Surrender: Victory in Retreat

SURRENDER – Victory in retreat
“Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self.” - C.S. Lewis
Surrender is the act of giving up or yielding oneself or the possession of something to the power of another (Meriam-Webster dictionary).
It is both the result and the cause of true humility.
We’ll call it “The upward cycle”:
Humility  surrender  humility  surrender
“True humility comes when before God we see ourselves as nothing, have put aside self and let God be all. The soul that has done this and can say, “I have lost myself in finding you,” no longer compares itself with others. It has given up forever any thought of self in God’s presence; it meets its fellow man as one who is nothing and seeks nothing for itself; who is a servant of God and for his sake is a servant of all.” Andrew Murray
It means giving up, admitting defeat, submitting, yielding, relinquishing control, handing over, parting with and conceding.
You will not experience the abundant life God offers or accomplish the purpose He has planned for you without living a life of surrender.
The Christian life is a surrendered life.
Mk.12:30 – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Put His good first in all your:
Heart – emotions and desires
Soul – image, attitudes and character
Mind – thoughts and intellect
Strength – Energy and labor
John 3:30 – “He must become greater, I must become less.”
Nothing can remain un-surrendered (Phil.2:21 – Everyone…)
Compartmentalization
Allowing God control of only a few parts (ex. Sunday morning).
Natural to human nature
Essence of religion
“Of all bad men religious bad men are worst.” C.S. Lewis
We should have no compartmentalized areas of control.
Entertainment
Free time
Avg. Christian spends < 10 minutes with God daily.
Relationships
Future
A surrendered person has no rights.
You are not God’s greatest gift to humanity.
Rom.12:3 – “For by the grace given me I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”
He does not need you, your gifts or your abilities.
“Your calling must precede your gifting.” – Ravi Zacharius
1 Cor.1:26-31.
God used Peter; look how “gifted” he was.
Phil.2:3 – “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
In grace, he chooses to use you when you love Him and focus on glorifying Him in humility.
Your image does not matter.
James 4:4 – “…Friendship with the world is hatred toward God.”
Your will does not matter.
You can not demand your way.
Your point of view does not matter.
You gave up control of those to another.
What areas must be surrendered?
Everything!
Nothing can be preserved or spared.
A slave for God has no rights!
How to surrender.
Legalism is wrong …BUT…the Christian life does require dying.
Lk.9:23 – “Then he said to them all, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Gal.2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
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