The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-23, titled "Questions and Answers--Part 51."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. Copyright 2001 by John MacArthur Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Question

This morning you said in the sermon a couple of times, “it’s not what can you get, but what can you give to the church.” That makes perfect sense to me, but if you can help me out: I was listening to one sermon by a pastor (he preached here at Shepherd’s Conference last Spring) and he was saying--he kind of took that thought to another level and said that there’s nothing we as sinful people can give to God, but we indeed give to him by receiving from him and getting from him, and in reference to that, Isaiah 55:1, where God says, “Come, you who have no money, buy and eat.” But I have no money; how can I buy?

Answer

Well, just to harmonize that, if we couldn’t give God anything, why are there so many commands in Scripture? The one thing we are told to give him is whatever He asks for, true? And He tells us to worship him, He tells us to adore him, He tells us to praise him…over and over and over and over. He tells us to honor him, He tells us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, He tells us to love our neighbor, He tells us to serve him, He tells us to confess our sins to him, to repent--I mean, those are commands! Every single command, everything you obey in the Scripture is an act in which you are rendering to God something God asks from you.

David said, “I will not give the Lord that which costs me nothing.” David said, “I understand that whatever I give to the Lord has to be sacrificial”; David understood you give to the Lord. I think you can get caught up in a bit of a semantical game, you know, in taking everything to its philosophical end. Ultimately, we don’t give God something in the sense that He lacks it! I mean, our giving is simply a recognition that He lacks nothing. We are giving him, not to fill up what He doesn’t have, but to show appropriate respect to who He is and what He does have. Do you know what I’m saying?

Question (continued)

Yes. So, in encouraging someone else toward church membership, I can say that you need to give or God needs something from you?

Answer (continued)

God doesn’t need anything; He demands some things. It’s not like, “OK, God, I know you’re hurting in this area. You know, I know your church is weak and you need a few good folks--I’ll be one.” No…no, it’s not that you’re filling up something God lacks. It’s that you’re doing what He commands you to do. That’s what you’re doing. By that, you are rendering him the proper respect, you are acknowledging his absolute and utter sovereignty over your life, and you’re giving him the glory that He’s due.

My children, when they’re grown up and little, they can’t give me anything I don’t have! Even at my birthday, my wife bought everything…worse than that, she used my money to do it! My children can’t give me anything that I lack, but when they give me something, it is a demonstration of the depth of their love and their affection and their respect and their honor for me.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986