(We bought several copies of Mark Batterson’s book, ALL IN to distribute to the families at His Church. So, Paul began sharing about it on Pentecost Sunday. )
This message was inspired by the book ALL IN, by Mark Batterson. Mark begins by telling this story…
A century ago, a band of brave souls became known as one-way missionaries. They purchased single tickets to the mission field without a return half. And instead of suitcases, they packed their few earthly belongings into a coffin. As they sailed out of port, they waved good-bye to everyone they loved, everything they knew.
A.W. Milne was one of those missionaries. He set sail for the New Hebrides in the South Pacific, knowing full well that the head hunters who lived there had martyred every missionary before him. Milne did not fear for his life, because he had already died to himself. His coffin was packed. For thirty-five years, he lived among that tribe and loved them. When he died, tribe members buried him in the middle of their village and inscribed this epitaph on his tombstone: ‘When he came there was no light. When he left there was no darkness.’
When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things? That faithfulness is holding the fort? That playing it safe is safe? That there is any greater privilege than sacrifice? That radical is anything but normal?”
We read stories like this and think, “That man was different; he was unique. He had a high calling from God. He’s not your normal Christian.” But what if his life is a model of normal, and what we are living is not? What if “packing your coffin” should be the normal response in following Jesus Christ? According to the Bible, the complete surrender of your life to the Lord isn’t radical, it’s normal.
One of my favorite verses in the New Testament is found in Matthew 6:33. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” What a promise! Prior to speaking those words, Jesus talked about how God cares for the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor are gather into barns, and yet, our heavenly Father feeds them. And consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and yet, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of them.
Matthew 6:33 offers a great promise, but a promise with a condition. God has promised to provide our every need in life, beyond our wildest imagination – if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. In other words, seeking His kingdom and His righteousness needs to be the most important thing in our life, why we live. I’m afraid that’s not true of a lot of believers today. It was with the guy in the story…A. W. Milne.
At the core of every human being is this thing called selfishness. We are born into this world believing it is all about us. Our desires, our needs, our wants, and our plans rule our life. We go where we want, do what we want, whenever we want. Rarely do we even pray about it – except to ask God to bless what we are doing. After all, we are the captain of our fate…or so we have been taught.
Batterson says this, “As Christians, we may seek God, but we don’t seek Him first.” We seek Him to meet our needs, to satisfy our wants, and to fulfill our dreams. Rarely, do we seek Him for what He wants – His will, His purpose, and His plans. In essence, we invite Jesus to follow us, to serve us, to meet our needs. Batterson describes this as the “Inverted Gospel.”
A grave error often preached in the American church is this: “Come see what God can do for you.” God can fix your life, solve your problems, and make your life so much better. Indeed, He can! However, the gospel, according to the Bible, is not about asking what God can do for us. After all, He has already done it all! No, the gospel is about surrendering our life to Jesus Christ – and then watching to see what He will do in us and through us. Without surrender we’ll never discover the transforming power of God.
The American gospel has the first part right: Salvation is a free gift from God; it cost us nothing. We can never do anything to earn our salvation – period. We can never do enough good deeds, give enough money, or serve enough to earn a place in heaven. However, what we often fail to understand is that the gospel demands everything…
If Jesus is not Lord of all, then He is not Lord at all. It’s all or nothing!! We want everything that God has to offer – without giving anything up. We want to buy in without selling out…but it doesn’t work that way. If we want all of Him, we have to give up all of us.
Many of us may think we have given Him “our all,” but have we? Have we really surrendered our hopes, our dreams, our desires, and our ambitions to follow Jesus Christ? Like A. W. Milne, and the prophet Isaiah, have we said, “Here I am, send me?”
Whoever gave us the idea that Jesus came just to make us happy? He came to transform us into a new species of people…holy ones. And that will only happen when we fully surrender our lives God. I love what the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” In order for Paul to become the man God ordained him to be, Saul of Tarsus had to die.
Take a look at the gospel according to Jesus in Luke 9:23-24. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” ANYONE! The invitation is to all! The disciples took this literally. All but one, the apostle John died a violent death. So, the question to us is this: Has the gospel changed? Can a person be a Christian and ignore these words? Many seem to do so.
Are there two standards in the Bible? Are there two groups of Christians? Can a person receive Jesus as their Savior – but not make Him their Lord? Can we buy into the gospel – and not sell out? The gospel cost nothing, but it does demands everything from those who want to follow Jesus Christ!
