The Theology of Much

“Now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20-21 

The God of the Bible is a God of abundance. He exists in perfection. There is nothing impoverished, pitiful or small in God. Everything about Him—the way he was born, how He lived, how He died, how He rose again, how He ascended, how He was glorified, and the way He exists today and throughout all eternity—puts unprecedented glory and power on display. He could not be better. He is the God of abundance. 

God never just gets by. To Abraham, “I am your exceeding great reward.” If exceeding is not enough, He is abundant. If that’s not enough, He is more than we can ask.” If that’s not enough, he can do “above all we are able to think.” When Satan says, Death, God says Life. When God says Life, he means life on a scale we can’t comprehend. He restored what we lost in Adam—AND MUCH MORE! We lost the quality of life in Adam, but we gained abundant life in Jesus. We lost the essence of life in Adam, but we gained eternal life in Jesus. We lost Eden in Adam, but we gained Heaven in Jesus. The power of Satan cannot overshadow the power of the Cross. The chaos brought about by Adam’s disobedience does not represent the final answer to man’s destiny. Pile sin high and wide; grace is always bigger and better.  The cosmos cannot get much lower and iniquity cannot get much worse. But as bad as it gets, the grace of God will—ALWAYS—be more! 

If you have ever stood at Ground Zero where terrorists brought down the once proud twin towers of the World Trade Center, you know what I mean.  “Rising from its square base, the redesigned Freedom Tower tapers into eight tall isosceles triangles, forming a perfect octagon at its center. From these, an illuminated spire containing a television antenna rises to a final height of 1,776 feet.” The Message:? Burn it down and we will rebuild it, bigger and better than ever. God sent that message to Satan millenniums ago. Tear it down and I will remake it…much more than it was in the first place. Are you intimidated by the world around you? Want to throw in the towel? Satan wants you to say, “If you can’t beat’em, join’em.” He wants the church to cave to sin’s tidal wave. But the abundance of sin only proves the greater abundance of grace. Just take a prayer journey and let God show you his storehouses of grace. But the theology of much applies to areas beyond the grace of God. 

There is a matter of forgiveness.  Mary Magdalene, a prostitute before she was saved, found that when God touches the life of someone in the depths of sin, he takes away their shame as well as their sin. “Her many sins are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. If you don’t love much, you don’t know what you have been forgiven. When you get an idea of how bad your sin is, you get an idea of how much you need to worship Jesus!

Then there is the matter of blessing. “For to whom much is given, much is required of him.” Luke 12:48.   Apostolic have been given much. The oneness of God. The message of full salvation. The importance of holiness. The rapture of the Church. Galatians makes it plain.  If anyone preaches “any other gospel…let him be accursed.” Are you living up to your requirements?

Finally, there is the matter of desire. How much you seek after God will depend on how much you desire Him! God looks on the heart. The theology of much governs everything about your relationship with God. The much lacking in you reaches out to the much supply in God. Your poverty meets His wealth. Your smallness finds the answer in His greatness. He overmatches your weakness with His power. Whatever you have lost by coming to Christ, you will find much more in Christ!