Doing What Christ Demands
A Christian life should be characterized by self-surrender, faith, and love, as we seek to serve God and others.
Mary Wilder Tileston, in her sermon, emphasizes the importance of self-surrender to God, inspired by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. She highlights the need for Christians to be willing to make sacrifices, whether big or small, in response to all that Christ has done for them. Tileston points out that true strength and nobility in life come from this self-surrender, as exemplified by the life of St. Stephen, and that death, when faced with this surrender, is akin to peacefully falling asleep in Christ.
Text
They loved not their lives unto the death.
REVELATION 12:11
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:9,10
Be ours the faith that sees Thee stand
Beside the throne of God on high,
To succor with Thy strong right hand
Thy soldiers when to Thee they cry.
Be ours the love, divine and free,
Which asks forgiveness for our foes;
Which draws, in life, its life from Thee,
And, dying, finds in Thee repose.
J. F. THRUPP
"IF He has done so much for me, what can I do for Him?" is the question which a Christian life should answer. He may ask little or much. He may demand heroic sacrifices, or He may require only punctual attention to daily and prosaic duty. But He has a right to make any demands He will, and it should be a point of honor with every Christian to satisfy Him. It is this simple self-surrender, in a spirit of love for God and for the souls of men, which makes life strong and noble, as was the life of St. Stephen. It is this self-surrender which makes death, whenever or wherever it may come, a "falling asleep in Christ."
HENRY PARRY LIDDON
Sermon Outline
- The Call to Self-Surrender
- The Example of St. Stephen
- The Reward of Self-Surrender
- Living with Christ
- Dying in Christ
Key Quotes
“IF He has done so much for me, what can I do for Him?” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“Be ours the faith that sees Thee stand Beside the throne of God on high, To succor with Thy strong right hand Thy soldiers when to Thee they cry.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“Be ours the love, divine and free, Which asks forgiveness for our foes; Which draws, in life, its life from Thee, And, dying, finds in Thee repose.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- We should seek to surrender ourselves to God and serve Him with our lives.
- We should cultivate faith and trust in God's presence and power in our lives.
- We should seek to love others, even our enemies, and ask forgiveness for them.