Center Associational Meeting Devotion 2019

I once had the opportunity to have a brief dinner with Josh McDowell. Some of you may know that he is a well known apologist and evangelist. I will never forget one thing that he talked about during that dinner. And it was about how to best achieve effectiveness in ministry. And that is to learn to be very self aware and look closely at ourself in order to have a correct understanding of who you are and what you are really all about. That has really stuck with me over the years. For whatever reason God seems to have placed me a little more on the nerdy side of life. So my devotion may come across a little different than what some of you maybe use too. I spend a lot of my time educating people. Wether that be in ministry or in my professional career.

Some of you also may or may not know that I run a physical therapy clinic here locally. Part of what makes my job unique is that I am regularly placed in a position to handle tough issues and have hard conversations with people about their physical health. A large part of my job (outside of regularly torturing people and getting paid for it) consists of relaying, necessary (sometimes often deeply detailed) information about the truth of the reasons things are the way that they are with the human body, but in a way that reaches to the heart of person or a particular issue. Having been involved in ministry in one form or another over the last 20+ years, I find this also ringing true in my own spiritual walk as well.

As our society becomes more politically correct and the church unfortunately becomes more biblically illiterate. I think we are finding ourselves in somewhat of the same position . We (as the church) need to start learning (and teaching)the more difficult things. Both about God and his Word. But present it in a way that outshines the secular worlds agenda.

Take for example the Image of God!

Chances are you’ve heard a sermon or two on the topic. I’m willing to bet that what you’ve heard is that the image of God is similar to something in this list:

• Intelligence

• Reasoning ability

• Emotions

• The ability to commune with God

• Self-awareness (sentience)

• Language/communication ability

• The presence of a soul or spirit (or both)

• The conscience

• Free will

All those things sound like possibilities, but they’re not.[1]

Among the list of proposed answers to what image bearing means are a number of abilities or properties: intelligence, reasoning ability, emotions, communing with God, language/communication ability, and even free will. The problem with defining the image by any of these qualities is that, on one hand, nonhuman beings like animals possess some of these abilities, although not to the same extent as humans.[2]

Defining image bearing as any ability is actually a flawed approach[3]

So how do we understand divine image bearing in a way that does not stumble over issues and yet aligns with the description in which says, (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.

Understanding a tiny bit Hebrew grammar here gives us a clue. The turning point is with the meaning of the preposition in with respect to the phrase “in the image of God.” In English we use the preposition in to denote many different ideas. That is, in doesn’t always mean the same thing when we use that word. For example, if I say, “put the dishes in the sink,” I am using the preposition to denote location. If I say, “I broke the mirror in pieces,” I am using in to denote the result of some action. If I say, “I work in physical therapy,” I am using the preposition to denote that I work as a therapist, or in some other rehabilitation capacity.

This last example directs us to what the Hebrew preposition “bet” translated in means in . Humankind was created as God’s image. If we think of imaging as a verb or function, that translation makes sense. We are created to image God, to be his imagers. It is what we are by definition. The image is not an ability we have, but a status we have been given. We are God’s representatives on earth. To be human is to image God.

This is why is followed by what theologians call the “dominion mandate” in verse 28. The verse informs us that God intends us to be him on this planet. We are to create more imagers (“be fruitful and multiply … fill”) in order to oversee the earth by stewarding its resources and harnessing them for the benefit of all human imagers (“subdue … rule over”).[4]

So part of my job as a therapist is to help people learn to function physically. My job as a believer is much the same in that I am to help people learn how to function as image bearers. Making this shift in understanding from a list of attributes or abilities to what our status is in Christ becomes a crucial step in truly transforming how we function spiritually. And to begin moving away from a legalistic performance based mindset.

So I may have a bit of a unique approach. But we all have the same calling. To show people how they bear the image of God in light of the Gospel. And what that means not only for their eternal future, but how that translates into the here and now with respect to what God has already done but not yet fully completed. So I tend to be a little different. But my only desire is to give people the deeper things of God! Thank you for the opportunity to share my heart and mission. And to maybe give you something to think about.

[1] Heiser, M. S. (2015). The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (First Edition, p. 40). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

[2] Heiser, M. S. (2015). The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (First Edition, p. 41). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

[3] Heiser, M. S. (2015). The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (First Edition, p. 41). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

[4] Heiser, M. S. (2015). The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (First Edition, pp. 42–43). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

• Intelligence

• Reasoning ability

• Emotions

• The ability to commune with God

• Self-awareness (sentience)

• Language/communication ability

• The presence of a soul or spirit (or both)

• The conscience

• Free will

All those things sound like possibilities, but they’re not.

Heiser, M. S. (2015). The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (First Edition, p. 40). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.