Participants:
Series Code: RQRA
Program Code: RQRA000024A
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00:01 I don't understand.
00:04 Why did this have to happen to me? 00:08 I feel like I just can't make sense of things. 00:12 I need answers. 00:15 Where is God? 00:21 In 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis 00:25 formally surrenders 8,000 infantry men 00:29 and seamen to the American forces. 00:32 At this point, it was an incredible day 00:34 for the American Revolution 00:36 but a very sad day for the British. 00:41 When we think about surrender, 00:43 it's not necessarily a good thing 00:45 usually when we think about it. 00:47 It involves pain, bad stuff, right? 00:50 But when it comes to God and the things of heaven, 00:52 surrender is a very good thing, 00:54 and that's what we're going to be talking about today 00:55 with my co-hosts Dee Casper and Michelle Doucoumes. 00:58 My name is Mark Paden. 00:59 And welcome to Raw Questions Relevant Answers, 01:02 where we are endeavoring to give biblical answers 01:05 to difficult raw, real, painful questions 01:09 that young people have. 01:11 And what we want to do today is start off with a question 01:16 from a college student in Tennessee. 01:20 They ask, "How do I surrender to God?" 01:22 Very practical. 01:24 "No matter how much I try, 01:25 I can't seem to give my heart over 01:27 completely to God." 01:30 This is kind of a quote 01:32 that's been very helpful for me on the topic of surrender 01:34 that I think is somewhat relevant to the question. 01:36 It's from a book called Ministry of Healing, 01:38 it says, "Many who profess to be Christ's 01:40 followers have an anxious troubled heart 01:42 because they're afraid to trust themselves with God. 01:45 They do not make a complete surrender to Him, 01:47 for they shrink from the consequence 01:49 that such a surrender may involve..." 01:51 Sometimes we're afraid 01:52 of what God is going to ask us to give up, 01:54 so we don't surrender. 01:55 "But unless they do make this surrender, 01:57 they cannot find peace. 01:59 There are many whose hearts are aching under a load of care 02:01 because they seek to reach the world's standard. 02:04 They have chosen its service, accepted its perplexities, 02:06 and adopted its customs. 02:09 And thus their character is marred 02:10 and their life made a weariness." 02:11 It's exhausting. 02:13 "And that continual worry 02:14 is wearing out their life forces. 02:16 Our Lord desires them 02:17 to lay aside this yoke of bondage 02:20 and He invites them to accept His yoke. 02:22 He says, 'My yoke is easy, My burden is light.' 02:26 Worry is blind, it cannot discern the future. 02:28 But Jesus sees the end from the beginning. 02:30 And In every difficulty, He makes His way 02:33 prepared to bring relief. 02:34 And no good thing will He withhold from them 02:36 that walk uprightly." 02:37 Amen. 02:39 Many times, our fear of surrenders 02:40 because we're just sure 02:41 that God is going to takes something off the table 02:43 that we want right now... 02:44 Or it's going to lead to something 02:45 that we don't want, at least, not right now. 02:48 And that kind of would be my introduction to that topic. 02:52 Many times, our fears of what if 02:55 prohibit us from making that initial surrender, 02:57 and it's because we don't know who He is as we could. 03:01 You know, I just want to throw something in here 03:03 because it reminds me of something 03:05 that happened in my life. 03:06 You know, growing up, I spent a lot of time 03:09 watching a lot of things 03:10 that in hindsight weren't that good, 03:12 that really went against biblical principles, right? 03:16 And when God was... 03:18 When God was working on my heart, 03:20 wooing me to Him, there came a point 03:22 where He just really called my heart and said, 03:25 "Mark, I want you to come to Me." 03:27 And at that point, you know, I wrestled for a minute 03:29 because I knew that to come to Him, 03:32 I would have to give those things up. 03:34 And He really made it clear to me 03:36 and I wrestled for a minute, but you know... 03:39 And praise the Lord I was willing to do that, 03:41 but it's been so incredible to me to see how... 03:45 When I was willing to give that up, 03:48 God really fulfilled the desires of my heart. 