Celeste Contreras: Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is Celeste, and I am part of the team here at Sandals Church. We are so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this message with Melody Workman teaching from our Gospel of Matthew series. If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people. But for now, let's get into the message.
Melody Workman: So many years ago, I think Adam and I had been married for about ten years. We were living on the East Coast and we took a trip to DC. And we'd been out all day and we were getting on the elevator back at our hotel to go up to our room. And we were just kind of standing there and quiet. And I just said something to myself, like, like, quietly.
I said, rotavoli. And he goes, what? And I was like, oh, nothing. He goes, no. What did you say?
I'm like, of all the times I don't want you to listen to me. Now is one of them. Right? He's like, no. I didn't hear you.
What did you say? And I said, I said rotavoli. He goes, what? What's rotavoli? I said, it's it's elevator backwards.
He's like, So I said, I I've I guess I've told you this before, but I have this thing. Maybe it's like a hidden talent where when I see a word, I can read it backwards. He goes, what? So look, see? Rotaboli.
There it is. He goes, what's my name? I'm like, that's easy. Name Karlmeida. There it is.
Name Karlmeida. He's looking at me like I've he's never met me before. We get off the elevator, walk into our room. He's pointing picture, table, shelf. He's saying everything.
And I'm just, like, rattling him off because, like, I'm good at this, you know? You guys, we get back to our room, and he is like, he's so impressed with me at this point. And I look at him, like, babe, like, what do you think we're gonna do? Like, take this on the road or something? Like like, I'm gonna set up a booth at the county fair.
Bring your hardest words. Like, he was so he was so impressed because, like, it's hard to do things backwards. Right? There's, like, a trend right now that you should walk on a treadmill backwards. It's supposed to be good for your muscles and joints.
Not good for people like me that will for sure get a concussion if I try that. But like, why? Why is that hard? Because it's it's it's hard to do things backwards. And it's something that we're we're talking about Jesus and the teachings of Jesus because sometimes don't the teachings of Jesus feel backwards?
Like, let like, let's look at some of the things that Jesus has said before. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. What? Who who does that? Who teaches that?
So the last will be first and the first will be last. In what world, in what culture does it work like that? What about the greatest among you will be your what? Your celebrity? No.
Your servant. Oh, and then this one, love your enemies? I I think not. Pray for those who persecute you? No thanks.
These all feel backwards to us. And that's because Jesus introduces us to a backwards or an upside down kingdom. And sometimes these things just feel completely absurd. I want us to get into the text today and see what Jesus is teaching. There is so much he packs in in just these two verses in Matthew 13.
We're in Matthew 13 verses 44 through 46 and it says this, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. And in his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. Then he says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. And when he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it. Now remember that Jesus spoke in parables because he wanted people to be able to latch on to what he was talking about.
He used imagery and analogies that people could understand and grab ahold of. And in the first century, they didn't have a great banking system like we have today. So it was not uncommon for people to actually hide their money or their treasures in the ground to keep them safe. They would go, yeah, that makes sense. And a pearl in those days, a natural pearl, was the most precious and costly object known.
It was worth more than gold. So they're tracking with Jesus that, yes, of course, if you found treasure in a field, you'd buy the field. Of course, if you found the most costly pearl of all, you'd sell everything you have to get it. There doesn't seem like there's anything backwards about this. Because have you ever discovered hidden treasure?
You open up your credit card, you're like, I got extra points? Bro, we're going on a vacation. When I was in third grade, I went on a field trip to a museum. And I came from a one income family. We did not have a lot of extra.
And so when I went on field trips, I didn't get souvenir money. I got the brown bag special. Like, my lunch was still in a brown bag, but my mom made it special. So there was no museum cafeteria food for me. And on this field trip, we're walking and we're looking on the exhibits, and I saw a $20 bill on the ground.
