Man, The Image of God #3:The Secret to the Masterpiece

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, in our likeness...” (Gen. 1:26).

Our world is filled with millions of different types of creatures, yet only one is said to be made “in the image of God.” The image of God makes us very special in comparison with the rest of creation. This is not about mankind looking at themselves as superior, rather it is our Creator who has placed this honor on us, and as we will see in a future article, we have a great purpose and responsibilities that go along with the honor that God gives to us.

In the meantime, let’s ponder the question: what does the image of God refer to? Wayne Grudem said, “The fact that man is in the image of God means that man is like God in the following ways: intellectual ability, moral purity, spiritual nature, dominion over the earth, creativity, ability to make ethic choices, and immortality” (Systematic Theology, p. 443). 

Resemblances[i]	God	Man
1.  Spiritual nature	John 4:24	1 Thess. 5:23
2.  Moral nature (conscience)	Ex. 34:6-7	Eccl. 7:29; Gen. 1:27, 31
3.   Eternal existence	Ps. 90:1-2	Dan. 12:2; Matt. 25:46
4.   Ability to reason	Ps. 104:2-4; Rom. 16:27	Pro. 14:22; Mark 2:6, 8
5.   Rule over the earth	Ps. 24:1-2; 50:12	Gen. 1:26; Heb. 2:7-8
6.   Freedom of choice	Ps. 115:3; 135:6	Ps. 119:30; Pro. 1:29
7.   Relationship capacity	Ex. 19:4-6; Mal. 3:17	Ps. 133:1; 1 John 1:7

From these lists, let’s consider 3 in more detail. First, morally, we are made in God’s image. “God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices” (Ecc.7:29). It is very rare to find even the worst of criminals who will not agree that we have a moral nature. If you asked a murder if it is alright to kill a defenseless baby, most of them would state that it is wrong, even if they have done it.  This is actually proof of God’s existence for He has given us a conscience to know right and wrong.

Second, mentally, we are made in God’s image. We have the ability to reason, think logically, and make freewill choices. And as Enrique pointed out, we recognize and search for wisdom.  Grudem said, “Animals sometimes exhibit remarkable behavior in solving mazes or working out problems in the physical world, but they certainly do not engage in abstract reasoning—there is no such thing as the ‘history of canine philosophy,’ for example, nor have any animals since creation developed at all in their understanding of ethical problems or use of philosophical concepts… Even in developing physical and technical skills we are far different from animals… We continue to develop greater skill and complexity in technology, agriculture, science, and in nearly every field of endeavor” (p. 446).

Lastly, and most significantly, we are similar to God spiritually.  God is defined as a spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). “Because man is spirit, he can have fellowship with God and love Him. Herein lies our true worth. We are valuable to God and others. God loves men and women far beyond His love for animals, plants or inanimate matter. Moreover, He feels for men and women, identifies with them in Christ, grieves for them and intervenes in history to make each of us into all He has determined we should be” (Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith, p. 153).

In His service,

     Matt

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[i] Wilbur Fields, Old Testament History: An Overview of Sacred History & Truth (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing, 2005), 27.

Elder’s Corner: True Wisdom

Today, I would like to share with you some thoughts about Wisdom. As a Spanish teacher, I usually start a class by saying: Buenos dias (Good morning), or Buenas tardes (Good afternoon), or Buenas noches (Good evening)! Then I refer to the date. In those two simple statements, there is a lot of information: days of the week, months of the year, and numbers just from an introduction.

Today, thanks to God, we’re living another day of the week and another month of the year. Like I said in the beginning, this devotional is about wisdom. David, Solomon, Job and many books of the Bible extensively mention this topic. And it is something that every person believes that they have. Yet it is something that all can benefit from having more of.  But, at the same time, wisdom is not the same as information.

In Job 28:12, Job asked, “Where can wisdom be found?” In verse 13 he answered himself, “Because man doesn’t know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.” To me this means that true wisdom is very scarce among men, back then and now.

In verses 1-11, Job says that man knows where to find precious metals and how to produce bread from the earth.  But where is the place where wisdom can be found or where does it come from? Verse 14 says, “The deep and ocean say it’s not in me.” Humans with our knowledge, technology and understanding have been able to obtain many things in many areas. Mining the very depth of the oceans and earth, we have found all kinds of products such as gold, diamonds, and oil. Lately, we have studied what happens in other planets and already we have landed on the moon many times. We “know how” to do many things because God gave us knowledge.

Verses 26-28 say God knows what wisdom is and used wisdom when He created the earth.  In other word He possesses, He uses, He is wisdom! God also invites man to have wisdom (Pro. 4:7-8)! We think that being savvy is God’s wisdom, but they are not the same.

From the beginning, man has tried to get wisdom but has failed. Genesis 3:6 says that Adam and Eve try to find it. Did they?   One thing they did, and we through them, find for sure, was many problems with wisdom, because they followed Satan’s advice about how to find it. By disobeying God, instead they found pain and death.

We think that being savvy is wisdom, but it is not. True wisdom is to fear, love and respect God (Job 28:28). This wisdom is more precious than the finest jewels and more valuable than any amount of money (Job 28:17). We all need to know that a wise person according to God is one who knows what wisdom is, finds wisdom, practices it, and keeps it!

—Enrique

Man, The Image of God #2: Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:13-14).

