The non-mystery of knowing God's will

I love how people are always so excited to know God's will for their lives. Who does God want me to marry? I can't wait to find out what college God wants me to go to and what my career will be (cha-ching...$$$). For many people, God's will is like a Christmas present; we don't know what's hidden in the box but we can't wait to find out what good things God is going to give us! And so our version of God's will is that it is primarily about US...and OUR comfort.

Now what is interesting here is that this is not how God's will is discussed in the Bible. God's hidden/masked/sovereign will (you know, the will that is so mysterious to us) is not talked about very much in the Bible. Nope. God's masked will is not the main entree in the Bible (which makes sense in light of its name). Rather, it is God's missional and moral wills that get the most press. Hmmm. Why would this be? Well, maybe because God is desiring something to happen in this world and he wants us to be about the business of joining HIM and HIS cause to bring HIS good kingdom back to HIS world.

But why are people so obsessed with God's masked will and not nearly as concerned about God's missional and moral wills? Well, might it be because God's masked will (or at least our version of it) is primarily about US while God's missional will is primarily about GOD? Might it be that we are more concerned about building OUR personal kingdoms than building GOD'S kingdom? I'll let you decide!

One of the many things I love about Jesus is that he was about the business of doing his Father's work (i.e. God's missional will). Jesus was concerned about God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven. This is evident when Jesus said, "Not MY will but YOUR will be done." We find out very early on in the story of the Bible what God's missional will is all about. Let me explain.

So Adam and Eve ate from 'the tree of the experience of good and bad' (that's my NLT interpretation of the tree) and God brought curses on the earth. But why would a good God do a thing like that? If God loves us so much then why would he introduce bad stuff into our lives? Well, this is God's way of drawing people back to Himself. When stuff is going well (let's be honest) our first instinct isn't to think about God and give Him credit...we often forget God (just take Jessica Simpson as a case study on the issue). But when things are going poorly and are out of our control that's when we dial up God, is it not? This pattern is what we see in the Bible too.

Adam and Eve get kicked out of the garden and things just go from bad to worse. Cain tries to short-change God on his sacrifice by offering God only 'some of the fruit of the soil' whereas Abel offers God the "fat portions" from the "firstborn" of his flock. God accepts Abel's sacrifice but not Cain's sacrifice (because God doesn't like to be short-changed). So Cain does what any brother would do in this situation...he kills Abel. God disciplines Cain but things just keep getting worse. An axe-murderer named Lamech is born into the family and he takes up the weekend hobby of murdering people (Gen. 4:24). This episode provided a small sliver of the turmoil that existed on the earth. Murder was the trend on the earth back then just like Justin Bieber is the unfortunate trend in our world today. What was the result?...people began to call on the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:26). The evil in the world had caused people to place their focus and affections back on God. And so we see that God's mission is to draw people back to Himself!

But isn't it crazy that God is at work using even evil (through his divine permission) to draw people back to Himself? But it works! And Jesus picks up on this when he says in John 4:34, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me (a.k.a. God) and to finish HIS work." God has been into outreach mode since way back in Genesis and now he wants us to join Him in HIS work. And Jesus even says in the next verse, "The fields are ripe for harvest." Now this doesn't mean that a majority of people will embrace and respond positively to Jesus (we know from Jesus' life and teaching that this is not true!). What Jesus is telling us is that the season has arrived where God wants us to bring his message of love to an unloving world and bring in a harvest of God-fearing, kingdom-focused people. The church is called to complete Jesus' work because "now's the time for us to rise, to carry hope to hopeless lives and show this world that mercy is alive." Sure Jesus came to die on the cross BUT he also came to spark a movement of people who would bring in the harvest (John 4:34ff).

So what is God's will for your life? In whatever you do, be about the business of bringing in the harvest and advancing God's kingdom and cause in this world! While the saying, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few" actually indicates that there are lots of people but few will accept Jesus' call, the fields, nonetheless, are ripe. We are in a time and season of harvest and this is the primary role of the church! So you have a choice...you can spend your life building YOUR personal kingdom and see how that works for you or you can join a movement sparked by Jesus to build GOD'S kingdom. The choice is yours!

God's Meta-Narrative: The Story That Explains ALL Stories

Whether we acknowledge it or not, our life's story is defined by God's story (the one He's been working out since the beginning of time). God is at work around us. We can deny this but we can never get away from it! And so if we want to understand our lives then we need to understand God's meta-narrative (that is, the BIG story that God is working out that explains everything). So what is God's meta-narrative? Well you don't have to go far in the Bible to find it...The Bible begins by framing it up. (Hint...Hint...I think God's subtly implying that it's important that we understand it!)

