Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Before I had trusted Christ, I wondered if God
existed, and if He did, what does He want from
me and why? Today, I'm going to answer that question.
Stay with me. What does complete surrender to
God actually look like? It's not an emotional
moment that fades by Tuesday. Today on Living
on the Edge, Chip Ingram gets intensely practical
about total commitment. Using the picture of
a blank check made out to Jesus Christ, he shows
exactly what you're saying yes to and why it's
not the sacrifice you think it is. This teaching
will challenge your assumptions about control,
safety, and what makes life truly exciting. You'll
discover why settling for plastic pearls keeps
you from experiencing the treasure God wants
to give you. Well, here's Chip Ingram continuing
his message, How to Give God What He Wants the
Most. When Jesus is teaching this, it's out of
Matthew chapter 13, verses 44 and 45. He says,
the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden
in the field, which a man found, then he hid
again, and from joy over it, he goes and sells
all that he has, and he buys that field. So look
at verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is
like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon
finding one pearl of great value, of exquisite
value, of over -the -top priceless value is the
idea, he went and sold all the pearls that he
had, and he bought it. So if you have a pen,
pull it out. Let's go up to verse 44. I want
you to see something. Jesus isn't talking about
money and treasure. He's making a very profound
spiritual point and principle about decision
-making. And what he's saying is this. Jesus
is saying when you understand who he is, and
you get the treasure of what it is to have relationship
with him and the plan that he has for you on
this earth, you would with reckless abandon and
joy forsake all else to get that. Put another
way, his thesis is, total commitment is the channel
through which God's biggest and best blessings
flow. Did you realize that? I mean, total commitment,
he sold all that he had. Motive, joy. above the
word in your notes where it says total commitment,
would you write the word surrender and put a
box around it? Surrender is the conduit. It's
the channel to which God's best and biggest blessings
flow. And so what I want to do in the remainder
of our time, I want to define very specifically
what total commitment looks like. We are not
leading up to some emotional moment. We're leading
up to a wise, where you're going to weigh the
risk and the logic of saying to God in a few
minutes, I surrender all to you. I would sign
a blank check made out to you. I would say to
you, from this day forward, I'm all in. I may
be a little fearful, but I'm all in. But in order
to do that, you know, what's that look like?
The answer is in Romans chapter 12, verse 1,
and after 11 chapters of treasure, of what God
has done, of how much he loves you, of his sovereignty,
his goodness, his forgiveness, his power, his
spirit living within you, his gifts, all the
plans that he has for you. In chapter 12, your
response to that is, therefore, I urge you, brothers,
sisters, fellow family members, the Apostle Paul
writes, In view of God's mercy, offer your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
This is your spiritual act of worship. Notice
the structure. There's a command, there's a motivation,
and there's a reason. I'd like you, if you will,
put a box around the word offer, put a box around
living sacrifice, and then put a little box around
the word holy. The command is to offer your body
to God. And this isn't metaphorical. This is
like your physical body, your eyes, your head,
your hands, all that you are. And the word offer
here is in a tense in the Greek language that's
punctiliar. And what that means is on a certain
day at a certain time. This passage is not explaining
how to have your sins forgiven. This passage
is not explaining what it means to be in God's
family. Salvation occurs at the end of chapter
3, 4, and right in chapter 5, the work of Christ
by grace. You receive the free gift by faith.
Chapter 12 is saying, how do normal Christians
follow Jesus out of gratitude? And God says,
are you ready? This is what I want. I want you,
on a certain day, at a certain time, to say to
me, all I am, all I have, is yours. That's what
it means to offer. I will tell you that tens
of thousands of people in America and around
the world do not understand the channel through
which God's best and biggest blessings flow.
The power for the Christian life comes in this
moment of offering. Now, it requires faith. It
requires believing in an invisible treasure that
you can't see, but it's a historical living God
who's walked upon the earth and died in your
place and rose and sits at the right hand of
God and says to you, there's an unspeakable treasure
who for joy says to you, let me give you the
best. And then notice it's not just one big emotional
experience. What's the next box? It's living
sacrifice, right? Many of you in this room will
make that step today. Many in this room have
already taken that step. But it's you offer your
body as a living sacrifice. So the living sacrifice,
you know, is a lot like marriage. You know, in
1978, I said to Teresa, I surrender to you, nobody
else but you. And she said, I surrender to you.
