The Necessary Prerequisite for Killing Sin

Over the next nine weeks, our adult Core Seminar will consider the command for us to kill sin, as stated by the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:13:

If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

You are responsible for killing sin. Yes, you must do it by the Spirit – we’ll discuss what that means on Sunday mornings. Yet you personally must decide that sin should be killed.

But many of us do not want to kill sin. Why not?

One important part of the problem: We have an unbiblical view of sin. We will not hate sin unless we hold the biblical view.

Many think of sin simply as the breaking of a rule. Some rules – such as speed limits – are to an extent arbitrary. We may approve of speed limits that prevent other drivers from traveling 120mph on I-85 – but if I’m on a long, straight section of interstate in good weather with no cars behind me or in front of me, I may be able to drive well over the speed limit without negative consequences.

When we think of sin in this way, we easily rationalize our disobedience:

  • “A little violation of this rule doesn’t really matter.”
  • “I can disobey without getting caught”
  • “I can be careful to avoid the potential negative consequences”
  • “There are aspects of my situation that make this rule inapplicable.”
  • Or, “Sure it would be bad if I were to do this long-term. But once? No problem.”

But biblically, sin is not at all like the speed limit.

Consider these two aspects of sin:

First: Sin is personal rebellion, an affront to the glory of God.

God created man in His image, for His glory (Genesis 1:26-27, Isaiah 43:6-7). We thus are obligated to fulfill the purpose of our creation by living in such a way that we show what He is like.

In the Garden, Adam and Eve do not break an arbitrary rule. Rather, by believing the serpent’s lies and disobeying God, they imply that God is not good, that He is not loving, that He is not wise, that He does not have their best interests at heart. God had given them all they could possibly want or need – and they chose to think He was miserly, conniving, constraining them (see D.A. Carson’s insightful summary of what Eve should have said to the serpent). This is rebellion against the One to whom they owe everything, even life itself.

If we are to hate sin, we too must see it as rebellion against the One who has given us everything.

Second: Sin is the destruction of joy, rather than the path to joy.

We see this too in the Genesis account. Adam and Eve think they will profit by eating the forbidden fruit. But instead, they lose everything: Their sweet relationship with God, their open and trusting relationship with each other (and eventually with their children), their fulfilling work, and even their bodily immortality.

King David and our Lord Jesus summarize this point well:

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11, emphasis added).

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44, emphasis added).

We do not become like God by rebelling against God; we do not find joy and fulfill our reason for existence by despising Him and His Word. We find love, joy, and peace in walking with Him – what Adam and Eve had forsook – even when that means turning our backs on the pseudo-pleasures that the world and the devil offer us.

Consider the following passages that drive home the biblical view of sin (ESV, emphasis added). Meditate on them to increase your hatred of sin. Then join us in Core Seminar on Sunday mornings as we consider how we individually and collectively can put sin to death.

Psalm1: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 81:13-16: Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

Proverbs 7:7-27: I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.” With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

Proverbs 8:32-36: [Wisdom is speaking] “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Proverbs 9:13-18: The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Proverbs 15:32: Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

Isaiah 55:1-3: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Jeremiah 2:12-13: Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Matthew 6:30-33: [Jesus says] “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” [See 1 Kings 17:1-16 for an example of this truth lived out.]

Romans 6:19-23: I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Galatians 5:22-23: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control [that is, Christlike character, displayed to the glory of God]; against such things there is no law.

Philippians 3:8: I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

Revelation 3:14-22: “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'”

Once you have deepened your hatred for sin, hold on securely to this fundamental Gospel truth:

1 John 2:1-2: My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Put On the New Self

 

In the month of January we focused as a church on our identity as images of God. We learned that we are not simply bearing the image of God we are the image of God. It’s part of our core identity, and in Christ that image is perfected. Because we are his image, he commands our life and how we live, and particularly how we show his love. We are either light-shining, life-giving images of God or we are darkness spreading takers—agents of deaths. Those who shine God’s light do so by spreading the eternal gospel to all nations, tribes, and tongues which overcomes ethnic, socio-economic, and gender barriers. This work is not without opposition. As the father of lies Satan would have us believe that God’s wisdom cannot be trusted but rather we should trust in our own feelings to decide how to live and express ourselves rather than trusting God’s word for us.

