After all this drama, I started to doubt myself and the truth of the story. After all, I've been wrong about a lot of stuff in my life, and the shaking man (a pastor) told me it was heresy! Yikes. This FREAKED ME OUT because I've dedicated my life to spreading this story, and I take very seriously the warning in James 3:1 - Not many of you should become teachers because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. And Matt 18:6 - If anyone causes those who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Um, I don't want to get tossed in the sea. So I was scared to tell the story again until I could convince myself that I had every detail of it ABSOLUTELY right - beyond a shadow of a doubt. See, this story is the lens through which I interpret EVERYTHING, so if I'm wrong, I want to know it (though preferably in a less confrontational manner)! But after a lot of thought and prayer, I've decided:
a) I'll NEVER be 100% sure. After all, I'm human; I'm not God. There is no way for me to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this story (or the shaking man's story, for that matter) is true. That's why it's called faith. At some point I just have to decide I'm sure enough to step out on it...and then trust that God's grace will cover me where I'm wrong.
b) I have to step out on SOMETHING. To not make a decision IS to decide. If I choose not to bank my life on THIS story, I still have to bank my life on SOME story. There is no neutral ground.
c) Maybe I DON'T have it completely right. In fact, I probably don't. God is constantly fine tuning my understanding of this story. But if I wait until I have it completely right, I'll never tell it.
d) I AM open to correction. It's not like I made this story up on a whim. I've spent countless hours studying the Bible, exploring it with others, reading books, listening to teachers, and asking God to replace lies with truth. I HAVE repented and changed my mind when I've realized I was wrong.
So in the end, here's all I can say. It's possible I have parts of this story wrong. But I'm certain enough about the gist of it that I've banked my life on it...and in doing so, here are some of the changes I've seen in myself:
- I used to look at people critically and search for their faults. Now I see their potential.
- I used to fly off the handle when things didn't go exactly right. Now I take setbacks in stride.
- I used to suffer utter hopelessness about my future. Now I have hope when things look bad.
- I used to put up a front and hide my flaws from everyone, including myself. Now I'm unashamed to show my TRUE self, including my failures.
- I used to wonder if I was worth anyone's time and interest. Now I know I'm valuable and made for a purpose.
- I used to be embarrassed to talk about God. Now I can't wait to tell people about my Dad.
This story is changing my life. So here it is...this is the story in which I believe I play a small role. I'll word it the best I can. Decide for yourself whether you believe it's true.
CREATION
In the beginning, God created the world...and it was good. With his own hands, he molded people in his own image and breathed his own life into us. He called us good, and he gave us a home that fit us perfectly - the Garden. Not only were the things God created good, but the relationships between them were good...humanity & God, men & women, humanity & the earth, humanity & life. In fact, God called everything FORCEFULLY good!
This Garden was a paradise where we walked with God and knew him intimately; where we felt fulfilled; where we had purpose and identity; where we experienced love and companionship; where all relationships were intact; where there was no fear or bitterness; where there was no poverty, injustice, brokenness, misunderstanding, sadness, natural disasters, disease, or death; where we were naked and unashamed; where we were fully known AND fully loved; where everything worked right because the true king was on his throne. This king loved us and did everything with our best interests in mind...even giving us the freedom to choose to love him back rather than making us robots. He thought so highly of us that he commissioned us to join with him in overflowing this forceful goodness to the rest of creation.
FALL
But the king had an enemy who was determined to breach the relationship between us and our good king. He whispered insinuations about God...that he's really not trustworthy...that he's holding out on us...that he doesn't have our best interests in mind...that obeying the king would hold us back. Despite all the goodness we'd seen from God, every single one of us since Eve has believed that lie. Thinking we couldn't trust the king, we overthrew him and placed ourselves on his throne.
Some of us don't want to admit that we've overthrown the king...but we prove it by acting like rulers:
All those forcefully good relationships were forcefully and catastrophically broken. The relationship between us & ourselves broke - shame entered the world. The relationship between men & women broke - misunderstanding, manipulation, & selfishness entered the world. The relationship between humanity & the earth broke - nature no longer works to sustain us the way it should. The relationship between humanity & life broke - sickness and death entered the world. But worst of all, the relationship between us and God broke - we were exiled for our treason, and we broke the king's heart.
