Taught at Christian Life Church, early 1996.
COD or AWOL (COMMITMENT)
Have you ever bought anything COD? There was a price attached to getting the item. And for the church to be successful, there is a price to be paid by each of us. Last year I took a journey through the scriptures in the Wednesday evening Bible study. The tour director, Pastor Sandy planned it, she decided which books Gary Richardson, Paul Mummert, Rudy Brubaker and I would teach. I got the books on commitment, obedience and discipline, that's COD. Sandy knew I needed that message and the best way to make sure I got it was to have me teach it. Sandy was picking on me.
Now, didn't that sound stupid. I knew Pastor Sandy wasn't picking on me but I was beginning to wonder by the end of the year. I've been telling myself I'm committed, I'm obedient, I'm disciplined but during the year God spoke to me through his word and the holy spirit to clean up my act. In the last few weeks I've had more good old fashioned correction. It's called a trip to the woodshed. On December 29th Pastor Sandy told me how much work it would be for people in the degree program and how she was concerned about the people taking the courses. She didn't know it until recently but Internally I rebeled, then remembered the obedience lesson. Let me tell you right then I didn't care about anyone else, it was going to be a lot of work for ME. You see, the teacher must be the first partaker. Don't aspire to teach unless you can stand the heat. By the time I'm finished a couple of you'll say I'm picking on you. If you do, you'll give the devil a golden opportunity to destroy you. I'm not targeting anyone any more than Pastor Sandy was when she picked the books of the Bible. But when I teach I understand why John said, "I have no greater joy than to see my children walk in truth." If just one of you gets this it'll be worthwhile.
After I got my attitude adjustment, I shared some things I was seeing about commitment, obedience and discipline with Pastor Sandy and she suggested I teach it some Sunday. I responded, "let the pastor." Just think this through slowly with me, one step at a time, I'm talking obedience, I'm asked to do something, I try to back out. That's a new definition of dumb.
Today Christians talk a good talk of commitment, but their walk doesn't support the talk. They don't attack the enemy unless there's a way out and if the going gets tough they run for cover. Is that commitment? What does commitment take?
It takes obedience.
It takes singleness of mind.
It takes a certainity that you absolutely know what you should do.
It takes submission to authority.
It takes the proper preparation.
It takes self discipline.
And these are the very things giving many Christians the most trouble and this is why the church isn't victorious and without spot or wrinkle. It isn't the force to turn the world right side up. Note I said right side up, most of us agree it's upside down now. Our job is to turn it right side up. But if the progress I've seen in the church in the last fifty years is used as a rate of change, and if Jesus is waiting for us to get ready for his return, it'll not be for at least a millenium. Clearly something must change, and it's not God, it's us.
That's why apostles and prophets are being raised up, why pastors, teachers and evangelists are being empowered by the spirit of God. It's to get us off dead center. And without the five fold ministry that's the state of the church. But even with them, if we don't listen to these gifts from God, that's just where we'll stay. Now, when I have someone telling me I need to change, it doesn't seem like the time to call them a gift from God but that's what they're called in Ephesians 4:8 and that's just what they are, no matter what we think. If the word says it, it is. And I'll tell you, both of our pastors have been just that to me, and so have the elders, and so have some others who've allowed God to use them. At times I haven't viewed them as gifts from God and you may have a hard time calling me a gift from God. If you have that problem, I'll understand. I've been there. But I'll not understand if you stay there. And I doubt if God will either.
We're in a battle. And the enemy would like to kill every one of us, he wants to kill every righteous seed in the earth. That's you, me, your kids, my kids. He wants to kill us spiritually but he'll settle for killing us physically if that's the worst he can do. We're in a battle and the stakes are our very lives. We had better know where our help comes from.
I study warfare. I find good lessons there. Don't get offended, these people fought a good fight in the natural and we can learn from their exploits. For six months after D Day in 1944 we had been on the offensive but our supply system was inadequate and our advance was stopped, not by the enemy but by a shortage of fuel and ammunition. We gave the enemy a breather and he took the opportunity to plan, prepare for and execute an devastating attack. There's two lessons for the church. Don't let the other things take our attention and energy and don't give the enemy a breather.
