Rush Hour
RushHour helps RushChurch members stay connected to each other, informs them about current RushChurch happenings, and also includes bible study/theology talk. We will speak about RushChurch specifics but also on current events, tough questions on faith, church and the Bible
Rush Hour
Made in God's Image: No Idols Needed Because You Are One
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We start with summer life at Rush Church, swap jokes and icebreakers, then turn to a big Bible question that changes how we see ourselves and other people. We dig into the image of God as a calling to represent God on earth, fulfilled perfectly in Jesus and meant to reshape our everyday work and relationships.
• summer announcements including youth night, camps, Kids Jam, and community events
• quick jokes and light banter that sets the tone
• icebreakers on time travel and most-used emojis
• common assumptions about the image of God as physical or personality traits
• why an ability-based definition can devalue people with disabilities
• image of God as vocation: humans as God’s representatives and ambassadors
• ancient kings, statues, and how Genesis flips the “only the king matters” idea
• why the Bible rejects idols: God’s living images already exist in people
• Eden as a temple and the call to expand God’s order into the world
• the fall as failed representation and Jesus as the perfect image bearer
• ruling through love, humility, compassion, and sacrifice instead of exploitation
• a practical ethic: treating people well as an act of honoring God
So if you have a seventh through twelfth grader, send them here Sunday night.
We need your volunteer help.
Just type in Bible Project Image of God.
www.rushchurch.com
Welcome Back And Rainy Week Chaos
SPEAKER_03Hey everybody, we're back. Another episode of Rush Hour Podcast. We're glad you're listening. We're glad you're joining us. This has been a really fun thing that we've decided to do, this podcast. You guys agree?
SPEAKER_00I do. You know what I heard yesterday? I heard one of our listeners can't tell if it's you or me talking because we sound alike, apparently.
SPEAKER_03I know. You and me get mixed up all the time.
SPEAKER_00Yes, Kobe. Sorry, Brittany and Ashley seemed too different.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we forgot you can't see us.
SPEAKER_00It's true. I'm pointing right at you.
SPEAKER_03They do that a lot. They'll point or they'll like do a thing like, no one can see you.
SPEAKER_01No one can see you.
SPEAKER_03I'm sorry. Maybe it's a good thing they can't see us. It's just an audio podcast. But we're glad you're here. We're glad you're listening. This is episode 30, I think, or 29. I can't remember. But anyway, we're getting close to another milestone. Beautiful summer day, finally. There's no rain today.
SPEAKER_00Oh, thank goodness.
SPEAKER_03I don't know how many of you guys had water problems, but my yard is like a swamp. I don't know if I'll ever mow again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, probably not.
SPEAKER_03I didn't know if we ever played baseball again or softball. Hopefully, we'll play tonight.
SPEAKER_00Hopefully. We woke up to our like the thing that's in the basement that takes the water out of the house. Sub pump. Sub pump. Yeah. We woke up to that. Do another one. To that, like having way too much water. Darren went to go fix it. He just started getting sprayed with water everywhere.
SPEAKER_03Sump pump problems are running rampant right now. A lot of people with their sump pumps. I remember having a I don't have one now, but I have one growing up. If it goes back, you just oh, that's not good. Nope. It ruined my Nintendo when I was little. No, I'm not sure. Watered my basement.
SPEAKER_00Like the original one? Yeah. Oh man.
SPEAKER_03It didn't ruin the Nintendo, it ruined my controllers, and I couldn't find any controllers anywhere. Sad day, childhood memory. There you go. That's what Sump Pump says. Every time I think of Sump Pump, I think of ruin my Nintendo. So but yeah, glad it's not raining. Glad the sun's out. Summertime is here. A lot of things going on at Rush Church
Summer Events And Youth Night Invite
SPEAKER_03this summer. We got camps. We have Rush 1.8 events. We've got Kids Jam. Summer packed full of stuff. So you guys excited about summertime?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_03What's your favorite part about summer?
SPEAKER_01Swimming. Cookouts.
