COMMITMENT

2 Chronicles 16:9 – For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose
hearts are fully committed to him.

Your commitment today defines your life. I can tell you who you are by the commitment that you may. You are
the sum total of your commitment. Tell me what you committed to and I’ll tell you the direction you’re headed I’ll
tell you what are you going to end up.

Some people are controlled by circumstances. Some people are controlled by issues around them, but mature
people are directed determine by the commitments that they make.

Commitment is a huge responsibility. I want to challenge you today choose carefully what your commitments are
because you will end up being what you’re committed to.

People don’t want to be committed:

 They don’t want to be committed to anything
 They don’t want to be committed to a long-term job
 They don’t wanna be committed to a long-term marriage
 They don’t want to be committed to long-term investment
 They don’t want to be committed to a church

There is this attitude today I want to keep my options open and people are treating life and treating issue as
some type of buffet where you go and you begin to put things on your plate do you want all of these options and
you don’t want to get to the end of the line so I put the wrong stuff on my plate, so I don’t want to be
committed to anything.

WHEN COMMITMENT STARTS/OCCURS?

1. When a person is unemployed, he is free
2. But the moment he enters into a relationship with a person (who is bigger than himself), he loses his
complete freedom, he surrenders part of his freedom: Subordination

John 1:12 – Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God.
Ephesians 1:13 – And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of
your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.

Commitment has taken a bad rap and people today when it comes to God when it comes to church, the tragic
fact is that people are not making commitments. You cannot live life without making commitments.

 You can’t buy a house without making a commitment. You got to sign your name on a loan.
 You can’t be married without making a commitment. You got a sign that marriage license.
 You cannot have a driver’s license without making a commitment. When you sign your name on that
driver’s license you are making a commitment to abide by the traffic laws.
 You made a commitment when you sign up for Facebook Instagram, Twitter. You are making a
commitment to all of their terms and conditions.

So don’t tell me you don’t know about commitment. You cannot go in life without making a commitment. Today,
I’ll share the following:

1. The Power of Commitment

2. The Price of Commitment
3. The Pitfalls of Commitment
4. The Payoff of Commitment
Is there a difference between a half-hearted commitment? casually committed? or are there a difference
between fully commitment? and I’m gonna say of course there is.

THE POWER OF COMMITMENT

What does the Bible talk about the power of commitment because nothing is going to affect your life more than
the commitment that you choose to make today.

Proverbs 16:3 – Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.

In other words, you will find the blessing of the favor of God when you commit yourself to him and not to
yourself. In fact, I will stay there in three profound things better about commitment that all of us will recognize.

1. Your commitment shows your value.

Your commitment shows what you value, what you really value, what you really love will be
shown to what you’re committed to. If someone is really committed to you, they will show it and
demonstrate it to you. There is no love without commitment. Loving God requires commitment to his
commandments. Commitment is the byproduct of true love

John 14:15 – If you love me you will keep my commands.

Otherwise if you really love me, you’re gonna be committed and obey my word. Nothing happens without
commitment. True love doesn’t happen without commitment.

The essence of love is commitment to that other person saying “I am going to be here for you. I am committed to
you.” You can’t love without making commitments.
 They say I’m committed to my family, but you always working all the time you’re always in your hobbies.
You’re always doing your own thing. You never spend time with your children. You never spend time
with your wife. Don’t tell me you committed to your family.
 Somebody out there all right do I am committed to my health. But you’re never eating right. You’re
eating burgers, unhealthy foods. No exercise.
 Other would say church is important to me, but you hardly ever show up. You only show up when it is
convenient. You’re not committed to church.

If you don’t make any commitments in your life, you are basically saying the only thing that’s important to me as
me I am the center of the universe captain me planet that’s who you are that’s what it’s about to say that. Oh
really what it means is pure selfishness, I don’t consider anyone else or anything or any other thing worthy of my
commitment I am committed to myself let me just tell you that is called selfishness.

2. Commitment defines your life.

Proverbs 4:23 – Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life.

We become whatever we are committed to. Our life again is the sum total of our commitment.

Your commitment begin to shape you. Your life becomes your character and then they begin to be set in stone.
That’s why I say to you choose carefully what you commit to. Choose carefully what you’re gonna commit your
life to.

3. Your commitment will define your destiny. They will define where you are going. The average person will
live may be 70, 75, 80 years if you’re lucky. In eternity, you’re gonna live a lot longer than you’re living
here on earth. So your time here on earth is temporary. It is important that your commitment to Christ is
gonna determine that what’s going to happen in eternity. Your responsibility, you are rewarded based
upon on what you are doing with your commitments here.
 Mark 8:36 – What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

What are you giving your commitment to? What are you giving your life to? What are you spending your time on
this earth because it is going to affect eternity. Every day when you wake up you’re exchanging your life for
something maybe you’re changing your life or the Internet that’s all you live for you’d like to be in a surcharge
you just like to search all these different things or maybe you’re like a TV person or maybe relaxation or maybe
you’re in the social media and you just like to kill time and I’m just here to tell you it’s going to determine your
destiny.

Psalm 90:12 – Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Wise people use their time in a wise way and in a good way and they understand and plan that they were
changing their life for something. Wise people knew that commitment has an effect in eternity.

Mature people live by their commitments. Immature people live by their emotions. You don’t live by your
emotions. You live by your commitment, mature person.
 I don’t feel like being married. I don’t care what you feel. You made a commitment that is what
vows are.
 I don’t feel like going to work today. You made a commitment.
 You made a commitment to your family that you’re going to take care of them.
 You made a commitment to that job.

