[This devotion is a shortened form of a sermon preached February 24, 2019 in the series, Contradictions? How Delving Into Challenging Topics Unlocks the Riches of God’s Revelation. You can listen to the audio of that sermon via this link.]

Jesus said:

• “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).
• He said: “Go … make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18).
• Paul says: God has entrusted “to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).

These statements and commands raise the question: Does God need us?

God is spreading His Gospel to every tribe and tongue and people and nation

He tells us this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and only then will the end come (Matthew 24:14).

So does God need us – His people, His church – in order to fulfill this promise?

Jesus also said: “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Luke 10:2).

Doesn’t that sound as if God needs laborers?

God commands us to go and proclaim the Gospel. But sometimes that biblical command is coupled with an implied picture of God in heaven, wringing His hands, just hoping that maybe someone would go and do the work that He needs done.

Now – most who read their Bibles regularly know that image is wrong. Nevertheless: Don’t the statements above imply that in some sense God needs us?

The biblical answer is quite helpful to us. In summary, that answer is: God gives us a tremendous task and a tremendous privilege. He gives us tremendous power to fulfill that task. Actively depend on Him – and never trust in yourself, or take pride in yourself.

Let’s see how Scripture fleshes out that answer.

God Doesn’t Need Us

That God doesn’t need us is simple to prove from numerous Scriptures. We’ll limit ourselves to only three.

First, John 15:5. Jesus says:

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

This is not ambiguous! We can do nothing on our own.

But notice what Jesus says in John 5:30: “I can do nothing on my own.”

Thus: We can do nothing apart from abiding in Jesus. And He can do nothing apart from the Father. So in effect: We are like Jesus! Jesus was actively dependent on God the Father. We must be actively dependent on God the Son

So Jesus does not demean in saying we can do nothing apart from Him. Rather, He is saying that everyone who is fully human – including Himself – must depend on God at all times. Jesus lives out for us the type of active dependence we must have.

For our third Scripture, turn to Zechariah 4. Many Jews have returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, and are beginning to rebuild God’s temple. This is a great work of God, a necessary step in God’s plan to redeem a people for Himself. It is also a difficult, expensive engineering task. So there is a need for laborers.

Yet what is word of the Lord? “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6). In effect God says: “You can’t even build a building apart from me.”

So: God has no needs that we could ever meet. He is the one with all power. He is the one who rules the world and controls all that happens. We need Him. He does not need us.

Fulfilling the Commission by Diligent Dependence

So: God commands us to go and make disciples, and God does not need us. How are these consistent? Let’s look more closely statements that call us to be God’s ambassadors.

• Matthew 28:18-20: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore.… And lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
• Luke 10:2: The verse opens with a statement of fact: the harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few. But the second part does not say: “So go out into the vineyard.” Rather, it says, “Pray!” He is Lord of the harvest. He will see that the harvest comes in. He will send the laborers. His power accomplishes the task.
• 2 Corinthians 5.19-20: God has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation; we are indeed His ambassadors. But Paul then says, “God [is] making his appeal through us.” So He chooses to use us. But He is the one making the appeal.

Consider also 1 Peter 4:10-11. Peter tells us how to conduct all the ministries God gives us:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies— in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (emphasis added)

The Apostle tells us why we must serve in God’s strength: So that He gets the glory! If we served in our strength, we could boast. But when we serve by His strength, we are humbled.

Thus,

• We go out for the sake of His Name
• We go in the power of His Name
• We go diligently depending on Him for all that we do
• We go in prayer, asking for His help every step of the way

Not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit.

Viewing the Paradox via the Bible’s Storyline

Let’s step back and remember how reaching every people group with the Gospel fits into the overall storyline of the Bible.

