God provides for all our needs as we look to Him. In the apostle Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, he writes,
Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:5–6).
In this passage, Paul recognises that his ability to minister to others comes from God. We might summarise ministry as “seeking to help other people grow in Christ.” As we seek to help each other grow in Christ this year, we as the branches are dependent on Jesus as the true vine that brings us life, nourishment and strength. Jesus says,
I am the vine, and you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
As a church, our life and growth come from God as we depend on Him. He is the vine, and we are the branches.
This idea of God as our sufficiency is something that I personally spent a lot of time reflecting on while completing my doctoral research over the last three years. My PhD focussed on God’s relationship to His creatures in the theology of Petrus van Mastricht (1630–1706). For Mastricht, all of Christian theology, from creation to redemption, can be summarised by the idea that “[God] is all-sufficient not only for Himself, but also for us” (Mastricht, Theoretical Practical Theology, 2:467). In every way, our relationship with God is one of dependence.
In creation and providence, every good thing that we have comes from God. Think about that for a moment. God created all things and sustains them continually by His power (Rev 4:11; Heb 1:3). God knit us together in our mothers’ wombs and knows all the days of our lives (Ps 139:13–16). God provides the food and all of the necessities that we need for life (Ps 104:1–30; Luke 12:22–31). God gives us not only our “life and breath” but everything that we have (Acts 17:25). Thus, the apostle James says,
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).
In a sense, even in creation and providence, God is the vine, and we are branches that are dependent on Him. In our very nature as creatures, our life and nourishment come from God, and we depend on Him in every way. God is all-sufficient as our Creator and Sustainer.
So too, in matters of salvation and redemption, we are entirely dependent on God. Think also about this for a moment. In Adam and Eve, we all sinned, and that sinful nature spread to all mankind (Rom 5:12–14). It also spread to every part of our hearts (Gen 6:5). Therefore, apart from God’s work of grace in Christ, none of us seek God or do anything good spiritually (Ps 14:1–3; Rom 3:9–12). None of us fear God as we ought to (Rom 3:18). None of us submit to God’s law or want to obey God in any way (Rom 8:7–8). Consequently, we are entirely dependent on God in matters of salvation: “Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Ps 3:8; Jonah 2:9; Rev 7:10). Likewise, all our growth as Christians is from God. Paul says, “by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor 15:10). In the things of salvation, our life and nourishment come from God in Christ. He is the vine; we are the branches. We depend on Christ for salvation just as we depend on God for our very existence through creation. In Christ, God is all-sufficient as our Saviour.
Finally, in his own ministry, Paul talks about how he learned to depend on God’s sufficiency. Earlier in his second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul tells them about a terrible experience that he and his companion Timothy had in ministry. He explains, “We were so utterly burdened beyond strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death” (2 Cor 1:8–9). However, God’s purposes in allowing this affliction were for their good. Paul continues, “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Cor 1:9). In his ministry of serving other Christians—by leading, teaching, praying for, discipling, and visiting them—Paul learned that God was his sufficiency. He is the vine; we are the branches. Paul needed to depend on the life, nourishment, and power of the Spirit of Christ to serve in the way that God had called him to serve. In Christ and through the Holy Spirit, God is all-sufficient in our ministry.
Therefore, in our ministry to one another as a church in 2025, we must depend on God. Some of us serve the Hills Bible Church community in official ministry positions, as the church’s pastors, elders, deacons, staff, or lay leaders over various programs. However, all Christians are also called to minister to one another in an unofficial capacity. In the New Testament, the most important ministry in a local church is the ministry of every believer. Paul says that a church’s leaders are
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:12).
He is the vine; we are the branches. As a church, if we are going to serve one another in the way that God calls us to serve this year, we need to depend on Him. This should drive us to prayer.
God is all-sufficient for us at Hills Bible Church in 2025. Together with the elders of HBC, will you commit to praying for Hills Bible Church and its ministry this year?
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