COMMITMENT
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 6:33
APRIL 17, 1994
The cover story of TIME magazine on March 28 was entitled “Doomed.” Tigers were the subject of that story. According to TIME, the tiger is doomed. This great cat is rapidly becoming extinct. The so-called Bali tiger became extinct in the 1940s. The Caspian tiger became extinct in the 1970s. The Javan tiger became extinct in the 1980s. There are fewer than 200 Siberian tigers, fewer than 650 Sumatran tigers, and fewer than 4,000 Bengal tigers that remain in the wild. This regal animal is becoming extinct and why? According to TIME, the culprit is man. Encroaching human civilization has diminished the tiger’s natural habitat. More seriously, there is the problem of hunting and poaching.
The Bible tells us in the book of Genesis that in the beginning God gave humanity dominion over the earth—dominion over everything that moves on the earth. God gave dominion over the beasts of the field, over the birds of the air, and over the fish of the sea. It does not matter what your political persuasion is this morning. It does not matter what you think of the environmental movement or what you think of animal rights advocates. It seems to me that all of us would have to agree that in some measure we have abused our dominion. We have polluted the earth, sky, and sea. We have hunted animals to near extinction and some to extinction. Someday we are going to give an account to the Creator. Someday we are going to give an account to God.
The Bible tells us that the abuse of our dominion is not our greatest problem. It is symptomatic of a greater problem. The Bible tells us humanity’s greatest problem is the rejection of God’s dominion. That is what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden long ago. They rejected God’s dominion.
If you are a Christian, if you really believe in Jesus Christ, you have not rejected God’s dominion. The Bible says you were “straying like sheep but you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25). You have, through Christ, embraced the reign of God. You have received Christ as your Savior and as your Lord. You have taken him as Savior and King. You have been regenerated. You have been born anew. Christ has come by His Spirit to live within you. You have entered the kingdom of heaven. You have entered the kingdom of God, and you have embraced God’s dominion through Christ. That is an amazing commitment, the greatest commitment you will ever make.
Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). The word kingdom is the Greek word pasalalia, and it means “reign.” It means “dominion.” Seek first the reign of God. Seek first the dominion of God. This is the commitment we make in Christ, and it is a threefold commitment.
First, it is a theological commitment. If you are a Christian, you have made a theological commitment. Theology is the study of the nature and will of God. As Christians we affirm that God’s nature is revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ. We affirm that God’s will is revealed in scripture, and we have made a commitment to this theology.
In November of 1993, the World Council of Churches sponsored an Ecumenical Conference for Women in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Two thousand women attended. This conference cost $390,000 and was funded in part by four mainline Protestant denominations—the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, and the American Baptist Church. The World Conference of Churches hailed the conference as a second reformation. Really it was a theological abomination—a mixture of Eastern religious pantheism, radical feminist theology, and New Age garbage. At this conference, the attendees wound up worshiping the Greek goddess Sophia. I do not mean to offend you, but I want to read a quote from Christianity Today that will help you understand the nature of the apostasy in our time.
At this ecumenical conference sponsored by the World Council of Churches and funded by mainline Protestant denominations, this incantation was used in worship. ‘Our maker, Sophia, we are women in your image. With the hot blood of our wombs, we give form to new life. With nectar between our thighs, we invite a lover; and with our warm body fluids, we remind the world of its pleasures and sensations.’
That is a little bizarre. It seems as though they do not even understand Greek mythology because Sophia was the goddess of wisdom. They seem to be referring to some kind of fertility goddess like Aphrodite or perhaps Artemis. But the tragedy is the apostasy.
Thirty-four speakers spoke at this ecumenical conference. Most of them blasted the atonement of Jesus Christ. They said the whole concept of the atonement of Christ is a patriarchal construct that has led to the oppression of women and the abuse of children. They said the whole concept of a father who would allow his son to go to the cross is the ultimate in child abuse. They said that concept has caused violence across the streets of America. They said we no longer need the image of Christ hanging on the cross, blood dripping down. They said “How weird! If we can’t think of Jesus as rain or trees or water or earth, then we’re all doomed.” They tried to harness what they called the divine energy of the universe through New Age techniques. In an apparent substitute for holy communion, they invited the participants to the “banquet table of creation to celebrate the milk and honey of Sophia.”
