 From the Manse
The following article is taken from our June/July '08 Church 'Newsletter':
Making A ‘Krisis’ out of a Drama
Do you have a favourite book in the Bible that you like to return to again and again? Is there a character or story in a particular part of the Bible that you really admire or appreciate? To which section would you direct someone who has never looked inside a Bible? How would you describe its overall contents to them in a couple of sentences? And what would your response be if they asked you how it all ended?
The Bible is so important. It is God’s Word to us and although many just pass it by as a book that has been consigned to dusty bookshelves alongside other old works, we need to be ever mindful that when we ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us through the Bible, he will take us at our word and it will become relevant and applicable to our lives. It will become God’s ‘living Word’.
I recently came across a helpful way of thinking about the main message of the Bible. Think of a drama or play that is divided into five Acts. The first Act is an introduction, sets the scene and reveals the author’s intentions. This relates to Creation and the ‘very good’ verdict that God announced once he had completed his work. The second Act becomes really tense. It describes the way in which God’s creation became marred and tainted by the fallen-ness of human sin. The third Act outlines the route by which God lovingly promised to restore the failings of his chosen people Israel and how sometimes the people responded obediently but at other times down-right disobediently. It points towards the resolution of the tension. The fourth Act is the pivotal act. It focuses on Jesus, sent by God, as the all-sufficient remedy because of our inability to live obediently to God. Jesus, dying on the cross, came to wipe out our sinfulness.
The fifth Act then begins and it contains three crucial scenes. In its first scene is the story of the early church that grew from Pentecost onwards after Jesus had risen and ascended back to heaven. The rest of the New Testament would also form part of this first scene and would give some hints of where the drama was heading and how it will come to its ultimate conclusion. The middle scene contains stories of all those who have ever lived as Christians and who eagerly anticipate the ultimate conclusion. This middle scene is linked in with the previous four Acts but also contains its own momentum which moves it towards the climax of the drama: the final scene. This is when the tension of the plot is resolved and the verdict God gives is even greater than his original ‘very good’ in the opening Act.
Have you ever wondered what eternity is like? Our minds cannot fully comprehend it. Nevertheless, as Christians we can live with the hope that Christ has promised us everlasting life beyond our physical death. We may not understand the specific details but we can look forward to the day when we shall enjoy being in God’s eternal presence and released from the pains and toils and struggles of this life.
Meantime, our lives are to be animated with hope. We could quite easily sit back, relax, and wait for our everlasting life. Yet God calls us to bring signs of his Kingdom into the present. There are so many pressing needs in the world that can easily subdue our hope, like the recent cyclone in Burma and earthquake in south west China which have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. Or what about starvation, tribal warfare, disease, injustice, poverty? Often it feels like all these problems are insurmountable and we cannot possibly make a difference. I think God would want to remind us that He asks us to be a faithful servant where we are. By ourselves we may not be able to erase the world’s problems but we can still be a sign of hope in the way we relate to one another and to those we have contact with where we live.
On a global scale it may well be right to say that the earth is in crisis. The planet’s resources are being squandered, the environment is suffering from our consumer lifestyles, forests are being destroyed, and precious species are irretrievably lost. From the Bible’s perspective, the world is also in ‘krisis’. This Greek word is often translated into English as ‘judgement’. Therefore from God’s point of view the earth is now reaping the judgement for its selfish actions. This may not be the kind of news our ears like to hear but perhaps it is the sober reality.
After our current S.H.A.P.E series, our Morning Service preaching programme from 22nd June until the end of July will focus on discovering more of what it means to be people infused with hope. Hope in this life and hope into the next. Like all good dramas, may we never forget that the Bible promises us a happy ending - in Christ! As Paul says, ‘the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God’ (Romans 8:21).
Yours hopefully,
Andy.
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