourth quarter of a football game or basketball game is not the time to be talking. We don't want to hear what you have to say. It's not the time to bring up the bills. I mean, thank God for technology, that we can pause live TV. Even when we pause, we're not listening to you. Because we want you to hurry up and say what you have to say so we can get back to the game.

SportsCenter is not the time for you to be trying to talk to us about the kids and homework and some teacher calling. All those important things—that's not the time. Solomon said, and I didn't make this up, Solomon said for there is a time for everything under the sun. That's not the time to be talking about that kind of stuff. I didn't make this up; this is Bible. So, but serving together increases that communication.

Leaving Corinth and arriving in Cenchreae, which was a city on the eastern seaport of Corinth, they would find a ship heading east, stopping first in Syria so Paul can report to his home church of Antioch of Syria, and then they went on to Jerusalem. The last part of verse 18 says that Paul had his hair cut off at Cenchreae, for he had taken a vow.

We left off last week with what kind of vow is this. This was probably not a formal Nazirite vow as some scholars suggest, even though there are some similarities there. Because according to Numbers chapter 6:13-21 that gives the instructions on a Nazirite vow, it says that this vow could not be taken outside of Jerusalem. Seeing that he was in Cenchreae and not Jerusalem, it couldn't be or couldn't have been this vow.

However, this was a private vow which was commonly made as a vow of thanksgiving, thanking God for keeping his promise of protecting him while he ministered in the city of Corinth. God said in verse 10, "For I am with you and no one will attack you to hurt you." God protected him, and perhaps this vow was a vow of thanksgiving to God for keeping his word to him. Having such a strict Jewish background as Paul had, the only way he knew how to show his deep gratitude to God was in a Jewish way, which was similar to a Nazirite vow.

During a Nazirite vow, it's a specified period of time, normally up to a month. After that period of time, you would shave your head and offer that hair up as a sacrifice to the Lord. This could be the reason why he was in such a hurry to get back to Jerusalem in verse 21, to offer that hair up as a sacrifice to God. So he took a vow that was very similar to a Nazirite vow.

So it comes down to this: what about vows today? People make them all the time. Does God really expect for us to keep our vows? Let me give you a hint. Matthew 5:37 says, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no, for whatever is more than these is of the evil one." In other words, if we don't keep our word, we lied. Lying is from the devil, whom John 8:44 calls the father of lies.

However, some people say, "Come on now, Pastor Tony, God understands that things come up, doesn't he?" Or that we were really excited, or we were emotional or we were depressed when we made the vow. So does God give us a pass, a wink-wink, when we make a vow to him? When we say things like, "Lord, I vow, I promise, if you get me out of this situation, I will never do it again. Lord, let her not be pregnant. Oh, oh, I promise, I'll serve you all the days of my life."

Or, "Lord, if you bless me to win the lottery, I will give the church some money. Lord, if you bless me with this promotion, I vow I will start tithing. Or Lord, if you get me out of this job that I'm working on the weekends, I promise I'll commit to going to church every Sunday." Come on, does God expect for us to keep our vows?

Hold onto your seat. Ecclesiastes chapter 5:4-6, I believe, answers this question. It says, "When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. Better not to vow than to vow and not pay it. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?"

What powerful verses. These are powerful verses concerning us making vows to God and how God feels when we make vows to him. He expects for us to keep our word to him, because we expect for him to keep his word to us. Verse four says, "When you make a vow to God, don't delay to pay it," or don't allow for time to pass before you keep your word to him.

Don't say, "Okay, God, I promise, if I get a promotion, I'm going to start giving to the church," and you've been promoted for seven months and you haven't given a dime. The Lord said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you vowed. Don't delay to pay it or don't allow for time to pass before you keep your word to him." When we make vows to God and delay in paying it, we're just like unbelievers.

He says he takes no pleasure in fools. "Fools" is a word for unbelievers in the Bible. Psalm 14:1, Psalm 53:1 says the fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." So fools are depicted as people who are unbelievers in the Bible. When you make a vow to God and you delay in keeping it, you're just like a fool. You're just like an unbeliever who makes random vows to God and doesn't keep them.

Unbelievers—I remember before I was a Christian, I would make these stupid vows to God. I mean, I didn't want to keep them. I just wanted God to bail me out. That's what unbelievers do. They want God to get them out of trouble or to get them out of a tight spot. They're not expecting to keep the vow. They just want God for his help to get them out of trouble. It says God has no pleasure in people who do this.

Verse five says, "God said it's better not to vow than to vow and not keep it." If you know you're not going to keep it, don't make it. It's better for you not to make it than to make it and not keep it. "Well, see, God, well, see"—no, just don't make it. Just don't make the vow. Verse six says, "Do not let your mouth write a check that you can't cash."

Then they come to me, the messenger of God, as verse six says, "Well, Pastor Tony, well, see, I made a mistake, and I made a vow to God and I'm not able to keep my word." I would look at you and say, "That's between you and God." I can fast and pray for 40 days and 40 nights for you; nothing is going to change until you pay that vow you said to God. You can come to me all you want as if by you coming to me, I'm going to say, "God, come on, let them off the hook." No. No, that's between you and God.

Then verse six said, "Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?" See, God loves us. However, he looks at what you're saying as an excuse, and he is angry at it. He will destroy the work of your hands. No matter how hard you work with your hands on the job, God will destroy it. The ends will never meet. You will constantly struggle. You will never get ahead. I believe that is why God's destroying the work of your hands.

As he's destroying the work of your hands, it will cause you, and I believe that God has a unique way of revealing it to you, it will cause you to think: "I think this is happening to me because I made a vow and I haven't kept it." Then you come to me, the messenger of God, and say, "I made a mistake in making this vow to God." God calls this making an excuse. So God doesn't accept our excuses. He sees them as a lie, that we lied to him. He doesn't accept that at all.

Have you made a vow to God recently or in the past? Then make haste and fulfill it, whatever it is. No matter how small or how large it was, keep your vow to God. Now we have a very strange story that illustrates this principle. In the book of Judges chapter 11 and verses 30 through 40, a strange vow with a man named Jephthah.

He made a foolish vow in verse 30 saying, "Lord, if you would deliver the people of Ammon into my hands," whom he was at war with, then in verse 31 he says, "Whatever comes out of my house to greet me when I return shall surely be the Lord's and I will offer it up as a burnt offering." So God keeps his word and gives Jephthah the victory. In verse 34, when he returned home, his daughter runs out of the house with tambourines and dancing, rejoicing over her father's great victory for the nation of Israel.

She was his only daughter. He tears his clothes in verse 35, which was a sign of deep anguish and pain, and says to his only daughter, "Alas, daughter, you have brought me very low. I have given my word to God and I must keep it." Now, there is much debate whether he offered up his daughter as a burnt offering, which I doubt because God forbids human sacrifices throughout the Bible, or whether she had to remain a virgin her entire life by the statement that Jephthah offered her up to the Lord in serving him for life, kind of like a nun of some sort.

Either way, Jephthah knew he had to keep his vow to God. I just got to ask the question: what did he expect to come out of his house? A lamb? A ram? A bull? A lamb with maybe a maid's outfit on because it's been cleaning up inside? What did he expect to come out of his house?

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