Is It a Sin to Back Out of a Commitment?

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

Desiring God, Theology, John Piper, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, 163859, Questions, Religion & Spirituality, Pastor, Ask, Christianity

4.8 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2020

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Honesty, integrity, and reliability should characterize every Christian. Since God delights in truth, so should his people.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Is it a sin to back out of a commitment?
0:07.3	Too often we write off a question like this for being too trivial for discussion.
0:11.8	It's not.
0:13.2	It's not because the topic is addressed in scripture, leading to an email from one female listener
0:17.8	to the podcast, Morgan, a college student.
0:20.9	Hello, Pastor John, I'm grateful to God for your ministry and have been blessed in many
0:23.9	ways by this podcast.
0:25.7	I'm writing to you because there's a wedding soon for a friend.
0:28.7	I previously RSVP'd to say I would be there.
0:32.2	Now I don't think I can attend after being told about a school obligation I didn't know
0:36.3	about until recently.
0:38.1	The RSVP was formal and has caused me internal conflict about a broader ethical question.
0:44.2	James says, let your yes be yes and your no be no so that you may not fall under condemnation.
0:51.0	That's James 512.
0:52.8	And Jesus said, don't make an oath, simply say yes or no and stick with it.
0:58.6	It's in Matthew 534 to 37.
1:01.9	This is for me part of a bigger question I have about backing out of commitments.
1:06.8	Is it sinful to do so?
1:09.0	And in this case, since I already RSVP'd, should I honor my first commitment to the wedding
1:14.1	at the expense of my college course, Pastor John, how inflexible are our commitments?
1:20.3	I am deeply thankful that Morgan has a sensitive conscience, a sensitive conscience
1:28.4	specifically about speaking the truth and keeping her word.
	...

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