A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE YOUTH FORUM OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST AT ABA ABIA STATE NIGERIA

ON 8TH SEPTEMBER 2007

BY ELDER OSINACHI OSUAGWU

Let me start by highlighting the key word of this lecture -COMMITMENT.  The word commitment may be described as:

• A promise to do some thing or behave in a particular way.

It may also be said to mean

• Willingness to give your energy and time to support an action.

MOTIVATION UNTO ACTION:

For one to be committed to a course or action there must be a motivating factor, and depending on the scope of the action or arrangement for which commitment is desired, balancing one’s attitudinal behaviour and the motivating factor becomes a strong issue of focus.

Commitment may be desired for courses such as:

a.       Social Interactions: e.g Clubs and Associations.  The Motivating factor is the welfare packages as may be enshrined in the constitution of the club or association.

b.       Career (Business / Trade):     Ofcourse, the profit realizable in one’s business or trade is always the motivating factor.

c.       Spiritual Arena:  By this I mean the things of God –church activities, crusades, conferences etc arranged for the spiritual growth of the individual. Indeed the profit realizable are multi dimensional, ranging from over flow of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, good health, joy, peace of mind, as well as material blessings.

Permit me at this point, to centre my teaching on the Spiritual Arena which I strongly believe has greater profit than the rest three combined.

In Psalm 101:6-7 the bible assures us of God’s promise for those who are faithful and walk in a perfect way as against liars and deceivers. This is as a matter of fact, a call for commitment.

In another place, Isaiah 61:6-7 “But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God; ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion; therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them” two dimensions – Spiritual and Material are emphasized and I refer to this as double honour.

Furthermore, in Prov. 20:29, the scripture refers to the strength (commitment) of young men as their honour.  This prove that the more committed a young man or young lady gets in the things of God, the more honour he or she receives from the Lord because “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights… (James 1:17).  It is obvious, of course, that all these blessings and honour accruing to the committed youth is a heritage for the church  it is for the church it is for this reason that the lord instruct us parent to diligent teach you the youth these thing  (Deut 6:7:9) 

quote

now having  discussed a while factor that could  motivate  you unto commitment  to the thing of the people let us cite a few example of young people like you and  I who lived Lord and their score cards. As the scripture says in Eccl. 1:9 – quote

it is expedient to take a queue form the experience of the past to bridge the gaps of today in the recent new 1.Timothy  you can imagine the imprison created by apostle Paul about youthful timothy in his letter to the later in  1 timothy 4 :12: 16.quote the worships of this letter portrays  timothy as a committed youth –in the far old .

2 Lot : Abraham’s cousin lot, lived and grew  up under the tutelage of  faithful Abraham, he imbibed his uncle’s level of commitment the things of the Lord to the extent that the bible records that his righteousness commitment  delivered  him from the filthy conduct of the wicked sodomites who tormented his soul from day to day by their Lawler’s deeds (2 Pet. 2:6-8) quote.

 2. ISAAC and REBECCA: Imagine the account given of the rational duty of bethel’s daughter, Rebecca feeding her father sheep regularly a duty most young women of to day may not be willing to take up in the family ( read Gen. 24:1-end). the bible puts it this way in Prov. 26:13-14 Quote

You would  recall that it is in this attitude of commitment that God arrange her to meet her suitor Isaac while on duty. Our young ladies should brace up. you may wish to compare Rebecca’s committed life style with Jacob’s daughter, Dinah’s lazy life style, idling away her time in undue visitations to the daughters of the land. The result, of course was catastrophic. Dinah was defiled and this resulted in disaster for family. (see Gen. 34: 1-end).

3.       JOSEPH: The account given in Gen.39:1-9 of youthful Joseph’s fear of God in a foreign land – an act of commitment cannot be over emphasized.  

 Joseph ( the dreamer) was motivated into a peculiar lifestyle – committed living in the presence of God, even in a foreign land , by the word of God concerning him, in a dream (Gen.37:5-11). the scripture says, in Habakkuk 2: 2-3) Quote.

Many of yon, young men and ladies have in one way or the other, at one point or another either through dream or prophecy heard from God of his love and concern for you and your career.  Do you, like young Joseph remark these words of the Lord? Do you wait for their fulfillment? or do you just wave them by the side as one of these old Shakespearean tales ?

Remember, Joseph was true to his faith, patience and commitment to God. The bible records that the word of God concerning Joseph came to fulfillment. (Read Gen. 42:6-9)

4.       DAVID: Imagine David’s humility that gave him the name – “A man after God’s heart”.

 – found in the field, feeding his father’s sheep.

-Readily willing to accept his fault and to atone for his misdeeds when he sinned .

-fear of God in him, to the extent that he feared to touch the Lord’s anointed (Saul) even at the point of death.

These attributes, put together lifted this sheep rearer to kingship –from grass to grace. Indeed, almost all the patriarchs of Israel were considered fit and called to rule at a very youthful age because of their commitment to the things of the Lord.

The boy Othniel in Joshua 15:16-17 gets Caleb’s daughter Achsa free in marriage because of his commitment to God’s work in leading a battle against kiriath sepher.

AVOIDING  THE AVOIDABLE:

Deut. 27:16 Quote. May we at this point join  God’s people in all generations to condemn treatment of parents with contempt, no matter the circumstances that may give rise to such attitude. the bible warns us, the youth in Ephesians 6: 1-2 Quote .

