"COMMITMENT"
******************************************
Dedication to God's truth is the foundation for commitment. Lock on to that thought in your minds eye.
Without it, we are unable to offer God anything else. Paul explains this process of dedication in Romans 12.
"I beseech you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be
you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:1-2). Paul emphasizes three things here: Three keys for knowing God's
will. One, we are to have a yielding spirit and soul, for God's service. Two, live a separated life style from
this world and three, activate a new transformed mind. These are character building attributes after being
called and baptized.
After the dedication of our bodies to Christ, we are to commit our salvation fully to God's ways. We are to
avoid being conformed to this world. We must strive to be transformed through the teachings of God's
word. By doing this, we can discover God's perfect will for our lives.
The Apostle Paul's second letter to Timothy while he was in prison said, "For the which cause I also suffer
these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is
able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Timothy 1:12). Paul was suffering
loneliness while in imprisonment because he had not hesitated to declare the truth of God's word. No fear
for personal safety had sealed his lips. Paul understood verses like Proverbs 16:3, which tells us we are to
"Commit our works unto the Lord." "Commit your works unto the Lord, and your thoughts shall be
established" (Prov. 16:3). Your hearts will be at peace.
The Apostle James put it this way, "But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own
selves"(James 1:22).
Our goals in this life should be dedicated to God!! His ways are always the answer to life's trials. Job and
us, are advised in Job 5:8, "To seek unto God, and unto God commit your cause." Your trials!
The Psalms declare, "Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass"
(Psalms 37:5). He will settle the testing trial!
We have all had to count the cost when we committed ourselves to God. Discipleship is the complete and
permanent renunciation of personal ambitions and worldly interest. Those who are not willing to go all the
way may as well not even start. We must with conscience renew our spiritual vitality and strengthen our
minds. Especially when some tribulation or trial develops.
The writer of Hebrews, speaks out on this subject. "Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous,
but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight
paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed" (Heb 12: 11-13).
Disciples of Christ should not cave in under the adverse circumstances of daily life. This lapse of faith could
have an unfavorable influence on others. Drooping hands, should be renewed afresh to serve Christ,
because lazy hands get nothing accomplished! Feeble knees, should be strengthened because, weak knees
are not an asset in our race for God's kingdom to come! Faltering feet, should be guided in straight paths,
being reluctant to accept the disciplinary actions in life often leads a person into devious paths away from the
straight and narrow path that leads to God's kingdom.
Our path is to be locked on and committed to the authority from above, which is written in God's word, the
Bible. Which means every word of God. We are clearly advised to not add to or take away from His
statutes, His commandments and laws, or postpone His annual Holy Days!
When we commit our lives to God we must "prove all things" concerning God's instructions, not the
traditions of men. Without having God's Holy Spirit it is impossible to keep the truth and commitment to
God's way of life.
We must study by feeding upon God's word and pray on a daily basis in order to be committed wholly to our
Creator. God then will give us the wisdom and knowledge we need to face daily trials in life.
Ambassador College in Pasadena, CA had on a plaque on the back of the Merritt House that read: "The
Word of God is the Foundation of Knowledge." The College motto was "Recapture True Values."
These thoughts should never leave our thinking!
The Apostle Paul felt this way when speaking to Timothy. In Paul's final exhortation to Timothy, in his first
letter he encourages Timothy to guard what was committed to him. "O Timothy, keep that which is
committed to your trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen" (1 Tim 6:20-21). Read
those two verses out of the Good News Bible, "Timothy, keep safe what has been intrusted to your care
avoid the profane talk and foolish arguments of that some people wrongly call knowledge. For some have
claimed to possess it. And as a result they have lost the way of faith. God's faith be with you all." These
verses are not questioning Timothy's salvation, but his trust with God's truth.
Like money deposited in a bank, the truth entrusted to Timothy was to be preserved entirely whole and
unharmed. He was to avoid the profane and idle babble and contradictions of what is falsely called
knowledge. As a minister, he was to understand that idle babble or chatter is empty talk when it comes to
matters which are not profitable.
Remember the statement at the beginning of this article? "Dedication to truth is the foundation of
commitment." God's church is scattered today because its leaders were not loyal to the dedicated
foundation of truth and commitment found only in God's word. They were not loyal to recapturing true
values or making the word of God their foundation for knowledge, letting the Bible interpret the Bible!
For example: After the Church of God, In Truth was started, we were visited by two young Ambassador
Collage graduates. They said the Churches of God are asleep today and they need to be awakened to God's
truth. Then they begin to expound and explain the parable of Matthew 25, that speaks of the 10 virgins.
After reading to us this physical allegory of the five wise and five foolish virgins they begin to tell us how,
the 5 foolish virgins were to go and buy the oil that represented God's Holy Spirit. I stopped them there
and asked if they could show us in scripture where the oil the five foolish virgins were to buy represented the
Holy Spirit? They thought on that, then they said, they could not.
That meant asking them to notice Acts 8, letting the Bible be the interpreter of what the five foolish virgins
were to go and purchase. Acts 8, is the story about the laying on of hands after a person has been baptized.
"Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they
sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive
the Holy Spirit: For as yet it was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that
through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, give me
also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said unto him,
your money perish with you, because you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
You have neither part nor lot in this matter: for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore
of this your wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you" (Acts
8:14-22).