And I walked over and I picked that up, and I was following the Lord, so I took it to my teacher and I said, I found this. So she made me walk over to like a lost and found, and the man behind the counter said, if this hasn't been claimed by the time your tour is over, it's yours. I've never prayed so hard in my life for God not to show up for somebody. The tour went over. I went over.
He handed me that $20. I was the man. I said two chocolate milks for me today. You want that paperweight? I'll buy that paperweight for you from the souvenir shop.
I felt like, you know, I I had found this hidden treasure. So what is actually backwards in this passage? It's because Jesus says this, the kingdom of heaven is like the hidden treasure. The kingdom of heaven is like a costly pearl. What do we know about the kingdom of heaven?
It's a new reality. It's a new way of life. It's God's values and purposes being made known. And and don't ever miss this. Jesus telling us what the kingdom is like is so we would understand what the king likes.
Celeste Contreras: Amen. And
Melody Workman: what do those first century followers know about kingdoms and kings? They knew about wealth, power, control, position. The same things we would want and expect in a king. Power, control, position, wealth. That's a treasure.
But what did Jesus bring in this kingdom? He brought humility, sacrifice, obedience. And you're saying that when this treasure is found, someone sold everything they own to acquire it? What is what is scripture actually telling us here about the kingdom of heaven? It's telling us that it's the most valuable reality a person can discover.
Amen. That there's nothing better, and that feels backwards. But can you relate to discovering something new in your life for the first time? You get yourself a new boo. You're living the love songs finally.
They get me. They know me. I get we just get each other. You know? You save, you get a new car.
That new car smell, this is the most valuable thing I've ever had. What about when you first met Jesus? Do you remember that? When it was new? He saved your life, saved your marriage, gave you a second chance, the excitement, the joy, the passion.
Verse 44 says this, in his excitement. And I think it's worth us pausing and reflecting on the fact that we're often excited when we find Jesus, but we're not as excited when it comes to following him. A question for us to sit in today is this, what does my following of Jesus say about my faith in Jesus? Like in your real life, your day to day life, you're you're living this out, how does your faith inform your following? What does that relationship actually look like?
When my kids were little and I would put my oldest son on the bus, I would go into my daughter Addison's room, she was about three or four, and we would have best gills time. Best gills because she couldn't say our r's, we weren't best girls, we were best gills. And we would cuddle, we would snuggle, I'd read. We we had a little best gills song that we sang to each other, And she would say, I love you, mommy. And I would give her butterfly kisses.
I love you too, sweet Gale. And then it would be time to get ready for the day. And we were on the East Coast. It was cold. So I'd say, here's what you're gonna wear today.
And she'd say, I don't wanna wear that. And I was like, well, I I need you to wear something warm. I'm gonna give you a little bit of opportune an opportunity here to dress yourself. But when I come back, you gotta be ready for the day. And I'd come back, it'd be 27 degrees out.
She's in a little toddler two piece bikini. I'm like, that's not that's not gonna work. I don't wanna wear that. And then what would ensue is a temper tantrum. I'm like, weren't we just cuddling, snuggling, being best gills?
Right? Aren't we like this with Jesus sometimes? Oh, holy forever, that song gives me chills. It gives me so many chills. And then Jesus is like, okay, this is how we're gonna go about your week and you're like, I don't wanna do that.
Here's what here's what we're learning about ourselves, that feeling something about Jesus isn't the same as following him. Jesus has my heart. No, Jesus gives you all the feels. Jesus is my everything. What does that mean?
What does that look like? Why is this hard for us? And why sometimes is there this misalignment in our lives with what we say and what we do? Because I think when we're honest with ourselves and when I'm honest with myself, listen, we're happy to receive Jesus as an accessory to our lives, but not as the authority of our lives. That that's where we that's where we get mixed up.
Here's how American Christianity, here's how my Christianity works itself out sometimes. Jesus, here's my life. Here's my wants. I want this. I wanna go to school here.
I wanna live in this neighborhood. I wanna work here. I want this job. Jesus, here's my feelings. K?
