Hey everyone! Once again, I’m Kent Holloway, forensic death investigator by profession and writer/Bible teacher by calling of Christ Jesus. I’m so glad you could join us at 4N6 Ministries today. I’ve got something REALLY special to share with you, but first, a bit of housekeeping:
First, I’m currently working on a brand new series inspired by last week’s episode about False Gospels. Basically, I started thinking about the fact that it was all well and good to teach people about false doctrine but without a foundation, it was a wasted effort. I think it’s best to instruct in proper, biblical, and sound doctrine first. Then, we can move onto the heresy and false stuff later, if the Lord leads us in that direction. That being said, the new plan is to create a survey or summary of Systematic Theology here at 4N6 Ministries. It won’t be a full scale course on it, mind you. There are entire seminary courses and two thousand page volumes out there covering that kind of thing. No, my plan will be to simply hit the highlights in a systematic approach to doctrine. So look for that in the coming weeks.
Second thing I want to talk about: You might have noticed I’ve set up paid subscriptions. I want you to know that we have no intention of ever hiding posts that can help you grow closer to Christ behind a paywall. The paid subscriptions are completely voluntary for those God leads to help support this ministry. Yes, there are a few perks that paid subscribers will receive (such as free ebooks and discounted print books when they’re released), but we’ll never EXPECT anyone to pay for this ministry. Like I said, pay for a subscription ONLY if you feel God leading you to do so. You’ll never get guilted into paying either.
Okay. Now for the fun stuff!
One of my Bible Nerd hobbies is to always be thinking about new and relevant ways to share the gospel of Jesus Christ without resorting to what we call ‘Sunday School Terminology’.
Phrases like “ask Jesus into your heart”, “sinner’s prayer”, or evangelistic strategies like F.A.I.T.H. or the Roman’s Road seem, to me, so disingenuous. They sound more like used car sales pitches than sincere approaches to leading people to Christ. They also mean very little to those who’ve never been to church or don’t care much to hear about those kinds of things.
No, when sharing our faith with people, it’s always good to have an assortment of analogies and, dare I say it, parables to help people understand the gospel. Jesus knew this. He taught in parables all the time. Naturally, He was the best at it. But I believe it’s something good to keep in our tool belts for whenever such opportunities arise. In the best of times, these happen naturally during the course of a conversation (which is the subject for my upcoming book ‘Small Talk, Big God: Sharing Jesus with Your Gift for Gab’), but occasionally, it’s just fun to come up with new and interesting ways to explain 1) Sin, 2) the effects of Sin on our lives, 3) the need for Christ, and 4) what happens once we’re saved.
Last night, while laying in bed trying to fall asleep, I got to thinking about another book I’m currently planning. This book, tentatively called ‘Graven: Ancient Idols in the Modern Church’ and something hit me like a ton of bricks. I wanted to share that with you this week.
The Image of God
Genesis 1:26 (NIV) says: Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Imagine, if you will, the moment you’re born. You resemble your mother to some degree. You resemble your father as well. Most of all, by the nature of creation itself, you resemble your Creator…God. Or at least, you should. But this resemblance is marred by our spiritual DNA. There’s a spiritually genetic defect, thanks to Adam, Eve, and the Original Sin, that occurs to all of us. Instead of being truly in God’s image, our natures are born in flux. Like cement that isn’t quite set yet. In fact, imagine us born as a block of stone with a chisel and hammer at the ready. Throughout Scripture, we see time and again how Sin hardens our hearts to God. Our hearts are often referred to as being of stone, so I think this is an appropriate analogy.
So, we’re born in blocks of stone. Hard, yet malleable to the sculptor. In our universe, there are two sculptors in our lives: God and Us. As we grow and mature, we gradually slap God’s hand away, insisting that we can do it ourselves. We keep Him from sculpting us more and more into His image and focus instead on sculpting ourselves into the people we most want to be instead. As time continues, that block of stone looks more and more like us and less and less like the God who created us. Until finally, the sculpture is complete, raised up, and placed in the center of our universe.
That sculpture…that now looks exactly like the image in which we see ourselves, no longer resembles anything that God intended for us. Most likely it’s scarred and malformed. It’s cracked in places. Maybe crumbling. And yet, we eye it with our proud, imperfect eyes and sigh at our great achievement. We place that image on a pedestal and we worship it. We cater to it. We pamper it. We give it anything and everything it desires. There is no desire it has that we won’t accommodate. No lust or hunger we will not seek to sate. And as we continue to spoil it with its pleasures and wants and needs, it begins to crumble even more until entire chunks of it begin to fall away. And still we continue to worship it as the most important thing in all creation.
