The Fall Undone – by Pastor Chandler

  Posted on March 1, 2016  by   No comments

THE CORRUPTED IMAGE

In the beginning God created. Here’s the description of God’s creation of man and woman: “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” (Genesis 1:27-28a, ESV). After considering His creation, God looked at man and woman and said, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31, ESV).

In the youth ministry here at New Life we are working through a teaching series exploring the identity that Christ gives us. Originally man and woman’s identity was the uncompromised, uncorrupted, unstained image of God. This was their identity: God’s image.

Then, this very good image was corrupted by sin.

“But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths”(Genesis 3:4-7, ESV).

The image of God in man was stained. Shame overcame Adam and Eve and they were no longer comfortable with their identity. They covered themselves. Following this, they ran and hid from God. They realized their image was no longer worthy to be before the God who created them.

THE SEARCH FOR AN IMAGE

You see Adam and Eve longed for another image. Something that was apart from God. It looked good and juicy; it looked delicious; it looked better than the image God had imputed into His creation. What was it? The image was knowledge apart from God. Adam and Eve thought a better image, or we could say a better identity, was in wisdom apart from God. Worldly wisdom. Summary: Adam and Eve desired a different image apart from God and looked for it in worldly wisdom. This new image corrupted the good, godly image. It brought shame and forced a wedge between God and man. Man’s identity was lost.

From this moment on we, man and woman, have been searching for our lost identity. We seek it in money. We seek it in pleasure. We look for it in material. We look for it in world religions that say, “You can make a difference. You can earn something.” We look for it in family and friends. We look for it in our chosen lifestyle. We try to discover identity in our love life. We look for it in blending in with the culture and then we look for it in being counter-cultural.

“We look for it in blending in with the culture and then we look for it in being counter-cultural.”

In the end, however, all of these identities leave us wanting more. Nothing satisfies. Everything in the world leaves us shamed. We’re always covering our identity with fig leaves and then trying something different. It all leads us away from God. How can we be restored? How can our identity, our image, which was lost, be restored?

BECOMING GOD’S IMAGE-BEARERS AGAIN

The Snake Crusher is the answer…

Read this passage with all that we have discussed in mind:

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory… put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:1-4 & 10, ESV).

Do you see the undoing of the fall here? God promised Adam and Eve and the snake that someone was coming to undo this corruption. Someone was going to crush the snake have victory over sin and death. Christ has come, and look what He has done.

After defeating sin and death by laying out His perfect life on the cross and then taking His life up again in the resurrection, He has given us our image in God back. In Christ our lost image is being renewed. How?

First, our image is being renewed as we die to the world and die to our own identity. The ones we’ve created. “You have died and your life is hidden with Christ.”

Secondly, Christ is renewing our image as we look to Him instead of the world. “Seek things that are above, where Christ is.”

Thirdly, our identity is being renewed with the proper knowledge of God. Remember Adam and Eve wanted knowledge that was apart from God. Now, in Christ, we are being given the knowledge that God always wanted us to have instead of the false and hopeless knowledge in the world. This is knowledge from the Creator, not the created. Jesus Christ has undone the curse of the fall. In Him we can see God once more because our image is being restored and has been restored.

We have been created in God’s own image. This image was corrupted by sin and death. This corruption led to a tragic separation from God, but God has acted in Christ. Jesus, the Snake Crusher, has given us our very good image back. He has uncorrupted the corrupted. We must be identified not in ourselves, which is a distorted picture of God’s creation. Instead, we must find our identity in Jesus Christ who reveals a perfect image of God.

In Christ, Pastor Chandler