Hi, this is Joseph Mattera, of God Today. I want to speak to you about God’s big story. You know, if anybody here likes a good movie, every good movie has a main plot and has many, many subplots. For example, it may be a movie about World War II, but it isn’t just going to get to the point about what happened in World War II and how it culminated. But, it will have subplots to keep it interesting. Romance, there is going to be a conflict between the main characters. There may be someone who has a personal tragedy, someone you got connected to, who was, unfortunately, killed in battle. These are all the subplots and sometimes people get so involved with the subplot, they forget about what the movie was about. Unfortunately, sometimes that is what happens in the Church.
God has a big story, from Genesis to Revelations. He has a grand narrative that we are all a part of. Oftentimes, we just focus on the subplots, even though the subplots are important, but the subplot of family, or healing, or faith, or deliverance. But, if we focus on that without looking at the big story of God, we miss what God is really after.
Ephesians 1:9, tells us what God’s big story is. It actually summarizes the whole Bible, the whole meta-narrative of scripture in just one verse. In Ephesians 1:9, it says, “God already made His mystery revealed to us.” So He revealed the mystery of His will. If anyone wants to know what God’s will is in general, you need to know God’s big story. As a matter of fact, you might have your own mission statement, your own vision statement, your own sense of calling, but if it doesn’t line up with God’s big picture, you are going to find that you are missing part of how you are going to walk this out in God’s way.
So, what is the mystery of His will? What is His purpose that He revealed? Verse 10, That is a plan for the fullness of time, that is to say, that is where human history is heading. He is going to unite or align all things in Christ. Not just spiritual things, not just church, not just religion, not just prayer and worship. All things including economics, including politics, including music, art, and entertainment. Science, health, and family. Everything, eventually, is going to be united in Christ. Because if He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. He is not just the Lord of singing hymns and preaching the Gospel. He is the Lord of mathematics. We cannot even fully understand mathematics if we don’t understand the Lordship of Christ.
Genesis 1 says God made Adam and it says He added to him a woman. And then it says he divided the waters from the waters and He told them to multiply. There you have addition, multiplication, division, all in the context of the first chapter of Genesis. It shows us mathematics was given to us as a way of understanding God’s seasons, God’s time, and how God distinguishes one thing from the next. We cannot even understand mathematics outside of God.
This plan of uniting all things in Heaven and on Earth, which means things visible and invisible, spiritual and natural, all these things will be united in Christ. The reason for this is because this is where everything is heading. This is where God is after. So, if we don’t understand that we don’t understand God’s big picture. And everybody should understand the big picture of God. We find in Genesis 1:28, that He called Adam and Eve to bear fruit and multiply, repopulate the Earth, subdue it, and have dominion over the fish in the seas, birds in the air, and over every creeping thing. He called Adam and Eve and all of the children of Adam and Eve, which includes us because we are now on the last Adam, who is in Christ. Paul calls Jesus the last Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:45. We find that all the Earth, all the created order is to be stewarded by us. We are never just supposed to think about going to Heaven. We are never just supposed to think about having our sins forgiven, but we were called to be part of God’s big story.
I am excited we can all be part of God’s big story. I am excited we were called to something bigger than just our own individual calling. I am excited we are participating with Jesus in the renewal of all things. This is Joseph Mattera, signing off for God Today.