Commitment:  A Radical Choice

April 1, 2001

Matthew 7:21-28

Presented by Tim Fletcher

There is a danger if your commitment to Christ runs no further than your lips.  There must be a moral commitment that extends itself to radical servant living.  It is the world of private devotion and public ministry.  There is danger in knowing what you commitment should be made and letting it go no further. In order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven a person must not only know what to do, must not only say what should be done…but must do it.  This is the radical choice:  salt and light…or empty, worthless realizations.

Matt 7:21-23

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

WHAT YOU SAY DOES MATTER:  I’ve always rushed over vs 21 and rushed in my thinking to say, “It doesn’t matter what you say, it matters what you do.”  But it does matter what you say.  One of the things that identify a follower of Christ is someone who says to Jesus, “You are my Lord”.

WHAT YOU DO MATTERS, TOO:  Doing the will of the Father is what Jesus says will determine whether or not you will enter the kingdom of heaven.

How do you know what God’s will is?  ((EXPERIENCING GOD))

How do you become the kind of a follower of Christ that knows with confidence that you are moving in God’s will?

Recognize:  God is always working around you.

Realize:  God wants to know you personally, and have a love relationship with you.

Receive (God’s invitation):  God invites you to join him in his will...to join him in his work. Hear him by reading the Bible, by praying to him, by looking for him in the circumstances you are in, and by having relationship with a church of his people.

Respond:  God wanting you in a personal relationship, and joining him in him in his work will lead you to a crisis.  A crisis of belief that requires faith and action.  You must change to join God. 

Remember:  You come to know God, and to know his will, to hear his voice, by experience as you respond to him and he accomplishes his work through you.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT JESUS SAYS, “I never knew you” to people who were doing acts of righteousness, who had said, “Lord Lord”...but these people had never done his father’s will??

1.  Their body was doing it right.

2.  Their lips were right.

3.  Their ears were shut.  It was like a dead end.  There was no two-way communication going on.

SAUL AND SAMUEL:  I SAMUEL 15

1 Sam 15:13-14

13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD's instructions."

14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?"

NIV

Saul was told to completely destroy the Amalekites...but he only destroyed   Agag, and the best sheep and cattle were not destroyed.

GOD SAID ABOUT SAUL in vs 10 "I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions." Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.

What are God’s instructions?

Matt 6:19Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,

Matt 6:24 "No one can serve two masters.

Matt 6:25do not worry about your life,

Matt 6:14forgive men when they sin against you,

Matt 6:1Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men,

Matt 5:44-45Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

To hold to his teaching.

John 8:31-32 "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

To love one another.

 John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

To  bear good fruit. 

John 15:8 that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

To go into the world and teach them about the good news of Jesus Christ...Matthew 28:18-20.

BUT YOU CAN DO ALL THAT>>>AND STILL MISS THE BOAT....

Paul said, 2 Tim 4:2-4

 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

WHAT MUST WE HEAR???

1 Cor. 15:3-5

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.

Mark 12:29-31

29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'  31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

NIV

Mic. 6:7-8

7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

NIV

COMMITMENT AND ACTION:  A heart that belongs to God...and a body willing to follow where he leads.

How much of your heart is truly God’s?  How strong is your commitment.

I love the story of Cassie Bernall.  Columbine student...asked to deny, wouldn’t do it...was shot and killed.

It was a test...and she passed with flying colors.  Her heart was God’s...and she had a body willing to follow through whatever test or trial came her way.

How would you do if you were asked to take that test?

Michael W Smith song, “This is Your Time

This is your time....

Live every moment, leave nothing to chance!

If God is trustworthy...you are building your life on a solid foundation when you build it on the rock of Jesus Christ.

But that is the question you must answer.  And your answer will determine where you build the house of your life.  The house you are building is written each day with the choices you make.

24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

PUTTING HIS WORDS INTO PRACTICE..

TRUSTING HIM WITH YOUR LIFE...

LOVING HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART SOUL MIND AND STRENGTH