 You are not an accident. Every person is here by design. As Psalm 139:14 states, we are fearfully made. This points to how God carefully thought about how you and I would be made. And as Rick Warren said, “God never does anything accidentally, and He never makes mistakes. He has a reason for everything He creates. Every plant and every animal was planned by God, and every person was designed with a purpose in mind” (The Purpose Driven Life, p. 24). Ephesians 1:4 in the Message Bible says, “Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love.”

One writer summarized how we are fearfully made in the following way. “You are who you are for a reason. You’re part of an intricate plan. You’re a precious and perfectly unique design, called God’s special woman or man. You look like you look for a reason. Our God made no mistake. He knit you together within the womb, you’re just what He wanted to make. The parents you had were the ones He chose, and no matter how you may feel, they were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind, and they bear the Master’s seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy. And God wept that it hurt you so; but it was allowed to shape your heart so that into His likeness you’d grow. You are who you are for a reason, you’ve been formed by the Master’s rod. You are who you are, beloved, because there is a God!” (Russell Kelfer, as quoted in The Purpose Driven Life, p. 25)

Besides being fearfully made, Psalm 139:14 also teaches that we are wonderfully made.  Ponder for a moment just how wonderfully made the human body is. A person’s ears hear between 300,000 and 400,000 different tones and our eyes can distinguish between 8 million different colors. Without a doubt, the human body is the most complex information processing system in existence. Consider the human body which is composed of more than 100 trillion cells. “Think of the skin. While water penetrates the skin outwardly, it cannot penetrate inwardly. Aren’t you glad about that? Otherwise, you would have blown up and exploded in the shower this morning!

Think of the heart. Weighing less than a pound. It’s a real work horse. On the average, it pumps 100,000 times every day, circulating 2,000 gallons through 60,000 miles of arteries, capillaries and veins” (Leroy Redding, God Made Us).

We could go on and on yet we would barely scratch the surface of how wonderfully created we are! Therefore, I encourage you to remind yourself of just how fearfully and wonderfully made you are!

In His service,

     Matt

Elder’s Corner: Throw in the towel–or take up the towel

One of my favorite boxer quotes is the response given to his trainers when they said to the fighter your opponent isn't laying a hand on you. He replied “you better keep an eye on the referee then, because someone is beating the heck out of me.”  Sometimes I feel that way about the world and how it sometimes gets the best of me.  The discouragement comes when I see people being mean to each other, calling others names, cheating, lying, stealing from others, etc.  They are not treating others the way they would want to be treated (Matt. 7:13). 

There is also the threat from within to quit caring about people and live only for oneself (the humanistic philosophy of today—the devil's lie).  Sometimes I don't feel like I'm making a difference (usually when I let the ideas of the world creep into my thinking).  Romans 1:21 says “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”  So I was folding towels this morning after the dryer stopped and decided to give thanks to God for the little jobs He gives us to do.  It was remarkable how my attitude changed. 

I thought about serving others and how Jesus took up the towel to serve mentioned in John 13:4.  I again felt a purpose in my life even in serving in the smallest of ways.  Doing laundry is a way I can serve my wife Judy and also serve God.  God gave us each talents to use for Him.  It doesn't matter what the talent is –but that you are willing to use it for Him.  I'm feeling much more fulfilled now. 

Which brings me to my other favorite boxer quote “The only thing you have to do is get up one more time than your opponent.” So keep getting up when the world knocks you down.  Then we can say with Paul “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall award to me on that day; and not to me only but also to all those who love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7-8).

—Alan

Worldview #3: A Self-Creating Universe?

It is a question that all people wrestle with at some point in their lives: Where did the universe come from? There are two dominant views: The first is what is taught as fact within our public schools, universities, and society in general. This view holds that the universe is all that exists. Therefore, its creation must be the result of a natural event. But what was the natural event that caused the creation of the universe from this viewpoint?

Stephen Hawking, a man who is considered to be a leading cosmologist explained, “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing” (The Grand Design).  Say what, the universe created itself!?

Hawking’s view is widely accepted as fact. However, there are two major issues with his theory. The first argument pertains to philosophy. Hawking commits a violation of logic known as circular reasoning. Basically what he is saying is that the universe exists because the universe needed to exist. And because it needed to exist it therefore created itself. However, all that he has done is restated his original claim and offers that as an explanation for how and why it was created. As John Lennox said, “Nonsense remains nonsense, even when spoken by famous scientists.”

Second, science itself disproves what Hawking’s theory. Gravity does not have an equal amount of “negative” energy to perfectly balance all other “positive” energies (J. Gribbin, Are We Living in a Designer Universe?). Yet even if it did, it does not answer the question of where it came from and who or what caused it to supposedly create the universe. As one writer stated, “Did the oak tree come from an acorn? No, Hawking would say--it was just the result of "spontaneous creation" and there it is. Such reasoning makes no sense” (Brian Thomas, http://www.icr.org/article/hawking-says-universe-created-itself/).

On the other hand, a second view is that Someone who was not created caused the creation. Logic tells us that if there is a building, there must be a builder. If there is a watch, there must be a watchmaker. Likewise, if there is a creation, there must be a creator. Furthermore, science supports this view. “In every case where something has actually been made, that which caused it existed prior to it” (N. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, p. 120).

Hawking's theory may be entertaining to consider, yet philosophically and scientifically absurd! On the other hand, scientist Sir Isaac Newton offers a more reasonable and accurate assessment of the universe's origins: “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being” (The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy).

In His service,

            Matt