When I was born, my brother’s joy knew no limit as he shared the news with everyone: “My brother is real! My brother is real!” I don’t need any convincing of my reality; life has provided me with sufficient evidence – scars from hurts that have healed into joy. As I navigate through life’s twists and turns, questions arise that are often difficult to answer. The most perplexing inquiry is: What is real? To discern the truth from fiction, I must first ask this question of myself to decipher our collective reality. 

That is precisely what a biblical metanarrative resolves – “What is real?” You may refer to it as a worldview or narrative identity, but the inquiry still is identical. So then, how do we navigate ahead? God’s Word. 

N.T. Wright points out four questions that every worldview answers. They are: 

  1. Who are we? 
  2. Where are we? 
  3. What is wrong? 
  4. What is the solution? 1

In my life, I am constantly asking myself these questions to define and shape my worldview. At a basic level, I would classify this as being Christian; however, I am pressed into further clarification due to the vagueness of the claim in today’s world. 

Not My Christianity: 

  1. Embracing Nationalism has no place in the Christian faith. Believing that one cannot be saved unless they are of a particular political alignment is antithetical to my Christianity. A church demanding an American flag on its stage has a misguided understanding of faith. 
  2. Christianity blindly following either President Trump or President Obama is no true religion. To practice the values of faith in action, one must challenge and resist those who prioritize their power over truth and justice. 
  3. A version of Christianity that manipulates words and their meanings to prevent repentance before The Almighty Creator is not an authentic Christian faith. 
  4. When your house of worship boasts stalls selling merchandise, that’s a kind of Christian faith I don’t recognize. 
  5. A faith that peddles books its adherents deem to be blasphemous for a meager profit is not a Christian faith that I recognize. 
  6. Chasing after God is not through these practices. Instead, they indicate that the church has strayed from its original love for Jesus. Therefore, I strive to pursue Jesus without reservation. All these things diminish and disappear in the rearview mirror as we follow Jesus. 

Is my Christianity: 

My Christianity is both Religion and Relationship. 

Religion 

  1. Christianity is a religion. Christians believe in a higher power. We call this higher power God. He has revealed Himself as One Being, consisting of three co-equal and co-eternal Persons. He is referenced as the Holy Trinity, the Triune God, El-Shaddai, and many other blessed titles in and outside Scripture. 
  2. Christianity has definitive beliefs, boundaries, and practices. People come together in communities to worship and participate in rituals together. Christianity claims to give purpose and meaning found in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 
  3. I am of the branch of Christianity known as Reformed Baptist. I find this branch of Christianity most in sync with what God reveals in Scripture. This branch of the Baptist tradition emphasizes the principles of the Protestant Reformation (the five Solas) and the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Bible (both Old Testament and New Testament), and the priesthood of all believers. The Name “Reformed Baptists” itself illuminates the points: 
  4. Reformed theology: Reformed Baptists hold to a theology pejoratively known as Calvinism, which is based on the teachings of many theologians from Augustine, through Luther, to Calvin, and Edwards. And me! This theology emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the whole Bible, and the grace of God. 
  5. Believer’s baptism: Reformed Baptists practice believer’s baptism, which is the belief that only believers in Jesus Christ should be baptized. Notably, we understand the transliterated word “Baptist” in its translatable meaning – Dunking. An act of obedience that reflects the faith that gave it birth.
  6. Congregational governance: Reformed Baptists believe in the local church’s autonomy and adhere to a congregational form of church governance. This congregational governance comes in the offices of elders/pastors governing and teaching. Deacons serving and administrating. Congregational body input on discipline and the ordinances of the church. How elders and deacons are appointed varies from church to church.
  7. The priesthood of all believers: Reformed Baptists understand all Christians are part of the “priesthood of believers.” Just one result of this is that every church member has a role to play in the life and ministry of the local church. 
  8. Reformed creeds and confessions: Baptists often subscribe to creeds and confessions such as the Westminster Confession of Faith and the London Baptist Confession of Faith.

