A Journey of Repentance Part 2 – Surrender
Romans 6:2-14 February 13, 2005
Intro:
Last Sunday I invited you to join me on a journey of repentance. Today, aside from being the day before Valentine’s day, is more importantly the first Sunday in the season of Lent, the period of time we set apart to prepare us for celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. And so we are going to press the pause button on our series of sermons on a Christian view of issues in our society until after Easter, and continue down this Lenten road together.
I felt like God was starting something last week. It felt like we touched on something that the Holy Spirit wanted to explore with us further, like this was a path we need to travel down together, because it is a journey that leads to life, it is a path that leads us to wholeness and healing and freedom and forgiveness.
Defining Our Terms:
A little girl had great desire to join the church and the Pastor asked if she had experienced a change of heart. She answered "Yes."
"Were you a sinner before?"
"Yes."
"Are you a sinner now?"
Again she answered, "Yes."
"Well then, what’s the difference?"
After a brief moment of thought she said, "Before I was a converted to Christ, I was a sinner running after sin; now, I am a sinner running away from sin."
That is a pretty good definition of repentance. Let me give you another one: “that inward change of mind, affections, convictions, and commitment rooted in the fear of God and sorrow for offenses committed against him, which, when accompanied by faith in Jesus Christ, results in an outward turning from sin to God and his service in all of life.” (C.G. Kromminga, “Repentance”, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.)
At the heart of the word “repentance” is the idea of change. Of heading one way, then stopping and heading the other way. And that is one of the reasons why this Lenten journey of repentance is a difficult one – it is about us being changed from our sinful actions and tendencies toward Godliness. And if, after this 40 day period of Lent, you are not changed, it has been a complete waste of time. A total failure. If we have not turned from sinful ways, if God has not been allowed to take great control of us and change us, then we have not discovered repentance.
Sin IS a Big Deal:
Last week we began the journey by gathering around the Lord’s table and remembering Jesus’ death and resurrection for us. The point there is to bring us back, to have us once again stand at Jesus’ feet while He suffers and dies for our sin, so that we are reminded that sin is a big deal. Sin destroys, sin brings death, sin kills our souls and deadens the life that the Holy Spirit longs to fill us with.
I remind us of this because while we know it in our heads, for many of us that fact does not translate into reality. Yes, we know sin is bad, but somehow we act as if it really isn’t any big deal. A little lie, no harm done. A measure of pride, well I did deserve it. Entertaining a lustful thought, no big deal because it is only in my head. Internet pornography, sharing personal things about others, being greedy and covetous, well, they don’t really hurt anyone, everyone does it, I’m only human, I deserve the bit of pleasure, I won’t get caught and even if I do I won’t get in trouble.
Every word of it a lie. A lie designed to keep us enslaved to sin. And yet, the truth is this (Rom 6:2-14): “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin– 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
The Truth Is Great News:
Those truths are incredibly good. We are not slaves, we are not powerless, we are not helpless in the face of sin. You know all those battles you fight, all those things you do that you regret, all those habits that you feel completely enslaved by – the truth is that “sin shall not be your master”, the fact is that you are “dead to sin but alive in God.” The truth is incredible – the battle has already been won!
No Buts!
But… that is what many of us want to say next, yah, but… No Buts! No exceptions! The truth of Scripture is that holiness is not only possible, it is essential. Sin is conquered, sin is defeated, “our old self was crucified with (Jesus) so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died as been freed from sin.” That is the great news. That is the message of the cross and the empty tomb. It is not about not going to hell, it is about being set free from the power of hell right now.
Repentance is the Path to Truth:
“Ok,” you say, “yes that is what Romans 6 says. But it sure doesn’t work that way in my life.” Do I hear an “amen”??
The reason is because of a lack of repentance. There are other factors, yes. Other things that impact our pursuit of holiness, absolutely. Yet at the heart, the reason our lives remain mired in sin is always a lack of repentance. Always, in every case, sin only continues its hold over us because we have not repented. We have not had “that inward change of mind, affections, convictions, and commitment rooted in the fear of God and sorrow for offenses committed against him, which, when accompanied by faith in Jesus Christ, results in an outward turning from sin to God and his service in all of life.” We have not surrendered those areas of our lives to God, allowed His Holy Spirit into them, and cooperated with God’s desire and effort to change us and make us new.
I’m choosing my words very carefully here. Repentance is about surrender, about admitting our helplessness and turning to God for His Spirit to change us, and then cooperating with God in His work. Repentance is about death to sin, about death to self, about making a choice to turn away from sin and toward God. Our choice is just one of orientation – will we be turned to God or away from God. The real work, of crucifying the old self, of the new birth of a new self as a holy child of God, is all done by God.
There is a danger, that we start to feel like we are in control, that somehow if we would do the work of repentance then we would be able to break the pull of sin and we would be able to live a holy life. The lie is that repentance means that we do the changing, that we muster our will and our self-control and we change our sinful ways. The lie extends, and says that when we do that God will love us and accept us. And when we believe that lie, we get trapped further, and the hold of sin grows more tight around us as we try and try and fail and fail, and begin to believe that we will never be loved by God because we will never be able to earn His love and acceptance. The root of the lie is that we are in control, we are in charge, we need to do it.
If we recognize that as a lie, what is the truth? Repentance is surrender. Repentance is admitting our helplessness toward God. It is us making one choice – to turn away from our sin and to throw ourselves on God and on His mercy and on the truth that He has revealed to us. To choose to say, before God and everyone else, “I am helpless, I am unable, I surrender to You, my Lord God, and I let you be in control.”