Mark Batterson defines the inverted gospel like this: We bought in, but never sold out. We may have accepted Jesus as Savior – but not as Lord (our owner and master). That thought has haunted me for almost 40 years… Can we do that?
When I was in seminary and part of a large church in Southern California, Myrna and I watched people come to the Lord – only to return a few months later and do it again. We witnessed what appeared to be a sincere response to the invitation of the gospel. However, nothing seemed to change. I began to think, is there a problem with the gospel or is the problem with how we present the gospel? Can a person accept Christ as their Savior, but not as their Lord? Does the Bible provide a double standard for the citizens of heaven? Many think so, because that is what seems to happen. However, I still wrestle with that issue, myself.
In Romans 10:9 the Bible says, “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. The Scripture doesn’t say to confess and believe that Jesus is your Savior – but that He is your Lord, the owner and master of your life.
II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed; behold, all things have become new.” When a person becomes a believer, everything changes! At least according to the Bible. Our old life is buried with Him through baptism into death that we should walk in the newness of life. (Romans 6:3) And then in Romans 6:22, we are told that we were freed from sin to become slaves of God!
Batterson says this: “Our normal is so subnormal that normal seems radical.” It’s not! We have come to accept an aberrant form of Christianity, a non-Biblical standard so low that we no longer recognize the real thing. That’s why, when someone gets serious about seeking God, we think they’re radical. They’re not! The complete surrender of our life to Jesus Christ is not radical…it’s normal.
The world has yet to see what God will do with a man or woman who is fully consecrated to Him. Whenever God chooses to do something great, He looks for those whose heart is fully surrendered to Him. That’s the prerequisite for greatness in the kingdom of God. Our fundamental problem is that we try to do God’s job for Him. Listen to what Batterson has to say about this… “We want to do amazing things for God. And that seems noble, but we’ve got it backwards. God wants to do amazing things for us. That’s His job, not ours. Our job is consecration. That’s it. And if we do our job, God will most certainly do His.”
God wants to do amazing things through us, but that’s only possible when we fully surrender our lives to Him. That’s what consecration is all about. It’s the complete surrender of our life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Anything less is a half-baked gospel – and a half-baked gospel produces half-baked results.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” We are not our own! Did you hear that? We were bought with a price – the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The true gospel demands our all. God wants all of us, so He can give us all of Him.
If we don’t go all in, we’ll never enter the Promised Land. If we don’t go all in, we’ll never discover our true identity and our God ordained destiny. We’ll never experience the transforming power of God. The word “consecration” means to set yourself apart unto God. It has to do with surrendering all of us to all of Him. Our money, our time, our energy…it all belongs to Him.
Listen to how Batterson describes consecration. “Consecration is an ever-deepening love for Jesus, a childlike trust in the heavenly Father, and a blind obedience to the Holy Spirit.” I like that! It’s going all in and all out for the One who went all in and all out for us. We have cheapened the gospel by allowing people to buy in without selling all out. We’ve given people enough Jesus to be bored – but not enough to feel the adrenaline of the Holy Spirit rushing through their veins.
You cannot be in the presence of God and be bored! You cannot be in the will of God and be bored! You cannot follow in the footsteps of Jesus and be bored! If you are bored at church, you might need to examine yourself (II Corinthians 13:5). If you are bored seeking God – the problem might be you, not Him. Batterson says this, “If you are not hungry for God, you are full of yourself.” Let me add this: You could also be fully of the world. If we want more of God, we have to empty our self, turn away from the way we are living (repent), and fully consecrate ourselves to follow Him.
Batterson then makes this statement, “We want God on our terms, but we don’t get God that way.”
No, that’s how we get false religion. We pick and choose and cut and paste. The end result is a false god created in our own image, a Jesus made in our image to do our will. I’m afraid many have fallen prey to that deception…
God is looking for a people who will go all out for Him, a people who can shake a city, a state, and a nation. He is still searching for modern-day Isaiahs, Jeremiahs, Ezekiels, and Elijahs. Batterson got it right: It all begins with consecration. If you are willing, join me in a prayer of consecration to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? That’s how we go ALL IN!
Father, forgive me for not being ALL IN! I surrender fully to You as my Lord and Savior. I freely acknowledge that am not my own, because I was bought with a price, the blood of Your Son. Jesus went ALL IN for me, and by Your grace, I’m going to be SOLD OUT for Him.