“Put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator”

– Colossians 3:10

As we reflect on this, we may be tempted to see these things as a laundry list of commands we must obey. We must be spreaders of light by sharing the gospel to all nations, we must fight against the lies of Satan, we must show God’s love by conforming to his perfect image. Thinking of these as imperatives that we must complete can make us feel overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of God’s call or make us feel guilt and shame from our own sins that have spread darkness instead of light to others. Alternatively, we can become filled with pride as we reflect on how we have accomplished great things for God. Don’t let this be so. Our fight is not primarily to use our will to perform these acts or judge our own performance of commands but to walk in what God has already performed for us. Colossians 3 helps us to see this clearly.  Paul instructs the church in Colossae to do away with their darkness (Colossians 3: 5-9) and become spreaders of light (Colossians 3:12-17).  A life that was once marked by slander, sexual immorality, and selfish desires is replaced with truth and compassion, using our words to teach and encourage. How exactly are they (and we) to do this? Not by relying on our own power but by putting on the new life God has created for us after his own image (Colossians 3:10).

“God does not establish our new identity then leave us on our own to live it out, but he becomes the constant source of this new life.”

We cannot defeat the lies of Satan or be commanded by God’s love using our own authority. This is only done by being empowered by God himself. This new self was bought by the blood of Christ at the cross and empowered by his resurrection (1Corinthians 6:20; Colossians 3:1). The encouragement does not end there. Not only is this new self established by Christ, but it is being “renewed in knowledge.” God does not establish our new identity then leave us on our own to live it out, but he becomes the constant source of this new life. He is like a loving parent who urges their child to live a life worthy of the great name they have been given then walks with them to ensure they complete their calling with joy. By walking in the power their guardian gives, the child will not only be assured that they will accomplish their task (being an agent of light) but they will be protected from any prideful feeling that they are accomplishing this under their own power.

So do not fret at these imperatives but rather be encouraged that God has created this new life for you. So simply put it on. Walk in it, and Let the Father guide you as he did his beloved son.

The Image of God: Unity in Diversity

Preface

For the month of January at DGCC, we are considering together as a family the wonderful reality of man being made in God’s image. This glorious doctrine makes clear who God created us to be as humans. Humanity is the crown of God’s creation meant to reflect and represent God. Since man, then, is made in God’s image, it follows that man cannot properly reflect and represent God unless his also knows God. Therefore, essential to man being made in God’s image is the reality that God made man alone to be in special covenant relationship with him. Being made in God’s image, then, means that man alone reflects God, represents God, and remains in loving relationship with God. So, again, man cannot properly know himself and be himself if he does know God. To know God is to know who he created us to be, namely whole-hearted, lovers and worshipers of him as beneficiaries of his boundless love.[1]

This past Sunday, Coty’s sermon made clear that to reflect God’s character, to be the image of God, means that we should be givers, not takers. Namely, we should be givers of life to ourselves and others. This reality especially comes to bear in (1) our giving life to ourselves through availing ourselves of the grace found in the gospel of Jesus Christ and (2) our giving life to others by giving this same gospel to the lost. Giving life reflects God. We are the image of God when we give life. That was last week. This week, we gaze at and consider another facet of the image of God in man—unity in diversity.

 

The Triune God: Unity in Diversity

As stated above, to know what it means to be made in God’s image, we must first know God himself. And God is a God of unity in diversity. God is triune. That is, he is one God eternally existent in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The eternally unbegotten Father, eternally begets the Son, and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son (John 1:1–2, 18; Hebrews 1:5; 5:5; John 15:26). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinguished in their personhood specifically by these distinct eternal relations of origin—the Father is eternally unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten from the Father, and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son.[2] And yet, though the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are truly distinct, they are truly one. He is the one God (Deuteronomy 6:4) eternally existing in three distinct persons. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons with one divine nature, one divine essence. God is three in one. The Triune God defines unity in diversity. And God created man to reflect this.

 

Made in God’s Image: Unity in Diversity

God created humanity to reflect his divine unity in diversity. When God created man, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27). First, God created man in his image. God created man to be his representative to all creation. God created man to live in his (God’s) presence, in union with him (God), and through that relationship, man would rightly reflect and represent him (God). This is unity in diversity of the most astounding order—creature man in loving union with his Creator God. Second, God created man male and female. God created humanity to reflect his unity in diversity by created humanity male and female. God created man and woman, who are united in their common origin of creation, their common creatureliness, their common union with God, and in their one flesh union with one another in marriage (Genesis 2:18–24). God created man in his image in that humanity, as male and female, reflects God’s unity in diversity.

So, God created man in his image, to reflect unity in diversity in man’s union with God and man’s union with his fellow man as male and female. However, the fall would mar both of these realities.

