BUILDING A LIFE OF COMMITMENT
Building a Great Life - Part 5
Gerry White

Today in our society as technology is speeding up the pace of change people are more and more reluctant to make long term commitments.

We don't want to be committed to:

  • anything.
  • a long term job.
  • a long term marriage.
  • long term investments.
  • a church.

In fact, if there is any operational attitude today it's "I want to keep my options open.

  • I don't want to be tied down.
  • I don't want to commit to anything because life is a buffet and I don't want to get to the end and say, 'Oh, I filled my plate up with the wrong stuff!'"

That's tragic because the fact is you can't live without making commitments.

  • You can't buy a house without making a commitment.
  • You can't get married without making a commitment.
  • You can't even get a driver's license without making some kind of commitment.

Nothing great ever happens without making commitments. If we go through life without making any commitments we just drift without any focus.

So today as we look in the fifth of this series on "Building A Great Life" I want us to look at "Building a Life Of Commitment." I want us to look at what the Bible says about the power of commitment, the price of commitment, then what it takes to make a commitment, the pitfalls of commitment and the payoff.

I. THE POWER OF COMMITMENT.

What does the Bible say about the power of commitment? The Bible says that nothing affects your life more than the commitments that you choose to make.

In fact, my commitments have three profound affects on my life.

The things I commit myself to... my commitments:

1. Show my values. They show what I really think is important. What I really value, what I really love. There is no such thing as love without commitment. Single adult, if someone ever tells you, "I love you" and they're not willing to commit to you, they don't love you.

  • There is no love without commitment.
  • The essence of love is a commitment of oneself to that person, to meeting the needs of that person. That's what love is all about.

I may say something is important to me, but the way I commit my time and my money shows what is really important.

I may say, that my family is important to me. But if I commit all my time to my work, and none of my time is committed to my family, it shows what's really important.

If I say my health is important to me, but I don't commit any of my time to taking care of myself, then it means that my health is not really important to me.

  • The uncommitted life really means nothing is important to me. That's what it means. If you don't make any commitments in life, you're basically saying, "The only thing that's important to me, is me."
  • The uncommitted life in its essence is pure selfishness. It's saying, "I don't consider any one, or any thing, or any cause in life worthy of commitment. I am only committed to me." That's called selfishness.

It is also true that you can't be committed to everything. So we come to the second thing since you have to make choices in life, you can't be committed to everything, you have to choose your commitments.

So my commitments not only show my values they...

2. Shape my life. I become whatever I'm committed to. Your life is the sum total of your commitments.

  • If I believe that making money is the most important thing in life, then my life is going to be shaped by that.
  • If I believe that being well liked and being popular is important, then my life is going to be shaped by that.
  • If I think that having a good time is the most important thing in life, then my life will be shaped by that.

If I were able to sit down with you and have a thirty minute conversation and I say, "Tell me your commitments. Tell me what you're committed to right now" I could tell you what you're going to become in life.

I could tell you what you are now.
I could tell you what you're going to be.
I could tell you how you're going to end up if you live to old age.

Because once you choose your commitments in life, your character is set. It's set in stone.

So you better choose your commitments carefully. And if you've never thought those things through, you may not like how you're going to end up if you haven't looked at those commitments.

Commitments:

  • Not only show my values they shape my life.
  • Not only that, the Bible says my commitments...

3. Determine my destiny. The destiny of nations are determined by the commitments that people make. The very fact that we experience freedom here this morning to talk and pray and worship like this is because somebody spilled their blood for that. Our freedom was bought with a price.

On a personal way, the commitments that you make, that I make, they not only determine here and now, they also determine our eternity. We talked about this a lot last week. Life here on earth - 60, 80, 100 years - is brief compared to the years you're going to spend in eternity.

If you develop a relationship with Christ, you're going to spend eternity with Him and your rewards and responsibilities are going to be based on how you used your life here on earth. That involves commitment.

II. THE PRICE OF COMMITMENT.

Jesus said it like this, "What will a man give in exchange for his soul?" That's a very important question because every day of your life you're exchanging your life for something.

We're all given just a certain number of minutes to live. The average human being will live 25,550 days. Every day when you wake up, you exchange your life for something.

