In His Image: Our Calling and Character

glenn sebastian

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Transcript

One place we want to go to Japan. One day love Lego. Point out:

There are pictures of Japan

For those of you who never played Lego, inside there are pieces, components. There is a blueprint, a building instruction

With all this, if this is build correctly, it will hopefully become something like this (show picture)

This is supposed to represent Japan. When you see this it reminds you of Japan. It is not Japan.

You can say this bears the image of Japan

When we are created in God’s image, this is kind of what it means. We are created to be a representative, an image bearer, if you will, of God.

As a representative...

God calls us, places us where He wants Himself to be represented. You can call this a vocation or a calling.

God also want us to represent Him a certain way. God wants Himself to be represented in a way that is characterized by who He is

Lego: the calling is to remind people of Japan, to enjoy the miniature of Japan.

Lego: it can do its calling well if it kinda look like Japan. Resemble Japan. If it looks like San Jose...

Segway

Now the first thing I want to do here to address here is this calling and character, and God teaching us how He would like to be represented. I would like to answer this question through 3 creation accounts.

And this question sounds very theological, but I promise you. The consequences of our discussion today will be very very practical to you

First Creation Story

Again: If being created in the image of God means we are created with the purpose to be his representative

Genesis 1:26-29; Genesis 2:8-9

28 And God blessed them; Given every plant yielding seed, fruit, for them to eat. Tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; God gave Adam an equal, suitable helper

Command: to have dominion over the earth

In the garden they weren’t just frolicking playing harp sleeping eating all day. Good thing otherwise heaven would be extremely boring! They have a vocation (not a job - not paid, and has higher calling/value)…!

The vocation is to take care of the earth. God doesn’t need help, but it is actually an invitation to partake in God’s caring of creation. That’s something about our God.. He loves to invite us to join Him in what He is doing...

Note… only man was blessed. the idea is that I have blessed you, now you bless what I already create. Be the kind of lord over them like how I am a good and kind Lord to you. They are to be fruitful and multiply just as God says God place them in a place which fruits are delicious and beautiful

Adam and Eve were to be God’s representative to the planet. To take care of it. But they have to take care of it in a certain way that reflects God’s character: His goodness, his providence.

Is it still applicable to us? Unless I miss it and there is another species or alien that rules the earth, then Yes it is still applicable to us..

As Evangelicals we are really focused on evangelism and we kinda don’t do real well in taking care of the planet because it doesn’t relate to evangelism; or perhaps it is just a hassle

I think though it is true it doesn’t relate with evangelism, I think it is as bad witness to the world

How could we say we love God but we trash the world he created, in which he says it is good? This place is not ours.

We can do both; share the Gospel while also care of God’s other creations, separating the recycle and trash, be mindful with our purchases, instead of buying 5 separate things on Amazon each day of the week, be patient and just order once. Or maybe just do without. as an expression of our love for God I think it will make for a better witness especially for the younger generation.

That’s the first creation story.

The calling is to be fruitful, to multiply, and to rule

The character is to be care and rule the earth like God cares and blesses man

Eventually Adam and Eve fell to sin.. This is the very first lesson about the effect of sin. There is no such thing as a private sin. Sin affects other people and it also affects other creation. .. Serpent was cursed, Adam, Eve, but the earth is also cursed. this changes things… before the fall.. God saw the earth and say it was good. After the fall in Genesis 6 it is said that “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Before the fall, the good world needs merely maintenance, care, upkeep… after the fall the world needs redemption. The fall changed everything. Everything except one… that is God’s commitment to man and creation.

Second Creation Story

Once out of Egypt, at Mt. Sinai. Sinai pericope (Exodus 19 - Numbers 10). This is when the Israelites received the 10 commandments, and the long list of law. The length is staggering. This is not an event to look over. 1 year out of 2706 in the Pentateuch timeline. 42% on this only.

