Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] It's good to be here this morning, isn't it? Beautiful day, sun shining.
[00:00:05] I wasn't normally scheduled to preach today, but Pastor Sam and his family were blessed with a wonderful gift from their in laws of vacation for them all in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and they were traveling this weekend for that trip. And you know, honestly speaking from my heart, there's no pastor that's more deserving than to be blessed in that way. Sam loves us all tremendously. He sacrifices greatly for us. He spends a lot of hours and time making sure, you know, that we have what we need as a church. And so let's pray for Sam and his family that they just have an absolutely wonderful time while they're away. Let's pray.
[00:00:45] Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We want to thank you for Pastor Sam, for Kim, for their kids, Lord, and just what an example they are to us. We thank you for Pastor Sam and just how well he loves us, how he preaches to us and teaches us and wants to see us thrive in the Christian life. We thank you for his sacrifices for the ministry that you've given him, Lord, for us. We pray your hand of blessing upon them. We pray that you protect them in their travels, keep them safe. We pray that this time would be just a true time of refreshment, of replenishment, of drawing near to you, of enjoying relaxed time, Kim and Sam with one another. For the kids, Lord, that they would just all just get along and Lord, just be refreshed that they come back ready to and strengthened and reinvigorated to minister in your power and strength, Lord. Pray for the message this morning, Lord. And I just pray that I would be your vehicle, that you fill me, Holy Spirit, and speak through me. Prepare our hearts and minds for what it is that you want to say to us this morning. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:01:53] The title of this morning's message is Surrender.
[00:01:57] Can God be trusted?
[00:01:59] This morning we're going to focus on what it means to surrender. And when we think about that word, we most often associate it with defeat.
[00:02:06] It's seen as a negative word that involves painful and unwanted experiences and consequences.
[00:02:12] When we think of war, you know, surrender we've probably seen depicted in the movies at various times. It's when a soldier ties the white cloth in the end of his rifle or bayonet and waves it above his head, basically signifying surrender, that they are defeated and they're giving up.
[00:02:30] If you remember in the boxing ring, a tradition used to be when a coach or trainer of a boxer throws in the white towel signifying that his boxer has had enough.
[00:02:39] You've beaten my fighter to a pulp. He's defeated. We give up the fight.
[00:02:44] As I've been working with the homeless in the last six months, either those who are homeless are trying to avoid homelessness. You know, I've seen people having to surrender their house or apartment through eviction, to surrender their car to repossession, the surrender parental rights of their child.
[00:03:01] And a person who's been convicted of a crime, sentenced to prison. Thought of as a negative, I mean, surrender their rights and their freedom.
[00:03:08] When we think of what it means to surrender, it's almost exclusively thought as a negative word. It's a word associated with defeat.
[00:03:16] And if you've been a follower of Christ for any length of time, I'm sure you've heard the phrase surrendering your life to Jesus Christ.
[00:03:24] Unfortunately, some Christians see that also as a negative term.
[00:03:28] As believers in Christ, we've trusted Christ as our Savior and we've made decisions to seek and to follow and to serve Him.
[00:03:35] But we don't really talk much about what it means to surrender all of our lives to his will through his guidance and his control.
[00:03:42] As Christians, we can have a tendency to compartmentalize our lives. Those things that we consider sacred over here and secular here. Those things are people that are we. We give them to Christ and others that we consider that are ours.
[00:03:57] And Jesus comes an add on to the life we've chosen to live. And rather than surrendering our lives fully to the way he would have us live, we will withhold those things and maintain control of those things that we believe will make us happy.
[00:04:10] And if we gave them to Jesus, we'd have to give them up.
[00:04:15] Giving control of my life to Jesus, you know, I'm just not sure that that's going to lead to my joy and my happiness and my fulfillment.
[00:04:23] We want control and do not want to relinquish aspects of our relationships, our pursuits, our goals, our dreams, our habits, our sexuality, our appetites, our money and what we do with it to anyone. We don't want to release that control.
[00:04:40] When we consider what it means to surrender our lives to Christ, we're forced to face the possibility of the reality of giving up some of the things that we consider important to our lives.
[00:04:50] And what we're talking about here really is fear.
