WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.400 Okay, we're going to look at another passage as well briefly and we're going to base our 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:11.300 thoughts on this passage from Genesis chapter 1, a very well-known passage to us. Thomas 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:16.160 mentioned the significance of some chapters, the top 10 chapters in the Old Testament this 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:22.879 morning, this is one of them. Genesis 1 and we're just going to read verses 26 to 28 of 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:30.799 Genesis 1. Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have 00:00:30.799 --> 00:00:36.560 dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:43.359 over all the earth and over every other creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:50.000 man in his own image and the image of God he created a male and female, he created them. God 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:56.359 blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and 00:00:56.359 --> 00:01:01.640 have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:10.039 thing that moves on the earth. Okay, so we're beginning, as Thomas mentioned this morning, 00:01:10.039 --> 00:01:15.960 we're giving a theme this evening on the image of God and how that impacts on the way we think. 00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:24.359 As we look for it to help our understanding of God's word and what it says about himself and 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:30.719 ourselves, how it affects your worldview and mine as Christians, we have a worldview and we 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:36.479 want it to be molded and based on our understanding of God and our understanding of Christ and of 00:01:36.479 --> 00:01:41.919 his place. But also, I hope it will help us understand the worldview of other people who are 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:47.359 not Christians and how we respond to them, so how you respond to them in your day life and how I 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:54.240 respond to them. And I guarantee that as we are being transformed by the Spirit, we will find our 00:01:54.240 --> 00:02:04.560 assumptions being challenged every day and that we will be moved to be transformed by him. So we're 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:10.000 going to look at the image of God. It's going to be our kind of our foundation, our base point of 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:16.960 thinking and how it helps us to think about some of the hot topics that we find ourselves faced with 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:23.039 today. So we want to be theological, but we also want to be practical. So we want to bring our 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:30.560 knowledge of God into our everyday lives. So we hope, I've given you a fairly basic level, 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:36.800 fairly shallow level, but nonetheless, I hope it will challenge you to think a little bit. We're 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:41.439 going to touch on things like human dignity and respect and equality and family and community 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:47.360 and sex and gender and the arts and social media and individual rights and some of these issues. 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:53.760 And then we'll finish off with a question time at the end of the six or seven weeks. So today's 00:02:53.760 --> 00:03:03.200 really just this evening, just an introduction. And it's an introduction into us being made in the 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:08.719 image of God and then being renewed in the image of God as Christians. And we saw that in the verses 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:13.280 we read in Genesis that man and woman are made in the image of God. It's a huge subject. It's one 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:18.000 we've looked at quite a lot in different ways in the church, but it's going to be foundational for 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:22.879 this series. And for what we're thinking about, I hope we'll come back to each week. And the theme 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:28.719 has been no ordinary people. That's the theme. Now that's taken from C.S. Lewis, really. And there's 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:34.000 a great quote that I want to begin with. I'm sure you know it. I just think it's a marvelous quote. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:40.639 There are no ordinary people. You've never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:47.759 civilizations, these are mortal. And their life is to ours as the life of a nat. But it is to 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:54.879 immortals whom we joke with, we work with, we marry, we snub, we exploit. Immortal horrors 00:03:54.879 --> 00:04:02.400 or everlasting splendors. This doesn't mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:07.919 But our merriment must be of that kind. And it is, in fact, the merriest kind, 00:04:08.799 --> 00:04:14.879 which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously. No flippancy, 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:23.360 no superiority, no presumption. And really, that's what C.S. Lewis is trying to speak about. He's 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:29.199 trying to remind us that every day, every moment of day when we're with people, we're with people 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:36.560 who are made in the image of God. And that should be hugely significant for the way we treat them 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:44.240 in our lives. Now there's been theological reams written about the image of God, the image and 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:51.360 likeness of what it means for human beings to be in the image of God, what constitutes it in humans, 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:58.800 and how it defines us as being different from the rest of creation. And we're only going to touch 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:05.840 on one or two introductory thoughts of that this evening. But the reality is we're not simply human 00:05:05.840 --> 00:05:14.560 apes. And that immediately sets us apart from the foundational philosophical thinking of the world 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:22.160 in which we live. It sets us at odds with secular understanding of humanity. However, what I want 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:30.399 us also to do is to find common ground in our dealings with people, in our interactions with 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:38.560 people, rather than simply blasting down on the presuppositions or the thinkings that people have, 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:44.800 because there is common ground, and it's important common ground. Even if it's shadowy, even if it's 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:52.639 broken, it's important that we connect with people and point them to the God that we believe they 