Exploring Dependence – Provision For My Needs

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Jesus tells us that we must give up all our own possessions (Luke 14:33).

By that, He means that we must renounce any notion of ownership toward the things we possess. They are resources entrusted to us by God to fund His agenda.

So, what are the funding priorities of this agenda?

In the previous article, we identified four:

• Provide for my needs, and those of my family
• Provide for the needs of others within the body
• Fund Ministry
• Build relationships with those I can impact spiritually

This week, we’ll unpack the first of these. Read more

Continuing Next Week

Been on vacation this week, so we will pick up the discussion of our dependence on God with a  look at His provision for our needs, and those of our dependents.

Exploring Dependence – Open-handed Management

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So, our exploration of dependence has brought us to a very pointed question – “What obligations does Jesus’ requirement that a disciple give up all his own possessions (Luke 14:33) place on us, today?”

We have already established that it doesn’t mean that everyone has to quit their jobs and take a vow of poverty. But we are still a pretty fuzzy about what it does mean.

So, I’m going to share some of what I have learned about that question over the last 20+ years,  by telling some of my own story.

As with many of the things that God teaches me, this was not a one-time class, but an ongoing course of study.

As best I can remember, that course commenced in the context of my growing understanding of discipleship during my years at Dallas Theological Seminary. In addition to formal classes, I was part of a small group that stayed together for the entire four years I was at DTS. Our faculty advisor, Mark Bailey, was passionate about discipleship. I first learned about the marks of a disciple through discussions with Him.

There are seven of these marks. The sixth is based on the requirement from Luke 14:33 that we are currently considering. Mark explained that Jesus’ concern was not the possessions, but our view of who they belong to. Rather than seeing them as “ours”, Jesus requires us to recognize that they are His, entrusted to us to manage for His agenda.

My ongoing study of these characteristics has confirmed this conclusion for me, and leads naturally to the next question – “What are the priorities of His agenda?” Where should I be devoting these resources?  Read more

Exploring Dependence – Refocus

As I look back over the last few articles, I realize that four weeks ago, we examined the commitments Jesus required of those who would follow Him (Luke 14:25-34), summarizing His point:

In other words, it will cost you everything. Your agenda and your means. There is no room for any competing agenda. No place for keeping back resources to be used as you wish, to live independently of Christ.

I had planned to explain how that might look in our lives the following week, but now, three articles later, I haven’t quite gotten to that question.

While each of the discussions since has been related to the issue of dependence, and, I hope, may have been beneficial, I see that I am struggling to maintain focus.

When I started these articles, my plan was to devote Mondays to writing, getting the ball rolling on that week’s article. Then over the rest of the week, I would refine it so that it was ready to publish the following week. But, as the months have passed, there have been various intrusions, so that my original schedule has become significantly eroded. Instead of devoting a week to each article, I am producing them in less than 24 hours.

In the last few weeks, I have begun working on the article Monday morning, but by 6:00 pm, the first draft is only about half finished. A break for supper, and then a bible study with a group of friends takes me until about 9:30 PM.

By this time, my brain is pretty numb, so I go to sleep until 2:00 am, and then get up and finish the article, posting the final version by 5:30 am. Then, it’s back to bed for a little more sleep before getting going on my “real” Tuesday schedule.

Ideally, I would like to start working on the next article that afternoon, but in reality, it’s at least Thursday morning before I have recovered from Monday night/Tuesday morning. And then, the first thing I know, it’s Monday again.

As I was in the middle of this routine again this afternoon, I realized that the current pace is not sustainable. I have to get back to spending a week on each article. I am not merely sharing my thoughts, I am handling God’s truth.

So, I’m not going to try to grind out another article tonight. I am going to get a good night’s sleep, and tomorrow, I will start fresh, with a renewed commitment to devote a week to the development of each article.

In the meantime, thank you for allowing me to share my journey, and the things God is teaching me with you. And thanks for your patience as I learn the craft of writing.

If you are so inclined, you can review any of the previous articles from here.

Exploring Dependence – Waiting

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As I look back over our exploration of dependence, I am a little startled by the realization that the discussion has already filled 16 articles.

Starting with the recognition that we are dependent beings, we have tracked our dependence from the beginning of The Story, following it up all the way up through the Gospels. We have traced it through the stories of Abraham, of the nation of Israel, and of the disciples.

In the unfolding of these stories, a question has emerged – “If that’s what dependence looked like in their stories, what does it look like in ours?” By the time we get through Jesus’ instructions, the question has become very pointed. “Does He require us to get rid of all our possessions and quit our jobs to somehow follow Him?”

