Paradigm 29: Discipleship and absolute surrender (31/7/20)

In this chapter Edmund Chan asserts that we have "substituted commitment for surrender". The committed life emphasizes what we must do for Christ; the surrendered life, what He has done for us. The Christian life "is not try, but trust". The first emphasizes what we can do, while being surrendered means we know we can do nothing apart from God. One is 'doing', the other is 'being'. One exalts our competence; the other, our character. One centres on operations, the other, on obedience. One issues out of good intentions, the other, out of God's intention.  We can be outwardly committed, but not inwardly consecrated and surrendered to the will of Christ. We must see that it is not we who work for God, but God who works in us.

We said that commitment involves a choice, whereas surrender meant giving up choices. One was active, the other, passive. Commitment is to have a purpose with an end in mind. Surrender is to give up purpose. The word 'surrender' is viewed negatively by the world.

The points in this chapter are basically a restatement of Chan's 'blue bar' vs. 'red bar' points in Chapter 2. As in that chapter, he offers no Scriptural proof text for his assertions. They seem right, but are they Biblical?

I think it is to an extent unhelpful to define commitment and surrender so narrowly because both these words can have positive and negative connotations. Commitment can simply mean 'dedication' to a cause, which is not a bad thing. It is the expression of our commitment that can go awry. Surrender can also mean a passive waiting for God's action that requires no effort on our part. So the Bible does commend zeal and hard work!

• the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Ro 12:8)
• Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. (Ro 12:11)
• But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Cor 15:10)

So 'being' must lead to 'doing', although 'doing' without 'being' is meaningless. Phil 2:12-13 alludes to both of these and sets them in right relationship.

To me the best Scripture passage that speaks of a surrendered life is Gal 2:17-21. As part of Paul's argument for justification by faith alone before God he throws in this great verse: ²⁰ "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." His argument is this:  the Law of Moses a) showed him to be a 'sinner' like the Gentiles that the Jews looked down on (v.15), and b) 'killed" him. (v.19 c.f Rom 7:5 "For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death."). If he goes back to relying on the Law, the Law only affirms his sin (v.18). So by moving away from the Law to trust in justification in Christ alone, he is certainly not promoting sin even though some lump him together with Gentile 'sinners' in this action (v.17).

So now Paul says he has 'died' to the Law - he no longer feels the compulsion to obey the Law in order to seek justification and is immune from its demands. Instead, he lives to God - in living in God's approval not through following the law, but through Christ, he is now free to give himself fully to God. The experience of being freed from the Law is not only the experience of a Jew - it is the experience of all people - all of us who have trusted in our own effort to be right with God by doing things for Him. In Christ we lay down all our ideas that we can earn God's favour.by what we do, and we give up activity for intimacy.

Paul 'died' to the law by being "crucified with Christ" (c.f. Ro 6:8) and now lives not for himself, but for and in Christ. So also he says, "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Co 2:3). This does not mean that he loses his personality, but that his personal interests and ambitions no longer direct his life. Rather, Christ directs and empowers everything he does. As a 'dead' man Paul is sustained moment by moment by 'faith' - constant trust - in Christ. For Paul, salvation is not a theoretical, distant affair. He knows that Jesus loved him and gave Himself for him - it is a personal experience of the love and grace of the Lord.