Some people exchange their life for:

  • TV.
  • trashy novels.
  • to do nothing.

Wise people:

  • use their time wisely.
  • plan how they're going to exchange their life. You are going to exchange your life for something.
  • plan that exchange by making what we call commitments.

When you make a commitment you're choosing how you're going to invest your life.

  • You're choosing how you're going to spend your time.
  • You're choosing how you're going to use your resources.

If you don't get anything else, get this: Every choice has a consequence.

In life, every choice you make has a consequence. It may seem the most insignificant choice, but in the grand scheme of things they all add up and all involve your time and they all influence eternity.

The choices and the commitments I make will show my values, will shape my life and will determine my destiny. It's very important that we learn to make wise commitments.

The most important commitment you're going to make is your commitment to Jesus Christ. But even that has a price tag. Every commitment, regardless of which one you make, has a price tag to it. You have to weigh out the benefits and the pay off compared to the price tag on it.

What are the price tags, what are the costs of following Christ?

Jesus is very up front about it. He doesn't beat around the bush. He's not vague. He just lays it out in Luke:

If you want to be My followers you must love Me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple.

Luke 14:26

Jesus is very clear about the cost of following Him, the cost of commitment.

He's saying, "I expect to be first place in your life. You have to love Me more than anybody or anything else if you want to be My follower." That's pretty audacious.

He says you've got to love Him more than your parents, more than your husband, more than your wife, more than your kids, more than your own life. That's pretty strong cost.

No human being would ever say that to you. Jesus Christ makes demands on your life that no dictator, no despot, would even think of demanding in terms of loyalty.

The only difference is, He has a right to it. Why?

  • He made you.
  • He created you.
  • He loves you.
  • He has a plan for your life.
  • He died on the cross for you.

Nobody else has done that.

Nobody else can claim those three things - that you were made by them, that you were planned for a purpose by them, and that they died for you.

Jesus says, "I gave My life for you. I expect your life in return." I think He has a right to it. He says "I demand first place in your life if you're going to be following Me."

If Jesus Christ is not Lord of all in your life, He's not Lord at all in your life. You're kidding yourself. You ought to really question, "Do I really know Christ?"

C.S. Lewis said it like this, "If Christianity is untrue then it's unimportant." That's obvious. If the Bible is a lie, if this is all a myth, if it didn't really happen, if Jesus really isn't God and He didn't rise from the dead and all that kind of stuff, what are we doing here this morning. Let's all go home. There's plenty other things to do on Sunday morning. If it's untrue, it's unimportant.

On the other hand, if Christianity is true, then it is of ultimate importance. And it deserves everything you've got. It is of ultimate importance. It's more important than your job, your family, your career, your goals. It's the most important thing - if it's true.

Lewis said, "The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important." It's either all or nothing. It either demands and deserves everything I've got.

Jesus says this is the cost. "I want you to seek Me first." How do you do that? We talk a lot about putting God first in your life, how do I put God first in my life?

Four practical ways:

1. I GIVE GOD THE FIRST THOUGHTS OF EACH DAY.

Each morning I will look to You in heaven and lay my requests before You.

Psalm 5:3

I'm not saying, when you get up in the morning the first thing you have to do is sit down, read your Bible and have a quiet time and pray - although I recommend it. But I'm not saying you have to do that.

What I am saying is, before you get out of bed in the morning, you ought to learn that the first thing you think about is talking to God, even before you roll out of bed, "Good morning, Lord" rather than, "Good Lord, it's morning!" Those are the alternatives.

Let me give you the secret. The way you do it is, your last thought at night tends to be your first thought in the morning. Have you ever gone to sleep at night with some stupid song stuck in your mind and you wake up the next morning and it's still going on?

Why can't I get that out of my head? You can train yourself that when you go to sleep at night, the last person you talk to is Jesus Christ. And with your head laid on the pillow, you say,

  • "Christ Jesus, I know You're with me.
  • I know You're in me.
  • I know You're watching over me.
  • And I want to see You in the morning. Good night, Lord. Help my first thought in the morning be of You."

You can do that. That gives God the first thought of every day.

2. I GIVE HIM THE FIRST DAY OF EVERY WEEK.

On the first day of the week, the disciples came together.

Acts 20:7

They worshipped. Why do Christians worship on Sunday? We do it for two reasons.

  1. Because Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Sunday. It's called Easter. We celebrate Easter every Sunday.
  2. Because it's the first day of the week and we want to give God the first thought of every day and the first day of every week. We call it The Lord's Day.

3. THE FIRST TEN PERCENT OF EVERY PAYCHECK. The Bible says in Proverbs:

Honor the Lord by giving Him the first part of all your income.

Proverbs 3:9

That's called tithing and we've talked about this many times.

One of the ways we show that God is first place in our life is give Him the first ten percent right off the top. Not after I've paid all the bills. Why do I do it? In gratitude for the past, to keep my priorities right in the present, and in faith for the future.

There are more promises about tithing than anything else in the Bible.

One of them is

The purpose of tithing is to teach us to put God first in every area of our lives.

Deuteronomy 14:23

That's the purpose. It's a reminder. Every time I get a paycheck and sit down and write out my tithe and give it back to God, it's saying, "God, You're first." That's the purpose of tithing, to teach me to put God first.

Another verse, 1 Corinthians 16:2 says we ought to give our tithe on the first day of the week. Why? Why not the second day or Thursday or Friday? Because on the first day is when I go to church and tithing is an act of worship.

Tithing is not giving to charity and giving to charity is not tithing. Those are two different things.

4. THE FIRST CONSIDERATION IN EVERY DECISION.

In everything you do, put God first and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success.

Proverbs 3:5-6

  • Do you want to be successful? Then you need to memorize that verse and do it. Put God first in every area and He will crown your efforts with success.
  • Do you want your finances to be successful? Put Him first in them.
  • Do you want your business to be successful? Put Him first in it.
  • Do you want your family to be successful? Put Him first in it. It's a no brainer!

III. THE PITFALLS TO COMMITMENT.

The truth is, five years from today, there are people here that aren't going to be here. Some of you are going to be washed up spiritually five years from today.

  • You will have flamed out.
  • You will not be walking with the Lord.
  • You're not going to be growing in the Lord.
  • You're not even going to be attending church.

As a pastor of many, many years I've seen the parade. Why? Why will this happen to some of you? Because you never intended to be committed in the first place. Your commitment was not deep.

So when tough times came along your casual convenient Christianity went out the door and so did you. And you're not going to make it. So I need to warn you, as your pastor, of two things that trip us up.

1. WE GET DISTRACTED. We lose our focus.

The attractions of this world, the delights of wealth, the search for success and the lure of nice things come in and crowd out God.

Mark 4:19

  • Is there anything evil in this list? No.
  • Is there anything bad in the list? No.
  • Is there anything that's really wicked in that list? No. There's nothing wrong with wealth, success, nice things.

What's wrong with it? He's saying, they're not the most important things in life. There's nothing wrong with those things, it's just not what God put you on earth for. He didn't put you on earth for wealth and success and nice things. Those are gimmes, freebies, perks. But that's not really what you're here on earth for.

Don't make that the most important. If success or wealth or nice things become number one in my life, God gets bumped out of first place and that becomes an idol.

The Bible says in the Ten Commandments,

  • Don't do it!
  • Don't have idols.
  • Don't let anything take first place in your life except God.

Don't let good things get in the way of the best.

2. WE BECOME COMPLACENT. What happens when we become complacent is we start living off of past commitments and don't make new ones.

"In 1921, I made this commitment..."
Have you made any more since then?
Have you grown any since then?
Have you updated your commitment?
Or have you just become complacent in that level of commitment?

You think some commitment you made ten years ago is enough to keep you going for the rest of your life? No. You need to be continually growing in your commitment, striving, deepening. We become complacent.

We need to be aware that Satan wants us to become complacent or we will miss God's blessing and we will be defeated.

The issue is, How real and how deep is my commitment to Jesus Christ? Will I lay it on the line for Christ?

One guy told me, "I don't believe in making a 36-month giving commitment?" I said, "Have you ever bought a car? You believe in commitments as long as it's for selfish purposes."

Those of you who are still giving your commitment for Time To Build, what should you do? I would take whatever you've got left over, combine it with something new and say, "God, this is my new commitment to You." Don't miss God's blessing. Whatever you do, don't become complacent. Be stretched.

