Living By Faith (1): Getting
Deeper and Deeper into Debt
Psalm 50:9-15
Happy Mother’s Day
In recent years our summer series have
focused on personal spiritual growth:
prayer (04), spiritual disciplines (02).
This year I’d like to base a series on John Piper’s
Future Grace. I think he offers some insightful biblical
teaching on how to live an empowered Christian life, particularly, what it
means to live by faith.
We have copies of the book available, if
you’d like to read along this summer.
It’s hard to live the Christian life. It’s hard to resist sinful pleasures, to
fight lust, to humbly serve, to share your faith (and point people to
Jesus). It’s hard to pray, to seek God’s
kingdom first. It’s hard to truly
change, to repent of deep-rooted pride and selfishness. It’s so much easier just to turn on the TV,
to take the complacent, comfortable way, to become self-reliant, to live for
ourselves.
If you’re not a Christian, you might agree,
living a Christian life seems like it would require a lot of self-discipline
and moral strength. And to be honest,
again, it probably seems a lot easier just to turn on the TV, take the easy
way, be self-reliant and live for yourselves.
The question is,
what empowers us to live this Christian life?
As many of us have struggled, what will motivate us,
fuel us to walk the narrow road, to strive for faithfulness and godliness? (non Christian) How
and why do Christians live the way they do?
We need some high-octane fuel.
The most common
answer to this question is: gratitude. We live our Christian lives because we’re so
thankful for what Christ has done for us.
(EE) God gave this gift, and our Christian lives is just a P.S. saying,
thank You
Hymn: I Gave My Life for Thee (Francis Havergal;
#185)
I gave, I gave my life for thee, What hast thou given for me?
I gave, I gave my life for thee, What hast thou given for me?
The power of Christian living comes from the overflow of
thankfulness. And because we’re so
thankful, because we’ve received so much, as we reflect on how much we’ve
received, we’re empowered to live the Christian life.
Yes, we should be
thankful! To be not be
thankful would be sinful.
But is this what
empowers us to live for the Lord? What
empower us to turn against porn, to resist gossip? I’m going to suggest it is not gratitude.
I think for a lot of us, this may really shake our understanding of
Christian living. So please stay with
me.
There are problems on
running on the fuel of gratitude.
1. Debtor’s
ethic (the danger of)
The debtor’s ethic says, “Because you’ve done
something good for me, I feel indebted to do something good for you.”
There’s something in the human heart that
feel awkward about “being indebted.”
There’s something in us that feels we need to repay the kindness, we “owe” a favor.
I remember a couple times being treated to a
very nice steak dinner. It was a lavish
gift, an wonderfully kind gesture. I really enjoyed the steaks, but I also felt
almost uncomfortable—like it was too big a gift. I remember feeling, indebted, feeling like I
should do something kind and generous in return, to in someway repay the
kindness.
Is that supposed to be our Christian life,
some kind of repayment for what God has done for us?
God does want us to feel grateful, to express
pleasure and joy and appreciation, but He did not intend that this was how to
empower our obedience.
In the “God has done so much for you, now
what will you do for him?” kind of motivation, the Christian life becomes a big
repayment,
a big “I need to return the kindness.”
We feel we have to produce something to give
back to God. Maybe it’s even a “I want to do something for Jesus.” That’s a good heart, but there’s a danger:
It’s a subtle form of self-reliance.
Jesus did something for me, I have to do something for God (becomes
“my work”).
2. The Bible speaks of faith, not gratitude, as the basis for our
obedience and Christian living.
Does the Bible ever speak of doing things for
Jesus “out of gratitude,” “in the power of thankfulness,” or “because we owe
Jesus so much”?
Christian obedience
is called
“work of faith,” “work of gratitude (1 Thess 1:3, 2 Thess
“live by faith,” “walk by faith” “live by gratitude” (2 Cor
5:7)
“faith working through love” “gratitude working through love” (Gal 5:6)
“faith without works is dead” “gratitude without works is dead” (James
“O men of little faith” “men
of little gratitude” (Mt
Another way to put the question is, when the
people of God didn’t obey the God, what is because of a lack of gratitude? Is ingratitude the problem of Christian
living?
The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with
contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all
the miraculous signs I have performed among them? (Numbers
But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their
fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God. (2 Kings 17:14)
. . . the Bible does not say that [Christian
obedience] come from the backward gaze of gratitude, but that it comes from the
forward gaze of faith (43)
We develop this faith part in
the weeks to come. The power of
Christian living comes from high-octane faith.
3. God
cannot be served
To think that out of gratitude our Christian
life is some kind of repayment for
what God has done for us, that there’s something we can do for God, is to overestimate
ourselves and underestimate God.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything,
because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. (Acts
“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” (Romans 11:35)
We never give to
God. God cannot be served.
God
is always the Giver and we are always the receiver. That’s
the gospel. It is not that we’re saved
by grace and live by works/our part. It
is from beginning to end, grace received.
