With my pastorate at Bethel EFC drawing to a close, my family and I are headed to the Midwest for a couple of weeks. We will see family and friends, and will also attend the Gospel Coalition conference outside of Chicago.
There is something symbolic about this roadtrip. As we literally drive west, we are also driving spiritually into the unknown. Where will I minister next? How long will the Lord have us wait? Will it be an associate or senior role, and if it is an associate then how long before I regularly step into a pulpit again? If there is a long delay before my next pastorate, how will I support my family? Lots of unanswered questions.
But the God whose power and might raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same God who governs all the days of our lives. In the past few weeks, that has not been merely a pious platitude for us. Today on Easter it is the truth that will sustain us through a painful goodbye with our church of three years. And in the weeks to come it will be the bedrock reality that we will likely cling to for life and sanity.
He is risen! And His Father works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes (Rom 8:28), even if my idea of "good" does not always resemble His.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Where O Death Is Now Thy Sting?
Heavy-laden weary soul, bearing up a heart of stone;
His Spirit comes to dwell in you, and Christ the weight of sin assume.
All my guilt is cast on Christ,
and His righteousness is mine.
What guilt should weigh upon my head?
For Christ has cleared it all!
The sum of all my sacrifice, though joyful fails to justify.
I cannot pay for grace that’s free, nor add to work that is complete.
Jesus paid it all for me:
This my ransom and my plea
What debt I labor to repay?
For Christ has paid it all!
Through the law comes sin and death, but faith is counted righteousness.
So I will trust in Christ alone, my debt to pay, my sin atone.
And I’ll stand in confidence,
covered by His righteousness.
What shall become of boasting tongues?
For Christ has done it all!
Where O death is now thy sting? Swallowed up in victory!
The Lord of Glory reigns on high, sovereign over earth and sky.
Yes He triumphed o’er the grave,
and He comes again one Day.
What lesser name shall draw our praise?
For Christ has conquered all!
His Spirit comes to dwell in you, and Christ the weight of sin assume.
All my guilt is cast on Christ,
and His righteousness is mine.
What guilt should weigh upon my head?
For Christ has cleared it all!
The sum of all my sacrifice, though joyful fails to justify.
I cannot pay for grace that’s free, nor add to work that is complete.
Jesus paid it all for me:
This my ransom and my plea
What debt I labor to repay?
For Christ has paid it all!
Through the law comes sin and death, but faith is counted righteousness.
So I will trust in Christ alone, my debt to pay, my sin atone.
And I’ll stand in confidence,
covered by His righteousness.
What shall become of boasting tongues?
For Christ has done it all!
Where O death is now thy sting? Swallowed up in victory!
The Lord of Glory reigns on high, sovereign over earth and sky.
Yes He triumphed o’er the grave,
and He comes again one Day.
What lesser name shall draw our praise?
For Christ has conquered all!
Christ Has Conquered All, Kristie Brasleton
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The image of God redeemed
Although I have not posted on the image of God in some time, more recent developments with embryonic stem cell research, and continuing concern regarding the Freedom of Choice Act, prompt me to take up the thread again.
In the first post in this thread, I attempted to defend biblically the proposition that all homo sapiens, from conception to the grave, bear the image of God. In the second post, I briefly described what it means for human beings today to bear the image of God, differentiating between structural and functional understandings of the image and pointing to the explanatory power of this portrait of human beings.
In this post, I would like to examine one way that the Bible describes salvation. Although the mirror that is human being has been shattered, God does not intend for it to remain that way. All human beings possess the image of God structurally; none of us fully possess it functionally. Through the cross of Christ, God intends to restore His image in human beings.
Notice that I did not say that no human being possesses the image of God functionally. On the other side of humankind's rebellion against God, there is one who perfectly and fully reflects the glory and being of God: Jesus Christ. This truth lies implicit in the biblical teaching that Christ is fully human but wholly without sin (Jn 8:46; Heb 4:15; 9:14; I Pet 1:19). His nature is as our nature, but without sin; Jesus bears the image as we bear the image, but without the mirror being broken. But Christ as the image of God is not only implicit, but Scripture also teaches it explicitly (II Cor 4:4; Col 1:15). Christ fully possesses the structural and functional dimensions of the image of God.
Why is this reality so important? To cite the popular paraphrase from Athanasius' On the Incarnation 54.3, "The Word was made like us so that we could become like Him." Athanasius himself made clear, as John Piper has helpfully pointed out, that we do not assume God's nature in the same way that the Son assumed human nature. Rather, it is a reference to the image of God that all human beings bear. In becoming one of us, and providing justification for us, Christ removes the obstacles of guilt and wrath (Rom 8:3; Phil 2:7). Having forgiven all believers our sins and credited us with Christ's own righteousness, God now looks upon His people with favor and works on their behalf. Through the work of the Spirit He transforms each of His children so that they are not only credited with righteousness, but also live in righteousness, progressively becoming increasingly able to obey God and display His character. In other words, the mirror is being repaired (II Cor 3:18; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10; II Pet 1:4). And at the end of history, when Christ returns and makes all things new, the mirror will be fully restored and we will perfectly image God even as the man Jesus Christ images Him (Rom 8:29; I Cor 15:49).
