We believe in the God who loves the world he made

I believe in God the creator. I believe that if he so chose, he could simply have spoken the universe into existence with a single breath. I believe that God is greater than the universe he made and it is he who holds it together.

And I love science.

From a very early age I was interested in how things worked and why things worked. I wanted to know what made the world turn and if it was true that the water goes down the plug-hole the other way in the southern hemisphere (the answer is that it doesn’t, at least not because of gravitational effects).

When I was 8 or 9 I got my first chemistry set and proceeded to perform experiments, although my sisters were reluctant to act as lab technicians for my work. I suspect my chances of a Noble prize were seriously undermined by their lack of faith in my scientific genius. At school I was in my element, so-to-speak, when I was in a chemistry or biology lab. I loved dissection and I loved mixing chemicals.

At university I studied environmental science and chemistry.

When people say that it’s hard for a scientist to believe in creation, I wonder why it’s so hard. It has never conflicted with my view of science.

So what about Genesis chapter 1?

#1 Don’t ask the wrong question

Genesis 1 is not a scientific paper looking at first origins. It is not a faith competitor for Darwin. It never has been. Although Genesis 1 describes a ‘how’, ‘How’ is not the focus.

The culture in which Genesis 1 was written was full of stories of the chaos of the primeval universe. Of good fighting evil, of gods battling with each other for supremacy. Earth and humanity were, according to many of these stories, the result of the battle.

Then along comes the writer of Genesis and we see something new.

#1 A new perspective

1. In the beginning God

Genesis begins with a profound statement: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The implication is this: Before God created anything there was nothing. In the beginning God.  No battles, no minor deities fighting it out in the cosmos, nothing. And from that nothing, the writer tells us, God made everything. The universe, the solar system, the planets, the world in which we live find their beginnings in the creative plans and purposes of God.

2. Order: … and there was evening and morning

The second point the writer wants us to notice is that God’s creative work was an orderly work. This is one of the key reasons  I think that we have a timetable. Later in Israel’s history, the orderliness of creation would be one of the reasons why taking a rest day once a week was enshrined in their legal system. 

And this orderly creation by an orderly God pays attention to the detail. As the story unfolds it become clear that God is concerned with all he makes. Nothing is done by chance, everything is done with purpose.

3. And it was good

The third thing to notice today is that when God made something he made a good job of it.
As each day’s work comes to completion there is the simple declaration that God saw what he had made and it was good. As one writer once put it: God does not make junk.

#2 God so loved the world

If we fast-forward to some time in the first century we’ll find an old man living in exile on a small island. There is nothing particularly remarkable about this old man. To some he probably appears a little odd even crazy as he describes visions of future events. But this old man has a remarkable tale to tell because he was one of the 3 people closest to Jesus.  When he wrote his version of the events surrounding the life and work of Jesus he began his story this way:

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…Through him all things were made.

This, John tells us, is Jesus. And the reason Jesus came was because God so loved the world.
It is in John 3 that we read the words that remind us that the God who began it all continues to care for the world he made and people who live in it.  He cares so much that he was willing to send his Son who was in turn willing to come, to live and to die that we might know the God who began it all.

Conclusion

Genesis chapter 1 introduces us to the God who loves us, the God who created the world in which we live and who, through his Son, has demonstrated the extent of his love.

Now you can ask about evolution and you can ask about creation, but maybe the better question is this: If God will go to this extent to create a world for you, how much must he love you?

We Believe in the Mission

We have a very simple mission statement: To know God and to make God known. Not very original but it does the job. It describes out mission, but here’s the question. Do we get it? What does it mean?

Acts 13 is a defining moment in the life of the Early Church. I doubt very much that any member of Central Baptist Antioch (it must have been a Baptist church mustn't it?) thought of it as a defining moment, but defining it was.

A predominately Gentile church was about to commission to Jewish Christians to set out on a regional mission. It’s as if a small part of the emerging church has suddenly got it and is about to get on with it! 

Mission is about to get a whole lot more entertaining.