The story of Jephtha the Gileadite has a big lesson to offer.. This is son of a harlot, but begotten by Gilead. for lack of solid parental foundation he was driven out by Gilead’s real children to join bad company of criminals. Yet  in  this  condition he kept his integrity and never allowed the evil association to corrupt his good manners. Nonetheless, God who searcheth the heart of man knew his heart his attitude and used him for the good of Hs church – Israel, for the bible say in 2 timothy 2: 19-20 Quote.

Jephtha did not use the opportunity of his misfortune in Gilead’s family to abuse and maltreat his foster father and brothers, rather he realized that God was in control himself, waiting on the Lord.

God later gave him favour to become the 9^th king of Israel. Imagine his character, his commitment to God through his fulfilment  of an expensive vow. Judges 11: 31, 34, 39) your gifts, your vows, your readiness to do the word of God and obey his voice prove your character. This is commitment.

You may wish to compare this with what the scripture says in proverbs 28:22 concerning one with an evil eye. Quote:

Again in proverbs 30:11, the Bible talks of various generations of man. “There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother.” Does this sound impossible today? Let us take some examples of those who fall within this category. We shall imagine their successes or failures and compare them with those committed to the teaching of the Lord as enumerated earlier in order to draw a contrast.

1.       THE PRODIGAL SON in LK 15:11-17(Read). The first issue this story is that the prodigal son had an evil eye. This resulted in his impatience with God’s system / style of administration as he was in a hurry.

 2.      The acts of the sons of Eli  in  I Samuel 2; 12: 16 :17 was a typical case  of evil eye for lack of commitment  leading to corruption   covetousness and law lesson you can imagine the result in 30.

QUOTE as GOD AT their sheer LACK OF commitment  god glory depart form the church of Israel the art of god is captured  two of them Hophni and Phinehas are killed .

The result being that the youth would whither to have been a heritage for the church of Israel turned our to be curse because of their lack of commitment to the thing of the Lord.

3 ABSALOM’S CONSPIRACY: Absalom a loved son conspiring against a loving father king David in 2 Samuel 15 is another typical example of evil eye in lack of commitment.

4. SAMPSON’s disregard for his calling (A Nazarene from the mother’s womb) turned down his parents advice on marriage to unbelievers – a case of evil eye, treating his parents with contempt. The result was very fetal to his well being and of course we bore the suffering alone in the avoidable. (Read Judge 13:3-5), 24-25, 14:1-4)

Having enumerated the need for commitment to the things of God, the motivated factors, examples of beneficiaries and their score card as well as the effect of lack of commitment and the lesson therein, let us quickly examine the avoidable elements of youthfulness.

1. MORALITY:
   1. In I Cor. 9:25 – 27 apostle Paul emphasizes the need for one to be temperate in all things and disciplined in order to survive the race for heaven. There cannot therefore commitment without temperance and discipline.
   1. Minding how you ought to walk in please God, abstain from sexual immorality, but posses your vessels in sanctification and honour avoiding lust and embracing holiness (I Thess. 4:1-8).
   1. Recognize that you have been brought with a price through your baptism; you are now the temple of God by the Holy Spirit you received. Therefore strive not to defile the temple of God last God destroy you. (I Cor. 6:19-20, I Cor. 3:16-17). Therefore, watch the company you keep how you spend you idle time, the kind of films you watch etc because evil communication corrupts good manners (I Cor. 15:133)
2. ON FASHION: We are warned, as sojourners in the world not to conform to the fashion, lifestyle, manner of speech etc of the world, but to be separated from the imperfection there in (Rom. 12:2,  Cor. 6:14-18, Deut 22:5, I Jn 2;15-16)
3. ON WEALTH:- Apostle Paul, trying to illustrate the warning handed down by our Lord Jesus Christ that “where a man’s treasure is, there lies his heart”, he inquires thus: “Where do wars and rights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?” (James 4:1). When some of you see wonderful edifices, flashy cars, fashionable ladies and gentlemen, well stocked shops etc.

Minds tend to lose control. Sometimes you start regretting your life, even to the extent of regretting your faith and birth place. But the scripture warns on this attitude thus “Do not fret because of evil doers, not be envious of the workers of iniquity,… rest in the Lord  and wait patiently for Him, Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass”. (Psalm 37:1, 7-8)

You are not sure of the source of the persons wealth. Many get their through dubious means cheating people, cheating government, killing and maiming to achieve their position. But you, O! Committed youth “ Now godliness with contentment is great gain…” I Tim 6:8-11. “Do not love the world.

If anyone loves the world  the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world – The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not father but is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever”. (I Jn 2;15-17).

Therefore be content with what is available to you at any point in time, your parental background the faithfulness of the God you serve – the great provider, who has assured you that He will not let you down nor let you be shamed. (Heb 13:5, Rom. 9:33).

CALL FOR COMMITMENT:

Finally my brethren, beloved God, having elucidated the various problem of the youth in his/her bid to achieve his/her destiny and the gains of commitment to the things of God, citing various characters from the scripture to substantiate the facts, I wish to thank you all for paying attention. I equally wish to leave you to DRIVE YOUR DESTINY by yourself as your destiny is in your own hands. “ Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knows those who are His, and, Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart  iniquity in a great house (in the Christ) there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honour and some for dishonour. There is anyone cleanses himself from the later, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work”. 2 Tim 2:19-21.

May The Lord be with you all, Amen. 

   

ELDER O. C. OSUAGWU