SPEAKER_03Swimming and cookouts. I hate swimming. Cookouts are fun.
SPEAKER_01By swimming, I mean laying on a raft.
SPEAKER_03I love a lazy river. We should put a lazy river in here at the church.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yes. Be great. And a splash pad in the center of it. Do you think though that I can answer the phone while I'm out there?
SPEAKER_03We should talk the village into putting one at the park. Dude, when I replace the walking track with a lazy river and a splash pad in the middle. Just get rid of the ball fields.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. We can use a solid 30 days out of the year.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_00When we have the octagon outside, I'm like, that's where my I will be with my computer on a swing outside. I can't wait.
SPEAKER_03We're gonna down there by the pond, we're putting up the octa swings.
SPEAKER_00Can't wait.
SPEAKER_03In the fire pit in the middle. Uh speaking of fire pit and the pond, this Sunday night, Sunday, May 31st, the youth are meeting for Rush Life, 5 to 7:30. We're gonna have a fire down there. We're gonna have cookout. We're gonna fish, we're gonna play games, we're just gonna hang out that night, uh, get ready for summertime. So if you have a seventh through twelfth grader, send them here Sunday night.
SPEAKER_00What are you gonna cook?
SPEAKER_03Just gonna grill brats, hot dogs, burgers, flame and yawn.
SPEAKER_00Oh nice.
SPEAKER_03Revised for everybody.
SPEAKER_00Nice.
SPEAKER_03No, just some simple stuff, and yeah, should be fun. Good times. Anyone else have announcements?
SPEAKER_00Pineapple Palooza. Yep. Pineapple Palooza coming up June 6th.
SPEAKER_03That's fun.
SPEAKER_00Two to eight p.m.
SPEAKER_03Downtown, Bellfoun. Get to meet some, we'll probably get to meet a lot of people. See a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00We should, yeah. I hear it's our it's the biggest event Bellfoun has.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so it'd be fun to hang out down there with people, usually. Uh you said Sunday is what?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Sunday is this Sunday is fifth Sunday. So kids in the backyard gonna have fun with me.
SPEAKER_03Make sure you're here for that.
SPEAKER_00Yep. It'll be a little more it's gonna be different this time. I hope the kids don't disappointed, but I love it. Like I think it's gonna be very impacting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, just do something different each time. Yeah. Don't let them get used to anything. Yeah. Keep them on their toes. Gotta keep them on their toes. Kids. Very nice.
SPEAKER_00I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Kids jam. When does sign-ups for kids start? When can you sign your kids up for kids?
SPEAKER_00Sign-up for kids start the last Sunday of June. Oh, okay. We got a little while. Volunteers start the first Sunday in June.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, those are more important anyway. We need your volunteer help. Yes. Come hang out.
SPEAKER_00It takes about a hundred volunteers to put this event on.
SPEAKER_03It's fun though. It is a wild times. It is. Five nights in a row. Kids.
SPEAKER_00We've got Ashley's crazy game. Special side effects. Side effects. Not side effects. Sorry, that wasn't the right word.
SPEAKER_03Special effects.
SPEAKER_01Just for the record, that was Ashley. Nothing.
SPEAKER_03We got some special side effects you'll get when you come to our kids' gym.
SPEAKER_01Yes, the side effects of loving Jesus. Loving a neighbor.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, when you leave here, you'll be glowing.
SPEAKER_01Yes, glowing. Literally.
SPEAKER_00We actually need them to wear protective gear. No, the effects, the special effects this year are going to be pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03All right. Looking forward to that then. Special effects. Not the side effects. I don't know if I have anything else to talk about announcement-wise here. Rush, just check the bulletin, check the website. Um be on the lookout for fun things. So all right.
Bible Jokes To Break The Ice
SPEAKER_03Well, let's start the episode off with uh, let's see. Can you do jokes? Yeah. Let's do jokes.
SPEAKER_00I can do jokes today. All right.
SPEAKER_03Make them good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, make them. Who was the world's first comedian?
SPEAKER_03I don't know. Abraham.
SPEAKER_00Why Abraham?
