The Excellence of God

It is true, it is true. After the war, that Confederate money was no good anymore, and a wealthy family in Louisville, Kentucky funded the school. The Norton's, Norton Hall, the main administrative building is named after them, and eventually the school moved up there. But indeed, that's where its roots are, yeah. Well, thank you so much for the privilege of being with you this evening. It's a great delight. I've been looking forward to this gathering. I've looked at the website and seen people who have been here in the past, speakers and pictures that you've had there, and noticed the messages given. And so I just considered it a privilege to be a part of a heritage of people who have endeavor to uphold the gospel and to proclaim the riches of Christ, defend the authority of scripture. And now this particular conference upholding the greatness and the grace of our God. And my message this evening is going to focus really on the transcendence and the fullness, the perfection of who God is. I hope all of you have a handout, do you, that you should have received when you came in? If you don't, I imagine someone can get one to you. There are some in the back, I'm sure anybody lack one. Raise your hand. There are a few few around, just keep your hands up, and I know some eager folks will bring them to you. Just a few over here, and I believe there's a gentleman over here on this side as well. Keep your hands up and you'll. Get one. We live in a culture that has what you might call an instinctive rush to divine imminence, if there's any attribute of God out there that people in our culture would say is true of God, it would be God's love. The love of God, this is universally known, it seems in among our culture. And of course, it is true that God is love. And we've just heard a wonderful exposition of how significant it is that God is good, that he is loving, that he is gracious and merciful, forgiving. So it's not wrong to go to the love of God, but. Those who go to the love of God first without understanding the transcendence of God, that it is this great and glorious, perfect God who is also. This God who loves us really fails to comprehend the significance of that very one attribute that they want to extol. I mean, the irony of this is that the one thing they care most about, they don't get right and can't get right because they rush to that attribute before understanding first God's greatness and glory, his magnificence, his transcendence. Out of which can you believe it? That great God loves us. Amazing grace is still sung, but it's not believed in its place. What is believed is expected grace, entitled grace, grace that ought to be given because of how great I am. I mean, we live in this self-esteem saturated culture and we don't understand that the one whom we ought to esteem is God. Why? Because he alone is worthy of all of our worship and honor and adoration. And yes, that glorious God in the fullness of his perfection is the God who has deemed it good and right. to come to us in our need, not in our entitlement, not because we are deserving, but in fact, just the opposite of that. Despite how puny we are, despite the fact we can contribute nothing to his infinite fullness, yet he loves us. Now, I want you to see just from a few passages of Scripture that, in fact, the biblical norm is to move from transcendence to eminence. And just a few passages here will illustrate this for us. Look at Isaiah 57, 15, one of the most marvelous verses of the Bible that expresses both sides of God's transcendence and imminence, but does it in a pattern that is so important to observe. Isaiah 5715, and I'm also reading from the New American Standard Translation. We read this, for thus says the high and exalted one who lives forever, whose name is holy. I live in a high and a holy place. and also with the contrite and the lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. Don't you see with me that in fact, when you come to that and also it takes your breath away, that that great, holy, awesome, glorious God who doesn't need to do this, is the God who chooses also to come to us. Grace really is amazing, and we ought to know that is the case. Or look at Isaiah 66, just another example from Scripture of the order of transcendence first and then imminence. Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool where that is a house you could build for me. And where is the place that I may rest for my hand made all of these things? Thus, all these things came into being, declares the Lord. But. To this one, I will look. To him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word. Aren't you astonished at the but after that description of how great God is, he doesn't need anything we have to give him. He created everything in the heavens and the earth. The heavens are his throne. The earth is the mere footstool of his feet. What could we possibly give to God that is not his? Yet to us, he comes to those who are humble, contrite, who tremble at his word. What a glorious thing to understand. The eminence of God, the love, mercy, kindness, grace, forgiveness of God is from a