The Upper Story and the Lower Story
In reading The Story we need to remember that there are two perspectives to keep in mind:
The Upper Story: This is God’s perspective…His world view. He is real and present and always working on our behalf. Heaven is breaking into the world more than we recognize. The story of God’s seeking love, perpetual grace, and longing for relationship with ordinary people is breathtaking.
The Lower Story: This our perspective….our worldview of how we see ourselves and how we relate to God and the world around us. We live on earth. We make mistakes, run from God and resist His overtures of love. Sometimes we get so mired in the Lower Story (what is going on in our lives) that we fail to recognize God’s presence breaking into our world. We forget that the God of heaven longs to have a growing relationship with us.
As we walk through the story, we will see how the Upper Story and the Lower Story are intertwined. All through history God has encountered, loved, sought, disciplined, and redeemed His children. It is the goal of this study to help us learn to recognize how close the Upper Story and the Lower Story fit together.
God wants to be with us – you and me! This is the refrain that rings true through The Story.
The Five Movements
There are five movements that summarize and provide a high-level overview of the entire story revealed to us in the Bible:
Movement 1: The Story of the Garden (Gen 1-11)
In the Upper Story, God creates the Lower Story. His vision is to come down and be with us in a beautiful garden. The first two people reject God’s vision and are escorted from paradise. Their decision introduces sin into the human race and keeps us from community with God. As this moment God gives a promise and launches a plan t get us back. {REF: ) . The rest of the Bible is God’s story of how He kept that promise and made it possible for us to enter a loving relationship with Him.
Movement 2: The Story of Israel (Genesis 12 - Malachi)
God builds a brand new nation called Israel. Through this nation, He will reveal His presence, power, and plan to get us back. Every story of Israel will point to the first coming of Jesus - the One who will provide the way back to God.
Movement 3: The Story of Jesus (Matthew - John)
Jesus left the Upper Story to come down into our Lower Story to be with us and to provide the way for us to be made right with God. Through faith in Christ's work on the cross, we can now overturn Adam's choice and have a personal relationship with God.
Movement 4: The Story of the Church (Acts - Jude)
Everyone who comes into a relationship with God through faith in Christ belongs to the new community God is building called the church. The church is commissioned to be teh presence of Christ in the Lower Story - telling His story by the way we live and the words we speak. Every story of the church points to the second coming of Christ, when He will return to restore God's original vision.
Movement 5: The Story of a New Garden (Revelation)
God will one day create a new earth and a new garden and once again come down to be with us. All who placed their faith in Christ in this life will be eternal residents in the life to come.
The Upper Story: This is God’s perspective…His world view. He is real and present and always working on our behalf. Heaven is breaking into the world more than we recognize. The story of God’s seeking love, perpetual grace, and longing for relationship with ordinary people is breathtaking.
The Lower Story: This our perspective….our worldview of how we see ourselves and how we relate to God and the world around us. We live on earth. We make mistakes, run from God and resist His overtures of love. Sometimes we get so mired in the Lower Story (what is going on in our lives) that we fail to recognize God’s presence breaking into our world. We forget that the God of heaven longs to have a growing relationship with us.
As we walk through the story, we will see how the Upper Story and the Lower Story are intertwined. All through history God has encountered, loved, sought, disciplined, and redeemed His children. It is the goal of this study to help us learn to recognize how close the Upper Story and the Lower Story fit together.
God wants to be with us – you and me! This is the refrain that rings true through The Story.
The Five Movements
There are five movements that summarize and provide a high-level overview of the entire story revealed to us in the Bible:
Movement 1: The Story of the Garden (Gen 1-11)
In the Upper Story, God creates the Lower Story. His vision is to come down and be with us in a beautiful garden. The first two people reject God’s vision and are escorted from paradise. Their decision introduces sin into the human race and keeps us from community with God. As this moment God gives a promise and launches a plan t get us back. {REF: ) . The rest of the Bible is God’s story of how He kept that promise and made it possible for us to enter a loving relationship with Him.
Movement 2: The Story of Israel (Genesis 12 - Malachi)
God builds a brand new nation called Israel. Through this nation, He will reveal His presence, power, and plan to get us back. Every story of Israel will point to the first coming of Jesus - the One who will provide the way back to God.
Movement 3: The Story of Jesus (Matthew - John)
Jesus left the Upper Story to come down into our Lower Story to be with us and to provide the way for us to be made right with God. Through faith in Christ's work on the cross, we can now overturn Adam's choice and have a personal relationship with God.
Movement 4: The Story of the Church (Acts - Jude)
Everyone who comes into a relationship with God through faith in Christ belongs to the new community God is building called the church. The church is commissioned to be teh presence of Christ in the Lower Story - telling His story by the way we live and the words we speak. Every story of the church points to the second coming of Christ, when He will return to restore God's original vision.
Movement 5: The Story of a New Garden (Revelation)
God will one day create a new earth and a new garden and once again come down to be with us. All who placed their faith in Christ in this life will be eternal residents in the life to come.