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THE DOCTRINE OF MAN BY G.MACADAM
Man as created in the image of God. We suggested that this is a doctrine of particular relevance today. The further that society drifts from the Christian faith and understanding of life the less people understand themselves. As society has drifted there has been a large growth in the fields of psychotherapy, psychology, psychiatry. Most commonly these understandings are entirely secular and materialistic and do much injustice to man's true dignity. Also the secular and materialistic understandings of euthanasia and abortion treat some humans as rubbish to be thrown out. One man in the press recently suffered depression. He was given sixteen treatments of ECT and psychosurgery and was subsequently totally destroyed. When it is inconvenient it can be gotten ride of. There are no absolute standards which we should live. Man is now lost. People are now lost. They do not what life is about. They don't see the point of their very existence. And in society we are seeing this lostness. The biblical teaching reveals man's ultimate dignity giving meaning and purpose to man. Biblical teaching is in accordance with observable facts of man's experience. It is entirely in accord with human experience. Until man learns to incorporate the understandings of the spiritual truths to the secular and materialistic he will fail miserably in curing the manifested ills.
Practical consequences of the doctrine of man. Practical consequences of the biblical teachings is that we are made in the image of God. We were made to be thinking people. If we believe in this doctrine that man is in the image of God - then we are the only creatures in the world with this ability to think and reason. God made us to use our minds that he has given to us. But, there are a great many people who never seriously think at all i.e.. read quality books, newspapers or serious philosophical discussion. People work during the day, and life outside work is lounging in front of TV with soap operas or drowning their sorrows in alcohol which takes away our ability to think. Rather than think openly about life. Young people hanging around doing nothing not knowing what to do.
Many people who do not use their minds as God intended. Some fill their minds with vile, polluted and evil things i.e. perverted Videos and magazines and the gutter press. Some say that they do not affect you. But evil communications corrupt. We have got to be careful how to use our minds and how we are being influenced.
Christians are the ones who can think realistically about life. The non-Christian is afraid to confront the absolute certainty of ultimate reality and ultimate truth. Look at the world and society today. If you do not believe God is in control then it is much easier not to think of the personal consequences. The Christian is not to live in a world of running away from reality. But is using their mind to think because the Bible is teaching us what is right.
We live in a generation where truth doesn't matter. We believe that we do not have a soul and life is not continuous. We do not address the needs of the soul. This is not truth. Teaching kids right and wrong is a confusing matter when left to the secular and materialistic. How can you say that certain things are right and certain things are wrong if you divorce human behaviour from truth? They teach us that it doesn't matter what you believe. All truth should be of interest to us. All truth in the world which God has made. God speaks through his word. Because we are made in his image he can speak to us through reason, facts and words. The bible requires the use of our minds. There are parts which are hard to understand and there is mental discipline involved in understanding the word of God and teaching. God has addressed us as intelligent people coming to grips with an intelligent message. Apply our minds to our Christian faith. Seek to grow in understanding of Christian truth and doctrine. We know enough now we can live at an emotional level. We need to apply our minds to the word of God. Do you really believe that God is the maker of this world? We should be interested in the world that God is made. We should not be only interested in spiritual or religious things. We should be prepared to take a wide interest in the world and all that God has made within it.
