"Getting a G.R.I.P (God Reflected in People) on Life"
By Pastor Tom Schoeneck, July 2005
At one time or another we have all asked ourselves the “Great Philosophical Questions”:
- Who are you? You are a replica of the living God, made in His image and likeness
- Why are you here? You are here to express the essential nature of God to the world around you
- What gives your life meaning and purpose? Fulfilling what you were created to do, expressing the essential nature of God to the world around you, gives your life meaning and purpose
Who am I? Why am I here? What is the Meaning and Purpose of my life?” God's answer to these questions is very simple and clear:
Our Purpose
We were created to be a copy or replica of God Himself. We were made in His image. We were designed to express and exhibit His essential nature and character.
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)
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Image =
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To be a copy of; a replica of; to express the essential nature of |
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Likeness =
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Basically the same definition, used interchangeably with “image” in other passages. Only here used with “image” in the same verse signifies a true or faithful replica |
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Rule over =
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To subjugate; have dominion over |
If we are here to express the essential nature of God to the world around us, the first thing we have to ask is, “What is God's essential nature? What is God like?” God is loving, creative, patient, kind, forgiving, intelligent, powerful, and a ruler or one of authority.
It should be no surprise that Mankind reflects these characteristics of His nature. We were created to do so.
“For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, {and} skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained {for me} when as yet there was not one of them.
(Ps. 139:13-16)
We are not random, chance meetings of genes out of a gene pool. God Himself actively took part in our formation while we were in our mother's womb. The original language of Psalm 139 makes it clear that God was not just an “observer” of the process. Rather, like an artist before an empty canvas, God took the elements available to Him and created each of us -- physically, psychologically, and intellectually. The foundation of our self-respect is based on who our Creator was. Whatever may happen after birth, we can accept ourselves based on who the Artist who made us was. We don't need to look to physical appearance or to achievements or to a position of power and wealth in order to have a basic respect for ourselves and others. We all are of value because the God of Creation made us.
Our Problem
But, if we are created in God's image, is God also evil, violent, and vicious like Mankind? Of course not!! Mankind has (we each have) an internal problem.
“That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” (Mk.7: 20-23)
Where does Man's (our) true problem lie?? In the heart!!
heart = Biblically speaking, the heart is the center or source of all one's emotions, one's thoughts, one's decisions of the will, one's passions, one's desires, one's values, one's priorities, one's creativity, and one's motivations.
“For the wages of sin is death, ….” ( Rm. 6:23a)
wage = something earned
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. ( Eph. 2:1-3)
How can we be physically alive but considered “dead”? In the Bible, spiritual death refers to being separated from Go., As a result of this separation we are unable to have a relationship with Him and are unable to reflect His image. God's Holiness and justice demand that He keep Himself free from any contact with, or contamination from, sin. God is unable to mix with sin as oil is unable to mix with water.
God's Solution to Our Problem
What is God's solution to our problem? First, He pays the wages we have earned as a result of our sins, by dying with them in Himself. Then, He gives us a spiritual heart transplant in which He removes the heart that produces evil things and gives us a new heart that is once again capable of expressing His essential nature.
“He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus the Son) who knew no sin {to be} sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” ( 2 Cor. 5:21)
“And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us {and} which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” ( Col. 2:13-14)
Jesus, God in human form, became every sin that any human being has ever done or will ever do. Then, He took those sins to the cross. There, in a miracle we will never completely understand, God the Father and God the Son were separated. Jesus “died” with our sins. He picked up our wages. When we hear this message, and believe it, God forgives us our sins and restores us to relationship with Him. He adopts us into His family.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, {even} to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ( John 1:12-13)
Plus, we have had a “spiritual” heart transplant!!
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” ( Ezekiel 36: 26 - 27)
“He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior….” ( Titus 3:5-6)
regeneration = To reproduce
renewing = To restore to former perfection; to restore to a former state after decay or impairment
“Therefore, if any man (anyone) is in Christ, he is a new creature ; the old things passed away ; behold new things have come .” ( 2 Corinthians 5:17)
new creature = From the verb “to make”; to fabricate, to completely change
old things = The original; those that existed from the beginning; the attitudes and actions we have had and done for which we earned “death”.
Greed, Jealousy, Lies, Arrogance, Immorality, Anger, Cliques, Sensualness, Rebellion, Evil, Gossip, Slander, Maliciousness, Impurity, Envying, Abusiveness, Insolence, Quarreling. (Rm. 1:28-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Col. 3:5-9)
passed away = perished; died
new things = A new kind of; unheard of; unprecedented; not in existence before
Love, Compassion, Humility, Kindness, Gentleness, Patience, Forgiveness, Sympathy, Joy, Concern, Self-Sacrificing, Empathy, Service, Peace, Hopeful, Self-Control. (Gal. 5:22-23; Col. 3:15)
have come = to exist, to be
Our new heart transforms us into a new creature, into something totally unprecedented, into something never before in existence. We now have the potential to once again reflect the image of God that we were created to be.
Applying God's solution
But, we need a power source to give life to our new heart. Our new heart is like a gasoline motor without fuel. A motor has all the potential to release its power but without fuel it cannot fulfill its mission. Our power source is a Person.
Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me. and I in him, he bears much fruit ; for apart from Me you can do nothing .” ( John 15:5)
bears = A branch does not produce fruit. It bears fruit. Detach a branch from its vine and plant it in the ground on its own and it will die. In and of itself it cannot draw life from the soil. It must be attached to a vine in order to produce grapes. Without a vine to give it life it is unproductive and dies.
fruit = The Essential Nature of God; Expressing the “New Things” and Fulfilling the Commandments of the New Testament
apart from Me You can do nothing = Nothing that truly reflects the essential nature of God. Without Christ living Himself out through us we are a “plastic” copy of the real thing. What we are expressing is not the true essential nature of God. It is only a limited, human imitation.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in Me; and the life I now life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” ( Gal. 2:20)
A pipe is the conduit for the liquid that flows through it. The person who has received Christ as their Savior can now choose to be a conduit of the life of Jesus to live Itself out through them.
Our Choice
But we must make a choice to allow Jesus to live Himself out through us .
“Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” ( Rm. 6:12-13)
Because we have been placed into Jesus, and co-crucified and co-resurrected with Him, we are to consider (believe, reckon) ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God.
“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” ( Rom 6:3-5, 11)
As a result of believing this truth, we are asked to make a choice. We are asked to present our mortal (physical) bodies to God rather than to sin.
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” (Rom 6:12-13)
Because we have been born again, for the first time we have a choice. Before our new birth, we were slaves to sin. We had no choice but to use our bodies as an instruments of sin. Our mortal bodies were the instruments through which sin expressed the “Old Things”. Now we have freedom of choice. God says we are new. When we believe what God says is true about us, we are to act. We are to present our bodies as instruments to God. By doing so, our mortal bodies become instruments to express the “New Things”, the “New Things” which are the essential nature and character of God.
Our Empowerment
When we offer our mortal bodies to God, how does He bring the “New Things” to life through us?
“But I say, walk by the Spirit , and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. (Gal. 5:16)
walk by the Spirit = to live each moment in dependence upon the Holy Spirit.
In doing so we allow the Holy Spirit to bring the nature and character of Jesus to life through our new heart. Thus, we exhibit the “new things” (the essential nature of God) through our emotions, our thoughts, our decisions of the will, our passions, our desires, our values, our priorities, our creativity, and our motives.
Our Struggle
But the call to present our mortal bodies to God and to walk in the Spirit is opposed!!
“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” ( Gal. 5:17)
flesh = You inherited from Adam an essential nature of prideful self-centeredness. The flesh is the habit patterns you developed to nourish and protect this prideful self-centeredness. Therefore, the flesh developed habit patterns to express the “Old Things” through our mortal bodies. The flesh is the habitual outburst of anger whenever a person feels insecure or put down. The flesh is the habit of being jealous whenever someone else gets something the person wanted. The flesh is the habit of gossip by which a person hurts others by putting them down to mutual friends.
When we accept Jesus as our Savior, and are born again, our inherited nature of prideful self-centeredness is crucified with Jesus. However, sin - the memory of that prideful self-centeredness - lives on in our flesh. Like a person who still “feels” an arm or a leg that has been amputated, our flesh still “feels” prideful self-centeredness. This feeling is the sin which indwells our flesh.
19 For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me . (Rm. 7:19-20)
The flesh still believes prideful self-centeredness is our natural state. As such, it is in opposition to the Spirit. The Spirit affirms to us that we have been crucified with Jesus and raised with Him as new creatures. We must choose whether to believe the flesh or the Spirit. Moment by moment we present our members to the one we believe.
At any given moment, how do we know whom we believe? We know by the feelings, actions, and attitudes we are living out.
If we believe God, the Holy Spirit will control us.
“And do not be drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18)
How do we know if a person is drunk?? The person exhibits the characteristics of drunkenness - a loss of balance, a slurring of words, or a different personality than usual.
How do we know if a person is filled with the Holy Spirit?? The fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control - and the rest of the “New Things” exhibit themselves through the person.
When we are walking by the Spirit and are filled with the Spirit, we will be expressing the essential nature of God. We will reflect God's image. The “New Things” will be being expressed through our mortal bodies. As a result, we will experience meaning and purpose and significance in our lives because we will be doing what we were created to do.
But if we believe the flesh, we will be exhibiting the “Old Things” through our mortal bodies. We will be doing so because we have chosen not to abide in Christ and are not walking in the Spirit. These expressions of the “Old Things” are sins.
How do we get back to abiding and being filled with the Spirit? We must confess our sins and once again choose to present our members to God.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. “ (1 John 1:9)
confess = To agree with
When we confess our sins, we agree with God that we have believed the flesh instead of Him. We agree that we have presented our mortal bodies to sin instead of to Him. We agree that we have chosen not to abide in Jesus. We agree that we were not filled with the Spirit. We agree that the resulting actions, feelings, and attitudes were wrong.
faithful = God will always, constantly, consistently forgive you; He will remember your sins no more, i.e. He will no longer take your sins into consideration in terms of your relationship to Him. It will be as if you had never done what you have just confessed.
righteous = God is not violating His holiness or justice in forgiving you because Jesus has already paid the price for what you are confessing
forgive = to send away, to not take into account, to pardon
cleanse from all unrighteousness = to purify from sins we are not even aware of
After we have confessed our sins, we simply turn ourselves over to God once again. We choose to again abide in Christ and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
This conflict between the flesh and the Spirit is an ever present, 24/7 battle. The flesh has two allies in this battle - the world and the devil.
