God's perfect Self-Sufficency

I have been reading a book written by Matt Chandler called 'The Explicit Gospel' over the past couple of weeks. It has been a very well written book to read. I am challenged by something every time I read it.

Here is a quick summary about the book: 

Even if you go to church, it doesn't mean that you are being exposed to the gospel explicitly. Sure, most people talk about Jesus, and about being good and avoiding bad, but the gospel message simply isn't there-at least not in its specificity and its fullness. 

Inspired by the needs of both the over-churched and the unchurched, and bolstered by the common neglect of the explicit gospel with Christianity, popular pastor Matt Chandler writes to remind us what is of first and utmost importance-the gospel. 

I am going to share with you a couple of paragraphs about God's sell-sufficieny. I felt led to switch it up a little bit this morning because it's cool to learn from other people as well, especially pastors like Matt Chandler. This is also a great read because it is easy to forget or to even think about how self-sufficient our God is. 

God's Perfect Self-Sufficiency

Paul continue in Romans 11:35: "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" If everything is God's, you have nothing to give him that he doesn't already own. This means that you cannot put him into your debt. And this means, alternately, that God owes nobody anything. Our God's very existence has been gifted to us by his grace.

While we lament the parent injustice of pain and suffering, how often do we forget that every good thing in a fallen world is wholly a gift from God's mercy and grace? We think to question God when bridges fall but not to wonder at his grace that every bridge does not. Every fit of laughter, every delectable morsel of food, and every single smile is the result of his mercy and grace; he owes us none of it.

Now let me tell you why this is so terrifying. If this is true, we have nothing with which to negotiate with him, nothing to bargain with. But if has been my experience that most evangelicals believe Christians are in a bargaining position. We carry an insidious prosperity gospel around in our dark little, entitled hearts. We come to the throne and say, "I'll do this and you'll do that. And if I do this for you, then you'll do it for me."

In the end God says, "You keep trying to pay me off with stuff that's already mine." Some of us even try to bargain with our lives. But God says, "Please. I'll take that life if I want it. I'm God."

We presume upon our service, "I'll serve you, God!" we say. But he replies, "I'm not served by human hands as though I need anything. What are you going to do, give me something to eat? What are you going to do, paint my house? What are you going to give me, as if I'm lacking?"

The profitable result in these exchanges is that revealing of idolatry and pride within us. We want to live as though the Christian life is a 50/50 project we undertake with God, like faith is some kind of cosmic vending machine. And we're reinforced in this idolatry by bad preachers, by ministers with no respect for the Scriptures, by talking heads who teach out of emotion instead of texts, who tickle ears with no evident fear of God who curses bringers of alternative gospels. He owes us nothing. 

And we have nothing to give to him that he does't already own outright.

The customary response to this, of course, is to ask about the place of following God and serving his cause. There is plenty to call for this in the Bible. But the reality is that all God has to do is reveal himself to you, and you'll gladly join the mission in service to his kingdom. He doesn't force the issue; he just has to reveal himself as he is: mighty, wondrous, gracious, loving, and radically saving. No man goes back to saltine crackers when he's had filet mignon. And even this truth is further revelation of God's grace, because it shows that he doesn't need us; rather he wants us. When we who call ourselves Christians realize how utterly self-sufficient God is all within himself-the three in one- the gift of Christ is to us and for us becomes all the more astonishing. And we will want it this way. Because a God who is ultimately most focused on his own glory will be about the business of restoring us, who are all broken images of him. His glory demands it. So we should be thankful for a self-suffient God whose self-regard is glorious. 

There is a lot in there but the one thing that sticks out to me the most is the idea that God owes us nothing. I know I get caught up in thinking that sometimes because that's what we can't help but think when we experience trails. Or to think, if I do this you'll owe me that. God owes us nothing because he owns everything. I love that. I hope that switching it up today was a good idea and that this really leaves you in owe of God. 

-you are loved-