How to Change Your World – Part 1
October 14, 2001
INTRODUCTION
One of the things that was clear from our study of the Sermon on the Mount was that followers of Jesus have within themselves the potential to make a great impact on the world. Jesus referred to those who take his message seriously as salt and light – two things that certainly change their surroundings.
Jesus was here on earth for a mere three years, but his disciples – his followers, were faithful to carry on the mission – they changed the course of history. We have the same mission, the same message and the same Spirit inside us – we can be world-changers too.
We find ourselves living in the midst of historic times.
Our country at war.
Threats of future terrorist attacks.
Fear of the spread of Anthrax contamination.
Scary times. Uncertain times. Yet it is out of moments like this that great change – even long lasting change can occur. This era in which we live could be one of the finest hours for the church of Jesus Christ.
TRANSITION: This morning I’d like to take the first step in showing you what the Bible says about how to change the world. Or rather how God wants to change the world through you.
A follower of Jesus can have world-changing influence, and the process begins with extreme surrender.
This morning we’re going to look at two places in the book of Romans, chapter 6 and chapter 12, to learn about surrender. In chapter 6, Paul starts off like this…
Read Romans 6:1-2
1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Extreme Surrender is a…
I. SURRENDER OF SIN
Romans 6 goes on to say…
Through coming to Jesus Christ and being baptized into him, we died to sin, how can we live in it any longer? But the Bible shows us that it is an ongoing surrender.
Read 6:11 - In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
If I’m going to engage in a surrender of sin, I have to…
Surrender my passion for it
Read verse 12 – Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its evil desires.
The New Living Translation says…
Do not let sin control the way you live. (Romans 6:12, NLT)
Have you ever enjoyed doing something you knew was wrong?
Kim and I recently went to dinner at a nice restaurant in Galena, IL. After a gluttonous meal of soup, salad, bread and a huge entrée, our server brought out the dessert tray. She even had the nerve to hold it under my nose while she explained each one. I knew I shouldn’t. I didn’t need it. I was already full. But I knew I would enjoy it.
Then I reasoned, “Maybe I’ll never have dessert again. What if this is my last chance at chocolate?” So I ordered a big old piece of double chocolate fudge cake. Kim looked at me like I was crazy after eating such a huge meal. And as I was eating it I kept thinking, “I shouldn’t be doing this – but it tastes so good!”
Having dessert at a nice restaurant is a rather innocent little indulgence. The trouble is, sometimes we find a similar kind of enjoyment in things that really are wrong.
When we embrace any sin, we run the risk of getting to the place where we actually have a passion for it. We love sin. And we wonder what our lives might be like if the sin had to be immediately eliminated. We think we might not enjoy life as much.
If we are extremely honest with ourselves and look deep inside, we might find some passion for sin is already there. Dig deep – look within – what’s inside? Does your heart say…
I really enjoy gossip.
I like pornography.
Being self-centered is rather fun sometimes
Admit it. Surrender it.
You died to sin. Don’t let it control the way you live. Surrender your passion for it. If I engage in surrender of sin, I’ll also need to…
Surrender my curiosity with it
Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. (Romans 6:13, NLT)
I picture a gradual creeping in of sin’s presence. Any part of your body. Part by part, little by little. Satan can gain a foothold.
Curiosity is where many of us begin to get hooked.
We wonder…Could it be as bad as they say?
Maybe if I just see it. Or maybe if I just learn more about it. Maybe if I just try it.
When Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. (Genesis 3:6)
And we all know the rest of the story. Curiosity with sin was the downfall of the human race.
ILLUS – When I was a student at Lincoln Christian College one of the more popular heavy metal bands of that time period was coming to the area for a concert. This particular band maintained a very rough reputation and openly used some satanic imagery on their cd covers. They were also incredibly popular with teens. A couple of my friends and I, all of us being employed as weekend youth ministers, thought that we might get tickets for the show, so we could see what teens were being exposed to. And better know how to share Christ with that generation.
For several days I wrestled over the value of going to that concert. Then one day, I hung around after class so I could talk to Dr. Henderson. Marion Henderson, as far as I knew, was just about the wisest Christian around. Surely he’d be able to guide me through this dilemma. So I asked him. “A couple of my friends and I who are all youth ministers are considering going to this concert, just to see what we’re up against as we minister to teens. What do you think?”
Doc Henderson narrowed his eyes and said, “Son, you don’t have to see evil to know it’s wrong.”
Wow! That’s wisdom.
I’m all for understanding our culture – knowing what people are interested in, how they think, what moves them and excites them. That’s necessary for being able to frame a contemporary witness for Jesus Christ to the culture in which we live.
