Don't Do More, Surrender More

So I started asking myself the question, god, why do I feel so drained while doing things that are meant to serve you? Why do I feel so empty? And god began to reveal that through this text because sometimes we think following Jesus means doing more, more serving, more responsibility, more being involved in the ministry. But what Jesus shows his disciples on the road to Jerusalem is something very different. The problem is not that we're not doing enough. The problem is we're not surrendering enough. [00:27:05] (36 seconds)  #SurrenderOverService

And the thing is, you don't surrender to just a teacher. Right? You surrender to the lord of your life. Now, there are a lot of teachers in the world. You can learn from teachers, you can listen to them, you can often disagree with them, you can even walk away from them. See, teachers give you information, but they don't demand your life. You don't surrender your future, your plans, your possession, your identity to just a teacher, and that's what we have to acknowledge here. Jesus isn't just a good teacher. [00:29:57] (39 seconds)  #SurrenderToLord

The young ruler asked Jesus the question of what must I do? What must I do to inherit eternal life? And there's something wrong with that question. What must I do? K? That's our instinct. That's our nature. We lean toward what theologians call a works based righteousness. We try to make ourselves right with god based on what we do all the time. Tell me the rules. Give me the checklist. Just give me something I can accomplish. But the problem with this is no person could ever do enough to gain eternal life. Jesus already did that on the cross. [00:33:39] (43 seconds)  #GraceNotWorks

And here's what we have to understand about the law. The law exposes sin. It doesn't remove it. The commandments are like a mirror. Okay? When you're looking in the mirror, you're trying to see what to fix, whether it's your hair, whether you got something up your nose. No matter what it does, the mirror exposes what's wrong, but it doesn't fix what it reveals. And here's the moment that always hits me in this passage. This man is literally on his knees in front of Jesus, standing face to face with the one who offers eternal life, and he still wants a task. [00:35:03] (44 seconds)  #LawExposesSin

Jesus is teaching something so powerful. Following him involves surrender. Sometimes it feels like letting go of comfort, letting go of conflict, letting go of control. Sometimes it even means walking away from what you thought wants to find you. But Jesus makes this promise. You will never lose more than you gain by following him. This world tells us that surrendering to Jesus means losing everything, but Jesus says the opposite. [00:48:08] (40 seconds)  #SurrenderToGain

See, God accomplished everything through Jesus. Where we failed in righteousness, Christ lived perfect perfectly perfectively. Christ took the cross, and it made clear that salvation isn't something that we just do and achieve. It's something we receive. And that's why the invitation of Jesus was never improve your life. It was always follow me. Jesus calls this man to leave everything and follow him, and the disciples are standing there watching all of this unfold. [00:45:37] (42 seconds)  #SalvationIsReceived

Have you ever felt that before? You see, you love God, you wanna serve people, you wanna do the right thing, but the more you add to your plate, the more empty you feel. And one night, my wife and I had to send a message to our young life director saying we couldn't come that night, not because we didn't wanna go, not because we didn't love the ministry, but just because we were burnt out. And here's the thing about this burnt out feeling. When you're empty, there's nothing left for you to pour out. [00:26:32] (33 seconds)  #YouCantPourFromEmpty

Our idols are constantly drawing us away from what's important in this life. See, for him, it was about his wealth, possessions, and security. And in doing that, he forgets what he was even asking God. He forgets what the eternal gift in this life is, Jesus himself, treasure in heaven, the kingdom of God. He walked away from all of that disheartened. K? This man was sad because he had to give up all that he had. [00:39:36] (37 seconds)  #ChooseJesusNotIdols