What is Life All About?

In the words of my father....

I thought I would start a new series where I simply publish my dad’s sermons. Even though he is no longer here to share his wisdom, he can still have an impact. I don’t want all the goodness he shared in sermons to go to waste. I want his words to still touch lives. I want his words to still convict souls. I want his words to still inspire others to love Jesus. So, I will post weekly/bi-weekly sermons with minimal changes all with the subtitle of “In the words of my father…”

What is Life All About?

What is life all about? Is it about me, about you, about getting our needs met? Satisfying our desires? Helping others to reach their goals in life? What is life all about?

Let me say this as gently as possible. It’s not about you. It’s not about me. It’s not even about others. It’s all about God. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him.”

Yes, God wants you to enjoy life. He created the world and gave us dominion over all of it. The pleasures of life are all a gift from him for us to enjoy. He has equipped us, gifted us with various levels of abilities, and he wants us to express ourselves through them. The Bible tells us so in Ecclesiastes. “There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to rebuild. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak up. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. What do people really get for all their hard work? I have thought about this in connection with the various kinds of work God has given people to do. God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from the beginning to the end. So I concluded that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to enjoy themselves as long as they can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.”

So enjoy life. God wants you to. But in all of life, in everything you do, God desires one thing from you. He wants all of your life to be devoted to him. All your heart. All your soul. All your mind. All your strength.

Romans 6:13 says, “…Instead give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.” Or, as Mark 12:30 says, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and will all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” That is what God desires of you. All of your life.

Are you willing to surrender all your life to the Lord today? I realize surrender is an unpopular word. It is disliked about as much as submission is. Surrender implies losing, defeating, giving in, and yielding to a stronger opponent. As competitive individuals we’d rather talk about winning, succeeding, overcoming, and conquering. But, surrender is what God wants of you. The yielding of your will, your rights, your ways to him. Will you give it to him?

In the Bible, Paul the apostle urged us to do this. Romans 12:1 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Biblical surrender to God is not defeat. It is not a negative act. It is the most positive thing you can do. It is true worship of the Great and Living Lord, God Almighty. Offering yourself to God is what worship is all about. It is called many things: consecration, making Jesus Lord of your life, taking up your cross, dying to self, yielding to the Spirit. But, what matters most, is not what you call it. But, you doing it. God wants all of your life, not 98% of it. All of it.

Now, since we know God wants our full surrender, all our life, why don’t we readily yield to him? There are at least three barriers that block our surrender to him. See if one of these is describing you. Fear; can I trust God? Pride; I can take care of myself. Confusion; I don’t fully understand surrender.

First, let’s ask can we trust God? Trust is essential to surrender. If you can’t trust him or, I should say, if you think you can’t trust him, you’ll never fully yield your life to him. And that is where many Christians are. They don’t trust him fully. Think with me for a moment. They won’t do what God wants them to do. Why? Because they’re afraid God won’t keep them, equip them, or provide all they need to do whatever it is he is asking them to do. Be it giving, teaching, serving, helping, or whatever. Fear that they will fail or God won’t provide. Or, they’re afraid that God cannot clearly communicate with them what he is trying to tell them. They’re not sure if it is God’s voice or someone else’s voice they are hearing. Or, they’re not even sure God could override their mistakes if they make the wrong choice. But, listen, God loves you too much to allow you to fail if you follow him with a yielded heart. 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment…” As you understand how much God loves you, you’ll better understand how you can trust him in all areas of your life. My favorite Bible verse is Isaiah 41:13, “For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not. I will keep you.” Isn’t that a great promise from God? Listen to how much God loves you in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” If you ever begin to question God’s love for you just look to the cross. The Bible says God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. So much, he died for you. “Greater love has no man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends,” (John 15:13). Listen, Jesus chose to die rather than live without you. When you surrender to Jesus you’ll discover that he is not a tyrant, but a Savior. Not a boss, but a brother. Not a dictator, but a friend. You can trust Jesus.

