Jesus still has more to give!

Is this a controversial statement? I would never have thought so. To me it seems self-evident. God by nature is a giver, always has been, always will be. God so loved the world that he gave... Give and it shall be given to you. Generosity is one of the ways we reflect the nature of God, the most generous giver of all. He wants all his people to be sowers, and he generously showers us with an abundance of provision so in all occasions we will have something to give.

So what's the problem? Why is it that there is a growing number of Christians who have a problem with this statement? It seems to have its root in a misguided teaching that is going around that claims that God has already given all he has to give. That's it! There is no more!

Crazy!.... at least I still think so! [I'm sure I can't be the only one!] This teaching claims that when Jesus hung on the cross and said "It is finished" -- it meant God had done all he was ever going to do... oh yeah, except the outpouring of the Holy Spirit... but that really is your lot now! They say you shouldn't ask God for provision, healing, or any other kind of blessing because he has already given it to you. If you can't see it, it is because of some "Emperor's New Clothes" effect -- you just don't have enough "faith" to realise that these spiritual "truths" are more "real" than the deficiency that is perceived with the natural senses.

What a load of nonsense!! Can you honestly expect me to believe that God is like that?! That you can exhaust his generosity? That he gives in such a way that you have to ascend to the fith-dan of super-faith before you can experience it? Did Jesus ever heal like that? Is that how he fed the five thousand? Is that how he turned the water in to wine.... sorry Jesus, still tastes like water to me.... ahhhh! that's because you are tasting with your mouth not your spirit! When God gives, it is a blessing, not a krypton-factor puzzle that leaves you wondering what if anything you have actually got.

The real danger with this "You've already got it" doctrine lies not because it is so wrong, but because it is nearly right! This puts it into the category of the most dangerous errors: those that contain enough truth to slip under the radar of many Christians' defences without a blip, but still contain enough distortion to confuse, disrupt, divide and condemn.

Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than the truth itself.
-- Iranaeus

You see the work of Christ on the cross was a "once for all" event. When we sin, Jesus does not have to come and die all over again. His death was totally sufficient to propitiate all of God's wrath, and forgive us for all sins - past, present, and future. There is no sacrifice left for sin, nothing that needs to be added to this finished work of Christ... BUT... far from being a sign that this is the last and ultimate gift of God, it is actually the guarantee that God will continue to give!

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Ro 8:32)


It is also true that in Christ we already have all we need for life and godliness, and we have already been blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. We are not waiting for God to do or give anything else before we can take our place in his kingdom purpose. We don't need to know any more before we share our faith with the lost. We don't need anymore anointing before we lay our hands on the sick. We don't need a specific word before we serve our brothers and sisters in the Lord... BUT... again this does not mean that along the way we will not have any genuine needs nor that God will fail to meet those needs. Again it is quite the opposite. God gives us a promise -- if we do what he wants us to do, he will give, and meet all our other needs.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Mt 6:33)
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Php 4:19)


Finally it is also true that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things that we do not see. There is a realm of the spirit that we need to see if we are to walk by faith and not by sight alone. We need to have our eyes fixed in heaven, to see the world from God's perspective and not our own... BUT... the evidence of things hoped for refers to things we have not yet received. Not for things we allegedly already have. As it says in Romans 8 "Who hopes for what he already has?" Faith is taking God at his word (like Abraham) that when God gives a promise it is as good as done, not living in denial that it is already done.

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Ro 8:24)


God is a giver! Don't let any false doctrine rob you of this great truth. He still has more to give. He delights to give -- and he wants us to ask. Jesus did not go into retirement when he ascended into heaven after the cross. He is still very much present and active in all we do. We must remain in him if we are to be fruitful. Without him we can do nothing. So I say again, and like John Crysostom -- I wish I could proclaim it to the whole Universe -- "Jesus still has more to give!"