Theological Understanding of a Miscarriage

            Theology matters.  So often as Christians we hear that word and think it is only for pastors, seminary students, and Sunday school classes.  But theology matters in every day life.  Our understanding of God, His creation, and His plan matters in our day-to-day lives.

            This has never been clearer to me than in the past few months.  As many of you may know from Ashlee’s blog post (Here, you should really read this) we had a miscarriage during our fourth pregnancy about a month ago.  This is one of the hardest things Ashlee and I have had to go through.  As we worked through our miscarriage, our understanding and theology of children, life, sin, death, and God were invaluable.  Our theology helped direct our grieving process, as well as celebrate life. 

            As a pastor and preacher, one of the best ways for me to use this for God’s glory is to show how having a correct theology and a biblical understanding of a miscarriage helped shepherd our hearts through this.  Here are four truths that helped us form a theology of our miscarriage and that comforted us through this process.

This was a baby, not just tissue

In our world today, with the ridiculous amounts of abortions happening, we cheapen the life in a woman's belly.  We call it tissue.  When someone informs us that they have had a miscarriage we feel bad for them, but that’s about it.  It was just tissue, right?  No big deal.  Wrong. 

Psalms 139:13-16 tells us in a beautiful fashion that God created King David in “his mother’s womb.”  The life of a baby begins at conception.  The passage tells us that God sees us as a person even in our mother’s womb.  Because of this, when we found out we were pregnant we celebrated the life of a baby. 

On the other spectrum, when we found out that we miscarried we mourned the loss of a baby.  We cried, we were sad, and we did not try and hide it.  We did not hide it from our kids either.  We let them mourn and talk about how they were sad. 

We got things to help remember the baby we lost (My daughter Jayden is outside right now picking flowers to remember our baby).  We also celebrated the 10 weeks God gave us with this baby.  We rejoiced over the joy we had because of the baby being in Ashlee's belly.  Our baby (which we think was a boy and named Simeon) was a real baby and was made in the image of God just like the rest of us.  We will always remember, celebrate, and mourn our baby.  He was a person, not just tissue.     

This baby is with God

            This is one of the biggest comforts through the loss of an unborn baby.  In 2 Samuel 12:23 David is discussing the loss of his baby, which God took from him because of his sin with Bathsheba.  In this verse David says “Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”  As we know David was a believer and he is referring to heaven here.  David believed (and was not corrected for it) that he would see his baby again in heaven.  This is a huge comfort to parents who have lost babies. A fuller understating of this can be found Here in an article by John MacArthur.  In short this verse along with a fuller understanding of God, and His love and compassion on children, leads us to believe that God has provided a way for babies who die to be with their Maker in Heaven. I believe that my baby is with God, never having to know the pains of this sinful world.  He is living in perfection for all eternity.  I never once have to be worried about him because he is in God’s care now, which is infinitely better than the care Ashlee and I could have ever given him.  And someday “I will go to him.”  

                                                God did not desire for this baby to die

This is similar to the understanding of God’s desire for all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). However, in His will only the elect are saved - just read all of Romans 11.  For a fuller understanding of this Here is a great article by John Piper.  But again, although God’s desire is for all to be saved, for the sake of His glory, not all are.   

           

            In the same way, we know that it was not God’s desire for this baby to die, but it was His will.  I’ll talk more on God’s will below.  When you look at Ezekiel 18:23, we see that God does not even want the wicked to die. “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (ESV)”   This death is both a physical death from this world and a spiritual death, eternal separation from God.  Continuing on in the same chapter, verse 32 says “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone.”   Death was brought on by sin, and God hates death.  God mourns those who die. 

God created Adam and Eve to live with Him for all eternity, but because of their sin they brought on death.  That is why Jesus had to come, die, and resurrect from the dead; so that He could defeat death, giving us a hope for life after physical death.  When we understand this in a miscarriage, we know that God mourns with us.  He feels our pain.  I know that during this time God is not pleased by the death of my child.  This understanding kept us close to God; we knew God was sympathizing with us. 

It was God’s will for this baby to die 

            Lastly we know that even though it was not God’s desire for our baby to die, it was His will, and ultimately for His glory.  Ephesians 1:11 tells us that “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,” and Isaiah 43:7 reminds us that “everyone who is called by my name… I created for my glory.”   My baby’s death was part of God’s will and in some way brought God glory.  

            These last two points always need to be understood together.  It was not God’s desire for someone to die, but it was His will.  If we just say it was not His desire, then we take power from God.  If it was just for His will, we take compassion from God.  When you put them together you get a compassionate God who is acting for what is best - His glory.  I know that God is in control and the death of my baby was not pointless.  God has already been using it on me in order to teach me how to love my wife even more through all of this.  He has also shown me a greater picture of how precious my other three children are.  Both of these bring God glory and that is a good thing.  It was part of God’s will.

            In the past week or two, Ashlee and I have reflected on the past month and wondered how anyone could go through this without God and a correct understanding of God.  I have been so thankful for my studies in God’s Word during this time.  It has been the greatest comfort I could ask for.  It has driven our response to our miscarriage, shown us how to mourn the loss of our baby, given us hope for our baby, allowed us to feel God’s compassion through this loss, and has given meaning to the death of our baby.

