A recent study showed 40 to 45% of American adults make one or more resolutions each year.
Among the top new years resolutions are resolutions about weight loss, exercise, and stopping to smoke. Also popular are resolutions dealing with better money management / debt reduction.
The following shows how many of these resolutions are maintained as time goes on:
- past the first week: 75%
- past 2 weeks: 71%
- after one month: 64%
- after 6 months: 46%
Maybe that’s why someone once said:
A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.
Jay Leno made this comment about New Years’ resolutions:
"I think women get more excited about New Year¹s Eve than men. If you think about it, you can see why. What do you do on New Year¹s Eve? You get drunk and make a lot of promises you don¹t keep. You see, men do that all the time, it¹s called dating."
If you’re one of those people who make resolutions each year, there is certainly nothing wrong with that. In fact, studies show that people who make resolutions are much more successful in making changes in their lives than people who don’t. But I want to suggest to you this morning that what we really need to make is not a bunch of resolutions, but a commitment – a commitment to do whatever it takes to grow in our relationship with God and to pass on the good news to others. I think a commitment implies a higher degree of importance and dedication than just a resolution.
For the next six weeks, I’m going to talk to you about how you can do whatever it takes to grow in your relationship with God. In fact, the phrase “Whatever it Takes” is going to be our motto for this coming year. It’s my prayer that that phrase will characterize both our individual lives as well as this collective body of believers that makes up Thornydale Family Church.
This morning we’ll kind of set the stage with some general principles and then over the next five weeks we discover how to apply those principles in the areas of:
- Discipleship
- Worship
- Fellowship
- Ministry
- Evangelism
We’ll begin this morning by reading the account of five young men who certainly understood the meaning of doing whatever it takes.
Read Mark 2:1-12
5 ATTRIBUTES OF A “WHATEVER IT TAKES” KIND OF COMMITMENT:
1. It does not hold to convention
Mark doesn’t tell us a whole lot about the paralytic man in this passage. We don’t really know for sure what kinds of medical treatment he had sought to treat his condition. But one would think that he would have at least been to the doctors of his day. Perhaps, like the man in John 5, he had gone to one of the pools that offered healing. But none of the conventional forms of healing had done any good.
So when these men heard that Jesus, who had been healing people in the area, had returned to town, they figured it was time to move beyond the conventional means of medicine and bring their friend to Jesus. By doing so, they were taking a tremendous risk. They had never seen Jesus heal anyone with their own eyes – they had just heard what others had told them. What if he really couldn’t heal? What if he wouldn’t even see them? Or what if he just sent them away?
A “whatever it takes” kind of commitment requires us to take that same kind of risk. We’ve never seen Jesus with our own eyes. We’re relying upon the eyewitness of others in order to put our eternal destiny in the hands of Jesus. What if he’s not who he said he was? What if his death on the cross wasn’t sufficient to pay the penalty for our sins? What if he didn’t really rise from the dead? What if he’s not coming back again?
Nicole Nordeman expressed those very same thoughts in her current hit song – What If:
What if you’re right?
And he was just another nice guy
What if you’re right?
What if it’s true?
They say the cross will only make a fool of you
And what if it’s true?
What if he takes his place in history
With all the prophets and the kings
Who taught us love and came in peace
But then the story ends
What then?
Then in the chorus she gives us the flip side of those questions:
But what if you’re wrong?
What if there’s more?
What if there’s hope you never dreamed of hoping for?
What if you jump?
And just close your eyes?
What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?
What if He’s more than enough?
What if it’s love?
A “whatever it takes commitment” is centered in something that goes against the conventional wisdom of our time. But that’s really nothing new. Here’s what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth:
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)
Are you willing this morning to make a “whatever it takes” commitment that risks everything on the promise that Jesus is who he said he is and that what he did through his death and resurrection is the only way to a relationship with God?
2. It is not hemmed in by circumstances
The circumstances didn’t look too promising for these 5 men. They finally get to where Jesus is and the crowds are so great that even one of them would never be able to get to Jesus, alone four of them carrying another on a mat. But they weren’t deterred by the seemingly closed doors. They found another way to make their way to Jesus.
As Christians we often talk about how God leads us by “opening and closing doors” in our lives. But when I read this and other similar passages, I’m struck by just how many people refused to be deterred by the closed doors before them. Maybe it’s time we start looking for another way around some of those closed doors.
A little over two years ago, I was about ready to get out of the ministry. I had been a church planter for several years and our little church had tried everything we could think of to try to reach people for Jesus Christ, but it seemed that nothing we tried really worked. The circumstances seemed to say that we had done all we could and that it was time to move on to something else. But God had another plan. And as a result of God’s working I’m here before you today. I’m sure glad didn’t let me be deterred by the circumstances, even though that’s exactly what I was ready to do.
