It’s Not about Us!
(Romans 11:33–36)
Today we begin a series of talks on our six core values.
Our first core value is this—The Glory of God is God’s end in all that he does. This means that
human happiness is secondary to God’s ultimate end. It means that we exist for God: He does
not exist for us. It means that God, not people, is the center of the universe. We revolve around
him. He does not revolve around us.
Whenever Judy and I travel to Utah to see our son, Joe, we cross the continental divide. It is just
outside of Butte, Mt.. Looking East all of the water flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Looking West
it all flows into the Pacific Ocean. For water the Continental Divide is decisive. It is a great
turning point. What happens to the water depends upon which side of the divide it falls on.
Once the water starts moving either East or West its ultimate destiny is determined, and the
destinies are radically different.
Christian theology also has a Continental Divide. It is our understanding of God’s ultimate
purpose for creation and redemption. Which side of that divide your theology lands on will
determine everything. If God exists for man all the streams of your life will flow downhill
towards human-actualization. You will be constantly arguing with God. But if man exists for
God, and God’s purpose is something greater than human happiness, then life’s purpose will
flow downhill towards the glory of God and ultimately you will find the happiness that you were
willing to lose).
This was the position of the Reformers, as well as most men that have given the Bible serious
thought. For example The Westminster Catechism, the most influential in the last 500 years asks,
“What is the Chief end of man?”
It answers: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God and fully to enjoy him forever.” God
was the center of the Reformers spiritual universe.
All of this means that God created us to bring him glory (Isa. 43:6), and to share his glory (Rom.
8:18). Life is all about God. It is not about us!
Most Christians today have decided, not maliciously, but usually through ignorance, that God’s
ultimate purpose is human fulfillment.
For example, T. H. Luhrman, a non-Christian social anthropologist from Stanford, decided to
study North American Evangelicalism as a cultural phenomenon. So she embedded herself in a
Chicago Vineyard for two years. During that time she attended their Sunday meetings and small
groups. Writing as an outsider she made these conclusions about how they understood God—
He is “a deeply human, even vulnerable God who loves us unconditionally and
wants nothing more than to be our friend, our best friend, as loving and personal and
responsive as a best friend in America should be.”—T. H. Luhrman, When God Talks
Back
In the words of Bob Dylan, God is just an errand boy to satisfy our wandering desires.
In his book Celebrating The Saving Work of God, Dr. J. I. Packer describes the modern church
with similar language—
“Our own 20th Century has settled for a finite, kind-hearted, ineffective, God, a kind of
heavenly uncle whose goodwill makes no real difference to anything, a being who it
is nice to think exists but who, ultimately, is not worth bothering about. You have met
this rather pathetic figure: he is the God in whom the average North American today
believes.”1—J. I. Packer, Celebrating the Saving Works of God
THAT IS NOT THE POINT of today’s text. Before we explore it let’s examine the Context….
Rom. 11:33-36 comes at the end of the first eleven chapters of Romans. That is the doctrinal
section. These chapters describe God’s saving works in the church and in history, i.e. Paul’s
understanding of the gospel.
Chapter 1-8 describe and celebrate the Gospel.
Chapter 9-11 asks, “What about Israel?” Answer: Citizenship in Israel is by election. It is a matter
of grace not race. All Jews who embrace the gospel and receive the heart circumcision that
comes with New Birth are members of the Israel of God.
In these chapters Paul traverses both pleasant and unpleasant subjects. Amongst others, the
pleasant subjects are the infinite love of God, the magnificent grace of God, and the incredible
hope that God has put before us.
The unpleasant subjects are the wrath of God, Penal Substitution, and Predestination. Many
people, in Paul’s day, and ours, object to these teachings.
Romans 11:33-36 is Paul’s conclusion. It’s important to note that Paul doesn’t attempt to
answer the objections to the unpleasant subjects. Instead, he bursts into this incredible
doxology. The main point? It is not about us. It is about God.
"33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
1
J.I. Packer, Celebrating The Saving Works of God, (Carlisle, Cumbria, Paternoster, 1998) pg 67
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35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
36 For from him
and through him
and to him
are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen."
Paul’s doxology makes one clear statement. It is not about us. The waters of God’s continental
divide do not flow downhill toward man. They flow towards God. More specifically, they flow
towards the Glory of God!
Bill Board
A. TWO STATEMENTS ABOUT MAN
1. We are intellectually insignificant
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
Paul asks two rhetorical questions. Both questions imply the answer.
The first question is “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” The answer is “No one” has known
the mind of the Lord.
Paul does not mean that God cannot be known. Everything the Bible says about God is true, and
God is completely consistent with everything the Bible says about himself. The question in verse
34 “who has known the mind of the Lord?” assumes that God’s knowledge is infinite and utterly
exhaustive. It also assumes that our knowledge is finite and exceedingly limited. In addition, our
thought life is infected with sin. This means that think about everything from a selfish,
constricted, man-centered perspective. Perspective is everything.
Anecdote: Praying under the stars, or flying into Spokane.
The second question is “Who has been God’s Counselor?” Answer? If no one knows the mind of
the Lord, then surely no one is qualified to be his counselor!
To be God’s counselor would be to give him advice, to speak to him as one who knew better
than God, to be above him, to correct him. For example, that is what many reading Romans 9 try
to do. They don’t like what Paul says about God’s sovereignty, so they are determined to
counsel him. But verse 34 asks, “Who has been his counselor?”
We need counselors. We need accountability partners, but God has no needs. He needs no
counselors, accountability partners or advisors. No created being has any counsel that God
needs, wants, or would ever receive.
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2. God is No One’s Debtor
35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
The average person on the street thinks that they are good and that, therefore, God owes them
reward. They have given God the gift of a virtuous life, and now since God is fair, he must
reward.
They are deeply offended when the Bible suggests otherwise. “Unfair” is the first word out of
their mouths. They have given God the gift of their virtues. Now God is their debtor. i.e. he must
reward.
But this text, and the entire context of the Bible says otherwise. “Who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
Hamilton: “God does not owe kindness. He does not even owe patience. He has
every right to implement the promised punishment with no questions asked.”2
This is what God did with the fallen angels. He was fair with them. You don’t ever want God to
be fair with you.
In summary, we have learned two things from this passage about ourselves. First, we are
intellectually inadequate. None of us knows the mind of God. We are insufficient to counsel
God, and second God is indebted to no man. He owes us nothing but judgment.
Let’s look at the same text from a divine perspective. What does it tell us about God?
B. FIVE STATEMENTS ABOUT GOD.
1. God is the Sum of all True Riches
"33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
Life is a Treasure Hunt. Paul wants us to know that all of life’s ultimate riches are hidden in
Christ. So Christ tells the church at Laodicea to “buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you
may be rich” (Rev. 3:18), and Paul speaks to the Ephesians about “the unsearchable riches of
Christ” (Eph 3:8). However, the greatest reference to riches in Paul’s letters are his constant use
of the phrase, “riches of his glory” (Rom. 9:23, Eph 3:16, Phil 4:19, Col 1:27).
The depth of God’s riches find expression in the wisdom and knowledge of God. Three times the
OT tells us that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Pr. 9:10, Ps 111:10, Job 28:28).
Then, in his letter to Colossians Paul sums up all the OT wisdom literature this way—“In Christ
are hidden all the riches of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3). In other words, Christ’s life and death,
culminating in his cross and resurrection, teaches us the fear of God so that we can then see the
2
James Hamilton, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), pg 76
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many-splendored beauty of God’s wisdom and knowledge. God has concealed both in the cross
of Christ.
(More on this in two weeks).
In summary: Life is a treasure hunt. “Oh, the depths of the riches, of the wisdom, and knowledge
of God.” Where are you looking? As we learned last week, when conversion comes our hearts
are increasingly redirected to life’s ultimate treasure—God, Christ, and the life of the world to
come.
2. God’s Judgments are Unsearchable
33b “How unsearchable are his judgments”
As we have noted, the first eleven chapters have provided some difficult teachings about God’s
judgments—i.e for unbelievers the day of final judgment will be a day of “wrath and fury” (2:5).
