Living Stones: Commitment Vs Complacent Series

LIVING STONES (4):

COMMITMENT VS COMPLACENT

JOSHUA 6-8

Take out notes and find Joshua chapter 6

We are in the 4th week of our “Living Stones” series

4 weeks ago, the SPT presented the church

with a 2 Phase Master Plan that would allow us to relocate

to the 18 acres of land we own just east of us

and build a facility and campus that would help us

meet the needs of our community and beyond

for generations to come

What we’ve asked you, as a church, to do

is to respond to the commitment card that we’ve given to you

and make a 3 year pledge in support of the campaign

As of last week, 36 families have prayerfully decided on a pledge,

written down their commitment and turned in their card.

While this has been happening

and for the remaining 3 weeks of our campaign,

my job is to give you truths, principles and tools

to both help you make a decision for your family

and keep the commitment that you’ve made

Then, on December 2nd, we’ll all come together

for a combined worship service

and celebrate all that God has done.

This morning, we’re going to talk about the word: COMMITMENT

What it is, what it requires, and what can happen

in our lives, our church, even country when it starts to fade

Now the first thing I want to do

is sort of put some definition to the term

because, unfortunately, in our culture right now,

there is a faulty understanding of what a commitment is.

I think you’d agree that traditionally, a commitment is

a promise, a pledge, a contract between 2 parties

that is based on trust and honor

and reflects upon the character of those who make it

Unfortunately, in our culture today,

here’s how commitment is basically understood:

A commitment is an agreement between two people

that should be kept UNTIL one or both of the parties

get a better offer OR . . . their interests change

Now tell me if I’m wrong about that

Can you see how different those two definitions are?

And can you see how dangerous that can be

to our relationships, our communities, and our nation?

Well, believe it or not, your understanding of a commitment

has incredible implications when it comes to

your relationship with God as well

As we talked about last week, your eternity

is determined by your relationship with God

and your relationship with God begins with

a lifelong COMMITMENT to Him

Not only that, but throughout our life on earth,

we’re going to need to know how to make and KEEP commitments

like the one we’ve been talking about during the LS campaign

And I’ll be honest with you: I don’t think

it’s MAKING commitments that we have a problem with. Do you?

If anything, we live in a culture that is OVER committed

Making commitments is not our problem

Our problem is KEEPING them

And that’s what I want to talk about today

Because one of the most dangerous traps

that a Christian or a church can fall into

is the slippery slide from commitment to complacency

In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here

and suggest to you that by FAR the majority

of Christian churches in America today

have not only slipped into complacency,

they show no signs of the ability or even the desire to get out.

I think it’s a question that needs to be asked

by Oakdale Baptist Church

We have a strong history in this community

God has been at work here for a long time

But we’ve not always been all that God has called us to be

When I came to be the Pastor in 2005, I INSISTED

that we, as a church, would demonstrate a willingness

to make the necessary changes that would enable us to

GROW in our relationships with God and one another

And reach new people in our community and beyond

Changes like our style of worship

The name of our church

A renewed emphasis on children’s and youth ministry

Multiple worship services

An effective discipleship program

How many of you remember those changes being put into place

Now there were some difficult times, weren’t there?

Change is never easy

But the excitement of seeing God at work in our church

and being a part of something bigger than ourselves

made it a little easier to swallow

However, as I said before, the temptation

to slide from commitment to complacency is a big one

We start to get comfortable with where we are

We start to tire of the constant change

We start to look for the opportunity to rest up a little bit

We look up one day and nothing new

has been accomplished for the kingdom