Message; Made in God’s Image, And Act Like it?
Wow! The Lord just amazes me on how unswerving He is on our working on relationships with other people, even the ones we don’t know. Or in other words, to live your life as God consistently instructs us to live in all of scripture. As just reflected by our Lord in the Gospel, and throughout our Old Testament instruction we are educated for humbly exercising mercy to others, or as the prophet Micah 6:8 would say;
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
You don’t have to be a Sunday School teacher, a preacher, priest, choir boy, choir member, church leader, a self-described religious person, a member of PETA, biker, intellectual, or a member of AARP, to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with the Lord. Because those are the traits that all members of this incredible family of ours, being God’s children are called to work on. And if you are struggling today in being the kind of Christian that is progressing in that humble walk with the Lord, … you came to the right place. Today is all about, and all for you.
And if you are already good, you are here because you are doing God, or someone else a favor by being here… there is nothing that I or today’s message can do for you. Sorry. You see, the hospital of God (church) can only help those who know they need help. Those who are convinced they have it all figured out, or are just go to church to get filled, either don’t want to feed on in the Gospel, or don’t know what the Gospel is to feed on, and those people might never get filled, cuz they aint filling others.
This phenomenon is nothing new. God’s family has always struggled with how to handle the fact that we are children of God made in His image, and how to approach that fact in our daily lives humbly. This tension has existed from the very beginning. Just look at the children of Israel and how they struggled in their bi-polar lives in the Lord.
Like us, the children of Israel went from one extreme to the other in life. From being in a state of self-inflicted overwhelmness oozing despair and angst, to our over confidence in our place in creation. Because we are in God’s family, many begin to think that that’s it and there is no longer need to work on a humble walk in the Lord. This confidence, has led many at times to arrogance, and false assumptions about our status and abilities in the creation.
Like the children of Israel, we in our society even go so far as to consider ourselves as good as gods, and the things we lust after, “god-like” by replacing the one and only God for junk and the bankrupt ideas of the world. All of this leads us back to our Call to Worship for today, Psalm 82;
1 God presides in the great assembly;
he renders judgment among the “gods”:
*Cutting in to say; that I’m confused if God is being not only sarcastic, but also is appalled at humanity’s arrogance and idiocy, by calling the people who have gone their own way gods as a way of saying, they replaced the one and only God (God) with themselves.
I am led to think that those gods on trial are not only the people who thought themselves better than God, but those who withheld kindness and mercy, hope and help, love and care for others in this life. Additionally, the bankrupt ideas of fear, greed, envy, malice, and arrogance are also on trial. Continuing now at verse 2;
2 “How long will you defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked? … …
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
** Cutting in again to say; The “gods” being referred to are you and I when we replace God for the junk and trash of a world enraptured with chasing itself to the point of never slowing down to consider where our true creation, redemption, and salvation comes from. Indeed, this part of our passage is consistent with what God instructs us throughout scripture, such as Hosea 6:6
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
Or, Isaiah 1:17
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
And again, in the New Testament, James 1:26-27
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Oh and by the way, God knows the difference between form and style, and what a real faithwalk rooted in a desire to walk humbly with and in Him is. Continuing with today’s Call to Worship now at verse 6;
6 “I said, ‘You are “gods”;
you are all sons of the Most High.’
***Once again, I need to cut in to say; Wow, and wow! But what does this mean? Just what does the Psalmist (Asaph) not to mention God, mean to say by calling the leaders of the children of Israel “gods”?
This is a good time to share that in the Old Testament, kingdoms and people of the Middle East, not to mention Israel itself, referred to their leaders affectionally and honorarily as messiahs and gods, or saviors and your majesty full of grace. The idea was that the leaders (kings, judges, and religious leaders) of the kingdom, were anointed by God to be leaders of the people. Unfortunately, people being people, allow titles to go to their heads, hence warping their view of themselves or each other.
To combat the arrogance of people, the Rabis of old, put the kibosh on all overly glorified titles. Titles that could mistake a person for real deity. Illustrating that a faithwalk in the one and only, is nothing to sleepwalk through, because one size or approach does not fit all.
By the time of Jesus’ day, the term god or messiah, were relegated exclusively for God, and the one of God to come and deliver Israel. And even when that time came, the people didn’t understand that when it comes to our Lord, we are talking much more than honorific tributes to a mere person. Just listen to the Lord’s own words on the subject in the Gospel of John 10:30-38;
30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’?
Cutting in to say;(This is what I just read from today’s Call to Worship in Psalm 82:6) continuing now with our Lord’s words in John;
35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
That’s who we call Messiah, and son of God, God the son! Not a person like you and me but God incarnated (with us) who indeed died and then lived again for you and me! That is a real Messiah (Savoir) and really God, (maker of heaven and earth).
Today’s Call to Worship reading finishes with a word of warning and fact for those who impostor God and His majesty in this life finishing with verses 7-8;
7 But you will die like mere mortals;
you will fall like every other ruler.”
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.
I would only add, that the nations and earth are not only God’s, but we are His stewards called to shepherd the willing back to our Lord with His Good News of grace, redemption, and salvation. In fact, we get to show a glimpse of the limited divinity we have been afforded in this life, by walking in our Lord’s footsteps, and acting accordingly.
The Lord in fact instructs us today on how be more like Him through our treatment of other people through His teaching of mercy. This time when I read the Good Samaritan once more, I hope we hear this passage with a renewed focus of thought, of what is possible in our own lives. Again, today’s Message reading from, Luke 10:25-37;
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
*Side Bar; to say, this is what I tend to do, to my own discredit. Immediately, I begin to qualify God’s law by asking witty but empty questions hoping to try to choose my neighbor instead of going with the people God picks for me in this life. Well, the Lord is going to give an example of who this man’s neighbor is, by using a Samaritan as the hero of the story. Here’s your Lord on topic, continuing at verse 30;
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
**Side Bar Part da; Well, we now are faced with the selection for… who you would rather have to depend upon when the chips are down and you are in need of help;
- The Priest: religious leader of the community.
- The Levite: a pillar of the community serving God’s people, unless it’s not convenient.
- The lowlife Samaritan, enemy of polite society and definitely not on the invite list for your next Fondue dinner party.
I am not only led to pick the Samaritan, but am convicted in the heart about how I have treated “Samaritans” not to mention the people I knew. How many times I mentally crossed the road to avoid the hardship that another person was experiencing.
And so, we conclude this passage with Jesus asking the religious leader, who showed mercy by being a real neighbor? Finishing with verse 37;
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Or again, as Micah would say;
…And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
And when we do, we demonstrate for God, the world, and ourselves that we are indeed; “Made in God’sImage, and We Act Like it!” No question mark, just trial and error, sometimes missing the mark, and falling down, getting back up and brushing off, and trying again.
No lame excuses like the Devil made me do it, just accountability, and a desire to get back in there and try again. That’s a clear-cut demonstration of being made in His image, because we so want to be more like Him, and we are really trying.
To forgive others, care for, pray for, and thinking of others, is confirming that we are made in God’s image.
So, who is your neighbor my friend?
Amen!