When Commitment Becomes Complicated

Gene Moore JR.

Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

0 ratings

· 4 views

Notes

Transcript

Sermon Tone Analysis

Emotion

Language

Social

View more →

The Big Idea: God is committed to us and He wants us to be committed to Him.

• We are currently engaged in a powerful series on commitment.

• We have learned about the discipline which accompanies commitment to God and the temperaments of God’s disciples or soldiers.

• We’ve explored the anatomy of commitment and what it means to be in a “committed” relationship, but what happens when commitment becomes complicated or challenging?

• During our time together, I want us to explore what we as Christians should do when commitment becomes complicated.

NRSV

67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said, “You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I do not know or understand what you are talking about.” And he went out into the forecourt. Then the cock crowed.

6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as I have told you. 8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Introduction

• Peter followed Jesus from the very beginning of His earthly ministry.

He climbed a mountain and invited those he wanted with him. They climbed together. He settled on twelve, and designated them apostles. The plan was that they would be with him, and he would send them out to proclaim the Word and give them authority to banish demons.

The prayer was no sooner prayed than it was answered. Jesus called twelve of his followers and sent them into the ripe fields. He gave them power to kick out the evil spirits and to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives.

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), .

Introduction

• In our focal text, Peter’s commitment to Jesus wavered, but Jesus’ commitment to Peter never wavered.

• Let’s turn our attention to our message notes to see what the Word has to say to encourage us when commitment is complicated.

I. God is Committed to us when we are NOT committed to Him.

A. God is committed to us in our Disobedience.

If I climb to the sky, you’re there!

If I go underground, you’re there!

If I flew on morning’s wings

to the far western horizon,

You’d find me in a minute—

you’re already there waiting!

Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!

At night I’m immersed in the light!”

It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;

night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), .

B. God is committed to us in our Dysfunction.

When God realized that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb. But Rachel was barren. Leah became pregnant and had a son. She named him Reuben (Look-It’s-a-Boy!). “This is a sign,” she said, “that God has seen my misery; and a sign that now my husband will love me.”

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), .

C. God is committed to us in our Disbelief.

Abraham and Sarah were old by this time, very old. Sarah was far past the age for having babies. Sarah laughed within herself, “An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?”

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), .

I. God is Committed to us when we are NOT committed to Him.

II. God’s Commitment to us is NOT bound by TIME or Reason.

A. God’s commitment to us is Pre-imminent.

Before I shaped you in the womb,

I knew all about you.

Before you saw the light of day,

I had holy plans for you:

A prophet to the nations—

that’s what I had in mind for you.”

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), .

B. God’s commitment to us thrives in our Present Circumstance.

Not on your life! Israel’s

Guardian will never doze or sleep.Psalm 121:4

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), .

C. God’s commitment to us spans beyond our existence/Presence on Earth and into the future.

Your love, God, is my song, and I’ll sing it!

I’m forever telling everyone how faithful you are.

I’ll never quit telling the story of your love—

how you built the cosmos

and guaranteed everything in it.

Your love has always been our lives’ foundation,

your fidelity has been the roof over our world.

You once said, “I joined forces with my chosen leader,

I pledged my word to my servant, David, saying,

‘Everyone descending from you is guaranteed life;

I’ll make your rule as solid and lasting as rock.’ ”

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), .

I. God is Committed to us when we are NOT committed to Him.

II. God’s Commitment to us is NOT bound by TIME or Reason.

III. Our Commitment to God

A. God’s commitment to us commands our Sacrifice.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3 I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), .

B. God’s commitment to us elicits our Worship.

I’m thanking you, God, from a full heart,

I’m writing the book on your wonders.

I’m whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy;

I’m singing your song, High God.

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), .

C. God’s commitment to us should cause us to completely commit ourselves to Him.

Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), .

Related Media

Related Sermons