THE SECRET OF RELINQUISHMENT

SEVEN STATEMENTS FROM THE CROSS

LUKE 23:46

THE SECRET OF RELINQUISHMENT

To say that there are three things that trouble us all would be a terrible understatement.  Each of us have seemingly thousands of things that cause us concern and worry.  However I believe that as Christians most if not all of our worries can be summed up in three categories.

Weakness…Fear…Failure

·          How often have you thought I am just not strong enough to make this happen?  I don’t have the strength to complete this task.  This thing that I’m facing is simply too big for me to accomplish.  I am weak.

·         How many nights have you tossed and turned in your bed, walked the floors, drove around aimlessly trying to “figure out” in your mind how to handle the things that frighten you and cause you to fear?  How many times have you tried to arrange things differently so that you would not have to face the thing that frightens you the most?

·         As Christians we read, study and understand the requirements that God has made on our lives and yet feel helpless to accomplish those requirements.  

We are weak, fearful and incapable of being all that God wants us to be.

What on earth has that got to do with the last statement that our Lord made from the cross that Friday afternoon so long ago?  I believe that in His time of torment and suffering on that killing field outside the Jerusalem walls, He experienced and addressed all of the things that you and I will have to face in our lives. I believe the Word when it says that “He was in all ways tempted as we are yet without sin”.  And I believe that in His last statement He was showing us how to address the three massive categories of problems that you and I will inevitably face in our lives.

I believe that with His last statement, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit” Jesus was showing us the way to the things that we need the most.

Power… Peace… Purity

By placing His Spirit into His Father’s hands Jesus was “relinquishing” some things that were troubling Him and if we follow His lead, we can do the same.

Let’s look at some synonyms of the word relinquish or relinquishment.

Give up…abandon…put aside…let go…release. 

1.  RELINQUISHMENT PROVIDES POWER.  That doesn’t sound right does it?  If I give up, if I abandon how can I possibly retain power?

Let me give you an example.  Those of you who have ever been or known someone who has been through a military “boot camp” will understand what I say when I tell you that in establishing a company in a military boot camp the government takes 70 or 80 individuals with all their various individual strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies and forms a company that is a compilation of those things.  But until they place those individuals in a situation in which they give up or relinquish their “individualism” the company will not be strong. 

The individual powers or skills or abilities that those young men possess will actually do the military no good at all until they are “relinquished” into the hands of the officers and utilized for the good of the company.  In relinquishing their strengths, they become stronger.  In giving up and abandoning their perceived supremacy they achieve a much greater power. 

Does that make sense to you?  

But oh, that’s not an easy task in boot camp. How many push-ups, how many laps, how many inspections and hours of standing in line and marching in formation it takes to break these young men down and form them into a strong, powerful company of men that the government can utilize?

It’s not easy for us to achieve in our Christian lives either is it?  The perceived strength and power that we “think” we have as an individual is nothing until we “give it up” to God and let Him use it as He sees fit.  All of our skills, knowledge and power is useless in light of eternity until we “abandon” it and put it in God’s hands.

When Jesus relinquished His Spirit into the hands of His loving Father He become the possessor of all the power of the universe.  If while being slapped and whipped and beaten and spit upon and laughed at, He ever doubted the power that He possessed, He did not doubt it now.  His life and being was totally in the hands of an all powerful, ever present, all knowing, ever loving God, and that is ultimate power. 

Relinquishment takes away our weakness.  There is POWER in RELINQUISHMENT.   

2.  RELINQUISHMENT PROVIDES PEACE. The job that I do sometimes requires me to take on a lot of responsibility.  I think I told you that several years ago someone gave me a little coffee cup that says, “Around here I have a very responsible position.  Whenever anything goes wrong, I’m responsible”. 

I say that jokingly but I feel the pressure of that responsibility from time to time.  As I have aged in the emergency services I have somehow become the senior Paramedic in the county.  Most of the people who are paramedics now were my students in years past.  As Director of the Emergency Management Agency the safety and well being of the general public and the emergency responders somehow become my responsibility. 

 In weather situations like we have gone through in the last month or so, I sit in the EOC and watch the approaching storm systems and wonder, dare I say “worry”.

“Have we done enough?  Are there enough sirens?  Are the sirens working properly?  Have we built enough shelters?  Do the people have enough time to get to those shelters?  Have I taught it enough, have I reminded them enough, have I pushed enough so that when and if theses storms hit us like they did Tuscaloosa, or Pleasant Grove or some of these other little towns, will we loose lives? 

I must say that one day, soon I hope, when I am able to give up that responsibility I believe it will give me great peace.

