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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman I
Surrender All Acts 2:36 tells us who
Jesus is. It reads: "Therefore let all Peter, a Jew, spoke the above to a primarily Jewish audience that would have understood our English word "Lord" to refer to Yahweh, their God. They would have also understood our English word "Christ" to refer to their Messiah who would save them from their enemies as He restored their nation. In short, Peter told his fellow Jews that the Jesus they crucified was in fact their Messiah, their God in human flesh. This was pure heresy to the Jews. It led to Peter's arrest a few days later. Peter went on to say that Jesus rose from the dead and subsequently ascended to the right hand of God. The Bible states that
Jesus was God in human form while on earth.
It also states that Jesus has become the first born of a brand new
creation (Romans 8:29) who is the universal authority over all things
(Matthew 28:18). Peter said
that if anyone wanted God's salvation he or she must repent by walking
away from their humanistic ways. He
or she must also have faith in Jesus, meaning they must trust Jesus with
their entire lives. Knowing who Jesus is and
how we are to respond to Him reminds me of an old hymn we used to sing in
my 1950's and 1960's Evangelical youth.
The lyrics of "I Surrender All" were written by Judson
Van Venter in 1896 while the music was composed by Winfield Weeden.
Here's the first verse. "All to Jesus I
surrender, All to Him I freely
give. I will ever love and
trust Him, In His presence daily
live." You might think that
surrendering all is something we do all by ourselves, but it isn't.
God actually helps us repent (Acts 11:18).
He also helps us to have faith by distributing faith to us (Romans
12:3). I surrender all is a
cooperative venture. We seek
Jesus while He assists us to respond to Him appropriately. From my youthful
observation, surrendering all seemed to mean me becoming a missionary or a
pastor. I later learned that
only some Christians are called to such ministries (Ephesians 4:11- 12).
Furthermore, I learned from 1 Corinthians 12 that every Christian,
with no exceptions, is called by Jesus to an individual ministry in the
church in accordance with their talents and any gifts of the Holy Spirit
given to them. Surrendering all means
we trust Jesus with our very lives, not just our entrance into heaven.
It means making Jesus priority number one.
It means allowing Jesus to modify our lives that reflect His
image. It means developing an
ongoing relationship with Jesus. It
means we are Jesus' disciples who learn from Him and those He has called
to teach us. I surrender all does not
mean we lose our personal identity, forsaking our talents, hobbies and
interests. It means including
Jesus in all we do, whether it's our jobs, hobbies, interests, family, or
whatever. He is just part of
all we do because He is part of who we are. As Christ, Jesus gave
Himself to us. As Lord, we
give ourselves to Jesus. As
Jesus surrendered all to His Father's will, we surrender all to Jesus'
will. Scripture
References Romans 8:29 "For those God
foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many
brothers and sisters."
Matthew 28:18 "When Jesus came to
them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me.'" Acts 11:18 "When they heard
this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, 'So then,
even to Gentiles God has granted repentance
that leads to life.'" Romans 12:3 "For by the grace
given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly
than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in
accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." Ephesians 4:11 - 12 "So Christ himself
gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and
teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of
Christ may be built up,"
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