Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Each one of us, every human being, that life is sacred. It comes from God. That individual is made in the image of God, and that applies to the unborn. to the poor.
to the elderly, to the disabled, to the terminally ill. All different races, every human being, is created in the image of God. Welcome to the verdict with Pastor John Monroe.
So many people are concerned with their image, their outer appearance, how they look, how they dress. But today on the verdict, we're looking past the superficial to consider the amazing truth of what it means to be made in the image of God and what God has intended for us. It's the truth about our identity. Here's Pastor John Monroe introducing our next lesson in our study of Colossians. Are you concerned about how you look, your appearance, your image?
Do you wish you could change something about yourself? Most of us probably would like to change something. Today in our study of the book of Colossians, we're thinking about the image of God. Each one of us is made in the image of God. But what does that mean?
Scripture also tells us That followers of Jesus are being conformed into the image of God's Son. Today, we'll think of this very important subject of being made in the image of God. This is key to our identity. How we see ourselves and other people. Then, next time.
We'll think of what Paul means when he says in Colossians chapter 1 that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Here is an individual who would never qualify for one of America's beautiful people. He has no chin. An enormous nose. A huge stomach.
Bad teeth, poor vision. Totally disheveled hair. And he then undergoes radical cosmetic surgery. dental care, liposuction, hairstyling, and gets a new wardrobe. When all of that is completed, and there are shows like this, I think, and television.
When all of that is completed, he's presented to his family and friends, and they see this radical transformation.
Now he's the same person. He has the same identity But there has been an extreme makeover. A radical transformation. This evening I ask you, are you ready for a spiritual Makeover. Are you ready for transformation?
Jesus Christ will give you an extreme makeover. He will give you a radical and a lasting spiritual transformation. We will learn this evening that a true biblical image comes not from ourselves. not from our achievements, our appearance, our financial security, our education, or even our potential. A true self-image comes from God Himself.
And an understanding of this, I think, will dramatically. Free us. from an unhealthy self absorption, one of the great problems of our society, I think. Can't think of any society in the history of the world that's had such a self-absorption as our present.
society. Without a living and growing relationship with the living God, none of us will ever be what God intends for us. In Jesus Christ, God gives us all. We need Paul says in Colossians 2, verses 9 and 10, for in him that is in Christ. The whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
And you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule. And authority. You want a spiritual makeover? We will consider God's Son, who is the image of the invisible God.
Now if you have your Bible there, please turn with me to Cossians 1. We're making our way, I know, fairly slowly through this book. And in fact, we're going to look at one part of a verse.
Someone said to me during the week, you're only speaking on one verse.
Well, actually, it's only one part of the verse. But it's in Colossians 1, verse 15, where Paul declares that God's beloved Son is the image of the invisible God. This is mind-blowing truth. Verse 15 begins one of the greatest Christological passages in all of Scripture. Here, Paul presents.
The supremacy and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ, which is Paul's fundamental answer to the false teaching which pervaded. in Colossians. Here is the answer to heresy. Here is the answer to our problems. Here is the solution for our struggle with our self-image, with our identity, with feelings of inadequacy and loneliness and alienation and unfulfillment.
All of these are answered in God's Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God.
Now, this evening, I want first to deal with the concept of the image of God from a broad biblical and theological perspective, and then its context here in Colossians 1, verse 15. Let's read for the sake of connection from verse 13. Colossians 1, then. Verse thirteen, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version. He that is the Father, God the Father.
has delivered us from the domain of darkness. And transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is. The image of the invisible God, the firstborn. Of all creation.
As we think of this subject of the image of God, I want us to understand, first of all, that we are created in the image of God. That man alone, by man, I mean men and woman, man alone was created in God's Image. Turn with me to Genesis, the first book of the Bible and the first chapter. Genesis 1. Verses 26 through 28.
We will see that man was the crown of God's creation. Genesis 1. Twenty-six. Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth.
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God, notice this. God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them.
And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves. on the earth. We learn from the opening verses then of Genesis that we're not only creatures made by God that is true, we are made by God, but we're more than that. We are people made in the image of God. There is, therefore, a radical difference between human beings and animals.
The animal rights movement sometimes seems to forget this in appearing to be more concerned, for example, about a beached whale than thousands of aborted unborn babies. The professor of bioethics at Princeton University is an Australian called Peter Singer. who believes, incidentally, that some humans are what he calls non persons. He considers, and has written extensively on this subject, that euthanasia might be the appropriate response To the intractable suffering of an infant born with a terrible genetic malady. Just think of that.