Genesis 1 makes it abundantly clear that everything God created in the beginning was GOOD (in fact he emphasizes this seven times over). The author also makes it clear that man's role in God's creation is to rule over the earth (the land, sea, and sky) by preserving and multiplying God's GOOD created order. Part of this task involved GUARDING the tree of the knowledge of good and bad and NOT EATING its fruit. But Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ate from the tree. This changed everything...and I mean everything!

But how are we to understand the tree of the knowledge of good and bad? Did the fruit from this tree, if ingested, give people the knowledge to discern moral right from moral wrong? Did Adam and Eve not know right from wrong before they ate the fruit? Some people think so. But I'm not sure that's the best explanation. Why? Well in the Hebrew language, 'knowledge' does not just refer to book smarts but it refers more specifically to street smarts, i.e. knowledge gained through experience. And so from the Hebrew perspective you don't really 'know' something unless you've experienced it. And so maybe the tree is better referred to as 'the tree of the experience of good and bad'.

So what specifically did Adam and Eve experience after they ate from the tree? Shame...Pain...Separation...Curses...more simply put, Adam and Eve experienced a bunch of BAD stuff. But these BAD things were not necessarily morally BAD (or evil). I mean are 'birthing pains' morally BAD? No. They're just plain BAD. Is 'painful toil' morally BAD? No. It's just BAD. In fact, in the Hebrew of Genesis 2:17 and 3:16-17 the author uses a play on words to remove any confusion about the nature of this tree. The author indicates that from the ETZ (tree) came ETZev (pain). And so by eating from the tree, BAD things were mixed into God's GOOD creation. Death, disease, violence, hatred, jealousy, slander, gossip, natural disasters, poverty, and spiritual warfare now became a part of humanity's everyday experiences. And not only this, but Adam and Eve were also expelled from the garden of Eden where God's presence resided. And so now humanity has lost its relational connection to God! Humanity now suffers from a spiritual death!

But all hope is not lost! We learn in Genesis 3:15 that one of the woman's offspring will strike a death blow to the serpent (Satan) but only after he is bruised and injured by the serpent. Who do you think the woman's offspring is referring to? JESUS, of course. It's no wonder that this passage is often spoken of as the proto-evangalion or the first gospel. The work of Jesus is to strike down the BAD in this world and restore and redeem creation back to God. Jesus accomplished phase one of this mission through his death, resurrection, and the sending of the Spirit. The final phase is yet to come. But in the meantime, what are Christ followers to do? JOIN Jesus' mission. After all, Jesus didn't give his followers the power source of the Holy Spirit so they would sit around and wait for Jesus to return while eating a potluck dinner!

But how do we engage in this mission? Simple, we look to Jesus' life and example and follow him. Jesus demonstrated through his life that he was about the business of reestablishing God's rule in this world (a.k.a. God's kingdom) by restoring the GOOD order back to God's creation. Jesus clued people into this, first of all, through his miracles: he healed the sick, he tamed out-of-control storms, he cast out demons, and he raised the dead. By doing these things Jesus showed that he was the true messiah who could reverse the curses of Genesis. And believe it or not, Jesus gave his disciples the same authority to do miracles so they were able to follow his example in this way.

But let's say you don't believe that miracles are for today (often referred to by theologians as a cessationalist). No problem. You can still engage in Jesus' mission of restoring good back to God's creation by living out Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. What does this look like? For beginners you can demonstrate love to the brutal and unloving world that you find yourself in. By loving your enemies you can stop the cycle of retaliation that is destroying our world. (And let me tell you, the ability to love your enemy is a miracle in my opinion.) Jesus wants his followers to be salt and light!

Finally (and most importantly in my opinion), you can reconnect people back to God by introducing them to Jesus so that their lives can be restored under God's rule and design for living. Jesus gave his followers the Great Commission because he wants to expand God's kingdom by renewing and restoring people's lives!

Bottom line, God doesn't just want us to KNOW a Biblical worldview, he wants us to LIVE a Biblical worldview. We'll only be able to do this if God's meta-narrative is driving our Biblical worldview. This is because the meta-narrative gives significance to everything. HISTORY...God is working out his plan to overcome BAD in this world...Join Him! ANTHROPOLOGY...People are in need of restoration and God wants to restore them...Join Him! MORALITY...People need to live by God's good design for life because God wants to overcome evil with good in this world...Join Him! SCIENCE...God created everything and, therefore, has the right to be king over the lives of his creation (that's you and me)...Join Him! You get the picture hopefully. A Biblical worldview (with God's meta-narrative clearly spelled out) should drive a person to find themselves and everything they do in God's story. Are you finding your identity in God's story? I hope so because whether you acknowledge it or not, your life story is being defined by God's story!

Why do you do what you do?