00:05:52.639 --> 00:06:02.639 are accountable to. So to be made in the image of God, what is it? Well, I think part of it is it 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:09.360 means to know God and to be known. In other words, I think communication with God is an important part 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:15.439 of being made in God's image. Do you notice in verse, you may or may not have noticed in verse 28, 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:23.279 and God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply. Now, at no other point in 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:31.120 creation does God speak to that creation personally. Everything else, He just speaks. It just says He 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:40.480 spoke to the animals. He spoke to the sun and the moon, and He declared, but it says specifically to 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:48.720 humanity, He spoke to them. And there's a gentle recognition there that is outplayed throughout 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:56.959 the chapter that the relationship between man, kind and God is one of, is one of relationship of 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:06.879 communication of love, of belonging, and indeed of worship, that created with the Creator. So we 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:13.199 were created in His image to be like Him and to communicate with Him because there was a 00:07:14.479 --> 00:07:23.599 closeness because of the image. But I also think it also means to be, to image God, not only in 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:30.480 terms of relating to Him in a relationship of love different from the animals, but also to be like 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:39.040 Him in a way that's different. Mankind, man and woman together in His image, the centrality of 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:48.879 community as reflecting His image of love expressed between man and woman, reflecting His image, a 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:59.040 diversity and yet a commonality between the sexes, and a righteousness in that community of relationship 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:06.159 in perfection, reflecting God the Father and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and Trinity. 00:08:06.159 --> 00:08:11.279 It's an interesting verse in Genesis 5.3. I haven't asked the guys at the back, but maybe you can put 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:17.680 up the slides. Genesis 5.3 is very interesting. When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:24.240 his own image, in his own, sorry, in his likeness, in his own image and he named him Seth. There's 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:30.639 that amazing simple link between these two words. It's the same two words that are used in Genesis 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:36.960 1. And I think God is just reminding us that there's a family likeness, not just in looks, 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:42.000 but in character as there would be with Seth and his dad. And there's that sense in which, 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:49.759 you know, everyone writes tremendously deep and technical and theological things of what it means 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:56.960 to be made in God's image. But in some ways, it's simply that divine imprint, that fatherly 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:03.519 imprint, like Father, like Son, that we are like God because He's our heavenly Father. There's a 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:10.000 divine imprint on us, whether it be our morality, our knowledge of good and evil, our self-consciousness, 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:17.200 our creative genius, inventiveness, progress, development, whatever it happens to be that 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:26.720 sets us apart. It's to be like God. So it's that recognition of knowing God and being known of God, 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:35.440 to be like God, but also to serve God. Being in the image of God was to be ambassadors for God 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:42.000 and serve Him as regents, as stewards of the world. You know, He says that in these verses, 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:47.680 you know, be fruitful and fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, 00:09:47.680 --> 00:09:50.640 over the birds of the heavens, over every living thing that moves in the earth. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:59.120 It was this reflection of being vice rulers, as it were of the universe. God gave us that authority 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:07.039 over creation to love and protect it in the same way that He loved and protected humanity. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:15.200 We're to care for the world and the environment and the animal world, inhabit and develop and create 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:22.399 cities and create communities, but do it in a way that is sympathetic with the world that He has 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:29.519 given us with love and responsibility. That is the image, a quick rundown potentially of the image 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:40.079 of God that we were created to reflect in our lives. Now we know that humanity's choice from the 00:10:40.079 --> 00:10:46.639 very beginning brutally disfigured that image. We know that, don't we? That's the tragedy of sin 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:56.000 entering the world, is that that image was horribly distorted. So as humanity and we as part of 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:06.159 humanity have chosen to replace God, to take God out of the picture and undergo a rebrand of who 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:12.799 we are and what we are. Out with the old, in with the new. God is left out of the picture. 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:20.639 Instead of being image bearers, we become image makers. Instead of being those who reflect God 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:30.000 in our lives, humanity deposes God from our lives. Rather than accepting that we are created 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:38.399 and created in His image, we create our own gods and we create our own image. We reimagine ourselves. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:43.439 Isn't that what society is so often doing? Reimagining what it means to be human. We see it 00:11:43.439 --> 00:11:53.120 all the time just now. And we refocus our worship on self-made images rather than on the living God 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:59.519 idols. And very often that same word for image that's used in Genesis 1 is used throughout 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:06.559 the Old Testament, not exclusively, but often of idols. So other images that are to replace God. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:12.399 And often we do that with ourselves at the very center, rather than God at the center. And that 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:21.839 is the deception and that is the brutality and that is the lie of sin that has broken God's image. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:31.039 And the outworking of that is manyfold. Obviously we recognize that, but it's 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:42.799 maybe two important things, pride and shame. Turning our backs on God and being image bearers 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:50.799 of God has introduced pride and shame. Sin makes us a caricature of what we should be. 00:12:52.319 --> 00:13:00.480 You know, the powers of hell laugh and mock at what they see as we, a caricature of what we ought to 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:08.480 be. We become independent of God and therefore pick and choose our morality. We enjoy God's gifts 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:15.120 and His mercy on humanity, but we despise His lordship. Humanity does. 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:25.279 Pride makes us take credit for who we are, for the gifts that we receive, for the people that we are, 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:34.159 and we become selfish and independent because of that. And yet along with that pride in the human 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:45.839 condition is an inescapable expression of shame and guilt and a wrong fear of God that we, that 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:56.080 humanity deep down knows exists. And yet within that pride and shame and humanity, we remind 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:05.600 ourselves that there is great, there's a great marvel in being a human being. And every individual 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:13.840 you come across in your life, and I come across in mine, is a wonder. And we should remember that 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:24.800 because the image of God, however tainted, remains and is there and should never leave us and should 00:14:24.800 --> 00:14:32.480 never, we should always remember it in our dealings with other people. So there's this, 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:38.320 there's this individual sense in which pride and shame come into our experience, yet we are to value 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:44.000 every single individual. We'll look at one or two texts about that in a wee while. But also 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:51.280 sin is brought in the disfigurement of community. We recognize that if part of being God's image 00:14:51.280 --> 00:14:59.920 is being united in community. So the destruction of that image through sin is the individualization 00:14:59.920 --> 00:15:06.480 of society, where we replace God and communicate with our own idols and relationships change. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:13.200 So relationships become primarily transactional. What can I get from them? What can I get from 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:21.600 somebody else? Often is the case where jealousy comes to reside in relationships, where there's 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:26.720 covetousness, where we guard our love and keep it from some and give it to others, where there's 00:15:27.680 --> 00:15:36.080 morality is a battleground for who decides what is right, where there's tension between the sexes 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:40.800 we see that, don't we right from the very beginning, it really in Genesis chapter 3, 00:15:40.800 --> 00:15:46.320 we recognize it's part of the curse of the fall and you know your desire will be for your husband 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:51.120 and he shall rule over you with all the complexity of what these verses mean, but it brings tension 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:58.720 between men and women, between husband and wife, that spills over obviously into 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:08.160 fratricidal in the next chapter with the death, with the first murder and we see that the shedding 00:16:08.160 --> 00:16:17.360 of blood becomes something that marks the awfulness of the human condition and Genesis 9 verses 5 and 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:26.879 6, God recognizes that and he recognizes it as a break against the image of God in humanity. 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:31.200 Whoever sheds human blood by human shall their blood be shed for and the image of God, God is 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:38.639 made, this is after the fall and he's, God is appealing to the image of God in humanity to 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:51.039 bring out the awfulness of murder and so we recognize that the image of God remains however 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:57.919 broken in humanity and suffering enters the equation and the value we put on other people 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:07.440 changes so that it's often based on wealth and power on race on beauty on talent on politics on 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:18.480 sexuality and life becomes cheaper because of that both inside the womb and out of the womb, 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:26.160 there's division and disrespect in community because the image of God is broken and because 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:34.720 people no longer value one another on that basis, the basis on which we value people changes so 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:42.960 that it becomes easier for us to devalue them. Our community today is often a pale reflection 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:51.680 of the original image of God however it's disfigured and not destroyed so you should and I should 00:17:52.400 --> 00:18:01.279 in God's mercy applaud and highlight what is good community in the society that we see around us 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:10.240 and enable that to point people to a better community that there is in Christ and we should 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:17.519 reflect that better community as a transformed people as a church of God. You shouldn't be afraid 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:25.279 to participate in community as is seen in this world even though it's shadowy even though the 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:32.240 motive for it is not the right motive and it's not to glorify God if it is in a secular environment, 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:38.720 you shouldn't be afraid to participate or to value it or to be engaged in it. You know I really like 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:45.360 what the Christians in sport kind of ideal is that you don't set up lots of Christian football 00:18:45.360 --> 00:18:51.039 teams or Christian basketball teams but you go as a Christian into a secular basketball team or a 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:56.720 secular football team or whatever sport it is or whatever community is bowling or if it's 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:02.720 knitting or