Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Home Sermons 2010 Do you commit your life?
 
Do you commit your life? PDF Print E-mail
Written by David Charlton   

Luke 23:46
John 19:30
Listen to the sermon

Luke 23:46

Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last.

John 19:30

When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished"; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

 

Summary and Purpose



Summary: Jesus is God in the flesh, fully God and fully human. He’s the heart of God with flesh wrapped around it. To know Jesus and his character is to know God and God’s character. We can know Jesus’ character by looking at what he said while dying on the cross.

While dying on the cross, Jesus cried out, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” This statement demonstrated a profound trust in his Father. Committing your spirit is synonymous with trusting someone with all that you are and have. It’s the same as saying, “My life is yours. Use it as you will.” In his darkest hour, Jesus trusted his Father enough to lay down his life. As a result, Jesus was also able to say, “It is finished” right before he died. By committing his spirit to God, Jesus was able to accomplish his salvific purpose.

Are we willing to follow this example and commit our spirits to God? If so, then we will also be able to say on our death bed, “It is finished”. By trusting God with all that we are and have, we can be assured of accomplishing any mission that God has in mind for us. I hope we all can say, “It is finished’ when we go home to be with the Lord.

Purpose: To encourage the members of the congregation to commit their spirits to God so they can say, “It is finished” when they die.  

The Sermon

I. Introduction:  The need for mentors

1. We all need mentors to show us the ropes. We need mentors as new employees,
new members of an organization and as new Christians.
2. We need to choose our mentors wisely. We want to learn the right things, not the
wrong things.
  • As a new Juvenile Probation Officer (JPO) I remember looking at my boss and some co-workers as mentors. These were the hard working folks who knew their job well.  I went to them when I needed to know the rules and regulations, how to fill out paper work and how to deal with troubled teen-agers. There were other co-workers that I never went to for advice. These were the lazy folks who did just enough to get by.

3. We all need a mentor when it comes to being a good person

  • Many people serve this role throughout our lives: parents, church leaders, friends, employers. We should take care to choose these people well.
  • There is one person who is the ‘Mentor of mentors’ when it comes to being a good person. He is Jesus Christ

4. Jesus is the ‘Mentor of Mentors’ because he is…

  • God in the flesh
  • God showing us what it looks like to be a perfect human
5. This is why we’ve been looking at the seven statements Jesus made while dying
on the cross.
  • A person’s true character often comes out in the midst of suffering.
  • We can see Jesus’ character by looking at what he said while suffering and dying on the cross
  • This demonstrates God’s character and gives us the example to follow

II. Jesus’ character as revealed on the torturous cross.

1. In the first 3 statement we see Jesus demonstrate compassion for others in the
midst of his own suffering.
  • “Father forgive them, they know not what they do”
  • “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise”
  • To his mom, he said “Woman, here is your son” and then to the Apostle John he said, “Here is your mother”
2. In the 4th and 5th statements we see Jesus identifying himself with sinful humanity
by sharing in human suffering.
  • “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
  • “I thirst”

3. Now we turn to the last two statements Jesus made

  • "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!"
  • "It is finished"

III. “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!”

1. This is a statement of total trust in his Father.

  • Putting your spirit into the hands of another is the same as trusting another person with all that you have and all that you are. It’s trusting someone with your entire life.
  • It’s the same as saying, “Here’s my life. Use it as you will”

2. During his darkest hour, Jesus trusted his Father with his life.

  • It seemed as if evil was winning: Jesus was falsely arrested and convicted, his closest friends deserted him, he was beaten and whipped and about to die.
  • Jesus could have said, “Forget this! I’m getting down from this cross” but instead he trusted his Father and allowed himself to die.

IV. “It is finished”

1. Because he committed his spirit to his Father, Jesus was able to say, “It is
finished’ right before dying.
2. Jesus accomplished every task given to him by the Father. This, of course,
secured salvation for all who repent and believe.
3. Whenever you trust God with all that you are and all that you have, you will
accomplish everything God has in mind for you to do.
V. So, we must ask, “Are we following Jesus’ example and committing our spirits to
God? Will we be able to say, ‘It is finished’ when we go home to heaven?”

1. At first, the early Apostles were not able to do this.

  • They all scattered when Jesus was arrested
  • Peter denied Jesus three times
  • The Apostles hid in the upper room right after Jesus’ crucifixion

2. After receiving the Holy Spirit, however, they boldly committed their spirits to God.

  • All the Apostles except John were martyred as a result of proclaiming the gospel. (John was exiled on the island of Patmos.)
3. In the midst of persecution members of the the early church would sustain
themselves by participating in the sacrament of Holy Communion.
  • Each time they partook of communion, they remembered what Jesus has done for them and proclaimed the good news: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
  • As they remembered what Jesus did for them and gave thanks, their hearts were opened to the Holy Spirit, who strengthens, sustains and transformed them.

4. Holy Communion can become a time when we commit our spirits to God.

  • As we eat the bread and juice and remember who Jesus is and what he’s done for us, we can expect the Holy Spirit to do a work on us.
  • We can respond to the Holy Spirit by committing our spirits to God.
  • In this way, when we die, we’ll be able to say, : ‘It is finished.’
 
Joomla Templates by Joomlashack