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COMMITMENT
Topic: Sacrifice
Clarence Forseburg, one of the great pulpiteers of Methodism, tells of a story that occurred to him several years ago. He was on the campus of Nebraska Wesleyan talking to a group of students who had expressed an interest in the ministry. When asked how many of them were definitely committed to going into the parish ministry, only one raised their hand. One young lady spoke up and said: I Have a problem with your use of the word commitment. That sounds very binding and restricting.”
Bishop Kenneth Carder of Tennessee recently wrote: “The church of today has become an institution in which even belief in God is optional or peripheral. Marketing techniques for a multiple option institution have replaced response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the means of membership enlistment. The basic appeal is to The basic appeal is to self-defined needs rather than a call to radical discipleship. The church’s mission all too often is to meet it’s members perceived needs rather than to serve God’s need for a redeemed, reconciled, and healed world.”
Our concept of consumerism has crept into the church. To recruit persons and to be marketable we think that we need to be able to say: Look what our church can offer you. In this atmosphere of a sorority rush party, talk of discipleship is muted. Discipleship means knowing who Jesus Christ is and following the revelation made known to us in his teaching, death, resurrection, and presence.
www.SermonIllustrations.com, April, 2000.