Have you ever thought to yourself that what you learn in church is difficult to remember? If you worship with the church in Sunday school, Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening worship, Sunday evening Discipleship Training, and Wednesday evening worship, then you may feel like its impossible to really remember everything you hear. If you think that, I’m with you! That is why there needs to be one central, overarching point to every message, sermon, and lesson just like there is one central theme in the Bible.
What is the Bible really all about? What is its central theme? Some would say it is a story that ultimately points to God and how God is working everything out for His own glory. This is a God-centered theology. The 15th century John Calvin said the central theme of the Bible is the glory of God. Others would say that the Bible ultimately points to God’s love for man. God created the world because He loves us, He sent Jesus to die for us, and He’s waiting for us in heaven. This is a man-centered theology. I don’t think we need to choose between the two. If we have a Christ-centered theology which the Bible is pointing to, then we have both a God and Man-centered theology! The point of Scripture is the Kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13-14).
Is Jesus really God’s point for all Scripture and all time? Let’s move through the storyline of Christ and see! First of all, the creation of the universe was all about the glory of Christ. When God created everything, He created it all through Jesus and for Jesus (Col 1:15-17). That is to mean that His purpose was for Christ to have dominion and rule over it all. Everything was originally put under Adam’s dominion, but he gave it all up to Satan when he fell into sin. It was given to Adam so that Christ would ultimately have it all in the end. This is why all of the stories, the people, the positions, the purposes, and the covenant in the OT point to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. Christ’s Kingship was God’s purpose for creating everything.
Secondly, the incarnation (Jesus becoming human) was all about His glory (Col 1:18-19). Jesus took on human flesh to be the second Adam and overturn the curse. We see His dominion over creation through things like His miracles, His healings, raising people from the dead, etc. His incarnation was also necessary to be a proper human sacrifice for human sin against God.
Which brings us to the third section of Christ’s storyline: the cross of Christ was all about His glory (Col 1:18-19). We normally hear messages about how Jesus died for us and how He “thought of me above all.” It is true that Jesus died for us and that He thought of us, but God’s ultimate reason for the cross of Christ was so that He would be the firstborn (greatest) from the dead…resurrection! The cross is about Jesus getting the glory from His own victorious death.
Fourth, the church is all about the glory of Christ (Col 1:18). Paul says that Jesus is the head of His body. Well no duh! Then it also should be a no-brainer to us that He is the Head (the point) of the church as well. When we come to church, we should definitely think about worshipping God. We should definitely think about fellowshipping with each other. But those and everything else is for God’s glory: His Son being glorified by His people of faith.
Lastly, the consummation (eternity) is all about the glory of Christ. What will eternity be like? Will we be staring into a bright light? Will we be singing in choir rows every second? Will we be cloud hopping? Or is eternity a fulfillment of all history? Will eternity be us enjoying a renewed earth creation with a human Jesus Christ, worshipping Him through His death, together with all of His people (the bride), under His rule and reign forever and ever?
If we’re looking for a common theme in everything we’re learning with our church, we must look no further than the completed storyline within the Scriptures. The Kingdom of Christ is our focus as we must learn how to submit to Christ as our King, serve other Christians as our brothers and sisters, fight the enemy, and await the coming fullness of this Kingdom when Christ returns. Our view of the eternal Kingdom gives us insight as to how we are to live today.