That is when the “inward change of mind, affections, convictions, and commitment” begins, as we allow the Holy Spirit control, and then the outward changes happen.
Max’s Freezer:
Christian author Max Lucado tells the story of the time he accidentally unplugged his freezer, in Brazil, in the heat of summer, and then left for 7 days. Use your imagination…
“What is the best way to clean out a rotten interior? I knew exactly what to do. I got a rag and a bucket of soapy water and began cleaning the outside of the appliance. I was sure the odor would disappear with a good shine, so I polished and buffed and wiped… But when I opened the door, that freezer was revolting.
No problem, I thought. I knew what to do. This freezer needs some friends. I’d stink, too, if I had the social life of a machine in a utility room. So, I threw a party. I invited all the appliances from the neighborhood kitchens… I was sure the social interaction would cure the inside of my freezer, but I was wrong. I opened it up, and the stink was even worse!
Now what? … I bought a Mercedes’ sticker and stuck it on the door. I painted a paisley tie down the front. I put a "Save the Whales" bumper sticker on the rear and installed a cellular phone on the side. That freezer was classy. It was stylish. It was . . . cool. I splashed it with cologne and gave it a credit card for clout. (Do you think it worked?)
… I could think of only one other option. My freezer needed some high-voltage pleasure!... After a few days of supercharged, after-hours entertainment, I opened the door. And I nearly got sick.
I know what you’re thinking. The only thing worse than Max’s humor is his common sense. Who would concentrate on the outside when the problem is on the inside?
Do you really want to know? A homemaker battles with depression. What is the solution suggested by some well-meaning friend? Buy a new dress. A husband is involved in an affair that brings him as much guilt as it does adventure. The solution? Change peer groups. Hang out with people who don’t make you feel guilty! A young professional is plagued with loneliness. His obsession with success has left him with no friends. His boss gives him an idea: Change your style. Get a new haircut. Flash some cash.
Case after case of treating the outside while ignoring the inside-polishing the case while ignoring the interior. And what is the result? The homemaker gets a new dress, and the depression disappears... for a day, maybe. Then the shadow returns. The husband finds a bunch of buddies who sanction his adultery. The result? Peace... until the crowd is gone. Then the guilt is back. The young professional gets a new look and the people notice... until the styles change. Then he has to scurry out and buy more stuff so he won’t appear outdated.
The exterior polished; the interior corroding. The outside altered; the inside faltering. One thing is clear: Cosmetic changes are only skin deep.” (The Applause of Heaven, Word Publishing, 1996, Max Lucado, p. 113-116.)
The Second Step Of Repentance:
Last week we talked about the first step of repentance as being the remembering of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and being broken by the cost of our sin which was so freely borne by Jesus for us. Here is the second: surrender. Only God can change the inside. Only the Holy Spirit has the power to enter in and clean out the rot, the stench, the filth. Only Jesus can forgive, and set us free. But He will not, until we let Him.
That is why we can go no further on the journey of repentance unless we will surrender. I don’t know how many of you have a military background or understanding, but imagine for a moment that you are a soldier. You are in a fierce battle, but you are hopelessly outmatched. There is no retreat, no escape. There are only two choices – surrender, or be killed. To surrender means to lay down your weapons. To stop fighting. To admit that you are powerless, and to place yourself in the hands of a superior power. To throw down your guns while looking down the barrel of someone else’s gun.
To a soldier, surrender doesn’t look like a good option. Our war movies make heroes out of those who refuse to surrender, and choose death instead. But what if they are fighting the wrong battle? What if, not only is the battle wrong, but the fight is to enslave people and not to set them free? What if the fight is for evil? For hate? For oppression? Then is surrender a good option? Then do we not think that those fighting should give up their evil cause, and surrender to a good general who can set them free of the evil and train them to fight for good?
That is where we are at. We stand in the battle for control of our lives, and we have a choice – only one. We can live in our own strength, which leads to death, or we can surrender to God and let Him be our Lord and our Saviour, let Him begin to transform us from the inside, and let Him give us life and victory.
The Glory of What God is Building:
In the book Mere Christianity, CS Lewis writes this: “I think that many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel (though we do not put it into words) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted him to do, and we should be obliged if he would leave us alone. But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what he intended us to be when he made us...
Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on. You knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.
But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.
You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage, but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.”
The Call To Surrender:
You know, as I decided to press “pause” on the series on “issues”, I hesitated because I really want to be relevant. I want to talk about the issues that matter, that impact our lives, that shape our thinking and our world. I want to preach to our minds and our hearts, and I want us to be growing and deepening in our character as God’s children.
As I re-read this message, it is in many ways elementary. It is basic. The Apostle Paul might call it “spiritual milk.” And yet many of us are not there. We have not surrendered, or if we have we have only surrendered those “one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance” and we have put a halt on the more extensive renovation, because we haven’t let Jesus be the foreman. We might let Him be the tradesperson, but we don’t want Him calling the shots. Making the decisions. Picking the colors. We want to stay in control. I know that is often true for me.
Let me finish with this thought: as long as you and I remain in control, our lives will be a mess. We will lose the battle, sin will reign, we will be powerless, and we will be barely alive.
Surrender is good. Surrender is worth it. Surrender is the next step on the path to repentance. It is time to decide.
