A Short Timer's Attitude

15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

I. First, we need to set the goal of total surrender!

A. In verses 7-9 of our text Paul says that whatever I thought was once important, whatever once gave me status and gain, I now count everything as loss of the sake of gaining Christ Jesus!

1. Surrender says, “I give up and I give in!” It is a voluntary choice to relinquish control and authority.

2. One of the big enemies of goal setting is we are not specific enough. In other words, the goal is so ambiguous and vague that it cannot be plotted or measured.

3. The goal of total surrender, though noble and right must have a plan of attack. And that plan of attack will be different for each one of us this morning. Every one of us needs to set the goal of surrender to God, but how we do that, how we accomplish that will be different for each one of us.

4. Be specific in your goal for surrender because to be any less is an invitation for the enemy to demoralize and defeat us because we don’t know how to attain our goal.

5. We must be able to tell whether we have reached our goals or not. What specifically do you want to accomplish and within what time frame?

Illustration: E. Stanley Jones, who was a great missionary to India once said, “The strangest thing on this planet is our fear of surrendering to the one safe place in the universe – God. We hug our present delusions, knowing deep down that they are delusions; but they are present, and we hug them for fear of the unknown. The earth, when it runs away from the sun simply runs into the dark. When we run away from God, refuse to surrender ourselves, then we get on thing – the dark.”

II. But Paul speaks of another goal besides surrender. There is the goal of right behavior.

A. In verses 9 -11 we are reminded that being a Christian and surrendering to Jesus brings a life style change, a change in behavior! No, the behavior is not what saves us or changes us, but the behavior does testify to the change in us!

1. Our ultimate goal is be like Jesus. To know Him and the power of His

resurrection! In Romans 8:29 we are admonished to become conformed to the image of His Son.” And in II Corth 3 :18 we are to be renewed according the image of Christ.

2. An essential goal of spiritual growth is to become more Christ-like, renewing our behavior to conform to the example of Jesus Christ.

3. Do you want to be the man or woman that God longs for you to be? Then set for yourself the goal of right behavior as a result of total surrender!

4. In Psalms 37: 4-5 we read “4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:

5. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, and then we commit our ways to him, He will bring our deepest needs and desires to pass. Why? Because of our love toward Him; we have surrendered our needs and desires to Him.