Genesis 2:7-9, 16-18, 25, 3:1-7; Rom. 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11 Psalm 51
March 1, 2020
Lloyd Penner
Restoring the Image of God
Last Sunday I discussed the nature of sin focussing on Romans 3:23 where Paul writes “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The glory of God is revealed in creation particularly in humans who have been created in the image of God and who therefore reflect God’s glory. Sin is anything that undermines the image of God. Sin takes on many forms. The theologian, Paul Tillich, wrote that sin causes us to be estranged from our essential nature. Sin also isolates us from others. This is significant because part of what it means to be human is to be in relationship with others.
The question that faces us then is how can we restore the image of God to its full glory in us. The Scriptures are clear that the first step is repentance. Repentance requires that we take a very honest look at our lives as we are encouraged to do in Lent. What are our motives and values? Are our words and actions in keeping with what we say our goals and values are? In Buddhist teaching repentance is called “waking up.” Simone Weil, the French philosopher, argued that ironically sin is a positive thing because it forces us to wake up like a fire alarm wakes us up when there is a fire. Weil also wrote that all sins are attempts to fill the inner void. So we stuff the void with all kinds of things but only God can fill that void in a satisfactory way. As Pascal, the French philosopher wrote “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each person which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”
It is therefore to Jesus we must turn for the answer to the question, “How can the image of God be restored in us?” Nicholas Berdyaev, a Russian philosopher, theologian and historian, who I greatly admire, said that the fundamental truth of Christianity is the birth of God in man and the birth of man in God. (He wrote this about 80 years ago so he used the word man to mean human.) Jesus Christ is the perfect union of God and man Berdyaev wrote. Christ’s work of redemption reunites the divine and human and thus restores us to our true nature. In Christ we can reach the full potential for which we were created.
The author of the book of Ephesians in the passage we heard earlier provides one of the best statements in the Scriptures about how Christ restores the image of God in us. “We were spiritually dead in transgressions and sins but because of God’s great love and mercy we have been made alive with Christ through faith. God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” To this Paul adds in Second Corinthians 3:18, “We are being transformed from one degree of glory to another.” The image of God has been restored. Moreover, we have become a demonstration to the world of God’s grace – grace that is available to every one. The goal is to live as transformed people who as the writer of Ephesians says in verse 10. “we are God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”
This is what the New Testament calls salvation- a great word. Zacchaeus was a tax collector who had overcharged people on their taxes and kept the extra money for himself which was the way the system worked in the Roman Empire. Jesus visits him and Zacchaesus stands up and says “I give half of my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anybody I will pay back four times the amount” In response Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house. For the Son of God came to seek and to save the lost.” We are here because the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ has come to us. We have experienced the grace and love of Jesus. We also have hope for the future.
Two days ago a colleague at the University of Winnipeg told me that the human race is doomed because of climate change and other factors. He added that he was glad he did not have children. I told him I was not as pessimistic. One reason is my faith. Barbara Brown Taylor says (Page 85) I close with these words, “Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found. I was blind but now I see.”