Our True Identity: God’s Image Bearers
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Point: We live defeated lives when we fail to embrace our true identity as God’s Image Bearers.
I’ve come to discover something about myself recently, that I have known for a while, but not as to why. Loyalty is a high value for me. It is one of the things that I value most in any of my relationships. The question is why?
What I have discocovered is that loyalty was not a valued component when I was growing up. My mom was married and divorced eight times. For whatever the various reasons for the divorces, till death do us part was not to be fulfilled.
My dad and mom divorced before I was old enough to know my dad. All I remember of him was a guy picking me up for a couple hours on a Saturday, in his blue Ford, and going for ice cream and the park. Other than that, the only other thing I had was the few polaroid pictures, of dad at a birthday and Christmas.
My question for the longest time was, why did dad leave us? Why did he leave me? I got to ask that question years later when I was a pastor up in Peace River, on a trip back from Edmonton to Peace River with my dad. It was an issue between them, not about me, I was not the cause.
Seven divorces later, who am I? What is my identity? Throw away garbage. Unwanted baggage. A klingon. What does that do to a kid’s mindset, a teenager’s self-worth, an adult’s self-image? You either adapt and survive or crumble and self-destruct. Luckily, by God’s grace, and the prayers of my grand-parents, and my aunt & uncle, cousins, I was able to adapt and survive.
But I was damaged in the sense of loyalty. I give loyalty, I expect loyalty. If I do not receive it, I am likely to be more reserved and keep the person at arm’s length; even toss aside as I was tossed aside as a teenager and child. It’s a defense mechanism to protect myself from hurt.
As I have raised my family, loyalty (and trust) is one of the prime values I have attempted to instill in my daughters. Friends and close friendships are highly valued, but family is of utmost, prime importance, and that means loyalty and trust. If there is no loyalty, there is no trust.
It’s like Robert DiNero’s character, Jack Byrnes, concept, circle of trust, in the movie ‘Meet the Faulkers’. Is Greg Focker, Ben Stiller’s character, trustworthy enough to be part of his family’s inner circle “the circle of trust” as Jack’s new potential son-in-law. Greg fails epicly to meet Jack’s overprotective and somewhat unreasonable standards for trust and loyalty. But the point is made: there are, and can be, challenges in building trust (and loyalty) within a family when their are significant cultural and personal differences in belief, values, and experiences. If you do not hold the same beliefs, values, or behaviors as me, my trust and loyalty will not be extended. Same thing with the LORD God: if He is not number one and only God in your life, you should not expect His loyalty to you. You should not expect your prayers to be answered. You should not expect Holy Spirit to guide you because you are choosing to disobey His command to have nobody else as God, and to worship nothing else, nobody else in His place.
The Fall of Man in the Garden was because of a lack of loyalty and trust to God. Would Adam and Eve be loyal to God and not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Would they choose to be loyal to God and His command? Nope, then they forfeited their delegate authority to Satan and he arose with man’s power and authority. Man’s reward? Physical difficulty, sin, and death. Even worse, loss of status as second to God in the heirarchy of things and a broken relationship with God. Why did Satan go after Adam and Eve, and the whole human race in the Garden? When God made man, He made man a little lower than God himself.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You set in place, what is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him?
You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet:
all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas.
We are told in Genesis 1:26-28 that man was made in God’s image, to resemble Him, to act like Him, and to have power and authority over all creation, like Him. Genesis 1:26
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.”
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.”
As a result of God’s creation of man, Satan and the angels lost rank in God’s hiearchy of things. Before creation of man there was: God - Archangels - Angels. After the creation of man there was: God - Man - Archangels - Angels. How do you react when you get demoted? When a new baby brother or sister comes along and you no longer have the exclusive rights to mom and dad, the toys, the video machine, or the bean bag chair? I know, Lynnette and I (and mommy Jackie) have had the experience numerous times. [Story - Abi and Charlotte playing Jesus - “It’s your turn to die on the cross”].
What do you do when somebody changes the script, especially when it is your script? You get even, you flip it back. Satan was no longer number two, he got knocked down a rank with God when God “created man in His own image”. Satan goes out to reclaim his position and status, better yet, stake claim to man’s power and authority as God’s number two.
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
But why stop at man. Satan continued for the top job. War in the Heavens. Satan is cast down. Now the war continues, and man is the target.
