Restoring Heaven and Earth: The True Gospel of Jesus

One of the greatest gifts that we can offer people is clarifying who jesus actually is by asking questions inviting that conversation and then offering our story and our conviction about who who jesus is here's if you start fishing around for people's view of jesus and what they think you believe odds are you're gonna you're gonna come up with a story like this and it's a story that's worth really clarifying what if this is actually somebody really think and the story is going to go something like this they may not believe that but they think that this is what you believe or something like that so here we all are here on planet earth uh it's a beautiful and also tragic place and uh here here's uh me and and you and so on and so here we are uh we're living our lives and uh you know sometimes great sometimes really sad and um your friends think that you believe that uh you know you're trying to do pretty good sometimes you fail sometimes you do really poorly you're kind of hoping to get more on this side of the line than that side of the line but we're all kind of a mixed bag but at the end of the game god's going to you know close the curtains on history and based off of how good you've been or how bad you've been or on whether or not you happen to hold correct ideas and beliefs about who jesus is your destiny is one of two places so one of those places will be heaven and the other place the bad place will be will be held and uh heaven if you kind of fish this out of people in in the popular cultural imagination is you know these are both like maybe disembodied non-physical places this has to do with clouds and harps and singing in the presence of god and this has to do with like some subterranean torture chamber or something like that right where god is sadistically hurting people i mean you guys with me this is what people think that followers of jesus believe the vast majority of people in the west think that this is what you believe and some of you in the room might be thinking yeah god is what what i believe and so um i'm i just uh i love you and i care about you and and this is um this is wrong it's wrong the main problem with this story is the bible and the other main problem with this story is the actual life and teachings of jesus this story is shot through with so many half or one-quarter truths that it's just not helpful we need to think we need to read our bibles again with a fresh set of eyes. [00:00:32]

And so i here i invite you to grab a bible and just turn with me to um the gospel according to mark chapter 1. and the way i want to frame this is just very briefly uh you know over the next 20 25 minutes just think through a simple way for how to reframe the story of the gospel in a way that's true to the real jesus and in a way that i think once we get it and once we communicate it it's compelling it's a compelling story gospel according to mark page one the beginning of the good news about jesus the messiah the son of god now let's just stop right there what if there was a one page in the bible where you could go to and say um what is this book about it's about the good news about jesus the messiah the son of god what's a great candidate where should you go in the bible i mean what do you want the beginning of the good news about jesus and so we're thinking okay so heaven earth heaven and hell right that's verse two right and it's like oh no that's not verse two what's verse two just like it was written in isaiah the prophet i'll send my messenger ahead of you who prepare your way a voice of one calling in the wilderness prepare the way for the lord and make straight paths for him what why is the bible saying what it's supposed to say right now are you with me here so apparently according to the bible the good news about jesus the messiah the son of god is this simple it's not simple in one sense the bible is not simple right once you get the basic storyline it's actually not that hard to get but the bible just refuses to be domesticated and our attempts to boil it down to half truths and summaries and this is one of those places where we have to humble ourselves and say like may maybe maybe we've gotten this wrong and maybe i need to come back and rediscover what the bible is actually trying to tell me and it's trying to tell me that jesus comes as the culmination of israel's story and as the fulfillment of a promise that the god of israel said that he would come to visit and rescue his people. [00:03:20]

So jesus went into galilee proclaiming the good news of god here okay here we go if i ever wanted to hear what the gospel is from the mouth of jesus this is a great candidate right here verse 15 and what is it the time has come jesus said the kingdom of god has come near repent and believe the good news now just stop and look at verse 15. so what is the good news jesus says repent and believe the good news so apparently the good news is something that he just said and what is it verse 15 what's the good news the time has come the time has come and something's here and that something coming here is the good news and what is that something that has come here the kingdom of god the kingdom of god so apparently in jesus's mind the story of the bible and who he is and what he's here to do and the gospel is about not about us going somewhere it's about god coming here you with me here it's about something that god is doing here that according to jesus is the good news. [00:07:00]

