Restoration

Tonight is the culmination of our four part series, “Creation – Fall – Redemption – Restoration,” the Big Picture of God’s Redemptive Story. Each week we have been seeking to understand The Story in order to see our place in the story. Each part of this story is essential to and the building block of the next part. This is what makes tonight’s lesson so exciting!

As a child and throughout my influential years, I remember the Gospel giving to me and others as “do you want to go to heaven?” or “where are you going when you die?” Then the allure of the golden streets and pearly gates are dangled before me as the end goal in comparison the frightful fires of hell. Of course any child, teen or adult would rather choose heaven over hell. Yet there seems something incomplete about the question “do you want to trust Jesus so that you can go to heaven one day?”

Now Heaven is an amazing place and it will be beautiful beyond measure. It will be a place where are senses are alive and full, deeper then anything we could even imagine here. It will be a place where death, disease, pain and suffering are nowhere to be found. It will be the ultimate rest. However, it is not and should not be the object in which we pursue. For coming to faith in Jesus for the prize of heaven is idolatry.

Jesus did not save you in order that you can go to heaven. What we learn from each of the four movements of the Redemptive Story is that God created human kind to be in a relationship with Him. However our sinful rebellion brought separation, brokenness, and death. Yet Jesus came to live the perfect life that we could not achieve, willingly die an innocent death, shed his pure blood for our sins and to rise again from the dead to offer reconciliation with God. That’s it right there, did you catch it? Why did Jesus die on the cross? For us to be reconciled with Him. The prize of our faith is not heaven it is Jesus!

When we begin to understand that the Bible is bookended with Paradise, the Garden of Eden and the New Heaven and New Earth, the promise we see all throughout is that God is moving to restore the relationship we were intended for. The cross restores us to a right relationship with God and brings us into a community of faith.

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Restoration is the promise Jesus made to make all things new. It is the promise that He will pick up the broken pieces of our lives and put them back together. It is the promise we find in Ephesians 2:10, that we are His masterpieces that He is fashioning together for good. It is the hope we draw from Romans 8:28 that everything we go through God has designed for our ultimate good and His glory. And in the midst of the struggle we have His continual promise of Philippians 1:6 that He will complete it.

As He is making us new, He has called us to be agents of restoration in this world.

Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously…Stay alert. This is hazardous work I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.

Don’t be naive. Some people will impugn your motives; others will smear your reputation—just because you believe in me. Don’t be upset when they haul you before the civil authorities. Without knowing it, they’ve done you—and me—a favor; they’ve given you a platform for preaching the kingdom news! And don’t worry about what you’ll say or how you’ll say it. The right words will be there; the Spirit of your Father will supply the words.

When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family.

There is a great irony here: Proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate. But don’t quit. Don’t cave in. It is all well worth it in the end.

This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing. —Jesus (Matthew 10 The Message)

If heaven were the end goal, I’d wager that at salvation we would be taken home. Jesus has us here for a reason. He has us here for a mission. He wants us to make disciples wherever we are, proclaiming the Good News and hope to the lost. Loving the unlovable. Watching out for the vulnerable. Comforting the hurting. Being an extension of God’s love to all we meet until He returns and sets all things right.

He will one day come and complete the restoration by eradicating sin, disease and death. He will establish a New Heaven and a New Earth. Yet the satisfaction we get will not be from living in a mansion, but being in the presence of Jesus. Then we will see clearly what is shadowed today. Yet eternal life doesn’t have to wait for eternity, for life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever.