The future is mind-bogglingly unknown to us. Can any of us predict what the news headlines will be two weeks from now? It would be a silly thing to bet on. Scientists have got better at doing the weather forecast, but we still can’t predict how the next meal with our family will go! All it takes is one envelope through the door, one meeting with the doctor or with the boss, one text message, and, suddenly, we’re thrown a curveball. Jeremiah said: “I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps” (Jer 10.23).
But God has designed us to be planning creatures. We’re able to face the future in particular ways. For example, we’re able to foresee danger and take preventative action (Prov 22.3), or we can anticipate where we’ll spend next winter (1 Cor 16.6). The gift of “hope” is a very powerful influence on how we, as Christians, can think about the future (Rom 15.13). Fundamentally, we know that Jesus Christ is coming back (Acts 1.11), and that gives us a confidence as we walk forwards through time. But between now and Christ’s return, we rely on a mixture of hunches, preferences, requests, goals, and ambitions. Planning is part of being made in God’s image; but it must be done humbly, as we subject our plans to God’s wiser ones (Prov 10:21; James 4:15).
Vows
All that said, a very important, overlooked tool in helping us face the future is a particular kind of speech, called the “vow” or “promise”. What’s that? It’s a heightened, solemn form of speech in which you commit to a particular course of action. Now, it’s fair to say any talk of taking “vows” sounds rather archaic today. Vows used to be common, but have become vanishingly rare in British life. They do still exist. Military officers, the judiciary, the police, and MPs still swear oaths on taking their office. Witnesses in court still swear to speak “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. But for most people it’s probably just seen as a traditional custom, not with any great moral significance. Some will feel happy to say them with “fingers-crossed”.
But God’s word tells us otherwise. The Bible says: “pay what you’ve vowed”. Eccl 5:4-5 says: “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay”. What a vow does is spell out what we owe in a given situation. It’s recognising that to enter into some positions, (e.g. the witness box), comes with responsibilities and obligations that we need to be particularly mindful of. And, very simply, we must do what we’ve said we’ll do.
Marriage is the obvious example. When a husband and wife marry, they lock themselves down, despite having no idea what their future will hold! So, a young husband has no idea that his bride will get a debilitating sickness, while they’re both still young, and that he will have to radically change his plans, nurse his sick wife, and devote himself to her care. But why does he do it? Because he vowed: “for better or worse, in sickness and in health”. He committed to love her through thick and thin. And we know there’s something beautiful, and admirable about that.
The Bible says that’s how the righteous man acts. Psalm 15:4 says the righteous man “swears to his own hurt and does not change”. So, while there’s lots we don’t know about the future, here’s something we do know! We do know what God asks of us and expects of us. We do know the kind of person God calls us to be in Christ. He wants us to be men and women of our word. We want to be men and women who keep our commitments.
Church Membership Vows
This includes keeping our church membership vows. In the International Presbyterian Church, we take 6 membership vows, three stating what truths we confess, and three stating how we will relate to the church:
1. I hold to the Christian Faith in the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as expressed in the Apostles’ Creed.
2. I have been baptised, and I have received from Jesus Christ the cleansing from sin and new life in the Holy Spirit which baptism symbolises.
3. I believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, and I personally repent of my sins and trust in him alone for my forgiveness.
4. I recognise the authority of the Elders, and assent to the governance and oversight of the International Presbyterian Church, and I am willing to accept their discipline, if that should be necessary.
5. I promise to support this church by prayer, giving money and time, and caring practically for individuals.
6. I commit myself to building and maintaining healthy relationships within this church, treating my fellow believers as my brothers and sisters in Christ.
If someone is reluctant to become a church member, I will ask them, “which of these promises are you unwilling to make and why?” I always emphasise that when you make membership promises you’re not making extra promises on top of the ordinary Christian life. It’s not like joining the SAS, an elite group of super-committed Christians. These vows simply articulate the normal commitments that Christian baptism and participation in the Lord’s Supper calls every Christian to. To be baptised and partake of the Lord’s Supper, but to be unwilling to make such promises is to act inconsistently with your public profession.
But, far from forgettable technicalities and hoops you jumped through in order to join an organisation, these promises are wonderfully clarifying. Each member of our congregation has publicly stood in front of others, and in the presence of God, and pledged certain things in light of the gospel. So, I don’t need to scratch my head and wonder what God’s will for me is. God calls me to be a man of my word, who keeps my commitments. The specific promises we’ve uttered are to really shape and clarify God’s will for our lives. These are to be (some of) your goals for the year ahead. They are to affect what you put in your diary, and how you handle clashes with things that compete with your commitments to church. Unlike marriage, you haven’t vowed to love a particular congregation “until death do us part”; in God’s providence, he may lead us to another congregation, but these promises don’t have an expiry date on them. They are commitments that even, and especially, when we’re thinking about leaving, we want to honour and keep. These promises help me in my decision-making, by spelling out what I owe my brothers and sisters. They stop me just thinking in terms of me, myself, and I, but get me to weigh how my decision will affect those I have commitments to.
Sadly, in Britain, a vow is often something you intend to do… until you no longer intend to do it! It’s not unusual for people to look back on a promise and say: “I didn’t really know it meant that…!”. Our public life is littered with broken promises. But as God’s people, we must remember that that’s not how vows work. Breaking our vows is a serious thing. It’s exactly when commitments are hard to keep that they matter most. Jesus calls us to love one another when it’s challenging (Matt 18.21, 15). We are to persist in giving, forgiving, and bearing with one another (Col 3.12-14); we are to persist in doing the right thing, even when faced with others doing the wrong thing (Rom 12.21).
To be clear, there is forgiveness for the sin of breaking our promises, and failing to keep our commitments. I am conscious of my own negligence in living up to my marriage vows, and my ordination vows. Our hope is not in our own ability to keep our promises, but in Jesus Christ, the promise-keeper (2 Cor 1.20). Thankfully, the Triune God is a promise-keeping God (Heb 6.13). But this is precisely why he calls us to face our future, determined to be (and become) men and women who, whatever surprises come our way, keep our vows.