Thematic repeat: Giving of the law and the building of the Tabernacle (Loc 524 Leviticus interpretation + 1637 Torah vision of Worship):

Genesis 1:1-3 and Exodus 31:3 Spirit of God active in creation

Genesis 2:2-3 and Exodus 40:33 and Exodus 39:43 “finishing the creation, God saw it - Moses saw it and blesses the creation”

Theophany God appears - Building of the tabernacle

6 days Moses prepared himself to enter Divine presence, the 7th he entered Sinai

7 speeches “The Lord said”

The 7th is the command to rest - God rests on the 7th day

and on and on

Including the building of the Sanctuary

What was being created? Israel! Before this event, they we Egyptian slaves. They didn’t have a single identity as a nation.

Creation - Calling - Character Likeness of God

Four verses to summarize

God’s plan to bless the fallen nations through Israel

Genesis 26:4 I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed

Isaiah 42:6 “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations

Creation of Israel to be “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” <— calling!

Exodus 19:5- 6 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel

What about Character?

Leviticus 19:2 You shall be Holy for I, the Lord Your God, am holy

How to understand what God means by His being holy? and how we can be like that too?

Obey his commandments!

We have unfairly pre-judge the law as obsolete, archaic, useless... while probably only a few of us have actually taken the time to read it

The reality is, Jesus - Love your God and love your people

You could really see the heart of God in these laws. and that they are required to treat others likewise

Leviticus 19:9 9 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 19:34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 “‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (CHICK FILL A)

Psalm 146:9 The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Holy nation! the idea is that Israel has to live very differently - these law - GROUNDBREAKINGLY compassionate… and it still is… than other nations in that it loves the least of these because God loves the least of the nations - Israel.

Is This Applicable to Us?

ABSOLUTELY!!!

Leviticus 19:34 and Mark 12:30-31

and 1 Peter 2:9-10

and Matthew 25:35-40

Before nations it has become the church: you and me.

Recap

Doctrine of Man; what defines us we are created in the Image of God.

It means that we are a representative, and image bearer of God. We have a calling, we have to do it in a certain way that reflects how God has dealt with us.

For Adam - the calling is to take care of the earth the way God has taken care of him - and I say it is still relevant for the early church, and for us too

For Israelites - the calling is to be kingdom of priests a holy nation, to be the light and salvation (because of the Fall!!!!) to the nations through living a staggeringly different life that people become attracted and want to come and worship God - and I say it is still relevant for us

Do you see continuity of this? We are to partake, to partner with God in His plan that spans from the beginning till the end of time it is continuous. I say this because we cannot be lose sight of the bigger picture, that we are part of a bigger t hing!

When I bear a different image

Show Lego

When you sin, it doesn’t mean that you are now made in the Image of God less. It is still here. This is not gone, because if this is Gone your worth is gone. But it becomes a reminder of how far we are from what we are meant to be

Sin doesn’t define who we are, sin prevent us from becoming who we really are

This is not a matter of God angry because we don’t become what He designed us to be....

The Bible is clear that there is no middle way. You either look like Him, or you look like something else. Either you worship Him, or you worship something else. Either you become more like Him, or more like that something else you worship. We will cover this when we talk about sin… but when we become something else other than Godly.. when we become unGodly… we can see in the Bible and history really that the damage done to ourselves and others and the planet is mind-boggling. We can never overstate the disastrous effect of our sin...

What do you do..

Adam sin he was exiled

Israel sin they were exiled

So what happen when we sin and become a bearer of an image other than the image of God?

Are we going to get exiled? The answer to that is no, because Jesus was the one exiled on our behalf. In the Gospel, specifically in Matthew, repeatedly Matthew said that Jesus was “handed over” to pilate, to death, and this is the same word used when Israel was “handed over” to the Babylonians. When Jesus was on the cross, God the Father looked away.. He was exiled so that we aren’t

BUT IT DOESN’T STOP THERE!

Jesus didn’t just die, He was raised from the dead… And in this he invites us

to die to our old-self, so we can be raised with him from the dead and be born anew.

This new self is different. While before we were powerless, Christ who is THE IMAGE of GOD now is in us. And He enables us, by the power of the Holy Spirit to grow and be rebuilt into who we were supposed to be since from the very beginning…

And folks, this is the 3rd Creation… Because those who are in Christ is.. a new creation.

