Commitment or Involvement

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Greetings to each one of you in Christ's name this morning. I would like to read in Genesis 22 this morning for an opening passage for this message. I'm going to read the first 14 verses of that chapter. [00:00:31] Genesis chapter 22, why don't we all stand as we read the word this morning. Verse 1, And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and claved the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. [00:01:11] Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide here with the ass, and the lad and I will go yonder and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together. and Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said my father and he said here am I my son and he said [00:01:44] behold the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for the burnt offering and Abraham said my son God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering so they went both of them together and they came to the place which God had told him of and Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood In order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. [00:02:15] And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son [00:02:51] And Abraham called the name of this place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. You may be seated. I think that last verse, Jehovah-Jireh, I'm not quite sure, but I think it means something to the effect that the Lord is here. Jehovah-Jireh. But if I ask you this morning what you would take from this account, probably we would have different answers. We would have maybe two or three things that people would say. [00:03:25] The obedience of Abraham is outstanding, phenomenal. He was called to do something that the heathen did and were not supposed to do, offer his child. And I don't know what life seems like to you, but sometimes it feels like something is coming out of left field and it hits you and you wonder, why God? Why are you asking me to do this? Or why did that happen? Or what is going on? [00:03:58] And we don't read that Abraham did that, but I suppose he had some questions. I would have. The son of promise. That first verse, in other translations, the word tempt is test. God tested Abraham. Give up the child of hope, the child of promise. There's one word that stuck out, that grabbed my attention when I read this. [00:04:34] The word commitment. And I would like to speak about commitment. And I've entitled this message, Commitment or Involvement. This child was supposed to be his seed and multiply upon the earth. What do you think was going through his head as he took that journey to Mount Moriah? I would imagine that he probably felt like turning around. [00:05:06] You know, why do you ask me to do something this hard? This is my son. But the commitment that he had is the same that you find in Genesis 12, where God said, Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, he said this, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, and to a land that I will show thee. That's in verse 1 of chapter 12. Move to a different land, go a different direction. [00:05:38] And verse 4 says this, And so Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken. There's not a whole lot of fanfare, not a whole lot of reading between it. It just says simply that he departed. He was obedient. He was committed to going where the Lord asked him to go. It's interesting, I was going to read the account in Acts 16 next. I think I'm going to refer to that anyway. Brother Jamin, I guess, was on the same track that I was this morning. And that's all right. I'm not going to be reading much, but I just wanted to note something here. [00:06:20] And maybe I'll just give a little bit of the background here. I won't read it. Why they were in prison. They had robbed this, the owner of this, not sure what she was, a sorcerer. The master was making money off of this young lady that was, I don't know if she was a fortune teller or what she was. But we understand that he became angry and caused a stir and that is why they were thrown into prison. [00:06:50] Verse 22 says, And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. who having received such a charge thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God and the prisoners heard them. The reason I'm pointing this out this morning, I could have picked, chosen many different stories to illustrate this from God's word [00:07:28] But from Abraham to Paul and Silas and beyond, there is a line, there are men that were committed. They had made their commitment. They were faced with the lion's den, the fiery furnace, and temptations of all different sorts and kinds, persecuted by their own people, but they were committed. Here again is a vivid account of obedience to God. [00:08:02] Absolute obedience in adverse circumstances. Rejoicing in adversity does not come naturally. It doesn't. Obedience doesn't come without a commitment to follow something. Without a commitment to serve the Lord, there would have been no song to sing. And I'm sure that they did not receive their song from having their feet in the stocks and the stripes on their back. It did not, their song did not come from that. [00:08:34] But their commitment didn't stop at the prison door either. It followed them right on into that prison and they were faithful. I would just like for each one of us this morning to think about your commitment to the Lord. As I speak, think about your commitment. Our persecution today is different. It's no longer we haven't suffered to the blood. We