Total surrender
Selected Scripture
Some of the context of this sermon was gleaned from ideas and illustrations found on SermonCentral.
Last week we looked at what it means when we say God bless you and wither we want God blessing or a bailout of what we are going through.
This morning, I want to talk a moment on surrender.
Total and complete surrender to God.
Not just giving Him some of the things of your life, but giving Him everything.
Yourself, your family, your future.
What does that look like and how many of you have I lost already because you have thought of several things that you will not give God.
When you ask someone to surrender something today, you have jumped into their airspace.
We have created a society that feels that it is unacceptable to surrender anything to anybody including God Almighty.
People who talk of surrendering to God must be weak, must need religion as a crutch, or are unstable.
What does God say about surrender? Why does He desire it for our lives?
Do you care what God says about it or must everything in your life be directed through all your filters first?
Turn to Mark 10:17-21 read
Mark 10:17- paraphrasing, we see Jesus encounter with a rich man that approaches Him.
He asks Jesus the ultimate question- “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus talks about the 10 Commandments and the rich man is quick to say that he has done that since he was a child.
(21) Jesus looked at him and loved him. Kind of with the look of… “Bless your heart.”
If you are from the South, you will get where I am going with this.
“One thing you lack”, he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Scripture says that this unidentified man’s face fell or saddened. Why? Because the one thing that God asked of him was the one thing that he was not willing to give up- thus it was not a total surrender.
Jesus, talked here about the rich man, and it is easy to blame the rich man for not giving of what he has. If you do that, you will have missed Jesus point here.
What is it that you are not willing to surrender to God? Maybe you don’t have a lot of money, then money is not what He is looking for you to surrender.
It is something else- He will make it known to you what it is. He will show you what is more important in your life than Him and He will want you to be willing to give it up.
You may not have too- but if you hold unto to it, it is an indicator that you are not willing to give it up.
(26) “The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, who then can be saved?” (27) Jesus looked at them and said, with man this is impossible, but with God; all things are possible with God.”
No one can surrender to God without God’s help. We are by nature selfish and we want what we want.
But with God, it is possible to have the right prospective on the blessings that God has given us and not have such a tight fist on them that we are not willing to give anything back to God.
(28) “Then Peter spoke up. “ We have left everything to follow you.”
How many would be able to say that they have left everything to follow Jesus?
How many of us are willing to be open handed to things in our lives that God has given if He wanted them back?
He doesn’t take everything , He wants to know that He can take if He desires or if the thing becomes a stumbling block in our lives.
I am a work in progress just like everyone else here. There are things the Lord is working on and there are things that I have a hard time giving up- he will bless in our obedience, and He will work on the things we hold unto.
It is always less painful to open our hand rather than God having to open it for us.
Jesus says follow me- the reason we follow is two-fold. We follow for the sake of Jesus and we follow for the sake of the gospel. The good news that comes from what Christ has done for us.
If total surrender to God is motivated by personal gain, we have missed the reason God wants us to surrender to Him.
Even if you are asking God for deliverance and the taking away of sin in your life, It is not the true reason of Christianity.
Being delivered from sin and being made in the image of God is a result of being right with God. It is the benefit of a right relationship.
It is like asking God to clean you up and fill you with His Holy Spirit but you don’t want God, you just want the benefits.
Genuine surrender is all about Jesus Christ.
It is wanting more of Him.
Seeking to be in His presence.
Desiring to please God.
Check this out!
Peter had just watched Jesus speak to the rich man and saw that the one thing he could not give up was his money. He refused to “follow Jesus” and was in danger of losing the kingdom of God. Peter decides he will draw a contrast between “that man” and himself. That man refused to follow you and we accepted and have given up everything to follow you. In his looking for Jesus to applaud their actions, he really wanted to know from Jesus what was in it for them.
What rewards could they expect to receive from Jesus for doing what He had asked them?
Here is how Jesus responds to half-hearted surrender and obedience.
He promises that those who give up everything for the sake of Christ and the gospel will be blessed.
The early church lost family because of their faith.
They lost friends and family and they were persecuted.
The early church brought with it a true family setting and those in the family of God helped each other.
The early church understood that material sacrifice did not always bring back material reward.
Here is something to write down-
Jesus does not have to bribe anyone to become a child of God. It is not about what you get if you become a believer and surrender to the things of God. You will receive blessings, but you cannot do it for the blessings.
He does not bribe people into the kingdom of God- He challenges us to serve God and the kingdom of God.
Nowhere in God’s word does He say that there is a balance sheet that will be balanced on this side of heaven.
He challenges us to build blessings of eternity and not what we can get in the here and now.
Nugget of truth-
Peter was all about patting himself on the back and looking for immediate blessings.
Jesus warns-
“Many who are first shall be last, and the last first.”
Only God knows what happens in a person’s life between the dashes. Start to finish.
Only God knows the true heart of a person.
