Have you ever heard it in the church today, to give it all up for God because after all He gave it all up for you?  Or have you ever sang songs like “I surrender all”? Recently, I heard a worship song with the lyrics, “I am going to make it my one endeavor to match His surrender”.  What are we talking about?  How can we even fathom thinking about giving our all to God?  I understand where it’s coming from and I know that people mean well in their intentions. Many believers are trusting in Jesus for their salvation but their focus on works and surrendering all to Jesus can cause more harm to themselves and the body of Christ.  Instead of trying to make it our endeavor to match Christ’s surrender, we need to make it our endeavor to rest in Christ’s surrender.  Big difference.  One view puts the focus on you and you being a daily sacrifice by your efforts and the other puts the focus on Christ and all He’s done for you and His efforts. One of the reasons many falsely believe we need to pay God back with our lives or preach that we should sacrifice our lives through our works and give our all to Him, is found in Romans 12:1-2, NASB. It says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is , that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  These verses typically are used to encourage believers that in view of God’s mercies, everything Paul has talked about, the good news of the gospel and His amazing grace, being saved by faith and not by the law and so forth, we are now to go out and respond by getting to work for God. Since you believe the good news about your salvation, now let’s get busy and give Him all you got even if it means to sacrifice your whole life to the mission of God.  After all, since you really are saved this is what you will be doing they will say.  Some will say, it is to prove we are really Christians and some will even go so far as to scare you into thinking you lost your salvation if you don’t continually present yourself as a sacrifice for Jesus through your works.  It is also sometimes preached that renewing your mind is to get you to do more stuff for God.  It’s reading and studying the Bible more, memorizing verses, fasting food, keeping your church attendance up, signing up for a bunch of church ministries, going on that mission trip Haiti.  We are told as well, that not being conformed to the pattern of this world is about not doing naughty things.  Let’s avoid those worldly things you might enjoy, like dancing, listening to secular music, or watching too much Netflix or ungodly movies. Lets sacrifice it all for the heavenly rewards of doing more work for Jesus.  Now hear me out, I am not saying that we should go out and sin it up, nor am I suggesting that the more we view God’s mercy that it won’t compel us to have hearts that want to serve God and others. I’m also not suggesting God doesn’t want us to do do good works at all.  But what I am saying is that this passage is not encouraging the believer to go out and get busy for God, in fact it is rather a call to believe the gospel and just rest in your new identity.  It is a call for those that have believed the gospel, to see themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus and to do it daily.  Presenting ourselves before God as a living sacrifice is simply to come to an agreement or confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior and that you can do nothing to get right with God. You can bring nothing of value of yourself to the altar for God.  All we do is lay dead on the altar of the cross and recognize our new life in Him.  See now that your holiness, and being pleasing to God and finding your acceptance is not from your sacrifice to Him but from the blood of Jesus and His sacrifice for us.  Paul is giving us a picture of one who believes the gospel, showing us that we are gifts to God the Father, holy and pleasing to God not because we gave up our all to Him, but simply because we are resting on the altar of the cross.  We know that we can do nothing to be pleasing and holy and acceptable to Him it is only through Christ’s blood that sanctifies us.  When Jesus was on earth he blasted the Pharisees for boasting in their gifts they were bringing to be sacrificed on the altar.  In Matthew 23:19, he says, “For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?”  They were boasting in their gifts, their works, Jesus was reminding them the altar was what sanctified their gift not in the gift itself.  In other words, it’s the blood of the spotless animal on the altar that made the gift acceptable to God.  It was the aroma of the fattened part of the flesh of the animal that made it an acceptable fragrance to the nostrils of the Lord.  In the same way, Paul is painting a picture of us being the gift on the altar sanctified by His blood.  In view of everything the gospel does for us, believe who you are in the finished work of Christ.  Lay down on the altar of the cross, it is His blood that makes you holy, it is His broken flesh that is the sweet aroma that makes Him like you!  It has nothing to do with your works and you giving it your all for Him. It has everything to do with Him giving His all for you and you just resting in the gospel truth that when He died, you died, and when He rose to new life, so did you.  Galatians 2:20, “For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me and the life I now live I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  This is all Paul is saying.  He is saying that in view of the mercies of God, believe the gospel and see yourself as holy and acceptable in the finished work of Christ.  Then he tells us to not be conformed to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This is a call for the believer to renew ones mind in the gospel truths of the great exchange.  Your old nature died and your new life in Christ arose and all because of the finished work of Christ.  You are a living sacrifice because you just responded in believing it is true.  The pattern of this world that we are not to conform to, is a reference to how one is generally accepted by this world.  