009 - 07 - Lesson 7: The Self-Sufficiency of God
The Theology of God • Sermon • Submitted
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Lesson 7: The Self-Sufficiency of God
We learned a great deal from our study of God’s revelation in creation, but now we’re turning to the revelation of God found in Scripture.
In a scathing treatise against Christian heresies, the Carthaginian lawyer and church father Tertullian (approximately AD 160–220) famously asks, “What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”
Two False Concepts of God (Acts 17:16-21)
Two False Concepts of God (Acts 17:16-21)
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
The Epicurean view – god is radically distant. This is the modern secular view.
The Stoic view – god is radically present. This is the modern spiritual view.
The True Concept of God (Acts 17:22-31)
The True Concept of God (Acts 17:22-31)
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
God is self-sufficient.
God depends on us for nothing.
He does not live in temples made by man (v. 24).
He is not served by human hands as if he needed anything (v. 25).
He is not worshiped by images formed by man (v. 29).
We depend on God for everything (notice the use of “all” in the NASB).
He made the world and everything in it (v. 24).
He gives (present tense) to all mankind everything (v. 25).
He controls the times and boundaries of the nations, not local “gods” (v. 26, cf. Deut. 32:8; Dan. 4:32).
8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
32 and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”
God is far above all (transcendent).
Lord of heaven and earth is not confined to temples (v. 24; cf. 1 Kings 8:27-30).
27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! 28 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, 29 that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 30 And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
God is very close to all (immanent).
Because he is transcendent (v. 27-28).
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