The Cost of Commitment

As we sit, let's bow our heads and pray together.

Our gracious Father, we thank you for your word.

And Lord, we thank you especially that our Lord taught that your word is truth.

! And that your truth can set people like us free.

And so we ask now, Father, in confidence that you would send your spirit upon your people gathered.

That we might discern your truth.

That we might apply it to our lives.

And become the people you want us to be.

In Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

So, even the least observant people amongst you will have noticed that it is Covenant Sunday.

And there's a sense in which I always approach this day with a certain amount of dread.

And it's because of this that I don't know how much the words of the prayer which you said together impacted you.

But I mean, they are mighty words.

I mean, I am sure there might be some people of a more secular background who would read these words and think,

anybody who would say them must be two kangaroos short in the top paddock.

I am no longer my own but yours.

Put me to what you will.

Rank me with whom you will.

Put me to doing.

Put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for you or brought low for you.

See, the reason why I'm anxious about Covenant Sunday is,

I say these things,

but will tomorrow be exactly like today as far as my life is concerned?

Some of you may remember that great movie, Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray,

where he played the part of, I think the guy's name was Phil Connors.

And he was a rather self-indulgent weatherman,

and was very cynical about just about everything.

And he went on a weekend, maybe a week away, in this unpronounceable town.

And he went to bed on the first night, woke up the next morning.

As I recall, it was a radio alarm.

And his radio alarm started, and it was that wonderful song by Sonny and Cher.

I got you, babe.

And then there was some banter with the disc jockeys on the radio station,

and then he got up, and that would be normal.

Except the next day, his radio alarm went off,

and it was Sonny and Cher singing, I got you, babe.

And the banter that followed was exactly the same as it had been the day before.

And what had happened was, somehow, we're not told how,

he got himself caught in a time loop,

so that that day kept repeating.

And because, like many of us, he had an element of self-indulgence about him,

he manipulated that time loop for his own good.

He manipulated it so he could field his carnal appetite

with women, with booze, with food.

And the only thing that could break him was when he actually pursued,

I think with dubious motives, a woman called Rita.

And it was when he fell in love with her properly

that he was released from the time loop.

It would be a great shame, wouldn't it,

if we said that covenant prayer,

but actually, tomorrow,

our behavior,

our person,

was exactly the same as the day before,

and would be exactly the same as the next day,

the next day, the next day.

See, Wesley thought,

I think it was the 12th of August in 1755,

that he stood up and for the first time

read the covenant service

in the Huguenot Church in the east end of London,

known imaginatively as the French Chapel.

It's the first time.

Wesley, of course,

was obsessed at periods in his life,

not consistently, like most of us,

but for periods of his life,

he was obsessed with the idea

of total submission to God.

You kind of read Wesley's journal

and you think to yourself,

was he getting much joy out of his faith?

Because he was just obsessed with the idea.

I want to be perfectly submitted to God.

I really want to lay down my life for him.

And I want to say a prayer like the covenant prayer

and mean it.

I mean,

it would be a pretty empty thing, wouldn't it,

to say that prayer.

And really not mean it.

It's kind of falling with the herd mentality.

Everybody else is saying it must be okay.

So a covenant is an agreement.

Unfortunately, I think in our culture today,

it has an unfortunate ramification

because it has to do with house sales.

And you hope that your solicitor will pick up,

if you're buying a house,

what restrictive covenants there might be.

I think most of us feel that covenants

probably are inclined to be restrictive.

Actually, what they are simply is an agreement.

Usually an agreement that is entered in

with the initiative of one person

who has a motive.

Lawyers call consideration of something.

Well, let me tell you,

if you take seriously the covenant

that you've entered into today,

this will be liberating for you.

It will not be restrictive.

It will be liberating.

And the initiative in this covenant

is God himself.

The Bible is full, not full,

repeatedly God makes covenants with his people.

He made a covenant with Abraham.

You remember?

If Abraham was prepared to leave

his middle class life

and go off on a scary journey,

he knew not where,

then God said, I'll bless you.

God made a covenant with Moses.

He said, you'll leave people.

And Moses wasn't too keen on that assignment.

He said, you're not me.

I can't even speak properly.

And so God said, don't worry,

I'll give you Aaron.

Mixed blessing, some would say.

And then we come to the prophets.

We read from that.

You remember at the beginning of the service,

it takes a different kind of tenor.

Because Jeremiah prophesies,

there will be a day

when Judaism will be turned on its head.