 

Sin: Disunity in Diversity

When sin entered the world at the Fall, man effectively severed the most essential component of his image of God nature—his relationship with God himself. Man cannot fully be the image of God without being in relationship with God. And, because of sin, God cursed man and sent him away from his presence (Genesis 3:22–24). Where there once was unity and peace with man and God, now there is disunity and hostility. Furthermore, sin broke the unity between man and man. First, sin damaged the unity in diversity exemplified by the husband and wife relationship (Genesis 3:16). And second, Scripture makes clear that sin also impaired the unity in diversity exemplified by human relationships in general. Sinful man is bent on not uniting with his fellow man but fighting and killing his fellow man. Brother kills brother (Genesis 4:1–16), violence fills the earth, and man sheds his fellow man’s blood (Genesis 6:9–13; 9:5–6). Sin broke unity in diversity and spawned disunity in diversity. But God promised to bring life through a promised offspring where Satan and man had brought death through sin (Genesis 3:15, 20).

 

Abrahamic Covenant: Blessing for All

As disunity and diversity increased upon the earth, God situated his promise to restore unity in diversity in the man Abram, through whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:1–3). God promises a unifying blessing for all the diverse families of the earth. And God promised that this blessing would come through Abraham’s offspring (Genesis 22:18). The gospel makes clear that this promised offspring of Abraham who would bring this blessing to man is Jesus Christ, the perfect image of God (Galatians 3:16).

 

Jesus, the Perfect Image of God

Jesus is the perfect image of God (Colossians 1:15). In Jesus’ dual nature, we behold the undoing of man and God’s hostility. God made man in his image, that is, to be in perfect, covenant relationship with him (God). But man rebelled and lost that essential piece of his image-of-God nature. But in Jesus, we see the perfect union between man and God. Jesus is fully God, and Jesus is fully man, unmixed and distinct with regard to his divinity and humanity, but one person. Jesus, the God-man, is the image of God par excellence, man united with God, and Jesus in his life and walk remained perfectly united to God the Father through his obedience (John 1:1; 5:19; 10:25–30; 12:49–50). The Son, by the incarnation, undid the broken union of God and man, and we, the church, are the beneficiaries.

 

The Church: Unity in Diversity

In the global and the local church, we see the miracle of restored unity in diversity that comes through the gospel of Jesus. First, in Christ, man’s union with God is restored—we are made his sons once again (Galatians 3:26). And second, in Christ our union with our fellow man is restored. Paul heralds this reality in Galatians 3:27–29,

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Paul is not heralding the reversal of diversity in this passage. Rather, he is heralding the reversal of hostility and injustices that exist due to sinful man’s skewed perception of diversity. First, Paul makes this clear by the scope of human relationships he mentions here, which includes not only diversity of the sexes (male and female) and cultural, ethnic, and/or racial diversity (Jew and Greek), but unnatural and unjust human relationships due to economic diversity (master and slave) as well. Sin has led to disunity, inequality, and injustices based solely on differences in sex, race, culture, and socioeconomic status. Second, Paul makes clear he is not talking about the flattening of diversity but the reversal of disunity based on diversity in a second way. He does so by his reasoning: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, etc…for you are all one in Christ.” Diversity is not done away with, rather disunity is eliminated when all are made one, undivided, in Christ. Where there was once hostility in diversity, in Christ there is now unity in diversity once again. Thus, in the global church and especially in the local church we see the image of God displayed in a way that is unique. In the local church, we see the image of God displayed by its unity in diversity in the fellowship of diverse saints from all walks of life.

 

The Image of God Fully Restored: Unity in Diversity in Revelation 7:9–10

There is perhaps no greater picture of this unity in diversity in Scripture than in Revelation 7:9–10,

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!

Here we see the end goal—the telos—of the perfect image of God, Jesus’, great gospel work: man displaying God’s image perfectly once again. Here, man stands in the Triune God’s presence, united to him once more. And man is not a singular, monolithic, uniform people devoid of variety. Rather, man stands in God’s presence in all of his unified diversity—every tribe, every people, and every language. There in the new heaven and new earth we will be man in God’s image, unified with God and unified with our fellow man in common praise and worship of our king. There we will participate in perfect unity in diversity. In Christ, in the new heavens and new earth, we will be the image of God he created us to be.

 

[1] See Hoekema’s robust discussion of being man made in God’s image meaning to reflect, represent, and be in loving, covenantal relationship with God. Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image, 1st ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994).

[2] See Scott Swain, The Trinity: An Introduction (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020).

