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Surrendering - to live the rest of my life fulfilling the mission God made me for.
What we’re talking about this morning is surrender / commitment.
“Give yourselves completely to God… to be used for His good purposes.” Rom. 6:13 (LB)
“Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God … Then you’ll be able to know the will of God – that is good, pleasing, and perfect.” Rom. 12:1-2 (GN)
Today, I want us to look at the barriers that keep us from taking this step. You can be a Christian, you can have Jesus Christ in your life and still have never taken this step.
You still hold onto areas of your life. Maybe it’s your career, maybe it’s your dating life, maybe it’s your friendships, maybe it’s some hobby. But you haven’t given totally 100% of your life to God and you’re still holding back.
But before we do let’s review why I should do it. It’s very simple. This is nothing new.
1. There are 3 Reasons for Surrendering totally to Christ’s Mission…
1. It’s what I was made for
Galatians 1:15 (NIV) Paul said “But when God, who set me apart from birth…”
2. IT’s what Is best for me.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
3. It’s the key to satisfaction and success in life.
Proverbs 3:6 “In everything you do, put God first and He will crown your efforts with success.”
Those are the reasons. The big question, then, comes up, if it’s what I was made to do, and if God knows best, and if it’s going to produce all kinds of blessing in my life, why isn’t everyone giving their lives to God completely? And obviously that’s not happening. Why?
2. WHAT COULD KEEP ME FROM Surrendering to Christ’s Mission for my LIFE?
The reason is there are four emotional barriers to keep you and to keep me from giving everything we’ve got to God.
1. A RESENTMENT TOWARD Christ
You may be mad at God because things haven’t gone the way you have wanted them to. A lot of us think that God is kind of like a vending machine, genie.
You put in a prayer and you pull out whatever you want. And God owes you every thing – you say “Forget God!
Ø I prayed to win the lottery - and it didn’t happen
Ø I prayed, ‘God, make that person – that guy/girl – fall in love with me.’ And they didn’t.
Ø ‘Make them stay married to me.’ And they didn’t.
Ø I prayed, ‘God, don’t let my friend die.’ And he did.”
If you don’t get anything else, get this, this morning. God is not a genie. A genie has to give you everything you ask for.
If God gave you everything you asked for you’d be the most spoiled brat in the universe. You’d have no character. You’d be impossible to live with. You’d be rotten to the core. Because you’d be so indulged.
God doesn’t owe you everything you want. You ask for things that you don’t need sometimes and that God knows won’t help you.
Don’t get resentful against God.
If I were to go get drunk right now, go out on the freeway, run into a car and kill some children, the parents and the family of those children should not be mad at God. They should be mad at me - God didn’t do that. I did.
You say, God could have stopped that evil. Yes, He could. And it would be very easy for God to get rid of all the evil in the world – take away your choice to do it. Take you and I out of the scene but none of us would be here tomorrow.
Proverbs 19:3 (NCV) “People own foolishness ruins their lives, but in their minds they blame the Lord.” Proverbs 19:3 (NIV) A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord.
2. The DISTRACTIONS IN OUR CULTURE
We get caught up in the world’s value system.
We talked about this two weeks ago – the world’s value system of possessions, pleasure and prestige.
We get caught up in the Aussie dream – “I’m going to live the good life!” and we spend all our time trying to acquire those three things and as a result we miss God’s purpose.
Mark 4:19 (NLT) All too quickly the message (God’s word) is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.
Ecclesiastes 7:4 (NCV) “A fool thinks only about having a good time.”
There’s nothing wrong with having a good time. God wants you to have a good time. In fact, He created you with the ability to have a good time. In Timothy it says, “God created everything in the world for our enjoyment.” But even enjoyment is not the ultimate goal of life. And if you make that your number one goal – “My goal in life is to be happy!” – you’re never going to be happy. It’s like a butterfly that’s illusive. You’re always trying to grasp it and it’s always just out of your reach.
3. A DESIRE FOR INDEPENDENCE
Australians glamorize independence. We idealize it.
