Reason for all Seasons

 

SURRENDER

I was quoting a gentleman the other day by the name of William Booth who with his wife founded the Salvation Army and was its General for many years. He was called the “prophet to the poor”. He was born in England and also died there. I asked all who were present if they had ever heard the name and no one had. I said there are many anonymous Christian people in the world and many have said spoken very transformational words. What Mr. Booth said was, quote; “The greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his surrender.” To make it more contemporary for today I replaced man’s and his with persons and their. Women were never created by God to take a secondary position to men. We are all equal partners in this world. We just have different roles to fill.

To get back to the main subject here I have to explain why I used this quote. I am now leading an exercise class at my church. I was giving an update in front of the congregation and I explained that our faithfully fit class was doing well with our faithfully few attendees. I was trying to promote the benefits with the purpose of getting people interested enough to at least try and attend the class. That hasn’t seemed to work and it looks like I will once again be disappointed but not surprised. All we have to do is look at the condition of the world around us to understand why. I believe God asked me to use that quote to get people to think about what it meant. To me, in this context, it means surrendering to what the Bible instructs us to do. This faithfully fit class is one way to prepare us physically and mentally to carry out the great commission. Matthew 28:18-20. Good physical fitness conditions us to have the stamina and perseverance to do this. When we are physically fit the process leading up to that will build our self-confidence and self-esteem which in turn encourages us to be the salt, light, and good news of Jesus Christ without hesitation, which the world so badly needs. Of course there is more to it than that but that is a beginning.

During my little update to the congregation I was suggesting a more convenient time option for those folks who work during the day. I don’t believe it made much of a difference but we will see. After closer inspection I found that it didn’t make any difference. I didn’t get to say everything during my update I would have liked to say because of time restrictions. I would have liked to say that we don’t judge, or make comparisons, and that it is not a competition. I wanted also to talk about opportunity, stewardship, and equity and equality. I will get into more of that discussion now.

Let’s start with stewardship first and see how that leads into the remaining subjects. When God created Adam and put him into the garden He asked him to tend the garden. God didn’t do it for him. He asked Adam to steward it. Genesis 2:15. That was Adam’s job, and later also Eve’s. God wanted Adam to co-labor with Him which was actually sharing responsibility and giving Adam a sense of accomplishment and purpose. Today we as a people are asked to be stewards of the earth and everything on and in it. How have we done? Not so good in my opinion. Along with stewarding the earth comes the responsibility of stewarding ourselves in a way that promotes kingdom precepts and principles. Not only do we need to steward well our words and actions but we also need to steward our minds and physical bodies. How else can we acquire the ability to adequately represent the example of Jesus by being the salt, light, and good news of Jesus Christ. Our stewardship has to be inclusive of all pertinent parts to be the most beneficial. The circle has to be complete. We can’t excel in just one area and leave out the rest. As the Bible speaks of the body as being deficient without all the parts working together in harmony so must our stewardship of ourselves be. A complete circle.

Now let’s talk about opportunity. There are several old sayings about opportunity or time passing us by but those are false or misleading statements that try to transfer responsibility to something other than ourselves. We neglect to seize opportunities as they appear in our life with reasons or excuses that are not usually valid. Opportunities come, are here for a time, and are then gone, oftentimes for good. We need to evaluate the importance of any given opportunity in comparison to what we are using as a reason or excuse not to seize it. Opportunities come at a particular time in our life because God decided it can be the most beneficial for us at that time. Time does not pass us by because we move along in time at the same speed as every tangible or intangible thing. As we move along in time we age and experience deterioration and decay just like everything else around us. Time can be our friend or not depending on if we are willing and able to seize opportunities at the most opportune time in our life. When we do this at the most advantageous time I believe this is how we grow into what God created us to be, walking in our real identity, and employing the gift or gifts He endowed us with.

Now if we have taken advantage of these opportunities at the most beneficial time and are stewarding them well according to Biblical precepts and principles we have to remember never to judge, make comparisons, or turn it into a competition. These are critical conditions which when adhered to can bring about the greatest level of excellence any of us are capable of. We have to remember God created us all as individuals with different levels of gifting and proficiency in all things. To judge, make comparisons, criticize, or make something onto a competition can and will destroy initiative, competency, self-esteem, self-confidence, and everything else that, if avoided, could have given us kingdom victory at the highest level possible. We all need to be valued equally and understand that God does not show favoritism for any one over the other of His children. He loves us all equally, has given us equal opportunity to come into relationship with Him, and gave us the free will to chose Him, or not.

Now to talk about equality and equity. I have spoken about these two several times in the past. They are critical parts of the whole journey of mankind and in our surrendered relationship with God. We have never experienced genuine equality in this world. Mostly because so much value has been placed on what money, power and position makes available to those in possession of them. The Bible says we cannot love money and God. Matthew 6:24. One has to take precedence over the other. So, in much of the world money, power and position gets you the very best education, healthcare, nutrition, housing, etc. People that don’t possess these things get a lower quality of those things if they get them at all. So consequently not having had equality in all of those areas they cannot compete fairly for the things this world has to offer. Granted they still have equal opportunity to establish a relationship with God but oftentimes when people lacking so much in so many areas it is hard for them to overcome the bitterness, resentment, depression, hunger and other daily struggles that this life brings and they don’t accept God’s invitation. Often their immediate need has to be satisfied first. The opposite can be stated about those on the other end of the spectrum. Many think that because they have all of the advantages this world can offer they don’t need God for anything. So both sides struggle to find the peace and inner prosperity that a relationship with God can give. We can never achieve equity in this world if we haven’t achieved equality first. We need a level playing field to quash the reasons or excuses for failure and promote equity through equality. If everyone hasn’t been given equal opportunity to achieve at the level and in the field or position of their interest we will remain stagnant as a country for the foreseeable future. If everyone is satisfied with the opportunity they were given to achieve the very best they were able to achieve, money would not be much of or any problem. This would be especially true for those who are in relationship with God. They would have prospered in and developed their God-given gifting and become a beneficial steward in the body of Christ and the family of God. They would have found the peace and contentment that comes with the knowledge that they were not marginalized but had the same opportunity to achieve as everyone else. We cannot achieve equity without achieving equality first.

A fully surrendered life to God should have all the attributes I have discussed here. We should be doing our best to insure, as much as we can, that these principles and values are reflected in our speech and actions. A fully surrendered Christ-centered life Should display unwavering faith, complete trust, and indisputable belief. Use the early church described in the book of Acts as your example. And insure that you are always employing the fruits of the spirit as described in Galatians 5:22-23. If we can do these things and the world witnesses our success this would be the beginning of a world changing movement. Never forget where our ability comes from and always show gratitude for Triune God.

Love and Peace, Amen Related Scriptures for further study.

Pastor Walter c. Scott James 4:7 Romans 12:1-2 Galatians 2:20

Proverbs 3:5-6 & 16:3 Luke 9:23 & 14:33

Psalm 55:22 1Peter 5:6-7 Matthew 11:28