The Image of God: Undivided Love

For the month of January at DGCC, we are considering together as a family the wonderful reality of man being made in God’s image. This glorious doctrine makes clear who God created us to be as humans. Humanity is the crown of God’s creation meant to reflect and represent God. Since man, then, is made in God’s image, it follows that man cannot properly reflect and represent God unless his also knows God. Therefore, essential to man being made in God’s image is the reality that God made man alone to be in special relationship with him. Being made in God’s image means that man alone reflects God, represents God, and is in loving relationship with God. So, again, man cannot properly know himself and be himself if he does know God. To know God is to know who he created us to be, namely whole-hearted, lovers and worshipers of him as beneficiaries of his boundless love.[1] We can see this image of God in Mark 12:28–34.

 

In Mark 12:28–34, a scribe asks Jesus what the most important commandment is. Jesus responds in Mark 12:29–30 saying, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Jesus points to Deuteronomy 6:4–5 which Moses proclaimed to Israel when they were on the cusp of the Promised Land. In this command, God calls on his people to love him. Why? Well, if we look closely at the text, we can discern two reasons: (1) God is one, and (2) God is their God.

 

God Is One: Love God Only and Wholly

First, they should love God because of who he is, namely, he is one. In the original context in Deuteronomy, God’s people are about to enter into the land of Canaan, which is a land of many “gods,” who are really not gods at all. God alone is God. He says so himself, “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God” (Isaiah 45:5). So God makes clear in this command to his people that he is the only God, therefore he should be the only God they love. They should not give their affections and love to the many idols and false gods they will encounter in the Promised Land. They should love God alone because he is the only God. To love God in this way is to reflect and represent God. But there is more to God being one than just his uniqueness.

 

Notice the entire command. According to Jesus in Mark 12:29–30, God commands his people to love him [the Lord your God] “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all you strength. You could translate this “love the Lord your God from your whole heart, and from your whole soul, and from your whole mind, and from your whole strength.” The command is to not simply love God only but to love God wholly, with your whole being. The command is to be completely undivided in your love for God. Why? Because he is one. Because God is undivided in himself. God, the only and the one God, is perfectly united in his affection for himself. He is completely satisfied in himself and has no need of anyone or anything. He loves himself with a whole, undivided love. Indeed, if he needed another he would not be God. And, if he were to love another more than himself he would either not be God or he would be an idolater. We are to love God wholly because God is one, undivided in himself. Therefore, to love God in this way is to reflect and represent God. We often don’t do either of these (loving God only and wholly) very well, though.

 

Sinful man expertly divides his love. In our sinfulness we don’t want to give our love only and wholly to God. We’d rather divide our loves between God and other gods whether it is work, a hobby, a relationship, a particular vice, or any other idol we make in our image. Indeed, all of our divided loves have one thing in common: they serve the god of self. We divide our love amongst other things because we want to love ourselves only and wholly. In truth, then, divided love for God is not love for God at all. It is love for self, and God simply becomes another self-serving idol that we recreate in our image to meet our desires. What we ultimately find when we divide our loves in this way, is that nothing we set our affections on gives us any life or love in return. Rather, all of these things ultimately steal our life from us. Indeed, we can only rightly love and enjoy the things of earth when our loves are ordered correctly. Only when God alone receives our whole love can we truly begin to enjoy and love his gifts in creation. This is because we were made not to be loved by and love ourselves. Rather, we were made to be loved by and love God. This leads to the second reason we should love God in this command.

 

God Is Their God: Love the God Who Loved You

The second reason built into the command to love God in Deuteronomy 6:4–5 that Jesus quotes is this: God is their God. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5). These pronouns, our and your are important. Recall again, this command was first given to Israel after God had saved them. God is their God because he redeemed Israel out of slavery in Egypt, covenanted with them, made them his own, and loved them. God is their God because he invited their pagan forefather, Abram, into loving covenant with him (Genesis 12:1–3). They are to love God because he has first loved them and brought them into relationship with him by his grace. This OT reality points to what we celebrate in the new covenant. God redeemed us through the gospel of Jesus while we were his enemies. Through Jesus, God showers his love on us and brings us into loving relationship with himself. And the proper response is to be who he made us to be, lovers and worshipers of him wholly and only—ones who reflect, represent, and are in loving relationship with him.

 

The Image of God: Loved By and Loving God

God made us in his image to reflect and represent him. But we cannot do this until we realize that we were made to be loved by and to love God only and wholly. We are the beneficiaries of the one, undivided, self-sufficient, needless God’s love. In Christ, God loves us first so that we can wholly love him once again. We not only reflect and represent God, but we are in loving relationship with him. God made us to be whole-hearted lovers and worshipers of him, the one God, as beneficiaries of his boundless, undivided love. This is man, made in the image of God.