George Patton, one of the greatest generals the United States Army has ever produced and his third army, had been sitting in a static line in southern France. They were called to join the battle. That army pulled out so carefully the Germans didn't know they left, turned north in terrible December weather, snow, ice and cold, travelled over 300 miles and blind sideded the enemy. The movies I've seen of that action remind me of this winter's storms. Can you imagine moving an army in that?
Didn't that sound good, blindsiding the enemy? How would you like to do that to the devil? George called General Dwight Eisenhower and chearfully reported, "Ike, I'm committed." He had engaged the enemy, there was no reserve force to relieve him, he could not alter events, he was committed. He couldn't back out without being overrun. George liked that kind of fight, the one you could win and make a difference. And it isn't commitment if you can back out. And look at his attitude, he was proud to be in the thick of it, he detested being on the sidelines. How God desires us to be in the thick of it, to be off the sidelines, to be out of the stationary front, to be out of our comfort zone. But Patton wasn't foolish in his attack.
The commitment was preceeded by proper preparation. Patton's army wasn't making its first forced march, they were accustomed to seemingly impossible demands. General Montgomery said even Patton's men couldn't do it. But in Patton's third army, excellence was the norm. It should be in the Church too. In II Timothy 2:4 Paul said be instant in season and out of season, to be ready all the time. But what if Patton's men had decided to skip basic training. You laugh, skip basic training in the Army? It's called going AWOL, absent without leave. But how many Christians are AWOL? How many are absent from the battle? It's called desertion and they shoot deserters. Why? Because each soldier must be able to rely on the man next to him when
they go into battle. But Christians leave the battle for many reasons, they're tired, they don't like the post they hold, the next post looks better, and about twenty others. And Christians need to be able to rely on the one next to them, in His army there can be no deserters, we are always in the battle. In Ezekiel 22:30 God looked for one to stand in the gap and could find none. The gap was caused by someone who deserted. And Paul talks negatively about John Mark because he deserted Paul on his First journey.
During the War men were sent all over the world, and in the army of God we can expect that too. We can't fight a battle in Cleveland and stay in York, nor can we fight a battle in York if we defect to somewhere else. But what if some soldier with orders to go to France bought a plane ticket to Hawaii and showed up at Scofield Barracks some morning reporting for duty. Do you think he would have been given a soft job in an office with a beach view and promoted to Colonel in six months? Let me help you, he'd be thrown in the stockade, court marshalled and put in a military prison. But Christians desert their posts, then expect to be called to leadership. Sounds dumb, doesn't it? There must be responsibility and accountability in the church. Many have deserted posts in the church and had they stayed, they would have been soon relieved, a honored hero of the faith rather than a deserter.
Habakuk chapter 2 verse 1 begins - "I will stand my Watch." "My" is the important word. I cannot stand Pastor Sandy's watch. I cannot stand Pastor Barry's watch. And I thank God I cannot. I must stand Ralph's watch and that's only possible with his grace and even so it's tough enough. And I must stand it when He wills, not when it's convenient. If I stand the watch of another, my post is left vacant. A gap which the enemy can exploit. If I stand the watch of another, I push him from his post, I deprive him the opportunity to do the things that will make him grow and place a second best in the position. If you're not in God's will, you're second best no matter how well you sing, pray, preach, teach, prophecy or shovel snow. You know shoveling snow can be ministry? If we contend for the post, we consume energy in that activity rather than in fighting our common enemy.
We're called, we do not campaign. People campaign for political office, to be elected by popularity. In the kingdom we are called, called by Him, called by the leaders he set over us. When we campaign we short circuit the call of God, we set our will against His will. Campaigning is simply REBELLION. And we can campaign for others with disastrous results, generally this is done to children by their parents. And there are many who resist the call to the fields of the harvest. This too is REBELLION. In I Samuel 15:23 God calls rebellion as the sin of witchcraft. And God does not wink at rebellion any more than he winks at witchcraft. If you're campaigning, stop it -- repent and ask God to place you where he wants you. And if you've been called, called by God, called by the leaders, accept that call.
