The Spirit of Independence. Genesis chapter 3, And the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it and ate, and gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord Yahweh walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord Yahweh amongst the trees of the garden. The watchword in the world today is freedom, independence.
Nation after nation are rising up and declaring independence from the country that birthed them and controls them. Everybody wants to be free. They want to be independent, do their own thing, not have somebody else to tell me what to do.
The amazing thing that I’ve seen in watching countries go through this is that they will gladly give up many privileges and benefits and luxuries for this so-called freedom. And very often the government that they come under after they’ve broken free of this tyranny of an outside government is more dominating and controlling than the government they had before, and puts them under pressure, and makes life more difficult than it was before. And instead of looking at this and saying, you know what, we were better off than we were before, you’ll hear them say, well, that’s the price you have to pay for freedom.
That’s the price we’ve got to pay for independence. We’ve got to pull in our belts. We’ve got to have a tough time.
We’ve got to go without so that we can have our independence. What a price people will put on independence. And God created man.
He did not create him independent. God created man to always be dependent on his creator. And when he made woman, he made her to be dependent on her husband.
In every level of human society, there is somebody that we need to depend on. We’re not an island. We cannot live on our own.
So where then comes this spirit of independence, this need and desire to break free of the tyranny of being controlled by somebody else? It started here in the garden when the serpent came to Eve and said, you’re stupid. You’re sitting here and you have right in your hands, the ability to break free. And instead of being under God’s control, you can be like God.
You can be independent. And if you want to break free of your husband’s control, pull him into it also. And so Eve thought that was a great idea.
She reached out and took the fruit and then brought her husband under her control by offering him with the fruit too. Now they had freedom, freedom, independence. And they hear the voice of God walking in the garden and they go run away and hide.
That’s freedom for you. Produced fear, produced bondage. They didn’t even have the freedom to be naked with each other anymore.
They’ve gone so fig leaves on now. Where, where is the freedom of independence? It’s not freedom, it’s bondage. God made us that we will always be dependent.
It was his original order that we’d be dependent on others, not independent, that we’d be dependent on one another. That’s why God made us into a society, into a human race, into a group of people who could relate to each other. He said, but independence is far better.
Well, Adam didn’t seem to think so before Eve came along. Could you imagine it? He is this guy. He’s got all the liberty.
He’s at the top of the creation, top of the pile. He’s in control of the animals and the birds, the fish, and everything that takes place in the earth. The earth is a man with supreme control, with supreme independence.
And he was the happiest man on earth, right? He was as miserable as sin. I imagine God came and chat with him and take a look at Adam’s face. And so Adam, what’s, what’s with the long face today? Oh, you know, this independence and this freedom is just getting to me.
We can’t be alone. We need other people in our lives. And Adam’s joy began firstly, when God gave him a wife.
And secondly, when God gave him children. And they became a family. That’s what living’s about.
You have these selfish people who say, well, you know what, I’m just going to follow my career. I don’t have time to get married. Well, you’re stupid.
I don’t have time to have children. You’re stupid. God created us to be a group.
And only people who are extremely full of themselves, totally self-oriented. Self-oriented. Well, what does the world say? The world says you must look after yourself first.
You must learn to forgive yourself. We watched a movie based on psychological counseling for somebody who was into alcoholism. And the whole concept was, I must learn to forgive myself for being a sinner.
I must learn to forgive myself for being a bad wife or bad husband. I must learn to forgive myself for all my faults and failures and weaknesses. And if I can learn to forgive myself, then I can start to be happy.
Then everybody else must just also forgive me and be nice to me and pander to me and do whatever I want. And then we can have peace and joy on this earth. We’ve gone so away from God’s order.
Why? Because we want to be independent. We want to be controlled by our own selfish desires. God’s order is to consider others in love.
Galatians 5 verse 13, For brothers, you have been called to freedom, but do not use freedom as a base for the flesh, but by love serve one another. Oh, that just violates the whole thing, doesn’t it? Paul says, sure, you’ve been given freedom. You’ve been given total liberty and freedom.
