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Theme:
Readings:
Mission of God’s People 1: Knowing the Story
Genesis 1:26 – 2:4a, Luke 24:19 – 27
Revelation 21:1 – 7
Today I want to look at the questions:
Who am I?
What am I here for?
Simple questions aren’t they?
Actually looking at Spiritual Gifts has been part of those questions. We’ll continue to
look at that, over time, through the Network course.
Today we are beginning a new series looking specifically at the second question. We
could give a simple answer – we are here to work with God in fulfilling God’s mission,
God’s plan to draw the whole world to himself.
There ya go! Easy – actually we want to consider what it looks like to do this. How
do we work with God? What does the Church look like when it is working with God?
We are going to consider lots of ways we can work with God – the ways the whole
church can work with God. It’s really good for us to see the BIG PICTURE.
So the first thing we want to say about churches that work with God are that
they/we need to know the story we are part of. You might be thinking that is really
obvious but is it? As evangelical Christians we focus on the story of the Gospel of
Christ; Good News indeed. Often most of what we read is in the New Testament but
the Story doesn’t begin there. It intensifies there but it’s not the starting point. On
the Emmaus road, Jesus teaches the disciples beginning with Moses and the
prophets. Lk 24:27
The first Christians were so passionate about Christ because they did know the BIG
PICTURE. They knew that Christ had come to fulfil the on-going work of God. They
knew that the Mission of God, into which God invited them and us, begins at
creation and ends with a new heaven and earth.
They knew this because they were immersed in the Hebrew Scriptures. We need to
look at the Scriptures as a whole in order to have a Biblical worldview; a holistic
picture of God at work. The Scriptures place demands on us but also give us a hope
that is absolutely amazing.
There are four major phases of creation history
– life – loss – love – new life
Creation – fall – redemption – new creation
Let’s look at them stage by stage:
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Creation – life!
Old joke - A scientist approaches God and says to Him: "God, we don't need You
anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing. We can
now do what You did in the beginning."
"Oh, is that so?" replies God.
"Yes," says the scientist, "We can take dirt and form it into a human likeness, and
breath life into it, thus, creating man."
"Well, that's very interesting," God said. "Show Me."
So the scientist reaches down, grabs a handful of dirt, and starts to mold the soil into
the shape of a man.
"No, no," interrupts God, "Get your own dirt!"
Actually we need to take the beginning of life seriously. Very often we skip over the
beginnings of human history. This is a mistake – in the creation story we see what
God intended us to be. The value of human life is spelled out so clearly. The
creation story tells us what God intended the world to be like. We’ll look at this in
much more depth next week. We’ll seek to address some questions about the
universe and what it means to be human.
Fall – loss
Disaster happened – it wasn’t an accident nor was it something that caught God
unawares – human beings deliberately chose disobedience rather than obedience
and trust.
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After the fall in Garden of Eden, Adam was walking with his sons Cain and Abel. They
passed by the ruins of the Garden of Eden. One of the boys asked, "What's that?"
Adam replied, "Boys, that's where your mother ate us out of house and home."
That’s a very bad joke – the story of the fall is a very sad one – Adam says “The
woman made me do it.” Eve says “The snake made me do it.” The reality is that
they were both to blame and we probably would have done the exact same thing.
Romans 1:18 – 32 makes terrible reading as it spells out the effects of sin. We look
at ourselves and the world around us and see how all of life is tainted. All of this is
the result of the fall:
 Physically – now we die; that wasn’t God’s original intention. Death is the
direct result of sin. Our environment itself is dying and decaying. All of
creation is groaning. Romans 8:21 - 23
 Intellectually – we use our minds to excuse our wickedness, to justify
ourselves, to build ourselves. There are so many individual and corporate
examples of this in Scripture and all around us. (Tower of Babel is an
example of corporate sin. Gen 11)
 Socially – all relationships are tainted – so often it is “me first”. War,
tribalism, disfunctional families, ethnic hatred etc abound.
 Spiritually - much of humanity is alienated from God.
We’ve come so far from God’s intentions for us. But we praise him that he didn’t
leave us there.
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Redemption – Love
Very often this is the point when we turn to the Cross. Of course the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus is pivotal to the salvation story but it isn’t the whole story. God
has been at work, saving the world, from the call of Abraham to the return of Christ.