I love her. I hate him. That's how that's how it is. You you remember what he did to me. K?
Jesus, here's my lifestyle. This is the lifestyle where I'm my freest and I'm my happiest and where I just feel unencumbered. Jesus, here are my choices. I choose to do this. I don't choose.
Jesus, here's everything about my life just the way that I want it. Now come and bless it. That's how it works itself out sometimes. Let let me illustrate it to you this way. Take a look at this picture and tell me if you guys know what this is.
What are those called? Sprinkles. No. You're wrong. I'm sorry.
You're not. They're not called sprinkles. And I'm sorry to tell you that they're not called sprinkles because they're called Jimmy's. And the reason they're called Jimmy's is because that's what people in Jersey call them. And we don't fight with those people.
Okay? I grew up there. Okay? I I was born in the South, grew up in Jersey. I said Sprinkles, no, they're Jimmy's.
And I never questioned it again. I was like, cool. Alright. But I would go to the Jersey Boardwalk. I was raised going to the Jersey Shore.
It's much safer than what the show depicted. And you could go to any custard stand, ice cream stand and build your ice cream. You could get mint chocolate chip, cookie dough, peanut butter. You could get custard. You could get any flavor you want.
And then they would roll it around in the jimmies and hand it to you. This is what we do sometimes with our Christian faith. We build it however we want it to, and then we say sprinkle on some Jesus jimmies. Jesus, here's here's my treasure. Here's what I want.
I have it just the way that I want it. Now sprinkle some love on it, Jesus. Will you? This is my treasure. Jesus has something very strong and direct to say about this mindset and this way of living.
In Matthew 19 to 21, he says in the message, don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or worse, stolen by burglars. He says this, stockpile treasure where in heaven? That's kingdom language. Where it's safe for moth and rust and burglars. And then he says it's obvious, isn't it, That the place where your treasure is is the place you will most want to be Amen.
And end up being. Please don't miss this. When we're living this way, we are misaligned. And there is a gradual disconnection that begins to form in our lives. A duplicitous way of living where we are straddling kingdom and culture.
But then when that duplicity turns into disillusionment, this isn't going the way that I had wanted. This isn't working out for me. Or that duplicity turns into discouragement. Man, man, I worked so hard and now this is what I get. Or worse, destruction.
Your marriage falls apart. Your kids walk away from your faith. We stop and we say, Jesus, why did you let this happen? And we've missed what Jesus says in John fifteen five. He says, I am the vine.
You are the branches. It's those who remain in me and I in them, they will produce much fruit. Why? Because for apart from me, you can do nothing. Amen.
Nothing. Amen. Culture is in your ear saying, you've got this. Jesus is saying, actually, you don't. You wanna know why?
Don't miss this. Because the greatest spiritual danger is not failure, it's independence. Trying to live a kingdom life without the king's presence. Remain in me. What does that mean?
In the Greek, actually means that you are connected. You are there is no there is no miss or disconnection between you. It means to continue to endure. It goes way beyond initial belief and trust. It signifies an active ongoing relationship.
And listen, it's through that relationship, that continual presence that your life, your thoughts, your choices, and your desires, listen, become shaped and formed by him. Amen. Amen. The continual presence, the ongoing active relationship. Here's what you can't miss today, that that shaping only comes through surrendering.
Celeste Contreras: Amen. Amen.
Melody Workman: Wow. Yes. Doesn't happen apart from it.
Audience: That's right.
Melody Workman: And I'm gonna challenge some of you in your faith today to wrestle with this, that you may be saved but not surrendered. Preach. Let's understand what why those are different. What does it mean to be saved? It means I have believed in and placed my trust in Jesus and Jesus alone for eternal life, for my salvation.
I've acknowledged that I'm a sinner and it's only by God's grace and forgiveness made possible by the death of Jesus that I am made clean. Jesus did that for me. If you believe that, you trust in that, you are saved. Ephesians two eight and nine says this, God saved you by his grace when? When you believed.
