Rooster's Crow

The devil has become very skilled at deceiving the world that God is not a God of absolutes. The devil is the “Father of Lies” as Jesus called him in John 8:44. “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Most of the time, the devil does not present a bold-faced lie as truth, as it is easily discernable; however, he mixes lies with truth to make it more convincing. He simply has to cause a slight deviation from the absolute truth, which ultimately still leads an individual astray.

All throughout the Bible, we read where God speaks about absolutes.

• Proverbs 18:21 – “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”
• Malachi 3:6 – “For I the Lord do not change”
• James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
• Isaiah 46:9 – “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me”
• I John 1:5 – “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”
• Matthew 12:30 – “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters”
• Romans 3:23 – “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”
• Revelation 3:15-16 – “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.’”

God operates in the black and white. He is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. The enemy tries to complicate everything into shades of gray, as though humans are overly complicated creatures that are almost impossible to understand. He has caused such confusion, that the world believes that “gender-fluid” is an actual thing, rather than the male and female God created at the beginning. Society thinks it is normal for a couple that’s been together for two minutes to move in together as husband and wife with no vows, rings, or commitment. It is ok if you lie about why you were an hour late to work, or get high and trashed on the weekends with your friends. Your time is your time.

You can bring up countless other concepts that the world says are perfecting acceptable but are distinctly declared wrong in the Bible. But what about the church? Surely there is no gray areas in the congregations calling themselves Christians is there? “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matt. 23:27-28).

Let’s look at just one area that seems to be confused – surrender. In a time of war, a military unit that was about to be obliterated could attempt to hoist the white flag of surrender. The surrender would provide a possibility of the unit escaping with their lives – if they laid down their weapons, agreed to not resist, and allow the area to be possessed by the opposing forces. Most often, it also meant surrendering a right to freedom as imprisonment would follow. There are stories of heroic events where the good guys did not surrender, such as the Alamo, where the Texans believed it would be better to fight to the death than surrender. But ultimately, surrender presents itself when there are only two options: death or life.

That is the essence of surrender – a complete and total abandonment of the current fight at hand. There is no such thing as a partial or convenient surrender. When God tells us to surrender to him, it is not a request for individual issues we do not want to deal with or just a part of ourselves. Saying a prayer of salvation to obtain a get-out-of-hell-free card and then going about your life the same way it was before is not surrender. Complete surrender is not even a singular transformational encounter of salvation with Jesus; it initiates with that moment, but is a continual daily process.

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Tit. 3:5). The washing of regeneration is the moment of salvation, the spiritual rebirth of a person from their old life into the new. The renewal is the continual making new process, commonly referred to as sanctification, which is a lifelong journey after the instantaneous regeneration.

Compare two verses from Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). Again, Paul writes of the washing or salvation, and the sanctification, which in an occurrence timeline is the proper order. However, in the beginning of the book, he reverses the order. “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (I Cor. 1:30). Paul did not mistakenly order the process, but demonstrates that they are inseparable. There was never any intention of a partial surrender – it was always salvation, sanctification, and justification together. He viewed them as a package; all or nothing.

Too often we want to surrender the consequences of our choices or only part of the problem. We want to go to the altar and lay down the drug addiction or alcohol, but we do not want to lay down the part of ourselves that is the issue. We want to surrender our spirit a singular time with the hope of getting into heaven without the daily surrender of our body, soul, and spirit to live a life for Christ. Surrender is not like the buffet at Golden Corral, where you pick and choose your favorites.

Go back to the list of verses at the beginning and examine Matthew 12:30 again. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Jesus uses active words: with and gather. Whoever is not with me. What does that mean? It seems very attuned to I John 1:6-7 – “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” There is no darkness in God, as he is light. For us to be with him in fellowship, we cannot be walking in darkness either. Light and dark; black and white. There is no in between.

Whoever does not gather refers to anyone that is not actively engaged in gathering for the kingdom. If you are not gathering, then you are scattering; and if you are scattering, then you are not with him. There is no neutral ground. There is no bystander mode. You are either working for him, serving him, or with him; or you are working against him, serving the enemy, or not with him.

Serving and surrender go hand in hand. Whatever you are surrendered to is what you are serving. We tend to think that we have surrendered to God even if we are not actively serving him. We view struggling with not doing things we are not supposed to as a life of surrender to God. Internally, we are screaming to have that hit, take that swig, sneak that peek, tell that lie, yell at our spouse or kids, but when we white knuckle our way through a temptation or battle, we claim it to be a victory in service to him. Does existing on the verge of following a very basic commandment sound like surrender?

What does surrender actually look like? “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). Surrender is putting your faith and trust in God. First, by putting your faith in him by accepting his free gift of salvation. Second, by daily trusting him with everything. “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross DAILY and follow me’” (Luke 9:23). Complete surrender is not only trusting him with your parents’ failing health and your friend’s marriage that is coming apart, it is giving up control in every area of your life, listening for his voice, and obeying him even when it does not make sense.

Especially when it does not make sense. Surrender is not arguing or resisting when his plan is not working out like we thought it should. When that promotion does not work out, when that friend ghosts you, when you experience the loss of a loved one, when your car breaks down and it is going to cost $5000 to fix, and whatever other issue you can imagine that does not go the way you intend or want – surrender is not taking control of the situation and trying to manage it. Sit and listen. What is God trying to do? Sometimes he is trying to teach you something – like patience. Sometimes, it is simply an opportunity to exercise your faith in him. He has promised to take care of his children.