Theology Matters.  

Created in the Image of God #YOLO: Image Community

Created in the Image of God 

#YOLO Genesis 1:26-27

Image Community

Social media is taking over the world.  Facebook is one of the best known words in our culture today, even my 75+ year old grandmother knows what Facebook is.  Twitter may be one of the simplest website ideas ever but it continues to grow.  “Hey guys lets start a website that allows people to say whats on their mind in 140 characters.”  Boom, hello Twitter.  What about the online video game “World of Warcraft”?  At one point and time it had more then 12 million users,  yes that is right 12 million (Now its down to a measly 10.3 million)!  Looking a recent article on Yahoo.com 17% of all marriages start online.  Thats nuts.  When we look at all of these statements and even think back 10 years, its crazy to see how fast these online communities have grown.  

There are a lot of reasons these have grown so fast, more people with internet, computers and smart phones.  More people working in the online industry.  Or maybe because there is more wi-fi spots then hipsters with MacBooks.  But I think that there is one more reason and I think that this is the biggest reason, we were created for community.  All of these are different types of community and in a very little ways meet our innate need for community, but they do not give us true community.  God created us this way, and even in a culture that is very anti-Jesus/God we can still see how God made us.  Even in a culture that is all about the autonomous self, the individual we all still crave community.  Why?  Because we are created in the Image of God.

We were created for Community- Genesis 1:26-27

Genesis 1:26-27 ESV

26] 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.”

[27] So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

The Trinity 

We are created in the image of God, who is one God in three persons, the Trinity.  Even though we do not see the word Trinity in the bible, right away in the vary first chapter of the bible we see the Trinity.  The words that God uses to refer to himself are all plural,  “Let US” “in OUR” “after OUR”.  Throughout the bible we see that there is only one God, but in that one God there is three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  As humans we can only understand this to a point, and then will be completely confused.  With that in mind what we need to understand is what the bible tells us, which is One God, three persons.  When we look at God through the revaluation of the Trinity we can understand somethings about God and in turn about ourselves.  

When we look at God as the Trinity, one thing that we see is that the Trinity is a perfect community.  There is perfect harmony amongst them.  The Trinity exists in community.  They all play different roles in that community.  We see some of there different roles in salvation.  God the Father is planing, working out the plan for salvation, all for His own good.  It is then through the work and mediation of Jesus Christ that we are redeemed, it is through his righteousness that we can go to God the Father.  It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we grow, furthering the work of God.  The Holy Spirit is also the one who convects us of sin and then gives us the power to overcome that sin.  Once we are made new through Jesus, the Holy Spirit also gives each one of us a gift.  Each part of the Trinity has a role and each part plays it out to perfection.  This is just one picture of how the Trinity works together in perfect harmony.  

We were created to be in community with the Trinity, but then to also reflect the Trinity.  As image bearers of God we need to reflect all of who God is, and a big part of that is perfect community.  As I talked about a few weeks ago (or blogs ago) our culture tells us that to live a more fulfilled life we need to understand ourselves better as an autonomous person, but this is the exact opposite to what we see in scriptures.  We are created to be in community with God first, and then with other gospel filled people here on earth.  We do this to better reflect the image we were created after, the Trinity.    

Male and female He created them

This statement says a lot about us being made for community.  God created the human race in genders.  God did not create one gender to better reflect God, but both genders to equally reflect God, just in different ways.  God created male and female different each bearing God’s image in our own special way.  When we mix genders (both working together) we better reflect God then we would on our own.  Just think about the strengths of each gender.  Males are protectors, fight for those who they love, daddy’s arms are arms of comfort because they protect whoever is in them.  Females are nurturing, taking care of and watching over those they love.  Mama’s arms are arms of care and when we just need to be loved on we go to mom.  These are just a few ways we see God in each gender.  When we put both together we get a better picture of God and we better reflect God.  How do you put them together?  In the communities that God has given us, the Church and marriage.  We were created for community of both male and female to better reflect God.   

The next progression of this thought is marriage.  God made us for marriage for the very reason that we better reflect God together then separate.  Not only that but marriage is one of the only analogies that the bible uses to help us understand the Trinity.  When the bible says that the two flesh shale become one flesh, it is similar to the Trinity, three persons but one God.  When a husband and wife come together and create a family that loves Jesus, they are reflecting the Trinity.  We were created for community, marriage and family is one of those greatest communities.   

The last principal we need to know from being created male and female is that God created people not a person.  God did create Adam first but then said that it is not good for him to be alone (the only thing that was “not good” before sin).  God never meant for us to live alone.  We were meant to be a people, not just a person.  We are created for community.  Even as we look through the story of the bible God always calls people not just a person, or when he does call a person it is with his family, to start a people.  Salvation has always been spread through a people or community (first the Jews, than the Church).  God has always used communities to make Himself known.  

