Let’s be clear about something Part 3
The third thing we need clarity on regarding the Good News is, that the God who made the world is the God of infinite, exuberant, lavish, generous love. This is the centre of the good news.
Think about it this way. God made a world that is other than himself; this, already, is a striking idea that has puzzled great thinkers down the years. If God is perfectly good, why would he make something that, by definition, is less than perfectly good? That question has more of the quirky philosopher about it than the devout worshipper, but let it stand for the moment. The answer must be that God creates not out of need but out of love – out of the generous love that takes delight in his creatures, and especially his human, image-bearing creatures, to whom he has given such responsibility in his world.
It is not God’s ultimate intention that the world he has made be always and for ever other than himself. He intends that he will be ‘all in all’: that the earth will be full of his knowledge and glory as the waters cover the sea. But the route to that goal is through the outpouring of his love in Jesus and in the Spirit. The good news of what happened in Jesus is the central moment in the revelation of the good news that the one true God is the God of utter, self-giving love
Adapted from the eBook ‘Simply Good News’ by Tom Wright Ch7
Lets be clear about something ~ Part 2
The good news about what has happened looks ahead to the good news about what will happen. The same God who made the world in the first place will restore and renew it in the end.
‘The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them’ (Isa. 11:6).
Because ‘the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord [Israel’s God, the one they called YHWH] as the waters cover the sea’ (Isa. 11:9). Or, in Paul’s words, when even death itself has been overcome, God will be ‘all in all’ (1 Cor. 15:28). This is the ultimate good news. Nothing will be lost. All that is good and beautiful, and especially all that has been done out of love for God, out of the power of Jesus’s death and new life, and by the leading of the Spirit, will somehow be part of God’s new world. Continue reading “Lets be clear about something ~ Part 2”
Let’s be clear about something
The God we worship is one true God is the creator of the world. That is really good news. We are not cast adrift in an alien environment. There’s an old hymn that begins, ‘This is my Father’s world.’ The strange beauty and power we sense in sunlight and starlight, in the majesty of a mountain or the tiny perfection of the smallest flower or insect – all this is the work of the Creator. The glorious sweep of his vast universe and the infinite attention to detail speak of one who has taken, and continues to take, delight in all that he has made. One psalm speaks of God making the entrance and exit of the day to praise him. Of course, the rationalist would have no difficulty explaining all this away, but the rest of us can quietly ignore such a shallow attitude and get on with enjoying the view. Continue reading “Let’s be clear about something”