Reconnect: Support I. Introduction A. People seek after connection 1. Few, if any, want to be complete hermits 2. Most people want to share their lives, to differing degrees, with other people 3. Spouses, family, friends, etc. B. Yet alienation seems to be quite prevalent 1. It seems quite difficult to develop and maintain healthy relationships! 2. A lot of factors facilitate greater separation and alienation rather than connection and community 3. Isolation, technology, selfishness, fear, and many others! C. We seek connection because we were made for connection 1. Genesis 1:26-27: man as made in God's image 2. John 1:1, 17:20-23, Colossians 2:9, 2 Peter 2:21, etc.: God as One in Three Persons, One in relational unity 3. Acts 17:24-28: Man made to seek after God 4. Genesis 2:18, 24: not good for man to be alone, made for relationships D. Yet we experience alienation because of sin 1. Ephesians 2:1-10, Titus 3:3: dead in sin, hostile to one another, hating and hated 2. Ephesians 2:11-18: without God, without hope, without a nation! 3. Sin leads to separation between us and God, one another! E. God offers reconciliation with man through Jesus (Romans 5:6-11) F. Through Jesus, people can be reconciled to each other 1. The church is to be the ultimate demonstration of people coming together in the name of Jesus despite everything that would work to divide them (Ephesians 2:11-18, 3:10-11) 2. Its people remain imperfect and ever in need of forgiveness (1 John 1:9), but it is to be where everyone can share in life together, reconnected with God and one another, to the praise of God in Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-28, Ephesians 4:11-16)! G. In seeking connection and thus reconnection, we seek love and acceptance 1. 1 John 4:7-21: God is love, and we love because God loved us, and should love one another 2. Romans 5:6-11, Colossians 3:12-15: God has accepted us despite our imperfection and failure in Christ, and thus we are to accept one another in love H. Yet, whether we know it or not, we also seek connection and reconnection in order to receive support I. Support is crucial for the development of healthy relationships with God and with one another 1. What makes our need for support so difficult to recognize? 2. How does God support us? 3. How are we to support each other? II. The Need for Support A. Throughout human history, people are successful mostly when cooperating with others and functioning interdependently 1. Humans are "tribal" and social in nature: they relate with other humans 2. Critical for survival: any one person (or even one family unit) would be in perennial danger, not least from other people, but also from environmental factors 3. As human society developed, so did specialization a. People prospered more when certain people did particular tasks b. When different members of a tribe, village, or city developed skills in different areas, and had the means by which to procure the benefits of the skills of others (i.e. money), everyone was better off 4. This is especially true for the young, elderly, infirm, or injured! a. Nature is most unkind to the young, elderly, infirm, and injured: predators tend to go after such members of any given species b. Such members of a society can only exist due to the goodwill and support of its other members B. Yet societies such as our own promote the big lie: you should be self-sufficient! 1. In America, this is the "pick yourself up by your own bootstraps" mentality 2. People put a lot of stock in their personal responsibility and self-sufficiency 3. According to such a perspective, interdependence and needing support seems weak, irresponsible, and inconsistent with American values C. The results of this mentality are distressing 1. Many people experience terrible hardship which could be alleviated some if they would only be willing to ask for assistance 2. Not a few men experience great pain, suffering, and even early death because of refusal to seek necessary medical assistance 3. Time and time again there will be people who need help and people who want to help, but the latter do not know about the condition of the former, and nothing is done! D. But the problems with "self-sufficiency" go deeper than this 1. It's not just an American thing: it is part of human nature 2. Tower of Babel, Genesis 11:1-9: yes, a collective endeavor, but for the purposes of self-glorification! 3. Pride stands behind a lot of the façade of "self-sufficiency" (cf. Mark 7:21-23) a. Dignity and integrity are important to try to have and maintain b. Nevertheless, a lot of times people are just proud c. It is much easier to see yourself as the one who can give than it is the one who must receive, or the one who is strong and in control, not the one who is going through difficulty d. Getting assistance from others in any form is hard for the ego to swallow! 4. With some there is also a lack of humility (cf. Matthew 23:12) 5. But many of the problems associated with "self-sufficiency" are really matters of fear vs. trust! a. To seek any kind of assistance or support demands a lot of trust in the ones from whom we would like support b. Meanwhile, we are often paralyzed by the fear of denial, rejection, and/or humiliation E. We must expose the big lie for what it is and what it does to people! F. No man or woman is self-sufficient! 1. All of us needed to have two parents, no matter how active they are in our lives 2. We all needed the creation in which we live to grow and thrive 3. All along the way people have supported us, however directly or indirectly, facilitating the life in which we presently live 4. Unless you are in the position of knowing all things about all subjects, you are dependent on the knowledge, wisdom, and insights of others whose specialties are different from your own! G. Therefore, we are all in need of support from others III. Dependency Upon God A. The depth of support we require goes beyond our understanding B. The Bible makes it clear that all things are from God and exist because of Him (Acts 17:28, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Hebrews 1:3) C. Therefore, we find ourselves completely and utterly dependent on God! 1. Without God there is no creation, and therefore no life (Genesis 1:1-2:4) 2. Without God there is no redemption through Jesus, and therefore no spiritual life (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-11) D. Beyond all this, we prove quite weak when standing before God 1. As Creator of the universe, God is far beyond man in insight and power (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9) 2. Even if we set that aside, man's weakness is apparent 3. Not one of us has done everything right; we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory (Romans 3:23) 4. Whenever we find ourselves in moments of difficulty, distress, pain, or any kind of suffering, we cry out to Him; if we feel as if He does not answer, some of us will blame Him and presume that He does not exist or care 5. In reality, we humans are quite weak creatures, and rather fragile! E. God would be entirely in the right if He judged us all unworthy of His affections and allowed us to remain separated from Him and condemned (cf. Ephesians 2:1-3, Titus 3:3) F. Yet God loves us, and seeks to be reconciled to us through Jesus His Son, and continues to sustain and nourish us (Matthew 5:45, John 3:16, Hebrews 1:3) G. In His love He will support those who turn to Him! 1. Romans 8:31-39 2. We can trust God that He will give us all things since He gave of His Son! 3. We do not deserve it, but receive it through His grace and mercy H. Yes, God is faithful, will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to handle, and will provide for us until the end (Matthew 6:33, 1 Corinthians 10:13) I. We can trust in His support if we are willing to trust in His support 1. 