Relinquishment

[Music] since 1968 the new directions evangelistic association has been a group of young people committed to in-depth evangelism through the medium of music and discipleship training through intensive bible study as an interdenominational interracial non-profit organization the new directions have pursued the goal of knowing christ and making him known founder and director the reverend j l williams is a recognized teacher evangelist and author as a part of their ongoing vision of fulfilling the great commission to make disciples of all nations the new directions evangelistic association presents biblical principles for living videotaped christian growth conferences by some of america's most well-known bible teachers this is the second tape in a series of five tapes recorded by elizabeth elliott on the theme the everyday cross this christian growth conference was recorded at the new directions headquarters in december of 1980. tape two deals with relinquishment here is mrs elliott last night i spoke about a matter which in certainly involves the matter that we're going to talk about this morning i talked about forgiveness and in order to forgive someone you have to relinquish a number of things don't you if you relinquish your rights and allow yourself for example to be wronged and cheated as we talked about last night certainly that goes against the way we are and the cross cuts across the will of man where the will of god cuts across the will of man and someone has said somebody has to die and the cross is the symbol of suffering and death and yet it is the symbol which has been glorified forever for all of us because it was transformed in the death of christ into the instrument of our salvation and yet our salvation is not just a matter of changing our status from unsaved to saved from being a sinner to being a saint and everything is instant overnight happiness and from here on in it's just a matter of a few external obligations and more or less continuous happiness that is not the description of the christian life but the christian life is participation in the life and death of jesus christ paul said in galatians 2 20 i am crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ liveth in me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me paul also says in second corinthians the the life of jesus works in us through death death worketh in us and life in you and it is through this death that the life also of jesus becomes manifest in this mortal flesh we are talking about a supernatural life of course it goes against the way i am to put my human nature down of course because my human nature is corrupt and sinful and it is a supernatural life which is going to be lived in and through us and which involves the continual crucifixion of our human nature this is a daily business paul said i die daily and it is in the little things the down-to-earth things that we are going to be talking about today and spoke about last night that this life also of jesus is worked out in our mortal flesh it's touch it touches us right down where we live there is a brand of christianity that talks about saved as this as if this were a once for all thing that you never have to do anything else about of course it's a once for all things jesus died once for all and we come to him in faith once for all but then faith is a walk isn't it and every step of faith is a step of faith now that may seem like a kind of a silly statement but think about it i labored under the illusion for a while that somehow or other i was going to become an expert in the walk of faith well i've been at it for more than 50 years now and i'm very far from being an expert i'm in kindergarten as a matter of fact and i realized that although i trusted god back here for this major crisis and for this major crisis and for this major crisis today i have to trust the lord perhaps not for a major crisis but for some relatively small thing and find myself doubting imagine going to pieces over some ridiculous little thing when god has taken us through some huge valley and yet isn't that the way we are just this past week i was talking with a friend about what seemed to be a monumental failure in my own life it was in a matter of a relationship with another person i referred to this other person last night and there has not been any reconciliation between us and i have approached in every way that i know how i have explored every avenue of approach to know a parent of veil and as i was speaking with his friend about this sense of utter failure and loss and my bafflement about what i'm supposed to do next also the recognition that very likely some of my attempts to reconcile have only broadened the gulf between us [Music] she said to me well you're only a pilgrim with a stick toiling up a very steep mountain and we laughed because of course i don't just want to be a pilgrim with a stick toiling up a very steep mountain i want to be a knight on a white charger with banners flying that's the way we'd like to see ourselves this whole idea of victory in christ just doesn't seem to take on very impressive proportions when we see ourselves toiling up a steep slope and stumbling along not quite sure whether what we're doing is right and yet doing the only thing that we know to do and sometimes seeing very clearly that it has failed and so we're talking about a pilgrimage the way of the cross is a pilgrimage and a process it's not just one thrilling chilling experience now maybe some of you have had a thrilling chilling experience in which suddenly the light dawned and everything in your life was changed overnight i don't happen to have that kind of a story i came from a very strong christian home and i probably became born again when i was four or five years old i don't remember i can't remember a time when i was not a christian but i did make a public profession of faith when i was 