Suppose for a moment that no one in your life would agree to make any commitment to you? I mean no commitment to you. The mailman who has made a commitment to deliver the mail six days a week, would never deliver your mail. The cashiers in the grocery store who have made a commitment to scan and pack customer groceries, simply turned their backs on you and walked away every time you put your items on the conveyer belt. No matter who you called on the telephone, sent a text message to, or an email to, no one ever replies to you. No one ever fulfills a commitment to you. Ever. Living in that manner would be miserable. So, as we think just a moment about living a life in which no one commits to us about anything, we come to realize how our lives are dependent upon commitments. We can see how much commitments means and how much we need commitments.
So, our physical life is full of needs and is dependent upon commitments we receive and commitments we make. How is it then that we know our physical life is dependent upon commitments that so many people today believe that their spiritual life requires no commitments? For example, nearly one-quarter of all Americans categorize their spiritual lives as a “None.” A “None” is a person who believes themselves to be “skeptical and does not believe in God or religion,” although they might believe in some higher power. This means that nearly 25% of our population believes in nothing spiritual or in something spiritual, a higher power, that gives nothing and requires nothing. In other words, 1 in 4 people we will meet this week do not have a spiritual life because they believe there is no God or there is no commitment from their higher power and no commitment they have made to their higher power. Interestingly enough, when we lack a commitment to our spiritual life we also lack commitment in our physical life. Studies show that people who lack spiritual commitment vote less often, do less volunteer work, and follow public affairs far less often than religiously affiliated people.
And the news concerning self-described Christians in America isn’t a great story of commitment either. Of those who affiliate with a mainline denomination church, we would find that about 1/3 of their members will attend weekly, with the remaining two thirds attending rarely or never. Who are the mainline churches? In most literature, mainline churches are considered American Baptist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist. The commitment level from parishioners to their God is perhaps in many cases, lukewarm.
Why is there a growing lack of commitment, in general and to a spiritual life in particular? There are probably too many reasons people give as to why they do not commit to God for us to consider in the time we have together today. But let’s just take one overarching reason. People do not commit because they do not believe there is a need to commit. We human beings are crisis driven animals. We are prone to act only when there is a crisis, or we perceive there is a crisis. Consider some very simple examples of small crises we share and experience every day. Why do we eat? We eat because we feel hunger pains. We eat because we feel distressed if we have gone too long without eating. That is a very small crisis. Why do we drink fluid? Same reasons as eating. We drink because we feel thirst and we become distressed if we have gone too long without drinking. Again, a very small crisis. And even though they are small crises, we are forced by hunger pangs and thirst to seek a remedy, namely, we will seek food and water.
How do the daily crises of food and water translate to humans experiencing of being motivated to act on a spiritual crisis? Do we experience spiritual crises that cause us to seek remedy? That question is at the heart of our New Testament experience today.
Jesus’ apostles, primarily Peter and John, had been preaching in Jerusalem, in the Temple courts, daily. The message was very much the same each time they spoke. Fellow Israelites, “13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he [Pilate] had decided to let him [Jesus] go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer [Barabas] be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life [Jesus], but God raised him [Jesus] from the dead. We are witnesses of this” (Acts 3:13-15). This was the Apostles statement of the spiritual crisis faced by their listeners. “You handed over God’s son [Jesus] to be killed. You disowned God’s Son. You killed the author of life. You will stand before God and you will be rightfully and justly found guilty by God of betrayal, disowning, and killing God’s only Son. You have sinned mightily against God.” Peter and John are not describing a physical crisis. They are describing a fundamental spiritual crisis, and, worse yet, it is a crisis that their listeners cannot fix on their own. What are they to do? Peter said, “19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19a). Repent, stop your life to sin, stop our life to doing things your way. Instead, commit your life to God and your sins, no matter what they may be, even having personal involvement in the betrayal, disowning, and killing God’s only Son, will be wiped away. The number who believed in the apostles’ message of crisis and immediately committed their lives to God through Jesus Christ was 3,000 and as the message was preached again and again the number of committed quickly grew to 5,000. The spiritual crisis faced by Peter and John’s listeners was resolved by a commitment to God. This was a wonderful experience, but not every one saw it that way.
The Jerusalem religious leaders were furious at the apostles for their preaching and had Peter and John arrested. At the hearing before the religious leaders, Peter and John were ordered not to talk about this spiritual crisis ever again and to never mention the salvation offered in Jesus. The disciples refused the leader’s order saying, “12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name [than Jesus] under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The apostles were committed, and the disapproval of the religious leaders meant nothing to Peter and John. The spiritual crisis Peter and John had had was over after they committed to Jesus because their sins were wiped out. Peter and John knew they would not face God as judge because they had accepted God’s work through Jesus as their savior. After being warned by the Jerusalem leaders, Peter and John were released.
