Go to:
Home Page
Worship
Nurture
Outreach
Colombia Project,
Sermons
Calendar
Committees
Links
Photo Albums,
What's New?
Questions/Comments
Last updated on
Aug. 6, 2005
Depending on Christ
Delivered April 3, 2005
by Pastor Werner De Jong
Text: Proverbs 3:5-8, John 15:5-8
Main Idea: As Christians we have been raised to new life in Christ, and his life and power are now fully available to us to help build God's kingdom. The only fruitful way to live this new life is to depend fully on Christ, to trust him always, to allow his life to live in and through us.
Purpose: To challenge the listeners to depend fully on Jesus as they seek to live fruitful lives in his kingdom. To encourage the listeners that those who fear God and depend on him will bear much fruit and experience God's guiding hand in their lives.
Introduction: Today is the Second Sunday of Easter, which is the celebration of new life. Last Sunday we considered the wonderful truth that as believers in Jesus we have received new life. This new life is not only something we anticipate receiving after we die, the physical resurrection to eternal life which the Bible holds out to us as a sure and beautiful hope. Rather, this new life is also something that has been given to us now. Even now we share in the eternal life of our risen Lord. For as believers in Jesus we have risen with him to new life, that is, we have had a spiritual resurrection. At the heart of this spiritual resurrection lies the profound truth that the life of Jesus now lives in us, and that we now live through the life of Jesus. We are in him, and he is in us. We are a new creation. We have been given a new identity through our faith in Jesus. When God looks upon us now, he sees his Son. And the life of Jesus, the power of Jesus, and the love of Jesus are in us and readily available to help us live the Christian life.
Today I want to continue thinking about this new life, the new identity that is now ours. In particular, there is one question we must look at: How is this new life to be lived? As people who have been united with Christ, how do we live for Christ? This much can surely be said: God didn't recreate us to live in the same old way we used to. When a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, it enters into a new mode of existence. If it is to take advantage of this transformation, it needs to learn to live in a new way. If it is no longer to crawl around on its belly, but to soar through the air, it must make use of its new-found wings. In the same way we have been given a new life, we have been transformed through our faith in Christ. The question for us now is this: how do we use our wings? Ho w can we appropriate the new life within us, how can we live in such a way that the life of Christ is able to work in us and through us to enable us to bear lasting fruit for God's kingdom? God has promised us a life of deepest meaning and satisfaction as we use our new lives to serve and glorify him. But how can we do that? As people whose lives have been united with the life of our Lord, how are we to live? What are the wings which sustain our new mode of existence?
Today's Texts: Depend on the Lord: Today's texts from Proverbs and John both directly answer that question. In John's gospel Jesus tells his parable of the vine and the branches. It is a perfect illustration of what is required to live in him. Listen to what he says to us as his disciples: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me, and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Here is the answer: our lives as Christians can only be lived by depending on the life of Christ, a life which we now share. We are in Jesus, and Jesus is in us. The wings which helps us to fly are therefore the life of Jesus himself. As Christians we have been raised to new life in Christ, and the resources of our Lord are now fully available to us to help build God's kingdom. The only fruitful way to live this new life is to depend fully on Christ, to trust him always, to allow his life to live in and through us. Andrew Murray, the insightful South African pastor and missionary of the 19th century, put it like this: "It is of utmost importance that we study and know and trust the life that has been revealed in Christ as the life that is now ours, and awaits for our consent to gain possession and mastery of our whole being" (Andrew Murray, Humility: The Journey Toward Holiness, p. 25).
Another way to put it is like this–we cannot manufacture the love and the power of Jesus. These gifts are only found in Christ. Therefore on our own we cannot love like Jesus loved. On our own we cannot do any great things for the kingdom of God like Jesus did. "Apart from me, you can do nothing." Those words are strong, and absolute. If we simply live our own natural life, and ignore the supernatural life which is Christ in us, we can't accomplish anything of lasting, eternal value. To ignore the new life within us is like a butterfly ignoring her wings. But the love and power of Jesus will come to us as we abide in him, and allow his life to fill us and to live through us. A branch on a vine will thrive if the sap flows into it from the vine. The vine is Christ, and we are the branches. We can only thrive if his life flows into us. And this is fully possible because we are in Christ just like a branch is in the vine. But if we don't depend on Jesus, if we ignore the new life within, if we don't allow the sap of Christ to flow into our very being, then our lives become dry and barren, like a branch that has been cut off of the grapevine. The new life in Christ can only be sustained by depending on him.