That, I would say, is the logical outworking Of a man who denies the existence of God as he does. But here is the biblical truth. Because each individual, each one of us here tonight, Because we're made in the image of God, something denied by Dr. Singer of Princeton. Because we are made in the image of God, each one of us has inherent dignity.
And we have unique value. Every human life is sacred. That is fundamental to the Bible's teaching. Each one of us, every human being, that life is sacred. It comes from God.
That individual is made in the image of God, and that applies to the unborn. To the poor. to the elderly, to the disabled, to the terminally ill. All different races, every human being, is created in the image of God. I started reading a book about genocide, and the author, not a Christian, asks the question.
How is it that we as human beings Can slaughter thousands and thousands of people. Think of the Holocaust. One of the answers is that those who do the killing treat those who are killed as subhuman. Forgetting. that we are made in the image of God.
Now, what does it mean, however, to be created in the image of God. Human beings are to reflect God's glory and character. We, as human beings, made in the image of God, are to mirror God. We are here to represent God. We are.
First of all, spiritual beings. Being made in the image of God certainly includes this factor, that we are spiritual beings. We are made to know God and to commune with God. We have the stamp of the divine image on us, means that Every one of us has a God consciousness that can be denied by the atheist. But Paul writes in Romans 1:19, for what can be known about God is plain to them.
Because God has shown it to them. God gives us a sense of wonder. You'll go out at night and look at the night sky. You look at the expanse of the ocean. We have the sense of wonder, a sense of awe.
A realization that it's only God Himself who made us in the first place who can meet our deepest spiritual needs. This is why. worship of God is essential to our self-fulfillment. To know that there's a great, transcendent God who made us. I'm made in his image and I'm accountable to God.
And my greatest joy, my greatest privilege in life is to worship that God. We are spiritual beings. Secondly, being made in the image of God means that we're rational beings. I don't mean we're rational all the time, but we are capable of communication. We communicate to one another, we pursue intellectual studies, we plan.
We work out relationships and interrelationships between facts. We pursue logic and philosophy and all of that. We are rational beings. Thirdly, we are moral beings. We have a sense of God within us.
We have a conscience. We have an internal witness which distinguishes right from wrong. We are moral beings. We talk about what is just, we talk about what is right, we say that's wrong, we say that's unfair. Where does that come from?
We're made in the image of God. We're mortal beings. We're designed by a holy God to live. a holy life. Fourth, we are authority beings.
We read from Genesis 1, verse 28. that in the beginning man was given dominion over creation. to rule the earth as God's representative.
So we cultivate land. We use the power of the universe for heating, for food, for comfort. We should be concerned as Christians about the exploitation of our resources. We should be committed to the conservation and preservations of the resources that God has given us. Why?
We are authority beings. Fifth. We are creative beings. Human beings are ingenious, aren't they? Absolutely amazed.
I'm still fascinated by my Blackberry that I got a month ago. I have no idea how it works, but it's absolutely incredible. You send me an email and I can get it right in that little Blackberry. I can call. When Goody was in the Fair Lounge, I could call her there.
I can get on the web, all on this little machine. Absolutely brilliant and genius.
Someone, some people devised it. And we all have an intellectual, aesthetic, artistic, and scientific, and technological interest in pursuit. God, who is our Creator, has made every one of us a creative Being People say This child is gifted. That always troubles me. We have classes for gifted children.
My little Johnny is specially gifted, you know. I always feel like every child is gifted. Gifted in different ways. We're made by God, who is a creative God, and He's given to us creativity, whether it's a carpenter. making something, whether it's a computer planner or whether it's an artist.
Whatever it is, we are given that sense of creativity. Why? Because we're made in the image. of God. Sixthly, we are also relational beings.
We are created for community and relationships and fellowship. That shouldn't surprise us because the one who made us is Triune. We worship a triune God. Let us. Make man in our Image.
Not let me make man in my image, but no, let us make man in our image. God is trying you in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And they relate within that wonderful trinity of the Godhead. in personal ways and they live in eternal communion and union. There is unity, one God, but there is community because triune.
Try unity and this God made us. to relate. To others. Supposedly, we live in a great communication age. I sometimes wonder about that.
It's true we text messages. Saw some team texting someone. In the gallery as I came, I said, You got someone to text? He said, I've got a friend. Wonderful.
Texting messages. Surfing the internet. We've got our mobile phones, we've got our iPods, we've got Twitter and Facebook and all of this. Supposedly, we're expert in communication, but sadly, more and more people are communicating. with technology rather than face to face.
communication within families and friends. But one thing is clear is That God made us to relate. to one another. Being made in the image of God means that we're made for community. We're not made to isolate ourselves.
