Our Declaration of Dependence

(A sermon given by me at the Missouri Veteran's Home on Sunday, October 11, 2009)

This morning, veterans, I want to talk to you a little about our country’s “Declaration of Independence” and how frustration caused it to come into being.

On every Fourth of July, the United States celebrates its birthday. On that day, in 1776, representatives of the British colonies in North America adopted an eloquent statement setting forth the reasons for declaring their independence from Great Britain. No one was much surprised at the news. War against England had already begun. Battles had been fought at Lexington, Concord, and Breed’s Hill. George Washington had been named to head the colonial army. The spirit of independence was abroad in the land.

The colonists were basically being treated as slaves by the British with everything in their lives being controlled by British whims and desires. They could see that they were getting nowhere in improving their lives which was their goal in leaving England in the first place. They realized that they were unable to do the things that they wanted to do and, on the other hand, were being forced to do things which they did not want to do.

So although they had many physical and emotional ties to their homeland, they saw that they really had no choice but to sever ties and declare their independence from their forefathers in Europe and begin a new life and generation in America.

Human beings are born with a desire to be independent. We see this from birth on. The newborn recognizes his total dependence on his parents but he puts up with this dependence only as long as necessary. A child is continually stretching the boundaries of his dependence. He is always testing how far his dependence on his parents goes. What can he get away with on his own? How can he get to do the things that HE wants to do?

As the child gets into the teens and begins to achieve some degree of independence in his daily activities, he seeks more and more freedom from home control. Usually in the late teens or early twenties, he asserts his “declaration of independence” and strikes out on his own.

His experience in the world is very limited, but his enthusiasm for freedom knows no bounds. Some are able to make their “declaration of independence” work well enough that they really are able to end dependence on parents. Others find out that they are not able to make a go of it on their own due to lack of resources or experience or both. Some, in frustration, even return to their parent’s shelter relying on dependence by living at home again. Even though some share housing and living expenses with their parents, they must follow the rules of the home and thus lose some of their independence that they so eagerly desired.

Why do humans have this strong independent obsession? We are born with it! But where do we really get it? It comes from our first parents - Adam and Eve. God made them with the ability to choose between dependence on God to direct their lives and independence from God to do their own thing. Adam could be a “dependent-self” or an “independent-self”. And he chose a “declaration of independence”! He and Eve thought that God was holding out on them with things that would give them a better life. They were wrong! Really wrong!

We were created for dependence! But dependence on the perfect Father whose every controlling action was for the good of the offspring; not like human fathers who are very imperfect no matter how hard they may try. We were created to never leave God’s nest, and to be totally happy in the family nest of God.

This concept of created for dependence is totally foreign to Adam’s children. We just naturally look on ourselves as able to make independent choices and live our own lives by our own strength and power. Sure, things of the world will try to overcome us, but we think we must give it a good hard fight to succeed.

We came from Adam and Eve, we have their DNA in our genes and thus can truly be looked upon as one organism with them. We thus are born as an organism which has made a “declaration of independence”. Here Adam thought that his “declaration of independence” would give him the opportunity to fill his life with good things by his own strength. But what really happened was that, by Adam’s choice, God had issued a “declaration of dependence” on Adam and his children.

Henceforth, the independent nature would have its control. But man would not know that the things he did were controlled by that nature. Man would just think that he was his good old independent-self, living by his own choices and power, achieving some things, but more often being defeated at other things.

But until Jesus Christ died on the cross, man really had no savior from this independent nature. God gave man plenty of time from Adam to Christ to learn the lesson that independent-self does not work. In fact, it is only an illusion.

No one ever was, is now, or ever will be an independent-self. You may think that you are! You may try to live like you are! But your life just will not work. You will either be so evil that you will never want to be good. Or you will achieve some good but will never feel like you did enough!
You can always look around and find the “Mother Theresa’s” that you can never live up to.
You find that you just do not have it in you to live by the standards of the apparent “saints” in the world. Not understanding your dependence on this inborn independent nature, and thinking that your independence has failed you, you sink to the depths of emotions and cry out to God for a savior.

Having heard about Jesus Christ and His death for you, you cry out to God to make Christ your Savior. And God, Who was separated from you but was always near and drawing you to Him, hears and answers.

Get this! What you are basically doing is making your own “DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE”!

You are calling out for a dependence on Christ and in the process you are getting something that you didn’t know about: REMOVAL OF YOUR INBORN DEPENDENCE ON THE OLD NATURE!
You actually become a new creation, a new species. Before, the Adam species was destined for death only. But now, with Christ living in you, you have His eternal life to live, not only after you die a physical death, but right now from the moment of your conversion.

Your life changes. You grow on a day to day basis to see that all the failures of your life that drew you toward frustration and even depression were caused by a false concept of independent living. You grow to understand that dependence of Christ living in you is the only way to make life work out. You live not by your own day to day decisions. You live by the one great decision or choice to let Christ be the Lord of your life and direct the path for you to follow. And although you do not have the human power to live up to Christ’s direction, He will give you the “super-human” power to live the Christian life.

God basically makes every human being CHOOSE to be His son in His family. He does this by allowing them to see failure after failure at independent living. By reaching despair with independence, you are forced to make a change. And God makes the change very simple: repent and call out to Jesus Christ for your Savior!

So the United States, being controlled by Britain in a manner that was usurping the colonies rights, reached such a state of frustration that they saw no other way out than to publish their DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Every human being, likewise, is being forced to such a state of frustration that he can see no way out. His false spirit of independence is seen as a failure. He can’t seem to live right. He can’t seem to pull it off! This is when God influences him to see Jesus Christ; to understand what needs to be done. He needs Jesus as his Master.

This is conversion. This is being “born again”. This is becoming a new creation. This is becoming a new species of man – from the old “Adam-man” to the “Christ-man”!

Everything is new! And from this point on we grow by occasional errors in judgment, but NEVER FAILURE! We grow to see our union with Christ and the love of God for His child. And it all begins for each of us by our own individual DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE!

So now, when our country’s “Declaration of Independence” comes up into your thinking, may it remind you of your own personal DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE!

Let’ pray.
Father God, I know that those living in this Home have lost much of that old independent spirit. They have been forced by their condition in life to become dependent on others around them.
Father, I pray that that dependence can be extended toward you as they come to really accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
We thank you for making us your children and seeing us through ALL the trials of life.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we praise you and thank you. Amen

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