Surrender

Yesterday we talked about Jesus being the Supreme EVERYTHING. And I hope that as you read that post, you found yourself agreeing with what was being said.

Now if you did, there is a natural response that needs to take place. And that response is complete and total surrender. Surrender is not a word that we like to think about in our society. We’re Americans. We do not surrender. We’ve never surrendered in war, and we’re not about to now. We think of ourselves as independent and we don’t need anyone or anything to prop us up.

But if that’s your attitude, can I honestly say this: “You are not living the Christian life that God has called you to live.” The fact of the matter is that the Christian life that God wants us to live is first of all characterized by surrender.

Case Study #1:

Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen. That’s how they made the money that they needed to feed their families and build their homes. It was their livelihood. Jesus comes along, and tells them to follow Him because He was going to make them “Fishers of Men”. Now if you’re reading Matthew’s gospel, you’re going to see an interesting word used here. As soon as Jesus calls to them, it says “and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him” (emphasis added).

Why is this important? Two reasons. First is that they recognized who Jesus was. This wasn’t the first time these men meet Jesus. In fact, they had been spending time with Jesus for about a year before this. But now, Jesus calls them to follow Him…to be His disciples…and they respond immediately. This shows that they trusted Jesus, to be sure, but it also shows that they were convinced that He was the One who would show them the way to the Kingdom of God.

The second reason this is important is that they left everything to follow Jesus. Notice that they left the boat. This represented their work, their livelihood and their security. It represented all that they had put their faith in up to that point. Now they were going to put their faith in this builder from Nazareth. They also left their father, which represented the surrender of their past. Their families were still important to them (we see this through the gospels as James and John’s mother comes and asks Jesus if they could sit by Him in the Kingdom), but they were not as important to them as following this man they believed was Messiah.

So now the question comes to us. Do we love Jesus, do we trust Jesus, enough to surrender everything to follow after Him. For some of us, we are going to be asked to give of our lives, but others of us need to surrender our hobbies, our comforts, our personal freedoms in order to follow after the King that leads us to triumph. If we are willing…if you are willing…let’s let Him know that we will lay it all on the line to follow after Him.

And we’ll see you on Sunday!

Please Don't Use That Word

Today, we begin to talk about a topic that is not on anyone's wish list to talk about. In fact, when I mention this word, you're going to be tempted to read no further, but I assure you, it would be in your best interests to do so. This word, while it is controversial today, is crucial to the survival of the Christian faith. And if we are to become all that God wants us to be, we need to not only understand what this word entails, but we need to act upon it as well.

What's the word? The word is submission, and for most of us, we don't get it. We think that submission is giving up our identity, our will, or our personality. And while some of those things may go with submission, it doesn't mean they have to. In fact, when we truly submit to God all that we have, He gives most of it back to us...only better.

Here is what is involved when it comes to submission. First we give God everything that we are. We give up our rights, we give up our wills, we give up our dreams and desires. We do this because we realize that without God, all else is worthless. We submit because we understand that without God in our lives, we have no life at all.

Jesus depicted it this way: A man went out into a field and there he found a very expensive treasure. He took that treasure and he buried it in the field so that no one else could find it. And then he went and sold everything else that he had so that he could buy that field and the treasure that was buried in it. We submit to God because we understand that HE is that treasure. We go out and give up all that we have so that we can have HIM!

My friends, that is submission. That it what it means to submit to God and to allow Him to have complete rule and reign in your life. If you refuse to do this, if you refuse to give God all that you have and all that you are, you are not in submission.

Come back tomorrow when we talk about what true submission might look like, and we'll see you on Sunday!