our beliefs
Our Beliefs
SGC and The Bible
At SGC, we love the truth and grace of the Bible. We believe God inspired the authors of Scripture by his Spirit to speak to all generations of believers, including us today. The Bible is the Word of God and it perfectly balances the truth and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without truth, people suffer in darkness and are lost. Without grace, there is less love in people and the world. At SGC we believe truth and grace are both equally important and found perfectly in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, the Bible.
What is Theology?
The word theology comes from two Greek words: “theos”, meaning “God”, and “logos”, meaning “word”.
So theology is words about God. Since story is central to our belief about God, our words about God—our theology—exists in the form of a narrative, call the Bible.
We too put to words to what we believe about God. When we form our own words about God, we discover that God has been writing a story of hope and redemption for us and all the world. This story is a movement from creation to new creation, and God has given us a role to play in that story, in the restoration of our relationships with God, each other, ourselves, and creation.
What do we mean by Narrative Theology?
The Bible is written by God, it is authoritative for truth and life. Yet, we must remember that the Bible is telling us a story as much as it is teaching and equipping us for life. The story is not like any other story. The bible is telling us our story -- the human story. But it is unique in that the Bible is also telling the story of God, His-story in history, so to speak.
Our ability to mature and grow together in unity stems from what we hold central—Jesus and our commitment to the biblical narrative. By the grace of God, each person takes a very personal journey with God in their life by how the story of the Bible becomes more and more our story. We perpetuate the truth of God’s Word by the power of the Holy Spirit, as we pursue & invite Jesus into our story, while together serving our local and global community.
Demonstrating a harmony of both orthodoxy [right thinking] and orthopraxy [right living/practice], this narrative seeks to not only guide our thoughts and minds, but the way we live our lives. To highlight these key themes in the biblical narrative and offer direct insight into the theology that is central to our teaching, leadership, and ministries, we have provided key topics, themes and theology for you to explore so that you can dive deeper into learning about what we believe here at South Grandville Church.
What we think about the Bible and its narrative:
God calls us to immerse ourselves in this authoritative narrative communally and individually to faithfully interpret and live out that story today as we are led by the Spirit of God.1
In the beginning God created all things good. He was and always will be in a communal relationship with himself—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.2 God created us to be relational as well and marked us with an identity as his image bearers and a missional calling to serve, care for, and cultivate the earth. God created humans in his image to live in fellowship with him, one another, our inner self, and creation.3 The enemy tempted the first humans, and darkness and evil entered the story through human sin and are now a part of the world. This devastating event resulted in our relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation being fractured and in desperate need of redeeming.4
We believe God did not abandon his creation to destruction and decay; rather he promised to restore this broken world. As part of this purpose, God chose a people, Abraham and his descendants, to represent him in the world. God promised to bless them as a nation so that through them all nations would be blessed. In time they became enslaved in Egypt and cried out to God because of their oppression. God heard their cry, liberated them from their oppressor, and brought them to Sinai where he gave them an identity and a mission as his treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy people. Throughout the story of Israel, God refused to give up on his people despite their frequent acts of unfaithfulness to him.4
God brought his people into the Promised Land. Their state of blessing from God was intimately bound to their calling to embody the living God to other nations. They made movement toward this missional calling, yet they disobeyed and allowed foreign gods into the land, overlooked the poor, and mistreated the foreigner. The prophetic voices that emerge from the Scriptures held the calling of Israel to the mirror of how they treated the oppressed and marginalized. Through the prophets, God’s heart for the poor was made known, and we believe that God cares deeply for the marginalized and oppressed among us today.4
In Israel’s disobedience, they became indifferent and in turn irrelevant to the purposes to which God had called them. For a time, they were sent into exile; yet a hopeful remnant was always looking ahead with longing and hope to a renewed reign of God, where peace and justice would prevail.4 We believe these longings found their fulfillment in Jesus the Messiah, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, mysteriously God having become flesh.4 Jesus came to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted and set captives free, proclaiming a new arrival of the kingdom of God, bringing about a new exodus, and restoring our fractured world. He and his message were rejected by many as he confronted the oppressive nature of the religious elite and the empire of Rome. Yet his path of suffering, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection has brought hope to all creation. Jesus is our only hope for bringing peace and reconciliation between God and humans. Through Jesus we have been forgiven and brought into right relationship with God. God is now reconciling us to each other, ourselves, and creation.5
The Spirit of God affirms as children of God all those who trust Jesus. The Spirit empowers us with gifts, convicts, guides, comforts, counsels, and leads us into truth through a communal life of worship and a missional expression of our faith.6 The church is rooted and grounded in Christ, practicing spiritual disciplines and celebrating baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The church is a global and local expression of living out the way of Jesus through love, peace, sacrifice, and healing as we embody the resurrected Christ, who lives in and through us, to a broken and hurting world.7
We believe the day is coming when Jesus will return to judge the world, bringing an end to injustice and restoring all things to God’s original intent. God will reclaim this world and rule forever. The earth’s groaning will cease and God will dwell with us here in a restored creation. On that day we will beat swords into tools for cultivating the earth, the wolf will lie down with the lamb, there will be no more death, and God will wipe away all our tears. Our relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation will be whole. All will flourish as God intends. This is what we long for. This is what we hope for. And we are giving our lives to living out that future reality now.
