Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:21 Hello, friends and welcome back tofa Christianity, where we seek to reconcile our human experiences with God and his work so that we can love from pure heart and good conscience and sincere faith. As always, this podcast is brought to you in support by our members at Patreon, if you would like to support the work of this podcast and, and the blog, the best way to do that is by becoming a member at Patreon. So just if you visit www.whiner.com/member, you'll be able to see all you need to know in order to become a mover at that age directly today, I'm gonna do something different. Typically I have an interview, uh, last several. I actually have not had an interview. We are in the process of moving our family is this is I think the first time I'm saying this publicly, at least to this degree.
Speaker 1 00:01:18 And so I'm actually recording this ahead of our move. Our move is planning Lord willing for the 1st of July and we're moving to king city, Colorado. So there's a big, big change happening in our family's lives right now. We're excited. We're, uh, also grieving, leaving a place that we've known for for years. My wife and I have spent seven of the last 10 years here in Los Angeles area. Our kids, this is really all they've known. We have good friends here. And so it's a, it it's a challenge to move. And yet it also, uh, felt very clearly like God was leading our family on to another, another phase of life. And so as a part of that, a lot of the interviews that I'm doing, I'm actually kind of stockpiling up. So I, I am doing interviews with people, but they probably won't come out until the middle of July or later.
Speaker 1 00:02:13 So I decided what I would do for the end of June here is a three part series specifically looking at what is the gospel? What is the story of mankind? Um, if you followed my work for, for long, you know, that one of my passions is God's story and the message and the, and the, the Bible, but specifically not, not just the Bible as a book to study and gain a lot of figures and facts, but seeing and discovering God's story, that he is not only written for us in scripture, but that is playing out today. The world is a, a part of God's story. It's it's the stage on which God is writing his story. Creation is the stage in which God is telling a, an incredible narrative about Jesus Messiah and about humanity, his good and his good creation, the crown of his creation.
Speaker 1 00:03:11 And so I thought I'd do a three part series specifically looking at man. And, and we talk about the gospel. What is the gospel? How do we live out the gospel? And one of the things that is common for us, especially if we grew up in the church here in the west is we think of the gospel in terms of heaven and hell we are sinners. And because we're sinners, we're bound for hell. And the gospel is that Jesus comes and has made it possible. So we don't have to go to hell. We get to go to heaven. When you get into the story of scripture, you discover the, the Bible actually doesn't frame the gospel in that way, specifically, rather the Bible frames, the gospel in creation, covenant and kingdom. And you say, well, what does that mean? Well, that's part of what we're gonna flesh out in this three part series, heaven and hell is a part of that story.
Speaker 1 00:04:04 It's a part of the good news. It fits, it has a place in this great story, but in order to understand its place best, we need to understand creation in order to understand the purpose for humanity, the purpose for why we exist, the purpose for why God doesn't just save us and instantly take us to heaven in order to understand all of that. We need to have a good grasp of creation, covenant and kingdom. And that's kind of the lens through which scripture views the coming of the Messiah. And then the, the living out of the church, the new Testament church, those who have put faith in the Messiah who are given peace with God. And so this first part, we're gonna have three parts. And the first part I'm titling, what does it mean to image God and creation? And we're specifically looking at creation specifically, man, what is the purpose of man in creation?
Speaker 1 00:04:59 There's many aspects of creation, but we're gonna look at man, why did God make man? What is mankind's purpose? This includes man and women. And we'll see in just a bit, we're gonna dive into the passage that God made man in his image. And so the purpose of humanity is to image God, why, what does that mean in the second part, the one coming after this, we're gonna look at how do we as man reflect God or image God today when we ourselves struggle with sin. So one of the things we're gonna discover is that we don't image God when we're living in sin, we're actually imaging ourselves or, or more imaging the beast, the serpent, uh, sinfulness, and we are broken and unrighteous. And part of discipleship is being conformed into the image of God, into the image of Jesus. And so how do we reflect God?
Speaker 1 00:06:04 And I think this is a common struggle that all of us deal with, how do we reflect God when we are still struggling with sin? Does that mean I'm not saved? If I'm still struggling with sin? Is the, is the holy spirit, not at work in me. If I am still struggling with especially habitual sin, these are thoughts and struggles that we wrestle with as Christians. If, if you are a lifelong Christian, you grew up in the church, you're probably struggling with that. If you're a brand new Christian, just learning how to think and, and look at the world through a, a gospel lens, you're probably struggling with this. And so we're gonna dive into that. So what does it mean to image God? Well, as a part of that, we're gonna discover, uh, we don't image God, especially when we're living in sin. And part of discipleship, part of salvation is coming to reflect God or to image God.
