At the end of his life, the Apostle Paul wrote: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. This podcast is about the day you will hear Jesus whisper in your ear, “Well done good and faithful servant.” It is about staying focused upon what will matter the most to you at that moment! That, of course, will be how faithfully you devoted yourself to the mission he called you to accomplish. Paul says to all believers, “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the CALLING to which you’ve been CALLED” (Eph 4:1).
I can’t think of many important missions that have ever been accomplished, accidently, haphazardly, or randomly. Fulfilling the mission assigned to us by our Lord requires us to focus, to be intentional, to lock on to God’s purposes for our lives so we can pursue them. Rick Warren points out that the very process of sharpening our focus upon God’s purpose for us energizes us. He writes:
Knowing your purpose motivates your life. Purpose always produces passion. Nothing energizes like a clear purpose. On the other hand, passion dissipates when you lack purpose. Just getting out of bed becomes a major chore. It is usually meaningless work, not overwork that wears us down, saps our strength, and robs our joy (The Purpose Driven Life).
So, what is God’s purpose for your life? A thorough study of Scripture reveals that no matter what lens we look through, Christ’s mission for us is composed of three parts. We are: 1) called TO CHRIST, to enjoy a love relationship with him 2) called to BE LIKE CHRIST, to grow in Christ-like character and 3) called to EXERCISE DOMINION FOR CHRIST, to bring about Christ’s agenda in every sphere of life in our role as husband, father, employee/employer, neighbor, church member, steward of resources, ambassador of the kingdom, etc.
1. We see these same three parts, for example of our call to discipleship:
- A disciple had a close personal bond with his master—called TO CHRIST.
- A disciple in that day tried to pattern his life to be like his master—called TO BE LIKE CHRIST.
- A disciple in Jesus’ day was one who embraced the cause of his master—called TO EXERCISE DOMINION FOR CHRIST to spread the righteous rule of Christ over earth.
2. We see the same three elements through the lens of our moral responsibility, we are commanded:
- Love the Lord your God with all your heart—we are called TO CHRIST
- Be holy as I am holy (I Pet 1:15-16)—we are called TO BE LIKE CHRIST
- Love your neighbor as yourself—we are called TO EXERCISE DOMINION FOR CHRIST
3. Even Christ’s ministry to us as the Anointed One fits these three categories.
- As PRIEST Christ unites us to God—called TO CHRIST
- As PROPHET he makes us holy—called TO BE LIKE CHRIST
- AS KING—Christ establishes the righteous rule of God on earth—called TO EXERCISE DOMINION FOR GOD.
Today we want to go deeper in understanding God’s purpose for our everyday lives by examining God’s purposes in creating Adam and Eve to be his image bearers. As we unpack the term image bearer, we’ll see this term pointing to three distinct parts of our mission that might sound familiar.
What Adam’s Creation Tells Us About Our Mission
So 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 (Gen 1:27-28).
The expression, “image of God” is used uniquely with reference to human beings and so sets them apart from the other creatures. There are three aspects of being created in God’s image that reveal what God created us FOR:
A. Image Bearers Have the Capacity for a Love Relationship With God
(Called TO CHRIST)
Being made in God’s image means, first, that we are created with a capacity to communicate with God. He gave people ears to show that he hears the cry of the afflicted and eyes to show that he sees the plight of the pitiful (Ps 94:9) Deeply rooted in the concept of being made in God’s image is the truth that we were created to enjoy fellowship with God himself, portrayed in Genesis 3 as walking together in the garden in the cool of the day. But Adam and Eve’s rebellion broke their relationship with God portrayed in Genesis 3 by them making clothes to cover their nakedness, feeling ashamed, and being cast out of the garden, away from the holy presence of God. But Christ suffered the ultimate separation from God to bear our sin and redeem us from the presence, penalty and power of sin.
