Do you see the call to be an image-bearer of God as a privilege or an obligation? Do you see salvation as freedom from the call to be an image-bearer or freedom for the call to be an image-bearer?

Genesis 1:26-31 is the ticket to seeing that image-bearing is a privilege that Jesus came to restore. Just as God acts as Prophet, Priest and King, we are made to image him forth in those very roles too.

God acted as Prophet by authoritatively speaking the world into existence. And God said…and it was so…And God said…and it was so. He also lived up to the role by interpreting his work for us, telling us that it was good. We are called to use our language in similar ways as those who bear our Creator’s image. We not only are forgiven for lying or failing to pray for others but we also are given the Spirit to use our language to create edifying experiences. Additionally we too are called to make interpretive comments. It is risky business, as is all of life, but it is a privilege bestowed upon us at creation.

God acted as King by ruling and exercising full control when he created the environment. Nothing stood in his way as he made the heavens and the earth. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have not only been forgiven for, say, losing control of our cars in a night of drunk driving; we have been given the privilege of imaging our King as his vice-kings and queens. Male and female alike are called to “subdue and have dominion” over some of God’s creation (notice that time and weather are not included).

God acted as Priest by drawing near to his creation and blessing it, bringing about its full maturity in relationship to him. We see this early in Genesis 1:3 when the Spirit of God hovers over the waters. We see it later when he acts as priest to bless the human couple, “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” By multiplying and filling the earth with the image of God, we had the calling to be that blessed presence. But, instead, humanity has been known to be a curse. Wherever we have ended up, there have tended to be wars and unrest eventually. Yet we are remade into Christ’s image through faith in his power and are able to be that blessed priestly presence in the earth again.

Oh, and we don’t have to have sex or children to be fruitful – although we aren’t averse to that. 🙂 Simply through the work of evangelism and discipleship, we participate in the call to multiply the image of God in the earth.

Questions for Conversation:

1. What role do you see most as a privilege? What role do you see most as an obligation in a negative way?

2. Can you think of stories from the Gospels of how Jesus perfectly fulfilled the roles of Prophet, Priest and King?

3. How does Jesus’ death and resurrection for us most reveal the image of God through him?

4. Where do you most need to grow as believer in Jesus Christ? Prophet? Priest? King?

              Networking is a normal part of human life. If humanity had not given itself to the advice of the snake, we certainly would’ve been networking in the garden. Unfortunately that is not the case, and godless agendas can twist networking down unprofitable paths.

Over and over again, the people of God, the seed of Abraham, have networked for the wrong reasons. They had the Almighty’s assurance of protection, but in the face of danger they ran to Egypt for help (see Isaiah 30:1-7). In Jesus’ time, the leadership of Israel was making the same mistake. Afraid of Jesus’ power and popularity, they ran to Rome for their help, seeking their favor. This blending of Rome’s gracious favors led to Jesus’ death. Again, we saw today how the same earth-bound agendas almost led to grave ends. Paul in Acts 25:1-12 is in the same predicament. Surrounded my men serving the agenda of nation and culture, he is facing potential imprisonment and death.

Yet God had plans for Paul to go to Rome, so the story could not end there. Paul, the Jewish Christian, had received the Holy Spirit. Unlike most of the Jewish leaders, he had been given eyes to see that Jesus really was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament (see 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 110 and Isaiah 53). He saw through the godless plans of evil men to the good purposes of God for the profit of the world. When they presented him an option that was meant to lead to his death in Jerusalem, Paul saw it as an opportunity to travel to Rome and therefore bring the message of life to the people of that city (see Acts 25:12).

Luke had many lessons for us today. First, we ought not to stake our hopes for the stability of the Church on the favors of nation, party or culture. Instead, all the favor we need in order to complete the Church’s mission is provided through the favor of Jesus Christ the Resurrected. Second, since we have the Holy Spirit to help guide us with Scripture, we are able to see vistas that others cannot see. God has placed us in the midst of many broken systems: government, work, school, family and even the  church. Yet, Jesus’ favor rests upon us, so we are able to discern ways to influence these many systems in the ways God wants.

Questions for Conversation:

1)      Have you heard of or experienced a time when the Church or a Christian was relying too much on the favor of the world for her success?

2)      What network are you a part of that you’d like to see change? Can you discern how God intended it to work at creation? For example, what does God intend business transactions to look like?

3)      How does Colossians 3:1-4 relate to today’s message:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

                Disagreement is a funny thing. Well, maybe funny isn’t the right word (but interesting might be overused). You see, on one hand, agreement is our goal (2 Corinthians 13:11). We also know that we are not to be selfish and always demand our own way. At the same time our discomfort with disagreement may be because of other reasons. Ungodly fears of rejection and of being wrong can often dictate our emotional response more than godly commitments. In order to tease out our motivation we need to both be aware of our emotions and also what triggers them.

In our passage Sunday (Acts 15:36-41) we learned about a disagreement that was unavoidable between Barnabas and Paul. They disputed as to whether John Mark should join them on another missionary journey. (As a side note, why do we call this the “second missionary journey”? Isn’t it their third? First was the journey from Antioch to Jerusalem with help for Jewish Christians, second to Cyprus and southern Turkey in an evangelistic form of outreach. Maybe we think of missionary as only having to do with word ministry as opposed to deed?) This disagreement within the body of Christ was unavoidable because a) they are humans and will not have God’s perspective on the issue b) God didn’t speak into the situation with his perspective and c) John Mark’s sinful behavior added the irrationality of sin into the picture. So, at the point where they had their “sharp disagreement” the goal was to disagree to the glory of God.

So how could they (and how can we) disagree to the glory of God? We need to disagree with humility, without despising and as those who are ultimately answerable to the risen Christ our Lord. We must be humble because we are only human and God hasn’t given us his divine perspective on our particular situation. Humility is requisite because of the many ways sin has fractured the many situations we find ourselves in. Despising and hatred do not have a place among us, and so when we have differing opinions we must nevertheless respect the other (Romans 14:1-3). Despising those we have disagreed with shows that there is something amiss about the way we are relating to our brother, sister and/or God. Finally we must be able to stand before Jesus and be able to say we took our position out of concern for his glory and good for our neighbor. Jesus died and rose to the end “that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living” (Romans 14:9-10). If your goal in defending your position is to please your father, friend or professor without any thought to Christ and his judgment than your disagreement is less than gospel disagreement. That is because gospel disagreement will always seek to be agreeable to Christ’s will. We cannot disagree with God.

So, how are you doing in your relationships? Do you agree with people, simply to keep them from leaving you? Do you disagree with people simply to be the first to do so since you believe they will reject you anyways? Where do your fears about disagreement come from? Are they rooted in the gospel of God’s grace through Jesus Christ? When we know that we are accepted by God eternally through Jesus and that God’s people are striving to work out disagreements in this way our lives will increasingly grow into the harmonious unity that God desires for us.

Questions for Conversation

What is the worst disagreement you’ve ever had? Why was it so bad? Were your emotions coming from a place of fear? If so, what were you afraid of?

Are you embarrassed of that disagreement? Why?

Will you be able to stand before your Savior in good conscience regarding the position you took in that disagreement?

Is it possible to contact that person and remain connected to them in a healthy way? How could you do so?