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:31-33). Too often we work in the “I have to fix this now” mindset after we have had our internal, or sometimes external, pity party or angry outburst response. Rather, we are to rejoice and be thankful always. But it is so hard to do! Yes, it is, but the reward of exercising faith in him to handle it like he has promised is vastly more rewarding than not trusting him and trying to do it all ourselves.

Surrender. Faith. Obedience. These three are inseparably tied together. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?… So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (Jam. 2:14-17). Surrender is turning over control through faith, trusting that he is going to work it all out. Then exercising faith is demonstrated by obeying whatever he leads to do. Faith is not sitting down and saying God is going to handle it while I do nothing. A lot of times he hands you the shovel, but rather than randomly trying to dig your way out, he will tell you where to dig. Obedience is not simply doing the things that God has commanded in the Bible, but it is doing the small things when his spirit impresses it upon you – like praying for someone, talking to a stranger in the store, or helping someone in need.

Just because you are serving on the church greeting team, giving your tithes, having your kids in Sunday school and youth group, and helping at the homeless shelter every weekend does not mean you are being obedient. Those are all great things, but are you just doing everything or have you been called to do those things? You have to understand your particular assignment. You might be so busy doing all the things that you think you are supposed to be doing, you could be missing the one thing that God wants you to be doing.

A buddy of mine was running around trying to get things accomplished before getting to a tent revival he was serving in. He had twice as many things to do that afternoon than he had time for. He was driving past a shopping center and saw a little homeless man standing outside. As he drove past, the Holy Spirit told him that he needed to go back and talk to him. My buddy was already doing all the things, so he could have written it off, but he was obedient and turned around. He talked to the man and asked if he’d like to go to a revival service. The man said he would, so my buddy told him that he’d be back by at such and such a time to pick him up.

When my buddy came back, the homeless man was waiting, so off they went. I witnessed the little homeless man surrender his spirit to Jesus that night as my buddy was praying over him. Later in the week, the man’s son attended and watched his dad get baptized. Obedience in action brought another soul into the kingdom that week. Had my buddy ignored the still small voice in his spirit, he would have missed his opportunity to bless someone else. How many of us would have just kept on driving because we had so much to do and were so busy?

I grew up hearing that idleness was the devil’s workshop, but I really have my doubts on the validity of that saying. The devil has used an overabundance of busy to keep us from exercising faith and obedience. We are so caught up in everything that we HAVE to do, we ignore, skip, or forget the things we are supposed to do. When was the last time you prayed, gave thanks, read the Word, and meditated on it – all at the same time? If that process is not part of your daily activities, you need to take a hard look at what you are doing with your time.

Surrender your time. You cannot be totally surrendered to a God that you do not have a relationship with, that you do not know. Experiencing God’s love and presence is absolutely the most incredible thing you can do on this earth, but that only comes from setting apart quiet time to spend with him. And guess what happens when you get to know him – you put your faith and trust into someone you know! That’s where the relationship exists! And when you have the surrender followed by that kind of faith, the obedience follows suit.

A life of surrender and obedience is not about a list of thou shalt nots. In I John, John goes through the entire epistle talking about God’s light and love, our relationship with him and each other, and the promises of answered prayer and eternal life. Then he abruptly ends with verse 5:21 – “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” He ends a beautiful, flowing book with six words. Why? Because servitude to anything other than God is idolatry. It does not have to be an actual golden cow in your living room that you bow down to every night.

What do you turn to when life seems overwhelming, stressful, and on the verge of spinning out of control? Is it a beer to take the edge off after work? Is it a long drag on a cigarette when your spouse pushes you to the point of explosion? Is it watching that porn clip when you are feeling terribly lonely? Or maybe it’s something not so bad, like scrolling social media for half an hour to numb your thoughts or searching Amazon or Facebook Marketplace for another new outfit or car for that dopamine dump. If you’re stressed out and turning to something other than God for relief, do you not think that he views that as an idol?

An idol is not necessarily always something evil either. Spending time with your family or working hard to make sure they do not go without any want can become an idol if it becomes more important than service to God. “Well God said that I have to provide for my family.” Absolutely! But, not spending time with him or neglecting our specific assignment, means we have placed a higher priority on family than God. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37).

Even a ministry could become an idol. Has making the ministry succeed become your primary focus, so that no matter what, it will not fail? Are you burning the candle on both ends and middle trying to make it work, while you ignore the needs of your spouse and kids at home? Are you constantly trying to pour out of an empty cup to make sure that every single need of the ministry is met before you take care of yourself? Are you spending all of your time trying to manage the logistical problems of the ministry rather than devoting your time to the study and teaching you were called to? Who or what are you actually serving? Is it God or is it the identity in the ministry that you have created and become attached to?

Surrender is all about laying down ALL of the pieces of your life – not just the broken or messed up parts, and trusting him to put them all back together the way he sees fit. It also is not about laying it all down ONE time – it is laying it down every single day. Every. Single. Day.

We cannot walk in any part of darkness. We cannot only partly be with him. We cannot sometimes help gather. So, what are you not wanting to bring into the light? What time are you keeping back from him to do what it is you want to do that you are not called to do? What are you doing that you think is more important or enjoyable than gathering with him? What have-tos are getting in the way of a relationship with him?

Sit with your thoughts and feelings in the quiet. Read, pray, and listen for his voice. Do not try to distract yourself from the deep provocations in your spirit. Ask yourself if you have fully and truly surrendered, and be completely honest. You do not want to deceive yourself, only to hear, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23). Truly surrender and allow him to set your path straight. Put your faith in him and exercise obedience before understanding, so that in the end you hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21).