Why?

Because the way a Jew could become righteous

was by keeping the law.

I mean, not just the first five books

of the Bible, the Torah,

but all the stuff that the rabbis added to it,

hundreds and hundreds of regulations

that they added to it.

You want to be righteous and be a Jew?

You've got to keep the law.

And as Paul says,

in the Corinthian literature,

if you let down,

if you let down God

in one aspect of the law,

you've cancelled,

you know, you've just let down

in every aspect of the law.

But Jeremiah prophesied something

that would turn the whole deal inside out.

He said,

there will be a day

when that law

that Moses staggered down Mount Sinai with,

ten tablets of stone,

that law will no longer be

on tablets of stone out there,

no longer in the rantings of the rabbis,

no, I'm going to put my law where?

In your mind

and in your heart.

Imagine.

That's why we're saved by grace

according to St. Paul.

It's not about keeping the law.

It's not about doing our best.

It's not about trying hard.

It's about a God of grace

who loves you,

loves you,

even though you don't deserve it.

What was God's consideration

on the covenant that he made

and that we have made today?

His consideration is his love for you.

I'm a little nervous about

banging on about the love of God

because I don't want to make you think

that Christianity is just a kind of

love thing.

You know, like Hyde Anderson,

1964,

San Francisco.

No, this is

total.

This is a commitment

to a completely

different way of living.

And God,

in his wisdom,

decided

it would be best

in all those covenants

for people to make

those covenants

with God

together

so that we have each other

to help each other,

to pray for each other,

to rebuke each other.

when we go wrong.

You know,

Paul said in Ephesians,

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4,

that we should speak the truth

to one another in love.

I'm not sure there's enough

of that in our churches

and I wouldn't want to go

to a church

where there was too much of it.

Speaking the truth

in love.

I've heard Christian folks

say the most terrible things

to each other

and when you say,

why did you say that?

They say,

I was just being honest.

That's not what the Bible says.

I mean,

sometimes the truth

is cruel,

isn't it?

No,

the Bible says,

speak the truth

in love.

But the biggest sin

in churches is,

we think because

we're supposed to be

loving,

that we should never,

ever try and speak

truthfully to someone else.

So terrible behavior

in churches

goes by and by and by

and never gets challenged.

The covenant

you've made today,

my friend,

if you take it seriously,

and I can't make you

take it seriously,

but the covenant

you make today,

if you take it seriously,

is life changing.

It's church changing.

It's community changing.

And who knows,

maybe even world changing.

And you ask yourself

this question,

how could God

ask me to say that stuff,

really?

I mean,

seriously?

Put me to what you put me

to suffering?

Isn't that a kind of

masochistic tendency

that I really be better

not to go there?

No.

Remember,

Wesley's big motivation

was total submission.

The Garden of Gethsemane.

When Jesus was in the kind

of mental pain

that's unimaginable.

And he even considered

not doing what God

wanted him to do.

Take this cup away

from me, Lord,

he prayed.

And then he said,

not my will,

but thy will be done.

I mean,

interestingly,

you may have missed it,

you said that prayer.

Our Father,

who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Your will be done

on earth

as it is in heaven.

Rolls off the tongue,

doesn't it?

You may have no idea

what you just prayed.

And this would be

an awful imperative

to us,

wouldn't it?

If it wasn't for the fact

that God hasn't left us

alone to struggle.

To struggle with our

half-heartedness,

to struggle with our

disobedience,

to struggle with our

lack of faith,

to discover,

to just not left us

alone with that.

When I leave you,

said Jesus in John 16,

I will send you

an advocate,

a counselor.

He said,

who will teach you

everything that I

have taught you?

See,

we sing that

old chorus,

don't we?

No,

never alone.

There's a wonderful

truth in that.

you've not been

left alone to

struggle.

To struggle with

the commitments

you made

in the covenant

prayer this morning.

This is truly

amazing,

I think,

that God doesn't

leave us alone

to mess with it.

And of course,

the thing about

this covenant

is,

the reason God

can ask me

to,

why Wesley

can ask me

to pray that

prayer in the

presence of God

and his people

is because

of what it

cost God

to send his

son to planet

earth,

to live amongst

us,

to be what

Saint Anselm

called the

God-man.

Only he

could save us.

And the cost

of that salvation

was that terrible

death on the

cross of Calvary.

vindicated

by the

resurrection

of Jesus

and glorified

in his

ascendancy

into heaven.

