Community Renewal (Gospel Renewal Series 4 of 6)

Earlier we learned that a biblical vision for renewal includes a vision for the renewal of individuals, churches, and communities through the power of the gospel. Now we’re taking a deeper look at what the Bible teaches about community renewal.

Just like personal and church renewal, the primary source of power for community renewal is found in God’s Spirit at work in the local church through the gospel – the person and work of the ascended and ruling King Jesus.

The good news is that God graciously gives all who repent and believe in Christ, not only a new status, a new heart, a new Spirit, and a new community (the church), but also the promise of a coming new world when Jesus returns to establish his kingdom on earth forever.

The Scriptures teach that there are two ways to understand the kingdom of God on the earth. One way refers to how God’s kingdom will come on the earth in all its fullness when Jesus returns. This is the “not yet” aspect of God’s kingdom. The other way refers to how God’s kingdom already has come to earth in a partial way through Jesus at his first coming. This is the already aspect of God’s kingdom.

A common problem throughout the history of the church is neglecting to emphasize a biblical balance between the not yet and the already aspects of God’s kingdom on the earth.

For example, some overemphasize the future coming of God’s kingdom to earth (not yet) to the neglect of a biblical emphasis on how God’s kingdom has, and is, already coming on the earth (already). The result is a failure to embrace the biblical role of the church in community and societal renewal.

Likewise, others overemphasize the present coming of God’s kingdom on earth (already) to the neglect of a biblical emphasis on how God’s kingdom will come to earth in the future (not yet). The result is an unbiblical overemphasis on the role of the church in community and societal renewal.

Lesslie Newbigin gives us helpful insights into a biblical understanding of the relationship of the church to the kingdom and culture by using three nouns: “The church is a sign, an instrument, and a foretaste of God’s Kingdom.”

As a sign, the local church is meant to embody the gospel of the kingdom in word and deed for all to see. The church is to be a kingdom outpost in Satan’s domain of darkness, pointing to the light that will one day, at Jesus’ return, dispel all the darkness in the world.

As an instrument, the local church is meant to intentionally, courageously, and optimistically use all the means of grace through which God normally works to see God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven (the already) today.

As a foretaste of God’s kingdom, the church is meant to be like an appetizer, through which people actually see and taste what is to come in the new heavens and new earth when Jesus returns to make all things new (not yet) 

We need to keep a balance between seeing the church as both an “already instrument” of God’s kingdom in society today and a “not yet sign and foretaste” of God’s kingdom to come in its fullness when Jesus returns.

Abraham Kuyper gives us a helpful way to maintain this biblical balance by understanding the church as both a gathered institution and a scattered organism.

To see the church as a gathered institution means to see it as periodically gathering together for the central purpose of making disciples through the means of grace. This includes the preaching and teaching of the Bible, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, prayer, and fellowship under the oversight of ordained church elders. These are the primary marks of the institutional church.

But we must also learn to see the church as a scattered organism. This is when the church regularly scatters all those individual church members throughout all their diverse spheres and disciplines of life with the central purpose of making God’s invisible kingdom visible over all their areas of life – to be salt and light to a culture in decay and darkness.

Churches that embrace their God-given purposes as both a gathered institution and a scattered organism become kingdom outposts in the domain of darkness bringing light to their communities and to the nations.

When they gather on the Lord’s Day as the institutional church for worship, the preaching, sacraments, prayer, and fellowship, they are experiencing a foretaste of what will one day be their home territory. When they gather, they’re renewed and equipped as they learn how to live out the principles of the kingdom in the world.

And when they leave, they become the church as organism scattered as individuals like salt and light into all their spheres of public life where they put those kingdom principles into practice.

As the church scattered they integrate their faith into all aspects of their work and they serve the poor, the oppressed, the sick, and the uneducated. They stand against all forms of injustice and fight for righteousness. And they make art and music that bears witness to the beauty and glory of their future eternal home in the new heavens and earth.

In this time filled with spiritual darkness, cultural, and societal decay, God means for his church corporately, and followers of Christ individually, to be compelling signs and foretastes of his kingdom that will come as well as effective instruments through which his kingdom is coming today.