1 Corinthians 10:13 comes after 1 Corinthians 10:1-12, a discussion of Israel in the Wilderness in Exodus-Deuteronomy 2. God had rescued them from slavery with a strong hand, imposing plagues upon Egypt and drowning the Egyptian army (cf. Exodus 3-15) 3. Yet every time any difficulty arose, a lack of food, a lack of water, the same food all the time, they would grumble, complain, and cast doubt on God's ability or desire to support them 4. Because of their disobedience that generation died in the Wilderness! 5. Paul exhorts Christians to not be as Israel: God is faithful, God will provide support, even if it is not exactly what you'd expect or exactly the way you'd like it to come J. Can we come to understand our position of complete dependence upon God, our weakness and thus our humility before Him, and trust that He will support in times of need? IV. Supporting One Another A. One way God provides support to His people is through His people: the church B. Christians are to provide support for one another 1. Romans 12:10: tenderly affectioned toward one another, preferring one another 2. 1 Corinthians 12:25: having the same care for one another 3. Galatians 6:1-3: bearing one another's burdens 4. 1 Peter 5:5: in humility serving one another C. This support might be financial 1. Acts 11:27-30, 1 Timothy 5:1-16 2. Christians might find themselves in need of financial or material resources, and fellow Christians, individually and/or as the church, can and should assist D. Yet the support should primarily be mental, emotional, and spiritual 1. 1 Corinthians 12:26: all members rejoice or weep with members who rejoice or weep 2. Therefore, when members have successes or triumphs, other members should rejoice with them 3. And when members go through trials, sicknesses, tragedies, disappointments, failures, etc., other members should mourn and weep with them and comfort them E. To be able to support people, Christians must present themselves as able and willing to do so 1. As we have seen, Christians should be fostering a loving and accepting environment in which people feel comfortable opening up and sharing their struggles as well as their successes 2. Everyone has weaknesses, struggles, insecurities, fears, and other emotional, mental, and spiritual challenges 3. The only question is whether people feel comfortable sharing such matters, and they can only feel comfortable when they have reason to trust 4. If people see superficial relationships and a lack of willingness to develop those relationships, they will have little reason to trust 5. If people who do open up experience judgmentalism and condemnation rather than receiving support, they will have little reason to trust 6. Likewise, if we expect other people to open up so that we can support them, we need to ourselves be more open and willing to receive support from others 7. Such things can be infectious: if we practice it amongst ourselves, others will want to join as well! F. Yet, no matter the environment, people must be willing to receive support 1. Trusting people is hard; people fail us all the time 2. It is lamentable yet should be expected; after all, how many people have we failed in our lives? 3. In order for support to be given and received, relationships must develop among members of the church 4. Those relationships can only develop when trust is present, and therefore we must work on trusting one another, even with the knowledge that we will fail each other 5. We must therefore be convinced that the benefits we receive from mutual support far exceed the pain and suffering caused by occasional disappointments and failures 6. No amount of promises can overcome this reality! 7. Therefore, everyone must learn how to trust more effectively 8. By virtue of living in a society, we already maintain a basic level of trust in our fellow man, that most at least do not seek to harm us 9. If some do seek to harm us, we still have to function in society somehow! 10. We must all recognize that another of Satan's great weapons is alienation, knowing that if we suffer and are in distress in private, we are more easily tempted to fall into sin than if we receive support from fellow Christians! 11. Are we willing to put our trust into each other, truly preferring one another in honor (cf. Romans 12:10)? 12. Are we willing to dispense with pride, rivalries, and judgmentalism, so that we can share in love, grace, mercy, compassion, and thus support? 13. Can we come to grips with our humility, weakness, and dependence upon God and others? V. Conclusion A. As God has supported us despite our unworthiness because of His love, grace, and mercy, so we are to work to support one another B. The church ought to be an environment in which people trust one another, comfortable enough to tell at least some regarding their temptations, struggles, weaknesses, failures, and the like, so as to receive support from their fellow Christians C. People who receive such support are then able to provide that support as well, and can lead more fulfilled, satisfied, and honest lives D. Yet in a church environment marked by superficiality and/or judgmentalism, such trust cannot exist, such weaknesses are not confessed, pretense and hypocrisy is maintained and people spiritually grow weak and die E. Fostering a supportive environment is not easy, for it demands that we all bear one another's burdens, and thus make known our burdens to one another, and all pretense to strength, pride, and sufficiency must be dashed F. Yet, as with God, so with one another: if we are willing to trust despite "all available evidence," the blessings which come from such trust will far outweigh the pain, misery, and suffering we might endure G. We should find in the people of God a group in whom we can trust to support us even if all others betray or disappoint us, a true family, where water is thicker than blood or any other connection! H. As God is faithful, let us be full of faith toward Him and one another, support one another, and be reconnected to God and one another! I. Invitation/songbook