We need to fill our minds with what is good. So many people fill their minds with vile corruption and pollution or are forced fed such(Section 28). We need to fill our minds with what is good. What is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, beautiful, anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things. The bible places tremendous emphasis on our thinking and our minds. If you think of the first temptation. The evil one insinuates thoughts in Eve's minds. She begins to imagine. Before she does anything there is something taking place in her mind that comes into reality. Whether temptation to do evil or plans for good or wholesome. They first seed thought takes place in our minds. If you are interested in buying a car or an new computer. You imagine in your mind what this car or computer would be like. Everything we do enters our minds. We then put these seed thoughts into practice in the outer world. We become that what we think about. We cannot think evil things and be pure, holy, honest and upright people. If a man takes fire in his bosom then we have to take care. What we allow to enter into our minds and what we meditate inwardly. Noble, just, virtuous, praiseworthy think about these things. Exclude dwelling on things which are the opposite of these. Secondly, we must accept responsibility to make a decision. He made us in his image and to take decisions. Man is free to choose. God wants us to accept responsibility for our lives. Responsibility for making choices. How does he guide us and his will for our lives? What Job, career and church should we join, what about marriage? How does God guide us in these matters. God does not take away from man. He does not take away our power of choice. So often we would like a blueprint from heaven-do this, do that etc. But that is asking to deal with us a little children. He doesn't want to take away our choice. We must choose wisely. He will guide those who seek him. He does it through our power to choose. He gave use the guidelines of scripture. A believer must only marry in the Lord. He gives us wisdom to apply scripture to our situation. He can direct our hearts in the choice that may make. Man has this ability to choose and decide. God had given us this ability and we should use it to the full. We should chose rightly. Our daily choices mould us what we are. What we think and choose is moulding what we become. If you think about Adam and Eve and the change in what they were. They were given a choice and it changed there being. It is the same with all the decisions which we make. What we are today are a result of decisions which we made in the past. The person who becomes helplessly drunk because of alcohol. He wasn't born an alcoholic and got into that situation through repeated choice and drinking far more destroying mind and soul. Completely gripped by it and enslaved by it. The decision we make day to day are moulding us and our character. We must ofcourse avoid anything which removes our ability to choose. Things take away our power of choice. The alcoholic does not have the freedom and has become a slave. We must exercise our choices to retain our choice. But I will not be brought under the power of something which I can no longer control or make a choice. Things that are addictive. The man or woman who is addicted. Any kind of addiction is a limitation of our ability to choose. God wants to take control of our lives. So many just drift along by the tide and blindly follow others. God wants us to make decisions and take control of our own lives. We must not neglect the cultural aspect of our nature. God has cultural and artistic powers. We must not disguise our own cultural abilities. He has these differing attribute. There is a tendency in evangelicalism to despise and reject this particular faculty. Culture is contaminated and we must hate that which is evil. God's people should peruse that which is good in art, literature etc. We must not think of man as a disembodied spirit. We must not focus entirely on the religious side. But we must look at the cultural side. Man was made to take dominion and take care of the earth. Within its proper limits. We were made to take responsibilities. We can bring beauty and order out of chaos. And we should pay careful attention to do just that. We can spend a proportion of our income on home improvement and hobbies. We should learn to take charge of the environment in which we live. When we worship God we must take this aspect seriously. We don't believe in extreme oratorical performances or choirs during a Presbyterian service but we must distinguish between simplicity and ugliness. Even the most simple services must not be marred by ugliness. It is right to have a concern about buildings etc. We have this ability to beatify. We are repelled by ugliness etc. We must not confuse simplicity with out cultural aspects. We need to recognise our importance of our relationships. Loneliness is not good. Individualistic society has meant less cohesion in society - family breakdowns and long distance travel to jobs. We are social creatures. One historian described the churches where strangers met together and departed without knowing each other. That is a denial of the image of God - they have social needs. A church must value friendship and fellowship. Are we prepared to extend that care and fellowship? Man does not only need the gospel in the narrow sense of Christ’s death and resurrection - he needs to treated as whole in the image of God. Man in all his form is still made in the image of God. When God spoke to Noah after the flood. Talking about sinful man. Man is so important that the murderer must die. James 3:8 With the tongue we bless our God and curse men in the image of God. Even fallen man is made in the image of God. the image is marred - a statue reflects accurately the image of a person. Perhaps it has weathered - the statue becomes worn and defaced. It still contains something of its original image. We must treat others as being in the image of God. We must be careful how we speak about men. It doesn't matter who you are talking about. The drunkard in gutter is still made in the image of God. By God's grace that image can be restored. We are reminded by the tremendous importance of every human being. The popular view has no reason at all why we should respect one another. The bible tells us we must have a proper respect for every human being because we are all in the image of God. We must be sure that our ultimate goal is. Man needs aims and ambitions. A man who has no aims or ambitions is a pathetic creature. They need to be the right ones. We need to formed in the light of what we are. We saw that being made in God's image. We are not here for a few years and that is the end of it. The story of the rich man and Lazrus. his aims were entirely in this life. The rich fool builds his barns and says I do not need to work again everything is cared for in life. What Jesus is telling us it that these men are fools. Life is ongoing and continuous.
