Live Out: The Image of God (Part 2)
Gary Brandenburg, Senior Pastor
June 22nd, 2008
This past week I was visiting with a pastor friend who told me about a trip he took to Germany in the early ‘80s. He met some young East German Christians who took him to the square where a huge demonstration occurred in the waning days of Communist rule. As the wall between East and West Germany was coming down the world was able to look into the soul of a people who had been controlled for decades by a godless regime. Over the years Christians from the U.S. had been faithful to penetrate the iron curtain with the Gospel. Organizations like Campus Crusade with people like Steve Sternberg, who attends here, taught biblical truth as well as scripture songs to a persecuted church. One evening some bold Christian students showed up on the square and began singing, “This is the Day the Lord has Made.” Other joined in. Dozens came, then hundreds, and then thousands. Some candle makers rushed to their shops and brought candles to the square. When the Communist leaders got wind of what was going on they dispatched tanks and troops to the scene. The young man telling the story said he went up to a tank and held out a candle to the young soldier who was behind a 50 caliber machine gun in the turret. The man looked at the candle, looked at his gun, then climbed down and joined the demonstration. Other soldiers joined in and the army was disarmed. Think about it; the Communist juggernaut proved no match for a handful of college students who, filled with the Spirit and armed with a few candles, started a movement that changed the world. How is this possible? It happened in the first century as the early Christians stood toe to toe with the Romans, it was true in China, as the church thrived Mao’s Marxism died a slow death. As I listened to what happened in East Germany in the 80’s I realized once again what is possible when those who bear the image of God seek the glory of God to fulfill the mission of God. The mission of God is to spread His glory through all the earth.
We’re spending a few weeks reviewing how we can stay on mission. We began with the premise that missional movements share at least four characteristics: the first one is an obsession with the glory of God. Today we will see the importance of reflecting the image of God. Next week we will look at the mission of God. Finally we will look at the people of God.
Last week we established the fact that God created us for His glory. “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth--everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." Is. 43:6-7 In order for man to reflect the glory of God we were created in the image of God.
The creation of man is summarized in Genesis 1:26-28 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." These verses tell us three very important facts about our heritage.
God created us in His own image. Genesis 1:27 says, “male and female He created them.” Gen. 1:27 Apparently the image of God is best expressed by two different sexes. There are qualities in a woman which point to God’s beauty and His tender care. There are qualities in a man that reflect God’s strength and leadership. All human beings bear the image of God.
The fact that we bear God’s image distinguishes us from the animals. I recently read about an 82 year old man who had been married for almost 60 years to a wife who had a terminal illness. He shot her in the head to relieve her of her pain. The man was not charged with first degree but second degree murder. Debate rages as to what should happen to him. “After all,” one commentator said, “we take our dogs to the vet and have them euthanized when they get old and sick. He did the right thing.” He did if his wife is of no more value than a dog!
God created us to rule. In the creation account God created various realms with rulers 1:16…Sun moon…birds rule the sky, fish rule the sea. Then in 1:26 we read…We were created by God, male and female, to co-rule over God’s creation.
The Psalmist says it this way, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens…When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet.” Ps. 8:1-6
God created us to spread His glory. God told Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply.” They were to be like “seeds” scattered on the wind spreading the knowledge of God until, “the earth was filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14
God created us in His image so that we find our ultimate meaning and purpose in reflecting His glory through all the earth. We will never be satisfied doing anything else. That is why the Westminster Shorter Catechism, one of the historic orthodox Christian creeds, summarizes our mission as, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” In recent years John Piper has changed a word in the creed to “the chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever.” If you have ever read Piper you know that every time he writes a book and almost every time he speaks he says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
But here’s the problem: Ever since the fall, we choose to represent our own interests and to operate on our own behalf. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In the choice between Dog and Cat theology, we are a bunch of cats.
In other words, because of our sin, the image of God is defaced but not erased. As men and women created in the image of God we can still choose to reflect the glory of God.
God re-created us to be authorized agents of His mission to the world. Through our relationship with Jesus Christ, we have been authorized to be God’s agents in the world. Jesus Christ came to earth as the express image of God in order to represent His Father’s interest and to operate on His Father’s behalf. He purchase our freedom from the sin that deflected God’s glory and defaced God’s image, and He sent His Spirit to dwell within us to that we too might represent His interests as His agents in this world.
When God places His Holy Spirit within us we regain the capacity to glorify Him. Remember it was the presence of God’s Spirit that fueled a Jesus movement in the first century. The Spirit of God fell upon those gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost and thousands began to worship Jesus. When we receive God’s Spirit we possess God’s DNA.
DNA is “the organic chemical of complex molecular structure found in all organic, living cells and in many viruses.” It is a self-replicating material that carries genetic information. DNA carries crucial information that is essential for healthy reproduction. Each and every cell carries the entire coding of the whole organism. Whether you pick a brain cell or a muscle cell or a cell from an internal organ, the whole organism can be reproduced from the one single cell. Every human being created in the image of God can be a reproductive force in the world.
This helps explain why the first century church and the 20th century Chinese church experienced such rapid growth under adverse conditions? These Spirit-filled believers instinctively knew what to do when all the external support structures and expressions were destroyed. Their property was confiscated, their leaders killed or imprisoned, and they were forbidden to assemble together under penalty of death. But they instinctively knew that the key to kingdom growth was inside them. The Spirit of God “coded” each person to infuse their sphere of influence with the reproductive power of the Gospel.
In a God-ordained way, when we receive God’s Spirit we become “seeds” bearing the full potential to bring life to the people around us. If we are “blown” into different fields God can create a “Jesus community” out of us. That is how transformation begins.
My challenge this morning is to light a candle, start a chain reaction that will reflect God’s mission to spread His glory. My specific challenge to you is to start a Jesus movement. If you are not in a small group, start one. If you are not a small group leader, sign up to lead one. If you are in a small group, what would it take to turn that small group into a full-scale church? We have a hundred small groups. What if we could no longer own property, assemble publicly, or pay professional pastors? Would we cease as a church or would one hundred Jesus movements grow and produce more followers of Christ than we are currently?
We will never produce what we are not. If a plant has apple DNA that tree will never produce oranges. “We can only live changes: we cannot think our way to humanity. Every one of us, every group, must become the model of that which we desire to create.” Ivan Illich
When people examine your life do they see a person created in the image of God who is passionate about the mission of God which is to spread the Good News about the glory of God?
Let’s offer ourselves up to God for His use as He carries out His plan in the world. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
If we offer ourselves to God, He will be faithful to carry on a refining process until the image of God is visible within us. Malachi 3:3 says “He (God) will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness.”
One commentator observes, "There is a dramatic moment when (the refiner) knows that all the dross has gone from it. Peering over it, the silver suddenly becomes a liquid mirror in which the image of the refiner is reflected. Then he knows that his task is done" E. Ray Clendenen's (p.190) (From an article by A.Robinson in CBQ 11 (1949):188-190):
Like that silver refiner God will continue the process of refining (burning off the dross) until He sees His image finally reflected in us.