When people talk about God, they often start with sin. But, that’s not where anyone’s story begins—not that weekend you got wasted, or when your coworker had an affair, or even when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.

So, here’s the other half of the story, the better half, and the whole reason Jesus came.

Photo courtesy of Kay Ter Harr via flickr.com

Our story began in a garden with two humans and a God who set them loose in a brand new world. God commissioned Adam and Eve to represent him in the world—not as curators of as museum, but as mini-rulers and sub-creators. God wanted humans to develop and unfold his world in a way that would further infuse it with his creativity and care. The garden of Eden was just the starting point. From there, humanity would extend God’s order and beauty into the world.

A Tragedy

But before that story could be written, Adam and Eve decided to ditch God. They wanted the one thing God outlawed—the forbidden fruit. They wanted to bite into creation without reference to it’s creator. They wanted life detached from it’s Source.

As Adam and Eve bit into the fruit, creation severed itself from the Creator. Adam and Eve refused to depend on God and in doing so slashed the cord that held the world together. DNA began to mutate, diseases emerged, and death entered the world. Minds sank into depression, anxiety, and bipolar. Hands balled into fists. Words broke into weapons.

A Hero

This is the world we live in—full of it’s original potential, but brimming with brokenness. And, this is why Jesus came. He came to write a new ending to the story. He came to heal brokenness and rescue people from a life marked by death. He came for the life of the world (John 6:51).

Jesus paved the way back. Since human had severed creation from God, a perfect human was needed to restore the connection. Ever since Adam and Eve, humanity has continued to sever life from God. All of us, in small and large ways, have tried to enjoy life on our own terms, without reference to God. We’ve rejected him. So, God-the-Son became a man, Jesus, and united creation back with the Creator.

But even though Jesus paved the way back, we couldn’t follow him. We were still shackled by death—the consequence for choosing to cut ourselves off from the Source of life. Jesus’ perfect life wasn’t enough to undo the damages, he also had to take on death.

Historically, Jesus died because the religious leaders hated him and Pilate feared a riot. But ultimately, at the cross, God-the-Father piled up every bit of human rebellion on Jesus. He poured out his wrath against every time humanity rejected him—from Adam and Eve, to Hitler and ISIS, to the last time you told a white lie. God-the-Son, as Jesus, took the punishment for our rebellion. He took our separation from God, and he died.

Jesus died to unshackle us from death. Jesus’ death satisfied God’s holy anger against our rebellion. He faced death and won. His resurrection is proof that death doesn’t have the last say. Humans can find new life, eternal life, in Jesus.

A New Ending

While we can follow Jesus back to God, we won’t get back to Eden, no matter how hard we try. Because sin has permanently damaged this world, ultimate healing means starting over. That’s why Jesus promised a new heaven and new earth. God loves us too much to leave us with a broken system. Instead he’s making us a new world, one without any dysfunction or pain, crammed with more wonder and potential than the one in which we live. He’s coming back to take us there, and if death come first, he’ll catch us on the other side.

The story of this world is grim. Relationships still wound us. Diseases still strike. Sex-trafficking still happens. But, if we find our life in Jesus and our freedom at his cross, then it changes how we live.

Not only does Jesus give us the promise of a perfect future, but, in the meantime, he gives us God-the-Spirit to live in us, a preview of what’s coming, and the beginning of our re-connection with God. God-the-Spirit rebuilds wholeness into our lives, our relationships, our work, and our communities. He helps us reclaim our original calling to extend God’s order and beauty in the world.

A Choice

This is our story with Jesus. Or, it can be if you choose to find your life in him. Following Jesus isn’t ultimately about relieving your conscience, cleaning up your life, or staying out of hell. It’s about reconnecting with the one who created you and joining him as he brings life to the world. Perhaps we’ve zoomed in so tight on sin and the cross that we’ve forgotten the rest of the story.

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“God’s never done anything for me,” my friend said, “so why should I do anything for him?” 

Her question hung in the darkness between us—her final reason for rejecting Jesus.

Photo courtesy of Gudbjörn Valgeirsson via unsplash.com, edited 

I wonder how many other people have asked that question this week. The relatives of the five people who died, three weeks ago, in a fiery crash near my office? The friends of the massacre victims at Umpqua Community College? The millions of Syrian refugees, fleeing for their lives?

Our world is in bad shape. We designate times of the year to fight certain evils, but we’re running out of months. Breast cancer has to share October with domestic violence. The brokenness never ends. It can leave us asking whether God is worth following and why, for heaven’s sake, he isn’t fixing things. 

If we take a minute, though, to focus beyond the pain, we find in Christianity a God who does act on our behalf. Other religions (including atheism) require us to claw our own way toward a better future—whether it be called human progress, Paradise, Nirvana, Valhalla, or Heaven. 

But, with the God of the Bible, it’s different. At the beginning, he gave humans a new world to enjoy and develop, but they rejected him and exploited his gift. They sinned. As a result, the world became home to cancers, domestic violence, and massacres. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, we find strains of evil inside ourselves as well. We buck against God’s claim on our lives. He says, “Do not lie,” and we hedge the truth. He says, “Love your neighbor,” and we gossip about the family next door. He says, “Do not envy,” and it eats us up when our coworker gets promoted. We are part of the problem.

Talking about God’s wrath isn’t popular right now, so let’s think about a dad who buys a BMW straight out of the factory. His seventeen-year-old sneaks out after curfew and crashes the car. Dad is justifiably angry. The BMW, though, and teen rebellion is small stuff compared to us and God. We’ve rebelled against the one who made us and contributed to damaging his world.

The Bible says it this way: “because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Romans 2:5, NLT). For all us who’ve ever blown God off, that’s really bad news.

But, this is where Christianity get crazy. Instead of just packing us off to serve time in hell (forever), God offers us himself in Jesus. Jesus became a human with the goal of ending up nailed to a cross, because that was where God could fix things. At the cross, Jesus stepped into the line of fire. He took God’s wrath—the punishment we earned with our rebellion—and died. Three days later, though, Jesus finished paying our punishment and returned to life.

So, if we’re feeling crushed by our circumstances and wondering whether God’s ever done anything for us, a good place to look is Jesus. “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8, NLT). Jesus got in the line of fire for us—while we were still blowing him off. That’s what God’s done for us.  

What Jesus did, though, only makes a difference if we embrace him—if we say, “Yes God, I need it. I want it. And, I trust that Jesus took the wrath coming my way so that I could have a relationship with you.” 

The Bible puts it this way—“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” (Romans 10:9, NLT). 

But, what about the Umpqua shootings? Or, the accident I passed on Monday? Or, the trauma my friend experienced? Trusting in Jesus doesn’t just erase all that.

No, not yet. But, his cross is where the fixing starts—it’s where we get right with the God-who-makes-things-right. He has plans to fix the world, too. But, that’s the other half of the story.

 
 
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