And we said, let's do this together forever,
no matter what. But I've had to renew that commitment
almost every day. And there's times we needed
marriage counseling. We've had hard times with
some of our kids. We've had health issues. We've
had cancer. We've had all kind of problems. But
no matter what, because we said, boom, we commit
to one another no matter what. It was that commitment
that's kept us together. And it's been the channel
of God's biggest and best blessings. I've got
a great wife. I've got a loyal wife. I've got
the best friend I've ever had. I've got a relationship
I never saw in my family growing up. I never
dreamed. Has it been easy? No. It's been great.
See, the issue is not he wants to take something
good away. The issue is any good thing that stands
between you and him that's an idol will destroy
your relationship with him. And by the way, it'll
destroy your relationship with the idol. So it's
a living sacrifice. You make the commitment,
but then it's daily, renewing and living, and
it's holy. That's the last word. It's holy. You
can't come and not deal with your stuff. There's
some of you, you're sitting here at this moment,
you're thinking, if I surrender, this relationship
with this rotten guy or this girl that I know
isn't God's will, but I sure love her, God would
say, you know it's not right. For some of you,
you're realizing, we probably, living together
is not an option if I surrender. For others of
you, you're going, oh my gosh, you know, my priorities
are so out of whack. I'm a workaholic or my finances
are a mess. See, it's holy. No blemish sheep.
He's just saying, you come as you are, but there's
this commitment to say, God, I'm not playing
games. I'm going to do life your way. And then
I'm going to bring all of me. And that's not
only the good stuff, but you're going to come
and say, I'm bringing my fears of rejection.
I'm bringing my fears of the future. I'm bringing
my fears of what you might do. I trust that you're
a good God. In fact, notice the motivation. The
motivation is not get with the program. It's
the mercy of God. The mercy of God. He's looking
back on the last 11 chapters, but he's saying...
God's asking for all of you, but what's he done?
He's loved you. He's forgiving you. He's paid
for your sin. He's caused the spirit to come
into your body. He's taken you from the kingdom
of darkness and put you in the kingdom of light.
He's adopted you as a daughter or as a son. He
has a purpose for your life. He's creating a
place at this very moment in heaven for you.
He's laid down his life. He says, can't you trust
me? This is like someone who's, who you've given
a million dollars. And they come to you and they
say, hey, you think I could borrow 20 bucks?
He goes, I don't know. I don't know if you'd
pay it back. And you go, what do you mean I don't
know if I'd pay it back? I gave you a million
dollars. Yeah, well, I don't know. See, that's,
you start to get the kingdom logic. How could
you not to a God who has demonstrated why you
were his enemy and I was his enemy? laid down
his life, how can we not believe that he's good,
that he's compassionate, that he's kind? See,
this is not a get with the program, be a superstar
or a Christian Marine. This is a let your father
love you. Let's remove the barriers. And the
final reason is your spiritual act of worship.
In other words, What God really wants. I mean,
we started out with a question that leads to
a decision. The question is, how do you give
God what he wants the most? Are you ready for
this? It gets real simple. God wants you. All
of you. Every aspect of you. See, you can read
the Bible, you can pray, you can come to church,
you can give some money, you can go on a missions
trip, you can try and be a good moral person.
You can do all kind of things. There was a group
in the New Testament that did all that and more.
And Jesus said the harshest things that ever
came out of his mouth about those religious people
because their hearts weren't his. They were in
control and they used their religion and they
thought they were better than other people. They
weren't tender, they weren't broken, they weren't
loving. Left to ourselves, we are a people who
will create some little grid or model about how
we're okay with God because we're doing this,
this, this, this, and this as we gain and keep
control. And your control always is shown by
where your money goes, where your time goes,
where your energy goes, and what you dream about.
And when he has your heart in those areas, I'll
tell you what, those things get transformed.
