A PRAYER OF A COMMITTED MAN

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A PRAYER OF A COMMITTED MAN

• The commitment of a family member to his church
  family
• An example of commitment

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INTRODUCTION

• Basic Ingredients for Christian Life
• WkG WdG CP FP BO Ti Te
  Growing Spiritual Life
• Work of God Word of God Commitment Faith
  Believers Time Testing
• Commitment is crucial to living a Christian life
  the life lived by someone who loves and follows
  the Lord Jesus Christ.
• But we feel over-committed. And commitment costs.
• What are the ultimate commitments we should make?
  

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Cost of Commitment for Signers of Declaration of
Independence

• The cost of commitment Of the 56 men who signed
  the Declaration of Independence for the American
  colonies, five were captured by the British and
  tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes
  ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the
  Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons
  captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died
  from wounds or hardships of the war. Carter
  Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and
  trader, saw his ships sunk by the British navy.
  He sold his home and properties to pay his debts
  and died in poverty. At the battle of Yorktown,
  the British General Cornwallis had taken over
  Thomas Nelson's home for his headquarters. Nelson
  quietly ordered General George Washington to open
  fire on the Nelson home. The home was destroyed
  and Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart was driven
  from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their
  thirteen children fled for their lives. His
  fields and mill were destroyed. For over a year,
  he lived in forest and caves, returning home only
  to find his wife dead and his children vanished.
  A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion.
• Kenneth L. Dodge, Resource, Sept./ Oct., 1992, p.
  5

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Philippians 11-11

• 1Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
• to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi,
  together with the overseers and deacons
• 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and
  the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In
  all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with
  joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel
  from the first day until now, 6being confident of
  this, that he who began a good work in you will
  carry it on to completion until the day of Christ
  Jesus.
• 7It is right for me to feel this way about all of
  you, since I have you in my heart for whether I
  am in chains or defending and confirming the
  gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me.
  8God can testify how I long for all of you with
  the affection of Christ Jesus.
• 9And this is my prayer that your love may
  abound more and more in knowledge and depth of
  insight, 10so that you may be able to discern
  what is best and may be pure and blameless until
  the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of
  righteousness that comes through Jesus Christto
  the glory and praise of God.

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BIG IDEA

• Prayerful commitment to abounding love,
  discerning wisdom and Gods energizing power will
  result in right choices and actions, leading to
  Gods glory in our lives and in the lives of the
  church.

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CONTEXT OF VERSES

• Letter is written to a church much like this one.
• Followers of Jesus
• Members of same God-people contract
• Part of a community body, family, church
• Main point is just as applicable to this church.
• Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in
  a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then,
  whether I come and see you or only hear about you
  in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in
  one spirit, contending as one man for the faith
  of the gospel , 127
• Pauls commitment is seen in how connected he was
  to them.
• In his mind, 13-6
• In his heart, 17-8
• Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long
  for, my joy and crown 41
• In his prayers, 19-11
• (Note what he prays for so different from
  today.)

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I. COMMITMENT TO WHAT GOALS?

• 9And this is my prayer that your love may abound
  more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
  10so that you may be able to discern what is best
  and may be pure and blameless until the day of
  Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness
  that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory
  and praise of God.
• A. In context of sentence God, his glory
• B. In context of letter church, unity for gospel
• What are your ultimate commitments that
  ultimately dictate your choices?

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II. COMMITMENT TO WHAT PATH?