The world says, you are never enough, not beautiful enough, not successful enough, do this and we will accept you, act a certain way and if you are not performing to our standards then we are going to reject you.  The religious world says the same thing.  For God to love you more, you got to do more, give it your all, surrender everything, do those daily disciplines to stay in God’s fellowship.  Work harder, try harder, fly straight, prove it by your works that you are really saved or haven’t lost your salvation.  All this does is tamper down the gospel and bring you into bondage.  Instead, we need to renew our minds in the freeing truth that we are unconditionally loved and already complete in Christ.   The simplicity of the gospel, is just believing and receiving, religion is do more to become, maybe He will love you.  When we daily remember that our righteousness is His righteousness and we can do nothing, but rest in His love, then His life which is ours will manifest more and more in our lives!  Then we will be able to prove the will of God.  What is the will of God?  To show others in particular, Christians that they too are completely loved.  In the context here in Romans we read all throughout this chapter, it is to love and serve others in the body of Christ.  It is to take the truths of God loving us so much because of His finished works and letting His life manifest in us to serve and build up the body of Christ!  It is a way of reminding one another, who have believed in Jesus, that we are all living sacrifices because of what He has done!  It is allowing God to prove again and again how much we are truly loved and accepted by God!  But in order to do that, in order to serve and love one another we must renew our minds in the finished work of Christ’s love for us.  We must believe that we are first loved and accepted, that we are righteous and good with God and renew our minds in this truth over and over until naturally we will find ourselves doing the will of God and loving others. 

So, the next time you hear the term give it your all for God because He gave His all for you, or make it your endeavor to match his surrender, don’t try to waste your efforts doing that, you will only burn yourself out on the treadmill of religious performance.  Instead, do what Paul says, and lay down on the altar of the cross, renew your mind in the truth that He gave it all for you, killed your old man and deposited all of Him in you instead.  All you have to do is strive to rest in the finished work of Christ and let His life flow out of you as you bask in His love.  Real living is not trying to surrender it all for Jesus, but simply resting in the gospel truths that He surrendered it all for you.

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Have you ever read a passage like this one and started to freak out about whether you were loving the things of the world too much that maybe the love of the Father wasn’t in you?  I used to.  I used to read this and start soul searching, am I watching too many rated R movies, do I need to cut back on listening to secular music, maybe I need to go on a food fast or skip the sports and talk radio?  Maybe I’m not reading the Bible enough and reading too many fiction books and enjoying the pleasures of this earth too much, working too hard on my business?  Oh woe is me!  I never questioned my salvation but just questioned whether I was still in His fellowship or not.  Some read these passages and would question their salvation or others salvation, they call it the litmus test of whether you really are a Christian.  But remember Jesus said “Come to me and I will give you rest.”  If you are reading the scripture and a verse doesn’t give you rest to your soul but a restlessness and you find your eyes on you and what you have to do to perform, prove or keep your salvation or fellowship with God, then you are reading it wrong.  Context is key and sometimes as in the case of John’s writings he is not so on the nose, so you can’t take everything he says simply and plainly. His language is very ambiguous, “The Word was with God and the Word was God.”  For example John’s view of commandments is not what you would think, if you just read it plainly.  He is not talking about the law of Moses, or rules to live by but a living commandment who is Jesus kept in our hearts through the Spirit, 1 John 2:8, “On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you.”  The commandment is to believe the Gospel and love one another, 1 John 3:23, “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.”  When we believe in His love for us and not make it about our love for Him, the second command is not a burden or a work because it is an identity truth.  His love lives in us and we become love because that is who He is.  1 John 4:16,”God is love…” and then in the next verse, we read, “because as He is, so also are we in this world.”  By receiving His love by simply believing in Jesus’s love for us, we are identified now as children of LOVE.  It is not by our behavior but by our birth and now it’s in our spiritual DNA that we are lovers of God and lovers of one another.  We now can love God and others not trying to achieve His love but we love through and from His love which is already secured and already dwelling in our hearts. So there is no condition if we fail to love well or not, but when we rest in His love for us we will manifest His love because we know we are perfectly and always will be unconditionally loved forever.  “Love as I have love you”, is different from the Mosaic law to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Before it was a command to try and be on good terms with God but now it is a command within us kept by the Spirit when we believe the Gospel.  Non-believers can love those as themselves, that’s easy to do.  You can love someone with similar interests to you and that also likes the same things you like but this love is AGAPE, and it is only possible if you have AGAPE living already in your heart by faith in Jesus.  