Have you ever wondered why you do what you do? Why do you buy overpriced clothing at American Eagle when you can save money by shopping for clothes at Target? Why do you sacrifice relationships and enjoyment to get good grades so that you can get into a good college? Why do you befriend certain people and ridicule and avoid other people? I believe that all of these things stem from how you view the world--your worldview.

Your worldview tells you how you see and interpret the world around you and it influences how you interact with the world. It answers questions like why is the world the way it is? How is life designed to function? Why am I here on earth? What is the source of true happiness? What is really real? Your worldview is a driving force behind why you do what you do. So if your worldview tells you that money makes a person happy then you will give your life to pursuing money (that is, if you want to be happy). If you think you'll feel good about yourself if you're liked by other people then you will do whatever it takes to be accepted by people. Get the point?

Now I've been a part of several Christian worldview courses in my lifetime and let me tell you that I have always felt like something was missing in them. Why? Well, none of them actually changed how I lived nor did they motivate me to change how I live (which I thought was the whole point of taking the course in the first place). To be honest, most of them put me to sleep! What I have since concluded is that these courses taught me the proper foundations for a God-centered worldview but failed to include the heartbeat behind a worldview--the meta-narrative. A meta-narrative is an overarching story that gives meaning and significance to everything. It's the BIG story that explains all the LESSER stories in our lives. It's a grand story that we look to to provide answers to everything we encounter, experience, and wonder about in life. Why did God allow my mom to die? What should I do with my life? Is there any hope in this messed up world? Why can people be so mean? How should I express my sexuality? Why is there so much starvation in the world?

And so, the meta-narrative is what gives a worldview relevance and significance to our lives. For instance, a Biblical worldview teaches that God created a perfect universe, that man is sinful by nature, and that a spiritual reality exists around us. Well great...but why should I give a rip? Well, the meta-narrative answers that question. And so a worldview void of a meta-narrative will remain in the classroom and in the arena of ideas...whereas a worldview that includes a meta-narrative will enable people to bring it into the arena of their everyday lives!

I believe that many Christians have the proper foundation for a God-centered worldview but yet their worldview is still deficient. Sure they hold all the correct God-centered stances on science, history, anthropology, theology, sociology, morality, etc. but still do not have a complete worldview. Why? They've left the meta-narrative out. They've failed to see how their stances on science, history, anthropology, theology, sociology, and morality fit into and relate to God's meta-narrative as given in the Bible. This is also why so many people can go to church on Sunday, hear a great sermon, and do nothing in response. The sermon while reinforcing a Christian worldview was not linked to God's meta-narrative. As a result, many sermons remain in the arena of ideas and not in the arena of actual life. So what is the meta-narrative given in the Bible? Stay tuned!

The Christian Fad of Giving God Glory

Have you ever heard someone say, "My purpose in life is to give God glory?" I've heard it too and when people say this it makes them sound very godly, religious, and theologically correct. That is...until you ask them: What does that mean? How do you give God glory? How does God want his glory to be practically manifested in your life? Most people I've talked to either haven't a clue what this means or how to practically live this out. They have just learned (like Pavlov's dogs) that they get affirmation when they use the line...so why not throw it out there around religious people? And those who have described to me what giving God glory means tell me that you do this by giving Him credit for everything good that you accomplish in your life. But what this amounts to (based on my observation) is the token finger point toward the sky (in God's direction) after you play a killer guitar riff or you get any type of compliment.

But is this the extent of what it means to give God glory? Because how I see this worked out in many people's lives is that they live their lives however they want...pursuing worldly status, fame, and fortune...and then when they achieve success they point the 'good' finger toward God saying, "I just want to give God all the glory." And I'm thinking, "Ya right...I'm sure you consciously put God by your side every step of the way." And so I ask, "Has giving God glory become nothing more that a Christian fad that has lost its Biblical meaning?" I'll let you decide. But if it has, we need to figure out what it means because it seems to be pretty important. So what does it mean to give God glory?

A good place to start would be with Jesus. How did Jesus give God glory? Is he the one that began the Godward finger pointing fad? No doubt he gave God credit for everything. But it wasn't just giving God credit that brought God glory in Jesus' life. Nope. IT WAS WHAT JESUS DID AND HOW HE LIVED HIS LIFE THAT BROUGHT GOD GLORY. Listen to what Jesus says in John 17:4, "I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do." Jesus brought God glory by doing the task that God gave him to do. You can give God credit all you want but you can't give him glory if you're not living to accomplish the task that he has given you as His creation. So this begs the question, "What task has God given humans to accomplish on this earth?"

To find the answer, we need to go back to the beginning...to Genesis. Why were Adam and Eve created in the first place? Well, Genesis 1:27-28 says, "God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that wove on the ground.'" Adam and Eve were created in God's image to preserve, protect, and guard God's good created order.

