Sermon: Surrender
Bible Passage: Galatians 2:19-20
2:19 For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God—I have been crucified with Christ. 2:20 And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So, the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
I. Background
II. Paul’s three important statements in verse 19:
1. “I died to the Law”: something has come to end and no further loyalty to it
2. “I might live to God”: something new has begun with a new loyalty and allegiance
3. “I have been crucified with Christ”: A metaphor refers to an end of his old way of living
a. He ceased to seek pursue relationship with God through the Law
b. Jesus’ crucifixion provided him what he was seeking through the Law—
c. The preposition “with” underlines his participation in the crucifixion of Jesus
d. Paul is not promoting a philosophical mysticism here, but expresses a decisive change that happened in his life which we call “justification”
e. “I have been crucified with Christ” implies a radical transformation within the believer
III. Observation on verse 19
1. Paul’s relationship to self, sin, world, and legalistic route to reach God has been decisively altered
2. None of the past controls, dominates, or defines his present any longer (verse 19b)
3. The life and work of Jesus Christ was continuously bringing transformation in Paul’s life
4. For Paul, the altered present existence is “to live for God” (verse 19)
IV. Verse 20
1. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me”
a. Though Paul continued to live in the same body, the operating principle is not the same
b. In the place of the Law, Jesus and His teachings operated him
c. It does not mean that he did not have struggles with sin; Jesus gave him a new way to look at the world and his relationship with God
d. Christ lives through the Holy Spirit of God
2. “The life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God”
a. It is not a mysticism or a supernatural transformation into sinlessness, but it refers to a change of loyalty
b. At the cross of Jesus, Paul surrendered his past life
i. For Paul, “surrender” is not “defeat” or “giving up”
ii. It is a response to the truth of the Gospel
iii. It’s a change of lordship
iv. It’s his willingness to reform his life based on the merit of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
V. Observations on verse 20
1. For Paul, there was a clear difference between his past before Christ and present after meeting with Christ
2. He had a clear goal with regard to his present life
3. He knew who guides his life
4. There was a clear change of loyalty in his life—from the Law to Jesus
Take Away:
1. Identify areas in your life where Jesus is still not the Lord and
2. Hand them over to him voluntarily as a response to the Gospel