Even before the call of Abraham there are many grace moments though – two
examples are Cain’s life preserved even though he deserves death and after the
flood there is the covenant never to destroy the earth again. Gen 5:15 and Gen 9
Some say that the OT is salvation failed and the New Testament is where God
succeeds. This is incorrect. We need to look at the scope of Scripture: God chose
Abraham specifically so that all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Chris
Wright calls Genesis 3:1 – 3 “The first Great Commission”. “Go …. be a blessing …. all
people’s on earth will be blessed through you.” Abraham and the people, who
would become the people of Israel, were the chosen vehicle to heal sin and division.
In the book of Exodus we see God setting his captured people free. God is Redeemer
and calls his people to show the nations around them what it means to be redeemed
by God. They are meant to demonstrate justice and peace in all their ways; to be a
light to the nations. As history rolls on they fall far short of God’s ideal but God
continues to hold out that ideal through the prophets. Not only did the prophets call
the people back to holy living, they also predicted the means through which this holy
living is possible.
Israel failed but God’s plan didn’t. God’s goal was to save all of humanity and
creation. God has never faltered in pursuing that plan. Many of you will know the
poem, The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson. It tells of a man who tries to get
away from God; it personifies the story of humanity and of course ends as the man is
found by the persistent Hound of Heaven. So God has always been pursuing us. We
see this most clearly as Jesus is born “when the set time had come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman.” Gal 4:4 Humanity experienced God’s reign in a new way through
Jesus; never before had we seen God face-to-face. Never before had we seen his
goodness so directly, nor felt his power so naturally. Never before had grace been
embodied nor forgiveness and freedom demonstrated so literally. Jesus life’ and the
later witness of the disciples led people to challenge societal norms and powers.
When we studied Colossians we talked about how radical it was for them to say
“Jesus is Lord” as opposed to “Caesar is Lord.” Yet the Kingdom of God as it came, is
a strange Kingdom – an upside down Kingdom where humility and servanthood were
the norm.
We’ve just celebrated Easter and so it’s fresh in our minds that Jesus’ cross and
resurrection is the pivotal point of God’s redemption plan. Jesus defeated the
powers of sin and darkness once and for all. Through the Exodus God redeemed his
people and shaped them into the nation of Israel. Through Christ God redeemed his
people and then poured out his Holy Spirit and the church was born.
As part of the church today, we need to remember that the power of the Holy Spirit
is available to us just as he was to Jesus. We need to access that power through
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Christ so we can be people living “as a transformed and transforming community of
reconciliation and blessing in the world” until Christ comes again.1 Too often people
finish the story at redemption and don’t talk about the climax of all history.
New Creation – New Life
The final, and eternal stage of God’s plan, will be ushered in by the return of Christ.
Then all of creation will be redeemed and renewed for all of eternity. Judgment is an
early part of that stage whether we like it or not. Judgment brings about the
complete end of evil. Jesus’ victory signaled evil has been beaten and will ultimately
end. Judgment brings about the actual end of all evil.
And when evil is disposed of, there is the promise of a new heaven and a new earth.
Revelation 21:1 – 7
I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had
disappeared, and so had the sea. 2 Then I saw New Jerusalem, that holy city, coming
down from God in heaven. It was like a bride dressed in her wedding gown and
ready to meet her husband.
3 I heard a loud voice shout from the throne:
God’s home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own.
Yes, God will make his home among his people. 4 He will wipe all tears from their
eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the
past are gone forever.
5 Then the one sitting on the throne said:
I am making everything new. Write down what I have said. My words are true and
can be trusted. 6 Everything is finished! I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and
the end. I will freely give water from the life-giving fountain to everyone who is
thirsty. 7 All who win the victory will be given these blessings. I will be their God, and
they will be my people.
This is the story; this is the BIG PICTURE we are part of: creation through the fall
through redemption history with the Jewish people, hinging on Jesus Christ, through
to new creation and eternity with God. We should be the most joyful, happy on
earth because we know and celebrate the Story we are in. L”Chaim – to the life that
we can be part of! Halelujah
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Chris Wright, The Mission of God’s People, 43.