The Gospel: Preface

Intro

What are some of your favorite moments in books or movies? The moments you love and remember?

How about when Russell Crow’s Gladiator finally comes face to face with the deranged emperor Commodus, delivering these words before killing him:

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the True emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

I still get chill bumps!

How about Ana sacrificing herself for Elsa — the true love which breaks the curse of Elsa’s powers gone awry? Or how about when Elsa discovers her calling in the heart of Ahtohallan, returning on a glimmering water horse to save Arendelle from sure destruction?

See how nimbly I just moved from Gladiator to Frozen 1 and 2? That’s what happens when you’re a dad with three daughters!

Harry Potter facing Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts.

Gandalf appearing at Helm’s Deep.

Luke, I am your father.

These moments stick with us because they mean something. And they mean something because of the story in which the moments take place.

The Story of the Gospel

The Gospel is no different.

You see, the Gospel — the good news of Jesus’s life, death for our sins, and resurrection from the dead — is like one of these climactic moments from film and literature: if removed from the context of the rest of the biblical story, it loses its meaning and power.

Many of us who have been around the church for a while have heard the good news of the Gospel, believed in him for salvation, and eagerly set our hearts to follow Him the rest of our lives.

But few of us have ever learned how the story of Jesus fits within the rest of the Bible.

For most of us, the Bible is an inspired book of unrelated stories and histories, psalms and prophecies — most of which are difficult to understand and seemingly irrelevant to our faith in Jesus, other than providing some moral principles and historical backdrop for the New Testament.

The reality is that the Bible is much more exciting than that!

The Bible is not simply a collection of unrelated stories. Rather, the Bible is itself one big story — what many people refer to as a metanarrative. From Genesis to Revelation, written by dozens of authors spanning thousands of years across multiple continents, the Bible tells the true story of God, humanity, and the world.

And as a story, it shares many things in common with the stories in culture we know and love — primarily because it is the pattern they all follow!

Story Maps

Most stories essentially follow the same pattern: [show storyline graphic]

First, stories begin with an exposition. This is the beginning of the story in which the main characters and the setting of the story is introduced. Not only that, but we learn about the main character’s hopes and dreams — about something they want. The exposition also includes the introduction of conflict. Every good story includes the introduction of an antagonist who works to frustrate the main character’s pursuits.

In fact, the bulk of good storytelling revolves around this conflict, and the rising tension is referred to as the rising action. The rising action is the series of attempts made by the protagonist to solve the conflict, all of which move the story forward, but ultimately fail.

Third, all stories reach a point in which the tension comes to a head. This is the most exciting part of the story where the outcome is determined, and it’s known as the climax of the story. Remember the movie scenes we mentioned earlier? All of these are climactic moments that stick in our hearts and minds. The conflict

After the climax, other aspects of the story begin to resolve in what’s known as the falling action.

Finally, as a result of the climax and falling action, the story ends with the resolution of the story’s conflict.

Now, different stories have different genres: there are hero legends, comedies, tragedies, quests, etc., but the exposition — rising action — climax — falling action — resolution pattern typically remains intact no matter the genre.

Could it be that every other story in history follows this pattern because it is the pattern of the true story of the world, the story of the Bible?

The biblical story has each of these elements:

It begins with the creation of the world, where we are introduced to the main character, God, and his primary motivation: to fill the earth with worshipers.

Then, conflict enters the story as the enemy tempts the supporting cast, Adam and Eve, to rebel against God in sin, derailing God’s intended purposes with creation and catapulting the world out of wholeness and life into brokenness and decay.

The action builds as God begins his work of redemption — faithfully working towards his original intention by calling and redeeming a people named Israel, working through them to reveal himself to a wandering and sinful humanity through miraculous means, the giving of His Word, the establishment of leaders, judges, kings, and prophets. But the problem of sin only becomes more and more entrenched and highlighted for all to see. Israel cannot be the solution for God filling the earth with worshipers, because Israel is itself infected with sin.

Finally, the story finds its climax. The creator God steps into the story Himself, revealing Himself to His chosen people Israel by becoming one of them in the Person of Jesus. Jesus lives the perfect human life that Adam failed to live. He demonstrates how to bear God’s image, worship Him, and live under His rule in His kingdom. But the sin of man instigated by the great adversary, the devil, rails against Jesus. He is arrested, tried, and hung on a criminal’s cross. He dies there as a sacrifice for all who would trust in His name — the final sacrifice offered for the atonement of sin. Then, after being buried, on the third day, he rises again to new life, demonstrating the power of God over sin and death and vindicating Jesus as God’s faithful King.

We call that climactic part “the Gospel,” but how much more sense does it make in the context of the whole story? How much more powerful is the climax when you understand the rest of the story?

If you’ve never seen Gladiator, the words “I am Maximus Decimus Meridius” mean nothing to you. While those of us who know and have experienced the movie feel the power of that moment, those who don’t have the context can’t appreciate it.

If you’ve never seen Frozen, Ana’s sacrifice for Elsa is just another Disney princess moment.

And yet that’s how many of us live with the news of Jesus’s death and resurrection. Absent the whole story, we are missing out on the fullness of its meaning and its power to transform our lives.

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How must nonbelievers unacquainted with the Bible feel when we try to tell them that Jesus loves them? So what?

Return to fill in the “falling action” and “resolution” parts of the biblical story. Highlight the tension that we are living in the story. This needs to be the felt point of this message — we are participants in the story, not just observers.