[00:04:55] When we give control of our life to another, we fear that we actually, what we're going to do is lose control.
[00:05:02] I see our fears falling into four categories. If I surrender everything to God? What about my provision?
[00:05:09] Will I really have what I need?
[00:05:13] What about my pleasure? Will I be happy if I surrender things to God?
[00:05:18] What about protection?
[00:05:20] Will I and my loved ones be safe if I fully surrender my life to God?
[00:05:26] Personal relationships?
[00:05:29] Will my relational needs really be met if I surrender fully my relationships to God?
[00:05:37] The big question I have for you this morning is can I trust God to do better with my life than I can do myself?
[00:05:45] Let's explore this idea of surrender together. This morning I was reading a book that was titled Surrender by an author, Nancy Lee DeMoss, and she tells a true story about a Japanese lieutenant named Hiru Onodo.
[00:06:00] I want to share this story with you because in his story I believe that we can find some important spiritual implications for us all.
[00:06:08] On March 10, 1974, almost 30 years after the end of World War II, Lieutenant Hiro Onoda finally handed over his rusty sword and became the last Japanese soldier to surrender.
[00:06:20] Onoda had been sent to the tropical island of Lubang in the Philippines in 1944 with orders to conduct guerrilla warfare and prevent enemy attacks on the island.
[00:06:29] When the war ended, Onoda refused to believe the messages announcing Japan's surrender, believing it was propaganda.
[00:06:37] For 29 years, long after his fellow soldiers had either surrendered or were killed off, Onoda continued defending the island territory of the defeated Japanese army.
[00:06:47] Hid in the jungle, living off the land, stealing food and supplies from local citizens, evading one search party after another and killing at least 30 nationals in the process.
[00:06:57] Hundreds of thousands of dollars, probably equating to millions of dollars today, were spent trying to locate the one holdout and convince him the war was over.
[00:07:06] Leaflets, newspapers, photographs and letters from friends were dropped in the jungle. Announcements were made on loudspeakers begging Onoda to give up his fight.
[00:07:14] And still he refused to give up.
[00:07:17] Some 13,000 men had been deployed in the effort before Onoda finally received a personal order from his former commander and was persuaded to give up his feudal solitary war that he had waged for so many years.
[00:07:30] In his autobiography titled no surrender, my 30 year war, Onoda describes the moment that the reality of what had transpired began to sink in.
[00:07:39] Felt like a fool, what I've been doing for all these years.
[00:07:44] For the first time I really understood that this was the end.
[00:07:48] I pulled back the bolt on my rifle and unloaded the bullets. I eased off the pack that I always carried with me and laid the gun on top of it. The war was finally over for me.
[00:08:00] Isn't that amazing story?
[00:08:03] How could one soldier keep up the fight against such odds and opposition on his own for 30 years.
[00:08:12] Well, from our vantage point, looking back on the story today, Hiro Onoda and his refusal to surrender seems to have been sadly mistaken and at best, absurdly foolish. At the worst, the best years of his life thrown away fighting a war whose outcome had already been determined.
[00:08:31] Does that sound familiar?
[00:08:34] In a sense, it's our story as well.
[00:08:37] The Bible says that we all begin life as members of a rebellious race.
[00:08:42] And the struggle for control and humanity's refusal to surrender, it began in the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden.
[00:08:51] You remember the story of our beginnings found in the book of Genesis, don't you?
[00:08:55] God creates a universe with one inhabitable planet made just for us.
[00:09:00] And he creates man and woman in his image to be in relationship with Him.
[00:09:04] A relationship that would reveal his glory, his goodness and love for the world that he had made.
[00:09:09] And this world is perfect without sin. It's without disease, decay or death. It's without evil and suffering.
[00:09:15] A world where he provides everything that the human beings would need to thrive and flourish. Everything they need, spiritually, emotionally, physically and relationally.
[00:09:25] He gives them access to the tree of life, a provision by which they would live eternally in this perfect world with Him.
[00:09:31] He sets before them one prohibition. Do not eat from the tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, for if you do, you shall die.
[00:09:38] And I believe in part, it was a prohibition left as a test. Would they believe him? Would they follow him? Would they obey him? Would they trust him?