God created mankind for His glory, to show what He is like. Man rebelled, rejecting God’s purpose in creating him. God could have destroyed all mankind immediately, thus displaying His perfect justice. Instead, to show not only justice but also love, mercy, and power. He instituted a millennia-long plan to create out of rebellious humanity a people for Himself, a people who would fulfill the purpose of the creation of mankind, a people who would show He is ultimate, not them. So He promises that a descendant of the first woman will crush the head of Satan. Then after rebellious mankind tries to make a name for Itself by building a tower up to heaven He scatters people, confusing their languages, dividing them into many different people groups. But then He calls a man, Abraham, and tells him all these people groups will be blessed in his descendant. And Abraham fathers this promised child only by God’s mercy and miraculous power.

Over the centuries God shows time and again that apart from Him we can do nothing. Despite the disobedience of His people:

• He rescues Abraham’s descendants from slavery
• He chooses the youngest of Jesse’s sons to be king
• He promises that HE will build an eternal kingdom with a descendant of this man David reigning as king
• And He promises through Isaiah that He will lay all the iniquity of His people on a suffering servant – whom He will then raise from the dead

So in the fullness of time He sends Jesus into the world to be born to a poor teenage girl. Jesus then lives out how to depend on God every minute of every day, thereby displaying God’s power, majesty and authority. And while evil men and Satan try to destroy God’s plan by killing Jesus, God in His power, authority, and love uses their very plan to fulfill His promise to redeem His people by a suffering servant. He then show His might and the sufficiency of the sacrifice by raising Him from dead.

And this risen Jesus then commissions us to go, like Him, in the power of God to be His ambassadors. He reminds us that we can never do this on our own. God will use His weak, powerless people to accomplish His great work. The earth must be filled with the knowledge of His glory; every tribe and tongue and people and nation must be a part of His people. And He will bring it about.

This, reaching the nations is not some minor sidelight in God’s overall plan. It is a key part of that plan.

God doesn’t need us to fulfill that plan – He could raise up workers from dried bones (Ezekiel 37) or even from stones (Luke 3:8). But He gives us the task, the privilege, and the power to go in His Name. He delights to use us, as we depend on Him and thereby fulfill His plan.

What Do We Ever Accomplish?

So let’s step back from our commission and ask: Can we humans really do nothing apart from Jesus?

What do we accomplish?

We have abilities, intelligence, experiences, family backgrounds, and education. Through these, we think, we plan, we research, we produce, we work hard; we train our minds and bodies, we develop our talents, we start and grow businesses; we write books, we perform jobs, we love our families, we raise our children, we serve our countries, we help our cities; and thereby many – Christians and non-Christian – accomplish something of value.

• Something valuable to us.
• Something valued by our society.
• Something that seems good, useful, and helpful.

But note two points.

First: God needs none of that. He gives us even the breath we need to live! (Acts 17:24-25).

Second: All that we accomplish is a gift from Him. This is true whether we are Christians or not, whether we actively depend on Him in the process or not. As Deuteronomy 8:17-18 tells us:

Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth.

So apply that idea to yourself: Not one iota of your success, your hard work, your contribution came from you apart from God (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Reflect on your accomplishments and goals. What do you have to be proud of?

In my case:

• I earned a PhD
• I am a husband and father
• I planted a church
• I brought the Perspectives class to Charlotte

List with me all that you could conceivably be proud of. And then pray:

All this is from you, Father God. Whatever in my life is good, fruitful, productive, helpful, loving, or wise is from you. Whatever is messed up, wrongheaded, hurtful, hateful, or foolish is from me. If You had not given me life and breath each second I would have been dead. If You had not graciously given me abilities, perseverance, empathy, and love, my life would have been one fruitless hell-hole after another. Yet in Jesus You have chosen me, You have loved me, You have set me apart as holy. You call me your child and assure me nothing will separate me from Your love. And You call me along with all Your people to be Your ambassador! All praise to You, O Father – I love You. May I serve You with what You do not need, and so glorify You. Fulfill Your plan – in part through the way You use me. Here am I.

So, always remember: It’s not about you, your ministry, your gifts, your calling – it’s all about God. It’s all about Jesus. You are here to show God’s image, to display Christ.

Thus we must have no pride and no despair. No self-exaltation. No church-exaltation. No country-exaltation. Only God-exaltation. Only Jesus-exaltation.

His is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.