Surrender – what a beautiful word… At first when we hear it we think of someone waving a white flag and giving up in battle, perhaps being captured and taken prisoner. But if we look at the true definition – “to cease resistance, to give control to someone else”; or in a religious sense - “To give up our own will and subject our thoughts, ideas, deeds, and will to the teachings of God”? What does that mean? What does it look like to Surrender to Jesus Christ?
Today’s Scripture is from Matthew 16:24-25: “24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Wow – there’s a lot to contemplate in those two verses! Jesus is telling his prospects that if they want to be his students, his disciples, they must put down everything they know and go “all in”. We’ve heard this notion a few times before in the old testament, way back in Genesis. God tells Abram to leave his family and the place he is familiar with and go to a new place. If he obeys, he is promised great reward. A little later, Rebekah (the chosen wife of Isaac) also followed without hesitation. And there’s also Moses, Aaron, the Israelites, later Daniel and many others who were “approached” by God and they were obedient and followed.
Jesus says for anyone to follow him, they must “take up [their] cross”. Jesus was not sugar-coating what he was asking of them… In the first century, the cross meant certain and agonizing death. Jesus was clearly asking his followers to ‘die’ to everything they knew in order to follow him. Just as a seed on a plant essentially dies in order to sprout and grow, we must leave what we think we know behind and begin on a new journey, trusting that Jesus has paved the way. When we take up the cross of following Jesus – we accept that the road will not be easy, that there will be sacrifices to make. Jesus knows what’s coming and he wants to make sure that his disciples know it will be
downright difficult.
In v25, He says: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” This sounds like a great conundrum or riddle – how confusing are these words, seemingly speaking in circles? What if we think of this challenge as a fork in the road, a choice between the “low road” and the “high road”? Let’s say the first part, “for whoever would save his life” is the low road and “whoever loses his life” is the high road. The high road is the way of Christ and the low road is not. If we choose the high road, we choose Christ-love. If we choose the low road we choose Self-love. If we choose the high road, we are choosing to Follow Jesus and his teachings, to Obey God and his laws and commands. And if we choose the high road, we are choosing the more difficult way – there will be rocks and tree roots to stumble over. We will lose our sense of self, we will get pruned and molded and shaped into the very image of Christ himself. If we choose the low road, it might be easy, it might be difficult, but there are definitely no lasting rewards. There may be some instant gratification, but no sense of everlasting peace and salvation. There is no Hope on the low road.
Some might say that it is selfish to choose the high road – to devote one’s life to the service of God and others and live in the great reward of the Kingdom of heaven. But this is promised to us in 2nd Chronicles 31:21 – “In everything that [Hezekiah] undertook in the service of God’s temple and in Obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked Whole Heartedly. And so he prospered.” When Jesus says, “whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”, he is saying that if we devote ourselves to Jesus’ cause, to His purpose and benefit, we will be made new in the Spirit. When we choose Jesus, we choose Hope!
It is absolutely our choice whether to obey or not. We have been given Free Will to choose the High Road. However, we must take that first step, we must make a decision, choose a path. Jesus’ own willingness to lay down his very life shows us that he believed that self-sacrifice is the true way to serve God and further his kingdom. Christ made the choice joyously. He knew what was coming and he chose the high road. He also had additional information; he knew the “rest of the story”. God has shared that insight with us through Scripture. As believers, we have the knowledge to make a well informed decision. We LIVE when we make the choice for His sake.
So – what are some ways we can choose the high road in our day to day existence? We can be witness to the Glory of God. Like Hezekiah, in everything we do, we can Honor God and be obedient to his Word. By acts of service with and for others, we are proclaiming the Good news of Jesus Christ! First Corinthians 12 teaches us that we are all parts of one body, the body of Christ. We were all baptized into the same Spirit. God has created us, as parts of the same body, all having honor and all being equal. No one part is better than another. In Ephesians 4, Paul tells us that we are also called into one Hope and one Baptism, one God and Father of All. Each of us is given our own portion of Grace. We can explore our Spiritual gifts and lean into the promise of the calling. We have been sent teachers, pastors and prophets to teach us the way, to equip us for works of service. We are to build up the body of Christ, to become united in Faith and grow into the full measure of Christ.
We have heard it said that Christians are to be the “hands and feet of Christ”. Those exact words aren’t in Scripture. It is believed to be a paraphrase of 1 Cor 12:12 and also from a poem by St. Teresa of Avila. There are also different interpretations of the phrase. The apparent understanding is that we are to BE the body of Christ, to do His work and carry on his Teachings and Ministry amongst the people of the world. But in the world, we find that the values of Christianity are more and more at odds with the values of an increasingly secular society. This metaphor is not just about doing ‘things’ but it is also about how we suffer as Christians. The greatest work that the hands and feet of Christ did was to be pierced for our transgressions, that by suffering we might be made children of God. Being the hands and feet of Christ means we are to be like Christ in the sense that all that we do must be done with a heart poured out for others. We must remember that we are not part of this world, but that we belong to Christ and suffer with him so that we may be glorified with him.
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
— St. Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)
Today is “Be The Church” day at Gruene UMC. We have had various groups of people out doing Acts of Service in the community.
We have official “be the church” days a few times a year. In addition to that, we have many ongoing missions and projects that serve others on a daily basis. We have Steve’s Pantry – primarily an emergency food resource, we have expanded services to include clothing for adults and children, laundry and shower facilities. There’s also the backpack ministry – a resource that provides food for children who might be latch-key or low income and do not get proper nutrition other than the meals provided at school. It’s called “backpack” because we literally fill backpacks with food so the children can take it home and not be labelled as poor or needy – no one but the families and the counselors know.
There are many ways we can “be” the Body of Christ, not just hands and feet. Literally, getting outside and shoveling some dirt in the garden at the children’s home, climbing the ladder and painting at the senior care center, walking or running a 5k to raise funds for a favorite cause, making clean up buckets or health kits for UMCOR, loading water and supplies to go to disaster areas – all of these use our physical bodies and can be tiring and laborious. But there are other ways, too. We can write words of encouragement and love into note cards and share them with others. We can be generous with smiles and “Please” and “Thank You” to those we interact with every day. We can sit with our friends and share their celebrations and worries in conversation and prayer. We can meditate in silent prayer for others and the world around us. We can form small groups and share the Scriptures and study the word of God. We can come to worship and sing and praise our Lord with our hymns and songs. We can bring communion to those who are not able to attend regular church. Perhaps we like to knit or crochet, or stitch and sew – we can make gifts for those we love; prayer shawls or fidget blankets for strangers; quilts for families that are finally purchasing their own home through Habitat for Humanity; and stuffed animals for children in scary situations. We can give our time to write letters or cards to strangers, to bake cookies or treats for the children who will come to a church festival. We can simply sit and play piano in a place where music reaches deep down to rekindle fond memories of days long past.
We actively express our loyalty and obedience to the Body of Christ through our service to others. We know that we are saved by Grace, not by our actions. But it is because we are saved, because we have been shown Grace, in spite of our “Self”, that we seek to witness to the world, to share the love of God and Christ Jesus, to share the Gospel of Redemption and Resurrection – the GOOD NEWS – with everyone we encounter.
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, Please help us as we seek to put off our old self, to disavow the low road, to take up our cross and choose the high road and be transformed in the image of Jesus, in true righteousness and holiness. Thanks be to God!
Amen
