Embracing Genuine Surrender: Trusting God's Transformative Grace

 

Summary

In our time together, we explored the profound concept of surrender, distinguishing between genuine surrender and grudging compliance. Genuine surrender is not about fear or coercion but about willingly turning our will over to a greater being, recognizing our own limitations and the love that God offers us. This is not a surrender born out of fear of punishment but a voluntary act of trust and love. Eugene Peterson's story of childhood bullying illustrates how many perceive surrender as a forced act, akin to being overpowered by a bully. However, true surrender to God is not about being overpowered but about willingly choosing to trust in His care and love.

We often find ourselves in a struggle with our own desires and ego, seeking approval from others or trying to achieve enough to feel fulfilled. Yet, this path only leads to more self-inflicted pain. The invitation is to recognize that our own sin and ego can beat us up, and instead, we are called to turn our lives over to God's care. This involves a shift from resistance to openness, allowing God's grace to work in us.

Elanor Stump's insights on the will suggest that we have more than just two options—embracing or resisting God's will. There is a third option: putting our will in neutral. This means ceasing to resist God's grace, even if we are not yet able to fully embrace His will. This is a crucial step in spiritual growth, as exemplified by St. Augustine's journey. Augustine found himself unable to let go of certain desires, but by choosing to stop resisting, he opened himself to God's transformative grace.

Today, I encourage you to examine areas in your life where you may be resisting God's will. Whether it's a relationship, a habit, or an unfulfilled ambition, consider putting your will in neutral. Allow God's grace to enter and transform you, trusting that this surrender will lead to true freedom and fulfillment.

Key Takeaways:

1. Genuine surrender to God is not about fear or coercion but about willingly turning our will over to a greater being who loves us. This act of trust leads to true freedom and fulfillment. [01:57]

2. Our own desires and ego can lead us to seek approval and fulfillment in ways that ultimately cause us pain. Recognizing this allows us to turn our lives over to God's care, finding peace in His love. [07:02]

3. Elanor Stump's concept of putting our will in neutral offers a way to cease resisting God's grace, even if we are not yet able to fully embrace His will. This openness is a crucial step in spiritual growth. [09:36]

4. St. Augustine's journey illustrates the power of stopping resistance to God's will. By choosing to be open to God's grace, he experienced transformation and the ability to embrace God's desires for his life. [10:50]

5. Examine areas in your life where you may be resisting God's will. Consider putting your will in neutral, allowing God's grace to enter and transform you, leading to true freedom and fulfillment. [12:34]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [01:13] - The Nature of Surrender
- [01:33] - Grudging Compliance vs. Genuine Surrender
- [02:12] - Eugene Peterson's Story
- [03:32] - The Struggle with Grudging Compliance
- [04:09] - Unexpected Strength
- [05:08] - Misconceptions of Surrender
- [06:30] - Invitation to True Surrender
- [07:33] - The Battle with Ego and Sin
- [08:04] - Understanding God's Will
- [09:06] - Elanor Stump's Insights on the Will
- [10:20] - St. Augustine's Journey
- [11:56] - Letting Go of Resistance
- [12:34] - Applying Surrender in Our Lives
- [13:06] - Conclusion and Invitation to Prayer

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide: The Nature of Surrender

Bible Reading:
1. Romans 13:13-14 - "Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh." [11:23]

Observation Questions:
1. What is the difference between genuine surrender and grudging compliance as described in the sermon? [01:33]
2. How does Eugene Peterson's childhood story illustrate common misconceptions about surrender? [05:44]
3. What does Elanor Stump suggest about the 'neutral' position of the will, and how does it relate to resisting God's grace? [09:36]
4. How did St. Augustine's experience in the garden lead to his transformation, according to the sermon? [10:50]

Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the concept of genuine surrender challenge the common perception of surrender as a forced act? [05:44]
2. In what ways can putting one's will in 'neutral' be a significant step in spiritual growth, according to Elanor Stump's insights? [09:36]
3. How does Romans 13:13-14 relate to the idea of surrendering one's desires and ego to God's will?
4. What does St. Augustine's journey teach about the process of letting go of resistance to God's will? [10:50]

Application Questions:
1. Reflect on a specific area in your life where you might be resisting God's will. What steps can you take to put your will in neutral and allow God's grace to work in you? [12:34]
2. Consider a relationship or habit that you struggle with. How can you begin to surrender this aspect of your life to God, trusting in His care and love? [07:33]
3. How can you identify when your ego is leading you to seek approval or fulfillment in ways that cause pain? What practical steps can you take to turn these areas over to God's care? [07:02]
4. Think about a time when you felt overpowered by your own desires. How can the story of St. Augustine inspire you to stop resisting and open yourself to God's transformative grace? [10:50]
5. What does it mean for you to clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, as mentioned in Romans 13:13-14, in your daily life?
6. How can you practice genuine surrender in your daily decisions, rather than grudging compliance? What might change in your life if you did this consistently? [01:33]
7. Identify a specific distraction or desire that prevents you from fully embracing God's will. What is one action you can take this week to minimize its impact? [11:23]

Devotional

Day 1: Trusting in Divine Love
Genuine surrender to God is not about fear or coercion but about willingly turning our will over to a greater being who loves us. This act of trust leads to true freedom and fulfillment. Surrendering to God is a voluntary act of love and trust, not a response to fear or coercion. It involves recognizing our limitations and the boundless love that God offers. Unlike the perception of surrender as being overpowered, true surrender is a conscious choice to trust in God's care and love. This choice leads to genuine freedom and fulfillment, as it aligns us with a higher purpose and allows us to experience the depth of divine love. [01:57]

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, ESV)

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you find it difficult to trust in God's love? How can you begin to open your heart to His care today?