Speaker 1 00:06:55 Again, yet we bump into this reality that we still struggle with sin. And so in part two, we're gonna look at how, how we do that. And then the last part, part three is that Christians are called to make disciples not converts. And this is looking at the kingdom. What is the kingdom of God? And how are we as people who are entering into the kingdom, through faith because of the work of what Jesus is doing and conforming us to his image. Now, what is our role? Because sometimes we, the way we talk about the gospel, we're focused on making converts. If we're gonna give a short pithy statement, get you to express a belief in this statement or these presuppositions. And once you express that belief, then you'll be saved. You're a convert. That's actually not our goal. Our goal is to make disciples.
Speaker 1 00:07:44 And this is the people who are actively imaging God in a world of chaos. So that'll be the final part, part three. So what does it mean to image God? How do we image God or reflect God when we ourselves are struggling with sin and then Christians are called to make disciples not converts. And so it's the, the third one is kind of a call to action for those of us who claim to follow Jesus, who claim to be disciples of Jesus. Let's dive in just to get us going. What does it mean to image God, I'm gonna share some passages with you and we're just gonna look at them. And as we go throughout this series, I would love for you to ponder them, to look up these passages for yourself and any questions that you have, uh, type 'em in either send me a message, leave a comment, whether it's on the blog or YouTube or Facebook, wherever you're seeing this.
Speaker 1 00:08:37 If it's on apple iTunes, leave a review with your question or whatever, maybe, um, in all the show notes, I will give you, uh, contact info that you can reach out to me and share your question with me personally. But the first place that we see this notion of being made in God's image or imaging, God is Genesis one and Genesis one sets up the creation story. And I'm not gonna go into any more details about creation in general, other than the fact that God is creator and his creation is good. Right? I do wanna say one thing real quick though. And that is that we often bring questions of what we're thinking about in our modern day. And one of the common discussions around Genesis one today in the last a hundred years is the age of the earth. And that's often kind of the first thing that we look at, we wanna prove the age of the earth, what, whatever age we hold to Moses, actually, isn't that concerned about proving that when he writes Genesis one, there's something else he's setting the stage for something else.
Speaker 1 00:09:49 And one of them is he's trying to cast a vision for the purpose of creation. He's also trying to cast a picture of the heart of God. And sometimes we miss that in all our debate and discussions about some of the technicalities of how creation came to be or how old dear earth is we miss kind of the, the purpose. I think we all know the purpose. Like it's, that's pretty clear. Like we look at Genesis one, it's pretty clear what the purpose of man is. We're made in the image of God we're made to, to go forth, be fruitful and multiply, right? And so we get distracted by all these other things that aren't quite as clear, but we feel are important. We need to have a clear distinction. I think if we're gonna understand the, the biblical story, if we're gonna understand God's story, and if we're gonna have a healthy understanding of why things are happening today in our society, in our world, we have to stay rooted and grounded in what we know for sure about the story.
Speaker 1 00:10:46 And that is that God is good and God is a loving God. He made this beautiful creation in a place of shaone peace. It's not just a place of people aren't arguing. No, it's a place of complete rest where everything is thriving creation, man, animals, plants, everything is given what they need for life. And mankind is so at peace in this place that they walk around naked, like that is crucial to understand this, this good and beautiful design. God is loving and caring. And he has set forth in front of man and woman, the tree of life pursue life. I want you to live. And that's the vision that he has cast for humanity for all of creation. And he is given them. He's not withholding life from them. There is something he's withholding, that's knowledge of good and evil. That's this ability to have a God-like status where I can decide what is wise.
Speaker 1 00:11:58 I can decide what is foolish instead of needing to trust somebody else. God is withholding from us as man mankind. He's withholding that, but he is not withholding life. It's interesting. The serpent, if you look at Genesis three, he says, he knows that if you eat of it, you will become like him. You think it cast this vision, uh, or it cast this doubt of God is holding out on us. He he's he's withholding something from us. He doesn't want us to take his place. But the, the very thing that God had given them was, Hey, eat of the tree of life and you will live forever. So they could have had imortality living forever. If they walked in a trusting relationship with God, but instead they chose to become like God at the risk of becoming imortal, where they will be temporary, where they're destroyed, where they will not have eternal life and life everlasting.