You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
What is Satan’s war with God and man all about? Jealousy, that God made man in His image, a little lower than himself, but greater than the angels and all of the rest of creation. Satan did not like getting taken down a notch so he decided to go after the whole kingdom of God, man, and invoke His own throne, kingdom, and authority structure by taking what God gave to man: power and authority. Why does Satan want to destroy you and your family? Because you are made in the image of God and have been given delegated power and authority of God. You are God’s ‘masterpiece’; and anything of value to God, that represents God, is worthy of being defaced, devalued, and destroyed in Satan’s theology and pursuit of his own kingdom, power, and stolen authority. You are God’s masterpiece, and in Satan’s jealousy and hate, you are worth destroying because you were created a little lower than God, and higher than the angels and archangels.
What are Angels?
Angels are God’s ministering spirit’s sent by God to care for His masterpieces: men and women. They serve God and man. They are not made in the image of God. Only man.
And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
Who are those who are to inherit salvation? Humanity: men and women; whom angels serve by God’s command. Demons are angels that fell with Satan, when Satan rebelled against God, trying to take the throne. Demons serve Satan, but are still under the all-authority of God, and are only as powerful, and authoritative, as men and women allow them to be in our lives. The demons job is to implement Satan’s schemes against you and I, to oppose God’s Kingdom, and most importantly to keep you and I ignorant of our God-given status, our true identity, as princes and princesses, in the Kingdom of God, with delegated power and authority. Their mission is to keep men and women thinking and believing that we are less than what we are: God’s masterpiece - His Image-Bearers. They keep us in self-doubt, inflame the feelings anger and hatred toward God and one another, and inslave us in guilt and shame. They take our sin and wrong choices and make them footholds to enslave humanity to Satan and his kingdom and stolen authority.
The Good News of Redemption
The good news is that Satan and his demons are defeated foes that will be judged by men and women, God’s heirs who trust and obey Jesus (1 Cor. 6:3). Jesus came to testify to the truth (John 18:37). What is that truth? That man lost his unmitigated relationship with God, when he was tricked out of his position and authority in the Garden, trading one kingdom and authority structure for another. Being subject to sin and death, God the Father sent, God the Son to free men and women, His masterpieces, from the Kingdom of Satan, by being born as a man, setting aside His divinity, and living as a man, susceptible to the same trials and temptations as a man, but overcoming these trials and temptations, without being mared by the muck of sin, died sinless for a sinfull creation, rose from death, ascended to the righthand of God the Father, now waiting for all powers and principalities to be put under His feet, by His heirs, through our own sacrifices of steadfast love of obedience to Him and His Kingdom, exercising our God given delegated power and authority, to overcome Satan’s stolen authority and rule, through the power and empowering of God Holy Spirit.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,
putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
When Jesus died on the cross, rose, and ascended, He not restored the broken relationship between God and man, and made salvation possible for all men and women to be redeemed from death and sin. He took back and restored the stolen delegated authority of God, back to man. It is only through trust and belief in Jesus, and obedience to Him, that man can walk in, and exercise once more the delegated power and authority that God gave to His masterpieces at Creation. What glory did Jesus have before He came, was born, and lived as a man, dying as a man? Authority.
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Men and women were created and delegated with God’s power and authority to live and rule over God’s creation (Genesis 1:26-28). We lost that power and authority when we trusted in a foreign power, who wanted to steal power and authority from those created a little less than God Himself. Satan enslaved humanity under His kingdom power and stolen authority, still doing so today. The disciple of Christ’s job is to walk in and exercise the restored power and delegated authority, that Jesus took back at the cross. Wielding Jesus’ lordship over creation, restoring broken men and women, back into a relationship with God, through sharing the truth and good news of Jesus, we destroy the strongholds, powers, and principalities of Satan, inviting men and women to take hold of the Kingdom of God, through submission to the grace of Jesus Christ. This all made possible through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, given to us, when we trust and follow Jesus Christ.
Do You Have Jesus’ Credit Card?
[Story] - Pastor Charles Kraft
Pastor Charles Kraft tells the story of his son Rick, who was going off to college, fifteen hundred miles away, making the trip in an old car. Concerned that the car may not make the trip without incident, his son asked Pastor Charles if he would put his name on his dad’s credit card and use it as insurance for the trip. “You wouldn’t want me to be stranded somewhere without being able to pay the bill, would you? I promise I won’t miss use it.” I don’t know about you, but I probably would not be too enthused about that idea. But the question is: who can you trust if you cannot trust your own flesh and blood?