Our leader’s country was founded on the Declaration of Independence – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
And we idealize songs and turn them into hits. Any song that talks about personal independence – “I don’t care what you say. This is my life”, “Don’t fence me in”, “I’ve got to be me,” or that great theological classic “I did it my way.”
Can you imagine getting to heaven and God goes, “Di d you fulfill My purpose for your life?” No, I did it my way! And God goes, “Huh? Let Me get this straight.
I, God, the creator of the universe put you on the earth for a reason, for a mission. I had a plan for your life and you didn’t think it was good enough so instead of doing My purpose for your life, you did it your way? What were you thinking?”
Somebody ought to write a Christian song, “I did it Yahweh.” (Yahweh is the Hebrew word for “God” in the Old Testament.)
This personal independence, honestly, is not all that it’s cracked up to be.
Aussies are among the most independent people in the world. We’re also among the loneliest people in the world.
We weren’t made to be independent of each other. We were made to be interdependent. Not dependent but inter-dependent. Which means we help each other out. That’s what the church is supposed to be…
There are two tragedies in life.
One of them is to over commit to too many things and that’s where a lot of people are. They’re half committed to two dozen things that aren’t important.
Or to never commit to anything of significance. What we need is figure out the one or two things that really matter in life and get on with that, head on, and invest our lives in the things that matter. And not worry about independence.
Maybe you’re there. Maybe you’re not ready to admit you need God’s help in your life.
Look at how God talks about the self-sufficient person.
Proverbs 10:8 (LB) “The self sufficient fool falls flat on his face.”
There’s a fourth barrier that keeps me from giving 100% of my life to God…
4. A FEAR OF COMMITMENT
This is the most common barrier and our whole nation is consumed with this fear of commitment. Many kinds.
Often we don’t want to give our lives to Christ because there’s the fear I might lose my freedom, there’s the fear I might lose all my fun, there’s the fear I might lose my friends – what if they start thinking I’m a nut, some religious fanatic, some kook, some religious bozo of some kind that doesn’t think rationally any more. We have all these fears. What if I make a commitment to God and I’m not able to keep it? What if I stumble and fall?
It’s not “if”. You will. You will stumble and fall. You’re going to make mistakes. Committing your life totally to God doesn’t mean you’re going to be perfect the rest of your life. You won’t. That’s not it at all. But God will help you. He’ll help you with your decisions. The fear of the cost, what God might ask me to do. He might ask me to be a missionary in Bosnia!
But the greatest fear of all that keeps us from really giving 100% of our lives to God – and you could be a Christian and still haven’t done this – the greatest fear is the fear of losing control.
If I give my life totally to God I will lose control of my life. I’ll let you in on a little surprise – you’re not in control right now! That’s why you have a thing called… PROBLEMS! Problems are things you can’t control. If they were, they wouldn’t be a problem.
Part of emotional maturity is when you grow up and realize most of your life is beyond your control. You can’t control your kids, you can’t control your husband/wife, you can’t control the economy. Most of things are beyond your control. No matter how many self-help books you read that say “I am the master of my fate”, you’re not. There are things you can control but most of your life you can’t. That’s why you have problems and that’s why you get stressed out.
But there is somebody who can control them – God. So why don’t you let the one who can control them do it? It’s a myth that you think you’re in control of your life. You’re not.
The source of all these fears I’ve just talked about, the source of all these barriers have one thing in common: You don’t understand God. You don’t really understand how much He loves you.
If you did, you wouldn’t be afraid of Him.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NB) “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.”
Some of you have been saying, “One of these days I’m really going to get serious about God…
Have you noticed a common thing in these verses about the barriers. It says, “People’s own foolishness ruin their lives…. A fool thinks only about having a good time… The self sufficient fool falls flat on his face.” Are you picking up any theme here?
Here’s the point: It’s dumb, really dumb, to not live God’s purpose for your life. If you’re not living God’s purpose, you’re not living. You’re just existing. It’s dumb.
Proverbs 9:6 (LB) “Leave behind your foolishness and begin to live.”