03:50 You know, I gave up those movies, 03:53 but now I'm a filmmaker. 03:54 You know what? 03:56 I spent my life working with cameras 03:57 and, I mean, flying all over the world filming, 04:00 and it's awesome, and it's all for Him. 04:05 And God brought around so many opportunities 04:08 basically immediately after I made that decision. 04:10 So, you know, we sometimes fear to surrender 04:13 because we're afraid of what we might have to lose in it, 04:16 but look at what we have to gain. 04:19 All we're leaving off is things that are really hurting us. 04:22 You know, with this, I do believe 04:25 there's a natural human aversion to that surrender 04:28 unfortunately as sinful beings. 04:30 The Apostle Paul talks about this in Romans 7 04:33 when he says, "O wretched man that I am!" 04:35 And he talks about how the things he wants to do, 04:37 he doesn't thinks he doesn't want to do, he does. 04:40 There's this battle with our humanity and God, 04:44 even Jesus experienced this to an extent. 04:46 We see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane 04:48 in Matthew 26 having to go three times back to say, 04:52 "God, not my will but Your will be done." 04:57 And so that there is something that can come up inside us, 04:59 it doesn't mean 05:01 that there's something wrong with you 05:02 because you struggle with surrender. 05:05 I remember a time in my life 05:06 where I really struggled with surrender 05:08 and I had something to do with what you said, Dee, 05:11 about knowing who we're surrendering to. 05:14 I realized I knew a lot about God, 05:17 but I didn't know God at a heart level, 05:20 and without that knowledge, it's really scary... 05:22 To surrender to someone that you don't know 05:25 or don't know very good things about. 05:28 There was a time when I remember 05:30 having to say to God, 05:31 "You know, I'm sorry that I'm not sorry." 05:35 And that sounds really crazy, 05:37 but that was when I got really raw with God myself 05:39 and said, "You know, to be honest, 05:42 I don't want to surrender to You. 05:44 But help me." 05:46 And it was crazy what happened. 05:48 That whole journey led me to a very real place with God 05:51 but also a place of starting to search out, 05:53 "Okay, well, I might not be fully ready for this, 05:57 but start showing me who You are. 05:59 Start giving me something with this." 06:02 And I started seeking God for myself 06:04 and to know God, and it's really interesting. 06:06 It's like God took me on a journey 06:09 that led to a surrender. 06:11 As I got to know Him, there did finally come a time 06:14 where I was like, "Okay, I want to give You a chance." 06:18 God takes the little that we can give to Him. 06:20 If your surrender is this much, give that much to God 06:23 and let Him start working in those places in your life. 06:27 You know, there's another verse 06:29 that I'm just trying to find here. 06:31 But it says... 06:33 I believe it's Peter talking to the multitude and he says... 06:37 He speaks about how God has come 06:40 to give repentance to Israel. 06:42 Yes. 06:43 And I think part of the rest of this question 06:45 is they are struggling 06:47 because no matter how hard they try, 06:50 they just can't seem to give their heart over 06:52 completely to God. 06:54 You know, maybe that's the problem. 06:56 You're trying too hard to do what you can't do. 06:59 Yes. 07:00 Our part of it is not to force ourselves 07:04 into becoming Christians. 07:06 Our part of it is to come to God 07:07 recognizing that we can't do it. 07:09 So if we're struggling with that, 07:10 claim that promise, come to Him and say, 07:12 "Lord, I don't have repentance. 07:14 I love my sin." 07:16 Kind of like what you're saying. 