A second barrier to the surrender is pride. We don’t want to admit our limitations nor do we like to give up control of our life or life’s situations. Satan’s greatest sin was pride. Pride is just another way of saying I want to be like God. I want to be in control. Satan was a control freak. A.W. Tozer wrote, “The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders and interfering with God’s work within us.” He is right. We think we know what is best for us, what is right for us. So, we live life our way. We want to be in control. Please accept this truth: We’re only human. We’ll never be in control of life. I know that you know that intellectually. But, how about emotionally? Do our emotions drown our desire to be in control? Have things our way? When push comes to shove, how do we react? Irritation? Anger? Resentment? “I didn’t get my way, I’m upset!” Or, we look at ourselves from time to time and want to be taller (or shorter), smarter, stronger, wiser, more talented, wealthier, and not happy with the way God made us. We want to redo what he has done. We want to have it all, do it all, and we become upset if we can’t. We see God’s blessings on others and ask, “Why not me? I deserve it, too.” That is pride saying, “I want to be in control. I can do it better than God is doing it.” Pride keeps us from total surrender to God.

The third reason others don’t surrender is, they don’t understand it. Surrendering to God is not passive resignation, fatalism, or an excuse for laziness. It is not just accepting things as they are. It is, at times, just the opposite. Surrendering to God, at times, means going through tough times so others can come to know Jesus. This is what God said about Paul, “Go, for he (Paul) is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name,” Acts 9:15-16. Surrendering is not giving in, it is hanging in there for God. My friend, that takes courage to surrender to Jesus. Surrendering is not for cowards. Neither is surrendering repressing your personality, or becoming a doormat. No surrender lets you be you. C.S. Lewis said it best, “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become, because he made us…. It is when we turn to Christ, when we give up ourselves to his personality, that we first begin to have a real personality of our own.” Surrender is probably best described as obedience. Every time you say “yes” to Jesus, that’s surrender. And every time someone says “no” to Jesus, that is rebellion. Remember Peter, when he had fished all night and caught nothing? He had just moved to shallow water when Jesus came. Jesus said to Peter, “Throw your nets over.” Here is what Peter said to this seemingly odd request, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But, because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Obedience. Surrendered people obey Jesus even when it doesn’t make sense. Surrendered people trust Jesus even when it goes against their own understanding. Abraham followed God when he didn’t know where God was leading him. He simply told him to leave the land of his fathers; to go in a foreign land. Mary said when she was told she was going to have a child, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38). Paul said, “Lord what would you have me to do?” Then, he did it. Surrender is trusting God even though you don’t know nor understand all he is asking of you. It is saying yes before you hear the request.

Now, you’ll know when you’ve surrendered your life when you rely on God to work out the things that overwhelm you the most, instead of you trying to make them work. Surrendered people don’t have to be in control. The Bible says, “Surrender yourself to the Lord and wait patiently on him,” Psalm 37:7. The supreme example of total self-surrender is Jesus. The night before his crucifixion Jesus prayed sweat drops of blood, “Father, everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet, I want you will not mine.” Jesus didn’t pray, “God if you can take this away, please do so.” No, Jesus already said he could. Jesus prayed to God if it will bring about your best interests, don’t remove it. I’ll go through it. Genuine surrender says, “Father if this problem, this pain, sickness, or difficulty is needed to fulfill your purpose in my life of to help someone else, please don’t take it away. I’ll go through it trusting you.” Can we pray that prayer?

Eventually, you’ll surrender to something or someone. If not to God, you’ll surrender to the opinions or expectations of others, to money, to resentment, to fear, to your own pride, lust, etc. Now, you’re free to surrender to whomever or whatever you choose. But, you’re not free from the consequences of your choice. If God is going to do his deepest work in you, it is going to begin with surrender. So today, surrender to him, give him your past regrets, your present problems, your future ambitions and goals. Let Jesus be in control of your life. Will you?

Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusades for Christ, was asked, “Why did God use and bless your life so much?” This is what he said, “When I was a young man, I made a contract with God. I literally wrote it out and signed my name at the bottom. It said, ‘From this day forward, I am a slave of Jesus Christ.’” Will you come tell God tonight you’ll be his slave, you’ll totally surrender your life to him?

February 20, 2003

Robert L. Lewis