God’s Story Is Our Story: From Genesis To JesusSample

Reflecting on the last week: The great promise to Abraham, in you the nations will be blessed, is here taken up by Jesus not as a promise (though it is that), but as an imperative. Go bless the nations and teach them about me, the one who blesses. I gave Abraham the sign of circumcision to mark out my special people, and to you I give Baptism. Give them the sign. Teach them to obey and bless others and make disciples. The “Great Commission” is really a recomissioning of God’s people—once more they take up the call of Abraham. But there are some differences. Now they do it knowing that they follow the one who has all authority on heaven and earth, who has already defeated sin and death, and sends his Spirit to help them along the path. Sometimes Christians will say that Jesus came to save us. That is a true, but incomplete sentence. As this text shows, Jesus did come to save us… for the sake of the nations. These verses suggest that our salvation is not merely an escape from judgment, but also an invitation into a new way of living, a new way of understanding ourselves, a new way of doing our jobs, a new way of viewing relationships. Indeed, it is a whole new community. We have been saved for the sake of God’s world, so we must live and work together for its sake. What does it look like for you to follow the great commission while you fill in excel spreadsheets, or answer customer complaints or change someone’s oil or chase around a toddler or whatever it is you do?