At the center of the universe is an all-powerful, eternal God. God is the Creator of all things, and created all things for His glory and pleasure. As Creator, God is also sovereign King over His creation. God’s supreme creative act was that of mankind, whom He created after His own image. God displayed His love to man by providing all his needs and pursuing an intimate relationship with him.
Man, however, rebelled against God’s authority seeking to become his own authority. This rebellion is known as the “fall of man.” Because of the fall, sin, pain and death entered God’s good creation. When man rebelled, God didn’t forsake him; rather God continued to pursue man, desiring to restore the relationship and the order that had been broken by man’s sin. This pursuing took human form in the person of Jesus Who, through His sinless life, death and bodily resurrection, provided the necessary sacrifice for man’s sin and the restoration of all of creation.
Jesus’ ministry and sacrificial work of redemption inaugurated the Kingdom of God. What Jesus began during his time physically on earth, the Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit) continues today in and through the hearts and lives of Christian believers. This is the whole point of the Christian faith. The Kingdom of God is not solely concerned with saving individual people so they may escape eternal judgment for their sin and then live eternally in heaven; it is concerned with the restoration of the hope, peace and love that was lost at the fall.
Therefore, the things we as the Christian church do or don’t do today on earth have a direct impact on the coming of the Kingdom of God. We are to care for the hurting and broken, bring the saving message of the gospel to all people, and promote the fame of Jesus across the earth. This is the essence of Christian worship.
Grant Wall