Sermon (October 30) - Transformed Living: Filling the Bucket to Overflowing

We’ve had an exciting time these past several weeks looking at what it means to live a transformed life. Six weeks ago we began by discussing the importance of commitment. Today, we have an opportunity to make some commitments. We began this series with the idea of commitment as a means of priming the pump so the water will start to flow. We’ve talked about our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness.  And today many of us are going to celebrate and turn in commitment forms on which we’ve indicated our personal and specific commitments in these areas.

In keeping with our water metaphor during this sermon series, my prayer has been for each one of us to have buckets that are overflowing.  Jesus, in using a reference to water said that this is possible by going after a pearl of great price.  Now is the time to go and buy that pearl—whatever the cost—or else never possess it. It’s one thing to see the pearl or to acknowledge that it exists; it’s another thing to actually make the commitment to purchase it.

As we prepare to return our commitment forms, I want us to remember that we make a commitment because God has first made a commitment to us.  We’re not initiating this commitment.  God has already done that through Jesus.  John 3:16 tells us this.“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”

The psalmist David said, “He always stands by his covenant / the commitment he made to a thousand generations” (Ps. 105:8). When God makes a commitment, God stands by it.

God expects us to be committed to him.  God sent Jesus into the world with the expectation that we would respond.  We don’t have to respond; we could choose to reject God’s covenant, but God really expects us to respond and receive what God has in mind for us.  Let me share five things detailing what that kind of commitment means.

First, commitment involves establishing priorities.  We’re assured in Matthew 6:32–33: “Your heavenly Father . . . will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” 

We might wonder, “Is it really possible for me to be generous in my financial giving.” Well, the truth is that you and I can’t possibly out-give God.  The more you give to God and the work of God’s kingdom through the church, the more we will experience lives that are overflowing.  Or maybe God’s calling you to serve in some specific area, and you might be questioning “Can I do that?”  God never calls us to serve unless he also supplies everything that we need to be a good steward of that responsibility.  You might be considering a bold commitment for worship attendance for this upcoming year, or a commitment for praying on a regular basis.  God will make a way and provide. You make these things a priority, and God will provide everything you need to carry them out.

Let me share a quick story about someone in our church and their commitment to prayer.  About a week ago, Pastor Cheryl told me that she had visited one of our elderly homebound members.  This member loves our church and she wanted Pastor Cheryl to know that she prays for our church every day.

And she then pointed at this prayer card which many of us received about a year ago.  These cards were included in the bulletin on a Sunday morning and this homebound member had received this when she got her bulletin in the mail that same week.  This is a prayer that we have been encouraged to pray each day throughout this year.

It goes like this: “Dear God, thank you for First United Methodist Church.  Strengthen us through the power of the Holy Spirit to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world through radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission, and extravagant generosity.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.”

It’s a great prayer and it’s been an important prayer for me to use throughout this past year. But to be real honest with you, there are many days that I have not prayed this prayer.  And I’m the one who encouraged all of us to pray this prayer on a daily basis.

 Pointing to this prayer card, this homebound member told Pastor Cheryl, “I’ve been praying this prayer every single day.”

 When Pastor Cheryl shared this story with me, I thought, “Wow, this woman in our church is reminding me of the importance of not only making a commitment but keeping a commitment.  Her commitment shows just how much she loves Jesus and her church.”

In Luke 14:26, Jesus said: “If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.”  Now that’s making God a priority. Commitment helps us establish what our priorities are. 

Second, commitment involves sacrifice.  Today is Reformation Sunday.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a person who was from this Reformed tradition was a 20^th century Lutheran pastor who was executed by the Nazis during World War II.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer talked about the problem of what he referred to as “cheap grace.”  That is, we want something that doesn’t cost us much.  Real commitment, however, involves sacrifice.  Jesus said:

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. (Luke 9:23–24)

  Commitment involves sacrifice.

Third: commitment involves planning ahead and looking to the future as members of a church family.  The church is the greatest institution in today’s world.  I believe it is the means by which God brings transformation to our community and world.  For this to happen, we need to plan ahead. Commitment helps us to plan both individually and as a community.  In Luke 14, Jesus says, “Don’t begin until you sit down and count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there’s enough money to pay the bills?” (Luke 14:28).  Planning ahead allows us to know where we’re going. 