The starting point of our redemption is being restored to fellowship with God, adopted into his presence. So, every Christian’s calling begins with the call TO CHRIST to enjoy a love relationship with him. This first part of our calling addresses the core issue of our heart’s primary loyalty, asking, Who is our first love? This aspect of our calling is expressed in the great commandment, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30). Jesus also said to his disciples, As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love (John 15:9). The bullseye of our mission objective as Christ-followers is, therefore, enjoying and deepening our love relationship with Christ.
John Piper in his book Desiring God makes a strong case that Christians should be hedonists, meaning that we are designed to find the deepest, most heart satisfying of pleasures in our love relationship with God. The biblical metaphor for this calling TO CHRIST to enjoy a love relationship with him is the mutual delight of bride and groom in each other. Christ is the bridegroom who looks upon us with delight (Is 62:5), and we, in turn are told, Delight yourself in the Lord (Ps 37:4, 1 Thes 5:16). God actually commands me to step away from my crazy busy life and take time to feast my soul with pleasure by delighting in who the Lord is and dwelling upon how much he delights in me. This is quite parallel to a married couple making time in their schedule to be captured by delight for one another in the process of love-making. Just as sex strengthens the bond of love and gives us pleasure, delighting in the Lord strengthens our bond and gives us pleasure. May I ask, how often do you make time to feast on the Lord’s love for you, replenishing your soul, by delighting in him and his delight in you? Scotty Smith, in his book, Objects of His Affection poses this convicting question:
What would it feel like in your heart to know that God not only ACCEPTS you, but that he richly ENJOYS you? To know that your company is his pleasure, your fellowship his joy, your face his delight? What effect would that have on how you think about God, yourself, others. Scotty Smith, Objects of His Affection
B. Created to Bear the Image of God’s Holiness
(Called TO BE LIKE CHRIST)
NT scholar Bruce Waltke identifies a second aspect of being made in the image of God: “An image represents the presence of the one represented” We are to be like God. Created with a spiritual nature, we are called to reflect his moral presence, holiness, as we rule over our kingdom. The irony is that our parents wanted to be like God in authority and status, rather than like him in holiness. To be made in God’s image is to be given the high calling of showing his moral attributes to the created world. But, Adam’s sin corrupted every attitude of the human heart. God’s image in man is marred. Christ’s resurrection proves that the slavery of Adam’s kingdom to Satan, sin, and death has been broken. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God is remaking us back into images of Christ—the perfect God man. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, we read, And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being TRANSFORMED INTO THE SAME IMAGE from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Jesus revealed the prominence of this part of our mission—our heart attitudes being transformed—by beginning his portrait of kingdom living (Matt 5-7) with eight kingdom attitudes that reveal the new (transformed) humanity. The hardships, and trials God brings into our lives will never make sense to us until we grasp God’s commitment to this second part of our mission—Called TO BE LIKE CHRIST. Here is an inventory to assess how we are doing building Christ like attitudes.
- Blessed are the poor in Spirt—the humble. How might God be teaching you that you to have to depend on Christ more?
- Blessed are those who mourn—those who grieve over the damage caused by sin. How might God be helping you learn how powerful and destructive sin is?
- Blessed are the meek—those who surrender their rights to Christ. How might God be teaching you that a specific area of your life is NOT surrendered to him?
- Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness—those who long for the universe and its inhabitants to be restored to rightness. What does your prayer life indicate about how much you long for others to prosper spiritually?
- Blessed are the merciful—those who exhibit compassion for those whose lives have been broken by sin including those who have wronged me. How might God be teaching you to give more grace to others, allowing them to fail or hurt you?
- Blessed are the pure in heart—those whose decisions are driven by unselfish motives. How might God be helping you to love better those not easy to love?
- Blessed are the peacemakers—those committed to restoring broken relationships. Is there a broken relationship you need to do your part to fix?
- Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake—those who are willing to suffer by taking a stand for what is right. Where do you anticipate opportunities to speak into conversations winsomely promoting biblical truth?
Tomorrow morning, our mission is to show Jesus to whomever God has placed in our world by demonstrating attitudes like these, being LIKE CHRIST.
