This article is taken from Issue 1, Called to Surrender the Will
By Oswald J. Smith
There are many to whom Jesus Christ is Saviour, but not Lord: many who have been saved by Jesus who have never recognised Him as Master. They are His children but not His disciples. A disciple is a learner, one who follows and who recognises another as Master. You may belong to Jesus Christ and be a citizen of Heaven and still refuse to acknowledge Him as your Lord and Master and place yourself under His orders in sweet obedience. You may be saved and yet not be a disciple.
GOD FIRST
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or
daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
(Matthew 10:37)
What then are the terms of discipleship? The answer is in just two words,
“God First.”
Let us consider some very simple questions. Does God come first place in my life or does business hold the supreme place?
Is it God first or pleasure?
God first or money?
What about my family, my loved ones?
Do they come first or does God?
RENUNCIATION
“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33)
“But!” you exclaim, “that condition is almost impossible to meet. Do you mean to say that God asks His followers to literally forsake everything? If so, then I am not a disciple, for I still have a home, a spouse, and a small bank account. Am I to forsake all these?”
In the Revised Version you will find that the word “forsake” has been translated as “renounce.” Now let us read it: “whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” It is one thing to renounce; it is another thing to forsake. God demands that His children renounce everything, but may require them to forsake very few of those things. Surrender is key.
To renounce a thing means to relinquish all claim. Nothing that I am or own belongs to me. All is God’s. He allows me the use of it as it pleases Him, but He has the first and supreme claim. Recognising that, I gladly place all at His disposal. Now let me renounce all that I have. Let me lay everything on God’s altar……
1. SELF
God does not want your money first, He wants you. He does not want your service first, He wants you.
“…but they first gave themselves to the Lord.”
(2 Corinthians 8:5)
What would a man think of a potential bride who in response to his proposal, offered her lover her lands, her houses and all she possessed. Would he be satisfied? Not for a moment. He is not asking for her possessions, but for herself.
Nor will any substitute satisfy. And so it is with Jesus Christ. He wants us, body, soul and spirit. Hence, we must first of all lay ourselves on the altar.
2. LOVED ONES
Having placed myself on God’s altar, I now bring my loved ones, my son or daughter, my father or mother. If The Lord wants my child for the mission field, he may have her. If He demands that I leave father or mother, I obey. Even if He chooses to take my loved one to Himself I dare not murmur. “Thy will be done.”
“Why am I not happy?” inquired a wealthy lady as she stood in her home beside the great missionary of China, Dr. Jonathan Goforth.
“Have you surrendered all?” inquired the man of God quietly.
“Yes, so far as I know, I have surrendered all,” responded the woman.
“Are you sure,” insisted Dr. Goforth, “that your all is on the altar?”
My all is on the altar, I believe,” answered the woman again.
“And you would be willing for God to take your little girl here and send her to China?” asked the missionary, placing his hand on her head.
“God take my daughter and make her a missionary in China?! I should say not, I want her here with me” exclaimed the mother.
“And yet you tell me you have surrendered all, and you haven’t even given your own child to God. How can you expect God’s peace ands blessing? You stand as it were between God and His will for your daughter, and you say to Him, ‘Thus far shalt thou come and no farther. You can have my home; You can have my money; You can have me, but don’t touch my daughter.’ Madam, do you call that surrender?”
3. TALENTS
Our talents were never given to be used for ourselves. God’s gifts are to be invested for Him. What right have we to use them selfishly? Once we catch God’s vision, never again will we use our talents along worldly lines.
You may have a talent for elocution, oratory, speaking. The question is: How are you using it? Is it simply for the purpose of amusing and entertaining? Or has it been invested for God? You may be gifted in writing. But what and for whom are you writing? Is it for the world, or for God? Are you writing for money or for the Kingdom?
It maybe you have been given the talent of making money. But remember, “It is God
that giveth thee power to get wealth.” Then, for whom are you making money? For yourself or for God? Or your talent may be that of song. God has given you a voice. Are you using it to please your friends? Do you sing the songs of the world? Or, can Jesus Christ proclaim His message to burdened, sin sick souls, through your talent of song?
Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my King.
4.TIME
“Redeeming the time.” What a responsibility! What are we doing with our time, our spare hours? Do we invest it for God or use it for selfish pursuits that don’t count? Somehow we seem to have time for everything else in the world, time to eat and time to sleep, time to shop and time to talk, time for the newspaper and time for our visitors, time for work and time for pleasure, but no time for God. Do we spend our time in selfish pursuits, or while away the hours in idle talk? Or do we live as pilgrims and acts like sojourners? Are we different from the world?