I love the

words of that

old hymn.

I quote it to

you now.

God,

I quote it to

God,

and when I

think about

the cross,

I close my

eyes and

try to see

the cruel

nails and

crown of

thorns and

Jesus crucified

for me.

I'm going to

ask you in a

moment to

close your

eyes and

try and see

Jesus on the

cross,

those cruel

nails through

his hands,

the spear

through his

middle,

and see

what that

tremendous

sacrifice

does for

you.

If we

just allow

today to

be our

groundhog day,

tomorrow will

be just the

same as

yesterday and

the same as

the next day.

we have to

be serious

about this,

my dear

friends.

Let us

pray that

tomorrow will

be different.

It may not

be easy,

but this I

know,

that whatever

life throws

at me,

I will

still hold

together.

Because God

in the power

of his Holy

Spirit is with

me, teaching

me, encouraging

me, rebuking

me.

Tell you a

story about a

young woman

just to

close.

She was

called Joyce

and she was

in the

congregation I

served in

Slough.

I know.

You know,

Slough is the

kind of place

where people

have got bumper

stickers that

say happiness

is Slough in

my rearview

mirror.

And we

were a very

poor congregation

in the sense

that nobody

was wealthy,

nobody had

much money.

We were poor

in many ways,

but spiritually

God made that

little group

of people

very rich.

And in that

congregation

was a woman

who had a

terrible,

terrible life

script.

She married a

man and he

had not,

the day after

they got married

he decided he

wasn't going to

work anymore.

And he used to

lie in bed all

day after

the pretense

of having a

bad back.

Although if

the situation

required it,

he could move

pretty nimbly.

And so they

were just

clocking up

debt,

day by day,

week by week.

And in the

church,

people knew

about this.

And one day

this lady,

single lady,

I think she's

probably three

or four years

older than me,

she came to

me,

this would be,

she'd be 40-ish

at this stage.

And she said,

Mike,

can I have a

word with you?

And I said,

yeah.

And she said,

I'm really

burdened by

Alan and

Chris' debt.

And I feel

God is asking

me to do

something.

I said,

what would

that be?

She said,

well,

do you know

how much

their debt

is?

I said,

I'd gather

it's three

and a half

thousand.

She said,

yeah,

I heard

that.

She said,

I feel

God is

asking me

to give

my life

savings

to them,

three and

a half

thousand

pounds.

I was

full of

kind of

nervousness

about this.

I'm like,

you mustn't

do that.

You know,

you've got

no idea.

They might

have the

same debt.

She said,

Mike,

I feel

God is

asking me

to do

this.

She gave

it.

Alan,

the husband,

from his

bedside,

I don't

think he

ever gave

his life

to Christ,

but a

week later

he went

and got

himself a

job.

He was

a joiner

by

God.

And I

tell that

story

because I

think

Joyce

understood

what kind

of commitment

is the

kind of

commitment

that God

honors.

I tell

that story

because Joyce

reminds me

that we're

not just

called together

today to

come in

this house

and say

hefty things

and walk

out again.

No.

We're

asked to

tell God

that we're

fully

submitted

and then,

this is the

difficult bit,

we're

supposed to

live like

we're totally

surrendered.

Holy Spirit

there to

help us

but you're

there to

help us,

you're

there to

help me

with this,

I'm here

to help

you with

that.

That's

why we

said it

together.

Put me

to doing,

put me

to suffering,

put me

to that

costly

kind of

sacrifice

that God

showed me

in his

love for

me,

in that

God so

loved the

world that

he sent

his only

son that

whoever

believes in

him should

not perish

but have

everlasting

life.

I need

your help.

We need

each other,

we need

the power

of the

Holy Spirit

in our

lives.

And if

we're

prepared to

take that

covenant

seriously,

we have

a fighting

chance.

Change

life can

mean a

changed

family,

a changed

family can

mean a

changed

church,

a changed

church can

mean a

changed

community,

a changed

community can

mean a

changed

county.

It goes

on and

on and

on.

That's the

way it's

meant to

be, the

multiplier

effect of

committed

Christianity.

I don't

know about

you but

I can't

end by

saying this,

I am

well up

for it.

I just

need a bit

of help

like you

do and

like God

offers.

In the

name of

that amazing

God who

covenants

with us

because of

his love,

Father,

Son and

Holy Spirit,

the people

who agreed

said together,

Amen.