A vision for gospel renewal is not only for the renewal of individuals and churches, but also for the renewal of whole communities. History has proven that the health of a community is often linked to the health of the churches that promote not only evangelism and the discipleship of individuals, but also the common good of the community.

This is why our vision for individual renewal must include and lead to church renewal. And our vision for church renewal must include and lead to the renewal of communities through gospel renewal movements.

This is how spiritual, social, and cultural renewal takes place. And this is how great awakenings are born, because this is how the gospel renews individuals, churches, and communities.

Church Renewal (Gospel Renewal Series 3 of 6)

Earlier, we learned that a biblical vision for renewal includes a vision for the renewal of individuals, churches, and communities through the transforming power of the gospel. Now we’re taking a deeper look at what the Bible teaches about church renewal.

Like personal renewal, the primary source of power for church renewal is found in God’s Spirit at work in the local church through the person and work of Jesus Christ (the gospel). The good news is that God graciously gives all who repent and believe in Christ, not only a new status, a new heart, a new Spirit, and a promised new world, but also a new community – the church.

When the Holy Spirit unites us to God in Christ individually, he also unites us to Christ’s body, the Church, corporately. The Church is God’s new humanity on earth through which he carries out his mission to redeem and renew all things. Jesus refers to the Church as a new society on earth that is like a great city on a hill. It's a new and better society that stands in stark contrast to the oppression, injustice, and brokenness on earth today.

In Christ, this communion of believers builds itself up in love to bring honor to God as they pray and work toward seeing “his kingdom come and his will be done” through their lives, individually and corporately.

God’s will for his church is their oneness with him through abiding in Christ. Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). So it’s only by abiding in Christ that he will bear the spiritual fruit of renewal in and through our lives and churches.

So how did the first century church build itself up in love and abide in Christ to honor God and see his kingdom come in and through them?

Acts 2 tells us they prayed and worshipped God (42, 47), they learned the Apostles’ teaching (42), they had all things in common and broke bread and received their food with glad and generous hearts (44, 46), and they sold their possessions and gave generously to those who had need (45). What was the result? They had “favor with all the people” and “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (47).

One of the keys to renewal is for a church to experience oneness by abiding in Christ through alignment with God’s purposes. In Acts 2 we learn that some of these essential purposes include prayer, worship, learning, fellowship, mercy, and evangelism.

These biblical purposes should be seen as vital signs of healthy individuals and churches. The goal of church renewal should not be seen as growth in numbers, but growth in spiritual health by developing and strengthening these purposes as vital signs of church health.

These purposes should also be seen as the primary means Christ uses to build his church and fulfill his mission by restoring people to himself, one another, their community, and the world. To understand the biblical dynamics of church renewal, it’s helpful to integrate the biblical purposes for the church, with God’s mission of restoration:

• Restoring people to God includes developing a God-centered vision, biblical worship, Christ-centered preaching, and kingdom prayer.

•  Restoring people to one another includes developing effective discipleship pathways and healthy community groups.

•  Restoring people to their community includes developing effective evangelism, acts of mercy and justice, and integrating faith and work.

• Restoring people to the world includes developing world missions and church leaders who will lead ongoing renewal movements.

To help us deepen our understanding of church renewal, let’s briefly examine some of the essential biblical purposes for the church as a means of restoring people to God, one another, their community, and the world.

Restoring people to God

Vision: Developing vision includes helping people lift up their eyes to see how their life stories are meant to converge with God’s unfolding story of creation, redemption, and the restoration of all things in Christ. The vision is all about God: God’s glory, God’s kingdom, God’s church, and God’s gospel.

Worship: Developing worship includes helping people learn how to worship God with their whole being – understanding, affections, and behaviors. It also includes learning the importance of the biblical means of grace in worship and the essential elements of God-centered worship.

Prayer: Developing prayer includes helping people understand the nature and importance of prayer and the connection between prayer and the kingdom of God. It also includes equipping people to pray God-centered, kingdom prayers persistently and in faith.

