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I Surrender All! Really?

That Means Trust Without Reservation

Getting Closer to Jesus: When I was a kid, there was a chorus that my little country church sang almost every time we gathered for a service. It was called, “I Surrender All.” Though it isn’t currently used too much, occasionally it gets dusted off and sung in churches today when attenders are being urged to some sort of higher commitment. The words go like this:

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all,
I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

I surrender all! Really? Here’s the question I have for you: How committed are you that God’s glory would be displayed in your life through whatever means—even unpleasant events? How surrendered are you—not just that you are willing to be surrendered, but that you are surrendered—to God’s purpose being worked out through all your circumstances, especially the painful ones? I’m not sure how you will answer that, but I know that when I honestly consider the implications of total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in my life—not in theory, but right now, in the gritty reality of my current world—I have to nervously gulp a little bit.

You see, to be truthful, although I say I am surrendered to God’s glory and totally committed to his divine plan for me, I have some expectations about how I want him to work that out. I have some investments I’ve made, some relationships I cherish, some possessions I like, and some plans that I want him to protect and prosper. I want unchallenged, guaranteed wins in my life. No bumps in the road, please!

Of course, you and I realize that God doesn’t operate that way. Sometimes he allows challenges, losses, and bumps; sometimes the death of an investment, a dream, or even a loved one. Don’t like my theology on that? Just talk to Mary and Martha; they’ll set you straight. They discovered here in John 11, when their brother was on his deathbed, that Jesus doesn’t always operate according to our timeline. He can’t be rushed, coerced, manipulated, or diverted down our preferred path when he knows there is a better road leading to the glory of God that we must tread.

 

The truth of the matter is, Jesus is committed to the glory of God—period. And he knows that the greatest glory comes to God when people place total trust in him through unconditional belief. Furthermore, he knows that the greatest and strongest trust is developed in the toughest trials of life. That is why he told his disciples that he was going to let Lazarus’ illness end in death so that he could raise him up in order that they could believe in him so that God would be glorified:

“Our friend Lazarus has gone to sleep, but now I will go and waken him!” The disciples, thinking Jesus meant Lazarus was having a good night’s rest, said, “That means he is getting better!” But Jesus meant Lazarus had died. Then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I am glad I wasn’t there, for this will give you another opportunity to believe in me.” (John 11:11-15)

In his book, Place of Immunity, Francis Frangipane wrote that God made the Old Testament Joseph fruitful in the very things that afflicted him. He goes on to say that

“In the land of your affliction, in your battle, is the place where God will make you fruitful. Consider, even now, the area of greatest affliction in your life. In that area, God will make you fruitful in such a way that your heart will be fully satisfied, and God’s heart fully glorified. God has not promised to keep us from valleys and sufferings, but to make us fruitful in them.”

That is a great truth, my friend. In the place of your affliction, not only will God make you fruitful—and I would add, he can’t make you fruitful apart from the painful pruning that takes place there—and not only will he fully satisfy your heart, but he will be fully glorify God’s heart. And for our sake, I am glad that is what he does!

That is why you and I should willingly and joyfully say, “I surrender all—really!”

Take the Next Step : As an affirmation of your complete trust in Jesus’ Lordship over you, sing the chorus, “I Surrender All.” If you don’t know it, find it on the Internet and listen to it. Then ask the Lord to give you the grace, courage, and resolve to live like you believe it.

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Selective Allegiance to Scripture

The Bible Is Either Absolute, or It is Obsolete

Getting Closer to Jesus: The more Jesus’ life and ministry—including his undeniable, verifiable miracles—conflicted with the traditions of the Jewish elites, the more the Pharisees hated Jesus and wanted to kill him. In this case, his healing of a blind man on the Sabbath had fueled their hatred into a raging inferno.

And the more Jesus exposed their spiritual blindness, the crazier they got. Aware of that, Jesus didn’t back down but only sucked them more deeply into the quicksand of their own absurdity.

The Pharisees began to look for ways to justify killing Jesus, finally settling on blasphemy—a catchall crime in that day, as it is in many religiously intolerant and hate-filled cultures in our day. They accused Jesus of claiming to be God—anathema in the Judaic tradition. Now to be sure, not only did Jesus clearly indicate in his preaching that he was God, but he also demonstrated that claim beyond any doubt by his miracles.

