On this side, there are those who cry for "Tolerance!" These are often those who live in some way that departs from a particular standard (a Biblical standard, a rigid religious standard, a self-righteous standard, a societal norm, etc.). They feel judged, and understandably don't want to be judged. They don't subscribe to that particular standard and are asking to not be held to that standard.
On the opposite side, there are those who see the word "tolerance" as a code word for "condone me with all of my sins." There are some things that are right and some things that are wrong, and whoever is wrong should not be condoned in their wrong-ness. Often, but certainly not always, these folks identify themselves as Christians.
So, let me focus in on the Christian response, without comment on how the rest of the world ought to respond.
Calmer Christians will add a caveat saying, "Of course, we ought to accept everyone as they are, but in no way condone any form of sin." That's rational and consistent. But I don't think it goes far enough. Nor do I think those who call for tolerance are going far enough, either!
Now it's beginning to sound like I'm about to skip merrily down the lane of full-on tolerance of anything and everything. Not at all. Here's my key issue - those who live in each of the far corners of this topic have a binary view of this issue. It's either tolerance of everything or horrible judgmentalism. You're either advocating everything or condemning others, with no other way to look at it. If those are the only two options, then we are stuck in an ugly dispute with no real resolution.
Jesus, the one who Christians are supposed to follow, did not teach us to be tolerant. But neither did He teach us to be judgmental. In other words, He didn't teach either of the binary choices, so there must be something else. Not a midpoint between the two, but something completely other.
In Luke 15, the Pharisees posed this issue with Jesus. He was hanging around sinners, and the religious leaders called Him on it because He sure looked like He was condoning their sin. But He wasn't judging these sinners, and He certainly wasn't condoning their sin. And yet He still loved spending time with them. He responded to the Pharisees with a triplet of parables teaching about the joy of finding what was lost - that was how He explained why He would hang around such "awful" sinners.
Jesus was practicing something far beyond tolerance. In some ways, He went much further than what those who want tolerance are asking for! He loved them. He spent time with them. He wanted them to be found, and so He sought them out. They were, in a sense, His goal. Tolerance is just putting up with something, but Jesus went far beyond merely putting up with sinners.
People get caught up in the question, "Should we be tolerant?", and I think that's not even the right question, because Jesus didn't act based on a tolerance scale. The questions He evokes are: Who should we love? Who should we spend time with? Who should we seek? Will our joy be in staying clear of what's lost or finding what's lost?
Don't get caught up in the tolerance debate, follower of Christ. Instead, follow Christ in this.
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
An Experiment in Prayer
I have heard dozens of teachings on "the Lord's Prayer" (also called "the Model Prayer") found in Matthew 6:6-13. This is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, in a sequence of statements in which Jesus says "you have heard" some teaching from the Old Testament or the Pharisees, "but I say to you" something even more demanding for righteousness. In this particular paragraph, He's teaching about prayer. He then tells them to pray "this way," and begins the familiar prayer, "Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored..." Or perhaps your more familiar with a different translation, "Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy name..."
In these dozens of teachings, I heard very careful (and accurate) analyses of each phrase and how we ought to pray that way, because Jesus said, "Pray this way." I value all the teaching I've received on this.
But I want to add a different angle to the mix, not to replace the good teaching, but to supplement it. Given that Jesus is continually discipling His followers to form them into people who resemble Him well, we can assume He is doing this formation as He teaches us to pray. So, in this model prayer, He's not only telling us how to approach God in prayer, but He's also trying to form us into a particular kind of people. Through praying, He wants us to be changed. He gives us prayer not only as a way to dialog with God, but also as a means to be discipled into Christlikeness.
So, let's look at the Model Prayer in terms of what Jesus wants us to become, and then look at how it might affect praying for something specific. For our purposes, I choose a troubled relationship to pray about as an example.
Fearing (Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored,)
Missional (may your kingdom come,)
Submissive (may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.)