God who sits enthroned on high. Great and glorious is his name. Isaiah six. Also, I won't read all of this passage because you're very familiar with it. But Isaiah's vision of God in Isaiah six also illustrates this. He sees this vision of God high and exalted. The train of his robe fills the temple. Seraphim cry out to one another in his presence. Holy, holy, holy. And the response that Isaiah can only give to this in verse five, woe is me. I'm ruined. I am a person of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips where my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. So here we have transcendence and Isaiah realizes his proper place before that God. Yet, the story doesn't end there. Grace is shown, mercy is given as God comes to him through that coal that is brought to touch his lips. Personalized forgiveness, you might think of it. What did he say? I'm a man of unclean lips. So God touches his lips and says, your sin is forgiven. Your iniquity is taken away. What an astonishing thing that that great and glorious, high and exalted God. Would condescend to forgive. Well, let's take a look a bit more at this greatness of God's transcendence, his perfection through the lens of one attribute that is. Rarely spoken of in our evangelical churches these days, and yet it's my conviction as a man who has studied the doctrine of God now for the bulk of my adult life, it is my conviction that this attribute is the bedrock attribute for a correct understanding of who God is. You get this wrong and everything else goes astray. You get this right and it lines up everything else you learn about God in proper ways. And that is the attribute of God's self-sufficiency, self-sufficiency. So what we'll do is take a look, first of all, at a definition that I'll give to you of self-sufficiency. Take a look, then, at passages of Scripture to see if, in fact, this is what the Bible teaches. And I'll argue it is. God, in fact, is a self-sufficient God, as Scripture indicates. We'll take a look at some denials of this doctrine in certain quarters. And then finally, we'll close with application, which I printed out in at length for you, because I know we won't have time to go through it all. So it's there for you to read, although we'll do a little bit of that together. So definition, biblical passages, denials and then application. First of all, a definition of God's self-sufficiency. You can see it there on your handout. To say that God is self-sufficient is to say that God possesses within himself intrinsically and eternally every quality in infinite measure. God possesses within himself intrinsically and eternally every quality, every perfection, everything that is qualitatively good in infinite measure. Now, if you look at this definition, you might wonder why I wrote it this way to say that God possesses these qualities within himself intrinsically. Isn't that a redundancy? Do you have to say both of those things? And the answer is it's not redundant. You do have to say both. And here's why, because it's possible to possess something within yourself that is not intrinsic to you. The easiest example I can give of that is if all of us right now take a deep breath, breathe together. Oh, feels good, right? Well, that air is within you, but it is not intrinsic to you. The very reason you breathe is precisely because you need to take in what is outside of you. And if you were to take it in, you wouldn't continue living. So this definition says of these perfections of God, these qualities, everything you can think of that is qualitatively good, that God possesses those qualities within himself intrinsically. That is, they are his by nature, by virtue of his being God, he possesses all holiness. All goodness, all justice, all righteousness, all mercy, all truth, all wisdom is possessed within God Himself intrinsically. No one gives to God any of these qualities. He cannot be debtor to anyone for anything that is his, because he possesses everything that is qualitatively good. Every quality that possibly could be is possessed within God by virtue of his being God. And he possesses these qualities eternally. There never was a time, never will be a time. There isn't a moment now when these qualities are not true of God. Before he created the world apart from this universe, when he created, when the consummation takes place, they are always true of his own nature. So God possesses these qualities within himself intrinsically and eternally, and he does so in infinite measure. Now, what does infinite mean? Well, it's a negative term. It simply means not finite, which raises the question, what does finite mean? Well, to be finite is to be bounded, to be limited, to be restricted. God possesses every one of these qualities without boundary, without limitation, without measure. It's incredible to think, isn't it? God never comes to the end of his power, never comes to the end of his justice, never comes to the end of his knowledge, his wisdom, his mercy, his grace. infinite measure, all of these qualities possessed in God, and he possesses them intrinsically and eternally. Now, is this, in fact, what