So what I want to do in the next few sermons as we make our way up to Easter, is to focus on the heart of our church’s mission statement…which is also the heart of the gospel and the heart of the Easter message, which is “reconciliation”…
We see it every Sunday on the bulletin, but I want us to take a look at it again, and unpack it in terms of why it is important to who we are here at NBC.
Our church’s mission statement:
The community of NBC exists to bring all people into a reconciled relationship with God, themselves and others.
…and you could add “through the gospel of Jesus Christ…”
2 Cor. 5:18-19 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
-this message and mission of reconciliation extends to the four major relationships of life: with God (starts)…within ourselves…with other people…with the world in which God has placed us, the created world over which we have been placed as stewards…
The calling to reconciliation is not only our church’s mission statement…but it is also the grand story of the whole Bible…it’s the big picture of the Bible…
…a story of reconciliation, restoration, of love and saving and rescuing lost humanity from sin and brokenness, of reconnecting people with God, of transforming lives, of making all things new…of bringing hope and life and salvation to a world of people who are eternally lost without it…
…the big story of the Bible is about salvation, about a Savior, about Jesus Christ, Who is foreshadowed in the OT and made known in the NT…
The Story of the Bible Has Three Major Parts
There are three major parts to the story: creation, the fall and the cross…this will be our outline for the sermons leading up to Easter Sunday…which, by the way, would be a good Sunday to invite someone…family and friends, neighbors, etc. that normally don’t attend church… to join us as our guests…
…on that Sunday I will be presenting a clear gospel message that we need to be praying God will use to bring new life and reconciliation between people and God through the saving work of Jesus Christ…
So for today, I want to start at the beginning, the very beginning of the Bible story of reconciliation found in
Gen. 1... (open Bibles…)
-what I really want to do over the next few sermons is to give you the gospel story from the first three chapters of the Bible…because the gospel is found in those chapters…
-and in order to properly understand the Biblical gospel, we have to go back to its origin, to the beginning of the story of God and mankind and their relationship so we see how the whole story unfolds…
-as we do this, we will gain clarity on the Biblical gospel message, which will help us sort out the false gospel from the true…because there’s a lot of false gospel out there today…
…but my greatest hope for this short series is that we will be inspired by the HS to love this gospel even more and embrace this gospel even deeper and go and share this gospel more intentionally with those who really need to experience new life through Jesus Christ…I want us to see the gospel as good news
-I’m going to read the whole first chapter of Gen.…for some of you this may feel like going back to Sunday School…but I want to ask you to let God’s word refresh your heart and mind and give you new insight into the importance of the beginning of God’s great story…and by the way, there will be a quiz at the end…so pay attention…(recurring phrases…)
Prayer…read Gen. 1-2:3…
Quiz: what were the two recurring phrases in Gen. 1? and what do they teach us?
1. “And God saw that it was good”? 7x. The 7th time it included the two humans He created and then He said, “it was very good…”
-teaches us that if God considers His work of creation good, then so must we…especially the people He created…people like you and I…vitally important to the story of reconciliation because it gives us the fundamental reason why we should even care about bringing all people into a reconciled relationship with God…because they’re valuable and important to God…more on that later…
2. “And God said…(space)…and it was so…” 7x
-teaches us the power of God’s spoken word…ability to create something from nothing…to call things into existence…His creative power…but also His faithfulness to do what He says, ie. if He says it, it will happen…His promises are faithful…He will accomplish what He says He will do…
Creation: A Perfect Paradise
In Gen. 1 God created a perfect world and perfect human beings and placed them in a perfect environment in the Garden of Eden.
In ch. 2 we will see just how perfect it was. Suffice it to say there was perfect harmony with the animal kingdom, Adam and Eve exercised perfect dominion over creation as designed by God… there was abundant food…Adam and Eve literally walked with God personally and enjoyed a perfect, personal relationship of friendship with God…there was perfect order and joy and meaningful work…all four levels of relationship were functioning perfectly (God, themselves, others, created world)…literally it was heaven on earth…
…doesn’t that sound good! something in all of us longs for this…longs for a God-centered wholesome, perfect environment in which to live…we all long for the Garden of God…we all long for His presence…unobstructed relationship with God…whether we recognize it or not…especially when we know the kind of world we live in and how un-perfect it is…
But for today, the point of all this is for us to be impacted by the fact that God’s original creation, His design was perfect, good, amazing, heaven on earth…it was good: in fact, it was very good! The gospel is first of all good news.
…and that’s why reconciliation becomes so important and vital…because this is what God wants for you and I…God wants us to have a perfectly reconciled and restored relationship with Him according to His original design…
…and that gives us hope and meaning and purpose in our lives…to discover that and embrace it…
…reconciliation is so important because our hope for the future does not depend on finding something that has never existed, but it depends on restoring something that has been lost…that God wants to restore…bring back…which He promises to do…
Is. 65:17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”
Rev. 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
We really need to notice how God starts the story of the Bible: not with the problem of sin, rebellion, the fall…but with the reality of His original good, beautiful design and intention…for creation and for humanity…
…we’ll get to the problem of sin soon enough…
…instead of starting with: “you’re just a messed up sinner who is broken and needs to get fixed…”, God starts with this picture of beauty, perfection, of human beings that are perfect, whole, complete, sinless, untainted by evil and brokenness…fearfully and wonderfully made…proclaimed by God to be “very good”…
In other words, God starts the gospel story with good news!