It is also true that in the context of John’s letter that to love one another is also referring to recognizing other believers who share the same testimony of trusting in the forgiveness of the shedding of the blood of Jesus on the cross.  We are told not to love in the way of Cain,  1 John 3:11-12. Cain slew his brother Abel because his deeds were righteous. Cain offered a sacrifice of works, the fruits from the ground and Abel saw himself as a sinner, received forgiveness through the bloodshed of an animal sacrifice. Cain did not recognize his sin, did not recognize his brother or his need for forgiveness and killed his brother. So loving your brother in the context here is to not hate and despise someone on the sole basis that they believe in Jesus.  That’s what the antichrists were doing that had infiltrated the church whom John was writing about. So, it is the same idea when we come to the words “Loving the world”.  It is in the way of Cain.  To love the world is to be like Cain who fled from the presence of God and built a life of cities, a system of life like an orphan having to fend for himself apart from God, Genesis 4.  The world has many aspects but the one in particular that John is referring to is the religious world.  This is the same self righteous world like the Pharisees that hated Jesus and hates us today, John 15:17-25.  We are as believers to be careful not to be seduced by the world into building our lives, our identity apart from trusting in the Father’s love for us.  So loving the world here is not am I drinking too much beer, smoking, cussing, doing chew and dating girls that do, it is simply saying don’t build your righteousness, your identity apart from trusting in Jesus and His sacrifice for you.  Don’t be like Cain and deny you are a sinner and hate those that believe in Jesus and build your identity through your own strength, your own merits, your own sacrifice of fruits from the works of your own hard labor. That ground which is your flesh is cursed. Instead, recognize your sin and need for a Savior and be like Abel who offered a sacrifice and received forgiveness from the blood shed of an animal, all foreshadowing the perfect lamb of God who was the ultimate sacrifice for us all.  So if you love the world that way, boasting in your own righteousness, then the love of the Father cannot and is not in you.  We do the will of God and live forever.  What is the will of God? John 6:40, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” If you make this verse about your bad moral behaviors that sometimes as a Christian we fall into either every once and awhile or habitually, then you will have no assurance if you are right with God.  There is no Christian who has all their behaviors lined up perfectly. But our identity in Christ is sinless, perfect and complete and that is how He sees us. Well, what about those verses that say, children of the devil practice sinning, and children of God practice righteousness?  Again even with those words, John is not talking about your behavior because how do you know you are practicing enough righteous behavior or are sinning less enough to be good with God?  No, this is about believing in Jesus as well. The sin that the children of the devil practice is the sin that leads to death, not a sin the believer can commit.  We can commit sin as John says we can but never that sin that leads to eternal death because we believe in Jesus, 1 John 5:16-17.  We practice truth or practice righteousness because we simply believe not in our righteousness but in His and therefore we are righteous as he is righteous.   Remember, John tells us it’s obvious, 1 John 3:10, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious.”  So put to bed any doubts you have! If you have put your faith in the blood, in Christ’s love for you not your love for him, and you don’t hate Christians and wish they would die because they believe in Jesus, then rest in your identity in Christ.  Remember, it’s obvious, you don’t love the world as Cain, you keep the commands, you practice righteousness, you have the Father’s love in you, you have overcome the world because you have been born of Him!  1 John 5:4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith.” It’s through faith in the finished work of Jesus and as you now live out the Christian life don’t let the World influence you and steal your crown, Revelation 3:11.  This is not your salvation you can lose but John is talking about not letting your joy and confidence get stolen by the philosophies of deceitful men.  Don’t forget who you already are because of His finished work on the cross.   Don’t let the World influence you to think you’re not enough and that there is something you still have to do to fend for yourself. Loving the world even the religious world will always produce anxiety because for the world to love you back you have to always perform.  Listen to the world cry out, “What have you done for me lately?  “Are you practicing enough righteousness?”  “Faith without works is dead”,  “there is too much talk of Grace in the church, we need to balance it out with more of God’s fear.”  Yes, all of that I have heard and that’s not the Heavenly Father’s voice, that’s the voice of Cain and unfortunately it’s coming from behind the pulpits in the church today!!! We may not take the way of Cain as far as our justification is concerned but in our Christian walk we can still be influenced and therefore live out miserable joyless lives on the treadmill of religious performance getting nowhere.  But receiving the Father’s love means it’s finished, Christ satisfied the requirements, now walk out your identity in Him as one who is unconditionally loved, and live through and from His love. Never do you have to fear am I good enough because perfect love casts out all fear of judgement, 1 John 4:18.  If Christ’s work was good enough for the Father then it should be good enough for me too, 1 John 2:2.   No, you are not an orphan having to perform to be accepted going from family to family but as John would say, we are “little children”,  forever beloved in the Father who has built His home in us.  We just need to remind ourselves daily that our home is also in Him.