Our dependence on God (Harvest 2022)

Introduction

What I want us to do this evening is to think about how we are totally and utterly dependent on God for all things.

At our Harvest Thanksgiving Service we remember and give thanks for God’s faithfulness to us. And if it were not for his faithfulness in providing us with all what we need day by day and throughout our lives, we could not manage, because we are totally and utterly dependent on God for all things. If it were not for God, we would have nothing. In fact, if it were not for God, we would be nothing. We wouldn’t exist.

God’s aseity

Before we get to our dependence on God, let’s think for a moment about his independence.

When we were studying the attributes of God on Wednesday evenings not so long ago, I spoke about what the theologians call God’s aseity. The word aseity comes from the Latin a se which means ‘from self’. And it’s really a fancy word for God’s independence. God is self-sufficient. He doesn’t rely or depend on anyone or anything outside of himself. So, being uncreated, he did not rely on anyone or anything for his existence. He’s not like that golden calf which we read about in Exodus 32 which Aaron and the Israelites made for themselves. No one made God. He is uncreated. He is without beginning. And as the Lord Jesus tells us in John 5:26, God the Father has life in himself and he has granted the Son to have life in himself. God doesn’t rely on anything or anyone outside of himself for life or for his existence.

And he doesn’t need anything from us to sustain him. In Psalm 50 the Lord tells his people that he doesn’t need their sacrifices. ‘If I were hungry,’ he said, ‘I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.’ He doesn’t need us to give him anything, because he already possesses all things. And he also said: ‘For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.’ It all belongs to him. So, when his people brought him sacrifices in the past, they weren’t to think that God needed their sacrifices, because whatever they gave to him, he had first given to them.

And so, when Paul was in Athens — a city which was full of idols and where the people offered sacrifices to many gods — Paul explained to the Athenians that the true God made the world and everything in it; and he’s the Lord of heaven and earth; and he does not live in temples built by hand; and he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything. He doesn’t need anything from us. In fact, he gives to us what we need. He gives to us life and breathe and everything else.

And so, God does not rely on anyone or anything outside of himself for his existence, because he has life in himself. And he doesn’t rely on anyone or anything outside of himself to sustain him. He doesn’t need anything from us. And when we were studying God’s attributes, we also spent one evening on God’s knowledge. And I made the point that God doesn’t rely on anyone or anything outside of himself for his knowledge. He doesn’t rely on the world for his knowledge of the world; and he doesn’t rely on me for his knowledge of me. He doesn’t rely on the world or on me, because before the world was made and before I existed, he already knew everything about the world and he already know everything about me, because he’s the one who determines all things. Before anything was made, he decided what would exist; and what it would be like; and what would happen to it. And he decided who would exist; and what they would be like; and what they would do; and what would happen to them. He knew all about the world before it existed; and whatever new fact we discover about the world or about anything in the world was first known by God, because he was the one who determined from all eternity what that fact would be.

So, this is our God. He has life in himself and therefore he doesn’t rely on anyone or anything outside of himself for his existence. And he doesn’t rely on anyone or anything outside of himself to sustain him. And he doesn’t rely on anyone or anything outside of himself for his knowledge. His knowledge, like his being, is infinite, eternal and unchangeable. This is our God. He is a se. He is from himself. He doesn’t come from anyone else. He is independent.

For life

But we are dependent on him for all things. We depend on God for our very existence. This is clear from Genesis 1 where we read about the creation of the heavens and the earth and how God made all that there is, including all the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and the animals on the earth. And last of all, he made man in his own image. That is, he made us. He made us, male and female. He made Adam, the first man. And he made Eve, the first woman. And God blessed them and commanded them to be fruitful and to increase in number. And so, he gave them the power to propagate and to fill the earth. If it were not for God, who made all things, we would not exist. We depend on God for our very being.

For daily necessities

And we depend on God to sustain us and to provide us with what we need to live in the world.

It’s significant that in Genesis 1 God did not create Adam and Eve until he had first made the world and shaped it so that it would a suitable place for us to live in. And so, he took away the darkness, because we need light to see. And he gathered the water together and let the ground appear so that we have somewhere to build our homes. And he made all the vegetation so that we and the animals have food to eat. And so, before making us, he made sure that the world around us was suitable for us.

Furthermore in Genesis 2, we read that God first planted the Garden of Eden before putting Adam in it. The text is again making clear that God prepared Adam’s home before Adam was placed there. And in the Garden, the plants were not only good for food, but they were pleasing to the eye. In other words, God did not only make for us a functional world, but a beautiful world. We’ve all been in those buildings or rooms which are built for function only. Here’s a waiting room and the walls are pale and the seats are hard and the only light is a Fluorescent tube. It’s a room which is functional. It’s practical. But it’s not beautiful. However, when God made the world, he made it functional and beautiful.

And even though Adam sinned against God, and even though we all sin against God continually, God continues to provide for us, because he’s the one who sends the rain to water the ground and sunshine to make our crops grow. Now, because of Adam’s fall, work is difficult. It is back-breaking. It is toilsome. Often it is frustrating and disappointing. However, even though it is difficult, God continues to make it fruitful. The ground may produce thorns and thistles because of Adam’s fall and because of God’s curse on the ground. Nevertheless, as well as producing thorns and thistles, the land produces good food for us to eat. And the land produces good food for us to eat because of God.