There's multiple things that are wrong with this story first of all this is a me centered story it's about me and what i'm doing good or bad and then god just is a you know the one who assigns me a role right here at the end of the story that's not the gospel that's certainly not the story of the bible the story of the bible is about god and what god is doing in our world this is a story that focuses on me and my behavior and whether i'm good or bad enough or do or don't know the right information about jesus or something that's not the gospel and that's certainly not the story of the bible the story of the bible is about not my behavior as the focus is about god's activity and god's purposes and what god is doing in our world through jesus that is good news for our world you guys with me here and what is that and it's that god's kingdom god's reign and his rule over our world has arrived in the person of jesus which means that jesus is here to address some kind of problem and he's going to resolve this problem through what he does in the next you know pages that you're going to read in the gospel of mark and that is the good news and it's a different story than this one right here. [00:08:18]

The kingdom of god and the kingdom of heaven is not somewhere that you go after you die it's something that has arrived in jesus now i'm going to draw something a little more but first i just there's a simpler way to do this um a friend friend and i in portland made a video to try and help kind of explore and unpack this do you want to see it great so let's watch that so in the bible the ideas of heaven and earth are ways of talking about god space and our space so i understand our space really well we live here there's trees rivers mountains but my understanding of god space gets a little fuzzy and what we do get in the bible are images trying to help us grasp god's space which is basically inconceivable to us so these are two very different types of spaces yes they're they're different in their nature but here's what's really interesting is that in the bible these are not always separate spaces so think of heaven and earth as like different dimensions that can overlap in the same exact space so we talk a lot about going to heaven after we die but this idea of heaven and earth overlapping we don't talk a lot about that which is kind of crazy because the union of heaven and earth is what the story of the bible is all about how they were once fully united and then driven apart and about how god is bringing them back together once again. [00:09:55]

This is what the bible's description of the garden of eden is all about it's a place where god and humanity dwelt together perfectly no separation and humans then partner with god in building a flourishing beautiful world and so on but as humans we wanted to do things a different way we wanted god out and we wanted to create a world apart from him yeah so we have these two spaces now and the bible actually uses lots of different kinds of words and phrases to refer to these two spaces to make a clear distinction so you've said that these spaces can overlap though so explain how that works yeah this is where we have to start talking about temples because in the biblical world you experience god's presence by going to a temple that's where heaven and earth overlap now there are two types of temples described in the bible one is a tabernacle basically a tent that was built by moses and the other was this massive building made by solomon and these temples were decorated with fruit trees and flowers and images of angels and all kinds of gold and jewels and so on and these are designed to make you feel like you're going back to the garden and at the center of the temple was a place called the holy of holies which was like the hot spot of god's presence now we can go and be with god again but not so fast because the temple also creates a problem so god's space is full of his presence and goodness and justice and beauty but human space is full of sin and injustice and the ugliness that results so how do these spaces overlap if they're so different and they're in conflict with each other this was resolved through animal sacrifice. [00:11:23]

The idea is this animal sacrifices somehow they absorb the sin when the animal dies in your place and it creates a clean space so to speak where you are now free to enter into the temple and be in god's presence okay so if i'm an israelite and i live in jerusalem i might be able to be in god's presence but you said the story of the bible is all of heaven and earth reuniting right so we have to keep going in the story where we come to jesus in the new testament and in the gospel of john we hear this claim that god became human in jesus and made his dwelling among us now this word dwelling is really curious it literally it means he set up a tabernacle among us and so what john is claiming right here is that jesus is a temple he is now the place where heaven and earth overlap what's interesting about jesus is that he isn't staying in this safe clean space he's running around hanging out with sinners he's healing people of their sicknesses and forgiving people of their sins he's basically creating little pockets of heaven where people can be in god's presence but he's doing it out there in the middle of the world of sin and death and he keeps telling everyone that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and he even told his followers to pray regularly that god's kingdom come and that his will be done here on earth just as it is in heaven. [00:13:14]

