The Story of Everything

I’m looking for a show of hands here, if someone asked you about your favorite movie would you be able to tell them what it was? I think most of us can probably do that, unless maybe you don’t really watch movies or can’t pick a favorite. Keep your hand up if you could tell them a little bit about the movie if they asked you. And if you’re anything like me, you try to tell them enough about the movie to get them interested in it, but not so much that you’re spoiling it for them. What about your favorite TV show or book series? If someone asked you what it was could you name something? Again, as long as you watch TV or read you can probably do that. Keep your hand up if you could tell them about the book series or the TV show. Now don’t raise your hand for this next one, this one is just for you to think about. What about your faith? I would guess most of us could probably comfortably tell a friend who asked “I’m a Christian.” But could you explain it, could you tell them about it if they didn’t know. Could you tell them enough to get them interested in it?

And I make these connections because a great way to explain the faith that we share is by telling the story. The story that starts with God creating everything and includes you and me. So what is that story and how do we tell it? Well it starts with God’s Word. He speaks and everything else starts to exist; the world, the sky, the sun, the stars, plants, animals, and humanity. And He gives the first people, Adam and Eve, one rule to follow in this paradise He created. But they rebel, they want to be the gods of their own lives, they break God’s one rule for them. And in a perfect system, everything is interconnected, so that one violation impacts everything. All of creation is affected by its shadow. God, because He is perfect, because He is just, because He cannot stand imperfection - He expels Adam and Eve from paradise and sentences them and all their descendents to suffering and death. But He is also a God of mercy, so in the midst of that punishment He promises that He will repair what they have broken.

After a few generations, God speaks to a man named Abraham and calls him to leave his family and everything that is familiar to him. God promises to give a home to his descendents, to call them His own, and to bless the entire world through them. And He waits until it takes a miracle for Abraham and his wife to have a child, but then He gives them a miracle and they name him Isaac. Isaac has a son and his son has sons and those sons go to Egypt and multiply. This makes Pharoah, the king of Egypt, really nervous and he oppresses them and enslaves them. The God raised up a leader for His people, Moses, who spoke the Word of God to Pharoah and God did terrifying things in Egypt to free His people Israel. And God protects His people, the people that know Him, the people that He has made these incredible promises to, He protects them even though they make mistakes and forget Him again and again and again. He shows the world how much He cares for them and how far He is willing to go to protect them and bring them back to Him. He gives them kings and prophets and priests to take care of them and guide them in His will.

And He does all of this to show the world who He is, and to protect the people that He promised a Savior would come out of. That savior did come, in a small town, from an obscure family, out of unbelievable circumstances, to a people who had started to give up hope. Jesus was born and He taught people with power and authority. He forgave sins and healed the sick and the broken, He resisted the temptation to take advantage of others, He called people into lives of love and joy and goodness. He encouraged people to follow the spirit of the law, not just the legalistic letter. He genuinely made the world a better place, everywhere he went. He radically taught His disciples to voluntarily serve one another, to live lives of humility and patient obedience. And for all of the good He did, for all of the gifts He gave, the leaders of His own people arrested Him. The government condemned Him, punished Him, and killed Him. And before He died, He taught a powerful final lesson - from the cross He asked His Father to forgive the people who were crucifying Him. He died that day.

And if the story ended there, we would have no reason for our faith, no reason to tell this story at all. But it didn’t, after three days in the tomb, Jesus rose by His own power. He guided His disciples to where they needed to be to share this saving faith, and He ascended into heaven - promising to come again one day. And His disciples set to work, they shared the incredible story of Jesus and pointed to the faith in Him that promised a place in an eternal new creation. God fixed what Adam and Eve had broken so many years ago, God fulfilled the promise that He had made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the people of Israel. He sent His Holy Spirit on His disciples so that they might do the impossible, so that more would believe and be saved. And Stephen, one of the earliest Christians, he told this story and condemned the people who rejected Jesus and His promises for them.

Acts 7:54–60 (ESV)

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.

Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

He shared this incredible story, not by arguing with them, not by getting angry when the didn’t understand, not by defending himself. But by sharing God’s grace with them, then by demonstrating that grace in a radical way by asking God to forgive them, even as they killed him.

And God worked through even that, and Saul, the man who approved of Stephen’s death, was converted. He and the rest of the early Christians spread the news of Jesus’ life and sacrifice all over the world. And those who heard the story from them told the story again and again and again. And they formed the church and the church grew in incredible ways. It became one of the most powerful institutions in the world, and people have taken advantage of it for personal gain, for money, for power - but at its core it is still a proclamation of the Gospel, a proclamation of grace to the people of the world.

And the story continues on. Just over ten years ago, some Christians came together and recognized a community that needed to hear this incredible story. They came together and formed a church, and that church has adapted and overcome and thrived. That church still gathers around this same story, it’s lessons and it’s joyful good news every Sunday morning. And that church is still called to share the story, just like the early Christians were, to tell their friends and their neighbors and their family - even if they face resistance like Stephen. They go out, never alone, but always with the promise that the Holy Spirit goes with them and will give them the words to say. The author of the story is always there to guide its telling. And they’re called to do so, we’re called to do so with all of the grace and forgiveness that Christ extends to us first. Amen.

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