We... have been chosen... to be obedient to Jesus Christ.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?

The Lord your God you shall follow him, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your ordinances before me.
I run the way of your commandments,
for you enlarge my understanding.
Teach me O LORD, the way of your statutes,
and I will observe it to the end.
Give me understanding,
that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
Turn my heart to your decrees,
and not to selfish gain.
See, I have longed for your precepts;
in your righteousness give me life.
I will keep your law continually,
forever and ever.
This blessing has fallen to me,
for I have kept your precepts.

Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your truth.

The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eyes.

I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them... so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead... be holy.

We take every thought captive to obey Christ. For the love of Christ urges us on... he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

1 Peter 1:2; John 14:15; John 8:31-32; Matthew 7:24; Matthew 16:24-26; Deuteronomy 13:4; Psalm 119:30,32-36,40,44,56; Psalm 86:11; Psalm 19:8; Ezekiel 11:19-20; Romans 6:16-17; 1 Peter 1: 22; 1 Peter 1:14-15; 2 Corinthians 10:5; 2 Corinthians 5:14,15.
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Christians throughout history have ranged in commitment from cold to hot. (Even Jesus was tempted - he really was - to be other than a suffering Messiah). The earliest of his followers were generally (though not exclusively) at the warmer end of the temperature scale. Some went around with Jesus to watch his amazing miracles or get some free food. Others were prepared to risk their lives and reputations for him.

And post-Easter Christians followed someone who had been executed: the prospect of an early or violent death does something to your commitment-level!

A young first-century church, at Antioch, was visited by one of the most committed Christian leaders in first century, Barnabas. In his first preaching to these new converts he urged them to 'be faithful and true to the Lord with all your hearts' (Acts 11:23). As Australians would say, 'Get fair-dinkum!' Don't be a half-hearted Christian! Be committed!

Commitment involves change, growth, fervour, enthusiasm. 'Enthusiasm' comes from two Greek words - en (in) theos (God), so the word means 'one possessed by God (or the gods)'. Enthusiasm literally means being full of God.

Christian enthusiasts are concerned above everything else with what God wants (Matthew 6:33). Being a Christian is the most exciting thing in all the world!

Charles Schwab, the American industrialist who rose from poverty to put the US Steel Corporation together said 'You can succeed at almost anything for which you have unlimited enthusiasm.' Emerson said, 'Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.' And here's another quote from my desk calendar: 'Years wrinkle the skin, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.' Which reminds me of Thoreau's 'None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.'

Most people get enthusiastic about something, as you will discover at a football grand final, or in a disco, or at a political convention. However, as Billy Graham once said, 'It is very strange that the world accepts enthusiasm in every realm but the spiritual.' Those who have achieved great things for God have been people of infectious zeal and unquenchable enthusiasm.

John the Baptist was one of these. Jesus said he was a bright and shining light, a light that blazed and shone. But John the Baptist had earlier said that Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

How do we get on fire for God?

The earliest Christians were people on fire for God. 'We can't help speaking,' they said, 'of the things we have seen and heard.' Jeremiah was like that. He could not keep God's message to himself. It was like a fire burning deep within him. He'd tried to hold it back but could not (Jeremiah 20:9).

Generally speaking, we get from those who follow us the level of commitment we expect. Quintilian laid it down as a first principle of rhetoric that the orator who wishes to set the people on fire must himself be burning. Because church-people are in a sense a pastor's employers, there's a temptation for the pastor to soften the prophetic side of ministry, opting to pitch the commitment-level within people's 'comfort zone'. Where ecclesiastical wineskins are bereft of new wine, the church becomes stale, lifeless. There may be order, but as British Anglican David Watson used to say often, it's the orderliness of the cemetery. The oyster may be there, but the pearl has gone.

Now there's another side to all this. 'Dead churches are afraid of enthusiasm': that's true, but enthusiasm has a history that justifies this fear to some extent. 'Enthusiasts' were sometimes people who had plenty of heat but not too much light. They got all excited about minor things. Fanatics are enthusiastic, but such enthusiasm can sometimes lead to stupidity or even violence. Paul said before he was a Christian he was zealous. But his zeal was misdirected: he persecuted the church.

W B Yeats in his poem 'The Second Coming' says 'the best lack all conviction' while 'the worst are full of passionate intensity.' We must search for the dividing line between enthusiasm and fanaticism - being inspired by God or the devil. A person without judgment is like a car without brakes; but a person without enthusiasm is like a car without a motor.