God’s not against freedom. I’ll show you shortly where freedom fits in. But he says, now that you’ve got that freedom, use that freedom as a base from which you can now start giving out in love and in serving others.
You know, what’s the greatest freedom that everybody wants from their work is to not have to do what their boss says. I don’t feel like going to work today. I stay in bed and sleep.
What is it that you hate about Monday morning, going down to work and have somebody else tell you what to do? I want to be independent. I want to be free. I want to go and start my own business.
Have you ever tried starting your own business instead of working for a boss? I mean, the boss demands that you work eight hours a day and it nearly kills you. But when you start running your own business and you become your own boss, you’ve got to work 18 hours a day. And you’re probably harder on yourself than your boss ever was on you.
You don’t have time for anything anymore. It’s work, work, work, work, work. So we can get enough money to eat.
And even if you’re doing good, there’s this work, work, work to keep the business going in case somebody else does better than you and you lose your business. That’s freedom, right? Free to be my own boss. That’s not freedom.
Do you know who you’re working for when you’re own boss? The people you employ. Yeah, that’s who you’re working for. Who gets paid first? You or the people you employ? End of the month when the money comes in, who gets paid first? Well, you say, I’ll take my big salary.
If there’s any money left over, we’ll pay the employees. They get paid first. If there’s any money left, you get a salary.
Who are you working for? See, that’s the price of freedom. It’s the price of not having to go to work every day. And have my boss tell me to do.
You know what? You got to work every day. Most companies, you only have to work a five day a week. When you’re your own boss, you’re working seven days a week.
It’s not freedom, but the spirit of independence, which began way back in the Garden of Eden. And where did it come from? Serpent. Well, where did the serpent come up with the idea? Started a long time before that, when he was dependent on God as an archangel of heaven.
And he said, Hey, I want to break free of this. I want independence. I want freedom.
I want to rise up and be like God. I want to have everybody bowing to me. He’s the one who started it.
When you see that spirit today, I’m going to tell you where it comes from. It comes from Lucifer himself. And he passed it down through his demons and they communicating it to human society and making us all be independent.
And we call it freedom. There’s no freedom except in Christ. Now what is freedom? Does freedom allow you to do whatever you want to do? Freedom always has limitations.
When is a train the freest to run without any restriction when it’s sitting on two rails. And when it’s on those two rails, you give it a shot, it’ll just keep moving. No problem.
Greatest liberty in the world to come and go, but let it jump the rails and see how easy it runs. I don’t need these rails anymore. I don’t need these limitations and restrictions.
I’m going to get out there and do my own thing. You’ll get stuck in the mud. If somebody else can have to pull you out, if they can get you out because you’re so heavy, there’s always limitations to freedom.
There are always parameters within which you must operate in order to have the greatest liberty of all. You see, and God set those limitations. When he put Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, he said, okay, this is it.
You have freedom. Eat whatever you want in the garden and please feel free to eat of the tree of life. And you see that tree over there, that’s the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Don’t you touch it. But that’s not fair. That’s not freedom.
That’s not independence. Why shouldn’t I? Why can’t I touch it? Human nature, isn’t it? Wet paint, don’t touch. We all want to touch to see if it’s really wet.
Don’t play with fire. We want to light matches. The moment we say thou shalt not, everybody says, why not? Why shouldn’t I? Never ever thought of trying it before, but now that you told me not to, I want to try it.
Where does this come from? It doesn’t come from the spirit of God. It comes way back from the garden of Eden. It’s the spirit of independence.
That’s part of the flesh. It’s the spirit of Satan operating through the flesh. James had a strange contradictory statement here.
He said, but whoever looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues to do this, not being a forgetful listener, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does. Now, what do you think of when you hear the word law? Law says thou shalt and thou shalt not. The law says you have to do this.
The law says you’re not allowed to do that. Does that sound like freedom to you? It sounds like limitation. It sounds like restriction.
