A sharing God
Have you ever wondered why God asks us to be involved in his mission to his world? Couldn’t he do it without our help? Wouldn’t it be done better if he did it on his own? In one sense, the answers to those questions have to be ‘yes’: of course God can manage without us. At the same time, there is something about who God is that means he will also want to share his work with others – to involve them in it and for them to share the joy, and even the glory, of participating with him in a job well done. Fundamentally, God the Father shares his work with God the Son. In fact, “every spiritual blessing” that we have (Ephesians 1:3) comes to us only through the Son. Then, not surprisingly, God delights to involve even us in his work. At heart, he is a sharing God.
Here is how Bruce Ware puts it in his wonderful little book, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: “One of the most astonishing features of the Father’s distinctive work is his willingness and desire to accomplish his work through others … [when he is] the one who can do anything he wants, by himself and without any assistance, but who instead determines to do so much of his work through another … As we look at how the Father operates, we are given reason to marvel at just how sharing he is. He delegates a portion of his meaningful work to others, and rejoices over their participation. Surely this is a model of how we can and should understand the ‘work of ministry’ in the body of Christ…” (pp64-65).