don't normally suffer. [00:09:06] Nobody's spitting in our face, I should say it, in the physical sense. But there's much temptation in our day. Much temptation. There's materialism. There are fads. There are sports. There's a casualness and a casual lifestyle that tries to, the devil is trying to deceive us with it. It's just a comfortable persecution, if you can express it in that way. [00:09:37] It's a subtle persecution of worldliness, trying to get us comfortable. But you know, one thing has not changed. If you are a born again committed Christian, there is persecution, there is social ostracism, there is this thing of being different. And I think if you have committed yourself wholly to the Lord, you understand that Matthew 10.22 says this, [00:10:09] And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Brother Jamin this morning talked about being saved, and that's very appropriate. That's very appropriate. We need to speak about it. We need to educate our young people. We need to educate ourselves what it takes to be saved. That's the first step. And every journey must start somewhere. We must start. We must make a commitment. We must start. [00:10:44] But this verse reminded me again that he that endureth to the end shall be saved. We need to take that first all-important step, but we need to stay on the road if we're going to get there. We're not going to get there if we don't stay on the road. I was thinking about this message and my son brought home his literature book from school and I try to read the story as he goes through the book and I don't I should have read it again this morning I didn't we all have I hope we all have a Martyrs Mirror in our house we're all familiar familiar with what our forefathers our spiritual forefathers at least suffered [00:11:30] This was a story. I don't have the names. I just have, and I'll just give it to you briefly. I was looking for a story that would fit, and I didn't necessarily think about this when I was reading, but this was the story of a father and mother and their children that fled from one city to the next, and they settled in a different town where they would be accepted. They were Anabaptists. They were rebaptized believers. And the father was a minister in the church. But they the people of this was in Holland, I believe. And the people in the town that they moved to were friendly to them and accepted them all but one person. [00:12:11] But there was a cry against the Anabaptists And from another town they sent people to come and get them And so the village people warned them And the father being the target They came and warned him So he told his wife that I'll leave immediately And he ran for the woods He left immediately And the wife said she would come. She said, just go so they don't get you. So he left. The mother had the baby. They had a little baby and I think several other children. She woke the oldest daughter and said, I have to leave. They're after us. I have to leave. And she grabbed the baby and ran for the woods. [00:13:02] And so, they weren't gone for very long until there was a rude knocking on the door and they were there. Well, there was this neighbor man that did not appreciate them. And they asked him, they asked around, they said, where are they? We're after them, where are they? And this man just came up through the crowd and he said, there she goes. She didn't quite make it. And so they caught the mother and the baby. [00:13:35] It was a sad story. And because of the village, there was at least, well, they did not hate the Anabaptists there. So they ended up, I think they killed the man that turned them in. And I'm making this story too long probably for this message's sake. but they took the wife, they kept the wife in prison with the baby and the father was alone and the mother ended up, the father traveled to the village where the mother was in prison [00:14:10] and they were able to exchange letters and the mother, they ended up taking the baby from their mother which was horrible for the mother, she said, she wrote it to the father, the father was staying at somebody's house He was working for these people and they did not know, they were not sympathetic to the Anabaptists at all. They did not know that it was his wife that was in prison. They exchanged letters. And finally they took the baby and the father's heart just bled. [00:14:43] His wife was in prison. He couldn't speak to these people. The day came for the execution. and the wife of the people that the father was staying with or the husband, she said, I'm going to go, I want to see this lady that will be executed for her faith. I want to see what happens. Don't you want to come with us? And he said, no, I don't want to go. I don't want to be there. The day came, the father stayed, the husband stayed home [00:15:15] And they went and they came back and they said, such glorious singing. I've never seen anything as beautiful as that. Well, to make a long story short, the commitment of that mother saved not only her, but these people that this husband was with. Finally, the husband said, after they had come back, he said, that's my wife. That was my wife. And they talked about it. And in the whole experience, because of this commitment, not only did this lady die, but these people gave their lives because of that commitment. [00:16:01] Now, what does Paul say in Romans 12.1? I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God. And then what does he say? It's only reasonable. It's only reasonable. This is your reasonable service. Do we, do I, have a commitment, a faith worth dying for? And if I have it, how will I impart that? [00:16:33] How will I transmit that to the next generation? Now you may ask me the question, what is a commitment? And the Bible, if you look, type in the word commit, do a search there. Commit is something different than a commitment. But Webster says this, two of the definitions, a pledge or a promise to do something. And the second one is dedication to a long-term course of action, engagement, and involvement. Now there are many types of commitment. [00:17:04] And I think you're all thinking about this probably. There's commitment to your family, your spouse, your children, your job. If you don't show up at your job, you don't have a job. There needs to be some commitment to that. Mothers, you have a commitment to get the laundry done, cook the meals. I think you're committed to that. If you're not, it just doesn't happen. There needs to be a commitment to do those things. [00:17:37] But the commitment to serve the Lord should affect every other commitment that we've made. It should change the way I go to work and when I go to work and what I do before I go to work and everything that I do. It should affect everything. Do we understand commitment in our day? There is much talk about making a commitment. There is much talk, and I'm not opposed to that. [00:18:10] Is much done about the talk, is the question I would ask. Is much done about the talk. As we read the word, God's word, is there much talk about making a commitment? Not a lot. Think about it, not a lot. But notice something else. These heroes of faith went the distance in living out a commitment. If they had not lived out, there would be no story to tell. [00:18:45] So I want to notice this. If there is no action, no obedience, there is also no commitment. Or not much of one at least. Not much of one. Today, I'll just throw this out. This is my own something, my own phrase that came to me as I was studying. I wonder if we don't have today what I would call conditional commitment. [00:19:17] You may correct me, maybe after this message. This conditional commitment says that I'm committed as long as I'm still happy, I'm still comfortable, things go my way, you fill in the blanks. But that's not the commitment that God is asking from us at all. When Dr. David Livingston was working in Africa, and I just, I'll read this story. A group of friends wrote him, they said this, we would like to send other men to you, have you found a good road in your area yet? [00:19:58] And he wrote them back, according to a member of his family, Dr. Livingston sent this message in reply. If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. That's pretty harsh. But he said this, I want men who will come if there's no road at all. Now that may seem a little harsh or far out, but I think that's exactly what the Lord wants. He said in Matthew 10, 37 and 38, Jesus said this, [00:20:31] He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy. of me. Now, do you think, do you suppose that Jesus was talking about a conditional commitment? I think he was talking about a commitment that takes everything that I can give, everything. There's no room for anything else. He's looking for a people that will forsake all, forsake [00:21:05] Everything. Now, probably part of the reason I was thinking about this whole thing was what we experienced in Arkansas last weekend, the wedding. It's often, I don't know, that my commitment to follow the Lord was that easy because there were some difficult obstacles that I had to overcome. but think about a wedding and the wedding vows [00:21:38] two young people making a commitment it only seems natural that they would do it they're young, they're in love, it seems natural and they solemnly vow that they are committed to each other and they say something like this they're committed to each other to take care of each other in health, in sickness, in prosperity and adversity They promise to exercise patience, kindness, and forbearance with each other And I'm not saying the whole thing [00:22:08] But you hear those things That's a commitment But the quality or the effectiveness of that commitment can only be judged by their actions Or their faithfulness to that commitment And the same thing applies for our commitment A genuine commitment does not change with the circumstances It stays the same. It's there. The real test of that commitment comes when the baby cries all night, or we run out of money, or there's difference in opinion. [00:22:45] But it does not change the commitment that I have made, or we men and women that are married have made. What about our commitment to the church of Jesus Christ, to Jesus and his church? Does my commitment change? Am I still willing to speak kindly to that brother or sister that just doesn't quite cut it in my mind? That commitment to do that does not change. It's still right there. [00:23:18] Is my commitment so deep that if I see an erring brother or sister, I would in kindness or in love admonish, even if it makes me and the brother or sister uncomfortable. You know, God is not asking us to go alone in our commitment. But certainly he's not asking something easy of us either. It's not easy. You know, commitment includes loving when there is nothing offered in return. [00:23:51] I almost hate to mention this, but it seems in our day, you know, maybe I'll just share this. I worked for a company at one time and I got there right after they opened the doors and the commitment, the level was high. And you could say this was for selfish reasons, probably, but we were supposed to punch the clock at 6 o'clock and start work at 6 