Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

A Forbes article Titled, "Job Hopping Is the 'New Normal' for Millennials" records the affects of our younger generation's lack of commitment in the workforce.

The article says that the average worker (in 2012) stays at each of his or her jobs for 4.4 years, but the expected tenure (so says the article) of the workforce's youngest employees is about half that.

What has happened to loyalty today?

Ninety-one percent of Millennials (born between 1977-1997) expect to stay in a job for less than three years, according to the Future Workplace “Multiple Generations @ Work” survey of 1,189 employees and 150 managers.

That means they would likely have about 15 - 20 jobs over the course of their professional lives!

But it is not just the Millennials that have a lack of faithfulness!

According to data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 - a survey of American people born during the 1957–1964 period that examined the marriage and divorce patterns of "baby boomers" up to age 46.

This survey also collected detailed information on fertility and employment outlined by ethnicity, gender, education, income and so forth.

About 5 years ago they posted the results of their study.

85% of the surveyed, were married by age 46, and among those who married, a sizeable fraction, almost a third, were married more than once.

The bulk of marriages occurred by age 28.

Approximately 42% of marriages that took place between ages 15 and 46 ended in divorce by age 46.

In the study, women were more likely to marry and to remarry than were men.

In addition, marriages of women were more likely to end in divorce, as were marriages that began at younger ages.

On average, women married at younger ages than men.

The probability of divorce did not vary much across the ethnic groups.

The chance of a marriage ending in divorce decreases as educational attainment/degrees rise: over half of the marriages among people who did not complete high school ended in divorce compared with approximately 30 percent of marriages among the college graduates.

Sadly, the statistics are near the same for Christians!

Transition & Title slide:

The question I pose before you this morning is this: Is our overall faithfulness, our commitment in all our areas in life, us here at Grace, any different than our surrounding culture's counterpart?

So this morning I want to explore some biblical ideas on commitment that we may look in the mirror of scripture and see how we measure up.

This passage this morning from Romans 12First off:

I. Commitment to God commanded

This first point might already be a given to us here, but still deserves attention.

The scriptures are replete with exhortations to walk so close with God that total, radical commitment is nothing less than the expected life of the born-again believer.

So it comes as no surprise that every author in the Bible commands the Christian in either direct or indirect ways to be committed to our Lord without reserve.

One clear example from the O.T. come from Joshua:

Serving takes sacrifice and sacrifice takes commitment.

There is no clearer example, in my opinion, from the N.T. than my favorite verse of this radical commitment:

This challenge from Paul is so radical, I (with other godly men) fear that it is too much to ask of the average nominal Christian.

This is because Paul is calling us not to become comfortable in this world, not to be complacent in our Christian lives, and it remedies atrophy in or faith.

Paul calls us to the highest level of devotion and costly dedication in our walk with God--this call is a call to excellence which is a quality our culture is quick to push off when it concerns our personal lives (it is sad that excellence is pushed hard in our professional lives, but is neglected in our personal lives).

1 a Address zI appeal to you therefore, brothers,1 by the mercies of God, ato present your bodies bas a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,

b Characterization which is your spiritual worship.2

2 a Command cDo not be conformed to this world,3

b Command but be transformed by dthe renewal of your mind,

c Purpose that by testing you may ediscern what is the will of God,

d Characterization what is good and acceptable and perfect.4

Paul, here, has just exposed rich theology in the first

Romans 12:1–2 (NA27)

Address= Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, διὰ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν (radical language to describe the intense level of commitment) ἁγίαν εὐάρεστον τῷ θεῷ,

Characterization: τὴν λογικὴν (our call may be radical, but it is also reasonable) λατρείαν (worship/service) ὑμῶν·

Command= καὶ μὴ συσχηματίζεσθε (conformed) τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ (This age),

Second Command= ἀλλὰ μεταμορφοῦσθε τῇ ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ νοὸς

Purpose= εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ,

Characterization= τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον.

Commands are found elsewhere!

In 2 Chronicles, King Jehoshaphat commands the Levites, the priests of our YHWH:

Jeremiah, as well as all the other Prophets, commands committed obedience for the sake of the chosen peoples' lives:

And then in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul gives an exhortation that applies to Grace Baptist Church today:

II.

Commitment is proof of complete love & obedience

It only makes sense that you are most committed to that thing(s) you love & enjoy most.

Dr. Marty Von once told the students, "to really find out what a person loves most of all, you just have to look at what this person usually does the first hour of their day."

For instance, if this person usually uses the first hour just on getting himself/herself ready for the day, then it is likely that this person loves himself/herself the most.

Or, if this person gets up and only does the bare minimum to ready himself/herself then shoots straight off to work within the hour, then it is probable that he/she is most committed to work.

At this point you might say that this is not fair, since maybe you have to be to work really early in the morning and don't have time for anything else.

But then I would challenge you that people are always willing to wake early for the things they have the greatest care for.

Again, you could possibly be calling foul play and saying, "Wait, but I always do my 'devotions' at night before going to bed!"

There is nothing wrong about that, but again I would challenge you with, "Why wait until the end of the day and let your time with God be the last thing you do rather than waking up afresh and having your time with God be the first thing on your mind and on your to-do list?"

For others, it might be taking care of the kids first thing--which is honorable, unless the kids come before God.

What are your priorities?

Charles Kingsley, a university professor and priest in the Church of England, once commented:

Possess or Possessed?

We seek religion that is real rather than a sham.

Charles Kingsley remarked, “What I want is not to possess religion but to have a religion that shall possess me.”

This is what, I believe, Paul meant by "A living sacrifice" in v.1 and "be transformed" in v.2.

The Christian faith is not a hobby - God is not a part of the Christian's life, rather God is the whole of the Christian being!

He wants all of our lives.

I fear that many Christians today think that their faith is a very important part (if not the most important part) of who they are rather than everything they are.

God doesn't want a piece of what we own, He wants us to recognize that it is all His anyway and that whatever He may ask of us, whether it be our time or resources, He will richly provide--even if it takes faith!

What is He asking of you?

We are to be a "living sacrifice" an active sacrifice!

Willing to spend and be spent for the Glory of our God!

We also see that it is the cooperative work of God within us and our free will that works in unity to bring about this level of loyalty:

So, to take obedience to its proper degree:

The Christ equates obedience with love:

In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks in such a way on obedience and love, that no one could argue proper interpretation.

Jesus says:

How do we remain in love with the Christ?

So do the Apostles confirm commitment's connection to obedience:

Then the Apostles in Act are throne into prison and right after being divinely freed from prison (not by any human), they stand in front of the Sanhedrin and boldy say:

This is commitment to, in a human sense, escape from jail.

Then, stand before those who threw you in jail and essentially say, "You know that one reason that you threw us in jail for?

Well, we are going to continue doing it!"

And then, Paul again, in a very unique way, connects total commitment with obedience to the extreme end of justification:

This passage here in Romans 2 is very interesting and deserves a lot further study.

But for our purposes today, this passage shows total obedience takes extreme commitment which has a direct relation to salvation/justification.

III.

Commitment is hallmarked by pleasing worship

Faithful Church attendance is tantamount to loving Christ.

Christ built the Church,

Christ grew the Church,

Christ ordained the Church,

Christ heads the Church,

and Christ died for the Church.

The committed believer should never fall short in putting forth complete excellence in exercising his/her spiritual gifts within the ministries of the church-- and without grudge or complaint.

In fact, our excellence should not be from exhaustive efforts, but by a love response immersed in eagerness & zeal.

Our measure of love correlates directly to how motivated we are to eagerly serve in the church.