The Sacred Echo
08/22/2010 - Surrender
Over the years we've spent many a summer vacation in Ocean City, New Jersey. We love Ocean City and the beach and the boardwalk and the rides and Mac & Manco's Pizza. And pretty much every year we'd either take our own bikes down or rent bikes to ride on the boardwalk in the mornings.
In fact, one of the ways we could tell how fast our kids were growing up was by the transportation we used. In the early years we pushed them around in strollers and that was fun. We certainly felt in total control having them confined to a stroller.
But after a year or so we took them out of the strollers and strapped them into seats on the back of our bikes and made them wear these big, ugly helmets. And that's a trick because you have to balance the bike while you're putting your kid in the seat and you worry about tipping the bike over or dropping your child on the pavement which we actually did a few times, but they survived.
Then after the bike seat phase they started to ride small bikes with training wheels. And that was a stretch as a parent because now they were on their own, but you could still stay up with them and keep your eye on them.
And then the summer finally came when our kids could actually ride their own two wheelers on the boardwalk and they were off with big smiles on their faces. Finally free from mom and dad. And we were like, "Wait for us!" Those were the days, now we can't even get our older ones out of bed before noon!
But by far our most memorable bike stories happened when we rented surreys on the boardwalk. Every family needs to rent a surrey on the boardwalk because that's when you discover who you really are as a family. That's when all the dysfunctional dynamics and control issues come to the surface. Or as Adam said last week, that's a great time to take out the trash.
I hope none of you have ever seen or ever will see our family on the boardwalk in a surrey. It's not pretty. You'd probably leave the church and go look for another pastor. There are arguments about who's going to steer and who's going to work the brake and ring the bell and who's going to sit in the front and who's going to sit in the back and why are we going so slow or why are we going so fast and whoa we're way too close to the bikes in front of us and watch out for that guy or we've crossed the yellow line and now we're out of the surrey lane. My gosh, we're going to get arrested! It gets ugly. We need family therapy after we take a surrey ride! Maybe that's why our kids sleep in till noon these days. "Please don't make us go on a surrey together!"
By far the hardest thing for me on a surrey is to sit in the back and not to steer or brake or even ring the bell, but just to peddle and keep my eyes closed and my mouth shut. I'd much rather be in the front sitting behind the wheel with the brake and the bell driving the thing. Sitting in the back and letting some one else drive is not easy for me. I want to be in control.
This morning I want to talk about the very opposite of control I want to talk about surrender and submission and what it means as Christ followers for us to sit in the back of the surrey and let Jesus steer and take control. That's not easy and I'm not very good at it, but I'm still convinced it's the best way to travel through life. And it's what Jesus is asking all of us to do.
Today we resume our summer series calledThe Sacred Echo: Exploring the Mystery of Prayer. And as we've said all along it's a series on prayer, but it's more than a series on prayer it's about how God leads and guides and directs our lives if we invite him to.
And it's built on the premise that there is a God who knows you and who loves you and who cares enough about you to be actively at work in your life. And a big part of his work in our lives involves submission and surrender to his will.
We talked about this earlier in the year. In fact, in January we devoted a whole Sunday to this idea of surrender and submission and heard stories for some of us in the Valley View community. And then I read a poem called The Road of Life that many of you commented on and even requested copies of. It went like this.
At first, I saw God as my observer, my judge,
keeping track of the things I did wrong,
so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die.
He was out there sort of like a president.
I recognized his picture when I saw it,
but I really didn't know him.
But later on when I met Jesus,
it seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride.
But it was a tandem bike,
and I noticed that Jesus was in the back helping me pedal.
I don't know just when it was
that he suggested we change places,
but life has not been the same since.
When I had control, I knew the way.
It was rather boring, but predictable...
It was the shortest distance between two points.
But when he took the lead,
He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains,
and through rocky places at breakneck speeds.
It was all I could do to hang on!
Even though it looked like madness,
He said, "Pedal!"
I worried and was anxious and asked,
"Where are you taking me?"
He laughed and didn't answer,
and I started to learn trust.
I forgot my boring life
and entered into the adventure.
And when I'd say, "I'm scared,"
He'd lean back and touch my hand.
He took me to people with gifts that I needed,
gifts of healing, acceptance, and joy.
They gave me gifts to take on my journey,
my Lord's and mine.
And we were off again.
He said, "Give the gifts away,
they're extra baggage, too much weight."
So I did, to the people we met,
and I found that in giving I received,
and still our burden was light.
I didn't trust him at first,
to control my life.
I thought he'd wreck it.
But he knows bike secrets,
knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners,
knows how to jump to clear high rocks,
knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.
And I'm learning to shut up and pedal,
in the strangest places.
And I'm beginning to enjoy the view
and the cool breeze on my face
with my delightful constant companion, Jesus Christ.
And when I'm sure I just can't do anymore,
He just smiles and says... "Pedal!"
Every one of us who desires to follow Jesus is at some point going to have to change places with him. We're going to have to turn the steering wheel of our lives over to Jesus. He's got to sit in the front of the surrey and we've got to pedal from the back. And most likely that shift will happen multiple times throughout our lifetime, perhaps even every day because we're all so prone to sit in the front and be in control.
Earlier in this series we talked about the promptings of the Spirit and how often we can recognize the Spirit's voice because he's prompting us towards sacrifice and servanthood. That's surrender. And the echoes of surrender can sound like, "Take more time with this person. Slow down and listen to them. Pray with them. Be extra generous with your gift. I'll take care of your needs. Trust me. Be completely honest and speak the whole truth in a loving way to your friend. Move towards that person and make that relationship right. Don't be afraid to ask their forgiveness or to offer them forgiveness. Love your enemies, yes, even that one."