10 years old just to make sure in case i hadn't really crossed that gap before then but it is a decision followed by a lifetime of decisions and choices every single day we must live out the life of the cross that the life also of jesus may be manifest in this mortal body what is the point of calling him lord unless you do what he says that's exactly what jesus said why do you call me lord and do nothing that i say it's foolish even to think that he is lord of our lives unless we are daily seeking to go against the way we are to put our human nature down and to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh now what is this business of relinquishment what are we talking about where did i get this idea well i got it from the two texts which are my theme texts for this whole series one is the lord's prayer thy kingdom come thy will be done we pray that prayer sometimes so glibly without stopping to think about the fact that there are two kingdoms there is the kingdom of evil and there is the kingdom of god what is the rule of the kingdom of evil exactly the opposite of the rule of the kingdom of god my will be done that is the rule of hell and hell is a place where you finally get what you want if that's what you've asked for my will be done you'll get it heaven is the place where the rule is thy will be done and you have that choice and you choose every day whether it's going to be your will or god's will my will or thine the other text is from luke the ninth chapter in the 24th verse jesus said if anyone wants to follow in my footsteps he must give up all right to himself if you're taking notes you don't get anything else today get this give up all right to himself now this is not elizabeth elliott talking i got this right out of the book you can check your bible if anyone wants to follow in my footsteps he must give up all right to himself or he must say no to himself that's another translation deny himself one time i was speaking on a similar topic in an all-day seminar where they had small group discussions and one of the questions which i asked that they talk about in their discussion groups was what does this business of self-denial mean and i beg them not to waste time talking about what it doesn't mean because it's amazing how people will immediately say oh yes but surely god didn't mean this and certainly you don't think jesus was talking about that and it can't possibly mean so and so simply because we don't like to face up to the straight arrow-like truth that strikes us in the heart we'd much rather concentrate on the loopholes and the exceptions and what it doesn't mean and so i beg these people in their small groups to talk about what it does mean and that's what we'd like to look look at this morning what what does this business mean of giving up your right to yourself what kind of relinquishment if we're going to live the christian life we are going to be a c-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n with c-h-r-i-s-t and r-h-e-a-r-t we are going to have to do what christ did aren't we it's such a help to me it's so simple to understand it's not simple to do but it's a very simple concept to realize that the christian life means walking betrayal that jesus walked how did he do it you find yourself in a situation of difficulty go back to the life of jesus and find something which is analogous and there will be something there's always something that is analogous to your situation and look at what jesus did so the first question i want to ask is where did jesus begin this business of relinquishment well very obviously he started out as a baby and jesus said if you don't become as a little child you're never going to get into the kingdom that's where we have to start you become like a little child and it's very appropriate that we should be thinking about this at christmas time because this is the time when we remember his utter total relinquishment of everything that he was when he became that helpless baby born in a place where no child should have had to be born just a barn and a manger because there wasn't any room for him in the inn and far away from home to his parents that had to go to another town to register for the census and they were very poor people and found themselves in this barn let me read to you one of the most beautiful poems on this subject which was written back in the 17th century by the poet krashov the whole poem points up the contrasts between what jesus was and what he became now if you think it goes against the way you are to put your human nature down think about what it did to this divine nature to become a human being listen to these contrasts as i read this poem that the great angel blinding light should shrink his blaze to shine in a poor shepherd's eye that the unmeasured god so low should sink as prisoner in a few poor rags to lie that from his mother's breast he milk should drink who feeds with nectar heaven's fair family that a vile manger lo his bed should prove who in a throne of stars thunders above that he whom the son serves should faintly peep through clouds of infant flesh that he the old eternal word should be a child and weep that he who made the fire should fear the cold that heaven's high majesty his court should keep in a clay cottage by each blast controlled that glorious self should serve our griefs and fears and free eternity to submit to years let our overwhelming wonder be that's relinquishment that a vile manger his low bed should prove who in a throne of stars thunders above think about that so if you think that you're being asked to do an impossible thing by giving up your right to yourself remember him who in the throne of stars thunders above and became a helpless crying baby in the arms of a human mother probably a teenage peasant girl that's where jesus began he became a baby and in philippians paul points out in other words what this relinquishment