Dependent (Give us today our daily bread,)
Free (and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.)
Holy (And do not lead us into temptation,)
Rescued (but deliver us from the evil one.)
Finally, God wants us to be rescued (which is what deliver means in this verse). In other words, He wants us to live knowing that He rescued us from ourselves, and so we are a perpetually rescued people, in God's blessings only because of his mercy to rescue us. It's the blood of Jesus that rescued us, so every breath we take was purchased by the rescuing blood. We have an enemy who opposes us because we follow Christ - we have been rescued from him, but also need daily rescue from his continued attacks. We live perpetually with a rescued identity, which should keep us humble.
Therefore, my prayer might be, "Lord, I need rescue in this relationship. Satan wants to have us at each others' throats, and frankly, I've been pretty accommodating. I need rescue from my anger and my desire to 'even the score' with this person. But I have been rescued by Christ, and I also need rescue in this moment. Help me to always live out all my relationships as a rescued one."
# # #
This is not radically different from other teachings we've received, and I would be worried if it was. It is, rather, a different entry point into the same model prayer - to focus the ideas of this prayer onto who God wants me to be, to see the characteristics Jesus is developing in us by praying as He prayed and turning those characteristics into the heart of prayer.
So, I'm conducting a little experiment for a while. Not forever. I'm not saying that this is the way for me to pray for the rest of my life. But I'm going to experiment until the experiment runs dry by intentionally praying along these lines. Already I've seen some barriers broken in my prayer life and in my daily life, simply because I'm praying in a different way. I'm eager to see how the experiment goes.
For this experiment, I've printed out the following list just to remind me. You might print this out and stick it in your Bible and guide your prayers through this for a while. Experiment some yourself.
Missional (may your kingdom come,)
Submissive (may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.)
Dependent (Give us today our daily bread,)
Free (and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.)
Holy (And do not lead us into temptation,)
Rescued (but deliver us from the evil one.)
In these dozens of teachings, I heard very careful (and accurate) analyses of each phrase and how we ought to pray that way, because Jesus said, "Pray this way." I value all the teaching I've received on this.
But I want to add a different angle to the mix, not to replace the good teaching, but to supplement it. Given that Jesus is continually discipling His followers to form them into people who resemble Him well, we can assume He is doing this formation as He teaches us to pray. So, in this model prayer, He's not only telling us how to approach God in prayer, but He's also trying to form us into a particular kind of people. Through praying, He wants us to be changed. He gives us prayer not only as a way to dialog with God, but also as a means to be discipled into Christlikeness.
So, let's look at the Model Prayer in terms of what Jesus wants us to become, and then look at how it might affect praying for something specific. For our purposes, I choose a troubled relationship to pray about as an example.
Fearing (Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored,)
God wants us to be fearing, to be people who fear, honor, and respect God with a sense of awe. This opening to the prayer is not instruction on how to "butter up" God for your requests, but to be a particular kind of person, approaching Him in prayer with a particular attitude and self-awareness.
In the example of praying about a strained relationship, I might pray, "Father, may the way I approach this relationship bring you honor. May our friendship be worthy of Your awesome and mighty name. Make me to be a person who brings honor to You with my friendships." This is a very different prayer than, "Lord, change this person" or "Father, help me to be more tolerant of this jerk."
God wants us to be missional, to have His Kingdom be our life goal, our every aspiration. He wants us to carry out the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations. He wants us to use our time, talents, and treasures for the good of His Kingdom, to live here and now based on the Kingdom's values, and to bring tangible elements of the Kingdom to those around us - for His Kingdom to manifest in part now and then to come in full later.
Therefore, I might pray, "Lord, my relationship right now is not running according to the character of your Kingdom. May your Kingdom come into this relationship, and may the two of us collaborate to advance Your Kingdom. May our relationship now be just like it will be when Your Kingdom has fully arrived." This is more immediate than praying that the end of time would come soon so that the Kingdom would be fully established, and then I don't have to suffer this person's annoying behavior any longer!