Set that aside for now and notice how Jesus used their selective outrage and their selective use of the Scripture against them. They accused him of claiming to be God, but he pointed out in the law that God has said of those men to whom he delivered his word, “you are gods.” Now there is a simple explanation for what otherwise might seem as though the Almighty was conferring of divinity upon certain men. Jesus’ scriptural reference came from Psalm 82:6, and it is a warning to the judges in Israel who had received the words of God that in turn were to be delivered through their judgments to the people. The warning is that, in this sense, the judge is commissioned by God to be god (godlike, a representative of God) to men in his adjudication.

Again, set that aside and notice something else. Jesus doesn’t refer to this psalm as “the writings” (a reference to the division of Scripture that included the books of Wisdom), but as “law” (what we would refer to as the books of Moses): “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” What does Jesus intend when he includes the Psalms with the Law? Simply, that to Jesus, the eternal Word of God, there were no artificial and arbitrary divisions in the written Word of God. We divide Old Testament Scripture (the Bible Jesus read, by the way) into Law, History, Wisdom, and Prophets. But to Jesus, it was all Scripture, and as such, it was to be treated equally and obeyed fully.

The Pharisees were great at obeying some parts of Scripture but ignoring others. They were guilty of selective allegiance to the Word of God and selective obedience in applying it in their lives. And in that, though they feigned love for the Word, they were as far from it as you can get.

What about you? Either the Bible—all of it—is your all-sufficient rule for faith and practice, or it is not. Either you love all of it—even the parts that make you uncomfortable, even the rebukes that sting, even the commands that demand radical, personal change—or you don’t love it at all. Either you are willing to submit to all of it—even the call to risky faith and generous giving and costly sacrifice—or it is a spiritual menu from which you pick and choose what you will nibble on. Either you are willing to allow all of it to be absorbed into your being, or you are closer to being a Pharisee than you care to admit. As Leonard Ravenhill points out, “the Bible is either absolute, or it is obsolete.”

One of the ways to avoid the selective allegiance of the Pharisees is to commit to allowing God’s Word, all of it, to treat you in whatever way is needed—even if that means roughly.

Take the Next Step : To ensure that you are reading the Bible for all it is worth, and applying it thoroughly in your daily life, try using the S.O.A.P. method: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. Scripture—select the Scripture and read it carefully. Observation—write down what you observed from your reading. Application—determine how you can apply the observation so that it affects your life today. Prayer—write out a prayer to God based on what you just learned and ask him to help you apply this truth in your life.

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Enjoy Your Eternal Security

Victory Over Satan Has Been Secured

Getting Closer to Jesus: Once you have committed your life to Jesus Christ, can you ever lose your salvation? For hundreds of years, very smart people have debated that question—with great and convincing arguments on both sides of the equation. That said, I am not going to resolve the question in this blog—I am not even going to try.

With absolute certainly, however, I can say this: If—and “if” is what is in question, so it is a very big “if”—if a Christian can lose their salvation, then to somehow manage to lose it would have to be the most difficult achievement in entire universe. Why? Because, according to John 10:28, Jesus is the one who gave you your salvation, and according to his own words, once he has given it, you will never perish. Furthermore, he said that no one can snatch you away from him. That is because, according to John 10:29, the Father is the one who gave you to Jesus. Now, since no one and nothing is more powerful than God—not by miles, not even close—tell me, who is going to pry you and your salvation from the grip of God’s unrelenting grace?

Now that is security!

I love how other New Testament writers got in on the discussion about your salvation. The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6,

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Now that is some security you got there!

And what about Jude? Here is what he said about the matter as he closed out his letter,

“Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. (Jude 1:24)

You see, if your salvation were all up to you, you would have good reason to be insecure about it. But your salvation is riding on some pretty big shoulders. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are at work right now to perfect what they have begun in you, and will exert the full power of their Divine Being to bring your eternal life to completion. Yes, as much as that seems impossible right now, one day, you will stand without a single fault because a joyful Trinity—they will make sure of it.

Now that is security!

I love the story of the flea that was riding on an elephant’s ear when they came to an old wooden bridge. And as they crossed the bridge, it wobbled badly and almost collapsed. When they got to the other side, the flea said to the elephant, “Phew, we sure shook that bridge, didn’t we!”

