Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
June 16, 2002 P.M.
Crossing The Rubicon
A Father's Day Sermon On Total Commitment
Reading - Matthew 6.24-34
Today, in Northern Italy, there is a stream called the Rubicon. As far as rivers are concerned, this creek would be considered small and insignificant. However, the Rubicon played a significant roll in Roman history... especially in the life of Julius Caesar.
Sixty years before the birth of Christ, the Roman Empire was divided into three proveniences... three states... each under the rule of a tetrarch... a governor. The three were Pompey... Crassus... and Julius Caesar.
Caesar was an impatient man with an overabundance of ambition. Crassus and Pompey sorta kept Caesar in check in the Gaultic Area north of the Rubicon. Crassus was killed in 53 B.C. Pompey became very jealous of Caesar to the extent of paranoia. Pompey persuaded the counsel of conservatives, and later the entire Roman senate, to pass a law that Caesar be made to give up his army... surrender his military. The senate order was delivered in 49 B.C.
Julius Caesar had a choice... He made the choice... And in 48 B.C. marched across the Rubicon with a single legion of 5000 men exclaiming A-lea-In-acta-est...
- The die is cast...
- The deed is done...
- The decision is made...
- I am committed to the task.
When Caesar crossed the Rubicon he knew he was committing an act that would invoke civil war. He knew he and his army would be completely annihilated... Or they would be victorious. There would be no in-between. No surrender. No turning back. Or giving up. Caesar knew once he crossed the Rubicon that he could never return to the life he once enjoyed... Indeed, yesterday was gone forever. All of his tomorrows would be uncertain, for sure.
This crossing meant...
- Total... Absolute victory,
- Or complete annihilation... At the hands of his enemies.
Julius Caesar quickly dashed south defeating his opponents. In 60 short days he became master of all Italy. He ruled all of Rome from 49 to 44 B.C.
In the Lord's church today we don't want to talk much about... ABSOLUTE...or TOTAL commitment.
Let me tell you something. If I understand my Bible correctly, it teaches us total and absolute commitment to God... Or NO commitment at all. Nowhere in the pages of this book... Old or New Testament can we find God being pleased with anything less than absolute... total... loyalty to Him.
- At Mt. Sinai it was... No other Gods before Me.
- In the New Testament it is... Love God with all mind, body and soul.
- In our text Jesus says... Seek FIRST... The Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
- In another scripture Jesus said... You must love Me more than family... lands... houses... possessions.
You see church... God will tolerate no rivals... He will have no contenders for our loyalty.
Turn with me to our text and let's explore what total & absolute commitment means for us today.
First... Absolute commitment means we cannot serve two masters.
Do you see that in verse 24... Only one, folk. We cannot argue with God... Jesus said... We cannot serve two masters. Caesar had to make a choice... You and I must make a choice tonight. All too many of us, who have been in the church for years, have never really made the choice. Oh, yes... We may have been baptized... We may have... Quote!!... JOINED the church... But have we given God our hearts in TOTAL AND ABSOLUTE COMMITMENT?
Audience... If we are totally committed to Jesus... Why were there more people here this morning than there are tonight?
No... I agree... The Bible says nothing about church attendance on Sunday evening and Wednesday night... But it has a lot to say about total commitment. It has a lot to say about... Nothing... No-Thing before God... RIGHT? I fear that churches which regularly dismiss worship services to allow time for families to be together have missed the point. Folk... What is more important than our families worshiping God together?
It was Pilate who said... I will not make a judgment on Jesus. But he did make a judgment... A decision not to decide, is a decision against. Pilate may have washed his hands of Jesus' blood... but that's all he washed. The blood of Christ still stains his soul and will judge him in the last day.
No man can escape this decision of which master to serve. Are you and your preacher totally committed? Is God... Jesus... His Kingdom the first and foremost thing in our lives? Or... Are we just giving lip service to this thing called Christianity?
I am not saying that every minute of every day must be spent in thinking about God. But I am saying that... every act... word... and thought must fall under His control. You see...
- All we are...
- All we do...
Either proclaims our allegiance, worship, aggrandizement of Jesus and God... or self and Satan. We cannot serve two masters. Jesus Christ must come first or not at all... He must be Lord of all... Or not Lord at all.
Caesar knew that when he crossed the Rubicon it meant civil war. You see... Christianity is a war... A CIVIL WAR... Being God's person is civil war. And the real battle in my life and yours is in our hearts. We are to fight the fight... Run the race... Keep the faith.
Note this now church... There is no war until we cross the Rubicon... Until we make the decision to follow Christ in putting God and his Kingdom first. There is no one to fight... Because the Devil already occupies the territory. We must make our choice... Choose today whom we will serve.
