More Than Bread

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My sin is not just my failure to reach God's standards, it's a failure to treasure his invitation; a lack of trust in his ways; an unwillingness to surrender. An un-surrendered sin-soaked soul is life's greatest problem. It leads to addiction, ravages marriages and
breaks families, it hardens hearts, creates anxiety filled souls and drains joy. It keeps us from loving our neighbors, because we end up caring so much for stuff that matters so little. A sin-soaked un-surrendered soul is life's greatest problem. 

So if we want rest for our souls we need to surrender. What do you need to surrender for the sake of your soul? If  we want rest for our souls...we need to practice the 
posture of surrender.

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 We don't always connect the act of surrender to presence of love. But there is a story in John 13, that we call "The Washing of the Disciple's Feet" that is really the story of the love-burst of Christ. Do you realize that when Jesus is serving us, serving others, when he surrenders, it's just the over-flow of a love-burst?

John 13 contains a story from the day before the cross. In a day Jesus will hang on a cross...big sacrifice...world changing event...split time into two ages...but in this moment, he reminds us that the full extent of his love extends to even the most menial acts of service. Sure his love goes as high and wide as the cross...but it also goes as low as my dirty feet. His love is so unbounded that it will even surrender.

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In Mark 10, Jesus is quoted as saying, "Whoever wants to become great must become   a servant. Because this is what the Son of Man has done. He came to serve and not be served." My goodness don't we want that to be some sort of metaphor. I mean sure Jesus came to serve and not to be served but that was a temporary interruption in the normal experience of his life. And now seated at the right hand of God, with a name that ranks #1 in the universe, He is able once again to take his rightful place amongst the ranks of those who are served. 

But I don't think this is what Paul is saying in Philippians 2. What if servanthood was not a temporary interruption for Jesus?  What if it was a deeper revelation of the character of God? In other words what if Jesus came as a servant...not to hide the fact that he was God but to show us who God really is.

If that's the case, that we should join Him in surrendering all the way to glory!

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In Matthew 14, we are told the story of a storm, a storm where Jesus walked on the water and for a time, so did Peter. Like Peter getting out of the boat, the primary issue of surrender is control. Getting out of the boat, Peter surrendered control. Listen, your desire for control is ruining yr life. It's shriveling up your heart and driving a wedge in your marriage. It's driving your kids away and keeping you from loving your neighbors. Until we're ready to surrender control, we'll always be struggling to get to the other side of the storm, without finding life.

 But if we will surrender… we will gain a whole new vision of Jesus. The reward of surrender is revelation. The result of revelation is worship. What could prepare us more for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus?

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There is a prayer for more in Isaiah 64, that contains the statement, "We are the clay. You (God) are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." We are the clay. You are the potter. We are all the work of your hand. That’s full-on, all-in 100% surrender. This is not really a God bless me, God protect me, God help and heal me, give me comfort and prosperity kind of prayer. It’s more of a God search me, God break me, God change me kind of prayer. Refine me. Shape me. Mold me. I surrender.

The picture of the Father as potter and his people as the clay breaks Isaiah's prayer wide-open. It's the New Testament leaking into the Old Testament.  It's relationship.  Rather than God bursting forth, God is invited in.  Rather than nations trembling
and mountains quaking Father Potter is shaping my heart. Listen, do you know that the fingerprints of Father Potter are all over you? And sometimes it hurts, he pushes and prods and digs his fingers into the recesses of our lives...but...He Is shaping you for a purpose, a good, a good purpose. 

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Do you have a be-still space? When God says, "Be still." He's asking, will you trust me?  Will  you stop clenching your hands to hang onto things that don't matter. If we let our arms fall and our hands grow slack, if we stop striving, we are saying to God, "I trust you." In this episode and I want to give us something very practical to do. Find your be-still space. 

During 2020 and into 2021, if you were with us at Calvary, you heard me say more than once, you have two tasks always in front of you. Love your neighbor and be still and know that He is God. And at one point, we encouraged everyone to find a “be-still space.” That's a place where, when you go there, your sitting there is saying, "Here I am God.  I have nothing to give you except me, hands down and open, fully surrendered." Where is your be-still space? Perhaps it's a place to pray, perhaps it is a place to be silent, perhaps it's a place where you read scripture and ask God to speak to your heart and mind. But mostly it's a place to just be-still? Who knows what might happen in that place to prepare us for more!

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With this episode we start a section in our Lent series on the spiritual practices of "giving-in." One of the most powerful practices connected with giving-in is surrender. And of my favorite scriptures on surrender is Psalm 46. It is a compelling, heart-stirring description of God, but we won't know Him as this God if we don't practice surrender.
 
The Psalmist calls it being still. "Be still and know that I am God." As you listen to this episode we will be reminded that when the unmovable God is in our midst, we cannot be shaken. No matter how dark the night may be, the morning is coming, no matter how hopeless our days may be, help is coming like the dawn follows the dark. So be still, children of God, though the mountains be thrown into the heart of the sea. God is in your midst. Be still, Church. Though the nations rage, we need not be shaken. Nothing can steal our joy. He's in our midst. Be still and  know that He is God!

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The word of God brings renewal and revival; new energy and new love to redeem old hurts. Is that the something more you need? I could give you a hundred different life-giving principles but ultimately those who thrive in life and find the more of God are those who know God, those who experience His presence, those who get rid of the clutter and give up control. Those who thrive are those who listen, learn and lean in.

That's a heart issue. Fasting helps us work the soil of our hearts. When we fast, we start to see the clutter as we set aside the distractions. So to use Jesus' metaphors in Mark 4, I guess what am asking is, "Are we willing to work the soil of our hearts to prepare for a greater impact?"   

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There is something very close to the heart of  Jesus in Isaiah 58.  Jesus announced his own calling with similar words, "The Spirit of God has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives..." Isaiah 58 is a beautiful portrait of the "more" we are preparing for during this season of Lent.
    - A light in darkness--healing for wounds--God's got our backs
    - God's immediate presence hearing us and guiding us
    - Never-failing streams of water for dry souls
    - So watered by the overflow God that we refresh others
    - Being used by God to rebuild what has been destroyed 

We just need to get God’s attention. Fasting is less about getting God’s attention and more about becoming the kind of people who have His heart and get His attention!

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Fasting is a way of saying, "God I need your gracious hand upon me." What if part of preparing for more requires trying to do less? What if we need to fast and pray for more, more than we need to strive to try harder to do more. Maybe we need to stop striving and start surrendering. 

You know in the last decades, there have been revivals of worship and movements of prayer...but few calls to fasting. But so often throughout scripture and history, in the shaping of hearts, fasting was a part of the journey to God’s gracious hand upon us.  Fasting is a  way of saying, "God I am so hungry for you. I need you more than bread." I'm getting everything out of the way. Perhaps in the process of preparing for more, God is asking us to fast and pray.