CTW: Rev. 5:11-13

Genesis 16: 1-16 (p. 13)

The Bitter Fruit of Self-reliance

I don't have very many photographs of when I was a child. I am not bitter about this. But among the few photographs of me there is one that brings to mind a particularly vivid memory. It is in an airport. In this picture I am standing in the departure lounge, and I am staggering under an enormous weight of carry on luggage. That was back in the days when airlines allowed only 40 lbs of luggage per person. That isn't very much when you're trying to take all of your earthly belongings with you to a different country. So my parents packed as much weight as possible into carry-ons -- and each of us had to struggle onto the plane with this enormously burden around our necks. Dad had no qualms about child labor. He only worried that the airline staff would suspect how heavy the carry ons really were, so we were under strict orders not to act like they were heavy.

The vivid memory this picture evokes is a stopover in Frankfurt. Our family was travelling from Pakistan to the U.S. and I must have been in about 4th grade. We had to get from the airport to a hotel at the center of the city. Taking a taxi was out of the question, of course. Much too expensive. So we took a train into the city, then staggered for ten city blocks, carrying these ridiculously heavy bags from the train station to the hotel. It was a nightmare -- five steps, rest, another five steps, rest. Poor Dad -- he coaxed and cajoled and encouraged us -- just a couple more blocks. Just around the next corner. And we finally made it. We arrived at the hotel, Dad went to check in, and he discovered that he had a free taxi voucher from the airline. All our effort had been unnecessary.

For me that memory of Frankfurt captures the contrast between self-reliance and grace. Self-reliance is struggling to make it through life on your own -- carrying your own burdens, looking out for yourself, trying to make it to your destination on your own.

Grace is like that free taxi voucher

I have a very simple point to make this morning: When we rely on our own efforts to make it through life we forfeit God's grace. Self-reliance and grace are simply incompatible. Either we trust in ourselves or we trust in God. We can't do both. We can't be in and out of the taxi at the same time. The saying "God helps those who help themselves" is a lie. God can only help those who know they cannot help themselves and who throw themselves completely on his grace.

So my appeal to you today is to cast off all of life's baggage that you are trying to carry yourself -- to admit that you can't make it on your own efforts and to turn from self-reliance to reliance on God's Grace.

Sounds easy, right? It isn't. It goes against everything we've been taught and against all of our natural instincts. From as far back as any of us can remember in our lives we have been encouraged to be self-reliant. Before I could walk or talk people were praising me for standing on my own. They clapped for me when I took my first steps. They praised me whenever I learned to do something myself. And by the time I turned two I had really learned that lesson. Observe any two year old who is learning to dress themselves and you'll see what I mean. No -- I don't want help. I want to get dressed by myself. So my pants are on backwards -- who cares. And as we grow older its drilled into us by parents and school -- be resourceful, be self-reliant, be self-sufficient, look within for all the resources you need. Come to College and get the same message. Build inner strength. Find the warrior within.

And then we meet Jesus. And suddenly we're supposed to learn to trust -- to turn over control. To accept that we can't make it on our own. So the Christian life turns into a tug of war between self-reliance and dependance on God.

The world says -- rely on yourself
Jesus says -- put your trust in me

The world says -- protect your life at all costs
Jesus says -- give away your life for my sake

The world says -- grab hold of your own destiny -- make your future happen
Jesus says -- trust your future to me

The world says -- be a leader, blaze your own trail
Jesus says -- follow me

The world says -- be strong, be self-assertive
Jesus says -- rejoice in your weaknesses

This is a basic struggle of the spiritual life, and the Bible talks about it alot and in many different ways:
A struggle of Faith vs. works -- will you trust in God for your salvation, or try to make it on your own.

A struggle the flesh vs. the spirit -- will you follow your natural instincts, or the promptings of God's spirit within you.

A struggle of trust and doubt -- will you believe the voice of God or the voices around you?

It's all the same basic struggle, and If you are a Christian you face the conflict every single day. At each moment you are faced with the question -- will I choose my own path, or will I rely on God. Will I put myself at the center of the universe -- or will I put God at the center of the universe?

Our scripture passage is about 3 people who are caught up in this tug of war between self-reliance and trust.

Pay close attention -- I'm going to ask you some questions when we're through. Read passage -- Genesis 16:1-16

We have three characters here -- Sarah, Abraham and Hagar. I have a simple question I want to ask about each person that I want your help to answer. For each one I want to ask you all this question: What is it that keeps this person from trusting God? What drives them from trust to self-reliance?

Let's start with Sarah.

So far in the story of Abraham, Sarah has been rather quiet. [expand] But finally here in chapter 16 she finally speaks up, and we get a window into what is going on in her heart:

v. 2 --

One thing is clear: Sarah isn't very happy -- and alot of her unhappiness is with God. My question for you is why? What is it that keeps Sarah from Trusting?