• A. Abounding love
• And this is my prayer that your love may
  abound 19
• What are the objects of this love?
• " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart
  and with all your soul and with all your strength
  and with all your mind' and, 'Love your
  neighbor as yourself.' Luke 1027
• 1. God
• a. What is love?
• b. Then, loving God means something like this
• --the Point, the Purpose, the Focus, and the
  Essence of it all.It was rooted in the very
  essence of what God is in himself. He is
  glorious, beautiful, and magnificent in his
  manifold perfections. They are infinite, eternal
  and unchanging. They are Truth and Justice and
  Goodness and Wisdom and Power and Love. Flowing
  out from what he is in himself comes the purpose
  for our existence. Gods passion for his glory
  gives birth to ours. That is the single,
  all-embracing, all-transforming reason for being
  a passion to enjoy and display Gods supremacy in
  all things for the joy of all people.
• God created us to live with a single passion to
  joyfully display his supreme excellence in all
  spheres of life. The wasted life is the life
  without this passion. God calls us to pray and
  think and dream and plan and work not to be made
  much of , but to make much of him in every part
  of our lives. John Piper, Dont Waste Your Life,
  p. 37

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II. COMMITMENT TO WHAT PATH?

• A. Abounding love
• And this is my prayer that your love may
  abound 19
• What are the objects of this love?
• 1. God
• 2. church family
• If you have any encouragement from being united
  with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any
  fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and
  compassion, then make my joy complete by being
  like-minded, having the same love, being one in
  spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish
  ambition or vain conceit, but in humility
  consider others better than yourselves. Each of
  you should look not only to your own interests,
  but also to the interests of others. Phil 21-4
• But, the motivation of love is not enough Love,
  unguided by wisdom can be destructive.

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II. COMMITMENT TO WHAT PATH?

• B. Discerning wisdom only way to mature love
• And this is my prayer that your love may abound
  more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.
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• Love without understanding is at best
  sentimental and at worst destructive.
• 1. toward God cant really love Him without
  understanding Him and His ways
• a. understand His love
• If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who
  did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us
  allhow will he not also, along with him,
  graciously give us all things?... 35Who shall
  separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
  trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or
  nakedness or danger or sword? 37No, in all these
  things we are more than conquerors through him
  who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither
  death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
  neither the present nor the future, nor any
  powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything
  else in all creation, will be able to separate us
  from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
  Lord. Romans 831-39
• b. understand His work

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II. COMMITMENT TO WHAT PATH?

• B. Discerning wisdom only way to mature love
• 1. toward God cant really love Him without
  understanding Him and His ways
• a. understand His love
• b. understand His work Whats he doing in all
  the pain?
• Ecclesiastes Life seems to be a riddle, full of
  darkness, chance and sorrow
• But the God behind the riddle is wise, good and
  just.
• Trusting him is the key to a beautiful life in
  a dark world.
• And we know that in all things God works for the
  good of those who love him, who have been called
  according to his purpose. For those God foreknew
  he also predestined to be conformed to the
  likeness of his Son, that he might be the
  firstborn among many brothers. And those he
  predestined, he also called those he called, he
  also justified those he justified, he also
  glorified. Romans 828-30
• Why all the pain? God lovingly brings all
  things into our lives for the purpose of our
  ultimate good.

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• Since Eden and until Christ returns, God has
  entered a battle with a vision for what he
  intends to accomplish. The battle is not to
  improve our circumstances, to supply us with
  money, to protect us from suffering, to keep us
  safe from pain and struggle, or to quickly fix
  whatever problems develop in out bodies. We are
  encouraged to pray for all these things, but we
  must always finish our prayer with that wonderful
  caveat that in our immaturity we find so
  annoying if it be your will.
• Isnt it his will that his children enjoy the
  blessing of healthy bodies and pleasant
  circumstances? Apparently not. At least not in
  this life. In his old age, Peter said we were
  called to suffer well. He later admonished us to
  not be surprised when painful trials come our way
  as though something unexpected were happening (1
  Peter 220-21 412)
• God will one day wage war against every reason
  for tears, and he will win. But for now he is
  fighting a different battle that, as it is
  successfully fought, leaves plenty of reasons for
  tears. Until we go home, we can count on God to
  lead us into battle against soul disease.
• It is the battle to trust God when he doesnt
  seem trustworthy, to hope in him when complaint
  seems more justified, to draw near to him when he
  seems indifferent. In a phrase, the battle is to
  develop a good relationship with God. (Len-the
  struggle we have with not knowing God, not loving
  him, not believing him, not obeying him).
• Larry Crabb, Connecting

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II. COMMITMENT TO WHAT PATH?