SPEAKER_03I don't know. It's not funny.
SPEAKER_01Okay, hold on. Noah?
SPEAKER_00No. Okay. The first comedian from the Bible was Samson because he brought the house down. All right. Now for baseball loving.
SPEAKER_03Crushed it.
SPEAKER_00Excuse me. All right. How do you know God loves baseball?
SPEAKER_03Because look at it. It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00No, that's not it.
SPEAKER_03Oh, sorry. Home run.
SPEAKER_00He started his book in the big inning.
SPEAKER_03Oh my.
SPEAKER_01That actually took me a minute, but I'm there. In the big inning. Beginning.
SPEAKER_03Big inning for God. He loves based on big first inning there.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_00I like those.
SPEAKER_03Those were fantastic jokes. Keep it. Great job, Ashley. Great job. I am just I'm glad that you are a joke person.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I know last time on the show, I was a little bit critical of all your stuff, so this this time.
SPEAKER_02I was just we know we were tired.
SPEAKER_03I feel like I was a little too uh harsh and angry last time. So I was angry at life, not you. I'm good now. I love the jokes. I'm sure your icebreakers are top shelf.
SPEAKER_00Oh Lord. Now I gotta live up to this. Okay.
Era Travel Picks And Emoji Habits
SPEAKER_00First icebreaker. If you could travel to any era, so like you know, what's the like I don't know.
SPEAKER_0380s, 1700s.
SPEAKER_00Which one would it be?
SPEAKER_03Ancient Egypt. Which era would you go to? Remember if you go too far back, there's no air conditioning.
SPEAKER_01I would be back that far, probably.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, me too.
SPEAKER_01Maybe like late 1800s. That'd be kind of cool.
SPEAKER_03Like right in the middle of a civil war. Everybody's fighting each other. There you go.
SPEAKER_01I would be like in a peaceful place.
SPEAKER_03Okay. There was none of that, but that's fine. Oh, you want to be like out on the west coast where there's nobody around?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Like I can see that. You're just camping.
SPEAKER_03You're just out churning your own butter and fighting.
SPEAKER_01I could churn my butter.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But you do that anyway, don't you? Yeah, I do. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Where would you go?
SPEAKER_03I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I'm thinking like you'd go to like medieval times.
SPEAKER_03Ooh. Castles. Yeah. And knights. I feel like you'd be evil. Oh, wait, those aren't real. Sorry. Dragon. Dragon. I wanted to find a dragon. I would like to yeah, I'd probably go to like Ireland in medieval times. Maybe check that out. I'd really just want to go back to Jesus' time and check that out because Bible nerd.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that would be fun for like a minute.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Like a month.
SPEAKER_03Why?
SPEAKER_01Forever?
SPEAKER_00Like, it just says if you could travel. If you could travel to any era.
SPEAKER_03Oh, travel. That means you have to come back. Okay. Yeah. Travel.
SPEAKER_00You have to come back.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That'd be fun then.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00I think I wasn't thinking Bible themed. You know, obviously I would love to see Jesus. I wouldn't want to be there before. Yeah. I'm saying I wouldn't go before the Holy Spirit came. Like I'd want it to be after all that. But I was thinking the 50s because seriously, the outfits were adorable. Okay. Yes. The times were just fun and innocent. Women actually stayed home and you know took care of the kids. We didn't have to worry about working. We don't want to work.
SPEAKER_01That's what biblical times? I would have to work really hard.
SPEAKER_03I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to listen.
SPEAKER_00So me period would like to just be back in those easy times. Okay.
SPEAKER_03You know. Easy times in the 50s.
SPEAKER_00The milkshake was a quarter. You're at the stop and hopefully. Paycheck consisted of 10 quarters.
SPEAKER_03So I mean, you know. Just I don't. I'm just kidding. But the 50s would be they got cool cars and like the soda shops and like, you know, the diners.
SPEAKER_00Just seems fun. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Hey. Fawn.
SPEAKER_00Hey. John always does that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00All right. Last somebody's listening.
