The Passionate Commitment
Isaiah 9:2,6-7

†  I.H.S. †

May the grace of God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ teach you that God has committed everything He is to loving you!

Zealous, Devoted, Passionate Commitment

He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!

What an amazing description of Jesus, our promised Savior.  Those four titles have made up so many Christmas Eve sermons, so many Advent sermon series have been based on those 4 titles, those four descriptions of the ministry that Jesus would have to His people.

Descriptions of how He would minister to us.

But that is not the thing to focus on this night.

This night, two words from the next verse are the point that we, and the world need to not just hear, but need to understand. Hear the end of that verse,

The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s armies will make this happen.

The two words I want us to focus on are “passionate commitment.”

Most translations use zeal, some use devotion, some use determination, one even uses jealous love, but looking at the word, passionate commitment seems to bring across the message better than any other.

Tonight, we need to realize His passionate commitment, and we are the object of that passionate commitment.

The roles are needed – but the commitment more needed

The four roles are important, we need to understand how Jesus fulfills each of those roles. We’ve looked at that before, and there is a lot of value in knowing what God promised to do, but that is not enough.

Here is why–we live in a world full of broken promises.

How many times have you been disappointed in life? Maybe it was a boss with a promise that he or she couldn’t follow through on. Maybe it was a teacher who didn’t fulfill their role. Maybe it was your parents, and the expectation of what you would get for Christmas.

It could have been you, in the role of boss, teacher or parent, who had to break a promise.

We just live in a world where it becomes difficult to depend on others because of such broken and shattered histories,

The word commitment is life a 20 dollar bill—we found out it doesn’t have the value we once thought it did. We get cynical, either about promises made to us, or the ability we have to live in a relationship that is based on them. For certainly, over time, we will cannot keep our end of the bargain.

It really doesn’t help us when we are gifts are give to us by someone “making a list and checking it twice!”

We may not think God would do it, but it is a part of how our minds think – that we have to be good enough to deserve our gifts, our presents, and the help we so desperately need.

This doesn’t have to happen… it has!

God, through the words He entrusted to Isaiah, put everything behind this promise.

The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s armies will make this happen.

Of all the things God could invest his passion in, His care for you and every human is primary. Each person is critical, that is why He is so patient with us, despite our brokenness. He puts everything He is into fulfilling that promise,

And He has.

That’s the advantage that is beyond compare for us. We don’t see Isaiah’s words as a future promise, we see this commitment fulfilled in Jesus’ birth, life, teaching, death , resurrection and ascension, and know He is interceding for us with the Father, and has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us.

This promise ha been kept, the passionate commitment seen here in the manger, and even more on the cross. And someday, believers will look to the sky, to see Christ returning for us, and then to the throne, where they will see God in all His glory, welcome all believers home.

And until then, think through these promises, and realize the glorious love of God which drives the passion that made it happen.  AMEN!