This teaching of Scripture on the restoration of the image of God should encourage greatly Christ's followers. Everyone who trusts in Christ is a new creation (I Pet 1:3-5; II Cor 5:17) with new desires to please and glorify God (Rom 7:22; 8:5-11). Yet as Scripture and experience attest, we consistently fail to obey Him perfectly (Rom 7:13-20; I Jn 1:8-10). But the image is being restored and will be fully restored. For someone who wants to honor God, that promise gives much hope. It should also help us see that God's purposes cannot be thwarted. God created everything good, including human beings (Gen 1:31). Human and demonic rebellion may have marred what God has created, but it has not undone His purposes for His world. He will remake human nature not only into something that may not sin, but ultimately that cannot sin.
And it reemphasizes the importance of the image of God for our view of human nature. One approach to undermining the dignity of all human life is to find a basis for human personhood not related to the image of God. But that is not an approach that any Bible-believing Christian can take. The image is so important to God that He describes salvation as its restoration, not just in one or two passages, but throughout the New Testament. Christians need to keep God's image front-and-center in our understanding of human beings. It is that important to God.
In the first post in this thread, I attempted to defend biblically the proposition that all homo sapiens, from conception to the grave, bear the image of God. In the second post, I briefly described what it means for human beings today to bear the image of God, differentiating between structural and functional understandings of the image and pointing to the explanatory power of this portrait of human beings.
In this post, I would like to examine one way that the Bible describes salvation. Although the mirror that is human being has been shattered, God does not intend for it to remain that way. All human beings possess the image of God structurally; none of us fully possess it functionally. Through the cross of Christ, God intends to restore His image in human beings.
Notice that I did not say that no human being possesses the image of God functionally. On the other side of humankind's rebellion against God, there is one who perfectly and fully reflects the glory and being of God: Jesus Christ. This truth lies implicit in the biblical teaching that Christ is fully human but wholly without sin (Jn 8:46; Heb 4:15; 9:14; I Pet 1:19). His nature is as our nature, but without sin; Jesus bears the image as we bear the image, but without the mirror being broken. But Christ as the image of God is not only implicit, but Scripture also teaches it explicitly (II Cor 4:4; Col 1:15). Christ fully possesses the structural and functional dimensions of the image of God.
Why is this reality so important? To cite the popular paraphrase from Athanasius' On the Incarnation 54.3, "The Word was made like us so that we could become like Him." Athanasius himself made clear, as John Piper has helpfully pointed out, that we do not assume God's nature in the same way that the Son assumed human nature. Rather, it is a reference to the image of God that all human beings bear. In becoming one of us, and providing justification for us, Christ removes the obstacles of guilt and wrath (Rom 8:3; Phil 2:7). Having forgiven all believers our sins and credited us with Christ's own righteousness, God now looks upon His people with favor and works on their behalf. Through the work of the Spirit He transforms each of His children so that they are not only credited with righteousness, but also live in righteousness, progressively becoming increasingly able to obey God and display His character. In other words, the mirror is being repaired (II Cor 3:18; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10; II Pet 1:4). And at the end of history, when Christ returns and makes all things new, the mirror will be fully restored and we will perfectly image God even as the man Jesus Christ images Him (Rom 8:29; I Cor 15:49).
This teaching of Scripture on the restoration of the image of God should encourage greatly Christ's followers. Everyone who trusts in Christ is a new creation (I Pet 1:3-5; II Cor 5:17) with new desires to please and glorify God (Rom 7:22; 8:5-11). Yet as Scripture and experience attest, we consistently fail to obey Him perfectly (Rom 7:13-20; I Jn 1:8-10). But the image is being restored and will be fully restored. For someone who wants to honor God, that promise gives much hope. It should also help us see that God's purposes cannot be thwarted. God created everything good, including human beings (Gen 1:31). Human and demonic rebellion may have marred what God has created, but it has not undone His purposes for His world. He will remake human nature not only into something that may not sin, but ultimately that cannot sin.
And it reemphasizes the importance of the image of God for our view of human nature. One approach to undermining the dignity of all human life is to find a basis for human personhood not related to the image of God. But that is not an approach that any Bible-believing Christian can take. The image is so important to God that He describes salvation as its restoration, not just in one or two passages, but throughout the New Testament. Christians need to keep God's image front-and-center in our understanding of human beings. It is that important to God.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