3:25-26 make the point that Jesus died to vindicate the holiness God by displaying the beauty of
his justice and wrath. Then Romans 9:22 adds "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to
make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction?”
You might be tempted to respond. “God, I don’t like this. Don’t you know how embarrassing this
is? No one in the 21st century is going to believe in a God like this. Besides, everyone agrees
that, if there is a god, he must be tolerant and non-judgmental, in the words of Dr. Packer a
“benign heavenly uncle.” God, I don’t like your judgments. Your plan of salvation is a bit
unreasonable.”
The same objections came to Paul in the first century. But as we have seen, he doesn’t try to
refute them with a rational argument. Instead, the assumption of 11:33-36 is “God is God, and
you are not!” “How unsearchable his judgments.”
Unsearchable means, no one can plumb the depths of their beauty. No one can fathom their
ultimate rationality. Someday we will see God’s judgments from God’s perspective. Then, we
will worship, and his judgments will be a source of great joy.
3. God’s Ways are Inscrutable
33c “How…Inscrutable are his ways.”
The “ways” of God in this context are God’s plan for salvation, just described in the first eleven
chapters Romans.
Paul wants us to know that God’s ways, i.e. his plan for the redemption of both people and the
cosmos, is “inscrutable.” Webster’s defines “inscrutable” this way. “Not readily investigated,
interpreted, or understood.” Synonyms are mysterious, impenetrable, unknowable.
In other words, Paul asks us to respond to God’s plan of salvation by faith. He asks us to trust
God without fully understanding. Why? God is infinitely good. Put your trust in God’s goodness
and then submit to his authority. When God says “jump” we answer “How high?” Or, in the
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words of Romans chapter nine, Paul asks, what right does the clay have to argue with the
potter? If God’s ways are “inscrutable” our only duty is to trust in his infinite love and goodness,
and bow in humble worship and adoration.
4. God is without need
35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
We just looked at this verse from a human angle and agreed that we have nothing that God
wants. We cannot put him in our debt. But this text also gives us crucial information about God.
He has no needs! If you knew nothing else about God but this truth—his utter lack of need—but
really understood it, you would enjoy his love for the rest of your life. Why?
God has Aseity. That means he has absolutely no needs. He is completely happy in himself.
Nothing he has made can add to his happiness, fullness, satisfaction, or joy. So why did God
make us?
Love!!!
But this is an utterly unselfish love. In fact, it is completely beyond human comprehension. We
have no way to relate to it. There is no parallel in the created world. That is because everything
that we do our think is motivated by need. i.e. college, marriage, work, sleep, God, gospel, we
eat breakfast, make friends, etc.
When Paul asks “Who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” he has God’s aseity in
mind. God’s aseity has deep roots in the OT prophets and wisdom literature.
Fred Sanders: “God did not have to save us. There was no external necessity
imposed on him, nor did he have any internal need. The perfect blessedness of God
would not have been compromised by the final failure of humanity. God did not save
us to rescue himself from sadness over our plight. He saved us freely, out of an
astonishing abundance of generosity…God created freely and also redeemed
freely.”3
His aseity is what makes his son’s death so amazing. It is foundational to our understanding of
God’s love.
5. God is the source, the sustainer, and the goal of All Things.
After these stupendous statements about man and God, Paul pauses to sum it all up with this
mind-expanding statement—
3
Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010) pg 65
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36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.
Amen."4
Note: Verse 36 is comprehensive. It concerns “all things.”
“All things” includes all of nature.
“All things” includes time, space, gravity, and motion.
“All things” includes all the laws of nature and the structure and dynamics of every atomic and
sub-atomic particle.
“All things” includes the entire known Universe.
“All things” includes all spiritual beings.
“All things” includes all physical beings. Yes, “All things” includes even you and I.
“For from him, and through him, and to him are ______ (Fill in your name). To him be
glory forever, Amen!”
1st “From Him.” God is the Source of Everything.
He is the Designer and Maker of “All things.” Rom. 1:19-20 tells us that on the last day everyone
will be held accountable for belief in a rational personal God.5 Why? He has made his presence
obvious through the existence of the physical creation. When one famous atheist was asked
why he converted to Christianity, he responded. “Where there should be nothing there is
something.”