[00:09:48] And everything's going swimmingly until another character enters the scene, a fallen creature, the devil who had rebelled against God in heaven and was cast out. And he presents himself to them in the form of a serpent and convinces the couple that God cannot be trusted. He's withholding from you something from you that's going to lead to your happiness and fulfillment. Actually. You can be your own God and you can control your own destiny.
[00:10:18] There's no cliffhanger here.
[00:10:20] We all know how this story has ended because we're living it each and every day. The consequences of their choice.
[00:10:29] And it's a never ending struggle for us all.
[00:10:33] John 10:10 Jesus words. He says, the devil has come to steal, kill and destroy. But I have come to give you life. Life to the full.
[00:10:42] And this is where the battle lines continue to be drawn today.
[00:10:47] Listen to the devil, the liar, the tempter, the deceiver. Arrest control of your life. God's withholding from you. Charge forward, trying to control your own happiness. It's in your hands. It's there for the taking. Don't trust God, trust yourself.
[00:11:04] And when we hear that, so many of us think, well, that's not me.
[00:11:10] But what about your time?
[00:11:13] What about your money?
[00:11:16] What about your family?
[00:11:19] What about your appetites?
[00:11:22] What about your sexuality?
[00:11:25] What about your friendships?
[00:11:28] What about your dating life?
[00:11:31] What about your career?
[00:11:34] What about your possession?
[00:11:37] What about your comfort and leisure time?
[00:11:41] Probably for us all. I've hit on a few sacred cows there, haven't I?
[00:11:45] Some things that when we think, well, I don't know if I fully surrendered that you need to know that as your pastors study and pray and prepare messages for you on Sunday, that the reality of our weeks are quite often that we're contending with these very truths and in our own lives.
[00:12:04] And ultimately that's what God has been doing with me over this last week.
[00:12:09] The realization that there's an area of my life that I haven't fully surrendered to Him.
[00:12:14] And I would venture to say that that's more than likely true of a fault While the word surrender as it relates to our lives with Christ cannot be found in the New Testament, the New Testament is full of passages that imply the very thing Christians are to surrender their lives fully to Jesus Christ.
[00:12:35] The goal this morning is that you wouldn't go away from this morning and understand that you'd go come away from understanding what it means to surrender all of your life to Christ and that you would go home willing to surrender areas of your life that you haven't given over to Him.
[00:12:49] That's the goal this morning.
[00:12:52] First, let's answer the question, what does it mean to be a Christian?
[00:12:57] A journey begins when a person places their faith in Christ as their Savior.
[00:13:01] From that point, you might think of a Christian as someone well, they're a person who prays and they read their Bible and they attend church and they serve in some capacity and they live by a certain moral code.
[00:13:15] But that's really not the right definition.
[00:13:19] The word Christian literally means little anointed ones or little Christs.
[00:13:24] To be a Christian means that you've exchanged your life for the life of Jesus Christ.
[00:13:29] Galatians 2:20 it says, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live the life. I now live in the body. I live by faith in a Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
[00:13:41] Christianity is not just asking Jesus into your heart, but it's the whole hearted pursuit of what it means to follow God with every aspect of your life.
[00:13:53] I remember that passage in Matthew 23 where Jesus was asked the question, rabbi, tell us what is the greatest commandment?
[00:14:02] And he actually responded by quoting a commandment found in the Old Testament, a commandment that every Israelite would have recited actually in their morning prayers.
[00:14:10] In Deuteronomy 6, 4 and 5, it says, Hero, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
[00:14:15] Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
[00:14:20] And then Jesus goes on and says, and the second one is like it.
[00:14:25] And he proceeds to quote another Old Testament passage that they would have known.
[00:14:30] Leviticus 19:18, Love your neighbor as yourself.
[00:14:35] And then Jesus finishes his answer to that question with by saying, all. All the law and the prophets are summed up in these two commands.
[00:14:46] So basically, if we had to understand what is a Christian and what is the essence of the Christian life, it's right here in Jesus. Answer. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength, with everything that you have, everything that you are.
[00:15:08] God calls you not simply to obey him, but to give yourself fully to Him.
