Given that we live as invited guests in God’s creation, it follows that to live well one must live according to God’s rules. This sounds simple enough except for one problem: sin.
The first humans, Adam and Eve, were placed in the Garden of Eden and given one rule, which they chose to disregard. And because one of God’s principles is reproduction after your own kind (Genesis 1:24), the sin of Adam and Eve not only impacted them but their heirs as well. Therefore the ability for humans to obey God is impaired by sin.
The solution for sin is Christ. Humans who receive the grace of God through Christ are then empowered by God to obey, albeit our obedience is never perfect. But God’s grace through Christ is extended to us to cover even our imperfections.
Humans without Christ have no ability, in and of themselves, to obey God well enough to be acceptable to him (Romans 3:23), but even humans who are in rebellion against God have some limited ability to obey God. Theologians call this "Common Grace".
Common grace refers to the power granted by God to all humans—regardless of their relationship with God—to obey some of God’s rules. Common grace is not efficacious for salvation from the penalty of sin, that is, eternal death, but it enables humans to function on a rudimentary level in God’s universe. For example, workers are driven to work because of their desire to eat (Proverbs 16:26); sometimes fools are able to resist the urge to talk when they shouldn’t talk (Proverbs 17:28); and on occasion wicked leaders can humble themselves (2 Chronicles 12:12).
The only reason rebellious people would seek to obey God is that obedience is pragmatically efficacious. Common grace provides a way for rebellious people to survive and, even seemingly, to prosper in God’s universe.
But common grace has a limit. According to Hosea 14:9, humans—living in a state of rebellion against God—can survive by obeying God for a time, but ultimately they will stumble in their attempts to obey. When they stumble, their ability to productively contribute to the value proposition of any organization is marred. The extent to which they stumble is the extent to which their ability to contribute has become counterproductive.
The conundrum is this, at what point does common grace break down? Scripture does not provide much guidance on this point, but we know that common grace has a limit. Therefore it is dangerous for any manager or leader to build an organization with people who are limited in their ability to contribute based on common grace alone.
Here is your business tip. It is unclear how effectively a person can build an organization with people living in rebellion against God and functioning on common grace. But we know there is a limit. A wiser way to build organizations is to build with people who are living under the grace of Christ. These people are empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey God’s will and ways and therefore will enjoy the blessings that flow from obedience. Wise managers recognize their responsibility to build multi-generationally and will not seek to build with people living under the limitations of common grace. Rather they will seek to build with people living according to the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. |
