I’ve had many conversations over the years with people affiliated with the church where I’ve asked them, “Are you a Christian?” to which they would respond, “Yes, of course.” Following their admission, I would ask them, “How do you know that you are a Christian?” This is where it got interesting. Overwhelmingly, the majority of the time people would respond with Christian activity like, baptism, bible reading, praying, attending church, and tithing.
Here’s the problem, none of those activities make one a Christian. Yet, it seems that the church groomed a generation to think that way — whether intentionally or unintentionally. Therefore, we are now dealing with a Christian generation who understands Christian maturation more as assembly line like activities (or doing) rather than identity-forming understanding (or becoming).
What makes someone a Christian — a believer or follower of Christ–is their faith in the Lord Jesus to save them from their sin and to become their King. The reason I know that I am a Christian is because of a conscious decision I made around 30 years ago to confess my sins, to turn away from my sin of living life according to Josh, and to turn to Jesus as my Savior and King. That’s how I know I am a Christian. And it is who I am that now informs and gives shape and formation to what I do (or how I live).
In this first post, I want to share three baselines for helping churches and believers understand a foundation of discipleship and thus hopeful help begin to solve the discipleship crisis in the church.
Humanity’s Shattered Image
Almost every single person reading this used a mirror today. Maybe it was to brush your teeth or your hair, to make sure your wardrobe matched, or to back out of your driveway.
Imagine the next time you go to use a mirror you find it shattered? In looking at the mirror, what do you see? A distorted, fractured, and fragmented image. As a result, the mirror no longer gives you a whole and complete picture. It’s not that it has ceased to be a mirror. It of course still offers a reflection. However, rather than presenting a full and complete image, because it has been shattered, the reflected image is distorted and damaged.
Humanity was created to be the mirror of God. Human beings were created to reflect God’s image to the created order (Genesis 1:26). Christopher Wright states, “The image of God is not so much something we possess, as what we are. To be human is to be the image of God.” John Calvin conveys that man will represent and reflect God’s image, which will shine forth in the mind, the will, and all the senses.
However, when Adam and Eve fell (sinned) in the garden they shattered the imago Dei in their lives.
Keep in mind, we still are very much human. Sin did not destroy the imago of Dei in humanity. However, sin shattered and thus distorted, damaged, and fractured our lives from giving a whole, complete reflection and depiction of God.
This shattered image plays out in a host of ways. Identity crises, image issues, sexual brokenness, racism, ethnocentrism, violence, abortion, etc., are all effects of sin shattering God’s image in humanity.
The Missio Dei Seeking to Restore the Imago Dei
At the time Moses wrote Genesis, kings and emperors would erect images throughout their kingdom signifying their reach and reign. Many scholars, therefore, believe that God intended to convey this message to humanity—that they were created to reflect His glory in who they were and how they functioned. In other words, they were to reflect God’s character, nature, attributes and thus enact His kingdom on earth as it was enacted in heaven.
Such imaging is only possibly when man is in right relationship with God, fellowshipping and enjoying perfect communion with Him. However, when Adam and Eve rebelled and sinned against God, they severed the perfect fellowship and communion with God, thereby shattering His image in (or on) them.
