Set Free – The End of Your Rope

(This message series is inspired and excerpted from He Loves Me! by Wayne Jacobsen.)

A Lifetime of Learning to Trust

“Once God is known as Father all methods to attain to security, prosperity and assurance in the world are exposed as useless enslavement. If one knows God as Father then there is security about everything.” – David Boan and John Yates, unpublished

Learning the Language of God
“Trusting the Father’s love for you simply means that every day, in every circumstance you can rest assured God knows who you are, cares more deeply about you than you do yourself and is capable of working out his glory in you.

When you trust him you will find yourself cooperating with his work going on in you and around you. Trust is not coasting through life assuming that whatever happens must be God. Rather it is an active partnership that rises out of your relationship to him. Without that what many call trust is simply a Christian version of fatalism or complacency.

Whenever I talk about trust the question invariably arises: ‘Does that mean I just do nothing and God will do it all?’ We are so schooled in trusting our own efforts that we can’t see anything beyond that. We equate trusting him with doing nothing because we know that most of what we do is driven by the fact that we don’t think he’s doing anything at all.

Trusting God doesn’t lead to lethargy nor does it provide an excuse to be slothful. Those who are learning to trust God will discover how to actively participate with him in the work he is doing. Even though Paul warned us against trusting our own efforts, he showed us that cooperating with him can be costly.” (p. 152)

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ^[28] Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. ^[29] For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.  (Colossians 1:27-29 ESV)

How do you know you are dialed into that active partnership?
“When Jesus asked people to ‘repent and believe’ the gospel, he was not asking them to be sorry for their sins and embrace an orthodox theology. He was asking them to forfeit their own agenda and embrace his. That’s the invitation to the kingdom. It is not whether we want to go to heaven or hell but whether we want to trust God or continue trusting ourselves.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ^[15] and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  (Mark 1:14-15 ESV)

To do that he will teach us how to recognize his presence with us. He will teach us how to understand his heart and how to confidently follow his will.” (p. 153)

Life at the End of Your Rope
“Jesus seemed to think backwards about everything. ‘You are blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.’ That’s how Eugene Peterson translates the first beatitude in The Message and I think he gets to the heart of it.

 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 5:3 ESV for comparison)

I’ve never heard anyone stand up during testimony time and say, “I know I’m really blessed today because I’m all out of options. I’ve lost everything and am at the end of my rope with nothing left to hold on to.” We don’t think such people blessed. We think them needy. We consider ourselves blessed when all our needs are met and there are no dark clouds on the horizon. But we are wrong.

[Think about some of the ways the Father has taught you to trust him when you’ve been at the end of your rope.]

The truth is we only grow in trust at moments of extremity. If we can do it ourselves, we will! If we’re sure we can fix things we won’t listen for him. If we have enough money, time, energy, talent, or know others who do, we’ll try that first.

Taking us to the end of our rope is really taking us to the end of ourselves. That’s why he calls us blessed at those moments. While I appreciate the seasons of rest and refreshing he brings into my life, I realize that only by facing my own inadequacies and the foolishness of my own desires can I really experience the glory of God’s kingdom. We don’t come easily to those moments, but when we finally give up trying to save ourselves, that’s where we taste of his immeasurable glory.

. . . I don’t know that we’ll ever get comfortable at the end of the rope, but at least we don’t have to dread it or think He has abandoned us.” (p. 155)

Beyond Your Failures
“‘So are you saying that God isn’t bigger than your mistakes?’ It’s a misconception far too many of us indulge. If our freedom to trust God hinges on our ability to get everything right then we’re really back to trusting ourselves, aren’t we? If God isn’t bigger than my halting attempts to learn how to walk with him, I might as well give up now.

But he is! That’s the lesson he taught Peter on the night he let him face the biggest failure of his life. He told him it would happen, but Peter was certain that he was strong enough to endure any threat to his relationship with Jesus.

Don’t you wish Jesus had just sent Peter home, telling him to lock the doors, crawl under the covers and wait for Sunday morning? Jesus didn’t even try to stop Peter from following him to Caiaphas’ house where he would betray his friend.

What’s even more amazing is that before Peter even messes up, Jesus already prayed him past it.

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, ^[32] but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” ^[33] Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” ^[34] Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.” (Luke 22:31-34 ESV)

 Please understand what Jesus was doing here. He had already factored Peter’s failure in before he had made it. He knew what Peter didn’t know. He could have saved him the anguish, but he wanted Peter to come to the end of his rope and learn that he could not trust in his own ability to follow Jesus.

. . . Don’t think for a moment that the slips and spills of learning to live in the Father’s love will exclude you from his table. God is able to work in you and through you despite what you lack. He knows that learning to live in the confidence of his love amidst the realities of everyday life is the most difficult thing you’ll ever learn.” (p. 156)

A Journey for a Lifetime
“One of my friends had been shackled by perfectionism. Whenever we talked about grace, he wanted to believe it, but was always so aware of his shortcomings that he couldn’t bring himself to trust God until he performed better.

But one day God used a hobby of his to teach him about grace. He loves to work with wood and to make decorations for his home. The light dawned for him when he noticed how differently he and his wife view his hobby. She loves the finished product and delights in displaying it in their home. He, however, enjoys the process of making it far more. He loves to take a raw piece of wood and fashion it. Once it’s finished he is already on to what he wants to do next. “I finally realized that God not only wants the product, but he actually enjoys the process.”

He’s right. God enjoys taking fearful slaves to sin and teaching them how to live as beloved sons and daughters. He knows how to peel off layers of selfishness and shame to shape his image in us.

That’s why the writer of Hebrews called Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith. He initiated it on the cross and with painstaking care he continues to carve, sand and buff until we become the treasure he fashioned in his heart at the beginning of time.

It’s a process he controls from start to finish, and it’s a journey that will last a lifetime. You can’t make it happen, but you can choose to trust him and watch the incredible process he’ll use to produce his glory in you.” (p. 157)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ^[2] looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)

Explore why we seem to be able to support people only when we understand what they are going through. How can we support people on their journey even though God is doing things in their lives that we don’t understand?

For Your Personal Journey
Where are you being stretched to the end of your rope? Where is God exposing the weaknesses of your own strength and the foolishness of your best wisdom? Give up the idea that your failures have brought you to this moment for it is an incredible work of God calling you to trust him more than you have in the past. Ask God to teach you how to give up self-sufficiency and learn to trust him. Then do whatever it is that trusting

God’s love would lead you to do and learn to ignore the ravings of your anxieties and fears.