Not all things are possible with God

We so glibly quote the expression, “all things are possible with God”, which is technically valid, yet practically invalid. God cannot sin, not because it is impossible (He would be a machine if that were so), but because He is righteous. He cannot deny His own (as Paul said), without denying Himself. He will never tempt us. He will never destroy the earth by water again. He will never revoke His covenant with Abraham. I could go on – suffice to say there are a lot of things he cannot or will not do.

He also cannot go to church for you or love your family as you should or go to work so you can have bread on the table. Those things are obvious, but there are things you can do better than He can. He cannot relate to other people as readily and tangibly as you can – He did once, but His mission was to die not to relate, per se. No one can reach or touch the person next to you more effectively than you can.

So God effectively delegates such roles to us as individuals and, corporately, as the church. The elegance of the church is that it is so self-maintaining. Its mere existence facilitates ongoing connection, support and discipleship – not just through the formal aspects of church life, but almost more importantly through the organic life of the church.

God is into delegation (wrong term, right principle). The Father has a limited role – He could not bear the cross and also validate it, so He stood aloof of Christ’s suffering, so that Jesus would be vindicated and thus not die in vain. Jesus also has a limited role. He is our high priest, our mediator – He stands between God and us. The Holy Spirit has another, separate and distinctive role. Yet, those roles are so indivisible and mutually compatible that we see the Lord God as one.

That expresses something of God’s heart for us. Not to have divisions, departments and hierarchies, but to be an integral part of the whole, stakeholders and fellow heirs of His kingdom, yet distinguished by our different roles. We don’t go to church – that is a clergy-laity throwback to pre-Lutheranism – we are the church and we each have a stake in the advancement and fulfillment of Christ’s restorative mandate on earth.

Not only are these principles valid to church life they also inform our everyday interactions. Delegation is to leadership, what discipleship is to the church – in raising individuals from sheep to stakeholders. Its about equipping, handing over and letting go. Yes there will still be balancing roles, but that does not detract from the idea of empowering individuals to become vital, integrated stakeholders and pillars in the house of God and in the workplace – until we are able to say, “I don’t work the organisation – I am the organisation.”

(c) Peter Eleazar @ http://www.4u2live.net/

Image courtesy of: ScSV.nevada.org