Preaching: Developing preaching includes helping people understand the essential marks of biblical, Christ-centered preaching as a primary means of grace for individual and church renewal. It also includes helping people understand how the gospel applies to unbelievers and believers.

Restoring people to one another

Discipleship: Developing discipleship includes helping people learn how to become fully devoted followers of Christ by applying the truths of Scripture to their hearts and lives in the community of believers. It also includes learning intentional discipleship strategies and pathways.

Groups: Developing groups includes helping people understand the biblical vision and nature of a new community as God’s means of building up his people.  It also includes equipping people to lead healthy community groups and raise up and shepherd group leaders.

Restoring people to their community

Evangelism: Developing evangelism includes helping people understand the essential beliefs of the gospel from both the personal salvation and cosmic restoration perspectives. It also includes helping people learn the biblical goals, motivations, and methods of effective evangelism.

Mercy: Developing mercy includes helping people gain a biblical view of the nature and priority of mercy in ministry. It also involves developing ministries to the poor, in and outside the church, and equipping people to do acts of mercy and justice in their spheres of influence.

Work: Developing work includes helping people learn how to integrate their faith with their work by gaining a biblical understanding of work as a calling from God. It also includes helping people understand how their work relates to God’s mission and why work matters forever.

Restoring people to the world

Missions: Developing missions includes helping people learn a biblical, theological, and practical perspective toward Christian missions. It also includes helping people understand why missions is an issue of Lordship and the relationship between joy and missions.

Renewal: Developing renewal includes helping people learn the biblical foundations for individual, church, and community renewal found in God’s Spirit at work through the gospel. It also includes equipping people to apply renewal dynamics to their personal lives and ministries.

Leadership: Developing leadership includes helping people understand the biblical purpose, nature, and role of church leaders. It also includes helping people learn the biblical qualifications for church leadership and the principles and methods for equipping church leaders.

Since the goal in renewal is oneness with God and his purposes for the church, a local church must always be aligning and realigning its purposes to be one with God’s purposes. Healthy churches are marked by continually striving for greater alignment with God’s purposes so that God will be glorified, his kingdom come, and his will be done through them.

Personal Renewal (Gospel Renewal Series 2 of 6)

In the last article, we learned that a biblical vision for renewal includes a vision for the renewal of individuals, churches, and communities through the transforming power of the gospel. Now we’re taking a deeper look at what the Bible teaches about personal (individual) renewal.

The key to personal renewal is understanding and applying the gospel as God’s ultimate solution to all problems of life. In Mark 1:14-15, Jesus teaches how to apply the gospel to our lives: “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”

Repentance and faith are two dynamics of a spiritual combustion cycle that God means to be at work in our hearts at all times, renewing and changing us into the image of his Son. To experience the transforming power of the gospel, we must be walking in obedience to God by continually repenting and believing in the gospel in reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit.

To help us better understand what it means to experience personal renewal by living a life of obedience through ongoing repentance and belief in the gospel, let’s take a deeper look at the meaning of the gospel. Earlier we saw that the gospel is the good news that the Father’s creation, ruined by the Fall, is being redeemed by Christ and restored by the Holy Spirit into the Kingdom of God. This is a broad, sweeping overview of the good news we are to believe.

But as we go deeper into the biblical meaning of the gospel, we learn how God redeems fallen humanity and creation in the person and work of Christ. The Bible teaches that this redemption is through the gospel events of what Jesus did in his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension to his heavenly throne. But the good news of the gospel is more than merely the proclamation of what Jesus did.

The good news is also about who Jesus is because of what he did. The Bible teaches that, because of what Jesus did, God affirms and declares who Jesus is – he is Savior and Lord. This means that as Savior, God has given Jesus the authority to bestow salvation. And as Lord, God has given Jesus the authority to require submission.

But the gospel is about more than the proclamation of what Jesus did and who Jesus is. The good news is also about the astonishing gospel promises God makes to all who will repent and believe in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. What are these promises God makes to all who will follow him by repenting and believing in Jesus Christ as the resurrected and ruling Savior and Lord?