[1] See Hoekema’s robust discussion of man being made in God’s image in order to reflect, represent, and be in loving, covenantal relationship with God. Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image, 1st ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994).

A Midnight Kiss

The middle of the night. I’m wide awake, with Beth beside me. Sleep is not returning. Thinking about my sweet wife, thanking God for her, I lean over and kiss her lightly on the forehead.

What value was in that kiss?

She had no idea I kissed her. Indeed, I tried hard not to disturb her sleep. The kiss was brief; my lips barely grazed her.

So the value was not in communicating to her my love.

As related in her 1974 book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, at six years of age Annie Dillard would take pennies and place them in random places, so that others would have the gift of finding them. She didn’t want to know who found the pennies. And she didn’t want anyone to know she put them there. She simply had joy thinking about the little delight others would have in finding pennies.

Similarly, I didn’t want Beth to be aware of the kiss. But dissimilarly, I wasn’t looking forward to a joyful surprise I wouldn’t witness. The act was sufficient in itself.

Why?

Expressing love in ways that others see surely is valuable – God does that all the time, in provision of good gifts, in reconciling us to Himself through Jesus, in millions of other ways. When we show others genuine love, we are shining forth with the image of God. It is good for others to see that image. We are fulfilling a purpose of our creation.

But there is value in kissing Beth even if the act goes unnoticed. For God does that all the time also. In distant galaxies, on far planets, in the depths of the sea, in the tiniest cell – God is at work. Yes, He often acts in ways that bring Him praise. But He also works in ways that are unseen, yet similarly display Who He is. And we cannot know all those works. He just does them. Again and again. He displays Who He is – for Father, Son, and Spirit alone to see.

There’s a saying: Character is what you are when no one is looking.

God displays His character when no one else is looking. When no one else can possibly look.

Do the same. Show who you are in Christ. Love when no one is looking. Shine forth with His image every minute of every day.

And if you’d like to hide some pennies, that’s good too.

 

Do You Know Jesus?

Do you know Jesus? Listen to what John tells those of us who make such a claim:

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked (1 John 2:4-6).

God saves us from the condemnation we deserve by Jesus’ sacrificial death in order that we might know Him, in order that we might be like Christ, in order that we might be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). Indeed, Jesus commands us to be like Him! For He tells us that all of the Law and the Prophets can be summarized in two commands: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…. You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (from Matthew 22:37-39).  And Jesus fulfilled these commands every minute of every day – loving God the Father, loving each person He encountered – whether He was gentle with them, as He was with the woman in Simon the Pharisee’s house(Luke 7:36-50), or He was harsh with them, as He was with the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23). He told each person exactly what he or she most needed to hear.

Note that our obedience is the result of being saved, not the means by which we are saved. We are saved by His grace as a gift, not as a result of anything that we do, so that no one has a reason to boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

But when God opens our eyes and for the first time we know Jesus – when we see Him as our precious Savior, as our continual intercessor, as our rightful King, as our greatest Treasure – then we want to be like Him. We see Him as the perfection of all that humans should be. We see Him as displaying completely the image of God placed in mankind in the beginning (Genesis 1:27). And we see Him, yes, as loving God and loving man – and so the love of God is perfected in Him.

In verse 5 above, John then tells us an amazing truth: When God works in us to fulfill that desire to be like Jesus, we ourselves complete/perfect the love of God. Not that there was anything lacking in God’s love apart from the existence of mankind. But God always intended His love to be displayed in millions of redeemed humanity. He gives us the privilege of living this out, of loving with His love, and thus fulfilling the purpose of mankind’s creation – displaying the image of God.

So if we claim to know Him, but hate others; if we claim to know Him, but mock and degrade others; if we claim to know Him but harass or harm others; if we claim to know Him and consider others beneath us, then, says John, we are liars. The truth is not in us. We cannot know that we are in Him if we live like that.

For to know Him is to love Him, to desire to be like Him, to love others with His love. When we love others like that, we complete His love.

In this life, we will never do this perfectly – John has just said if we say we don’t sin, we lie, and that when we sin Jesus is our advocate, our propitiation (1 John 1:10-2:2). But those who know Jesus will fight the fight to love – they will fight the fight to be like Him – for that is their great desire and joy.

