Print E-mail
A Story to Tell to the Nations

How do you think about this book?  It’s the Bible, right?  God’s Word in human language, an inspired and infallible lamp for our feet and light to our path?  But those answers, as good as they might be, are a little too general for what I’m getting at today. 

I’m asking,
  • When you open this book. what do you expect to find?
  • What kind of lamp for your feet? 
  • What kind of light for your path? 
I know people, lots of people, who expect to find in this book a law, a collection of directions from God about how to live here on earth: do this, don’t do that.  And by all means don’t do what he just did.  Now I am sure, since I have read this book, that it contains commands from God, directions about how to walk this path called life so that we don’t fall into the darkness.
   
But is that what this book is really about?  Laws, commands, directions?  Some of you are sitting there saying, "No, no, that’s not it.  This is a book of promises and blessing, not just laws and commands."  It’s like a key that unlocks the door to the good life.  And may I say: I have found in this book many promises and much blessing as well as predictions of trials and tribulations and so much more.  This Bible we hold in our hands has
  • hymns and proverbs; 
  • histories and prophecies and letters;
  •  laws and promises and blessings; and 
  • it has 66 different books in it, written over the course of thousands of years by who knows how many authors.
Quite frankly, for many of us it’s more like a puzzle than anything else.  Especially this part of it … the big part, the part we call the Old Testament.  Let’s be honest:  We spend the vast majority of our time in the last 300 pages of this 1400 page book.  Why?  Because the first 1100 pages are a mystery to us.  There are a few good stories in them: the stories we learned in childhood and the stories we still put in our children’s Bibles.  But the rest of it is so ancient, so foreign we don’t really know what to do with it.

Well, this morning I want to invite you to think about this book in a different way, not as a law or a book of promise and blessing; and certainly not a puzzle.  I want you to think about this book as a story.  That’s what it is:
  • a story with a beginning, middle, and an end;
  • a story with a purpose and a plot, with heroes and villains
  • a story with a wonderful, take your breath away, ending. 
In fact this Bible we hold in our hands tells the greatest story ever told.
   

The Story Begins:  Creation and Cracked Eikons
The story begins, as all good stories do, in the beginning.  In fact, this book begins with these very words: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

The story of the Bible begins with the creation by God of all that is.  But did you happen to notice, and do you remember, how the creation story is told?  It’s not really what you might expect; at least it’s not what I would expect.  What I would expect is a Big Bang -- the one and only God speaking the worlds into existence, with God saying, “Let there be light!  And voila, there is light!  That’s what I would expect, and that’s actually how the story begins. 

But what I didn’t expect is what comes next.  It’s almost as if there is in Genesis one a funnel of light.  The creation of God begins at the farthest reaches of the universe, in the very origins of light and dark with a cosmic bang.  But then this cone of light constricts; it moves closer and closer together until it comes to rest on a single solitary creature. 
"Let us make man in our image, God says, in our likeness.  Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the creatures that move on the ground, over all the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." 

With this divine word, the creation story finds its focus ... so much so that God tells the story again in Genesis chapter two only this time not from the vast expanse of the universe down, but from the earth up, as God forms man from the dust of the ground and breathes into his nostrils the breath of his life, and then makes a woman from the rib of the man and brings her to the man and the two become one flesh.

This creation story is really a love story.  Did you realize that?  It's a story, first, of God’s love overflowing into the creation of beings made in his image, human beings who are invited to live in a garden of delight in eternal harmony with Him.  But it's not just a story of God’s love but a story of love between the creatures God has made.  For in the garden the joy of Adam and Eve in each other’s company is almost palpable, and the future seems so bright because Adam and Eve and their children’s children have been called, as image bearers, to love and care for all the creatures of the earth.  But something happens.  You know the story.
This first man and first woman rebel against the love and goodness of their creator God.  They say in essence, "We can be our own gods; we don’t have to live in submission and obedience to God’s word."  The result, well, let me illustrate the result.  Imagine a mirror is Adam and Eve in the garden of God, created and called to reflect God’s goodness in every direction.  Now imagine if you were to drop the mirror.  The glass would shatter into a hundred little pieces, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put it back together again.  Tthat or something like that is what happened.  Humankind twisted and turned in the hands of God, and fell, shattering the glass of our lives for countless generations.
The harmony between husband and wife, once blissful, was broken.  Loving intimacy gave way to conflict.  Conflict was passed down from father to son and from mother to daughter until the whole world was at war.  The harmony of man with nature was broken as well. 

We did not care for God’s good world as we should have, could have; and God’s nature was no longer as responsive or kind as it was in the beginning. 

Underneath it all, and causing it, our harmony with God was shattered.  We no longer lived in His likeness, in goodness, beauty and truth.  So the story of the Bible begins, sadly, with a paradise lost, the harmony of creation shattered by the fall, man and woman, made in God’s image, no longer living as God created us to live.