We sing the army of God is primed and ready for battle. But primed means ready to fire, just as we are to be ready at any time. Actually the word primed comes from the last step in getting a black powder rifle ready to fire. Until it's primed it has a ball and powder in the barrel but no cap to make a spark to set it off and that ball is just going to sit there until the powder goes off. The whole thing is worthless. If we are really primed, we will be ready any time we are called. And still others are just a flash in the pan, they're flashy and noisy, they make a lot of fire, smoke and noise but they don't accomplish anything because they lack the commitment to carry through and finish the task. That's what happens when a flint lock is fired and the powder in the flash pan goes off but the fire doesn't carry through into the barrel to set off the main charge. The ball just sits harmlessly in the barrel. When we're properly primed and ready, we hurt the enemy. And proper preparation prevents misfires.
Commitment brings desire for preparation. We talk of being led by the spirit and that's a must but it's no substitute for preparation, in fact when we walk in the spirit and are prepared, the result is much more than one plus one. Just like the loaves and fishes, God can take what we have and multiply it. Jesus prepared 30 years for 3 years of ministry yet we have many who aspire to ministry who've made it a practice of avoiding preparation.
And I'll throw in a commercial, if you feel God is calling you to ministry, and you aren't enrolled in the classes here, why not? My background is the Pentecostal and Holiness movements. The organized church thought we were off the wall, and sometimes for good reason, we were. Our preachers varied from very good to very bad and few were really well prepared. There was no accountability and we called the seminary, the cemetary. There was some truth to that but it also helped avoid preparation. I'll tell you, knowing the word is essential. Anything short of your best isn't good enough.
We're being prepared for the battle. If you talk to someone who has been in basic training you'll find out it wasn't a fun time. It's work. And our training for battle is the same. Some of you need to be in classes. We have many empty seats. But that's your loss. And don't think I'm angry with you for not coming, it's easier for me to teach in a group of 10 to 20 than to a hundred. That's my comfort zone. We need to get the word into us. That word is called our our sword Ephesians 6:17. Do you really want to go into battle without your sword? Do you think Patton's men went without their rifles? No. They learned to use those rifles and also how to fix one in the dark by taking it apart and putting it together under a blanket. That's like learning scripture so you can use it when you don't have your Bible.
You need to take every opportunity to learn the word. I don't believe in making services longer to accomplish that, I prefer to make use of every minute. That's scriptural, in Ephesians 5:13 it talks of taking advantage of every opportunity. Connie and the expressive worship team will verify that. At the prophecy conference I was pretty hard on set changes during the service. I wanted them mimimized for several technical reasons, but also because the flow of the spirit can be lost when we have dead time during a service. A set change isn't a totally lifting spiritual experience. Neither is watching someone who isn't prepared get their act together. I want to pack the services with everything they'll hold. I don't like baseball because it's fifteen minutes of action jam packed into three hours. Just to keep things in balance, the moving of the spirit and waiting on the Lord are action. It's time for you to listen to God and it's profitable. As Paul said in second Timothy 2:15 study to show yourself approved, a workman who needs not be ashamed.
What if Patton's training Sergents hadn't done their jobs? What if they'd missed something crucial? We wouldn't be here today talking about the victory. And the trainers would be to blame for the failure. And tell me what will happen if the pastor and the elders hold back and don't teach you what you need? Who's fault is it then? First Corintians 14:6 says if the watchman blows an uncertain trumpet, who will prepare for battle, and Ezekiel 33:6 tells us that if we warn a man and he continues in sin we are free but if we don't warn him his blood if on our head. There are things I'm sharing this morning that I'd rather not bring up, but I must be obedient.
The battle we're fighting today and the ones in the future are more crucial than the battle of the bulge or any other I've studied. Those battles were for property and lives, our battles are for the eternal destiny of men. And we better be prepared or the enemy will win. Preparation has a price. But we press toward the mark and deny the flesh to attain the greater goal.
It is no longer enough to do good things, we must do the right things at the right time and for the right reasons. Motivation is so important. Holiness is much more than how we look or what we do, it includes our attitude. It is no longer enough to say I will do God's will whether I want to or not, it is time to align our will with his so we desire to see his will. Obedience is saying yes to God rather than the giving up because you're tired of running from him. Anything short of perfect submission is not obedience. And this may place you in unfamiliar settings. Now someone is going to say "mission trip", that's the popular and religeously correct term we use. OK, but where is your mission field? Is it over choppy seas or is it over a cup of coffee when you share Jesus with a friend, or you encourage someone in the Lord? Or is it your family. Let me repeat that, your family, your first mission field. Or all three? No matter what, it's your calling you must follow. And you can't follow the calling of another.