But a lot of people are threatened by jesus and they kill him which seems to spoil this whole plan to reunite heaven and earth but we we have to go back to a scene earlier on in jesus story where john the baptist saw jesus and said behold this is the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world so jesus isn't just talked about as being a temple he's also talked about as being the temple sacrifice yeah so so the cross is now the place where jesus absorbs sin to create a clean space that is not limited like animal sacrifices jesus's sacrifice has the power to keep spreading and spreading and reuniting more and more of heaven and earth and this is all really great but it leaves one big question in my mind which is what happens when i die don't i just fly over to god's space to be with jesus yeah so a few times in the new testament we learn that christians will be with jesus in heaven after they die but that is not the focus of the bible story the focus is on how heaven and earth are being reunited through jesus and will be completely brought together one day when he returns. [00:14:42]

So in the book of revelation we get this beautiful image of the garden of eden now in the form of a city coming to end the age of sin and death by redeeming all of human history in a renewed creation and god's space and human space completely overlap once again so so so what i'm saying is the story of the bible is the story about how heaven and earth got ripped apart and that that was not god's will that's something about that happened in the story that went wrong right so god god wants to partner and rule his good world together with these dignified image-bearing human beings and as you know you saw in the funny scene right there that that goes wrong not because something was wrong in the way god set up the deal it's because something went wrong inside of human beings right there's this this urge this urge to not trust god's definition of good and evil and to and to to seize autonomy and independence and to define good and evil as i see fit and define it from for ourselves. [00:15:56]

Here's what's crucially important and this is a very simple way to think about communicating this and why this story is wrong if you look at the first sentence of the bible it says in the beginning god made heavens and what does it not say it doesn't say in the beginning god made heaven and earth and hell god didn't make whatever hell is god didn't make it it's nowhere to be found on page one of your bible right what god made is heaven and earth and what does god think about it it's very good it's very good so whatever hell is it comes into the story later and if you're familiar with the story how it works hell or evil or sin the various names that it's called in the bible is something that humans have created by our decision to seize autonomy from god. [00:17:08]

Now how do i know that hell is an appropriate word to talk about this jesus's brother jesus brother wrote a letter that's in our in your bible right it's called the letter of james it's very interesting and jesus brother who he hung out with jesus a lot i'm i'm bound to trust the man when he says he's representing the teachings of jesus james talks about the pat in chapter three he talks about the power of the the tongue and how the human tongue has the power to to bless and praise god the creator but at the same time the human tongue has the ability to gossip about people and to tear down their character and to speak ill and poorly of them and james says this it's flabbergasting he says when humans do that with their tongues he says their tongues are lit on fire by hell are you with me now what are the implications of that the implications that hell isn't just something about like the end of the game hell is a reality that is present now it's a reality that humans unleash on each other and on god's good world to ruin and destroy relationships and to destroy people hell is something that we have created on earth and god hates hell. [00:18:08]

The story of the bible is a story about god wanting to heal his world and get the hell out of earth are you with me that's the story of the bible it's god hates hell because what it hell is about the unleashing of selfishness and evil and the breakdown and degrading of dignified image-bearing human beings that's what hell is and just the book of genesis tells the story of genesis chapters 3 through 11 known as the story of the fall but that's what's happening it's humans unleashing hell on earth and god hates it because he loves his good world and he loves human beings who are made in his image that's what the story of the bible is and jesus comes onto the scene announcing good news the time has come and heaven is here to invade earth and to confront evil. [00:19:27]