Similar teaching to this is found in our text from Proverbs. It too advises us to trust fully in the Lord: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths" (3:5-6). These words take on extra meaning in light of the resurrection, when the Lord we are trusting is the Lord whose very life we share. We can rewrite these words for Christians: "Trust in the risen Lord with all your heart; don't trust in yourselves. For he is in you, and you are in him. Acknowledge his presence, his love, his power, obey him and depend on him in everything, and he will be your sure guide through life."
Self-reliance: This is the teaching, that our new life is sustained by depending on Jesus. In so many ways and in so many places the Bible calls us to a life of radical trust in our Lord. But what does such a life look like? What does it really mean to trust in God? What does depending on Jesus look like in our everyday lives? One way to answer that question is in the negative. That is, what does a life look like when we don't depend on God?
Our text from Proverbs can help us answer that question, for it contains two negative commands, or two prohibitions. First of all, the Proverb says: "Do not rely on your own insight." And secondly, it says, "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil." Both of these proscriptions mean essentially the same thing. They say to us, "Do not live a self-centred life in which you see yourself as a wise and sure guide. Do not be so full of pride and self-confidence that you rely on yourself rather than upon God." The opposite of trusting in God, quite simply, is trusting in ourselves. We may ask, "What is wrong with that? Is it wrong to be confident and sure of our own abilities?" The answer to that is yes, if it means we fail to realize that anything good and lasting we accomplish comes through the abilities God has given us. The answer is yes, if it means we fail to give God credit for the abilities he gives us. And the answer is yes if it means we fail to depend on the power of God within to work through us. But the answer is no if we define self-confident as meaning that we are confident in the gifts God has given to us, and in what God can accomplish through us, as we ourselves cooperate with him.
The real problem is living life apart from God. Those who do not depend on God essentially live as if God didn't exist. They may believe in God, they may even go to church, but their belief makes no difference in the way they live. They rarely if ever pray to God, they don't seek God's guidance when they have decisions to make, they are not interested in knowing God's will, for they have no fear of God and would rather do whatever they see fit. Ultimately such people believe that they are in charge of their own lives, and they have no real confidence in the one who really is God. They are guilty of the fundamental pride of putting themselves at the centre of the universe.
It is not that such people cannot accomplish anything from a human perspective. Such people might be very successful in the world's eyes. They may have built up a successful business. They may have been promoted to the top of the corporate ladder. They may have a beautiful house with two luxury cars in the driveway. They may be admired by many people As a result they are all the more likely to say, "Look what I have accomplished." But Jesus says to them, "you have yet to accomplish anything of any lasting value, for apart from me you can do nothing." Those words are so hard to hear, because they offend our sense of pride–what do you mean I can accomplish nothing without you? Look at all I have done. Look at what I have built up with my own hands. Look at the wealth and resources I have accumulated. Look at all my degrees. Look how respected I am by others in the community.
But when we speak like that we simply betray the fact that we are wise in our own eyes, and do not have the wisdom of God. For God says to us that all the things of this world will pass away, and only what has been accomplished for God's eternal kingdom will last. As Jesus said: "those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them it they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?" (Mt. 16:25-26a). When he said this Jesus was pointing to those who think they are in control of their own lives. They are those who address themselves with the words of the poet William Ernest Henley, saying, "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." But in the strongest possible way, Jesus lovingly warns us saying, "No, you are not. The one who created you is in charge. If you persist in a stubborn attitude of self-reliance, and do not fear God, you will one day lose everything. For God has nothing to do with people who want nothing to do with him." When we rely on our own abilities, and brag inwardly about our own achievements, we are like a caterpillar who is all puffed up and says, "Few people have ever attained to so great a height as I have." And in the meanwhile the poor caterpillar is blind to the fact that butterflies are soaring around her, and reaching heights she doesn't even know existed. Pride blinds us to true knowledge, to what is truly valuable in life. The fundamental error which created human beings commit is to rely on their own abilities, and not to seek the wisdom that comes from the living God, who is our Creator.
So the first step, then, in trusting God, is to be humble and to acknowledge that we truly need God. We must stop relying on our own insight, and stop being wise in our own eyes. As followers of Jesus, we can put this a little more specifically. A life of depending on Jesus begins with the humble acknowledgment that we truly can bear no lasting fruit apart from the life of Jesus within us. To trust Jesus therefore means that we stop relying on the power of our own strength or abilities as we seek to do his will.
Trusting God?: This brings us back to our original question. What does a life of trusting in Jesus look like? We've just seen that it means acknowledging our need of him, and dying to the spirit of pride within us. But that is putting it negatively. What does it look like positively? To return to our opening illustration, we are not only to stop living like caterpillars. That is the negative teaching, to die to our old way of living. But positively speaking, we also need to learn to soar like butterflies. How does that translate into everyday living? What does a life of depending on Jesus look like? If someone were to ask you that question, what would you say?