Speaker 1 00:13:03 So this is a setting. God is good. He's loving, he's set forth life. It's a place of peace. Yes, there is no chaos, but so much more than that. They are thriving. They have everything they need for life. And man is so at rest that there is no shame. They're walking around naked. Well, let's dive into this Genesis one verse 26. Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female. He created them and God bless them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens.
Speaker 1 00:14:01 And over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, behold, I've given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth. And every tree with its seed in its fruit, you shall have them for food and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, God is given the breath of life. I have given every green plant for food. So you're gonna need life. You're gonna need food to be sustained and to thrive. I've given you the breath of life and I've given you plants for food so that you can live well. And it was so, and God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day.
Speaker 1 00:14:50 Now, what does it mean that man is made in the image of God, male and female. He created them in the image of God. And what does it mean to image God and creation? Well, in the context of this says, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Obviously at the very least, he's speaking of procreation, right? Being fruitful and multiplying, filling the earth with your kind, it's in the middle of a story, a narrative where pairs of animals are coming together and they're being brought according to their kind and being sent forth over the earth. And so in a similar way, mankind comes and they're gonna be paired together and they're gonna be fruitful and multiply it, but it doesn't just stop there. It's not just be fruitful sexually or genetically and multiply it and fill the earth. It's interesting that he says and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over it.
Speaker 1 00:15:51 This gives the insinuation that God created, man, to care for earth and animals. That's pretty clear. God designed that man would be caring for earth and animals. It's interesting. We often think we look at this and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air. And we think, oh, that's that gives us a license to go and kill animals, right. To sub do it, or have dominion over it. Dominion. What is dominion? Dominion is actually kingdom language. So God is setting forth a kingdom where mankind is imaging him as king in reigning over creation. So having dominion over them is that you're ruling you're ruling and reigning over the fish of the sea. This doesn't mean I, I personally don't think this is really saying anything to whether or not you can eat meat. Now I eat meat. Um, I, I think there's evidence later on in scripture that that frees us to be able to eat meat, but here in Genesis, it's not inherently setting up that man should be able to go kill animals and, and slaughter them.
Speaker 1 00:17:02 This isn't about killing. This is about ruling and reigning over them. It's about, uh, nurturing creation and cultivating and, and having proper governance over creation. God is setting up a kingdom, a kingdom of peace, a kingdom of goodness. And it's his creation it's centered in his creation. It also insinuates as we look at verse 28 and 29 that filling the earth and subduing the earth that God has given. Man, the, the purpose, the commission to create certain cultural possibilities. Cornelia's planting Jr. In his book, engaging God's world, a Christian vision of faith learning and living. He talks about this a little bit in the second chapter on creation, he says to image God, then human beings are charged not only with care for earth and animals, but also with developing certain cultural possibilities to unfold, such possibilities, for example, to speak languages, build tools and dies, enter contracts, organize dance tropes.
Speaker 1 00:18:06 All of these we see in the first, uh, chapters of Genesis is to act in character for human beings. Designed by God. That is to act in this way is to exhibit some of God's own creativity and dominion in a characteristic, in a characteristically human way. And so God has designed us to, to really take his nature, to take his character and to flesh that out on earth. And we are, it kind of inferred in that is to reflect his goodness and his beauty and to push forward this, this vision of life that he has set before mankind. The, the problem is that that we'll discover is that man rebelled against God. And instead of, instead of creating certain cultural possibilities in God's image, they create him in their own image. And it's very self-centered. And it, it, these tools that are built are used to murder.
Speaker 1 00:19:05 These dies are used to poison. These contracts are used to enslave other people, and we begin to have dominion over each other instead of mankind ruling and reigning in a kingdom of peace and Shalom over creation. Another aspect of what it means to be made in the, to image God and creation be made in the image of God is to live in loving communion with each other. And we noticed in the verses that we read, it says, God says, let us make man in our image. And we, we often infer from that what we know of as the Trinity, that God is three persons in one, and that God, the father, the son and the holy spirit are together saying, let us make this being who bears forth our image throughout creation. Cause if, if you look at John 17, where Jesus is praying to the father, he's praying about his people who are following him, who he has called and invited into this new humanity says, I pray that they may be one as you and I are one Jesus, the son talking about the father and so embedded within the nature and the character of God is a oneness and a communion together.