As a broad overview, this is the good news of God’s promise to redeem and restore fallen humanity and creation from all the consequences of sin. But in a more narrow, specific way, this is the good news of God’s promises to make all things new for all who will follow Jesus in repentance and faith. This includes God’s promises of:

• a new status of forgiveness and righteousness before God to replace the old status of being under God’s just wrath and condemnation because of guilt,

• a new heart and a new Spirit from God, the Holy Spirit, to replace the old heart and old desires with new affections and desires that love God and others,

• a new community formed by the Holy Spirit from a redeemed people from every tribe, tongue, and nation on earth, called the Church, and

• a new world when Jesus returns to end all suffering, restore all things to God’s original design, and rule over his kingdom on earth with his people forever.

So what do we do to receive these remarkable benefits that God promises? We saw earlier that Jesus tells us to “repent and believe in the gospel.” When Jesus calls us to repent, he’s not calling us to beat up on ourselves or just clean up our lives. Instead, he’s calling us to a radical change of heart.

The Bible teaches that our root problem is not an external, behavioral problem. It’s a problem of the heart. And the reason our heart is not more transformed is because we have allowed our heart’s affections to be captured by idols that steal our heart affection away from God. In Scripture, an idol is something from which we get our identity. It is making something or someone other than Jesus Christ our true source of happiness or fulfillment.

The idols that capture our hearts today include things like approval, reputation, or success. For some it’s comfort, control, pleasure, or power. For others it’s possessions, sex, money, or a relationship.

Idols can be good causes such as making an impact, having a happy home, a good marriage, or obedient children. Even a good thing can become an idol if it becomes such a source of our identity that without it our life becomes meaningless.

However, repentance is only half of our responsibility in personal renewal. It’s the negative side of the transformation equation. So let’s look now to the positive strategy of “faith in the gospel.”

The reason Jesus commands us to “repent and believe in the gospel” is because faith in the gospel is the mysterious means God ordains through which the power of his victory as our King is meant to flow in and through our lives and our churches.

But believing in the gospel is not simply believing that the gospel events, affirmations, and promises are true.

Believing in the gospel involves allowing the gospel promises to keep leading us to draw near, by faith, to the One who makes these promises. Through repentance, we pull our heart affections off the worship of our idols, so that through faith we can set those same heart affections on the worship of the living Christ.

This involves renewing our minds and hearts by rejecting our beliefs in the lies of the evil one and the false promises of our idols. It means replacing our old beliefs with new beliefs in the multifaceted gospel promises of our new status, a new heart, a new community, and a coming new world.

Through our ongoing repentance and faith in Christ, God means for us to tap into the powerful victory of our King, so we will be transformed by his Spirit into true worshippers of God and authentic lovers of people.

At a great Jewish feast, Jesus called out to the crowd with a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (Jn 7:37-38). By this, the Apostle John tells us, Jesus meant the Holy Spirit.

Renewal begins when thirsty people start turning away from their idols, from drinking the contaminated water in their broken cisterns (Jer 2:13), and begin drinking deeply from the well that is Christ. This well never runs dry. Here are the springs of personal, church, and community renewal among all nations.

In the next article, we’ll take a deeper look at what the Bible teaches about church renewal.

Vision for Renewal (Gospel Renewal Series 1 of 6)

Because of the Fall of humanity into sin, things are not the way they’re supposed to be.  But the good news is that God is continuing the mission he began at creation to establish his kingdom on earth and rule over it with his people forever.

While no single definition of the gospel can do it justice, the gospel is nothing less than the good news that the Father’s creation, ruined by the Fall, is being redeemed by Christ and restored by the Holy Spirit into the Kingdom of God.

This is the good news that in the first century the Father’s kingdom broke into this world in a way like never before, through the Son and by the power of the Spirit, to renew all things lost in the Fall.

Therefore, the ultimate goal of salvation is not merely to forgive and relocate believers to heaven, but to restore fallen humanity and creation so they will flourish according to God’s design not only today, but on a new earth forever.

When sin entered the world, something terrible happened—not only to people, but to all of creation. Humanity became alienated from God and under his just curse because of our guilt and moral corruption. This alienation and curse then flowed like a polluted river into all our other relationships in life.