3rd creation

Or as Paul termed it in 2 Corinthians 5:14 and Colossians 3: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come which is being renewed in fullness of knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Jesus through whom we were created… was the one also through whom we become a new creation

as a new creation, we have to review again our two things right: calling and character

God is fair… he doesn’t ask us to do more than he has shown to us.

To Adam… God asked him to care, the way God cared for him

To Israel... God asked to love, be compassionate, do justice for that’s how God dealt with them

To us… what do you think is asked of us, now having received the redemption purchased by the blood of Christ. Having received Christ, who Himself is all in all everything that the heaven can offer. What do you think is asked of us then, to be fair? Everything… everything...

Funny how for the Israelites God gave them really long law… and I know some of us is like this is crazy long convoluted you feel discombobulated when reading it and Paul really did us a huge favor. This law is confusing for you eh? Too much? Let me help simplify those into one word… Everything… having received everything the heavens could over… it’s time we give...everything you do do for the glory of God

How is it possible???

And in this,

While the Israelites have the law to understand who God is; We have the one who fulfills the law - Christ!

While the Israelites saw the Lord only in the form of clouds, we see the Lord, God the Father in Christ - If you have seen me you have seen the Father

While the Israelites saw the Lord only in the reflection of glory in Moses’ face; we have Christ the fullness of the glory of God Himself.

We can see Him here in the Bible, but he, THE IMAGE OF GOD is in us. He is with us God immanuel.

For us, as new Creations in Christ, it means that we are to grow in Christ-likeness; and that in everything that we do, we do it for the glory of God’s name, so that when people see us, they are may see God’s goodness.

Or as Matthew 5 says it: let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven

Everything for the glory of the Lord

Significant

It can be a rebuke for us who keeps our faiths to Fridays and Sundays… we go to church serve but still when nobody sees we do things that we want nobody to see.

But it is a wonderful encouragement for many of us....

The encouragement is that everything you do…not just the big ones… the small ones.. the ones that no one notices… the one that the world looks down upon.... all of that… can produce glory to God… that the menial mundane things we do is not meaningless, but it is tied to the big picture discussed earlier that as man created in the Image of Christ, we are partners in God’s purpose to save and bless the world

Numbers 1-4 census 603550+22300 8600 = 1-1.3% = people the number is kinda like us.. but it was the entire nation that was to be the nation of priests!

That means it is not just those who are called to do to full-time ministries… but all of you wherever you are, in whatever vocation… you are there not by and accident. God placed you to bless the world and further the salvation of people… What you do matters

Remember the story of the feeding? I believe the story blessed so many of us already. And the 5000 who were there and hear the stories… it was so massive that it was the only miracle recorded in 4 Gospels. And it all began with 5 breads and 2 fish. And perhaps a curious child… but it started also with probably a mother who you know.. Just faithfully packing lunch for their children… and those fishes came because a fisherman went out and catch it. Likewise with the farmers who grow the wheat… They all contribute this miracle actually. Could you go do this all without the child, the fish, the loave, the farmer, the fishermen, of course.. But the point is, their faithfulness in their vocation is used mightifully by God even as they don’t realize it.

Imagine if Christian men, what if we stopped watching porn just because we are made to be like Christ and I don’t think Christ watches porn. Do you think it will make a dent in human and sex trafficking?

Imagine if Christians are thoughtful of what they purchase. Maybe say reduce eating non-sustainable seafood… you know those cheap shrimps peeled and defined by child slaves and elderlies in Thailand whose fingers are totally messed because of being submerged in sea water for 15 hours a day. Can we give that up for the sake of those foreigners/strangers on the otherside of the world?