Speaker 1 00:20:20 And in the same way, we image God by living in oneness and communion with each other, but then ultimately to image God is to be conformed to Jesus in suffering and death. The ultimate example of self giving love. It's interesting. If you, if you look at Hebrews, you will notice that the son Jesus is, if you look at verse three of Hebrews one, he is the radiance of the glory of God. The exact imprint of his nature. The son is the exact imprint of God's nature. Now, if you jump back to Genesis one, it says, let us make man in our image after our likeness or some translations, we'll say instead of in our image, according to our image, according to our likeness. So it does not say that let us make man our image, but man is being made according to the image of God, who is the image of God?
Speaker 1 00:21:29 Well, we just read about that in Hebrews where Jesus, the son is the exact imprint of God's nature. If you, if you jump to Colosians, Colosians one, he is speaking of Jesus. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. So Jesus is the image of God. And we are commissioned to image God and creation. And so what we see in Jesus, that's how we as mankind, we're supposed to be the way he rules and reigns over creation, the way he sets captives free, the way he, he nurtures and cares for the creation around it and has a, a dominion over even the weather patterns of creation in a similar way. We, as humanity are to rule and reign and have dominion over creation in a, out of a, a place of love, a place of Shalom, peace, not wanting to power over, which is what murder is, but rather wanting to nurture to cultivate and to push forward that vision for life.
Speaker 1 00:22:40 But we, we didn't do that. We as mankind rebelled, and we decided to pursue what we thought was wise, what we thought was good and evil, and that led to chaos. It led to brokenness. It led to led to murder and strife and self-centeredness. And so there's this process that we have to go through as God seeks to restore creation. And this is what the gospel is about. There's this vision of creation, Shalom, peace, where mankind is ruling and reigning properly out of goodness, out of beauty, over creation. That's what God wants to restore. And a part of that restoration process is conforming. Man, who's now living out their own image and they're actually reflecting the beast. Now God wants us to conform to his image. This is where we get in Romans 8, 28 and 8 29. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Speaker 1 00:23:55 And if you think Paul is writing here, if you think of the purpose that Paul talks about so often, is that all things be United in Jesus. He speaks about that earlier in the chapter verses 12 through eight, uh, through 17, where he is speaking of walking in the spirit instead of in the flesh and that we are called to walk in the spirit to walk with him and we're gonna be resurrected glorified with him. If we are willing to suffer with him and die to our flesh, we are adopted as sons Ephesians. One talks about Ephesians one 10 talks about the plan from before the foundation of the world was to unite all things in Jesus Christ. And so the purpose God's purpose has always been to unite things in Jesus. So those who are called, which is all things, all people called to be United in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 00:24:49 All things will work together for that purpose. So everything we go through in confronting our flesh, as that feels like suffering, that's going to work together for the purpose of being United in Jesus of verse 29. For those whom he for knew he also predestined Ephesians one 10 says you from the, before the foundation of the world, it was his design to unite all things in Christ here in Romans 8 29. He's saying for those, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he, the son might be the first born among many brothers. So the purpose of humanity has always been to image God we rebelled. And so we imaged ourselves and actually reflect the beast. So what does it mean to image God now what it means to be conformed to Jesus in suffering, suffering against our flesh, suffering against realizing that the world is imaging, the beast, the world is imaging themselves, and we are called to image God.
Speaker 1 00:25:58 And so we're gonna be at odds with the world and there's gonna be a, a conflict as we navigate throughout the world to be conformed to Jesus and death. We're dying to ourselves, dying to our flesh, maybe even literally dying because of the, the conflict, the cosmic conflict at odds, with the way of Jesus, as opposed to the way of the beast or the way of humans who try to just live out their own image. And this suffering and death is the ultimate example of self-giving love. And that's what it means to image God. It's to care for earth, for animals to develop certain cultural possibilities that reflect the goodness and the beauty of God that help restore and reflect the shaone piece. Not just lack of chaos, but where people are thriving to live in loving communion with each other and to conform to Jesus and suffering and death. In the next episode, we're gonna discuss what it looks like to do this and to reflect God or image God, when we ourselves, even though we want that, even though we want to faithfully follow Jesus, we want to care for others. We want to live in loving communion with each other.
Speaker 1 00:27:25 We still struggle with self-centeredness. We still struggle with bitterness or with habitual sins. And we can't seem to get out of ourselves. It's like, I don't even know if I have anything to offer. If I'm even that real of a Christian, when I'm struggling with all these things, how do we do that? When we ourselves are struggling.