meant he says he who had always been god by nature did not cling to his prerogatives as god's equal but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature had always been god by nature became a slave by nature and being born as a mortal man and having become man he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience even to the extent of dying the death he died was the death of a common criminal he said i came not to do my own will but to do the will of him that sent me he came not to be ministered unto but to minister not to be served but to serve he became obedient to his parents ordinary humble peasant parents the scripture says he obeyed them he who runs the universe obeyed human parents and so one of the ways in which we are going to have to follow jesus is in obedience to authority i was on the board of a certain mission and not very long ago we had to let go a couple who had gone out to mission field had gone to south america and within a very short time within a matter of a few months it became obvious that they were not prepared to be servants they were prepared to be heroes to be admired and sought after and looked up to and it was a terrible shock to them to discover that missionaries are supposed to be servants and they decided they didn't like that idea at all and they proceeded to make it impossible for everybody else around them to get along and of course they had to be eliminated they had no idea of subjection to authority now there isn't one person in this room who's not under somebody's authority i don't care who you are i don't think ronald reagan is here this morning or jimmy carter but the president of the united states is of course under authority we are all of us under somebody's authority most of us are under quite a few people's authority if you are a child who lives in the home of your parents then you are certainly under your parents authority if you are a wife who lives with a husband then you are under your husband's authority not because he assumes a privilege of being the boss but because that privilege has been assigned to him by god he doesn't have any choice in the matter any more than you have and if you belong to any kind of an organization you are under somebody's authority if you belong to a church you're under somebody's authority and so take your cues from jesus who was obedient first of all to his parents and then to civil authority remember that he paid his taxes he was obedient and so one of the ways in which you give up your right to yourself is submission to authority i do a lot of talking to student groups and one of the main questions that they ask everywhere i go is how can i know the will of god and one of the answers that i always give them is remember that if you if it is the will of god for you to be a student in this university or wherever has it ever occurred to you that the will of god for you is to study sometimes they much rather think about the will of god being matters of what job to get or what to major in or whom to marry or whether to be a missionary or a doctor or a garbage collector and those things of course are part of the will of god but right now for you if you are a student the will of god is to study the will of god is to do the term paper prepare for the test do the homework and you know that gets you right down where you live doesn't it i mean i know i've quit preaching and gone to meddling and the will of god for most of us starts with some very obvious duty that lies on our doorstep that we're not paying attention to we're getting down on our knees and beseeching god for some great vision or some voice or some pillar of fire wouldn't it be wonderful to have a pillar of fire because then not only would it be unmistakable to you but it would be unmistakable to everybody else and you'd be able to say see [Music] and god doesn't allow you that he says write that letter that you should have written six months ago make that apology clean out that closet or the back seat of your car with all those newspapers and styrofoam coffee cups rolling around back there or how about that 15 pounds you were supposed to take off uh-oh she's really meddling and it's a funny thing about this business of weight you're not allowed to talk about it at all nobody's allowed to talk about it because if you're not overweight then they say what do you know about it you've never had any problems and of course anybody that says that to me doesn't know what they're talking about because i found when i reached the age of 30 that i could gain weight just like anybody else and if you are overweight of course you're not allowed to talk about it because who do you think you are talking about it it's like the question of marriage if you have never had any problems in your marriage you're not allowed to talk about it because you've never had any problems if you've got problems you're not allowed to talk about it because why don't you solve your own so it comes down to scriptural principles and i believe that there is a scriptural principle here where jesus began was relinquishment not my will but thine be done and the will of god for jesus for 30 years so far as we can tell was to be an absolutely unknown carpenter we can only guess at what he did but since his earthly father joseph was a carpenter it is assumed that jesus must have worked with him and some of the things that jesus says make it seem as though they they were lessons that he learned in the carpenter's shop for example he said i do only those things which i see my father do and you can picture the boy standing there and the father of the earthly father showing him how to use a plane how to use a saw in the voice saying is this right dad is this the way to do it and when he began his earthly ministry at the age of 30 he then said what his father had told him to say and did the things that his father had showed him how