It is a religion because the Being I pursue in a relationship is God. Thus, the nature of the relationship necessarily includes religious traits, such as acknowledging The L_RD is God. He is worthy of worship because he is amazing! How do I know? I’m a witness. 

Relationship 

God declares from the beginning of the Old Testament that He is faithful. He tells us to pursue Him, and all these things will be added to us. Another way for God to say this would be, “Hey, come be with me and join me in what I’m doing. If you do, then… you’ll be good no matter what! I promise.” That is a relationship with the Triune God. The thing about the religion of Christianity is this, the connection it offers with God is incredibly intimate and personal. He is faithful and excellent – throughout all of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Holy Spirit does give comfort and peace. Jesus does atone and advocate. The Father does hear and beckon His children to His throne. This is God’s overarching story. 

  1. My Christianity abandoned “Common Sense” and “Conventional Wisdom.” I seek to inquire of my God. I strive to declare that He places my foot where it will go. I trust Him no matter how things travail on this side of eternity. He will make all things right and new. 
  2. My Christianity accepts the totality of God’s Word as my compass in this life. I thank God for this most incredible of tangible gifts. 
  3. My Christianity sees that God wants us to celebrate Him through Song and Conversation. This is the doorway to the arts. God beckons us to make all things beautiful, good, and true. This necessarily makes the arts paramount in life. 
  4. My Christianity seeks to determine The Way of which God speaks in Scripture. You can hear whispers of it through Scripture. 
Acts 18:25: 
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. 
And being fervent in spirit, 
he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus... 
(ESV) 

The name for God’s worldview is “reality.” God determines the overarching story. The Bible begins with God creating our reality. God decrees, and the divine drama begins. The only way to get there is through a grand narrative built upon and submissive to all the Scriptures. The pursuit, then, is to have a “Biblical Worldview.” The closer I can see things the way God sees them, the better. The more positive and intimate the relationship with God. 

I have a Christian worldview, but I want a Biblical Worldview. Scripture is the doorway to knowing Jesus.  

1. Who are we? 

We are human beings. We are part of God’s story. When God created humans, he created us in a way not shared by the rest of his creatures, namely, that we are made in God’s image. We have souls, and we have a moral obligation. Our conscience, even today, testifies to the nature of God. God created us, as the pinnacle of His creation, to have fellowship with him, tend to his creation and obey his will. We rebelled. 

2. Where are we? 

We are still in God’s creation. We are not in Hell. – N.T. Wright said, “God will put the earth back to rights.” It will be as it was before sin – and what is more so will we. Please note that you and I are made up of both material and spiritual. While these two parts are our make-up, they are not divisible. 

Some implications of this answer include our need as Christians to be first in line on the issue of caring for our planet appropriately. It has been put into our care. The earth is not alone in this – God’s creation is worth protecting and defending. Especially people. 

3. What is wrong? 

This question deals with suffering, evil, morality, and goodness. What is it? How do we account for it? 

What is wrong is this: God, as is his right, gave us directions and expectations. He gave us a general order to go and make all creation beautiful, good and true. It is not as though God has not given us the ability to navigate these three aspects of creation. He has given us five physical senses – Sight, Sound, Taste, Touch, and Smell. And five spiritual senses – Honor, Love, Awareness, Peace, and Justness. We were, and are, to stay within these conduits so that creation could operate within its safe perimeters for operation. 

We thought we could do better by going against these boundaries. In some ways, you might say the first act of rebellion was an act to establish a new kingdom. A mutinous kingdom. One that abandons the perimeters upon which it was set to operate. We see how this is occurring now. The whole world and its people continue to testify to this reality daily. 

We, however, are not meant to exist apart from God. God shows general grace and mercy to his creation because it still exists. God continues to provide healing even to the earth. There are consequences and penalties because of our rebellion against God. 

This is commonly called sin. Don’t let the hostile connotation society has put upon this word stop you. Don’t let a pejorative use of “sin” hide its terrible realities. What is our reality? Our reality is our mutiny against God.  