So do you know Him? Don’t depend on having gone through some religious ritual, or having signed some decision card, or having an experience a long time ago you consider saving faith. Are you walking today as Jesus walked? Is God’s love being completed in your life? If yes – rejoice in Him, and love! If not – confess your sins to the One who is faithful and just to forgive you for all unrighteousness by the sacrifice of His Son – and then, know Him, love Him, follow Him, and, like Him, love others.

What is Man that You are Mindful of Him?

When I look at 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, and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)

In comparison to God’s grandeur, we are nothing. We are infinitesimal. We are little specks of dust on a spinning ball.

Yet God grants us significance. He takes of His grandeur and stamps some portion on us. So David says He crowns us with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5).

Understand: That glory and honor is from Him – it is derived; it is not intrinsic to us. We have no glory, no status apart from what God has given us.

Many of history’s greatest tragedies – such as American slavery, such as the Holocaust – have come about because one category of mankind decided another category had no such status, no such glory, no such honor – they were subhuman.  But Scripture is clear: In this age, until Jesus returns, all humans have the status of image-bearers of God, no matter who they are or what they do (Genesis 1:27). Every person you encounter has this status – whatever their ethnicity, whatever their economic status, whatever their intelligence, whatever their education level, whether they live in utero or on a deathbed.

But Scripture hints that a time is coming when that will change. After Jesus returns, after the final judgment, there will be a class of humans without glory and honor, without the image of God. This class will not be racially based, nor based on intelligence, nor based on accomplishment. Rather, this class will consist of all those who continue in rebellion against their rightful King, those who are assigned to eternal punishment “away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). And what will it mean for people to be away from His presence? David says, “I have no good apart from You” (Psalm 16:2). James tells us “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Thus, whatever good we have, we received from Him (1 Corinthians 4:7). Indeed, God is the source even of ability and craftsmanship (Deuteronomy 8:18, Exodus 31:3).

Imagine, then, that state: No goodness remaining; no creativity remaining; no pleasure remaining; no friendship remaining; no beauty remaining; no productive work remaining; no vocation, no fulfillment. Only pride, self-righteousness, anger, hatred, and rebellion.

To be away from the presence of God is to be without any good, without any glory, without any honor. Thus it seems that those sent away from the presence of the Lord will lose whatever remains of the image of God in them. They will then eat and devour one another for all eternity.

C.S. Lewis captures this idea in The Great Divorce. He pictures those in hell as hating each other, and thus isolating themselves more and more from each other, so that hell seems to be a huge place. But when hell is seen from the perspective of eternal realities, it is a tiny, insignificant speck.

Thus we come again to the question: “What is man that you are mindful of him?” The remains of mankind consigned to judgment – having shed all glory and honor, having lost all goodness, all ability, all creativity, and all craftsmanship – will be insignificant. God will no longer be mindful of them. But those redeemed by His grace, those credited with the righteousness of Christ, those granted significance now and forever, will shine forth with His perfected image in them for all eternity (Matthew 13:43).

In this life, no one is subhuman. All have significance. All have the vestiges of the image of God.

But we all have been granted those vestiges for a reason: To glorify Him! To display that image! So: Be astounded at the significance God grants you! Repent, and humble yourself before Him! Then join the heavenly throng, and display His character, now and forever.

Jenner, Dolezal, Roof – and Identity

Bruce Jenner

Rachel Dolezal

Dylann Roof

An Olympic champion decathlete who now identifies as a woman; a white woman who told others she was black; a young man who walked into an African-American church prayer meeting Wednesday night and killed 9 people, saying, according to reports, “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.”

What is the link among them?

They certainly are dramatically different from each other – most obviously in that neither Jenner nor Dolezal has assaulted another person, while Roof has committed a horrendous act of terror.

But look at these three through the lens of identity, through the question, “Who are you?” Each seems to be trying to find an identity they lack:

  • Jenner reports to have dressed in women’s clothes secretly for years, and looks to find freedom by now publicly acting like a woman.
  • Dolezal identifies with “the black experience,” as she calls it, and became the head of a local branch of the NAACP. By all accounts, she was quite effective in that job. But she lied about her white biological parents, claiming her father was African-American.
  • From the pictures on his Facebook page, Roof seems to glory in white supremacy, to find meaning in seeing his race as better than and threatened by blacks.

Jenner is trying to find joy, fulfillment, and freedom in gender identity. Realize that Jenner is not among those whose biological development goes awry in the womb, resulting in a difficult-to-determine sex. He is a biological male. Indeed, no woman has ever run 400 meters in 47.51 seconds as he did – and if any woman ever does, she certainly will not also be able match Jenner in putting a 16 lb shot over 50 feet, long jumping over 23’ 8”, pole vaulting over 15’ 8”, and high jumping over 6’ 7”. (All time only 14 women have long jumped farther, 9 women have vaulted higher, and 17 women have jumped higher – and no woman appears on even two of those lists.)