For example, our alienation from God flows into our alienation from ourselves when we experience shame and fear. (Gen. 3:10) And it flows into alienation from others, resulting in enmity and a loss of intimacy in all our relationships (Gen. 3:10, 11-13).

Our alienation from God also brings about our broken relationship with creation. Our work is now cursed with toil and vanity. The curse of sin has also spread to our physical bodies, resulting in disease, sickness, and death. (Gen. 3:16-19) All of creation and nature itself is now subject to decay. (Rom. 8:18-25)

But there is good news. God now promises to apply the riches of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ to all the broken relationships of those who believe in him and follow him as Savior and Lord.

Therefore, a biblical vision for renewal is a vision for the restoration of all things lost in humanity and creation because of the Fall. It’s the vision of a day when “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14). We’ll hear King Jesus say, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev 21:5). It’s the hymnwriter’s vision of “joy to the world” when all of God’s blessings in Christ will flow “as far as the curse is found.”

Since God is redeeming and renewing all things in Christ, a biblical vision for renewal must include a vision for the renewal of individuals, churches, and communities through the transforming power of the gospel.

Renewing Individuals

Our primary source of power for personal renewal is found in God’s Spirit at work in and through the gospel. Since the word “gospel” is a description of “the person and work of Jesus Christ,” the primary source of power for personal renewal is the work of God’s Holy Spirit through the person and work of Jesus.

So the key to personal renewal is understanding and applying the gospel as God’s ultimate solution to all problems of life, both personal and social. This requires understanding that the gospel brings not just our regeneration but also our transformation into the image of Christ.

The purpose of the gospel is not merely to forgive us, but to change us into true worshippers of God and authentic lovers of people. The same gospel that saves lost sinners also sanctifies devoted followers of Jesus.

However, we often reduce the gospel to “God’s plan of salvation” for lost people to be saved from sin’s penalty, not realizing that it’s also “God’s plan of salvation” for Christians to be saved from sin’s domineering power.

So coming to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith must be more than a one time event by which we are saved from sin’s penalty. Repentance and faith in Christ is also the God-ordained process by which we are to be continually renewed by coming back to Jesus Christ daily, moment by moment, to be saved from sin’s domineering power and have our lives transformed into his image.

Renewing Churches

A vision for renewal also includes seeing the renewal of churches through the gospel. Our primary source of power for church renewal is also found in God’s Spirit at work in and through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The key to church renewal includes developing a healthy church by strengthening the gospel renewal dynamics that restore people to God, one another, the community, and world.

Restoring people to God includes developing God-centered vision, biblical worship, Christ-centered preaching, and kingdom prayer. Restoring people to one another includes healthy community groups and effective discipleship pathways.

Restoring people to their community includes helping them integrate their faith and work, doing acts of mercy and justice, and effective evangelism. And restoring people to the world includes world missions and developing leaders who will equip others for ongoing renewal.

Renewing Communities

A vision for renewal includes seeing the renewal of individuals and churches as a means of seeing the renewal of their communities and nations through gospel movements. God means for healthy followers of Jesus and healthy churches to be compelling signs of his kingdom to come when Jesus returns and effective instruments through which his kingdom comes on earth today.

This is why individual renewal must include and lead to church renewal. And church renewal must include and lead to the renewal of communities and eventually the discipling of all “nations.” (Matt 28:19)

Ironically, individual renewal does not normally take place when the primary focus of renewal is only on the individual. And church renewal does not normally take place when the primary focus of renewal is on the church.

God takes great pleasure in manifesting his presence and pouring out his power on individuals and churches who dare to radically align their purposes with his for the sake of the world. So a vision for gospel renewal must extend beyond a vision for individual and church renewal to include a vision for the renewal of whole communities and nations through gospel renewal movements.

A gospel renewal movement is a supernatural work of God’s Spirit that glorifies his name and advances his kingdom through his church by the power of his gospel in word and deed. It results in the spiritual, social and cultural renewal of individuals, churches, communities, and nations. This is what it means to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19).