Secondly... Life is more than meets the eye.
Look at verse 25... Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
How many of us worried about what we were going to wear today? I have people tell me... I don't come to church because I don't have anything to wear. Here it is... Real life exists in the world of the unseen.
Paul encourages us in Second Corinthians 4.18... So fix your eyes, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Too many of us are too concerned with things seen... Right? Folk... If you can see it, it is mortal and temporary.
If you can't see it, it is spiritual and eternal. Genuine commitment is focusing on things unseen... Attitudes of the heart. Absolute commitment is a heart condition
Caesar did not concern himself with the trivial. He let go of it all, in pursuit of the unseen goal before him. He counted the cost and said... I'll go for it.
As long as we, in the church, are overly concerned with externals: eating... drinking... clothes... houses... cars... bank accounts and what others think of us, we will never know the joys of total commitment. Total... Absolute commitment to Christ calls us to look beyond the trivial. Jesus says... Life is more than the things you can see and feel.
Here is something interesting: Pompey was Caesar's own son-in-law. We too must not let any... ANY earthly relationship stop us, hinder us from becoming God's child and marching on in His Kingdom...
- Not family...
- Not friends...
- Not making money...
- Or any other form of peer pressure.
Total absolute commitment means JESUS AND ME ALONE... If that's what it takes.
Thirdly... Total commitment means believing that God is able to help.
Look at verses 26-33... They tell us that indeed... God is able. Where is our faith tonight?...
-What keeps this world turning?...
- What sustains life on our planet.
- What maintains the laws of the universe?
Folk we can't even explain it much less create it or control it!! If God can... will... and does care for... provide... sustain... and enable these things, how much more will He care for... provide... sustain ... and enable us?
If God takes care of the grass... the trees... the flowers... the birds... the atheists... the agnostic... and the rank rebellious sinner... Even the pagan who doesn't even know Him... How much more will He care for His own children... His own people??? Folk... Where is our faith?
No, I don't know where Caesar's faith was... or what it was in... but I can tell you his faith had to be in something bigger than himself and 5,000 men. You don't set out to conquer the world with 5,000 men... without faith... A lot of it!! Caesar had to look beyond himself. And so must we... And so must we.
We are not Julius Caesar... WE ARE GOD'S PEOPLE... HIS CHILDREN.
Romans 8.28 tells us... That God is working in ALL THINGS for the our good, for our benefit, if we are committed to Him... If we are yielding to His purpose. Jesus said... With God all things are possible. Paul wrote... I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
Church... Absolute commitment is believing that God is able and that He will..
- Care for us...
- Protect us...
- Sustain us...
- Enable us...
- And do what is best for us... In both life and in death.
Finally... Total absolute commitment means we must forget the past... Not worry about tomorrow... And commit the present to God.
Worrying about tomorrow robs us of today's blessings. Living in the past destroys the joys of serving God in the present... It did Lot's wife. And, boy, did it take God a long time to teach me these two lessons... And painful it was, because I resisted so much... Sometimes I still do.
Caesar knew that... When he crossed the Rubicon...
- He was giving up any claim on tomorrow...
- And he knew that he could not go back and ever live the life of yesterday.
For Caesar it was victory or death once he crossed the river... Alea-In-acta-est.
Church... Did you know that tomorrow is the word the Bible does not know.
No where in this book does the Holy Spirit say...
- Commit your life to God tomorrow...
- Obey god tomorrow...
No!!!... The bible says... Do it today!! The word of God says today is the day of salvation.... Now is the accepted time. Yesterday is over... gone. Tomorrow may never come... Now is the time to act! Now is the time to obey God completely.
In the fourth act of Julius Caesar... Shakespeare causes Brutus... Who is trying to enlist Cassius in his scheme to murder Caesar... To say:
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which taken at the flood, leads to fortune;
Omitted... And all the voyages of life
Are bound in the shallows and miseries.
It is on such a full sea we are now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves
Or lose our ventures.
Well... UNLIKE CAESAR... We may not win the battle in 60 days. But this one thing we know... The victory is ours in Jesus. But to have this victory... We must realize:
- We cannot serve two masters.
- Real life is in the world of the unseen.
- Our faith must be in God who is able.
- We must take our attention off yesterday and tomorrow... And focus on obedience today..
Like Joshua of old... Our challenge is to choose today whom we will serve.
Will you come to Jesus as He calls tonight?
Become a child of God by faith, repentance and New Testament baptism, immersion in water for the forgiveness of your sins. As His child... Our challenge is to total... absolute commitment.
The invitation is ours as we stand to sing this invitation song.
Will you come!!