[00:15:13] Give all your heart, your passions, your desires, your dreams, your goals. Give him your soul, your personhood, all that makes you you. Give him all your mind, your intellect, your thought life, your pursuits and learning. Give him all your strength, the best of your energies, your work, your pursuits, your ministry endeavors. The word all means all.
[00:15:35] It means we stop compartmentalizing our life to what is Jesus and what is mine. That you no longer divide life by what is sacred and what is secular, what is God's and what is yours.
[00:15:47] First Corinthians 6, 19 and 20 says, do you not know that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God?
[00:15:55] You're not your own.
[00:15:57] You were bought at a price.
[00:15:59] Therefore, honor God with your body.
[00:16:03] If you trust the Christ as your Savior, he's earned the right to be your Lord.
[00:16:07] Your life no longer belongs to you as it once did when you had control and called all your own shop.
[00:16:13] The only rational response to what Jesus did for you, the depth of love he demonstrated for you, the fact that he would lay down his life and death for you, that you might live such an extraordinary sacrifice, a sacrifice of love has earned for you what it has accomplished for you. All the promises that he's fulfilled already and those who will be filled in eternity. The only rational response is for your whole life to come under that kind of love, that authority, and that wisdom and power.
[00:16:43] The scary thing is that some who profess faith in Christ still believe that some areas of their life that they know better than he does.
[00:16:53] They believe that they can actually do better in managing their life and finding true happiness than he can.
[00:17:00] And that's the definition of crazy.
[00:17:05] It's doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.
[00:17:11] Making decisions and choices that are contrary to God's word.
[00:17:15] Experiencing the negative painful consequences of those choices outside of his will.
[00:17:20] Never learning from your mistakes over and over again. Choosing the wrong friend, the wrong person to pursue in marriage. Making poor decision with your money or the time you spend at work. Doing the very same things the next time when an important life decision crosses your path.
[00:17:36] Never gaining the wisdom and discernment to see what your attempts to control your life have wrought you.
[00:17:43] That is the definition of crazy.
[00:17:47] In order to make my point, let's contrast two well known proverbs.
[00:17:53] First one, Proverbs 14:12 says, There is a way that seems right to a man or woman, but in the end it leads to death.
[00:18:02] Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your path straight.
[00:18:12] The first proverb speaks of the results when a man or woman goes their own way, calls their own shots, maintains control over their own life. It seems right to me.
[00:18:21] It feels right. It feels good. I think it's going to lead to my happiness.
[00:18:27] But the wise proverb, Solomon, who wrote that, says, it seems right to you, but what's being hidden there is. It leads to death, it leads to defeat, it leads to discouragement.
[00:18:45] You know Philip Yancey, 40 years of respected Christian author and he's written books for 40 years. He's got a whole host of them and I've got several of them in my library that just have really impacted my life. Jesus, I never knew what's so amazing about grace.
[00:19:02] Where is God when it hurts?
[00:19:05] His appointment with God.
[00:19:09] He's 76 years old. He's been married for 55 years. And I just found out yesterday that the last eight years of his life he's had an affair with a married woman.
[00:19:23] Just one casualty after another of well known Christian pastors and scholars and apologists and worship leaders and authors.
[00:19:35] You see living an unsurrendered life. Whether you realize it or not, the Word is true that sin leads to death. It kills things. Living outside of God's will kills things. Whether you experience it now, you know it's either like you hear that? Pay me now or pay me later and you might not experience those consequences now. But the reality of God's word is always true, that sin kills things. Living outside his will kills things.
[00:19:59] It kills marriages, it kills families, it kills friendships, it kills health, it kills reputations and career.
[00:20:06] It kills financial stability and spiritual vitality. It kills Christian witness and ministry. An unsurrendered life ends up a defeated life.
[00:20:19] And the essence of surrender is just found in one word there in Proverbs 3.
[00:20:25] And that word is trust.
[00:20:29] Can God really be trusted?
[00:20:32] Do I believe God can be trusted?
[00:20:36] You need to personalize that.
[00:20:39] Am I living in such a way that I am trusting God with everything?
[00:20:45] Solomon tells us that when you fully trust God, he leaves you on a straight path where you're walking with Christ and you're living in his will and you're experiencing the fruit and fulfillment that he promises everyone who submits their will to Him.