This Garden was a paradise where we walked with God and knew him intimately; where we felt fulfilled; where we had purpose and identity; where we experienced love and companionship; where all relationships were intact; where there was no fear or bitterness; where there was no poverty, injustice, brokenness, misunderstanding, sadness, natural disasters, disease, or death; where we were naked and unashamed; where we were fully known AND fully loved; where everything worked right because the true king was on his throne. This king loved us and did everything with our best interests in mind...even giving us the freedom to choose to love him back rather than making us robots. He thought so highly of us that he commissioned us to join with him in overflowing this forceful goodness to the rest of creation.
FALL
But the king had an enemy who was determined to breach the relationship between us and our good king. He whispered insinuations about God...that he's really not trustworthy...that he's holding out on us...that he doesn't have our best interests in mind...that obeying the king would hold us back. Despite all the goodness we'd seen from God, every single one of us since Eve has believed that lie. Thinking we couldn't trust the king, we overthrew him and placed ourselves on his throne.
Some of us don't want to admit that we've overthrown the king...but we prove it by acting like rulers:
- I take authority - Maybe I take God's advice under consideration, but ultimately I have the final say over my decisions. I think I'm the king.
- I take center stage - The way I evaluate all situations and people is based on how it affects ME...because everything revolves around me. I think I'm the king.
- I take the judgment seat - Even if I wasn't there, don't know the whole situation, and have no expertise in that area, I know best what you should do and how things should go. My opinions are facts. I think I'm the king.
PREPARATION
The king grieved because he'd been betrayed by the people he loved. You'd expect him to finish us off or write us off for good! After all, we owed him a huge debt for wrecking his creation and breaking his heart! And no debt can just be forgotten without payment. (Even if you say you "forgive" a debt, that just means you absorb the cost yourself rather than making the offender pay it.) But the king knew if he made us pay the full debt that we owed, we'd be banished forever and he'd never get his beloved back. So the king prepared to do the unthinkable - he prepared to pay the debt HIMSELF...that enormous debt that we owed him. But it wouldn't be easy. When God said, "Let there be light," it happened in a day. But when God said "Let there be forgiveness," it took thousands of years.
To complicate matters, even if our debt was paid, that still wouldn't fix everything. The other problem was this devastated, war-torn creation we were living in. The king knew we'd never be happy living in this ruined world; we'd never be fulfilled as long as the wrong king was in power. So he planned the day when he'd return to retake his throne – not in order to ruthlessly rule as the people feared, but in order to RESTORE the world and his people from the disintegration they were suffering.
In the meantime, God prepared us...by setting up a family to teach us what it's like to walk with him again...by setting up sacrifices to teach us what it's like for a substitute to pay the debt...by setting up a nation to teach us what his kingdom would look like when he returned.
The king grieved because he'd been betrayed by the people he loved. You'd expect him to finish us off or write us off for good! After all, we owed him a huge debt for wrecking his creation and breaking his heart! And no debt can just be forgotten without payment. (Even if you say you "forgive" a debt, that just means you absorb the cost yourself rather than making the offender pay it.) But the king knew if he made us pay the full debt that we owed, we'd be banished forever and he'd never get his beloved back. So the king prepared to do the unthinkable - he prepared to pay the debt HIMSELF...that enormous debt that we owed him. But it wouldn't be easy. When God said, "Let there be light," it happened in a day. But when God said "Let there be forgiveness," it took thousands of years.
To complicate matters, even if our debt was paid, that still wouldn't fix everything. The other problem was this devastated, war-torn creation we were living in. The king knew we'd never be happy living in this ruined world; we'd never be fulfilled as long as the wrong king was in power. So he planned the day when he'd return to retake his throne – not in order to ruthlessly rule as the people feared, but in order to RESTORE the world and his people from the disintegration they were suffering.
In the meantime, God prepared us...by setting up a family to teach us what it's like to walk with him again...by setting up sacrifices to teach us what it's like for a substitute to pay the debt...by setting up a nation to teach us what his kingdom would look like when he returned.
KINGDOM
After a long time, the king came back! He came back to re-establish his kingdom where things are good and where we thrive! But how do you re-establish your rule when the people are still in open rebellion? If the king tried to retake his throne by force, that wouldn't really solve the problem... because more than anything, the king wanted to win our hearts; not the war. He wanted our trust.
