Big Idea: The story of God and His mission is the compelling answer to who we are, what we are here for, and why our personal stories matter! Will you contribute a verse? What part will you play?
INTRODUCTION
I have been reminded in the past couple of weeks of how small I can feel at times in this world. It’s a smallness that leads to existential questions of why I exist – who am I – what on earth am I even here for.
What, you might ask, could lead to such existential questions?
On the lighter side, one initiator was Google Earth. I was messing around on my phone app showing Penelakut Island, British Columbia to my family in preparation for a short term trip I just took. And I was struck once again by the way the app even works when you start out with the globe spinning and then you hit “location” and it just zooms in so narrowly to where you are OR where you want to see.
It’s a vivid reminder to me of the speck of dust that we are in light of the scope of earth (let alone this galaxy… let alone OTHER galaxies – the universe). That in terms of “space”, we are so small. The earth from space zoomed down to our little tiny block of ground and building while all around us is a world teaming with 7.25 billion people located in their tiny square of ground!
Me… among 7 billion people in this world. What difference do I make? Does it matter what I do? Who I am? What does my story have to contribute to this space?
On the more sobering side, another initiator of these thoughts was the funeral I attended this week for a friend’s mother. Funerals seem to always lead rightly to existential / purpose-type questions, don’t they? Just as Google Earth makes me think of my place in “space” – the scope of the universe – a funeral makes me think of the smallness of my place in time.
Like if I drew a timeline [draw on glass] even going back just 2,000 years and considered my years on it within the scope of ALL the people of the world who have every lived, so what?
What does it matter that I have lived?
My time and space is so microscopic! Not even a speck of marker dust!
Our time and space is so microscopic!
Do you ever ask questions like these? Feel insignificant in the scope of the world?
If we are to “seize the day” AND “contribute a verse,” as Walt Whitman suggests, but we are so small in the scope of time and space, what story could we possibly be part of so as to warrant our participation? To need our contribution?
Today’s message, for me and I believe for you, answers this last question especially. It tells us what we are here for. There is a story so compelling that though we might be so small in the scope of time and space, our life story does matter because we are called to contribute a verse – we are called to write a paragraph that pushes the story along to its completion!
And we find that story as we come to the end of our Legacy series – and I don’t just mean the end of this chapter called “The Dawn of the Church.” I have been given the privilege of bringing to a close our 8 year journey through the narrative (storyline) of Scripture.
RE-CAP and OVERVIEW:
We started in Genesis 1 with the purpose of walking together through the narrative of the Scriptures – the story. This meant we did not preach from the Poetic and Wisdom Literature (like Psalms or Ecclesiastes); nor did we preach from the Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos, and others. Both at times informed how we interpreted and preached the narrative, but we did not preach from those texts.
With the New Testament, we are ending here with Acts. Why not the letter of Paul and others that follow, you might ask? Because they are not part of the narrative. The story of recorded Scripture ends with Acts. So today we end our Legacy series narrative.
Now, because of the importance of the letters of the NT, book of Revelation, and the poets and prophets of the OT, we will be doing some “PS – postscript” Legacy series – Legacy Revisited - starting this fall when we will at the major themes of Paul’s letters.
Legacy was about us as a church learning the story of Scripture – increasing our knowledge and understanding of what is actually in this book, the Bible. But with that, we also wanted us to see how this story then implicates us for today – how knowing the story leads us into the mission of God. We need to know the story because it is in the story that we understand what God is doing in the world – God’s mission.
So what I want to do today for us is recap this story that we have been preaching through all of these years BECAUSE it is the story of God and His mission in time and space that is the only story – in my opinion – captivating enough to bring significance to the tiny, small, microscopic place we have in this world.
The story of God and His mission is the compelling answer to who we are, what we are here for, and why our personal stories matter!
And we launch into that recap from the end of Acts.
Turn with me to Acts 28:30-31. As you turn, here’s what has happened:
· Paul has been arrested on trumped up charges by his opponents
· He appeals to Rome in his trial
· He takes a harrowing journey across the Mediterranean and arrives safely by God’s grace in Rome.
That was Acts 21-28. J
GOD:
And here’s how the story concludes:
Acts 28:30-31
For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!