SPEAKER_03They're like, I grew up in the 50s. Kind of crazy person would pick the f okay. Yeah. 1920s, gangsters. The mob. Oh, yeah. Chicago.
SPEAKER_00No, don't want to be there.
SPEAKER_031776, America.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Next next question. What emoji do you use the most?
SPEAKER_01I'll let you guess mine. Actually, let me check my phone and see which one's my most.
SPEAKER_00Like, isn't there a way that we can look that up?
SPEAKER_01Isn't it a different for every person that I text though?
SPEAKER_03So my my recents. I use the thumbs up a lot, apparently.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, which is actually really rude. Really? Yeah, the thumbs up. If someone sends me a thumbs up, I'm like, what if I thumbs up a message?
SPEAKER_03What if I like react to a message?
SPEAKER_01That means that you actually don't like that message.
SPEAKER_00You want to know what my most used emoji is? Because it would be the top, the top one, right? The top love.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00The fiery emoji is what I use the most of. The fire? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03My mine is the cheesy face with the big teeth.
SPEAKER_01I thought mine was going to be the cry face, cry laughing. Yeah. But it's not. It's the emoji with the straight eyes and the straight mouth.
SPEAKER_03That's like oh, like unimpressed face.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_03Pretty not impressed with any of you.
SPEAKER_00Yesterday, last night you sent me the melting emoji.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I was like, oh. I use that one a lot too.
SPEAKER_03Does it mean tired or hot?
SPEAKER_01It means it just means like defeated.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_03But I use those emojis a lot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Cool. Those are my icebreakers.
SPEAKER_03Well, those are great. I love those. Good job.
SPEAKER_00You're so positive.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for being so.
SPEAKER_03I'm just really glad you guys are here. I couldn't do this without you. So literally. Just wanted to show appreciation to my think of how boring it would be without us. It'd be really good. Sitting in here talking to himself. People wouldn't listen to me just ramble about the Bible.
SPEAKER_00You'd have to talk to the big yellow duck.
SPEAKER_03I'm not talking to I could. I could put a hat on him and a monocle. Oh, he needs a monocle.
SPEAKER_00What is that?
SPEAKER_03A monocle? The little one eyeglass piece, like a fancy guy with a big mustache. Ah, yeah. I would put a mustache, a monocle, and a hat on that duck.
SPEAKER_00Nice.
SPEAKER_03You should dress him up for is he coming back out? He is coming back out. Let's dress him up.
SPEAKER_00We gotta see who wins this year.
SPEAKER_03Nice. Sweet.
SPEAKER_00Green team could defeat their title.
SPEAKER_03What'd you say?
SPEAKER_00I said green team could defeat their title. Oh, wait, not defeat.
SPEAKER_01It's okay. Keep going. Green keep. Maybe Ashley's title. They could retain their title. They could keep it.
SPEAKER_03They could keep it. We don't want this anymore. Sorry. I just had to make you repeat that because I was like, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00Even I didn't know what I was saying.
SPEAKER_03It's fine. You don't have to know. So I were here. Alright.
What Image Of God Means
SPEAKER_03Today we're going to take a quick conversation back to the beginning. Thank you. Where God creates peoples. That's you and me. Creates humanity. And we're going to look at what it means to be made in the image of God. And so it's a something that you know I like to talk about. I've taught a few times. And it's kind of the debated thing among like Bible scholars. And it's kind of a thing that's been talked about for a long time of like, well, what is the image of God? What does it mean to be made in the image of God? And people have their different takes on it, they've got different ideas, they've got different things. And it's just been this thing of like, do we really know what the image of God, being made in that image, really means? And so let's just start the conversation. When you hear, well, that person, or we're made in the image of God, or I'm made in the image of God, and so are they. Like, what do you think of like off top of your head?
SPEAKER_00It makes me think that we look like God, that God looks like us.
SPEAKER_03Because when we think of image, we think of like physical.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like uh, you know, when we have Instagram and we take pictures and we have social media, and images are just like pictures to us. Like, I think that's a natural thing for us to think in this time and this day is a picture or a physical thing.
