Dependence

I’m excited for our family service and fun day in the park after this.

What holiday did we just celebrate?

4th of July or Independence day. It is when we declared our freedom from England.

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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.”

Our nation was created on an Idea of freedom and independence. We love our independence! One

Our nation was created on an Idea of freedom and independence. We love our independence! One thing kids learn to say early on is “I can do this myself” “i’ve got this”

We all want to be strong enough, we don’t want to be weak.

But, our problem is not our weakness; God’s grace is up to the task. Our problem is our thinking that we are strong enough and not seeking God in our weakness.

But, our problem is not our weakness; God’s grace is up to the task. Our problem is our delusions of strength that keep us from seeking the grace that strengthens us in our weakness”

We just don’t like to be weak. We don’t like to think of ourselves that way, and we don’t want others to see us that way. So we act as if we know things that we don’t know, and we don’t ask the questions we need to ask. We act as if we can handle things that we can’t handle, and we don’t seek the help that’s available. We act as if we’ve conquered things that we have not conquered, and we don’t reach out for help for the battle of life.

that its our strength that keep us from seeking the grace that strengthens us in our weakness”

“We just don’t like to be weak. We don’t like to think of ourselves that way, and we don’t want others to see us that way. So we act as if we know things that we don’t know, and we don’t ask the questions we need to ask. We act as if we can handle things that we can’t handle, and we don’t seek the help that’s available. We act as if we’ve conquered things that we have not conquered, and we don’t reach out for help for the battle. It is all a failed quest for the self-congratulatory glory of independence.”

It is all a failed quest of self and te glory of independence.”

But we are not independent. None of us are. We were not created to be independent. We were formed to be dependent on the One who made us, and we were re-created in the waters of baptism, by the power that raised Jesus from the dead, to be dependent on God’s grace.

God does not hold you to a standard of independent strength.

God does not expect of you what you do not have. He knows who you are. He is never shocked or dismayed by your weakness. He comes near to us in grace because we are weak and would have no hope in life and death without him.

The person who is shocked and dismayed by our weakness is us. It bothers us. It embarrasses us. It makes us want to hide and cover ourselves. It causes us to playact in public and to deceive ourselves in private.

Your weakness will drive you crazy unless you understand the gospel of Jesus.

One of the themes that is woven throughout the New Testament is that your walk with God is designed by God to be a community project. 

This is idea of Anonymous,

consumerist,

isolated,

independent,

self-sufficient,

“Jesus and me” Christianity is a distorted version of the faith of the New Testament.

You and I simply were not created to be alone.

Genesis 2:18 NIV

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

“It is not good that the man should be alone”;

Genesis 2:18 NIV

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Nor were we re-created in Jesus Christ to live all by ourselves.

1 Corinthians 12:14 NIV

Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

The good news of Jesus is that we have a a strong and able Savior who showers his powerful grace on people who are fundamentally weak and unable. He confronts you with your weakness so you will run to him for strength. 

God calls you to mountains too big to climb so that in your inability, you will look to him. He leads you to taste failure so that you will find your hope in him. He works to prove to you how weak you really are so that you will gladly accept his invitation to his saving grace.

Perhaps it’s not such a bad thing to come to the end of your rope if at the end of your rope you find a strong and willing Savior.

So don’t be afraid to cry out in weakness, because when you see your weakness and talk about them, you are teaching your heart to celebrate the grace that can make you strong. Sometime in the next week, you’ll be weak. You will see it clearly. you are, you’ll either work to convince yourself you’re strong or you’ll run to the One who is.

with your weakness; when you are, you’ll either work to convince yourself you’re strong or you’ll run to the One who is.

But don’t we think if I was just stronger it would be ok? Who do you think is the strongest person here?

Have them come up and try to lift me off the ground.

Ok, now lets have all the kids try to lift me up together. Now I’m trusting you… So don’t drop me!

Together we are better.

Together we are stronger.

But to make the work we have to be close, we have to tight, we have be shoulder to shoulder working together.

We can’t live in just casual relationships that don’t show who we truly are.

We want to be close, we want to be lifted up, but we sometimes want to look one way at church and another during the week.

No one really knows us beneath the well-crafted public display, and because they don’t know us, they cannot help us or disciple us, because no one can disciple and help something they don’t not know about.

