Recently I heard a Christian leader comment, "the problem with Christians today is that they only look to God to meet their needs and neglect following Him and fulfilling the Great Commission." The comment was a response (and rightly so) to those believers who look to God as a "sugar daddy", a God who meets all their needs.

God has promised to meet all our needs, but it has become evident that many Christians have a problem balancing God's responsibility and actions toward the believer (what we want) and the believer's responsibility and actions toward God (what He wants). In the following verse God reveals to us that the question isn't an either/or but a shared responsibility.

"For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust" (2 Peter 1:4). The highlighted term indicates a partnership (Vines page 55) or joint venture between God and man. Green in the Tyndale Commentary on Second Peter clarified the meaning of partaker, "Peter does not mean that man is absorbed into the deity; that would at the same time dissolve personal identity and render impossible any personal encounter between the individual and God. But as in I Peter, he speaks of a real union with Christ. If we are partakers of Christ's sufferings (I Peter 4:13), and partakers of the glory that shall be revealed (I Peter 5:1), it is because we are partakers of Christ."

Sometimes by looking at the extremes one can begin to see the balance. One extreme stresses what I do for God--"I have to fulfill the Great Commission to gain His approval" and the other extreme stresses what God can do for me--"God is supposed to meet my needs." You will notice that in both extremes self is exalted. In the first extreme I am essential in doing God's work. In the second my needs are what is important. Lets look at each of these extremes more closely.

The first extreme puts an emphasis on what I do for God. It is my responsibility to win the lost, disciple the new converts, etc. God is seen as a spectator who is urging the believer on. This puts the believer on a performance base which basically says the better you do, the more accepted you are by God or the happier God is with you. It is necessary for me to add here that it IS our responsibility to share with the lost . . . . but is God not involved in the process? Can we leave the Lord out of the mission? Can we do without direction? Read the words of Jesus, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS" (Matthew 7: 21-23).

In this passage we see individuals who are doing the external (and great) things. They prophesied in His name, cast out demons, and even performed miracles. They were doing well in ministry but lacked something personally -- He didn't know them!! Matthew Henry put it this way, "A man may be a preacher, may have gifts for the ministry, and an external call to it, and perhaps some success in it, and yet be a wicked man; may help others to heaven, and yet come short himself." Also consider what David said in Psalms 66:3, "Because of the greatness of Thy power Thine enemies will give feigned obedience to Thee." While doing the will of God is important, being right with God is also important. These individuals approach God with the question, "what can I do for You?"

The second extreme puts the emphasis on God (and His people) meeting my needs. I recently received a telephone call from a lady who was mad at God because He wasn't meeting her needs. As she talked on and on about how unfair life was, how unfair God and His people were, and how little God was doing, it became evident that she saw God simply as someone who was to meet her needs. She was indeed the center of her universe. For this woman God was on a performance base. The better God performed for her and met her needs, the more she would love and trust Him. The better God's people met her needs, the more she would love and trust them. This life is not based on faith. Where did this lady put her faith? She had a conditional faith based on blessing and not relationship. If she was blessed she'd believe. If she was blessed would she really believe? I doubt it. Faith is believing even if there is no blessing. Faith is not conditioned on blessing. Blessing may come but blessing is not the basis for faith. For individuals like this, God is someone who is to make life comfortable. They don't think He would put any demands on them. They approach God with the question, "What can you do for me?"

What is the balance? Only in Christ can the believer understand and live as a partaker of His nature. Since being a partaker involves a union with Christ, it is not an either/or (what I do for God vs. what God can do for me). It is more like a partnership. In a joint venture or partnership both parties have responsibilities. As His children we are responsible to walk with Him, reach out to the lost, disciple individuals, etc. Read Jesus' words on the responsibility of the believer in Matthew 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

The other side of responsibility deals with what God has done for the believer. As my God, He is responsible to convict, cleanse, guide, and provide. Read how His responsibility is expressed in Philippians 4:19, "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

One example of the balance between our responsibility before God and God's responsibility to His children is found in Mark 13:11, "When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit." Jesus said to His disciples "it your responsibility to speak and it is God's responsibility to give you what you are to say." That's how the partnership works. Why do individuals have such a hard time balancing responsibility?

Some believers have a hard time feeling secure if they don't have their speech planned. They won't speak without preparation. Preparation ultimately must be based on a relationship with the Lord, but some see preparation as three points and a poem. This is not to say that believers shouldn't prepare messages. Indeed, some well meaning believers have taken this verse to the extreme and never prepare. Here again we see in the extremes that self is exalted. Some won't speak without preparation and some never prepare!! No, this verse deals with the partnership between the Lord and His child. It is our responsibility to seek Him and His responsibility to show us what to say and do, then it's our responsibility to respond and obey, then it's His responsibility to provide the results (whatever they may be--positive or negative) and on and on it goes.

Back to the original comment, "the problem with Christians today is that they only look to God to meet their needs and neglect following Him and fulfilling the Great Commission." This is a valid observation and does describe some people. Also one could say, "the problem with some Christians today is that they seek to fulfill the Great Commission without fulfilling the Great Commandment (love God, love others, as you love yourself)." Both comments, while containing legitimate observations, tend to try to rebuke or shame the believer.

The truth is that we are to fulfill both the Great Commandment AND the Great Commission, but the question is how God provides new life in Christ which enables the believer to fulfill the Great Commission while expressing His love to fulfil the Great Commandment. Both are important--no, both are essential to reach the world for Him and to become as lights shining midst a crooked and perverse generation. As the Lord directed Paul to write in Philippians 2:15, "so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world."