Commitment Means Doing Something
James 1:19-1:25
This morning we are looking at another word. Commitment
We all make them. We buy things and are committed to paying the bill. We pay taxes every time we turn around. Most of us have made commitments to other people in situations like marriage, work; dinner plans….
The word commitment should not be foreign to us.
Some might connect the word commitment to keeping one’s word. Most of our commitments are just agreeing to little things or just doing them. So, most of the time it is pretty much automatic.
In most relationships, commitment is pretty much expected by all the parties involved. In a business the employees show up and do a day’s work and the employer makes sure they get paid.
In a marriage, there are commitments all over the place. There are jobs around the house which might be divided up.
Commitment is what makes a person keep their part of the bargain.
-- Two little girls were starting out to play. One insisted on going quite a distance away from her house. “Why do you want to go so far away?” the other asked. The first little girl said, “So that if my mamma calls me I won’t hear her.”
Some kids don’t want to hear their parents, but listening is not a problem of youth only. We ALL have this problem at times. We are selective in our listening. We only hear what we want to hear or only listen to certain people.
ARE YOU LISTENING?
In our text, James says, “Everyone should be quick to listen…” We should become better listeners. We should have a listening ear for people, and even more so, for our heavenly Father.
We have talked many times about listening to God. The main way is that we use the Bible as a tool when we hear god speaking to us as a group and especially as an individual. If we want to measure how we are doing in our relationship with God, we use the bible measure where we are….and one thing God tells mankind is that listening is not enough. Scripture is full of direction for actions…
Our first question this morning is, are we really listening?
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22
Let’s back up the need ad action with a verse form Matthew:
7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
The key word there is “does.” Does is very different than hears. Does involves action…something physical.
There are many listeners and talkers in the world and in the Christian world, but God wants us to be doers. Just because someone calls Jesus the Lord, it doesn’t mean they are doing any good in this world.
Someone once said, “If we are standing on the promises then we don’t need to be sitting on the premises.”
WE NEED TO BE DOING SOMETHING! There’s a time to sit and there’s a time to do.
I found a little story about a church that was holding what is called a “Quittin meeting.” I had never heard of that kind of meeting before, but apparently, it’s similar to a revival meeting. The only difference is in this meeting the people are called on to quit certain things: quit drinking, quit smoking, quit carousing, etc.
The story goes that, one elderly lady went forward during the invitation time. The preacher asked her why she came forward, because he and everybody else knew that she’d never done anything wrong in her life.
She replied, “I ain’t been doin nothin and I’m a quittin!”
Perhaps every church needs to consider having one of thoes meetings. There are a lot of Christians that do little or nothing for the kingdom of God. It we are not doing anything we are not making any difference and we need to STOP Doing Nothing and Start doing Something….
--- Shannon Only
The preacher stood in his pulpit and said, “It’s a fact that you are sitting here, but it’s a matter of faith that makes me believe any of you are listening.”
I think I know what that preacher is talking about. It is not that it is really hard to get an AMEN here that bothers me, it is that you have some of the best poker faces I have ever seem….I cant tell if some people are happy or sad or even mad…..No matter what I say, I don’t get much of a response….I know you aren’t dead, because every body leaves so that I can lock up the place.
So from what I can tell….most people here are not really listening to what I have to say…personally I can’t blame you….Not a one of you should be here to hear from Tom…I hope you are here to hear from God. ARE YOU LISTENING?
I hate to tell you this, but He is tired of talking and nobody listening.. He tries to speak through different methods and He has seen almost no results…It seems that many fail to even pick up a Bible and listen for any time at all.
--- Shannon Only
The scripture this morning defines how important it is to listen compared to other actions. “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”
Listening should not bring out anger it should bring out action. The actions that God wants, the actions that come from the Gifts of the spirit that God provides to his people.
Why does it seem that most people don’t fully share the gifts God provides. I believe it is a problem with commitment which is ultimately reflected as a listening problem.
Why is listening so hard?
I go to school and most of the time my teachers share really good information. Things I need to know because they will be on the test. Things I need to know about the Bible and God. But my mind drifts and I tone out….Listening is hard work.
So if I know that my mind is going to drift and for all kind of reasons I know that I will have trouble in every class….Why do I keep going to school?
The reason is simple….I have made a commitment. I had committed to going to school and studying the bible and all kinds of subjects in ministry because of commitment.
But not because of the commitment to THE school….It is because of the commitment to you….to me … and especially to God. I made a commitment to do something to improve my work in the kingdom.
Commitment is a funny thing….It is very personal. You can get out of commitment while we are in this world… Some folks file bankruptcy to get out from under their debts….Some get divorces….Some break leases and move….
Usually breaking a commitment in this world involves financial and physical pain.
If you want to break it bad enough and you are willing to pay the price you can get out of most anything!
Some will endure the same hardships in order to keep their commitments.
Here is my point for you this morning….The only way we really listen and respond is if we make a complete commitment. That is true in marriage, in bomb disposal, in business in all our relationships.
The real relationships in our lives will reflect listening with action. Let me say that none of us has perfect hearing.
--This week, Renee asked me a question about something I was doing. I answered her 3 separate times. On the third time, I said, you don’t listen to me. She responded with something…and I said, What? She said, I said, you don’t listen to me either!
Folks, we all have a problem listening to God… because we take our relationship for granted. We figure that if it is really important, God will get our attention and say it again. However, that is an indication that we are taking our commitment for granted.
Our scripture describes the lack of commitment:
“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”
Doesn’t that describe a person that comes to church, hears what God expects of a Christian then goes out and lives differently? A person that acts one way at church and another way everywhere else may have a short attention span or they may not have the commitment they once felt.
God has never shunned his commitment to mankind. He has repeatedly remained faithful when Israel forgot and wondered off. They suffered through many horrible situations but they refused to renew their commitment. God never quit calling them back.
Then God sent Jesus to life a human existence with aches and pains. Emotions, tiredness and ultimately human death. It was a commitment that He kept even when he preferred no too.
Since the creation of the earth, God has never wavered in offering redemption and love. But, Mankind has nearly always had trouble doing the same.
A waning commitment starts when we forget or take for granted what God did to save us through Jesus Christ.
The scripture says
“But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”
If we look at what God has done and what he continues to do for there is no way that we will forget. There is no way that we will take the gift and especially the relationship for granted.
Are you Listening?
Do you remember what God has done for you?
Are you committed?
John 3:16-18
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
All Glory be to God