What this doctrine is telling us is there is one principal goal. Man is made to be like God. I am the lord of God you should therefore sanctify yourselves and make yourselves holy because I am holy. Matthew 5: You shall be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. Man was made to holy because God is holy. Christ came to teach the word to make this reality again. Christ came again to make that reality and is renewed in the image of God' son. The likeness of God's son is what every believer for God.We are predestined to become like Christ. We are conscious that we fall short of the glory of God The image is to be perfectly restored. Are you seeking to be renewed in the whole man, body and spirit. Do people see something in you of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The fundamental truth about man is that he was made in the image of God. According to the bible man is great, a man has dignity, and a man has great importance. Because God made him in his own image. In the book of Psalms-"You have made him a little lower than the angels and you have crowned him with glory and honour".
Today, we live in a secular society-a society which degrades man. It tries to explain man in purely natural terms ie.Biology, Freudian psychology,aquatic ape theory etc. It is the bible which unfolds to man his true dignity meaning and purpose. It is the bible teaching which is entirely in accord and agreement with the observable facts. Mans dignity is in the image of God is not the only truth about man. Because the apostle said:( Romans 3:9) "We have charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin." We have to take into account that man is great and in the image of God but man is now under sin. We now have a difference from the secular view of the world.
Because according to the bible the world is an abnormal condition. It is obvious we live in an unhappy world with alot of unemployment & uselessness, disaster, disease and frustration. Consider the crime rate, alcohol abuse, racial hatred, drug culture, anarchistic violence. At the world at large - wars and international conflicts funded with tens of billions of dollars. According to the secular view of life all these things are normal. That's just the ways things have always been. Life will never change or get any better. Apart from some gross and unjustified optimism I suppose human nature will never change. According to the bible the world is in an abnormal condition due to the entrance of sin. But we have hope because God is able to do something for us. If you see man in terms of biology, psychology, aquatic apes etc. -a product of evolution. There is no hope for the future. If you can see that man is a sinner with a remedy who can be restored to God then that is truth. We can be restored to what God intended us and the world would be restored to when one day Christ returns creating a new heaven and new earth.
In the origins of modern man enters sin. When man was created he had peace with God, peace with himself,peace with his family and environment. Man reflected the image of God. God could look on the world and man and say it is very good. But being made in the image of God, man was made free. A robot would not have reflected the image of God. Man was made free and in part of his humanity. To take it away, he ceases to become human. He is a free and responsible being making choices. Man was innocent rather than positively righteous. He had never had to face the possibility of disobedience. That man should face temptation and by rejecting it man should be advanced to voluntary chosen righteousness. God ensured that man was faced with the choice of obedience or disobedience. But in the beginning we disobeyed God instead of living forever in the presence of God. So through this was the fall and the first child was a murderer. Sin came with mans abuse of his freedom. Our first parents chose disobedience.
The nature of sin-the bible has a number of words which uses to describe sin. 1. Transgression- we explain that in Isaiah 53:6 "We have gone astray like sheep we have turned everyone to his own way". To transgress is to cross a boundary. A sheep has found a gap in the fence and squeezes its way out. Sin is stepping outside the will of God and sin is turning aside from that way. Sin means to miss the mark. Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and fall short." We have the picture of an archer and his arrow which keeps falling short and doesn't come to what he is meant to aim for. Man no longer fulfils his purpose for him. A health education slogan once proclaimed "Be all you can be". But man cannot do this because man fall shorts of Gods glory.