In his great Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles." That's surrender. Surrender is definitely a decision we make, but it's more than a decision. It's a posture in that life that we assume where we yield our whole selves to God.
Jesus himself had to make that shift. In Hebrews 5:7 we read,During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
I believe this verse is a reference to the struggle Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane. We looked at it closely in our journey through Mark's gospel. You remember the night before Jesus was crucified he took his disciples into the olive grove and while they were sleeping he was wrestling with God in prayer.
Three times he cried out in Mark 14:36,"Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. If it be your will take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will."
Jesus had to cross the bridge of "nevertheless" and we have to cross that bridge as well with the things we're attempting to control. And prayer is the place that we hand the hard things over to God on the deepest level of our hearts where he alone can see the exchange. And after we've surrendered on the inside God may or may not require that we give up those things on the outside. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, but God didn't let him do it.
I believe that God the Father did answer Jesus' prayer. He was heard him because of his reverent submission. He didn't spare him from the cross, but he saved him from death in the sense that God didn't leave his Son in the grave. Three days later he brought Jesus through death, out of the tomb, and into resurrected life which he will one day do for all his followers.
And that's what God loves to do to this day. He loves to bring life out of death. He loves to turn tragedy into triumph. He wants to give you and me life and free us from the habits and the behaviors and the addictions and the attitudes that only kill our souls and destroy our relationships. But it starts with surrender. Not my will be done, but your will be done.
Take a look at this four minute video clip to see how God restored a couple's broken marriage after they decided to surrender and give him a chance to work.
4:00 video clip of Michelle & Fred's broken marriage
God loves to restore the years that the locusts have eaten. I love that imagery. That's a powerful story, but it's not an unusual one for those who surrender and allow God to take control.
There are rewards for surrendering our lives to Jesus. For this couple it was the restoration of their marriage and a whole new life and ministry even. That doesn't always happen because God has a lot of ways of rewarding us.
In Mark 10:28-31 the apostle Peter wanted to know what his reward would be for surrendering his life to Jesus. "What do I get for moving from the front seat to the back of the bike?" In that passage we read, Then Peter spoke up, "We have left everything to follow you!" 29"Truly I tell you," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields - along with persecutions - and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
That's an amazing promise from the lips of Jesus himself that certainly gives the impression that the rewards for following Jesus far out weigh the sacrifice. And I believe they do. I believe that we'll be blown away by the generosity of God on the day of judgment. But there will be sacrifice, even persecution, certainly there was in Peter's future who ended his life crucified upside down and in the future of many who have chosen to follow Jesus over the years.
That's where surrender gets messy. In her book The Sacred Echo, Margaret Feinberg closes her chapter on surrender with this story and I want to close my teaching with it today.
She writes, "Over the years as a journalist, I've had the privilege of interviewing hundreds of people. And the best part about the job is that you're given a free pass to ask a person absolutely anything, poking around in the recesses of their life, their experiences, and even their soul. You never know what you will discover along the way. Once in a while, someone will say something unforgettable.
"My interview with Steve Saint was one of those interviews. Steve is the son of Nate Saint. In 1956, his father, along with four other missionaries, Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Peter Fleming, made a historic journey to meet the Auca Indains or "naked savages" in the jungles of Ecuador. With an outrageous homicide rate, the tribe was famous for the habitual killing of anyone and everyone—especially their own people. After dropping gifts and supplies for weeks, the five young men felt they had established a strong rapport with the Aucas. Bathed in prayer, they flew into a remote site to finally meet the tribe.
"Steve Saint was only five years old when he heard the news that his father and the other missionaries had been killed by the tribesmen. Five days later, a ground crew recovered the bodies, which had been pierced by spears. With gripping accounts inLife magazine andReader's Digest the news spread quickly around the world.
"In an unforgettable story of love and perseverance, Nate Saint's sister, Rachel Saint, and Elisabeth Elliot, widow of Jim Elliot, moved into the rainforest to live with the tribe. Eventually many of the Aucas came to faith in Christ, including those who had killed the missionaries. Instead of hating or fearing the Aucas (who now call themselves the Waodani), Steve Saint grew up loving the tribe and forming a life long relationship with them.
"I was caught off guard by Steve's faith-filled candor during a phone interview when he said, 'I don't think God allowed my dad and his friends to be killed. I think he orchestrated it with five men that gave their lives to him. Bad things don't come from God, but sometimes they seem bad. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Most people don't want to give God liberty to use their lives that way, because we call it tragic. Most think that it's okay to go with God's program as long as it fits their program. But I finally decided that I wanted God to write the story, because I know that it will come out best in the end that way.'
"But that's not all. Somewhere in our phone conversation, Steve began drifting from the story of the Waodani to his own story, his own losses. The previous year, Steve and his wife had lost their daughter, Stephanie, to a sudden cerebral hemorrhage less than nine hours after she had returned home from a yearlong mission trip. I had heard countless people say that God works all things together for good, but few people owned that statement like Steve Saint. He had paid the price with his father and now with his daughter.
"'Does the loss of your daughter still hurt?' I gently asked. 'My heart has a huge hole blown in it and even grandbabies don't fill the hole - they just help heal around the edges.' Before ending the interview Steve gently reminded me of a quote from Jim Elliot who once said, 'He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.'"
That's surrender.