Worldview Survey and Narrative Gospel
1. Why are we here? (This is a “purpose” question, not “How are we here?”)
2. What is wrong with the world? Do you play a role in what’s wrong with the world?
3. Is there hope to put the world right? Do you play a role in putting the world right?
4. Can I share with you how Jesus attempted to answer these questions? (see Narrative Gospel below)
Created to reflect goodness and glory (Creation)
Before anything was created there was God. And God was good and glorious and full of joy. Out of his joy he created a good world. He created men and women to have a relationship with and to reflect his goodness and glory to the world around them, kind of like living mirrors.
Broken by mistrust and sin (Fall)
At one point though human beings decided they knew how to run things better than God and then mistrusted God and his goodness. That relationship between God and humans was broken and they could no longer reflect God’s goodness and glory to each other or the world as they were designed to do. And that is why we see the world in the state that it is, broken, full of war, strife, greed, pain and death. These are the results of what the bible calls sin.
Rescued by trusting in Jesus (Redemption)
And God seeing all this happen was heart-broken. But instead of scrapping his whole creation project and starting over he decided to rescue it. And he invaded his creation as one of the created and became a man, Jesus Christ. Jesus did all the things you would expect God to do: he loved and forgave people, healed broken bodies and broken relationships. But then he was crucified on a cross, and in going to the cross Jesus was in effect wrapping his arms around all the brokenness, strife and pain that was caused by people's mistrust of God... their sin. He took all of it, all the consequences upon himself so that our sin and mistrust could be forgiven. And now by placing our trust in Jesus our relationship with God can be restored.
That’s not the end of the story. Jesus didn’t remain dead but he rose from the dead and in doing so conquered sin and death. So no longer does sin or death rule over people who trust him but instead he gives his people new life, his kind of life, eternal life, which results in life with God forever.
Sent out as Rescued Rescuers/Jesus returns to Restore (Restoration)
But even this is not the end. He now calls his followers to be rescued rescuers, bringing his message of forgiveness and healing to the world. And ultimately Jesus will return to put all things right and will completely restore the world to a place that perfectly reflects God’s goodness and glory.
Follow Up Questions:
Have you heard this story before? What do you think about it? Does this story answer the questions asked at the top of the page? Do you see yourself in this story? If this story could be true, would you want it to be true?
Let us know if you'd like to discuss any of this further!