I hope you understand the issue here. The issue here is not feminism. The issue here is not male/female. Women are not more susceptible to theological error than men. The truth is that most cultic phenomena in the 20th century have been perpetrated by men. The issue here is simply apostasy and how that apostasy has infiltrated Christendom. Apostasy is infiltrating the Orthodox churches, the Catholic churches, and the Protestant churches. All of this is in fulfillment of biblical prophecy. The Bible tells us, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).That is what happened in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1993. People turned away from listening to the truth and wandered into myth, a myth that Greek culture rejected 2,000 years ago and is now strangely being revived in our time.
The Bible says, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared” (1 Timothy 4:1-2). The Apostle Paul, writing to the Christian church in Thessalonica said this, “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, …Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first” (2 Thessalonians 2:1, 3). It is a rebellion against God. It is a theological rebellion.
The Greek word is the word apostasia from which we get the English word “apostasy.” We are seeing apostasy unfold in our time. The Bible says to us as Christians, as true believers in Christ, “Contend for the faith that once and for all was delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3b). This is the theological commitment we have made: “Contend for the faith that once and for all was delivered to the saints,” and that faith is this. It is clear in scripture. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He came into our world through the incarnation. He lived a sinless life. He died an atoning death. He died for you. He died for me. Death could not hold Him. He rose from the dead in power and glory. He is the hope of the world. He has ascended into heaven. He intercedes for the saints. He will one day come again. He now offers salvation, forgiveness of sin, and eternal life to all who repent and believe. That is the gospel. It transcends time. It is transgenerational. It is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You have made a theological commitment to Jesus Christ and to the faith. Contend for the faith.
There is a second commitment that is part of our commitment to Christ. It is a moral commitment. If you really believe in Jesus Christ, you have made a moral commitment. The Reverend Jesse Jackson is quoted in the November 21, 1977, issue of TIME magazine as saying, “One has to have a moral base for a society. Where the prime force is human impulse, there is the death of morality. America used to have moral laws based in Jerusalem. Now they are based in Sodom and Gomorrah. Civilizations rooted in Sodom and Gomorrah are destined to collapse.”
I do not know if Jesse Jackson would make that statement today. However, that statement was true in 1977, and it is true today. Nations that go the way of Sodom and Gomorrah are destined to collapse. Billy Graham said that if God does not judge America soon, He is going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. I respect Billy Graham greatly; however, I disagree with the statement. I do not think that America is nearly as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah were. We are not that immoral yet. It is often said that the great sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was homosexuality. Biblically, the practice of homosexual behavior is sinful There is no question based on Jude 1:7—”just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust”—that homosexual behavior was part of the reason for divine judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. But the problem in Sodom and Gomorrah was far greater than basic homosexuality.
Reading Genesis 19, two men, two strangers, came to the city of Sodom by night. Lot, Abraham’s nephew, welcomed them. He showed them hospitality. He received these two men into his house. He gave them a meal, but soon Sodomite men surrounded the house. The Bible says, “the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them'” (Genesis 19:4b-5).
This is one of the more bizarre scenes in the Bible. Lot refused, and the Bible tells us that this mob of men surrounded Lot’s house and said unless Lot released the two strangers so they could gang rape them, “we will deal worse with you than with them” (Genesis 19:9b). If you read Genesis 19, it is evident that these two strangers were actually angelic beings. It is safe to say they did not want to go out and play. In fact, they were enraged. In their righteous indignation, the Bible tells us they struck a segment of that mob with blindness. It was just the beginning of the judgment of God.
Archeologists tell us that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are buried under the southern portion of the Dead Sea. The Bible tells us clearly that the judgment of God fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. America has problems, but we have not yet reached the point where gang rape is normative. We have not yet reached the point in America where homosexual rape or heterosexual rape is condoned. There is still some goodness in America.
