Developing A Radical Commitment
Matthew 16:21-28
October 29, 2006
Morning Service
Introduction
February 15, 1921. New York City. The operating room of the Kane Summit Hospital. A doctor is performing an appendectomy. In many ways the events leading to the surgery are uneventful. The patient has complained of severe abdominal pain. The diagnosis is clear: an inflamed appendix. Dr. Evan O’Neill Kane is performing the surgery. In his distinguished thirty-seven-year medical career, he has performed nearly four thousand appendectomies, so this surgery will be uneventful in all ways except two.
The first novelty of this operation? The use of local anesthesia in major surgery. Dr. Kane is a crusader against the hazards of general anesthesia. He contends that a local application is far safer. Many of his colleagues agree with him in principle, but in order for them to agree in practice, they will have to see the theory applied.
Dr. Kane searches for a volunteer, a patient who is willing to undergo surgery wile under local anesthesia. A volunteer is not easily found. Many are squeamish at the thought of being awake during their own surgery. Others are fearful that the anesthesia might wear off too soon. Eventually, however, Dr. Kane finds a candidate. On Tuesday morning, February 15, the historic operation occurs.
The patient is prepped and wheeled into the operating room. A local anesthetic is applied. As he has done thousands of times, Dr. Kane dissects the superficial tissues and locates the appendix. He skillfully excises it and concludes the surgery. During the procedure, the patient complains of only minor discomfort. The volunteer is taken into post-op, then placed in a hospital ward. He recovers quickly and is dismissed two days later. Dr. Kane had proven his theory. Thanks to the willingness of a brave volunteer, Kane demonstrated that local anesthesia was a viable, and even preferable, alternative.
But I said there were two facts that made the surgery unique. I’ve told you the first: the use of local anesthesia. The second is the patient. The courageous candidate for surgery by Dr. Kane was Dr. Kane.
To prove his point, Dr. Kane operated on himself! A wise move. The doctor became a patient in order to convince the patients to trust the doctor.
Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3
The writer of Proverbs is not saying that everything that you do in life is going to lead to amazing success. What is being said here is that without a firm commitment to the LORD everything you do in life is doomed to failure
Commitment is a dying reality in our world today. There are signs of dying commitment all around us.
• Marriages are breaking up left and right
• Commitment to attend events (such as weddings) continues to lower
• People are becoming less and less willing to join organizations because of the additional commitment
• The willingness to fight for our country has dropped even after the events of 9/11
• Many people feel that the have fewer close friends than adults of past decades
• Book clubs, record clubs are seeing fewer and fewer new members due to multi-purchase commitments
The Wesleyan Church was founded on a radical commitment to the principle that the power of Christ could change the world.
• John Wesley spent his life preaching, teaching and training ministers. In the end he left an incredible legacy
• Adam Crooks was a young man from Ohio who answered the call to start a new church in North Carolina. Remember it was an abolitionist church in a pro slavery state.
• The first missionaries our denomination ever sent out went to the county of Sierra Leon. They packed their belongings in coffins and all of them died within two years and are buried behind the church they left behind.
Wherever you are be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God – Jim Elliot
We have been called to be a different kind of people in this world. We have been called to live a life committed to following Jesus. We have been called to become radical.
Let me ask you a couple of questions before we launch into the text this morning: What does it really mean to be committed to Jesus? Do you have a commitment that would be worthy of being called radical?
If you have your Bibles open them to the most powerful passages on the issue of commitment – Matthew 16:21-28
I. The Demonstration of Radical Commitment (21-23)
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!" 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Jesus sets the example for us to follow in our commitment.
1. Jesus was committed to go where He was not wanted
2. Jesus was committed to suffer for a people who rejected Him
3. Jesus was committed to die for a lost world
4. Jesus was committed to the ultimate victory
The Problem of Peter
The Greek here has an extremely strong meaning. The phrase “took him aside” implies that Peter literally grabbed Jesus and pulled him away from the others to talk with Him.
Peter “rebukes” Jesus and tells him that there is no way that he would die. In fact, Peter puts this in such strong terms that he says that heaven would not allow it. Peter was literally telling Jesus that He did not have to die.
We pass judgment on Peter rather quickly when we are guilty of the same kinds of things. We try to live our lives by our plans and not God’s plan.
II. The Command for Radical Commitment (24)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me
There is no such thing as low cost grace. There is no such thing as low cost Christianity. Jesus is calling you to an all or nothing deal; He wants all of your life.
Counting the Cost
Following Jesus costs you a life that is dying in exchange for a life that never ends. Following Jesus costs you a life of bondage in exchange for a life of freedom. Following Jesus costs you a life that is cursed in exchange for a life that is blessed. All in all this doesn’t sound so bad.
Two primary problems: Selfishness and Stubbornness
Jesus calls us to tear down the altar of selfishness that we have built and embrace His radical life of selflessness
There is a massive difference between being involved and being committed. Being involved means that you can do what you want, as you want and when you feel like doing it. Commitment means that you are at the call of Jesus 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.
Commitment is what Jesus is looking for in all of our lives and He wants us to have the desire to serve Him not just on Sunday morning but each and every day that we draw breath.
Jesus turns the tables on us and tells us that we must deny ourselves to follow Him. This seems strange but it is in giving up what we want that we really find true purpose in life. It is in denying what we want so we can find what it is that God wants
III. The Importance of Radical Commitment (25-28)
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
Radical commitment means that we put our complete trust in Christ. The whole power of salvation rests on the efforts of Christ, not on the efforts of us.
If we are committed to the Kingdom of Christ, what are we doing to build up the Kingdom? What are we doing to show the love that Christ has shown to us?
The power of Christ rests within the church and it is the power that brings light to the darkness, purpose to the pointless and hope to the hopeless. It is the power of Jesus being raised from the dead.
Conclusion
Adoniram Judson sweated out Burma’s heat for 18 years without a furlough, six years without a convert. Enduring torture and imprisonment, he admitted that he never saw a ship sail without wanting to jump on board and go home. When his wife’s health broke and he put her on a homebound vessel in the knowledge he would not see her for two full years, he confided to his diary: "If we could find some quiet resting place on earth where we could spend the rest of our days in peace. . ." But he steadied himself with this remarkable postscript: "Life is short. Millions of Burmese are perishing. I am almost the only person on earth who has attained their language to communicate salvation. . ."
It is absolutely impossible to live a Christian life without having a complete commitment to following Christ.
Commitment is the Key
Until I am committed, there is a hesitancy, a chance to draw back. But the moment I definitely commit myself, then God moves also, and a whole stream of events erupt. All manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, persons and material assistance which come my way begin to flow toward me - the moment I make a commitment. Quoted by John C. Maxwell in The Recipe for Leadership Injoy Life Club Volume 12 Number 9.
Jesus is on a search for people who will commit their lives to Him
Do you have a radical commitment to Jesus? Is Christ the Lord of every area of your life? What areas are you holding back from Him?