No, “we” didn’t! The truth is, you and I have crossed over the bridge of faith, riding on Someone else’s efforts. And as long as we put the emphasis on our role in both prompting and preserving our salvation, we will be eternally insecure. But when we lean into—or more appropriately, lean on the unassailable efforts of Jesus to save us—and keep us saved—we will live with unshakeable confidence in the God who saves.

Now that is some security!

Take the Next Step : In light of all that God has done to save you, and all that he is doing to keep you saved, doesn’t that make you want to offer yourself to him in even greater consecration? Perhaps you ought to tell him that.

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A Fight You Can – and Must – Win

Victory Over Satan Has Been Secured

Getting Closer to Jesus: You have an enemy. His name is Satan. Jesus called him a thief and a liar. His main weapons are subtlety and deception—and he’s pretty good at it, since he has been at it since the beginning of human history.

The Enemy hates God and everything of God, which includes you. He has a nefarious plan for your life. He wants to rob you of the abundance of God, destroy your identity and destiny as a child of God, and kill you, body, soul, and most of all, spirit, keeping you from eternity with God. In fact, even right now, he is strategically and specifically working to do you in.

The real problem is that you may be completely oblivious to the work of the Enemy. Out of ignorance, disbelief, or plain old lassitude and indifference, most of Satan’s victims fiddle while he goes about burning our lives down … his evil work undetected. George Barna, a Christian researcher and pollster, asked people to respond to this statement in a national survey: “Satan is not a living being, but is a symbol of evil.” Among those who claimed to be born again, 32% agreed strongly, 11% agreed somewhat, and 5% didn’t know. That means of the total number responding, 48% of born-again believers either agreed that Satan is only symbolic or weren’t sure! Barna’s findings would suggest that half of you reading this blog today, despite what the Bible clearly teaches, think of the devil only as a boogieman from a spiritual fairy tale, not a real being bent on destroying you.

Jesus would beg to differ with you. He wants you to know that Satan and his demonic legions are alive and well on Planet Earth. Satan is the enemy of God, and because he can’t do anything to God, he chooses to attack what is most precious to God—that is, you.

Now it is critical to your well-being—spiritual, physical, relational, financial—for you to understand that bit of bad news in order for you to fully employ the Good News in Hebrews 2:14, which reminds us that Jesus came “so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil.” You are not alone in this fight against the evil one, nor are you doomed to defeat. 1 John 3:8 tells us, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

Yes, Satan is real, but Jesus has defeated him. Furthermore, as a Christ-follower, you, too, have power and authority to defeat the devil. In Luke 10:17-19, we are told, “the seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’ Jesus replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to…overcome all the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you.’”

I like that, don’t you? Not only do you have power and authority over the Enemy, but Jesus has also guaranteed your victory. I prefer those kinds of fights…ones that I know I’ll win!

So here’s the deal: If you will stay alert to the conflict, wise up to the ways of your enemy, and take him on in the authority and power of Jesus’ name, you will win. Guaranteed!

Keep that in mind today—and go give ‘em heaven!

Take the Next Step : Pray this prayer every day this week: “Lord, keep me wise to the ways of the Enemy today. Lead me away from temptation and keep me from the evil one. Help me to walk in the victory over Satan that you secured at Calvary.”

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The Seeing Blind

By Acknowledging Our Blindness Will We Experience Sight

Getting Closer to Jesus: Helen Keller, who, with the help of Anne Sullivan, overcame deafness and blindness to become one of the most inspirational figures in modern history, made this profound observation:

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.

Of course, Helen was speaking out of her own courageous and overcoming experience, but I wonder if she was thinking about the Pharisees who rejected Jesus’ healing of the blind man in John 9. Truly, those who were experts in the Old Testament Scripture and obedient to it even beyond what it required were truly more blind than the blind man in this story before Jesus had healed. The Pharisees could physically see, but in the realm that counts for all eternity, they would have made a bat seem like a seeing-eye dog.

How sad to be so full of knowledge, yet so ignorant of the truth! How sad to be so close to God yet so far from his heart! How sad to have the respect of the people—or was it fear—and yet be under the judgment of the Almighty!

Though it doesn’t have to be this way, that often happens as people react to Jesus. He came into this world for judgment—according to his own words—but that judgment didn’t take the form you might expect of a judge. Jesus didn’t have to sit behind the bench, hear the evidence, deliver the verdict, and pronounce the punishment; the Pharisees were doing that for him. However, these so-called experts in God’s law were way off the mark in their judgments. In this case, their reaction to what was clearly an outstanding and undeniable miracle of God (John 9:24-34) was to stubbornly cling to the company policy: You can’t heal on the Sabbath!

