September 5-9, 2022
Reflections on Restoration
A Place Prepared for Us
September 9, 2022 • Ed Green • John 14:1–4
Growing up, I had an aunt who lived about 20 miles outside of town—out in “the country.” I always enjoyed going to her house, staying overnight, and playing with my cousins. I knew that whenever I wanted, I was welcome and had a place waiting for me. For a while at least, it was a home away from home. In 1993 the Christian rock group Audio Adrenaline recorded the song “Big House.” The chorus went like this: “It's a big big house With lots and lots a room A big big table With lots and lots of food A big big yard Where we can play football A big big house It’s my Father's house” In the familiar passage in John 14 Jesus said this: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going” (14:1-4 NIV). At times we have been guilty of truncating the good news of salvation as “going to heaven when we die.” That’s like going to Graeter’s Ice Cream and always getting vanilla. It’s good, but there’s http://so.much.more (like black raspberry chocolate chunk…). Heaven is not primarily about a place—the WHERE—but the WHO will be there (Jesus, not The Who, although I hope they will be as well). Jesus said that it is his Father’s house, and he was going there to prepare a place for us. To take us to be with him. Not just a home away from home, but our real home. There will come a time when our wildest dreams come true. Here’s one of the verses in “Big House” … It’s an invitation: “All I know is a big ole house with rooms for everyone All I know is lots a land where we can play and run All I know is you need love and I've got a family All I know is you’re all alone so why not come with me?” Do you know of anyone else who needs to find a place, a family, a home?
Apocalypse When?
September 8, 2022 • Ed Green • Colossians 1:3–8, Revelation 4—5
These three remain: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is hope (see Colossians 1:3-8). It has been my experience that the book of Revelation is the least read and understood in the Bible. G.K. Chesterton once said this: “though St. John the Evangelist saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.” And that was written over 100 years ago! Last Sunday, Ted reminded us of the final season of what God is doing, that of Restoration. And he helped us reflect on this last book in our Bible. While there are different views about how to understand Revelation, the big ideas in it are clear, including the biggest: God wins. That was never in doubt. The key to understanding the big picture of Revelation is chapters 4 and 5, as John paints a picture of God’s heavenly throne room, which is at the center of everything in heaven and earth. From chapter 4, we see God on his throne, receiving all the praise he is due. And as chapter 5 opens, we see that in the right hand of him who sits on the throne is a scroll, which represents human history, and in particular, the current age and what would soon take place. But no one is found worthy to open the scroll and break the seals. Then John is told who IS worthy: it is the lion from the tribe of Judah, “who has triumphed.” And when John turns, what does he see? A lion? No, but a lamb covered in blood, standing at the center of the throne. And the songs that are sung in praise to God and to the Lamb remind all of heaven that the war has already been won. You see, Jesus’ ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension was like D-Day. It was THE decisive event. But we still wait for V-Day, when all the battles will be over, and everything will finally be made right. Faith looks back to D-Day. Hope looks forward to V-Day. And though we may not know when, we trust that day will come. We must never underestimate the power of HOPE. *Illustration by Pat Marvenko Smith
Your Kingdom come...
September 7, 2022 • Ed Green • Matthew 6:9–13
Outside of John 3:16 (which we see on signs at every ballgame) and the 23rd psalm (which we hear at every funeral) the most familiar words in Scripture are the Lord’s Prayer. “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:9-13, NIV) At the heart of this prayer, which Jesus taught his followers to pray, is the petition “your kingdom come.” What is puzzling is that the heart of Jesus’ preaching was that the kingdom was present and available to anyone, right then and there (see Matthew 4:17). So, what did he mean by this? In his prayer, Jesus helps us by his parallel phrase: “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus gave us a prayer both to recite and to serve as a model for our own prayers. Even as we live as participants in God’s present kingdom, we still pray for its consummation—its full and complete arrival. And like other invitations to pray, we get to be part of the answer to our own prayers (see Matthew 9:35-38). There are commands, encouragements, and examples in the Bible about how we can do that. What is one or two that come to mind? And how are you choosing to participate in helping bring it about?
All
September 6, 2022 • Ed Green • Colossians 1:15–20
There are some concepts or words that I stumble over because they are so absolute. "All" is one of them. I very rarely use the word because there is no wiggle room with it. All…means “all.” Not part, not some, not almost all. But all. There are very few things you can say and really mean “all,” except maybe that all Brussels sprouts are gross. One of the most important passages in the New Testament about Jesus as the Son of God is Colossians 1:15-20. "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." Sometimes when we think about eschatology, or “the end times”—where history is headed—we focus on prophecies, timetables, and dates. And in all the hubbub (that’s the theological word for spirited disagreement) Jesus can get lost. In this passage Paul describes what God is up to in the person and work of Jesus as his son. What I want you to notice is the use of the word “all” and “everything” in this text. How many times do they show up here? What do you think Paul is trying to get across when it comes to what the future holds?
The End of the Beginning
September 5, 2022 • Ed Green
This week we focus on this: God’s kingdom has broken in through the person of Jesus and his people, and he has begun the season of Restoration, which was God’s plan all along. What was lost in Eden at the Fall—the good God intended from Creation—will be fully restored as his plan comes to completion with the physical return of Jesus the King. Those four foundational relationships from the beginning will be fully repaired and renewed for eternity in God’s good universe. This is the final “season” of Living (His)tory, of the grand narrative of Scripture of what God is up to. It began with Creation—God making everything that exists and setting humanity within it as his co-regents. Conflict came with the entrance of sin in the Fall, which, like cancer affected all relationships. Then we see God enacting his plan for redemption through Israel, the people of Abraham, to whom God made a promise to bless the whole world. This would be through the coming of Christ, the perfect Israelite—God becoming human to inaugurate his kingdom in the world. The people of this kingdom—followers of Jesus—was (and is) the Church, who wait and serve and live out the beauty and reality of his kingdom until he returns. The final chapter—the final season of the series, to use our metaphor—is Restoration. God has begun the restoration of what was broken in the Fall through Jesus, through the presence of the people of his kingdom and the power of the Holy Spirit. But we look forward in anticipation when—finally—all things will be made right again. What are you looking forward to?