Do you remember when the Israelites left Egypt and they were making their way to the Promised Land? Remember how they were tempted to return to Egypt? And do you remember the things they missed about Egypt? They missed the fish they ate in Egypt and the cucumbers and melons and leeks and onions and garlic. Their desire to return to Egypt was sinful, because God had promised to give them life in the Promised Land of Canaan, that Eden-like land which flowed with milk and honey. But it’s interesting how they missed the good food they enjoyed in Egypt. God provides us with what we need. But he doesn’t just give us functional food; he gives us tasty food. And he gives us an endless variety of things to enjoy so that our shops are filled with all kinds of good things to eat.

God send the rain and the sunshine. And he provides us with a variety of things to eat and enjoy. And he sends the farmer into the fields to mind the crops. And he has given to other people the ability to turn what is grown into food. And he provides us with shops and shopkeepers to supply us with food. And he provides us with the means to purchase food and everything else that we need. When we’re poor, he provides us with governments who give us social security payments; and he provides us with charities who offer assistance; and he provides us with friends and family and churches who care for us and who can help us.

He does this for all kinds of people: the evil and the good, the righteous and the unrighteous. As Paul told the people in Lystra, he has shown kindness by giving us rain from heaven and crops in their seasons. He provides us with plenty of food and fills our hearts with joy. And as James says, every good gift we enjoy has come down to us from God. This is because God is the fountain of life. And he is a fountain which never runs out. Every day there flows from God everything we need for life and health. And if it were not for him, sustaining us and providing for us, we would perish. Isn’t that what we read in Psalm 104? All of God’s creatures look to him to give them their food at the proper time. When he gives it to them, they gather it up. When he opens his hand, they are satisfied. But when he hides his face, they are terrified. This applies to animals and to humans. We depend on God to provide us with what we need. And on those occasions when he withholds the rain, or sends too much rain, on those occasions when there is a drought or a famine or when food becomes scarce, that’s when we are reminded that we depend on God and on his kindness to us.

And God also provides us with other things. When we’re born, he provides us with a family to care for us and to nurture us. He provides us with a church to nurture us in the faith. He provides us with teachers to teach us what we need to know for life. He provides us with friends who provide us with companionship. He provides us with leaders to rule over us and to direct our lives. He gives the power of the sword to the government to protect us and to uphold law and order. And so, in this way he provides us with safety. We depend on God for all of these things.

For our knowledge of God

We depend on God for our existence. And we depend on God to sustain us and to provide us with what we need to live in the world. And we also depend on God for knowledge.

I said at the beginning that God does not depend on anyone or anything outside of himself for his knowledge. He knows all things past, present and future; and he knows all things exhaustively. He doesn’t even depend on the world for his knowledge of the world. By contrast, we depend on God for what we know.

For instance, we depend on God for our knowledge of God, because how could we ever have known anything about God unless he revealed himself to us? That’s how we learn about other people. They have to reveal things to us about themselves. By the things they do and by the things they say, they reveal to us who they are and what they’re like. And we depend on God to reveal to us who he is and what he is like.

He reveals himself to us through what he has made. And so, the psalmist tells us that the heavens declare his glory and the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech and they say to us that the God who made all of this is great and is worthy of our worship. Paul says in Romans 1 that ever since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen. And when Paul was in Lystra, he said that God has shown his goodness to us by giving us rain and food to eat. And so, by the things he has made and by the way that he sustains the world, he has displayed his divine nature and eternal power and his goodness. He has revealed to us that he is powerful and good.

And so, through his work of creation, God reveals true knowledge about himself to us. And he also revealed true knowledge about himself through his work of salvation. He revealed his justice and holiness, and grace and mercy, and his wisdom and truth. Because he is holy, he cannot look on wickedness. Because he is just, sin must be punished. Because he is wise, he was able to work out our salvation. Because he is gracious and merciful, he is willing to save his people. And because he is true, his people can rely on his promises.

And so, through his work of salvation, he reveals even more of himself to us. And by sending his Son into the world as one of us, and by sending his Spirit into our lives to enable us to repent and believe, he has revealed to us that though he is one God, he is also Three Persons, because the Father is God and the Son is God and the Spirit is God. But there are not three Gods, because there’s only one God. We would never have known this about God unless he revealed it to us. And he revealed it to us whenever he put into action his plan for our salvation.

And then, God revealed himself in the past through his prophets and apostles, men who were enabled by his Spirit to declare his word. And now he reveals himself to us through the Scriptures, where he has recorded for us what we need to know about God and his will for our salvation.

And so, imagine we did not have the Bible. What would we know of God? Only what we learn about him from creation: that he exists and that he is powerful and that he is good. We wouldn’t know anything more about him or what he had done for us. But God has now given us his word so that we might know him more fully and know what he has done to save us. And we depend on God’s word to know his plans for the future and how Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead and to punish the wicked and to bring his people into the new heavens and earth where we will live with God forever. If it were not for God, revealing these things to us, we would know none of these things.

