Ij

"Jesus Calls for Absolute Surrender" Romans 12:1

Holiness for All the Saints #3

by Clancy Nixon

Church of the Holy Spirit

January 27, 2008

Ashburn, Virginia

www.HolySpiritAnglican.org

The title of my message today is "Jesus Calls for Absolute Surrender." It's the

third message in my series called "Holiness for All the Saints." The first week, we looked

at the holiness that God bestows on you when you trust in Him for your salvation: that is

when you become a saint. No matter how badly you may be behaving, like one of those

"boys behaving badly" on T.V., if you believe in Jesus, and trust in his shed blood for

your salvation, then you have the holiness that God gives to you. That holiness is in

God's mind, not necessarily in your behavior, and it is the first stage of holiness. Today

we're going to look at the second stage of holiness the stage of Consecration. That is

the holiness that comes when you make a decision to surrender your entire life to God.

Next week, we'll begin our look at the third stage of holiness, and that is the growth in

character you experience as you continue in that surrendered state, and God molds you

into the likeness of Christ. For today, we're going to look at stage 2, that first moment of

absolute surrender.

Many believers have stopped growing into the likeness of Christ. Maybe you have

hit a plateau in your relationship with God or in your growth in holiness. I think that one

reason why many believers are stuck in their walk is that they have never fully

surrendered their life to God. So I ask you today: have you ever before in your life come

to a place of absolute surrender to God? [Pause] Jesus calls for absolute surrender. Let

today be your Lordship day, your white flag day, when you surrender to God.

Our text is Romans 12:1. Open your Bibles there please with me. In your blue

pew Bibles, that's on page 1123. Let's say Romans 12:1 together: "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." Romans 12:1 Now in the eleven

chapters preceding this verse, Paul has been writing about the depravity of man, and the

difficulty of discipleship. We looked at Romans 1 last week, and saw that if you

disbelieve in God, you worship the creature rather than the creator; that is, you set up

yourself and your sinful desires as god. That is the state of those who are not saved.

Then in Romans 7, Paul tells us how believers still struggle with sin, even he himself

struggles, so that he does not do what he wants to do. Then in Romans 8, in soaringly

beautiful theological language, Paul tells us we are more than conquerors through Christ.

Now in chapter 12, Paul turns from theory and theology to the question of ethical

behavior. The study of God is never to be separated from holy living. When you and I

read our Bibles, the living Word, the logos should explode in us - not only in our minds,

but in our consciences, and in our wills. What you learn about God today will result in

changed behavior in your daily life today. Do you believe that? [hand to ear Pause] Well,

then, how does it work? What do you do if you feel stuck in your Christian walk, like

you've been struggling with the same sin in your life for some time? How can we be

made holy in our conduct and our character? In short, it begins with an act of absolute

surrender.

Here is the answer in the Apostle Paul's words. Let's say it again together:

"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." Romans 12:1

Let's look at this verse phrase by phrase, for it is the key to what Bruce Wilkinson calls

the second stage of holiness in his book Set Apart. Jesus calls for absolute surrender.

The image of living sacrifice harkens back to the law of Moses and the Hebrew

system of Temple sacrifices. You brought a lamb or pigeon without spot to the priest who

killed it as an offering to God. The difference is that the death of the animal was the

purpose of the sacrifice for sin under the old covenant; but it's the life of our great high

priest, Jesus Christ in you, that is the purpose of your sacrifice of self-consecration under

the new covenant.

This image harkens back even further to Abraham and his son Isaac. Remember,

God told Abraham to sacrifice his son to God as a test of Abraham's obedience. Isaac

was the son of the promise, through whom God would fulfill the promise of his covenant

with Abraham. God brought Abraham to a place of crisis of consecration: what would be

first in his life: God, or the blessings that God had given? When God saw that Abraham

did not place the blessings of covenant above the God who cut covenant with him, then

God sent the angel who stayed the knife in his hand. As believers, we can cling more

closely to the blessings God has given us, than we cling to God himself. That is all to

human; it's also idolatry. When we do that, its time to re-consecrate ourselves! Jesus

calls for absolute surrender. Let today be your white flag day.

These days, you don't hear much about "absolute surrender." The surrender that

you and I most often see is - conditional surrender. That is the surrender where you have

a hand in negotiating the terms of your yieldedness. This is the surrender of convenience,

of outward conformity for the sake of peace, while inwardly, you remain the captain of

your soul. This unwillingness to yield, to surrender absolutely, is part of our fallen human

nature. For example, when a person gets confirmed in our church, in the liturgy they

make a public profession that Christ is the Lord of their life. Before I will let them do

that, they need to convince me that Jesus really is the Lord of their life. This is what I tell

them. If Jesus is really the Lord of your life, to me that means that you have already

decided in advance that you will do two things. First, you will believe and attempt to

obey whatever the inspired, infallible Word of God can be shown to teach; and second,

you will do with your life whatever the Lord calls you to do. That commitment to the

Lordship of Christ will be visible through some changes that God has convicted you to

make in your life. In the words of the song by Robin Mark, you can sing with conviction:

"All of my ambitions, hopes, and plans I surrender these - unto Your hand."