In these words we get a clue into the story of God because of one key phrase: “the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ”.
Why would I say that?
The end of Acts highlights Paul doing what Jesus did from start to finish in his ministry life on earth: proclaiming the good news of the gospel of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. And that gospel of the kingdom is the heartbeat of God’s story throughout Scripture. It is what we have been preaching for 8 years through Legacy. The narrative of Scripture stands with God as the main character and God’s mission – i.e. the coming of this gospel of the kingdom – as the big idea – the theme / plotline of the whole story!
Let’s take a look – and to do so, get your bulletin out for me and turn to the “Message Notes” page. (lots of Scripture coming on screen)
We have purposefully put together this simple set of symbols as a way to remember and share the story of God. Simple enough to remember to write on a napkin if you wanted to in sharing with someone about God and God’s story that all people are meant to be part of.
And of course we start with the beginning… kind of:
(explain each symbol as drawn on glass before the reading of the first Scripture)
Chapter 1 - Creation
Genesis 1:1-2; 26-27
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. […] 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness… So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Why did God create? Well arguably you could say, “For the fun of it.” But I believe the deeper reason lies one step before Chapter 1 (Creation). It lies in the very nature of God as Trinity. God created because God is love – love is what God has been and has been doing outside of time prior to creation. What do I mean?
TRINITY
We believe God is Triune – three-in-one – Father, Son, Holy Spirit (3) who are God (1). It is the idea we call the Trinity.
Now the Trinity is a word that is never found in the Bible to describe God, but the picture / image of the Trinity is found in numerous places:
· One being what we just read – the word “our” when text reflects God speaking about creating
· Other places especially seen in the New Testament when the Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus were all present in key scenes / events like Jesus’ baptism – Father speaks from heaven, Jesus is called the Father’s Son, and the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus.
· Finally other references are seen in the letters where the three are connected such as 2 Corinthians 13:14 when Paul ends the letter with this benediction:
o “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
But what does it mean for God to be Trinity – triune? And how is it significant to the story?
In simple explanation for now – it is our way of saying that God is and always has been in eternal relationship within God’s self, a relationship between the three of giving, receiving, and sharing love. This is why the Scriptures say that God is love. Because the essence of God before time and space were even created was love:
Trinity = God three-in-one giving, receiving, and sharing love
God’s mission, if you will then, was love – to love within the Godhead; love is what God did. And ultimately and most prominently this is the simplest way of speaking of God’s mission still to this day – and in my opinion, will be God’s mission (purpose if you prefer that word) into all eternity. God will love.
And THEREFORE creation, as described in the stories of Genesis 1-2, is God’s act to extend love beyond the Godhead – to “make” a world with beings that would also give, receive, and share love NOT ONLY with the triune God, but also with one another:
· love between created world and God
· love between created beings and God
· love within created beings
· …and love between the created world and created beings.
Creation was an act of love. The created order was made to be loved and to love.
And then that mission of (giving and receiving and sharing) LOVE was messed up through what we commonly call “The Fall.”
Chapter 2 - Rebellion
But you will notice, we’ve chosen a different word for this “CHAPTER” of the story: rebellion. “Fall” honestly sounds too passive. Rebellion is what really happened – active choice to push back against and away from the triune God of Love.
And this chapter of the story is not just Genesis 3. The storyline indicates really that Genesis 3-11 is all an expression of the love of God being rebelled against.
We see it first in Genesis 3 with Eve and Adam’s choice to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, bringing curses from God onto the human race because of their individual rebellion and banishment from the unhindered communion with God that they enjoyed in the garden:
Genesis 3:22-23
And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
This is a picture of individual rebellion. But we also see corporate rebellion as it pervades the rest of Genesis 3-11. The Noah story:
Genesis 6:5, 12
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. […] 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
“Every inclination is evil all the time” – a statement repeated even after the flood...
Even the Tower of Babel story in Genesis 11 highlights this corporate rebellion with as humanity’s pride to make a name for themselves too prominence.
Chapter 1 – creation created in love for love by the God who is love.
Chapter 2 – rebellion against that loving God
So what does God do? God calls a people to belong to Him that they might be a blessing to the whole world.
