In January, we looked at the points in our life where ministry happens. We looked at the small, sometimes inconsequential moments where we encountered God. That sermon was titled "The Minutia of Ministry – Where Faith and Life Meet." This morning, I’m going to look at an area where we encounter God but unlike the previous sermon, it is not about pleasant moments of ministry. No, this morning we’re going to deal with an area where there’s maybe some pretty intense conflict with the Almighty. Today, we’re going to look at "Where Faith and Life Clash." We’re going to look at Independence and Power versus Weakness, Dependency and Faith.

We live in a culture that reveres power and strength and ridicules weakness. For years, who was used for laughs because he was weak, nervous, sniveling and only carried one bullet in his pocket? Don Knotts portraying Barney Fife.

The comic books I read as a boy had advertisements from Charles Atlas. These ads showed some poor schlep on the beach with his girlfriend having sand kicked in his face by a large, strong bully. The scrawny, sand-covered lad rushed home, ordered the Charles Atlas program, became strong, returned to the beach and, of course, settled the score with the large bully and got his girlfriend back.

Television offered a string of strong, independent characters- Mike Nelson the scuba diver on Sea Hunt; Fess Parker portraying Davey Crockett, the great frontiersman; Yule Gibbons and his pet bear living off the land and helping those that had ventured too far into the wild. There was one show I really loved called "Lincoln Vale of the Everglades". Lincoln, a park ranger in the Everglades, was constantly fighting poachers and saving gators. He rushed alone to and fro throughout the ‘glades in his airboat. Now that was cool! Here’s one more for you: "Out of the blue of the western sky comes…… Sky King." Whether it was with a coonskin cap, an airboat or a twin-engine Beechcraft airplane, all of these characters portrayed strength, independence and the power to meet challenges.

In recent years, this reverence of strength and power has been taken to some frightening levels. On a Sunday afternoon recently, I was riding my bike past the Verizon Civic Center in Manchester. The sidewalks were packed with people waiting to get into the arena. The lines stretched for blocks. I had seen the crowds for the Monarchs, for a number of big-name entertainers and ice-skating shows. Nothing, absolutely nothing compared with the crowd waiting to get in that afternoon. Any guesses as to what the event was? A World Wrestling Foundation show.

And lest you think our culture only reveres strength and power in the form of steroid enhanced malcontents, may I draw your attention to Wall Street, in particular a little company called Enron? The news articles about this company demonstrate this was not simply a case of some underhanded accounting. No, this was all about power – manipulative, plotting, crushing, Machiavellian to the core – power. The accounting tricks that brought down Arthur Anderson were only one of the tools used Enron officers. You know something? We should not be shocked or amazed by the felonious power ploys carried out by the executives of Enron. That corporate culture encouraged and rewarded the behavior and, truth be told, our own culture in many ways cultivates and applauds Enronish behavior.

That kind of flies in the face of much that we hold dear, doesn’t it? And quite frankly, I would be lying to you if I did not tell you I have had some real struggles with this verse and with the concepts it represents.

Folks, I like being independent, I like feeling strong and capable and if I’m perfectly honest with myself, I like power – maybe not the kind of power wielded by the folks at Enron but certainly power in some diluted form. I realized, however, that playing with a little power, saying I like some power but not a lot or that if I had a lot of power I’d use it properly is simply the first steps of succumbing to the seduction that power brings with it.

Percy Shelley the eighteenth century poet and essayist wrote:

Henry Brooks Adams, a late 19^th and early 20^th century American historian and philosopher wrote:

Sir Charles Percy Snow, a 20^th Century English author and scientist wrote:

None of these quotes points out anything new. We know, intellectually that power inherently has a great potential for evil and abuse in whatever form it takes. But even though I realize the dangers of power, even acknowledging that a little power can be like a little malignant tumor, I chaff and recoil to my very core as I read those words from Paul to the Corinthians!

I read in verses 7 & 8 about Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’ and I immediately thought of my own ‘thorn’ – Diabetes - and as I thought of the lengthy list of complications Diabetes can cause, I found myself railing at Heaven.

"What good am I to You, God if I am weak? What good is a sick man?! How can I possibly be of ANY USE to You or anyone else if I’m ultimately dealing with failing eyesight, deteriorating circulation or internal organ damage? Tell me Dear Father. How is all of that to be OF ANY GOOD!"

There is a problem when you pray like that because God has this irritating practice of answering prayers like these.

As God answered that prayer, He brought me back to a time when I was talking – disciplining actually – my daughter Becky. She was about two, she was misbehaving somehow and I had set out to correct her from the error of her ways. As I attempted to talk to her, I realized she wasn’t looking at me.

"Look at me" I instructed.

She turned her face toward me but I realized she was intentionally looking at my ear.

"Look at me!" I told her again.

Now, she turned her gaze to my forehead. There’s a lot there to look at.

I then held my finger in front of my eyes and firmly and slowly said, "Look at me."

It amazed me at how early an age a child realizes that failure to make eye contact means I’m not really paying attention to what you’re saying. They quickly learn: If I ain’t lookin’ at ya’ I ain’t hearin’ ya!

Weakness, in whatever form it takes, brings us to our knees and draws our gaze to the Father.

I don’t like committees. Once I have an idea, albeit a partial idea of what needs to be done or where we need to go, I’m out the door. I’ve got places to go, things to do and people to see. I’ll see you when I’m done. I’d do the same thing with a God-given directive. I assume I know what God wants, I pack up my briefcase or I put on my tool belt and head out the door. Needless to say, this is a prescription for disaster. Weakness keeps me focused on God and helps me stay on His appointed course.

I have a rather visceral reaction to the word dependent.

