Call to Commitment

Call to Commitment                    6/4/03

Introduction; We live in a culture that doesn’t value commitment. Even before a couple is married they draw up a contract called a prenuptial agreement. This is a contract that says who will get the stuff when they divorce. When I was growing up divorce was a shameful thing ,now it is pretty much expected!

A college man walked into a photography studio with a framed picture of his girlfriend. He wanted the picture duplicated. This involved removing it from the frame. In doing this, the studio owner noticed the inscription on the back of the photograph:
“My dearest Tom, I love you with all my heart. I love you more and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I am yours for all eternity.”
It was signed "Helen,” and it contained a P.S.: “If we ever break up, I want this picture back.”

APPLY: How many of you think she was NOT totally committed to that relationship?

com·mit·ment [ k mítm nt ] (plural com·mit·ments)

noun

1. responsibility: something that takes up time or energy, especially an obligation

2. loyalty: devotion or dedication, for example, to a cause, person or relationship

3. previously planned engagement: a planned arrangement or activity that cannot be avoided

I have a copy of the commitments that you made when you arrived at the Colony of Mercy. Let me read just a few of them……….. Now they may seem difficult to keep to you , but we need to see how Jesus addressed the issue of commitment with those who chose to follow Him.

 Jesus spoke of the importance of commitment in becoming a disciple, lets look at how He viewed commitment in contrast with the commitments that we hold dear.

1.     Commitment to have a permanent residence;

a.     Luke 9:57,58 Jesus himself was born in a manger and never had His own home

b.     Hebrews 11:8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.

2.     Commitment to Family Responsibilities Luke 9:59 –60

3.     Commitment to Sentimental attachments and past memories

a.     Luke 9: 61,62

b.     Phil. 3: 13,14

4.     Commitment to family

a.     Luke 14:26,27 Divine Conspiracy page 293

b.     Matthew 10:34-37 34 "Don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! No, I came to bring a sword. 35 I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 Your enemies will be right in your own household! 37 If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.

     5. Commitment is motivated out of joy Divine Conspiracy page 292

     6. God’s desire from start to finish

a.     Exodus 20:2,3 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 You shall have no other gods before Me

b.     Matthew22:36,37  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.