We need to have an Image Community, a community that reflects the image we were created in- Ephesians 4:1-16

Because we were created for community, and our creator is a community, we need to be about community.  That community needs to reflect the image it was created after, an “Image Community” Ephesians 4 gives us a picture of what an Image Community looks like.  This Image Community is the church, and when I use this idea of Image Community, it is in context of the Church.   

Ephesians 4:1-16 ESV

[4:1] I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, [2] with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, [3] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [4] There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—[5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, [6] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. [7] But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. [8] Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,

and he gave gifts to men.”

[9] (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? [10] He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) [11] And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, [12] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, [14] so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. [15] Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Looking at verses one through six we see, like the Trinity, we are a community of one, with a bunch of different persons. In that community we need to have all humility, gentleness, patience, bearing love. To be able to have this community we need first to look at what Jesus has shown us and then we need to show these to each other.  If we are to have an Image Community we need to reflect the things of the Trinity, humility, gentleness, patience, and love.  Paul then says that we are of one body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, God and father.  We need to maintain the unity we see in the Trinity, just as they are of one so are we, Paul goes through great lengths to make this point.  We are all on the same team and in every interaction we have we need to remember that, Just like the Trinity. 

Further on, in verses seven through twelve, Paul shows us that God has given gifts to all, to be used for all.  Through Jesus redemptive work, God gives us the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Every person who has given their life to Jesus Christ has at least one Spiritual gift.  These gifts are given to the individual for the good of the community.  Each gift should be used for the betterment of the body of Christ (the church).  When we take the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives us and we don’t use them for an Image Community we are sinning.  Sometimes we don’t use them because of fear, or because of laziness.   Sometimes we are just to busy, or worse of all we are using them for our own glory.  We need to be in community so that we can use the gifts God gave us for the reason He gave them to us.  

As Paul closes out this section in verses thirteen through sixteen we see one more very important reality in being apart of an Image Community.  Personal, individual growth happens through community.  Basically personal growth happens best in community.  We were not made to grow in Christ on our own, but in the context of community.  Paul shows us that personal growth happens in community as each person is using their gifts for the community.  When this happens, through Jesus Christ, we see “the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Image Community Application 

We are created to be in community with both the perfect community, the Trinity, and an Image Community, a community here on earth that reflects the community the Trinity has.  This is also one of our greatest evangelistic tools we have.  True community only happens in light of the gospel and people are desperate for true community.  In looking at our need for community here are a few things we need to be doing.

1. Connected to the perfect community- the Trinity.  We need to be connected to God on a daily bases, letting the Trinity work in your life.  Asking God to help you understand his plan, thanking Jesus for his redemptive work on your behave, and asking the Holy Spirit to point out sin that you need to confess, and asking for power to over come that sin.  

1. Life Groups (small groups)- use them.  Invest yourself in a Life Group at your local church.  Let people into your life, share your life with them.  Allow them to share their life with you.  
2. Personal spiritual gifts- share them. Do not horde the gifts God has given you.  Find out how God has gifted you (if you are a Christian, He has given you at least one gift), ask your parents, or people in your life group how they think God has gifted you. Then use that gift. Get involved at church, and serve Jesus Christ body.  
3. People- love them.  To have a true Image Community we need to love people, people who are already in our community, people who are looking for communityand people who need Jesus to have true community.  We need to be doing all of these things.  

We are made in the image of God, the Trinity.  Does your life reflect that?  Does your community? 

Created in the Image of God #YOLO: Image Bearer

Created in the Image of God

#YOLO Genesis 1:26-27

Image Bearer 

What is an Image?

Take a second and find an image, a photograph, a painting, digital art, or maybe some form of a sculpture.  Study that image.  What do you see?  What do you know about the image?  What dose that image tell you about the creator of that image?  Everyone of these images bear something of their creator.  We can know something of the creator just by looking at his creation.  

Along these same lines, when we see an image that we think is beautiful we do not give praise to the image but to the creator of that image.  When we see the Mona Lisa we do not sit there and sing praises to the picture itself, that would look and sound stupid.  No we give praise to Leonardo da Vinci because he painted it.  It is his creation!     

Both of these are true in understanding ourselves in relation to God, and in understanding our purpose on this world.  God created us in his image, we are God’s image bearers.  When you look at people you can see some of who God is because they are His image bearer.  With that when we see people do great things we are looking at God’s creation and he deserves all the praise and glory because he is our creator.  That is our ultimate purpose is to glorify our creator.  We do this by being His Image Bearers.

As Image Bearers we reflect God’s glory for his glory...

We were created in the image of God to have dominion over this world and to show how much of this world belonged to God.  God did not just make a few statues to represent his likeness to this world.  God made actual living creatures, a whole race to depict himself, and then gave them dominion over everything else.  We are part of that race, created to have dominion over this world to show what is really God’s.  We were never created to live for ourselves, for our glory or our honor, but for that of our creator.  We are his image bearers, and borrowing from John Clavin, we are to reflect him like a mirror.  God has sent his glory down here on earth through things like his son Jesus Christ, creation, or his blessings and we are to reflect them to this world and then back up to God.  When sin entered the world it was like we all drop our mirrors and each one shattered into a thousand pieces, hindering us from doing what we were created to do.  We could not fix our mirror, but because of Jesus Christ, and his work on the cross he can fix our mirrors and is slowly removing all the cracks in our mirror so that once again we can reflect God’s glory to this world, and back to him. Where do we see this idea in the bible?  Here are just a few passages on reflecting God’s glory.  