C. Image Bearers Rule on Behalf of the Deity
(Called to EXERCISE DOMINION FOR CHRIST)
OT scholar Bruce Waltke explains a third, foundational aspect of being made in God’s image: representing God’s kingly rule.
Inseparable from the notion of serving as a representative, the image functions as a ruler in the place of the deity… In the Ancient Near East it was widely believed that a god’s spirit lived in any statue or image of the god, with the result that the image could function as a kind of representative of or substitute for the god wherever it was placed. It was also customary in the ANE to think of a king as a representative of a god; obviously the king ruled, and the god was the ultimate ruler, so the king must be ruling on the god’s behalf. It is therefore not surprising that these two separate ideas became connected and a king came to be described as the image of God.
The Genesis 1:27 mention of Adam and Eve’s design to be image bearers makes clear that the concept of kingdom occurs in the very first chapter of the Bible at the creation of man and woman. “The text is saying that exercising royal dominion over the earth as God’s representative is the basic purpose for which God created man…Man is appointed king over creation, responsible to God the ultimate king, and as such expected to develop and care for creation” (Ibid). Michael Craven of the Colson Center makes a startling statement about mankind’s calling to rule over creation. He writes, DOMINION is THE PLOT of the Bible; redemption is the subplot. At the very heart of our mission, is exercising dominion—ruling over every sphere of life, shaping it FOR the High King. Adam and Eve’s rebellion brings corruption to all of human life. Man’s relationship with God, himself, others, and creation is broken. Cornelius Plantinga argues,
We are born into a world in which for centuries, sin has damaged the great interactive network of shalom—snapping or twisting the thousands of bonds that give particular beings integrity and that tie them to others. Corruption is thus a dynamic motif in the Christian understanding of sin: it is…the multiplying power of all sin to spoil a good creation.
Instead of building culture for God’s glory, Adam’s fallen race builds culture for their own glory. We see this reality dramatically portrayed in the building of the Tower of Babel. In Genesis 11 we read that they said to one another:
“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves”… And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower…And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language (vs 4-7).
Here, we see fallen man’s attempt to build culture independent of God. And notice the tremendous culture-creating capacities that God has created us to have—nothing will be impossible for them. God’s plan of redemption has a much larger purpose than just our personal, private salvation FROM this world. It is the salvation OF this world—redeeming everything presently broken by the fall. God’s purpose in salvation is restored dominion—man restored to his place as a godly culture maker, following Jesus, the Second Adam as, through his resurrection power, we spread Jesus’ kingdom of righteousness over earth. How does this kingdom influence grow? Through doing what you can to implement Christ’s agenda in every sphere of your life--your family, extended family, workplace, neighborhood, Internet connections, community, nation and world. The goal of this podcast is to keep us all focused on our mission, so we identify Christ’s agenda in each of those spheres—how to love your wife, disciple you kids, view the workplace, etc. But I want to leave you with something practical in this broad third category of our mission, Exercising Dominion FOR CHRIST. As you think about this general, overall call to shape culture, here are four questions used by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, to help you determine how to be engaged in impacting culture:
- What is good in this world that I can preserve and promote and protect?
- What is missing in this world that I can contribute?
- What is evil in this world that I can oppose?
- What is broken in this world that I can restore?
As I finish this overview of our three-part mission: Called TO Christ, Called TO BE LIKE CHRIST, called to EXERCISE DOMININ FOR CHRIST, a fresh fire grows in my belly as I remember that it is Jesus who personally called me to this mission. Os Guiness asks:
Do you want to accept a challenge that will be the integrating dynamic of your whole life? One that will engage your loftiest thoughts, your most dedicated exertions, your deepest emotions, all your abilities and resources, to the last step you take and the last breath you breathe? Listen to Jesus of Nazareth; answer his call (The Call).
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- What are the obstacles that are preventing you from delighting your heart in the Lord?
- How can you be more intentional about noticing the particular Christ-like heart attitudes that God might be using the circumstances around you to produce—so that you can cooperate with God rather than resisting him?
- When it comes to your spheres of life, which one stands out as one you think you need to spend more energy thinking and praying about.
