acts 17

“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” – Numbers 23:19

“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; “ — Acts 17:24

I recently heard Pastor Alistair Begg relate a conversation he had with a fellow pastor at a church conference. As they walked toward their meeting room, the fellow pastor said, “Let’s head to the sanctuary.” Pastor Begg replied, “There is no sanctuary.” It left his friend confused because clearly there was a sanctuary – one like all churches have where we meet and worship God.

He went on to say that when the temple curtain was torn at Jesus’ crucifixion, God no longer dwelt there. Instead, He is found everywhere. He is no longer encountered only in one earthly place, closed off to all but a select few.

A Boxed God

Yet we humans love our little boxes and borders. Church is where we “do God.” Work is where we “make money.” We love to define God in our human terms, making Him more like us. Frequently untrustworthy, unloving or unforgiving. We box Him up and retrieve Him only when needed.

But friends, God is so much bigger than our little boxes. He is far grander than us humans. He is transcendent.

“But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?” — 2 Chronicles 2:6

We’ve spent many weeks looking at the character of God—all the reasons He should be revered and worshipped. He is merciful, patient, loving, forgiving, infinite, omnipotent, and so much more. Yet He longs to grow us into people who are more like Him. That’s a bit mind-blowing!

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”. – Isaiah 55:9

Even among my Christ-loving friends, I hear echoes of a god who “can’t.” We forget to pray because we think we know best, or because we assume God couldn’t possibly understand our problem. We place Him in our little box and open it only when absolutely necessary.

My dad, even as an 86-year-old man, lived with the “terrible twos” mindset: “I can do it myself!” It was one of the main reasons he remained so resistant to giving his life to Christ. If my dad couldn’t do it or think of a solution then no one else could. No doctor, no counselor, no mechanic, no one. Least of all the human-like God he imagined.

A Higher God

“In practice men do not by any means always “love the highest when they see it,” and truth is not always a welcome visitor.” J.B. Phillips, Your God Is Too Small

We say we believe in the infinite and almighty God, yet when faced with a problem, we first tinker away at it ourselves. And maybe after failing a time or two we begrudgingly turn to God. And even then we come to Him with our list of suggestions!

I count myself among those who think too small of God at times. I imagine Him more like a fallible human at times rather than the prefect, transcedent God that He is.

I’ve heard many a Christian woman comment that they struggle with the idea of God the Father because of their own imperfect human fathers. They won’t cry “Abba” because they don’t trust Him and can’t understand His perfect love for them. We make God more human instead of asking Him to make us more like Christ.

‘Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders?” – Exodus 15:11

Friends, there is no one like our God — no one. And we can know Him only as much as He chooses to reveal Himself to us. We glean from His Word and through His creation the pearls He has laid out for us.

I have found that unbelievers who seem to hate God have dragged Him down to their own level of humanness. They have stripped Him of His glory and holiness in order to sustain their own false ideas.

But when we see the God of the Bible—and I mean really see and study Him—we encounter an otherworldly, awe-inspiring God who entered our time to accomplish a great rescue of love. So let us stop shrinking God down to our size. Let us meet Him as He truly is—holy, infinite, glorious, and far beyond all we can contain. And let that vision of Him lead us not to fear, but to worship.

Our God by Chris Tomlin

Water You turned into wine
Opened the eyes of the blind
There’s no one like You
None like You

Into the darkness, You shine
Out of the ashes, we rise
There’s no one like You
None like You!

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God, You are higher than any other
Our God is healer, awesome in power
Our God, our God

Did you miss a blog post in the 30 Days of Reverence series? Check out the series page by clicking here!

“When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.” Genesis 15:17-18

“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” John 5:26

God doesn’t need you. He doesn’t need me.

That may sound shocking or stark to some. But truth is what sets us free. Just like God’s self‑existence, understanding His self‑sufficiency is essential to our Christian walk.

Now, God being self-sufficient doesn’t then lead us into the heresy of deism. That’s the claim that God did create the world but doesn’t intervene daily in our lives. Deists must disregard just about every page of the Bible, including the entire New Testament in order to hold to their views. They must shut their ears to the millions of testimonies by believers of God’s daily intercessions.

On the flip side, we must believe in God not needing us lest we become like pagan idol worshippers or followers of superstitious practices. Rubbing coins for a god to make our wishes come true. Or making daily sacrifices to please an unpleasable piece of wood.

Oh, we Christians do try and fall into this practice. I heard a friend once say that as a new Christian she was led to believe if she didn’t end a prayer with “In Jesus’ Name,” then God wouldn’t hear her prayer. If we miss church, “God will be mad.” If we skip our daily 15 minutes of Bible reading, our day will be filled with quiet punishments.

The Truth and The Balm

We need to leave all those big and little lies behind us. God may not need us but the balm to that hard truth is that He still made us and loves us. He shows up, He blesses, He listens, He comforts. The worshippers of the goddess Artemis in Ephesus didn’t have that same security.

We find in Acts 19 the apostle Paul making quite a stir when, with the work of the Holy Spirit, he was making headway into spreading the Gospel. That not only angered all the artisans responsible for the booming Artemis idol trade but it also frightened them.

They were worried that without the constant bowing down and sacrificing then the goddess would lose her divine stature and authority.

But the One and Only True God doesn’t need us to rub our beads, wear our crosses, lay flowers at the church altar. Without us, He is still God. With or without belief, He reigns.

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” Acts 17:24-25.

This truth, my Friends, should bring you to your knees in loving worship. He’s not just a god who loves people. He is God who IS love. Between the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit they have all the love they ever need. But He chooses to bestow that love upon us. How glorious is that?

“Goodness (love, truth, beauty, holiness) is not some external standard He tries to emulate. He is goodness. God has no parts on which he depends.” Michael Reeves, President, Union School of Theology

He Doesn’t Have To

This Spring as the flowers around you begin to bloom and the colors explode in all their majesty remind yourself of this point: God didn’t have to. He could have been content in His own perfect triune situation. Instead, with an expert painter’s brush He created the world and everything in it. He then became the eternal steward of His creation!

The Westminster Confession of Faith (2.2) says this about God’s self-sufficiency:

“God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them: he is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; … To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience, he is pleased to require of them.”

God is contingent on no one and nothing. He is to be reverently feared while at the same time loved as a good, good Father. When you read the covenants of the Old Testament you’ll find a remarkable aspect of each.

Our opening OT verse today mentions the flaming pot moving amongst the animals split in two. It was a type of longstanding ceremony done in those times. But when done by man, man was responsible for the keeping or breaking of the deal. A broken deal meant death. But God’s covenants are made and kept by one faithful person, God. God makes the promise and God fulfills it. His promise is sufficient.

All we need to contribute is our gratefulness through obedience. That should help us not only have confidence in God but also allow us to rest easy that we don’t need to be in constant “please God” mode.

Instead, we can wake each day knowing the gifts we have received come without burden and therefore should be received with all honor and love.

Tag: acts 17

Who Is Like You, O Lord?

El Shaddai – The Almighty, Self‑Sufficient God