And you can't take credit for it. You didn't do anything to earn this. Salvation's not a reward for the good things we've done. So none of us can boast about it. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
Salvation is all him, and he saves you in an instant when you believe. Surrender is all you. And Jesus extends an invitation. What is surrender? It's the voluntary yielding of one's will and rights and control into the hands of God, in trust and obedience, in order, listen, to live under his rule, there's that kingdom language again, and in his love.
Think about how Jesus invited his disciples. Did he say get over here? He said come and see. When he gathered a crowd on the side of the mountain, did he say y'all better do this? If anyone wants to follow me.
Audience: Amen.
Melody Workman: It's an invitation. And think about where the disciples started and where they ended up. Surrender is a journey. They came and saw. They got some things right.
They got a lot wrong. There's hope for all of us. Jesus' crucifixion, they were ready? No, they weren't. They bailed.
But where did they end up? By giving everything they had. Surrender is a journey. And don't forget this, that Jesus is talking about a kingdom, and every kingdom has a king. The idea of surrender makes us wrestle with this question, who's mine?
Who's mine? I love the practical way that the apostle Paul talks about surrender in Romans twelve one. He just breaks it down. This is from the message. He says this, so here's what I want you to do.
God helping you because you know apart from him, we can do nothing. Take your everyday ordinary life. Your sleeping, your eating, you're going to work and walking around life, your everyday moments. And do what with them? Figure it out for yourself?
Do the best you can? Man up? No. Place it before God as an offering. And this sounds good.
I grew up hearing this my whole life. My whole life, I I grew up hearing about surrender. This is what you should do. This is what you this is what he's worthy of and and all of that. Just lay it all down.
And I'm like, yeah. Yes. That's that's exactly what I should do. And I do it on Monday and I'd quit by Tuesday. And and I never heard a sermon where anybody talked about what I wanna talk about now.
I I never heard one sermon where anybody ever brought this up. You know what we never talked about? The problem with surrender. But our vision is to be real, so we're gonna talk about it. This giving up, this yielding, this going last, this turn the cheek, this this backwards way of living.
There's a real problem with surrender if we're honest. You know where it starts? It starts with this, surrendering feels like losing. Raise your hand if you like to lose. My hand's going down.
I hate to lose. I don't like when my team loses. I get in a bad mood. If I lose, like, if there's two cars going to the parking spot and and we both got and and she gets me, I'm like, I wanted her to get out of the car and then let's get into a leg race right here, foot race. I gotta win before I get in Target, okay?
Audience: That's right.
Melody Workman: I don't like to lose. When my boys were little, we signed them up for sports, okay? And you know, that world is crazy, y'all, okay? They want like $250 for you to, like, give up your whole Saturday, like, nine weeks in a row. For some costume they gotta wear to play these sports, I gotta surrender to work in the concession stand.
I gotta bring a healthy snack. Listen, I'm throwing some Kool Aid jammers and Cheetos in that bag. You get what you get because this was what was on sale. Other moms be throwing the whole Sprouts store into one store, into one bag. The whole thing.
But on the way to practice, I'd telling my boys in the car, we're here to win. Okay? You're here to help your team win. You get out there and you practice, you run hard. You fall down, you get up.
If I show up at your game and you stink, I'm taking you out of the game. I'm not even waiting for your coach. I'm not here to watch you stink. I'm here to watch you work hard. And my boy, they're in here today.
They know this is true. I signed Mehdi up for soccer one year, and I knew we were gonna have problems day one. Day one. Because I had talked to him off at practice, and this might have this looked like we were frolicking at the park. The kids are kicking the ball.
They're doing cartwheels. They're rolling around. The coach is asking everybody this question. Are you having fun? Okay.
Okay. What? We can I don't say anything in that moment? We get to the first game. We lost 10 to zero.
Zero. We didn't get one goal. And the coach is letting these these kids decide which position they want to play. I said, what is happening here? We get to the end of the game.