Cultural understanding is one thing. Curiosity with sin is quite another. You don’t always have to see it, experience it, take part in it or live it to know it’s wrong.
Find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. (Ephesians 5:11-12)
That means there are some sinful practices so shameful we shouldn’t even talk about them, let alone be curious about them. Instead be curious about what pleases God.
That’s extreme surrender of sin.
Where temptation gets turned into an altar of opportunity. Jesus I am weak here, so you be strong.
At the cross, Jesus took the penalty that was rightfully ours. When we surrender our sins to him, they are removed from us. We’re clean – forgiven!
TRANSITION: Extreme surrender doesn’t end with just letting Jesus take our sin.
Also means a surrender of self.
II. SURRENDER OF SELF
Offer yourselves to God. (Romans 6:13)
Give yourselves completely to God.
Read Romans 12:1 - Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
When I engage in surrender of self, I’ll have to…
Surrender my physical body for service
Give your bodies to God. (Romans 12:1, NLT)
The Bible commentator, John Stott believes this blunt reference to our bodies was intentionally used to shock some of Paul’s readers. As Romans they had likely been brought up on Platonic thought, which regarded the human body as an embarrassing encumberance. Their slogan was “the body is a tomb” – a tomb in which the human spirit was imprisoned – a tomb from which they longed to escape.
They thought…
My body? Yuck! Why would God want my body?
Perhaps some of us can relate to these Roman Christians. Maybe we’re a little self-conscious about our bodies. As adolescents we’re shy about the changes our bodies go through. As adults maybe we’re carrying a little more weight than we used to. The texture of our skin is changing. Perhaps our bodies are weak because of an illness or sore because of age.
This type of surrender may seems extreme to us.
My body? Why would God want my body? It’s an embarrassing encumbrance.
Others, however, hear this call to surrender their physical bodies a bit differently. “My body?” they might say. No. My body is mine. I’ve worked hard to get it to look like this. I’ve denied myself certain food in order to maintain this shape. My body is mine.” Or so the argument might go.
The belief in the ownership of the body even shows up in the Pro-Choice rhetoric which seeks to legitimize abortion by saying – “No one has the right to tell a woman what to do with her body.” At least that is what we’ve been told.
So in our modern day climate, the call to surrender our bodies seems rather extreme. “My body? Well, you can’t have mine! I own it.”
And still Christians have to come to terms with what the Bible says. Give your bodies to God.
Paul makes it clear that the presentation of our physical bodies is our spiritual act of worship. In order for worship to please God it can’t be merely inward. Our worship and love for God must express themselves in concrete acts of service performed by our bodies.
The Bible says in the book of James, “Faith without deeds is dead.”
This type of extreme surrender is necessary because when we fully give our physical bodies to God, he uses them as instruments to change the world.
ILLUS – Josh Rutledge is the Youth Minister at the church where I used to serve. Josh has been blessed with a body that has amazing athletic gifts. He was a high school All-State athlete in football and track. He was even offered a Division One college football scholarship. But he turned it down so that he could pay tuition and attend Lincoln Christian College – where he could be trained to use his life to lead students to Christ as a Youth Minister.
Now, we don’t have to go into the ministry in order to practice extreme surrender.
When we surrender our bodies…
“Then our feet will walk his paths, our lips will speak the truth and spread the Gospel, our tongues will bring healing, our hands will lift up those who have fallen, and perform many mundane tasks as well like cooking and cleaning, typing and mending; our arms will embrace the lonely and the unloved, our ears will listen to the cries of the distressed, and our eyes will look humbly and patiently towards God.” (John Stott, Romans, p. 322)
Surrender of self involves the surrender of my physical body for service. But it also involves the…
Surrender of my mind for transformation
Read 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. (Romans 12:2, NLT)
This is the most subtle form of surrender because no one else sees what is going on in our minds. We can think however we want, but eventually the content of our minds will be exposed in the fruit of our lives.
God wants to transform us into new people by renewing our minds.
Minds that will know His will. Minds that will know how God wants to use our bodies for maximum spiritual impact. World changing minds, engaging in total surrender. Give it all up to God!
TRANSITION: Extreme surrender means not just my sin, but my self!
CONCLUSION
Our example is Jesus – He engaged in extreme surrender at the cross where he laid down his life.
Over the next 4 weeks, we will learn a world-changing process for our lives which spells the word LINK. L-I-N-K. In fact, on November 4 everyone will be getting one of these links as a reminder of the things we’ve learned.
Romans 6:19
Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy.
Link yourself to Jesus.
Big Idea: In order to be a world changer I must…
L – Lay down my life
