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Finding the Our Story in God’s Story
Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567
Who doesn’t like a really good story?
If done well they masterfully invite us to “live” the
life of others and often provoke a rainbow of intense feelings such as happiness, joy,
exhilaration, sorrow, pain, anger, frustration, and empathy!
And while we are fully aware most
are merely personifications of the creative genius of the authors, actors and movie writers do we
not find ourselves so immersed in the story that we see ourselves as one of the characters so
much so that either in our minds or out
loud we often yell at the television, “stay
away from dark places” or “run before the
villain gets you?” Whether we realize it or
not stories have the power to not only
captivate and hold our attention but also to
shape, strengthen or challenge our most
treasured opinions and values!
And yet
despite us knowing this to be true we allow
“worldly” entertainment to flow freely in
our minds like waves of a sea never giving
it a second thought as to how crushing
their blows are on our overriding goal to
“be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:16)!” Living in this ever changing, fast -paced society where
people only want to set up “self” as their god, have a belief system that constantly changes as
their circumstances change, and show off their “happiness” of their sinful indulgences it is hard
to know and to be true to one’s identity as a God-fearing, joyfully obedient, eternal masterpieces
of His grace!
The following sermon is going to refer to many biblical stories to help both myself
and you locate our identity in the Biblical narrative of God’s word so that we might draw nearer,
become more like, and yearn to personify Christ’s holiness to a world that desperately needs to
know and believe in the way, truth, and life (John 14:6).
Biblical Narrative Defined
Our God-given mission can only be successful when its identity and purpose are based on
the stories given in the bible.
Too often we read God’s beautiful love letter to us with the intent
of amassing information instead of living, being nourished and quickened by every word that has
preceded from His mouth!
In the book, Bible and Mission: Christian witness in a Postmodern
World, Richard Bauckham defines a metanarrative1 as being “an attempt to tell a single story
about the whole of human history in order to attribute a single and integrated meaning to the
1
This is a term created and defined by the author.
whole.”2
The bible is the only story
that qualifies as a metanarrative
because only God, the creator and
sustainer of the universe, can explain
the purpose of humanity’s existence.
It is each person’s responsibility to
examine his or her life in the context
of God’s revelation.
“Not only is self
tied to knowledge of God, but we
know ourselves truthfully only when
we know ourselves in relation to God.
We know who we are when we can
3
place ourselves – locate our stories – within God’s story.”
The rest of the rest of this sermon is
going to demonstrate how easy it truly is to find one’s identity in the Biblical narrative with the
intent of personal transformation and becoming a powerful, witness to the lost of this world in
both word and deed.
In the Beginning
In the very first book of the Bible, we learn that with freedom of choice comes great
responsibility.
Even though being created in the image of God (1:27) meant Adam was given
free will God limited his choices by stating his mission was to take care of the garden of Eden
and to not eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil (2:15-17).
The moment Adam and Eve challenged
God’s authority to rule over their lives
the peace and closeness they felt in
God’s presence was forever changed
for sin had driven a wedge between
them and a holy God the consequences
of which were devastating: pain in
childbirth, a curse on the ground, and
physical death (2:14-19)!
In the
Garden of Eden humanity’s eyes were
opened but not to become like but opposed to a holy God for now in our sinful nature we tend to
love evil more than good (3:4-5)!
Given the curse placed on Adam and Eve the words of
Apostle Paul, that “we have the right to do anything, but not all things are beneficial” (1
2
Richard Bauckham, Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World,
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2003), 87.
3
Stanley Haeurwas, The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame
University Press, 1983), 27.
Corinthians 6:12) becomes a profound warning when it comes to making the right choices in
life!
Every day we are bombarded by the fiery darts of “the spiritual forces of evil” (Ephesians
6:12) and must choose to either accept or reject their broad path that leads to destruction
(Matthew 7:13).
When we cry out that we feel powerless to stop sinning (Romans 7) praise be
that Christ, the lamb slain before Creation (Revelation 13:8), has freed us from the entanglement
of sin that so easily binds us to the ways of this world which oppose and greatly displeases our
Lord (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Making Course Corrections
When we locate our story within the context of the witnesses of the Bible, we learn that it
is never too late to ask the Spirit to help us make course corrections.
Dallas Willard once stated
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