The great Presbyterian James Stewart said: 'The supreme need of the church is the same in the twentieth century as in the first: it is people on fire for Christ.'

Thou who camest from above
The pure celestial fire to impart,
Kindle a flame of sacred love,
On the mean altar of my heart!

A cold church is like cold butter: it doesn't spread very easily. A selfish church is like a glee club, existing for the benefit of its members rather than those outside it. Other churches through their preaching offer all sorts of goodies like a trouble-free or sickness-free life - which is foreign to the teaching of the New Testament.

So it is possible to become a Christian for the wrong reasons. Faith in Christ is not an insurance policy against 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune'. Never forget, Jesus promises you three things: constant trouble, and constant joy, because of his constant presence with you!

Certainly, it is worthwhile to be a Christian for the side-benefits, including eternal life! This is expressed in the saying 'You are no fool if you give up what you cannot keep, to gain what you cannot lose!' The prayer by Cardinal Newman sums up this motivation: 'Teach me, dear Lord, frequently and attentively to consider this truth: that if I gain the whole world and lose [you], in the end I have lost everything. Whereas, if I lose this world and gain [you], in the end I have lost nothing.'

But the greatest incentive to complete commitment to Jesus Christ is in response to his love, shown ultimately in his death for us. 'Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all!.
.....

There is strong support among Christians for the notion that an individual is free to do whatever they please, as long as it does not hurt others. Two our of five Christians maintain that such thinking is proper, thus effectively rejecting the unconditional code of ethics and morality as taught in the Bible. Three out of ten Christians agree that nothing in life is more important than having fun and being happy... One out of four believers thinks that the more you have the more successful you are. The fact that the proportion of Christians who affirm these values is equivalent to the proportion of non-Christians who hold similar views indicates how meaningless Christianity has been in the lives of millions of professed believers.

George Barna, Vital Signs: Emerging Social Trends and the Future of American Christianity, (Westchester, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1984), quoted in Bill Hull, The Disciple-Making Pastor, New Jersey: Revell, 1988, p.21.

A true disciple of Christ is one [who] follows him in duty, and shall follow him to glory. [A true disciple] follows Christ as the sheep after the shepherd, the servant after the master, soldiers after their captain, aiming at the same end that Christ aimed at, the glory of God... All the followers of Christ must deny themselves. It is the fundamental law of admission into Christ's school, and the first and greatest lesson to learn in his school... They take up their cross: [this] should reconcile us to troubles, and take the terror from them; they are what we bear in common with Christ. And many a life is lost for Christ's sake, in doing his work, by labouring fervently for him... by choosing rather to die than to deny him or his truths and ways. Christ's holy religion is handed down to us, sealed with the blood of thousands...

Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 1991, p. 1698.

The need for devotion to something outside ourselves is even more profound than the need for companionship. If we are not to go to pieces or wither away, we all must have some purpose in life; for no one can live for themselves alone.

Ross Parmenter, The Doctor and the Cleaning Woman, quoted in Margaret Pepper (ed.), The Pan Dictionary of Religious Quotations, London: Pan Books, 1989, p.95.

A disciple is one who knows God personally, and who learns from Jesus Christ, who most perfectly revealed God... Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight... You will know as much of God, and only as much of God, as you are willing to put into practice.

Eric Liddell, The Disciplines of the Christian Life, London: Triangle/SPCK, 1986 pp. 27,28

But Saint Francis, faithful guardian of the secrets of God, when he judged that Master Bernard was fast asleep, in the deep stillness of night rose from his bed. With face turned to heaven, and hands and eyes lifted to God, in complete surrender and with the warmest devotion he prayed, saying: 'My God, my All.' These words he groaned out to God with copious tears, again and again with solemn devotion until dawn: 'My God, my All' - no more. So said Saint Francis, worshipping God's Majesty, which seemed to stoop to the imperilled world and provide a remedy for the salvation of the poor through his own Son. Enlightened by the spirit of prophecy, and forseeing the mighty deeds God was about to do through his own Order, and considering in the same spirit's teaching his own insufficiency and poverty of virtue, he was calling on God to do himself what he was unable to do. Without such aid, [all our] frailty is powerless. Hence his words: 'My God, my All.'

E M Blaicklock & A C Keys (tr.), The Little Flowers of St. Francis, London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1985, pp. 16-17.

Since... Francis, along with his companions, had been called by God to bear the Cross as much as to preach it, he and the pioneers of his Order seemed, as indeed they were, men truly crucified. Bearing the Crucified in dress, food and in all their doings, desiring rather the reproach of Christ than the empty things of the world and its treacherous blandishments, they rejoiced in sufferings and held honour in contempt. They went through the world like pilgrims and strangers carrying nothing with them but Christ...