You guys know me. I have a hard time not showing what I'm thinking. And we're standing around behind the kids and I and I'm doing this. My husband can feel my nervous energy. And the coach says this, did everybody have fun?
And my hand shot at my husband that he's not taking questions. It's rhetorical. No. We're not having fun because no one likes to lose.
Audience: That's right.
Melody Workman: Right? That's right. And who wants to lose a life? And yet in this backwards kingdom, there's an invitation to lose. Have we ever stopped and asked ourselves this question, what if we're winning at the wrong thing?
Celeste Contreras: Oh, yeah. Preach. Preach.
Melody Workman: Wow. I mean, we get to we get to Philippians and and Paul, before he became Paul, when he was Saul, he was, elite. He he was a he was a Jew, but he had Roman citizenship. He was well educated. He was a Pharisee.
He he had he he had clout. He probably was well off and influential, and he met Jesus, and Jesus radically changes his life. And now listen to how Paul talks about his old life where he was winning. He says, whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. He says, what is more?
I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For whose sake, he says it again, I've lost all things. Paul goes on to say this, I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ. Culture says winners take all to get. Kingdom says winners lose all to gain.
Amen. But can we just sit in the reality that this is hard? Surrendering feels like losing. You know what else is hard? Surrendering comes after struggling.
We don't waltz into surrender. We we waltz to get baptized, but we don't waltz to surrender.
Audience: That's right. That's right. We
Melody Workman: see the most beautiful example of struggling in surrender from Jesus himself When he's in the Garden Of Gethsemane in Luke 22, it says he walked away about a stone's throne. He knelt down and he prayed. Listen to listen to the struggle. Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering from me. And then the surrender, yet I want your will to be done, not mine.
Oh, now it's breezy for Jesus on the way to the cross. No. Verse 34 verse 44, he prayed more fervently and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. Why? Because struggling is hard.
But there are believers out there who are so, misinformed as to what we're actually struggling against. Think about your marriage. You think your struggle's with your spouse? Think about your kids. You think your struggle is with them in your dating relationship?
Your struggle is listen. There is an enemy who understands the power of your surrender. We forget this. That's right. And when we forget this, what we do is we we don't we don't align our lives with the mission of Jesus and we start doing silly things like this.
Parents, there's times we would rather boycott than battle. Pay listen to me. The enemy of your child's soul is not the CEO making the shirt or the show that you don't like. You can withhold your support however you choose to, but that's not the enemy. What does it say in Ephesians six twelve?
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and the authorities and the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We have to equip our kids for battle. Battle. Because there is absolutely going to be a tug of war on your journey of surrender. In fact, all along the way, you know what we're tempted with?
We're tempted with the partial surrender. We feel good about this. I feel good about this. It's like, you know, when I enjoy my steak and my mac and cheese and my loaded mashed potatoes, but I don't do dessert because I've got self control. It's when we say, Jesus, you can have my time, but you can't my anger.
I'll serve, but I'm staying mad because because what they did. I'm I'm not releasing that. Jesus, you can have my money. I'll give. But my kids?
No. No. I've already figured all that out. This is where they're gonna go to school. This is who they're gonna marry.
This is where they're gonna live. Single people. Jesus, I'll serve, but I'm not giving up sex. Here's my blue shirt. Here I am on stage.
You can't offer Jesus the throne room of your heart but keep your bedroom to yourself.
But
this is hard. It's really hard. So we have to wrestle with this question. If this is so hard for me, then why does Jesus want this for me? Because this is why.
Because surrender is the game changer for the Christian. Amen. It's the game changer. It changes everything. Why?
Because surrender unleashes the power of God in your life to do the impossible. You wanna see God do something amazing in your marriage? Surrender. You wanna see God do something amazing through your kids? Give them to God.
You wanna see God transform your community, your finances, your friendships, your mind, then stop trying to control it. Think about the last time you've seen something impossible. Something where you're like, no way. Did that just happen? Bringing it back to the Eagles for a moment.