We're not made for loneliness, but we're made to have fellowship and to relate. To one another, whether that's marriage, whether it's the church, whether it's a community, a nation, a village. Whatever it is, but we're made To relational beings. These, and I'm sure more, are involved in being created in the image of God.
So first, we're created in the image of God. Secondly, The image of God in man has been marred but not obliterated. I read from Genesis 1, but what happened in Genesis 3? The fall. And great was the fall.
But the fall did not obliterate the image and the likeness of God in man. Turn back to Genesis. Genesis 9. Verse six. Creation, Genesis 1 and 2, the fall, Genesis 3.
Genesis 9. After the fall, obviously. Genesis nine verse six. Whoever sheds the blood of man By man shall his blood be shed. Why?
Why is it so wrong to kill? Here's the answer. For God made man in his own Image. said after the fall. Turn to the New Testament, to the book of James.
James chapter 3. James, the little book after Hebrews in your Bible, New Testament. Hebrews 3 uh James 3 rather. Verse nine. He talks about the tongue.
The taming of the tongue. James 3:9, he says, With it, our tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness. Yeah. Made. In the likeness of God.
Even after the fall, it is said. that as human beings we're made In the image of God, we're made in the likeness of God.
So the image of God and man is marred, but it's not obliterated. It's been defaced, but it's not been erased. It's been tarnished, but it's not been destroyed. It's been marred, scarred, corrupted, and spoiled because of sin, but it has not been obliterated. We are still human beings, even in our fallenness.
We're still human beings made in the image of God. Though sin prevents us from fully displaying God's likeness and glory, something special remains. The image of God in us is like a mirror That has been cracked all over. But we still s See something of the image of God in one another. Although the image of God in us then is defaced and corrupted because of sin.
All human life is still inherently dignified and sacred. Because even after the fall, We're still made in the image of God. Like Humpty Dumpty, we've had a great fall, that's true. And we know we can't put ourselves together again. We have not pursued the knowledge of God.
But in our fallenness, assert our own independence, assert our own self-sufficiency, and as we do so, we dehumanize ourselves. That's Paul's argument in Romans 1. After he tells us about suppressing the truth of God, he explains what happens in a society we see being worked out in our society where people turn from God and in fact destroy themselves and dehumanize themselves and treat other people as subhuman. We worship the creature rather than the creator. We fall into these degrading lusts set out in Romans 1.
and are heading for self- destruction.
So number one, we're created in the image of God. Number two, the image of God in man has been marred but not obliterated.
Now, with that background, we come. to Colossians 1 verse 15. Where Paul makes this brilliant, marvelous statement. He, the context, is the Son, God's beloved Son. God's beloved Son is the image of the invisible God.
That is, the Son of God is a perfect image, the perfect manifestation, the perfect representation of the in. visible God.
Now, that term image, icon in Greek, is used 23 times in the New Testament, but only. Very rarely, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 1.15 here, is it used directly of Jesus Christ?
Now, the English word image to us may conjure up the idea of that which is ethereal, that which is set some kind of unreal and lacking in substance, but that's not the case in this context. When Paul says that the Son is the image of the invisible God. He's not saying That God's Son is less than God, or other than God, or a mere feeble copy of God. No. We are created as human beings in the image of God.
But Jesus is the image. of God. The image in accordance with which We are originally made. Think of this. God is Trinity we've seen.
The Son, God the Son, is eternally. The image of God. God's Son is not just the image of God in His incarnation, He eternally is the image of God. God the Son, who is the image of God, didn't cease to be the image of God when He became man. You say, well, how can you have an image of something which is invisible?
Well, the Son of God Is the perfect and exact representation of the invisible God. Look again at Colossians 2, verse 9. For in him that is in Christ The whole fulness of Deity dwells Bodily. God's Son possesses All the fullness of deity in bodily form. God is a spirit and therefore invisible.
But in the wonder of the incarnation, the invisible God becomes. visible.
So, to say that God's Son is the image of the invisible God is saying that God's Son is God, He is the perfect likeness of God. Because He is God. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever.
but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God. To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource, John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity. Get your copy today by visiting our website at the verdict. org.
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The verdict is a ministry of Calvary Church in South Charlotte. We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ, we invite you to join us for our Sunday services. For more details about Calvary and our service times, visit theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? I find the fact that we're made in the image of God mind-blowing. God could have made us any way he wanted. But in His grace and wisdom and goodness, He's made us in His image. But the image of God in us is not perfect.
All of us have failed and come short of the glory of God. But the more we look to Jesus Christ, the more we will be like Him. Join me next time as we think of Jesus who is the perfect image of the invisible God. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies.
Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
