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Category: Story of God (Page 7 of 7)

All of Creation is Good

August 25, 2015 / / 0 Comments

CreationBeginning2“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” ~Genesis 1:31

We look around today and a lot of us say, “The world now is worse than it’s ever been.” And I want to say, “What’s your frame of reference? What’s your standard? Ever heard of the Middle Ages? Today is not that bad.”

It is true that we rebel against our Creator and we misuse God’s Creation and we make ourselves and others around us miserable because of our rebellion. But there is nothing in the Story and nothing in our theology that says God’s Creation has become a bad Creation. The evil that invades God’s Creation is not stronger than the Creator. It can never change the essential goodness of what God created. Despite everything that spoils and corrupts it, we live in a very good world and it is very good to be alive today in it.

We affirm the goodness of the world, not because we’re optimistic about people or because we’re ignoring all the injustice and suffering. We are well aware that because of human wisdom we endure wave after wave of hopelessness and despair. What humans consider progress has resulted in the brutality of modern wars, the suffering and oppression of minorities, the ever-widening gap between the few rich and comfortable and the many poor and helpless. But we don’t give up on it. We don’t withdraw from it. We’re not trying to leave it. We affirm the world because God created it and he says “Yes” to it.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” ~Psalm 24:1

The Creation belongs to God. It’s his. He made it and he owns it. All of it. It’s his property. That’s why when evil comes in and seems to take over, God doesn’t abandon the world and turn away from it. He comes here in flesh and blood to suffer with it and for it. It’s good, it’s all good; and he’s committed to it. In the death and resurrection of Jesus, God reclaims what’s always belonged to him and asserts forever his powerful and loving lordship over the world, for the sake of the world.

To try to escape this world or our worldly responsibilities would be to try to escape from God. Focusing on some kind of future in the sky and not paying attention to our present and future world is not living in step with the Story. God promises not only a new heaven, but a new earth.

All of Creation is good. Right now. Today and forever.

We look around and say, “I don’t know…” and we wring our hands. God looks around and says, “I do know!” And we align our minds and our wills to his.

Peace,

Allan

God is The Creator

August 24, 2015 / / 0 Comments

School2015And then there was one. For the first time in thirteen years, when we took first day of school pictures this morning, there was only one child standing in the frame holding her school supplies. Carley starts her sophomore year today at Canyon High School. Val began classes today at WT and Whitney is at United. So, yeah, this is different. Carley lamented last night that when I sing our traditional first-day-of-school song (that all the girls publicly protest, but secretly admire) she’ll be the only one I’m singing to. That’s right. Of course, I sang it loud enough so that maybe Valerie could have heard it. But how would I know: she’s not returning phone calls or texts.CarleySchool2015

Carrie-Anne is beginning her third year as the Culinary Arts Director at Canyon High. We had to stick C-A in one of the photos because Carley was feeling lonely.

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CreationBeginning“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” ~Genesis 1:1

We mostly blow right past this opening sentence, when this opening sentence ought to blow us away. You can’t create a pencil. I can’t create a ping pong ball. We can’t create anything. And God created the heavens and the earth.

You can theorize about a big bang and discuss primordial matter all afternoon. But what we clearly have in Act One, Scene One is God speaking into nothing and creating everything. In the beginning, there is an explosion of life and God is the sole initiator. This story counters all the other stories that were out there at the time: that creation was a mistake, that it was the result of strife between rival gods, that human beings were an accident. All the creation stories before the one in Genesis were about conflict and hate and violence and war and mistakes. Our story says creation is the intentional action of a loving God.

“The Lord is the true God;
he is the living God, the eternal King.
These gods who did make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.
God made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.” ~Jeremiah 10:10-12

Act One tells us there was a beginning and in the beginning there was God. A person. With an identity and character and a consciousness. A God with a personality and traits and emotions. We are a theistic people. But we are not a generally theistic people, we are a specifically theistic people: we believe in the God of the Bible. He is all powerful and he is all responsible.