Isaiah 43:6-7 ESV

[6] I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from the end of the earth,

[7] everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

[31] So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Romans 11:36 ESV

[36] For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Revelation 4:11 ESV

[11] “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they existed and were created.”

Acts 12:21-23 ESV

[21] On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. [22] And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” [23] Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

Isaiah 43:6-7 “whom I created for my glory”  Here we see God calling all his “sons from afar and daughters from the ends of the earth” “whom I created for my glory”  We were created for God’s glory, our ultimate purpose is to glorify God. 

1 Cor. 10:31 “do all to the glory of God”  Not only were we created for the glory of God, but everything we do is to glorify God, even our eating and drinking.

Romans 11:36 “To him be the glory forever”  This is Paul just bursting out and rejoicing!  Paul just finished giving an account of how God has worked through Israel’s sin, to allow gentiles to be saved. And then also showed how God will still save Israel too, pointing to God’s mercy, Paul cannot hold back and burst out in this “doxology” ending with “to Him be the glory forever.”  Just as Paul we need to be bursting forth with the singing “to Him be the glory forever.” 

Revelations 4:11 “Worthy to receive glory”  Even the things in heaven, the biggest, scariest, most honored things in heaven give glory to God and know all things were created for His glory. (Go back and read Revelations 4:1-11)   

Acts 12:22-23- Herod is eaten by worms.  Here we see King Herod receiving glory and not reflecting back to God, and because of that he killed and eaten by worms.  God takes this seriously.  As Image bearers we are called to reflect God’s glory outward to others and then back upward to God.  But how do we do this best?  

We reflect God’s glory by taking care of his creation, Genesis 1:28-31

We reflect God’s glory best when we are living as we were suppose to from the beginning.  We first need our relationship with our creator fix through the gospel which is the work of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.  Then we need to be looking at how God has commanded us to live.  The first commands come from the very first chapter in Genesis right after God created the first humans, Adam and Eve.

Genesis 1:26-30 ESV

[26] 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.”

[27] So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

[28] 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.” [29] And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. [30] And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

    

Be fruitful and fill the earth. God’s first command was to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth.  God wanted his image in the form of living people all over the place.  Right now God has fracture images all over the place, we need to be working at having images that are being fixed by Jesus all over the place.  Both by having Godly marriages raising Godly children, and by bringing people in our areas of this world to Jesus and His gospel. 

Subdue, and have dominion over it. The next command is to subdue it, take it over, own it, work it, God has given this to us.  This does not stop at land, God has given us dominion over everything thats is living thing that moves here on earth.  We are to take care of God’s creation for his glory.  We are to work the ground, develop technology, enjoy animals, both for food and as pets, while being humane.  We should care about the environment and being eco-friendly (to a point) because it is God’s creation.  Outside of these there are two more main things we need to understand that come from this passage that help us reflect God’s glory by taking care of his creation. 

We are under God over the rest of his creation.  The first is that there is a creation order, God the creator > Humans > the rest of creation.  God has put us under him and above the rest of creation.  Therefor we are to look out for the rest of creation, but animals and such are NOT as valuable as humans.  You should never put to protection of an animal over that of a human.  God values your life more, therefore we need to.  God did not create chimps in his image.  Dog’s are not image bearers.  Your first area of responsibility is helping fix the image of broken humans by bringing them into the love of Jesus Christ.  THAT IS THE MOST GLORIFYING THING YOU CAN DO.  We are to look out for the rest of creation as a responsible image bearer, but not to the loss of people meeting Jesus. 

We are to steward what God has given us to reflect His glory.  The second and somewhat more practical part of this idea of reflecting God’s glory by taking care of his creation is by being good stewards of what God has blessed you with.  God has blessed you with your life and given you the responsibility of having dominion over this world, are you being a good steward with that?  The things that God has given you and blessed you with, how are you using them?  Your body?  Your brian?  Your strength, passions, and energies?  Your money?  Your sphere of influence?  Are you developing the areas God has gifted you?  Are you bringing God glory with all these things?  Are you being a good steward with the image God has given you?         

We reflect God’s glory by carrying on his mission Acts 1:6-11 

The second command I would like to look at comes from the first chapter of Acts. This is right as Jesus is leaving this world and handing off his ministry to his disciples. 