Thus it happened that, in the early days of the Order, Saint Francis sent Brother Bernard to Bologna, that there he might produce fruit for God... Some children saw him in his unusual and miserable dress, and began to heap insults on him. Brother Bernard, true saint that he was, not only bore them patiently, but even suffered them with deepest joy, because he was a true disciple of Christ who became 'the scorn of the crowd and shame...' For the love of Christ he deliberately placed himself in the market-place of the city, where he could be the greatest object of the people's ridicule. One tugged at his hood from behind, another from the front, one threw dust, another stones. They pushed him this way and that. Bernard endured all this violence joyfully and patiently, without resistance in word or deed. What is more, in order to endure such persecution day after day, he would deliberately return to the same place. Whatever violence was heaped on him by them, he remained calm in spirit and with joyous face...

The Little Flowers of St. Francis, E. M. Blaiklock & A.C. Keys (eds.), London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1985, pp. 25-26.

[When] the martyr in Tibet, Kartar Singh... went to preach the gospel the people said: 'Keep quiet, we don't like to hear about Christ.' He was the son of very wealthy people and gave up everything to preach the gospel in Tibet. His experience was that wealth cannot give peace and satisfy the soul, only Christ can satisfy. When I was in Tibet they told me how this man was killed. He was taken to the top of a hill, sewn up for three days in a wet skin and exposed to the sun. When that man told me about the martyrdom of Kartar Singh, I noticed that his face was shining with joy, and I was rather surprised. 'You are telling me something sad and you seem happy.' 'It is not sad - I tell you about his death, but there was no death but life, wonderful life. He was three days in that skin, hungry and thirsty, and when asked: "How do you feel now?" he replied: "I thank God for this great privilege to suffer for him", but he did not suffer, he had such joy that I wish people could realize it, then they would agree with me that to live with Jesus Christ is heaven on earth. The people took sharp iron nails and thrust them into his body, the blood was flowing out of him, but he had such wonderful joy, a joy that cannot be expressed. Everybody left him. He said: "Everyone has left me, but not my Saviour; he is with me, and not only with me but within me. In this skin I am really in heaven. I thank God for this privilege."

Sadhu Sundar Singh, Life in Abundance, Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1986, pp. 41-42.

It may be easy for good Christians to die for Christ: it may be easy to be a martyr to be killed at once, but it is difficult to live for Christ, because if we live for him then we have to die daily. The real secret of life is that we should know how to die daily.

Christianity is not a religion, not a society, but Christianity is Christ himself.

I have seen many seekers after truth who only used their head; the result was agnosticism and atheism. But when they used their heart they found something and were satisfied.

Sadhu Sundar Singh Alys Goodwin, Sadhu Sundar Singh in Switzerland, Madras: Christian Literature Society, 1989, p.39.

Each day before I leave my study I ask God to 'wear me like a garment.' My clothes are nothing in themselves - they are inanimate, and when I take them off they can't stand up or walk or do anything on their own. They collapse. I want to be like that in relation to Christ. I want my only animation to be Christ who lives in me, who thinks his thoughts, desires his will, and loves his love through me (see Galatians 2:20).

Richard Halverson, 'Wear me like a Garment', in LaVonne Neff et al (eds.), Practical Christianity, Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Inc, 1988, p. 59.

Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey towards heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labour for or set our hearts on anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?

Jonathan Edwards: Basic Writings Ola Elizabeth Winslow (ed.), New York: New American Library, 1966, p.142.

Meister Eckhart in particular keeps on reminding us that we must grasp God in everything... We must be completely detached about all circumstances, external and internal; we must even be detached about detachment. The truly spiritual person does not even seek tranquillity (of whose importance Eckhart elsewhere speaks in emphatic terms), because he is in no way hampered by lack of it. So all possible answers we might give to the question, `What shall I do to inherit eternal life?' are declared irrelevant and counter-productive; we are given no encouragement at all to entertain our feeling that if only we did not get these headaches, if only we had nicer neighbours, if only we knew how to pray, if only we were more humble, everything would go swimmingly.

Simon Tugwell, 'The Beatitudes' in John Garvey (Ed.), Modern Spirituality: an Anthology, London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1985, p.66.

He [a church official] was one of those grim-looking men who sometimes hold office in the church. (Nobody doubts their integrity, but nobody wants to be like them). All the lines of his face seemed to run down at acute angles, as though he lived all the while with an unpleasant odour under his nose...

