Promises

Today we’re going to talk about promises.

Think of all the promises you’ve made in your life, and all the promises that have been made to you. Promises in your relationships, your work, your marriage, your family. Legal and financial promises; spiritual promises.

In our Old Testament today, God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation. Ultimately that great nation is the Church, made of people from many nations around the world.

Here we are today, believing in the same God who made that promise to Abraham. We’re living proof that God keeps His promises.

It’s been cynically said that promises are made to be broken. Sadly, there’s some truth to that. In this fallen world, no one can keep all his or her promises completely. 

The problem is, we depend on promises that have been made to us; not just in our temporal lives, but for our eternal lives.

There are a lot spiritual promises which sadly, are not always kept or always true. For example, in our February circuit pastors meeting, we had a guest missionary from Kenya, Pastor James May. He leads an organization called “Lutherans in Africa”. They train African pastors, who’ve had very little theological education.

They give them Bible study skills and teach them the Catechism and Lutheran Confessions so that they can discern and refute false teachings, of which there are many. And they equip them to teach people the true, Biblical Gospel.

Pertaining to false promises, Pastor May said that prosperity theology is a huge problem there, because the people are so poor. Wealthy prosperity preachers tell the people, “If you give $10 to my ministry, God will multiply it ten times over, and by the end of the month you’ll have 100 dollars”, which is a lot of money for them.      

The end of the, month comes, and the person who gave 10 dollars has no more than before. So the prosperity preacher says, “You didn’t have enough faith. Give another 10 dollars, and this time, have more faith that God will multiply it.”

So the person gives another 10 dollars, and again, at the end of the month, has no more than before.

So the prosperity preacher says, “You need to give my ministry 20 dollars. That will show that you truly believe that God will bless you with more.” So the person gives 20 dollars, and at the end of the month, still nothing.

So after a while people quit trying; they see it’s all a hoax; just empty promises.

Sadly, what often happens, Pastor May said, is the person then turns to Islam.

Islam teaches that if you’re a good Muslim, and follow the five pillars of the Koran, Allah will be pleased with you; and while you may not be rich in this world, you will in the next.

But that’s just another promise that can’t be delivered on: the promise that if you’re good, you’ll be saved.

Buddhism promises that if you follow the 8-fold golden path you will obtain salvation, or nirvana. Another promise that if you lead a good life you’ll be saved.

Hinduism takes it a step further, and says that by doing good works, you’ll generate good karma, which will eventually turn you into a god. That’s surely a promise that can’t be delivered on.

Mormonism teaches something similar, minus the karma; that by good works you can be a god in the afterlife. They call it the doctrine of eternal progression.

The common denominator in all this is the promise that you can earn your salvation though your good works.

The Gospel makes no such promises. The Gospel does NOT promise salvation through good works, but by grace through faith in Christ.

Our epistle tells us that Abraham believed and God counted his faith, not his good works, as his righteousness.

In our Gospel today, Jesus said that a person must be born again by water and the Spirit. God does that for us in Baptism, through the gift of faith.

Jesus said that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.                                                                      

God makes no promises that you can be good enough earn your salvation; that’s a promise that can’t be kept. Yet that promise is being made to billions of people around the world. How blessed we are to hear the true promise of grace.

In the Gospel, God gives us a promise that will never let us down. God made a promise millennia ago, that while we can’t ever be good enough to earn our salvation, His Son could be, and would be.

In our Gospel today, Jesus told Nicodemus how he would save world, and it wouldn’t be by teaching the world how to be good, although he did teach that.

Jesus told Nicodemus that in order to save the world, the Son of Man must be lifted up on a cross. Jesus knew he had to die for the world, and he did; He kept God’s greatest promise to the world.

If God could keep his greatest, most difficult promise, then He can keep all his promises to us; and he does.

So it’s never a matter of God not keeping his promises, it’s a matter of us seeing that He does.

Living in this remote, fallen world, we may sometimes get confused about God’s promises. That’s why he wrote them down for us in His Word.

We always need to go back to His Word to better understand his promises, especially when the road of life gets a little rocky; that’s when we can get confused about God’s promises to us.

We may wonder, “God, didn’t you promise that if I follow you, my life would become easier?” God says, “No. I promised that my grace can make you stronger to face life’s troubles.”

“God, didn’t you say that if I follow You, I won’t have to grieve anything or anyone. “No.” God answers, “I promised you that even in your grief, I will give you hope, and my love will heal your heart.”

“God, didn’t you say that if I follow You, I won’t have to deal with any doubts  anymore?” “No.” God says, “I promised you that my Word is true, and I backed up my words with my actions; My Son died for you and rose for you.  You can depend on me because I do what I say.”   

“God, didn’t you say that if I follow you, I won’t have to deal with these worldly temptations anymore?” “No.” God says, “I promised you, that I overcame sin, temptation, and the devil; and I’ll never leave you to face them alone.

When you fail, I’ll forgive you; when you fall, I’ll pick you back up; when you pray, and arm yourself with my Word, I’ll give you strength to resist.

I’ll give you the courage to walk away, or to say, ‘No, I won’t do that. No, I don’t believe in that. No, that doesn’t honor God’”.

God doesn’t give promises that can’t be kept; that would do us no good. There’s already too many broken promises in this world. God gives us promises that He keeps, and the promises He gives are the promises we need.

We might make promises that we shouldn’t; not only promises that can’t be kept, but promises that shouldn’t be kept, shouldn’t even be made; promises to do the wrong things.

Looking to God’s promises, we see promises that should be kept and will be kept; promises to do the right things.

Like Abraham, we hold on to those promises, and if do, we won’t be disappointed

Secondly, looking to God’s promises helps us to make good promises to others, and keep those promises. We sinners can never keep all our promises perfectly, so we need God’s forgiveness.

And we need His help to become more reliable in our promises to the people in our lives; to better keep the promises we make as a spouse, or as a parent, or child, or employee, or boss, or whatever our station in life is; whatever our responsibilities are; God can help us to carry them out in a more godly, loving, honorable way.

In His Gospel, God makes many wonderful promises to us, and he keeps them all. In Baptism, His promises became personal and real. By faith we receive God’s promises, and live by them.

A life without promise is a life without hope, but God gives you an abundance of both. May the promise of His peace, which passes understanding, always guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus your Lord. Amen.