We must recapture this biblical vision of the great church leaders and churches in history through which God brought widespread renewal, reformation, and awakening. Then we must unite our prayer with theirs: “Lord pour out your Holy Spirit on us and our churches to bring great renewal so that your name will be honored, your kingdom come, and your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.” Richard Lovelace, writes:

Do not pray only for your own spiritual renewal. Pray for a springtime of the Spirit which will enrich the church and the world, an awakening for which all earlier renewal movements have been only rehearsals.

In the next article, we’ll take a deeper look at what the Bible teaches about personal renewal.

Becoming a Task Theologian (Missions Series 6 of 6)

Although the Bible consists of a wide variety of literature (including laws, history, prophecies, poetry, letters, and apocalyptic writings), at its core the bible is one, unfolding story of God’s mission in the world with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

And the heart of this story is about good news. The good news that God’s creation and humanity, ruined by sin, is now being redeemed by Jesus Christ and renewed by his Holy Spirit into God’s kingdom.

And God means for his unfolding mission in the world to so captivate you, that you are drawn into its plot to find your place and then compelled to draw others into that story with you for the rest of your life.

Many years ago, a Hindu leader in India strongly reproved a young missionary named Lesslie Newbegin regarding how he and the other missionaries were presenting the Bible to them. He said,

“I can’t understand why you missionaries present the Bible to us in India as a book of religion. It is not a book of religion–and anyway we have plenty of books of religion in India. We don’t need any more! I find in your Bible a unique interpretation of universal history, the history of the whole of creation and the history of the human race. And therefore a unique interpretation of the human person as a responsible actor in history. That is unique. There is nothing else in the whole religious literature of the world to put alongside it.” (A Walk Through the Bible, p.4)

To help us be aware of this common problem of interpreting the Bible apart from the unfolding mission of God, Mike Goheen writes,

“We have fragmented the Bible into bits.” “…moral bits, systematic-theological bits, devotional bits, narrative bits, and sermon bits. And when the Bible is broken up in this way there is no comprehensive grand narrative to withstand the power of the comprehensive humanist narrative that shapes our culture.” 

When the resurrected Jesus appeared to some of his disciples who were on a road to the city Emmaus, he opened the Old Testament Scriptures and helped them see that the overarching message of their Bible was about him. Jesus said,

“This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled as written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:44-53).”

But we must not only read the Bible in light of the person and work of Jesus in his birth, life, death, and resurrection, but also in light of God’s mission he gave us after his resurrection when he said,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

Therefore, we must read and interpret the Bible not only in light of Jesus’ person and work in redemption, messianically, but also read and interpret it missionally. Christopher Wright puts it this way, "Jesus himself provided the hermeneutical coherence within which all disciples must read these texts. … that is in light of the story that leads up to the great Christ messianic reading, and the story that leads on from Christ, the missional reading.”

Wright’s application is that instead of searching the Scriptures with a flashlight hoping to shine light on God’s mission wherever it might be found in the Bible, we should see God’s mission as the flashlight that actually illuminates the whole Bible. He writes,

"The mission of God is the key that unlocks the whole grand narrative of the cannon of Scripture … Therefore, the text of Scripture ought to be read as having originated in issues and controversies confronted by the people of God in the process of fulfilling the mission of God. This is where Scripture comes from … The text in itself is a product of mission in action."

As we saw earlier, the letters of the Apostle Paul were mostly follow-up letters to churches he planted around the world. And these letters were the result of real problems he had to solve as he advanced God’s mission in preaching the gospel and planting churches. The New Testament documents came out of the context of the mission confronting culture, and questions being raised, and those questions being answered and then codified. Paul was not an ivory tower, academic but a task theologian in mission.

There is a whole different perspective on the Old and New Testaments when you see them through the lens of God’s unfolding mission. And the practical ramifications of this understanding of God’s mission and the Bible are very significant in terms of your interpretation of Scripture, your preaching, your evangelism, discipleship, acts of mercy, and your worldview.

But the most important response is for you to allow God’s unfolding mission in the world to so captivate you, that you are drawn into its plot to find your place and then compelled to draw others into that story with you for the rest of your life.

