The Absolute Surrender of Disciple-Making

When We Claim Our "Rights" We Are Usurping His

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Note before the article: Please note that I am not referring to bowing down under the abuse of any authoritative relationship. That is not the point of this article. If you are experiencing abuse, please reach out to a certified Biblical counselor like VCLi.org.

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I’ve lived most of my life subconsiously embracing inherent rights as a human being, and I suppose that’s okay from an earthly sense. It’s so core to the political philosophy of the United States (from which my mindset was forged) that it is written right into our U.S. Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
- Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence (1776)

Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe in the declaration and I support the rights of all mankind to equality and liberty from a political and earthly vantage point. However, this view reflects political philosophy more than it reflects the Bible’s own teaching about God and His authority, particularly as it relates to the crowning glory of His creation, humanity.

There’s a fascinating tension here when we read it through a 🔎 disciple-making lens. The founders were describing political freedom, but Jesus calls us to spiritually “hold up the white-flag” of surrender. The Kingdom of God doesn’t operate by the same logic as the politics of Man.

Freedom From a Biblical Standpoint

• Our lives belong to Christ (Galatians 2:20).

• Our liberty is found in obedience, which is a form of servanthood (John 8:36).

• Surface-level happiness is replaced with spiritually multiplied JOY (John 15:11)

• Joy is rooted in self-denial (John 15:11)

So, while Jefferson’s words are valid about the dignity of humans under God, Jesus redefines those rights entirely. In His Kingdom, we voluntarily lay down what’s “unalienable” (impossible to take away), yet surrenderable, so that His life can reign in us and flow through us.

❤️‍🔥 Before we can make disciples, we have to be one. ❤️‍🔥

That’s a “white-flag” montra of our disciple-making network (disciplemakingcollective.com). It sounds simple, but it’s the difference between adding people to a program and multiplying the life of Jesus in others.

A disciple isn’t someone who simply believes in Jesus or agrees with His teaching. A disciple is someone who has surrendered ownership—heart, will, and future—to the King. Before Jesus said, “Go make disciples,” He said,

“Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.”

✔︎ That order matters.

You can’t reproduce what you haven’t first become.

When I first started discipling others, I focused on teaching and gathering. I poured energy into methods and materials. But over time, I realized that multiplication doesn’t happen through charisma or content—it happens through surrendered lives. The Spirit doesn’t move through our giftedness as much as through our 🧎🏽‍♂️‍➡️yieldedness.

The Illusion of Rights

In our Western mindset, we are taught to fight for our rights—our right to comfort, to happiness, to control, to fairness. But the more tightly we grip those rights, the less we resemble Jesus.

📖 Romans 12:1–2 calls us to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God.

Most of us surrender one day and take it back the next.

The chart about Absolute Surrender isn’t a list of things God wants to take from us; it’s a mirror exposing what already owns us. When we cling to the “right to be understood” or the “right to see results,” we’re actually saying, “God, I’ll follow You as long as You meet my conditions 🔥.”

But discipleship begins when we stop negotiating with God.

Look at the pattern of Jesus’ life. He had every right to comfort, to recognition, to fairness—and He gave it all up.

📖 Philippians 2 says He “made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.”

He released His divine rights so that the Father’s mission could be fulfilled through Him. Every miracle, every moment of power, flowed from surrender.

The Paradox of Surrender

Here’s the paradox: surrender doesn’t make us weak—it makes us fruitful.

📖 Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

• Jesus in John 12:24

The seed doesn’t die because it’s worthless—it dies because that’s the only way to multiply. The outer shell breaks so new life can emerge.

Biblical Anchors for Absolute Surrender

📖 Romans 12:1–2 — Present your bodies as living sacrifices. Transformation begins when entitlement ends.

📖 Luke 9:23–24 — “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

📖 John 15:5 — “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” The branch doesn’t strain to bear fruit. It abides.

📖 Philippians 2:5–8 — Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage.” He emptied Himself.

That’s the blueprint for leadership in the Kingdom: empty yourself so the Father can fill you.

A Call to Action

Before you start your next disciple-making initiative,

✔︎ Take a quiet hour with God and write them down

✔︎ List the rights you’ve been holding onto

✔︎ Surrender them one by one.

✔︎ Pray through Romans 12:1–2 until your heart feels the weight of the altar.

We can’t multiply surrendered lives if we’re not living surrendered ourselves. An apple tree cannot multiply oranges! The movement of God won’t flow through clenched fists.

Offer Him everything 🤲🏻, your spirit, your will, your mind, your emotions, your dreams, your failures, your finances, your future. Place them on the altar. Then step back and watch what He does.

When Jesus owns everything, He can use anything. And when we die to ourselves, we finally come alive to the mission of multiplying disciple-makers.

<CLICK HERE for a PDF of the following chart>