It sounds like somebody else is telling me what I’m allowed to do. And so God gave all these laws and James calls it the law of freedom. Do you know why? Because when you live according to those laws, you reach your highest potential and you become all that God ever intended us to be.
Don’t ever think that living a life of lawlessness brings freedom. It brings sin and sin brings bondage, not freedom. And then independence, it violates the team concept, doesn’t it? Which we spoke about last time.
You ignore everybody else in the team. You’re doing your own thing. I don’t care what you’re doing.
I’m not interested in what you’re doing and I don’t care how you are affected by what I do because I’m free. I’m independent. I’m doing my own thing.
And when you’re doing your own thing, you’re not operating in a team. That means you’re denying somebody else in the team firstly something. And maybe also in your independence, you’re actually imposing on somebody else and forcing your own will upon them.
You see, we need each other. We need each other. Sometimes we’re too proud to admit that we need each other.
So I did pretty good before you came along. I can do pretty good now. You know, single life was pretty good.
I could go out with the guys in the evenings. I could go and play sports. I could do what I like.
Now I’ve got this miserable wife here and she won’t let me go out anymore because she wants me to stay home with her. Okay, there are some benefits like sex and stuff like that, but it’s the price of freedom. You see, working with a team means that you depend on each other.
And Paul says, we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members of one another. But most of us, we want to sing Frank Sinatra’s song, I did it my way. I did it my way.
Now, there’s no place for them in the life of a believer. And actually, as you look at the world, you’ll see that the entire problems, all the difficulties that are occurring out there, are the same spirit of wanting to do it my way without depending on anybody else. Now we look at that and we say, okay, if I can’t depend on anybody else, then what’s the point of me doing anything? I mean, there’s nothing to get excited about anymore, is there? If I can’t do things my way, I lose my individuality.
We get together with the team and nobody even notices me. I’m just part of the team. Maybe the leader, he gets all the recognition.
I do all the hard work and he stands up there and everybody thinks he’s a great hero. And you know what? I did all the work, but you know, I’m just part of the team and the team gets the glory. Nobody stands up there and says, and we want to thank Craig and the team.
Well, if Craig’s the leader, that’s great. But we don’t say, I want to thank Craig, Collette, Nadine, Daphne, Claude and Daniela. People don’t do that.
They say the team. You know, it’s fine. The leader, he gets his name mentioned.
The rest of us, we’re just the team. Aren’t you sick of being the team? So you know what? Everybody wants to become the leader. And so the spirit of independence begins again.
I want to have my name mentioned. I need to be recognized. Well, is God against that? No, God’s not against you being recognized.
What you will be recognized for is what makes you unique. You see, there is a place in the team for individuality. God doesn’t take away that freedom.
God has made us each to be totally unique. And it’s in our uniqueness, actually, that we make the best team. You see, if all of you are doing the same thing, then actually, we could just put together a team with anybody, just pick people off the street.
You, you, you and you, I want you to be the team. Come on in. You all do the same thing.
Well, you’re all doing the same thing. There’s nothing unique about the team, is there? At the end of the day, I can say, well, you know, it was great having Claude along, but we don’t really need him. We could easily get somebody else.
There’s millions of people out there. He’s just a person. You see, now, now, that doesn’t make you want to feel like you’re part of the team.
Doesn’t make you want to be part of the team. You know, well, if you can find somebody else, go get him. I’ll go do my own thing.
The Lord doesn’t want to take away our individuality. Way back in the Old Testament already, Solomon saw this, and he said, if I can see that there’s nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion. God wants us to rejoice in what we’ve done, but not independently, always in the team.
Now, okay, here’s you, standing all on your own, you’re not in a team. Okay, you stand up and you want to be unique. Unique compared to what? What is uniqueness? Uniqueness is when you look at a group of people and you say you have something that nobody else has that makes you unique.
You can’t be unique without a group. Can’t be done. So how can you stand up and glory and revel in your uniqueness if there’s nobody else with you? You’re unique what? Unique human being.
Well, then you’re comparing all human beings, aren’t you? You’ve got a group. Well, I’m a unique preacher. Well, who are you comparing yourself with? Other preachers.
