Before we can place the stamp of God’s character into every aspect of our work behind the scenes in church life, we must first recognise that we have been stamped ourselves, by our Creator God.
Before we can place the stamp of God’s character into every aspect of our work behind the scenes in church life, we must first recognise that we have been stamped ourselves, by our Creator God.
Right at the beginning of the story, in Genesis chapter 1, we see God creating the world. He made day and night, land and sea, creatures of the land, sea and sky. Everything He made was good. At the pinnacle of His creative work He made man and woman and gave them a specific purpose.
Genesis 1: 26 – 28 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God not only created us but He made us in His image. He set us apart from the rest of creation and made us image-bearers. He stamped us with an imprint of Himself. Let’s not brush over the significance of this. We are image-bearers of the God of the universe, the God of creation. That’s a pretty big deal! And He proclaimed that we are very good. He created us in His image and created us to represent Him to all of creation. He gave us responsibilities and wanted us to be like Him. This is our identity right here. This is the identity of everyone, believer and non-believer who walks through the church doors. Everyone is stamped with the image of God, made by Him and to be like Him, to represent Him. Even after the Fall in chapter 3 we are still image-bearers and still called to represent God and fulfil His purposes for us and for His church. The image may be marred by our sin but the calling is the same. Here’s some scriptures which remind us of this calling:
Genesis 1:31 (ESV) “And God saw everything that was made, and behold, it was very good.”
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 5:1 (ESV) “Be Imitators of God as beloved children.”
Romans 8:29 (ESV) “Conformed to the image of his Son”
As Christians we have been stamped with the image of God, but because of sin this image is distorted, faded and broken. As you know, it doesn’t end there! He bought us for a huge price. The price of His perfect Son’s life and death. Jesus Christ broke the power of sin and set us free. He made a way for us to be back with the Father. He has given us a helper, the Holy Spirit to be with us each day. To remind us that we are image-bearers. To help us to reflect Christ to all creation, in all we do. And He promises to transform us. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says 'We are being transformed from one degree of glory to another'- God in His redemptive work is gradually making His image in us clean and perfect day by day.
We are all called to be image-bearers to the rest of creation. We are to put the stamp of God’s character, grace and gospel on display in our lives and work. I love that fact that as staff or volunteers serving behind the scenes of church life, we can bring real expression to God’s character, who He is and what He is like in our local churches. This totally transforms the way I approach my priorities and task list this week. It completely changes the way we think, the way we act and the way we speak. We get to serve those whom Christ died for, those who bear the image of God. Let this be our motivation. Let us remember who He is and who the Church is. The Church is His bride and He loved them enough to die for them. We are all in the same boat. We are all image bearers. We are all weak and still in our sin. But we all have a hope in the gospel and a hope in God’s redemptive plan and transformative ways. We need to remember who we are and whose we are and who we serve as we tackle our endless task list.
As we continue in this series over the coming weeks, we will take the time to look in detail at some of those characteristics of God that we can give expression to. My hope is that as we gaze at the character of God it will refresh our souls. He will be glorified as we enjoy remembering who God is and the difference it can make in our roles as we serve Him.