I am sure you too feel the pressure and fear of responsibility.  Whether it is from your job, your spouse, your children, jobs at church or caring for an elderly parent, we all have responsibilities that cause us concern.  Wouldn’t it be peaceful to simply release those concerns? 

I believe in Jesus’ case from the cross, just as we studied last week when He yelled out, “Tetelestai, It is finished” that He was saying to His Father,” I’ve done all that I can do.  It’s all in your hands now” And I believe that relinquishment gave Him peace.

 

3.  RELINQUISHMENT PROVIDES PURITY: 

I will be the first to admit that I have struggled with this matter of being pure and holy.  I understand God’s requirement that “without holiness no man will see the Lord”.  I have read and studied the words “Be ye holy for I am holy”.  I have taught and preached and written about the provisions from God for the believers who seek His Holy Spirit.  But I have struggled with the concept that I can actually be pure and holy.

Did the Bible really mean that a good ole redneck boy from Alabama can have a pure heart?  Did God really intend for a common everyday person to live a holy life?  How is that possible? 

I believe that in His act of relinquishment on the cross, when Jesus spoke to His Father and commended or committed His Spirit to Him, He was showing us the way, the only way to Holiness of heart.

Do you understand that as long as I try to hold on to the controls of my life, as long as I try to steer my ship and as long as I try to command my vessel, it is doomed to fail.  But when I relinquish the controls to the “Captain” it is in “good hands” and it’s not All State. 

Not only do I have the power of an almighty God in me, and the peace of relinquishing my problems and responsibilities to Him, it now becomes “God that worketh in me both to will (want to) and do, His good pleasure”.  Isn’t that powerful?  Isn’t that peaceful?  And you know what?  That’s purity as well.

In the Coast Guard I was what they called a “snipe”.  That means I was supposed to run the engines and make sure they worked properly, keep the pumps and generators and emergency equipment ready to go, and only come above board to the light of day to perform the rescue stuff as needed.  It was certainly NOT my job to maneuver the ship. 

But when I was not on duty I was at liberty to walk around the ship and visit other areas where I usually didn’t go.  I loved to go to the “bridge” where those who were in charge “driving” the ship were located. 

It appeared to be a very big responsibility.  I have known cases in which the person in command of the ship did not do a good job and it cost the lives of many men.   Much of the time the ship was at the command of lower ranked officers.  The Ensigns, and Lt. JG’s, and Warrant Officers would command the vessel.  However in tight situations, when things got really intense, the “old man” or Captain of the ship would make his way to the bridge. 

It was a unique method that was used to transfer command from one officer to the other.  When it came time to transfer command the officer in charge would say loudly so that everyone on the bridge could hear, “Mr. Smith has the Con”, or “Ensign Jones has the Con” and Mr. Smith or Ensign Jones would respond “I have the Con”.  This simple little exercise meant that the control of the ship was transferred from one person to the other and everyone knew who was in control

 When the Captain would take over on the bridge the statement would be ”The Captain has the Con”.   And then the Captain would simply respond “I have the Con” and the responsibility for the operation of the boat was transferred.

I can just imagine how relieved the young Ensigns and J.G’s felt in a stressful situation when the “old man” walked up to the bridge and that transfer was made.  What a peace must have come over them.  The ship was in the right hands.

Can I tell you what a peace came over me when I released the “con”  of my life to the “Old Man”?  When I came to the conclusion that there was no way I could make my life perfect and pure by anything that I could do.  When I realized that it was not by my holiness that I would ever reach Heaven but only by the holiness and purity of God.  I was able to say, “God has the Con” and hear His powerful, peaceful, pure response, “I have the Con”. 

If we make it to heaven, and I believe we will, it will not be by our own holiness or purity but it will only be when we transfer that power, relinquish that control to the Captain.  It takes two acts. 

·         My relinquishment of command

·         God’s willingness to take command

When you are willing to give up command and control of our life, God is willing and more than able to take the “con”. 

That is when RELINQUISHMENT PROVIDES PURITY.                            

It is my determination that I can hold on to what little power I think I have and remain weak.  I can hold on to the responsibilities that I think I have and remain fearful and I can hold on to the command and control I think I have and remain worldly and carnal. 

But Jesus showed us the way to POWER, PEACE AND PURITY by demonstrating to us the secret of RELINQUISHMENT. 

It must have felt good for The Mighty Lion of Judah, The Prince of Peace, Captain of the Lord’s Host, The Lord Mighty in Battle, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to have finally relinquished Himself and His Spirit into the hands of a loving Father. 

It’s something you and I can do as well.  Let’s learn the lesson from the final words of Jesus from the cross.  Think about this in the week to come. 

Who has the con in your life?