Life given to God

[AI translation] The apostle Paul addressed this call to believers, people who have already known the mystery of salvation, have acknowledged and accepted the grace of forgiveness of sins, have come into contact with the living Jesus Christ, and have believed in Him. To these the apostle says: "Now draw the consequences of your faith, that is, give yourselves to God." Faith in Christ is not only a new way of thinking, not only a new emotion, not only a closed world of the inner man in general, but a life in which the whole man, body and soul, gives himself to God, and this surrender to God is reflected in his whole conduct. Dedicate yourselves to God! This is also the main message of God's message to us today. As the apostle explains this call, it reveals, first of all, some misunderstandings and misunderstandings about religion, what religion, faith in God, is not for.It is a very common opinion, even among believers, that the whole purpose of faith in God is to give people some kind of inner support and strength in the difficulties of life. We are helpless in the face of good or fate and therefore need some kind of crutch to fill our gaps. Such a crutch is religion, such a crutch is God, such an escape from the struggles of life is faith. That is why many modern people do not need religion. They see it as powerlessness, as a cause of the weak, of women and children. People who can stand on their own two feet don't need it. Of course there is some truth in this, but it is only half-truth. And that is why it is dangerous! It is undoubtedly true, of course, that he who believes in God will find that his faith in God is a great strength and support in the difficulties and darkness of his life. And that is great! But: it is not the root of faith, but its fruit. It is also that certain "extra" that is given to those who seek first the kingdom of God.
Our Christian religion is not there to meet man's every need, certainly not to make life oily and comfortable - indeed, it can be downright uncomfortable for us to believe in God, because we are generally reluctant to let go of the reins of our lives. And yet that is what it means to believe: to give oneself to God, to give oneself body and soul to the service of Someone else. The misunderstanding, the abuse of religion is that one believes in God in order to benefit from His providential power. It is as if someone wants to enlist as a soldier just to benefit from the treasury provisions, food, clothing. This provision is not an end, but an addition, a natural consequence of having enlisted as a soldier. But that is not the point of being a soldier. The essence of our faith is not in the share of the heavenly treasury, not in the provisions, but first of all in what the apostle warns us: "Dedicate yourselves to God." Faith is nothing other than an ever-renewing self-dedication to God! So here it is not a question of making a reservation to God, but of acknowledging that God has made a reservation for you. I do not desire something from Him, but He desires something from me! I don't have a purpose with Him, He has a purpose with me. He is not at my disposal to help me here and there where I need Him, but I am at His disposal to be used here and there where He needs me. It is not as if religion were the support of weak men, the affair of women and children, and strong men had no need of it, for, behold, it is not that man has a claim on God, but that God has a claim on man. And this claim is nothing less than that men should devote themselves to God!
There is perhaps another misunderstanding about religion. For many people are not sympathetic to the cause of faith because it is very often confused with all kinds of superstitions. Indeed, the world confuses religion and superstition. It lumps them together. It pronounces the verdict that religion is superstition! And superstition is largely born of ignorance and must be fought against. The more enlightened humanity becomes, the more it advances in scientific knowledge, the less it needs religion, the more it is cured of the childish world of superstition. Well, I too can only say that religion which harbours superstition must indeed be fought with all our might! We are fighting! For what is superstition, what is its basis? Fear! Fear of the inexplicable, fear of the mysterious. Who knows what great evil powers control our destiny, influence our lives, spoil our luck?! So, by all kinds of meaningless rituals, relics, talismans, prayers, religious practices, the influence of evil powers must be warded off and the favour of good powers must be won. We must parry these powers, so that none of them may be too much incited against us, and by magical practices we must influence them to leave us alone, not to hurt us, not to take away our luck, not to spoil our happiness!