Just start reading through the gospel of mark and what will you see jesus doing you will see him confronting hell and its disastrous effects on human beings and it takes the form of him casting evil personal spiritual evil out of people it has to do with jesus confronting the breakdown of human relationships go to the gospel of matthew and listen to how jesus talks about hell and here's here's the context in which jesus mentions hell jesus hates hell and he hates what hell does to human beings and he hates where it leads human beings on a path so jesus so here's something we can all agree on and jesus would agree with us we can all agree that the sexual abuse of children for money is wrong and that it's it's a plague it's a hell of higher plague on our world we give it a more comfortable name called sex trafficking to like not think about what the reality is we hate it we want it gone from our world god also hates sex trafficking jesus hates sex trafficking but he actually he actually takes it more seriously than we do because see we want to get rid of sex trafficking jesus wants to get rid of lust from from his world right he talks about the root the root desire to use another human being for my personal gratification jesus is more serious than we are about evil in our world. [00:20:21]

See we look out at our world and we we see the ravage of racism and and genocide that has resulted in recent history we want that gone from our world jesus also wants that out of his world but he's even more serious about it than we are right because he doesn't want to just get rid of racism right and genocide he wants to get rid of pride and contempt and rage from the human heart are you with me so what are genocide and sex trafficking they're raging hellfires destroying our world but they're ignited by these small sparks of these deep rooted distortions in the human heart and mind jesus wants to get the hell out of his world and he wants to get the hell out of you and that's good news it's good news is it it's good news but it's a double-edged sword right because it's sort of like okay i want god to get evil out of this world but i want him to do it without having to get rid of me you know i'm saying like that's this is the hard truth of jesus it's like we've met the enemy and he is. [00:22:01]

That's not the greatest news to hear but yet at the same time it is it depends on who says it to you right if somebody who's on intent on mowing you down with m16 thinks you're the enemy that's bad news but if if a surgeon right of a surgeon comes with a knife and he needs to cut you open to take out some life-threatening thing that's that's poisoning your body is that good news is it going to be painful it's the story of the bible it's the story of the bible jesus is more serious about this than we are and so how does how does jesus the great physician come to heal us and to get the hell out of us he does it it's this it's what mark tells us just go finish reading the gospel of mark jesus lives this hell-free existence he shows us what a human life is as god becomes human to actually be the kind of human that we are all made and called to be but perpetually fail to be it's this hell free life that only gives and that only loves and that's only others centered and it's act it's so offensive and so scandalous and so repulsive to those around jesus and what he calls out of people and how he calls people out for their religious hypocrisy and their pride and their rage at their anger it's it's the paradox of the gospel is that god so loves and is committed to his broken world ruined by the hell that we've made here he actually allows the hell that we've created to overwhelm him and to destroy him right he allows the hell that we've created to exhaust its power on him and we call this this the moment of the cross and the moment of the cross is the healing it's the paradoxical death and resurrection of jesus and the death and resurrection of our of our world. [00:23:14]

In jesus the whole train wreck of human history and its consequences of evil and of sin exhaust its power in jesus death but because this god is so in love with his world and with these these compromised fractured image-bearing human beings he will not let hell get the last word and the resurrection of jesus is this moment of new life it's a moment that speaks of god's love and eternal commitment to our good world and the resurrection of jesus is represents this offer in this opportunity of life of a hell-free existence in the present and on into the future you guys with me here repent and believe the good news god wants to get the hell out of you and that's the best news right it's the best news you could imagine and it's also hard news to hear. [00:25:09]

And so how does the story of the bible end you know i had that image there in the video of heaven and earth coming together but what i didn't address was this what's where does this have to go it's got to get out of here somehow and so go look at the last page of the bible where where and what is hell on the last page of the bible hell is god's monument as c.s lewis says to human dignity and choice if someone refuses to be healed by the great physician god will honor that decision god will honor that decision but what god will not do is allow hell to continue ruining his good world and so the image that the last page of the bible uses is of the great new garden city of heaven and earth married together again and hell is outside the city it's outside the city it's god's mercy to contain human evil and to not let it eternally ravage his good world and his good image bearing humans and for those who refuse to participate in god's re-creation of heaven and earth he honors that decision they remain outside the city. [00:26:08]