Idol Image
It has become our graven image. It is our idol. It is in every sense of the word…our god.
Exodus 20:4 (KJV): Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
We have, like the devil, attempted to usurp the throne of God and become our own form of divinity.
Genesis 3:5 (NASB) - “…For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Satan talking with Eve in the Garden.)
It is the oldest lie in history. It is the lie Satan told himself. It is the lie he also told Eve. The lie that marred the beautiful image of God in His children. We become our very own god.
Only, it’s a temporary god. The graven image quickly begins to turn to dust with time and abuse. It’s going to leave us high and dry without so much as a thank you very much. And then, where will we be? That graven image, that no longer resembles the one who created us, has become desolate. Unsustainable. It is eroding away before our very eyes. That stone heart within us is crumbling to dust.
Romans 2:5 (ESV) - But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
The Perfect Mold
Now the Good news!
Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV) - And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
John 3:3 (NASB) - Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Fortunately, God doesn’t easily forget those He loves. Those He identifies with. No matter how distorted and desecrated the image of God within us has become, He still desires fellowship with us. He still desires we be part of His eternal plan. And his sculpting hands are always at ready to take over and repair the mess we have made of ourselves.
But it isn’t easy. First, God needed a perfect mold for His new creations. He sent Son, Jesus. A perfect Son. Without blemish. Without cracks or crumbling. A Son that continued, even throughout His life to maintain the image of God in human form…because He was God! Is God! Not just an image, mind you, but God in living flesh. The Sculptor created a mold for His new creations through the perfection of His Son. Then, God literally broke that mold.
Isaiah 53:5 (NASB) - But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
That perfect mold of God’s image was crushed for our sake. He was pierced and whipped and marred on our behalf. He was placed in a tomb for three days, then that image of God…Christ Jesus, God with Us…became whole once more.
The Master Sculptor
With this new, perfect and restored mold, God comes to us. He offers us an opportunity. Give up that old idol we’ve clung on to for all our lives. Give up that crumbling mess that turns to dust before our very eyes. Take a mallet to that graven image and destroy it utterly with faith that Christ’s mold can renew us. Can transform us. Can remake us! If we turn away from our object of false worship…ourselves…God will create a new image for us. A godly image. A Christ-like image. He will use the mold of Jesus to do it. All we have to do is ask.
As days pass, this new image will continue to change just like the first. But instead of us sculpting it into something we desire…something we want, God will continue changing and refining and perfecting this new sculpture more and more into His image. Into a true work of art worthy of the heavenly galleries. Into a piece that will never see a crack or a particle of dust drop from a single portion of it. We will be whole. We will be new. And we will look like God’s one and only Son.
The Problem of Analogies
I had a pastor once who always chided me on my analogies. Whenever I’d share one of these little nuggets, he’d always point out that, “Now, Kent…that’s not a perfect analogy.” My response, typically, was to counter that an analogy, by definition, is never perfect. It runs analogous to whatever it’s trying to explain. It is a word picture. A parallel and nothing more. And so too is this analogy of the plan of salvation in terms of graven images and the image of God. But the gist is there. If I was presenting this to someone who didn’t know Christ…and who, perhaps, loved art, wood working, anything having to do with crafting with one’s own hands, or really anything that might lead to this conversation…I would have to clarify a few things, naturally. I would have to take the analogy and tear away the veil to the actual reality of Sin, the Cross, the Resurrection, and Repentance. But my prayer would be that most of the heavy lifting would be taken care of in a way that seemed important and relevant to the listener.
So tell me…do you ever ponder different ways to share your faith with others? Do you ever analyze God’s redemptive plan to see parallels or parables in the mundane? Why not give it a try if you haven’t? Why not make it a practice to contemplate such things. I know a few who follow this blog are creatives…authors, artists, and the like. The Bible tells us to always be ready to give an answer to the hope that is in us. Are you ready? This is a fun exercise we all can do that might just help us prepare for those special God-moments that come our way from time to time.
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s message! I hope you’ll keep checking in every week. And I’d love to hear from you. Let me know what you think about what I’m doing here with 4N6 Ministries. And, as I mentioned at the beginning of this chat, if the Lord leads you to do so, consider becoming a paid patron to support the future of this ministry.
Thanks again and God bless you all. Love ya!
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