Called People of God
This calling comes to a man named Abram:
Genesis 12:1-3
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
The importance of this passage CANNOT be overemphasized in my opinion. It sets up the vision of God’s mission for the rest of the storyline of Scripture!
God in His love has been a “missionary” God from the very beginning! And in calling a people to belong to Him, he was seeking to accomplish His mission for the whole world. God called Abram, whose name he later changed to Abraham, in order to bless him and his family line – namely his son Isaac, grandson Jacob, and the Jacob’s sons - SO THAT they might be a blessing to the nations.
We see God’s pursuit of blessing for the whole world – all nations - continued in His selection of a people through the line of Jacob to be His very own – to represent Him to the world: Israel.
Exodus 6:2-8
God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. …I will redeem… I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God…. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”
This deliverance was purposed for the story of God and His mission to continue.
“God redeemed the whole Israelite nation out of Egypt. And God did so with clear purpose… Israel was redeemed to fulfill the promise God had made to Abraham, that all nations on earth should find blessing through his descendants. Israel was redeemed for a reason.” Christopher Wright, The Mission of God’s People
They were redeemed for the sake of the nations. They were delivered to demonstrate the difference of following God as the one true God – YHWH. Remember, in their day, gods were worshipped everywhere. What was going to distinguish YHWH as the one true God? Israel!
The called people of God demonstrating this difference THROUGH: their new vocation as seen through living according to the Law, God’s presence with them moving from location to location AND THEN their possession of the promised land.
The rest of the NARRATIVE of the OT then – i.e. Exodus through Judges, Samuel, Kings, Ezra-Nehemiah (with commentary from the poets and prophets) - describes the challenge for Israel to LIVE their identity as the called people of God:
· …blessed to be a blessing
o …delivered to demonstrate the difference of a people who follow this God, YHWH
And in that challenge, the narrative and commentary shows us how much they struggled to live this call – a struggle marked by recurring rebellion - choices that would lead them into sin that was judged by God and punished through exile out of the promised land.
HOWEVER it was not narrative without hope. Though rebellious and sinful, they were still the called people of God and so they still had a mission to fulfill on behalf of God.
So the OT storyline ends with Israel’s story of return from exile – rebuilding the temple and city wall, WAITING for their restoration to be completed – waiting for (their) Messiah!
Jesus
Enter: Jesus – God incarnate, God in human form, God being made known in the Son of God coming to earth.
Of all things we can say about Jesus, we first must say that His coming was part of this story. Jesus’ entrance into the world wasn’t a random “drop” into the story for the sake of saving individuals for eternity. Jesus’ entrance into the story was exactly that: to be part of the story of God and God’s mission of love for all creation, including individuals!
Jesus’ entrance was God’s UNEXPECTED answer to Israel’s wait NOT ONLY for a Messiah, but their wait for restoration – a restoration to the world as it was supposed to be where God is King in Jesus Christ and His kingdom is come to rule the world! But just as it was never to just be for them in the OT - as we know because of the call of Abraham (chosen to be blessed in order to be a blessing to the nations) – so now His entrance is NOT just for Israel, but for the whole world: Jew, Gentile, and even created order!
We see this kingdom reality in Jesus’ own choice of reading from the OT Scriptures at the time of His first sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth:
Luke 4:17-21
Unrolling (the scroll of Isaiah), he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down…saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
We hear this kingdom reality in His first public proclamation as He began His ministry and called His disciples:
Mark 1:14-15, 17
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! […] Come, follow me!”
We recognize it in His teachings – teachings highlighted by the Sermon on the Mount but including also His many parables and even what was learned through His actions like healings and driving out demons.
And we ultimately realize the entrance of the King and His kingdom’s triumphant reality in Jesus’ sacrificial death, life-giving resurrection, and empowering ascension!