That’s only the first three chapters of the book.  The rest of the story -- stretching from Genesis to Revelation -- is the story of a rescue, of a return to paradise, if you will.  The theological word is salvation.  But salvation, in the story of the Bible, is simply putting Humpty Dumpty, or should I say humanity, back together again and returning the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve to the garden of God.
   
 
Calling a Covenant People
There are in the salvation story four great movements with a hundred lesser acts.  The first great movement is the movement of the Old Testament.  The Old Testament, if you don’t mind me oversimplifying, is all about God creating a people for Himself, the people of Israel, whom He calls into a special relationship characterized by a covenant. 

What’s a covenant?  Quite simply, a covenant is a promise made between two parties. 

In the story of the Old Testament, the covenant is a promise made by the God of creation to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ...
  • a promise to be their God and to make them His people;
  • a promise to give them as His people a land where they can live, a land flowing with milk & honey; and
  • a promise, finally, to live with them in their midst, first in a tabernacle and then in a temple, and to bless them.  

The first time we hear about this covenant, it is spoken to Abraham.  God says go, go to a land I will show you, a land I will give you.  I will make you a great nation.  I will bless you. 

Later, he takes Abraham outside and invites him to look up at the stars.  They’re everywhere, a vast, thick Milky Way.  God says, Can you count those stars?  That’s how many people will call you Father Abraham someday.  This covenant with Abraham continues through the patriarchs until it takes a new and special turn under Moses.

When God finally rescues the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and brings them to the foot of Mt. Sinai, there in the midst of fire, lightning, thunder and smoke, God speaks these words:

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  Now if you obey me and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations. You will be my treasured possession; you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Then God gave this holy nation the Ten Commandments, carved by his own finger on tablets of stone and spoken into their hearts by His own glorious voice.  These commandments became the people’s side of the Covenant with God.  He would be their God; they would be His people.  He would dwell in their midst and bless them but they would have to be holy, a people worthy of His presence.

Now I want you to stop and think about what God is doing in this story.  He is starting over again, isn’t He  with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?   He is creating a new place, not the Garden of Eden, but the land of Canaan.  He is creating a people to live in that place, in a special relationship with Him.  Now He is teaching these people how to live, how to live in harmony with Him, the Holy One, and with each other. 

But I want you to notice something else, something different from the creation story.  Not just the fact that things aren’t perfect anymore, that’s obvious.  No.  I want you to notice that, now, there are people watching. 

Once upon a time, Adam and Eve were the only people in the garden.  But now Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the whole nation of Israel dwell in the middle of a world of people.  What about them? 

  • Has God forgotten them? 
  • Does God only care for one nation on planet earth? 
  • Is God’s rescue plan, his salvation, only for the nation of Israel? 
God told Abraham otherwise.

I didn’t quote the whole promise to Abraham earlier.  God didn’t just say to Abraham that He would bless him and his people.  He also told Abraham that through him He would bless all the nations of the earth.  When God’s voice boomed from the top of Mount Sinai, He was also very clear.  He said, The whole earth is mine; and I will make you a nation of priests. 

What is a priest?  Well, a priest is a person who represents God to others and who brings those people into God’s presence.  Do you see?

God’s plan for the descendants of Abraham and for the nation of Israel is that they would be a blessing and kingdom of priests to a watching world. 

  • Not only that they would know God, but that they would make Him known. 
  • Not only would they be blessed by God, but that they would be a blessing. 
  • Not only that they would live in harmony with God and each other but that they would bring others into harmony with God ...  
  • that the whole world would know that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the one and only creator of heaven and earth;
  • that the knowledge of God would cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. 

But you know how the history of Israel turned out, don’t you?  They didn’t get the job done. 

  • They didn’t quite live in harmony with their God, worshipping Him and Him alone. 
  • They didn’t quite live in harmony with each other obeying God’s commands. 
  • They didn’t bear witness, reflecting God’s image, to a watching world.

     
Sending a Savior

But praise God, the story of the bible didn’t end there.  No.  God knew the children of Israel would not undo what Adam and Eve had done.  God also knew that neither would any other nation under heaven. 

So along with the promise of a land and the promise of a people God promised that He would send a person, a person who would change everything,

  • a messiah, a King, who would bear our iniquities and heal our diseases;
  • a messiah who would become the Lamb of God and take away the sin of the world, and
  • a messiah who would finally bring peace on earth and the kingdom of God. 

So in the fullness of time, the New Testament says, God sent His Son.  He sent His Son to do what the sons of Adam and Eve had not been able to do, to put Humpty Dumpty back together again -- to create a people who would finally live in harmony with God and man and bear witness to the goodness and glory of God to the ends of the earth.  This Son of God saved the world by means of four great acts: 

  • incarnation
  • death
  • resurrection
  • Pentecost.

He did it first by incarnation, by becoming a man and as a man living the life that mankind had failed to live, the life of an image bearer, perfectly reflecting the goodness of God. 