God wants us to be submissive, to surrender our will to His. Jesus did this beautifully in the Garden of Gethsemane just before He was crucified by praying, "Not my will, but Yours be done."
I could pray, "Lord, I'm not really submissive to you right now in my relationship with so-and-so. Regardless of this person's problems, I'm not really pulling for your will in this - I want mine. Change me to be eager for Your will in this relationship. I surrender ... I want to be a fully surrendered person, even in this." Wow - this one hurts when praying about a relationship!
God wants us to be dependent, which is brilliantly captured with the idea of daily bread - the stuff I need to get through just one day. And then the next day, I'll depend on God some more. This is the kind of person God wants us to be.
So, my prayer changes. "Father, I have been relying on myself and on my fleshly strength, and worse, I have been pursuing what my selfishness wants in this relationship. You want me to rely on You for this relationship, for You to give me the love, the patience, and the attitude. I need You for this relationship to be healthy. Help me to love well. I depend on You for this relationship. Let me walk dependently in all my relationships."
God wants us to be free - free from our sins ("debts") through forgiveness, but also free from the sins against us (by our "debtors") through forgiving them. Only through forgiveness that we first receive and then grant can we be truly free people.
Then I should pray, "Lord, the relationship between You and me is based on forgiveness. In this case, it's all You forgiving me. My relationship with this other person will only be to Your pleasure through the same forgiveness. But in this case, that's each of us forgiving the other. Help me to be changed by Your forgiveness, to grant forgiveness freely to the other, and even to receive the forgiveness that the other offers me. Help me to be a forgiving kind of friend always."
God wants us to be holy, to avoid sin and to escape the temptations to enter into sin. His forgiveness makes us holy through the blood of Christ, but holy living on a daily basis as our practice requires us to change our practices, too. In the Model Prayer, Jesus instructs us to pray for God to help us be holy.
So, I would pray, "Father, in this relationship, I have impure, hurtful, judgmental, and sometimes hateful thoughts. Lead me away from that, not just to have a better relationship, but because of who You want me to be in this relationship - a person who lives according to holiness, even in my friendships."
Finally, God wants us to be rescued (which is what deliver means in this verse). In other words, He wants us to live knowing that He rescued us from ourselves, and so we are a perpetually rescued people, in God's blessings only because of his mercy to rescue us. It's the blood of Jesus that rescued us, so every breath we take was purchased by the rescuing blood. We have an enemy who opposes us because we follow Christ - we have been rescued from him, but also need daily rescue from his continued attacks. We live perpetually with a rescued identity, which should keep us humble.
Therefore, my prayer might be, "Lord, I need rescue in this relationship. Satan wants to have us at each others' throats, and frankly, I've been pretty accommodating. I need rescue from my anger and my desire to 'even the score' with this person. But I have been rescued by Christ, and I also need rescue in this moment. Help me to always live out all my relationships as a rescued one."
This is not radically different from other teachings we've received, and I would be worried if it was. It is, rather, a different entry point into the same model prayer - to focus the ideas of this prayer onto who God wants me to be, to see the characteristics Jesus is developing in us by praying as He prayed and turning those characteristics into the heart of prayer.
So, I'm conducting a little experiment for a while. Not forever. I'm not saying that this is the way for me to pray for the rest of my life. But I'm going to experiment until the experiment runs dry by intentionally praying along these lines. Already I've seen some barriers broken in my prayer life and in my daily life, simply because I'm praying in a different way. I'm eager to see how the experiment goes.
For this experiment, I've printed out the following list just to remind me. You might print this out and stick it in your Bible and guide your prayers through this for a while. Experiment some yourself.
God wants us to be:
Fearing (Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored,)Missional (may your kingdom come,)
Submissive (may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.)
Dependent (Give us today our daily bread,)
Free (and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.)
