Commitment
by
Pastor Walt Scott, Let Go and Soar Ministries
August
3, 2014
Do
we believe that God made a commitment to us at the time He created
Adam and Eve? Yes, I believe He did. Whether we believe He created us
in His image for fellowship and relationship, or because He just
wanted us to share in this world He created, or something else. He
made a commitment to us to prosper us and not to harm us and that
commitment follows from creation through all the covenants right up
through the New Covenant. Because Jesus Christ brought the New
Covenant of grace and truth we can truly realize God's commitment to
us. He gave His only son on the cross to give every one of us the
opportunity through the forgiveness of all sin, by the cleansing
blood of Jesus Christ just so we could all have relationship with Him
and the opportunity of eternal life. God is love, and this is the
proof of His love and His commitment to us.
Psalm 37:5-6
Commit your way to the
Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteous
reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.
2 Corinthians 5:17-19
Therefore, if anyone is
in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them.
And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
What is commitment? I
think the best definition, for our purposes, is to call it something
pledged or a state of being obligated now or at some point in the
future. Are we now, today, a people who take commitment seriously and
consider this duty an honorable act? In other words, do we hold
ourselves responsible and accountable for excellence in performance
of our commitments? I believe many of us do honor our commitments,
although I believe many more of us do not. And I think that the
Christian world doesn't differ that much from the secular. If this
was not true, then we wouldn't have the level of division in the Body
of Jesus Christ that we have today. In secular society we have many
names for division; lower, middle, upper class; the “less
fortunate”; the “privileged”; black, white, brown, red, etc. We
could go on and on. In Christian society we call it denominations.
Each seems to think its interpretation of the Gospel is the only path
to understanding and salvation. What did Jesus have to say about
that?
John 14:6-7
Jesus answered, “I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.
From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”
Ephesians 4:11-13
So Christ himself gave
the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and
teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body
of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and
in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to
the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
So it seems there is only
one true path for us to walk. That is the one path that follows Jesus
Christ. He is our example. When we fully surrender our lives to Him
we are committing ourselves to following His teachings and His
example. How does that look?
Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus said to His
disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves
and take up their cross and follow me.
Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23
(reference only)
We all have to believe
the Word (Jesus Christ), accept Him into our minds and hearts and
receive Him into our soul.
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and
made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the
one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
We need to make this
commitment, and it has to be real. In order to have His authority and
achieve our best level of excellence, we have to exist in the reality
that Jesus Christ intended for us. What promise does Jesus Christ
give us in relation to this?
John 14:12-14
Very truly I tell you,
whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they
will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the
Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name,
and I will do it.
There are many different
parts in the body and each of us occupies a space and is expected (by
Jesus as the Head) to perform to the very best of our ability in that
position. We are to be satisfied with our position, and understand
that the optimum performance of the body relies on each part equally.
God loves us all equally.
1 Corinthians 12:24-27
But God has put the body
together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that
there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should
have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part
suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
A cooperative genuine
loving effort is what is expected of us. We should never envy someone
else or strive to be like someone else. We are all individuals and
our gifts are ours alone and we can all achieve excellence in our
gifting if we can just follow our Lord Jesus Christ as the only
example. Let the Holy Spirit be our guide and counselor.
Ephesians 2:8-10
For it is by grace you
have been saved, through faith-- and this is not from yourselves, it
is the gift from God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we
are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which
God prepared in advance for us to do.
Fruits of the Spirit:
Galatians 5:22-26
But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there
is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us
keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking
and envying each other.
The covenant of grace and
truth came through Jesus Christ. Through accepting and receiving
Jesus Christ we receive God's grace and will one day stand before
him, as righteous and free from all sin, self condemnation, guilt,
shame and fear. All we need to do is make that commitment to Jesus
Christ. By doing this we obey His most important command. Jesus
Christ reduced all 600+ Jewish laws down to just two.
Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus replied: “‘Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the
second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law
and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
The commitment we make to
our Lord Jesus Christ, Father God and the Holy Spirit is the most
important one we make in this life, although it is not the only one.
All other commitments we make from the covenant commitment of
marriage to the smallest offer of assistance are all equally
important, and reflect our true Christian nature. We should always
pray, study the Word, and ask for the Holy Spirit's guidance before
pledging or obligating ourselves to anything or anybody. All of this
so that being forgiven and with a clear conscience we can perform all
the tasks involved in carrying out our part of the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them
and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I
am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Sounds easy to some and
difficult to others. To a committed Christian it is an easy decision.
Make a free will choice and commitment for Triune God. We become
righteous through grace that we receive by faith in Jesus Christ.
Psalm 85:10
Love and faithfulness
meet together;
righteousness and peace
kiss each other.
Romans 3:22
This righteousness is
given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no
difference between Jew and Gentile
Love and Peace, Amen.