But the Son of God was more than our perfect man, He also became our Savior.  He entered not only into our life but into our death.  He took upon himself our rebellion and sin, and died our death.  He died with us and for us and because of us, and then He rose from the dead, victorious over the power of sin and death.  He broke the chains that bound humanity to the dungeon of death. 

When Jesus ascended on high and sat down at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, He sent forth His Spirit to everyone who called upon Him as Lord and His Spirit gave His people a new heart.  Incarnation, death, resurrection and Pentecost.

So begins the third movement in God’s great drama of salvation. 

  • The first movement was the creation of the old covenant people. 
  • The second was the sending of His son as the Savior of the world. 
  • The third movement was the birth of a new covenant people. 
The covenant people are you and me, and the people from every tongue and tribe and nation who have received the Spirit of God and have been given a new heart. 
What God is doing in and through His Church today is coming to dwell in the midst of his people, no longer living in tabernacles and temples as in Old Testament times.  Now we are the tabernacle of the living God. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are the people of a New Covenant.
As His new covenant people, we are to be and do what God always wanted His people to be and do. 
  • We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and strength, and we are to live in obedience to Him. 
  • We are to love one another, to love our wives, our brothers and sisters and the members of this community. 
  • We are to bear witness to a watching world, living and speaking as the Spirit filled image bearers of the living God.
 A day is coming, perhaps soon, when the story of God’s salvation will enter its final chapter when the King will come, and His will be done everywhere on earth as it is in heaven.

Finally, Paradise will be regained. 
  • Every disease will be healed;
  • every sin destroyed;
  • every tear wiped from our eyes;
  • every knee shall bow; and
  • every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
And He shall reign forever and ever.  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  That, my friends, is the greatest story ever told.


Why This Story on This Day?

But why tell this story today on the first Sunday in 2011?  Well, the obvious answer is that we are about to celebrate communion, and this is the story of our salvation.  But another reason is that this is also the story of our lives.  As you cast your eyes into the new year that lies ahead and fix them on the horizon, what do you see?  What you are looking forward to?  Where do you think you are headed?  What are you living for?

The story in this book is God’s answer to those questions.  God loves you and has a wonderful, wonderful plan for your life, and this is it.  God’s purpose for you is not found in the stories of this world.  It’s not found in the story, for example, of American freedom and prosperity.  You do not exist to be rich or famous or even comfortable. 

We were not created by God and saved by Jesus so that we could buy a nice home in the burbs, drive a new car, go on expensive family vacations, and retire early.  No.  We were created by God and saved by Jesus in order to be His people, in order for the Spirit of God to come and dwell in our hearts through faith so that we might bear in our very being His likeness.  In other words, we were created by God and saved by Jesus so that we could become like Jesus, the holy man who walked this earth 2000 years ago. 

And not only that ...

You and I were created by God and saved by Jesus to be a blessing to the world.  We are here to bear witness and to live our lives in such a way that we become a light in the darkness shining with the very goodness and beauty and truth of God. 

All of history resembles the waterways of America, on this side of the continental divide.  All the waterways in this land eventually head toward the Sea.  There are rivers and streams and lakes and ponds beyond counting but all of them are moving to the sea.  That is the way the story of God’s is going.  It’s all heading toward the Book of Revelation, toward a new heaven and earth where Jesus shall reign forever and ever, and we shall live in God’s new garden of delight. 

Right now we are in a boat called the local church heading downstream.  There are people everywhere.  Some are on the banks minding their own business; they don’t even know there is a paradise downstream.  Some have created reservoirs designed to stop the flow of the river, and they are actually calling life as it is on the banks a paradise. 

Yes, there are some boats heading in the opposite direction.  Many are wandering here and there lost and some are sinking.

We have the story to tell to the nations to turn their hearts to the light.  We have the knowledge of God in the face of Christ.  We need to get people into the boat.  We need to make more boats or find the boats God is making.  We need to teach people how to navigate these sometimes troubled waters and keep heading toward life with God.  We dare not park our boats on the side of a reservoir and live as if we don’t have a better place to go.

It was a good thing you did in giving over $150,000 to help impoverished children in Africa learn to live life with God.  That’s why we gave the money -- not just to provide beds to sleep in and showers to bathe in.  No.  We gave that money so that Aurora Primary School could teach those precious children how to be filled with the Spirit of God and join us in God’s great story as we all head downstream toward Paradise. 

But, my friends, there is work like that to be done everywhere we turn ... 

  • in our families,
  • among our friends and neighbors,
  • across the river in Harrisburg,
  • in the cubicle next to us at work, and
  • in the houses on our streets.

People need the Lord.  Humpty Dumpty needs to be put together again.  Our friends and neighbors and people we haven’t even met need to find their way to the garden of God.

As you look ahead to the New Year:

  • What do you see?
  • Where are you fixing your eyes? 
  • Where are you headed? 
  • What are you living for?