And then, are you ready? You discover why you're
here. You discover what your purpose is. You
discover there really is more to life than setting
goals and accomplishing them. You experience
the treasure both now and the promise forever.
He wants you. You're listening to Living on the
Edge with Chip Ingram. We're halfway through
today's message, so don't go anywhere just yet.
Today's insightful lesson comes from our series
called God's Dream for Your Life. Want to dig
deeper into these truths? Well, the full series
is ready for you online at livingontheedge .org.
You'll discover extra teaching content, downloadable
materials, and discussion guides to take you
further. Find it all at livingontheedge .org.
Well, now let's rejoin Chip with today's message.
As you turn to the back page, I wanted to just...
I'll give you two pictures that have been very
helpful to me. One is a blank check. And I want
to tell you, please do not hear everything will
be easy and wonderful and great. In fact, many
of you will be tested. It may get worse before
it gets better. The Holy Spirit would say, well,
how's it working for you your way? And today,
pay to the order of Jesus Christ, and there's
a date, and you'll write today's date. And then
you'll sign your name. And there'll be a sense
of fear in your heart, but it'll be a step of
faith, and you'll say, I'm all in, God. You can
cash this. You can cash this with my future.
You cash this with my relationships. You cash
this with my finances. You cash with my career.
You cash it with my geography. I will do whatever
you want me to do. I believe you're that good
and that kind. And I actually believe that you
could pick out what's better for me than I could
pick out for me. Do you see how arrogant it is
when we say to God, oh, I want your forgiveness
and your salvation, but I'll run my life. Because
I'm way smarter than you. I mean, you created
the universe, but look at me. So I really want
you to think risk, reason, the decision -making
process. What it means to fill out the check,
I came across a small excerpt of a, of a prayer
by a lady named Ruth Myers. And just lean back.
You can even shut your eyes. When you think about
what it means for you to sign this check in just
a moment, think of a prayer that might go something
like this. Lord, I'm yours. Whatever the cost
may be, your will be done in my life. I realize
that I'm not on earth to do my own thing or to
seek my own fulfillment or my own glory. I'm
not here to indulge my desires or increase my
possessions or to impress people. To be popular
or to prove I'm somebody important or to promote
myself. I'm not even here to be relevant and
successful by human standards. I am here on this
earth to please you. And so now I offer myself
to you for you are worthy. All that I am or hope
to be, I owe to you. I am yours by creation and
I am yours by the purchase price of your son
on the cross that paid for my sin. And so right
now, I give you my body and each of its members,
my entire inner being. I give you my mind, my
emotional life, my will, my loved ones, my marriage
or my hope for marriage. I give you right now
my abilities and my gifts, my strengths and my
weaknesses, my health and my status, whether
it be high or low. I give you my possessions,
my past, my present, and my future. And I even
give you when you want to bring me home to be
with you. I'm here to love you and to obey you
and to glorify you. You ready to take that step?
It'll be the greatest decision you ever, ever
make. And for some of you that are a little bored,
if you play lots of video games, watch a lot
of TV, have to go to a lot of movies, find yourself
shopping or eating a lot, you know what those,
that's symptoms of a life. of boredom. That's
a symptom of nothing of genuine purpose and focus.
That's a symptom of medicating yourself with
plastic pearl beads. And I had a little struggle
growing up long before I was a Christian. I like
adventure. I like excitement. I like risk. And
so someone early introduced me to cards. I played
cards Friday night, gambled. And then I was fascinated
with horse racing. So by my senior year, Tuesday
and Friday nights, I played the horses. And I
just can't tell you the thrill that it is to
put down $2 your very first bet and win $103
Quinella. I thought, what an easy way to make
money. And so that sent me on a journey where
I found myself about a year and a half later,
literally in the boy's bathroom. I put my feet
up on the commode so they couldn't see me. And
when the three linemen on the football team that
I owed a few hundred dollars to were coming to
collect in a very inappropriate way to my body,
I decided to quit gambling. I wasn't a Christian,
wasn't anything spiritual to it. It was like,
this is nuts. And I got a problem. But I have
to tell you, when I turn on the old TV, and the
World Poker Texas Hold 'em is on, I just have
to check it out. And here's what I love, because
there's a great principle. You know, it's the
final table. They got all these stacks, millions
of dollars. The pot's worth, you know, $14 .7
million. Two Loho cards, those. Risk, mm, these
are good cards. Reason, evaluating everything
I've seen this guy do in response. Action, faith.
