12-12-21 The Dependency of Christmas

I’ll start with some job interview jokes today - I wonder if they’ll remind you of an interview you may have had. ● One interviewer asked me why I’d be a good waiter. I said, “Well, I bring a lot to the table.” ● Interviewer: “I heard you were extremely quick at math.” Me: “Yes, as a matter of fact I am.” Interviewer: “What’s 14×27?” Me: “49.” Interviewer: “That’s not even close.” Me: “Yeah, but it was fast.” ● I went for an interview. They said, “Can you perform under pressure?” I said, “I’m not sure, but I can try Bohemian Rhapsody.” ● I was asked at an interview what my weakness is. I replied, “I’m too honest.” The interviewer said, “I don’t consider honesty a weakness.” I said, “I don’t care what you think.” ● Job interviewer: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Me: I would say my biggest weakness is listening. ● I just got out of a great interview with an amazing new job. They told me they were looking for someone responsible! I told them this was perfect, whenever something went wrong at my old job they always said I was responsible. ● In my job interview I was asked what some of my good qualities were. I said, “Well my doctor always calls me patient.” ● The interviewer asked me, “It says here on your resume that you used to be in the theatre. What made you leave?” I said, “the movie ended” ● At the interview for my new job I was asked, “What would your friends say are your weaknesses?” “I don’t have any!” I replied. The interviewer seemed a little surprised and said, “That can’t be true. Everybody has some weak points.” I said, “Oh no. You got that wrong. I mean I don’t have any friends.” Christmas Dependence | 1 ● A priest at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has a job interview with a new bell ringer.The priest asks, “Why should I hire you?”The applicant responds, “I have a special talent!”“Oh, and what is this special talent?” asks the priest.The applicant walks up to the bells and slams his face into the bell.At first the priest is taken aback, but the sound from the bells is heavenly!“You’re hired!” he exclaims.The applicant jumps around in excitement and slips, falling off the side of the belfry to the ground below.The priest runs downstairs and outside to the sidewalk where the bell ringer lay dead.A bystander asks, “Who is he?” The priest responds, “I don’t know his name, but his face sure rings a bell!”1 I wanted to start with these jokes for a few reasons; first, I think they’re funny. Second, I want to talk about dependence today, and I feel like a job interview illustrates that well. It’s the idea that we are completely counting on someone else in order to get something we need. Maybe you’ve been in a situation where you need a job or else you won’t be able to pay bills. It’s really a vulnerable position to be in, because you’re literally counting on a person you don’t know to give you a job. You’re wanting them to say, “yes, I see the potential in you, I see that you are willing and able to do well and I’m going to give you money (the ability to survive) because I see these qualities in you.” It might be a slight exaggeration to say that you’re totally dependent on the job interviewer, but my point is that it is actually very vulnerable and humbling to need someone else, or to be totally dependent on a stranger for your livelihood. A few weeks ago we talked about the balance between fully depending on the Holy Spirit to reproduce the life of Jesus in us and through us and growing in 1 20 Hilarious Job Interview Jokes.” laffgaff.com, https://laffgaff.com/job-interview-jokes/. Christmas Dependence | 2 disciplines and self-control in order to put the fruit of the Spirit on display in us. In other words there has to be a balance between counting on the Lord to take care of things and doing our part to seek Him and grow in His ways. Discipline should work in concert with dependence, because grace is not opposed to effort, but it is opposed to earning.2 And this week and next week, I want to talk about discipline and dependence in the context of Christmas. So we’ll talk about dependence today, and then next week we’ll talk about disciplines. Let’s pray before we get started: Father in Heaven, thank you that you are trustworthy, that we can depend on you no matter what. Thank you for the time we have together today, I ask you to bless it and bless Your word. Speak to our hearts today, and give us the strength we need to become weak, to become people who look to You in our every need. Meet each need represented here today and may you give us each a new filling of Your Holy Spirit. Father, have Your way in this place, we give You all the honor, glory, and praise. In Jesus’ Name, amen. One of the greatest Christmas gifts God ever gave us was the ability to be totally and completely dependent on someone else for everything we need in life. Literally, we can depend on God for everything we need as Christians, and that’s the way God set it up. Some people are dependent on other people instead of God, we call that “codependency.” That’s not good, because a codependent person is giving another person a place in their lives that they should be giving to Jesus. God made us to be independent people (that means we’re self-governing, we’re not controlled by other people), who are dependent on God. Independent people who are dependent on God. Why should we be dependent on God? It’s because God is the only person who is truly good and He is the source of all good things, past, present, and future. 2 Boa, Kenneth. Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation, P75. Zondervan, 2001. Christmas Dependence | 3 Mark 10:18 NKJV “So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” But my point is that dependence on God is a gift - for one thing, it’s the gift of ‘not being in charge.’ It’s the gift of not having to be in control, of not having to know the heart motives of other people, of not needing to stress about this life at all. It’s a gift to be able to say “that’s above my pay grade.” And it’s a gift because you don’t have to stress out about all the different aspects of life that go on, and all the different needs you have and desires you hope for. You don’t have to worry about it, because you can let Jesus take it and give you exactly what you need when you need it. Matthew 6:25-26 NKJV “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Of course you are more valuable than birds! Listen, of all the things in the world, you are the most valuable thing to God there is. And so am I. Did you know that I’m God’s favorite? So are you. And dependence on God for everything we need, both in this life and next, is a gift because He is the one who can provide it for us! And we receive what we need from God as we are dependent on Him. Mark 10:15 NKJV “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” Children are totally dependent on a parent or guardian to give them what they need. We’ll talk more about it later, but Jesus demonstrated this at Christmas. He came as a child! He came to earth in dependency! Now, the ultimate goal of the Christian, life of course, is to become more like Jesus. Christmas Dependence | 4 And we can only become more like Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. We grow by being dependent on God to work on us, to work in us, and to work through us. Romans 7:6 NLT “But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.” In other words, if we live in the Spirit, dependent on Him, His promptings, His guidance, His life and living water, then we’ll be walking in the new way, in the way Jesus made for us. That’s the new covenenant. And Paul is saying that if we keep doing things the old way, working in our flesh, striving to just ‘follow the rules,’ if we only focus on behavior modification and our performance all the time, the Christian life just won't work. And it doesn’t work because legalism, or a works-based mentality just makes us more dependent on ourselves and less dependent on the Holy Spirit. We were released from that old law of depending on ourselves, which just showed us how much we fail and how much we need a Savior. So now that we are under the new covenant, now that we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior (and if you’ve never done that and you would like to, please talk to someone you feel comfortable with after service today), it’s very important that we develop a conscious sense of dependence on the Holy Spirit’s power in all that we do.3 And we develop that sense of dependence as we invite God into each moment. The Bible calls it walking in the Spirit, or walking dependent on the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:16 AMPC “But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).” 3 Boa, Kenneth. Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation, P76. Zondervan, 2001. Christmas Dependence | 5 You know, if we’re not careful, this verse can actually make us go back into striving, back into legalism, back into the old humanistic ways of christian behavior modification. Why? Because the thought process is: “yes, I know I’ve been messing up, I know I’m not quite hitting the mark, I know what I should be, but I’m not there yet. I need to try harder, but this time I’ll ask the Holy Spirit to bless my efforts - then I’ll have a better result.” That “striving to become dependent on the Holy Spirit” is the opposite of what God is trying to get us to do here. God wants you to know that it’s not about trying harder, being better, or working more. It’s about becoming more dependent on Jesus, His love, His cross, His grace, and His blood. It’s about growing in grace - realizing that because of God’s kindness and love to you and me, He pours out His favor on us without limit so that we can live a life that works, a life that helps push back the darkness and brings hope and healing to hearts that don’t feel like they can go on anymore. And so the Bible says that we need to grow in grace! Because as we grow in dependence on Jesus, as we grow to act more like Jesus, we actually need more and more grace to sustain us, to keep us going in that direction, to keep humble, at peace, and at rest, especially as spiritual warfare starts to take place. 2 Peter 3:18 NKJV but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. And so growing in grace is how we walk in the Spirit, not our old fleshly desires. When Paul tells us to, “walk by the Spirit,” He is talking about learning to be radically dependent on the Holy Spirit’s power day by day, not on our own strength! Zechariah 4:6 NKJV So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.” In other words we don’t trust in ourselves or our own power, to grow us, we trust the Holy Spirit. Christmas Dependence | 6 But I want to go back to Galatians for now: Galatians 5:16 AMPC “But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).” The word “walk” in the Greek does mean physically walking. As we walk around in life we want to do it trusting God. I guess that makes some sense. But the word ‘walk’ here really has more to do with ‘making progress,’ ‘taking opportunities,” and ‘being occupied with something.’ I like that. If we walk by the Spirit, (or in the Spirit), it means we’re totally occupied by the Spirit. Have you ever been so focused on some task you were doing that you tuned everything else out? It’s kind of like that - God wants us so focused on Him, on who He is, on His love, His grace, His power, and His new life that Jesus Himself overflows out of us. And when that happens consistently, we tend to forget about the things of the flesh because they just look so dingy and pale. We want to be ‘occupied’ by (or with) the spirit, and ‘unoccupied’ by the flesh. I hope that makes sense. And so Paul is speaking to both dependency on God and growth in discipline (which we’ll talk about next week). He says that the law, or the rules, never had any power to control people’s fleshly, evil impulses. And he goes on to say that we shouldn’t use our new freedom, our new dependence on the fact that God did the big job of saving us and bringing us into His family, as an excuse to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Since the Holy Spirit brings freedom and liberty, the flesh can only return us to bondage.4 And so that’s why Paul says, “ok, we have trouble controlling ourselves. So accept the gift of God and be controlled by the Holy Spirit.” To walk in the Spirit is to be controlled by the Spirit! 4 Hayford, Jack W. The Hayford Bible Handbook, P375. Edited by Jack W. Hayford, Thomas Nelson Incorporated, 2004. Christmas Dependence | 7 And it can be difficult to be controlled by the Spirit, or dependent on God, sometimes. It’s something we have to learn. Or I guess you could say we have to unlearn our dependence on ourselves. You see, babies are born dependent. They are totally dependent in every way on their caretakers. And we have to learn how to be dependent on Jesus in the same way a newborn is dependent on it’s mother or a caretaker. Remember how Jesus said we have to become like little children to enter the kingdom of God? Children (in this case, babies) are totally dependent! The point is that as we walk in the Spirit, we grow in dependency on the Spirit. The word ‘walk’ here in Galatians is a general word and refers to life in its totality. In other words it’s everything we go through, how we live in a general sense as a process, as a journey. The word is used again in Galatians 5:25 NKJV “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” This time, it’s not general, but it’s referring specifically to each step we take in our daily lives. In other words, walking in the Spirit means we invite Him into every moment. It’s the moment by moment realization that God loves us, He’s with us, He’s for us, and He’s going to give us grace as we talk to our spouse, mercy as we go to our work, and favor as we try to do His will. Just like Jesus walked in total dependence on His Father, walking in the Spirit, we also need to learn how to do it, too. John 14:10 NLT “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.” Jesus is saying that He is dependent on the Father to tell Him what to say and do; and then Jesus responds, He listens to what the Father says and He does it. You see, We were never meant to create life or be in charge of it, to work things up in our flesh, or to have to carry the weight of our own salvation and sanctification. Christmas Dependence | 8 We were meant to simply receive Christ’s salvation and new life, and then to display it, to let it shine, to show off His new life in us.5 What does all of this have to do with Christmas? Well, first, it’s a gift to be dependent on someone else in this life, especially when that person is the creator of the universe, is the origin of all good things, and has our best interests in mind all the time. If life works in a terribly dysfunctional way when we depend on ourselves and the human race, it’s going to work a whole lot better if we depend on God instead. Romans 5:15 MSG “If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, absolute life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?” In other words, the coming of Jesus Christ into the world is an extravagant life-gift to us! It’s Jesus who makes everything right, and it’s His Holy Spirit living in us that helps us get on the pathway to recovery from our sinful nature. It’s amazing! And we don’t have to worry about putting everything right; Jesus will take care of that. It’s a gift. Now, ultimately Jesus will set the whole world right when He comes again. But as we’re dependent on Him, He starts setting things right by setting us right, by helping us understand the depths of His love, the wonders of His grace, and the richness of His mercy. When Jesus Christ came into the world, the first thing He did was model dependency. He came into the world as a child, as a baby. Who is more dependent than a baby? Luke 2:7 NKJV “And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Don’t miss this part of the Christmas story - Jesus is totally dependent on people. He has no control over His circumstances. 5 Boa, Kenneth. Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation, P76. Zondervan, 2001. Christmas Dependence | 9 The Bible says Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man; that means that He was fully God and fully human. And as a tiny human, He did what all the other tiny humans do and became fully dependent on the grace of God, on the Holy Spirit, on God using people to meet His physical needs. Jesus needed people to wrap Him in blankets, He needed people to find Him a bed, and He needed people to take care of Him. Don’t miss this next point either; the starting point for following Jesus, the starting point for our relationship with God and the very nature of our walk with Christ is radical dependency on Him. It lies in letting go of control and in embracing being controlled by the Holy Spirit. It’s coming to the point where we say and fully believe, “God, I can’t do this life without You. I need You, and I give up my control for Yours.” Jesus didn’t come to earth the first time as a conquering King over all, though He will do that when He comes back. The first time He came, He came in total dependence in every sense as a little child who didn’t even have a room to sleep in. Jesus modeled dependence on the Holy Spirit because that's how He wanted us to walk, too! That’s why he said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 NIV. He meant that just like children, we