Ready to Surrender
(Romans 12:1-2)
1. Airline personnel deal with the public, and anyone who deals with the public has stories.
2. Farida can’t even begin to count how many times she’s been asked to open a window or the emergency exit to “let some fresh air in.” Incredibly enough, this doesn’t just happen on the ground, but also while the plane is at cruising altitude. In recent years, there has been a surge in the number of cases where passengers actually manage to open the emergency windows and deploy the emergency slides…This inevitably cancels the flight for everyone as the inflatable emergency slides need to be repacked by mechanics. [source: rd.com]
3. Being an airline pilot, however, requires a certain decisiveness:
“When the pilot of a giant airline is speeding down the runway, there is a certain point where staying on the ground is no longer an option. When he crosses that line, he is committed to the air, he will take off or a disastrous crash is imminent. At the pilot the pilot can no longer change his mind; he is committed. (Source: Brian Harvison Sermon Central)
Main Idea: When you understand God’s mercy and the wonders of salvation, when you are overwhelmed by Who God is, this should make you consider surrendering Your life to Him.
I. We Mus FREELY Decide to Present Ourselves to God as Available Servants (12:1).
A. This includes all of us, including surrendering our BODIES.
1. Others can urge us, but it is OUR decision.
• The Greeks embraced a false dichotomy between soul and body.
• Tempting to say I will give God His “church time” and then it is “my time.”
• Tempting to pray and do spiritual things but live sinfully.
• We cannot be coerced, but must surrender in response to God’s truth & working.
• Coerced surrender is is shallow surrender.
2. This decision is for those who are already saved, aka, “BROTHERS.”
• To be saved, I must repent and believe in Jesus Christ. It is understood that I will seek to follow Him.
• To surrender, I must come to trust God to the point I become fully honest with Him and choose His way above my own; I surrender my rights to God. His agenda becomes my agenda. There is a depth in surrender that is not present in repentance.
• I don’t know that any of us fully surrender permanently, because we waver. But we can choose to surrender and renew that commitment when we vacillate.
3. We offer our bodies: this is the figure of presenting an ANIMAL at the Tabernacle
• Note that we are the PRIESTS who do the presenting.
• Note that we are the SACRIFICE too!
• This means we offer the members of our bodies to God: eyes to read His word, hands to minister to others, etc.
4. We are a LIVING sacrifice, like a slave freely choosing to commit to his master for life.
Exodus 21:5-6, “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”
• This might be developed in Psalm 40:6-8, in the 1984 NIV, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.”
• If so, then the idea is that the Messiah would be so committed to serve the Father than He had both ears pierced! This is our model.
• This should not be confused with a call to full time Christian service.
5. This sacrifice is holy and PLEASING to God
B. It includes our MINDS
1. The word, “spiritual” really is better understood as “reasonable” ; we get our word “logical” from the Greek word
2. “Service” refers to religious duty…you are to apply your mind to serve God like a priest went through all the rituals and tedious duties of serving at the altar; OUR MIND and OUR HEART is the altar, and we worship God by setting it apart for Him.
II. Our Sacrifice is REAFFIRMED through Daily Commitment (12:2).
A. This implies a commitment to forsake PEER DEPENDENCY.
• God has given you permission to be different and to still feel good about yourself
B. We are to be TRANSFORMED by regularly renewing our minds.
--- the word translated “transformed.” This is the word that from which we get the English word “metamorphosis.”
1. The battleground is your MIND.
• I don’t like movies, as a rule; even good ones. One reason is that I find my mind keeps thinking about the movie long after it is over; it sometimes saturates my mind. Other people do not necessarily experience this same effect.
• If you SATURATE your mind with the influence of society’s way of thinking, you will be conformed to the word.
• if you SATURATE it with God’s way of thinking, you will be transformed
• If you are mentally LAZY, you are spiritually handicapped.
2. We are to PROVE what is and is not God’s will.
• The lazy part of us wants God to show us His will.
• Proving takes work and involves uncertainty and the cultivation of wisdom.
• It also creates a dependency on God’s people, whose giftedness helps us.
• Because of this, many believers fail to prove God’s will.
III. Important APPLICATIONS
A “Living Sacrifice” means being more fully COMMITTED to Jesus Christ.
1. When Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac, he had to bring ropes…
2. We have to be tied to the altar…
3. We may have moments of dedication, but “living” suggests ongoing continuous…
4. We need a church family, time in the Word and prayer … habits…routines
B. The commitment can be seen in several sub-COMMITMENTS.
1. The commitment to follow Christ as a DISCIPLE (learner and implementer)
2. A commitment to a local church BODY
3. A commitment to INTEGRITY
4. Commitment to CHECK with Headquarters
5. GUARDING and using our minds
