Pastor Rick's notes on the idea of "letting go" are shared here for your review and study.
Today I am going to walk you through a little bit of a mind journey to help you understand how I got to where I am today in this message. For many days I have had one word in my mind around which I expected to build a sermon. That word is “Let.”
Now the word, “let” has several definitions or modes of use in the English language, but the primary meaning is the meaning that my mind was fixed on: “To permit; to allow; to suffer; to give leave or power by a positive act, or negatively, to withhold restraint; not to prevent.” The idea is to permit someone to do something or to give them permission to do something. I was thinking of it in terms of the scripture, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:5).” But when I went to that passage to look at the Greek word for “let” I discovered that there was no Greek word for it. It was simply an English word necessary to translate the idea of the Greek words. I thought, well, maybe I’m missing something. Maybe there is another place where the word “let” is used in the New Testament where I can find the idea I am looking for. But in the 300+ instances where the word appears in the King James New Testament, I did not find a Greek word that communicated the idea of “letting” or “letting go.”
I thought, Lord, I know you’ve had this thought in my mind and heart. I know I am supposed to preach on this idea. What now? I turned to Google. I typed, “Letting God have control.” That led me to an article on Christianity.com that tried to answer the question, “How do I let God take control of my life?”
One of the first scriptures referenced by the author there was the familiar passage from Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
I felt prompted to go look at that Scripture. I did. And as I looked at cross references for that Scripture, I came to Romans chapter 6 which we will read in a moment. But in Romans chapter 6, I discovered the word I was looking for: that word is “Yield.”
Now before we read our Scripture, I want you to understand the meaning of the English word “yield.” After we read our Scripture, we will talk about the Greek word that is translated as “yield.”
Per Mr. Webster, the word yield has a lot of depth but for our purposes here today the word yield means,
To allow; to concede; to admit to be true; as, to yield the point in debate
To give, as claimed of right; as, to yield due honors;
To permit; to grant
To resign; to give up
To surrender
To give up the contest; to submit
To comply with
To give way
Not to oppose
To give place as inferior in rank or excellence
Now, LET us look to our scripture passage in Romans Chapter 6. Please read aloud with me the verses in Bold.
1 ¶ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (KJV)
Now we are going to focus on verses 12-19 in a moment, but you can see that the word “yield” appears 4 times in that passage. Now if you just plug in some of those meanings for the word “yield” into those verses, they look something like this.
“13 Don’t resign your body as an instrument of unrighteousness unto sin…Don’t surrender or submit your body as an instrument of unrighteousness unto sin… but permit yourself to be surrendered unto God to comply with His ways”
“16 Know ye not that to who you give yourself, surrender yourself, submit yourself to obey, his servants you are…?”
“19 Even so now allow your body, permit your body, resign your body, surrender your body as a servant to righteousness unto holiness.”
That sounds pretty good. That seems like we are getting at the meaning of things. And we are, but we are not quite there yet. Why? because the Bible was not originally written in English. The King James Translation in all its beauty is not the original language. So while the word “yield” has a lot of depth and meaning and teaches us a lot about the concept, we are not quite there. We need to go one step further. We need to look at the Greek word that is translated to the English word “yield.”
That word is the word I posted on Facebook last night: “Paristemi” – not pastrami! (How many of you looked it up?) The word means “to bring, to present, to stand by.”
Now let’s read our text passage with that in mind:
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield [bring, present, or stand by with] your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield [bring, present, or stand by] yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield [bring, present, or stand by] yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield [bring, present, or stand by] your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Interestingly, if you go back to Romans 12:1 where it says “present your bodies a living sacrifice” guess what word it uses? Yes! Paristemi! “I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present [bring, present, or stand by] (or you could say “yield”) your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Pastor Rick, you have bored us to tears with your word study what is the point? It is simply this: The Apostle Paul is urging us to completely yield our bodies and souls unto God – to surrender utterly to His will, His life, and His commands. He is saying that we must present ourselves to God in submission to stand before Him in obedience. We are LET Him reign over us. We are to PERMIT Him to have our bodies and all that they do. A fundamentally key element of this is obedience.
See, a lot of people get the wrong idea of surrender. They think they can make a brief confession, acknowledge Jesus as Lord and move on with their lives. They think it is simply some sort of ceremonial action and that is all. A thousand times no! This is a full blown surrender of enemy forces to a conqueror and then an occupation of the property by the conqueror. Let me try to illustrate.
There are several famous surrenders in history, but what some believe is the most famous is the surrender of Japan to the Allied forces at the end of WWII.
Likely the most famous surrender ceremony in history, the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945, was meant to reinforce the might of the Allies and celebrate the end of the war.
Held in Tokyo Bay on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri, it featured an original flag from the ship of Commodore Perry, the naval officer who opened Japan to the West. Representatives from Japan and all the Allied nations signed a formal document of surrender. Then thousands of Allied planes flew overhead in formation, and Japan's occupation formally began.
After years of chaos, violence, and the deaths of tens of thousands of human beings, the war came to an end with an unconditional surrender of the Japanese nation. At this point, the nation of Japan was occupied by Allied forces who took control and totally re-shaped the nation.
That is exactly what we are talking about here in Romans chapter 6: unconditional surrender of ourselves to God, and a full on occupation of our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And under this benevolent occupation we must obey His will. We must keep His commands.