Imagine if Christians reduce our purchases of cheap electronics/clothing… you know maybe those rivers in India Pakistan China won’t be too contaminated… maybe the people using the water for living won’t have cancer

Imagine actually only buying things when we need them… maybe Goodwill don’t have to spend 1 million dollar to discard junks that we donate to them each year

Imagine if Christians truly care to those living in the margins of society, the homeless, the fatherless… ah but no… we are too worried about ourselves sometimes

Everything we do matters and can bring glory to God… so this means

I can tell myself that those 3AM diaper changes matter. That though she won’t remember it… I do it for the glory of God… Can I clean after the filth of my baby 7 times a day just like God cleanses my filth everytime I sin

Moms you tell yourself that you don’t sacrifice your career by giving 14-15-16 years your life for your children. Jesus said no greater love than this that someone would give her live for someone she loves. Your love is God’s consistent persistent grace for your children

Those of you who is not involved in any ministry but faithfully pray for our pastors and for this church… what you do matter for there is no greater power that we can exert other than prayer

I am sure I have been blessed by a Christian farmers whose mission is to be the best farmers he can and make the best produce for the glory of the Lord to bless who consumes it

I am sure I have been blessed by a Christian artist whose in a stroke of penmanship gracefulness brings to live some of my favorite verses, blessings me each time I see it

I could go on and on you get the idea...

You are created in the Image of Christ and you are placed where what you do, only you can do it, and you can do for the glory of God.

Closing

It’s been dense…

You and I are new creation in Christ. It is possible because Christ took the exile; the punishment for our sin and now are enable to answer our calling… and that is to live such that everything that we do represent Christ. Everything that we do bears His image, Everything that we do bears the mark of the love of Christ.

Some say be careful how we live for we may be the only Bible some people ever read… but I’d like to propose a slight change… since we are created in the Image of Christ, maybe it is more accurate to say… be careful how we live for we may be the only image of Christ some people ever see.

We may not even know how the smallest thing that we do contribute to God’s cosmic vision to redeem and bless people and creation… but again.. Figuring this out is not our calling. We are called simply to faithfully represent Him wherever He places us in whatever capacity He has graciously equipped us with. That may our live and our love, speaks of nothing else but the Gospel and the power of the Love of Christ.

Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for its purpose. The pacific ocean is 64 million square miles. If a jellyfish or a plankton who spends its entire short life just floating getting carried by the wind and the waves and Proverbs say it has a purpose for existing. I think it is safe to say that you, being created in the Image of Christ, along with the calling it entails do too.

Figuring out what it is is not always easy and it deserve its own separate discussion, but we have to start with realizing that being made in the Image of God, being God’s representative, everything that we do matter, and how do we do it matter.

Can we live the kind of life that the littlest things we do emanates the Gospel. Emanates the love of God and emanates the kind of live hat has been deeply touched by the love of God. Can we live the kind of life that speaks the Gospel without needing to say a word.

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The Big Picture of the Smallest Things

Review - the BIG PICTURE - this is not the big picture of my sermon.. but the BIG PICTURE of what the Bible says about our past, present and future. This is THE theme of the Bible

God created the world, God created man by God’s grace Image of God. was called to partner with God to take care of the world. Specifically to take care like God takes care of man. Thus we become His representative.

But then the fall

Out of the nations, God created the Israel nation because of his grace and mercy. God created the nation of Israel. Israel was called to partner with God to bless the nations and creation, to bring salvation to the nations; and nations back to God to worship. Israel has to do that by embodying the character of God to the nations. Living a life that is so different that nations come and seek God. They do that by knowing God’s heart through the Law

Likewise… For us, Christians, we are also called to partner with God to bless the nations and creation, to bring salvation to the peoples; and peoples back to God to worship, by living the kind of life that images God.

Our goal is not just to create converts… Christian disciples whose lives are so straggeringly different. Whose lives are a blessing for people and for creation. That it draws worship from people to God who loves us first. THIS IS THE BIG PICTURE OF THINGS....

If we look at the law... was very very practical and specific (thus we find it hard to understand) so constraining… so detailed… so fussy… you can’t do this.. you can’t do that… so nebulous...

If Paul was here, and we told him that he’d probably say something like… Oh a lot of law huh? You want a simpler one? How many would you like? What about… everything Everything you do… do it for the good of his neighbor, for the glory of God...

What Paul is saying is… our calling now has been expanded… it’s not just a set of laws that you can just follow… it is not everything… all that we do now cannot be separated from our calling.

We are created in the image of God means that our calling is to represent Him to the world, that in everything we do, we do it as if we do it unto the Lord with the character of the Lord

THIS IS SIGNIFICANT!!!!