SPEAKER_01So it makes me think that God has a personality.
SPEAKER_03I know that sounds kind of weird, but look around at these people in this room, and you'd be like, God has a personality, that's for sure. We're made in his image. So when we think about we think of like physical, but then that kind of changes really quick when you think about God. The Bible teaches that God is a spirit and he doesn't he's not really physical. So how could we, you know, look like him? Maybe we do, but we don't really have that in scripture, I don't think, to to physically look like God. And then we'll go to like, well, maybe it's like what we do, maybe it's our attributes. Like we're creative, we have morality, we're we have decision making, we can think of things, we can make things, we can do all these things, we have emotions, and so people will be like, well, maybe it's all those kind of things. We have all of the God's characteristics, and that makes us in his image. Thoughts on that? Or just you've heard that before?
SPEAKER_01Yes. I would agree. Obviously, he has way more control than what we have.
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah. We aren't that's what's hard to like, you know.
SPEAKER_01I agree with all of those things, but at the same time, I know how out of control I am, so it can't be it's hard for me to think of what it would actually look like.
SPEAKER_03It can't be us. It's not the image of God is not God. Yeah, it's not him, so we're we're not God, and we can take that right away. It's not like God made humans in his image, and that means we're carbon copies of him. Because we're not, obviously. He's way far above, he's the creator, he's the ultimate power and authority of everything. And so, and then kind of the conversation kind of just like goes, well, if the image of God and all these things, and so if you do take it as like the image of God just means we have the ability to create, we have the ability to think and and build and make things and have emotions, it kind of offers the question of like, well, what about when someone has maybe a cognitive disability or a physical disability and they can't really process things or think things, and so does that mean they don't have as much as the image of God as somebody else? That's the danger with putting it like attributes and characteristics of stuff like that. So just stuff to think about. Today I'm gonna talk about what I see the image of God as and what a number of different scholars and studies have shown. But this the idea of this episode is comes from a few places. I have resources, the Bible Project, Michael Heiser is one of the Bible scholars that I like a lot. He talks about the image of God, and then also the elders are going through this book called The Whole Story of the Bible in 16 verses. And so we're meeting during our prayer meetings, we talk about one of these verses each time. So we're gonna do all of them. And we take just one verse and then we'll look at that one and discuss about it. But one of the ones we talked about was the image of God, and we talked about that. But so all this stuff is not me just making stuff up or my own thoughts, but it's me looking at other people's stuff and putting it together. So the image of God, today's episode is is what we're gonna talk
Humans As God’s Living Representatives
SPEAKER_03about. The image of God is not something human beings have, it's something human beings are, and that kind of changes the way we look at it a little bit, I think. And it's a job that we are meant to do. So being made in the image of God is something that we are, not something we have. So it's not like a special special ability, a characteristic, a thing, a look. It's not something that you can do, but it's something that we are, it's what we're made to be. And so I'll just look into this first part. And so Genesis 126, let us make man in our image. And so we are we we aren't created in the image, we are created as the image. Some of this, you know, language and translation and stuff should be kind of when you read it, you think of the idea we are made as the images of God or imagers. That would be even better than image itself. We are imagers of God. Kind of think of it that way, and what does that mean? And kind of the concept that humans are God's representatives on earth. When he made us, he's like, I'm making you, and to be my images, to be my representation on this place that I built for you. I made the world, I made the earth, and now I need you guys to be who I am down there and out, out into the into the earth. God is not physically present in the material world. Humans are appointed to represent his presence and do the things that he would do. So that's what we see in Genesis. That's what we see. God made us in his image to be image bearers of who he is, and he's like, Alright, I made you this place, and even in the garden, Adam and Eve are called to do what? They're called to work the garden, go out and do things, subdue the earth, have dominion over creation. All this is language of you have a purpose because you're representing me. Go rule over this place, go create, go do things, have those characteristics that God has to build and make families and make things and be creative. But I see it as the imagery, we are our main thing to think about when we say image of God is that we represent God. We are his kind of ambassadors. And we see that kind of language in the New Testament too, where we're ambassadors of Christ. Wherever we go, we're supposed to represent who he is. And it started all the way back in the beginning. God set it up as we are supposed to be the ones to represent who he is with our lives. And so, really quick, cool little thing from the culture time in the ancient world, kings set up physical statues, and the word that's used for these physical statues is what? Any guesses? Idols. Idols or gods, images, images. Sorry, I didn't lead you well enough into that one, I don't think.