God will provide everything that’s necessary for us to follow through when we follow his direction in how he wants us to make that commitment. It helps to plan ahead.

If we fail to plan, then we plan to fail.  When a church knows who’s going to serve, what the financial commitment is, that it has people praying, and that it can depend on people being present for worship, powerful things happen.  All we have to do is just push back the boundaries that sometimes have limited the church, and God’s Holy Spirit will work through it.  Commitment involves planning ahead.

Fourth, commitment involves making some choices.  We have to choose what is really important.  Every Sunday morning when we get up, we’re going to make a choice as to whether or not we will go to worship.  If we’ve already made a commitment to be in worship, say forty-eight times during the year, then we don’t really have to make that choice when we get up in the morning.  If we make a commitment to be generous financial givers, then when we receive a paycheck, we already know what to take off the top.  We have already made some choices.  And this is what today is all about; planning ahead.  

    Jesus put it this way.

“You can enter God’s kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.” (Matt. 7:13–14)

          Today is all about making good choices. Here’s a thought worth pondering.  A year from now, the degree to which we will be growing in our faith, will be directly related to how bold our commitments are today because every choice has a consequence.

The sixth chapter of Romans says: “Don’t you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval” (v. 16). We’re going to be making some choices with our 2012 commitment forms. They’re going to provide a great opportunity for each one of us to make good choices together.  They also offer great opportunities to teach our youth and children about choices.

Fifth, commitment also involves finishing the task and staying the course. Paul encourages us to persevere when he says in II Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me” (2 Tim 4:7-8).  Earlier, he wrote: “This is a true saying: If we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him” (2 Tim 4: 11-12).  Commitment ensures that we grow in our Christian faith.

So, commitment involves establishing priorities, sacrifice, and planning ahead.  It involves making choices and then staying the course.  It’s what God expects of us.

There’s another side to all of this.  God expects us to be committed to each other.  If the local church is to be the greatest institution that God will use, we need to be a team.  Commitment helps each of us join hands together, encouraging and offering accountability as we’re told to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “encourage each other and build each other up,” and then in Romans 15:7, “accept each other just as Christ has accepted you.” Scripture admonishes: “stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony so that there won’t be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose” (1 Cor. 1:10).

And we are to “live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited” (Rom. 12:16 NIV).

In the church, everybody is different.  No one shares the same interests or the same gifts.  But we are a team when the whole group comes together and each person is able to use his or her resources and gifts to be a blessing to others.  When that happens, the church comes together as a solid unit.

We’re told in the twelfth chapter of Romans to “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other” (v. 10).  Our congregation is going to be so much stronger.  We’re going to reach out in new and exciting ways.  People are going to come into relationships with Jesus Christ like they’ve never experienced before.  Our youth and children are going to grow as disciples.  If we are responsible to our commitments of prayer, presence, gifts, service, and witness, we’re committed to each other.

Let me conclude by saying that God blesses commitment. Throughout the Bible, we see that when we’re faithful, God honors our commitment.  That’s why the transformed life is possible to have.  It’s possible because of the commitment that we make in response to who God is and what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.

Peter said:

“We have left our homes and followed you.”

“Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you, everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God, will be repaid many times over in this life, as well as receiving eternal life in the world to come.” (Luke 18:28–30)

I challenge all of us today to just say, “God, what do you desire for me to do, and how do you want me to pray?  What kind of commitment should I make regarding attending worship services?  How do you want me to give of my financial resources?  How and where do you want me to serve and be a witness to others?”

God is about to bless our lives and our church a hundred times over.  How’s that for an overflowing life!  If I said, “Hey, I’ve got a valuable treasure that I want to give to you,” everybody would want it, right?

What’s being offered from God is far more valuable than monetary treasure; it’s life.  It’s the abundant life with a capital L, and it involves not only this life but all of eternity.  It’s a deeper relationship with God.  It’s a deeper relationship with your spouse, your children, your friends, your church. It’s freedom from fear. It’s the satisfaction in knowing that our generous financial gifts are making it possible for our church to make a difference in our community and world.  In short, what’s being offered is the MORE that we’ve been thirsty for, the MORE that is “far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20 NKJV).

What a great day to be a part of the church!

*This sermon is based on the resource, Treasures of the Transformed Life, Abingdon Press, 2006.