God says to this fledgling church take you two most senior leaders, your strongest connection to the church in Jerusalem, and send them on a journey. Unlike Philip this was not a journey predicated on the miraculous ability of God to move them from one place to another or persecution. Unlike Peter this was not a one off journey defined in clear terms prior to the guides arriving.

But this was still God working out his purposes, calling his church to action in his mission.
Today, out them is mission, and we’re going to explore what we mean by mission and what mission means for the way we live.

John Stott once said that mission was everything the church did. For some, this definition is way too broad. It allows everything to be declared a missionary activity and draws attention away from the central thrust of mission–evangelism.

On the other hand, if you define mission only in terms of evangelism are we not in danger of reducing mission down to a verbal presentation of truth, a focus on the eternal destiny of the individual, with no room for for anything else.

Perhaps what we need is to understand mission more in the context of the Gospel story than in the context of church history.

Let me explain.

Defining Mission

I believe there are two fundamental mistakes we make when we start trying to define mission. The first is to define mission in the context of the church. When we do this we end up asking questions about how we can people into church. How we can connect them with what we do, what we believe and how we live. Start with the church and almost inevitably the mission will get lost.

The best example I know of this approach came quite recently with the Hope initiative in town. For some, the first question was not “How can we reach and serve the most number of people who are from God?” The first question was:” What’s our basis of faith?”

The second error is to define mission in the context of what’s wrong with the world. When we fall into this trap we find ourselves standing in judgement over our neighbours.  Mission becomes focussed on righting wrongs and defining acceptable behaviour. Whilst it’s important to challenge policies and laws, to write to MPs and ask tough questions, our mission is not a quest to get Christian values enshrined in the constitution of the land but to populate heaven with people who have reconnected with the God who loves them.

So how do we define mission, where do we begin?

The only place to begin if we want to define mission correctly is to begin with Jesus. What we believe about Jesus has to be the basis for what we believe about mission and interestingly, what we believe about mission will lead us in the end to better understand what we believe about the church.

Think if it this way: What we believe about Jesus determines our what believe about how we live in the world (our mission), our mission determines our how we live as a community of faith (worship). Technically: Christology determines missiology, and missiology determines ecclesiology.

So, when we launch a celebration in Shortstown, when we begin a housegroup in the Wixams, it will be with the tag line: It’s not about coming to church, it’s about coming to life.

How did Jesus do mission?

If Jesus is the defining criteria for our understanding of mission, then what do we know about how he did mission?

Jesus did mission relationally

He invited followers,
he lived among them,
he entered their world,our world.
He committed himself to them.

Jesus did mission incarnationally

The good news was not just about Jesus, it was Jesus.

When he said the kingdom of God was near, it was no mere philosophical proposition, it was a bold statement of the presence of God made flesh among them. God had drawn near, and he still does. In the person of Jesus Christ the holiness of God stood next to the unholiness of humanity and the only who died as a result was the holy one himself.

The Old Testament people feared such an encounter. At Sinai they begged God to stay clear of them, Jacob, who wrestled with God declared with amazement that he had seen God face to face and lived to tell the story. Isaiah declares himself ruined as he sees a vision of God Almighty, high and lifted up.

But when Jesus came, he came humbly, he came as a servant, he came as one who was powerless. He drew near and threw his arms around saint and sinner alike.

This narrative of the God who walks among men is the story in which we find ourselves. This is the defining strategy for the mission of God’s people, to live among the missing in order that some, even all, might be found.

Living missionally

If Jesus defines our mission, then we have a few questions to ask. First we can ask what we truly believe about mission and our part in it. Second we can ask what it means to live our lives in the light of this mission. Thirdly we can ask to who are we sent? This third question arises out of the very nature of our missional calling to Go and make disciples

What do we believe about mission?

I’m not asking about the definition, we’ve already established the basis for that. I’m asking what we believe about our role.

Do we believe the the mission is urgent?
De we believe it is a priority?
Do we believe we have a part to play in it?
Do we believe it is primarily someone else’s responsibility?

What is a missional life?

A missional life is: (I think these three terms are from Ed Stetzer)

Incarnational: we live the story. The gospel is not just something we believe, it’s the way we live.