to do he was subject to authority right at the very beginning of his ministry he was subject to temptation by the devil he went from there immediately into healing people and preaching and raising the dead and making the lame walk and the deaf here and he was at the mercy of the masses that is relinquishment he was at their beck and call and finally it says that he was handed over to the power of men think of that phrase he whom the son serves was handed over to the power of men and they were wicked men subject we hear people say nobody's going to make a doormat out of me well if you're a christian quite a few people have a right to make a doormat out of you because all you're supposed to be is a servant a slave now does that mean you're supposed to be a zero no and there are many misunderstandings about this business of subjection jl and pat and lars and i were talking about subjection this morning at the breakfast table and so many misconceptions that arise the idea that a woman is supposed to become a zero in order to be subject subjective in submission to her husband is really nonsense isn't it because i'm supposed to be a help meet for my husband's needs that's what god created eve for to be a help to him now how can she possibly be of any use if she's nothing if she's a zero she's got to be a woman and a woman has a different set of gifts and a different set of responsibilities from a man i've written a book about that you can find it over there i've got time to talk about that subject this morning but we are to be what god designed us to be for the sake of the body and that goes for all of us whether we're single or married the parts of the body fit together so that the body works as a whole the hand can't say to the eye i don't need you if the whole body were a hand then where would be the hearing if the whole body were an eye then where would be the smelling there has to be a nose and an eye and a hand and all of these parts assigned their particular jobs working together for the good of the whole and that's what we're all supposed to do we should be willing to be doormats for somebody sometime why not let them walk over you paul said let yourself be wronged or cheated did jesus do this of course he did he was walked all over he was misunderstood he was misquoted he was maltreated he was mocked he was spit at he was slapped and he didn't open his mouth on a lot of occasions when you and i would have thought what a marvelous opportunity for a witness he didn't say a word so you begin where jesus began you become like a little child you submit to authority you have the attitude of a servant don't even think about going into any kind of christian work unless you're prepared to be a slave because it says in this passage in philippians he stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave and being born as a mortal man if you want to be my disciple you give up your right to yourself secondly how do we start on this how do you become like a little child you begin by offering up your will to god that is the crucial issue we are created with a free will and god will not violate that created will if god almighty chose to make us free willing creatures it was because he didn't want to create automatons he wanted one creature in all the universe that would will to do his will now he made animals he made the stars the galaxies they all wheel in absolute obedience to the plan of god perfect harmony the morning stars sing together they never take issue with their creator about what he made them for and they do exactly what he says and any astronomer can predict where a given star will be at a given time thousands of years hence where it was ten thousand years ago because they always wheel in exactly the orbits that god created for them but god did create two creatures so far as we are under can understand the scriptures who were made with the ability to obey or to disobey [Music] i had a little scottie dog named mcduff and he was a great lesson to me of obedience he glorified god by being a scotty dog it never occurred to mcduff to protest for equal rights with me or to wish that he were only a clam the clam glorifies god by being a clam and the scotty dog by being a scotty dog and so far as we know they have no choices but god created angels and men with the ability to disobey or to obey and so that's where the whole thing begins will you say my will be done or thy will a christian is one who has said here i am lord all of me for you forever thy will be done in earth and in me in my corner of the earth as it is in heaven we then put ourselves on the trail toward glory if you say my will be done you have put yourself on the road to hell that's what you want that's what you'll get [Music] i came from a home as i mentioned last night where my parents were in charge we knew they were in charge there were no options there were no polls of our opinions taken there was no complaint box put up in the kitchen it's incidentally if you do think you want to listen to your children's complaints i heard one very good idea that a parent suggested he insisted that all complaints be in writing of 200 words or more it's amazing how few complaints turn up if you insist that they come in writing well my parents decided that if you ask for complaints you'll get them and so they didn't ask for any and we knew that they were in charge and whenever things came up in our ordinary everyday life which were illustrative of spiritual principles they took the opportunity to teach us and on one occasion this lesson of obedience was very clearly illustrated for us my brother tom who now is the author of a number of books his name is tom howard he was about four years old and one of his favorite things was to pull all the paper bags out of the shopping bag behind the kitchen door where my mother kept them and spread them around on the kitchen floor well that was