A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW & THEOLOGY IN BRIEF:
We believe that, as a community and individuals, God is calling us to participate in God’s unfolding story of love, rescue, resurrection, and restoration. Our Narrative Theology Statement embeds our beliefs in context, perpetually inspiring our community to participate in what God is doing in our world. These footnotes highlight our understanding and participation in this narrative.
1 We believe the Bible was written by people guided by God’s Spirit and affirm what it says it is: authoritative, inspired, illumined by the Spirit and useful for teaching, correcting, and wisdom [Psalm 119.105-112; John 16.12-14; 17.17; 2 Timothy 3.16-17]
2 We believe in the one true Creator God, who shows God’s self through self-giving love in a communal relationship of oneness displayed in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. [Genesis 1; Matthew 3.16–17; Mark 1.10–11; Luke 1.35, 3.22; John 1.32; Hebrews 9.14; Acts 7.55; Romans 8]
3 We believe God created all things good and all people in God’s image for relationship with God, each other, ourselves, and creation. [Genesis 1-2; 1 Timothy 4.4]
4 We believe people’s rebellion against God broke their relationship with God and continues to perpetuate sin, death, brokenness, and destruction in our world. [Genesis 3.15; Romans 5.12; Colossians 1.21] We believe God has not abandoned creation, and in love, sent to earth God’s one and only Son Jesus, fully God and fully human, born of a virgin and without sin to redeem all creation. [Matthew 1.28-55; John 1; John 3.16-17; Romans 8.19-25; Colossians 1.15-20]
5 We believe Jesus came proclaiming a new arrival of the Kingdom of God—a reality marked by truth, love, grace, peace, and joy. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus defeated sin and death inaugurating a new creation that offers all people eternal life now. Jesus is the only way to access the free gift of grace, renewed peace, and reconciliation with God. [John 1.29; Romans 3.22-26; 5.1-9; Mark 4.26; Romans 14.17; 1 Corinthians 4.20; 2 Corinthians 5.17; Hebrews 1.1-3; Revelation 21.5]
6 We believe Jesus Christ sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of believers, empowers them with gifts, convicts, guides, comforts, counsels, and leads us into truth through a communal life of worship and a missional expression of our faith. [John 14.26; 20.21-23; Ephesians 1.17-19; Acts 1.8] We believe Jesus calls people to be his disciples in all areas of life, exhibiting our faith in him by social and personal practices, which brings glory to God’s name. [Matthew 5.14-16; 22.36-40; Colossians 3.17; 1 Peter 4.11-12; 2 Peter 3.18]
7 We believe the church is rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ, practicing spiritual disciplines, and celebrating baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The church is the local and global community of Jesus followers who proclaim [through word and action] the good news of forgiveness, restoration, and reconciliation for all. [Matthew 22.36-40; 28.19-20; John 20.21-23; 2 Corinthians 5.16-21]
8 We believe Jesus will return to judge the world, bringing an end to injustice and restoring all things to God’s original intent. God will reclaim this world and rule forever. Our relationships with God, others, creation, and ourselves will be whole. All will flourish as God intends. This is what we long for. This is what we hope for. [Isaiah 11.1-9; Isaiah 65.19-25; Matthew 19.28; Acts 3.21; Colossians 1.19-20; 2 Peter 3.13; Revelation 21]
JESUS, THEOLOGY AND WHAT HE SAID ABOUT HIMSELF:
The Bible declares that Jesus is God the Son who in His incarnation (birth into human history as fully God and fully man) provided for us the clearest and most important revelation of God that has ever been or ever will be and can alone forgive our sins and grant us salvation. In Hebrews 1:1-3 we read, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
The question of Jesus is of vital importance because while many people believe such things as that Jesus lived, was a good teacher, or a very spiritual man, there remains many erroneous perspectives of Him that deny that He is God. The Apostle Paul spoke of this propensity to reduce the majesty of the real Jesus in favor of a diluted and diminished Jesus that in the end is no longer truly Jesus at all. In 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 Paul writes, “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”