• B. Discerning wisdom only way to mature love
• 1. toward God cant really love Him without
  understanding Him and His ways
• 2. toward the church community how do we love
  the church?
• To dwell above with saints we love, twil be a
  wondrous glory.
• But to live below with saints we know, ah, thats
  another story.
• a. loving unity is crucial to the testimony of
  the church (gospel impact)
• "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for
  those who will believe in me through their
  message, that all of them may be one, Father,
  just as you are in me and I am in you. May they
  also be in us so that the world may believe that
  you have sent me. John 1720-21
• Do everything without complaining or arguing, so
  that you may become blameless and pure, children
  of God without fault in a crooked and depraved
  generation, in which you shine like stars in the
  universe as you hold out the word of life
  Philippians 214-16
• b. We need discerning wisdom to have loving
  unity. Understanding like

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We need discerning wisdom toward the church.

• 1. To be unified, the church community needs an
  accepting atmosphere where truth and practice can
  be worked out in humility and community
• Community understanding of how to study and
  interpret the Bible
• Commitment to love, grace, humility, loyalty
• 2. We are to die together so that we can live
  together (not literally).
• Christianity is about the life of the Triune God
  released in human community. But the doorway into
  that life is death, and death is always painful.
  When Jesus died, he died alone. There is no
  greater pain. When we die to ourselves, we are to
  do it together, in community. There is no
  stronger bonding. Larry Crabb, Connecting, p. 95
• Death putting God and others first.
• To do this in community requires open and honest
  communication in the context of loyal love.

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We need discerning wisdom toward the church.

• 3. We are to live together in loving commitment
  to strengthen, encourage, and heal each other --
  to be Gods tool for good.
• a. one another passages
• b. Enter the battle for each others soul like a
  physician battling to save life.
• 1). Get mind off self.
• 2). Ask What is the most critical battle being
  fought in his/her soul?
• The battle is to trust God when he doesnt seem
  trustworthy, to hope in him when complaint seems
  more justified, to draw near to him when he seems
  indifferent. In a phrase, the battle is to
  develop a good relationship with God.
• The community of God has no higher calling than
  to seize the opportunity to experience God. Our
  fiercest battles are fought when we seek with all
  our heart to trust God so fully that we see every
  misfortune as something he permits and wants to
  use, to know him so richly that we turn to no one
  and nothing else to experience what our souls
  long to enjoy, to love him so completely and with
  such a consuming passion that we hate anything
  that comes between us and eagerly give it up.
  Thats a battle we cannot win alone. I need a
  community that is waging the same kind of war and
  will include me in the fight. I need a community
  that will enter my battle and help me recognize
  what it is so I dont spend my life fighting
  lesser ones

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We need discerning wisdom toward the church.

• 3. We are to live together in loving commitment
  to strengthen, encourage, and heal each other --
  to be Gods tool for good.
• b. Enter the battle for each others soul like a
  physician battling to save life.
• 3). To enter the battle
• Start with a few people.
• Listen be willing to enter an open door to
  listen to the struggle.
• Focus on the deeper issue behind outward
  problems the battle of knowing and believing
  God.
• Let them know you want to struggle with them.
• I want you to know how much I am struggling for
  you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who
  have not met me personally. My purpose is that
  they may be encouraged in heart and united in
  love, so that they may have the full riches of
  complete understanding, in order that they may
  know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
  Colossians 21-2
• Enter as a companion, not as a rescuer or solver
  of problems.
• Enter as a Christs representative communicating
  that we delight in them as Christ does.

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We need discerning wisdom toward the church.