a harmless enough activity and my mother permitted him to do that on one condition of course that he picked them up and put them back in the shopping bag when he was finished well she came into the kitchen one day and the paper bags were all over the kitchen floor and little tommy was nowhere to be found she then realized that he was in the living room where my father was playing the piano and she called and said tommy come and pick up the paper bags and there was a dead silence and finally he called back and he said but i want to sing jesus loves me well my father pointed out that to obey is better than to sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams it's no good worshiping jesus and feeling very spiritual about it when the paper bags are spread all over the kitchen floor and it might be that you've been asking god to guide you or to answer a particular prayer you've been battering on heaven's door and he says how about those paper bags out in the kitchen you go pick those up you know what you're supposed to do about one thing you're asking me about something you don't know about i'm not going to tell you until you do the thing you know so tommy was very deeply impressed with the necessity of obedience i have a little grandson who is now three and a half years old one of his favorite things when he was about 18 months was to climb up on a little step stool in the kitchen when my daughter valerie was working at the counter and she would give him a canister full of peanuts peanuts in their shells which he would take out and play with on the counter and that was perfectly harmless and kept him happily occupied one day she was standing at the counter working he was taking the peanuts out and it occurred to him that it was much more fun to drop them on the floor and so he began dropping the peanuts around on the floor and she turned to him and she said walter i don't want you to drop the peanuts on the floor and you mothers know the look that you get testing testing [Music] she doesn't really mean this does she if i continue to do it and make a big enough fuss about it she'll let me get away with it and of course 99 times out of 100 they're right very few parents have the courage the fortitude the moral fiber to stick to what they've said be careful about what you say to begin with make sure that it's worth creating an issue over but if you create the issue you stick with it and valerie could stare him down and so she continued to look at those crafty little blue eyes and let him know that she meant exactly what she said she didn't look away she didn't go back to peeling her carrots she just watched him and as he stared back he got the message and very slowly and very grudgingly he climbed down off the step stool and began to pick up the peanuts still watching still hoping she was going to forget about it still seeing the gaze fixed and he put them back into the canister and that's what it takes we have god's attention he has told us exactly what he wants us to do about something there isn't a person in this room that doesn't know something they ought to do that they're not doing and of course like little children we test the line wherever it's drawn it's going to be tested at that point you know you don't gain a thing by shifting the line with your children because wherever the line is drawn that's where the battle will be drawn up isn't it and so you might as well stick with the first one that you drew so in our childhood we offer up our will to our parents the parent must overcome that willfulness in that child people talk about the strong-willed child you know nobody is strong-willed who cannot will against himself jesus was strong-willed because he could say not my will but thine be done the child who cannot will against himself is willful and the parent must teach him to offer up that will what about an adolescence it's almost as if you have to start all over again isn't it offering up your will because suddenly you become extremely independent and self-willed and feisty and protesting against every rule of the household and so the will has to be offered to god again marriage is another crisis because suddenly you discover that even though you are an adult you cannot make unilateral decisions and your will is crossed by another autonomous adult and two sinful and autonomous adults cannot possibly live together in harmony without the grace of god how about some other examples our desires they must be offered up relinquished to god now does this mean that if you want a thing you can be sure that god doesn't want you to have it certainly not the scripture says he shall give thee the desires of thine heart delight thyself also in the lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart now the condition is to delight yourself in the lord if you are delighting yourself in the lord your desires are going to be purified and corrected and then god will be able to grant you those desires i was deeply influenced by the life of a missionary to china betty scott stam and she prayed as a young woman lord i give up all my own plans all my own desires and hopes and accept thy will for my life i give myself my life my all utterly to thee to be thine forever fill me with thy holy spirit use me as thou wilt send me where thou wilt work out thy whole will in my life at any cost now and forever and betty scott stam and her husband were captured by chinese communists marched half naked through the streets of a chinese village and betty was forced to watch as her husband knelt at the chopping block and had his head chopped off and she then also was forced to kneel and was beheaded work out thy whole will in my life at any cost as a very young child i heard that story and began then to understand what the everyday cross is about and what might eventually be required i give up all my own plans and purposes all my own desires and hopes and