[00:20:58] And that doesn't mean a trouble free life or a pain free life, but a life that you have Jesus walking with you and he's fulfilling this promise to bring good out of your pain, redeeming it to glorify Himself and heal your wounded heart and to make you more like him in the process.
[00:21:14] And you know, sometimes it's those very troubles and those pains and those hurts and those losses that we refuse to surrender to God.
[00:21:27] Just a couple days ago I saw the post from actor Tim Allen, and if you're familiar with him, he's the star of this series like Home Improvement and Last Man Standing and my wife's favorite Christmas movie, Santa Claus.
[00:21:43] And if you didn't know it, his father in 1964 was killed in a car crash by a drunk driver.
[00:21:49] His father had broken his neck and died on the lap of his wife.
[00:21:54] And Tim was only 11 years old.
[00:21:57] And he recently treated this.
[00:22:00] And this is after his father had been taken from him. Sixty years ago, when Erica Kirk spoke the words on the man who killed her husband, Charlie Kirk, that man, that young man, I forgive him.
[00:22:14] That moment deeply affected me.
[00:22:17] I've struggled over 60 years to forgive the man who killed my dad.
[00:22:22] I say those words now as I type. I forgive the man who killed my father.
[00:22:28] After 60 years of resentment and bitterness and holding the hurts and pains back from God, he realized that the surrender meant to forgive.
[00:22:42] You see, surrender also involves releasing our hurts and debts we believed are owed us in Christ, walking the road of forgiveness, release and healing and freedom.
[00:22:52] Work that only Christ in you can accomplish.
[00:22:55] Surrendering to Christ involves releasing your wounds to him and letting him help you to forgive.
[00:23:03] Webster defines surrender simply as to give oneself up into the power of another.
[00:23:11] A Christian doesn't surrender because he or she has no better options, but rather because only by surrendering can we find our true meaning and purpose in life.
[00:23:20] God requires a surrender not because he wants to take from us, but because of what he desires to give us. Let me say that again. Let this sink in. God requires us surrender not because he wants to take from us, but because of what he desires to give us. He wants to give us his very best.
[00:23:39] You know, in the IFC vision statement that we hear every morning as Jesus pours into us, he pours out of us to others.
[00:23:47] And I was reading a book by Dr. Julie Slattery and He gave an illustration of this.
[00:23:53] He wrote, picture your life as a container.
[00:23:56] Any ounce that is given to water cannot be filled with oil.
[00:23:59] One displaces the other.
[00:24:01] In the same way, our lives can only be filled with the presence and power of God. To the extent that we surrender what we currently live for him, to him, those unsurrendered things in our lives, the sin, the disobedience, the hurts and pains, the idols we place before him, our self will, or all the things that fill the containers of our lives, making less and less room for Jesus.
[00:24:27] You see, that's what you need to understand is that you know, on the one side, you're probably experiencing this at times, or man. I want to go further with Christ. I want more of Christ. I want to be deeper, more intimate with Him. I want his presence and power to be more manifest in my life. But over here, you're holding on to these things and you're not surrendering. You're not realizing that those things that you're not surrendering are actually filling your heart, blocking the opportunity to even experience a greater presence and power of God in your life.
[00:24:54] It's only when we invite Jesus into the deepest longings, the most intimate places of who we are, that we discover him and experience his presence and power.
[00:25:02] The power of his love and mercy and grace to transform our lives.
[00:25:10] There's one more question we need to answer this morning.
[00:25:14] Our motivation in surrendering all to Christ is determined by answering this question.
[00:25:18] Can God be trusted?
[00:25:22] I want to give you three reasons why I believe he can.
[00:25:26] The first is we can trust God because of his greatness.
[00:25:30] And I believe that one of the most famous passages on surrender is found in Paul's letter to the Romans. So turn in your Bibles Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
[00:25:43] And I don't have that on the screen for you this morning. So if find a Bible on the seats in front of you or turn to yours or turn to your phone, let's go ahead and read Romans 12:1 and 2.
[00:26:03] Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age or to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renew of your mind so that you may be discern what is good, pleasing and perfect will of God.
[00:26:25] So we have another passage here where we don't see the word surrender, but it speaks directly to it, doesn't it?
