Mother’s Day – Control & Surrender
Welcome to Redemption Church in Plano TX! My name is Chris Fluitt and I want to wish all the mothers a happy mother’s day!
Happy Mother’s Day!
We are grateful for our moms!
We are grateful for all our online attenders!
We are grateful for you in the room!
We are in the middle of our THE SAME JESUS series, but I felt strongly to honor our moms and the Lord gave me a message that I need to share. So we are going to pick up THE SAME JESUS series next week… but today I want to talk to you about the balance between Control & Surrender.
The Balance Between Control & Surrender
Today I want to teach you about what every good mother & father learns… every good leader learns… and those who do not learn experience eventual failure.
There is a balance between control and surrender and one of my favorite mothers in the Bible examples this truth.
Jochebed the mother of Moses & Aaron (Exodus 6:20)
Jochebed was a great mom. Yet I believe there were times she did not feel like a great mom.
As parents we often second guess ourselves. We rarely feel like good moms and dads… I am certain that Jochebed the mother of Moses the deliverer and lawgiver, and Aaron the first high priest of Israel… I am certain that she at times felt like a failure.
Jochebed was given a son… and loses the son… then she miraculously regains her son… only to lose him again. Jochebed was a great mom, but that doesn’t mean everything was ever ideal… it didn’t mean she felt like a great mom.
Greatness doesn’t often feel so great
Jochebed was not in a great situation. Am I talking to anyone today who doesn’t feel like they are in a great situation? Check out Jochebed’s situation.
Exodus 1:22 (NIV) …Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
Exodus 2:2 (NIV) and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.
- She was a slave.
- She was living under a tyrannical, racist, bloodthirsty Pharoah.
- Her son was going to be grabbed and thrown into a river to drown and be eaten by crocodiles.
- Jochebed was powerless to change the situation… and at this point all she could do was hide her son.
What is making you feel powerless and not great right now?
- The threat of sickness? Covid19, cancer, bad health…
- Financial problems?
- Relationship problems?
- Spiritual problems?
- Something in your past, present, or future?
What makes Jochebed a great mom.. was not a perfect, problem free situation… And what makes you a great parent, leader, and a powerful force is not perfect, problem free situations.
What made Jochebed great was that she took control of something!
Take Control of something
So much was out of Jochebed’s control, but she found something she could take control of!
Exodus 2:3 (NIV) But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
- She couldn’t control her government or station in society.
- She couldn’t control the injustice.
- She could not control the racism & hatred.
- But there was something she could control
Take Control of something
Take control of your mind(thoughts)
Take control of your attitudes
Take control of your finances
Take control of your conversation
Take control of your time
Take control of your emotions (your response)
There are areas outside of your control, but find ONE THING… find something you can affect and influence.
In God’s Word we are constantly warned about a lack of control.
God warns Cain about the control of sin
Genesis 4:7 (NIV) If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
God warns about out of control possessions…
Exodus 21:29 (NIV) If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death.
Proverbs 25:28 (NIV) Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.
A lack of self control will leave you defenseless.
Take Control of something
Take Control of something but NOT EVERYTHING
Some people don’t try to effect their situation… they don’t try to take control of enough.
But some people are CONTROL FREAKS! Some people try to take control of too much.
There will always be something outside of your control.
The serenity prayer popularized by Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 step programs starts like this…
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
There are things you will never be able to control or change, but there are always things you can change. Knowing the difference takes wisdom. God grant us that wisdom today.
Jochebed took control thisof something but not everything.
Jochebed did not save her son from the river Nile
Jochebed prepared her son for the river Nile.
Even though this great mom took control… (she defied pharaoh, she built an ark…) yet she had to push that ark with her baby in it away from her…; she had to let go and surrender that baby to the very same river Nile.
Parents, we can’t control our kids away from the problems of life. We need to take control and begin to prepare them for the problems of life; then surrender them at some point to make their own choices.
You can’t control everything. You will always have to surrender something. This is how life works.
Surrender something
When it comes to our children we have to learn what and when to surrender.
The balance of control & surrender is difficult in raising kids. We can be too controlling with our kids and cause them damage.
If our kids leave our home without learning to make wise decisions, then we may have failed them. We cannot control ALL their decisions.
Don’t “controllingly” teach you’re your kids WHAT TO THINK…, but teach them HOW to think and later surrender them to discover their own adventures and successes.
We must learn how to influence our children, but surrender the act of choice to them. This can start very young… your kid needs to take a gummy vitamin, you bring them 2 vitamins and say do you want to take the yellow or the red gummy vitamin. In this way you can still control or influence their choice, but give them a chance to choose.
As they grow older you control the issues of what chores need to be done, but surrender the choice of how and when they do it.
You can control your kids to death. You can also control yourself to death. You must surrender something.
- Surrender guilt
- Surrender anger
- Surrender bitterness
- Surrender choice
- Surrender your control
The Bible tells you to…
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV) Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Do you have some anxiety you need to surrender today?
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
The Balance Between Control & Surrender
How is your balance between Control & Surrender? Having trouble with Control or Surrender?
Perhaps you find the word control or the word surrender to be negative words.
Perhaps a better word for control is influence.
Perhaps a better word for surrender is to allow.
When it comes to control & surrender, no one does it better than God.
Nothing is out of God’s control, yet he surrenders to us a free will.
God is not a control freak. He is not going to control your every thought and action.
However, God is not an abandoner. He is not going to surrender His authority in every way.
We serve a God who fights for us.
We serve a God who surrenders to our cry for help.
God is the best example of a good parent and leader because of His balance between control and surrender.
Our Jesus took control of death, hell, and the grave for you.
Our Jesus surrendered to the cross for you.
There is no greater example.
Love is at the balance of Control & Surrender
The way to find true balance in this area, is to love someone and allow that love to be your motivation towards them.
Take control out of love… not out of ego. Take control for the benefit of others and not yourself.
Surrender out of love… not out of apathy. Surrender for the benefit of others and not yourself.
Love is at the balance.
Who would you rather trust and obey:
Someone who loves you?
Someone who is willing to take control on your behalf?
Someone who is willing to surrender on your behalf?
Jochebed, that great mom. She took control of something and then she surrendered her child to her situation.
In surrendering her child to the river Nile…, She received everything she wanted and some things beyond her wildest dreams.
Her child lived! Her child ended up in the arms of Pharaoh’s daughter.
She actually surrendered her child to Pharaoh’s house. How scary!…but look what God did with her surrender.
Pharaoh’s daughter needed a wet-nurse to nurse this baby… and who did she choose? Jochebed the true mother of this baby was paid to nurse and raise her own child in the house of Pharaoh.
Because Jochebed surrendered and let go of that ark with her newborn baby lying in it…, because she surrendered her baby, Moses lived. Not only that.. but one day that baby, Moses, returned to Egypt and delivered his own mom, Jochebed from slavery and cruelty to freedom and a new life.
Musician
How is your balance today?
What do you need to take control of today?
What do you need to surrender today?
Take control and pray today.
Surrender in prayer today.