Dependence
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we saw Jesus teaching about divorce and we took time to look at the broader topic of marriage. In that we saw that marriage is instituted by God and was made to be between one man and one woman for all their life and anything outside of this design is sin. I asked you to commit now to have a marriage someday that follows God’s design and not the worlds.
Today we are going to look at the subject of dependence. More specifically relating to our faith. Our faith should be fully dependent on God just like a child is dependent on their parent. Our faith should be so dependent on God so that if he were to ask us to give up everything we would. Can you imagine a level of dependence that big? We like to depend on ourselves. Take my old Jeep for example, the AC on it has not worked since I was in high school and my whole family is mechanics. I don’t need their help though because I can fix it. I feel like in a lot of ways we are all like this to an extent but this is not how we are to be in our faith. We should never look to ourselves but always look to God. Lets see how Jesus teaches us this in our passage. It is a longer one but we are going to start out by reading it in it’s entirety. Mark 10.13-34
And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
This passage starts with people bringing children to Jesus so that he could lay his hands on them. This was something that had been done for centuries, Israelites would bring their children to a man of God on the day of their circumcision to bless them. The disciples try to stop this from happening but Jesus tells them to not stop them and he says that we are to receive the kingdom of God like a child.
After this happens a man runs up to Jesus and ask him what he needs to do to enter the kingdom of God. This starts out a bit confusing because Jesus ask him if he has kept the law to which he says that he has. Jesus then tells him to give up everything that he has and follow him to which the man does not. This is showing that there is nothing that we can do but only what God can do. Jesus says that money makes it difficult because with lots of money it is easy to depend on yourself, he illustrates this with saying that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. This illustration is completely literal, it is easier for the biggest animal they had at the time to go through the smallest opening that they had. In this the disciples ask how then salvation is even possible to which Jesus respond it is impossible for us but through God it is not. If you are in Christ you will love and value him over everything that you have in this world.
The section finishes with Jesus foretelling of his crucifixion for the third time. This telling has more details than the others.
Through all of this the focus is who we are dependent on for salvation. If salvation rest on us it will never happen, it must rest completely on God. Tonight we are going to look at what this childlike dependence looks like and what adult-like dependence looks like. Through it all we will see that we must be bully dependent on God through all areas of life. Let’s pray then we can begin with looking at childlike dependence.
Childlike Dependence
Childlike Dependence
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
We were all children at one point not long ago and in that time of our life we were pretty helpless. We couldn’t do much for ourselves. We couldn’t work for money, we couldn’t cook our own food, we couldn’t do a lot of vitally important things. We were fully dependent on someone to take care of us.
When we are called to receive the kingdom of God like a child it is saying that we have to have our full dependence be on God. We can’t save ourselves, we can’t work for it, we can’t pay God back for it. Our salvation is dependent on him and until we give in to this we cannot receive the kingdom of God.
Our faith must not always be childlike, we are to grow in it and as Paul puts it move from the milk to the meat. The part that must always be childlike though is our dependence on God. As we grow this can become tougher, just as it is easier for a child. We need to ask ourselves if we are fully dependent on God if you are not you need to ask yourself if you are truly a follower of him. Have you put your faith in him. The reason that Jesus came to this earth is so that there could be a way for forgiveness, this is more than walking down in a Sunday service or going forward at camp. This is putting your complete trust and dependence in him. Realizing that there is nothing you can do for yourself and that you need him. This is how you receive salvation and can enter the Kingdom of God.
We must have a childlike dependence on God for all things, especially our salvation. We may begin like a complete child but we need to grow and mature in our faith while keeping this childlike dependence.
Next I want to look at adult-like dependence and see that it is not to far off from the childlike dependence that we are called to have.
Adult-like Dependence
Adult-like Dependence
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
The man ask Jesus what must I do. Jesus in a compassionate way ask him if he has kept all of the commandments to which he says yes (bold statement). This man had great wealth and Jesus then ask him to give up everything that he has and to follow him. In this Jesus shows that the man is dependent on himself. He thinks that there is stuff that he can do to get eternal life yet he refuses to give up the things of this earth that he is dependent on and be fully dependent on God.
As we get older it is easy to see that we can start to provide for ourselves and that can lead to us being dependent on ourselves instead of God. We trust in what we make and not the maker of everything.
What Jesus said shocked the disciples and we see in Mark 10:26 say “And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”” This is a great question because if we can’t do it ourselves then who even can be saved? If you are following along with the lesson here tonight we probably already get what is going on here, everyone can be saved though not everyone will and they can be saved because of what the next verse says in Mark 10.27
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
Though we would like to think that we can we cannot save ourselves. We are fully dependent on God for our salvation. This might not sound exciting to you but realize this, if it were not up to him we could not attain it. Our sin is so big and dangerous as we talked about a few weeks ago that only God can cleanse of it. We are to make war against it but without him it will be a loosing battle.
As we get older we become more self sufficient through this we have to keep our ultimate dependence on God.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
We must be fully dependent on God for our salvation because there is nothing that we can do but with him all things are possible.
The last part of what we are covering tonight is Jesus once again telling about his eventual death in Jerusalem. It is through this death that he made salvation possible. It is through this death that we can be forgiven. There is nothing that we can do but that is ok because he has already done everything.
If you want to quit trying to make it yourself and turn your life over to Jesus do that tonight. Accept the forgiveness that he offers and put your faith in him as Lord and Savior. Run to him like a child and trust him for salvation!