Billy Graham said just a few weeks ago there is still a lot of compassion in America, but we do have problems. We have a problem with violence. We are the most violent nation in the industrialized world. Since 1990, in the last four years, more Americans have been murdered by fellow Americans than were killed by the Vietnamese during the nine years of the Vietnam War. Incredible.
We have a problem with pornography. I read recently where 90% of the world’s pornography is produced in the United States. I do not know if that is true, but I do know that we are the pornography capital of the world. From our nation pornography goes out to all the nations on earth. Pornography is a multibillion dollar business. Our obscenity laws are oftentimes not enforced by local police forces; and when they are, our criminal justice system oftentimes refuses to prosecute pornographers. This next weekend we are privileged to have Dr. Jerry Kirk at our church. Sunday night he will be speaking in this sanctuary on the subject of pornography. He is the president of the National Coalition Against Pornography. I encourage you to come. You need to understand the extent of the problem and how you can be part of the solution.
Judeo-Christian values are eroding in America. A recent survey has shown that 56% of Americans now believe that having a child out of wedlock is acceptable. And why not? That is perfectly logical given the morality of our time. Since premarital sex is universally accepted, how can you condemn a child out of wedlock? A person who has a child out of wedlock has simply made a birth control mistake. It is not a moral issue. In this congregation, from this pulpit or platform, when we say that premarital sex is not right biblically, many of you wink at that. Some of you think, God bless Jim. There he goes again. Such a dinosaur. But God’s word does not change. It transcends culture. It transcends time and space. God’s word does not change. His truth does not change. Our values need to come from scripture not from culture.
According to recent surveys, 40% of the people in America attend church every week. Forty percent. In some of those churches, they are hearing cultural ethical teachings rather than biblical ethical teachings. But even if they are hearing biblical morality, they only go to church for an hour or two a week. Incredibly, the average American watches television or has the television on seven hours a day. Where are we getting our values? The values that come out of Hollywood are generally antithetical to the values of scripture. Is it any wonder that TIME magazine and Newsweek magazine have spoken of a moral crisis in America.
How about your life? Is there a moral crisis in your life? The real issue is dominion. That is the real issue. Where do you get your values? Does God reign, or do you reign? Do you decide your ethics? Do you decide your values? Do you decide what is right and wrong or does God? Does God have dominion? Does He set the standard?
On March 22, 1994, just a few weeks ago. an Aeroflot Airbus 310 crashed into the side of a Siberian mountain near the Mongolian border. The tragedy is well known to most of you. Everyone onboard that Russian plane died. There was one American on that plane. He was from Englewood, right here in Colorado. His name was Dan Lam. Some of you knew Dan. I knew Dan, though perhaps not as well as some of you; but there were a couple of occasions when I had the privilege of sitting down over lunch with Dan. It was very obvious that he loved Jesus Christ and was deeply committed to Christ’s kingdom. He combined business and ministry all over the world.
Many of us who knew Dan were more than a little curious why that Aeroflot jet crashed. We were amazed that one of the pilots allowed his children to pilot the plane. In the pilot’s seat and in the co-pilot’s seat, a son and daughter were apparently there. Somehow they released the autopilot, and the plane began to go into a crash dive. It took the jet four minutes to descend from 30,000 feet into the side of that Siberian mountain. Four panic stricken minutes. There were nine off-duty pilots on the plane and a full crew of active pilots. They could not reach the controls in time. Perhaps the G-forces were too great. Yet the real question when you are on an airplane is, “Who’s piloting the plane? Who’s in charge? Who’s at the controls?”
That is the question God poses to us this morning. Who’s piloting the plane? Who’s at the controls of your life? Are you at the controls, or is God at the controls? Does God reign? Do you seek first the dominion of God? If you do not have Him at the controls, I promise that you are going to crash if not in this life then at the judgment seat.
