Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Matthew 4:18-22; Matthew 8:18-22

Preached by Rev. Dr. Robert Matlack
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Today I want to talk with you about commitment. Commitment is a big word whether we're using it to talk about our families or our faith. Commitment is often a very difficult word in a society where we find ourselves pulled in many directions, and often over-committed and over-extended. At the same time, commitment is a critically important value that has to do with setting priorities and focusing on those things that are truly important. True commitment is more than a fleeting experience, for it has to do with giving a part of yourself to something because you know how important it is.

Think too about the commitment that is made in raising a child. I remember back when my daughter, who is the older of my two children, was born. You prepare as best you can, but there is so much that you are still unprepared for. I don't know that any new parent can fully grasp the size of the commitment that they have made. Raising a child is one of the most important and also one of the biggest commitments that we can make, and it's a commitment that lasts a lifetime. Family life is built on our commitments to love and to care for each other. It's not always easy. But as members of a family we are committed to be there, to care, to share...

When we think about commitment, the example of Jesus' disciples comes to mind. Simon and Andrew, James and John were out fishing as was their practice, for they were fishermen. There they were at work when Jesus came along and invited them to follow Him. We're not told what they already knew about Jesus and what else might have been said in the conversation, but the result is a commitment on their part to follow Christ.

They leave their families and homes, they leave their way of life and their trades to follow Christ and to prepare for the coming of God's Kingdom. They have just made a major commitment, one which will change their lives in the months and the years to come. In fact, their lives will never again be the same!

The size of a commitment to follow Christ is underscored in our second passage from Matthew. There a teacher of the Law comes up to Jesus and volunteers to follow him wherever He goes. Jesus reminds Him that He has no fixed dwelling place. If you ask Jesus where He lives, the answer is nowhere or everywhere, for there is no building, no home, no place that Jesus has to call His own. He travels and ministers from place to place, and to follow Him is to give up the security of possessions and of a home.

Another man said "Sir, first let me go back and bury my father." "Follow me", Jesus answered, "and let the dead bury their own dead." As we read those words they seem harsh and uncaring to those who take their responsibility to their families seriously. But Jesus' words are neither harsh nor uncaring, rather they go to the very heart of a commitment to follow Christ, namely that that faith commitment must take priority over every other commitment. This man is not one of the twelve disciples, but is none-the-less a follower whose commitment to follow Christ is pushed to a higher level as Jesus challenges him to think about what his priorities really are. If Jesus were sure of this man's commitment, then He would not have challenged His need to care for His family, for Jesus recognized that as an important responsibility that we have. Jesus only challenged people in this way when He was unsure of their commitment, when they seemed to have one reason after another why they couldn't follow Christ today. Jesus used these examples to remind all of us, that if we would truly follow Christ, then nothing must stand in our way, for while there will always be reasons why this isn't the most convenient time, nothing is more important than living out our faith commitment.

That's a powerful example for us to hear, for we live in a society where commitment to our faith is often partial and a matter of convenience. It's easy and comfortable to be a christian in the United States. We don't face persecution. We really don't face any great challenges to our faith. It's a voluntary commitment which we make and then decide how thoroughly we shall carry it out. It's no secret that some church members are very serious about the commitment that they make, while others are very tentative, and we make room for both in the life of the church.

In the village of Dikfunjambudi, Zaire it was the first celebration of the Harvest Festival at the new church. The church had been built with a thick, thatched roof and sun-dried, mud-and-stick walls up to about the three foot level, with logs for pews. A narrow center aisle led to an altar railing made of freshly cut palm branches. The church was packed that day with twice as many people looking in from outside the building. Drums beat in tones matching the Otetela words, "Come, let us worship Jesus, God's Son, who loved us and gave himself for us," announced the call to worship.

"At the pastor's invitation almost all the people got up and went outside to where their gifts were waiting to be brought in. In a moment they came streaming down the aisle with baskets of home-pounded rice, stalks of bananas and all sorts of other fruits and vegetables. Several brought live chickens, while others dragged in squealing pigs and bleating goats and tied their struggling gifts to the altar rail.

"When it appeared nearly all the gifts had been brought forward, Pastor Ngondojolo stood up. Before he could speak, however, an elderly woman arose from the last pew and made her way to the center aisle. She carried nothing. A man sitting on the aisle saw her empty hands and tried to stop her, muttering in Otetela, ‘Old woman, sit down! You don't have anything to bring!'

"Pulling away from him, she continued to the front of the church. There she turned to face the tightly packed congregation, all of whom say that she was empty-handed. She waited for the murmuring to quiet, and then, standing among all the gifts that had been brought, she slowly raised her outstretched arms, palms up, looking beyond the congregation she said in a voice clearly heard by all, ‘Uwandji, dimi lambelaka utemami!' ‘Lord, I bring myself.'"

Think about that, for that's the greatest commitment that anyone can make. The commitments of our time and talents, the commitments of our dollars, these are important because they make ministry happen, and they are even more important because they also symbolize a commitment of ourselves. Two weeks from today, you'll be asked to come forward, bearing pieces of paper that speak of the commitment that you make - a commitment of your very self. Please pray about that commitment and how God is calling you.

Amen