This question is surprisingly difficult for some people to answer. If you were to ask certain Christians in what ways they were actively trusting in God in their everyday lives, they wouldn't know what to say. How would you answer that question? In what ways have you actively trusted God during this last week? We need to put the question like that, because when we talk of trust there is always the danger that we only speak in general, non-specific terms. But when we ask the question more specifically, when we are asked to consider in what precise ways we are depending on Jesus, it may reveal the fact that we aren't trusting our Lord very much at all. It is one thing to say, "trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding"–it is another thing to do it.
I think much of the problem lies in the fact that we live in an affluent society. Most people in our communities are able to achieve a certain standard of living in which they are able to live quite comfortably. When we work hard, we are generally rewarded for it. What is there to trust God for? Compared to the rest of the world, we have excellent homes, a good health care system, and a strong economy. If our health fails we may need to trust God, or if we lose our jobs we may need to trust God, but if life in general seems to be sailing along quite smoothly, what is there to trust God for? But if we only think of trusting God in those terms, it reveals the fact that we have failed to grasp our high calling. We are not meant to live an earth-bound existence like the caterpillar. God re-created is in Christ Jesus in order that we may rise above a mere worldly existence and soar in the realm of the spirit. We are meant to bear lasting fruit for God–the fruit of peace, love, justice, righteousness, and salvation. Our business is to build an eternal kingdom. Who can build the kingdom of God without trusting in God? Who dares to say that they don't have to depend on Jesus in order to do the work of Jesus? On our own are we able to convince people of their sin and their need of forgiveness? On our own are we able to struggle against the powers of this world? On our own are we able to suffer if it means doing so will bring life to others? On our own are we able to achieve anything for God's kingdom that will endure for eternity?
These are obviously rhetorical questions. The answer the Bible gives to all of them is a resounding "No." Once again, hear the words of Jesus: "Apart from you can do nothing." If we cannot think of any ways we are depending on Jesus, in all likelihood we are living a very earth-bound existence, and are caught up in the concerns of this world rather than in the concerns of our Lord. In such a case, it makes little sense to even speak of trusting in Jesus until we come to terms with our true need of him. But if we do realize our high calling, and if see the truth that we cannot live the Christian life without depending on the new life, the life we share with our risen Lord, what then? How in practical terms do we depend upon our Lord?
Application: We've spent a lot of time building up to this question, but the answer is short and simple: the primary way to humble ourselves and depend upon Jesus is to pray in his name. Jesus concluded his parable of the vine and the branches by speaking these words: "You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name" (John 15:16). Here is the greatest encouragement to prayer, the promise that our heavenly Father will hear us as we seek to bear fruit by praying in the name of his Son. That doesn't mean we literally have to say, "in the name of Jesus, Amen," at the end of all our prayers. But it does mean that we can pray with full confidence for the ability to meet our high calling, knowing that our risen Lord is with us. When we pray for the ability to do God's will in a humble attitude of dependance upon our Lord, whose life and love and power he readily makes available to us, the Father will surely answer.
One very practical thing we can all do is to commit each day to God when we awake in the morning. This need not take a long time. It may simply mean saying something like this: "Dear Jesus, thank you for another day. Today I want to live for you, I want to bear fruit for you that will last. I know that I cannot do this on my own. So please be with me as I go about my daily labours. Help me to work in such a way that my life brings honour and glory to you. Help me to relate this day to everyone who crosses my path in such a way that they see you in me, and are drawn to you. Work through me, dear Lord, and love through me. Amen." And of course we can all make such a prayer more specific my lifting up to God the specific work of our hands or of our minds for that day, and the specific people who are a part of our lives, and any specific ministries God calls us to in addition to our normal vocation. As long as we pray such prayers with childlike faith and sincerity, we will access the life of Christ that is within us. But such a prayer, of course, will become useless if we just mouth the words.
In addition to prayer we can also name other spiritual disciplines which will lead us into a stronger trust in Christ who is our life: Scripture reading, meditation, and the seeking of solitude. Anything we do which will help us to know Jesus better, and anything we do which places us in a position to hear our Lord's voice, is an excellent demonstration of our dependance upon him. The abiding principle is that as we give Jesus space in our lives, Jesus will live in us and through us.
Conclusion: It is time now to conclude. Remember who you are, remember the new life that lives within you. Trust in your Lord with all you heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight.