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In Luke 14:28-35, Jesus reminds us that unless we give up and surrender everything we have, we cannot be his true disciples. Many years ago, I heard this revised, sometimes accurate version of the song ‘All to Jesus, I Surrender’. It goes like this,

Some to Jesus, I surrender
Some to Thee I freely give
I will mostly love and trust Him
In His presence, often live

I surrender some
I surrender some
Some to Jesus, I surrender
I surrender some

 Some to Jesus I surrender

Proudly at his feet, I stand

Worldly pleasures all held tightly

Take some Jesus but not too much

Don’t you think this song reflects our church today? More importantly, does it reflect you? Let us humble ourselves before God and honestly reflect on this question.

A century ago, a man named Judson Van Deventer wrestled with his life choices. He loved the arts and became an author, composer and artist. Nevertheless, he felt that God was calling him to ministry. He wrestled for some years whether or not to leave his job that he loved so much. One fine day after much prayer and reflection, he said, ‘At last the pivotal hour of my life came and I surrendered all’ and then penned those famous words.

All to Jesus I surrender All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him In His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all
All to Thee my precious Saviour
I surrender all.

Later, he joined Florida Bible Institute and played a vital role in mentoring one of the greatest evangelists of all time, Rev Billy Graham.

Dear friends, the concept of total surrender to God is probably the most essential factor in our relationship with him. There is a difference between salvation and discipleship. Salvation means coming to the cross and believing in Christ Jesus, but discipleship means carrying our cross and following Christ Jesus. In Luke 14, Jesus taught about the cost of being His disciple. It involves the total surrender of our lives to him. Carrying our cross means death to self, our plans and ambitions, and we place God and his will for us above everything else. God gets upset when we confess his authority over us, but we carry on to live by our plans and ambitions. Apostle Paul noted that he no longer lives, but Christ lives in him (Gal 2:19-20). Christ always did the will of the Father, so if we die to self and let Christ live in us, then we will also be able to do the will of the Father. CH Spurgeon once said, ‘No man has truly given himself to Christ unless he has said, ‘My Lord, I give thee this day my body, my soul, my powers, my talents, my goods, my house, my children, and all that I have. Henceforth, I hold them at thy will, as a steward under thee. Thine they are. As for me, I have nothing. I have surrendered all to thee!’’

Can you say that prayer today? Are you surrendering some, but you would like to surrender all and become a true disciple of Christ? Let us come before our almighty God to repent, surrender all, carry our cross and follow Christ daily.

Have you heard about the elderly man (maybe in his mid 80’s) who moved into a retirement community to spend the rest of his life there? Because of his charismatic personality, it wasn’t long until he had made a number of friends among the other residents. There was one lady he was especially attracted to and she was attracted to him as well. So they spent a lot of time together. Finally one evening he proposed, asking her to marry him.

The next morning he woke up remembering his proposal, but he couldn’t remember her answer. So he went to her and said, ‘I’m really embarrassed. I proposed to you last night but I can’t remember if you said Yes or No’.

‘Oh, thank goodness! You are that one’ she replied. ‘I remembered saying yes, but I couldn’t remember who asked me’.

Though we chuckle at that, sometimes I feel the same way about my new year resolutions. Many of us make great promises to ourselves about what we are going to do in the new year, but we usually abandon about the second week in January. Let’s be honest now. How many of you kept to your diet and exercise plans? Yes, there are some people who do keep their resolutions. Nonetheless,  I want to talk about a resolution, which I guarantee, will make a radical difference in your life this year.

The apostle Paul writing to the Philippians talks about an amazing commitment in Philippians 3:13-14 – But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Forgetting is a difficult thing to do. Please keep in mind that biblical terminology ‘to forget’ does not mean ‘to fail to remember’. It is not like a brain malfunction or a mental gymnastic technique. It is very difficult to forget what has happened in the past.  ‘To forget’ according to the Bible means ‘to be no longer influenced by or affected by’. God said in Hebrews 10:17 – and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. This does not mean that God has a terrible or a bad memory. It just means is that God will no longer hold their sins against them or their sins will no longer influence his attitude towards them. Forgetting those things which are behind simply means that we break the power of the past by living for the future.

Self-evaluation sometimes can be a dangerous thing because we can err in two directions – 1) make ourselves better than we are, and 2) make ourselves worse than we really are. God does not want us to live a life that is being imprisoned by our past. Some of you might have had tough time last year. Or something bad might have happened in the last few years and that is now still troubling you.

Christians should be like runners who refuse to look around or look back but keep running with their eyes on the goal. Many Christians are trying to run the race looking backward. No wonder they stumble and fall or get in the way of other Christians. To look back at past successes or failures, or to look around to see what others are doing or saying, is to invite defeat.

Apostle Paul is encouraging us to put our eyes and trust on Jesus and strain towards what is ahead of us in 2024. He is saying is that we must not allow ourselves to be bogged down by our past failures, but leave them behind and move forward into the future that God has for us.

When we read the story of the wise men in the Bible, it is only the Gospel of Matthew (2:1-12) that records this narrative. What struck me when I read this passage is that when these wise men came to the place where Jesus was, the Bible tells us that they were overjoyed (Matt 2:10). Please note, it was not just joy, it was exceedingly great joy.

The reason for their overjoy was that from the time the Medo-Persian Empire was overthrown by Alexander, people were looking for a King who would come and overthrow the Roman Empire. To their overjoy, a star rose and announced that their awaited next King, the messiah was born.

Please note that their overjoy was not because they saw the star, but because of Jesus. They were thrilled and excited because of Jesus. Now, honestly, ask yourselves a question, what excites you this Christmas? Is it the decoration? Carols? Meeting your family or relatives? Christmas gifts? Roast Turkey?

My dear friends, if the answer to that question is not Jesus, you really need to rethink how you celebrate Christmas. Jesus should be the reason for excitement on every Christmas. Now please don’t mishear me. I am not saying that all of the above are wrong. Do decorate your houses, do sing carols and meet your family and friends. However, they should not replace Jesus. He should be the main focus and attention of every Christmas. When Christ is the main focus of Christmas, then that is indeed a true Christmas.