You could probably finish it with me, right?
I'm all in. And then what happens? Electricity
happens. The game completely changes. Then he
steps up. He starts walking around. Why? Here's
why. Because something's going to happen. There's
no... until you get to the point where you say,
I'm all in. He's either going to get a bracelet
and multiple millions of dollars, or he's going
to lose. And I want to tell you that the God
of the universe brought you in this room on this
day for you to say to him, I'm all in. And when
you do, you will begin to experience power and
excitement and challenge and purpose like you've
never known. Because just like in Texas, hold
them. The game never really gets interesting
until you're all in. And my sad observation is
the great majority of Christians that I know
are just trying to be nice people, trying to
get a little bit better mobility for their family,
trying to figure out how to balance all the demands,
be a little bit more polite than most people.
Read your Bible now and then and come to church
and put a little salve on the guilt of your soul.
And your heavenly father, I think, with tears
in his eyes, say, why won't you taste the treasure?
Without faith, it's impossible to please God.
But those that come must believe that he is and
that he's a rewarder. of those who diligently
seek you. Father, as we bow our heads and you
are working deeply and powerfully inside the
hearts and minds of the people in this room,
I pray that you would grant faith and courage
to sign the check, not just the perfunctory action
of doing it in just a moment, but the signing
of the check from their heart, even with the
fear and concern, and say, God, I'm yours. All
I am, all I have, all I hope to be, you deal.
Lord, I pray for those that know that there's
real hard decisions that need to be made, that
you give them the courage to mentally make that,
to tell you in their heart right now what they're
gonna do and find a trusted friend that they
can share that with. Lord, for those that this
is the first time, God, I pray for supernatural
grace. For those that have made this commitment
before, as they sign it, could you help them
reaffirm and be reminded this is what the Christian
life's all about? And then finally, Lord, for
those that in their heart of hearts just say,
in integrity, I couldn't sign that. I've got
to deal with something. I've got to resolve a
couple things. Lord, would you help them to be
honest with themselves and honest with you and
get help? We love you. Help us to want more of
you. Help us to turn in our plastic pearls for
the real thing. Amen. This is Living on the Edge
with Chip Ingram and some challenging teaching
about what it means to go all in with God. Chip
will return shortly with closing thoughts. Want
to hear this message again or share it? Well,
find it online at livingontheedge .org. You know,
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P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta, Georgia 30024. You can
also call us at 888 -333 -6003. Well, now here's
Chip. Before we say another word today, I want
to ask you a very important and life -changing
question. Are you ready to take that step? Are
you ready to say in your heart of hearts, Lord,
yes, I am afraid, but I want you to know that
by faith, I'm all in. I'm signing the bottom
of the check. I'm taking all the chips of my
life and I'm pushing them to the center of the
table. And I want to say today, all that I am,
all that I have, all that I'll ever be, they're
yours. Now lead me, guide me. I'll address whatever
you show me, but I can't do it on my own. Lord,
I'm telling you today, I want you to be the Lord
of my life. I want you to have the same place
at this very moment in my heart and my will that
you have in the universe. And God, I pray that
you'll be gentle. I pray that you'll give me
grace. And Lord, I choose today to say, I'm all
in. If you do that, would you email me here,
right here at Living on the Edge, and then tell
the greatest Christian you know what you've done?
Because your life is about to experience a radical
change. And it's probably going to get really
good and really hard, maybe all at the same time.
Some of you have some really big decisions you
need to make, some hard conversations, some steps
to take. And what I want you to know, you are
going to experience God's power. He loves you.
He's for you. But brace yourself because you
have now entered a world where power and life
occur and where the enemy doesn't want you to
go. You're all in. You're a child of God. What
does it mean to get God's best for your life?
I'm Dave Drewy, inviting you to find out next
time on Living on the Edge. Today's program is
produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.