Scripture teaches about God, that he is this self-sufficient being? Look with me at Isaiah 40. We're going to spend a bit of time here in this text and just try to unpack a bit of what Isaiah says about God from this portion of Scripture. That is so very instructive to us, beginning at verse 12. Now, beginning at this verse, I just want to say this before before we start reading that he introduces that is God through the prophet Isaiah introduces some rhetorical questions, rhetorical questions or questions whose answers are so obvious you don't have to give an answer. Is the pope Catholic? It's a rhetorical question. Actually, the answer is the current pope is. You can think about that. It'll come to you late this evening. You'll figure out why I put it that way. Rhetorical questions that are meant to bring to our mind images, these images convey, communicate certain things about God. Now, look at these with me. Verse 12. Who do you know, asks the Lord, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? They just stop, think, think of what that image conveys. Who do you know who has been able to to measure the waters of this world? The Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, which would have been close at hand for Isaiah, who do you know who can measure the waters of the world in the hollow of his hand? What an image. I have a wonderful memory of a few moments with my two girls. We have two children, both girls. And I used to teach out on the West Coast where my wife and I both grew up. And we were vacationing one summer at Cannon Beach, Oregon, one of the most beautiful places anywhere you could visit. Just glorious. And had a rented cabin there on the beach for a few days. And one morning I had read this passage to my family with with this experiment in mind. So I read Isaiah 40 that morning and after breakfast and I said to my girls, they were about seven and three years old. And I said to them, hey, do you want to do an experiment with Daddy down at the beach? And they said, oh, yeah. You know, so they grabbed their towels and we go down there. And when we got down there, I said, now, do you remember that passage I read this morning about how God can hold the waters of the world in the hollow of his hand? Yeah. Remember that, Daddy? So here's the experiment we're going to do. I'm going to go out there into the Pacific Ocean, wait out there a little ways. You stay back up here on the shoreline and I'm going to scoop up all the water I can in the hollow of my two hands. I want and I want you to stay back here and watch and see how far the level of that ocean dips. OK. OK, daddy, they're excited about this. OK. So I went out there and I said, now you've got to look very carefully. OK, we're watching. And I leaned down and scooped up. Did it change? No, daddy. Now look carefully, girls. OK, let me do it again. So I leaned down, scooped up the water. Did it change? No, daddy. So I came back on the shore and got down on my knees, high level with my girls. And I said, you know, girls, I want you to learn something really significant. about the difference between how big we are and how big God is. See, I'm your dad and I go out there and I scoop up all the water I can in the hollow of my two hands and you cannot tell anything has changed. But imagine a hand so big. Look at that ocean. That if that hand came down and scooped up water, that Pacific Ocean bed would be dry. That's how big God is. What an image, isn't that amazing? An image to convey the immensity of God, the greatness of God. Look at the next one. Who do you know, he asks, who is marked off the heavens? By the span span distance between the tip of your thumb and little finger. Who do you know who can mark off the heavens by the span, which would have been a very meaningful image in the days of Isaiah? It's even more meaningful to us today when we know the expanse of this universe, how big it is. Light travels, you know, this at one hundred eighty six thousand miles per second. Traveling from the sun takes about seven and a half minutes to get here. It's ninety three million miles after the sun. The next closest star to us is four and a half light years away. That's our next door neighbor. That is light traveling at one hundred eighty six thousand miles per second takes four and a half years to travel from that star to this planet. That's right next door. How many stars are there in the Milky Way galaxy, our neighborhood, you might say. Roughly 10 billion, and this is an averaged sized galaxy, 10 billion stars separated by hundreds, thousands of light years from each other spanning around this galaxy now. How many galaxies are there in the universe? The Milky Way being an average size galaxy? Well, the answer is we don't know. There are hundreds of millions of galaxies in the universe spread out by millions of miles light years from each other throughout this universe. It is staggering. Who do you know who can mark off the heavens by the span? What a God, who do you know who can calculate the dust of the earth by the measure, weigh the mountains in a balance or the hills in a pair of scales? Who do you know who can