The Image of God
Now, one of the most important phrases in ch. 1 is the phrase “The Image of God”…the fact that people are made in the image of God…
Right away we realize that this means every person is created with qualities and characteristics that reflect who God is…and because of that, all people are worthy of honor and respect…this is what makes people valuable and important…that they were created by God to reflect God and everything God makes is very good…
Some of you here today need to start believing that for yourself…that you are very good in the eyes of God…that He made you in His image and you were made to bring God delight and glory and He is absolutely pleased with who you are and how He made you…
God wants some of you to start believing that you have been “fearfully and wonderfully made…” acc to God’s word…
-this was the experience of Adam and Eve in the Garden…complete self-worth, perfect self-esteem, no doubt about how much God loved them and valued them…never a moment of questioning how God felt about them…
-can you imagine a life like that? God can. And that’s why reconciliation is important to Him; He wants to restore your sense of His love and value and approval in your life…
…and He does this not through a self-help program…quite the opposite actually…through the gift of Jesus Christ…the work He does for us…through the love, value and approval of Jesus Christ imparted to us by Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross and His resurrection. (more on that later in the series…)
Made in the image of God means that people:
• have a soul and spirit
-share God’s likeness in an immaterial way…there is an eternal part to our lives…
• are able to choose
-self-determination, will… the capacity for great good and great harm…
• have the capacity to love
-one of the fundamental attributes of God (we are most like God when we love)
• are able to think rationally
- to reason, learn, imagine, make decisions, problem-solve…
• are creative and artistic
-God is supremely creative, artistic…just look at the world He made…
-when we create something beautiful…painting, building, sewing, repairing, poetry…) when we feel wonder, majesty, captivated by something beautiful, when a piece of music moves us…we are expressing the image of God…
• are given dominion over the earth
-to rule it, subdue it, manage it, be good stewards of it-we are God’s representatives on this earth, His agents
-think about it, God ordains us to rule over the earth…
• are reflectors of God’s image to the world
-a visible expression of what God is like…the part of God we can be like, ie His moral character…love, kindness, mercy, compassion, justice, etc.
-that’s what an image is: when you look at the image of something you’re reminded of the real thing, the original…
2 Cor. 3:18… And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
-now we know how badly messed up we all are as God’s image-bearers now because of sin…but it wasn’t that way in the beginning…and it won’t be that way in the end…God is at work to restore His image in us, one step at a time…one degree of glory to the next…and that’s good news!
Do you realize the Bible story begins in a Garden and ends in a Garden? Rev. 22 gives us the picture of the heavenly garden God is preparing for His followers…we will finally and fully be remade in the perfectly restored image of God…
-and the whole Bible from Gen 3 to Revelation is a story of reconciliation, of restoration, of rescue…of a Saving God Who comes to seek and save those who are lost, broken, sinful and separated from God…
• were created for relationships, starting with God
-God is relational… “Let us…” His triune nature confirms that…and God has created all of us with a longing to be in meaningful relationships with other people…to be known, to belong, to be loved…and especially with God…
-have an intuitive sense of God, capacity to know God
- since people have God’s image stamped on them, we belong to God…He is our rightful Owner… which is why we are restless until we find our rest in Him (Augustine)…we were made for God… “God-shaped vacumn…”
…this is where we find the seed of missional living…the mission of reconciliation…the call to go, reach out.
2 Cor 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
…Christ’s ambassadors of reconciliation!
All of these things are part of what it means that you and I were made in the image of God…
And when we get to chapter 3 and see how badly sin messed everything up…no wonder God immediately embarks on a mission of reconciliation…immediately embarks on a mission to rescue humanity from sin and brokenness and offer them a way back to the Garden…back to wholeness and a restored relationship with Him, with ourselves, with others and with the created world in which we live…
…and He invites us to join Him on that mission…
The gospel is first of all good news.
Golgotha Baptist Church Story
The story of Golgotha Baptist Church near Tacoma is a good picture of reconciliation/restoration…it’s certainly a good news story…this is one of our sister NAB churches that burnt down two years ago…the fire was deliberately set, although they’ve never found the arsonist…
…and it was the second fire…there was one in 2013 which the church managed to recover from…but now a year later the church was burnt down to the ground…completely destroyed…
-you may remember we took a special offering to help this church rebuild…
Now, just last month, there was a dedication service in the newly rebuilt and much improved church building…
Here’s a short news clip that tells the story…
That’s a picture of what God is doing with people like you and I…restoring, rebuilding, remaking lives destroyed and broken by sin and making us into something beautiful for His glory…
You know why a story like this makes the evening news? Because it’s a good news story. The gospel of Jesus Christ is first of all, good news.
Have you embraced the good news of the gospel in your life?
Prayer…Worship…