“If so, how? If not, then what does He expect of us?”

How do the lessons apply to life in the 21^st Century? Read more

Exploring Dependence – Learning Dependence

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As we explore the issue of what it means for us to live dependently before God, sooner or later, we arrive at the question, “How does this dependence manifest itself today, in our 21^st Century lives?”

I mean, God hasn’t lead us into the wilderness where we gather manna each morning. And Jesus probably hasn’t shown up at your job, compelling you to sell everything and follow Him. So, what does this dependence look like for us? Read more

Exploring Dependence – Living Dependently

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So far, in our exploration of dependency, we have discovered that:

• We are, by our very design, dependent beings.
• Very early in the story, we chose to pursue independence from God. This choice was disastrous, bringing Death in all its dimensions.
• Our restoration to Life begins with the recognition of our total dependence. This has been a persistent theme down through The Story.
• Our dependence transcends spiritual/physical distinctions. We are dependent on God for both justification and daily provision. The two are linked and integral. In fact, the function of the “daily provision” aspect of our dependence is to reveal our total dependence in all areas, including the spiritual (Deuteronomy 8). (A point of emphasis – possession of abundance does not really make us less dependent, it only makes our dependence less obvious.)
• Recognition of our spiritual dependence leads us to seek God’s provision – the sending of Jesus as the Christ.
• Believing that Jesus is the Christ, we are justified – forgiven.
• Having recognized Him as the Christ, Jesus calls us to follow Him unconditionally. That is, He calls us to live in total dependence on Him, exclusively committed to His agenda, resting in His provision.
• However, even as believers, our desire to live independently of God persists. Justified, we tend to pursue our own agendas, praying that God will bless them. We seek comfort, not in the assurance of His provision, but in the accumulation of means.

This desire to live independently of God is irrational. How can we hope to find Life while persisting in the choice that brought Death? Sure, we are justified. But there is so much more to Life than just forgiveness.

Clearly, we need to acknowledge our dependence in all its dimensions.

But how? What does this look like in practical terms? Read more

Exploring Dependence – Reviewing the Evidence

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We began this exploration of dependence with the observation that, as Christians, we tend to acknowledge our dependence on God in theory, but practically manifest an ongoing desire to live independently of Him.

Specifically, we set out to consider two issues:

• The depth of our dependence -  It is quite possible to acknowledge the idea of our dependence, while minimizing the degree or significance of that dependence.
• The areas and ways in which our independence continues to manifest itself – Even among believers who claim a firm commitment to Christ, we find attitudes and beliefs that are at odds with the true nature of our dependency.

Now, having spent the last few weeks tracking the theme of dependency through much of The Story, let’s revisit these two areas in light of our discoveries.

Perhaps we should start by fleshing out our vague notions of dependency. In what ways do we actually see ourselves as dependent? Read more

Jury Duty

While I work on the articles through the week, Mondays are the days normally dedicated to finishing and posting them. However, today I spent almost the entire day in the Harris County District Courthouse as a potential juror. Although I wasn’t ultimately selected, it took them until 4:00 PM to come to that conclusion, so I won’t post an article this week.

However, I have been working on the website, making it easier to navigate the website, so now might be a good chance to explore the site, and perhaps, review some of the older articles. There are two ways you can go about that.

The first is to go to the “Blog” menu at the top right side of the page. On that pull-down, there is a “Find An Article” option. The will take you to an Archive Page were you can navigate the site by page, by month, by category, or by a simple list of all articles posted.

Under the category section, I have created a category for each of the series of articles, so, if you want to review a series, look for the category for that series.

The second option is to use the pull-downs that now appear in the right column of each page. There is a pull down to search by date, and there is a pull-down to search by category. The series categories appear in this location as well.

I really hate that the articles have been interrupted so frequently of late, and look forward to resuming them next week.

Garth

Exploring Dependence – Rich Young Ruler & Going to Heaven

As we have looked at Jesus’ interaction with the Rich Young Ruler over the last three weeks (week 1, week 2, week 3), some of us have been haunted by the question of how Jesus’ words speak to the issue of whether we will go to heaven when we die, or not.

A simple reading of the story raises the fear that Jesus is saying that, in order to go to heaven, we must do certain things… like sell everything we have and give it to the poor.

Now, the reasons this provokes fear in us are probably varied and complex, but likely include the fact that what we hear in this story seems at odds with other passages, and with what we have been taught about salvation.

So, how do we reconcile this fear and this conflict? Read more

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