I'm sorry that this was against the Rams. I love all y'all. But a few weeks ago, we're watching the Eagles and the Rams, and we're we're not playing well at all. We we find ourselves in a hole, and we end up fourth quarter, seconds left, 27, 26. We're up by one point, but they're kicking a field goal.
And it's a 44 yard field goal, which let me help y'all who don't understand football. That is it's it's not like it's it's it's a no brainer, but it's reasonable. A good field goal kicker in the NFL can make that, can can kick that. So I'm watching on the sideline. Everybody looks like we're about to lose, all the Eagles players.
We're mad. Me and Adam are mad at them, but we're kinda sniffing at each other because we're mad at them and the whole thing. And then the craziest thing happens. This guy named Jordan Davis on our team, he's six'six, three thirty six pounds. Bro, feed that boy less.
Is. He blocks the field goal. Now he's six'six. So I go, Okay, that's reasonable. But then what happens next was incredible.
Bro picks up the ball and runs it into the end zone for a touchdown, running at 18 miles an hour, which is comparative to some running backs that weigh a 100 pounds less. We look at each other like, no way. We're freaking out. It was impossible. It changed the game.
That's what surrender can do in your life. What if you became one of God's no way stories? People know you. They know where you've been. They know what you've gone through.
They know what your struggle is and you surrender, and Jesus writes a whole new narrative, that can be your life through the power of surrender. They looked at Jesus and said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And Jesus said, just wait. Hold my hold my wine. Listen, what are you what what are we really surrendering to?
We surrendering to a taskmaster? Jesus, here's my weed. Jesus, here's my fun. Jesus, here here's here's my phone. Here's all the things that I know.
They're not good for me, so just go ahead and take them because because I need to surrender. That's not what Jesus is after. He's not after a forced surrender. He's after a free surrender.
Celeste Contreras: Yes. Amen.
Melody Workman: So let me ask you this question. What do you see when you look at the cross? What do you see? The cross is an invitation to surrender to love.
Audience: Amen. For
Melody Workman: God so loved that he gave. He surrendered his son. And what did God the son do on the cross? He said, no one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it.
I surrender it voluntarily. For who? For you. And what did he give? Everything he had.
Everything he had. In fact, there's an alternate reading interpretation of the passage that we've read through today. Some New Testament scholars read this passage in a different way, a backwards way, if you will, where they say Jesus is talking about himself finding the treasure in the field. And Jesus is the merchant on the lookout for a pearl, and he sells everything he has to get it because you are the treasure. Because you are the pearl.
I don't know what's been spoken over your life. I don't know what you've what you've heard or what you believe. I don't know what messages of devaluing you sat under or tried to move past or struggled through. But regardless of how you read this passage, the cross tells one story, that you are the treasure, that you are the pearl, that Jesus came looking for you, that Jesus stopped at nothing to rescue you, that Jesus gave up everything he had for you. And so we sit in this truth today that we do not surrender in order to be loved.
We surrender because we are loved. Jesus himself said in John 15, there's no greater love than to lay down one's life, to surrender for one's friends. Never get over, never get over did Jesus cause you friend. And can I just ask you for a moment to think about this? Who else has loved you like this?
Who else has loved you like this? And and what is this kind of love worthy of? As a response, the great theologian and pastor Tim Keller says this, every treasure on this earth says, give your life to purchase me. Jesus says, I'm the one treasure who died to purchase you. I just wonder if we could sit in this moment right now together from wherever you're watching.
Those of you that came into the studio, those of you at a campus, if you take the communion elements that you were given, and if you're watching from your house and you can grab something to to participate in this time, I want us to take a different look today at communion and what it really is and what it really means. Take the the cracker that represents the body of Jesus. Just hold it in your hand for a moment. What did Jesus do with his body that was broken? He surrendered it.