need to be totally dependent on our Father to take care of things, to tell us what to do, to protect us, to provide for us, and bring us love, care, compassion, and favor. And it’s this child-like dependence on God that opens the door for a dynamic Christian life, which is really just life as it ought to be, life that works. And we see the theme of dependence on the Holy Spirit a lot in the Christmas story. Mary was dependent on the Holy Spirit to conceive Jesus. Mary was a virgin, and the only way she was going to have a baby was by God Himself. Christmas Dependence | 10 The virgin birth is a miracle that’s never been heard of either before or since. It was God coming to earth in human form. Matthew 1:18 NKJV “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.” The human race can’t depend on themselves to bring the Savior forth, we have to be dependent on God to do it. We’re totally dependent on the Holy Spirit to do the work. The entire Christian faith is actually dependent on the fact that Jesus was born of God, on this fact. You see, if Jesus was only born of man, then He would have inherited man’s fallen nature, He would not have been infinite, He could not have been the “only begotten,” and He would not have fulfilled the requirements of the Law and the Old Covenant sacrificial system.6 But Jesus was born of God, and so He is God, and He is a perfect, acceptable sacrifice for our sins, fulfilling all of the law perfectly. For the rest of our time, let’s just quickly run through some other references to dependence on God in the Christmas story. Mary was dependent on God to speak to Joseph so He wouldn’t reject her as his wife. Matthew 1:19 NKJV “Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Joseph was also dependent on God to tell Him to take Mary as a wife and then later to get out of Bethlehem and go to Egypt. The wise men were dependent on God to find Jesus so they could worship Him. 6 Duffield, Guy P. Foundations of Pentecostal Theology (Revised & Updated) Volume 1, P79. Foursquare Media, 2016. Christmas Dependence | 11 Matthew 2:1-2 NKJV Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” They were looking at the stars to determine where the newborn King would be. No human had any control over where the stars were placed - they just had to wait for God to do it. Simeon was dependent on God to get to see the Savior, the Messiah before his death. Luke 2:25-32 NKJV And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: 29“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation 31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, 32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” I hope you’re starting to see the pattern here with me. My point is that it’s only by radical dependence on the Holy Spirit that we grow, that we have fruit, that we minister to others, and that we’re accepted by God. The conclusion of the Christmas story shows us what will happen in us as we grow in dependence on the Lord. Luke 2:40 NKJV “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” This scripture sums up what dependence on God does. It makes you grow, it makes you stronger in your spirit, you will be filled with the Spirit of wisdom (the Holy Spirit), and you’ll daily walk in God’s grace. Christmas Dependence | 12 It's not good behavior or right choices that make us grow spiritually; it’s by becoming more and more dependent on the Holy Spirit. As we are more dependent on Him, we’ll make better choices, and our behavior will also become more godly, but those things are by-products of dependency on Jesus. And so as we close, I want to pull up Psalm 9:10 NKJV “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” Jesus’ Name, Immanuel, means “God with Us.” I want you to know that whatever you may be facing today, no matter what area of your life you may need to be dependent on God today, that Jesus Christ fulfilled in the flesh the promise of Immanuel, the promise God made to never leave you and never forsake you. Let this promise of Christmas grip your soul today - if you will choose to simply come to God and say, “I am totally dependent on You, Lord, for you are the Creator, the Giver of Life and all good things,” then God will point to His promise fulfilled by Jesus Christ to never leave you and never forsake you. This isn’t just an ethereal, intellectual, spiritual promise, this is a promise fulfilled in flesh and blood, God Himself coming to be with you and me. And even though Jesus ascended back into heaven after His physical time on earth was over, He sent the Holy Spirit so that we would never again have to live without His presence, without His provision, without His Person. Take this promise fully to yourself today no matter what you’re going through; Hebrews 13:5 AMP He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!” Let’s read it again! Christmas Dependence | 13 It’s the promise of hope, of answered prayer, of new life, new joy, and new peace as we let go of our need for control and choose to fully depend on the Holy Spirit, and to walk in His ways. And as a point of practicality, I will add that all that’s necessary to be dependent on Him is to simply give Him our moments. Jesus, give me grace as I go to work today. Father, help me as I talk on the phone with this person. Lord, give me compassion and love as I relate to my spouse; Jesus, come into my moments and control them as I keep my eyes focused on You! And as you do grow in the dependence of Christmas, as you learn to walk in the Spirit, you’ll find that God is completely dependable. In other words He won’t ever let you down. Never. 1 Corinthians 1:8-9 NLT “He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 9 God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” God is faithful to do what He says. He is trustworthy, He is loving, and He is kind. Amen. Christmas Dependence | 14