For our knowledge of the world

We depend on God for our knowledge of God. But we also depend on God for our knowledge of the world.

The most basic thing we need to know about the world is that it came from God. And how do we know that the world came from God? We know it because he has revealed it to us. He has revealed it to us through what he has made and through his word. And so, when someone asks where the world came from, we know the answer. And we know the answer because God has made it known.

But remember what I said at the beginning about how, before the world was made, God knew all about the world and its history? He knew all about the world and its history because he determined what would exist and what it would be like and what would happen. He determines all things. And so, whenever we discover some new fact about the world and its history, we’re only discovering something which God already knew. And he knew it because he determined it. He decreed it.

And so, when humans first learned that two plus two equals four, they were only discovering something which God already knew. When humans first learned how to grow wheat and how to turn it into bread, they were only discovering something which God already knew. When anyone makes a scientific discovery about the world or when anyone makes a medical break-through or when anyone works something out for the first time, they are only discovering something which God already knew.

And here’s the thing: God had also decreed who would discover these things and when they would discover these things. And so, though they do not know it, those people who make these new discoveries are God’s servants; and God uses them to increase our knowledge about the world. And by means of all the discoveries about the world and about life in the world which men and women have made throughout the course of history, God has been revealing to us more and more about the world he has made.

And so, we depend on God for what we know about the world. And without his help, we would know nothing.

For our knowledge of right and wrong

And then we depend on God for our knowledge of right and wrong and good and evil. When God made us, he wrote the work of his law on our hearts. That’s what Paul says in Romans 2:15. So, he has given us all a knowledge of his will and what he requires from us. He has planted it in our hearts. Now, since we’re sinners, we by nature disregard his law. But nevertheless, he has put it in our hearts.

Furthermore, he has revealed his will more fully in the Ten Commandments and in all the other laws and commandments which are contained in the Bible. And so, by means of his commandments, he makes known his will to us. Again, because we’re sinners, we by nature disregard his law. But nevertheless, he has given it to us.

And he has also made us all with a conscience. One theologian (Herman Bavinck) describes the conscience as our ethical organ. So, just as the eye is the organ in our body which enables us to see light, so the conscience is the organ in our body which enables us to see the difference between good and evil. And when we do evil, our conscience convicts us. And when we do good, it commends us.

We all have a conscience. It’s in us, but it stands over us, monitoring what we’ve done. And it is God who has put it there. And so, if it were not for God, we would not have a conscience to oversee what we do and to teach us to do what is good and to avoid what is evil. And if it were not for God, we would not know his will for us and what he regards as good and what he regards as evil.

For salvation

And so, we depend on God for our existence. And we depend on God to sustain us and to provide us with what we need to live in the world. And we depend on God for knowledge: our knowledge of God; our knowledge of the world; and our knowledge of right and wrong and good and evil. Finally, we depend on God for salvation.

Because of Adam’s sin in the beginning, all of us are born as guilty sinners. We are guilty because we have inherited Adam’s guilt. And we are sinners because we have inherited Adam’s sinful nature. And therefore we’re born under the wrath and curse of God and we sin against God continually in thought and word and deed. And there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, because we are dead in our trespasses and sins. There’s nothing we can do for God or give to God to make up for Adam’s guilt and our own sins and shortcomings. We are by nature lost. We deserve to be condemned and we cannot save ourselves.

But the good news of the gospel is that God sent his Only Begotten Son into the world as one of us to live the life we should have lived, but could not, which is a life of perfect obedience to God. And he came to pay for our sins with his life. He therefore took the blame for us when he died on the cross; and he suffered the punishment which we deserve which is death. And through faith in Christ, we receive forgiveness for all that we have done wrong; and God accepts us as righteous in his sight. And so, though we may have done everything wrong, God regards us — for the sake of Christ — as if we have done everything right. Therefore, he gives us forgiveness and he accepts us. And he gives us the free gift of eternal life. These are all gifts which God graciously and freely bestows on all who trust in his Son.

But how can we trust in his Son when we’re dead in our trespasses and sins? We’re spiritually dead and we’re incapable of doing anything good. So, how can we trust in Christ? Again we depend on God, who is gracious and merciful, and who sends us preachers to proclaim the good news to us. And he sends his Spirit into our lives to enable us to trust in the Saviour.

And then, to help us grow in obedience and to help us persevere in the faith, he adds us to the church, that fellowship of God’s people, where he works through the reading and preaching of his word and through the sacraments and through prayer to build us up in holiness and comfort, so that we become more obedient and so that we will stand firm in the faith. And so, we depend on God for everything connected to our salvation.

Conclusion

And so, here we are on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday when we remember and give thanks to God. And we should give thanks to him because we are totally and utterly dependent on him. We depend on him for our life. We depend on him to sustain us. We depend on him for our knowledge of him and of the world and of good and evil. And we depend on him for our salvation and for the hope of everlasting life. Without God, we would not exist. Without God, we could not survive. Without God, we would know nothing. And without God, we would be eternally condemned. But thanks be to God for his kindness to us, because while we are totally and utterly dependent on him, he gives us all that we need.