it was when i was a student in college that i relinquished my desire for marriage i had never had any very bright hopes of getting married as far as any real live prospects seemed to be but i deeply and earnestly and desperately wanted to be married as i think most young women do and yet i believe that possibly god was asking me to be a single missionary for the rest of my life and so i had said yes lord i'll be a missionary and it was through months of struggle that i came to the point where i said yes lord i will be a single missionary and i'll be a single missionary for the rest of my life if that is your will not my will but thine be done now don't imagine that when you have said not my will but thine be done the desire will dissipate very possibly the desire will become even stronger and you will then be able to make an even more costly offering to god the more powerful the desire the more costly is the sacrifice and the more valuable the more sweet smelling it is in god's sight make that deep desire material for sacrifice that's relinquishment here lord for you you do whatever you want with it if you want to fulfill it in your way i want what you want to give me if you don't want to fulfill it transform it into something else and it's just amazing what god can do to transform our wishes and our desires we talked last night about the danger of wallowing in hurt and grief the unwillingness to forgive because we really prefer to suffer [Music] when you forgive somebody think about this you then relinquish the pleasure of ever seeing that person come crawling to you in apology now that is a subtle business but most of us when we have been deeply hurt by somebody would like to see them broken down and apologizing you may never see that if you forgive them in your heart i'm not talking about going to the person and extorting an apology from them i'm talking about forgiving that person before god in your heart perhaps never mentioning it to that person at all you will by that relinquish the pleasure that you might have of vindicating yourself or seeing that person humbled have you got a grief in your life that you really are nursing you would much rather suffer because then you get people's sympathy you get attention you become the object of people's prayers and acts of kindness and if you didn't have that they might not be paying attention to you they might direct their energies towards somebody that is worse off than you are and so you magnify that trouble relinquish that relinquish your love francis ridley have a goal in that beautiful hymn take my life and let it be consecrated lord to thee writes take my love my god i pour at thy feet it's treasure store she was single all her life wrote thousands of beautiful hymns it's very possible that god denied her human love in order that that treasure store might be poured at his feet in a flood of beautiful hymns that have blessed probably millions of people since then we wouldn't have had them if god had fulfilled her human desires turn over to him your hatred relinquish that hatred i spoke last night about a woman who said to me i have a right to 16 years of rage and she was enjoying that rage relinquish those feelings how about your ambitions i wanted to be a doctor all my life i had thought it would be wonderful to be a doctor and specifically a surgeon i had thought of possibly being a missionary doctor but it became increasingly clear to me as i was a student in college that god wanted me in linguistic work rather than medical work and so i said yes lord if that's what you want i'll take it and that is what i ended up doing in the little book called these strange ashes i've told the story of how in my very first year as a missionary i suffered three major losses they were devastating losses one of them was the loss of my informant the only man in the world that could help me translate the colorado indian language bilingually he spoke spanish and colorado i had expected to have to work monolingually which is a much more difficult much slower process and god gave me a man who could speak two languages of course i had learned spanish first and i was so grateful for this great efficient way of going about the job and then to my utter dismay this man was murdered then all of my language materials were stolen everything that i had done in that year wiped clean from the board and then everything that my fiance jim elliot had done in that year in rebuilding a certain mission station was destroyed in a flood what was god saying relinquish your plans your blueprints of the way things are supposed to work my self-image very likely god will ask you to relinquish a particular self-image i had thought of myself as the translator of the colorado scriptures it was a great ambition not a bad ambition at all a noble one but it didn't happen to be god's plan for me it was my own desire and ambition and it was right and proper that i should aim for that because that's where god wanted me to work but he did not have it in his plan that i should succeed in being the translator of the colorado scriptures and so i had to relinquish my self-image how about your time if you are a conscientious christian you know that your time belongs to god and you seek to redeem that time for his glory but if you're anything like me you make lists and you find out that no matter how carefully you have planned and how realistically you have estimated what you can accomplish in a given length of time two or three things at least are going to intervene that were not on the list and you find out that you didn't get everything done i have a friend who said that she's praying for me in her prayers lord thy list be done and i recently wrote a letter to my daughter she had written about how terribly pressed and frustrated she felt right now before christmas she had a thousand things that she had to get done before christmas and