Israel was waiting for complete restoration to come from their Messiah. And God went beyond their expectations, choosing in Jesus Christ to come Himself to not only restore Israel, but to inaugurate the restoration project of the whole of creation to be as it was supposed to be from the beginning. To inaugurate the restoration project of putting the world to rights including the reconciliation of humans to God, with one another, and with the created order. The kingdom coming to put the world to rights THROUGH ALL humanity repairing and healing…
· People’s separation from God
· The brokenness and pain of people’s bodies, minds, and spirits
· The experience isolation so many know
· Discrimination, racism, war, and genocide
· The physical creation’s decay
· Ending injustices that result in oppressive systems of poverty, hunger, disease, and slavery (among others).
Chapter 1 – Creation
Chapter 2 – Rebellion of the creatures
Chapter 3 – Called People of God blessed to be a blessing to the nations; expected to demonstrate the difference of their God and His ways
Chapter 4 – Jesus – the good news of the gospel of the Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ! (how God became King and His kingdom triumphantly entered the world)
Which leads us to Chapter 5 and the spreading of this good news! It is what we have been hearing these past 7 weeks – the dawn of the church as the sent people of God!
Sent People of God
At the time of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to his disciples, he spoke these words:
John 20:21-22
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
The commissioning of these words is fulfilled in the story of Acts 2 and subsequent stories as the Holy Spirit is poured out into the lives of the disciples and all those who later chose to follow Jesus.
And with this empowering, the people of God – the church – is sent on mission with God.
As Chris Wright states:
“It is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. …the church was made for mission – God’s mission.” Christopher Wright, The Mission of God
The church is sent as Jesus was sent – sent to proclaim in word and deed this full gospel of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ that touches all 6 broken places.
It is a mission whose culmination will come one day when the final chapter of the story is written by God with the new creation coming down. Because ONE DAY, this kingdom coming will be the kingdom come and the dream of God from the beginning of creation will finally be fulfilled!
New Creation
Revelation 21:1-4
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Revelation 22:1-3
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse.
Did you notice echo of Genesis 3? No longer any curse! On each side of the river, the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations! No more pain, mourning, death, or tears. Unhindered communion with God – as it was meant to be in the first place!
This is the culmination of the story of God! {CG: Show slide of symbols on screen}
· Creation
· Rebellion
· Called people of God
· Jesus
· Sent people of God
· New Creation
It will be done. What was supposed to be at the beginning WILL BE!
This is what the whole story has been pointing to from the beginning – yes even Genesis: unhindered communion of the creation and created ones giving, receiving, and sharing the love of the triune God!
But this is the end of the story that is not the end; rather it is the true beginning!
The END of the story… that isn’t the end!!!!! Because it (is the end that) reminds us of the vision that matters for us in this day. This ending picture of Revelation is the culmination of the kingdom of God – all of God’s desires / dreams fulfilled – and Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” NOW!
And so this is the story that you and I are implicated into IN ORDER to find our purpose… to contribute our verse… to write our paragraph!
WE:
This is the story that is so compelling for you and me – that tiny, small, and insignificant as we are in terms of space and time – our participation is necessary and vital. Our contribution MATTERS!
It is the story that each of us as followers of Jesus must know because of its compelling nature…BECAUSE it is the compelling answer to who we are, what we are here for, and why our personal stories matter!
It is the story that leads us to our understanding of our intended place in that story – what our hope-filled mission in this world of space and time – is all about.
It is the story that WE CONTINUE TO WRITE because we live between Acts and Revelation 21-22 (show on board) – claiming in advance, as NT Wright says, this world as the place of God’s kingdom, of Jesus’ lordship, and of the Spirit’s power!
It is the story that tells us that the principal theme throughout the Scriptures is God’s love, a theme expressly conveyed after the rebellion as God’s rescue and recreation of the whole world, the entire cosmos - God’s mission of His kingdom coming where…
WHAT WAS INTENDED in the beginning and WHAT WILL BE in the end (is) becoming WHAT IS!
And we who are followers of Jesus are the agents of God MEANT to make this happen! We are sent as Jesus was sent, empowered by His Spirit to see this good news of the gospel of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ expanded and extended into this world for the here and now, for the sake of all nations, all peoples – the whole of creation.
Sent to continue to write the story of God and His mission with God!
The story of God and His mission is the compelling answer to who we are, what we are here for, and why our personal stories matter!
Will you contribute a verse?
What will your paragraph of the story say?