o'clock. [00:24:27] But we were all there at quarter after 5, and we were all working quarter after 5. If you weren't at work at quarter after 5, you just kind of got behind. You missed the boat. Everybody else was working. Commitment was high. Part of that commitment, of course, was that get the work done and go home, you're free. But the other part was simply that we're here in this thing together and we're going to work it out together, we're going to keep going. But I noticed something. I worked for that company for a number of years and as time went on, that changed. [00:25:03] That commitment changed to be there on time and eventually some people were late. And of course it happens in the normal course of life. Do we treat our church life the same way? When it's new, when it's still fresh, our commitment is high. But it doesn't change our commitment when things don't quite go the way we feel they should or the way that they actually should. We are still called to honor God, to honor our commitment. [00:25:36] Whenever there's a commitment made, there's also accountability that goes with that commitment. And if there is no accountability, there's probably no commitment. Think about that one. If I'm committed to go deer hunting, for instance, it does not matter how cold that tree stand gets. I'm committed. I will stay there. I am committed to doing this. And, of course, it brings joy for some people because of their commitment. [00:26:13] And that's all right. I'm not here to say that we shouldn't hunt. Are we committed in the same way with the church, with Jesus, the church of Jesus Christ? Are we there? Are we participating? Are we praying for the church? Do we show up at the functions? Now, there's this story that was shared last Sunday morning at the church where we attended [00:26:45] and it caught my attention, probably the seed for this message. And I did some research on this story and it's an old story so I would imagine many of us have heard the story before. And it's just a story. A Canadian missionary that was in India related this story. But it has a lesson to it. How many of you have heard of the chicken and the pig having their little conversation out behind the barn? They were out behind the barn and they were talking about all the poverty and the hunger that goes on in this world. [00:27:24] And they were just, what could be done about it? And the question, they were pondering the question. And finally the chicken after some thought said, you know what we could do? We could supply some bacon and eggs for these people. That sounds pretty good, but didn't sit too well with the pig. Is there something we can learn about that? [00:27:59] They were arguing back and forth as the story goes, and neither one was totally able to convince the other one that they were right on this. But about that time, the farmer's wife said to the farmer, what would you like for breakfast? And the farmer said, I would prefer some bacon. And the pig said, you know, when you laid that egg, you were involved in the breakfast. You were involved. [00:28:29] But when I gave that bacon, I sacrificed myself for their breakfast. The debate is then, does involvement equal commitment? This is not something intellectual. I think this is a simple lesson. The hen argued that if someone is willing to get involved, that means they're ready to commit. But the pig said, I don't think so. [00:29:02] Getting involved is far from ready to commit. We can be involved in all kinds of things, but not really committed to that. What is your commitment like this morning? Is it just when it's comfortable? Do I like to be involved in something good? Do I contribute if it works out, if it suits my schedule? So, I think this story kind of addresses a half-hearted something that's prevalent in our day. [00:29:37] We don't quite want to go the distance. Are we getting involved in the activities of the church? That's good. I hope we are. I hope we're involved. Or, are we ready to commit ourselves to sacrifice ourselves for service to the Lord? I ask you to consider that this morning. Are we ready to sacrifice ourselves for service? [00:30:08] Jesus said, for the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He was a perfect example. He committed. He gave up. He gave all for us. At least five times Paul says about Jesus, He gave Himself. He gave Himself. Are you willing to give yourself for Him? Titus 2.14 says this, Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. Is that our testimony this morning? [00:30:52] Are we willing, are you willing, to give yourself to the cause of Christ and his church? Your time, your prayers, in anything, any way that you can build the kingdom, the church, are you willing? Or are there other commitments that have crowded out the primary commitment? I found this quote, Art, I can't pronounce his last name, says there is a difference between interest and commitment. [00:31:28] When you are interested in something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses. We go the distance. We keep hunting until we get the deer that we want. or the trophy or whatever. You know, just think about this a little bit. Think about a half-hearted commitment. [00:32:00] The Bible talks about, I believe, I didn't put much forethought in this, a king that wanted to conquer and he did not properly sit down and count the cost. What about the man that wants to build a house? And he has a half-hearted commitment. He would like to build the house, but he's almost too lazy to get it done. And he gets the rafters up and then that's it. We'll just leave it. Half-hearted