John Stonestreet, the President of the Colson Centre for Christian Worldview gave a lecture with the title:
'The Image Restored- The Gospel in a Culture of Identity Crisis'.
He made a statement that is profoundly relevant for the immediate crisis in Western Culture. He said that ‘The Number One Quest of our culture is:
‘What does it mean to be Human’.
At the end of the last Blog #2- I said that it is crucial that we understand what the real battle is in our own time
In this lecture, John Stonestreet provided some very helpful clarity about how ideas have consequences, and therefore why the number one Quest of Western culture is 'What it means to be human'.
When did you last hear a sermon on 'The Imago Deo' or the Image of God in humanity that also included the Biblical Worldview of:
Creation (Glory Bestowed)>
Fall (Glory tainted) >
Redemption (Glory Restored) >
Consummation (Glory consummated/perfected)?
Have you ever thought why this is so conspicuous by its absence in most sermons?
This is essential because if you leave out Creation, especially the creation of Male & Female in the Image and Likeness of the Triune God, it means that you don't really have a true Biblical Worldview. Without Redemption Creation has no purpose, no telos or end point it is moving toward. Without Creation, there is nothing to redeem, apart from individual souls so they can go to heaven when they die.
What is at stake here is the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If ALL Authority in heaven and earth belongs to Him, and He died to reconcile ALL THINGS in heaven and earth as Colossians 1v15-23 clearly shows, then the world is not 'secular', it is under the Lordship of Jesus Christ meaning His people must go INTO All creation to be incarnational in the world. There are only 4 chapters in the Bible where there is no sin, no affects of the Fall of man in Eden, no sorrow, no pain, no tears and that is Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21-22. Why is that? Because the beginning points to the end. God is flagging up right at the outset of the Biblical revelation that human history is moving toward its consummation, a new heavens and a new earth.
Western Institutional Christianity tells only HALF the Biblical Story. It ignores and pays mere lip service to the doctrine of Creation and therefore it ignores the Consummation meaning the New Creation of the New Heavens and the New Earth. This is because Western Institutional Christianity is much more Platonic than truly Biblical. What do I mean?
Biblical Worldview: Creation-Fall-Redemption-Consummation
Western Institutional Christianity Worldview: Fall-Redemption
There is a fundamental but implicit assumption in the Western Christian mind and that is Dualism. This means that only the inside of the local church is 'Sacred' so 'Christian' activities' like worship, fellowship, evangelism, personal devotional prayer time between the individual and God and basically everything within the church culture. But everything outside the Church is 'Secular'. Hence there is a very deeply entrenched Dualism which results in a compartmentalised lifestyle.
So here, I want to briefly focus on some implications for 'The Imago Deo' in human beings.
This Sacred-Secular divide is basically a form of Gnostic Platonic Dualism. Gnosticism which is about 'secret' knowledge and believes that the physical world of matter is evil, so God could not be incarnated in flesh because flesh is evil. Gnosticism rejects God's creation basically, but so does the Dualism of the Western Sacred-Secular Divide. It creates a subculture and a Ghetto mentality underpinned by individualism, consumerism and also materialism.
As Christians express the love of God in the world, one common thread holds it all together. The Biblical story has a mystery within it and it lies deep within every human being.
God spoke the Universe into existence out of nothing by His Word, but when He created man, he sculpted them by His hands and His breath unlike anything else in all creation.
Human beings are created in the Image of God according to His Likeness. It means we are His Masterpiece. We have the ability to create, worship, reason, communicate, choose, relate, think, feel, and are capable of love and are responsible for our actions (Genesis 1v26-28; 2v7,21-22; Psalm 8v5)
The Biblical story also includes that although Human beings were created for Intimacy with God and were created to Reflect God, but instead human beings Replaced God. This brought sin and destruction into the world and resulted in a profound 4 fold alienation (Genesis 3v7-24)
The entire Biblical Story unfolds this four-fold alienation between God and humans, alienation within ourselves, between each other individually and nationally and between humanity and creation/nature.
The Fall is not the end of the Story for God sent a Redeemer, the perfect Image of the Invisible God, to restore the broken Image and to reconcile and renew our relationship with Him.
The Image of God changes everything:
It shapes how we see the world and each other. It calls us to honour the Image of God in everyone.
Therefore
· Christians work to alleviate poverty, starvation and disease because even the poorest of the poor are created by God in the Image of God.
· Christians work to rescue abducted children, street children, abused children, because there is no such thing as a disposable human being that has been created by God and in the Image of God.
· Christians fight abortion because babies should not be terminated and thrown away.
· Christians uphold the dignity of the elderly and the disabled because all humans are fearfully and wonderfully made and are therefore dear to God.
· Christians work on the behalf of immigrants because they are created by God and in the Image of God. We should therefore welcome them even as we would welcome Christ.
· Christians work for Religious Liberty because the freedom to follow one’s conscience is part of what it means to be created by God and in the Image of God.
· Christians work for the flourishing of marriage because it has been created by God for man and woman created in the image of God. It is to be the essential building block of a flourishing society.
· Christians work for racial unity and reconciliation because all humans share something much deeper than skin colour or physical differences.
There has NEVER been a human being who was not created by God in the Image of God and this is what animates everything we do. This is the Common Thread that holds it all together.
God’s Image compels God’s children to love all people. The world is broken and we long for the Day when Christ will make all things new.
But meanwhile, we strive for dignity, for justice, liberty, human flourishing, because every human being bears the image of God and therefore matters to God and so should matter to us. Christian expose the works of darkness and speak and move into the darkness with the Word of God and the Power of the Gospel.
The Story we as followers of Jesus are living in is God's Bigger Story of:
Creation (Glory Bestowed)>
Fall (Glory tainted) >
Redemption (Glory Restored) >
Consummation (Glory consummated/perfected)?
What story are you living in? In #4 we will focus on 'The Creation Mandate' which was the original task for our being created in the Image and Likeness of the Triune God.
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