To help you determine your own personal belief about Jesus we have compiled the following eight reasons and hope they will compel you to receive Him as your own God. Each line of reasoning includes a verse from the Bible that is a quote from the mouth of Jesus declaring that He was/is God. Jesus was put to death for continually declaring Himself to be God and in the end it really comes down to whether or not each of us believes Him and on that point His words become incredibly personal and pertinent.
Jesus said He was God
Throughout the history of the world, there have been numerous people who claim to speak for God, but there has also been a surprisingly short list of people who have actually claimed to be God. For example, such religious leaders as Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad, and Ghandi did not claim to be God. But, Jesus clearly and repeatedly said He was God.
Mark 14:61-64 “Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ ‘I am,’ said Jesus. ‘And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ The high priest tore his clothes. ‘Why do we need any more witnesses?’ he asked. ‘You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’”
John 8:58-59 “I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.”
John 10:30-33 “I and the Father are one.’ Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’ ‘We are not stoning you for any of these,’ replied the Jews, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’”
John 14:8-9 “Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’ Jesus answered: ’Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?’”
Jesus said He came from Heaven
On a very rare occasion someone will claim that they have been taken into heaven for a brief experience of its grandeur. Examples would include people who claim to have had a near death experience, and the founder of Islam Mohammad who claimed that on one occasion he was taken from earth to heaven. But, Jesus claimed to have come down from His eternal home in heaven, a claim which has never been made by the founder of any other world religion and evidence that Jesus was/is God because God alone dwells in heaven eternally.
John 6:38, 41-42, 60, 66 “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me . . .’ At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ’I came down from heaven’?’ . . . On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’ . . . From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”
John 16:28 “I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
Jesus said He was sinless
John 8:46 “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?”
In the history of the world no one has claimed with any credibility that they are without sin because to do so is to declare that one’s words, actions, thoughts, and motivations are continually perfect and pure. And, as the old adage goes, no one is perfect. Even those religious leaders who are widely recognized as the most devout and morally upright (e.g. Mohammad, or Ghandi) have claimed that they were indeed sinners. But, Jesus declared that He was not only morally superior to everyone who has ever lived, but in fact sinless. The perfect sinless of Jesus makes Him admittedly more holy and worthy of our devotion than anyone who has ever lived and helps to prove that He was/is God because God alone is without sin.
Jesus forgave sin
Mark 2:5 “When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’”
While much of the resources in our world are spent on dealing with the effects of sin (e.g. war, illness, death, depression, crime, poverty, etc.) there is still no way for people to have their sins forgiven so that they might be cleansed from their stains. At best, some religions try to teach their adherents what they can do to work hard at paying God back through such things as good works and reincarnation, they still lack any concept of forgiveness. But, Jesus forgave sin because He was/is God and since all sin is ultimately committed against Him, He alone has the power to forgive the sins of sinners.
Jesus said He was the only way to heaven
John 14:6 “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.’”
While there are many religious and spiritual teachers who claim that they can point you to heaven’s path, they themselves do not claim that they are that path. But, Jesus promised that He was the way to eternal life in heaven. This also proves that Jesus was/is God because since heaven belongs to God, it is God alone who determines who will live with Him forever there. And, Jesus’ ability to give spiritual life after physical death to those who believe in Him is further evidence that He was/is God who rules over heaven and our eternity.
