I should have asked the question differently. I met a friend’s cousin for the first time who I knew to be a Christian. In response to my question, “Tell me about yourself” she said, “I work in the public library in a small town outside of Atlanta and have since the day I graduated from College. She even said, “Not very exciting.”
What I should have asked instead: “What role are you playing to help restore God’s Kingdom?”
N.T. Wright, a leading New Testament scholar and theologian, offers this explanation:
“We need to see a bigger Gospel! It isn’t just that Christ died for us and now we can go to heaven, the Bible has a narrative flow to it—It is a story of how God remains faithful in his WHOLE creation project, He’s already started the work of restoring the kingdom---and we are an important part of it!
N.T. Wright views the Bible not unlike a five act play.
ACT 1. Creation-God creates the universe, man and woman, and declares them to be “very good”.
ACT 2. Crisis- The powers of evil and human rebellion damage God’s good world—the “Fall”.
ACT 3. Community of Israel- God calls Abraham and Israel to be the beginning of the solution to the problem of sin.
ACT 4. Christ—Israel has not lived up to its calling—so God sends His Son to be a blessing in the world.
ACT 5. Church-the community gathered around the risen King Jesus is formed in the first century and God continues His work to restore His kingdom.
God has not given up on his Creation project. He started to restore His kingdom on the eighth day-right after His day of rest and now we are in ACT 5.
In the story told in the Gospels, the role of the church and EVERY BELIEVER is to be the signpost of God’s future restored world. God has already started the restoration, but we serve a vital purpose in the story.
I get excited when I know that God has called me to play a part in making the new heavens and the new earth.
I know my role in helping to restore God’s Kingdom; do you know yours?
Blessings,
Agatha