Don't be lazy in showing your devotion. Use your energy in serving the Lord.

Romans 14:12

Phillips: "Let us keep the fires of the spirit burning." We can't live on yesterday's level of commitment. We have to keep developing spiritual muscle.

IV. THE PAYOFF FOR COMMITMENT TO CHRIST.

God promises both a short term payoff and a long term payoff.

The short term payoff is in Matthew 6. Jesus says this, "Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat or drink or wear?' Your heavenly Father knows you need these. But seek first [there's that put God first, again] God's kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well."

The first payoff when I commit my life totally to Christ, I don't have to worry any more. God says, When you give your life totally to Me, I assume responsibility for every need you have from that point forward.

God does not assume responsibility for all your needs if you're half committed, if you're partially committed, if you're uncommitted.

God does not owe you anything. He doesn't owe you tomorrow. But, in His grace, when I give my life totally to Him, and I say, "God, I'm all Yours", God says, "That's what I've been waiting for. Now I will take care of all your needs from here on out."

In ancient Rome, there were twelve million slaves and servants. There were more slaves and servants in Rome than there were free people. Many free people voluntarily sold themselves into slavery as servants. Why? Because in Roman law, a master was prescribed under law to take care of all the needs of a servant. So if you sold yourself to a good Master, that master was responsible for all your food, all your clothing, all your medical care, your retirement, your education. Every need that you had, he would take care of. It was like cradle to grave security.

In the same way when we come to God and say, "God, I give You all my life." He says, "All right! You're never going to have to worry again because I'm the master and I'm responsible to take care of all your needs." That's the short term benefit.

The long term benefit in heaven is Matthew 25 "The master will say, 'Well done good and faithful servant! You've been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your Master's happiness."

Three eternal benefits: Affirmation - God says, Good job, well done! Promotion - He's going to give greater responsibility. And Celebration - He says, "Come and share your master's happiness." Party time! And when God parties that is one party!

What kind of commitment, what kind of life are you going to live? A half committed life, an uncommitted life?

The problem I see in most people today is that they are over committed.

They make half hearted commitments to twenty different things, rather than total commitment to the one thing that really matters in life, why they were put on this earth.

Some of you need to slack off some of your commitments and get rid of some of them so that the most important commitment really does become the most important commitment.

Look at the very first verse on your outline. "The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him."

  • God is looking for people to use in this world.
  • God is looking for people to bless in this world.
  • God is looking for people He wants to strengthen in this world and the only qualification? A fully committed heart.

I personally intend to be that kind of person. From the depths of my heart, I want to have a fully committed heart to Jesus Christ. I challenge you to make that your goal too. It is the best and wisest investment of your life. It doesn't take great people to do great things. It just takes committed people.

God says do that. "Give yourselves completely to God every part of you. You want to be tools in the hands of God to be used for his good purposes."

As we wind up this Building For Life emphasis of Growth, I want to challenge you to become a person of deep commitment in a shallow, superficial world where they can't understand commitment until Saturday, much less commitment for eternity. It's a decision you'll never regret.

Prayer:

As we close in prayer, I want to ask you to consider what areas of your life do you need to make a fresh commitment.

Will you say, "Jesus Christ, I want to start giving You the first thought of each day." You can do that! "Jesus Christ, I want to start giving You the first thought of each day. Help me to start, thinking of You. Help me to train my mind to do that."

Will you give Jesus Christ the first day of every week? "Unless I'm ill, I'm going to be at worship every week. I'm not going to put You second or third and worship You when it's convenient. I'm going to be there rain or shine. The first day of every week belongs to You, God."

Will you give Him the first ten percent of every paycheck and say, "God, I realize I'd have nothing if it weren't for You. Jesus Christ, in gratitude for the past and in faith for the future and to show that my priorities are right, right now, right off the top, the first part goes back to You." You can do that! Trust Him. It's an issue of trust.

Will you give him the first consideration in every decision? Will you say, "Jesus Christ, from here on out I want to put You first in everything that I do." He will crown your efforts with success.

Dear Lord, thank You for what You've done for us. You made us, You love us, You gave Your life for us. We want to give our lives back to You in return. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.