Forces in Society #2 – Image
Various Scriptures
By James Galbraith
First Baptist Church, Port Alberni
August 19, 2007
Review
You may be reading the bulletin and noticing that this is the second message
in a series I call “Forces in Society”, and wondering to yourself:
“what does he mean by Forces in Society?”
and you might also be asking,
“What was the first?”
“Forces in Society” are what I’ve called those things around us that cause us to make the choices we make and do the things we do.
There are many of these, including family, money, image and fear. (and many more) Each of these can and does influence what we do and who we are.
And there was indeed a first message, way back in July,
and in it we looked at how certain fears, some healthy and others less so,
motivate us to make choices, some good and some bad.
We then compared that to how the fear of God,
the deep, awe inspired fear of our loving and powerful God,
can lead us to make choices that both honour Him and improve our lives.
I’d gladly share more on that with you if you’d like to hear it later, but for now let’s turn out attention to the second of these “forces in society” – Image.
Introduction
Image – can be many things, that boil down to our appearance,
Our projected impression on others,
what we think others think about us, (whether it is accurate or not),
what we actually feel about ourselves.
We may not think that “image” is that big of a deal,
And it is very true that some very blessed people worry very little about their “image”, but for many of us, myself included, image is a powerful force to be reckoned with in personal decisions.
And I don’t think I’m alone - just look at how the media around us tries to get us to “buy into” the images they portray:
The Gap - attractive, athletic and energetic youth,
wearing the same clothes and singing, dancing and having a good time,
while maintaining a definite “cool” attitude.
Nike - runs high-risk activity commercials to woo youth,
family style ads to appeal to parents and
pays high-level athletes to endorse products, all to portray the image
that it makes the best product for all levels and styles of athletes.
Home-equity loan companies project an image of seniors enjoying the good life, being able to go on trips and cruises and buying nice things, and not having to worry about the bills because the value of their homes is paying for the fun.
These companies, and thousands of others,
wish to portray an image that appeals to the shopping public,
but part of that means that they want us to look at our image
- the appearance that others see of us –
and wish that we had more of what they are offering.
This involves seeing ourselves as not quite good enough,
and needing what they have in order to get just a little bit better.
They want us to buy their products so that we can attain the image they display, rather than simply feel good about who we are and what we have now.
Our image is confronted with this type of manipulation hundreds of times a day, and it will continue every day for a very long time.
And it’s not just advertisers launching these assaults - our self-image gets assailed by too many sources than I count.
- those who need to feel better about themselves by attacking others
- those who care only for what they can get out of us
- those who simply ignore us out of spite or some other “reason”.
These are just a few of the things that cause us to see ourselves as less than what we really are.
I’d like to spend this morning redeeming this concept of image.
I want to take it away from those who would manipulate it for their own gain,
and those who try to make us feel like we’re not good enough.
I want to do this by showing you that in God’s eyes,
our image is as good as it’s ever going to be,
and all we have to do to attain and maintain our God given image is put our trust in the one who made us.
Created in God’s Image
The verses I read already are intended to show that each and everyone of us is a reflection of the God who made us.
Genesis 1:26-27
The God said, “let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground”
So God created them in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
- image and likeness add emphasis to each other, they are not separate ideas
- “our image” is explained as a likeness of God himself,
- not a copy or a fake, but something that shows a bit of God himself in it
What these verses are telling us is that God, from the very beginning,
intended humans, men and women both, to show off a bit of himself.
Each and everyone of us, just by being human, is a reflection of the God who made us
Our intellect, will, emotion, reason, spiritual natures – all of these show off part of what God is like, they separate us from the rest of creation because they are intended to make us reflect God himself in a very small way.
And from these verses we also see how God set us at the top of creation, intending that we rule over what he has made for us.
That calling to rule over creation is again a reflection of how he rules over us.
When we are good stewards over what he had given we reflect his loving guidance over us, but when we neglect his creation we lose that connection with God himself.
Let’s look at a few more verses in Psalm 139 that build upon this sense of being created in the image of God:
Psalm 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden form you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
- many use this passage to show that the Bible says that every conceived child is conceived of God, and as such has the fullness of humanity in him right from conception (a Pro-Life verse, if you will)
- it does show that God takes an active role in each of our lives, that we are all made of him and thus are still, as Adam and Eve, made in God’s image..
So if God so abundantly makes clear that we are reflections of him own image, what’s the problem with our image?
Why are we so susceptible to attacks against our self-image?
Why don’t we see our selves in such glorious and uplifting ways, if God himself testifies multiple times that we are made just the way he wants us to be?
One word - SIN.
The entry of sin in to the picture has tarnished that image,
just like evil casts flies into the otherwise perfect ointment,
rendering it a foul compound instead of a fragrant scent.
Sin takes hold of us in two ways - it infests us from the inside as we participate in it, and it victimises us from the outside as we encounter it in others.
The actions that we do in disobedience to the God tarnish the image that he has set out for us to enjoy.
And the actions of those sin against us can cause us to see ourselves as less than we truly are, thus taking away our ability to see ourselves as God intended us to be.
SO to be who and what we are made to be,
to return to that image that God intended for us,
we need to somehow break the grip that sin has on us.
We can’t do on our own, sin is too powerful for us to defeat,
but God knows that, and he has already paved the way for us.
The same God who made us in his image has also made a way to recover that image and “be all that we can be”.
Reinstated into God’s image
II Cor. 5:17
Therefore, anyone who is Christ is a new creation; the old has gone the new has come.
If we put our faith in the work of Christ, who on the cross paid the price for sin,
the old tarnished, broken and corrupt image is tossed onto the trash heap
and a new, back to the intended image is started in our lives.
Giving our lives back to God through Jesus Christ brings us back to reflecting the image of God that we are supposed to.
But since the devil is still at work, even those who love the Lord and have given their lives to him can feel the effects of his attacks on our image.
So we read in Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:22-24
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness
Being His child, reflecting his image is not just an decision, it is a process that keeps going from the moment we trust Christ to clean us up to the day we join him in heaven.
It takes effort, and sometimes that effort makes us feel like we’re just not going to make it.
But we will, and one thing we have to keep in mind is that God’s not done with us yet.
To wrap this up today, I want to read just one more passage - a passage that tells us that even though God’s done a lot to clean up those who love him, we’ve got a bit more left in store for us.
Anticipating God’s Image
I John 3:1-3
How great is the love that the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
What does this passage say to us today?
It let’s us know us that those who seek and love the Lord are indeed God’s children, which is a very creative way of affirming that we are made in his image.
Just as a child bears the image of his parents, so to God’s children bear the image of their heavenly parent.
But the passage does more than that, it also says that there is more in store.
“When he appears” refers to the coming back of Jesus - he promised his followers that he would one day come back and set everything right once and for all.
When he does that, all who love him and take him seriously, believing in him and putting faith in him, will be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
It’s like we’ve got a taste of what’s coming by believing in him,
if we’re wise enough to hold the cup God has given us to our lips.
And the drink is good, if we allow it to permeate our systems and take hold of us.
But to fully enjoy being in the image of God, we have to hold on, waiting patiently but expectantly as God let us finish what he wants us to accomplish in this world before he take us “up the next level” to be with him forever.
Until then - we live here in the world he made for us, bearing his image as his creation, being redeemed back into his image as believers in him.
When anyone of a million sources tell us we’re not good enough, that we need the image they project in order to be better people, we have an answer for them.
“It just isn’t so. God made me and paid the world for me, that I might be what he wants me to be. You have nothing that can even compare to that - so go peddle your image somewhere else.”
