Every good work we do in the name of Christ contributes to the final coming of His Kingdom. And yet, even if we fail completely in the works to which God has called us, His Kingdom will come anyway.
I find this strangely comforting when I think about our situation here in Dulwich Hill. God has called us together here to be his witnesses in this community. He has brought us together, I believe, to play that special role in caring for people on the periphery of our society. He has called us together to build us into that all-inclusive Christian community. And if we are willing to make the sacrifices and follow Christ and open our hearts and open our homes, then we will see God’s deliverance come to this place. And if we fail to do it, then, I guess ‘deliverance will come from another quarter’. God will choose some other group to do it. We’ll miss out on the privilege of being involved in that wonderful work. The work of the Kingdom of God will go on.
There is a beautiful perspective there in the book of Esther, I think, that takes seriously the ordinary secular human world in which we live in, and which recognises the validity of human decision making, and yet which, at the same time, recognises that this world is God’s world first and last, and that our decisions and actions, while significant, cannot ultimately over-rule God’s decisions about the future of this world.
We are real players in the divine drama, but ultimately He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the creator and He is the saviour. His is the future and His is the Kingdom. And if we can serve Him then we must serve Him. And if we fail, then we fail. And ‘If we perish, we perish’. And yet we can say in