The final judgment is the Lords. The Lord was warning Peter and reminding the rest of us that we need to be careful that we are not patting ourselves on the back and condemning other people. We have to make sure we are right with the Lord.
Surrendering your life means:
Following God's lead without knowing where he's sending you;
Waiting for God's timing without knowing when it will come;
Expecting a miracle without knowing how God will provide;
Trusting God's purpose without understanding the circumstances.
You know you're surrendered to God when you rely on God to work things out instead of trying to manipulate others, force your agenda, and control the situation.
You let go and let God work.
You don't have to always be in charge. Instead of trying harder, you trust more.
You also know you're surrendered when you don't react to criticism and rush to defend yourself.
"Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21 NIV).
The supreme example of self-surrender is Jesus.
The night before his crucifixion Jesus surrendered himself to God's plan. He prayed, "Father, everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine" (Mark 14:36 NLT).
Jesus surrendered himself to God's will. He prayed, "God, if it is in your best interest to remove this suffering, please do so. But if it fulfills your purpose, that's what I want, too."
Genuine surrender says, "Father, if this problem, pain, sickness, or circumstance is needed to fulfill your purpose and glory in my life or in another's life, please don't take it away!"
Maturity does not come easy. Sometimes we have intense warfare against ourselves and against others who have the wrong motive.
Question: "What does it mean to surrender to God?"
Answer:
When we reach the age when we can make moral choices, we must choose whether to follow our own sinful inclinations or to seek God ( Joshua 24:15). God promises that when we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). When we find Him, we have a choice to make: do we continue following our own inclinations, or do we surrender to His will?
How would your spouse feel if you were 80% loyal?
If we were to ask our spouses if it would be okay to be loyal 80% of the time, what would they say? They would look at you with eyes that would burn through you- why because loyalty is a 100% thing. If we fall short of 100%, it leaves the door open to doubt on the human side and vulnerable to temptations that could take us away from the relationship.
The Lord expects the same from us in our relationship with Him.
This world is a battleground. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:17-19), the world God created has been in conflict with Him (Romans 8:20-22). Satan is called the "god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4), and due to Adam's sin, we are born on his team (Romans 5:12).
If the goal of the Christian life can be summed up by Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Such a life of surrender is pleasing to God, results in the greatest human fulfillment, and will reap ultimate rewards in heaven.
Romans 6:13 says that God demands that we surrender the totality of our selves; He wants the whole, not a part: “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” Jesus said that His followers must deny themselves (Mark 8:34)—another call to surrender.
There are different levels of surrender, all of which affect our relationship with God. Initial surrender to the drawing of the Holy Spirit leads to salvation (John 6:44; Acts 2:21). When we let go of our own attempts to earn God's favor and rely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, we become a child of God (John 1:12; 2 Corinthians 5:21). But there are times of greater surrender during a Christian's life that bring deeper intimacy with God and greater power in service. The more areas of our lives we surrender to Him, the more room there is for the filling of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we exhibit traits of His character (Galatians 5:22). The more we surrender to God, the more our old self-worshiping nature is replaced with one that resembles Christ (2 Corinthians Surrender is a battle term. It implies giving up all rights to the conqueror.
When an opposing army surrenders, they lay down their arms, and the winners take control from then on. Surrendering to God works the same way. God has a plan for our lives, and surrendering to Him means we set aside our own plans and eagerly seek His. The good news is that God’s plan for us is always in our best interest (Jeremiah 29:11), unlike our own plans that often lead to destruction (Proverbs 14:12). Our Lord is a wise and beneficent victor; He conquers us to bless us.
5:17).
Bruce Larson tells how he helped people struggling to surrender their lives to Christ: For many years I worked in New York City and counseled at my office any number of people who were wrestling with this yes-or-no decision. Often I would suggest they walk with me from my office down to the RCA Building on Fifth Avenue. In the entrance of that building is a gigantic statue of Atlas, a beautifully proportioned man who, with all his muscles straining, is holding the world upon his shoulders. There he is, the most powerfully built man in the world, and he can barely stand up under this burden. 'Now that's one way to live,' I would point out to my companion, 'trying to carry the world on your shoulders. But now come across the street with me.'
"On the other side of Fifth Avenue is Saint Patrick's Cathedral, and there behind the high altar is a little shrine of the boy Jesus, perhaps eight or nine years old, and with no effort he is holding the world in one hand. My point was illustrated graphically.
"We have a choice. We can carry the world on our shoulders, or we can say, 'I give up, Lord; here's my life. I give you my world, the whole world.
Closing,
When the will of God crosses the will of man, somebody has to die. Addison Leitch
If we are to totally surrender our lives to Christ, it is a dying of ourselves and a living through the power of the Holy Spirit active in our lives. Partial surrender brings with it troubles that we ourselves bring to the relationship with Christ.
Surrendering to God I not a bad thing- it comes with blessing and assurance!
Amen.