He surrendered it. He gave it. He gave it for you. He gave it for me. So wherever you're sitting and watching, can we just say this together?
Jesus, thank you for your surrender. Let's say it together. Jesus, thank you for your surrender. Let's take the bread together. And take the juice that represents his blood.
Jesus allowed his blood to be shed. Why? Because without it, there is no forgiveness of sins. So he surrendered himself to the death that you and I deserved to spare us and to give us forgiveness. That is the power of surrender.
So together I want us to say, Jesus, thank you for your surrender. Let's say it together. Jesus, thank you for your surrender. Let's take the juice together. With a fresh perspective, I want you to consider this, that you were worthy of Jesus' surrender.
And what you have to wrestle with and what I have to wrestle with is this, is he worthy of yours? Is he worthy of mine? A few weeks ago, Adam and I were having dinner down in, San Juan Capistrano. And right from our seat, right from the booth we were sitting in, I had this beautiful view of the mission. And at the mission, I'll show you the photo, I could just see this cross.
It was an overcast night. And there was a few moments where as I just sat there looking at that cross, I just began to to weep at the table. Because I I thought to myself, how many millions of people walk by or drive by that cross every day and look at it? And when they look at it, what do they see? If you wear one around your neck, if you have one tattooed on your arm, what do you see when you look at that cross?
I think so many people and and most people, when they look at the cross, you know what they think? They think that's a way to die. That's where someone died. They're not wrong. But when Jesus went to the cross, when Jesus went to the cross with the message of this backwards kingdom, this upside down kingdom and when Jesus opened up his arms to die, he showed us something different.
That the cross just isn't a place where you go to die, it's where you go to live. What the cross says to you and me today is this, your life has been forever changed by somebody's surrender. Whose life whose life could be changed because of yours? Wherever you're watching, just want you to close your eyes and and put your palms out like this if you're willing. I don't know what what you're battling today.
I I don't know what's holding you back. I don't know where you've where you've gotten stuck or or caught. But because surrender is a journey, there's so much grace today for you and where you are. Surrendering does feel like losing in culture. It come after struggling.
There's no easy way around that. But also the cross teaches us that when we surrender, we surrender to love. I just wonder today if you'd be willing to to step into what I'm calling a surrender experiment with your palms facing upwards. When you begin to think about something where you wanna grasp it, you wanna clutch it, you wanna hold it, you wanna you wanna take it back, you wanna resist, that you would open up your hands and you would ask yourself this question, who's king? Who's king?
As you walk into your week, into a conversation, into the doctor's office, into your workplace, into your home, even in your own mind with the thoughts that you think, if you would just throughout your week begin to practice this posture and in every situation ask yourself this question, who's king? And then imagine with me for a moment what our king could do with the surrender of every single one of us. So Jesus Jesus, in a new and a fresh way, with a posture of open handedness, we come before you now and we say, you're king. It's your kingdom. And you know deep down inside of us what all of us are battling with, struggling with, protesting, boycotting, holding on to, you know.
Would you give us God, and the only way that you can speak to us all as your children and remind us of your love. Remind us that surrender is the way to live. Remind us that it's the game changer for the Christian. It unleashes the power of God in our lives like nothing else. And so Jesus, we want that.
Jesus, we want you. So give us your power to live this way because we know that apart from you, we can do nothing. So we surrender ourselves again and say, Jesus, have your way. In your name we pray. Amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos: What a powerful word we got to hear today from Melody Workman inviting us to surrender as we follow Jesus. And we hope that this week you would experience life through losing and life through struggle. And for those of you who are part of Sandals Church, even though maybe you watch online far away, this is an opportunity now for you to support the work that God is doing in and through our church. We would love for you to pray through what that looks like in your life. To support us, you can go to sandalschurch.com/support.
Grace and peace.
Morgan Teruel: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you want more content from this series, we have a YouTube playlist linked in the description. And if you want more information about who we are and what we do, you can go sandalschurch.com.