Passage: Matthew 26:36-44; Luke 9:23; Hebrews 12:1-2
The Big Idea
“Surrender” doesn’t sound appealing to most people, unless you’re tired of fighting. For the broken, the defeated and the worn out, surrender is the best news there is. Surrender is humility plus faith: give up on yourself, and trust God instead. We can’t do that on our own, so Jesus leads the way. In Gethsemane He surrendered fully to the Father’s will, trusting Him all the way to the cross and out of the grave. Now He takes our hand and invites us to follow. And when we wave the white flag, we aren’t thrown in prison. We’re welcomed home as children.
Who Wants to Surrender?
The word “surrender” doesn’t appeal to many people. I get it.
Don’t get me wrong: every single person should surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. But many don’t see why they would. They like their life and don’t feel like they’re missing anything.
The people who are drawn to surrender are those who are tired of fighting:
- Broken.
- Tired of failing.
- Ready to give up and give in.
- People who have tried really hard and still don’t measure up.
- People who have fallen so badly they’re convinced they could never get up again.
- People who are defeated, and know it.
Picture a white flag waving: a defeated army ready to stop fighting.
What Is Surrender?
As sinners, which we all are, we’re naturally God’s enemies (Romans 5:10). Sin is simply refusing to let Him rule our lives, wanting to decide for ourselves what’s right and wrong. It’s always been the same. In the garden, Satan deceived humanity into thinking God was holding them back from some imaginary good. In fact, they lost all of God’s blessings by rebelling against His kingdom.
In a war, a soldier sometimes realizes the fight is pointless. The kingdom he’s fighting against isn’t going to be beaten. Sometimes he realizes he’s on the wrong side altogether. He’s been deceived, and he wants to cross over.
What’s amazing is that God invites anyone who wants to cross over: stop fighting and join His side.
So the soldier has to do something: surrender. But it isn’t really a physical act. It’s best described as two things together.
Surrender is humility plus faith.
- Humility: you admit you’re wrong and you’re in need. Most people don’t like that part, so they won’t surrender. But we are wrong. We’ve all fallen short of God’s holy standard. We’ve all rebelled against His rule. And we need Him. We only find humility when we know we’re beaten. No one surrenders while they still think they have a fighting chance.
- Faith: you place all your hope in the goodness and grace of God, shown through His Son Jesus. When a soldier surrenders, he places himself completely in the hands of the other side and depends on their mercy. He lays down his arms and his control, and trusts the goodness of the one he was fighting.
Give up on yourself (humility), and trust God instead (faith).
That’s the real battle: not whether God will love us or be merciful to us, but whether we’ll surrender so He can give us His grace (James 4:6; Romans 5:2).
Jesus Leads the Way (Matthew 26:36-44)
How will we ever be able to surrender? It seems so hard!
We take the hand Jesus is reaching out, and we follow Him. He will teach us and help us surrender. He’s already done it. He knows how incredibly hard it is for a man to surrender.
In Gethsemane, Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him and began to be deeply grieved and distressed. He told them His soul was sorrowful to the point of death, and asked them to stay and keep watch. Then He went a little farther, fell on His face, and asked His Father, if it were possible, to take this cup away from Him. Yet He wanted the Father’s will, not His own. He came back and found them sleeping, and told them to watch and pray so they wouldn’t fall into temptation, because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. A second time He prayed that if this cup couldn’t be taken away unless He drank it, the Father’s will would be done. And a third time He prayed the same thing.
- Jesus surrendered fully to God’s plan and control.
- Even though surrender was painful and would lead to His death.
- He also trusted it would lead to life, because God is good, and God would never leave Him in the grave when He trusted Him (Psalm 16:10).
- It’s like a soldier surrendering with so much faith in the King that he’s willing to die, trusting the King completely.
- And it was through prayer that Jesus was equipped to surrender: real, honest communion with His Father.
Jesus was always surrendered to the Father’s will. He said He didn’t seek His own will but the will of the Father who sent Him (John 5:30). But that trust and humility had to be tested, to prove it was real.
“Wait, wasn’t Jesus God? Didn’t He know everything?” He was fully God. But He purposefully laid aside the independent use of His divine rights so He could live as a man was meant to live (Philippians 2:6-8). He laid it down to be our Savior and Rescuer.
So take His hand and follow Him.
Knowing Him (Matthew 7:21-23)
Jesus warned that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the Father’s will. Many will point to their prophecies, exorcisms and mighty works done in His name, and He’ll say, “I never knew you.”
- Knowing God is a relationship.
- Jesus invites us into a relationship with His Father.
- In any relationship, each person has a role: husband and wife, parent and child. Here, it’s Creator and creation.
- God wants to dwell with us and love us in His glorious kingdom, but on His terms. That’s why it’s His kingdom.
- And His way is called His will.
- God’s will is to give His free and unearned grace to us, so we can know Him as the gracious God He is (John 6:40).
- The requirements are simple: humility and faith.
Follow the Leader (Luke 9:23)
Jesus told them all that anyone who wants to follow Him must deny himself, take up his cross every day, and follow Him.
- Follow the leader.
- Jesus demonstrated the humility and faith any person needs. And He also did the work no one else could do.
- Jesus humbled Himself.
- Jesus trusted His Father.
- And now we’re invited to do the same.
To be His disciple is to say no to self, to die to self, and to surrender our will and our kingdom to His will and His kingdom.
Remember, this invitation goes out to those who are tired of life in their own kingdom: the broken, the weak, the failures. Jesus invites you to follow Him into His surrendered life. Choosing God’s will instead of your own. God’s way instead of your own.
A Joyful Surrender (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The writer of Hebrews says that since we’re surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let’s lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God’s throne.
- Jesus surrendered joyfully. That’s strange.
- But He could see the whole picture.
- He knew that if He trusted God in the dark, He would receive God’s blessing, light and life.
- And He did.
- And He offers it all to us. Everything He has won, He shares with us.
Here’s the amazing thing: when we surrender, we aren’t thrown in prison.
- We’re welcomed as beloved children.
- We’re adored as a spotless bride.
- We’re included as part of the family.
Jesus is on the throne. He’s in charge. And there are no “I told you so’s” and no “unacceptable.” He is nothing but love and mercy toward those who dwell in His kingdom. He paid the price to be that way. There’s nothing left for Him to be angry about (Romans 8:1).
Grace Takeaway
Through surrender, Jesus found life. Through surrender, we receive the free gift of life too. Surrender isn’t earning anything; it’s simply humility plus faith: giving up on ourselves and trusting His goodness. And Jesus goes first, takes our hand, and leads us through it. He is so generous to His enemies that He makes them His family. What a glad surrender, once we see His love.
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