So after showing them the Holy Spirit can not be bought with money, we told them what Proverbs 23:23
said, letting the Bible interpret what the 5 foolish virgins were to go and buy. "Buy the truth, and sell it not;
also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding" (Pro 23:23).
Buying the truth, is spending personal time in the study of God word, learning, wisdom, instruction, and
understanding. Serving, studying, and obeying truth is not laodicean! God's truth is a treasure that few
today have ever experienced. God is grooming us to teach His truth, and to sell it not!
But the question arises? Are we strong enough to stand up alone for the truth? We need to understand, that
God deals with us as individuals. We are His sheep and He is our shepherd! Our strength in what we believe
and practice out of His word is tested every day that we confess our calling! In Luke 21, just after Jesus explains the signs of the end times, He told His followers, "For I will give you a
mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to contradict nor withstand. And you shall
be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to
be put to death. And you shall be hated of all men for My name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your
head perish. In your patience possess you your souls" (Luke 21:15-19). Many in God's scattered churches
have already experienced seeing this hatred and root of bitterness set in, that is prophesied to take place at the
end time.
Christ advice for this kind of misguided action is found in Matthew 5, "You have heard that it has been said,
you shalt love your neighbour, and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you"
(Luke 21:15-19).
A root of bitterness in mans heart creates in them a poisonous attitude. That is why some in the Churches of
God have been marked. Read in Rom 16, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause Divisions
and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned; and avoid them" (Rom 16:17). Notice
and compare what Paul said in 2 Thess 3:14, "And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that
man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed."
When a person opens there heart to bitterness, spreading untruths by lying, deceiving, back biting, God says
to "have no company with them." A person with this kind of character is not considered a lost sheep, they
are looked upon as having a root of bitterness. They are Satan's aids in sheep's clothing, just as Judas
Iscariot was!
Christ calls them destroyers and deceivers. They say one thing and do another. They gossip and spread
rumors, they speak of things behind a persons back, causing strife among God's called. There is nothing
new about this. Pick up a Concordance and look up the word "Deceive." God has a lot of evidence that
identify them. It has been going on in the Churches for years.
Mr Armstrong experienced this when God used him to start the church and college. In his Autobiography,
Vol II, of his hard copy, page 517, he wrote, "I suppose these opposing ministers thought they were doing
right. There is a way that seems right to a man. God says these ways are wrong, and end in death. But a
deceived man cannot comprehend that. I do not wish to impute motives. I could not read these men's hearts.
But I do know that, regardless of intent, their actions sought at every turn to destroy what has proved, by its
fruits, to be the true work of God! In Vol II, page 234, he writes, "Previously I have mentioned the
opposition faced in getting the College started. There had been plans, plots, and schemes to stop the
broadcast work before it started, and to kill it after it started."
Those who are not deeply rooted and don't have a solid foundation are going to be offended by God's truth.
In Matthew 13, where Christ compares a seed with His word, He says, "He that received the seed into stony
places, the same is he that hears the word, ( God's truth) and immediately with joy receives it; yet has he not
root in himself, but endures for a while: for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word,
(God's Truth) by and by he is offended" (Mat 13:20-21).
If we have God's law deep within us, the psalmist tells us we will not be offended by God's truth. "Great
peace have they which love the law: and nothing (of God's truth ) shall offend them" (Psa 119:165). This
brings us to the conclusion that those who are offended have not learned to "Obey and love God's law or
God's truth." Satan is watching for this kind of weakened attitude. "Satan is a liar and deceiver and there is
no truth in him!" John 8:44 tells us. We are told over in 2 Thessalonian's, that God sends a strong delusion
to those who don't love His truth!! "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now lets
will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even him, whose
coming is after the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all
might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess 2:7-12).
A strong delusion means: error; something that is falsely deluding belief; a false belief; despite the facts;
something accepted as true that is actually false; the contradiction of truth; an instance of false belief; a
departure from what is true and right. This strong delusion is believing a lie and not God's truth. They would
rather follow Satan's ways than God's laws and truth.
Notice Paul's first letter to Timothy, he wrote, "Now the spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in
hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron" (1 Tim 4:1-2).
The devil seduces those who are ripe for rebellion! A person with a bitter attitude is ripe pickens for aiding
Satan's cause. In 2 Timothy 4: verses 3, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
(sound instruction on truth) but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears." Superficial desire for religion desirous of hearing something pleasant. Don't make waves. Don't want
to stand out from the crowd. Embarrassed for truth. Vs) 4, "They shall turn away their ears from the truth,
and shall be turned unto fables." Fables, meaning, to write or talk about something false as if it is true. We
need always to have on God's guard of armor, because there is going to be heresies to separate the just from
the unjust.
In 2 Peter 2, we read an example of God's truth being evil spoken of. "But there were false prophets also
among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many
shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And
through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a
long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not" (2 Peter 2:1). Damnable heresy means, adherence
to a religious opinion contrary to church dogma; denial of a revealed truth by a baptized member; an opinion
or doctrine contrary to the truth.
We must learn to go God's way, and voluntarily embrace it. We also must be humbled through the
knowledge of our own ineptness. We have to learn to glorify God, giving Him all credit, not the self credit!
The apostle Paul clearly understood this when he said, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I
strong" (2 Cor 12: 10).
We are allowed to have weaknesses so we might learn to trust in God for our strength even as and others
had to do! We live in a world today that Satan is waging a battle for our minds. We must put on the whole
armor of God. "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on
the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all,
taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the
helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph 6:13-17).
James Russell