Holy (And do not lead us into temptation,)
Rescued (but deliver us from the evil one.)
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
We don't like normal killers
Have you ever noticed how the bad guys in movies are often portrayed to have particularly abnormal attributes? They are scarred or have been through some horrible, traumatic event or were abused. They look different, they talk differently, and their thinking is radically different than "normal." They've got to be psychopaths. Being albino is a repeated excuse - apparently that affects your moral compass somehow. In movies, we make the bad guys really abnormal. The truth is: we don't like normal killers.
We like killers who are scary because they are different than we are - we don't like killers who are scary because they are the same as we are. We want them removed from us. We want to think that we are very different from people who would do such things. We don't want to entertain the possibility that someone like me could do such a thing given the same moral make up that I have ... or that I could do such a thing given the moral make up that I have. We're better than that, aren't we? So, we make killers in movies categorically worse than we are so that we can be better than they are.
In my opinion, the scariest killers in movies are the ones who are more like us.
Consider the tragic events of last weekend with Jovan Belcher killing Kasandra Perkins, the mother of his daughter, and then taking his own life. I'm not commenting on Belcher - I'm commenting on society and its reaction to Belcher. There has been a lot of talk about what kind of person he was - heated debate, in some cases. In some of those discussions, people want him to be monstrous so that we can demonize him, distance ourselves from him, and not face the scarier kind of killer - someone who is like us.
No one is all good or all bad. We all have redeeming qualities, and we all have horrid ugliness in our hearts (that may or may not be on display for others to see). Without passing judgment on what kind of person Belcher was overall, we are more like him than we want to admit. We get angry. We have arguments. We sometimes feel like hurting someone, or hurting ourselves. We share the heart sin that was manifested in his life as action sin.
I don't have a $1.9 million contract, I'm not a public figure, and I didn't claw my way into pro sports through the unlikely path of going undrafted. And yet, I am more like Belcher than makes me comfortable. I don't need to demonize Belcher in order to feel better about myself. What I need is Jesus, pure and simple ... and only. I need Jesus, but not to make me different than Belcher - I need Jesus to make me different than me.
We like killers who are scary because they are different than we are - we don't like killers who are scary because they are the same as we are. We want them removed from us. We want to think that we are very different from people who would do such things. We don't want to entertain the possibility that someone like me could do such a thing given the same moral make up that I have ... or that I could do such a thing given the moral make up that I have. We're better than that, aren't we? So, we make killers in movies categorically worse than we are so that we can be better than they are.
In my opinion, the scariest killers in movies are the ones who are more like us.
Consider the tragic events of last weekend with Jovan Belcher killing Kasandra Perkins, the mother of his daughter, and then taking his own life. I'm not commenting on Belcher - I'm commenting on society and its reaction to Belcher. There has been a lot of talk about what kind of person he was - heated debate, in some cases. In some of those discussions, people want him to be monstrous so that we can demonize him, distance ourselves from him, and not face the scarier kind of killer - someone who is like us.
No one is all good or all bad. We all have redeeming qualities, and we all have horrid ugliness in our hearts (that may or may not be on display for others to see). Without passing judgment on what kind of person Belcher was overall, we are more like him than we want to admit. We get angry. We have arguments. We sometimes feel like hurting someone, or hurting ourselves. We share the heart sin that was manifested in his life as action sin.
I don't have a $1.9 million contract, I'm not a public figure, and I didn't claw my way into pro sports through the unlikely path of going undrafted. And yet, I am more like Belcher than makes me comfortable. I don't need to demonize Belcher in order to feel better about myself. What I need is Jesus, pure and simple ... and only. I need Jesus, but not to make me different than Belcher - I need Jesus to make me different than me.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Cranberriology
There is only one food item that I crave - cranberry juice. There are lots of foods that I desire, and I have a few favorites. But there's only one that I crave. When I see cranberry juice commercials, I crave to have a glass. When I see the bottles of this tart-and-sweet nectar of perfection, I am compelled to buy some. I am never compelled to buy any other food or drink. There is hardly a time that having a glass doesn't sound particularly good.