One of the things I like about bicycling is the sense of independence it gives me. I often ride alone. The challenges that come along I have to handle, whether its long climbs, flat tires or inclement weather. I think that developing skills and capabilities is a good thing. So why does God want me dependent?

Last year, I bought a tag-a-long, It’s like a half-bike that is attached to an adults bike. The child can ride and pedal behind the adult or coast and enjoy the sites as Dad pedals along. We have had some great times with the tag-a-long and I’m looking forward to a lot of good miles this year. On the first ride, however, an interesting thing happened, I noticed that Becky talked constantly. Her conversation wasn’t simply aimless babbling. It was pretty much a string of questions or statements that started with "Hey Dad. You know what?" and required me to listen and to respond. I mentioned this to Linda when I got home. Linda made an incredible observation: "She wants to make sure that you know she’s there."

As I recalled what Linda had said, it dawned on me that God wants to hear from me constantly. He loves me and wants continued – constant - fellowship with me. Paul wrote in I Thessalonians 5:17: pray continually. Does that mean God wants to hear about the inconsequential moments of my day? Yep. Does he want me to pray about the loans I’m working on? Sure does. Does that mean I can have a running conversation with God throughout the day? Precisely.

Helping Hands Outreach Center in Manchester is an amazing organization. As part of my involvement with the United Way, I had to analyze the financial statements of Helping Hands. This is a faith-based, Christian half-way house. The center operates about 31 beds at a cost of less than $25/bed/night. That means, the center is providing warm shelter, food and care and supervision for the residents -- for less than the cost of a one dinner at most restaurants! You don’t have to be an MBA to realize providing good care for that amount of money is impossible. The financial statements my group was provided with begged the question: How are they doing this? When we met with the agency, that question was answered. We heard countless stories of how God had provided thousands of dollars worth of construction material to repair and improve the building. We heard how the agency had been provided with tens of thousands of dollars worth of groceries. And the most amazing thing, we heard how God had reached out and touched the lives of addicts and alcoholics and redeemed them through the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

If we allow God to work through our weaknesses, if we allow Him to do what we know is otherwise impossible, we will see great things happen. God wants us in awe of what He can do – and not enamored by our own paltry capabilities.

In Zechariah 4: 6 God said, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit."

In this morning’s scripture reading, the Psalmist wrote in Chapter 147: 10 & 11: "His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse nor his delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love."

In II Corinthians 12:9 & 10 Paul goes on to write: therefore I will boast ("glory" King James Version) all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight ("take pleasure" – KJV) in weaknesses…

It does not make sense at first reading how anyone could delight in weakness. If, however, we allow God to work through the weakness, allow His power, His might to work wonders, to do things we deem impossible, the natural response is to offer praise and adoration. I can therefore "be glad" or "glory" in my weakness because it allows great things to happen for God’s Kingdom.

A point needs to be made here, however, regarding Dependency upon God. Dependency is not passivity. Many times since becoming a Christian, I have heard people say, "I’m just waiting on Jesus to show me what to do." Now there are times when we are truly called to wait upon the Lord – to sit and be quiet. Often though, when I’ve heard statements like this, it usually means, "I’m going to sit here like a massive blob and wait for God to pick me up and move me." It is a complete abdication of all responsibility and prevents rather than promotes any action from taking place.

Recently, we took care of our nephew’s Yellow Labrador Retriever Tara. Her paw and lower leg were in a cast due to an accident and every evening, we had to put an Elizabethan collar on her – that’s one of those plastic collars that looks like a satellite dish. The moment Tara saw that thing come out, she became an enormous, limp, passive mound of dead-weight. I had to pick up her head, wrestle that thing on her and then lift up her shoulders to make sure I had it fastened properly. At one point, Linda took Tara for a walk. Tara wanted to go across the street to play with one of the neighbors. Linda started pulling her the other way at which point, Tara not only went limp but lay on her back in the middle of the road with all four legs in the air. You see, being passive in many ways means maintaining control and I would add, it could be a willful act of disobedience.

There is a very interesting principle about passivity, you abdicate responsibility but you don’t give up control.

Dependency upon God means we are looking to Him for guidance and provision. It means we have submitted our will to obediently follow His will. And this means we are moving – not sitting or lying on our backs – in the direction we feel He is leading. In spite of the connotations our culture has attached to it, Dependency is very active and dynamic condition - especially for those that are dependent upon God the Father.

I believe with all my being that God has designed each one of us and yes, empowered us to complete tasks for His Kingdom. It is our responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ to constantly and actively seek His leading and go where He would have us go. One of my passions is to challenge believers to seek that for which they were created and designed. I heard a song recently that was asking God "to expand my horizons beyond what I can see." I get incredibly fired-up at the thought of that – of seeing what God can do with me and through me. But left to my own designs, not to be constantly aware that I succeed only by the Grace of God, I know I will wind up on my face with all I touch in shambles.

Folks, everyone of us is weak. We each probably have something we can point to as our ‘thorn in the flesh’. I have come to realize as I’ve worked on this message, however, that the ‘thorn in the flesh’ is not my only point of weakness. As a human being, I am extremely frail and vulnerable. In my adventures in the outdoors, without the proper clothing, I am quickly susceptible to hypothermia. All it takes is to be riding in the woods, miles from shelter and getting caught in a cold spring rain. My situation becomes a very dangerous, even a life-threatening predicament. All of us are constantly just one doctor’s appointment and one blood-test away from confronting our own mortality. As a parent, I am frequently aware of how totally devastated I would be if anything ever happened to my child. Each one of us is vulnerable to so many things.

If we think of ourselves as strong, mighty and powerful, we delude ourselves. If, however, we realize how helpless and weak we truly are, then we’re exactly where God wants us and exactly where He can do great things with us and through us.

Amen.