Surrender – Chris Linzey

Yesterday I did something I never thought I’d do – something my wife cautioned me against. I did it anyway. I asked an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter to put me in several choke holds and submissions in church. Not the smartest idea I’ve ever had, but it was brilliant. Here’s why:

Jesus likes MMA.

No, I don’t think Jesus roots for any particular fighter. He doesn’t root for a specific football, baseball, or rugby team. I don’t think God cares about human sporting events. No in the big picture, anyway.

But MMA is a different kind of sport. It’s all about submission. It’s about getting your opponent to willingly surrender and give up the fight in acknowledgment that you are superior. It’s a perfect example of the way we are supposed to respond to God.

You see, there is a battle going on – conflict within our own hearts. My heart wants things that are not good for it. My heart wants things that seem pleasant but ultimately lead to destruction and decay. My heart wants cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and Twinkies. But that stuff will end up damaging my heart.

On a more serious level, my heart has desires and cravings that are driven by selfishness, greed, and other less-than-noble motivations. There is an internal war within us all. Our own hearts fight between our way and God’s way.

The Bible says that the solution is simple: we have to decide who we want to be friends with. We can choose friendship with the things of this world and follow our hearts or we can choose friendship with God and follow His heart.

It comes down to this: resist the Devil but submit to God.

That’s fight language! We continue to struggle and fight against the evil that pulls us down the wrong road but we submit to God. If you’ve ever watched an MMA fight you’ve seen submission in action.

So I invited a fighter I know to put me in some choke holds. I got together with him a few days before the service and he talked me through what he was going to do. Except when the time came in the service to do our demonstration he wasn’t as gentle as he was during our walk-through. I don’t know what happened – maybe his fighter instinct took over. But when he put that first choke-hold on me he lifted me off my knees. Let’s just say that I tapped out PRETTY QUICKLY!

that's me in a triangle choke hold... — that’s me in a triangle choke hold…

The fight language is pretty appropriate spiritually. We often fight against God. We know what he wants and what he desires. We know the kind of people we ought to be and kind of lives we should live. But we struggle. We fight. We don’t want to submit. And that’s wrong.

The Bible calls us to draw near to God. The Bible calls us to submit – to surrender in the fight and recognize that he is superior to us.

I know what you’re thinking – you’re thinking, “I’m a Christian, I’ve already submitted to God.” But I bet if you were honest with yourself you’d find a couple areas where you’re holding on to the fight. Most of us have some things that we really don’t want to submit to God, no matter how long we’ve been a believer. But can you imagine Christianity if we would all submit in every way to God?

Submit our habits.
Submit our television shows.
Submit our infidelities.
Submit our selfishness.
Submit our pride.
Submit our _______________…

Our hearts are deceptive. They pull us in the wrong direction. But we can end the fight. We can tap out to God and admit that we are not his equal. Choose God’s way over our own way.

How about you? What have you submitted to God? What do you still need to submit? Are you willing to tap out?

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I had an interesting conversation today. Actually, it was a ministry first. Someone asked me if it was okay for Christians to engage in Voodoo if it was for good results. It was an ethics question: say a child is sick and medical avenues courses have been exhausted but a local voodoo practitioner claims he can heal the child. Can the Christian employ voodoo for the sake of healing (and thus doing good)?

I was taken aback by the questions because I simply assumed (naively?) that the answer to such a question was a no-brainer. Apparently it isn’t and still needs to be addressed in some areas, so here’s why I think the Christian should not use voodoo, magic, or any other type of art even for the sake of performing good.

First, the Bible flat out tells us to avoid pagan practices like sorcery, divination, etc. This isn’t even one of those passages that is open to the “context” debate, meant for one time and place but not meant for all time and all people. No – this seems to be one of those verses that God intended to hold for eternity.

Second, using sorcery and voodoo is an attempt to manipulate the world through supernatural means. It removes God from the driver’s seat and tries to force our will upon people, life, and circumstances. The Bible is clear that God is God and we are not. It is not our place to try to manipulate the supernatural for our own desires. It demonstrates an inability to trust God and yield to him. It says, “I’m in charge and this is what I want so I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make it happen.” Such an attitude is not the attitude of a believer.

Two examples come to mind. The first is Jesus. He knew the course that was set before him. He knew his path led to death. And in normal human fashion he was looking for a way out. He repeatedly prayed, asking God to change the path and find a different way so that he didn’t have to go to death. But his ultimate conclusion was this: Not my will but yours be done. It didn’t matter what Jesus wanted because his only aim was that the will of the Father was accomplished.

The second example is Paul. Paul had something he referred to as his “thorn in the flesh.” We’re not quite sure what that thorn was but people who are smarter than I am speculate that it could have been some sort of vision or eye problem (he references having to write in large letters in one of his letters). Paul tells that he repeatedly asked God to remove this problem from his life. God’s ultimate answer was, “No.” Actually – it wasn’t just no. It was, “You don’t need to worry about it because my grace is sufficient for you.”

If we take the object of our faith (Jesus) and the premier preacher of the faith (Paul) as examples, we should be content to pursue every natural means possible to alter health and wellness. We simultaneously pursue prayer until our knees ache and our hearts are ready to burst. But in the end it is God’s call, not ours. We should not attempt to circumvent God and wrest control into our own hands, and that’s all that voodoo and witchcraft do.

Third, the philosophical argument put to me today was essentially that “the ends justify the means.” I do not believe that to be a viable philosophy. While some ends are worthy, there are some means that are simply wrong – no question about it. This philosophy has been the excuse for many atrocities against people. It doesn’t matter who we hurt as long as we’re moving towards the desired goal. Bogus. People matter, and we cannot walk over people simply to achieve positive results. Now move that principle into this blog’s question. If the ends do NOT justify the means then, even if we have good intentions, we cannot act contrary to God – even if we believe we’re doing good.

In the end it comes down to faith that God is God and sees what we can’t. Are we willing to yield to him and to his will? Will we surrender control of our own lives or are we willing to do whatever it takes to force our own results?

What do you think? Do the ends justify the means? Where do we stop in our pursuit of “good”?