Psalm 50:9-15
The Israelites may have thought that God
wanted their sheep and goats, He wanted them to give
Him their animals for burnt offerings.
God says, I don’t
need your animal sacrifices. I have all
the cattle I could want, the cattle on a thousand hills.
God doesn’t need anything (9)
This points to what we call the self-sufficiency of
God. He lacks nothing.
He doesn’t need food, animals, sacrifices.
He doesn’t need to sleep, to eat, to study,
to take a break.
He doesn’t need vacations, health insurance,
retirement accounts; companionship (Godhead), affirmation/esteem boosting
comments (as if insecure/lacking in ‘self-esteem’).
God owns everything (10)
Even if He did need something, He doesn’t
need you to give it too Him.
Every animal is already His. All the grain is already His.
God already owns all the gold and diamonds of
the earth.
God’s real estate portfolio includes NY,
“The
world is mine, and all that is in it.”
“Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who
created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by
one, and calls them each by name. (Isaiah 40:26)
There is nothing we can offer God (12)
Even if God were hungry, would He ask us for
help? If God were hungry, is there food
that we could give Him that He couldn’t just give Himself? In fact, is there any food we could give Him
that He hasn’t given to us in the first place?
Suppose you put a $10,000 check in the
offering, we think we’ve given God something significant. We feel probably feel pretty proud of what
we’ve given.
God says, do you think I need your
money? All the gold of the earth is
mine, and I can make galaxies of gold if I wanted. God is
no richer if we give him our financial gifts and no poorer if we don’t.
And besides, God is the one who gave you what
you have! What can we give God when
everything we have is what He gave to us in the first place?
We never give to God.
Is there anything that God needs? Does He feed on bulls and goats? (13)
Let’s keep it straight: God doesn’t need us, we need God.
So what should we do? What do we give to God who has everything and
lacks nothing?
Say “Thank You,” and then ask for more (14-15)
(14) Sacrifice your thank offerings. Yes, say thank you. All that we have is from God, so express your
gratitude.
Fulfill
your vows, probably parallels the thank offerings. Fulfill your vows to give thank
offerings. Consider the context, it
cannot mean that we give something to
God.
(15) Call on me in the day of trouble. How do we relate with an All-Sufficient
God? We ask Him to help us. We call on Him to rescue, deliver, provide, protect us. We ask
Him to keep giving. We don’t give
something to God, we ask God to give to us.
How do we respond?
Say Thank you. And then ask for more!
The Christian life isn’t one of paying back, the Christian life is one of getting more.
Our striving, our obedience, our service, our
sacrifice are infact only means by which we receive
grace. We never give anything to God, we only learn how to better receive.
And God will give, and we will honor
God. God is glorified when He is the Giver.
This is how to glorify God! We honor God by calling on Him and letting
Him be our great rescuer, provider, deliverer.
How do you glorify a doctor? Anytime you’re sick, you go to him, let him
heal you.
How do you glorify a chef/restaurant? You go and eat the food as much as you can.
How do you glorify a rescuer? Any trouble, you call on Him. And God is the greatest Rescuer in the
Universe!
In the Christian life, God is always the Giver and we are always the receiver.
It is not, Jesus died for me and gave me
life, so now I will dedicate myself life and give it to Him.
The Christian life is one of continuous receiving. Jesus died and gave me his life, and every
day he keeps giving me more and more and more.
I have nothing I can give him, I’m only
learning how to better receive.
We never pay God back, as if we had something
to give Him. We only go further and further into debt. The
Christian life is one of continuous and eternal receiving, going gloriously and
infinitely into debt.
Some of us have been doing 30 days of
prayer. Prayer is perhaps the most
tangible expression that we see life as receiving, as going into further debt:
we’re call on God. Christian life isn’t
doing something from God; it is calling on Him to receive more and more. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus keeps urging us
to ask, receive!
Last few days I’ve noticed that it’s so hard
to actually live this out. I’m so used
to do something, trying to produce something, relying on myself.
If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides,
so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:11)
Oddly, it’s a lot easier to try to serve in
my own strength than to find God’s strength to do it.
It’s hard to receive. As diligent, resourced, enabled people, it’s
easier just to try to do things ourselves.
It’s harder to pray, it’s easier to just get up and try to do something.
Elijah and Caleb both have a side where they
want to do things on their own. Caleb
doesn’t want to be fed. He wants to feed
himself. He’ll make a complete mess in
the process, but he’s got to hold the spoon.
Elijah wants to dress himself. If you tuck his shirt in, he’ll take it out
and take down his pants and do it over—he’s got to do it himself.
I suppose that’s good for children, to learn
how to become independent.
But that’s not how to grow in the Christian
life. We go the other way. We learn to become more and more dependent,
helpless, until we feel like God has to do everything for us. It is coming to a life of faith that embraces
our weakness and God’s greatness:
God
doesn’t need us, we need God.
God
is always the Giver and we are always the receiver.
The
Christian life is one of continuous and eternal receiving, going gloriously and
infinitely into debt.