• 3. We are to live together in loving commitment
  to strengthen, encourage, and heal each other --
  to be Gods tool for good.
• b. Enter the battle for each others soul like a
  physician battling to save life.
• 4). Be ready to enter the battle of physical
  aging and death
• The fight is a fight against lost hope, not lost
  health. The fight is a fight of faith.It is not
  a fight to get out of bed, but to rest in God
  It is not a fight to keep all the powers of
  youth, but to trust in the power of GodThe race
  is run against temptations that would make us
  doubt Gods goodnessIt is a fight to stay
  satisfied in God through broken hips and lost
  sight and failed memory. John Piper
• We die because we have lived. We live in order to
  know and love the God who made us. In dying we
  become more alive that we ever can be while part
  of this sorrowful world, because we are going to
  be with the God we want to know and love in a
  fuller way. I will die someday, and so will you.
  And that is a good thing. (based on writing of
  Daniel Taylor)

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We need discerning wisdom toward the church.

• 4. How can we develop this discerning wisdom?
• In fact, though by this time you ought to be
  teachers, you need someone to teach you the
  elementary truths of God's word all over again.
  You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives
  on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted
  with the teaching about righteousness. But solid
  food is for the mature, who by constant use have
  trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
  Hebrews 512-14
• a. Study Gods truth.
• O God, Im tired. Help me. Please, open my eyes
  so I can see wonders in your Word. O God. Mighty
  God! Maker of heaven and earth and all the
  galaxies of the universe. That you should lend an
  ear to me in this little room half awake. That
  you should occupy yourself with me while millions
  of your people pray, and all the while you hold
  New York and Tokyo and Paris in the palm of your
  hand. That you should call this tempted flesh the
  temple of the Holy Spirit. That you speak to me
  from this page as personally and powerfully as
  thought you sat here on the couch and talked. O
  God, what condescension. What unalterable mercy
  to attend to a little ant like me. Help me
  believe, O God John Piper,
• b. Read good books Larry Crabb, Connecting
• Finding God
• John Piper, Desiring God
• Dont Waste Your Life
• c. Practice
• and

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II. COMMITMENT TO WHAT PATH?

• A. Abounding love
• B. Discerning wisdom only way to mature love
• C. Jesus power
• filled with the fruit of righteousness that
  comes through Jesus Christ
• We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching
  everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present
  everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor,
  struggling with all his energy, which so
  powerfully works in me. Colossians 129
• Lord, only your life touching this persons heart
  can do what needs to be done. My skill, my
  cleverness, my knowledge add up to nothing if
  your life is not the energy controlling
  everything I do. Father, I am overwhelmed by what
  this person is facing. I am afraid. But I also
  have the peace that comes from knowing the power
  of your grace. Reveal your Son through me that I
  might be a powerful instrument for good in your
  Spirits hands. Larry Crabb, Connecting, p. 171
• D. Continual prayer (Paul had his people in his
  mind, heart, prayer)
• I thank my God every time I remember you. In all
  my prayers for all of you, I always pray with
  joy Phillipians13-4
• For this reason, since the day we heard about
  you, we have not stopped praying for you and
  asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his
  will through all spiritual wisdom and
  understanding. Colossians 19

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Some ultimate things to commit to

• Pray this prayer regularly before any church
  meeting
• for self and church
• Make the battle for your soul to believe God more
  important than a comfortable life.
• Enter the battle for the souls of other people.

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• The Man of Galilee
• They say I am a dreamer, blind and cannot see,
• That life consists of living, only to earn money.
• Well if thats what I am Lord, wont you care for
  me.
• I only want to be like the man of Galilee.
• I want to be like, I want to hear like, I want to
  see like the man of Galilee.
• I want to walk like, I want to talk like, I want
  to be like the man of Galilee.
• They say I am an idealist, blind and cannot see,
• That the principles I cling to, wont stand
  reality.
• Well if thats what I am Lord, wont you care for
  me.
• I only want to be like the man of Galilee.
• I want to be like, I want to hear like, I want to
  see like the man of Galilee.
• I want to walk like, I want to talk like, I want
  to be like the man of Galilee.