Committed To Something Worthwhile

INTRO.- ILL.- An elderly man on the beach found a magic lamp. He picked it up and a genie appeared. "Because you have freed me," the genie said, "I will grant you a wish." The man thought for a moment and then responded, "My brother and I had a fight 30 years ago and he hasn’t spoken to me since. I wish that he’d finally forgive me." There was a thunderclap, and the genie declared, "Your wish has been granted." The genie continued, "You know that most men would have asked for wealth or fame. But you only wanted the love of your brother. Is it because you are old and dying?" "No way!" the man said. "But my brother is, and he’s worth about $60 million."

Some people are only interested in acquiring money by hook or crook: by any means possible; fair or foul.

ILL.- Consider the Enron scandal that was revealed in late 2001. As the scandal was revealed, people lost a lot of money and especially, many Enron employees!

On August 14, 2001, Jeffrey Skilling, the chief executive of Enron announced he was resigning his position after only six months. Observers noted that in the months leading up to his exit, Skilling had sold at minimum 450,000 shares of Enron at a value of around $33 million.

He was convicted in 2006 of multiple federal felony charges relating to Enron’s financial collapse, and is currently serving a 24-year, 4-month prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, in Waseca, Minnesota.

Kenneth Lay was one of America’s highest-paid CEOs, earning, for example, a $42.4 million compensation package in 1999.

On July 7, 2004, Lay was indicted by a grand jury on 11 counts of securities fraud and related charges. Lay was found guilty on May 25, 2006, of 10 counts against him; the judge dismissed the 11th. Because each count carried a maximum 5- to 10-year sentence, legal experts said Lay could have faced 20 to 30 years in prison. However, he died while vacationing in Snowmass, Colorado on July 5, 2006, about three and a half months before his scheduled October 23 sentencing.

IT’S CALLED GREED! At least, that’s the way it looks to me.But greed isn’t just a sin for the high and mighty and the oil companies! It affects people of all ages and social ranks.

ILL.- Someone said: Greed is the logical result of the belief that there is no life after death. We grab what we can while we can however we can and then hold on to it hard.

It’s not wrong to have money as long as money doesn’t have you. And the same is true for any material possession. If we cling tenaciously to our material possessions as if they meant everything to us God just might take them away from us to teach us that we need Him more than those things.

I Timothy 6:9-10 "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

I John 2:15-17 "15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

It appears that most people of the world are only committed to three basic goals: lust, greed and fame.

However, the apostle Paul was committed to something worthwhile. He was committed to the Lord, first and foremost in his life.

ILL.- Someone said, "Worldliness is what makes sin look normal in any age and righteousness seem odd."

And even though we have to go to work every day, make a living, raise a family, etc. our commitment to the Lord should be evident in our lives. The people around us should be able to see that there is something different about our lives, that we have a greater and higher goal for life than what most people have or strive for.

PROP.- In our text, we see Paul’s commitment to something worthwhile.

1- He was committed to God’s people

2- He was committed to God’s Word

I. COMMITTED TO GOD’S PEOPLE

32"Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

NOW I COMMIT YOU.