This idea is further emphasized in Genesis 2:15, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Now the verb that is translated "take care of it" is best understood as meaning "protect and guard it." Why? This task of 'taking care of' is the same task that the angels were given by God to do in Genesis 3:24 (that is, the same word is used) after Adam and Eve were banished from the garden. The angels 'took care' of the way to the tree of life by 'guarding' it. And so God created Adam and Eve to preserve the good in God's world.

Adam and Eve's purpose is also made clear when it says that they were created in God's image. This idea of being made in God's image alludes to an Ancient Near East practice where a king would place a statue of himself in a conquered region to represent and remind people of his authority in that region. And so humanity was given the purpose of representing God and preserving his rule on this earth. How do we do this? By promoting God's original created design for life. In Genesis God established a design for life and he wants us to function within that design and not rebel against it!

And so Adam and Eve's role on this earth was to maintain God's good created order and to represent God to the world around them! This continues to this day. In Matthew 5:13, Christ followers are called the salt of the earth. Salt is a preservative and Christians are called to preserve God's good in this world by overcoming evil with good. This (I would suggest) is how we give God glory! But something happened in the garden that expanded humanities role and purpose on this earth. We'll get to that in due time. But for now I ask you: Is your life showing God's glory? Are you living by God's good design for life? Or is God's glory just a religious fad to you?

What Makes God So GOOD?

I am astonished how many churchgoing people SAY that God is GOOD and SING about how GOOD God is on Sundays but yet live lives devoid of God's influence and direction. I would venture to say that God probably doesn't even cross their minds all that often. But if God is so GOOD then why wouldn't people abandon everything to pursue Him with their lives? Why wouldn't people seek his perfect design for life and then embrace it? I am convinced it's because people don't really believe that God is GOOD or at least worthy of their time, talents and treasures. Most of these people probably grew up being trained to SAY the right things and KNOW the right things but when push came to shove their lives ended up reflecting what they truly believe-God isn't all that extravagant (at least He's not as extravagant as fancy cars and any gadget made by Apple). Let's be honest, many people say that God exists but live like he doesn't (I call these people practical atheists); they claim that material stuff won't fill that void in their hearts and make them happy but they live like material things will satisfy their souls (I call these people practical humanists). Is this you?

I am convinced that God is GOOD and the life that God designed is GOOD and worthy of my time, talents, and treasures. But what makes God's way of doing life so GOOD? For that matter what makes GOOD GOOD? If we can't answer this question then we will live like practical humanists because that's just what comes naturally-that's probably why it's called HUMANism. Well fortunately God didn't determine what was good and what was bad by flipping a coin. There is actually a certain logic to GOOD. Can you explain this logic?

In the creation account given in Genesis, there is this phrase that it repeated 7 times: "God saw that it was good." God also performed 10 creative acts as indicated by the phrase "God said" (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 29; 2:18). Now the interesting thing is that the numbers 7 and 10 indicate completion and perfection throughout the Bible. And so I think it is pretty obvious what God is trying to communicate to us..."My original design for life on this earth is really GOOD so for crying out loud live by it." And if we look at God's original design for life the word that best describes it is "restful." I think that this is why God was able to rest on the seventh day-Everything was functioning harmoniously. The man and woman got along peacefully and felt no shame. The streams never ran out of water to nourish the trees so they could grow and produce the food necessary to sustain life. And 'death' was not an experience that anyone had to endure. Complete restfulness existed on the earth and God saw that life was good.

But to better understand what GOOD is, maybe we should also look at what makes something bad. In Romans 2:26, Paul labels homosexual relations as bad because they are 'unnatural' or more literally 'against nature' (i.e. against God's natural design for life). What makes something 'against nature'? Well think about if everyone on this earth were homosexual, what would happen? We would go extinct and not be able to be fruitful and multiply as God originally designed. And so homosexuality seems to deviate from God's original design for life. What about murder, violent anger, jealousy, or greed? Imagine if these things described every person on this earth all the time (not just every now and then). What would our world be like? It would be a mess don't you think? But then imagine if everyone were loving, giving, patient, kind, gentle, self-controlled all the time. Our world would be pretty amazing wouldn't it? Well, this is the logic that defines whether things are good or bad. God designed this world to function in peace and harmony and so he labeled those things that would promote this design as 'good' and he labeled those things that would ruin this design as 'bad'.

Now here's where the church (or Christ-followers) fit in. The church (in part) exists to be a community that shows people what God's original design for this world is supposed to look like. The result should be that the church community (as it reflects the person, character, values, and priorities of Jesus) is so irresistible that it draws people back to God. In short, the church exists to be an unstoppable force in this world that is constantly overcoming evil with GOOD and drawing people back to God and his GOOD design for life. But this won't happen if churchgoers don't find God all that worthy of their time, talent, and treasures. How valuable is God to you?