So instead of coming in power, he came in weakness; without fanfare. Because of that, many didn't recognize him. He lived among the people, forming relationships, wooing them and winning them over one at a time, until eventually his kingdom went viral.
The kingdom of God is HERE. It exists wherever the king's will is being done. And the will of the king is restoration - of hearts, relationships, families, the earth, life, our connection to the king. That's the good news (the Gospel)...that God is redeeming all the relationships that were broken in the Fall! We can see glimpses of it now...wherever there's restoration of health, wholeness, relationships, nature. And we can see it growing as more and more people submit to the king. I can even see it growing in me as I submit more of my heart to the king.
But the kingdom is not completely fulfilled yet. That's why we can still see brokenness alongside restoration. (Consider The Lion King again...Simba has taken the throne and light is beginning to overtake the darkness.) One day God WILL establish his kingship once and for all, but right now he's giving us a chance to see what he's really like and to choose him.
CROSS
The kingdom of God is VERY GOOD NEWS! It's what we need to heal us from our brokenness! But how can traitors come back in? If we tried to enter the kingdom, we'd be killed on sight for our crimes against the king. This is where God's debt-paying plan came into play. I'll use the following analogy to explain my understanding of it:
As I was wallowing in exile in the wilderness, trying to think of ways to expunge my record or do enough good to cancel out the bad, the king's son came out to meet me. Lovingly, he looked at me said, "Beloved, I want to bring you into my kingdom where you can thrive! But you're dressed in your rebel army uniform. So no matter what you do to try to improve your record, if you walk into the kingdom like that, you'll be identified as a traitor and shot on sight. So let's switch places. I'll take your rebel uniform and put it on me...and then you can take my royal robes and put them on you. Not only that, but let's switch identities entirely! I'll take on your military record of treason, betrayal, and rebellion. And I'll give you MY military record of distinction and glory...you can put my medals of honor around your neck and it will be as if you'd earned all the things I've accomplished." WHAT?!?! I couldn't believe the king's son would want to switch identities with me! Didn't he know the things I'd done??? Didn't he know the things I'd done TO HIM? But he assured me he wanted to do it, and I decided to accept the offer.
So we switched identities...and then we walked into the kingdom together. As we walked in, the king took one look at his son dressed in the rebel uniform and shouted, “Look! A traitor! Take this man away from my presence and execute him immediately!” The prince was understandably distraught. His father had never treated him this way before! He wept as his father turned his face away from him...and he knew that he could stop all of this if he just claimed his true identity. But he didn’t change his mind. He died in my place.
Then the king looked at me. I was terrified that he'd call me out as a rebel. But as he walked toward me, he took in the crown on my head, the royal robes on my shoulders, and the medals of honor on my chest...and he exclaimed, "Well done, good and faithful servant! This is my son, in whom I am well pleased!" Because I'd received the identity of his son, I was welcomed into the kingdom! In an instant, I went from criminal to dignitary; exile to royalty; dead man walking to citizen of the kingdom! That's what happened on the cross. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
CONFESSION
This is the most incredible thing that's ever happened to us! The way is now cleared for us to enter the kingdom and be in the presence of the king! Even better, the king's son conquered death and rose again...proving that he can restore our relationship to life...and proving that he is the true king.
But in order to live under God's good rule, we have to give up trying to rule ourselves. We have to take ourselves off the throne. We have to confess that HE is Lord. We have to take every aspect of our lives and continually lay it before him. That's a humbling thing to do. But why wouldn't we give up everything for him after he gave up everything for us? Besides, in paying my debt, he proved that he DOES in fact have our best interests in mind. We can trust this king.
ADOPTION
And for those who choose to recognize him as king, he does something amazing. It would have been enough to welcome us as citizens in his kingdom. But he goes way beyond that. He adopts us as sons into his family! That means I can call God my Dad. I can approach him with confidence because our relationship is secure; not based on my performance. I have all the rights, resources, and inheritance of a king's son! As a son, I no longer have to wander in exile; I have a home. I have an identity. I have a place at the table.
