INDEPENDENCE
WHAT IS THE VIRTUE OF INDEPENDENCE?
1 Corinthians 3:8 . . . The one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose. Yet they will be rewarded individually, according to their own hard work.
1 Corinthians 12:20, 27 . . . Yes, there are many parts, but only one body . . . Now all of you together are Christ’s body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.
Ephesians 4:15-16 . . . Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Each of us independently develops a loving, or unloving, relationship with God and others. Each of us independently must obey God and be accountable to him. Each of us must responsibly and lovingly perform the tasks God has given to every individual as part of his body. We may do all of these things in concert with other individuals, but we are all individuals. Every team is a group of individuals, independent, yet privileged to work together. The virtue of all of this is the privilege of being our own person, yet functioning beautifully together as a team.
WHAT ARE THE DANGERS OF INDEPENDENCE?
John 15:1-6 . . . “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned for greater fruitfulness by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.”
The greatest danger of independence is thinking that we don’t need God.
Isaiah 47:8, 10 . . . You are a pleasure-crazy kingdom, living at ease and feeling secure, bragging as if you were the greatest in the world! You say, “I’m self-sufficient and not accountable to anyone! I will never be a widow or lose my children.” . . . You felt secure in all your wickedness. “No one sees me,” you said. Your “wisdom” and “knowledge” have caused you to turn away from me and claim, “I am self-sufficient and not accountable to anyone!”
Asserting our independence can cause us to turn from God and depend on self.
Numbers 15:30-31 . . . Those who brazenly violate the Lord’s will, whether native Israelites or foreigners, blaspheme the Lord, and they must be cut off from the community. Since they have treated the Lord’s word with contempt and deliberately disobeyed his commands, they must be completely cut off and suffer the consequences of their guilt.
Jeremiah 11:7-8 . . . I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, repeating over and over again to this day: “Obey me!” But your ancestors did not pay any attention; they would not even listen. Instead, they stubbornly followed their own evil desires. And because they refused to obey, I brought upon them all the curses described in our covenant.
Independence can be a sin of defiance. While God made us to be individuals, independent and highly resourceful, he also desires that we bring our lives into harmony with him. Why? Only then can we bring us, his creation, into full harmony with the Creator.
1 Corinthians 4:7 . . . What makes you better than anyone else? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own?
3 John 1:9-10 . . . I sent a brief letter to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, does not acknowledge our authority. When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the wicked things he is saying about us. He not only refuses to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church.
Independence is often accompanied by arrogance. Each of us, no matter how independently we function, needs God to save us from sin and make us our very best. To think we don’t need him is arrogance and pride.
HOW DID JESUS BALANCE DEPENDENCE AND INDEPENDENCE?
John 8:42 . . . Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me.”
John 12:49 . . . “I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me gave me his own instructions as to what I should say.”
John 8:28 . . . Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will realize that I am he and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak what the Father taught me.”
John 5:19 . . . Jesus replied, “I assure you, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”
Matthew 26:42 . . . Again he left them and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away until I drink it, your will be done.”
John 17:11 . . . Now I am departing the world; I am leaving them behind and coming to you. Holy Father, keep them and care for them-all those you have given me-so that they will be united just as we are.
Jesus was uniquely the Son of God with a message of salvation through forgiveness of sins. But he was sent by God and willingly chose to speak and accomplish what his father had planned. He declared his unity with God with his words and his actions.
OF WHAT HAS GOD DECLARED US INDEPENDENT?
Romans 7:24 . . . Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?
Romans 6:14 . . . Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God’s grace.
Colossians 1:13-14 . . . He has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.
2 Corinthians 3:17 . . . Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom.
1 Peter 2:16 . . . You are not slaves; you are free. But your freedom is not an excuse to do evil. You are free to live as God’s slaves.
Galatians 5:13 . . . You, dear friends, have been called to live in freedom-not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love.
We are set free from the power of sin. This is dependent, of course, on God’s grace. We are free to serve God and one another in love. But our lives are at their best when we in our independence, depend on our Creator for his power and blessings.
Romans 7:4-6 . . . Dear friends, the point is this: The law no longer holds you in its power, because you died to its power when you died with Christ on the cross . . . When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died with Christ, and we are no longer captive to its power. Now we can really serve God, not in the old way by obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way, by the Spirit.
Acts 10:28 . . . Peter told them, “You know it is against the Jewish laws for me to come into a Gentile home like this. But God has shown me that I should never think of anyone as impure.”
Acts 11:8-9 . . . “‘Never, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws.’ But the voice from heaven came again, ‘If God says something is acceptable, don’t say it isn’t.’”
We are independent of the laws of Moses and dependent on the Spirit to guide us and provide us with wisdom, strength, counsel, guidance.
PROMISE FROM GOD:
John 15:4-5 . . . Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
More on Independence
WHAT ARE THE LIMITS OF HUMAN INDEPENDENCE?
BIBLE READING: Judges 17:1-13
KEY BIBLE VERSE: One day [Micah] said to his mother, “I heard you curse the thief who stole eleven hundred pieces of silver from you. Well, here they are. I was the one who took them.” “The LORD bless you for admitting it,” his mother replied. (Judges 17:2)
GOD’S COMMANDS ARE LIMITS FOR OUR INDEPENDENCE.
Micah and his mother seemed to be good and moral and may have sincerely desired to worship God, but they disobeyed God by following their own desires instead of doing what God wanted. The attitude that prevailed in Micah’s day was this: “The people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (17:6). This is remarkably similar to today’s prevailing attitudes. But God has given us standards. He has not left our conduct up to us and our opinions. We can avoid conforming to society’s low standards by taking God’s commands seriously and applying them to life. Independence and self-reliance are positive traits, but only within the framework of God’s standards.
BIBLE READING: Luke 2:41-52
KEY BIBLE VERSE: [Jesus’] parents didn’t know what to think. “Son!” his mother said to him. “Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.” (Luke 2:48)
HEALTHY PARENTING INCLUDES GIVING CHILDREN HEALTHY INDEPENDENCE.
Mary had to let go of her child and let him become a man, God’s Son, the Messiah. Fearful that she hadn’t been careful enough with this God-given child, she searched frantically for him. But she was looking for a boy, not the young man who was in the temple astounding the religious leaders with his questions. It is hard to let go of people or projects we have nurtured. It is both sweet and painful to see our children as adults, our students as teachers, our subordinates as managers, our inspirations as institutions. But when the time comes to step back and let go, we must do so in spite of the hurt. Then our protégés can exercise their wings, take flight, and soar to the heights God intended for them.
BIBLE READING: Ephesians 4:11-16
KEY BIBLE VERSE: We will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. (Ephesians 4:15-16)
HUMAN INDEPENDENCE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP OTHERS.
Our oneness in Christ does not destroy our individuality. There is great freedom in the body of Christ. One of the most important actions independent believers can take is to choose to invest their lives in service of others. The Holy Spirit has given each Christian special gifts for building up the church. Now that we have these gifts, it is crucial to use them. Are you spiritually mature, exercising the gifts God has given you? If you know what your gifts are, look for opportunities to serve. If you don’t know, ask God to show you, perhaps with the help of your pastor or Christian friends. Then, as you begin to recognize your special area of service, use your gifts to strengthen and encourage the church.