17, October 2004
Dakota Community Church
Commitment Plus
Introduction:
At the age of 67, Thomas Edison watched as fire destroyed much of his work and equipment. Is it time to retire? Is it time to hang up the lab coat? - No way.
"All our mistakes are burned up," the inventor said. "Now we can start anew."
There is a time to retire, but Edison knew his time hadn’t come. The fire that consumed his work didn’t destroy the fire that burned within him to continue his work. Edison’s commitment remained.
People tend to associate commitment with emotions. If they feel the right way, then they can follow through on their commitments. But true commitment doesn’t work that way. Commitment is not an emotion; it’s a character quality that enables us to reach our goals.
Emotions go up and down all the time, but commitment must remain rock solid. A solid team - whether it’s in business, sports, marriage or a volunteer organization - must have team players who are solidly committed to the team.
We live in a society that is commitment challenged to say the least. Dakota Community Church is no exception. What has been and remains the single biggest obstacle in the establishing of this Church?
- Committed Leadership
- Committed Membership
- God has sent the people to have this place well established.
- We get a steady flow of visitors who come as a result of liking the vision on the website.
- They arrive to see an empty house and struggling leadership.
I am not saying there is never a reason to leave a church. I am not going to get into guilt and manipulation to keep people when they want to leave. I am saying that you need to be committed while you are here and you need to be certain God, not difficult circumstance is the reason for the move.
Proverbs 30: 29-31
29There are three things which are stately in step, yes, four which are stately in their stride:
30The lion, which is mightiest among beasts and turns not back before any;
31The war horse [well-knit in the loins], the male goat also, and the king [when his army is with him and] against whom there is no uprising.
I am looking for a few good men and women!
What is your beef?
- No growth? Who is setting the amount of growing you do? How many of your friends and neighbors have you invited to dinner or to church or to meet Christ?
- No friends? Listen if you behave in an anti social manner you will not make friends. You can say that you don’t like baby or wedding showers and games but that is just an excuse. We have dessert nights, movie nights, mid week fellowships.
- No Ministry? We have a Youth ministry begging for help. My wife has been in the Sunday school for eight years and my kids have all graduated and are doing fine.
If you don’t have connections it’s because you don’t want connections. Real friends don’t agree with everything that comes out of your mouth.
I am calling for commitment tonight.
- Commitment to attend. (Not over other important things but when you are feeling lazy)
- Financial Commitment. (I am $3000 behind on pay)
- Ministry commitment if you are called here.
- Most of all commitment to build not to tear down.
Let’s look at four things every team player needs to know about being committed:
1. Commitment is usually discovered in the midst of adversity.
2SAMUEL 23: 8-17
8 These are the names of David’s mighty men:
Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter.
9 Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim for battle. Then the men of Israel retreated, 10 but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.
11 Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them. 12 But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory.
13 During harvest time, three of the thirty chief men came down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. 15 David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!" 16 So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. 17 "Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!" he said. "Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?" And David would not drink it.
Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.
You never know the level of your commitment or that of a team player until things get tough. Every one of us could stay committed to a marriage if everything was always good. Every one of us could stay committed to good health as long as we were healthy. The trick is to stay committed to the commitment when the economy takes a turn for the worse or when you lose your biggest account or when your plant burns to the ground.
Commitment, because it is a character trait, is revealed, not built, by adversity.
Question:
Are you committed to this church?
Would you make a commitment tonight?
2. Commitment does not depend on gifts and abilities.
Acts 15: 36-40
36Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." 37Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
We know that Mark was gifted and anointed and that later He became a great man of God but here early in his life he establishes himself as a quitter.
Illustration:
God decided that it was time to end the world, so he called together the three most influential people in the world – Pres. George Bush, (represents free world), Vladimir Putin (represents communist world) and Bill Gates (represents tech world). God told them “The world will end. You must go tell the people.”
Bush made a live statement on CNN “I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that we have been right and the Raelians are wrong. There is a God. The bad news is that he is ending the world.”
Putin send out a worldwide message to communist world. “I have bad news and I have worse news. The bad news is that we have been wrong all along. There is a God. The worse news is that he is ending the world.”
Gates got out his laptop and sent out a worldwide e-mail on the Internet. He wrote, “I have good news and I have better news. The good news is that God thinks that I am one of the three most influential people in the world. The better news is that we don’t have to upgrade Windows XP.”
Commitment and talent, I have found, are unconnected. Many very talented people lack commitment. Many people who lack skills and talent are tremendously committed. So if you find somebody who’s extremely talented, there is no guarantee that there is a high level of commitment.
For this reason, it becomes a great day when we connect talent with commitment - for ourselves and for those on the teams we lead. The moment that happens, the team goes to a whole new level.
Question:
Are you committed to this church?
Would you make a commitment tonight?
3. Commitment results from choices, not conditions.
John 6: 63-69
63The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
66From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
John 17: 20-21
20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
In writing about choices, Frederic Flach notes that most people look back on their lives and point to a specific time and place that marks a significant life change. "Whether by accident or design," Flach writes, "there are the moments when, because of a readiness within us and a collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions under which we live and to make certain choices that will affect the rest of our lives."
Our commitment springs from those choices.
Question:
Are you committed to this church?
Would you make a commitment tonight?
4. Commitment lasts when it is based on values.
1Samuel 18: 1-4
1 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house. 3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
1Samuel 20: 30-34
30 Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, "You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he must die!"
32 "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" Jonathan asked his father. 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the month he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.
In the beginning, when Kathy and I were married, we made a commitment to one another that was sealed by a legal contract—we call it a marriage license. But as the years go by, we don’t maintain that commitment to one another because of a contract. We remain committed because of the love that has grown out of our commitment. That license now is a keepsake instead of a contract.
If you view commitment to God and church as a forced contract you will eventually give up and walk away.
I’ve found the only way to sustain commitment is to link it with the personal values of an individual. Once your commitment is based on your values, you have no problem sustaining it. Values are what drive your choices; they transcend your talents and skills and they stand up under the tests of adversity.
Commitment based on something other than solid values usually is a house of cards; when the wind kicks up, the house comes down.
Question:
Are you committed to this church?
Would you make a commitment tonight?
