“God doesn’t need you to defend Him. He can defend Himself.”
“God’s Word is going to be preserved. His church is not going to disappear. He doesn’t need you to worry about His church and try to preserve His Word. He’s got it.”
“God doesn’t need you to defend the gospel. The gospel doesn’t need defended. ”
“Jesus will preserve His church. He doesn’t need your help.”
“God doesn’t need you to…”
Have you heard statements like these lately? They’re true, right? I believe that they are. But, so is the phrase, “You only live once.” The above statements are phrases that people say that are true, yet often something is being communicated beyond the plain words of the phrase.
Consider the phrase, “You only live once.” It is true that we only have one life to live, but how often do you hear someone say this phrase without the implication being something like, “I’m only going to live once, so I’m going to do this thing that I really want to do right now, regardless of whether I should or not.”? Not often. Probably never.
Generally when you hear statements like “God doesn’t need you” what is really being communicated beyond the plain words of the phrase is something deeply unbiblical. This is not always the case. Many people will say things like the above statements to try to silence or belittle you for standing for your convictions, for defending Christ’s church, and for defending Biblical truth because after all, “God doesn’t need you.” Right?
We can both recognize that God is sovereign and in total and complete control while also acknowledging He calls us to faithfully proclaim Him and be involved in His work here on earth.
When we purposefully say something that is true, yet we intentionally don’t state the whole truth, it will lead to an unbiblical application!
Imagine for a moment that you are sitting down with a dear friend. She has very real troubles in her marriage and wants out. She is concerned (rightly) that deserting her family will lead to bad outcomes for her children and family. She is telling you these things, asking for your advice, lamenting the decision that she is about to make. She wants to do the right thing. Then, you say, “God doesn’t need you to protect your children. He’s sovereign. He’s got it.” What you just said it totally true. Yet, you have left out other truths that are vitally important for your friend to hear in this moment! This statement that you have made if followed through to its natural conclusion will lead to an unbiblical application.
We can do this in Christianity, too. We do this in conversation when we do not want to acknowledge the things that are important to the other person: the topic or truth of Scripture that they are passionate about. Someone is passionate about the Church, and we say things like ,“God doesn’t need you to defend the church.” Someone is passionate about standing on the truth of the Word of God- “God doesn’t need you to defend His Word.” Someone is concerned that we are putting other things ahead of the gospel- “The gospel doesn’t need you to defend it. God will do that.”
We should not do this when it comes to the truth of Scripture. Paul preached “the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27). He didn’t pick and choose the truth he would convey. We should not pick and choose either.
Let’s look at the whole truth for a moment.
God doesn’t need you to defend His Word, but He calls you to.
God doesn’t need you to defend the gospel, but He calls you to.
God doesn’t need you to defend Him, but we are called to represent Him well.
When we purposefully say something that is true, yet we intentionally don’t state the whole truth, it will lead to an unbiblical application!
Let’s be committed to speaking the whole truth so that we might live in a way that brings glory to God. Let’s not only speak part of the truth led by our own agenda. God deserves much better than that. His Word deserves to be handled better than that. Jesus deserves better than that. His sacrifice was costly. Let’s not be cheap in our handling of the truth.
Brought Into focus 