Tuesday Night Message 2025-12-23

Everything to Christ

Introduction:

What do Samson, Jonah, and King Uzziah all have in common?

They all accomplished great things for the Lord through His power:

Samson slew thousands of Philistines and freed Israel from their tyranny.
Jonah preached a message that successfully led the entire city of Ninevah to repent from their sinful lifestyles.
King Uzziah brought great peace, prosperity, and fame to Judah by soundly defeating the Philistines and Arabians, significantly strengthening Judah’s armies and defenses, and dramatically improving the land with vineyards, gardens, and cisterns.

However, all three men failed to live fully surrendered lives to God:

Samson pursued relationships with pagan women, committed fornication (including once with a prostitute), and violated most of, if not all the Nazirite laws God charged him to follow.
Jonah initially refused to fulfill his calling, attempted to flee God’s presence, and despised God’s mercy towards the Ninevites.
King Uzziah grew very proud from his accomplishments, leading him to disobey God’s law through attempting to burn incense on the altar in the Temple.

Despite their accomplishments, these three men faced serious consequences for the sins that came about from their lack of full surrender to God:

Samson was captured, blinded, and enslaved by the Philistines. While God forgave him and strengthened him to kill 3,000 Philistines (more than he had killed in his lifetime) by bringing down their temple, it cost him his life.
When attempting to flee God’s presence, Jonah nearly lost his life in a fierce storm and had to live three days and nights in the belly of a great fish. When he despised God’s mercy towards the repentant Ninevites, his heart became immensely bitter towards the Lord and caused him to desire death.
King Uzziah was struck with leprosy after attempting to illegally burn incense. This caused him to lose his throne and remain isolated in a separate home for the rest of his life.

The Need for Surrender:

What things in our lives keep us from surrendering all to Christ?

Like the three men, most of us do not live fully surrendered lives to Christ. While we may pray to Him, go to church, and even serve in ministry, many of us are holding onto attitudes, agendas, and even sins that prevent us from surrendering our whole lives to Him. While doing this may seem insignificant compared to living after the flesh like the Prodigal Son, this lack of full surrender still has the capacity to spiritually devastate us.

As an example, consider an airplane traveling from San Francisco to Washington, DC. Now imagine this plane travelling just one degree off course. While this may seem insignificant, even this minute deviation will cause the plane to miss its destination and land 42.6 miles away in Baltimore instead (Roundy, n.d.). Likewise, a single compromise in our walk with God will cause us to stray from His will, grieve and quench the Holy Spirit, and miss opportunities to serve Him and receive eternal rewards. Thus, if we desire to truly honor Christ and receive His best for us, it is necessary to understand why we must give Him our whole lives and how to do so.

The Reasons for Surrender:

What are some reasons why we must surrender our whole lives to Christ?

One reason is that God fully owns our lives:

He created all things in heaven and earth for Himself (Rom 11:36; 1Co 8:6; Col 1:16).
He is worthy as our Creator to receive our honor and praise (Rev 4:11).
Christ purchased our salvation with His life and His Holy Spirit resides in us as His temple (1Co 6:19-20).
Because Christ freed us from sin through purchasing us with His life, we are now His bondservants (Rom 6:22; 1Co 7:22).

Another reason is that Christ owns all we have:

All things, including the strength and possessions we have, belong to Him because He created them (Deu 8:18, 10:14; 1Ch 29:11-12).
Everything we have is the result of God’s good and generous hand in our lives (Jam 1:17).
Because He truly owns it, God has charged us to steward what He has given us for His glory and others’ benefit (Mat 25:23; 1Pe 4:10).
We are not to live for the things in our possession, for it is idolatry and places us in opposition to God and His will (Jam 4:4; 1Jo 2:15-17).

One other reason is that serving Christ requires completely surrendering our lives to Him:

He tells us that we cannot be His disciples if anything or anyone takes precedence over Him (Luk 14:26, 33).
Serving Him requires living in total denial of self, meaning we do not give in to the sinful and self-centered desires of our flesh (Mat 16:24; Luk 14:27).
Total surrender to the Holy Spirit as a living sacrifice is necessary to avoid being conformed to this world and to have our mind renewed, which is required to discern God’s will (Rom 12:1-2).
We cannot serve Christ unless we abide in Him, for we are incapable of doing anything without Him (Joh 15:1-7).

The Methods of Surrender:

As with all things pertaining to serving God, we must abide in Christ and rely completely on His power through the Holy Spirit (Joh 15:1-7). Because the efforts and works of our flesh cannot please Him (Rom 8:7-8), we are incapable of doing anything for Him without His strength.
Remember we are not our own, for we were not only created by God for His purposes (Rom 11:36; 1Co 8:6) but were also bought back from sin with the price of Christ’s life (1Co 6:20). Thus, Christ has earned ownership of us twice over.
Declare we have died to our old life in the flesh, which was co-crucified with Christ on the Cross (Gal 5:24). His life should now be lived through ours through the spirit (Gal 2:20), which empowers us to overcome sin through the Holy Spirit’s power (Gal 5:16).
Consider all worldly possessions, accomplishments, and pleasures as rubbish compared to knowing and serving Christ (Phil 3:7-8). We should steward what God has given us (Mat 25:23; 1Pe 4:10) but be willing to lose it all if obeying Christ requires us to do so.
Make seeking Jesus, His Kingdom, and His righteousness the top priority of our lives (Mat 6:33). We cannot serve both Him and our selfish desires, for “no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Mat 6:24).

Reference:

Roundy, A. (n.d.). A mere one-degree difference. White Hat Crew. https://whitehatcrew.com/blog/a-mere-one-degree-difference/

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