Image of God

Who are we?

Thats a question that we often ask ourselves. When we ask we are usually looking in the wrong direction and possibly asking the wrong questions to find the answer.

This Thursday night we explored a little more in depth of who God is what the Word reveals about His Character. We talked about the idea that Our view of God effects and shapes our of ourselves. When we look at the beginning of the story, we see that God created and said that it was good. God created us in His image and said that it was good. So if we are made in Gods image and have bits of Gods character placed inside of us, maybe we should be looking to see who God is, exploring Gods character, and seeing how it lines up with us and our passions and or maybe just what we are good at and what we like to do.

Those of us that grew up in the institutional church often times put a divide between what is sacred and what is secular. Sunday is Sacred but the rest of the week is secular, singing worship songs is sacred but other music is secular, playing on church sports teams is sacred but others secular, working for the church is sacred but working in other institutions is secular. Hear is an interesting thought, God worked 6 days to create His Good world, his Kingdom, and rested one, so why do we often work one day to bring His kingdom and rest the other six?

I think its time that we get rid of that wall we've built. In the beginning God created everything, EVERYTHING. Does that make everything sacred? When God freed the Israelites He continued to create, or at least continued to reveal what He had already created. He showed the Israelites the Law, or Torah. And taught how to live in community. When we study Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy we see that God taught the Israelites how to do agriculture, how to do business to care for the oppressed, how to do justice, He taught how to be family, instructed how to do preventative health and sciences, He showed the details in design, and even showed them what true religion was, caring for the widows and orphans.

In these few books God set up all the spheres of society, all the parts needed to have a functioning group of people live together. How beautiful is that!! If God made all the spheres of society, maybe they are supposed to be sacred as well. If we look into the character of God maybe we can see traces of His character that He desired to instill in every sphere of society. Lets remember He wanted this people to be a reflection of Him and to do things drastically different then the other nations. If God cared only about the way we do religion then it would make it much harder to look different in life. But God cared, and still does care, about all these spheres we find ourselves in.

On Thursday night we asked the question why did Jesus come into the story. Why did the author of the story need to write himself into it? Some of the reasons we said was that he came to bring forgiveness, to show us how to live, to show us who God is, to reconcile all things unto him, and destroy the works of the enemy. If Christ came to reconcile all things unto him, then it would seem that he is tapping into what God had originally set up with the Israelites in the wilderness. Christ came proclaiming jubilee, and to fulfill the law, not destroy the law. After Christ, came the Holy Spirit to give us the ability to walk out in the things God showed the Israelites. To reengage in all the spheres of society. To partner with Christ to destroy the works of the enemy in everything. To be a part of Gods Redemption plan over everything in heaven and earth. As we see today if these spheres of business, education, health and science, justice, art, family, and religion were supposed to display who God is then they are terribly broken systems today. Christ came to bring forgiveness, but to also start reconciling all these things and more back to him, so we can be a blessing to all families on earth.

This is where it gets really tough but really exciting. The fact that God cares about everything we do. That fact that we are supposed to look different in all things. But we don't have to do it alone, because Christ came to make it possible for us to do it.

We roughly walked through the idea of business and Gods character in it. How God might want to move though business and display who He is to the world. How God is just and a provider, so business could be structured to display that, and more. We wish that we had more time to then walk through all of the spheres of society like this. As the weeks go on we will be diving more into this idea of God wanting us to reengage in His creation, all of His creation.

As we grow as a group, lets continue to seek God's direction for where and how to move. Lets continue to focus on Jesus and keep Him the center. Lets dream big and strive to live radically different, with a radical love. Our God is good but he is not tame, He is Wild! Lets strive as a community to reflect this God we believe in, and figure out what it means to put flesh and blood on this Gospel.

I'm really excited about what God is doing in us and though us! Thanks everyone for being apart of this little tribe and wrestling these things out with us!

Grace and peace,
Chris

(If you are interested in going more in depth into the spheres idea and wrestling our your own sphere, I'd encourage you to listen to the podcast linked below, there is also a PDF you can download. And please feel free to bring it up on Thursday what you are learning and discovering so we can wrestle together. I get stoked talking about this stuff! Check out the Patrick Dodson link to left for more topics on teachings on this stuff)

Patrick Dodson: God's Nature, Your Work
(for a shorter not as good version as me)