Now I’m not saying that we should just totally ignore our circumstances. It is true that sometimes, in conjunction with his Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit, God can use circumstances – open and closed doors – to guide us. For instance, In Acts 16, we read about such an instance.
When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Acts 16:7-10 (NIV)
You’ll notice here that the circumstances were only one small part of the equation. The more important issue was that the Holy Spirit was guiding Paul and his companions.
But the Bible is clear that Satan can also use circumstances to try to discourage and mislead us – just look at the Book of Job. And so some times we have to have the kind of “whatever it takes” commitment that requires us to kick down some doors and follow God even when the circumstances don’t seem to be too favorable.
3. It does not heed convenience
At least on this one occasion, these five men had the kind of “whatever it takes” commitment that did not heed what was convenient. When they saw the crowds and the blocked doorway, they decided that there must be another way to Jesus. Like many of the houses of that time, it’s likely that this house had a set of steps that led up to the roof. You can imagine how hard it was to carry someone on a stretcher-like mat up those stairs onto the roof. And then once they got up on the roof, they had to make a hole in the roof.
There were two common types of roofs in those days and this was probably either a tiled roof or more likely a roof that was covered with branches and clay soils that the four men had to dig through in order to reach Jesus.
How many times in our life to we fail to “do whatever it takes” because it’s just not convenient.
• It’s not convenient to get up a little earlier each morning so that I can spend time letting God talk to me through His Word and then talk to Him in prayer.
• It’s not convenient to get up an hour earlier on Sunday morning so that I can join together with other believers to study God’s Word and pray.
• It’s not convenient to give up watching my favorite television show so that I can attend a weeknight bible Study. It’s not convenient to take the time to go meet my new neighbor and bring them a meal.
• It’s not convenient to go visit someone who is sick in the hospital.
I know in the real world we struggle with those kinds of issues. I know it because I struggle with those things at times. Let’s face it, we live in a world that thrives on convenience. We have convenience stores, drive through restaurants, and even drive through pharmacies. In Las Vegas they have drive through wedding chapels. In New Roads, LA, there is even a drive through mortuary. For the convenience of time-pressed mourners, the deceased is displayed before a five-by-seven picture window. Friends and relatives can drive up to the window and pay last respects without getting out. Says the owner, Alvin Verette, "We wanted something for people who didn’t have time to dress." ,
But if I really want to grow in my relationship with God this year, I have to be willing to sacrifice some conveniences in my life. I have to sometimes be willing to give up even some things that might be good, so that I can do those things which are best.
4. It is not hampered by criticism
Although the criticism from the scribes was aimed more directly at Jesus, it’s not to hard to imagine that the scribes, as well as the rest of the crowd that had come to see Jesus, were a little upset that these 5 men were interrupting the proceedings. But these men were so focused on getting to Jesus that they didn’t allow any of the comments from the crowd to deter them.
When you look at the life of Jesus, you see that he constantly faced criticism, especially from the religious leaders. But like these five men, he never allowed that criticism to deter him from his purposes. Jesus, like these men, knew that it was more important to please God, rather than be distracted from their mission by the criticism of men.
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ’He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ’Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ’But wisdom is proved right by her actions."
Matthew 11:18-19 (NIV)
How many times do we let the criticism of others deter us from what God has called us to do with our lives? Maybe you’re the only believer in your family and your own family members make fun of you for your faith. Maybe at work, you co-workers criticize you because you won’t take part in some activity or practice that would be wrong in God’s eyes.
Abe Lincoln:
"I do the very best I can, I mean to keep going. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me won’t matter. If I’m wrong, ten angels swearing I was right won’t make a difference."
Even in church, we can be deterred by the criticism of others. Somebody complains that we don’t sing enough hymns. Someone else complains we sing too may hymns. Somebody complains that the sermons are too long. Someone complains that they are too short. [OK, I admit I haven’t heard that one yet.] Somebody thinks we don’t observe the Lord’s Supper enough. Someone thinks we observe it too often.
It is really easy to let the criticism of others distract us from what God has called us to do. But a “whatever it takes” commitment says that I’m willing to follow God, even if others choose to criticize me for doing it.
5. It does bring honor to Christ
One of the interesting things about this account is that after Jesus heals the paralytic man, there is no further mention of this man or his friends. All the attention is on Jesus and on what he had done. When we make a “whatever it takes” commitment, that’s almost always what happens.
This morning, I’m going to encourage you to make a “whatever it takes” commitment. I’m going to ask that we make that kind of commitment as a body of believers as well. And although all of us are going to personally benefit from making that kind of commitment, that’s not our ultimate goal. Our goal is that when people look at our individual lives and when people look at our church, they won’t say, “Wow, what a great person”, or even “wow, what a great church.” But rather they’ll say, “Wow, what a great God those people serve.”
