KindiakMath

Previously, we have seen that God is a God of love and a God of truth, therefore a God of righteousness. We have also seen how He has created us to be His images, and we rebelliously usurp His authority in vain, plunging ourselves into a suffering of our own making.

In His mercy, God solved our sin-problem—both our sin-debt against Him (i.e. our crimes against a holy and righteous God) and our sin-addiction as its result (i.e. our helplessness in worsening our desire to rebel against Him). He sent Jesus to die on the cross, removing our sin-debt before God and declaring us as having right-standing (i.e. made righteous) before Him.

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [Romans 3:22–25]

Furthermore, He has given us His life-giving Spirit that empowers us to live free from our sin-addiction:

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. [Romans 8:13]

Accordingly, then, what are we here for?

Theorem 1. We are here to be eternal living monuments to the glorious grace of God through delighting in a personal intimate relationship with the Triune God of all Creation—Father, Son, and Spirit.

Proof. God calls us to be His children—one of the most intimate forms of relationship that we can experience on earth.

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. [Ephesians 1:4–6]

Jesus describes eternal life as knowing God—that is, having a personal intimate relationship with God:

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. [John 17:3]

The Apostle Paul even likens the closeness of this relationship to marriage between Jesus and the church:

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [Ephesians 5:31–32]

God has designed this life to be vibrant, joyful, and thus delightful:

You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. [Psalm 16:11]

Theorem 2. We are here to establish God’s kingdom on earth by loving one another and living out distinctively good conduct before others, living free from our otherwise inescapable sin-addiction.

Proof. Jesus didn’t describe God’s kingdom as disjoint from the world; rather He describes God’s kingdom invading the sin-marred world:

Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. [Matthew 6:10]

The Apostle Paul describes this kingdom as one brimming with rightness, peace, and joy:

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. [Romans 14:17]

God’s ideals for human living are detailed in His laws, and His laws are summarised by loving one another:

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. [Romans 13:8–10]

In a similar vein, Jesus’ reiterated commands to His new kingdom citizens are, centrally, to love one another, because He first loved them. Through their love for one another, others will recognise their citizenship in heaven:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” [John 13:34–35]

Therefore, as we love one another, we shine God’s good light to the world, and let the world see God’s glory through our good works:

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. [Matthew 5:14–16]

Even rebels of God’s kingdom would have no reason to accuse us in that case:

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. [1 Peter 2:11–12]

Theorem 3. We are here to spread the good news of Jesus wherever we go—the good news that through His death and resurrection, He offers us new citizenship in His Kingdom.

Proof. The final marching orders Jesus gave His disciples (and by extension, the rest of us) is to make disciples everywhere:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [Matthew 28:16–20]

Jesus’ response to His disciples wondering about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel is the call to bear witness that He died and resurrected, and now is the way for all of humanity to be saved:

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [Acts 1:6–8]

Notice that Theorems 1–3 make no mention of what specific form we should adopt to carry out these tasks. That is because the kingdom of God transcends different forms to establish it, and centres on bringing God’s blessing to the nations through one man:

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” [Genesis 12:1–3]

As human history unfolds, we learn that this individual is the Lord Jesus Christ:

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. [Matthew 1:1]

Furthermore, this Jesus did not come to abolish human cultures; but unite them in Himself as one people under God’s kingdom family, full of their diverse flavour that harmonises into a single unified beauty before God:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” [Revelation 7:9–10]

The “right” way to approach God, then is through Christ in our inner life and our outer life:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. [Romans 12:1–2]

Theorem 4. We are to wait excitedly for the day of Jesus’ return, where He will fully bring His kingdom onto earth—the same kingdom that He inaugurated in His first coming.

Proof. When Jesus ascended, two men in white robes assured the disciples of Jesus’ eventual return:

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” [Acts 1:9–11]

The Apostle Paul did not teach moralistic good deeds, but good deeds in anticipation of Jesus’ return, almost as if we are to live the values of the kingdom even as we wait for the kingdom to fully arrive:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. [Titus 2:11–14]

Finally, in this kingdom, God will dwell fully with His people forever, and rid the world of all evil and suffering:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” [Revelation 21:1–4]

Different denominations in Trinitarian Christianity will differ on what expressions suffice as acceptable worship before God, but would all mostly agree in Theorems 1–4 as we have highlighted, summarised in the words of the Apostle John:

By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. [1 John 4:17–19]

Corollary 1 hopefully summarises the previous discussions sufficiently.

Corollary 1. The purpose of man is to worship God by imaging God, and namely, become more like Jesus—God the Son.

Proof. God defines human beings as made in the image of God:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. [Genesis 1:26–27]

Furthermore, they are predestined to image His Son:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. [Romans 8:29]

This relationship agrees with Theorem 1, and the acts of love it produces accords with Theorem 2. In this manner, we worship God:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. [Romans 12:1–2]

This is, after all things are said and done, the whole duty of man before God:

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. [Ecclesiastes 12:13–14]

Theorems 3 and 4 describe outward acts such worship toward God produces.

Having laid out the core essentials of God, us, and why we are here, let’s take a slightly deeper look into Christianity, and explore several crucial themes discussed throughout the Bible.

For a start, we will explore what it means to be the people of God, what that looked like in the Old Testament, and how the Old Testament ideas connect into the New Testament reality of being saved by Jesus.

—Joel Kindiak, 11 Nov 25, 2040H