Should Be-Ism

v Did you hear the one about the chicken and the pig - They saw a sign in front of a building that said, "Annual fund-raiser. Ham and egg breakfast." The chicken said to the pig, "Hey, that's right up our alley. Why don't we go in and help out?" The pig said, "That's easy for you to say. For you that's just a contribu-tion. For me we're talking total commitment

v Trusting in the Lord with all our hearts can be defined by one word, “commitment.”

Ø How committed are we as Christians?

Ø We say we are committed to Jesus Christ, but I wonder if we understand the nature of that commitment.

Ø The Lord’s desire is that we commit our whole hearts to Him.

§ That means even our understanding of commitment.

Ø We can’t be committed Christians unless we first commit ourselves to the futility of our own thoughts on the nature of commitment.

§ Psalm 94:11, “The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.”

§ Isaiah 55:8-10, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Ø We are to be committed citizens of His kingdom, living by kingdom principles.

§ Philippians 3:20, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ø Greek word for “citizenship” {politeuma}

§ Colony of foreigners who, in the environment of their present residence outside of their native country, were living according to the laws of the country of which they were citizens, not according to the laws of the country in which they were living.

· Explain this definition somewhat.

v Many times, as individuals, we come to Christ with a certain level of expectation.

Ø We expect that things will go a certain way or…

Ø We have pre-conceived notions of how things should be or will be.

§ We’re suffering from “should be-ism”.

Ø We already have a picture of how life or our relationship with Jesus “should be.”

Ø Our “should be-ism” acts like a picture frame.

§ We place the Biblically revealed kingdom principles in the frame and what looks good in our frame we keep.

§ And what doesn’t look good in our frame we throw out.

Ø Then we begin to think that God may have made an error somewhere along the way and all He needs is for us to point that error out to Him and everything will be the way things “should be.”

· Everything will fit into our frame.

Ø This all boils down to the fact that our version of commit-ment is nothing more than “should be-ism” at work.

§ Basically, we are committed to our frame instead of God’s frame.

Ø This is what it means to lean on our own understanding.

§ “Will you please tell me in a word,” said a Christian woman to a minister, “what your idea of commitment is?” Holding out a blank sheet of paper the pastor re-plied, “It is to sign your name at the bottom of this blank sheet, and to let God fill it in as He will.”

§ We think that we are capable of filling in that blank sheet when we should instead be falling on our face be-fore God telling Him…

· “I don’t have the slightest clue of what to write on that paper! Would you fill it in according to Your will?

v Pre-nuptial agreements

Ø Our version of commitment too often looks like a pre-nuptial agreement.

Ø “I’m committed to the relationship, but just in case some-thing happens, I don’t want to loose everything.”

Ø “I want an escape route, just in case.”

§ That’s not true commitment.

v When Julius Caesar landed on the shores of Britain with his Roman legions, he marched his men to the edge of the Cliffs of Dover and commanded them to look down at the water below.

Ø To their amazement, they saw every ship in which they had crossed the channel engulfed in flames.

Ø Caesar had deliberately cut off any possibility of retreat. Now that his soldiers were unable to return to the continent, there was nothing left for them to do but to advance and conquer! And that is exactly what they did.

v Commitment to Jesus Christ means presenting ourselves to Him as a blank sheet of paper.

Ø Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship…”

§ God’s poem.

Ø Commitment to Jesus Christ requires that all our ships go up in flames.

§ All the sins,

§ All the fears,

§ All the failures,

§ All the frames

§ All the should be-ism

Ø Are to be cast into the consuming fire of His love for us.

§ That He may lead us in victory.