And Jesus brought the evidence against them to the surface; they judged themselves. They were seeing yet blinded by the truth that was right before their very eyes! How sad.

The truth is, when people are exposed to Jesus—his life, ministry, miracles, teaching, life, death, and resurrection—a reaction is forced. They are forced to make a judgment—but that judgment becomes self-incriminating. How we respond to Jesus does not reveal anything new about Jesus, but it does reveal news about us—either the Good News that we have by faith believed (or are willing to believe) in who he claimed to be, or the bad news that unless we have a change of heart and mind, we will be self-condemned to an eternity separated from Christ.

When exposed to Jesus, if a person finds nothing to desire or admire, then that person has already condemned themselves. But when they see something in Jesus that causes them to bow in awe of his perfect holiness, acknowledge his divinity, and surrender to his Lordship, then they are on the path to eternal life.

So, what is the takeaway here? Perhaps the greatest attribute that you and I can present before God is a conscious awareness of our own spiritual blindness. To humbly acknowledge before God that, because of our own fallen nature, we cannot see, we are on our way to sight. If we long to see the things of God, Jesus will open our spiritually blind eyes just as much as he physically opened the blind man’s eyes to 20/20 sight.

What a gift: To know that we are blind apart from our openness to Jesus. It is only those who once were blind—and know it—that now can see. And see they do! Opened to them through Jesus is the sum of all the grace, truth, and glory of God—and what a sight to behold!

Take the Next Step : Ask God to help you see where you may be persisting in spiritual blindness. Then bring your blind eyes to Jesus for healing. He was pretty good at that, you know—still is!

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The World’s Most Powerful Testimony

There's No Argument Against the Word of a Satisfied Customer

Getting Closer to Jesus: The Pharisees didn’t like the fact that Jesus had healed a man born blind on the Sabbath. The truth is, they didn’t like Jesus at all, and they were looking for him to slip up so they could do away with him once and for all. Perhaps this latest “Sabbath miracle” was their chance.

They found the man Jesus had healed and began to question him. Had he really been born blind? Was this a hoax? Was he secretly a disciple of Jesus? Would a true man of God really heal on the Sabbath?

These weren’t just the innocent questions of a curious group. This was an interrogation. The tone of the Pharisees was intimidating and threatening, and the implication was that it wouldn’t go well for this healed man and his family if he didn’t repudiate both the miracle and the miracle worker.

Then, in a flash of unrehearsed inspiration and simple brilliance, the man parries their attack and thrusts the most persuasive of all daggers into their opposition against Jesus: The testimony of a satisfied customer. All this man knew was that he was once blind, but now he could see. Case closed; end of story. The Pharisees were defenseless. What response could they give against such overwhelming evidence?

That is the simple but irrefutable power of a personal testimony. When you speak for Christ as a satisfied customer, as one whose life has been changed forever, as one who was once spiritually blinded by sin but now can see by God’s grace, there is no defense. Who can argue against that?

Your testimony may not be as dramatic as the healing of the man who had been born blind, but it is just as powerful a weapon as his. Why are you a Christian? How has Jesus made a difference in your life? What do you find in your faith that nothing else in the world can match? How has God’s power helped you to overcome adversity or discouragement in life? There is unassailable evidence in each of those stories, so learn to talk about them with people who don’t share your faith in God. You, too, are a satisfied customer, and a satisfied customer makes the most compelling witness of all.

Take a moment today to think through your story. Perhaps you should write it out—one or two pages will be enough. Simply describe what your life was like before Christ, how you came to know him, and the joys and benefits of what it means to now be his follower.

I guarantee that God will give you an opportunity before too long to share your story with someone who needs to know Jesus.

Take the Next Step : As suggested above, write out your own “before and after” account of knowing Jesus. And expect to share it—an opportunity is just around the corner.

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Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Your Life Has an Expiration Date … And It’s Fast Approaching

Getting Closer to Jesus: Do you live with a sense of urgency as it relates to God’s timetable? Our grandparents and generations before them seemed to understand that life came with an expiration date. We don’t! Probably because life was hard for them, opportunities weren’t dished out on a silver platter, and life expectancy was significantly less than it is today, they approached life soberly than we do today.