There is also on one food item that I'm allergic to. If I have even a little of it, I get an asthma attack that can get bad enough to incite a bit of panic. In a twist of cruel fate, the one food I'm allegic to is ... cranberry juice!
I don't mind having a food allergy. But why does it have to be the one thing I crave? Do I crave it because I can't have it? I knew of my craving long before we identified what I was allergic to, so I don't see how it could be psychosomatic. If I wasn't allergic, would I still want it? Why does my body have such a strong desire for the only thing that makes my lungs close up? I even had a doctor once tell me to drink more cranberry juice for my health - even doctor's orders wouldn't prevent the wheezing.
Sin works on the same principle. We crave the thing that we are spiritually "allergic" to. Satan counts on it. If we didn't crave what we were "allergic" to, then he could not trap us. If we weren't allergic to what our flesh craves, then there would be no harm, and he would be powerless. No, for temptation to work, we've got to be allergic to what we crave.
I can't stop wanting cranberry juice. No matter what I do, I still want it. Even possessing the knowledge that it will cause me to sound like a lifetime smoker on a treadmill, I still struggle against myself to just say, "To blazes with it! I'm having a glass!"
Sin is that way. We can't will ourselves to stop wanting what tempts us. No matter what we do, we still want it. Even the knowledge of how it will damage or destroy our lives doesn't take away the struggle of saying, "To blazes!"
We win the fight against temptation like I win the fight against cranberry juice. Not by "only having a little." Not by trying really hard to stop wanting what tempts us. Not by sheer will power. The only way I win the fight against cranberry juice is to yield. I don't double up my will - I give up my will. The craving is still there. I don't rely on my sheer will power to resist. I just give up to the reality that it sucks the life out of me and that I don't have the personal resolve to best it. I give in to the truth that the only way to win is to lose - lose what I crave, lose the demand to get whatever I want, lose the false promise that I will be happier with a glass if juice than without.
The same with sin. But with sin, we also have the Holy Spirit within us, constantly blowing us "uphill" against sin's gravitational pull.
There is also on one food item that I'm allergic to. If I have even a little of it, I get an asthma attack that can get bad enough to incite a bit of panic. In a twist of cruel fate, the one food I'm allegic to is ... cranberry juice!
I don't mind having a food allergy. But why does it have to be the one thing I crave? Do I crave it because I can't have it? I knew of my craving long before we identified what I was allergic to, so I don't see how it could be psychosomatic. If I wasn't allergic, would I still want it? Why does my body have such a strong desire for the only thing that makes my lungs close up? I even had a doctor once tell me to drink more cranberry juice for my health - even doctor's orders wouldn't prevent the wheezing.
Sin works on the same principle. We crave the thing that we are spiritually "allergic" to. Satan counts on it. If we didn't crave what we were "allergic" to, then he could not trap us. If we weren't allergic to what our flesh craves, then there would be no harm, and he would be powerless. No, for temptation to work, we've got to be allergic to what we crave.
I can't stop wanting cranberry juice. No matter what I do, I still want it. Even possessing the knowledge that it will cause me to sound like a lifetime smoker on a treadmill, I still struggle against myself to just say, "To blazes with it! I'm having a glass!"
Sin is that way. We can't will ourselves to stop wanting what tempts us. No matter what we do, we still want it. Even the knowledge of how it will damage or destroy our lives doesn't take away the struggle of saying, "To blazes!"
We win the fight against temptation like I win the fight against cranberry juice. Not by "only having a little." Not by trying really hard to stop wanting what tempts us. Not by sheer will power. The only way I win the fight against cranberry juice is to yield. I don't double up my will - I give up my will. The craving is still there. I don't rely on my sheer will power to resist. I just give up to the reality that it sucks the life out of me and that I don't have the personal resolve to best it. I give in to the truth that the only way to win is to lose - lose what I crave, lose the demand to get whatever I want, lose the false promise that I will be happier with a glass if juice than without.