Jesus confirmed to others He was God
Matthew 26:63-65 “But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’ ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.’”
Not only did Jesus repeatedly declare that He was God, but He also reiterated this fact when others who doubted or opposed that claim inquired of Him. For example, as the verse above describes an occasion in which a religious leader sought to condemn Jesus publicly for committing blasphemy, or declaring Himself to be God. The penalty for blasphemy was death and if Jesus were not convinced that He was God then we would expect Him to clarify the misunderstanding about Himself in an effort to avoid a bloody death. But, Jesus declared that He was God which further proves that everyone throughout history who has believed that Jesus claimed to be God has not misunderstood His words but rather understood them clearly.
John 8:58, "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I AM!" See Exodus 3:14
The name and title “I AM” is the English word for YHWH or YAWHEH, the name God revealed to Moses. Out respect, many times in the bible when the word LORD is used it is the Hebrew word YAHWEH that is translated. That Jesus uses the title “I AM” is significant because it is a word in the original greek and Hebrew that is used to only reference the one true God and Jesus uses it to refer to himself. In the English it is hard to capture the full significance of the title being used, but the translation does not simply mean “I am” in the same you and I may use the title. Instead the title refers to primacy, kingship, source of all that is created.
Jesus accepted worship as God
Matthew 14:33 “Then those who were in the boat worshiped him Jesus, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
John 9:38 “Then the man said, ‘Lord Jesus, I believe,’ and he worshiped him.”
The 10 Commandments which governed the life and worship of God’s people begin with the declaration of who God is and the commands to worship God alone and no one or nothing but Him (Exodus 20:1-17). To worship anyone or anything other than the One True God as the incredibly sin of idolatry that is forbidden throughout the Bible. But, Jesus freely welcomed other people to call Him God and worship Him as God without correcting or rebuking them for being in error. Therefore, Jesus acceptance of worship also proves that He was God.
The Gospel
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures . . .” -1 Corinthians 15:1–4
What is the Gospel? The word gospel simply means “good news.” The central message of the Bible is the gospel, or good news, about the person and work of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, Paul provides the most succinct summary of the gospel: the man Jesus is also God, or Christ, and died on a cross in our place, paying the penalty for our sins; three days later He rose to conquer sin and death and give the gift of salvation to all who believe in Him alone for eternal life.
The great reformer Martin Luther rightly said that, as sinners, we are prone to pursue a relationship with God in one of two ways. The first is religion/spirituality and the second is the gospel. The two are antithetical in every way.
Religion says that if we obey God He will love us. The gospel says that it is because God has loved us through Jesus that we can obey.
Religion says that the world is filled with good people and bad people. The gospel says that the world is filled with bad people who are either repentant or unrepentant.
Religion says that you should trust in what you do as a good moral person. The gospel says that you should trust in the perfectly sinless life of Jesus because He alone is the only good and truly moral person who will ever live.
The goal of religion is to get from God such things as health, wealth, insight, power, and control. The goal of the gospel is not the gifts God gives, but rather God as the gift given to us by grace.
Religion is about what I have to do. The gospel is about what I get to do. Religion sees hardship in life as punishment from God. The gospel sees hardship in life as sanctifying affliction that reminds us of Jesus’ sufferings and is used by God in love to make us more like Jesus. Religion is about me. The gospel is about Jesus.
Religion leads to an uncertainty about my standing before God because I never know if I have done enough to please God. The gospel leads to a certainty about my standing before God because of the finished work of Jesus on my behalf on the cross.
Religion ends in either pride (because I think I am better than other people) or despair (because I continually fall short of God’s commands). The gospel ends in humble and confident joy because of the power of Jesus at work for me, in me, through me, and sometimes in spite of me.
The Bible and Marriage:
At SGC, we believe that marriage is between a biological man and a biological woman. A man is born a male and their gender is rooted in being born a male. A woman is born a female and is rooted in being born a female. Marriage, gender and sex are not opportunities for creative thinking on how to change, manipulate or forcibly alter the human body to be or do things God did not create them to do. We believe God does not make mistakes. He lovingly created you exactly how you are and has a purpose and plan for your life. Amen.