[No children? But God has promised Abraham children. Surely she knows that. Why doesn't she just believe God's promise and trust Him?]

Sarah has a deep human need -- she longs for a child. And in her heart of hearts Sarah does not believe that God can fill that need. Sarah doesn't believe that God will satisfy her deepest desires.

And because Sarah does not believe that God will satisfy her deepest desires and needs, she does exactly what we would expect -- she takes the problem into her own hands and tries to find her own solution.

And look at the consequences. Her efforts only lead to greater misery. Her anger at God turns to anger at her husband, hatred for Hagar, and sin. This is not a happy woman. She sets out to solve her own problems and she ends up bitter, jealous, angry -- and still childless.

I think that deep down Sarah does not believe that god is good and that God loves her enough to meet her need and heal her pain. And if God is not good and loving, why should she trust him? So she takes things into her own hands and reaps the bitter fruit of self-reliance.

What about Abram?
Abram has less than Sarah not to trust. God has spoken to him directly several times now -- and we were told in the last chapter that he believed God. So why doesn't he just tell Sarah her idea is foolish and to stop scheming and trust? What keeps Abraham from waiting on God and trusting?

Two things:

1. He has an unhappy woman in his tent. And the voice of the unhappy woman in his tent is MUCH more immediate to him than the voice of God. The voice of God was a distant memory. The unhappiness of Sarah was in his face every day.
   
   

The voices of those around us will very often seem much more real than the promises of God. And if we listen to those voices we will be driven from trust to self-reliance.

1. But there is something deeper that keeps Abraham from trusting.
   
   

Look at 17:15-17.
Why does Abraham laugh? Because the thought of Sarah having a child was ridiculous to him.
In his heart of hearts Abraham did not really believe that God is capable of giving Sarah a child. His view of God is too small to encompass that. Sure God had good intentions. His promises were well-meaning. But clearly God needed a little assistance in thinking things through. So perhaps sleeping with Hagar was the right solution -- it would help God keep his promise, it would keep Sarah happy. Why not?

Sarah had a limited view of God's goodness
Abraham had a limited view of God's power.

And it makes sense, if God is limited that we should come alongside him and give him a little help. And Abraham is quite willing to do this, especially if it calms Sarah down.

What does his well-meaning effort to satisfy Sarah and help God out earn him? A whole tentful of trouble. Sarah was unhappy before, but that was nothing compared with after. Abraham faces the full brunt of his wife's fury and jealousy.

The fruit of his efforts is conflict, jealousy, and in the long run two sons whose descendants would be at each others throats.

Abraham had a limited view of God's power. So he decided to generously help God out -- he took things into his own hands and suffered the bitter consequences of self-reliance.

And Hagar?
Hagar is caught up in Sarah and Abraham's struggles of faith. In many ways she is the victim of their lack of faith. Her response is a natural one for a victim -- she runs away. Rather than suffer silently as the passive victim, she takes things into her own hands and flees from Abraham and Sarah and heads back to Egypt, her home. It's understandable -- almost commendable. Take your life into your hands and escape from the abusive situation.

The problem is that by running away from Abraham, Hagar is also running away from God. God's blessing is with Abraham. If she runs to Egypt she is running away from God's blessing.

So we can ask the same question of Hagar as of Sarah and Abraham -- Why does she take things into her own hands and run? What keeps Hagar from trusting God?

[Fear? Probably. What was the root of her fear?]

Like Abraham and Sarah, Hagart had a hard time trusting because she had an inadequate view of God. To Hagar God was distant -- She had no expectation that He would pay any attention to the plight of a lowly Egyptian servant.

That's why she is so surprised when God actually comes to her. Look at vs. 13 "She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "If have now seen the One who sees me." Can you sense the surprise here? God actually saw my misery.

Hagar was so surprised that God saw her misery that she coined a new name for God -- "El Roi" The one who sees. Hagar ran away because she didn't believe that God really heard or saw her misery. But she was able to come back to a place of trust because God met her and revealed himself to her as the God who hears and the God who sees.


Sarah was driven from trust to self-reliance because she didn't believe God was good
Abraham was driven from trust to self-reliance because his view of God was too small.
Hagar was driven from trust to self-reliance because God was distant to her.

What keeps you from trusting? If you are tempted to self-reliance -- to take things into your own hands rather than depending on God and his promises, you probably have an inadequate view of God.

God desires to reveal himself to you this morning -- to show you that he is good, that he is strong, that he sees and hears. And he wants you to respond in trust.

God's desire for us, his people, is to cast away confidence in ourselves and our own efforts and to trust completely in him. He wants us to stop trying to make it through life on our own strength -- to admit our weakness, stop fighting and allow ourselves to be carried by his strength.