In 1896, Judson W. Van DeVenter, a teacher, painter, artist and photographer, penned the song “I Surrender All”. Read the words to the first stanza and refrain. All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live. I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
When we think of the word surrender, it can have a negative connotation. Giving up may be the words you associate with surrendering. Yet, for the sake of this study, we will consider surrendering and giving up to be different in their motivation.
To surrender can mean to agree to forgo power or possession. It describes a relinquishment of control to another. A yielding to another.
Typically giving up is associated with defeat or a lack of hope. It marks the end of something.
Lu 14:33 So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (RSV)
Lu 14:33 "So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. (NASB)
renounce, give up <apotassomai> literally, to say adieu (by departing or dismissing); to renounce; bid farewell, forsake, take leave, send away. The word relinquish is given as a synonym for renounce in WordWeb.
You can read in the definition that this verb is a choice.
Lu 5:11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
They forsook all (KJV). They laid aside everything or yielded up absolutely all.
Lu 18:22-23 And when Jesus heard this, He said to him, "One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess, and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when he had heard these things, he became very sad; for he was extremely rich.
All that you hold: your possessions, abilities, relationships, and conditions, in order to follow.
Php 3:7-8 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,
Just previous to the above verses, we are given insight to how we easily place our value and confidence in ourselves and the things we are able to accomplish. Our verification rests on what we have done; our goodness on our performance in light of others. The conclusion is all things that we might do are useless in comparison to what Christ has done for us. There is an obvious repetition of phrases: “the loss of all things”.
I have suffered the loss of all things] …for whom I have thrown away all things-I have made a voluntary choice of Christ, his cross, his poverty, and his reproach; and for these I have freely sacrificed all I had from the world, and all I could expect from it. Adam Clarke’s Commentary
Look again at Luke 14:33 above. “All that he has” or “possessions” comes from two Greek words.
<huparchonta> things extant or in hand, property or possessions; goods, that which one has, things which one possesses, substance
<heautou> himself, own selves
These words are important because it seems the inclusion of surrendering is not only what we may possess in physical material, but that also which we may possess in our own ‘rights’ as individuals – our very selves.
Consider the difference between giving up a material possession and surrendering a thought, or right, or what you consider is fair. Which is more difficult?
Self must be secondary when following Jesus. No room for ego. No room for self-concern. No room for self-interest. Even our identity becomes wrapped up in Christ. We have personal concerns and interests, but what takes center stage? What make our heart beat? Who do we live for? Are we willing to give ourselves to His cause?
For the sake of encouraging even just one of you, I’ll take this to a personal insight of my own. I would have readily told you I absolutely have surrendered myself to following Jesus. It is what I whole-heartedly desire. But, God has torn my heart up a bit and graciously as shown me that I struggle with this in a way that is probably considered acceptable, you might say it’s one of those ‘acceptable sins’. I get hurt by words. Then my personal insecurities flood my mind. I am too easily disheartened by the knowledge that others think poorly of me because of something carelessly said or misrepresented in relation to my person or motives. Most of us would say, “Well that’s okay”. But, is it? The conviction God is putting on my heart says NO! Why? Because my ‘tender hearted’ reactions cause my focus to sway from what I should be doing to what others are doing. This effectively lessens my serve. I am not completely giving up of myself to follow when I am concerned about myself. I still care about Me! Ughhhhhhh…
Are you able to relate? How is ‘self’ still imbedded in your life? Look hard, look deep, it may be subtle.
We are asked to surrender all things that may stand in the way of our ability to do what God desires. Anything we hang onto that allows our affections to be swayed, that keeps us from being wholly committed to living for God. Am I focused towards God or away from God in my interests? Is my relationship in Him being built up or torn down by my activities or thoughts? Am I being encouraged to persevere in His will or drawn towards myself?
Doddridge puts it very straightforward: “So then do you consider whether you think it worth your while to adhere to me on these terms, for I assure you, I will admit you on no other; and whosoever he be of you that does not steadfastly resolve to give up all his possessions whenever he is called to it on my account, he cannot be owned by me as my disciple indeed.”
Robertson’s NT Word Pictures states, “The spirit of self-sacrifice is the point”.
“We may not be called actually to do so, but we must be quite ready to lose all for Jesus' sake, or else we are not his true followers.” Spurgeon Devotional Commentary
“To forsake all, without following Christ, is the virtue of a philosopher. To follow Christ in profession, without forsaking all, is the state of the generality of Christians. But to follow Christ and forsake all, is the perfection of a Christian.” Adam Clarke’s Commentary
Mt 19:27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?"
Here is where I remind you once again I am not a Biblical Scholar in any stretch of the imagination. But, it seems Peter gets the first point right in leaving his fishing nets, boat and all worldly possessions behind but perhaps doesn’t really get the total picture of sacrificing self. He questions, what’s in it for him. Maybe he just didn’t completely understand. Perhaps he just needed to be reaffirmed of what he heard in the previous encounter between Jesus and the rich young man in Mat 19:20-21. Jesus had there stated that if the young man were to give up all he had and follow Him, then he would have treasures in heaven.
“After all, what have any of us to lose for Jesus compared with what we gain by him? ‘What shall we have?’ is a question which we need not raise, for we ought rather to think of what we have already received at our Lord's hands. Himself is reward enough to the soul that hath him.” Spurgeon’s Commentary on Matthew
I am caused to look carefully at motivation. Do we look for rewards in following Jesus? Certainly, as His children, we have the promise of eternal life. Do we seek rewards here on earth? Is that the motor that drives us? I think as we strive to labor in doing good, following God in all things, knowing that He loves us and sent His Son to die for us should be enough reward in itself. Just the thought that He chose us to know and understand His great love is the greatest gift we ever will receive. The comparison of all other things we could have is not even close.
Consider. What have we really left behind to follow Jesus? Answer. All that was never really ours to begin with!
1Ti 6:7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.
Nothing. Naught. Nada.
Pray that we willingly relinquish control of all things, every conceivable possession or thought, to God who owns all things and causes all things, including persons, to glorify Himself. Surrender. Hope is increased when self is relinquished.
Side note: this was a hard study for me to write, to recognize and to share. I pray you are blessed and encouraged to be real, transparent and humble before your God.
