Theme: What Commitment Is
Text: Exodus 19: 1-6
Introduction
A. Today is the first Sunday of 2008. We’re so privileged to be in this beautiful place of worship, enjoying fellowship with God’s Presence and His people. We know that there are millions of people out there who do not know the freedom we enjoy and the joy we experience in worshiping the Lord. Even at this very hour, there are thousands of people wandering somewhere in this darkened world. But you’re here! Do you realize what that means? It means that you’re blessed. Your presence here in the church today testifies the great privilege God has given you. You wouldn’t be here now if God had not called you to become His child. Isn’t that truth very wonderful? Yes, our fellowship this morning is a fellowship of God’s children. Therefore we should be glad to express our joy and our sincere gratitude to God our Father for giving us the privilege to know Him, to love Him, to worship Him, and to serve Him.
B. Last Sunday our message was about New Year’s resolution. Although most of us do not actually make New Year’s resolutions, but if we have one, then it must include spiritual wellness. As your pastor I would encourage everyone in this church to plan and do something to deepen your spiritual relationship with God. And don’t forget, spiritual wellness does not come automatically. It is something that we need to work on. It is something that we must desire, decide, plan, and commit to do.
C. In connection to that message, I’d like to speak on the subject of commitment this morning. Well, I presume that each of us have already made a decision about Jesus –that is, we believed on Him, we have accepted Him, and we have acknowledged Him for Who He is as He claimed to be. But it does not end there. Listen to this: God is calling us to stand up and make a commitment to Him.
Look at Exodus 19: 4-6. God asked the new generation of Israelites to make a commitment to Him. By the way, at this point of time, the Hebrew people followed Moses for almost two months already. They have already spent nearly 50 days in the desert depending on God for their food and water. They walked through the Red Sea and through the desert following a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night as God had guided them to this mountain. Wasn’t that enough? Apparently not! This was not a casual relationship God was asking of Israel. What God asked was a lifelong commitment. God said, “Now IF you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession….”
And God is saying to us right now, “IF you’re willing to accept what I’m offering… you’ll have everything I can give.” How we like God to give us everything He can give to us…but, are we willing to totally commit ourselves to Him?
D. Now, let’s turn our Bibles to Romans 12: 1-2 and see what Paul says about commitment to God.
I. Commitment Is Reasonable
Paul tells us here that to commit our life to God is our “reasonable service.” Meaning, it is our logical and sensible response to the goodness of God. Paul reminds us that the motivation of our commitment to God is to be remembering the “mercies of God.” Perhaps, you might wonder what Paul is referring to when he says of the “mercies of God.”
First of all, it refers to what God has done to our lives explained by Paul in the first 11 chapters of Romans. Let’s take a brief summary of it. In chapter 3 Paul told us of our miserable spiritual condition. We are under God’s divine wrath because “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In chapter 4 he explained that “No one is justified by the Law and by the works of the flesh” leaving us helpless and hopeless no matter what we do to resolve the problem of sin. But light and hope dawned in chapter 5. Paul said that “God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In chapter 6 he says that the “Gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul told us in chapter 8 that the sacrifice of Jesus at the cross gives us the assurance that “There is now no condemnation to those who live in union with Christ Jesus.” In the same chapter, Paul told us that God puts in us His Spirit that testifies that we are His children, the Spirit who guides us to the truth, who helps us in our prayers, and who strengthens us in our weaknesses. In the same chapter Paul told us that we are more than conquerors, and nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God. Indeed, because of God’s mercies, He saved us from the bondage and penalty of sin and initiated a love relationship with us.
Second, the “mercies of God” may also refer to God’s acts of showing His goodness upon us by giving us His blessings without measure. Actually, there’s nothing in our possession now that does not belong to God. We owe God for everything we have.
Now, close your eyes for just a moment and think of all that God has done in your life. Let’s think of the “mercies of God” based on what we have received. Can we really say that we owe God nothing? What should our response be? Based on what we have received: isn’t it “logical” that we would commit ourselves to God? When we reflect on the goodness of God, can we be anything other than committed? This is the reason why Paul says that to commit our life to God is our “reasonable service.” There’s nothing that is most logical and most sensible thing to do in response to the “mercies of God” than of committing our life to Him.
II. Commitment Is Voluntary
Notice that Paul does not say, “I command you” but he says, “I beseech you or I beg you.” Paul would like us to understand that commitment is something that is completely up to us. God does not force us to commit our life to Him. What He has done to our lives, especially His immeasurable investment for our salvation and His promise to bless us if we obey Him are not meant to pressure us to commit our life to Him. In fact, no matter what God has done, He is not going to twist, thwart, switch, undo, or overturn your decision and your choice with regards to your commitment to Him.
Dictionaries define voluntary as “intentional, deliberate, and chosen act.” Some dictionaries add the word “unpaid.” Now, we understand that if something is done voluntarily then it means, it is done “willingly, gladly, freely, and not motivated with something being desired.” Our commitment to God must be in that manner –willingly, gladly, freely, and not motivated with something we desire to have as a result. We commit our life to God, not because we need to, but because we love to. Commitment must be done with all our heart!
Moreover, commitment is not something we do to make bargain with God, because that’s hypocritical. The promise of God to bless us if we obey Him is not to solicit or enforce superficial commitment but to show us the power of a committed life. God just wants us to understand that if our life is totally committed to Him, we will have everything what God can give to us.
III. Commitment Is Not Partial
Paul goes on to encourage us to “present our bodies as living sacrifices to God.” The word “present” in this verse is a technical Greek word used for offering a sacrifice. Under the sacrificial system in the Old Testament time, the animal to be sacrificed was committed to the priest, was killed, and it was to be consumed wholly on the altar. It is not possible to be a partial sacrifice. Therefore, there is no such as partial sacrifice.
In that context Paul made his exhortation to all believers to commit their lives to God. Believers are told to present their lives on God’s altar as “living sacrifices” in willful response to His goodness and mercies with the understanding that there is no such as partial commitment. To commit ourselves to God means that we are to totally yield ourselves to him, completely surrender to him, abandon ourselves to him, entrust ourselves to him and place ourselves at his disposal. In true commitment, there is no holding back, no turning back, and no taking back.
When the pilot of a giant airline is speeding down the runway, there is a certain point where the plane staying on the ground is no longer an option. When he crosses that line, he is committed to the air, he will take off or a disastrous crash is imminent. At the pilot seat the pilot can no longer change his mind to which he is committed – take off.
Unfortunately, many believers in our churches who have never got off the ground. They have been sitting there, gunning their engines, making noise but getting nowhere. They have been planning on it, meaning to, wanting to, trying to, going to, aiming to, hoping to. But tragedy of tragedies, they have never got off the ground. What about you? Have you already got off the ground? Have you committed your life to God? A preacher says, “We are either committed or not committed.” There’s no middle ground.
