Serving His Purposes_Web

8/9/2019 Serving His Purposes_Web

1/22

R E T H I N K I N G C H U R C H

Existing for the World

Tuesday, August 24, 2010


2/22

People created in the image of God . . .

responding in faith to his gracious provision . . .

under his rule . . .

serving his purposes . . .

in transformative relationships with Jesus and others



3/22

Check out the WHY DO WE EXIST video on the Teaching

Resources page before continuing.

Video Reflection

1. What stood out in the video?

2. How did the video challenge your own thinking aboutthe purpose of the church?

3. If an unchurched, non eligious person watched this

video how do you think they would feel about the

church?We are going to develop the idea introduced at the end of

the video . . .

the church exists for the world



4/22

The following slides are passages from Revelation that

provide a picture of our eternal state . . . they let us knowwhere everything is headed . . . . how the story ends.

After reading the passage on each slide take some time to

close your eyes and meditate on what you just read.



5/22

Revelation 21:22-26; 22:1-5

I did not see a temple in the city, because the LordGod Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city

does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it,

for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its

lamp.



6/22

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the

earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day willits gates ever be shut, for there will be no night

there. The glory and honor of the nations will be

brought into it.



7/22

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of

life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne ofGod and of the Lamb down the middle of the great

street of the city. On each side of the river stood the

tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its

fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are forthe healing of the nations.



8/22

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God

and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servantswill serve him. They will see his face, and his name

will be on their foreheads. There will be no more

night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the

light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.And they will reign for ever and ever.



9/22

If you didnt know any of the story, what would you think

about this ending?

One of the things that sticks out in these passages is the

all nations phrase. It is clear that the eternal state will be

populated with people from every nation. The message of

the kingdom of God is a universal message.

No lets go to the beginning of the story, to the dark

section.



10/22

Excerpts from Genesis 3:16-24

I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain

you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your

husband, and he will rule over you. Cursed is the ground

because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the

days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you,by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you

return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust

you are and to dust you will return. So the Lord God

banished him from the garden of Eden to work the groundfrom which he had been taken.



11/22

What was your sense as you contrasted these two

sections in Revelation and Genesis?

If we were band new to Gods story, we would probably be

wondering what happened in between. Things looked

extremely bleak in Genesis 3 and yet Revelation 21 sounds

almost to good to be true.

The community of people belonging to God plays a critical

role in the story that unfolds between Genesis 3 and

revelation 21. That is what we are after this morning . . . to

understand the purpose God has for his community in the

middle of the story.



12/22

Lets take a look at some major developments as the story

in between unfolds.



13/22

A Glimmer of Hope

Seed of Promise (Adamic Covenant)Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and

between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.



14/22

The Beginning of a New Community

A nation from Abraham (Abrahamic Covenant)Genesis 12:1-3

The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your

people and your father's household and I will make your

name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those

who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse and allpeoples on earth will be blessed through you.



15/22

The Beginning of a Dynasty

A royal line from David (Davidic Covenant)2 Samuel 7:11-16

The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will

establish a house for you: When your days are over and

you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to

succeed you, who will come from your own body, and Iwill establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a

house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his

kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my

son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod

of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will

never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul,

whom I removed from before you. Your house and your

kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be

established forever.Tuesday, August 24, 2010


16/22

The Arrival of the Promise

A savior from a peasant girl (New Covenant)Luke 1:26-35

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth,

a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man

named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name

was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, youwho are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Mary was

greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of

greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be

afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be

with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give himthe name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son

of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of

his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob

forever; his kingdom will never end."



17/22

In the next few slides we will take a look at the fact that

Gods community has always had a for the world aspectto its purpose.



18/22

Genesis 12:3

and whoever curses you I will curse andall peoples onearth will be blessed through you.

Exodus 19:5-6

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out

of all nations you will be my treasured possession.Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a

kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the

words you are to speak to the Israelites."



19/22

The entire community was intended to serve as a kingdom

of priests to the rest of the nations . . . this is extremelymissional. Israels election to be the people of God was

not an election for privilege but for purpose. They were

not to simply enjoy the the position they were to serve

Gods desire to reconcile the world to himself.



20/22

Matthew 28:16-20

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain

where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they

worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to

them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has

been given to me. Therefore go andmake disciples of allnations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of

the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey

everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with

you always, to the very end of the age."



21/22

To live out the virtues and values of Gods

kingdom taught and modeled by Jesus as wetell his story to others and labor to see them

become his followers.

We develop this purpose statement more fully next week inpart two of Existing for the World.



22/22

1. Ask some friends what they think the purpose of

the church is.2. Spend some time thanking God for his incredible

plan to rescue his creation from sin and that his

plan included all people.

3. Ask God to help you have a daily sense that being

part of his kingdom includes making Jesus knownto others by how we live and telling his story.

4. Make a commitment to adopt a view of church that

includes being missional and existing for a lost

world.

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