The God Story: Leading In Babylon

The God Story | Leading In Babylon | Gareth Nicholson | 15 March 2026

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Many people think the Bible is mainly about how to get to heaven one day.

But the story of the Bible is far bigger than that.

The Bible tells the story of a God who is becoming King through Jesus - bringing heaven to earth and inviting people to find their place in His story.

From the beginning, God created humanity to live in relationship with Him. But when humanity turned away, that relationship was broken. In His mercy and creativity, God set in motion a rescue mission - a plan of redemption that ultimately led to Jesus giving His life on the cross so that people could be restored to God.

Through Jesus, we are not only forgiven, we are also invited into a new way of living - one that reflects the kingdom of heaven in the world around us.

But as followers of Jesus, we live in tension. We live in a world shaped by what the Bible often calls Babylon - a system built on power, control, competition, and self-interest. Yet Jesus calls us to live differently.

The goal is not simply to escape the world. The goal is to live in the world without becoming shaped by it, and to bring the kingdom of God wherever we go.

Three Ways We Can Live

In our relationships, workplaces, families, and communities, we tend to operate in one of three ways.

Way of Living	Core Idea	What It Looks Like
Exploitative Way	I win, you lose.	People are used as a means to an end. Success is about power, control, competition, and getting ahead. This is the way of Babylon.
Ethical Way	I win, you win.	People are treated fairly and with respect. It values justice, dignity, and doing good, but the focus often remains on self-improvement and fairness.
Redemptive Way	I sacrifice so that you can win.	This is the way of Jesus. It goes beyond fairness into sacrificial love, generosity, and serving others so that they can flourish.

The redemptive way is rare, but when you experience it, it changes you.

Creative Restoration Through Sacrifice

The redemptive way can be summed up in one phrase:

Creative restoration through sacrifice.

• Creative – God has given each of us gifts, ideas, and opportunities to bring hope and solutions into the world.

• Restoration – We participate in helping restore what is broken in people, relationships, and communities.

• Sacrifice – Redemption always costs something. It requires serving, giving, and sometimes putting others first.

This is exactly what Jesus did for us. Through His sacrifice, He made a way for people to be restored to God.

And now He invites us to live in that same redemptive way.

Your Life Is Part of the Story

The gospel is not only about forgiveness and salvation. It also gives us a mission.

Every day we have opportunities to bring the kingdom of God into the spaces we live, work, and lead.

It might look like:

• Serving others in your workplace

• Using your skills to bless your community

• Being generous in times of need

• Encouraging and lifting up the people around you

Because the truth is simple:

God’s redemption story is still unfolding - and you are invited to be part of it.

You are chosen.

You are gifted.

You are called.

And the church - ordinary people following Jesus - is His plan to bring the kingdom of heaven into the world today.

The question is simply this:

Will you live the redemptive way?

Because when we choose to live with creative restoration through sacrifice, we begin to see the kingdom of God break into the world around us.

And that’s where real purpose is found.

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Life Group Discussion Questions

1. Think of a time when someone went out of their way to help or sacrifice for you. What impact did it have on you?

2. What makes the redemptive way (“I sacrifice so that you can win”) so powerful and memorable when we encounter it?

3. Where in your life (workplace, family, friendships, church, community) do you feel God inviting you to live more redemptively?

4. If everyone in our church began living the redemptive way more intentionally, what impact do you think it could have on our community?