When an enemy land is occupied by an invading force, the invading force imposes their own laws & requirements. The populace must obey or suffer consequences. This includes curfews, yielding to military vehicles to have right of way, and often a suspension of their previous customs, norms, and laws. In the case of Japan it meant a complete re-writing of their constitution and a remaking of their way of thinking and way of life.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
You have now surrendered yourself to Christ. You CANNOT allow sin to reign in you anymore. You cannot let it have control. Sin is dethroned, superseded, kicked out. In this earthly, dying body, you are not allowed to obey it anymore. You cannot continue in sin. It is not permitted. You cannot obey the lusts and desires of sin.
13 Neither yield [bring, present, or stand by with] your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield [bring, present, or stand by] yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
You are not unconditionally surrendering your body to be the tool of unrighteousness to sin. No. You are unconditionally surrendering yourself, yielding yourself, presenting yourself unto God. You are surrendering your sword of resistance against His rule. You are no longer walking the path of death eternal. Instead you are now walking in the path of peace and life as one alive from the dead and you are yielding your body as tools and weapons of righteousness unto God. You no longer are on the side of sin. You are no longer its soldier. You are now on God’s side and are to be His tool, His vessel, His soldier.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
For sin SHALL NOT have dominion over you anymore. You are no longer under the consequences of the law or penalties of sin. You have surrendered to God and are now in receipt of grace! When the Japanese government surrendered to the Allies, the government told its people that they needed to brace themselves for total chaos when the occupation came. They expected their nation to be ravaged not rebuilt. Instead, the Allies came to rebuild their nation. The people did not need to fear. They were no longer the enemy. They had been conquered. They were no longer under the impending doom of attack and assault and punishment by the violence of war. They were now under the benevolent rebuilding hand of restoration. You might say they were no longer under the law but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Was the expectation now that since Japan had surrendered they could do whatever they wanted? Could they say, “Oh yeah…we signed the paper but we are going to keep doing our own thing”? Of course not! Now that they surrendered to the invading force, they had to submit to it in every way. Why do we think any differently in our regard to surrender to God? Shall we continue in sin…God Forbid!
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield [bring, present, or stand by] yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Don’t you understand that whomever you are standing by and whom you are obeying, you are his servants? When you are picked for a team to play sports, what do you do? You go stand by them, right? Then when the game begins, you are supposed to follow the leadership of the captain of the team. You obey them. You yield yourself to them. Somehow, many “Christians” think they can be on God’s side and still play for the sin team. You cannot do that! “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield [bring, present, or stand by] yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Please notice the tense of this phrase: you WERE the servants of sin – not any more. If you are still serving sin, then I need to break some news to you: you are a sinner. You cannot serve sin and serve Jesus. They are incompatible with one another – they are like oil and water – ice and fire. They do not mix. If you are sinning, then you are a sinner. If you are a sinner, you need to humble yourself, you need to repent, seek forgiveness, and surrender yourself unconditionally to God. You need to let Him take over. You need to walk away from sin unto God. You need to obey Him from the heart! “…ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.”
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Hallelujah! We can be made free from sin. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not reading and interpreting the message of this book accurately. Jesus died that we might be made free from sin! COMPLETELY! What does it mean to be free? Does it mean that you have no rules or laws to follow? No. But it does mean that you are out from under the bondage of slavery and coercion and no choice. It means you have the opportunity to fulfill your design – to live within the boundaries of your design – to fly within the envelope you were created for. Being made free from sin – you became the servants of righteousness! You were set free from involuntary slavery to voluntary servitude: very different things!
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield [bring, present, or stand by] your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
In other words, I speak plainly and simply so you can understand – Just like you yielded yourselves with abandon to the things of the flesh and sin, uncleanness and iniquity, now abandon yourself to God. Let Him have you completely. Present yourself to Him. Stand on His side. Yield to His ways. Obey His rules. Become His servant. Do not hesitate to fling yourself upon His mercy and capitulate to His will. Then, serve Him with love and walk in complete obedience.
How were you a sinner? Did you resist sin? No. You yielded to it. You followed the impulses of anger and lust and pride and hatred and unforgiveness and self-loathing. You committed sin recklessly and did what you wanted to do because you wanted to do it. Now serve God the same way. Let the impulses of His Spirit now drive your actions. Yield no longer to sin, but to righteousness. Let the anger be replaced by balance and self-control. Let the lust be replaced by devotion, purity, and faithfulness. Let the hatred be replaced by selfless love. Let the unforgiveness go and be replaced by forgiveness and humility. No longer wallow in self-loathing or self-pity, but discover the self-esteem of understanding you are designed by God, you have eternal purpose and meaning, you are loved madly by Him, and He wants to unlock all of your intended potential through your obedience to His Word and ways and by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you. God wants you to be an obedient servant to righteousness and in so doing you will discover holiness – purity and sanctification.
So I present you the question today: Are you “Letting” God have you and your ways? Are you yielded to His Lordship and ruling over your heart? Are you presenting yourself before Him for His disposition and use? Are you on the Lord’s side – on His team? Are you unconditionally surrendered to Him? Have you let Him occupy your heart? Have you committed to obey Him completely and yield to His grace? Are you still living in sin or have you forsaken sin to walk in righteousness?
12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
6:13 Neither yield [bring, present, or stand by with] your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield [bring, present, or stand by] yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
