Stop Trying to Pay God Back

There are few things more adorable, and financially pointless, than when your children try to pay you back with money they created from their imaginations.

In an earlier season of my parenting, when my wife and I were trying to teach our kids about thankfulness and being appreciative of things, they would sometimes respond by trying to “pay us back” for something we had done purely out of love.

So after a family outing, or on occasions when we did something special for them, we would get home and they would disappear into their rooms. A few minutes later, they’d come back with crumpled paper money they had made themselves as a way of saying, “Hey Dad, we want to help pay for what we just experienced.”

It was adorable. Completely worthless, but adorable.

Then, when they got a little older, they graduated from paying us back with crumpled paper money to Monopoly money. So instead of $20 worth of fake paper, I was now receiving millions of dollars from Monopoly Bank International.

I was really living then.

If you’re a parent, you’ve probably had that experience with your younger kids where, out of gratitude, they tried to pay you back with worthless currency for a gift that was never a transaction to begin with.

YET, IF WE ARE HONEST, MANY OF US APPROACH GOD EXACTLY LIKE THAT.

Now, none of us would ever say out loud, “Hey Jesus, thanks for dying on the cross, but let me chip in a little toward my salvation.”

Most of us know better than that. But somewhere in the back of our minds, we’re keeping a little spiritual résumé of all the reasons God should be pleased with us:

• “I don’t drink and I don’t party out late.”

• “I go to church. I serve. I give.”

• “I’ve raised good, godly children.”

• “I’ve sacrificed a lot for God.”

That’s our spiritual Monopoly money!

Now, to be clear, these habits ARE part of Christian discipleship. But when we start to use them as leverage before God, or because of them, we start to think our obedience has put God just a little bit in our debt, that is where we confuse grace with works.

By the way, do you know how you discover you are carrying spiritual Monopoly money? When life doesn’t go as it should, and you suddenly hear yourself saying: “God, after everything I’ve done for You… how could You let this happen to me?”

Ahh… there it is. That little sentence just revealed the currency we thought we were carrying. And that’s the scandal of grace.

In fact, that same struggle is at the heart of the conflict we are going to watch erupt in New Testament book of Acts, chapter 15. The question at the center of the passage is this:

Is faith in Jesus enough? Or should grace be supplemented with religious performance?

The answer to that question is not only what the apostles are fighting to protect in this chapter, but it also forms the big idea at the heart of this post:

STOP TRYING TO EARN WHAT GOD GIVES FREELY BY GRACE.

What I want to do here is help you explore three ways that we as Christians, ever so subtly (and sometimes, overtly) still try to earn what God freely gives. Let’s start

1. WE TRY TO EARN GRACE THROUGH RELIGIOUS PERFORMANCE (Acts 15:1–3)

“Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: ‘Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.’ This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad.”

Let me give you a quick profile of the Antioch church where this debate is unfolding.

First off, aside from the fact that it is a large, multi-ethnic church made up mostly of non-Jewish believers, Gentiles; outside of Jerusalem, Antioch is one of the more influential churches in the New Testament and is a key strategic location for global missions. This is the church that launched Paul and Barnabas’ missionary journeys.

What that means is that whatever theological convictions are established here will travel with missionaries, shape sermons, and influence churches throughout the known world. SO, THE STAKES HERE IN ACTS 15 ARE MASSIVE.

This debate could shape the future of Christianity. Which is why, when a group of men claiming to come from Christianity’s headquarters in Jerusalem begin teaching that you have to be circumcised to be saved, it sparks a sharp, heated debate between them and Paul and Barnabas.

At the core of their false teaching was this: TRUSTING IN JESUS IS NOT ENOUGH.

Basically, they were arguing, “If you really want to get to heaven, there are some religious practices that we’ve been doing as Jews that you all now need to do in order to be saved.” Namely, circumcision.

Now, originally, circumcision was given by God as a covenant sign. It was a physical marker and reminder that Israel belonged to God. But over time, many Jews turned what was supposed to be a marker of grace into a scorecard of spiritual achievement. In other words, they were trying to earn, through religious performance, what God only gives by grace, whereas salvation is that you and I are saved from our sin by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

So clearly, this issue is a central Christian doctrine that’s worth getting into a sharp argument about.

Incidentally, there is a form of this playing out in our day called UNIVERSALISM.

It’s the belief that ALL people will eventually be saved, regardless of faith in Christ, repentance, or response to the Gospel. You’ll hear versions of universalism everywhere, from podcasts to celebrity spirituality, from viral TikTok theology to Instagram preachers, where the message is basically:

• “Everyone has a good heart.”

• “All religions are the same.”

• “There’s no such place as hell.”

• “We all worship the same God.”

• “Love is love.”

So whereas the false teachers in Acts are saying, “You need to EARN grace,” today’s universalists are saying, “You don’t even need grace, because there is love!”

Since I am a missionary, it is worth pointing out that this is also a battle in the Nigerian church, where the prosperity/performance Gospel has taken a stronghold on the culture. The message many are hearing in Nigerian churches is:

• “If you fast and pray enough…”

• “If you sow enough seed and tithe enough…”

• “If you declare your truth long enough…”

• “…then God will finally bless and accept you!”

So instead of resting in Christ’s finished work, Nigerian Christians are spiritually exhausted trying to unlock God, or God’s favor, through religious performance.

ABEG, STOP TRYING TO EARN WHAT GOD GIVES FREELY BY GRACE!

This was such a critical issue in the church in Antioch that the decision was made to take the matter to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, when Paul and Barnabas arrive in Jerusalem, they quickly realize that the problem goes deeper than a few false teachers in Antioch.

Because in Jerusalem, there is a second group of actual believers who are not denying that grace saves you. Their issue is more subtle. They’re saying: “Yes, grace may get you in the door, but if you want to be a fully legitimate, God-approved Christian, you still need circumcision and obedience to the Law of Moses.”

So, notice the difference:

• The false teachers in Antioch are saying, “You must DO works TO BE saved.”

• The religious believers in Jerusalem are saying, “Okay, maybe you’re saved, but you must continue those same works to be fully accepted as one of us (the saved ones!)”

Both teachings are dangerous, and both reveal the same underlying struggle, which leads to our next point as to why some people try to earn through works what God only gives by grace.

2. WE STRUGGLE TO BELIEVE GRACE COULD REALLY BE FREE (Acts 15:4–5)

“When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.’”

In this period, for many Jews, especially those from the party of the Pharisees, their greatest source of pride was their strict obedience to the Mosaic Law. They derived enormous indemnity from being morally and religiously distinct! In fact, the word “Pharisee” comes from a root word meaning “the separated ones.”

These men took great pride, from a young age, in memorizing large portions of Scripture, obeying dietary laws, Sabbath observance, and meticulous obedience to ritual purity. It was a matter of spiritual and national identity!

So you have to imagine how emotionally and psychologically destabilizing it was for them when the Gospel started to spread among non-Jews. Suddenly, massive numbers of uncircumcised pagans are being welcomed into the family of God through faith in Christ. The Pharisaic believers are now going: “Hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa… hold on now. Y’all can’t just walk in here and be on equal footing with those OF US who have devoted our entire lives to obeying God’s Law! This ain’t free!”

You see, grace threatened the entire system by which they had measured their spirituality. But hear me on this: THE CLOSER YOUR IDENTITY IS TIED TO RELIGIOUS PERFORMANCE, THE HARDER IT WILL BE FOR YOU TO CELEBRATE GOD’S GRACE, IN YOUR LIFE AND IN THE LIVES OF THOSE AROUND YOU.

What is happening in Acts 15 still happens today whenever we create unofficial “Christian Badges” people must wear to truly be considered one of us.

• Have you ever quietly judged a family’s seriousness about God because they’ve skipped church for a few months?

• If you are a hand-raising worshipper, have you ever given a side-eye to the non-hand raisers as if they love Jesus less?

• Have you ever assumed that a Christian who votes differently than you must somehow love Jesus less than you do?

• When it comes to spiritual gifts, for those of you who DON’T speak in tongues, have you ever given a side-eye to Christians who do speak in tongues and thought, “Good luck in hell!”

Listen, the issue underneath all those examples is the same issue with the Pharisaic believers in Acts 15: WE ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH A GRACE THAT GIVES EQUAL ACCESS TO PEOPLE WE SECRETLY FEEL HAVE NOT “PUT IN THE WORK.”