07:17 "You know, I don't want to give my life to You, 07:19 but I want to want to. 07:21 So, Lord, give me repentance and show me views of Jesus" 07:25 because it's only as we see those pictures of Christ 07:30 and Him crucified 07:32 that we will truly be willing to give all to Him. 07:34 Like Romans 2:4, right? Exactly. 07:36 "The goodness of God leads you to repentance." 07:37 Exactly. 07:38 And it's the goodness of God and the... 07:41 It's the divine initiative. 07:43 God is the one who takes the first step in pursuing us, 07:45 and we talked about this a few episodes ago 07:47 in Jeremiah 31, 07:48 He says, "I've loved you with an everlasting love. 07:50 Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you to Me." 07:52 When we encounter the drawing love of Christ, 07:55 that goodness of God towards us, 07:57 when we don't deserve it, when we deserve it the least, 07:59 it causes our walls to come down, 08:01 it brings repentance into our experience. 08:03 And then what awakens in our heart 08:05 is a willingness to finally do it His way... 08:07 Yeah. 08:08 To respond how He wants us to respond. 08:10 And so surrender is the result of an encounter 08:13 with the goodness of God. 08:14 That's what leads to this process, not a... 08:17 And God's not even asking for you 08:19 to create your own surrender, 08:20 He is asking you to receive Christ's spirit of surrender, 08:23 and you can ask for that. 08:24 "My flesh doesn't want to, 08:26 but Jesus did surrender in my flesh. 08:29 Would You give Me His spirit of surrender 08:31 in this area of my life today?" 08:33 And you better believe He wants to. 08:34 Yeah. Amen. 08:36 Let's go ahead and move to the next question. 08:38 This is again from somebody 21 years old in Tennessee. 08:43 Sorry. Yes. 08:45 I got confused there for a second. 08:46 "How do we surrender?" 08:48 We've just been talking about that, 08:49 but then he continues, 08:51 "If victory over sin is possible, 08:52 why doesn't the church teach righteousness by faith 08:55 in a practical sense?" 08:58 It is an issue of concern because if we... 09:02 We believe in the Seventh-day Adventist Church 09:03 in the standards that maybe we feel 09:06 others have lost a zeal for 09:08 or maybe didn't know that God expects. 09:11 And so because of this, we've kind of become 09:12 these champions of reform, if you will, 09:15 on the things that God still expects. 09:17 And sometimes, our zeal for communicating 09:19 what God wants 09:20 comes at the expense of how God enables us to do what He wants. 09:25 And so in turn, our young people 09:26 and our members are wrestling 09:27 because there's this high expectation 09:29 of what God wants, 09:30 but I don't know how to get there. 09:32 Paul talks about this, you know, 09:33 that "I don't know how to get where I want to go." 09:34 I think it's Romans 7:20ish. 09:36 He's like, "I don't understand how to get to the area 09:39 where God's wanting me to go." 09:41 And I believe righteousness by faith provides that answer. 09:44 There's a beautiful definition that I've heard on this idea, 09:47 they say, "What is justification by faith? 09:49 It's the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust 09:53 and doing for a man that which it is not in his power 09:55 to do for himself. 09:57 And when men see their nothingness, 09:59 they're prepared to be close 10:00 with the righteousness of Christ." 10:02 There's high expectations from God 10:04 and there's zero potential in human flesh without God. 10:07 Yeah. 10:08 And we need to find a marriage between these two things, 10:10 and I believe the answer is the power of the Holy Spirit. 10:12 Yeah. And I... 10:14 To be sadly honest, the person is asking 10:16 why isn't this taught more? 10:18 Sometimes maybe it's not taught 10:20 because we don't teach what we haven't experienced. 10:23 It's hard to teach what we haven't experienced. 10:25 And that is the sad reality is that 10:28 we as a church need revival. 10:31 And if you are a young person who is asking for that, 10:35 then please, seek that and pursue that 10:39 because our church needs people 10:41 who are really looking to God and experiencing God. 10:45 We can't teach what we don't have. 10:47 And I think too that this is a call for us, 10:50 who are starting to understand it 10:52 or who do understand it, to share. 