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world , according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience . Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” ( Eph. 2:1-3)
The essence of what these three represent can be summed up in two words, “I Will”. When Satan (the prince of the power of the air) rebelled against his place in God's creation, he said, “I will be my own god and I will be bigger and better than God, Himself.” (Isa. 14:12-14) That spirit of “I Will” is what he deceived our first parents with. They accepted Satan's lie that God wanted to keep them less than they could be. They believed Satan's lie that disobeying God and eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would make them better than they were. They made a willful decision to disobey God. The result is that Satan, and his spirit of “I Will”, now governs the world and every human being born into it. Our first parents sold mankind into slavery to Satan and sin.
How does Satan tempt us through our flesh?
“But a certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? "While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God." ( Acts 5:1-4)
Why did Ananias keep back some of the money he was given from the sale of his land? He wanted the “glory” of being seen by his friends as a generous, sacrificing Christian while satisfying his greed by keeping some of the money for himself. Where did Ananias get the idea to lie about the price of his land? Peter says Satan filled his heart. Satan gave him the idea. Is Satan a weird or scary being who wears a red suit, has horns, and carries pitchfork? Of course not! The Bible tells us that Satan is an angel who rebelled against God. He confronted our first parents directly - face to face. Now he works by “filling our hearts”. He does this by placing his thoughts, ideas, and feelings into us through our flesh. His deception is that he places these within us in our own voices. He didn't say to Ananias, “Ananias, why don't you lie about the amount of money you got for the land you sold. You can receive praise from your friends but still have money in your pocket.” Instead, speaking in Ananias's own voice, he plants the thought, “I can lie about the amount of money I received, get praise, and still have money in my pocket.” The result is that Ananias believes the thought to lie is his own. He believes the thought to lie is centered in himself.
But it can't be! As a believer, his heart is good. It cannot desire such things. Peter holds Ananias accountable for his sin - trying to lie to God, the Holy Spirit, and his Christian friends - because Ananias should have known where this thought was coming from and chosen to reject it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
As believers, any thought, feeling, or desire that is contrary to God's will and way is not from us. Satan plants these thoughts, ideas, and desires in us. He is tempting us to let go of the Holy Spirit, break free from abiding in Christ, and live out the actions that his planted thoughts, ideas, and desires require.
It is important to remember that a temptation is not sin. Since we did not originate the thought, idea, or desire Satan is tempting us with, it is not a sin to have them. Satan gives them to us. Then he accuses us of being a rotten human being for having them. How diabolical is that?!
A thought, idea, or feeling becomes sin when we continue to dwell on it and then act to live it out. We can only live it out by choosing to break free from abiding in Christ. This decision results in being governed by the flesh instead of the Holy Spirit. When faced with the initial thought, idea, or desire, we stand against it in the authority of Jesus. We are in Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, having His authority over Satan and all his emissaries.
If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col. 3:1-3)
We identify where the thought, idea, or desire is coming from - Satan - and choose to resist him. We say to him, “I know what you are tempting me with. I know this thought (or idea or desire) is not of me. I resist you in the name and authority of Jesus and you must flee from me. You must leave me and take you thought (or idea or desire) with you.”
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8)
But
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you”.
(Js. 4:7)
In Summary
As those who have accepted Jesus and been reborn we are free from Satan and his power. But Satan continually tempts us through the world and the sin which indwells our flesh. The flesh, influenced by the world, and prompted by Satan, asks us to believe what it says is true about us. It asks us to believe what it says we want and desire. God asks us to believe Him. Moment by moment we must decide and choose who we will believe.
If, in a moment of time, we choose God, we will know peace and joy as we exhibit the “New Things”. We will be what we were created to be - a replica of God.
If we choose the flesh, we will have a conviction of wrongdoing as we exhibit the “Old Things”. Then we must decide if we will confess or not. If we choose to confess, we will be forgiven. By confessing we will be restored to fellowship with God. Once again we will have peace and joy. If we choose not to confess, we will continue in sin. As a result we will lose the peace and joy, the meaning and purpose, which come from living as we were created to be. This loss will continue until we do choose to confess.
The Christian life is simple. Moment by moment we are to choose to abide in Christ, thereby experiencing the joy of bearing the fruit of His life through us. We experience joy as we abide because we are fulfilling the meaning and purpose for which we were created. We are image bearers of God. But a diabolical and vicious enemy opposes us. He desires to steal from us the abundant life God has for us. We are at war. We will never know the ultimate peace and joy of our new birth until Jesus returns for us and we lose this body of flesh in which sin resides. Until Jesus does, we must resist our enemy by faith in Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, confidently affirming that:
“…. greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
And...
“…. this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” (1 John 5:4)