We all love stories, they capture our attention in ways that facts and information could never accomplish. Whether you like a good book or a captivating movie, we all love a good story. What most don’t realize is that we live in stories also. It’s not a matter of “if we are” but “what story are we living in.” A story consultant and screenwriter, Bobette Buster said “Narrative is our cultures currency. He who tells the best story, wins.”
The world loudly proclaims what story we should be a part of but it’s through conflicting narratives. Here are some of the stories the world tells:
- Consumerism – You are what you have. Worth is based upon the value and quality of what belongs to me. The good life is having great things.
- Individualism – You are at the center of all things. Autonomy is prized over all things. The good life is the authority of the independent individual.
- Romanticism – You are your emotions. The more intense the emotion the more authentic it is. The good life is authenticity.
- Hedonism – Pleasure is life’s highest goal and that pain and suffering should be avoided at all costs. The good life is pleasure.
- Pragmatism –Whatever works must be true. The good life is productivity, functionality, and practicality.
- Postmodernism / Relativism – knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute. All experiences and stories are equally valid. The good life is skepticism and doubt of anything that goes against your view.
- American civil religion / Moral therapeutic deism – Christianity should be palatable, civilized, and moral. The good life is Pleasantville.
Most often we jump between some form of each of these false narratives and do not even realize. We must choose to either live in the false narratives of the world or participate in the true story of Scripture.
Scripture is one continuous story of God working his story of redemption in the world through Jesus Christ. This story is often summarized in four acts: Creation, Fall Redemption, Consummation.
First, we need to understand the main character. No, that’s not you or me. God is the main character in this story. God eternally exists as three persons and one in essence, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What we know about God is revealed to us in Scripture and is referred to as his attributes. God is love, generous, wise, sovereign, just, good, unchanging, creator, provider, holy, glorious, compassionate, merciful, attentive, worthy, deliverer, refuge, almighty, and so much more. One attribute that encompasses all the others is that God is Holy, he is separate and in a category all to himself. He is the greatest beauty and as such, worthy of all praise.
Creation
Creation is an out flowing of who God is. He not only created everything but holds all things together. Mankind, both male and female, was created in the image of God to fellowship with God and to cultivate the earth (Gen. 1:27, 28). God is the creator and we are the creation. We were made to worship him and bring him glory. We are to be a light in the world and to reflect God’s glory, but man desired to be like God (Gen 3:5-6).
Fall
Mankind sinned in open rebellion against the creator in what is known as the Fall. We read in Genesis 3 that the serpent tempted Eve by saying that she could be like God. Adam also partook in this rebellion and throughout Scripture, he is held responsible for this rebellion. As a result of their open rebellion, man is under the curse of sin and death (Gen 3:16-19). This isn’t an instant death but a slow death. Sickness, disease, suffering, natural disasters are all results of the Fall. The worst part is that man may no long could have perfect fellowship with a holy God. Sin has tainted everything and everyone, but mankind did not lose their position as image bearers in the world, it was only frustrated.
Redemption
Even in the pronouncement of a curse, God mercifully hints at a future seed who will triumph over sin and death (Gen 3:15). Through a series of covenantal promises, God works his plan of redemption through the nation of Israel and culminating in the life and death of the perfect Adam, Jesus Christ. Christ did what no other man could do and lived a sinless life devoted to God (Heb. 4:15). On the cross, he became a perfect sacrifice, once for all. For those who put their trust in him, he took all of their sins upon himself and imputed his righteousness upon them (2 Cor. 5:21). Through this act we can once again have fellowship with the creator through Christ’s mediation. Once Christ conquered death, he ascended sits at the right hand of God as our mediator. He also sent a helper, the Holy Spirit, to help us grow in our righteousness and to help us give God glory.
Consummation
Though Christ has conquered over the curse of the fall, its effects are still ever present. Christians are no longer slaves to sin but we still sin. We live in an already but not yet reality that will be consummated or finished when Christ returns. On that day, the effects of the curse will be no more. There will be no more tears, nor pain, or death (Rev. 21:4). We will once again walk with God in perfect fellowship in the New Jerusalem. Until then, we grow from one degree of glory to another through the process of sanctification and become more and more like Christ.