the True Story of the whole world.
In the very beginning of time, before anything existed, God was.
And as He was, God thought. Looking forward and backward through all of time for all of eternity, God knew that His glory was perfectly complete. But He also knew He wanted to create. He wanted to create beings in His own image that would exist in community and make His glory known. They would shout his goodness and praiseworthiness throughout the universe and in hearing the praises of His creation His glory would be brought to the forefront of all that exists.
So God made this world. He made everything around you, everything you can see and hear and smell and touch and taste, and even the things that you can't. He made every star and cloud, every plant and rock, every animal that has ever existed, and He made you. Each human being on this earth, God made.
And He made it all perfect in every way.
It is beautifully arranged, set up to run the way that it does in perfect harmony. Just like an artist paints a masterpiece, God painted every detail, placing each star in just the right spot, each planet at just the right distance from the sun. Just step outside and you can see that - the wind in the trees on a sunny spring afternoon, the tide rolling in at sunset. Every aspect of creation points to the God who created it. Every detail points to the God who loves what He created. Nature shouts out in praise of the God who is Creator - and He is worthy of that praise.
As if spending time perfecting each detail of creation were not enough, God did even better with humans. God made man and woman, and He did so with such detail that it is impossible to deny. Each aspect of our being is special, evidence not only of God creating each of us but of God loving us more than all the rest. Humans are the pinnacle of all that God intended to create.
No fish determines to build a vacation resort.
No bird sets aside resources for a retirement fund.
No monkey makes arrangements to bury their dead.
Why? Because humans are the only beings in which God placed His own image. We are the only ones in all creation with the innate desire to create, and to think, and to reason. God created us special, He created us with a purpose. And God didn't just say, "It is good." When He looked on the humans He had created, the ones in whom He placed His very image, God said, "It is very good."
Now, I don't have to tell you because you probably already know, but something happened, didn't it? In fact, every story has a point where something bad happens, doesn't it? That's because every story that we tell today reflects the story I'm telling you now, it's ingrained within us. We can't forget, no matter how hard we try, that something bad led us to where we stand today.
The first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were given authority over everything. In fact, God gave them two tasks: take care of My creation and multiply. The first makes sense - take care of the things that I have made and provided for you. An easy lesson in gratitude, perhaps? The second made sense, too - I have made you in my own image, go make more image bearers. As the population grew, so would their praise of God.
God also gave Adam and Eve a rule. There was a tree, called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and God told them, "Don't eat fruit from that tree." Now, there were many other fruit bearing trees and Adam and Eve could eat from those trees. Remember, all the world was under their authority. There was just one tree they weren't allowed to eat from.
Maybe it was pride, thinking they knew better than God did. Maybe it really was a genuine curiosity, that they couldn't bear the thought of not having tasted one fruit out of all the choices. Whatever it was, Adam and Eve ate the fruit. Instantly, they knew. They knew more than they had ever known. They knew they were naked and they felt shame. Even worse, they knew they had sinned by disobeying God's only rule for them and they felt guilt. As a result of their choice, sin entered the world. And it has wreaked havoc ever since. War, famine, plague, murder, adultery, theft, hate, pride - all that is bad and broken in this world is the result of sin.
The problem is - the sin that broke the world also broke each of us. It broke our relationship with God. We who were made for intimate relationship with the God of the universe are now unable to approach Him on our own. You see, God is holy. Because of His holiness, God cannot bear the presence of sin, so there is no way that we in our sinfulness can come before God in his holiness and try to fix what is wrong. If that wasn't enough, God is also perfectly just. Our hearts were made to worship Him, but sin has twisted that. Our hearts now worship everything but God. And the just punishment for that sin is death, eternal death and separation from the God we were made to worship.
But God.
Ah, the glory of those two words!
Where there was no way, God made a way. Where sin caused mankind to be separated from God for all of eternity, God spanned the gap. Where we could not come to Him, God came to us!
In the person of Jesus Christ, He came. As a human being, Jesus lived the perfect life that we could never hope to live. He was the only man to walk this earth that was able to keep all of the law of God without sinning. His relationship with God was perfect where ours was not and could never be. The people of his day despised Jesus and because of this deep and bitter hatred they killed him. You might say that isn't fair! He never did anything wrong - how could they kill him? But God was in control the whole time. He had set a plan in motion long before the creation of the world to fix everything. Jesus died for a very important reason - you.
Remember that brokenness I mentioned earlier? The just punishment for all the sin that rules our lives is death, eternal death and separation from God. But Jesus died that death for us. He stepped into our place and took that punishment onto himself so that we didn't have to. And he did it so that we could be brought back into a right relationship with God. As a result, not only are we promised the fullness of life here on earth but we are guaranteed the hope of eternity with God after we leave this earth. It's the ultimate win-win situation.
You can hear this story all day long, but eventually you have to respond.
The Bible says that this is a matter of faith. You simply admit to God that you need Him and ask Him to help you turn from your sin (He will!). You trust in Christ alone to rescue you from your sin and ask Him to forgive all your sins - past, present, and future (He will!). From then on you follow Jesus. Instead of worshiping all the things of this world, you place God on the throne of your life and worship Him. Instead of listening to the voice of the world or even your own selfish desires, you seek to listen to and follow Jesus' voice as He leads you through life. Instead of seeking your own selfish purposes in life, you now have a greater purpose - to tell everyone you meet about the salvation you have found in Jesus.
There will still be joy and sorrow.
There will still be easy times and hard times.
Life will still happen. It's inevitable and God wouldn't want it any other way.
But you will have the encouragement of knowing you're never alone, the confidence of knowing your life has purpose and meaning, and the hope of knowing that this physical life may end but your soul will live for eternity - worshiping the God who saves.
And you will never be the same.
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