Indigenous: In other words, we live among the people we are trying to reach. We don’t go somewhere to do mission, we live somewhere to be the mission, to live the story. It’s another way of saying relational.

Intentional: We live on purpose and with purpose. We are a sent people. We may not have been prayed over, set apart by the Holy Spirit to travel throughout Asia, but we are all a sent people.

The challenge we face is not to do mission but to live missionally.

To whom are we sent?

Of course we can say simply that we are sent into the world. Not to make it a better place but to live out the good news story so that others might see and choose to live it too.
But we’re also aware that God has placed and is placing opportunities, clear opportunities before us.

Perhaps the credit crunch will give us a little more time to get ready, but houses are being built, people are moving in and we cannot stand by and do nothing.

We see the communities in which we already live and know that we cannot wait for someone else to come along and engage for us, we have to answer God’s call to be the mission.
Whether your heart burns for Cotton End, for Shortstown, for Wilstead or for Wixams, there is an opportunity for all of us to share the journey together.

Conclusion

I believe God has called us to a missional life. I believe will all my heart that the church exists primarily to serve the purposes of the kingdom of God through engaging in mission. We are here for the benefit of those who are yet to believe.

And if we get it, then for the sake of the kingdom, let’s get on with it.

We Believe: in the vision

I think one of the most powerful questions we’ve asked ourselves in recent months is this:

If we get it, are we getting on with it?

When we talk about the church, the vision, about the mission, about all the things we’re going to explore over the next couple of months, there are many things about which we could say, “We get it”.

Our Vision, Mission and Heart

Our Vision: is to build a church that honours and glorifies God; built on biblical principles; teaching biblical truth; influencing its community; where personal relationships are deep.

Our Purpose: is to love people into a deep and growing relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Our Heart: is to share God’s heart for the marginalised and oppressed.

Where have you seen this before?

Actually, you see it every week because it’s printed n the front of the bulletin!

Three keys to “getting on with it”

#1 Ownership.

How much would you say you “own” the vision? Not how much of it is yours and yours alone, but how deeply have you bought into what we sense God has called us to do and be as a community together?

Bill Hybels spoke last year at the Global Leadership Summit about hired hands and owners. Hired hands run away at the first sign of danger. When wolves come to attack the sheep, they say, “I’m not paid enough to risk my life for these mangy sheep”. And they up and leave.

Owners act differently. For the owner the sheep are his or her life. Without the sheep they have nothing. They are fully invested in sheep and therefore fully committed to their protection. Losing sheep is not an option and they will do whatever it takes to protect them.

If we own the vision, then we will be more interested in seeing that come to fruition than almost anything else. It will consume us.

#2 Passion.

When it comes to the life of the church, to the mission of God, the basic expansion plans of the kingdom then I believe that we need to be passionate about it.

This is no mere business plan to build a big church, this is about life and death, about eternal destinies, about the very heart of God.

In you go away with one prayer today, then let it be “Lord, give me a passion for the people you miss most.”

If passion escapes you, then listen to the radio on a Saturday night. Tune in to Radio 5 for a while and listen to the football ‘phone-in. You’ll hear some passion then!

#3 Purposefulness

As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to live our lives purposefully.

In other words we are not called to live our lives wandering around this world until the day comes when either God takes us up into heaven or Jesus Christ returns to the earth and then takes us to heaven.

Everyone knows that if you want to fulfil your potential then you have to work at whatever it is that defines that potential. Michael Phelps may be genetically well suited to swimming with his long torso, short legs, big feet and fast recovery times, but he would not have won 8 gold medals without application, without being purposeful about reaching his goal.

How much more significant is the goal of fulfilling our call in the kingdom of God? How much more significant than a gold medal is God’s affirmation, “Well done, good and faithful servant?”

Conclusion

If we get it, then we ought to be getting on with it.

It is a s simple as that.
If we own the vision, if we’re passionate about the purposes of the kingdom and we’re purposeful about living our lives for the glory of God, then how can we not get on with it? Tell me, how is that possible?