Acts 1:6-11 ESV

[6] So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” [7] He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. [8] But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [9] And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. [10] And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, [11] and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Jesus sent his disciples out to continue his mission here on earth.  At this point in Jesus’ ministry he has done all his miracles, discipled men, died and rose again.  His personal ministry here on earth is done and he is handing if off to his disciples.  Jesus is calling these men to carry on his mission here on earth.  As we know from the rest of Acts and the New Testament that this mission is the church.  Jesus left and went to rain on his throne in heaven and left the church to do his ministry here on earth.  Jesus did not ask them to do it alone, but he gave them the power of the Holy Spirit to continue his mission, bringing people to Jesus to have their image fixed, so they can reflect God.  

Well guess what?  We are the decedents of these men.  Our church, Harvest Bible Chapel is a decadent of the first church in Acts.  And our mission is still the same, Jesus‘ mission.  We still have the power oh the Holy Spirit too, as long as you are saved by Jesus Christ.  We need to be on the mission of Jesus Christ with every fiber of our body asking the Holy Spirit to give us the ability to move.  We are to be redeeming as much of this world for Jesus Christ as possible.  Right now that mostly means people.  Are you taking Jesus to your schools?  When you show up at a friends house are you on the mission of Jesus?  Do you actively view soccer practice as your mission field? Are you reflecting God’s glory to those around you everyday so that you can bring them to Jesus?  One of God’s greatest blessings is that we can be on His mission while doing some of the things we enjoy the most!  But we need to be intentional, using every opportunity for Jesus mission.  There is a quote out there that says “Preach the gospel and if necessary use words.”  There is some truth behind this, if we have been saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ our action should preach the gospel, but past that this statement is dumb.  The gospel is a spoken word, and if we are on the mission of Jesus Christ, everything he has done in our life should be flowing from our lips.  People need to know how God has changed you, and has given you an new life.  We need to be speaking this every where we go, reflecting God’s glory outward.     

Application

We first need an Image Identity, through the life and death of Jesus Christ.  Once our image has been put back together we need to be Image Bearers.  We need to be reflecting God’s glory out to the world and then back to him.  We do that by taking care of his creation and being good stewards of what he has given us.  And second we reflect his glory by being on the mission of Jesus Christ.  We need to know, understand, and act upon what we are as image bearers This is a world that is just passing, but it is still God’s creation, and God is a God of redemption, therefor we need to be taking care of God’s creation and redeeming as much as we can for him.  We do this by understanding that we are just stewards here working the “creator’s vineyard” not for ourselves but for God. Is this how you view your life, as a steward?  Or do you view yourself as a master over your little world?  Is the mission of Jesus Christ just part of your check list? Or is your life about Jesus Christ mission?  Be an Image Bearer, its what you were created to do.

Created in the Image of God #YOLO: Image Identity

Created in the Image of God 

Geniuses 1:26-27 #YOLO

     What I am dealing with when I am talking about YOLO is not the order of, nor the selection of words, but I am more looking at the worldview that YOLO comes from.  I am not even going to argue whether or not this statement word for word is theological or Biblically correct.  I think there is a little truth to the actual statement, and I think it can be torn apart.  Personally I think it is dumb phrase but I do think it brings up some important worldviews.   

YOLO- Trading in the Glory of the Immortal God for the foolishness of this world

     For those of us who are not as hip YOLO stands for “You Only Live Once.” The cultural understanding would go something like this “YOLO, so do what ever the heck you want to do!”  So where does the worldview that YOLO represents come from?  It comes from our western culture, and from thinkers like Abraham Maslow.  Maslow was a psychologist during the 40s’ 50s’ and 60s’.  He was a leading thinker who had a huge influence on the culture of his time, which was the foundation of our western culture now.  He said “the autonomous reasoning individual is improved by self-acceptance and self-love added by physiology to self-actualization, which is the defining principle of what it means to be a human.”  This statement is a representative of the shift in thinking during that time.  Because of that shift it created a culture and worldview that is all about us as individuals, about self, and doing what I feel and want. This is where YOLO comes from, you only live once so do whatever feels right to you at that time.  But how does this line up with the bible?     

[18] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. [19] For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [20] For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. [21] For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Claiming to be wise, they became fools, [23] and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:18-23 ESV)

  

     YOLO vs. Romans 1:18-23...  Looking at Romans 1:18-23 we see a few things that helps us better understand this worldview.  We see that God has put in us some knowledge of himself, his truth, his eternal power and divine nature.  He did this when he created humans and this world.  But instead of honoring, and worshiping God, we turned to ourselves for understanding, we became foolish.  We traded in the glory of the immortal God for the things of this world.  It just sounds like YOLO fits right there!  It also sounds like the reasoning Maslow gives, “self-acceptance, self-love, self-actualization.”  Even in how he open’s up his statement “the autonomous reasoning individual” screams this idea of trading a connection to the Immortal God for foolish understanding we come up with on our own. 

Psalm 16:11

[11] You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (ESV)

      A better way to understand YOLO is this - We only do get one physical life, I need to use it well!  As I did say before there is some truth in the statement YOLO, and that is we do only get one life here on earth.  Because of that I went to use it well but how do we do that?  Psalms 16:11 tells us that God makes our path, in his presence there is fullness of joy, and in his right hand are pleasures forevermore.  You notice something here?  It is all in God, and nothing of ourselves, why?  Because we are made in the Image of God!  We are not autonomous creatures, we cannot understand this world or ourselves outside of God no matter how hard we try.  When we do try we trade the glory of God for the foolishness of man.     