[00:26:34] Paul's urging the Christians in Rome to be a living sacrifice.
[00:26:40] And prior to the new covenant in Christ. The sacrificial system was given by God under the old covenant as a picture that blood was needed to be shed for forgiveness.
[00:26:49] It was a type pointing to the one spotless lamb who would be the one just and righteous payment for our forgiveness.
[00:26:55] The sacrificing of animals on the altar before God were animals that after being sacrificed were of course dead. They no longer lived.
[00:27:04] Paul writes that followers of Christ are to be living sacrifices, which means the surrender and dedication of our entire lives to God. Our body, our mind and our actions are to be a daily sacrifice of worship, transforming us into something useful for his kingdom purposes rather than conforming to the ways and the values and priorities of the world.
[00:27:27] Two weeks in a row, though, the main text of our sermon started with that word therefore.
[00:27:33] And as Sam said last week, whenever we see the word therefore, we need to ask, what is it? Therefore it always points back to something the author had previously written.
[00:27:45] So let's back up to a few verses to see what it is that Paul is pointing his readers back to.
[00:27:51] Let's read Romans 11:33, 36 oh the depths of the riches and wisdom, and the knowledge of God.
[00:28:00] How unsearchable his judgments and his untraceable ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, and who has ever given to God that he should be repaid? For from him and through him, and to him are all things, to him be the glory forever. Amen.
[00:28:16] What a glorious hymn of worship and praise.
[00:28:21] Paul illustrates God's depth of wisdom and knowledge in three ways and first he speaks of the riches of his grace that are in Christ.
[00:28:29] And then he speaks the wisdom displayed in his plan of salvation.
[00:28:34] Then he speaks of God's perfect knowledge that covers every possibility and every eventuality.
[00:28:41] Paul's reminding us, as he has done throughout the letter to the Romans, of God's credentials, of who he is, his greatness and what his goodness has done for us in Christ.
[00:28:51] How great is his amazing grace, how wonderful are his mercies that are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness to us.
[00:28:58] A wondrous is his love, of which the Scriptures declare that God is love and that love comes from him. And then it speaks of that, how it's demonstrated love because of the depth of the love in sending His Son and Jesus going to the cross for our sin.
[00:29:14] We don't surrender our lives fully to God because we're supposed to. We surrender in response to his overwhelming love, grace and mercy.
[00:29:24] Surrender never comes from a blind act of obedience, but from trusting relationship that flows from your knowledge of the one true God, the knowledge of who he is and what he's done for you already in Christ.
[00:29:39] John 17:3. Jesus says, this is eternal life, that you may know the one true God and Jesus Christ in whom he has sent.
[00:29:48] You see, Jesus died and rose again, not so that you could become better at religion, but that you might enter into an eternal love relationship with him and make your life pursued, growing in your knowledge of him. And as you grow in your knowledge again of him, what happens?
[00:30:05] Your trust in him grows.
[00:30:07] You know what happens there. Your willingness to surrender to him grows.
[00:30:15] That word. No, a similar word in the Greek as it is in the Hebrew when it's when it says in Genesis 4:1, Adam knew his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.
[00:30:29] The word new yada in Hebrew means life giving intimacy.
[00:30:36] Has your greatest pursuit in life been to know Jesus?
[00:30:41] Do you know him to the degree that you can trust him with all of your life?
[00:30:46] Have you surrendered all?
[00:30:48] Are you holding something back?
[00:30:54] Second reason why I believe we can trust God is because of his goodness.
[00:31:00] Last week, Sam read Matthew 11:20, 30. And I I believe there's something important in Jesus words here that speaks to us in our surrender.
[00:31:09] Go ahead and turn to Matthew 11:28 30.
[00:31:25] And Jesus says, come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
[00:31:32] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly.
[00:31:35] Other version says, gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
[00:31:43] So the first words coming from Jesus here is, come to me and what I want you to see in Jesus words is that surrender is not his demand upon your life, but it's his invitation to you. Come to me.
[00:31:57] He says, all you who are weary and burdened.
[00:32:01] And these words describe my existence whenever I try to arrest control of my life back from him, whenever I try to live in my own energy or understanding.