hold the scales upon which the mountains are weighed? Way in here, the Rockies way over here, the Himalayas hold the scales that weigh the mountains. Wow, what a great, powerful, immense God God is. Now, versus 13 and 14, the subject matter shifts from the power of God and the immensity of God now to his knowledge and wisdom. The rhetorical questions continue. Who do you know? Asks the Lord through the prophet who has ever directed the spirit of the Lord or as his counselor has informed him. With whom did he consult and who gave him understanding, who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge and informed him of the way of understanding? What's the answer to those questions? Who has ever been God's instructor answer? Let me hear you. No one. Absolutely no one. God has no advisers. God needs no advisers. God wants no advisers. Which, by the way, we need to remember when we pray, we can cross the line. And and. And be little. the infinite fullness of God's knowledge and wisdom. When we think we are in a position to instruct God what he should do, we come as children to a father who knows infinitely more than we do with our requests, heartfelt as they are, which he longs for us to bring. But with the recognition father knows best. Indeed, he does. So not my will, but yours be done. My goodness, if Jesus prayed that, don't you think his disciples ought to have that disposition? Yes, because he alone knows what is best. We cannot add to the knowledge or the wisdom of God. OK, now here is where this passage. shifts into application of these truths for our lives. And I just want to say before we look at verses 15 to 17 here. That if you know if I were doing a study Bible, I might put a line right there between verses 14 and 15 and say right now, beware, because your pride is about to be struck a deadly blow. Here we go. Verse 15. Behold. In light of the greatness of God's power, immensity, knowledge, wisdom, behold, the nations are before God like what? They're a drop from a bucket, they're regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Now, what is true of both of those images, a drop from a bucket, a speck of dust in the scales, both convey what? They're puny. They're little. They're insignificant. They are in consequential. A speck of dust on the scale is inconsequential. Precisely why? Because it doesn't weigh in. Isn't that the point? Goodness, can you imagine a scene at the deli counter with a woman who's getting a pound of sliced turkey and the fellows cut it off and put it on the scale and he's about to press the button for the price sticker to come out and she screams, hold it. And she goes, what's the matter, ma'am? And she's I don't want to be overcharged. Oh, well, am I doing something wrong? There's a speck of dust on that scale. I don't want to pay for it. I mean, you would laugh at this crazy lady who thinks that that speck of dust is going to make a difference. And isn't that the point of the image now? Lest you think, well, at least I'm a speck. At least I'm a drop, right? I at least there's something there. Keep reading. It gets worse. It gets worse. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket. They're regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Behold, he lifts up islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn that forested area to the north of Israel, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations. Here we are again. The collective totality of humanity considered together are what before God? Verse 17. All the nations are as nothing before him. Well, folks, we've been demoted. We've gone from a speck and a drop to nothing. It can't get worse than that, can it? It does keep reading, keep reading verse 17. All the nations are as nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless. That's rock bottom. Less than nothing and meaningless. Now. It is crucial to understand the sense in which he means this and the sense in which he does not mean that the nations are before him as less than nothing and meaningless. Surely he cannot mean. When he says the nations are is nothing before me, he cannot mean I don't care about the nations. They mean nothing to me. How do we know that he cannot mean that? Well, someone might say, goodness, John 316, God so loved the nations. The world that he gave his only begotten son, even in this chapter in Isaiah, though we know God doesn't mean when he says the nations are as nothing before me, he doesn't mean I don't care about the nation. We know that because in Isaiah 40 itself, look at how it ends. You know, the ending of this chapter is one of the most famous parts of the Old Testament. Look at verse twenty seven with me and following. Verse 27, why do you say, oh, Jacob and assert, oh, Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and the justice do me escapes the notice of my God. Do you not know? Have you not heard the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary or tired. His power is emphasized. His understanding is inscrutable. His wisdom, knowledge emphasized. Why? Why are those attributes of God elevated? Verse 29 He gives strength. To the weary. And to him who lacks might, he increases power. Those who use grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly. Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not be tired. They will walk and not become weary. Why does God want his people to know how great he is? So they will trust him in their folly, their weakness, their limitation. They will go to the one who never does grow weary or tired, whose understanding is beyond measure. To grant us hearts that will hope in him, trust in him, look to him, believe in him. Now, I submit to you that is not the attitude of a God who doesn't care. about people. So back to back to verse 17. What does he mean then when he says. The nations are as nothing they're regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless. Here it is. When you compare the infinite fullness of God's power, his wisdom, his knowledge, What can the nations, the totality of humanity taken together, what can they add to the greatness that is God's? And the answer is nothing. Absolutely nothing. He has it all. We cannot contribute to the greatness, the fullness, the richness, the infinite splendor that is God's from all eternity. And that is God's for all future eternity. Indeed, he alone is fully self-sufficient. Psalm 50, turn there with me. We'll do this one quicker, but I want you to see this other expression of God's self-sufficiency in Psalm 50. In this psalm, Israel is on trial. God is both. In fact, he's all three of these. He is the judge. He is the prosecuting attorney and he is chief witness against his people. He's functioning in all three of these capacities and pick up with me at first. Verse five. Gather my godly ones to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice, so obviously this is his covenant people. This is Old Testament Israel he's referring to. And the heavens declare his righteousness for God himself is judge. Well, what is Israel done that has elicited this courtroom scene where God is holding them accountable? What is their sin? What is their offense? OK, look with me. Verse seven here. Oh, my people that I will speak. Oh, Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, your burnt offerings are continually before me. Now, just stop a minute now. Now, realize he clears the deck of something that you might think right off the bat, and that is they have failed to be keeping the requirements of the law to bring sacrifices to the Lord. Evidently, this is one of the times in Israel's history where they were actually doing what the law commanded them to do. So you would think God would be happy with them. Why is he upset with them if they're actually applying the law to their own lives and carrying it out? Keep reading verse nine. I shall take no young bull out of your house, nor male goats out of your folds, for every beast of the forest is mine. The cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains and everything that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all it contains. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats? Verse 13, we have our biggest clue as to what's going on that God finds so deeply offensive. And here it is. Evidently, the people of Israel had adopted a theology of worship from the ancient Near Eastern peoples surrounding them. And essentially, this is how this theology of worship goes. The gods in the ancient Near East were needy beings. They got hungry. They got thirsty. And so you would bring sacrifices to the gods that they would eat. They would drink. Their bellies would be filled. Their thirst would be quenched. And when you made the gods happy, then they in turn would make you happy. They would bring gifts to you. They would bring rain upon your crops. They would protect you from your enemies. You take care of God and he'll take care of you. That's the theology of worship in the ancient Near East. And Israel had adopted that view toward Yahweh. And so he wants to go on record. If I were hungry, don't miss the F. I would not tell you for the world is mine and all it contains. Do you really think I eat the flesh of bulls and drink the blood of male goats? OK, here's the solution, the. The correction to the problem comes in verse 14, what should be offered to God, then. Offer to God a sacrifice of what? Thanksgiving, I think, think with me for a minute, what does Thanksgiving, if they offer to God a sacrifice of Thanksgiving, what does that imply about the God creature relationship? Who's the giver? God, who's the receiver? Us. Hence, we are thankful for what he provides for us. The dependency relationship between God and the world runs one way. We depend upon God for how much? So we'll see this in Act 17 next for life and breath and all things for absolutely everything we depend upon God. How much does he depend upon us? For absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing, and to worship God as if. God, you're awfully lucky I'm here today to put this money in the offering plate. You know, if it weren't for me, your work wouldn't be going forward. Boy, God, aren't aren't you glad that I'm here bringing my gifts to serve in these ways? We ridicule the