Sin is behind acts of violence directly, yes. Indirectly all creation responds to it so that we deal with sicknesses, sufferings, and natural disasters. Even the way we work, and the results of our toil, are a result of this rebellion. 

We fail to recognize against whom it is we first acted wrongly. This person, of course, is God. Since our act to inflict hurt is first against God, its first accounting must be with Him and the attempted damage it seeks to impose in that relationship. 

When we act in such a way, we make a declarative statement on God’s attributes – things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and goodness. Things against which you can’t find laws written. For example, no laws say, “Thou shalt not be Gentle!” or “Thou shall not practice self-control!” But this is precisely what we say every time we rebel against God and his decreed way. 

Because God has no end, thus his attributes and qualities never end, and the offense against him has a high cost. God is infinitely valuable. In this respect, our finite sin carries an infinite cost. While we deal with the temporal consequences of rebellion against God – all of which lead to physical death, we still have an impossible debt. Your seemingly physical demise does not satisfy this debt. That is why Hell does exist. All this pain, suffering, and evil present in the world today is because we go against the conduits that make people and creation beautiful, good, and true. 

Ask yourself this: Suppose there is a God and that he created everything other than himself. He is the uncaused cause. Now, does he have the right to do as he wishes with what he made? If his creation does not act according to his plan, does he not have a right to discipline accordingly? Or to put it another way: Since you told the Creator “No,” why do you now expect him to carry out your demands of his creation? There is a debt. 

4. What is the solution? 

There is a happy ending. The solution is Jesus the Savior. The most scandalous story ever is God’s big story of Jesus Christ. We are a people in need of great hope. 

Unfortunately, our wealth in America makes us forget that we need help. Jesus gives us hope. Need to remember 

The Good News of God is to demonstrate his glory by showing us what God serving his creation looks like. He does this by showing us how humility is a high virtue. He shows this humility by doing that which we could not do. We owe God a debt we cannot hope to pay because of the grand scope of the thing. 

Close your eyes (after you read this) and imagine: God comes into his creation as a human. He deals with the trappings of humanity: sickness, hunger, sleep, emotions, and relationships. He comes as a weak and helpless baby. He was born in a feeding trough in a cave. He lives in extreme poverty. He keeps his divine powers in check, submitting himself to these great struggles. He does all this without ever rebelling against the Father. 

His humble life leads to the very reason he came. He came to pay our debt. The result of his life of obedience made people hate him. His claims, his behavior – it was too much to take. So, they became vigilantes “for God,” treated him as the worst criminal, and executed him by crucifixion. 

It is too much to take; it is the most offensive historical event. 

The good news, however, does not end here. Because Jesus’ life was pure, by his death, in total innocence, we discover through his resurrection his incredible worth. Death could not hold him because he had no debt. His sacrifice was so great in value that it paid with abundance those in whose stead he stood. The resurrection reveals dividends to his payment; he is the first example of what creation will be when made back to rights.

If Jesus’ life and death reflect anything about God, he is a God of justice. A reckoning must be made when someone looks to inflict contamination upon the holiness of God. He is a righteous God. So, Jesus’ death does not equate to universalism. There is still a Hell. The good news is we all won’t go there, and you don’t have to go there. When we stand at the foot of the cross and consider what Jesus did in our stead – he fought the greatest battle and won the war. When we believe that Jesus is God and make him our boss, we receive God’s grace and mercy because Jesus’ payment is credited to our account. 

So – welcome to my metanarrative of the Bible – and I believe it is real. 

The story of Jesus Christ is the most scandalous yet hopeful story in history. It tells us that even though we need hope, God has supplied a way to save us from our debt and receive his grace and mercy. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we can discover an incredible worth that pays with abundance to those who believe in him. 

This is my iz-troduction to this grand narrative – Jesus Iz real. 

  1. Start here: Iz-troducing Israel! 
  2. You are here: Jesus Iz real.

Footnotes

  1. N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1992), 369-70.