2. Iniquity-crookedness, deviousness without integrity. Twisted. man is a transgressor and commits iniquity- he follows his own way. He is crooked, deviant and twisted. Romans 3:9 "Jews and Gentiles are all under sin." Its speaks of being under condemnation. All mankind is under the judgement of God. We are under the power of sin. Jeremiah 13;23 "Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard his spots." Then so you have also have growned accustomed to evil.Jesus said," Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin". The corruption that affects us all. Jeremiah 17:9,"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately weak.". Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fonrications, false witness and blasphemies and this comes from the heart. All Jews and Gentile are under sin. The consequences of sin is guilt-liability for punishment. There are those who dismiss this idea. It is regarded that sin has nothing to do with them being punished. There is an instinct in man which cries our for vengeance against sins. At the Dunblane primary school massacre, one of the policeman who was called to the school felt the uncontrollable urge to kick the corpse of Hamilton as he passed. This is man reacting spontaneously to sin and evil. Our shock, indignation and horror is a part of this also. This is part of the image of God in us as he has to express his indignation his sin. But all who ruin God's world through sins will be subject to punishment. Sin is being under punishment. To some extent sin is punished in this world. Man is cut off from God and is spiritually dead. The environment is cursed - thorns and thistles should then come to you. The full manifestation of punishment should come at the end of life. The first consequence of sin is that man is liable to judgement of God. It is appointed to man to die and be judged. Man is liable for this judgement. The second consequence is corruption Man is disordered in relation to God. When he said in the garden of Eden " you should die" he meant spiritually to God and ultimately physically as well. Man's relationship with God was to be cut off and broken from his maker. And man today is in that spiritual condition in relation to God. Men are willingly ignorant of God. God speaks day and night, through conscience, word and creation. Yet men and women are deliberately ignorant of God. Yet in some societies they make idols. And in more sophisticated societies we make ourselves Gods through our egotistical minds and choose to remain ignorant of God. Man is characterised by unbelief and fear - but the wrong kind of fear. It troubles his conscience and he becomes uncomfortable when we start talking about the gospel and Jesus Christ. It is hostility to God. He is disordered in relation to himself. Man was never to made to be at the centre of his own universe. He was created to glorify God and because of sin he has become disordered and we put ourselves at the centre of our own lives. Man needs to be told that others are just as important but he puts himself at the centre. But through sin we are a slave to passions and a slave to all kinds of vile things through loss of self control. Loss of peace and contentment. Loss of the peace of God, which should have characterised man through his existence. Unease and restlessness. He is disordered in relation to others also. Look at the International or personal sphere -how many conflicts, disputes, arguments, brawls. Disordered in relation to himself and society. Man is lost-the sheep that are lost, the coin that is lost, and the son who has wandered from home. Sheer incongruity-here is a son of a Jewish father in a foreign land feeding pigs. He is in the wrong place. Man is lost. The incongruity in man-drink,drugs. Sense of pointlessness. It characterizes life- why bother about anything? He is guilty and corrupt, he is lost and helpless. Who then can be saved? With man left to himself, he can devise an educational program but they don't change supernaturally his heart. You can investigate psychology, psychiatry etc. but that doesn't change his heart because man is lost. But there is a remedy for sin. There is no point in talking about these things or showing them to anyone unless there is a remedy for them . There is good news for those who recognise their sin and come to God through Christ. With 'absolutist' evolutionary theory with its ethics of the Jungle, wars of universal of homicide,savage capitalism and emphasis on sexual selection as controlling the random mutations there is no remedy for the ills of humanity they are acceptable. In the bible it paints a dark gloomy picutre of man But the remedy is there. Its a bit like going to a doctor who is telling you the problem and through recognizing the problem we can follow the treatment process. We have talked about man in his sin. We are only doing that so that we can then understand and bring the remedy forward. 1 Timothy 1:15 "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" John 1:29 "Look the lamb of God who takes away the sin for the world" There is a remedy provided by God. Man can never save himself. It is a remedy which fully expresses his indignation against sin. Isaish 53:6 "All like sheep have gone astray and we have each turned to his own way and he laid on him the iniquity of us all" God has an uncontrollable urge to express his indignation against sin. He will not forgive without expressing his indignation. But he has done so at the cross of calvary. When Christ called out"My God, My God. Why have you forsaken me!" Because God was expressing his indignation against human sin. God made him who knew no sin to be an example for others. God looked upon his son and saw the mountain of human wickedness and poured out his judgement on Christ. That those who follow him will be right with God. There is no condemnation for those who are supernaturally with Christ Jesus. Corruption is done through renewal with the holy spirit. It deals with his lostness. He now belongs to God. He has an eternal home and glory. It deals with mans helplessness. The holy spirit takes the word and applies it in us working faith and repentance. The remedy is received by faith alone. It is not automatic and doesn't come easily to every human being. The wages of sin is death but the give of God is eternal life. Those who come to God with contrite hearts with empty hands to lay hold freely of the grace that is in Jesus Christ his son. Not the labours of my hands can fulfil thy law of demands. Could my zeal no respite, nor could my tears forever flow, all for sin I could not atone. I helpless look to thee for grace through the saviour. May we not be afraid to look at the dark and dismal side of man. May we look at this helplessness and turn to Lord Jesus Christ.
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