We are Created in the Image of God Gen. 1:26-27

[26] 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.”

[27] So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them. (ESV)

     This is who we are, Image bearers of God, and this is how we should understand our life and should shape our worldview.  If we really do believe that we do only have one life to live, and want to live it well, we need to understand why and who created us.  We need to have this as a foundation for our worldview, so that we can sift through the worldview that are taught in our world today.       

     We are created in the image of God, we are not autonomous creatures but we were created to show and glorify God.  We do this by showing some of what he is like through the way he created us.  We share some of God’s attributes, these are call communicable attributes.  We actually see a lot of them in our everyday life.  As we look around our world today we can see God in all his creation, especially humans because he created us in his own image.  Here are just a few we see everyday.   

     Love... We want to be loved, we love other people.  This is because we share this with God.  One of God’s greatest attributes is his love and his love for us.  Truth... We always want to know the truth, what really happened.  When someone lies to us we get angry.  If someone is known as a truthful person we think of that as something good. God is the ultimate truth and has instilled the desire for truth in our hearts. Righteousness... We desire to be right, if we think something is wrong, we will fight for what is right.  Again this is from God, because he is a God of righteousness.  

Mercy... We see someone hurting and we want to show them compassion. 

Beauty... We like beautiful things, people, art, scenery.  All of these things are naturally instilled in us without  us doing anything.  That is because we are created in the image of God.    

  

     Not only do we share some attributes with God, we are able to do some of the same things as God.  He has given us the ability in some ways to mimic things that he does.  Showing emotions... anytime we show emotion we are showing that we feel, we have something in us that allows us to do that, we are wired in a way that lets us love, have joy, be sad, passionate.  All of these reflect who God is. The ability to Think... We think, I have a brain that works, it can reason and process.  We are not just reactionary as animals are.  We can understand what God tells us in the scripture, we interpret the culture around us.  Being Creative... We have something in us that wants to be creative.  We make music, we draw or paint, we create things with our hands.  We express ourselves in creative ways (look at how differently we all dress).  God is the ultimate creator!  We have an Eternal Spirit (Ecc. 3:11)... We have eternity in our hearts.  God has created us to live in eternity just as he will and even now we feel that.  It is that longing in us for something more, something bigger (eternity).  This is what drives us to go to the moon, or create massive buildings, because we know there is something more for us to do out there so we try and find things to fill that desire but in the end it is eternity that will meet that need, and that will either be with God in heaven or separated from him in hell.  This “eternity in our hearts” cannot be understood on our own,  it can only be understood through a relationship with the one that put it there.  

We need to have an Image Identity

     So what does this all mean?  Well if we want to really use this one life that we were given, if we want to make the most of it we need to know what it means to be created in the image of God.  The first part (we will be looking at several parts of being created in the image of God over the next few weeks)! of understanding this is that we need to have an Image Identity.  Image identity is this, The Image that I am created in forms my identity. Put another way, my identity comes from the image that I am created in.  Who I really am is based on who God IS!  We were not created to live autonomous lives, we were created to live connected to God.  We find who we are by being connected to God. Yet we still search this world to find out who we are.  I am a football player.  I am a total hipster (buying a new MacBook tomorrow yo, in my Toms).  I am a hip hopper DAWG!  I am smart, so I work at school to make the most of it.  All of these things and more (look up LeCrae’s song Identity) are things we try to find ourselves in, we turn to these for our identity, but in the end they will leave us searching and lost because they are not what we were created for or what we were created after.  We have to look to God to find ourselves.  We need the gospel of Jesus Christ to take us from our autonomous selves to a relationship with our creator.  Now that is a good identity to have.  I am Jesse Schmidt because the creator of this world created me in his image and to glorify Him.  But because of my sin I sperated myself from him. He then sent his son, Jesus Christ to pay for the penalty of my sin, death and eternal seperation and bought me back.  I am because he said it and then saved it.  Wow talk about finding self worth! 

Application (Two Things)

     First you need to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  We all have sinned, separating us from God, which is who we need to have a relationship with.  Because we are unable to do anything about our sin we need someone to take that sin.  Jesus did, he paid for that sin on the cross when he died for us.  He then rose again defeating death, fixing the eternity that we would have lived.  But we need to make him our Lord and Savior, we need to repent of our sin understanding that we cannot pay for our sin on our own and then ask Jesus to come into our lives.  When we do this our relationship with God is fixed and we can find our identity in who we were created after. 

   

     For those of us how have Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we need to find our worth in who God is and how he Created us.  Stop looking to worldly things to figure out who you are, you will NEVER find it.  Start looking up ward, look to your creator to find who you are as a human and not to other created creatures.  When you describe yourself to people what do you use to describe yourself?  Is it fill with things of this world, or things that God has instilled in you?  When you are searching in your heart, asking “who am I” do you look at the things around you to answer that question or do you look to God?  Are you taking time to get to know God?  The more you know about God the more you know about yourself.  