There is a third commitment I want us to discuss briefly this morning. It is a vocational commitment. If you have really committed your life to Jesus Christ, you have made a theological commitment, a moral commitment, and a vocational commitment. What does the word vocational mean? We have all heard of vocational schools. We all have vocations. The word vocation comes from a Latin word meaning “calling.” For centuries the word vocation was only applied to the clergy. Only the clergy had a vocation. Only ministers and priests had a calling, a calling from God. But, during the Protestant Reformation, during the Puritan period when the Protestant work ethic was being formed, all of this changed. The scope of the application of the word vocation broadened. The clergy were not the only people who had a calling. If you were a Christian, whatever your profession, whatever your job, whatever your career, if it was moral, it was a calling before God and should be viewed as a calling before God. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker. It did not matter. All are callings from God and should be viewed with dignity and an opportunity to serve God and humanity. In this sense it was good.
This broader application of the word vocation, however, has a problem. It became a problem because many men and women said, “If my job, my career, my occupation, my profession is my vocation, if it is my calling before God, then it is my primary purpose. It is the essence of who I am.” As a result, people began to give their body, soul, and spirit to their vocation, to their career, to their occupation, to their profession because it was their calling from God. It was what their life was all about. What a tragedy because, biblically, your job, your career, is not your highest calling. It is not your greatest vocation.
I wish I had more time this morning. I had much to say but do not have the time to say it all. What is your highest vocation in Christ? What is the commitment you have made vocationally? Is it not to be a light in the world? Jesus Christ came into the world and said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). And He said to His people “You are light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Through regeneration, Jesus Christ has come into us. His light is meant to shine through us. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).
You are the light of the world. Every call in Christ relates to this. “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). You are the light of the world. “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). You are the light of the world. “Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34).”
Why do we want Sunday School teachers? Why do we invite you to be Sunday School teachers? It takes 300 volunteers to run our Sunday School. We are in constant need of help. It is a chance to be a light. Why do we invite you to minister in the inner city and tutor an inner-city child? That you might be light. That the light of Christ might shine through you. That people might see Christ through you. Why do we invite you to be Stephen ministers? That you might be light. At the end of the first chapter of James, James writes, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).
The evangelical church understands the latter part of that charge and commission. They understand that keeping ourselves unstained from the world is part of godliness, and that is important. That is why we talked about theological and moral purity. But there is another part of godliness. The verse reads, “visiting orphans and widows in their distress.” This is the other part of godliness—compassion and ministry. Our calling vocationally is to be light. This is the commitment we have made. That is why one day Jesus will say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25:34b-36). You are light. Through you people see Jesus. That is our vocation. That is our call in Jesus Christ.
With this we will close. Friday night I went to Galilee Baptist Church and heard Major Ian Thomas speak. Major Ian Thomas founded Torchbearers International. He was a popular Christian speaker in the 60s and 70s. He is now an elderly man but still full of energy. He said the greatest heresy in the Christian church today is the concept of living for Jesus. That got my attention. He said the greatest heresy in the Christian church today is working for Jesus. He said that is not the gospel. He said the gospel is letting Jesus live through you. The gospel is letting Jesus work through you. In a sense he may have overstated his point, but I understand what he was seeking to say theologically. If you are a Christian, if you believe in Jesus Christ and by His Spirit He has come into you with a new nature, He wants to live through you. He wants to be seen through you.
One of the problems I have had with Ian Thomas and some of the people who have followed him is that sometimes they make it sound like it is so easy. You just celebrate the new nature. You just celebrate the indwelling presence of Christ, and everything falls into place. I do not think it is that easy. It takes commitment. It is hard work to let Christ be seen in us. It is hard work to let Christ work through us because there is the problem of sin. There is this being called the devil, and there is this thing called self. It is not easy to die to self and live to Christ daily. It takes commitment. It is part of the commitment we have as Christians to be light, to let Christ shine through us.
So this is the commitment we have made to Christ. If we have embraced the dominion of God, we have a theological commitment. “Contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). We have a moral commitment. “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:14-15). And we have an occupational commitment, to be salt on the earth and light in the darkness (Matthew 5:13, 14). Let us look to the Lord with a word of prayer.