Now that there's all kinds of details that we want to know that the bible does not give us about this what it does is it tells us good news about the person of jesus it tells us that jesus is so committed to getting the hell out of his world and out of you that he lived for you that he died for you and that he was raised for you turn to him and believe the good news how you guys doing this is the this is the story the bible is telling and it's at the same time a challenging story that will still be challenging and offensive and difficult to talk about but i'm telling you it's a it's a compelling story because your friend who doesn't believe in jesus also wants this are you with me you your neighbor wants the same thing that god wants are you with me right now that's going to involve a whole lot of conversation but i thought this is a compelling story if we can if we can help ourselves understand it and and you you will not be compelled to share the story personally unless you actually experiencing the loving healing power of jesus begin to remove the hell from you and to give you new life. [00:27:17]

The story of the bible is the story about how heaven and earth got ripped apart and that that was not god's will that's something about that happened in the story that went wrong right so god god wants to partner and rule his good world together with these dignified image-bearing human beings and as you know you saw in the funny scene right there that that goes wrong not because something was wrong in the way god set up the deal it's because something went wrong inside of human beings right there's this this urge this urge to not trust god's definition of good and evil and to and to to seize autonomy and independence and to define good and evil as i see fit and define it from for ourselves and here's what's crucially important and this is a very simple way to think about communicating this and why this story is wrong if you look at the first sentence of the bible it says in the beginning god made heavens and what does it not say it doesn't say in the beginning god made heaven and earth and hell god didn't make whatever hell is god didn't make it it's nowhere to be found on page one of your bible right what god made is heaven and earth and what does god think about it it's very good it's very good so whatever hell is it comes into the story later. [00:16:36]

Hell or evil or sin the various names that it's called in the bible is something that humans have created by our decision to seize autonomy from god now how do i know that hell is an appropriate word to talk about this jesus's brother jesus brother wrote a letter that's in our in your bible right it's called the letter of james it's very interesting and jesus brother who he hung out with jesus a lot i'm i'm bound to trust the man when he says he's representing the teachings of jesus james talks about the pat in chapter three he talks about the power of the the tongue and how the human tongue has the power to to bless and praise god the creator but at the same time the human tongue has the ability to gossip about people and to tear down their character and to speak ill and poorly of them and james says this it's flabbergasting he says when humans do that with their tongues he says their tongues are lit on fire by hell are you with me now what are the implications of that the implications that hell isn't just something about like the end of the game hell is a reality that is present now it's a reality that humans unleash on each other and on god's good world to ruin and destroy relationships and to destroy people hell is something that we have created on earth and god hates hell and he the story of the bible is a story about god wanting to heal his world and get the hell out of earth. [00:17:56]

Jesus comes onto the scene announcing good news the time has come and heaven is here to invade earth and to confront evil and just start reading through the gospel of mark and what will you see jesus doing you will see him confronting hell and its disastrous effects on human beings and it takes the form of him casting evil personal spiritual evil out of people it has to do with jesus confronting the breakdown of human relationships go to the gospel of matthew and listen to how jesus talks about hell and here's here's the context in which jesus mentions hell jesus hates hell and he hates what hell does to human beings and he hates where it leads human beings on a path so jesus so here's something we can all agree on and jesus would agree with us we can all agree that the sexual abuse of children for money is wrong and that it's it's a plague it's a hell of higher plague on our world we give it a more comfortable name called sex trafficking to like not think about what the reality is we hate it we want it gone from our world god also hates sex trafficking jesus hates sex trafficking but he actually he actually takes it more seriously than we do because see we want to get rid of sex trafficking jesus wants to get rid of lust from from his world right he talks about the root the root desire to use another human being for my personal gratification jesus is more serious than we are about evil in our world. [00:20:21]

