"The Surrendered Life" (Part 1)

    This post and the two that will follow are an adaptation of the message which I preached to my congregational flock on Sunday, March 16, 2014. It spoke to my heart as I read the Scripture, meditated on the Scripture, studied, and shared it that Sunday morning. I feel led to share that simple, yet transformational message through this blog with the prayer that the Lord will bless my feeble attempt to proclaim His glorious Word.

    The book of Romans stands as the great doctrinal book of the New Testament. In other words it, more than any other book in the New Testament, teaches us exactly what God has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. It exclaims the love of God and literally shouts of God’s matchless, immeasurable grace. It gives you and me, and every child of God, everything for which we ought to love, serve, and live, every day for the glory of God. For as the Apostle Paul declares,

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” 

Romans 11:36, NASB

    But here is the sad truth in the lives of too many Christians. It is possible to be saved, yet not surrendered. Some of you that read this today live that life; saved, yet not surrendered. The truth of the matter we all live that far too much in our lives. Why do I say that? For there is no such thing as partial surrender. To be partially surrendered is to be, for lack of a better term, un-surrendered. You will never experience the fullness of God’s joy, presence, and power, if you live a life that is not surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 12:1-2 the Apostle Paul turns from belief to behavior, and focuses on  the believer’s surrender to the will of God. The Scriptural truth that the Church needs to discover is that the only way to experience the powerful life of the Lord in you, and to be able to live your life for the Lord and His glory, is to surrender to Him.

    “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 
    And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

Romans 12:1, 2, NASB

    “How does one surrender their lives to the Lordship of Christ?” The Surrendered Life involves, as described in these verses;

    First, The Surrender Of The Body.

    “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” 

Romans 12:1, NASB

    The Christian should be moved to surrender to the Lord and His will because of God’s love. They are to give themselves to God completely. Their motivation is to be the mercies of God.

    The verse says that the Christian is to give their bodies to the Lord as a “living and holy sacrifice.” That is described here as;

    - An Unbridled Sacrifice

    This surrender is something the Christian does, not because God demands it, or expects it, but because they are so moved by the “mercies of God”; His grace. A grace which loved them before the foundation of the world, a grace that sent His only Son to die on the cross for their sins, a grace which has provided a salvation for them which they could not provide for themselves. Paul has exclaimed all this in the previous eleven chapters of Romans. It is both the proper and practical thing for the Christian to do. For they owe everything to God and His wonderful grace in Christ. But it also to be;

    - An Unblemished Sacrifice

    This is a sacrifice which is in contrast to the OT sacrifices. For in those sacrifices the animal was first slain. But this is to be a “living” sacrifice. It referring to the whole burnt offering in which the entire animal was sacrificed to God. We Christians must give ourselves completely and totally to God. In essence that is the meaning of surrender. It is to hold nothing back and lay it all down. It is also to be a “holy” sacrifice. What makes this possible? What God has done for you and me in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

    “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 

2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB

    We are clothed in Christ’s righteousness and holiness. We are set apart to live for His glory. We are His and we are to present ourselves to Him that we might live for the glory of Him who gave His all for our salvation. We are to surrender ourselves to Him as an unbridled sacrifice, an unblemished sacrifice, and as;

    - An Unbiased Sacrifice

    It is our “reasonable” or “logical” service or reason to worship. This is what the word which is translated "spiritual" means. We are to surrender ourselves as a sacrifice not because we have coerced into it, but because it is what is reasonable or logical, based upon the grace of God.

    Christ gave His all for us on the Cross, and in return we owe Him everything, and does it not it seem the most reasonable, logical thing for us to give our bodies to the one to whom we owe everything?

    Have you surrendered your body to Christ as a living and holy sacrifice? Lay it all down today and withhold nothing from Him. You need to know that it means to “present once and all.” It is to lay your life down on the altar and to not take it up again. You are to be the Lord’s to do with as He wills. Surrender your body to Jesus today.

    Lord, we owe everything to You. Where would we be without Your grace? Today, we surrender our bodies to You and present them as unbridled, unblemished, unbiased sacrifices. Use us for Your glory this day. We pray in Jesus' matchless and wonderful name. Amen.