Lately you may have seen commercials done by Franklin Graham, the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham. I appreciate that he is willing to put the basic gospel out there on the airwaves. God can use anything as tool to break through to somebody He is working to reach.
The language of the commercials bothers me a little. It is definitely “decision theology”. That means one hears about what Jesus has done and decides to “surrender” their life to Christ. But what does “surrender” mean exactly? Is that something we can actually do? These questions dig at the topic of the mystery of faith. What is faith? Who can receive it? How does it happen?
It would all seem like a simple intellectual transaction (i.e. decision) if it were not for this passage:
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV)
Paul wrote these words and still, Paul himself, just explained the story and promise of Jesus to people. He even “argued” among Jews in particular that Jesus was foretold in the Old Testament. These actions seem to presume that people can respond appropriately. And they did. Some of them anyway.
The proper response to the Gospel wasn’t a sinner’s prayer, like Graham has on the commercial. It was getting baptized. Baptism is the means by which God connects qualifying people to Jesus. I’m O.K. with a prayer being an intermediate step. But when people call the help line, they need to be directed to baptism, and maybe they are.
Is praying and calling a phone number “surrendering” and what was surrendered? Back to the passage above. Human beings are seriously messed up. Initially, we were created to be the creature that received and communicated God’s will to the rest of creation. Eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, did some biological damage apparently. I think something was altered in our brains, so that we could no longer process God’s word. Something definitely happened to our DNA which left those to come without the ability to believe unaided and with a proclivity to do what God forbids.
Consequently, when we first believe, it is not because we intellectually decide that the story of Jesus is historical and the promise of God is trustworthy. It is because the power of God’s Word has changed something in us and now we believe. That isn’t surrendering as much as it is being liberated.
From our perspective we do surrender some things though. We surrender trying to save ourselves. If we understand the Gospel properly, we know that we are saved by just Jesus, not Jesus and …. You are not saved by Jesus and doing good, or Jesus and going to church, or Jesus and paying cash. Jesus fulfilled God’s Law. Jesus paid the price for sin. Jesus, working with the Holy Spirit, created both intellectual faith and a saving connection to Him. You did nothing.
You may be surrendering some of the intellectual arguments that you held against Christianity. This means you are surrendering your old world view. That is tough. You are changing your understanding of how the world was created, why we are here, what is real. These changes may take some time. You may initially be inconsistent. But God will help.
After being connected to Jesus, we are called to be His disciples. Here we surrender and do something. Discipleship is not a prerequisite to salvation. It is important in the preservation of our connection to Jesus. It is critical in how we will be rewarded on Judgment Day.
11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (ESV)
To truly build on the foundation of Jesus with “gold, silver, and precious stones” one must surrender a number of things. The first thing to surrender is pride. God doesn’t owe you this. You are saved by a very generous gift. An attitude of gratitude and humility is necessary.
10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
Luke 17:10 (ESV)
To really accomplish the things that God has planned for you will require you to surrender some, if not all, worldly goals. It will require surrendering fitting in with the crowd of unbelievers. It will possibly require surrendering comfort, safety, money, leisure and the like, or at least some of it. Discipleship costs. Sometimes it costs a lot. When is costs a lot, you know that God has chose you for something big, so that is actually a good thing. But in the end you are only doing your duty.
For those coming from other world religions and possibly living where those religions dominate the culture and even the government, what you surrender is even greater. You will have to surrender many aspects of your culture. Christianity is not about culture. But many aspects of culture are formed by false ideas about God. You may have to surrender family. If they don’t come with you, they may hate you.
We may not be able to “surrender” by ourselves at first. But over the course of our life with Christ, we surrender a lot. Sounds like a bad deal, but it is the best deal ever. We were destined to destruction, but now we have a place in unending glory. If you don’t have a taste of what God promises for after our lives, nose around my blog at http://www.afterdeath.com Look up the articles about Heaven and the New Earth. See what we avoid by reading about Sheol and Hell. This is not to say that belonging to Christ isn’t also a superior way to live now. There may be tough going, but Jesus makes life meaningful and hopeful and great.
If you have questions contact me at pastor@redeemerchurch.org.
Giving Christ 