See we look out at our world and we we see the ravage of racism and and genocide that has resulted in recent history we want that gone from our world jesus also wants that out of his world but he's even more serious about it than we are right because he doesn't want to just get rid of racism right and genocide he wants to get rid of pride and contempt and rage from the human heart are you with me so what are genocide and sex trafficking they're raging hellfires destroying our world but they're ignited by these small sparks of these deep rooted distortions in the human heart and mind jesus wants to get the hell out of his world and he wants to get the hell out of you and that's good news it's good news is it it's good news but it's a double-edged sword right because it's sort of like okay i want god to get evil out of this world but i want him to do it without having to get rid of me you know i'm saying like that's this is the hard truth of jesus it's like we've met the enemy and he is. [00:22:01]

That's not the greatest news to hear but yet at the same time it is it depends on who says it to you right if somebody who's on intent on mowing you down with m16 thinks you're the enemy that's bad news but if if a surgeon right of a surgeon comes with a knife and he needs to cut you open to take out some life-threatening thing that's that's poisoning your body is that good news is it going to be painful it's the story of the bible it's the story of the bible jesus is more serious about this than we are and so how does how does jesus the great physician come to heal us and to get the hell out of us he does it it's this it's what mark tells us just go finish reading the gospel of mark jesus lives this hell-free existence he shows us what a human life is as god becomes human to actually be the kind of human that we are all made and called to be but perpetually fail to be it's this hell free life that only gives and that only loves and that's only others centered and it's act it's so offensive and so scandalous and so repulsive to those around jesus and what he calls out of people and how he calls people out for their religious hypocrisy and their pride and their rage at their anger it's it's the paradox of the gospel is that god so loves and is committed to his broken world ruined by the hell that we've made here he actually allows the hell that we've created to overwhelm him and to destroy him right he allows the hell that we've created to exhaust its power on him and we call this this the moment of the cross and the moment of the cross is the healing it's the paradoxical death and resurrection of jesus and the death and resurrection of our of our world. [00:23:14]

In jesus the whole train wreck of human history and its consequences of evil and of sin exhaust its power in jesus death but because this god is so in love with his world and with these these compromised fractured image-bearing human beings he will not let hell get the last word and the resurrection of jesus is this moment of new life it's a moment that speaks of god's love and eternal commitment to our good world and the resurrection of jesus is represents this offer in this opportunity of life of a hell-free existence in the present and on into the future you guys with me here repent and believe the good news god wants to get the hell out of you and that's the best news right it's the best news you could imagine and it's also hard news to hear. [00:25:09]

And so how does the story of the bible end you know i had that image there in the video of heaven and earth coming together but what i didn't address was this what's where does this have to go it's got to get out of here somehow and so go look at the last page of the bible where where and what is hell on the last page of the bible hell is god's monument as c.s lewis says to human dignity and choice if someone refuses to be healed by the great physician god will honor that decision god will honor that decision but what god will not do is allow hell to continue ruining his good world and so the image that the last page of the bible uses is of the great new garden city of heaven and earth married together again and hell is outside the city it's outside the city it's god's mercy to contain human evil and to not let it eternally ravage his good world and his good image bearing humans and for those who refuse to participate in god's re-creation of heaven and earth he honors that decision they remain outside the city. [00:26:08]

Now that there's all kinds of details that we want to know that the bible does not give us about this what it does is it tells us good news about the person of jesus it tells us that jesus is so committed to getting the hell out of his world and out of you that he lived for you that he died for you and that he was raised for you turn to him and believe the good news how you guys doing this is the this is the story the bible is telling and it's at the same time a challenging story that will still be challenging and offensive and difficult to talk about but i'm telling you it's a it's a compelling story because your friend who doesn't believe in jesus also wants this are you with me you your neighbor wants the same thing that god wants are you with me right now that's going to involve a whole lot of conversation but i thought this is a compelling story if we can if we can help ourselves understand it and and you you will not be compelled to share the story personally unless you actually experiencing the loving healing power of jesus begin to remove the hell from you and to give you new life. [00:27:17]

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