Shortly after being released, Peter and John were back in the Temple courts preaching salvation through Jesus. Again, the apostles were arrested and put in a jail cell. Not longer thereafter, Peter and John were miraculously released from the cell and rather than escape, they immediately began preaching again. Peter and John were again taken into custody and told to stop preaching about Jesus. Luke reported, “29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. 33 When they [the religious leaders] heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them [the apostles] to death” (Acts 5:29-33).
Instead of death, the religious leaders had Peter and John flogged and ordered them to not talk anymore about Jesus. “41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah” (Acts 5:41-42). Every day, these apostles, who were committed to God through Jesus, joyfully went against the will of the religious leaders to accomplish the will of God.
Let’s pause in the story for a moment to realize something about committed people. There are five things for us to note. First, committed people move toward their goals with force. They don’t care about the disapproval of others. That is a consequence of a committed person. Second, committed people are loyal. They stick with their priorities. Third, committed people stay with very specific goals. They know what they have been called to do and they do it. Fourth, committed people are tough. They are willing to endure hardship. Fifth, committed people are happy. They have deep convicted joy in their life because their life has meaning and purpose to it. These are the consequences of commitment we saw in the disciples. After the resurrection of Jesus, the apostles, committed to Jesus, became influential, loyal, dreamers, tough, and joyful people. This is the type of faith and life Jesus desires for each of us.
Why then is it that many people who claim Christ are seen as lukewarm. Jesus warned about being lukewarm. In the Book of Revelation, we would read, “14 To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:14-19).
God’s Word reveals to us why many people do not commit to Him. First, the Christians in Laodicea [center of modern-day Turkey] felt physically wealthy giving them the impression they were self-sufficient. There was a story I read years ago about a Roman emperor who was trying to get Christians under control. Persecution of the Christians was not working as it only resulted in more people becoming Christians. After some time in thought, the emperor said, “I know how to tame the Christians. I will prosper them.” Americans are wealthy by Biblical standards and therefore do not commit because of their lack of physical need. “Don’t worry, be happy!” This makes them dull to needs in general.
The second thing the scripture from the Book of Revelation revealed is that the Laodiceans who were dull to physical needs became dull to spiritual needs. These Christians were described as being blind because they could not see how their nakedness, their own sinfulness, before a Holy God. This passage of Scripture was not directed toward nonbelievers, it was directed at Christians who could not see the spiritual crisis that was coming their way because they were blind and would not had not committed. They were lukewarm and as a result were being readied to be vomited from the mouth of God. That is not where we want to find ourselves. And yet today, a vast number of people are spiritually blind and have been kept that way, in part, because they have no sense or understanding needs. This situation exists, at least in part, too many churches preach only that “God is love,” leading to the idea that a commitment to God does not matter because God will love us anyways and forgive us whether we believe in him or not. That sort of sentimentality about God is not the gospel message. The gospel message is that if you want to know what it means that “God is love”, then look at the cross. God sending His Son to take the penalty for our sin is love. And it is a love far beyond sentimentalism. And if you want to know how God judges sin, then look at the cross.
I under this dimension of halfhearted Christian commitment as well because I lived it. While I had come to recognize the gift of salvation given through Jesus Chris was valuable and costly, I behaved more like a child interested in playing with the box and wrapping that surrounded an expensive gift. Most of us have seen this behavior with little children. You purchase a nice gift, perhaps an expensive gift, as a Christmas present or birthday present. You give the present to a child, they excitedly tear the package open, pull the toy out of the box, and then instead of cherishing the toy, the child happily plays with box and wrapping. It was a turning point for me when I came to terms with the love with which the gift [salvation] was given and to cherish the gift. I came to realize that God committed to me first. God, in the person of Jesus Christ, bled and died to wipe away my sins. He was committed to me. That realization led me, a Christian, to stop being lukewarm and to commit to Christ. But just like hunger and thirst are a daily crisis, a daily choice to eat and drink, so too is needed to commit to Christ every day to satisfy the spiritual hunger and thirst. Jesus said it would be such an experience but that in turning over our hunger and thirst for spiritual life would be fulfilled. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
Commitment to Christ has consequences. This is true for the nonbeliever becoming a Christian and for the Christian who may not feel they have fully given themselves to God through Jesus. Commitment to Christ, first and most importantly, leads us to salvation and righteousness. We can live freely now and forever. We will see the cross as a fearsome sight to behold because we can get a sense of the measure of God’s love for us and the sense of guilt that has been removed from us. Moreover, having committed our lives to Christ whether going from cold to hot or from lukewarm to hot with the fire of the Holy Spirit, we will have some very specific spiritual consequences. There will be in our life and demeanor a certain spiritual forcefulness and influence. We will become people loyal to Christ, able to follow dreams and visions for the kingdom of God with a toughness toward the objective and a softness toward people. These are consequences of being committed to Christ. We also will be joyful people because we will know that Jesus has given our life meaning, purpose, and significance. God wants people to know they stand in the path of death and God is offering them life instead. Let’s each address the spiritual crisis, repent, and commit to God. Amen and Amen.