The Struggle is Real
Wk 3
March 17, 2019

You don’t have to teach a child to . You have to teach them to .

The original sin was

. (Genesis 3)
-God said, “Don’t touch the fruit, don’t eat the fruit.”
-Eve took it. Adam ate it.

Ever since - We are hardwired for

.

If we’re going to obey, we want to know

.

1 Samuel 15 - the struggle is real, and it isn’t new

Saul is sent by God to destroy the Amalekites. He is told to wipe them out completely. Instead, he defeats the Amalekites, but keeps the best livestock, takes Agag the King as prisoner. (Convenient and preferred obedience.) Then, he builds himself a monument. (Doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong.) When Samuel catches up with him, he tries to defend himself saying they are going to sacrifice the livestock to God. (Justify, Justify, Justify)

vv 22-23
22 But Samuel replied:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”

The trap -

“We perfect, most dangerously, our children. Let me tell you what we think about children. They’re hardwired for struggle when they get here. And when you hold those perfect little babies in your hand, our job is not to say, “Look at her, she’s perfect. My job is just to keep her perfect – make sure she makes the tennis team by fifth grade and Yale by seventh.” That’s not our job. Our job is to look and say, “You know what? You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.” That’s our job. Show me a generation of kids raised like that, and we’ll end the problems, I think, that we see today.” —Brene Brown, “The Power of Vulnerability”


*Saul’s disobedience meant that the Amalekites were not wiped out and a few generations later it would be Haman the Agagite who would persecute and try to wipe out the Jews in Persia until stopped by the obedience of a woman named Esther.

The opportunity -

We can

obedience because we know we are and we .

We obey God for so much more than “because I said so.” We obey -
“Because I made you.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
“Because I love you.” (John 3:16)
“Because I proved it on the cross.” (Romans 5:8)
“Because maybe, just maybe, there is enough evidence that I’m working all things together for your good.” (Romans 8:28)