10:55 Yes. 10:57 You know, if God has shown you 10:59 the beauty in the power of the gospel, share it. 11:03 Yes. 11:04 You know, it's a beautiful thing. 11:06 Yeah. 11:07 In Romans 8, Paul says that 11:08 "For what the law could not do..." 11:10 Romans 8:3, meaning, save us. 11:11 "What the law could not do, save us, 11:13 and it was weak through the flesh..." 11:14 'Cause our flesh can't keep the law. 11:16 He says, "God did by sending His own Son 11:19 in the likeness of sinful flesh..." 11:20 Flesh like ours. 11:22 "And on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh." 11:24 He overcame sin in the flesh, and here's why in verse 4. 11:27 "That the righteous requirement of the law 11:29 might be fulfilled in us 11:30 who do not walk according to the flesh 11:32 but according to the Spirit." 11:33 So God sent Jesus to do for you what you can't do, 11:36 maybe you've never heard this story before 11:38 or this principle before, that's it, 11:40 and that we can receive that through the power of His Spirit 11:43 to have that obedient life. 11:44 And when you encounter this amazing offer from God, 11:48 if He's willing to do that much for me, 11:50 the least I can do is respond when convicted. 11:53 To surrender when convicted. 11:55 It's a logical response to the gospel, surrender is, 11:58 otherwise it feels like legalism or a hopeless venture. 12:01 But in response to the gospel, surrender makes sense. 12:04 Let's hit one final question 12:06 before we have to end for today. 12:09 This is a question saying, 12:11 "How can I know when I am fully surrendered?" 12:14 And one thing that I want to just mention 12:16 here on this one is we sometimes feel... 12:19 When we feel our need that we do need to surrender, 12:21 it's easy to get in this rut of like, 12:25 "I don't know if I'm surrendered enough. 12:26 I don't know if I'm surrendered enough." 12:28 And we almost get paranoid that we're not surrendered enough. 12:30 On the other side of the spectrum, 12:33 you know, we can get in this rut of feeling like, 12:35 "You know, I'm all right. 12:36 I surrendered once like a couple months ago, 12:40 I'm good now, you know?" 12:41 But honestly, surrender is a daily experience. 12:44 But here's a couple metrics 12:45 that I would like to propose in this. 12:48 First of all, is there anything 12:51 that you are currently doing 12:52 that you know you shouldn't be doing? 12:54 If you are, there's a good chance 12:57 you're not surrendered, right? 12:58 If you are doing something 13:00 that you know goes against God's word, 13:02 you probably haven't surrendered it all. 13:05 That doesn't mean you haven't ever, 13:06 it just means that 13:07 now is your chance to go back to God 13:09 and really lay it all at the foot of the cross. 13:11 And then the other metric, too, that I would propose is 13:14 are you daily communing with God 13:17 and asking Him to search your heart? 13:19 Are you, on a daily basis, looking to see... 13:23 I know it's sometimes painful to look into our own hearts 13:26 and see all the mess that's inside, 13:27 but it's a very vital part of our Christian experience 13:31 to look at that and to really see 13:35 where we are at with God. 13:38 Do you have anything you want to add really quickly? 13:40 We only have a few seconds left. 13:41 In Romans 8:5, 13:43 "For those who live according to the flesh, 13:44 set their minds on the things of the flesh, 13:46 those who live according to the Spirit, 13:47 the things of the Spirit." 13:48 Look to Jesus. 13:50 Look to the Spirit of Christ, He'll show us. 13:51 Yeah. 13:52 Being surrender doesn't mean we won't struggle. 13:54 Yeah. 13:55 There is still a struggle going on, 13:57 but that struggle means that there is life. 13:58 Absolutely. Because we are seeking Christ. 14:00 So if you're struggling, 14:02 keep struggling and really seek God. 14:04 If you have any other questions, 14:06 feel free to submit them to us on Facebook RQRA3ABN. 14:10 God bless. |
Revised 2018-09-24