Overcoming Your Fear Of Commitment Series

OVERCOMING YOUR FEAR OF COMMITMENT

LUKE 9:57-62

Our society has a fear of commitment. We’d rather bail out than blast through. We’d rather leave than last. We’d rather throw in the towel than stay in the game. It’s so easy to waver and waffle and go the way of least resistance and effort. Why? Because we fear this ten-letter word that symbolizes accountability, integrity, and discipline. We fear commitment.

From month-to-month apartment leases to month to month gym memberships, from refusal to sign a cell phone contact to job or career hopscotch, from couples just living together to going from partner to partner, from rejecting intimacy to refusing marriage, from prenuptial agreements to seeking separation or divorce, from the necessity of contracts to legal escape clauses. It is seen is staying aloof from friends and family and in a proneness to escapism or ambivalence. It is seen in our inability to get seriously involved in projects, to making long-term friendships or connections. It is experienced in uncertainty or indecisiveness concerning some things. Our culture is characterized by a lack of or fear of commitment.

If your not sure that our culture has a fear of commitment, here are just a few statistics to prove my point. Signs of Reduced Commitments in Life (America 1990)

1. The divorce rate is climbing: more than half of all new marriages end in divorce.

2. Adults feel that they have fewer close friends than did adults in past decades.

3. Brand loyalty in consumer purchasing studies has dropped in most product categories, and by as much as 60% in some categories.

4. The proportion of people willing to join an organization such as a church, labor union, political party, club and community association is declining.

5. Book clubs and record clubs are less likely to attract new members when multiple year or multi-product commitments were required.

6. The percentage of adults who sense a duty to fight for their country, regardless of the cause, has dropped.

7. The percentage of people who commit to attend events but fail to show is on the rise.

8. Today’s parents are less likely to believe that it is important to remain in an unhappy marriage for the sake of the children than they were 20 years ago. [The Frog in the Kettle by George Barna]

Commitment means pledging yourself to a position no matter the price tag, pledging yourself to a stance no matter what the cost. But if you make the effort to invest in godly commitments, the returns will be awesome.

"I don’t want to be hemmed in," we declare. "I want to keep my options open. I don’t want to be stifled or handcuffed." We even fear commitment to areas that demand commitment to make them work from marriage, to raising children, to deep friendships, to discipleship, and to following Jesus.

God though wants us to make the right commitments in life. So God sent Jesus on a great search for people who will make an unswerving commitment to follow Him (CIT). God wants to change us from fair weather fans of God to committed followers Jesus. Keep your Bibles open to Luke 9:57-62 as we will look at Jesus’ call to commitment. Luke introduces three people who wanted to join Jesus on His journey. He teaches us that being a disciple of Jesus requires a focused commitment.

I. A CASUAL FOLLOWING, 9:57-58.

II. A CAUTIOUS FOLLOWING, 59-60.

III. A CAREFUL FOLLOWING, 61-62.

1ST Jesus addresses mere involvement verses real commitment. The first volunteer in verse 57 doesn’t understand the depth of commitment necessary to follow Jesus. “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”

The first man in this passage makes a very powerful and profound promise to Jesus that he would follow Him wherever He went. I believe that the man was sincere. He wanted to follow Jesus. He wanted to be a part of what Jesus was doing, and he wanted to make a difference. All of these intentions are good things that might motivate some of us here this morning but a desire to be involved in the action is not enough. A desire to serve must also be coupled with the right reason and right motivation for serving.

It would seem that the man described here was willing to be involved with the ministry of Jesus and there was nothing wrong with that other than the fact that Jesus was looking for something more. Jesus was looking for his full and total commitment.

For if your desire for material gain is a greater priority that following Jesus, it will stall out your commitment. Jesus’ response in verse 58 was that a person desiring to follow Him must give up what others consider necessities. “And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”