infinite fullness of who God is, who doesn't need anything from us. Look at one more passage with me at 17. What an amazing text this is from the Apostle Paul. In the city of Athens, he has gone to Athens waiting for friends to join him. And as he's waiting, he walks around the streets of Athens, observes the idolatry. And indeed, archaeologists have uncovered the fact that Athens was in this day the most pluralistic center of worship anywhere in the ancient world. They had they had idols and shrines and inscriptions and temples to every known deity. And just in case they missed one, they even had, as Paul mentions, an inscription to an unknown God that who would be worshipped just in case they missed one of them. And so the irony of this is they asked Paul to come and speak and tell them about the God of whom he is speaking, who is, in fact, the one and only true God of whom they know nothing. So here is Paul, Acts 17, verse 24, This is theology 101. Who is God? The God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything. Since he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things. Now, can you see self-sufficiency in this verse? God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything. So let's just translate that positively. God doesn't need anything from us, from the created world that he has made means he is self sufficient. Now, how does Paul ground this? He grounds it with three arguments. The first one comes at the beginning of verse 24, the God who made the world and all things in it. That is, God is creator. Now, how did God create the world? You all know the Latin phrase that theologians sometimes use, Kratz, Creatio ex nihilo means what creation out of nothing. Now, what is the relationship between God as creator who creates the world out of nothing and his self-sufficiency? Do you see the logical link here? What is it? See, if this were a classroom, I'd pull it out of you. OK, he doesn't need anything already existing for him to bring something about that he wants to do. He speaks and brings it into existence. But doesn't that mean, then, that God as God exists just fine, thank you, without a universe? In other words, because he creates the world out of nothing, the universe can't add something to God because it didn't exist when God was still God. So rather than God needing the world, rather, what creation evidences is the world and everything that it is and everything that it has needs God. But God in no respect needs the world that he has made. So God made the world and all things in it. His second argument is now from his sovereign rulership, since he is lord of heaven and earth. Well, how does this tie to self-sufficiency? He's not beholden to anyone out there to give to him like you borrow something from your neighbor, borrow a cup of sugar or borrow a lawnmower to mow your lawn or something like that. God never has to borrow something. He never has to get somebody's permission. It's all his. You know that, do you not, of all of your possessions? Is that deeply ingrained in your heart that you are not primary owner of any of God is he owns all that is in this world. He is the sovereign ruler of all that he has made to make it is to own it, to own it, is to have rightful rulership over it. That's good biblical theology. And how much did God make everything? How much does he own everything? How much does he rule? Everything, the heavens and the earth. And then his last argument comes at the end of verse twenty five. He's not only creator and sovereign Lord, but he is giver, giver of how much look at the end of this verse. He is not served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things. Notice the two uses of all. He gives to all people. All things, there is no exception in every good and perfect gift is from above, from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning every single good thing you have ever received, everything you will receive in this life and for all of eternity comes from one source from God who possesses everything. in himself. What a great God, God is now quickly here, believe it or not, there are movements out there that are deeply vehemently opposed to the doctrine of self-sufficiency. I became aware of process theology in my doctoral studies. In fact, I studied under John Cobb and David Ray Griffin at Claremont as part of my doctoral program at Fuller Seminary. Those are the two gurus of process theology in America. The center of process theism is there at Claremont. And so I learned process from the horse's mouth, as it were. And in a very simplistic summary, here's what process theism holds. It believes that everything is in process. Nothing is fixed. And that includes, most importantly, God. God is constantly evolving. God is the self surpassing surpasser of all. That's one of the ways Charles Hartshorne describes God. He's constantly surpassing himself by taking to himself more and more qualities, adding to himself. Now, what does this mean for us who are then worshipers of God? How do we relate to God? Well, Charles Hartshorne puts it this way. He said we are called to serve God, by which I do not mean