It is an undoubted fact that many people outside the churches think that if they become Christians they will become miserable. They think that life in Christ is less and less rather than more and more. They think that it is giving up most of the things which make glad our hearts... Who could help being radiant with God living in them? The best Christians have surrendered their wills and their minds to Christ.

W.E. Sangster, The Secret of Radiant Life, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1957, pp. 58-63

Jesus was a deeply serious man. He was tremendously in earnest... He was so serious that there were times when his face was wet with tears. There were times that he sobbed as only the brokenhearted sob. Naturally many have come to think of him as one who could never laugh and whose face was seldom if ever lighted by a smile.

But... in spite of his seriousness - and because of this fact! - he was the most joyful of people. The artists have done Jesus a great injustice by picturing him as one whose life was one long sob. He did sob, but he also sang. He could laugh... In fact he was so glad that many of his day who looked on religion as a bit of a kill-joy did not think that Jesus was religious at all... Those too serious to laugh generally major on minors.

Clovis Chappell, 'If I were young I'd avoid being half-baked', in If I Were Young, New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1945, pp. 96-97.
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O most merciful Lord, grant to us your grace, that it may be with us and labour with us and persevere with us even to the end. Grant that we may always desire and will that which is most acceptable and dear to you. Let your will be ours and our wills follow yours in everything... Grant to us, above all that can be desired, to rest in you and to have our hearts at peace with you. You are the true peace of the heart and its only rest; outside of you all things are hard and restless.

O Father and God of our risen Lord, like the would-be followers then, we now tend to follow Christ at a distance. It just seems safer that way: no threat of being called fanatic or faint-hearted. O God, empower us to walk close with him, to learn of him, to be like him, to serve with him. From him may we know how to forget self but never forget you. May we learn of him the power of gentleness, the grace of humility, the greatness of servanthood, the freedom found in service to you. O Master, let us walk with you...

William M. Johnson James Cox (ed.) Ministers Manual (Doran's), San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990, pp. 26, 85.

Hold my faith steady when I cannot see the road ahead. May I always know I am loved. Protect me this day from evils seen or unseen. May I expect little, and so be less prone to be disappointed.

It's a tough decision, Lord. Should I surrender completely to your will? But what will I have to give up? My commercial culture teaches me to think like this, Lord. I pay a price - and what do I get in return? Is the value worth it all?

But then, when I think of your love for me, it's not a question of giving up anything, but rather of living a truly worthwhile life. Any relationship involves surrender of some independence, in return for the great benefits of friendship, a listening ear, a reassuring touch when things go wrong, the promise of companionship into the future...

Help me Lord to believe the testimony of thousands through the centuries: once we are really committed to you sacrifice is not an issue. No one can outgive God. And after all, when I gave myself to you, I promised you everything. I promised to be yours to the end.

May I see the superficiality of merely being religious. Help me to do what is right because I love you, not to earn your love. Help me to serve you from gratitude for all you have given to me, rather than for any reward. You sacrificed your life for me: may I learn to hate the things that cost you your life. May I sacrifice whatever will hinder your grace operating through me.

Save me from the disillusionment of trusting anyone or anything but you.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve you as you deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labour and to look for no reward
save that of knowing
that we do your will
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ignatius Loyola, cited in Praying with the Saints Dublin, Veritas Publications, 1989, p.46-47.
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A Benediction: May the Lord bless and strengthen you; may you always remain faithful to him who gave you life and his life; who loves you. May you freely choose to offer him everything - your love, your obedience, your relationships, your time, talents and possessions, even your own life. For the glory of Jesus Christ our Master. Amen.

Lord, bless and strengthen your people.
May they remain faithful to you and always rejoice in your mercy.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

Daily Mass Book, Brisbane, The Liturgical Commission, 1990, p.37.

The time has come; the kingdom of God is upon us.
Let us repent and believe the gospel.
The kingdom of God is like yeast;
a woman takes it and mixes it with flour until the dough is risen.
The kingdom of God is like a buyer looking for fine pearls.
When he finds one exceptional pearl, he sells everything he has, and buys it.

When we set our minds on God's reign, our hearts on God's justice, everything else will be ours as well.

Listen to Jesus who proclaims good news, which he alone fulfils.

A New Zealand Prayer Book, Auckland, Collins, 1989, p.114.

It is summed up in the great prayer of St. Ignatius: `Take Lord, and receive!'

John Garvey (Ed), Modern Spirituality, an Anthology London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1985, p.22