commitment. You think about any half-hearted commitment, and I've been guilty of this. [00:32:35] You'd go home in my shop and look around and maybe you'd see some projects in the corner that got about halfway done. And they're just sitting there because my commitment to do it just wasn't what it should have been. Think about any half-hearted commitment. I think you'll come to the same conclusion I did. It doesn't work too well. It just doesn't, it's a failure. But our commitment to the Lord, dare not be a failure. [00:33:08] We have to be, stay committed. I would like to notice something yet. Back to Genesis 12. Two places, Genesis 12 and 22 at the end of both of these stories are, Genesis 12, the second and third verse, The blessing that Abraham received in just going, he was commanded to go. And friends, I hear this all the time. People say, well, I'm just waiting on God to see what he has for us. [00:33:42] And that's all right. Wait on God if that's what you need to do. But in the meantime, here is instruction. As you wait, do what you know to do already. Abraham obviously knew what he was supposed to do and in his commitment to serve he he went and this is what God said and I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that that curseth thee and in thee shall all the families all families of the earth be blessed and in Genesis 22 verse 16 to 18 in part says this [00:34:22] Because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. He was committed and out of that commitment flowed obedience. And in Acts, in Paul's case, well let me back up. [00:34:58] If you want God's blessing to rest upon your life, you will, there is one requirement at least and that is that you need to be fully committed. That means surrender, submission. There's a lot of different things we could say. But in Paul's case, I noticed something different, and I think it's still true today. His commitment to obedience made an impact on those that were around him. And it works the same way today. [00:35:32] When I am around people that are committed to the cause of Christ, they just push me on. They just take me with them. It just seems like the right thing to do. If you are committed to the cause of Christ, you will influence those that are around you. And the opposite is also true. If your commitment is a half-hearted commitment, the same thing is true. You probably won't have much influence. Should we apologize for being committed individuals? [00:36:07] I don't think so. I don't think so. I think God's word is clear. If I may use my own life as a testimony, I look around. When I see people that stand firm, just stay right there. It's a great encouragement to me. Don't apologize for a true commitment, a genuine commitment. I want to say one more thing. If we take, if we make a commitment to almost anything, it takes some level of determination. [00:36:43] Now, young men and ladies, for that matter, if you play softball, you run the risk of having that ball fly in your face. That's a risk. But you just grit your teeth and with determination you go on. And if you get hit by the ball, that's so be it. You're committed to playing that game. You want it. You want it. You want to play that game, right? Well, I was the same way. And I don't think that's wrong. But if you have made a genuine commitment to serve the Lord, there is Holy Spirit power available. [00:37:18] There is, what I want to say is, there is something beyond just determination to do it. There is a power that you can tap into. Jesus said in Acts 1 to 8, But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And then he goes on to say, And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. There is Holy Spirit power available. Avail yourselves to that power if you've made a commitment. [00:37:53] You may have made a commitment 20 or 30 years ago, but today you still need that power to carry you on, to take you through with that commitment. I hear, and I don't know if I was arguing in my own mind about this, but I hear that people recommit their lives. And I'm not opposed to, I don't think I'm opposed to that term because I've noticed that some of these people have come back to the commitment they've made. [00:38:24] I don't know if recommit is the right word or if it should just be a daily exercise in staying true to the commitment that I've made. But I'm not saying that you shouldn't say I want to recommit myself because I encourage coming back. I just want to leave this with you. Don't go part ways. I want to encourage each one of us. Let's not just make it to heaven's door. [00:38:56] I would like to meet all of us on the inside. All of us. Stay true to your commitment. If you've made a commitment to follow the Lord, don't give up. Go the distance. Stay there. God will bless you for it. Let's kneel in prayer. Heavenly Father, we bow before you again this morning. And Lord, we, Father, we just come to you and ask that you would help us in our commitment to serve you. Lord, we need your direction. [00:39:30] At times, the road is difficult. Things come up, and sometimes we don't know almost which way to turn. But Father, we recognize this morning that there's power to keep going and that you honor our commitment to serve you and that you help us, give us grace along the way. Lord, I pray first of all that you would help us to understand what a genuine commitment entails and then to live the way that we should. Would you be with us now, Father, this coming week, the rest of this day, and the rest of our lives? [00:40:05] Help us to stay close to your heart. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.