The same with sin. But with sin, we also have the Holy Spirit within us, constantly blowing us "uphill" against sin's gravitational pull.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Penitential Psalms
You've blown it. Again. The same sin. Again. And what's worse, it's bugging you less each time - and that bugs you. You worry that you're becoming insensitive to sin, and you worry that you'll never get this sin behind you. To be honest with yourself, you're really not all that motivated to repent. Again. What do you do?
Been there? I have.
There is no easy fix to persistent sin. If I found an easy fix, I could make a fortune on book rights. But there is one thing that I've found that helps. It helps rekindle the sensitivity to sin, and it has even helped rekindle the desire to repent. When I'm stuck in this kind of situation, I like to read the penitential psalms.
The penitential psalms (6, 25, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143 - depending on whose list you follow) are those psalms in which the psalmist confesses his own sin. Several are by David, but a few are by other psalmists. For whatever reasons, these men wrote psalms as part of how they processed through the sin itself. And we are the benefactors of them pouring our their hearts to the Lord.
When I'm stuck in that rut, I slowly read through each psalm, and reread them, until my hard heart begins to melt. I can't make it melt, but reading God's Word often does have that effect. Eventually, my resistance to prayer and confession eases away, and before too long, I'm in prayer with the Lord about my sin. Again.
This is not a miracle sure. If you approach this like a recipe, it won't "work." But if you turn to God's Word with the sense of just dwelling there until God softens your heart, I have found it to be very helpful. This won't necessarily "cure" you from ever committing the sin again. It may be an approach that does nothing you at all. As a fellow traveler, this is one thing that has benefited me.
Write down these psalm numbers in your Bible. I put all of my on the page with Psalm 51, because that's the psalm that speaks to me most about repentance. I know where to turn to in order to find my list of all the other penitential psalms.
Been there? I have.
There is no easy fix to persistent sin. If I found an easy fix, I could make a fortune on book rights. But there is one thing that I've found that helps. It helps rekindle the sensitivity to sin, and it has even helped rekindle the desire to repent. When I'm stuck in this kind of situation, I like to read the penitential psalms.
The penitential psalms (6, 25, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143 - depending on whose list you follow) are those psalms in which the psalmist confesses his own sin. Several are by David, but a few are by other psalmists. For whatever reasons, these men wrote psalms as part of how they processed through the sin itself. And we are the benefactors of them pouring our their hearts to the Lord.
When I'm stuck in that rut, I slowly read through each psalm, and reread them, until my hard heart begins to melt. I can't make it melt, but reading God's Word often does have that effect. Eventually, my resistance to prayer and confession eases away, and before too long, I'm in prayer with the Lord about my sin. Again.
This is not a miracle sure. If you approach this like a recipe, it won't "work." But if you turn to God's Word with the sense of just dwelling there until God softens your heart, I have found it to be very helpful. This won't necessarily "cure" you from ever committing the sin again. It may be an approach that does nothing you at all. As a fellow traveler, this is one thing that has benefited me.
Write down these psalm numbers in your Bible. I put all of my on the page with Psalm 51, because that's the psalm that speaks to me most about repentance. I know where to turn to in order to find my list of all the other penitential psalms.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The Gospel from 35,000 Feet
The most common way that we look at the Gospel is from the ground up. Man is a sinner, sinners are unfit for the presence of God, Jesus came to earth to pay for our sin, and we can have his eternal righteousness and fellowship by faith. It's not a bad way to look at the Gospel - it's clear, accurate, and something we easily identify with. But ... I was wondering today what the Gospel looks like from the top-down. There are many ways to answer that, but one way that struck me as curious centers on the idea of the image of God.