SPEAKER_01But I was like, I just told everybody I was good at this game.
SPEAKER_03No, you did, but idols is one, and it and also images and idols, kind of that word in in the Hebrew, can kind of go side by side. Yeah, just take each other's places sometimes. So kings would set up these idols or these images, uh statues of themselves at the borders of their territory to say, I rule here. So even like an ancient king of a nation, if he can't be all places at one time, but if he put a statue up of himself, it'd be like, This is my place, and it's representing of me. I rule here. This is who I am, or this is this is my territory. Genesis turns this on its head. God doesn't want stone idols in his temple, God doesn't want idols at all, because why when God says, Don't make idols for me, don't put idols in my temple, you see that in the tabernacle, and then when Solomon builds a temple, you see no idols, no statues of God, no statues, I think, no representation of God, because he already made those. It's us. We're the images, we're the idols of our God. And so that's why we don't make idols, that's why we don't build idols. And so in ancient Egypt and Babylon, only the king was considered the image of God. So in ancient times, these surrounding nations around Israel and around God's people, these kings were considered the image of God. That's what they were. And so when Genesis is written, they're writing this, and and God's like, Well, guess what? You guys are all images of God. You're all images of mine. You're all supposed to be representing who I am. It's not just one person, it's not just the king, it's not just the most important person that represents me. It's all of you, it's my whole creation. And so Genesis is this like radical time. Somebody reading this would have been like, what? All of you guys are the image of God? Not just the king, or not just every human being, men, women, all of them is royalty in God's creation. We are all that image bearers of who he is. And so the idea of the image to be called to rule, subdue, and it all takes place in this garden. And so it looks like taking care of this garden. Adam and Eve weren't just like on a hammock laying around the garden. God gave them tasks. They went out and they worked and they did things and they cultivated the garden. They did things. They were they had tasks. God gave them stuff to do. And that is all part of being in his image, representing who God is, what he wants, and his plans, and his order of things. And so I think it's really cool to take that. And when I found out that the word in Genesis, idols, or the word image, can be used for the word idol sometimes in other places. It connects the idea of the Garden of Eden was like God's temple, it's where his presence was in the Garden of Eden with His people. And we are the statues, we're the we're the idols, we're the images, and we are representing who he is to the to the world right there. Since God is a spirit, and you know, he can't be in our world, and so we have to go out, and wherever we go, he is. So you see that. That's what it was set up to be.
The Fall And Jesus Restores The Image
SPEAKER_03Obviously, we didn't like that idea. We didn't do a very good job at that. We broke it, and so we don't always represent God well, and so we are made in the image of God, but sometimes we don't take advantage of it. Sometimes we are not very good image bearers, and we don't care about what God wants us to do, and we do things our own way, and that's the fall. That's where we got kicked out of the garden away from his presence. But we're all still designed to represent him. We're made in his image, supposed to reflect him, and then you have the whole old testament of we're not doing that, we're not being very good image bearers of God. And so the problem is fixed when Jesus comes on the scene and he becomes the perfect image bearer. He is the image of what it should have been. He lives a life of representing God perfectly, and he comes and does that, and we see it, and we're like, that's what it looks like. That's what it should have been like from the very beginning. Um, we should have been that image of God, not our own. And kind of like the idea of like a mirror when you look at yourself in the mirror, it's like, you know, it's it was good in the beginning, but then we fell and the mirror shattered, and it's just this distorted, all weird looking when you look in the broken mirror and can't really Jesus put it all back together, and he says, This is what it was supposed to be like. Does that kind of help a little bit? Does that make sense? And so obviously we fall, and then Jesus comes. Colossians 1:15 says he is the image of the invisible God. It's the same word there. He is the He is the image of the invisible God that we can't see. Jesus comes and shows us who God is and what it was like to actually represent him. Jesus is what it looks like when a human perfectly embodies the image of God, ruling through not how humans like to rule. We like to conquer, we like to have authority over each other, but Jesus comes and shows us that the true image of God is ruling through love, sacrificial love, sacrifice, humility, compassion, and rather than power and exploitation like humans have done throughout history. Because of Jesus, followers of Christ are being actively restored into that image, as in 2 Corinthians tells us. So now that Jesus has come, shown us that image that is perfect and what we should be representing God with, we have his Holy Spirit now, and we can you know have Him be the perfect image, and we are showing people through Jesus, be like He was what we were supposed to be. Now we're gonna do our best to live like He did.