The Story in the Stories (Missions Series 5 of 6)

Historically Christians have understood God’s purpose for the world through the lens of the bible. The Scriptures teach that history is not a meaningless cycle of events. It is a grand narrative with a beginning and an end.

The problem is we can know all the stories in bible, and even master Christian doctrine, and still not know this greater story of God’s overarching purpose for humanity and the world. Ed Clowney writes,

“There are great stories in the bible but it is possible to know bible stories yet miss the bible story. The bible has a storyline. It traces an unfolding drama. It traces the history of Israel but it does not begin there nor does it contain what you would expect in a national history. If we forget the story line we cut the heart out of the Bible.”

The reason it’s so important for us to know the unfolding story of God’s purpose for the world is because our understanding of universal history is what gives our lives meaning. The way people understand the meaning of their lives depends on how they see the big picture of the human story and where they see themselves fitting into it.

When we lose the bible’s true story about history, we lose the power to withstand other false stories that rob us of joy and meaning. There are different stories being told about the big picture today.

One teaches that the world and humanity came into being through a mysterious and random convergence of mass and energy over billions of years for no reason and for no apparent purpose.

The other story is about God’s good creation, the fall of humanity and the world, God’s redemption and restoration of what was lost in the fall, and of the coming consummation of his creation purposes when he will make all things new for eternity.

The greatest battle today is the battle for the minds and hearts of people. This battle can only be won by recovering the overarching, life-altering, culture-transforming, story of the bible–called the good news of the kingdom.

Although the Bible consists of a wide variety of literature, at its core it is one story that God means to so captivate us, that we are drawn into its plot to find our place and then align our purpose with God’s.

And the story of God’s mission is found throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. John Stott writes,

“This mandate, this mission, it is to be found in the creation of God because of which all human beings are responsible to him, in the character of God as an outgoing, compassion, not willing that any should perish, desiring that all should all come to repentance in the promises of God. That all nations shall be blessed through Abraham's seed and will become the Messiah's inheritance in the Christ of God now exalted with universal authority to receive universal acclaim in the spirit of God who convicts of sin witnesses to Christ and impels the church to evangelize and in the church of God which is a multi-national community under orders to evangelize until Christ returns.”

The only way for us to make any ultimate sense out of our life stories is to understand how they fit into God’s story. But in order to find our place in God’s story, we must first know where the story began, where it is now, and where it’s ultimately going. It can be helpful to think of this as a five-act play:

In Act One we find the story of creation’s perfect harmony, the picture of ultimate happiness and wholeness in the world God created. Human beings had a perfect relationship with God and a perfect relationship with self, others, and creation.

In Act Two we find the story of how this perfect world and humanity are horribly ruined by the fall of man into sin. Things are no longer the way they’re supposed to be. All humanity and creation are now under God’s just curse.

In Act Three we find the story of how God graciously begins restoring his fallen creation through Israel and their promised king Jesus, who through his life, death and resurrection inaugurated God’s kingdom on earth to make all things new.

In Act Four we find the story of Jesus’ ascension and the subsequent outpouring of His Holy Spirit on his church for the ongoing advancement of God’s kingdom and will on the earth until he returns.

The good news that God’s creation, ruined by sin, is now being redeemed by Jesus Christ and renewed by his Holy Spirit into God’s kingdom.

In Act Five we find the return of Christ and the consummation of His Kingdom on earth where all things that were lost because of humanity’s fall into sin will be restored in the new heavens and the new earth for eternity.

The one story unfolding in all these acts is the gospel–the good news of the Kingdom.  The good news that God’s creation, ruined by sin, is now being redeemed by Jesus Christ and renewed by his Holy Spirit into God’s kingdom. God’s purpose for the world is not merely the rebirth of human souls but also the rebirth of all creation into a new heaven and a new earth.

Today we are living in Act Four, a unique period of time between the resurrection of Jesus and God’s restoration of all things through him when he returns. During this time, God calls us to find our joy and meaning in him and in carrying out his purposes for the sake of the world.