The Discipline of Dependence

April 26, 2026
The Discipline of Dependence
Sermon Audio

CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-25, 30-31, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

1Cor. 1:18   For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1Cor. 1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1Cor. 1:30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

2Cor. 12:1   I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— 6 though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 18:1-3

LEADER: I love you, O LORD, my strength.

ALL: The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
  my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
  my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

LEADER: I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,

ALL: and I am saved from my enemies.

OT READING: Jeremiah 9:23-24 and Mark 9:14-24a

LEADER: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”
LEADER: And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

BENEDICTION: Jude 20-22

LEADER: But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt;

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Do you have a memory from your younger years about how you were treated when you expressed weakness? Compassion or derision? Do you remember how you felt then at the response? Can you imagine any effect of that kind of response to your weakness now?
  2. What forms did Jesus take on “weakness?” For what purposes? Why do some see that as ridiculous, while others as glorious? How is His entrance into weakness a summary of the gospel?
  3. In contrast with these “super apostles” who exhibited great charisma, eloquence, and apparent insight into profound mysteries, Paul appeared comparably unimpressive in his presence and in light of all that he suffered. And yet he was not crestfallen at the disparity between them and him; he celebrated it. Why? Why did his experience and lack of polish do more to validate the gospel than discredit it?
  4. You may have heard someone warn against doing things “in your own strength” (rather than the Lord’s). What does that well-intentioned but nonetheless jargon-filled phrase mean? What might be evidence of falling into that misshapen form of effort?
  5. Refresh your memory from the sermon: what is the discipline of dependence? What forms does it take–both active and passive kinds? With which are you familiar? With which others do you see a place for adoption? Why in the sermon did we call it a discipline of dependence? Why must the practice of dependence be considered a discipline?

Illustrations:

April 26, 2026

Quotes:

13th of July, 4:50 pm. I’m sorry...I know that means little at this point, but I am. I tried, I think you would all agree that I tried. To be true, to be strong, to be kind, to love, to be right. But I wasn’t. And I know you knew this. In each of your ways. And I am sorry. All is lost here... except for soul and body... that is, what’s left of them... and a half-day’s ration. It’s inexcusable really, I know that now. How it could have taken this long to admit that I’m not sure... but it did. I fought ‘til the end, I’m not sure what that is worth, but know that I did. I have always hoped for more for you all... I will miss you. I’m sorry. 
- Opening voiceover from “Our man,” from J.C. Chandor’s All is Lost
Take away Easter and Karl Marx was probably right to accuse Christianity of ignoring problems of the material world. Take it away and Freud was probably right to say Christianity is wish-fulfillment. Take it away and Nietzsche probably was right to say it was for wimps. 
- N.T. Wright
Christianity has taken the side of everything weak, base, ill-constituted; it has made an ideal out of opposition to the preservative instincts of strong life; it has depraved the reason even of the intellectually strongest natures by teaching men to feel the supreme values of intellectuality as sinful, as misleading, as temptations. 
- Friedrich Nietzsche, The AntiChrist
What is good? — All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man.
What is bad? — All that proceeds from weakness.
What is happiness? — The feeling that power increases — that resistance is overcome.
Not contentment, but more power; not peace at any price, but war; not virtue, but efficiency. The weak and the botched shall perish: first principle of our charity. And one should help them to it.
What is more harmful than any vice? — Practical sympathy for the botched and the weak — Christianity 
- Friedrich Nietzsche, The AntiChrist
Would you like to have no need for others to praise you, and would you like not to be paralyzed and humiliated by their dislike and condemnation? Wouldn’t you also like to have a strength and understanding that enables you genuinely and naturally to bless those who are cursing you—or cheating you, beating you out on the job, spitting on you in a confrontation, laughing at your religion or culture, even killing you? 
- Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy
Above all, do not lose your desire to walk … every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. 
- Søren Kierkegaard
You’ve spent fifty years listening to people in the secrecy of the confessional, what have you learned about the human soul?” The priest: “Two things. First of all, people are much more unhappy than one thinks. And second, there is no such thing as grown-ups.” 
- André Malraux
My own experience is something like this. I am progressing along the path of life in my ordinary contentedly fallen and godless condition, absorbed in a merry meeting with my friends for the morrow or a bit of work that tickles my vanity today, a holiday or a new book, when suddenly a stab of abdominal pain that threatens serious disease, or a headline in the newspapers that threatens us all with destruction, sends this whole pack of cards tumbling down. At first I am overwhelmed, and all my little happinesses look like broken toys. Then, slowly and reluctantly, bit by bit, I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times. I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that my true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ. And perhaps, by God’s grace, I succeed, and for a day or two become a creature consciously dependent on God and drawing its strength from the right sources. But the moment the threat is withdrawn, my whole nature leaps back to the toys: I am even anxious, God forgive me, to banish from my mind the only thing that supported me under the threat because it is now associated with the misery of those few days. Thus the terrible necessity of tribulation is only too clear. God has had me for but forty-eight hours and then only by dint of taking everything else away from me. Let Him but sheathe that sword for a moment and I behave like a puppy when the hated bath is over—I shake myself as dry as I can and race off to reacquire my comfortable dirtiness, if not in the nearest manure heap, at least in the nearest flower bed. And that is why tribulations cannot cease until God either sees us remade or sees that our remaking is now hopeless. 
- C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Books / Docs:

“Content with Weakness: Paul’s Paradoxical Proposal,” Mike Emlet