How We Treat People Reflects God
SPEAKER_03And so if every single person is living a living statue of the Creator, how we treat others is how we treat God. You cannot claim to worship God while defacing his statues. And that's everybody, and that's everybody, not just here. Everybody is made in the image of God. I some of them don't realize it, some of them don't take advantage of the calling that they are called to represent their creator. They don't care. Some of them don't, and some of them haven't understood it yet. But what doesn't change the fact that everybody is made in the image of God and how you treat if if if I'm an image of God and I am representing God wherever, and so we are images, all these different places. God's not here physically, but He we we are representing Him. And if you treat an image of God terribly, you're treating God terribly. Yeah, and so it changes the way you think, I think. Yeah, and it should make us step back and think if every human being is made in the image of God, how am I treating that image of God? They might not be a really good, they might not be very good at it at all. They might not be living it out, they might not be representing God very well at all, but doesn't change the fact that they're still supposed to be, they're still his image. And we talked about a little bit when Paul was like, our enemy is not at flesh and blood, and we kind of see that as it is a lot, like the person or that person over there, and they're my enemy, and there's sin and brokenness and temptation, everything behind what's going on there, these different issues behind this person, and so I think it's an important conversation to realize what the image of God is, kind of changed the idea of how we see other human beings and stuff like that. So, and this is a daily thing, like your job, your parenting, your creativity, uh in your neighborhood, all these things aren't just life that you're doing, they are you know assignments that God's given us to bring order, beauty, and justice into the world. And so, as an image bearer, we have responsibilities in all these aspects of our life to bear his image and all these different little sections of our life that we like to I don't know, what's that word? Compartmentalize, yeah, compartmentalize all these different little places.
SPEAKER_01I can't believe that.
SPEAKER_03And oh, she got it right. That was the word I was looking for. But in all those places, we are little images of the creator, and it changes mindsets, it changes how we view other people, it changes what we're doing. If all these small things aren't just daily tasks we have to get through, but they're actually what we're designed to do in a certain way.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_03It kind of takes a step back and be like, well, this isn't just a another day of all my routines and my busyness and have to do this. It's I get to do these things and I get to do it representing the one that put all this together.
SPEAKER_00It makes the phrase, not the phrase, it makes the verse image of God a whole like it, it's more than just what we used to grow up thinking, oh, God looks like us or we look like God. Right. It literally puts, you know, a charge behind what the image of God is in your life. I think that's really cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I think it's cool to think of it in a whole, you know, you think of the beginning and how we were created a certain way, and then it's almost like years, thousands of years of not getting it right. Not that we're getting it right now, but now that we we are fortunate because we've seen how Jesus' life went, yeah, who he was, and we get the Holy Spirit now.
SPEAKER_03So that I mean it has to be different than what it was then, but it's just cool to see as a whole who we can be and you think about the Old Testament, people that got glimpses of God here and there, and like they knew things weren't how they were supposed to be. It's like a broken, but they didn't have that example of what it looked like to be not broken. Yeah. And then Jesus comes along and he's like, I am the perfect image of what God has designed, and everything that I do is how it was supposed to be all along.
