I have had the privilege of officiated two weddings this summer. Since being ordained last May, I have officiated a total of four weddings, and two of the four have been relatives of my wife. Jen has a big family, and by family I am not referring to brothers and sisters. She only has one brother. But it is a big family when it comes to aunts and uncles, and cousins. In fact, I have been spending time with them for at least four years and I think I just now have most people’s names down. I still struggle on some of the connections, how is this person connected to the family? But I pretty much know everyone’s name.
I have noticed a trend in the family gatherings that we attend. I am almost always the one asked to pray. Preacher, that’s what they call me, preacher, would you say the blessing? It makes me wonder who did the praying before they had a pastor in the family? There is a similar trend when it comes to cousins getting married. One cousin got married last summer, and they were my very first wedding. This summer, another cousin got married, and they were my fourth wedding. It really is a privilege for me, and I think it is very special to be able to officiate at those weddings. But another cousin has gotten engaged, so we will see if the trend continues, I may just marry every cousin Jen has. In fact I may just start up my own business. My mother-in-law already does wedding cakes. I do the counseling and ceremony. If Jennifer wants to be the coordinator and photographer, we would have the whole package.
Each time I do a wedding, I am impressed with the commitment that is being made. As I worked with the bride and groom for this last wedding, they wanted to do something I had never seen before for their wedding vows. Generally people do the traditional vows, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, or they write their own. But they had seen a passage from Ruth used in another wedding and they loved the idea. So this is the passage they recited together as their vows…
Ruth 1:16-17 Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."
Rut 1:16-17 Porque iré adonde tú vayas, y viviré donde tú vivas. Tu pueblo será mi pueblo, y tu Dios será mi Dios. Moriré donde tú mueras, y allí seré sepultada. ¡Que me castigue el SEÑOR con toda severidad si me separa de ti algo que no sea la muerte!
This is the NIV translation, and they opted to use a different translation that was not quite as harsh in the final sentence. The version they used said, may the Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me. What a commitment! What a strong statement for a couple to make!
Let me give a little background to the passage. Ruth was making this commitment to Naomi who was her mother-in-law. Ruth had married into the family while they were living in Moab, a non Israelite land, And during the following years in Moab, all of the men of the family die. Naomi’s husband dies, and then her two sons die. This leaves Naomi with her two daughters in law.
As Naomi receives word that the famine in Judah has ended, she has no reason to stay in Moab. Yet Naomi discourages Ruth from returning to Judah with her because of the difficulties she would face. As her mother-in-law insists that she stay in Moab, Ruth makes this commitment that we read together. Ruth, who was not Jewish, who as far as we know had no previous knowledge of Yahweh, says may Yahweh deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.
What a commitment for Ruth to make. Not only to go to a foreign land where she will have no rights, and a very low probability of ever remarrying, but she intentionally chooses to live the rest of her life with her mother-in-law. And you know how mother-in-laws can be, traditionally speaking of course. But what an amazing commitment for Ruth.
And what a commitment for a bride and groom to make! Wherever you go I will go. Your people with be my people, your family is now my family. Your God my God and I will be by your side until death, and only death will separate us. And even then I will be buried where you are buried. And if I break this commitment, then may God deal with me.
Have you ever made a commitment like that? An extremely serious commitment to something or to someone. All of this talk about commitment has got me thinking. What does the word commitment mean in your life? What are you committed to? You see everyone is committed to something, even if you don’t recognize it. Maybe you are committed to having no commitments. Or maybe you’re committed to your job and to providing for your family.
We need to slow down enough take an inventory every once in a while, to make sure we are committed to what we intend to be committed to. And that we are committed to what we should be committed to as Disciples of Christ.
So what should our biggest commitments be? I think we can very easily identify the top three commitments that should be reflected in our lives.
1. Committed to God.
1. Comprometido a Dios.
Mark 12:30…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Marcos 12:30…Ama al Señor tu Dios con todo tu corazón, con toda tu alma, con toda tu mente y con todas tus fuerzas.
Perhaps you have heard this verse, seek first the kingdom of God. Our first commitment and highest priority must be to God himself. These words to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness come from the book of Matthew. Do you know the context in which they are spoken? They come at the end of a discourse on not worrying. Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Look around you at creation, doesn’t God continually provide for even the smallest of creatures? How can you improve anything by worrying about it? God is in control and each day is difficult enough in itself. So don’t make it harder by looking ahead to tomorrow as well. But in all situations, seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.
Our commitments can get out of balance when worry takes over. When we begin to focus more on our job and our hard work that earns us money, while God takes a back seat. We have a choice each time troubles and trials approach. We can choose to face it alone, with our resources. Or we can choose to face it with God by our side, our resources paired with his resources. Which seems to be the better option? Yet so many times we panic and replace our number 1 commitment with whatever our most pressing situation is in life.
I believe the church as a whole is partly to blame for the difficulty we have today in keeping God as our highest commitment. The church is to blame because sometimes we so eagerly want to see people saved that we emphasize the free gift of salvation. All you have to do is say this prayer, Jesus will come into your heart, and life will never be hard again. All the while not mentioning the other side of the coin. Jesus desires us to become his disciples as we talked about last week. And to do that means being willing to give up absolutely everything. Yes the salvation that Christ offers to us does not cost money, we cannot earn it, yet at the same time it may cost us our very life.
Luke 14:26-27…If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Lucas 14:26-27...Si alguno viene a mí y no sacrifica el amor a su padre y a su madre, a su esposa y a sus hijos, a sus hermanos y a sus hermanas, y aun a su propia *vida, no puede ser mi discípulo. Y el que no carga su cruz y me sigue, no puede ser mi discípulo.
Does Jesus really desire for us to hate our families? No, we know that because of his teachings on love, he says we must even love our enemies. But here he uses language to help us understand that he must be more precious to us than even our own families. Our highest commitment, our first commitment must be to God himself. Not even our own families can be higher than God. But, our second highest commitment should be to our family.
2. Committed to your family.
2. Comprometido a la familia
Since we have used marriage today as an illustration of commitment, let’s stay on that path. When a couple gets married, there has to be a change in commitments. Mom and dad have generally been the most important people in the life of the bride or the life of the groom. But once the ceremony is over, they can no longer be the most important people in the life of that groom or that bride. They must now take a backseat to the new spouse. The priority changes from child to parent, to husband to wife. This is the way God intended it to be.
Genesis 2:24…For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Génesis 2:24 Por eso el hombre deja a su padre y a su madre, y se une a su mujer, y los dos se funden en un solo ser.
This is the design that God has given us. And God uses things like marriage to help us understand his relationship with us. We know that He desires for us to be extremely committed to our families. In fact he says to you husbands, love your wives the way Christ loved the church. Do you realize what that means? That means be her servant, love her to the point of giving your own life for her. And wives he tells you to submit to your husband. We have all heard it before, I’m not submitting to him! The word submit has almost become a four-letter word in our society. But when we follow Gods design for the family, when the husband is serving his wife and loving her the way Christ loved the church. When he is putting her needs before his, then it is so easy for the wife to submit and allow her husband to be the head because she trusts in his Godly decisions. And when the wife submits it is easy for the husband to love her even to the point of giving his life for her.
The Godly family has a lot of work to do because the perception of the traditional family is being destroyed in America today. We need to renew our commitments to our families and keep them in the right order. We can’t allow our commitment to our families to become 3rd, 4th, or even 5th on our list. They must come right after, and only after our commitment to God.
First we must be committed to God himself. Second to our families and third…
3. Committed to the Church
3. Comprometido a la Iglesia
I have chosen to capitalize church here because I don’t only mean committed to the local body that you attend, but to the church as a whole. Committed the church that Jesus Christ established. With that being said your commitment should be to whatever local church you attend. So what does that commitment look like? To begin you need to be committed to attend. If this is the local body that you have chosen, if you call this your church home, then you need to be committed to attend. You need to be here each week. Don’t come for three weeks, and then miss three because you want to sleep in. Commit to be here on Sundays.
I remember when I was little; I don’t know how old I was. It was earlier than the third grade for sure. I sat down on the bottom step to tie my shoes on a Sunday morning, and I asked my parents, “When can we take a vacation from church?” Does your family need to ask on Saturday whether you are going to church on Sunday? Or is it understood that on Sunday mornings, the family is going to church. I asked for a vacation from church, because I knew that we went every week.
Next you need to be committed to support the church. Committed to support the church. That could mean a lot of things. Hopefully this local body is a place where you are blessed, where you receive encouragement, challenge, and wisdom from the word of God. But how do you contribute to the body? Do you tithe the way God intends for you? Do you serve the way God intends for you? You can serve in all sorts of way. You can teach, and that means children, youth, or adults. You can cook meals for those who are sick, or for the occasional funeral dinner. You can clean, you can cut the grass, you can call, you can pray, you can do one of a million things.
The church is the body of Christ, and each part of the body has a different purpose. No part of the body is inferior to another; all are needed in order for the body to properly function. But what happens when a part of your physical body stops working or gets hurt? You can’t do the same things that you could before. You perhaps cannot accomplish what you are setting out to accomplish. The same is true for the local church. If you are part of the body, yet you are not contributing, not fulfilling your role, then the work of the body is slowed or stopped. So not only must you be committed to attend, but you must also be committed to support, to do your part.
We need to also be committed to growing the church, to growing the kingdom through the making of disciples. We talked about this last week in greater detail. As we go out into the world around us to make disciples, we know that it is important for them to find a body of believers with whom they can be in fellowship. Do your coworkers and neighbors know where you go to church? Could they grow spiritually through this church if they just knew about it? This church could very well be a great blessing to your neighbor.
So have you mentioned it to them? We didn’t build a bigger sanctuary just so we could hold only 1 service, or just so we could have more space around us. We built it so that more people could find a home here. There is nothing wrong with believing you have a strong church and wanting to see other people benefit from and be blessed by the ministries that exist there.
What are your most important commitments in life? Are you committed to excelling in your job, or to making as much money as possible? Are you committed to living a life with no commitments? When we align ourselves with Gods design, then our other commitment naturally flow from our top three. I believe that the scripture outlines for us the top three commitments that we should have in our lives, which we have looked at today.
1. God…Dios
We need to be committed first and foremost to God. When God is not on the top of our list, we can never find a proper balance, and we are not obeying the commandment to have no other God before Him. If God is not first, then we have replaced him with another god. When God is our highest commitment, then other commitments can appropriately follow.
2. Your family….Su familia
God desires for us to have our family right behind him on our list of highest priorities. Too many times they get pushed to number 3 or 4 on the list. If our families are just as troubled and broken as those of our friend and relative who don’t know Christ, what incentive do they have to start a relationship with him? We need to restore the Godly family in America today.
3. The Church…La Iglesia
Are you committed to your local body, to this church if you call it your home? You need to be committed to whichever local church you call your church home; committed to attend, committed to support, committed to serve, and committed to grow the church.
Close in prayer.