3. HOW DO you Surrender to Christs Mission
How do you do that? You do two things:
1. Compare the cost with the benefits
Jesus is very up front about the costs of following Him. He says you ought to check it out. In every commitment you make there is always a cost and there are benefits of that commitment. The question is always, is the cost equal to or are the benefits greater than what the cost is? Are the benefits worth what it costs?
Imagine that your mind is like a ledger. As we close, I want to put on one side of that ledger what exactly it costs to surrender to Christ’s Mission?
Luke 14:28 (LB) “Don’t begin until you count the cost.”
So what does it cost to surrender to Christ’s mission for your life?
1) I give up my right to do whatever I want with my life
2) I give up control of my resources
3) I give up pursuing the world’s values
That’s the cost. And it’s a heavy cost.
BUT what’s the cost of not surrender to Christ’s mission for your life?
1) I lose the ultimate meaning of my life
2) I lose the joy of expressing my God-given SHAPE
3) I lose eternal life in heaven and/or eternal rewards.
Why? Because one day you’re going to stand before your creator and God’s going to say, “Di d you accept My Son and did you follow the purpose I created you for?” And if you say, “I did it my way.” He’s going to say, “Well in heaven I do it My way so have it your way. See you later. Because if you don’t want to do God’s way on earth, you’re not going to want to do it in heaven so good-bye!”
The point is this: There is a price no matter which one you choose. I, John Bond, have thought this through a lot. And I have decided that it’s not worth the cost of not following Christ. That the real cost of following Christ is far better in the benefits than the cost of not following Him and living outside God’s will is just not worth it.
The other step you need to take is this…
2. Trust God to help me keep my commitment
You say, “What if God asks me to do something difficult if I give my life totally to Him?” He will give you the power to do it. He will never ask you to do more than He will give you the power to do.
Psalm 37:5 (LB) “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him to help you do it, and He will.”
Flying – Runway – point of No return…
As your Minister, I’ve looked out on you week after week and some of you have been sitting on the runway for years. Oh, you maybe Christians and you may have been revving your engine but you’ve never taken flight.
My question to you is, What is it that’s holding you back from full on, 100% commitment to God and His purpose for your life? Has there ever come a point in your life where you made a complete, whole hearted, unreserved, without hesitation commitment to your creator and His Son, Jesus Christ, and said, “God, I’m going to live my life the way You want me to live it.” Has that ever happened? If not, you’re missing it.
The real issue is do you want to be a casual Christian the rest of your life? One of the things about a larger church is you can hide but God knows what you’re holding back.
C. S. Lewis once said, “The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important.”
If it’s the truth it deserves all you’ve got. If it’s not true, don’t worry about showing up next week. Go play golf or something.
Why is what we’re talking about this morning so important?
Surrender/Commitment? It’s important because you become whatever we’re committed to.
So you better figure out what your surrendered to, because you might be climbing the ladder of success and get to the top and realize it’s leaning against the wrong wall.
I’m challenging you today to make a full-on life surrender to God’s mission for your life!
Commitment Card…
Surrendering to Christ’s Mission for My Life…
Realising that Christ planned me before my birth, that He uniquely SHAPED me for His mission, I now resolve to live the rest of my life seeking to know and fulfil the life mission Christ made me for and to rely on His power to accomplish it. This means that I surrender to Him and commit to knowing, loving and trusting Christ today, growing in Christ by joining His church and learning His word, serving Christ with the abilities He’s given me, and sharing Christ with those who don’t know Him yet.
Date_______________ Signed ____________________
Why should I do this? There’s something real about putting your name on the dotted line. You’re not doing this for me. Take this home. There’s something real about signing.
Write out your Values / Write out your SHAPE / Sign Today’s Card
4. Prayer
Father, thank You that when we come to You and give you all of our lives even the heartaches and the hurts and things we’re ashamed of, You take it and forgive us. You work in our lives and do something new and then You use us. Thank You that You can use us in spite of what we’ve done and in spite of who we are. That You can make the rest of our lives the best of our lives. Please do that in our case. In Jesus’ name, Amen