she just didn't see how she was going to get them done with two tiny little children in her hair all the time and a bible class and a few other things to do and i wrote back and said remember that there's always time to do the will of god it is always possible to do the will of god jesus said i have finished the work which thou gavest me to do if you don't finish the work it's a pretty good possibility that you've taken upon yourself things that god didn't give you to do be careful turn over to him your time and when there are interruptions see them as opportunities to do his will and not yours how about your relinquishing a place or a home have you ever had to give up a room that you liked for somebody else or a home that you loved because your husband got transferred perhaps or you couldn't afford to keep it up any longer or you got moved to another church another town another school you didn't want to go there but every place is home if jesus is there and where he leads me he is still my shepherd he leadeth me in paths of righteousness not for elizabeth elliot's namesake but for his namesake and so we relinquish places marriage is a wonderful illustration of the christian life because when a woman marries she relinquishes quite a number of things and i'm in a position to appreciate some of these things more perhaps than a woman who gets married at the age of 21 as soon as she's graduated from college she's never been on her own she's never been completely independent her parents have been paying the bills and suddenly she's married to a man who takes care of everything and she hasn't really been conscious of the relinquishment of power which marriage is marriage is the relinquishment of power not only for the woman but also for the man each of us has a particular kind of power which we give over paul said that the husband has not power over his own body but the wife the wife has not power over her body but the husband we relinquish independence i've been a career woman myself i've had various careers i've done a number of things that a lot of men would perhaps envy and i have been single much longer that i've been married and yet when i am married i'm very acutely aware of the fact that i have relinquished independence the privilege of making unilateral decisions i give up my name and some of you may be sitting there thinking what's she talking about she's still going by her first husband's name and of course i do go by the name of elizabeth elliott only because my books are written under that name and if people recognize the name at all it would be because of my books and my husband lars is very gracious in allowing me to go by that name only in public i am elizabeth gren at home and in my social life but a woman does relinquish her name she relinquishes her destiny and accepts her husband's destiny if she's not prepared to do that she has no business getting married because it is a case of where thou goest i will go thy people will be my people where thou diest i will die both relinquish privacy and all of these things are true when we follow christ if you want to be my disciple you must give up your right to yourself now some of you may feel but what a negative concept i want to read the rest of this passage in philippians to remind you of what it's for god isn't asking you to give up everything you have so that you have nothing left what does he offer you in exchange let christ jesus be your example as to what your attitude should be for he who had always been god by nature did not cling to his prerogatives as god's equal equality was not a thing to be clung to we need to hear that in this day and age but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man and having become man he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience even to the extent of dying and the death he died was the death of a common criminal now get this this is what it's all for that is why god has now lifted him so high and has given him the name beyond all names so that at the name of jesus every knee shall bow whether in heaven or earth or under the earth and that is why all this relinquishment all this humbling all this utter humiliation that is why in the end every tongue shall confess that jesus christ is the lord to the glory of god the father the whole thing leads to joy and if we walk the way christ walked we're headed for glory jesus said if you suffer with me you will also reign with me the will of god ladies and gentlemen means joy [Music] i am absolutely sure that there is no joy anywhere else if you think that by saying my will be done you're going to find happiness you've got some sad lessons to learn i'm here to testify that to say thy will be done ultimately leads to joy as george mcdonald put it if you knew what god knows about death and he was referring to physical death you would clap your listless hands the very same thing is true of these invisible things that we're talking about relinquishing if you knew what god knows about the way the death of jesus is going to work in you you would be rejoicing the way to heaven is thy will be done you know where it leads if you say my will be done biblical principles for living a christian growth aid produced and distributed by the new directions evangelistic association in burlington north carolina for a catalog of the videotaped teaching series as well as audio cassettes study guide booklets and related materials available write the new directions post office box 2347 burlington north carolina 27215 this has been a presentation of new directions productions unauthorized reproduction of this program without written permission is prohibited by law [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Elisabeth Elliot Foundation

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Id: G08TS_3ZHuY

Length: 54min 12sec (3252 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 30 2020