Lord, Take Me Deeper: Commitment

Intro:

Today, we will continue the message series I started last Sunday entitled, [Lord, Take Me Deeper]. The subject of today’s message is [Consecration].

On the first day of a New Year and a new decade, my prayer is that the Lord will take us deeper in Him. There is so much God has available for us, and we have barely scratched the surface.

As I prepared this message, I thought of when I learned to play the piano. At first I took lessons. To tell the truth, it was miserable. I wanted to learn how to play the piano so I could play in church.

She wanted me to eventually play Mozart or Bach. She started me out slow with the most boring songs. I learned how to play Mary had a Little Lamb. At Christmas she taught me to play Jingle Bells with just two finger.

I stuck with the books until the song was, The Little Indian Dance, then I knew those books were not for me! I asked her if she would help me learn When We All Get to Heaven, so I could play a special at church.

She begrudgingly said yes, and I eventually quit. After quitting lessons, I would get the hymnal and try and figure out the notes. I got When We Get to Heaven down, then The Old Rugged Cross, next was I’ll Fly Away.

As I played the songs I read the words, which is why I know so many of them. Finally, I arrived to page 329, key of F, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.

The words in the chorus caught my attention, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

The things of this earth will grow strangely dim. In preparation for this message, I thought of those words. Last week I spoke about our confession. If we are to go deeper in God, it begins with a confession.

We confess Him as our Savior. Then we should confess our desire to go deeper in Him. Confession is not enough though. To go where God wants us to go requires consecration.

Consecration is defined, to devote to a purpose with deep solemnity or dedication.

A recent survey, asked people to categorize themselves as Ex Christians, unchurched, habitual churchgoers, and resilient disciples.

Listen to the statements and results of the habitual churchgoer and the resilient disciple, they caught my attention.

I believe living in relationship with Jesus is the only way to find fulfillment, 49% of habitual churchgoers agreed, but 89% of resilient disciples agreed.

My relationship with Jesus brings me deep joy and satisfaction, 48% of habitual churchgoers agreed, but 90% of resilient disciples agreed.

There were a couple other questions, but notice the difference. Those who merely go to church, those who have made a confession of faith, did not enjoy their relationship with Christ near as much a those who consider themselves disciples who desire to go deeper in Christ!

Is God interested in our confession of faith? Absolutely. But He wants to take us deeper. How does our confession cause us to live a consecrated life?

Remember, it was Peter who confessed Jesus as the Messiah. Notice what Jesus said next:

Matthew 16:21–23 NKJV

21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Matthew 16:

Just after they acknowledged Jesus as the Savior, Jesus informed them of the cross. The disciples knew what this meant. The cross did not signal victory, it denoted defeat.

Peter, being the person he was, spoke to Jesus and told Him to be quiet about all of that cross stuff. Peter was fine with the confession, but Jesus showed consecration!

In order to fulfill His role as the Savior of the world, the cross and suffering were involved. Our lives are changed because Jesus was devoted and dedicated to do what God wanted Him to do.

Likewise, if we are to go deeper, we need to live a consecrated life. Let’s look at Jesus’ conversation with His disciples. There are three areas of consecration I want us to notice: [Consecrate our Self], [Consecrate our Schedule], and [Consecrate our Shame].

Let’s begin

1. Consecrate our Self

Let’s try and think of what the disciples expected out of Jesus. They declared Him as the Messiah. To them this still had connotation of physically throwing the Roman Empire and setting up a restored Israelite Kingdom on earth.

Therefore to say yes I am the Messiah and I will take the cross was the last thing they expected to hear. Then Jesus takes it a step further.

You are correct that I am the Christ, I am correct in the fact that I will have to go to the cross. But, if you want to follow me, you will have to take up your cross.

When we think of a cross, we think of hope, eternal life, or victory. We know it was because of the cross we are saved. That was not the case in the first century.

The Romans used the cross to crucify hardened criminals. The cross was such a gruesome death it was not a punishment for Romans citizens, only foreign enemies.

One author (C.S. Lewis I think) wrote that the cross did not become common in art or in churches until those who saw one in person died.

Now Jesus informed them, if you want to follow me, you have to take up your cross. Automatically they thought death. But notice how often Jesus explains followers need to take up their cross.

How often? DAILY! Following Christ is not a Sunday event, it is a daily event. Therefore, taking up our cross means it is not longer about our feelings, our wants, our desires, our needs, or our opinions.

It is ALL about Jesus and what He wants us to do!

It is ALL about Jesus and the way He wants us to live!

Jesus consecrated Himself. He followed the plan the Father had for Him. Even when He prayed for the Father to let the cup pass from Him, He consecrated His will to the plan of the Father.

How does this affect us in our quest to go deeper? A consecrated life is nonnegotiable. We cannot follow Christ only when it is convenient.

We must faithfully and diligently serve Him everyday. If we want to go deeper, it is no longer about us, it is ALL about Jesus.

One author explains, “Unless a believer denies himself and takes up his cross, he is not on the same road, he is not even headed the same direction Jesus took.” (Horton, Matthew Commentary).

If we want to go deeper in God, we have to consecrate ourselves to His purpose and plan!