In the beginning, God created man (man and woman, but "man" to refer to the whole lot of us). God had created many other things already - angels, stars, planets, plants, and critters. But He created man to be different that the rest. He created man in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Man is the "image bearer" - he uniquely has this thing called "God's image" imprinted on his being. That image is a reflection of God's glory.
Then, man sinned. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's design and God's clear word. When this occurred, that image of God was not lost, but it was "vandalized." We still bear God's image, but that image in us has been severely distorted, mangled, and disfigured. It can become so distorted that it becomes very difficult to recognize that image at all in someone. This, of course, is grievous to God - not only for our loss, but also for what has happened to a reflection of His own glory! He had image bearers that reflected His great glory, but now after the vandalization, instead of a glorious reflection, it is a tarnished, blasphemous semblance of His glory.
The Old Testament teaches us the futility of man trying to restore that image on his own. How can an inglorious reflection repair itself? It's not possible.
Then Jesus came. Jesus was unique in that first, He bore the image of God perfectly. That's something no one had done since Adam and Eve before the Fall. Second, He is the God whose image we bear! He's both fully God (the glorious One) and fully man (the perfect image bearer). He alone bore the image perfectly on behalf of the entire human race.
When He died on the cross and rose again on the third day, he defeated sin and death - the very things that marred the image of God in man. In other words, the mission of Jesus was to restore the image of God in us. That image can be perfected in us. It begins with salvation (putting our faith in Christ). It continues through sanctification (the process of becoming more like Christ). It is complete in glorification (when Jesus returns and completes the image of God in us).
The Gospel from 35,000 feet is that Jesus came to make us perfect image bearers again, fully glorifying God as we were intended. We can become perfect image bearers only by faith in Jesus Christ, the glorious One and perfect image bearer.
Scripture shows the Gospel from 35,000 feet in a couple of places:
Romans 8:29: Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
1 John 3:2: Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.
Perhaps this can be a fresh way for you to share the Gospel with others who do not respond to the Gospel from the ground up.
In the beginning, God created man (man and woman, but "man" to refer to the whole lot of us). God had created many other things already - angels, stars, planets, plants, and critters. But He created man to be different that the rest. He created man in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Man is the "image bearer" - he uniquely has this thing called "God's image" imprinted on his being. That image is a reflection of God's glory.
Then, man sinned. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's design and God's clear word. When this occurred, that image of God was not lost, but it was "vandalized." We still bear God's image, but that image in us has been severely distorted, mangled, and disfigured. It can become so distorted that it becomes very difficult to recognize that image at all in someone. This, of course, is grievous to God - not only for our loss, but also for what has happened to a reflection of His own glory! He had image bearers that reflected His great glory, but now after the vandalization, instead of a glorious reflection, it is a tarnished, blasphemous semblance of His glory.
The Old Testament teaches us the futility of man trying to restore that image on his own. How can an inglorious reflection repair itself? It's not possible.
Then Jesus came. Jesus was unique in that first, He bore the image of God perfectly. That's something no one had done since Adam and Eve before the Fall. Second, He is the God whose image we bear! He's both fully God (the glorious One) and fully man (the perfect image bearer). He alone bore the image perfectly on behalf of the entire human race.
When He died on the cross and rose again on the third day, he defeated sin and death - the very things that marred the image of God in man. In other words, the mission of Jesus was to restore the image of God in us. That image can be perfected in us. It begins with salvation (putting our faith in Christ). It continues through sanctification (the process of becoming more like Christ). It is complete in glorification (when Jesus returns and completes the image of God in us).
The Gospel from 35,000 feet is that Jesus came to make us perfect image bearers again, fully glorifying God as we were intended. We can become perfect image bearers only by faith in Jesus Christ, the glorious One and perfect image bearer.
Scripture shows the Gospel from 35,000 feet in a couple of places:
Romans 8:29: Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
1 John 3:2: Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.
Perhaps this can be a fresh way for you to share the Gospel with others who do not respond to the Gospel from the ground up.
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