Continuity

Maybe it was Biblical Theology. Or maybe it was just seeing God working in my life. But I can't escape this idea that maybe my purpose is not just for this world.

We live in the testaments. Those of people in the past and present and future. We live believing that our purpose is in these testaments, that our lives depend on the words of others. Those words that we find contained in God's Holy Word: the Bible. But am I going to say that is a bad thing? Absolutely not - for it contains testaments, words, dialogue, description, actions, commands, encouragement for us to consider and upon which we can establish of our very lives.

From so many people spoke one God, who inspired them by His Spirit. And now, I have a purpose quite clearly displayed and provided through this Special Revelation, not just a pretty sunset on a West Australian beach (a.k.a general revelation). No, I have the enlightenment, the illumination of God's Spirit inside of me.

Now, if that doesn't make me marvel, then this will...

We live in the Testaments. Both Old and New. Yes, for Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). We live knowing that God had a plan for all of creation: that they might bring Him all the glory. And though we were the ones to bring chaos into the world, somehow, God has redeemed the world through His Son, Jesus Christ, in order that - one day - the whole earth will be filled with His glory.

The Greatest Act within this Unity

Did you know that in Genesis 3 (a testament of the past), there is a picture of Jesus as a serpent-crusher? As the ultimate defeater of the enemy, of death, of sin?

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:15)

Did you also know that by the book of Revelation (a testament of the future), we see a picture of a Lamb (who is Jesus) as if slain? That in all of the perfection of eternity, there will be one such image of death?

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12)

Did you realize that Genesis being the beginning, and Revelation being at the end, we are given two images of Jesus' Passion? Do you understand that there are four accounts of such suffering and victory in Jesus' resurrection that remind us of this act? The Gospels, the testaments of the present.

It's almost as if this is the Greatest Act in all of History! For the timeline and testaments of the past, present and future!

Eternity future will remind us of the victory of the Lamb, just as eternity past had, before Jesus had ever reached the cross.

The Kingdom's Continuity

But continuity with God does not finish with Jesus. Because we have a God who does not change (immutable), and who is faithful to fulfill His plan, and to live according to His own nature and will, we can trust that what He does will be in full alignment with the way He works. And God is not pithy, or weak, or small. Perhaps one of the clearest examples of that is in His work of predestination and adoption.

One of the reasons people are so scared to speak of God choosing believers is "we don't want to let God appear mean or that He is playing favorites" (secretly, I think we don't like imagining ourselves to have limited choice). I think we think God's choosing of a remnant makes God look small. But notice in testaments of the past, that is what He had done in choosing Israel. And later choosing those who would last from exile to Babylon and return from Persia. Remember, we live in the Testaments and God does not change.

So, when we read Matthew 13, it should not shock us that only a quarter of the results of the seeds is positive. Only one seed of the four produces a crop. In the Christian life, we might talk about bearing fruit - a sure sign of our salvation. It should not shock us when only a fraction of the people in the world acclaim Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is to be expected.

Whether or not it is many or a few, that is God's decision. But notice, Matthew 13's Parable of the Sower is not to be negative. For other comments on the Kingdom of God are made, that should be an encouragement:

"He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”" (Matthew 13:31-32)

The Kingdom of God, whether we believe it to come about by free will, predestination (or a little bit of both) does not require our complete understanding of the processes by which God works - though we should never have a shallow but rich theology of God. The Kingdom of God is already beyond our understanding. What we do know, however, is that we have been a purpose in this kingdom. Matthew 9 talks about such a purpose:

"And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”" (Matthew 9:35-38)

We look at the Parable of the Sower and mourn: how is there ever to be many people in the Kingdom of our Father. Well, from a seed, God brings a plentiful and abounding and giant tree. And he works through the likes of you and me. 1 Corinthians 3 is a rich exploration of this idea, but for Paul, one of God's "sowers", it was as simple as this:

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building." (1 Corinthians 3:6-9)

We live in the Testaments. This is a testament of the present, our present purpose. We are all made for the glory of God. Now Jesus has commanded us to be His workers in His field for His glory alone. Prayer and a lot of hard work. But all of this is Kingdom work: work from a small seed into a large tree. God will provide the growth, for He promises to do so. He has worked this way in the past, and present and will continue to do so in the future.

A Continuity of Response

One Sunday, we were in Philippians 1:18-30, and we are called to action. Paul expects a great deal from the church in Philippi:

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have." (Philippians 1:27-30)

It struck me in that sermon that my life is not meant to be easy right now, because everything is working against me glorifying God: the world, my circumstance, my own flesh. Nothing wants to honor God, and yet all of my desires are only satisfied in God.

But there's more.

We often think of our lives as being fulfilling when their purpose is for our glory and our good (as we see it) and our benefit. But Christians instinctively know this is not right. Yet, how many of us are still living this way. It makes no sense to me. My whole life - my eternal life included - is literally all for the glory of God. Why would God give me this portion of my life to be spent doing what I wanted to do?

That whole purpose was one completely and wrongfully designed myself: to honor myself was a curse from the Fall.

Nothing could be more fulfilling that to see the continuity of God's kingdom and myself into eternity to be all strictly for the purpose of His honor and glory. We live in the Testaments of the past, present and future that proclaim, "Christ is Lord and Savior!" for all eternity. We live in the Testaments of past, present and future that declare, "The kingdom of God is growing!". We live in the Testaments of the past, present and future that pronounce, "All Glory to be the only God of this world!".

So, I say, in continuity and unity with the past and present and future "Soli Deo Gloria!"