But gender, say many today, is a social construct, distinct from biological sex, and Jenner is simply choosing to live as his/her genuine gender, not trying (at least not yet) to change sex.

Certainly many of the expectations a culture has for men’s roles and women’s roles are social constructs, with little if any relation either to biology or to biblical manhood and womanhood. The way we dress, the way we walk, the work that we do, the jewelry or make-up we wear, laws concerning voting and land ownership and inheritance – all these are social constructs. We Christians have to be careful not to claim that our own sub-culture’s expectations for how men and women act are all rooted in biblical revelation.

But while we must agree that some aspects of any culture’s conceptions of manhood and womanhood are social constructs, biology tells us there are some unique roles for the sexes, and Scripture tells us our Creator’s prescription – a prescription which may seem to be constraining, but in fact, as one aspect of submission to Christ and being transformed through the renewal of our minds, will lead to freedom.

Jenner stated, “As soon as the Vanity Fair cover comes out, I’m free.” Jenner is trying to find freedom and joy in a change of identity, a change of public persona, a change of outward gender role. But Scripture tells us our identity is to found in Christ and obedience to Him. No other identity will lead to eternal joy.

Dolezal and Roof in quite different ways are trying to find joy and fulfillment through racial identity: Dolezal by pretending to be black and becoming a defender of black interests; Roof apparently by deluding himself into thinking of whites as superior, and finding identity in being the supposed noble defender of the superior race. Roof’s sense of identity then leads to the horror and carnage of Wednesday night.

Note that race is completely a social construct. Race, unlike sex, is not biologically determined. Some ethnicities are biologically distinct – but not races. That is, there are no genetic markers common to everyone we perceive as black, or to everyone we perceive as white – just as in India there are no genetic markers common to everyone in one caste or another. Yet this social construct of race (like caste) influences the way we see ourselves and others, and deeply impacts how others treat us (horribly, even to the point of hating and persecuting and killing).

So since race is a social construct, what’s the problem with a person society labels “white” as a child deciding to live as “black” as an adult?

The problem – for Jenner, for Dolezal, for Roof, and for us –comes down to: Where do you primarily find identity?

We all have multiple roles and identities: Our families, our jobs, our income, our nationalities, our ethnic heritage, our language, our education – all of these as well as race and gender feed into who we are.

But where do you primarily find identity.

Scripture tells us: Our first and foremost identity, the identity that defines us most vitally, the identity that determines our future is this: Who we are before God.

For God created mankind in His image and by right that creation rules as king. All mankind shares His image. Yet all mankind has defiled that image, rebelling against our rightful king, setting ourselves up as the arbiter of right and wrong – indeed, attempting to find our primary identity in something other than what God says about us. We deserve His punishment; we deserve eternal separation from Him. But God determined and promised that He would call from all types of mankind one people for Himself to be His treasured possession – to delight in Him above all things, and to be His great joy for all eternity. In an act of sheer grace, He sent His Son, the Second Person of the godhead, to become man and to live the life we all should have lived. Through His death on the cross, He suffered the penalty due to us for our rebellion. But God raised Him from the dead, proving the penalty was sufficient. To all who come to Him by faith in the Son, submitting to Him as King, rejoicing in Him as the greatest Treasure, He grants an identity that defines all else: Beloved by God. A part of the Bride of Christ. God’s precious possession.

So the Apostle Paul writes:

In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

Paul is not denying that ethnicity is important – any more than he is denying that sex is important. He is saying that in Christ, we have a new identity: Members of God’s family! We have put off the old self and have put on the new self – a restored image of God! (Colossians 3:9-11). We retain our sex, our ethnicity, and, at least for a  time, our roles in the economy – but none of these define us. We may be black or white or Chinese or Indian – and our ethnicities can serve to glorify God (Revelation 7:9-10) – but we are all primarily Abraham’s offspring, heirs of the promise to him, fulfilled in Christ Jesus.

So by all means pray that Jenner and Dolezal and Roof will find their identity in the only source of true freedom, true fulfillment, and true joy – Christ Himself.

But also ask yourself: Who am I? What most defines me?

Scripture tells us: Our relationship to God must define us most. If we do not know Christ, our separation from Him, our position under His wrath, defines us. If we trust in Christ, He gives us an identity. He calls us God’s children. He makes us His Bride – without spot or blemish or any such thing.