To Pastor Charles, his son’s reasoning made sense to him and his wife. They added Rick to their card, granting him the use of their credit card. Rick’s name would appear on the card, under their’s indicating …their ultimate responsibility for their son’s behavior with their card. They granted thier son authority to use whatever credit the credit card company granted to them. What did that do? It allowed their son to wield whatever financial authority they had with their name. Expectations were made clear as to how Rick was to use the financial authority that had now been given to him. To stay on good terms with his parents, Rick had to exercise responsibility and accountability in obedience to his parents wishes and instruction. If he abused the priviledge, the priviledge would be revoked and the delegated authority taken back. How would you respond if your children asked the same thing of you mom’s and dad’s? Or how about if a friend asked you to do him or her that favor? What about a stranger? Or someone you did not completely trust or have faith in that would not mess up?
Guess what? When Jesus came to earth, He carried His Father’s credit card. Jesus came with all the authority that His Father’s name would bring. He had full authority to spend whatever was in the Father’s account, so long as He kept on good terms with the Father and spent it on the purposes of which the Father approved. Jesus knew He had the authority of His Father and that His right of usage, of that authority, was hinged on His intimacy with the Father (I Give You Authority, C. Kraft, p.38).
“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.
Jesus worked under the authority of the Father. He followed and fulfilled the Father’s guidelines. He agreed to come to earth, born of a woman, setting aside His power and rights of divinity, while on earth, operating totally under the authority of the Father. Jesus became empowered for ministry only when He fulfilled all righteousness by being baptized by John, and the Holy Spirit then proceeded to come down upon Jesus (Mt. 3:13-17). Jesus’ power for ministry came from being filled with the Holy Spirit and keeping in step with the Holy Spirit, not from His own “Godness”. What was Jesus’ source of authority? His intimacy with the Father in prayer, doing His will, following the prompting of the Holy Spirit. His duty? To fulfill the work and will of the Father, by the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. He spoke with power and authority, He healed with power and authority, He drove demons out with power and authority unlike anything anyone had ever seen or heard (Luke 4:36; 11:19; Mt 7:29; Mk 1:22). He did things so unlike the religious rulers of the day that it caused the exact same rulers to accuse Jesus of ‘What right he had to do such things’ and ‘Who gave him such right” (Mk 11:28; Lk 20:2). By what power and authority do you do the things you do? By what power and authority do you work? Do you parent? Do you live? Do you realize that you have been given the same credit card that Jesus wielded while on earth?
Jesus said to all His disciples, for all time “I have given you power and authority”.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus said that those who believe and trust in Him will also do the things that He did and even greater things. Do you believe this? Do you employ this?
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Jesus spoke to the disciples, just before He ascended to heaven, telling them to go and wait for the Holy Spirit to empower them for ministry, so that they could teach, heal, baptize, relieve of people demonic attachments and possession…to even raise from the dead. By what power, by what authority, would we do such things? By the delegated authority we have in Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, the credit card of God (Luke 9:1; 10:9, 17).
What Does this Mean for You and Me?
You were intended to be second to God Himself (Ps 8:5; Genesis 1:26) - Being made in the image of God and a little lower than God himself, you are His values masterpiece, greater than the angels.
You are redeemed (1 Cor. 15:45-47) - Through the Fall we fell to a position below the Satan and the angels. Through the death and sacrifice of Jesus, we have been raised back to our predetermined rightful place as seconds in command to God. We are rightful heirs with delegated power and authority to push back Satan and the Kingdom and Darkness, invoking our rights as redeemed princes and princesses of the King. Thus meaning we are …
Children of God (1 Jn 3:1) - As God’s beloved children, we inherit the glory of God with Christ (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7). We are adopted into the family of God, chosen by God to be His heirs by His grace.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
We have the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) - to come to live in us bringing His power (Acts 1:8), gifting (1 Cor. 12:1), fruit (Gal 5:22-23), and the very presence of Himself permanently within us. As a result we have …
Been entrusted with divine authority
Inseperable from our spiritual authority
Who is our loyalty to? Whose credit card do we carry? Are we employing our delegated power and authority? We bear God’s image, we are His masterpieces. Are we acting like we are? Are we exercising the credit card of our Father?
