Summary: Your dependency on God results in worship as a lifestyle.

This may be a new concept for some folks that there is such a thing as a Spiritually healthy person, or a Spiritually unhealthy person. Obviously, a person who rejects the message of Jesus as the Lord and Savior of the world is Spiritually unhealthy. But there are those who have made the decision to believe in Jesus, they've been baptized, and they go to church, but, it's still possible for someone like this to be Spiritually unhealthy. How? Because they lack dependency on God.

Most people enjoy being independent. I was a youth minister for almost 20 years. Kristi and I are honored that God placed us in a position where we were able to be an influence for a lot of young people. Many of these teens are now grown with kids of their own, or are getting married, and we're so proud of those we were privileged to know. But I've got to tell you that a teenager can be a real disaster for a parent. During these adolescent years the struggle for independence can be a real test of conflict resolution skills for any parent. I can't count how many times I heard, "You can't make me!" Teenagers tend to want independence without the responsibility that goes with it.

Like when it comes time for them to drive a car for example. Many teens want to drive. But balk when they have to pay for the insurance; somehow that part doesn't seem fair. And this drive for independence is natural for human beings. I read this in an article on Focus on the Family, "With rare exception, adolescents develop a powerful drive to become independent, to be in charge of their daily affairs and their future. As a result, bucking the limits, challenging authority and resisting constraints imposed at home and at school are pretty much par for the course....the extent of willfulness and the lack of good judgment can at times be spectacular. And while it may sometimes seem outrageous, some degree of struggling against parental control is a normal and necessary part of growing up."

It's a healthy thing for a human being to become a responsible independent adult. This is what every responsible parent wants for their children. But Jesus followers have an added agenda. We want to be responsible independent adults, and raise our children to be, as well, but, at the same time we desire to become more and more Spiritually dependent on God.

The older we get the less agreeable it is for us to be dependent on our parents. But the more Spiritually mature we become the more we recognize our need for God, the more we depend on our heavenly parent for all of our wants and needs. The reason this is important to point out, is that a lot of well meaning Christian people, believe it's healthy to be independent even Spiritually. This confusion is exposed in statements like this, "God helps those who help themselves." THIS STATEMENT IS NOT IN THE BIBLE. This is one of the biggest lies we buy into. It's not a Spiritually healthy concept at all. The Spiritually mature understanding is, "God helps those who completely depend on Him."

You have to open your mind here to a better understanding. Some folks just really struggle with idea of Grace and dependence on God. They feel that they need to do something, to earn it somehow, to claim complete dependence is just out of character for the human being. We've been fighting to be independent since we were two. Some challenge the idea of Grace by saying that if God just gives it away, then He's creating a license for people to sin. They're thinking goes something like this, "If I receive Grace because I sin, then it makes sense to sin a lot and so I can receive a lot of Grace." Paul addresses this very thing in Romans 6, "Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living."

A Spiritually healthy person understands that living as a follower of Jesus means living for Him instead of living for themselves. They get that the Grace of God is provided through their dependence on Jesus.

So let's talk about why we're desperately dependent on Jesus.

Because we are depraved and we need Jesus to face God. Romans 3:10

"As the Scriptures say, No one is righteous—not even one."

Human beings from the time we can walk and talk rebel against authority. As we grow into adults our rebellion becomes more discreet, sophisticated and private. We learn how to mask and hide our sin. We develop sin screen. But God knows it all. And the great thing is that even though God knows your every deepest and darkest secret, He loves you anyway. "Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love." Romans 8:38-39

In the Teen Magazine Forward the Monday devotional thought says, "While God maintains ultimate control over everything and everyone, you and I get to decide whether or not to yield to that control. We can follow His leading, or we can captain our own lives, which always leads to disaster and often to depravity." God gives us the choice to follow Him.

You can’t do enough religious stuff for God to make yourself right with Him. A person who is spiritually unhealthy will assume that attending church, or, other church activity makes them right with God. Titus 3:5 says, “he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.” If you go to Jesus first you read in John 3 that Jesus defines what it means to be born again; Jesus said, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit." Paul simply confirms what Jesus has already taught. Everything we are and do is because of Jesus Christ. He’s the One who is due all the glory and credit. Everything we do must point to Him. Not just in this room on Sunday, but, everything about who we are and do during the week. A genuine follower of Jesus consistently points the people around them to Jesus.

The result of our dependency is worship.

We worship what our heart considers most important Matthew 15:8-9

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God."

The people Jesus is talking to in Matthew 15 are the religious leaders and teachers. These are the guys if you had questions about God or about your faith you would talk to. These are the guys who led worship. And yet this young, upstart, and rebellious rabbi is yelling in the streets that their worship is a farce. "They're a bunch of fakers, hypocrites" Jesus yells for all to hear. What is the most frustrating about these guys according to Jesus is that they consider their law and their traditions more important than worship. To the religious people in Jesus day the activity of worship was not a lifestyle. Worship was nothing more than a series of rituals and traditions.

To these folks that Jesus was yelling at maintaining the synagogue facility was more important than feeding the poor. The Spiritually unhealthy make a big deal out of rituals and church furniture and not that big of a deal of taking care of other people. We can take an inventory of our own Spiritual health by asking a very simple question, "What do I care about more? My church traditions, rituals and facility? or do I care more that I bless the needs of people in our community?" I hope you answer the way Jesus would want you to.

If you get confused about what God wants for your life, then just turn to the words of Jesus. Have you ever read a Bible with the red letter words? The red letter words are the words of Jesus. If you're confused about who God is, what He wants for you, or how He feels about you, you need to find a Bible with the red letter words, and just read them. If you do this, here's one thing you'll read, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind....(and) Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:36-40 "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23

Your dependency on God results in worship as a lifestyle. What Jesus said first, Paul just confirms, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Romans 12:1-2

Spiritual healthy people are completely dependent on God and the result of this dependency is their lifestyle of worship.