That is who we are. This defines us – more than race or gender or income or class. May we delight in that identity – and live it out fully – to the glory of our Lord.

Knitted Together in Your Mother’s Womb

Today is the 42nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision, removing virtually all state restrictions on the destruction of the unborn in their mothers’ wombs.

With that in mind, consider these thoughts on David’s Psalm 139, verses11-16:

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. (Psalm 139:11-12)

David acknowledges that there are times when he wonders: Can I be hidden from God? Can I go voluntarily where He can’t see me? Can I be forced to go anywhere where He won’t watch over me? David realizes the answer is no. No darkness can hide us from God. All is light to Him.

David then explains this further, considering the first dark place we all experience: The womb:

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:13-16).

In the womb, absent any light, God knitted you together. You are a remarkably complex being, and God fashioned every aspect of that complexity in the darkness of your mother’s uterus. He saw all, and like a master weaver He intricately and carefully wove the fibers of fabric that make up your being just the way He wanted. More than that: He had planned out your life – every day – even when you were just the merging of two cells.

Can we then take this fabulous creation and rip it apart – in the name of convenience?

We can and must understand and care for women caught up in the trauma of an unexpected and undesired pregnancy. We can and must show compassion and provide help for those who can’t imagine carrying a child and giving birth. (For an example of such understanding and compassion, see this video from the Pregnancy Resource Center of Charlotte).

But every one of the unborn is made in the image of God, knitted together by Him, created for His glory. Who are we to choose which ones shall live, and which ones shall never be born? Who are we to decide which remarkably complex being will become full grown, and which will be tossed out as medical waste?

We cannot hide from God – nor does anything hide us from Him. He sees us. He watches over us. He knows us. Every one – including all the unborn. And their mothers. And their fathers.

He is a just God – He will not let any sin go unpunished. Yet He is a gracious and compassionate God, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving iniquity, rebellion and sin (Exodus 34:6-7) – all through the sacrifice of Jesus, the Son God knit together in Mary’s womb.

So walk in the light as He is in the light. And may God be pleased to grant us as a country both repentance for the tens of millions of unborn who have died these last decades, and compassion for the frightened women facing unplanned pregnancies.

Trayvon, George – And You

Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman.

Who are they?

Many have labeled Trayvon and George: Victim and Murderer. Attacker and Self-Defender. And much worse labels, on both accounts.

Many have tried to use the tragedy of Trayvon’s death and the sensation of George’s trial to advance one societal narrative or another.

But who are they?

Trayvon and George are not labels. They are not representatives of a class. They are not representatives of a race or a group.

They are individuals. With birthdays and classmates and friends. With plans and longings and desires. With mothers and fathers and siblings.

They are individuals – made in the image of God for the glory of God.

One of them is dead at the age of 17.

The other receives numerous death threats daily at the age of 29. He is “free.” But he and his family are in hiding.

How can we respond biblically to Trayvon’s death, to George’s trial and acquittal?

There is much we might say:

Let me instead offer ideas for prayer: Pairs of praise and cries to the God of the universe, thanking Him on the one hand, and beseeching Him on the other:

  • Praise God that through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, not one of us must be cut off from God the Father, but whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life;
  • And pray to God that He might use this tragedy in the lives of George, and George’s family, and Trayvon’s family so that they might see Him, know Him, and love Him.
  • Praise God that we live in a country where we don’t let our justice system become the vehicle for political show trials;
  • And pray to God that the inequities that exist in our justice system would be removed.
  • Praise God for the “reasonable doubt” standard – and thus that we would rather set nine guilty free than wrongly convict one innocent;
  • And pray to God that those nevertheless wrongly convicted would be cleared, and those wrongly set free would face genuine justice; furthermore, pray that we as a country might be united in seeing the wisdom in this standard, even when justice may not have been done in a specific case.
  • Praise God that in the five decades since Martin Luther King, Jr penned these words – “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty” – we have seen genuine advances in racial equality and racial harmony;
  • And pray to God that the remaining, significant dark clouds of racial prejudice will finally pass away, and the fog of misunderstanding that still hovers over our fear-drenched communities will truly lift.
  • Praise God that, as a country, we trust the constitutional process governing politics and law more than we trust individual political parties, elected officials, or popular demagogues;
  • And pray to God that that trust- so rare in history, so rare even around the world today – would survive and grow and spread.
  • Finally, praise God that in Christ “there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3:11);
  • And pray to God that the church in general, and DGCC in particular, might live out this reality, displaying that unity with Christ across ethnic differences in our thoughts, attitudes, and actions.