We want grace to be free…but not that free for “messy” people. Here’s the irony, though: For people who struggle with the biblical concept of freedom and grace, keep this in mind: GRACE MAY BE FREE TO YOU, BUT IT WAS NOT FREE TO GOD.

Colossians 2:14 says that our “record of debt”, that is, our list of public and secret sins, failures, and violations that stood against us, was “nailed to the cross.” What that means is that:

• Jesus paid for your forgiveness.

• Jesus absorbed the wrath of God.

• Jesus carried your shame.

• Jesus shed His blood and paid your debt in full so that you would not have to spend your life trying to earn acceptance before God through religious performance.

I suspect that the reason many religious people struggle with the freedom of grace is because we want to feel like we contributed something to help pay for our salvation. At least that way, we can say, “Hey, I tried!”

But that is the exact opposite of the Gospel! The Gospel is not: “Jesus helps those who help themselves.” The Gospel is: “I bring nothing to the table except my sin and my inability to save myself; I place my trust entirely in the finished work of Jesus Christ!”

That is the message of the Gospel: that you are saved from the eternal judgment of God by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone!

3. WE FORGET THAT GOD ALREADY SETTLED THE ISSUE THROUGH JESUS (Acts 15:6–12)

“The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Since this is the case, why are you putting God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.’ All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.”

There is some deep irony taking place in this scene. While the Pharisaic believers were busy debating whether Gentiles can truly belong to God without circumcision and Torah observance, God Himself had already made His position abundantly clear!

It’s what Peter is pointing to in verse 8 when he says: “God, who knows the heart, testified to them [by] giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us.”

So basically: The people you all are arguing about whether they can be Christians already have the Holy Spirit indwelling them! And if that wasn’t evidence enough, verse 12 has Paul and Barnabas sharing testimonies of all the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles!

See the irony?

While religious people are standing around debating whether Gentiles deserve access to the Kingdom, God has already swung the door wide open for them through Jesus Christ!

So here’s the question:

• How might you be placing extra spiritual or religious burdens on people that Jesus already welcomed by grace?

• Where are you quietly requiring people to “become like you” before you fully embrace them as brothers and sisters in Christ?

In the Nigerian church context, I can’t tell you the number of church leaders who insist that unless church members pray for a certain number of hours every day, you are not really “walking in the Spirit.” So what has ended up happening in the African church is that instead of prayer being communion with God, it has become a duty where spirituality is measured by your stamina in prayer. Unfortunately, this has been testified to in our Soul Care training for pastors in the city of Jos. What we’ve discovered is that Nigerian churches are filled with believers who are passionate prayer warriors in public gatherings, but who barely know the Father’s heart in private.

Yet God already settled the “access” issue through Jesus Christ.

I think this was the irony Peter was trying to point out in verse 10 when he says: “Why are you putting God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear?”

Biblical history shows that the Israelites constantly struggled to obey their own religious laws! It is one of the great ironies of religious legalism even today, in that, the people who are most religiously rigid are often the very people who fail to live up to their own religious standards!

I suspect there are many of you reading this now who love Jesus… but you’re quietly exhausted. Exhausted from trying to be good enough, exhausted from trying to prove yourself spiritually, exhausted from carrying religious burdens Jesus never asked you to carry. If that’s you, I want you to hear this, perhaps for the first time in a long while:

GOD IS INVITING YOU TO REST.

Not in yourself, or in your performance, but in Christ Jesus! The scandal of grace is that the people least qualified to receive it are the ones who are welcomed freely through Jesus Christ.

That is the invitation of Jesus Himself in Matthew 11:28 when He says to you, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened [heavy laden], and I will give you rest.”

If your heart’s cry today is to enter into the rest of Jesus Christ, that comes by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, perhaps the place to begin is simply to put down the Monopoly money. You were never going to be able to pay Him back anyway.

That’s the scandal… and that’s the beauty of grace.

PRAY: Lord Jesus, please help me lay down my performances. I need you more than I can imagine or will ever know. Please grant me peace in my spirit and help me rest in the work you have already done on my behalf. Help me walk with you faithfully and out of obedient love, not out of a desire to prove myself. Help me, Jesus.