Commitment

Commitment Means Doing Something

James 1:19-1:25

This morning we are looking at another word. Commitment

We all make them. We buy things and are committed to paying the bill. We pay taxes every time we turn around. Most of us have made commitments to other people in situations like marriage, work; dinner plans….

The word commitment should not be foreign to us.

Some might connect the word commitment to keeping one’s word. Most of our commitments are just agreeing to little things or just doing them. So, most of the time it is pretty much automatic.

In most relationships, commitment is pretty much expected by all the parties involved. In a business the employees show up and do a day’s work and the employer makes sure they get paid.

In a marriage, there are commitments all over the place. There are jobs around the house which might be divided up.

Commitment is what makes a person keep their part of the bargain.

-- Two little girls were starting out to play. One insisted on going quite a distance away from her house. “Why do you want to go so far away?” the other asked. The first little girl said, “So that if my mamma calls me I won’t hear her.”

Some kids don’t want to hear their parents, but listening is not a problem of youth only. We ALL have this problem at times. We are selective in our listening. We only hear what we want to hear or only listen to certain people.

ARE YOU LISTENING?

In our text, James says, “Everyone should be quick to listen…” We should become better listeners. We should have a listening ear for people, and even more so, for our heavenly Father.

We have talked many times about listening to God. The main way is that we use the Bible as a tool when we hear god speaking to us as a group and especially as an individual. If we want to measure how we are doing in our relationship with God, we use the bible measure where we are….and one thing God tells mankind is that listening is not enough. Scripture is full of direction for actions…

Our first question this morning is, are we really listening?

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22

Let’s back up the need ad action with a verse form Matthew:

7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

The key word there is “does.” Does is very different than hears. Does involves action…something physical.

There are many listeners and talkers in the world and in the Christian world, but God wants us to be doers. Just because someone calls Jesus the Lord, it doesn’t mean they are doing any good in this world.

Someone once said, “If we are standing on the promises then we don’t need to be sitting on the premises.”

WE NEED TO BE DOING SOMETHING! There’s a time to sit and there’s a time to do.

I found a little story about a church that was holding what is called a “Quittin meeting.” I had never heard of that kind of meeting before, but apparently, it’s similar to a revival meeting. The only difference is in this meeting the people are called on to quit certain things: quit drinking, quit smoking, quit carousing, etc.

The story goes that, one elderly lady went forward during the invitation time. The preacher asked her why she came forward, because he and everybody else knew that she’d never done anything wrong in her life.

She replied, “I ain’t been doin nothin and I’m a quittin!”

Perhaps every church needs to consider having one of thoes meetings. There are a lot of Christians that do little or nothing for the kingdom of God. It we are not doing anything we are not making any difference and we need to STOP Doing Nothing and Start doing Something….

--- Shannon Only

The preacher stood in his pulpit and said, “It’s a fact that you are sitting here, but it’s a matter of faith that makes me believe any of you are listening.”

I think I know what that preacher is talking about. It is not that it is really hard to get an AMEN here that bothers me, it is that you have some of the best poker faces I have ever seem….I cant tell if some people are happy or sad or even mad…..No matter what I say, I don’t get much of a response….I know you aren’t dead, because every body leaves so that I can lock up the place.

So from what I can tell….most people here are not really listening to what I have to say…personally I can’t blame you….Not a one of you should be here to hear from Tom…I hope you are here to hear from God. ARE YOU LISTENING?