Tuesday, 28 October 2008

• In His Image.

  Our pastor gave a teaching recently on what it is to be "made in God's image". We've been studying the Gospel massage and have been camping on Creation for a couple of weeks. An important part of knowing the Gospel is knowing what people are here for in the first place. And the Creation account tells us, in the most amazingly economical way, what we are supposed to be about. So, Pastor Adam asked us, what does it mean to be made in God's image?

  One person said that we are relational, like God. Another offered that we are creative, like Him. Still another pointed out that we are created to reign, to have dominion, like Him. All true, said Adam. Then he pointed us back to the Scripture and suggested that we examine the word "image" in the way that the Scripture defines it. What do you think of when you think of the word image in Scripture? Often what comes to mind is the Command to not make any graven images, presumably because we are not to worship any God but God, and the custom of the day was to make some kind of representative image of one's god. So why can't we do that?

  It's because we are the image.

  Stop for a minute and think about the implications of that. What happened when the images of a Levantine god was abused or destroyed? It was to do violence to that god. In those days, it was understood that the image was not the same thing as the god. But by manipulating it and doing certain ritualistic things with it, you could 'control' and 'influence' the god into doing things for you.

  A Levantine god image was sacred. Little girls did not play dolls with them. They were set apart for a holy use. They represented a god. They were treated carefully. Anything that happened to them was considered an omen. What would our world look like if everyone realised that every person in the world, from embryo to oldster, was an image of God Almighty?

  How would we see the homeless bag lady? The heavy young man with severe Down syndrome? The woman in a deep coma? The child prostitute in Bangkok? Could there be a more heartbreaking representation of the fall of Creation than the marred Image of God?

  Do you see the desperate sin Aaron and the Israelites fell into when the golden calf was fabricated? Do you see why God was so angered when the children of Israel turned the true Image of God into a thing for revelry and sexual sin?

  Do you see what you are doing when you entertain even the thought of giving your body over to the sin of overeating, undereating, overwork, the excessive use of alcohol, immodest clothing, the sharing of your body with those who have no divine right to it? Do you see that you are meant to be a representative of God Almighty, and that whatever you do that does not reflect His nature is vandalism to Him? Do you ever think about what the world really sees when you call yourself a Christian?

  Do you see why the Gospel is so very necessary?

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