This can be a rebuke: As evangelical we often live this dual life --- I serve God in church but at home or office or in private I will serve myself, my own desire, my own wants.. Paul is not suggesting

optional - that out of 100 things you do, you can do all for the Lord

suggestion - that out of 100 things you do, you should do all for the Lord

command - that out of 100 things you do, do all for the Lord

This can also be an encouragement: Because it means the most mundane thing that you do… it matters!!

We represent God not only when we serve or when spread the Gospel

But also be a witness at work… or at school

Some practical examples:

Amazon Purchases

Do our best to separate…

Wait a bit before we purchase those stuffs from Amazon. If you have to, do the one week all shipment

Or better yet, purchase less. My life would be better if I have this and that.. ask what are the things you could do without?

We often think that we could just donate our old stuffs to make space for our new stuffs.. Donate the soon-to-be-replaced stuffs to, you know, church, or salvation army or goodwill kinda make us feel better because we are not throwing away stuff but 1mil goodwill per year. And you know.. the stuffs that you don’t want anymore, yea maybe others can’t use it either

Not just for the planet… the cost of our desire for cheap stuffs… there is human cost to our lifestyle on the other side of planet (India, Pakistan, wherever we can find cheap labor or place we can dump or plastic trash)

Shrimp Purchases

Slave labors

Mothers

With the feminist movement moms are disparaged…

But moms are giving their lives every day for their children.. Sacrificing so much

Jesus says no greater love than this than someone who lays down her life for someone else

Fathers

Changing diaper 3AM… How can that be God glorifying? When our children see us.. and we tell them that God is the Father they are not surprised

Every means every

So your choice of purchases, your choice of words, your choice of friends, your choice of entertainments, your choice of pastime… does it reflect your calling as someone who is made in the Image of God? When God sees you even when nobody does… do you think God will say.. he/she truly reflects my heart.

Exile and The Third Creation Story

Lego incorrectly made… I think anyone in their right mind would say this is not a good representative.. This does not constitute being made in the image of Japan

You and I are made in the Image of God. But we all fail. Adam failed. Israel failed.. When we say sin is missing the mark, what is that mark? That mark is the Image of God.. again.. calling and character… what is the consequence? The consequence is fatal...

Adam - exile from Eden to earth; Israel - exile from Canaan to Babylon; What about us?

This is not that God being You gotta be like this or else…!

The Bible doesn’t give an option… You either be like God… or you’d be something else. there is no neutrality to it.

If you be more like Him, You can fulfill your calling to bless and bring salvation to the people

If you be more like something else, the Bible has shown that.. and we just need to see our world, really… we become abusive and destructive. You are either with Him or against Him… and only one path leads to the redemption of this world

So the punishment is justified… But then

So in this image… you have this image of what you ought to be.. this is of immense value - this gives you worth that I mentioned last time cannot be taken away.. you don’t lose this when you sin… in fact, however, this acts to show how far away we have gone… and deserving of an exile

But then if this is destroyed, what will remain to be the Image of God?

That’s when, folks, Christ, who is THE image of God comes into the picture

Being THE image of God he took the exile that was supposed to be for us...

Jesus, who fulfills the law, while the Israelite looked to the law to know God’s heart.. Jesus, who is the essence of the law… who is able to love God and love people perfectly… He alone is the image of who God is.. Jesus said if you have seen me you have seen the Father. While they had the Law to know God’s heart and character - we have the one who fulfills the law and that is Jesus

But it is doesn’t end right there…

Because as Jesus died for us.. He asked us to also crucify our old selves, so as He came back to life we can be newborn

It is this act of re-creation of humanity - appropriate being that it was Christ - the Word who was in the beginning and create mankind. That it is appropriate that he is the one who re-create us…

It is in this new re-creation.. you and I as believers of Christ, that we are given a new heart. And that now as Christ in us, who Himself is the perfect Image of God, we can grow; He enabled us, to be in a trajectory to become more and more like the Image of God we were made to be.