flower arrangement, whatever it might be and you engage in that community because there's 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:10.000 a reflection of God's image there in community. Now it's imperfect and we recognize that but we 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:16.720 applaud what reflects the image even though that image is tainted whether it's individually or whether 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:25.600 it's in community and the same goes for the environment. It's clearly a battleground we know 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:35.679 from part of what God says in judgment on the fall of man in verse 17 he says because if you've 00:19:35.679 --> 00:19:43.199 done this cursed are you oh sorry that's the wrong verse. Cursed is the ground because of you and 00:19:43.199 --> 00:19:46.879 pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life thorns and thistles it shall bring forth you and 00:19:46.879 --> 00:19:52.959 you shall eat of the plants of the field. There's this sense of which what was once in unity and 00:19:52.960 --> 00:20:00.400 where humanity was the vice regents of this universe to care and to look after that has changed 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:06.960 and humanity's lost sight of that loving stewardship and greed and self-interest have taken over 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:14.799 whether that's in the creative world or the animal kingdom. The environment's often not seen as a gift 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:26.079 but something to use and abuse to satisfy humanity's greed. It's there randomly, it's there by cosmic 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:36.559 chance and we can just use that but there's also a reflection of our stewardship in much of what's 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:44.720 happening to protect the environment and we stand against the miserable inequality, the idolatry of 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:52.480 profit at all costs and the materialistic drive that will destroy the planet, the insatiable 00:20:52.480 --> 00:21:00.319 appetite of self-interest that crush the cries of sustainability. Now we reject 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:09.519 the fact that the environment and how or we reject the idea that we can be the saviours of the 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:16.799 environment which is much of the philosophy of environmentalism that we're not the saviours 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:25.519 of our planet, the planet is God's creation. He alone can save it and can save us and can restore 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:33.279 the image of God in it and through it. But we can say to Greteth Thunberg into David Attenborough, 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:39.839 you know, we stand with you here. You know, stewardship's God's idea, it's not yours. 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:48.960 Why wouldn't you say that because that might seem a bit smart-alike. But you know, we can't simply 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:58.480 just ignore this important reality of being steward-bearers, dealing with the consequences of 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:06.559 greed and sin and rebellion against God as it reveals itself in the destruction of God's glorious 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:13.839 creation. Too often I think the churches and Christians have naysayed it or dismissed it as 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:21.120 insignificant or unimportant and that needs to change if we understand theology, if we understand 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:29.039 God's word and if we understand who we are made in God's image. Because our image is being restored, 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:36.159 we recognize that. Romans 8 verse 29 tells us that those who God foreknew he also predestined to be 00:22:36.159 --> 00:22:40.879 conformed to the image of his son so that he might be first born with many brothers and sisters. 00:22:40.879 --> 00:22:47.679 Then Colossians 3-10 which says, don't lie to each other since you've taken off your old self with 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:51.840 this practice and we put on the new self which is being created and the knowledge and the image of 00:22:51.840 --> 00:22:58.400 its creator and it's the whole reality that in Christ we are being renewed in God's image. 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:06.960 And our attitude to the environment, to God's world and to ourselves and to others is influenced by 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:12.960 that surely because all of it is a recreation in God's image. We're not to be thoughtless, 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:21.360 we're to be intentional stewards of all that God gifts us with ourselves. We're to remember as if 00:23:21.360 --> 00:23:28.160 you're a Christian this evening that you're being recreated because he's redeemed you and loves you 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:36.000 and loves me and that means pride and shame have been dealt with by Christ and that we 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:41.600 shouldn't be proud Christians nor should we think we're worthless people as Christians. We're not 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:48.240 the center of the universe but we're image bearers and we have great dignity and we're 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:54.719 recreated in that ambassadorial role and we're empowered to be like Jesus to display the fruits 00:23:54.719 --> 00:24:00.319 of the Spirit we were praying about earlier. And just to finish with this emphasis on others, 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:09.200 not just others in the church but also particularly can I say others outside of the church. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:22.240 Recognize that we share a commonality with them in being image bearers, great old Scottish phrase 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:30.319 we're all Jock Tamsen's bearers but there's a lot of theology in that. But we will challenge the 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:37.839 foundations that separate us from them in their understanding of what it means to be made or 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:42.000 they wouldn't attribute it to be made in God's image but some of the commonalities that we share. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:49.440 But it means two very important things in terms of recognizing that we are all, 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:55.200 there's a commonality even though we're being renewed and we recognize what's gone wrong. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:25:04.480 The first is equality. Galatians 3 28 is that great reminder to us of what is happening in 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:09.039 Christ. There's neither dune or gentiles, slave nor free, there's neither male nor female for you, 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:16.640 you're all one in Jesus Christ. So it's policy and there's a reversal of inequality that has come 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:24.400 about because of sin and there's a reminder that we are all image bearers of God and in Christ 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:31.520 that is revealing itself first and foremost in the Christian community but also in the way we 00:25:31.520 --> 00:25:38.080 recognize others. So it's a reversal of the inequality in gender, in race, in class, 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:46.160 intelligence and of measuring someone, someone's worth by these external values and we do it all 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:51.519 the time and we do it in the church and we do it in the world in which we live. There's no place 00:25:53.040 --> 00:26:01.519 in the transformation of our image bearing through Christ for being phobic, for being sexist, 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:09.200 for being racist, for being a snob, for being an inverted snob, for being an intellectual snob, 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:14.800 for being classist, for finding your identity in any of these things. You should never come 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:18.799 into God's house and say, I'm different from somebody else because I have a university 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:23.279 education, they don't or I come from this part of town, they don't. I went to that school, 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:27.759 let's go, we know that happens then but all the time but that's not how it's to be in the Christian 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:36.399 community, nor is it to be in how we consider others. Yes, we recognize there's a difference in roles 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:50.480 in life that God gives but we never suppress or disdain or look down on others. We believe in equality 00:26:51.840 --> 00:27:00.240 and we need to act it out in our lives and agree with those who speak about equality, 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:10.880 even if the definitions are different, we agree that at a basic level, equality is a 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:20.799 Christian principle. The church has no place to be imaging the world in its views of others and 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:30.720 an inequitable vision of one another. There's a recapturing of something radical and revolutionary 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:38.240 in the message of redemption and we mustn't just leave it in the kind of vague spiritual realm that 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:43.519 doesn't affect our day-to-day living. It must be something that comes to the core of our being, 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:51.119 says, I need to think of and treat others differently because my sinful heart chooses often 00:27:51.839 --> 00:28:00.000 to justify inequality because it means I'm better than others, even if we think we are better 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:08.079 because of grace. So inequality is one very powerful outworking of understanding the image of God 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:16.240 and so also therefore as it's connected, cousin respect. James 3 verse 9 which was our text, 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:25.039 was one of our texts, one of our readings earlier on picks that out James 3 and verse 9 it says, 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:32.159 with, we're talking about the tongue, the great dangerous weapon, whether we bless our Lord and 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:39.120 Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. So you know James there 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:49.519 pulls out this image of God theology to say we need to respect other people and then also from 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:57.440 1 Peter 2 verse 17, show proper respect to everyone, love the family brewers, fear God, honor the 00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:08.559 emperor. That recognition of respect that C.S. Lewis says no other person is ordinary. Everyone 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:18.640 remains an image bearer and are worthy of our respect in life. Think of how easy it is for me, 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:24.559 I think of how easy it is for me and maybe it is easy for you to disrespect people. 00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:30.960 Whether it's the way we judge them, we think about them or as James challenges the way we speak 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:38.399 about them, it's easy to disrespect people and reject them because we recoil maybe from their 00:29:38.399 --> 00:29:46.000 rejection of God and the mess of sin in their lives but we are to be different and it's tough 00:29:46.879 --> 00:29:54.079 but it's beautiful to recognize what it means not only that we are being transformed by God 00:29:54.079 --> 00:30:01.279 in His image but we recognize that we treat other people who are not Christians differently because 00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:09.039 they remain those who are image bearers of God and that is reflected in how we personally deal 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:15.119 with those we fundamentally disagree with. I'm not saying that we agree with everyone and it's all 00:30:15.119 --> 00:30:20.480 kind of like jelly and ice cream and we recognize there's huge differences in our 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:28.880 basic philosophical standpoint and our faith and our understanding of the universe but 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:35.680 it's crucial that you learn and I learn how to fundamentally disagree with people respectfully 00:30:37.120 --> 00:30:43.360 and with love and with grace and we respect them for God's sake even though they may be immortal 00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:52.719 horrors as it were who needs Christ's love and forgiveness. More than anything being in Christ 00:30:52.719 --> 00:31:01.599 enables us to love them and your shackles up, oh God says love your enemies, love those who despise 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:10.159 you and who treat you badly and we shrug our shoulders and say I never get an opportunity to 00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:18.160 share my faith. We will, every time we live like this I guarantee it we will because this is not 00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:22.560 how the world thinks. We see it all the time just now don't we with identity politics. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:31.440 As we live out this transformational life that understands respects and equality and the fruit 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:39.200 of the Spirit I guarantee people will ask questions. We will not need to manufacture opportunities to 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:44.559 share our faith and wedge it in unnaturally into the conversation because it will come. The question 00:31:44.559 --> 00:32:09.839 is will we answer or the question is are we different and that's a great challenge isn't it? Amen.