Surrender to God

One Ring to Rule them All

You remember The Lord of the Rings, right? There’s this one object at the center of it all — the One Ring. It looks beautiful, powerful, valuable. Everyone who sees it thinks, “If I could just have that, I could do so much good.”

The wizard Gandalf doesn’t want to touch it. The elf queen Galadriel refuses to take it. But others — they can’t resist it. They all believe the same lie: “I can control it. I’ll use it for good.”

But the truth is, no one controls the Ring. The Ring controls you.

It whispers to you. It feeds your pride. It promises strength — but delivers slavery.

Look at Gollum. He once had a name, a life, a family. But the longer he held that Ring, the more it held him. It twisted his heart. It stole his joy. It turned him into something unrecognizable — a shell of who he was meant to be.

And here’s the thing: you and I may not carry a golden ring of power, but we all have something we try to control. Something we refuse to surrender.

It might be your reputation. It might be your comfort. It might be your plans, your habits, your sin — the thing you say, “I can handle it. It’s not controlling me.”

But just like that Ring, what we refuse to surrender will eventually rule us. What we think we own starts to own us.

Frodo didn’t find freedom until he finally let go of the Ring. And you and I will never find freedom until we let go and surrender to God.

Because surrender isn’t losing — it’s where real transformation begins. You will be shaped by what you surrender to. And when you surrender to Jesus… you don’t lose yourself — you finally find who you were made to be.

Freed to Follow

Last week we talking about how Jesus has freed us from sin so that we can and will follow Him.

The main focus was understanding that we are freed from our sin when we place our faith in Jesus Christ. What’s sad is that we fail to realize this and we live in a never ending cycle of sin management when God intended for us to live in kingdom advancement.

We’re so busy focussed on keeping our sin in check that we miss out on all that God has for us to do for Him and His Kingdom.

This morning we’re going to go a little deeper in understanding how we allow God to remove sin from our lives and how He replaces that with righteousness.

This is different than sin management. It’s truly kingdom advancement. When God’s Kingdom advances He takes over. He frees those who were wrongly imprisoned. He offers a chance at a new life.

Kingdom Advancement has two parts. “Love God. Love others” or “Serve God. Serve others.” I like “Surrender to God” and “Serve others.”

This morning we’re going to look at how our surrender to God advances His Kingdom in our lives. And next week, we will look at how serving others advances God’s Kingdom into their lives.

Romans 12:1-2

You will be shaped by what you surrender to.

Romans 12:1–2 “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

You are surrendering to something.

Nobody can say, I am my own master. Paul states you are either conforming to the world around you or you are being transformed by God.

Table with bowl, a mug, a tumbler, and a Tupperware dish. When I pour the water into these different dishes it takes on the shape of the dish.

Some of you change shape depending on the situation you face. You weigh out the pros and cons and you surrender to what the situation demands. You surrender to whatever is easiest and best for you. That is conformation to the world. And it’s not for the better. Sin and things of the world keep you surrendered for their good or your destruction.

Contrast that with being transformed by God. You’re being changed from what you are now into what God intended for you to be.

Why should I surrender to God?

Surrender to the God who surrendered Himself to save you.

Paul isn’t just commanding the Romans. He has spent 11 chapters building up to this point. He has shown them the evil of the world. He has shown them their need for God’s forgiveness because they are all sinners. BUT MOST OF ALL

Romans 5:8 “8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

“the mercies of God” is referring to His compassion. Paul is appealing or pleading with them. “Look at Jesus and what He has done for you! Surrender your life to Him because He surrendered Himself to save you!”

Nothing else in this world has surrendered all of themselves to save you. The God who created you did though. That’s why we surrender to Him. He knows who we are. He knows who He made us to be. And He died to forgive our sins so that He could restore us to what we are meant to be.

SO HOW DO WE SURRENDER TO GOD?

You surrender to God by seeking Him first in everything.

Matthew 6:33 “33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Romans 8:5–6 “5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Colossians 3:1–2 “1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

Over and over there is an emphasis on what we are pursuing or seeking. In our text Paul calls it the renewal of the mind.

We focus on God, who He is, what He has done, and what He wants to do in and through us. We do this by spending time with Him in His Word.

As we learn more about Him, our mind gets renewed or reprogrammed to respond in a better way.

It’s a little dated, but What Would Jesus Do was a great slogan. It was great so long as we actually used it instead or wearing it or quoting in apathetically.

Seeking God first means we ask, what does God want me to do in this situation. And when we ask truly desiring to do God’s will, He will show us what He wants us to do. He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us in this.

You need to create a habit of surrender.

Paul calls the Romans to present their bodies as a living sacrifice. Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones once preached that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it can will try to crawl back off of the altar.

Surrender is not just a one time decision we make to follow Christ. It is a daily habit that we must create in our lives.

And it is an act of worship. Obedience to God’s will through surrender is just as glorifying as the songs we sing to Him.

Let me explain why habits work so well. Habits are more than just mindless routines. Some of the sins in your life are habits. Like every bad habit they have a trigger. Blank happens = you go to your comfort sin. It didn’t start like that.

You see habits are formed in the mind. It is basically a connection we make a highway that we build from one trigger or situation to the resulting behavior or action or in this case sin.

If you want that to change, you have to take every situation and every trigger and immediately steer your mind to God and His Word. And the more often you do that, the more clear the pathway is made. It starts like clearing brush. It’s not easy. But eventually a path begins to form. Then you can lay down some of that red dirt, and eventually you will have an interstate where every thought in your mind goes through God, His Word, and His Will.

That’s how surrender works.

Conclusion: Are you being shaped by surrender to God or something else?

You will be shaped by what you surrender to. Pay close attention to what it is that you are surrendered to.

I urge you like Paul to surrender to God. Surrender to His will.

Christian create a habit of surrender in your life. Build that highway leading every decision and every action through the city of God’s Word and His Will.

You have been freed from sin to follow Christ. Advance His Kingdom in your own life by surrendering to Him.