The God Who Is Able
A number of years ago a woman in East Los Angeles became trapped in her car and was rescued only through the united effort of a number of different people. It seems she fell asleep while driving shortly after midnight, and the car careened through a guard rail and was left hanging precariously over an embankment, held in place only by her left rear wheel. About a half dozen passing motorists stopped to render aid, and when they saw her position, found a rope in one of the vehicles, tied it off on her bumper, and held on until rescue vehicles arrived.
Rescue vehicles came a short time later and a ladder from one of the fire units was extended from below her vehicle to begin to stabilize her vehicle. From above, firefighters used cables and chains to tie her vehicle to tow trucks, which began slowly pulling her car back to safety. Every time the car inched backwards, the woman would cry out in pain, slowing the progress. It took California Highway Patrol officers, tow truck drivers, and firefighters — some 25 people in all — almost 2-1/2 hours to rescue the woman.
Yet the enduring memory of L.A. County Fire Captain Ross Marshall was this: “It was kinda funny,” he recalled. “She kept saying, ‘I’ll do it myself!’”
I’ll do it myself. There’s the punch line to the not-so-amusing parable of American church and faith. “I don’t need God; He needs me.” Even counselees who come to the counseling room for help will often similarly cling to that vain attempt for self-sufficiency. They (and we as counselors) do well to hear the lesson offered to some 1st century Athenian pagans from an address by Paul in Acts 17.
In confronting those unbelievers Paul demonstrated the inability of the Athenians by asserting the self-sufficiency of God. They could not do what God could do; only God could do what they needed. That lesson about the nature of God is helpful for us and our counselees today.
Our counselees are dependent on God. I am dependent on God. You are dependent on God. We all are dependent on God. Only God is independent. And He is gracious in His self-sufficient independence. To what does Paul point his hearers and how do those truths help us and our counselees?
God is the Able, Masterful Creator
“The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands” (Acts 17:24).
There are three truths about God’s creative act in this verse. First of all, God is the Creator. The phrase, “the God who made the world” was contrary to the philosophies of the day. Epicureans believed matter was eternal (it had always existed) and the Stoics (pantheists) believed everything was part of God (and thus He couldn’t have created all things because that would mean He created Himself).
In contrast, Paul is affirming the consistent truth of Scripture from Genesis through Revelation: God is the architect (designer) and builder (creator) of everything that exists or ever has or will exist. Nothing exists apart from Him (Isaiah 40:28; 45:18; Jeremiah 10:12; 32:17; Colossians 1:16).
Further, God is the Creator because He is also Master. When Paul says, “God who made…since He is Lord…” he means that God created because He is Lord. He is the Master of and Sovereign over every created thing. He is sovereign because He is self-sufficient. Abraham Kuyper said it so well and simply when he affirmed,
“When Jesus looks at his universe from his exalted throne at the right hand of the Father, and he sees the great galaxies whirling in space, the planets and all the people upon this planet, and all the minute details of life here including the details of our individual lives, there is nothing that he sees anywhere of which he cannot say ‘Mine!’”
Thirdly, because God is the Creator, He does not dwell in man-made temples. The statement is not just that He doesn’t live in temples, but that because He is the Creator (of man and all things), He does not live in temples made by men. It is ludicrous to think that He might live in a place constructed by men. The infinite cannot be contained by the finite. He will not be restricted by mankind (Stephen also affirms this same truth in his sermon in Acts 7:48-50). Because God is self-sufficient, He is not constrained by any created structure or person. He is sovereign Lord and Creator.
God is the Able, Independent Sustainer
“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” (Acts 17:25).
God not only is not constrained by human constructions, but He needs nothing from anyone. That is not true of anyone else in this world. No one has everything. Everyone needs something. But that is not true of God. He has all things. So what will we give Him?
We give God nothing. Notice that Paul says we do not even give him our service. That doesn’t mean, “don’t serve God.” But it does mean, “serve God, but do not believe that by serving God you are adding anything to His character, or contributing something He needs.”
God is not “served by human hands.” The word serve means “attend to, care for and treat someone who is sick; to cure and heal—to render aid to someone as a physician would a sick man.” Will human hands do that for God—the human hands that were created by God will cure God’s ills?
Paul teaches his hearers (and reminds us) that we dare not serve Him “as though He needed anything.” We can do nothing to add to God to make Him better. Because He is self-sufficient, He already has everything He needs (1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 50:9-12).
Not only is God not dependent on man, but man is completely dependent on Him, as Paul notes when he says, “He Himself gives life.” He (the word is emphatic) is the Giver. God does not receive. He gives. Theologians refer to this ability to act as His independence: He is reliant on no one but Himself to sustain all life. He acts independently of all people and things.
Can you think of anything you have received that you didn’t receive from God? Even more, begin to think of your possessions. They are all gifts from God. Air. Water. Physical movement. Food that fuels that movement. A home. Family relationships. Friendship. The Holy Spirit. Salvation. Spiritual gift(s). Fruit. Freedom from sin.
The truth is that God cannot be served (so as to provide for Him), but He loves to serve! He delights to provide all our needs and our counselee’s need—beginning with our greatest need of salvation!
God is the Able, Sovereign Ruler
“And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,” (Acts 17:26).
Not only is God the Creator and sustainer in general, but He was the Creator of “one man” (Adam), and from that one man made every individual in “every nation” that would ever exist on “the face of the earth.” He also “determined...times...boundaries.” That is, beginning with Adam He appointed, assigned, and fixed in time and space who would exist, and when and where they would exist.
Paul is addressing God’s work in the history of the world. God determines the duration and significance of each nation’s “ascendancy, popularity, and decline. No nation decides this by itself. God is in control. Like Daniel said, ‘He removes kings and sets up kings (2:21).” ¹
This sovereign activity of God over history means at least three things. First, as the Old Testament commentator H.C. Leupold said, “With God, things in this world never get out of hand.” Whether elections or electrons, colds or cancer, the self-sufficient God is sufficiently (efficiently) directing them to His purposes. Finally, we and our counselees were not born to live in any day other than this day. God has made us for this day and hour. The best equipped person to be in my situation is me; the best equipped person for the problem your counselee is facing is your counselee, because God designed him/her for it “long ages ago.” No one is in his situation by accident.
God is the Able, Gracious Revealer
“That they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.’ Therefore, since we are the descendants of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought” (Acts 17:27-29).
Why does God demonstrate His sovereignty so widely (v. 26)? He does it so that “they should seek God.” The entire history of world is the story of God’s sovereign activity to move people to seek Him. When God acts in history, it is always designed to provoke men to see the necessity of finding Him. The reality is that they are “groping,” like men in a darkened room, for God and the truth. They struggle to know Him on their own, but they will not find Him on their own (Romans 3:10-18).
Though they struggle to find God, their failure to find Him is their own fault, not God’s—because He has been working to reveal Himself to them and “He is not far from each one.” That is, He is not only omnipresent, but He is capable of being found. Psalm 19 helpfully demonstrates that God has been effectively revealed to mankind—to all men in general revelation (Psalm 19:1-6) and to some men through specific revelation (Psalm 19:7-14) God has shown Himself.
God has revealed Himself to all men that they might be liberated from the wasteful wretchedness of idolatry (“gold…silver…images”). As the independent and self-sufficient Ruler, He uses that sovereignty to reveal Himself to compel men to come to Him. This not only affirms that God is self-sufficient, but that He is gracious in His provision for us and all men. This might well be a needed correction for a counselee in hard circumstances who has come to believe that God is unkind and uncaring in His actions.
God is the Able, Righteous Judge
“So having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent, because He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
At the end of his sermon, Paul reveals why he has been laboring over the truth of God’s independence and self-sufficiency—it should produce “repentance” in sinful people. He says, “God is now declaring...repent” As with Nicodemus (John 3) where the emphasis is on the necessity of conversion (“you must be born again”), here Paul’s emphasis is on repentance. Salvation is not a matter of “choice,” it is a necessity. God commands it—“Repent!”
Why should men repent? Everyone should recognize God’s self-sufficiency and repent because they are guilty and judgment is coming. “He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness.” The day of judgment is unchangeably established on God’s divine calendar. That day of judgment is universal—He will judge the entire world (no one will escape). And His judgement will be “righteous.” He is incapable of making any mistakes in His judgment.
Because God is self-sufficient, He has a right to and will judge all men. This is a reminder to our counselees that the time of repentance and transformation is now. Let there be no delay in responding to God and His call for repentance. Let us hasten to embrace the change He has willed for us and be conformed to His Son.
Four Implications of God’s Self-Sufficient Ability
How is the self-sufficiency of God helpful to our counselees?
First, it is a reminder that He is capable of helping them in their troubles. Nothing is too large for the self-sufficient God to overcome. The counselees may be overwhelmed by their problems, but God is not overwhelmed. He is adequate for them.
Further, since God is self-sufficient, He is worthy of our counselee’s trust. It is also worth noting that even unbelief (e.g., vv. 32-34) does not undermine the plans and purposes of the self-sufficient God. We can believe and rely on Him to accomplish His will in our trials. It is true that we are insufficient for our problems, but God is not only self-sufficient, He is all-sufficient. As Paul said elsewhere, “Christ is all in all” (Colossians 3:11). He is all-sufficient for every need and for every person.
Thirdly, since God is self-sufficient, He is worthy of our counselee’s service (and worship). He does not need our service, but He has enabled and equipped us and our counselees to serve. There is no greater privilege than serving the greatest person in the universe. Nothing is more worthwhile than serving Christ.
Finally, since God is self-sufficient, He is worthy of our (and our counselee’s) affections of love and delight. Puritan pastor Stephen Charnock said it well:
“If God is eternal, how worthy is he of our choicest affections, and strongest desires of communion with him! Is not everything to be valued according to the greatness of its being! How, then, should we love him, who is not only lovely in his nature, but eternally lovely!...how much more infinitely lovely is God, who is superior to all other goods, and eternally so! Not a God of a few minutes, months, years, or millions of years; not of the dregs of time or the top of time, but of eternity; above time, inconceivably immense beyond time.... And if our happiness consists in being like to God, we should imitate him in loving him as he loves himself and as long as he loves himself; God cannot do more to himself than love himself; he can make no addition to his essence, nor diminution from it. What should we do less to an eternal Being, than to bestow affections upon him, like his own to himself; since we can find nothing so durable as himself, for which we should love it?”²
The truth of God’s self-sufficiency is not just a truth to be enjoyed and meditated on by theologians in a library. As Paul has demonstrated, the self-sufficiency of God is to be a source of confronting grace for unbelievers and joyful hope for believers.
¹ Barnhouse.
² Stephen Charnock, Existence and Attributes.