Our generation seems to fit the profile of the people Jesus described who will be living in the last days:

The world will be at ease—banquets and parties and weddings—just as it was in Noah’s time before the sudden coming of the Flood; people wouldn’t believe what was going to happen until the Flood actually arrived and took them all away. So shall my coming be. (Matthew 24:37-39)

In this John 9 story, Jesus heals a man born blind on the Sabbath—a real no-no in first-century Jewish religious culture. As Jesus performs this miracle, serious questions are thrown his way from both the crowd of astounded onlookers as well as the angry Jewish spiritual leaders. The crowd peppers Jesus with “stump the messiah” questions: “Why was this man born blind? Was it his parents’ sin or his?” The religious leaders’ interrogative was more dastardly: How could you do this on our holy day, the Sabbath?

Never mind that a flesh-and-blood miracle was standing before their very eyes in living color, they wanted to know who he thought he was to “work” on a day when no work was to be done.

Then, in the midst of this questioning, Jesus makes this statement about carrying out the task assigned by God before time expires. It seems a bit out of the blue and disconnected until you consider the context.

On the one hand, since the man had been born blind, it would have been perfectly acceptable to allow things to remain as they were. The fates had determined this man’s condition; no need to rock his boat. On the other hand, Jesus knew that performing this miracle on this day—the Sabbath—would incite the ire of the religious rule keepers and even seal their blind hatred for him. So, it would have been easier for Jesus not to do this, or to delay doing it.

However, Jesus was not one to avoid conflict or take the easy path, so in this statement, he was sending both a message and a warning. The message was that the work of God must take priority over everything else in life—religious rules, man’s time, cultural mores, and people’s feelings. The warning was that there was a limited amount of time and opportunity to carry out God’s work. Tomorrow may not come; night is falling; if we are to do the work of God, we must act as if this is our window of opportunity, because that divine window is closing.

Now, that truth applies not only to Jesus, but it also applies to you and me as well. Notice that Jesus said that “‘we’ must do the work of the One who sent me.” As God-followers, we have been given the same two things Jesus had been given: a divine assignment and a limited amount of time. So, stop underestimating the brevity of your life and the time you have to make your days count; look up and see that eternity is in view. James 4:14-16 tells us,

You don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

James says that it is foolish and downright sinful to assume that we’ve got tomorrow. Why? Because life is unpredictable: “You don’t even know.” None of us knows what is going to happen tonight, much less next year: a war could start, the economy could collapse, your friends could leave you. That is not meant to frighten you, but to cause you to be more dependent on God and more serious about doing his will while you keep an eye on eternity.

Not only is life unpredictable, but James is also saying that life is brief. “Your life is a mist,” he says. Mist comes from the Greek word “atmos,” which is where we get our word “atmosphere.” Your life is like fog; it rolls in at night, but it burns off by noon. Who knows how long you will live? None of us does. I’m only one heartbeat away from eternity. Life is short; you go from highchair to wheelchair, from diapers to decay in a millisecond. As Chris Matakas said,

We rise to meet each day because there will come a time when the day will rise without us.

The point is, there are no guarantees, so don’t presume on tomorrow. For sure, plan for the future, but live like today is the last. Moses prayed, “Lord, teach us to number our days aright, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) Wisdom would teach you to live today as if you knew that tomorrow you would stand before God. And that is a great way to live.

The early Christians lived that way. They lived with a sense of urgency about time. They learned to order their lives by seriously seeking and then immediately living out the Lord’s will. They came up with a Latin watchword to remind each other of the importance of actively keeping the Lord’s will in mind. It was Deo Volente: “If God wills.” In fact, during certain periods of history, believers would end their letters with “D.V.,” which stood for Deo Volente. Then they would respond to “If God wills,” with another phrase, “Carpe Diem: Seize the day!”

What a great life philosophy for living like Jesus lived: “If the Lord wills, I will seize the day!”

Take the Next Step : What is it that God is calling you to do that you have been putting off? Telling someone that you love them or asking for their forgiveness? Volunteering to lead a ministry? Going on a mission trip? Getting counseling for an addiction? Having a difficult conversation with a loved one? Witnessing to someone you care about? Carl F.H. Henry said, “The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.” Jesus says to you, “Now is the time, night is at hand, so do the work my Father has assigned to you.” Today is the day!