You’re looking at a group. If you want to boast in your uniqueness, if you want to find the full satisfaction of your individuality, you will not find it independently. You will find it in a group.
You will find it in the team. Without the team, you can’t boast in that. Without the team, who’s going to say, you know what? You’re the best preacher I’ve ever heard.
Best compared to who? See, you’ve never heard any other preachers before. What makes you the best? You’re the best female singer in the country. Well, have you heard the others? Can you see it? The greatest satisfaction that we’re going to find is in our individuality, in our uniqueness.
But as part of a team, find out what makes you unique and develop it. So, you know, we all do the same thing around you. Yeah, as ladies, we just clean the dishes, do the cooking.
Okay. What makes you unique? Oh, you know what? I have the ability to wash the dishes in five minutes. You got the job.
I clean the dishes cleaner than anybody else. You got the job. Boast in it.
Get excited. What do you do in the team? I clean the dishes. Whoopie doo.
But you don’t realize it. The reason I clean the dishes is because I make them spotless like they look like new. Boast in it.
Be excited about it. It’s your uniqueness. Yeah, okay.
Bad example. But let’s take the worst first. Maybe you can work out from there.
Think about it. What can you do that you really do well that makes you stand out as an individual? Everybody says dishes. Oh yes, Nadine.
She cleans them the best. She’s really paranoid. I’m telling you what, I don’t think there’s any bacteria.
Take a microscope and look there. You wouldn’t even see any germs. Hey, at least you’ll be remembered for something when you’re gone.
Come on. Sit down and look at yourself in the team and say, if I were not here, how would the team suffer? What is it that I do? It gives me a special place. And that gives you a sense of uniqueness.
It gives you a sense of individuality. And actually, it even gives you all the freedom you’ll ever need. Because within that context, you are free to do whatever you want.
You’re free to improve. You’re free to try different things. But you found your place in the team.
And everybody else knows that they got to depend on you. And so we all come to depend on each other. Now, once you found out what it is about you that’s unique, do your part faithfully and then look around and see how you can help the others.
You know, the amazing thing about uniqueness is we never notice it. We think, well, you know, I’m just pretty ordinary. You know what? You know, we call it she stands up there and she sings like an angel.
I just can’t do that. Preachers with power. And here’s me.
We always compare ourselves with each other in that way. And we think we’re useless. We think we’re weak.
You know, you need somebody else in the team to come to you and say, Hey, Ron, do you realize? Do you realize that you have this quality that not many people have? In fact, there’s nobody else in the team that I see that really can do that or has that certain way of doing things. Do you realize that? You know what? We actually rely on you and we depend on that. So please don’t let it go, develop it, use it.
And yet what he thought was a weakness actually was what made him special and unique. We can do that for one another, can’t we? But you know, we’re so busy doing our own thing. The spirit of independence drives us so hard to do what we want to do our way that we don’t have time to consider the needs of others and to help one another each find their place and their uniqueness and their individuality.
Eventually we become one as a team and yet we become individuals, each one finding their place, each one having a sense of personal satisfaction. And we all need that. We all need to feel that we’re special in some way.
Now, it’s very easy to look at everybody and tell them what they’re not special in. Lord, I really hate this about you. We do it all the time, don’t we? Let’s make an effort.
Try to look at one another and say, sit down, you try it. You have time alone, sit down and look at each person in the team and say, what is it about that person that is so unique, that I love so much, that makes them so special? And let’s zero in on that, build one another up and give one another the freedom to be who God called them to be, free to be who they want to be. But they’re trying to squeeze everybody into the same mold like a sausage machine.
It’s not what we want. You know, in a sports team, everybody doesn’t play at the same position. Imagine everybody going for the ball at the same time, it’d be chaos.
So in conclusion, teamwork cannot happen if you have a spirit of independence. You always need others to succeed in life and only in working others together with others, do you find your own uniqueness. And only then will you find the true satisfaction in being who God called you to be.
To me, that is true independence and true freedom. Amen.