Unfortunately, there are also many superstitious elements in the beliefs of many Christian people. And this really needs to be fought! In this fight against superstition, the Church of Christ and atheism are partners in arms. We, as Christian believers, must make it very clear to the world that believing in God and being superstitious are not the same thing, but two very different things! We are not bound by some superstitious fear of a mysterious, unpredictable supreme power, but by a great, grateful love for the Father we have known in Jesus. And when we pray to Him, we do so not to win His favour or to keep His wrath from being over our heads, but to beg ourselves into the working of His will, to be conformed to His will, to offer ourselves to His service. We do not seek to do good so that we may not anger the One on Whom our destiny depends, but so that we may become active instruments of the good that God wants to do to the world, to the people around us! We do not want to be His, so that we may be a means to our own ends, but so that He may use us all the more for His own purposes, for the benefit of others! When Paul calls us to "dedicate yourselves to God", he is urging us, against all superstition, to be able now, as children of God, to be free from all fears and to be able to "live a busy life, striving for good and beautiful things", as I read in a recent newspaper article, as an expression of realistic living. It is precisely the truly Christian believer who is the most free from superstition!
Yet another common misinterpretation of religion and faith is exposed in the light of this Word. Many modern people turn away from religion because they do not consider it practical enough, saying that it only applies to invisible things, of which man has little use. Religion is considered to be a narcotic, a drug to make man dream himself out of the misery of the present world into the happiness of a world to come. Some people do indeed use drugs to escape from a hopeless reality into a dream world - and many consider religion to be one of the most powerful drugs. It is needed by people who no longer have any hope for life on earth, and who therefore have all their hopes pinned on life after death. All over the world, vast masses of people have turned their backs on religion, on the Church, precisely because the Church has too easily comforted people suffering in bitter circumstances with the hope that life on earth will soon pass and be replaced by the glory of heaven. There is some truth, then, in the view that a certain religiosity is like a narcotic, and that a person who is so religious can no longer strive with such fervour and determination to improve his life on earth.
Well, this very appeal of Paul shows that, even if in practice there is a religiosity that really does act as a narcotic, it is a caricature of true faith. Dedicate yourselves to God, says the apostle. God's purpose in the whole redemption is not only to secure for man the possibility of salvation, but to involve man in his own divine work. So it is precisely the practical consequence of our faith: Dedicate yourselves to God - it is not just a new spirituality, but a whole new way of life: a way of life for God. "Dedicate yourselves to God. Not something of ourselves, not just a few devotional hours or a donation from our pockets, but ourselves, from all of us. All of you! God wants whole people who give their whole lives to Him, giving themselves to Him with every function of their lives and in every area. That is what God calls us to do and that is what He calls us to do again every day when we stand before Him, when we pray to Him, when we open the Bible, when we think of Him. Again and again, we must hear this mobilising command: give yourselves to God!
But what does God want from us? Well, in short: to use it! The mighty God wants to make us co-workers. To work with God, to do God's work together, to be partners in God's work! They are part of the work that God is doing, for example in a family, or in a church, or in the life of a people. They are instruments through whom God works on a human soul or a human community. People who live as God's agents in the place where they live. Who demonstrate by their lives, or if need be, by their words, what it means to be forgiven, to be freed from sin, to be comforted by God, to have heavenly resources, to have resurrection triumphant over death, and to have eternal life. God's daily renewed claim on us is what the Word says: "Dedicate yourselves to God." Believers in Christ are called not just to be devout observers of God's work, not just to be saved, not just to share in God's providential provision, but to be in active service. They have a commission as a serving soldier in the army of Christ. Always: even when one is grieving, because so much depends on how one grieves for the one one has lost; even when one is sick, because so much depends on how one bears his sickness; even when one dies, because so much depends on how the believer dies.
And to serve God in this way, one must not be skilful, strong, able, but determined, ready. As Paul says: Dedicate yourselves to God! It's the same as we read several times in the book of Psalms, like this: "My heart is ready." It could be practically translated, "Lord, my hands, my feet, my mouth are ready for your service! And if thou wilt truly give him thy hand, he will give him work to do; if thou wilt give him thy foot, he will show the way; if thou wilt give him thy mouth, he will give him the words that are right for it. If you are earnest in your devotion, you will always know what His specific will for you is in that particular situation. Try to go before God every morning with this prayer: "What wilt Thou, Lord, have me to do?" And then you will see how your whole life of faith will be fulfilled and strengthened! Through service you will begin to know the true beauty, richness and joy of faith in Christ!
Church of Pasareth, who throughout the land have the reputation of loving to hear the Word, hear then this call of God, "Dedicate yourselves to God as those who have been raised from the dead to life, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." May it be a happy experience for all of us that Jesus once said, "My yoke is beautiful and my burden is light!"
Amen!
Date: 4 October 1964.