Kicking against the pricks

Pastor Damon Covalt closed his series on surrender with Acts 9:3-6 and Philippians 3. Saul was on the road to Damascus with a purpose: to imprison Christians, believing this was what God wanted. A light from heaven stopped him, and Jesus said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" and "it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." Pastor Covalt explained the ox goad, a long stick with a sharp end held behind the oxen. An ox that kicked back only hurt itself. Saul believed he was serving God, and all the while he was fighting the very God who was trying to guide him.

Abraham had to surrender his plans, and Moses his limitations. The last step, he said, is to surrender your identity, because God does not want just a part of you. Someone can surrender their plans and still hold back their heart. He pictured buying a house, moving in, and being told by the seller that one room is off limits. We do the same when we tell God He can have our Sundays but not our Saturdays, our offering unless we are saving for something, or our time but not our forgiveness of the person who hurt us. If your life truly belongs to God, he asked, why are you still deciding which rooms He gets to enter?

Point one: Let go of your resume

Paul had built an impressive one. In Philippians 3:5-6 he lists it: circumcised the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee, zealous in persecuting the church, blameless touching the law. Pastor Covalt, who was reviewing resumes at work, said a few lines on a page can represent a lifetime of effort. It is good to strive to be our best, but every good gift is from above, and we forget the One who is the reason we are here at all. The question is not whether a career or achievement is good, but whether it belongs to God or God has to work around it.

Your greatest gains can become losses. Paul writes, "what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ," and says he counts them "but dung." He realized he had spent his life building the wrong Saul, and God said it was not too late. The man who once prized those credentials went on to start churches, write more books of the New Testament than any other writer, and give the church its guidelines for pastors and deacons, but only after he let go of his resume. Imagine climbing a ladder for twenty years and finding at the top that it leans against the wrong building. Do you climb down, or keep going because you have invested so much? He compared it to an emergency plan kept only because "that's how we've always done it," even though the building has changed and the escape route is now a dead end. You may be working hard at becoming a version of yourself that is second best.

Surrender becomes easier when you recognize what you are gaining. Paul was not focused on what he lost, but on this: "that I may win Christ." He was shipwrecked, stoned, beaten, and thrown out of cities, and Christ was still worth it all.

Point two: Let go of the wheel

Being determined does not mean you are going the right way. Saul was driven, educated, and devoted, and he was headed in the wrong direction. Pastor Covalt said the most excited person in a job interview is not always the best person for the job, and we can put up a good face at church while we keep climbing the wrong ladder. Whether someone is saved and still on the wrong path, or has never accepted Christ and is on a ladder that ends in hell, he said, Christ wants to step in.

Surrendering means allowing God to interrupt your plans. Saul did not go to Damascus looking for a different life. Jesus interrupted him. But not every setback or closed door is a sign, he warned. When he loved Ford Mustangs he saw them everywhere, and when he moved on to Dodge Challengers he saw those everywhere too. If we go looking for signs, we will find them, and a McDonald's commercial is not God telling you what to have for dinner. Each one has to be run through the word of God: does it point me to God, and will it help me be a better Christian?

True surrender asks, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Saul had spent his whole life deciding what he would do, and in Acts 9:6 he finally asked. There is a difference between "Lord, here is what I have decided, please bless it" and "Lord, what would You have me to do?" He compared it to a teenager who asks to be taught to drive and then ignores every instruction. Often what we want from God is not guidance but His blessing on what we have already chosen. When was the last time you genuinely asked Him what He wanted, without already having an answer in mind?

Point three: Let go of your right to yourself

Christ is the owner, not a guest. Galatians 2:20, Pastor Covalt's life verse, says, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Paul also said, "I die daily." His old life was no longer the center of everything, and his identity was now found in Christ. A guest is welcome to kick up their feet, but does not knock down walls or repaint the living room. Many of us treat Jesus that way. We are glad to have His comfort, His protection, and His blessing, and the moment He tries to change something we remind Him whose house it is. If we are going to hand Him the keys, Pastor Covalt said, we have to let go of the keys.

You are not your own. First Corinthians 6:19-20 says, "ye are not your own," and, "ye are bought with a price." God not only created us, but when we chose ourselves and lived in sin, Christ died for us, the only innocent One ever to walk the earth. And yet the most we offer Him is to let Him be a guest.

Surrender is a daily way of living. Romans 12:1 calls us to be "a living sacrifice," which is not something paid for once. Salvation is a one-time acceptance of Christ's payment for our sins, he said, but sanctification is a daily choice, the choice Joshua 24:15 describes: "choose you this day whom ye will serve." We can make a decision tonight and walk the same thing back through the front door tomorrow, so the choice has to be made again the next day, the next week, and for life.

A blank check

Pastor Covalt pointed to the movie Blank Check, in which a boy is handed a check with no amount written on it, and said that is what surrender looks like: giving God a signed check for your life and letting Him write down the cost. Too often we take God's hand while holding in the other fist the things we do not want Him to touch. He reviewed the series. To surrender is to give up your plans and let God decide what is best for your future. It is to let go of your limitations and say, "However You see fit to use me, I am Yours." And it is to let go of your identity and give God the keys to the house, with nothing locked. Maybe there is a job God has been calling you to, a relationship to make right, or a sin you have been unwilling to forsake. He said he was not asking anyone to promise to be perfect, only whether they were willing to give an extraordinary God an obedient life, because the greatest thing you can do with your life is not to make a name for yourself, but to exalt His.