My experience is that most believers have not yet fully consecrated themselves to

Christ. One example: most would not seriously consider that God might be calling them

to a life change that would lead to a less affluent lifestyle to downward mobility. That

would mess with the civil religion of upward mobility. Now the preacher is a-gettin' to

messin'. When was the last time you considered such a possibility? Think about it.

[pause] Pastors are not immune from this temptation. Don't you think it's likely that God

is calling at least some pastors to take smaller churches that where they are now, or to

plant a church, with smaller salaries, or to foreign missions? Isn't it likely to be the same

with secular work?

Romans 12:1 implies that Lordship begins with a definite act of offering, or

presenting yourself to God. For most believers, this happens subsequent to conversion.

Notice: Paul urges us, he invites us to offer ourselves. The act of consecration is not a

command; it's not required for salvation. Through Paul, the Spirit of Christ pleads with

us, he begs us, and he exhorts us. Jesus calls for absolute surrender.

Notice next what our motivation is to be for this offering of our bodies: it's the

mercy that God has shown to us. The NIV has "in view of God's mercy;" the NJB says

"remembering the mercies of God." If you have faced this question of absolute surrender

before, but you have been afraid to lay down your life, Paul says that the mercy of God

can motivate you. I know a young man who once struggled with consecration, and he

also struggled to recall the mercies of God in his own life. Conversely, I have been so

blessed by the gratitude in our Children's Minister, Jan Fearing. She is often a font of

gratitude, and stories of God's goodness pour out of her even while she struggles with

poison spider bites, Lyme Disease, and more. That is a consecrated woman! So if you

struggle with absolute surrender, rehearse God's mercies in your life! Pull out a sheet of

paper and write down some of the things God has done for you. If you have a hard time

with coming up with much of a list, try reading Ephesians 1 first, and then write. Jesus

calls for absolute surrender. Let today be your white flag day.

What are we to surrender? Paul says we surrender our bodies. We often hear of

"giving your heart to Jesus." That is a biblical image, but here Paul says we are to give

much more than that. Our sacrifice, our surrender is not just about our heart, which points

to our emotions. We're also to surrender our lips and tongues, which speak blessings or

curses. We're to surrender our hands, which represents our working lives, the help we

offer to others, and the daily round of family kindnesses, like cooking and cleaning. As

Romans 12:2 goes on, we also submit our minds to him, which are transformed and

renewed through the washing of his Word.

The British Admiral Nelson was known for treating his vanquished opponents

with the greatest courtesy. After one of Nelson's naval victories, the defeated admiral

was brought to Nelson's flagship. Presuming on Nelson's reputation, the defeated officer

approached Nelson with hand outstretched, as if to shake hands like an equal. Nelson's

hand remained by his side. "Give me your sword first," he said, "and then I shall take

your hand."

That is the way growth in holiness works. You may already believe that Christ is

your savior, that his way is better than your way. Before you can reach the second stage

of holiness beyond bare-bones salvation, you must first surrender everything to his

Lordship, giving him the weapons that you use to try to negotiate the terms of your

surrender.

Beloved: Let go and let God be God in your life. I challenge you to consecrate

yourself to live a life of holiness. Remember, this is not a salvation issue. Salvation

comes only through the sacrifice of Christ for you; and consecration comes only through

the sacrifice of yourself to Christ. This is a holiness issue. Some of you have not

absolutely surrendered to God probably because you fear that God will ask you to go to

Africa as a missionary, and you'll have to go! First of all, I must tell you, Africa can be

wonderful. Certainly Uganda is. Where God calls, God equips. He will give you a love

for whatever he calls you to do, wherever he calls you to go. You must trust him in this at

the point of surrender.

If you waver about this decision, you can pray this way: "God, I am willing for

you to make me willing to surrender absolutely to you." When you pray like that, God

will work in you that which is well pleasing in his sight. If not today, then soon.

Please stand. Now I'm going to ask you to offer your body as a living sacrifice, to

consecrate yourself to God, to absolutely surrender to him. This might be for the first

time for you, and it might be for you a time of re-consecration, a re-dedication of yourself

to God. If there is some point of your life you've been holding back from God, - maybe

your budget, maybe your calendar, or some other area of idolatry you can present that

to God now.

We are going to pray, and then we'll sing a song of surrender. After we pray

together, some of you might want to come to the Altar Rail and kneel. Others might want

to raise your arms in a posture of surrender. Let the Holy Spirit guide you as you do

business with God. Let's pray, and if you want to pray this, repeat after me:

"God, I am willing for you to make me willing to surrender absolutely to you.

[pause] God, I give myself unconditionally to you. I surrender to you. I will believe and

attempt to obey whatever Your infallible Word teaches; and I will do with my life

whatever the Lord calls me to do. Cleanse me, God, and make me holy. In Jesus' Name,

amen."