Grace throughout

I ended last sermon with stating that it began and end with grace

We were created with inherent worth - that was nothing but grace. \

We also see this in the creation of Israel - the constant reminder that it was God who brought them out of slavery, it was grace alone

We also see this in our life today. We are called to be a blessing to the nation in all that we do through us representing Him, His character, and His heart, again in all that we do… but we can do this first, and only because of grace.

The point of discipleship is that we continue to produce disciples that make real difference in the world by being in the world but not of the world. That live lives so different that people come and seek and give glory to God

See if we spread the Gospel and have people pray the sinners’ prayer but then all these so called “Christians” continue on living not becoming character of God but living in their own way… then that’s kind useless.. That is not the sign of true faith

SHARING the Gospel is but one of the many ways to do it. But the Gospel is a mean to the end that is God’s glory.

Meaning in the mundane.. those who are doing live.. are also called to be priests… they are to live life where they are placed

Jesus fulfills the law in the sense that he is the complete picture of the law. If someone is to love God completely, perfectly, and love people completely, perfectly it would be Jesus

Numbers 1-4 census 603550+22300 8600 = 1-1.3% = people the number is kinda like us.. but it was the entire nation that was to be the nation of priests!

1 Corinthians 10:24-31 (“Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.... So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.)

Likewise

We are to live life where we are placed and live life in such a way such a dramatic counter-cultural way that when people see you they want to see what kind of God you worship. They want to tag along too.

Do you live that kind of life?

The BIG PICTURE OF THE SMALL THINGS.

God create everything good… sin though messed it up really good. Not just humanity, but the earth itself. When Adam Eve sinned… Adam and Eve were cursed, but the land was also cursed… people and creation were fallen. So the Bible tells a story of God who does not give up on creation though sin...

You may not be living

Specificity of the torah = NT malahan everything - connect with Big picture.... changing diapers at 3AM… The things that nobody ever sees.. God honors that… Your 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish

If you are not like Him, you are like something else...

We who are being made in the Image of God - Image of God in us is so valuable… that also tells us.. that the Image of God is the only thing that is enough to cover our sin..

Mark 12:30-31 And 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.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Matthew 25:35 I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

Matthew 25:40 Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren you did it to me.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7,Matthew 22:37-40,Mark 12:30-31,Luke 10:27

https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-smallest-tribe-of-Israel

Genesis 28:13-14

Exodus 20:2; Leviticus 20:7; Leviticus 20:26; Leviticus 21:8; Exodus 19:6;

Zechariah 8:20-23

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

Genesis 26:4 I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed

Songs taken from the Psalms: for Israel

Psalm 96:3; Psalm 57:9; Psalm 105:1-2; Psalm 98:1-3; Isaiah 42:6

Isaiah 49:6 that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth

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Recap: Creation calling vocation:

Sin does not define who you are sin prevents you from being or becoming who you are.

According to His Image

You shall be holy for I am holy

You shall be perfect for your Father in heaven is perfect

Grace everywhere

Sanctuary the only spicific place on earth said to be filled up with the glory of God’s presence Exodus 40:34-35

Made in His image:

Ikon; Tselem: Representative

What does this mean:

We are to represent God’s cause

We are to bring people to God’s presence

We are to embody God’s character

Draw people to God

Image bearer

Blueprint

https://tifwe.org/calling-the-israelites-and-the-image-of-god/

Jesus the way. How can we point to the way if The Way is not in us??

Past - Present - Future

Identity - Vocation - Destiny

Adam - Israelites/Christians- Christ-likeness

Tselem and eikon as representative

we may say that we are the only Bible.. but it is scarier than that.. we may be the only Jesus they will ever see

become a holistic Christian. Buy Amazon together. Shrimp.. not about salvation... You can glorify the Lord through this; In all of this you remind yourself that I do this to love what God has graciously given to us

2 Corinth 3:18

God says we… because trinity.... The trinity works in creation.. re-creation in Christ the new creation. only in him who created us in the beginning, only fitting, only possible that he who created us, recreate us

being in the likeness of image of God is a source of great dignity for man. Being in the likeness of image of man is a source of great humility for Jesus

all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Christ); the fullness of the glory of God = the image of God

human out of creation; Abraham among the nations; Israel among the nations; Christians… by divine grace

In His Image: Our Calling and Character

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