Dharius Daniels - There Goes My Baby

I want to discuss this subject. Let me see if the old school is in here. There goes my baby. Foreign, clap your hands if you’re ready for God’s word. On June 15, 2010, Usher released a record entitled «There Goes My Baby,» which reveals an unusual appreciation and unparalleled admiration this man has for a woman. The first stanza of the song suggests something like this: «There Goes My Baby, Ooh Girl, look at you. You don’t know how good it feels to call you my girl. There Goes My Baby, loving everything you do. Oh girl, look at you.» As is the case with each song we selected to use this month, there is a larger lesson in the lyrics of this one if we listen with spiritual ears. This song, as with the others, has harmonic significance and redemptive value—not just romantically, but relationally. There is a lesson in the lyrics of this song that will help us not just manage romantic relationships, but it also helps us manage relationships in general. This song, family, teaches us the importance of developing the ability to recognize a relational asset. Anyone who is serious about accomplishing God’s assignment for their life is someone who takes this life skill seriously, realizing that we can’t be our best self by ourselves. We recognize that we can’t do our best work alone and that while we don’t need romantic relationships to thrive, we do need relationships in general to flourish. It is the way we have been wired, and it is how God has chosen to work. This concept is called incarnational ministry and is based on the Incarnation. What’s that, Darius? It’s in John chapter one, where John says, «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, ” speaking of Jesus. In verse 14, he states that „the Word became flesh.“ This means that what was divine became flesh. That is the Incarnation. When you become something, you don’t stop being what you were. Am I making sense? I’m using a podium to speak here. This is a podium, but it didn’t start as one; it started as wood. It became a podium, but it didn’t stop being wood. God became flesh but didn’t stop being God. It’s incarnational ministry. It is God looking at the plight and the predicament of the human species and saying, „They have a sin problem. The only way I can help them is to become like them.“ A theologian called Anselm describes this as the ransom theory of atonement. He says that sin is not giving God what He’s owed, so we are indebted to Him. Yet God is only satisfied with Himself, so only He can satisfy what we owe. Therefore, God must devise a strategy to be human enough to owe it and divine enough to pay it. In Philippians 2, the Bible says He empties Himself—it’s a Greek concept called kenosis—and performs what’s called the hypostatic union, where two natures exist in one person without the natures co-mingling. So you have the human and the divine in one person, and the human nature doesn’t touch the divine because then it’s not fully human; the divine doesn’t touch the human because then it’s not fully divine. It’s a demigod situation. Two natures exist in one person, and He’s not half of both; He’s fully both. He’s the only one of the God, the Father, full of grace and truth. He says, „To fix this sin problem, I’ve got to become like them.“ So He didn’t send an angel to save you and me; He didn’t come in the form of the Father to save you and me. When He was ready to save us, He sent a person, because much of what God is going to do in our lives will come through people. We may not like this; it may make us uncomfortable, but the Scriptures teach that God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. He says, „I’m going to take a fragile, temperamental, unpredictable, territorial, selfish, hypersensitive, imperfect, up-and-down human, and I’m going to put something in them that you need. I’m going to place treasure in that earthen vessel, and the only way you can access the treasure is by dealing with the vessel.“ Am I talking to anybody in the house today? It’s incarnational ministry. He uses people. He’s not limited to using people, but He is likely to use them. We see this— I taught you this law of first mention— in the creation narrative when God creates the world. Whether that’s seven days or not, don’t get caught up on whether it’s literal or metaphorical— there was progressive creation. Here’s what He says: on the first day, He created, stepped back, and evaluated it: „It’s good.“ On the second day, He created, stepped back, and evaluated: „It’s good.“ The third day, fourth day, and fifth day, He created, stepped back, and evaluated: „It’s good.“ On the sixth day, He created Adam, stepped back, and evaluated: „It’s not good that man should be alone.“ He’s not saying every person needs a spouse; that’s not the point. Jesus didn’t have one, and Paul didn’t either. Now, I need one, and I’ve got one. I need one—I’m not Paul or Jesus. I need one. Ain’t no woman like the one I’ve got.