[00:32:10] And I don't know about you, but I still have the ability to make a mess of things when I try to live in my own strength.
[00:32:19] Maybe right now you're sick and tired of feeling sick and tired.
[00:32:24] I know that, I've been there.
[00:32:27] Jesus is saying that if you are at the place of feeling weary and burdened and you come to him, he will give you rest, a rest and peace that the world cannot give.
[00:32:38] And in Paul's letter to the Philippians, do you remember what he says there? He says, it's the kind of peace that transcends understanding, that will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.
[00:32:48] It's the kind of peace and rest that we cannot find in the world. Are the things of this world, are the relationships in this world comes from Jesus. And it's a, it's, it transcends understanding. And quite often it does come in the midst of our greatest trials and our suffering. And people look at you and say, how can you be have so much peace and rest when you're going through so much?
[00:33:08] It's because of my connection with Christ.
[00:33:11] It's because of my trust in Christ.
[00:33:16] And he says, take my yoke upon you.
[00:33:20] And a yoke is a wooden harness device that a farmer in Jesus day would use to connect two oxen.
[00:33:25] And then he'd attach the reins to the yoke so that the farmer could guide the animals as they plowed the field and readied it for the harvest to plant crops.
[00:33:35] A yoke would prevent either ox from pulling, you know, in different directions, which would prevent them for the farmer from accomplishing his goals.
[00:33:45] Surrender means allowing Jesus to place his yoke on you, giving him control of your life so that the two of you can work in tandem to accomplish his kingdom goal.
[00:33:55] You might flourish in life and be fruitful, reaping a harvest as you live for him.
[00:34:01] And then he says, and learn of me.
[00:34:03] His words remind me of surrendering, of getting to know and trust him, of learning his will and ways in an ongoing lifetime pursuit that involves not only one time decision, but daily decisions to not remove his yoke and start running again in my own strength.
[00:34:19] See, I think some Christians believe that the moment they trust the Christ as their Savior. Oh yeah, that surrender thing, that's an old, that's a done deal for me.
[00:34:26] I surrendered my life the day I trusted Christ as my Savior.
[00:34:31] But I feel very little. I see very little examples of that in real Christian living.
[00:34:38] Surrender for me has been a 44 year journey, day after day or week after week using to surrender everything to Him.
[00:34:49] And then Jesus says, for I am gentle and humble in heart and I don't know about you, but don't those words just kind of make you want to give him control?
[00:35:00] He isn't a harsh, demanding cast master who's going to force you to do things and go places that you're going to hate.
[00:35:06] Description of his heart is gentle and humble to me means he will be patient and long suffering with you.
[00:35:12] And he knows that we can blow this thing of surrender over and over again through the years as we walk with him. And yet he doesn't give up on us. He never stops drawing us to Himself.
[00:35:24] I love this quote. Jesus loves you just the way you are and loves you too much to let you stay this way because he knows those things that you're choosing not to surrender him are going to be the things that cause devastation and discouragement in your life.
[00:35:41] Anything that you're choosing not to surrender to Christ somehow, some way is eventually going to kill something in your life. And it may be just your intimacy with Christ and your vibrant walk with Him.
[00:35:56] And he says you'll find rest for your souls and notice when we've had enough of ourselves, when we first come, he gives us rest, but as we live surrenders lives, we'll be able to find our rest continuously in Him.
[00:36:10] Come and I'll give you rest.
[00:36:12] Give me control and you'll find ongoing rest and peace in me.
[00:36:20] A constant state of feeling burdened, weary, stressed, fatigued, overwhelmed is transformed into his daily peace and rest.
[00:36:28] The reason we so often feel anxiety, stress and fatigue is because we're trying to control things that we were never made to control on our own.
[00:36:40] And then he finishes by saying my yoke is easy and my burden is light from Jesus words. It should be reassuring to us that when we surrender our lives to him, it won't lead to a demanding, restrictive, boring life that robs us of fun and the enjoyment we can find in the world. Jesus promises his followers an abundant life, a fulfilling life, a full life as we live for his kingdom, honor and glory.
[00:37:04] And finally, we're to surrender our lives to Christ because of his example to us. We Surrender to Him because of his greatness, we surrender to him because of his goodness, and we surrender him because he's laid an example before us of what he has done by surrendering his life for our sake.
