Commitment= Getting Involved/ Comprometerse Es Involucrarse
Romans 15:1-7 (NIV)
1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” 4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Intr:
1. Do you prefer to be a spectators or participants?
2. I love sports. I love to watch them, but I have always preferred to participate in them. I am not a good spectator. If I am coaching I scream at the referees, I yell and shout at the players, I tell the player where to stay and who to take and what to do.. etc. I like to be as much involved as anyone could from the sideline. I like the intensity of the sports. When I am playing, I love to run, mark, pass, receive the ball and if I can score I will… etc. I love to be in the middle of the action. How many of you are like me? Or on the other hand, how many prefer to be spectators only…? We all want to be in the middle of the action, we want to engage, participate, to be inside… but sometimes the question is how?
3. In this passage Paul, is reminding the Romans believer how critical it is to be in the middle of the action? How important is to get involve, and how to show your commitment to God and to his church. You see, the Roman church was growing but there were people who didn’t want to get engage, to get involved… As the church was growing and new people wanted to get involved and grow within the body of Christ, the older believers they didn’t have the patience to support them, they didn’t want to put aside their own preferences to please the new people, they didn’t want to help the new people to grow in their faith, they were good at getting together with people like them, but with new one.. they were no willing to welcome and connect with them. So, Paul write to the Roman Brothers with one purpose in mind: to get them involve and this is the title our Sermon today: Commitment is Getting Involve based on Rom 15:1-7
I. Your Strength is Highly needed/ Su Fortaleza es Altamente necesaria (1-4)
There is a Purpose for your Strength/ Su Fortaleza Tiene Proposito
1. To Strengthen others: Your involvement in the church is critical because your church needs your strength. There is no way any member of the church will survive without the help of their older and stronger brothers and sisters. You have been given the tremendous opportunity to use your deep convictions, your deeper faith, your knowledge of God to help others, people who are starting in their walk with the Lord, people who are new believers, people who are trying to find their way around, people who need guidance, direction, help from the stronger older brothers or sisters.
2. Build People up: Another purpose of your strength is so that you can build people up. Do you remember people that God sent along your way to walk with you, to give up the right word, the right commentary to help you to overcome an specific circumstance or situation. Building up others presupposed that you are stronger, that you have some deep power in you so you can pass to others. If you have that kind of strength in you.. let me tell you: we need you here!
3. Carriers of Hope: Another purpose for your strength is that you can use your biblical and doctrinal knowledge to carry hope. You see God has been building you up, strengthen you for this exactly reason, so you can use your biblical knowledge, your experience with God, you pass experiences to bring hope into hopeless situations. God has been teaching you through the Scripture and through the experiences of life, that even in the worse of the circumstances, we can relate Bible lessons with our own experiences so we can show other how God always prevails and how He has help us to overcome any and all situations.
Apl: God has given the strength to bless others.. your strength is needed in our church. Use what you have receive from
God for the benefit of your younger brothers and sisters. You can strength others, you can build others, and you can carry hope to those who are just starting in the walk with Christ. Get involve, commit now to use your spiritual strength to help others.
II. Your Perseverance in Highly Needed/ Su Perseverancia es Altamente Necesaria
A. God has Provided you with a great level of Endurance that needs to be modeled
1. Endurance is to persevere: Your commitment is to getting involved in the life of the church, and this is not always easy. People in any church must learn to persevere, to stay and to endure no matter the circumstances. But this is not an easy task for most people. We want a church where we can be encouraged, strengthen, inspired, supported, motivated… but what happens when you are the one called to do exactly what you are expecting other to do for you. Sometimes it will be easy to leave that church for another one who can fulfill my expectations. At the end , your reasoning is this: I don’t need all this mess: new Christians, the unbelievers around, other cultures, very inexperienced people in the Bible or in doctrine… This is not for me or for my family. In this passage you are called to endure, to persevere in your place… not to move anywhere. Since God needs you to persevere: he needs your perseverance as an example to others, he needed you to encourage the weaker members. God has provided you with the power and wisdom needed here to model your faith for others.. so get committed since been committed is to get involve.
2. Perseverance brings Unity:
Once again I love sports… and whoever loves sports don’t like to quit. Normally, sport people endures so much pain.. people will play fractured, hurt, or with a bloody cut etc. The other day I heard of a man who drove the whole tour of France with a fracture ankle since the first stage of the tour. He didn’t want to quit because his team could be disqualified… This is the call in this passage as well, the church is like a team, we run, we play, we suffer, we hurt, we bleed together, we are a family and we don’t quit on family. This means having no only a spirit of perseverance, but also a spirit of forgiveness. So, we are call to make the unity of the church our priority, visible… we are called to help others to persevere in our faith and in our endurance conflicts and struggles and by doing that preserve the unity of God’s body. There are essential things that unite us: our convictions, our Lord, and our hope and of course the example of Jesus Christ, and this
Apl: We are not quitters… we go all the way.. not because we are so strong, but because God live in us and we have his power to endure and persevere whatever comes our way. By persevering we are living examples for those who are starting the run… we will carry them… as many other has carried us along the way. Get involved, get commit to God’s cause.. get involve in serving God by helping the church to be the visible manifestation of the body of Christ.
III. Your Hospitality is Highly Demanded/ Su Hospitalidad esta en Demanda
A. The Greatest Blessing: To welcome others
1. Commit to Welcome others: Commitment is to get involved in the cause of Christ and one of the most important causes of Christ is hospitality. Paul says: in Romans 15:7, So warmly welcome each other into the church, just as Christ has warmly welcomed you; then God will be glorified. -- (The Living Bible) Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. In this context, commitment is to be hospitable. This hospitality has to do with how we welcome others. The best example is Christ.. just as Christ as receive you, we ought to receive others.
2. Now the question is: How is it that Christ has received you? What were the conditions? What were the requirements to be accepted by Christ? You and I have been received by Christ on the only basics of his grace and love. We had been welcome without any conditions, or requirements, but out of love and compassion. That is the same way we should accept each other.
3. Transference of same Grace: In this we can imitate Christ… by welcoming others in the same way we were welcomed. This is an amazing opportunity to transfer the same grace that we have received and experienced in Christ. We live in a interconnected world.. we are connected by internet, by phone, email etc. but still we live lonely, seeking a place to belong. We want to belong, to be a part of something better and bigger…and you and I are privileged to introduce people to God when we welcome others to church.
Few months ego, I visited a church and it had a great worship, a very good impact in its community, many programs.. but they had tremendous problem… they were not hospitable. I visited the church and no one came close to me to welcome me… There are many people who visited churches looking for a place to belong, but they are disappointed since no one welcomed them.
My favorite definition of commitment is by Marshall Shelley who says, “Commitment is not simply a mental attitude; it’s developing an ability to further the cause you’re committed to.”
CONCLUSION: Now What? How committed are you to God and his cause?
In the family of God, the heart of commitment follows the footsteps of Jesus. We build the heart of commitment as we fill up on God’s Word received and applied. We unite together with other believers as one in Christ. We welcome others with the heart, hands, kidney, and feet of Jesus.