SPEAKER_01I think it's kind of I don't know if trippy's the word or what, but when you think, like if you just listen to the beginning and you're like, okay, I'm an image of God, you would think, I mean, it's God. So I should be like the top, you know, I'm amazing, I'm wonderful, I'm all these things.
SPEAKER_03That's what happened when we decided, you know, we were gonna be our own gods. We got kicked out, and then you see nations rising and kings being the image of God and no one else. Like, I want to be the image of God, I want to be. It's like, oh, God's representing her representative.
SPEAKER_01God, yeah.
SPEAKER_03But then that's why Genesis and Christianity and this this belief is like, wait, all of you guys are images of God, not just the king or not just the powerful people. It's no, all of us, all of humanity is supposed to be.
SPEAKER_01Well, and then also like when Jesus shows up, he's like, sorry guys, you're actually supposed to be a servant. Like, wait, right? Hold up. A servant to who?
SPEAKER_03They're like everyone, everyone, because these are God's images, these are representations of the like if you think about it that way, it's it's very That's what he's doing. And so good job, Brittany. When it put that together, thanks. You get a thumbs up, gold star.
SPEAKER_00Yes, thumb up emoji, thumb up emoji.
SPEAKER_01Oh, so you actually don't like and your chief's face. What if we just did emojis on our faces when we're bad we don't have like
Garden Mission And Final Takeaways
SPEAKER_01paddles?
SPEAKER_03Oh a couple more things from this book that I was reading, the Bible story in 16 verses. He, the author of this book, is writing some of the image of God stuff in this second chapter. He says, So being made in the image of God meant that Adam and Eve were able to do what God had called them to do. Like I said, it's about this idea of being able, you know, what's you the image of God is, you know, a calling. It's if you step up to it, you can choose to be in the image of God and and do it the right way. Instead, it was a command to expand the territory where God Himself lived. And then I like this part. It was almost as if the gardens, the garden was a little temple in Eden, and God's images were commanded to expand the garden temple to fill Eden and then move out into the world around them. So we actually see scenes that God commissioned Adam and Eve to be the first missionaries, which was a cool little interesting thing to me that you know, go out and continue to do things, build the world, create, and do things. And so they were tasked with these missions, these things to do. They were supposed to be as representatives on earth, and then they decided to represent themselves instead, instead of what God wanted, and so I thought it's a cool topic to look at, and sometimes we'll just brush over it, be like, oh, the image of God, and we're like, I know what that means. And and but when you ask the question and you think, well, what about this? Or kind of get a little deeper, and I just love the idea of you know, God's like, no idols, no statues in my places because I don't need them. You guys are what represents me, and it's not just here, it's everywhere. So pretty cool thoughts. I don't think I have anything else really to add to the conversation.
SPEAKER_01So I feel like I talked a lot this time, but well, you know, I think it's great.
SPEAKER_03If you want more information on that, you can look up the Bible project video called the Bible. The Image of God. Uh just type in Bible Project Image of God. It's like a five-minute video.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, YouTube.
SPEAKER_03They do a good job. I support them. Um, I like what they do.
SPEAKER_01I really like all their videos.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_00That's what we do in the kids' ministry. They did it, they did a gospel project.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, gospel project has to say, in our adult class.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Every once in a while, Luke will get a video out.
SPEAKER_03There you go. All right. What was I gonna say? I
Bible Project Resource And Closing Prayer
SPEAKER_03don't know. Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03Lord, thank you for this day. Thanks for the sunshine, and thanks for warm weather, and thankful for being able to have conversations, uh, talking about you and just discussing and learning and and growing together. Be with all those that are listening through life, whatever's going on, whether it's praising you for good things that are happening or coming to you with requests and asking that you show up and do something amazing, which we know you can, uh, in hard parts of life. And so we trust you in all things. Uh, just uh be with us the rest of this week. Jesus pray. Amen.
unknownAmen.
SPEAKER_03All right. That was a short episode, but I think it was a good episode.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Very good.
SPEAKER_03All right. We'll see you guys next time on Rush Hour.