     Do not trade the glory of the Immortal God in for the foolishness of this world.  Live this one life the way you were created to, bearing God’s image.  Have an Image Identity, having you identity based upon the image you (and I) were created in.   

Straining Forward, through Righteousness of Jesus Christ

Philippians 3

Living as Heavenly Citizens 

by 

Straining Forward, through Righteousness of Jesus Christ

     When I was 14 my parents moved us from Dallas Texas to Montello Wisconsin.  We moved there to plant a church.  It was December 17, 1998.  As a family we were super excited to be back in the cold and snow for Christmas.  That year for Christmas my parents got my brothers and I snowboards, little did they how much that would change our lives.  We became avid snowboarders, spending time (for a few years, 3-4 times a week), money , energy, and injures on the slops and terrain parks.  This gift that our parents gave us shaped our future and direction we went in life.  This is similar to what Paul is talking about in Philippians 3.  Through faith (and salvation) we are given Jesus Christ’s righteousness, and this gift should shape our future and give us both goals and direction for our life.   

Philippians 3 (ESV)

[3:1] Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

[2] Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. [3] For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—[4] though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: [5] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; [6] as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. [7] But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. [8] Indeed, 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 [9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—[10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

[12] Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. [13] Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. [15] Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. [16] Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

[17] Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. [18] For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. [19] Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. [20] But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, [21] who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

     Before we go on we need to define righteousness.  When are talking about this word we are talking about an attribute of God, the right and just character of God.  One of his many facets.  Just like a diamond that has many facets, when you put all those facets together you get a whole diamond.  The same is with God you have all his facets or attributes, and when you put them all together you get who God is.  His righteousness is part of his perfection, it is the truth that everything he does is right and never wrong.  He is perfect.  His righteousness is why we as a human race are condemned to hell, because we are not righteous.  Everything we do is tainted by sin, and is unrighteous. Because of this we are desperately in need of salvation,  a savior, and a righteousness that is not our own!   

     In verses two through six we see that during the time of Paul, there where people trying to tell Christians that for them to be truly saved they needed to have the gospel of Jesus and follow the law of the Jews. But Paul said no no, the only thing we have is Jesus Christ.  There is nothing of the flesh that can save us.  Paul makes the statment “For we are the circumcision,”  what he is referring to is the tradition of the Jews that marked them as God’s people.  The act of circumcision was cutting way some extra flesh off of new born boys when they were eight days old.  In this passage Paul is saying that now, through the spirit of God we are the circumcision, our flesh has been cut away, we no longer are of the flesh or things of this world.  But people still tried to bring the flesh back into being saved, Jesus and something else.  We do this a lot of times “My hope is in Jesus... and sports.”  “My salvation is Jesus... and my friends.” Or “I am righteous because of Jesus ...and how many times I read my bible a week.”  And last but not least “I know I’m righteous because of Jesus... and because I am better then that person.”  But we cannot put our faith in fleshly things, if anybody could it was Paul but he did not!  Paul did it all and had it all when it came to finding salvation through works but Paul did not hold on to that.

     In fact he counted it as lost.  Looking at verses seven and eight Paul shows us his view of the gain he did have.  Any gain, ANY TYPE OF GAIN we have in this world needs to be counted as loss, not worth a heavenly dime (or worldly dime for that matter).  The gain that Paul is talking about here is a salvation type of gain.  Anything we try to do to find salvation, any “gain” that we use for a type of salvation from the emptiness that sin has left in our lives.  Even though there is nothing in this world that can save us, we still try to find things that will.  There are two types of gain we try to find a lot.  One is work types gain to get us in better with God.  It is the right object of our salvation, God, but the wrong way to him.  We have to be this good to be “in” with God.  If we sin we better do something good to offset it.  To be a good Christian we have our “do and do not” list.  The gain we are getting here is a salvation through works.  The second type of gain is by having something all together different from Jesus Christ be our savior.  A job, home, boyfriend/girlfriend, spouse, vacation, schooling, the weekend, drugs/alcohol, sports, anything that we put our hope in, trust in, and faith in instead of finding our salvation in Christ Jesus.  Both of these “gains” are sin and need to be repented of and then put Christ in his proper place in your life.  All of these different types of gain need to be counted as loss. 

     Why do we count all of this loss? Because of the worth of knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior.  This is freedom from sin, hope in the future, receiving the love and the grace of our Creator.  None of these other gains have any hope for the future.  In the end they will leave us empty and hopeless, never satisfying.  If your salvation is the weekend, there is always Monday.  If it is a boy/girlfriend, they will let you down, hurt you, and in the end they will die.  If it is drugs or alcohol it will leave you with a hangover and needing more.  But a lot of times still the worth of knowing Christ dose not out way the things and gains of this world (the things of flesh), making it hard to count these things as loss.  We need to strive to live in the gospel everyday, understanding and moving toward Jesus Christ.  We need to know the worth of Christ in our lives.  We need to understand sin and what it has done to us and in us.  According to Romans, it leaves like walking dead people, but it is Christ, who in the end, bore that sin for us and has made us alive, we HAVE TO know the worth of Christ in our life. 