Sometimes we shake our fists at God. When he’s not doing what he think is loving or just or wise, we yell at God. “Why are you doing that? Why are you not doing this?” The reason we believe he is all responsible is because we believe there is no other God.

In Acts 4, the early church is praying for God to do something great. The Christians are being persecuted and arrested and thrown in prison. And the church prays. “God start healing people. God start doing miracles. God handle the problem of the government. God perform some mighty wonders.” They’re expecting great things. Why?

“Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.” ~Acts 4:24

God is the The Creator. It’s basic. It’s foundational. It’s so important. All of salvation is predicated on Creation. Once we get a handle on it, the whole rest of the Story of God makes perfect sense. The ugliness of sin, the redemption and New Creation of all bodies — it truly adds up when Creation is the first Act.

Peace,

Allan

Act One-Creation

August 23, 2015 / / 0 Comments

World1-ArtCreation is the very first story in our children’s Bible books. It’s punctuated by beautifully bright and colorful pictures. Our kids read about the sun, moon, and stars; the pretty flowers and tall trees; all the animals; the first man and woman, cleverly covered by strategically placed jungle cats and foliage. Our children memorize the days of Creation. It’s so wonderful for them.

Creation is the hotly debated topic in state courts and text books. Scientists and theologians use complicated rhetoric and really big words to assert their positions and refute the opposition’s claims. Creation is controversial. It’s nearly impossible to explain. Evolutionists and “young earth” proponents can’t reconcile their Creation beliefs. They argue Creation. It’s so difficult for them.

The Church, meanwhile, has just about relegated God’s Creation to children’s books and academic journals. It seems that Creation is talked about everywhere but in the Church. We leave it alone as either too elementary or too contentious.

No! Creation is everything!

Act One of the Story of God sets the main stage. It introduces the main actor and tells us the purpose of the Story. This is the foundation. Creation tells us everything we need to know about our relationship with God and the reason for his salvation mission. If we miss Creation, if we get it wrong, if we skip it, we’re going to mess up everything else in the Story. Act One is the divine pattern for everything else that follows. Everything in the Story of God is predicated on and points back to Creation.

Today at Central we open up the Story of God together with the everlasting truth of that enormous first sentence: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Peace,

Allan

Story of God

August 22, 2015 / / 0 Comments

WorshipCenter

Tomorrow at Central we start a brand new series we’re calling The Story of God. For six weeks we’re going to immerse ourselves in the Bible as a sweeping, epic story. We are moving as a church away from viewing the Bible primarily as a collection of God’s laws and commands and toward seeing the Scriptures as a narrative about our God and what he’s doing in the world. The Bible is a story. And we believe it should be read, interpreted, and applied as a story. Now, that’s not to say there aren’t any commands or laws in the Bible — there certainly are. But we believe those rules and laws are best understood by their place in the story.

So, we’re diving in. Our Bible classes, worship assemblies, small groups, covenant groups, and daily emails will all be centered on this view of Scripture as a dramatic story in six acts.

Now, a disclaimer: making this shift is not going to suddenly give us easy answers to all our issues. We’re going to find there are fewer rules, the lines are not as black and white, it’ll lead to more questions, more reflection, more wrestling. It’s not a system. It’s more art than science. It’s like finger painting — it’s kind of messy. Most of us don’t want to live with it. I mean, finger painting is great fun with the kids and maybe we’ll keep one piece of the finger painting and hang it on the fridge. But you don’t want to finger paint every wall in your house!

What if the value or worth of seeing the Bible as a story isn’t in the questions that get answered or the issues that get settled? What if it’s just the process itself? What if the value of this is in becoming a more faithful Christian? A more faithful Christian community? What if reading and experiencing the Bible this way more frequently and more consistently moves me to surrender to God? What if it fosters a bigger faith and a bolder trust in God?

We believe it will.

Peace,

Allan

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