Jesus Is King: Surrender Is the Doorway

There is a version of Christianity being presented today that asks very little of us. Believe the right things. Attend church. Say a prayer. Try to be a good person. Ask God to bless your plans, protect your family, heal your body, prosper your work, and help you when life gets difficult.

But somewhere along the way, we have forgotten something absolutely fundamental to the Gospel:

Jesus is King.

He is not merely Savior. He is not merely our Helper. He is not an addition to the life we have already chosen for ourselves.

He is Lord.

And you cannot enter a kingdom without surrendering to its King.

Surrender Is the Doorway

Jesus never hid the cost of following Him. He said:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

Those are not particularly comfortable words. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow Me.

Jesus wasn’t asking people to add Him to their lives. He was calling them to lay their lives down.

That is what happened to me in 1980. I had known about God for years. I had religious instruction. I knew prayers. I believed Jesus was the Son of God. But there came a moment when knowing about Him wasn’t enough.

I surrendered.

There is an enormous difference between believing facts about Jesus and bowing your knee to Jesus as Lord. Romans 10:9 doesn’t simply say believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. It also says:

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Jesus is Lord. Those words mean something. They mean I am no longer the ruler of my life.

My plans belong to Him. My money belongs to Him. My relationships belong to Him. My body belongs to Him. My future belongs to Him.

Everything goes on the altar. And strangely enough, surrender is where real freedom begins.

Obedience Is the Path

We have almost made “obedience” a dirty word in parts of the modern Church. Talk too much about obedience and someone will accuse you of legalism. But Jesus talked about obedience constantly.

“If you love me, keep my commands.”

Obedience doesn’t purchase salvation. Obedience is the fruit of salvation. We aren’t saved because we obey. We obey because something has happened inside of us. We have been born again. Our desires begin to change. We want what God wants.

Will we do it perfectly? Of course not. I have been walking with the Lord for decades, and He is still working on me!

But there should be movement. There should be growth. There should be fruit. There should be areas of our lives that look different today because Jesus is Lord.

Grace was never intended to give us permission to remain unchanged. Grace makes obedience possible. Titus 2 says the grace of God teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives.

That’s grace! Grace doesn’t merely forgive the sinner. Grace transforms the sinner.

The Holy Spirit Supplies the Power

And here is where the message becomes glorious. God never commanded us to live the Christian life in our own strength. We can’t.

You cannot crucify the flesh through willpower. You cannot love your enemies through determination. You cannot forgive deep betrayal simply by gritting your teeth. You cannot walk in holiness through human discipline alone.

We need the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses.”

Power. Not merely emotion. Not merely a wonderful church service. Not merely goosebumps during worship.

Power to live differently. Power to overcome sin. Power to forgive. Power to love. Power to endure. Power to witness. Power to obey when obedience costs something.

For years I have preached about the fire of God, but the fire isn’t given merely so we can have an experience. The fire changes what it touches. When God fills us with His Spirit, He begins burning away the things that don’t look like Jesus.

Pride. Bitterness. Jealousy. Selfish ambition. Unforgiveness. Fear. The need to control everything.

And sometimes we cry, “Lord, send the fire!” Then when the fire starts touching something we wanted to keep, we say, “Not that!” But God loves us too much to leave us unchanged.

The Kingdom Is the Goal

Perhaps this is where we have gotten most confused. We have made Christianity primarily about getting people into heaven. Jesus preached something bigger. He preached the Kingdom of God.

A Kingdom has a King. A Kingdom has authority. A Kingdom has laws. A Kingdom has citizens. And citizens of the Kingdom live under the authority of the King.

Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Think about that. Your will be done. Not mine. That’s surrender again.

We have spent far too much time asking God to bless what we have decided instead of asking God what He has decided. “Lord, bless my plans.” “Lord, bless my business.” “Lord, bless my relationship.” “Lord, bless my decision.”

But perhaps the better prayer is: “Lord, what do You want?”

Because if Jesus is truly King, then the goal of Christianity isn’t getting God to cooperate with my agenda. The goal is bringing my life into alignment with His.

The Church Must Recover the Lordship of Jesus

I believe one of the greatest needs in the Church today is a recovery of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

We don’t need more people who merely admire Jesus. We need disciples who follow Him. We don’t need crowds who know Christian vocabulary. We need men and women who have laid their lives on the altar.

We need believers who will obey when nobody is watching. Who will forgive when they have every human reason to remain bitter. Who will tell the truth when lying would be easier. Who will remain sexually pure when the culture mocks purity. Who will give when God says give. Who will go when God says go. Who will stay when God says stay. Who will speak when God says speak. And who will be silent when God says be silent.

That is lordship. And I believe the world is desperately waiting to see Christians who actually look like the Christ they proclaim.

It All Comes Back to the King

After all these years of walking with Jesus, I keep coming back to the same place.

Surrender.

Every new season requires it. Every new assignment requires it. Every deeper work of God requires it.

Sometimes I think we imagine surrender as something we did decades ago when we first came to Christ. But I have discovered that surrender is daily. There are always deeper rooms in our hearts. There are always places where Jesus asks: “Will you trust Me with this too?”

And once again, we place it on the altar. Our dreams. Our disappointments. Our children. Our marriages. Our reputations. Our ministries. Our businesses. Our futures. Our lives. Everything.

Because eventually every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

So why wait?

Bow now. Surrender now. Follow now. Obey now. Let the Holy Spirit fill you now. Let the King have everything.

Because the Christian life really is this simple:

Jesus is King.
Surrender is the doorway.
Obedience is the path.
The Holy Spirit supplies the power.
And the Kingdom is the goal.

The question isn’t simply: “Do I believe in Jesus?”

The question that searches my heart is: “Does Jesus have all of me?”