[00:37:22] Let's read Philippians 2, 6, 8.
[00:37:33] And start in verse 5.
[00:37:37] Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.
[00:37:41] Adopt the same attitude of surrender of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.
[00:37:51] Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even to death on a cross.
[00:38:05] We've heard this passage before.
[00:38:07] We've had the text of this passage exposited for us. But basically what? It simply means that the incarnation of Christ, his condescension from heaven, God made flesh on our behalf, is the example that humility comes before honor, that death precedes life, and that surrender leads to victory.
[00:38:29] Let's finish 9 and 11, 9 through 11.
[00:38:35] For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
[00:38:53] So let's bring our three passages together.
[00:38:58] Romans 11:33, 36 says that we are to surrender our lives to Christ because of his greatness.
[00:39:04] He is God and we're not.
[00:39:06] And because of that fact we should seek to know him, his will, his ways, and what he expects of us. He's our Creator and is exalted above all creation. And in this sense he invented us and knows how we best operate, how we best function.
[00:39:21] He knows what's best for us.
[00:39:24] He's the Sovereign Lord over all. He rules and reigns from an eye. He upholds all things. He sustains all things. He is all powerful, all wise and all knowing. He's our provider, protector and healer. He's worthy of surrendering your life to him.
[00:39:40] In Matthew 11:20, 30 says we're to surrender to Christ because of his goodness.
[00:39:45] He's a relational God who draws near to the weary and the burdened, to the humble and to the brokenhearted. He beckons us in love to come to Him. He's gentle and humble in heart. He understands us and can sympathize with our weaknesses. He's patient, long suffering. He's the God of all love and grace and mercy. He's forgiving and will never hold our sins against us, to condemn us. He desires by his power, love and grace to set us free and fulfill his promise to us of a life to the full as we surrender completely to Him.
[00:40:16] And then finally, Philippians 2, 6, 11 says we're to surrender to Christ because of his example of surrendering it all for us.
[00:40:25] Let me ask you this morning, was what was revealed in those three passages cause you to believe that God can be trusted with your life, with all of your life?
[00:40:42] And there's things that are with people here this morning that you know, that you're trying to maintain control, that you know that you haven't surrendered an area of your life to him and you're holding on to it with all the tightness of your grip, believing that by holding on to this, this is going to lead to my happiness, even though you know that it's outside of God's will.
[00:41:08] And so you need to seriously say, am I better in deciding this? Am I better to hold on control to this? Am I better equipped to achieve happiness my way?
[00:41:21] Or is it time for me to trust God and give it all to Him?
[00:41:33] With him, it's never partial surrender where, you know, we kind of go through the buffet line of life choices. We, we pick and choose what we take and we leave behind the rest, or what we'll give to him and what we'll keep for ourselves.
[00:41:47] You see, with Jesus, he's either Lord of all, or he's not Lord at all.
[00:41:56] A surrendered life will mean a life of faith. It'll mean a life of risk of moving out of your comfort zone. That'll mean putting sin and idolatry to death in your life, whatever it is that you're placing in front of him for your fulfillment and happiness.
[00:42:09] It'll entail new adventures with new horizons, new opportunities where you are in the front row witnessing his presence and power being manifested in and through your life. And let me tell you, there's truly no better place or no better way to live.
[00:42:25] When all of God's work of redemption and restoration is accomplished through the return of Christ, all will surrender.
[00:42:31] Some out of worship and adoration, and some with a tight cliff sense of subjugation. But when he appears and everyone stands before him, they'll all know that he is Lord.
[00:42:44] Every knee shall bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord unto the glory of the Father. And my question for you is, why wait?
[00:42:55] Surrender it all today.
[00:42:58] He's worthy.
[00:43:00] He's great and he's good.
[00:43:04] And oh, how he's demonstrated his love for you by taking on the cross.
[00:43:09] Who's more worthy to give it all to than him?
[00:43:14] Let's move into a time of reflection. Ben, you can come back up.
[00:43:20] And I really want you to spend some personal time with the Lord right now. Just consider this in a group of 60 that it's just you and him right now.