Day 2: Recognizing the Pain of Ego
Our own desires and ego can lead us to seek approval and fulfillment in ways that ultimately cause us pain. Recognizing this allows us to turn our lives over to God's care, finding peace in His love. The struggle with our desires and ego often leads us down paths that promise fulfillment but result in self-inflicted pain. This pursuit of approval and achievement can become a cycle of dissatisfaction. By acknowledging the limitations of our ego-driven pursuits, we can choose to turn our lives over to God's care. In doing so, we find peace and fulfillment in His love, which transcends the temporary satisfaction of worldly desires. [07:02]

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world." (1 John 2:15-16, ESV)

Reflection: Identify a desire or ambition that has been causing you stress or pain. How can you begin to release this to God and seek His peace instead?


Day 3: Embracing Openness to Grace
Elanor Stump's concept of putting our will in neutral offers a way to cease resisting God's grace, even if we are not yet able to fully embrace His will. This openness is a crucial step in spiritual growth. Often, we find ourselves caught between resistance and full acceptance of God's will. Elanor Stump suggests a third option: putting our will in neutral. This means stopping our resistance to God's grace, even if we are not ready to fully embrace His will. By doing so, we open ourselves to the transformative power of grace, allowing it to work within us and guide us toward spiritual growth. [09:36]

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26, ESV)

Reflection: Consider an area where you have been resisting God's will. What would it look like to put your will in neutral and allow His grace to work in you?


Day 4: The Transformative Power of Letting Go
St. Augustine's journey illustrates the power of stopping resistance to God's will. By choosing to be open to God's grace, he experienced transformation and the ability to embrace God's desires for his life. St. Augustine's life is a testament to the transformative power of letting go of resistance. Despite his initial struggles with certain desires, Augustine chose to stop resisting God's will. This openness allowed God's grace to transform him, enabling him to embrace divine desires for his life. His journey highlights the profound change that occurs when we allow God's grace to work within us, leading to spiritual growth and fulfillment. [10:50]

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on a personal struggle where you have resisted change. How can you invite God's transformative grace into this area of your life today?


Day 5: Finding Freedom in Surrender
Examine areas in your life where you may be resisting God's will. Consider putting your will in neutral, allowing God's grace to enter and transform you, leading to true freedom and fulfillment. The journey of surrender involves examining the areas where we resist God's will. By choosing to put our will in neutral, we create space for God's grace to enter and transform us. This act of surrender is not about losing control but about finding true freedom and fulfillment in alignment with God's purpose. It is an invitation to trust in His love and experience the peace that comes from living in harmony with His will. [12:34]

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1, ESV)

Reflection: Identify a specific area where you are resisting God's will. What steps can you take today to surrender this area to Him and experience the freedom He offers?

Quotes


Authentic surrender is when I recognize now I'm in the presence of a being who is greater and my own will is conflicted and my own desires are going all over the place and I'll never get there so I freely um with as much openness and as willing a spirit as I can turn over now. [00:01:50]

Now that is the way a lot of people think about surrender to God that God is more powerful than me and therefore I have to surrender to him whether I want to or not because if I don't bad things would happen to me and that is not the picture of surrender that we are talking about. [00:05:39]

We are invited to come to God today uh not because God is a bully not because uh we're grudgingly having to give up things that would otherwise give us great pleasure and joy and it's going to make our life worse but out of obligation we have this grudging sense of compliance. [00:06:30]

My own sin my own ego my own fallenness it's gonna beat me up sin cunning baffling Sly is gonna beat me up the devil is gonna beat me up and so I'm invited to come and recognize now in the presence of God is one who great who loves me greatly and so I turn voluntarily my will. [00:07:24]

Elanor stump writes about our will in a very striking way and this is particularly if you find yourself in a place as I have and often do where you're having a hard time embracing God's will for your life you know we wonder about God's will for our lives. [00:08:04]

I know more than what I need to know about God's will to keep me busy all the time to be generous to trust him with what I have to be a servant uh to be humble not to compare myself with other people to speak the truth to not give into lust or sexual desires that are not Noble. [00:08:20]

She says um really the will has not two gears but three uh I I can Embrace God's will I can will to want what God wants and as God helps me I can do that I can resist God's Will and naturally generally this is what we tend to do because we're Fallen but there is a third category. [00:09:11]

I can't make myself uh always want always will what God wants I can put my will in neutral she says and you could just kind of experiment with this where I'm not yet able to will want desire choose what I know would be good that's not in me yet but I can quit resisting God's grace. [00:09:34]

Augustine had been drawn towards God but he didn't want to let go of his sex life his sexual activities he but he could not let go of it and yet he knew that in order to follow God and increasingly he was drawn in that direction he would need to so he was just stuck. [00:10:25]

He decides he will stop resisting God he can't yet will to give up that part of his life but he can say God I'm going to stop pushing against you and that's when in quite a dramatic and famous moment uh he hears what sounded to him like a voice of a child saying take and read. [00:10:48]

Grace came into Augustine and the capacity to actually embrace to want to be clothed with Jesus and to let go of what would get in the way of that begin to come to him as a gift but there was a period in there where he just had to surrender let go stop resisting God. [00:11:37]

If there's an error in your life today as we're examining and working on step three together where you find maybe it's in a relationship with another person or a habit maybe it's around sex um maybe it's run on emotion maybe it's anger towards somebody else maybe it's an unfulfilled ambition. [00:12:12]

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Transcript
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