Sufficiency of Christ
Friday Highlight – Sufficiency of Christ
Sin is everywhere. It infects every atom of the universe. I think of it as a combination of a creeping darkness, a legal classification, and a genetic disease. We are all guilty of breaking God’s law by nature and by choice. Why? We were born into it. We inherited it from our parents. Romans 5:12 tells us that “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” By disobeying God in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose to follow sin, turning away from God. This choice transferred them from God’s kingdom (visualized by the Garden) to sin’s dominion (visualized by the wilderness). They willingly put themselves under the rule and reign of sin instead of submitting to God. Unfortunately, everyone born in sin’s kingdom is a citizen of sin’s kingdom. In other words, every descendant of Adam is also a slave to sin. We’ve inherited his rebellion, and we are unable to save ourselves. We long for good things (truth, goodness, beauty, love, joy, peace, patience, etc.), but we find ourselves unable to attain them. We are, in other words, deficient on our own. We’re missing something, and we all ache with longing for it, but sin keeps us from getting it.
When we think about sin, we often picture the decisions we make. Decisions to lie, cheat, steal, and just generally behave badly. We call these sins of commission, or the bad things we do (we commit crimes), and sins of omission, or the good things we don’t do (we omit righteousness). Those are certainly sin, but they’re not the extent of sin. If sin is an iceberg floating in the ocean, our decisions are just the top, the visible part above the waterline. What’s below the waterline? Deficiency and dominion.
The dominion of sin is like the water we’re floating in. It surrounds us. It’s the kingdom we’re all born into. But deep down we all know we were made for something more, and we long for it. We all want to be happy, and nothing in this world can make us happy for long. We all want to be free, but it seems like everything enslaves us after a while. What we’re sensing is our deficiency, which is the bottom of the iceberg. And what do we do when we don’t get what we want? If you’re under the dominion of sin, you take matters into your own hands. You try to make up for that deficiency by lying, cheating, stealing, whatever it takes. You know there’s something more, and you’ll stop at nothing to get it. The dominion of sin makes you deficient, and your deficiency drives your decisions. In other words, you choose to sin because you think it’ll fill the God-sized hole in your heart, and that hole is only there because you weren’t born into God’s kingdom.
But what if someone wasn’t born into sin’s dominion? What if they didn’t inherit Adam’s rebellion? That person wouldn’t be deficient at all, and his decisions would reflect his perfect union with God. I’m talking, of course, about Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God, not the son of Adam, and he never rebelled against God, so he was never outside of God’s kingdom. The visible result (the top of the iceberg) was a life of perfect decision-making. He never disobeyed. He never sinned (Heb 4:15). He broke the power of sin by following God’s law perfectly and paying the penalty for sin anyway. And by breaking the power of sin, Jesus opened up a way for anyone who believes in him to transfer their citizenship from sin’s kingdom to God’s (Col 1:13). We can be set free from the dominion of sin! That’s the best news in the whole history of the world! It’s like changing the ocean the iceberg is floating in. No longer in sin’s ocean, the bottom of the iceberg is no longer deficient: we can access God whenever we want! He tells us to approach his throne with confidence to receive his mercy and grace (Heb 4:16). In other words, he fills that God-sized hole in our hearts with himself. He takes us from being deficient in sin (empty and always on the hunt for what can keep us happy) to being sufficient in Christ (filled up and always overflowing with his all-satisfying joy).
As a result of our sufficiency in Christ, we are free to make good decisions. We can choose righteousness! Our actions don’t have to be chasing fulfillment elsewhere because we are totally fulfilled in Christ. We can, as the Apostle Paul instructs, “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Cor 15:58). We can be abounding in good works! Works that won’t fade away (1 Cor 15:58)! Works prepared for us before the foundation of the world (Eph 2:10)! We can bear the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-26)!
But all of this is possible only if you’re no longer under the dominion of sin, and God alone can transfer your citizenship. Have you asked him to do that for you? Have you submitted to his lordship over your life? If not, you can ask him today, and he will satisfy your deficiency with himself, both now and forever (Psa 16:11). If you are already in Christ’s kingdom, are you experiencing his sufficiency in your life? Have you rested in his work on your behalf? Have you felt his peace? Have you taken advantage of the access to God’s throne bought for you by the blood of Christ? In Christ, all of that is yours. Go to him today and ask him to be your all-sufficient treasure (Matt 13:44).