Mature people live by their commitment. Immature people are emotional people.

Some men need to grow and live by their commitment instead of their emotion. We encounter so many
immature men in our life than in the church.

Illustration: Oh i don't feel like going to church. Stop being emotional. You made a commitment to God

Even our commitment to God. You made a commitment to your wife. You made a commitment to your children.
It is important today that the commitment that you have, have a price tag. Even serving God and your
commitment to Christ has a price. Putting Christ first in your life has a price tag.

Your commitment will cost you time, energy, cost you your service and it will cost you your life. Jesus is very
upfront about commitment. He was not vague about it. He did not apologize about it. He was not the kind of you
know present something to you that you did not know. He laid out and told you what commitment was so the
first second thing I want to talk about is the price of the commitment. There's some scriptures in the Bible that
many times we ignore or many times we think that they expire or there's a timeline on it.

THE PRICE OF COMMITMENT

Luke 14:26 – If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters – yes even their own life – such person cannot be my disciple
[If you want to be my follower, you must love me more than your own father, mother, wife,
children, brother, sister, yes more than your own life otherwise you cannot be my disciple.]

Jesus is asking for commitment. How many would say that is true? Jesus is saying "I don't want just a half of you. I
don't want just a quarter of your life. I want all of your life. I don't want your spare time. I want all of your life.

Jesus is very clear about the cost of following him. The cost of commitment he says I expect basically Jesus is
telling us "I expect to be first place in your life." You got to love me above your family, above everything else. It is
a pretty bold statement. Not even your husband would ask you that, your wife would ask you that, not even a
ruler would ask you that. Yet Jesus makes this demand on your life of total loyalty. What gives him the right to do
that?
 1. He created you
2. He created you for a purpose
3. He died for you

No one on earth can say those things. Jesus did all of those that is why he has the right to demand for your life.
Jesus don't want a slice of your life. He wants to be all of your life. Jesus is not an accessory.

If Jesus is not Lord in all your life, He is not Lord at all in your life. See many people want a savior to save them
from their sin but they don’t want a Lord that will set them free from their sin. Jesus want to be Lord of your life.

C.S. Lewis said “If Christianity is untrue then it is unimportant.” So in other words, if everything we are talking
about this commitment, if everything we are talking about Jesus died on the cross, then what are we doing here
this morning? On the other hand, if Christianity is true, then Christ is the ultimate importance then we need to
commit our lives to him completely.

C.S. Lewis said “The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important. It Is either all or nothing. There is
no such thing as casual Christianity. It is a contradiction.

Illustration: I kind of served God here and there is no such thing as that. It is like saying I’m a little pregnant. No
such thing. It is either you are pregnant or not. You are either fully committed to Christ or you are not.

THE PITFALLS OF COMMITMENT

1. We get distracted. When we begin being distracted, things begin to crowd our God in our life and other
things become an idol. And idol is anything you put before God. Your car, money, people, even your
family.

2. We are complacent. Complacent mean we get so satisfied with we are at and we get so content that we
are unaware of our spiritual deficiency. We are unaware that things are happening in our life that are not
healthy for us. And be get complacent with our walk with God. All of a sudden we are talking about
where and what we were used to do. We need to update some of our commitment not what we do 5, 10,
15 20, years ago.

Let us not be complacent with our walk with God because what will happened it will begin to distract you and it
will begin to burn you out.

Romans 12:11 - Don’t be lazy in showing your devotion. Use your energy to serve the Lord.

THE PAYOFF OF COMMITMENT

God’s promise is both short and long-term. There is a blessing that is on your life when you serve God here, when
you are committed here on earth and we know the long term in eternity.

I’ve seen a lot of people who are serving that Lord that even if they don’t have everything they need but God
keep on blessing them.

Matthew 6:31; 33 – So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What
shall we wear?”
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness [commit yourself first], and all these things will be given
to you as well.

Matthew 25:23 – Jesus is the Master who will say

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with few things; I will put you in charge of
many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
In eternity there’s going to be affirmation. God is going to affirm you. There’s going to be promotion, he said “I’m
going to give you more and then there’s gonna be a celebration. So today we’ve got to realize that God is going to
bless us not only on earth but there’s a blessing that is coming.

So let’s commit ourselves to God. Let’s put God first everything about our lives because God is looking for
committed people. In this room, I see committed people who is going to make a difference and change people in
Balulang, Greenheights and Cagayan de Oro change in general. Though the responsibility is big, but it only takes a
few committed people.

CONCLUSION

Every Pastor desire that every member of the church/believers will finish well. Well done good and faithful
servant. How many of us here want to hear those words?

Pastor Omar Lopez said, “The truth is going to be this, five years from now there are many of us that are not
going to be sitting in this building. Many of us will not be serving God. If I took a picture today of you, five years
from now, you won’t be here, five years from now you have given up on Christianity and you quit God because
you lacked the commitment.”

When he was 16 years old and got saved, a Pastor got up and he made the exact same statement he was saying.
He was a new convert He barely had gotten saved given his life to Christ. And he sat in a specific chair and said to
himself “it won’t be me. I won’t be one of those people. And he is determined since he was 16 years old that it’s
not gonna be him. He is still in the ministry because his commitment to Christ never intended to be casual
commitment, instead, he always intended to finish it. He made a commitment that he is going to finish.

Our commitment has to be deep. The pitfall to commitment is shallow commitment. It doesn’t go deep enough.

There is no such thing as casual commitment. It is either you are not committed or committed at all.