serving other non-divine creatures, but most importantly, Contributing value to God, which he would otherwise lack. That's a direct quote from Hartzorn, contributing value to God, which he would otherwise lack. So when you wake up in the morning, here's what you think. I have an opportunity this day not only to make the world better because I contribute to it. Thumbs under lapels, very, very firmly planted. Not only can I make the world better, but more importantly, can you believe it? I can make God better. I make him wiser. I give him my good ideas. I inform him and bless him and make God better day by day. It's sort of like in many of our Southern Baptist churches. You know, you see these, you know, a window, a stained glass window will have somebody's name on it. I tell you why we're in a church right now in Louisville, Kentucky, that's like this. And often I've wanted to go at about three in the morning with bricks and throw them through all of those windows. They've got people's names and all these and plaques all over the churches. And this is sort of what we do with God. We put our name. We have a brick up there that says this is what I contributed to God. And can you see in this that the God world relationship has been turned on its head? We create God in our image. God is beholden to us. We're the giver. He's the receiver and he better be grateful. OK, now, lest you think all those horrible process people out there who are so far away from us Bible believing evangelicals. Here's my second example. I grew up in a Baptist church in Spokane, Washington. And I remember very distinctly the Sunday in that fifth grade boys Sunday school class. Picture it with me. Cinder blocks, basement room, spit wads, paper clips, rubber bands, 14 fifth grade boys. I was one of them. I was a deacons kid with the spit wads, with the rubber bands and so on. I can remember when a friend of mine asked The teacher, this question that I perked up and listen, because I really wanted to know the answer. Here was the question. Why are we here? Why did God make us? And here's what she said. You know, before God created the world, he was all by himself. He was lonely, had no one to talk to and had this emptiness in his heart, this ache in his very inner life. And he thought to himself, I need some friends. I need some people that I can have fellowship with and talk with. And as they do that, this will fill up this loneliness of my life and take away this emptiness that I feel. So that's why we're here is to help out God. Poor God. Isn't it lucky he's got us? And, you know, I remember thinking as I grew up in that church, how many of the appeals I heard for Christian service fit poor God as the motto missionary calls, you know, God's, you know, boy, poor God, he he really wants to reach these people and he would love to get the message to them. But you need to go. And if you don't go, Poor God or calls to service building programs, whatever it is, you know, you need to be the one who are God's hands, God's God's instruments to bring this about. If you don't do it, the work of God will not go forward. As if God is not omnipotent. Have we forgotten that, you know, he doesn't need a single missionary. You know that, don't you? He doesn't need a single pastor. He doesn't need a single seminary professor. When you think about it, what is what is my role fundamentally as a teacher and preacher, it is to endeavor to help the saints of God grow in sanctification. Now, on occasion, it's bringing somebody into the fold, which is a wonderful thing. But for the most part, my ministry is about helping saints grow. Well, you know what? God doesn't need my help doing that. Number one, any growth that happens, he does it. Number two, he could do it unilaterally. He's going to do that in the end. Remember when he first got chapter three, it's just not coming to me quickly enough here. We all would love to father that we should be called the sons of God and such we are, but we've not seen as yet what we shall be. But when he appears, we will be like him. For we will see him as he is. He will catch us up like that. You know what? He could do that right now. So here are two questions I'll look with you briefly at, and I'll leave the rest of this for you to read in terms of applications of this. Go down on page two, down to the key questions that arise because of God's self-sufficiency. And I want to look with you at questions number one and three briefly. Number one, why are we here? What is our purpose? Well, clearly, the answer is not what my well-meaning Sunday school teacher taught me in that fifth grade boy's Sunday school class. That is, the answer is not that God was lonely and needed fellowship. By the way, what's the theological answer to the notion that before we were created, God was lonely? The Trinity got God is an eternal social being, a relationship of intimacy and love and richness of joy and fellowship as father, son and Holy Spirit that could not be improved upon by a million creations. Indeed, he is not lonely, so what is the answer? Rather, and I'm reading right off the sheet here, rather, particularly in relation