Famous Preacher anecdote: “Are you telling me that those who have never heard the Christian
message will be consigned to hell?” He should have answered “Yes. God is our Creator. He has
made his existence clear through all that he has made. In addition, he owns you, and you will
give an accounting to him on the final day.”
Evolution is about Random Chance. Random Chance does not design things. Design is the fruit of
Personal Intelligence. Does creation bear the marks of design or of random chance? You be the
judge.
“God’s greatness is the subject of this doxology of praise. All things were created by him; all things exist
through him; all things exist for him. Behind all of the machinations of human history stands the sovereign
electing God. He is the Creator of everyone and of all things, and all things exist by his power and through
his power.4
4
5
(Romans 1:19–20) "19 For what can be known about God is plain to them [unbelievers], because God has
shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been
clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are
without excuse."
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God is the Designer and Maker of all things.
He is the Source of everything. It is all “From Him.”
2nd “Through Him!” God is the Sustainer of Everything…
This means that, without violating human responsibility, God is in complete control of every
event in history. (Compatibilism). Theologians call this the doctrine of God’s Providence.
(Hebrews 1:3) "He [Christ] upholds the universe by the word of his power."
This also means that God sustains and supplies us by giving us every good gift. Its all from him.
Food, water, air, gravity, Civil Government, health care all come to us through God’s sustaining
goodness.
It means there are no accidents. “Through him.” God is the sustainer of everything.
3rd “To Him!” God is the Goal of Everything.
This means that “All Things” that are from him and through him will all be returned to Him. God
is its goal. How will it be returned to him? Someday everything, visible and invisible, will return
praise, honor, and glory to God. Someday we will see that everything exists for the glory of God.
So Paul concludes “To Him Be the Glory Forever!”
All of this means one thing. It is not about us. The manifestation of God’s glory is the reason for
creation and redemption.
Everything about today. Everything about your past. Everything about your future is really all
about God, and someday we will see it that way.
It is not about you. We exist for one purpose, to manifest the glory of God. This means that each
of our lives will either glorify the love, mercy, and grace of God through our salvation. Or, our
life will glorify the holiness of God’s wrath and Justice through our eternal damnation.
As I say this it is important to remember that God wants all men to be saved and come to the
knowledge of the truth. That is why we evangelize. That is why we are planting a North Campus
in October.
Paul makes this same point in other places.
(Colossians 1:16) "16 For by him [Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all
things were created through him and for him."
(1 Corinthians 8:6) "6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all
things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all
things and through whom we exist."
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(Hebrews 2:10) "10 For it was fitting that he [God], for whom and by whom all things
exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation
perfect through suffering."
C. APPLICATION
Question: Is God selfish? No! But, he is absolutely God-centered.
The rules apply differently to God than to us.
Since all of life’s true riches are hidden in Christ, we are happiest when God glorifies himself and
lets us in on it.
With us making much of ourselves is selfish. It is inappropriate. We are weak and needy
creatures. But if God is our happiness, making much of himself is the most unselfish thing God
can do. This is why I said last week that the happiest people are those under God’s grow light
(Illumination). They are beholding the glory of God the source of all human happiness.
Concluding Statement: It’s not about me or you. It’s not about us. Life is all about God. God is
infinitely big and glorious, and we are delightfully small. God is the End, and all of our happiness
is tied up in God getting bigger and us getting smaller.
This is the heart and soul of Reformed Theology.
In Reformed Theology all of the water flows downhill toward God. In Arminian and SemiPelagian theology all of the waters flow toward human happiness as an end in itself. But Jesus
said, “he that saves his life will lose it.” This means that those who make human happiness their
ultimate end will forfeit it, but those who make God their end will find the happiness they were
willing to lose.
Here again is the continental divide of theology.
Response?:
X Box commercials say “Life is short. Play hard.” The Bible agrees that Life is short, but it
doesn’t agree that is about play. Rather, life is a deadly serious treasure hunt. Don’t waste your
life. Pursue your Treasure in God. That is what Paul had in mind when he wrote, “Oh the depths
of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!”
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