Moreover, we think we know ourselves and we think we’re okay, forgetting the blinding power of sin.

That’s why church is, for many of us, nothing more than a thing to attend on Sunday.

Church is a formal set of activities.

Church is a buffet of regularly scheduled, demographically designed religious offerings.

Church is a place where music can be enjoyed and sermons can be heard.

Church is what connects us to worldwide missions.

Church provides wholesome activities for our children.

But church isn’t an interdependent, webbed-together community of personally focused love and grace for us all.

But the Bible is clear. When each part is working properly, the body of Christ grows to maturity in Christ (see ).

I love on Paul David Tripp Says it.

“We each need to live in intentionally intrusive, Christ-centered, grace-driven redemptive community. This community is meant to enlighten and protect. It is meant to motivate and encourage. It is meant to rescue and restore. It is meant to instill hope and courage. It is meant to confront and rebuke. It is meant to guide and protect. It is meant to give vision and sound warning. It is meant to incarnate the love and grace of Jesus when you feel discouraged and alone. It is meant to be a visible representation of the grace of Jesus that is your hope. It is not a luxury. It is a spiritual necessity.” Paul David Tripp

Are you living like that? Are living like spiritual community is a necessity??

The question is, “Are you webbed in?

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“The Lord is my strength and my defense;

he has become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise him,

my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

I have said it many, many times and I will say it more than once in this devotional—our problem is not our weakness; God’s grace is up to the task. Our problem is our delusions of strength that keep us from seeking the grace that strengthens us in our weakness”

Psalm 40:2 NIV

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

“We just don’t like to be weak. We don’t like to think of ourselves that way, and we don’t want others to see us that way. So we act as if we know things that we don’t know, and we don’t ask the questions we need to ask. We act as if we can handle things that we can’t handle, and we don’t seek the help that’s available. We act as if we’ve conquered things that we have not conquered, and we don’t reach out for help for the battle. It is all a failed quest for the self-congratulatory glory of independence.”

“He calls you to mountains too big to climb so that in your inability, you will look to him. He leads you to taste failure so that you will find your hope in him. He works to prove to you how weak you really are so that you will gladly accept his invitation to enabling grace.

God wants to lift you up, he wants us to be dependent upon him. HIs plan to do that is not us working harder, or being stronger, but it is his redeeming grace in Jesus Christ, who died and was raised again. That power is available to us as well. Let’s pray for communion.

Perhaps it’s not such a bad thing to come to the end of your rope if at the end of your rope you find a strong and willing Savior.

__________

Anonymous, consumerist, isolated, independent, self-sufficient, “Jesus and me” Christianity is a distant and distorted facsimile of the faith of the New Testament. You and I simply were not created (“It is not good that the man should be alone”; ) or re-created in Jesus Christ (“For the body does not consist of one member but of many”; ) to live all by ourselves. The biblical word pictures of temple (stones joined together to be a place where God dwells) and body (each member dependent on the function of the other) decimate any idea that healthy Christianity can live outside of essential community.”

Moreover, we think we know ourselves and we think we’re okay, forgetting the blinding power of sin. That’s why church is, for many of us, nothing more than a thing to attend on Sunday. Church is a formal set of activities. Church is a buffet of regularly scheduled, demographically designed religious offerings. Church is a place where music can be enjoyed and sermons can be heard. Church is what connects us to worldwide missions. Church provides wholesome activities for our children. But church isn’t an interdependent, webbed-together community of personally focused love and grace for us all.

But the Bible is clear. When each part is working properly, the body of Christ grows to maturity in Christ (see ). We each need to live in intentionally intrusive, Christ-centered, grace-driven redemptive community. This community is meant to enlighten and protect. It is meant to motivate and encourage. It is meant to rescue and restore. It is meant to instill hope and courage. It is meant to confront and rebuke. It is meant to guide and protect. It is meant to give vision and sound warning. It is meant to incarnate the love and grace of Jesus when you feel discouraged and alone. It is meant to be a visible representation of the grace of Jesus that is your hope. It is not a luxury. It is a spiritual necessity. The question is, “Are you webbed in?

Excerpt From: Paul David Tripp. “New Morning Mercies.” Apple Books.

Excerpt From: Paul David Tripp. “New Morning Mercies.” Apple Books.

Excerpt From: Paul David Tripp. “New Morning Mercies.” Apple Books.