Sufficiency

Sufficiency

The Christian constantly finds himself in need of God's assistance. How often he finds himself to be completely helpless and powerless without Him. Yet God is all sufficient and perfect in power and wisdom. Arrogance and pride are always lurking at the heels of the believer, which at times makes the believer start to imagine that he is sufficient in himself, but it is not long before his deficiencies are staring him in the face and he cannot deny them. 2CO 1:8-10 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope.

2CO 3:4-6 And such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2CO 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness"

When we read of this struggle in Paul we find that he chose for God's sufficiency rather than attempting another way, or lying to himself. The arrogance of fallen man produces in him a love of lying to himself. When God says, "No you can't," he shakes his head in defiance and shouts, "Yes, I can!" This may manifest itself in any number of ways. He may become a self-righteous, legalistic snob. He may understand he is insufficient but still pursue life in his own insufficient way, falling deeper and deeper into various lifestyles of sin, refusing to avail himself to God's power through the Spirit and the word. He may sublimate by taking up any number of distractions so that he may fill up his time with meaningless details; going through life as if he is watching mindless television with flashy, fast paced changes of scenery and snappy commercials. In every case, the believer who has not fully succumbed to God's sufficiency alone, rejects the justified Christ life that was graciously given to him. To him, it is not worth the fight. 1CO 9:26-27 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified. 

1TI 6:11-12 But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called

The church has always been comprised of Christians who yield to God and Christians who do not. I suppose there is always extremes to this spectrum, although for the positive believers there just seems to be a difference in level of understanding and maturity, but not so much in dedication. We have all seen the believer who is just beginning his education in doctrine and although there is still much that they don't know, you can almost tell that they will never stop. They never miss a lesson. They learn all that is presented. When they don't understand something, they are right back in front of the teaching, waiting for understanding. The only difference between them and a mature believer like Paul is time. In time they will grow to the level of the stature that belongs to the fullness of Christ. However on the other end of the spectrum you find a wide variety of negative believers. I would put the self-righteous prig on the farthest end. These have brought their arrogance into Christianity with full force. They bully other Christians when they can. They want everyone to conform to their way, and when they are reproved by the word of God, they always reject it, blaming the teacher or the teaching, but without any sound basis. These do truly believe themselves to be sufficient within themselves. I know they live in fear and misery, but they will be the last ones to admit it. But it is not this type that I want to write about today. I'm after the struggling believers that I can really identify with.

Within the mix of unyielded believers are those who struggle greatly with certain areas of sin and at present are leading defeated lives. These have not yet come to love something more than their certain area of lust and so they continue in it while the love of God works constantly to awaken them from sleep. Our areas of deep lust will never fully disappear, but we will overcome them. I can confidently say "will" because of heaven. At physical death they will no longer exist. Yet in time, we can overcome them through the sufficiency of God. This doesn't mean that we won't ever sin in those areas again, but rather that they will not rule over us. We do what we love and the believer has to come to know the love of that which is excellent if he is going to throw off these damaging, destructive, painful areas of lust. In essence they are idols. ROM 13:11-14 And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

EPH 5:14-18 For this reason it says,

"Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you."

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit

1TH 5:5-8 We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

What is common among these passages is being awake rather than asleep, sober in our thinking instead of drunk, and wearing armor instead of being naked (Paul in Ephesians 6 will give the most detail about the armor of God). What is the connection between armor and not being asleep where lust take full control of us? One of our greatest clues is in the Rom 13 passage. We are encouraged to put on the armor of light and immediately after that we are encouraged to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. These are one in the same. Yet the grace gifts that have come to be ours through Him are so extensive that they are described in many ways. EPH 6:10-18 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit

All of these things are gifts from Christ to the believer at salvation. Taken all together the armor consists of; light, love, salvation, truth, righteousness, faith, peace, and the filling of the Spirit in accordance with the word of God. The flaming missiles of Satan are designed to entice lust. He is allowed, and able, to project upon the believer various circumstances, people, situations, thoughts, etc. that will trigger lust. He is not so dumb to not know each believer's area of weakness. He's not going to waste time tempting you with something that you would never be hungry for. Is the armor sufficient?

Light is understanding - do I understand how beautiful God's plan is? Love is full surrender to God and others for their benefit without regard to self-gain - do I see love in Christ and His cross? Salvation is security for all eternity - do I see more than the immediate problem in front of me? Truth is the perfect revelation from God - do I know why I am here? Righteousness is what God has made me - do I know who I am in Christ and the life that entails? Faith is the ability to see what is unseen - do I have hope? Peace is the calm tranquility of soul - am I satisfied and full from God's excellent gifts? The filling of the Spirit is the influence and control of God in leading me to understand these things and to walk in them - do I yield to the Spirit or am I usually considering myself to be self-sufficient?

All of these gifts are from Christ, and they are Christ. We are not to metaphorically reach for our armor to hurriedly put in on when the fiery missile of enticement has already been shot at us. We are to wear this armor every day, at all times, consistently, alert and at the ready, as we are to always be filled with the Spirit. Do we love the armor, and thus Him, more than we love these areas of the flesh that give us pleasure for a season and then bring on a long winter of pain and misery and destruction?

For the struggling believers who find themselves suffering much defeat in the spiritual life, reflect on these aspects of the armor of God. Look at each one in turn. Think about their significance and the humble lowliness of the Son of God in bringing them to mankind. Think of their value and their great joy. Think of how they are all embodied in the person and work of Jesus Christ who died for you and delivered you from sin and death. The more you behold them and fellowship with them, and so behold and fellowship with Him, the more you will love them, and the less you will love the flesh with its passions and its lusts.

Jude 24-25 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Peace be upon the children of God,

Pastor Joe Sugrue

Grace and Truth Ministries