5. MONEY
Not a tenth, but all. Everything we own belongs to God and we are only stewards. Then it behoves us to watch how we spend it. Does it go for luxury or on missions; for non-necessities or for the evangelisation of the world? Do we spend it on ourselves to gratify our selfish desires, or is it held back and used in God’s work?
Are we simply banking it to leave to someone who is quite able to take care of Himself or are we investing it as God’s steward in the souls of men? Not, “How much of my money will I give to God,” but, “How much of God’s money will I keep for myself?” Some day He will call us to account for our stewardship. Our money, then, must also be placed on God’s altar.
Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold.
6. MY UNKOWN FUTURE
All my plans and ambitions; all my dreams and aspirations….all must be laid on God’s altar. He must guide, direct and control my life. His will must become my will, His programme mine. My future must be in His hands. Where He wants me to go I must go; I must have no plans of my own.
Well, now, will you lay your all on the altar? Are you ready to yield, to dedicate, to consecrate everything? Oh, that you would take this initial step! Be definite. Make a whole-hearted surrender of your life to God. Hold nothing back. Yield up your will and accept His. There can be no substitute for your act of surrender.
It is a question of signing a blank agreement. Put your name down at the bottom and let God write in the terms and conditions of the agreement after. He will only put down one step at a time and when you take that, the next will be made plain.
It means that you sail under sealed orders! Where? You do not know. When? You cannot say. Why? That is not your business. How? Not your concern. It is yours to accept from Him the sealed orders containing His blueprint for your life, and to open and read them just when and just as much at a time as He wills.
It is saying an eternal “Yes” to God. An eternal “No” to self. And it must be so final that it holds good all the rest of your life. “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Where wilt Thou have me to go?” He dictates and you obey. One great, final, eternal, glorious Yes, and the question is forever settled. Then just keep saying “Yes” all along the way.
Having definitely relinquished all claim, I deliberately turn my back on everything. Thus I renounce all that I am and have. It is no longer mine, but God’s. Henceforth He has the absolute right to do what He likes with it, and if at any time He should call me to literally forsake what I have renounced, I must not even murmur or complain.
LORD OF ALL
Remember, Jesus must be Lord of all, or not Lord at all. No man ever works for two firms at the same time. No slave belongs to two masters at once. Beware lest when you give Him a secondary place as you think, you awaken some day when it is too late to discover that He is not there at all. He must be Lord of all, or not Lord at all.
“Suffer me first….” Said the young man to Jesus. Oh no, not “me first” but God first! My interests must always come second to His; never first.
“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.”
Dr. Graham Scroggie of Edinburgh, was one time speaking along this line, and at the close of the service he was approached by a young woman, a professing Christian, who had been greatly stirred.
“And why don’t you yield?” inquired Dr. Scroggie.
“I am afraid I would have to do two things if I did,” responded the girl.
“What are they?” asked the concerned minister.
“I play the piano in a concert hall, and I fear I would have to give it up,” explained the inquirer. “And the other?”
“I am afraid God would send me to China as a missionary.”
Dr. Scroggie was wise in his dealings with the anxious. He opened his Bible at Acts 10:14 where Peter is shown a vision of unclean animals and then is instructed to kill and eat. He explained to the young woman the absurdity of Peter’s answer, “Not so, Lord.” A slave never dictates. And to say, “Not so,” and then add the word “Lord,” is impossible.
Now,” said Dr. Scroggie, I want you to cross out the two words ‘Not so’ and leave the word ‘Lord’; or else cross out ‘Lord’ and leave ‘not so.’”
Handing her his pencil he quietly walked away. Later he returned, and looking over her shoulder he saw a tear stained page, but the words “Not so” were crossed out. With a glad light in her eyes she left the church and went home repeating over and over the one word, “Lord.” No longer would she dictate. She was now His disciple and He her Lord and Master. Henceforth it would be, “Even so, Father,” and, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”
Jesus challenged Peter; “Lovest thou Me more than these?” I can imagine Jesus pointing to the boats and nets, then to the other disciples, and finally to Peter’s home and loved ones.
“Peter, who comes first? Do I? Lovest thou Me more than these?” And that is the question He is asking still. Shall we, then, yield all, and crown Him Lord?
HUDSON TAYLOR
Let us give up our work, our thoughts, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into His hand, and then when we have given all things over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to trouble about, or to make trouble about. I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realise that He is able to carry out His will for me. It does not matter where He places me, or how. That is for Him to consider, not me, for in the easiest positions He will give me grace, and in the most difficult ones His grace is sufficient.
Taken from Life on the Altar Publications
Issue 1 Summer 2021
LIFE ON THE ALTAR 