     Just as Paul did we have to suffer the loss of all things, and he did this by looking at them as a pile of poop (really) or rubbish (which is not worth much) compared to the gain we have in Christ.  He viewed the gains of this world as a pile of dung, compared to Christ! Just think if this was how we always lived our life, Jesus Christ would shout out from our lives and in our words.  Is this your view of Jesus?  Or is he just fire insurance? 

     In verses nine through eleven Paul shows us what this gain of Christ is.  The gain of Jesus Christ is his righteousness.  This is awesome, because it is completely of Christ.  We are found in Him!  We can have a righteousness that is not our own.  This is a huge pressure off of us, God views us is through Jesus and not through our works.  This righteousness that we get from Jesus is given to us through our faith in Jesus Christ and his work done on and through the cross.  It is that same faith that allows us to reject the things of this world as salvation.  This righteousness works because of what Jesus did for us, he took our place.  He died for us, taking our sin, our shame, and our guilt and bore it on the cross!  HE took our emptiness, hopelessness, and deadness and paid for it on the cross.  Then Jesus was put in a grave just to be resurrected from the dead, truly defeating death!  We then share in the death he took for us and then share in his great resurrection.  This is our hope, we do not have to fear death, Jesus beat that for us, and then made us righteous.  I no longer fear death, I know that when this body dies I will be resurrected like Jesus, to be with Jesus.  This is the gain of Jesus, this is what he does for us through his righteousness.  Allowing us to do what we were created to do, glorify God through the lives that he gave us. 

     So then what do we do with this righteousness?  In verses twelve through nineteen Paul lets us know.  We are to be straining forward toward the goal of Christ Jesus.  It is a processes to make this righteousness our own.  Even though at the point of salvation this righteousness is ours, and that is how God sees us, we have to make it our own in our everyday life.  It takes time for us to start living through this righteousness.  Just as a person who was a slave their whole life and then set free, has to work at living like a free person, so do we have to learn how to live like a righteous person.  We do this because Jesus Christ has made us his own.  This needs to be our attitude, a striving toward Christ, making his righteousness our own.  Putting behind us past failures and not letting them hold us back.  Not looking back at sins that we want to hang on to.  Moving then toward a goal, the prize that God has called us to through Jesus Christ.  Not only are we striving forward, but there is a goal that we are looking toward.  It gives us a direction to go for, a goal that puts guidelines on our life.  We can get a picture of this from Major League Baseball.  As Baseball is coming upon the playoffs we can start to see teams reaching the goals they have set before them.  Those goals have dictated theirs lives since spring training.  All players want to win the World Series and because of that they do not let anything get in the way of that goal.  We have a goal and that is becoming like Jesus Christ through his righteousness.  When we have a goal like this it affects every area of our lives.  Everything we do in a day is and should be focus on that goal, our schooling, how we hanging out with friends, when are playing sports,  or how we are living with our families. 

Paul then gives us a compare and contrast.  Paul encourages us to follow his and people like him’s example.  Part of moving forward is finding the right people to imitate.  We need to find God fearing, Jesus loving, gospel filled people to watch and learn from.  We do this in comparison with watching and imitating people who do not know Jesus.  Paul says that their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in the things that should bring them shame.  These people are enemies of the cross and they only have their minds on the things of this world (the flesh).  We should not imitate them, befriend them?  Yes.  Love them through the gospel?  Yes.  Follow their example?  No.   

     Paul leaves us with verses twenty and twenty one, which is the theme verses of this series.  Again in comparison with the people who have their minds on the things of this world, we are to see our citizenship in heaven.  God has us here on earth to complete the mission he started, but we know that we are not for this world or the things of this world, we are made for heaven and the glorification of God.  We are here waiting on and hoping in Jesus Christ, know that we will get our glorified bodies because of the righteousness we have in Jesus Christ.    

     So as we are kicking off another school year, how does this idea of “straining forward with the righteousness of Christ” play into that?  We need to be looking forward to this school through eyes that are covered in Christ righteousness.  This school year is not just about getting through another grade, and completing your goals.  It is about striving for the goals Christ has set for us. How are you getting your “righteousness” or salvation?.  Are you trying to get your own righteousness through things that you DO?  Are you putting your faith in Jesus Christ or are you putting it in the things of this world.  Are you counting the things of this world loss compared to the worth of knowing Jesus? 

     Are you moving? What direction? What goal?  Are making this righteousness your own? Are you moving forward toward the goal of Jesus Christ and your future with him?  Or are you stuck?  Are you looking to things of this world or things you once had? 

     Who’s example are you following?.  Are you looking to the example of Paul and other gospel filled people or the example of the world around you?  Are you getting more of an example how how your life should be lived from stars, athletes, musicians, non-believing friends, and the culture around you or from people who love Jesus and are making Christ righteousness their own?

Man I just get excited writing this,  God is so good!

Grace and Peace 

Jesse