Attraction vs. Commitment

As we are entering into the New Year I have felt a pressing of the Holy Spirit for probably 6 months now that I’ve been fighting in order to stay on task with what I had sat down over the course of last year and prayed and planned and laid out the sermons mostly for John and our continual study of Acts (which we will get to later this year as well).

So this acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit saying you need to preach “this!” to my people. I thought I would be clever and throw it in as a Summer series. God wasn’t buying it. And if I’m honest most of you wouldn’t attend and here this series that God wants the people of his church to hear.

So, under conviction, I am doing a hard break on John (we will be returning to it) and starting next week we are starting a new series called “FLESH & BLOOD.” This will be a 2 part series. In the first part (6wks) of the series we are going to examine and dissect all the various roles that are the make up of the Church (ministry, worship, the role of covenant members, the role of the pastor, the role deacons, the role of women in leadership, and the Biblical role and definition of elders).

In the second part of the series (last 4 wks we will talk about about how we as a Church (not the four walls, not the brick and mortar, but the FLESH & BLOOD, the people who make up Christ’s Church) will specifically be applying the Biblical Truth through casting vision and how, as God’s people, the local Church, here at Concord, will do our part to be the Church God has called us to be.

Here’s what I’m asking: If you are a Covenant Member or desire to be…don’t miss a single week. 10 weeks. There’s no birthday party, no meal that needs to be prepared or time away that needs to be taken (make this part of your New Years resolution, to get back into church). I’ll challenging you to be here for 10 weeks straight so at the end of this journey, the hope is that we would be on the same page Biblically, and obediently to what God has in store for this local body. 10 weeks! I know that’s going to be hard, (bc statistics say the average attendance of a consistent church member is 1-2x a month). So I know it’s gonna be hard, heck some of you may quite coming all together, and if that’s your commitment to Christ’s church I’m ok with that. Peace. Holla at ya! It’s gonna be hard, but it shouldn’t be. God and his Bride (the church) are priority number 1! That’s why Jesus died for her.

Introduction

As we get ready to finish out John chapter 2, this is what I want you hear.

Eternal life with Jesus requires more than being attracted to Him; it requires commitment.

I want that to bounce around your head and start to deconstruct the fallacies of what you perceive your relationship with Jesus to be. Because the reality of what we “think” our relationship with Jesus is, is probably a little different than He sees it.

Eternal life with Jesus requires more than being attracted to Him; it requires commitment.

Exposition

John 2:23–25 ESV

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

I. (v.23) Many were “attracted” to Jesus

As we’ve been studying, hundreds of thousands of Jews flocked to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast, as was the custom of honoring God in the Old Covenant. This is what I know as a pastor who can get excited on a “high attendance Sunday” we can get excited… “Yes! Finally, Lord, you are sending people we are starting to reach people, our vision is taking hold.”

Our Vision:

Concord is a place where we strive for you to be KNOWN, LOVED, and BELONG, because God is bigger than our circumstances; we desire to live out this belief in faithful community.

“Finally Lord, people are excited about our mission!”

Our Mission:

We exist to connect people through loving community as we introduce them to Jesus and help them follow Him.

I’ll get all fired up and praise God…our core people will get all fired up, “Did you see how many people we had today?! All that work is finally paying off.”

Then the next week…we are back to the same amount of empty seats, or some times even more…and immediately the air leaves us and the excitement and fire from the week before…poof…gone.

But the truth is that’s just the reality of the day. And really speaks to my lack of faith and vision to understand what the Bible teaches...

John 2:23 ESV

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

“…many believed in his name WHEN they saw the signs that he was doing.”

Isn’t that so us…we are attracted to something shiny and new. We are quick to abandon our rituals, traditions, and go-tos for something that works better, looks impressive, or promises that it will be more satisfying, or make us feel better, right?

But let’s be honest. We only do those things temporarily. That’s why gym memberships go up in Jan. and by March people who are serious are glad because they can finally get to a machine…because we a creatures of want, not creature of need. We are creatures of habit…not creatures of discipline. If we were wouldn’t be in this broken mess to begin with.

We mean well…but, sooner or later the attractiveness wears off and the reality of change sets in and we realize “ah…that wasn’t as great as I thought it was going to be.” And we slip right back into our comfortable, easy, sins.

Eternal life with Jesus requires more than being attracted to Him; it requires commitment.

II. (v.24) Jesus understands the difference between attraction and commitment

John 2:24 ESV

24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people

Even though the previous verse expresses revivalistic numbers and could easily be celebrated just as shallowly as a “high attendance Sunday,” Jesus sees through the peoples hearts.

Do you want to know what’s sobering…though they could see Jesus in the flesh…and we can’t, they were no more as serious as we are today. Here’s the really sobering thought that you and I need to feel the full weight of…Jesus sees us and knows us too.

Eternal life with Jesus requires more than being attracted to Him; it requires commitment.

III. (v.25) Jesus knows the sincerity of your heart

Leon Morris in his commentary on John says this of v.25:

The idea of witness is a prominent one in this Gospel… [pointing to , referring to John the Baptist]...

John 1:7 ESV

7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

…but John tells us that there was one form of witness that was not required, namely a witness that would inform Jesus about mankind…John leaves no doubt as to the fact of Jesus’ knowledge. This is to be understood in the light of the Old Testament view that God alone knows what is in man.

1 Kings 8:39 ESV

39 then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),

1 Kings

John 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1–14 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John

John 1:2–15 ESV

2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)

John 1:17–20 ESV

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. 19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

John 1:2-

Jesus was God and is God and knows my heart and your heart. And he knows if you are serious about Him and His people, the local Church. He knows if you are treating Him as a back-up prom date, for when (not if, when) the world and all it offers rejects you cruelly. Jesus knows…and we must know…you and I must know...

Eternal life with Jesus requires more than being attracted to Him; it requires commitment.

Are you commited to Him?

Let’s see...

Conclusion

Starting next week we are pressing pause on the Gospel of John and “The True Light” series.

Here’s the first way I’m asking you to respond to today’s message, if you desire to get serious about Holiness, God, and the Church Jesus died for:

If you are a Covenant Member or desire to be…don’t miss a single week. 10 weeks. There’s no birthday party, no meal that needs to be prepared, or time away that needs to be taken, no excuses…if you already made plans change them (make this part of your New Years resolution, to get back into church).

I’m challenging you to be here for 10 weeks straight so at the end of this journey, the hope is that we would be on the same page Biblically, and obediently to what God has in store for this local body.

10 weeks! I know that’s going to be hard, (bc statistics say the average attendance of a consistent church member is 1-2x a month). So I know it’s gonna be hard, heck some of you may quite coming all together, and if that’s your commitment to Christ’s church I’m ok with that. Peace. Holla at ya! It’s gonna be hard, but it shouldn’t be. God and his Bride (the church) are priority number 1! That’s why Jesus died for her.

The second way I’m asking you to respond…is if while I was making that challenge…seeds of doubt, guilt, and pressure started sprout what will ultimately be the weeds and chaff of (not the enemies work against you) but truthfully your own laziness, doubt, and hesitation.

I ask you, who call yourselves Covenant Members or Christians…I ask that you repent of your selfishness. That you would empty all of that junk (the excuses, the doubt, the misalignment of priorities), all of it! Empty it here on unfamiliar floor of the altar. A get serious with God. And quit treating His Son like a back-up prom date.