SPIRIT
Not only that, but God wanted to restore the worst thing we lost in the Fall...our ability to walk with him on a moment-by-moment basis. So he sent his Spirit to guide us, to teach us, to transform us, and to turn our hearts toward him.
This is the most incredible thing that's ever happened to us! The way is now cleared for us to enter the kingdom and be in the presence of the king! Even better, the king's son conquered death and rose again...proving that he can restore our relationship to life...and proving that he is the true king.
But in order to live under God's good rule, we have to give up trying to rule ourselves. We have to take ourselves off the throne. We have to confess that HE is Lord. We have to take every aspect of our lives and continually lay it before him. That's a humbling thing to do. But why wouldn't we give up everything for him after he gave up everything for us? Besides, in paying my debt, he proved that he DOES in fact have our best interests in mind. We can trust this king.
ADOPTION
And for those who choose to recognize him as king, he does something amazing. It would have been enough to welcome us as citizens in his kingdom. But he goes way beyond that. He adopts us as sons into his family! That means I can call God my Dad. I can approach him with confidence because our relationship is secure; not based on my performance. I have all the rights, resources, and inheritance of a king's son! As a son, I no longer have to wander in exile; I have a home. I have an identity. I have a place at the table.
SPIRIT
Not only that, but God wanted to restore the worst thing we lost in the Fall...our ability to walk with him on a moment-by-moment basis. So he sent his Spirit to guide us, to teach us, to transform us, and to turn our hearts toward him.
CHURCH
That's not all. God took all the sons he'd adopted, and he made us into a family - to support each other, to provide for each other, to challenge each other...and to be partners in the family business. God calls his family to work with him on his restoration project - to bring wholeness to the world - by restoring hearts, families, nature, health, systems...and most of all, to restore people's relationship to their true king by making disciples of all nations.
RE-CREATION
One day the king will return in power to establish his good kingdom in fullness. God is bringing heaven to earth. When that happens, everything that was lost at the Fall will be redeemed! Things will be forcefully good again! There will be no more death, sorrow, crying or pain. There will be bountiful provision. We'll finally be completely fulfilled because we'll get our life, meaning, and identity from God. There will be no more shame; no more curse; no more brokenness. There will be peace on earth. We'll have intimacy with God again. We'll realize that everything good we've ever loved has actually been just a small foretaste of the fulfillment he plans to give us in that day.
On that day, things will work because the true king will be back on his throne. We will flourish because God's home will be with his people. And the king's broken heart will be healed because he'll have his bride at last.
As Dostoyevsky wrote: I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened. Now that's hope! I don't know exactly what this will all look like, but I know it will be awesome.
So what's he waiting for? He's waiting for more of his sons to come home. And that's why I'm compelled to share this story...in hopes that more of God's exiled kids will be melted by his goodness, surrender, and run home to their father who loves them.
One day the king will return in power to establish his good kingdom in fullness. God is bringing heaven to earth. When that happens, everything that was lost at the Fall will be redeemed! Things will be forcefully good again! There will be no more death, sorrow, crying or pain. There will be bountiful provision. We'll finally be completely fulfilled because we'll get our life, meaning, and identity from God. There will be no more shame; no more curse; no more brokenness. There will be peace on earth. We'll have intimacy with God again. We'll realize that everything good we've ever loved has actually been just a small foretaste of the fulfillment he plans to give us in that day.
On that day, things will work because the true king will be back on his throne. We will flourish because God's home will be with his people. And the king's broken heart will be healed because he'll have his bride at last.
As Dostoyevsky wrote: I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened. Now that's hope! I don't know exactly what this will all look like, but I know it will be awesome.
So what's he waiting for? He's waiting for more of his sons to come home. And that's why I'm compelled to share this story...in hopes that more of God's exiled kids will be melted by his goodness, surrender, and run home to their father who loves them.
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That's my story. If it's true, well, it changes EVERYTHING. And if it isn't, well, what do I have to lose? I know nothing I say will convince any angry, shaking people to believe it. (Believe me, I've been that person. If you're already believing a story that puts you on top, you resent any other story that threatens that.) But for the broken...for the empty...for those who are willing to consider that they don't have it all figured out...this story brings life, hope, and power. At least that's what it's doing for me.
If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. -2 Cor 5:13-15
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