We have a beautiful gospel song in our hymnal, “All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live; All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow, worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me, Jesus, take me now; I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.”

The promise that we make to God when singing this song makes Him very happy. He accepts our promise and comes to claim what we promised. How many change their minds and offer God only ten percent, or maybe only half of what they have promised?

Ananias and Sapphira did this. They gave to God less than the amount they had promised, and God was not pleased with their offer.

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were rich, but when they were sentenced by Nero to a martyr’s death, they had nothing left. They had little by little given it all as donations.

When we promise to give all to God, it is like music in His ears, and that “all” includes our time, our money, our talents, our strength, our heart, our love. . . that means everything.

Without a full surrender we cannot be His disciples. “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:26–27, 33

The rich young man came to Jesus and went away sorrowful—disappointed—a full surrender was too high a price to pay. Did the Apostle Paul surrender all that he had? Yes, he did.

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Philippians 3:7–8

In the early days of the Adventist church people sold their properties to help the cause of God. Others took out mortgages on their homes in order to raise money for missionary work. There was a spirit of sacrifice similar to the time of the Apostles when the people sold their houses and brought the money to the church.

“Unselfish devotion and a spirit of sacrifice have always been and always will be the first requisite of acceptable service.” –Prophets and Kings, p. 65

“The mighty shaking has commenced and will go on, and all will be shaken out who are not willing to take a bold and unyielding stand for the truth and to sacrifice for God and His cause. The Angel said, ‘Think ye that any will be compelled to sacrifice? No, no. it must be a freewilling offering. It will take all to buy the field.” –Early Writings, p. 50–51

The disciples of Jesus—Peter, John, and James—left their fishing boats and nets; Matthew left the customs booth; Paul left all behind. What did Jesus promise to them? “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” Matthew 19:29

In order to receive a hundredfold, we must give up all that we have. Do we believe this? It is joy to have relatives, family, father, mother, children, brothers, sisters, wife, husband, but if we lose this joy for Christ, His company will give us hundred times greater joy.

Maybe now we understand what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 6:10, “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” Paul had no earthly goods, but he was happy and rejoicing as one who possessed all things.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field: the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” Matthew 13:44

If he had sold 90% of his goods, could he have bought the field with the treasure? No, no. The price was all that he had. Does this now mean that we will sell our homes, and furniture, and give all to the poor, and go on Welfare? No, but it does mean that our house is given to Jesus as a place for the homeless, and our table is a place for the hungry, and our car is for a person needing a ride.

“For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: Naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.” Matthew 25:35–36. This is what it means to surrender all to Jesus.

Full surrender also means our time. For twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, we are ready to work for Jesus, to witness for Him, by our example and our words.

In Jamaica, we had no members, and the church was looking for someone to go and start the work there. As nobody was willing to go, finally I said, “I will go.” I said to God, “I will go if You come with me.”

I was in Jamaica for one week, and when I came back to Canada, I left in Jamaica a group of members, a church leader, Bible workers and a rented house for meetings.

You will never need to go to a Bible study alone; no, Jesus promised to go with you. You never need to go canvassing alone; no, angels will be your companions.

“Of no talent He has given will He require a more strict account than of our time.” –Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 342. Our time is running out at a terrible speed. The wasted hours and days will never come back.

Last year you could have done one hundred hours of missionary work or perhaps more, and saved someone. Last year you could have read the Bible through. Calculate the value in the light of eternity, one soul saved, or one hundred hours of television watching. Which has more value? What is then lacking? Is it not a full surrender?

The Lord cannot work through us until we place all on the altar. A half-hearted service is a wasted effort. Is it a full surrender to God to neglect meetings, to stay home instead? Is it a full surrender to spend our money in luxury items, instead of supporting the work of God with it? It is a great privilege to do service for God’s church, to sacrifice our time, money and service for it.

We are on the way, away from the perishing world, the same as Lot when he and his family escaped from Sodom. What can happen to us if we look back to the old life, like Lot’s wife did? We have started on the way of God, and there is no turning back. Behind us is the world, sin, destruction, and death. Let us go forward to complete victory, and make a full surrender to God.  Let us say always, “not my will, but Thy will be done.” Let us remember our promise that we made in singing, “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give.” Amen.

Timo Martin