Chapter One
Unsearchable Riches
* * *
My friend had just learned that the artificial hip he had
received eleven years earlier needed to be replaced. The
previous month, he had had angioplasty to open a clogged
artery to his heart. Along with all this, he suffers from rheumatoid
arthritis. Signs of old age? Not at all. My friend is only
fifty-six years old.
A few years ago psychiatrist Scott Peck began one of his
books with a three-word sentence: "Life is difficult." He was
right. We live in a sin-cursed world ravaged not only by the
forces of nature and disease, but even more so by people's sinful
actions toward one another. No one is exempt. If you're
not experiencing some form of heartache or difficulty at this
time, cheer up-it will surely come sooner or later! Even as
I have been trying to write this chapter, I've been going
through a series of nettlesome and discouraging setbacks.
And I've gotten down on myself because "Christians aren't
supposed to get discouraged."
Sometimes it seems that circumstances are even worse for
Christians. In addition to all the frustrations and heartaches of
life common to everyone, we have an enemy-the Devil-who
"prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Even in our success we feel tension. A
ministry colleague recently confessed that he felt overwhelmed
and anxious even in the midst of a fruitful ministry.
Underlying all the other problems we face, however, is
the greatest problem of all-our sin. Not the sins of other
people against us, as painful as those may be, but our own
sin against God. Sin brings with it a sense of guilt, condemnation,
and alienation from God. As one dear Christian
woman expressed it, "I know God loves me, but sometimes I
wonder if He likes me."
What was she saying? How can God love her and not like
her? She was saying, "I know God loves me and sent His Son to
die for me, but because of my repeated sins and shortcomings, I
feel His displeasure toward me." And yet this woman has spent
her adult life in full-time Christian ministry and is an outstanding
committed Christian. She is not alone in her feelings.
Church historian Richard Lovelace has written that many
Christians "below the surface of their lives are guilt-ridden and
insecure . [and] draw the assurance of their acceptance with
God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion,
their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of
their conscious, willful disobedience."
Why is this true? Why do so many believers, including
those deeply serious about their Christian commitment, live
lives of quiet desperation? One answer is that we have a truncated
view of the gospel, tending to see it only as a door we
walk through to become a Christian. In this view, the gospel is
only for unbelievers. Once you become a Christian, you don't
need it anymore except to share with people who are still outside
the door. What you need to hear instead are the challenges
and how-tos of discipleship.
Another reason for our quiet desperation is that many
people have a utilitarian view of the gospel. What can the gospel
do for me? Some want only the proverbial "fire insurance"-they
want the good life now and the good life hereafter. Others
are looking for a solution to their problems or a way to a more
successful life. This view is aptly illustrated in a breezy church
flyer that advertised:
At Valley Church, you
• meet new friends and neighbors
• hear positive, practical messages that uplift you each
week on:
• How to feel good about yourself
• How to overcome depression
• How to have a full and successful life
• Learning to handle your money without it handling
you
• The secrets of successful family living
• How to overcome stress
This utilitarian view of the gospel is not an isolated instance.
A flyer with similar wording was put in my own front door
recently.
So, between the challenges of discipleship on one hand and
the utilitarian view of the gospel on the other, we fail to see the
gospel as the solution to our greatest problem-our guilt, condemnation,
and alienation from God. Beyond that, we fail to
see it as the basis of our day-to-day acceptance with Him. As a
result, many believers live in spiritual poverty.
Some years ago our pastor told an unusual story about a
Southern plantation owner who left a $50,000 inheritance to a
former slave who had served him faithfully all his life. That was
quite a sum of money in those days-perhaps equivalent to half
a million dollars today. The lawyer for the estate duly notified the
old man of his inheritance and told him that the money had been
deposited for him at the local bank. Weeks went by, and the former
slave never called for any of his inheritance. Finally, the
banker called him in and told him again that he had $50,000
available to draw on at any time. The old man replied, "Sir, do you
think I can have fifty cents to buy a sack of cornmeal?" Not having
handled money most of his life, this former slave had no comprehension
of his wealth. As a result, he was asking for fifty cents
when he could easily have had much, much more.
That story illustrates the plight of many Christians today.
The apostle Paul wrote of preaching "to the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8). Paul was not
referring to financial wealth but to the glorious truths of the
gospel. To use the figures from the former slave's story, Paul was
saying that each of us has $50,000 available to us in the gospel.
Yet most of us are hoping we can squeeze out fifty cents' worth.
Why is this true? The answer is that we don't understand the
riches of the gospel any more than the former slave understood
the riches of $50,000.
I grew up in an era and a section of the United States where
the realities of heaven and hell were regularly preached. There
was no doubt in my mind that there was a hell to shun and a
heaven to gain. When finally as a teenager I did trust Christ,
my sole objective was just that-to escape hell and go to
heaven when I died. Now that, in itself, is of inestimable value,
and I wouldn't for a moment minimize the infinite contrast
between eternity in heaven and in hell. But that is only part of
the gospel. It does not address our relationship with God today.
In our present age, the issue of heaven and hell is irrelevant
to most people. Among university students, for example, the
open nerve is relationships. The student has had a rotten relationship
with his dad and now doesn't get along too well with
his roommate. Middle-class working people are concerned
about the issues addressed in the church flyer mentioned earlier.
The issue of relationships is certainly important, and even some
of the subjects on the church flyer are worthy of our attention.
But these topics do not begin to explore the "unsearchable
riches" Paul was writing about. Paul would probably look at us
today and say that we're asking for fifty cents or perhaps a couple
of dollars when we have $50,000 in the bank. And he would
say that this is because we really don't understand the gospel.
The reality of present-day Christendom is that most professing
Christians actually know very little of the gospel, let alone
understand its implications for their day-to-day lives. My perception
is that most of them know just enough gospel to get
inside the door of the kingdom. They know nothing of the
unsearchable riches of Christ.
So what do we do and where do we begin to grasp a workable
understanding of the gospel? That's what this book is
intended to address. The word gospel means, essentially, "good
news." And it is specifically good news about our relationship
with God. We all like to receive good news, especially if it
addresses some bad news we've just received. If you've just
been told that you have cancer, for example, it's good news
when the doctor tells you that it is a type that readily responds
to treatment.
The gospel is like that. It is the good news that directly
addresses the ultimate bad news of our lives. The Bible tells us
that we were in deep trouble with God, that we were unrighteous
and ungodly. And then it tells us that God's wrath is
revealed from heaven "against all the godlessness and wickedness
of men." In fact, it tells us that we were by nature objects
of God's wrath (see Romans 1:18; 3:10-12; Ephesians 2:3).
Think of that! When you came into the world as a baby,
before you had ever done anything bad, you were an object of
God's wrath. We'll find out later why that is true. But for now,
that is the bad news.
We are familiar with the well-worn good news/bad news
jokes. The bad news comes last, and it's always worse than the
good news. But the Bible reverses this sequence. It tells us the
bad news that we are in trouble with God, and then it tells us
the good news that God has provided a solution that far surpasses
our problem. Three times in his letters the apostle Paul
paints a grim picture of bad news about us, and then each time
he says "but." In effect, he is saying, "Here is the bad news, but
here is the Good News as well." And in Paul's message, the
Good News always outweighs the bad news.
Take just one of these instances, in Ephesians 2:1-9. After
telling us that we were, by nature, objects of wrath, Paul says,
but now "God, who is rich in mercy," has actually "raised us up
with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms."
That is surely a dust-to-glory story. What could be a greater
contrast than an object of God's wrath seated with His Son in a
position of glory?
This good news doesn't begin when we die. It certainly does
address that issue, but it also tells us that there is good news for
us now. We don't have to feel guilt-ridden and insecure in our
relationship with God. We don't have to wonder if He likes us.
We can begin each day with the deeply encouraging realization
that I am accepted by God, not on the basis of my personal performance,
but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of
Jesus Christ. We will seek to uncover the depth of meaning in
that statement as we work through the coming chapters.
Think again of the story of the former slave. Suppose at the
time of coming into his inheritance that he was not only
poverty-stricken but also deep in debt for back rent. With his
inheritance, he could not only pay off his debt but he could
also buy the house. His inheritance far surpasses his debt.
This is the truth of the gospel. We owe an enormous spiritual
debt to God-a debt we can't begin to pay. There is no way
we can make it good. The gospel tells us that Jesus Christ paid
our debt, but it also tells us far more. It tells us that we are no
longer enemies and objects of His wrath. We are now His sons
and daughters, heirs with Jesus Christ of all His unsearchable
riches. This is the good news of the gospel.
Why did the apostle Paul develop at such length the bad
news of our situation? We can't begin to appreciate the good
news of the gospel until we see our deep need. Most people,
even people who have already become believers, have never
given much thought to how desperate our condition is outside
of Christ. Few people ever think about the dreadful implications
of being under the wrath of God. And most of all, none of
us even begins to realize how truly sinful we are.
Jesus once told a story about a king's servant who owed his
master ten thousand talents (see Matthew 18:21-35). One talent
was equal to about twenty years' wages for a working man. Ten
thousand talents then would have been around two hundred
thousand years' wages-an amount so huge it would have been
impossible to pay.
Why would Jesus use such an unrealistically large amount
when He knew that in real life it would have been impossible
for a king's servant to accumulate such a debt? Jesus was fond
of using hyperbole to make His point. In the context of the
story, that immense sum represents a spiritual debt that every
one of us owes to God. It is the debt of our sins. And, for each
of us, it is a staggering amount. There is no way we can pay it.
This is what the gospel is all about. Jesus paid our debt to
the full. But He did far more than relieve us of debt. He also
purchased for us an eternal inheritance worth infinitely more
than the $50,000 the ex-slave inherited. That's why Paul wrote
of the "unsearchable riches of Christ." And God wants us to
enjoy those unsearchable riches in the here and now, even in
the midst of difficult and discouraging circumstances.
The purpose of this book is to explore those unsearchable
riches. To appreciate them, however, we need to look briefly at
our sinful condition. Though we live in a time when people
don't like to talk about sin, only those who understand to some
degree the enormity of their spiritual debt can begin to appreciate
what Christ did for them at the cross. Without some
heartfelt conviction of our sin, we can have no serious feeling
of personal interest in the gospel. What's more, this conviction
should actually grow throughout our Christian lives. In fact,
one sign of spiritual growth is an increased awareness of our
sinfulness.
One of the older writers on the subject of the gospel wrote,
"The best preparation for the study of this doctrine [that
is, of the truth of the gospel] is-neither great intellectual
ability nor much scholastic learning-but a conscience
impressed with a sense of our actual condition
as sinners in the sight of God."
In the next chapter we will look at our sinful condition so
as to better prepare us to explore those unsearchable riches we
have in Christ.
(Continues.)