What is important, what is God's will? Should we be in bondage to physical? No. But we need to be responsible. What if Patton's mechanics hadn't serviced the trucks on schedule and they broke down? Routine work, sure but essential. And there is routine work in the church. It isn't all excitement but it needs to be done. Let's get real. If you can't be faithful in the little things, how can you be trusted with big things? And the children aren't the little things. Let me squash that, once and for all. Sure children's groups are smaller and less threatening for someone who's new in ministry but our best must go the them. Jesus said they were important, he was the teacher of multitudes but had time for the children. Scripturally the little things are the physical, not the spiritual. Luke 16:10-12. And how can you expect to have your own ministry unless you can be faithful in the ministry of another? How will others support you?
Let's examine a few little things, being faithful to services, rehersals, classes. But all kinds of things get in the way. You women claim you can't get the kids ready for church. I almost understand that, but for those who are married I'll ask, "Husbands, what are you doing to help?" When you helped make that child you signed on for at least 20 years. And by the way, if you married a woman who had children, you took on that responsibility and you had better take it seriously. And if any of you are thinking of taking a husband or wife who has children, keep that in mind. They're a part of the package and anyone who doesn't provide for his family is worse than an infidel, I Timothy 5:8.
And what about being late for services? I know someone who was late so often I thought my watch stopped one morning when they came in on time. Now if you CAN'T be on time, I mean really can't, God understands, and so do I. I know one man who got off work at 6:30, and came to church even if he was a little late. That's commitment. But if you can't be faithful in the little things, how can you be trusted with big things? How can the leadership place you in a position of responsibility if they can't be sure you'll be on time, or at all?
Back to your first mission field, your family. Are you committed to it? Aretta, Steve and the people they work with are capable ministers of the gospel and they do a tremendous job with the children. But they can't do it all. They get the children less than hour out of a week out of about 98 waking hours. Not much. But they make a lot of that time and we better thank God for every one of them.
But if you're not doing your part you're stealing from your children. Tell them stories about Jesus. If you don't know the Bible, learn it. Check some books out of the church library, for the children or for yourself. Don't just use video tapes, Your children need to hear you expound the word. They need to see you pray, they need to see you worship. And if you're not doing that you're stealing a heritige from them. I'm 50 and I still remember my dad putting me on the bench in front of him and kneeling to pray. That way I couldn't get away and get into trouble. But I saw him pray. I saw him work to help build churches, and I saw him worship God. And it made a profound impact on me. And I'll tell you there are others here who could say the same thing. Look at Terry, Gary and Melody, Rod, Doris, Mike. Their parents cared enough to put their lives into them. Would you like your children to turn out like them? All of them grew up in the church. They were taken when they were "too small" and they were disciplined if they didn't behave. And they slept on the seat next to the parents if the service went too long, which it frequently did.
The bible says the older women are to teach the younger ones to love their husbands and take care of their families. But you know, I don't see Fern beseeged by younger women in the church asking for advice. I'll bet many of the younger ones don't know her. I'm going to share some experience, generally it's best to avoid advice on discipline from grandmothers. Let's face it, she may be a great mother, but it's impossible for her to be objective about the grandchildren. It isn't her fault, it's built in. If we'd have followed the advice of my mother, yecch. And she was a good mother. What's worse, is the advice from peers. Much of that advice is the blind leading the blind. I don't know anyone I agree with totally but if you listen to men like James Dobson and Joe McGee and spend time with God and listen to him, you have a good foundation. But you're going to have to work at it. And husbands, it isn't your wife's job. And where we have single parents in the body, it's all of our responsibilities to help where we can. And there is nothing wrong with helping a couple too. They get tired, and need a break too.
Many parents are using the trial and error method, mostly they get trials and errors. Yet when we have seminars, parents stay away in droves. This will seem harsh, but I need to tell you the way it is. You say you can't control your children in church. We take them out of the service and they never learn to participate in the things of God. There are times this is appropriate to provide you and them opportunities, like the Super Saturday, but it shouldn't be every service. I've heard some people don't come to services if we don't have nursery. I've seen a couple of you in tears because you couldn't handle your children in church. I feel for you but my sympathy isn't worth much. Let me scare you into doing something. If you can't handle a 5 year old, what are you going to do with a teenager? If you're in that position, get help NOW. And find someone who loves you enough tell you the truth even if you don't like it.