2. Consecrate our Schedule

Luke 9:24–25 NKJV

24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

Let’s stay on this track of taking up our cross and following Him. When we make our confession of faith, standing before us are two roads.

We can take the easy route of Christianity, which includes casual church attendance, a crisis-centered prayer life, and inconsistency in our commitment.

Or we can follow Jesus’ path, which includes consecration. Following Him, even when times get difficult.

MSNBC interviewed a group of new vegetarians. One of the interviewees explained their position, “I usually eat vegetarian, but I like sausage.” They are a group that never eats meat, unless they really like it and want to. They call themselves flexetarians.

Christians have to be careful not to live that way. They have made a confession, but are not overly interested in consecration. They like Jesus, but still want to live the good life that the world has to offer.

That is why Jesus asked the question, “what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?”

We live in one of the busiest times in world history. People are so busy trying to get caught up and meet the standards of society. But here is the problem, society’s standards constantly change. It is like trying to hit a moving target with little success.

When this becomes a Christian’s mindset, they will live a life that says, Jesus I love you, and when I find the time I will pray. If I have time this weekend, I will come to church. I like to come to prayer meetings, but it doesn’t always fit into my schedule.

These type of Christians have yet to tap into the potential that comes with taking up our cross and living the consecrated life.

With the busyness of life, we have to make time for what is important. Pastor Tucker once preached, when we get saved, we do not add God to the rest of our lives, we add the rest of our lives to God.

What Jesus wants us to do is to seek Him FIRST, and He will take care of everything else!

When He is our priority, He takes care of our problems and concerns.

Therefore, we put Him at the top of our daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly schedule. If we want to to go deeper, we have to take up our cross, consecrate our selves for His holy purpose. Then give Him first place in our schedule!

3. Consecrate our Shame

Luke 9:26 NKJV

26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.

What would have happened if the disciples heard Jesus’ instructions to take up their cross and make time for Him and they decided, no that doesn’t work for us.

Jesus lays it our plainly, they lifestyle would let everyone know they are ashamed of Jesus and what He did for them.

He established a pattern that is true to this day, what God’s people sow, they will one day reap. The disciples listened to His instructions and they sowed their lives.

They left everything to follow Jesus. Did they do this alone? No, they followed Jesus’ instructions. They denied themselves and submitted to the Father.

Then Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to give them power to walk out the life God prepared for them. They were unashamed of the testimony of God’s plan.

They stood before kings, religious leaders, angry crowds, and demonic forces, but they stayed true. They did not let shame silence their message!

What did they reap?

Revelation 21:14 NKJV

14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Jesus calls to us today, we cannot be ashamed of Jesus and the way He wants us to live!

Romans

Romans 1:16 NKJV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

2 Timothy 1:8 NKJV

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

2 Timothy 1:12 NKJV

12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV

15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy

They way we live determines if we are ashamed of Jesus or not. Very few people flat out say, I am ashamed of what God did for me. However, a lack of faithfulness and consistency speaks volumes.

However, a lack of faithfulness and consistency speaks volumes.

Therefore, we have to take any shame we have to the cross. WE must walk in confidence, thanking God He saved us, and do all we can to be a testimony of God’s grace and power!

If we live this way, we will reap Heaven’s rewards for the life we sowed into the Kingdom.

Close:

It was not until a few weeks ago that it really dawned on me, we are about to enter a new decade. I started to think of the changes in my life over the past ten years.

Ten years ago, I held my first full revival. I had a sore throat. I was a young man aspiring to become an evangelist. I didn’t have a home, a beard, or a wife!

But as I move from the seen to the unseen, I see what God has accomplished in my life over the past ten years. I know for a fact I am closer to Him.

I know Him much more. I am more confident in the call He has on my life. I know His word and understand it better. I know His voice and listen to it much clearer.

2010-2019 was a good decade, but if I can be a little bit selfish, I want to go deeper.

When I read all God has available for us, it makes me want to go deeper in Him.

It makes me want to move past a faith that focuses on my confession. I want my confession to cause a consecration in my life.

I want to consecrate my life. I do not want to look at the cross solely from the lens of death and suffering. I want to remember, when I take up my cross, I will get to walk in resurrection life!

I want to consecrate my schedule. I do not want God to fall down my list of priorities, why? Because to Him, I am a priority!

I want to consecrate my shame. I do not want to be ashamed of the gospel. I want to take any fear or worry I have and submit it to Him, because I know in whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I commit to Him!

My question is, who wants to join me?

I promise, God has so much more for us individually and corporately.

Who wants to go deeper in God than we have ever been before?

Will we be a habitual church attender who checks God’s house off our weekly todo list? Or will we become resilient disciples who make Jesus our priority?

If we choose to make Jesus our everything, I can promise we will enter a life beyond amazing! We will know Him more than ever before.

Then the things of this earth will grow strangely dim.

The temptations we have will not seem as strong.

The concerns we have will be calmed.

The distress we feel will be replaced by peace.

The struggles we have not can become reference points to when God gave us supernatural strength!

Let’s ask the Lord, take my life and consecrate it for your glory.

Jesus, you can have me, my schedule, and my shame!