to his people, the answer is should be is this. Though he doesn't need us, he loves us and his purpose in creating and redeeming us is not that we might fill up some lack in him, but that he might fill us up with himself. He made us empty to be filled with his fullness, thirsty to drink of the water of life, weak to receive his strength, foolish to be instructed and corrected by his wisdom in his love. He longs to give to share the bounty. He wants us to experience in finite measure the fullness of joy and blessing that he knows infinitely all to redound to the praise and glory of his name, the giver and provider of all the good we enjoy. Isn't that amazing, my friends? So a God who doesn't need us creates us. Redeems us in his son for what purpose to pour into us what we lack, not for us to pour into him what he supposedly lacks. He lacks nothing. Were the ones in desperate need of him. Now, one of the question I'll leave you to read the rest of this, but number three, Why does God enlist our service? He called me into service, I know it. I have no question that the Lord. Why would he do this? He is called your pastor. He's called many of you. In fact, all of us in one way or another in our various vocations are called into Christian service. Why does he do this if he doesn't need any of the work we do? Or another way to put this is how do you put together some 100 verse two Come into his presence with singing and let's see. No, sir. Oh, my goodness. Sir, serve the Lord with gladness. Thank you. Serve the Lord with gladness with Acts 17. He is not served by human hands. How do you put these together? Here's my answer. He doesn't need our service. By the way, those missionaries, why doesn't he need missionaries? Do you know that God could right now at this very moment speak The gospel in perfect dialect into the hearing of every single person across the globe like that. And they would all have heard the gospel, he is omnipotent, he is God, he doesn't need missionaries, he doesn't need teachers, he doesn't need pastors. Why does he call us into service if he could just do it? Here it is. He doesn't need our service, so his call for us to serve is a call for us to participate in the privilege and the joy of the ministry of grace that flows from him into us and then through us into the lives of others. We can take no credit. All that we have is a gift from him, and he gives us what we have to be used in service to others. God is so shareful. I don't even know if that's a real word, but I love it. God is so shareful. He is so generous. Rather than just doing the work himself unilaterally, he devises a plan by which he intends that some of his work be done in and through others by calling and equipping and using them. We have absolutely no basis for boasting either before God or others. Human pride is utterly shattered. It is devastated when we understand the depths of our souls, the infinite and intrinsic fullness that is God's alone for all eternity. It is it not only is not about us, it is not of us or from us or because of us, all that we are. Every quality we possess, all that we have, every good and worthwhile characteristic, all we can do, every ability, both in its kind and in its degree. All our gifts from God, we simply cannot rightfully take credit for anything we ever are or ever Do. So here's the answer to why God calls us into service. He loves us and he grants us the privilege of participating in. Can you believe it in his work? Now, I'm astonished to that because I'm a perfectionist. You know, some of the my most tense moments with my children were when I was working on a project in the basement. And I want it done just right the right way, which, of course, is my way. I mean, those are you know, those two things are identical. And then I would hear these little tiny footsteps coming down the stairs. One of my children coming down and saying those feared words, Daddy, can I help? And in my heart, I'm thinking, I don't want your help. I care about this work and I want it done a particular way. Now, just think of God, does he care about his work? Oh, my, isn't it amazing that God has devised? a plan, a strategy by which we are called into a participation in his work when he didn't have to do it. What a privilege to be his. Well, we have a great and a glorious God who is infinitely worthy of worship and adoration because he alone possesses all of those qualities worthy of being honored and worshiped and adored. Only God possesses intrinsically and eternally and in infinite measure all of the qualities that ought to be honored. He alone is worthy of our worship. Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you. For the privilege we've had in these moments to reflect upon your greatness and your grace, your majesty and your mercy. We are astonished, Lord, that though you are so great, so glorious, so infinitely perfect that indeed. You love us, care for us, long for us to be filled with all of your fullness to the full extent that we can. Thank you, Lord God, for such unspeakably great love. We thank you in the name of Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.