There are some of you who feel you're going through hell with your children but you're still here. Don't give up, no matter how bad it seems. The ones who worry me are the ones who have abdicated or think all is well while their children are in rebellion. Generally, undisciplined and rebelious children have undisciplined and rebelious parents. Notice I said generally because I've seen parents who corrected their own lives and found it takes time to turn the rest of the family. It takes discipline and prayer. And I know of a couple of you who are winning in spite of how it looks. Stand your watch. Don't quit a month or a week or a day or an hour before victory.
Come on parents, it's time to grow up. You complain about 15 year olds having babies, children having children we call it. But we have thirty year old babies who need to grow up too. The word says, "When I was a child I spoke as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things." Now imagine, that very tough passage is in I Corinthians 13, the love chapter. Some of you men are more interested in your golf game or whitetails than your wife and children. You know the National League standings better than you know the ages of your children. You spend more time with the NBA than the NIV. I love you enough to tell you there are things that must change.
We talk about the men taking their rightful place in the church. This isn't happening because the men aren't taking their rightful place in the home. Too many want to be the Lord and Master rather than the priest and protector they should be. Come on men, it's time to set the example. And by the way, taking that rightful place is not ordering the wife around or telling her what she should do or what she's doing wrong. Gals, I want to show you how smart most men are. I know a lot of husbands who have convinced their wives men cannot vacuum, do dishes or help with the children. Based on my studies, most men possess the physical strength, the manual dexterity and the minimum mental capacity to handle these tasks. Generally two hours of training is more than adequate.
What does that have to do with taking the rightful place in the home? The Bible defines that place as "Husbands love your wives as Christ Loved the Church and gave himself for her." If you can't minister love to your wife and family, how are you going to minister love to the world? Someone here just said I don't live up to that all the time. Right, both Dee and I agree with you. I miss it a lot, I missed it yesterday. But like Paul, I press toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Sure I miss it. But I come back to him for forgiveness. And he is faithful. That doesn't give me the right to sin again, God forbid. But it gives us the right to ask God to create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit in me. How can God renew a right spirit unless it was already there and lost? Think about what you're singing. Do you really want to admit that you once had a right spirit and somewhere you missed the mark? If you really want to have God move powerfuly in your life, the answer is a resounding Yes.
Marathon runners are good for a Christian to study, they press on, no matter how tired they are, no matter how it seems too far and the gold medal is out of reach, because they know the prize is not for the one who runs the first mile the fastest, but the one who runs the whole race. The gold awaits the one who has finished the course. But to finish the runner must be prepared and getting up early and running takes commitment. It takes obedience to the trainer or coach. It takes discipline to run no matter how tired you are. A runner can loose by quitting one step short of the finish line. And you can too.
The Bible says that if we are willing and obedient we will eat the good of the land. I think it is time to pay the price to sit down at the table. And that price is commitment, the attitude of not counting the cost but instead looking to the joy which is set before us as Jesus did as he went to the cross. That price is obedience to his call, not doing it reluctantly but joyfully. That price is discipline, the training ourselves to run the race which is set before us.
And at the end of that race there is a crown of righteousness. It is a new name written in Glory that no man can erase. It is eternal life with Christ. It is victory over the devil. It is a victorious life in Christ. Are you COD or are you AWOL? If you've gone AWOL, God has declared an amnisty. You can return to the father's house where there is love and forgiveness. If you've missed it, the time to come back is now. Maybe it's just attitudes, but the little foxes are the ones that destroy the vines. Maybe it's not being concerned about your relationship with God. Maybe it's a problem with submitting to God and the church. Maybe it's allowing other things to take first place. Your problem doesn't matter, there is a remedy. And that remedy is available to you.
I keep talking about spending time with him and I hear people who say how? How can I spend hours with him? I'm reminded of the illustration Travis Thigpin used in the conference. We cannot pray without ceasing in the sense that we pray every minute, but we can begin to discipline ourselves that Jesus is so much a part of our lives that he is with us every moment and we can spend time with him no matter where we are. And Travis concluded, If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. When we are a part of him we never step away from him.
Copyright 1996 Ralph E. Brandt, York PA
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