CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON: A Family Resemblance
Romans 8:29
We all were BORN into a human family; we all had a father and a mother and, for better or for worse, we acquired certain traits and characteristics from them. There are outward characteristics that we may have as well as similarities in temperament and disposition. If we have brothers or sisters, we can also see similar qualities and others may say, "I can see a family resemblance!"
In Romans 8:29, Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: "For those whom He (God) foreknew, He also predestined to become CONFORMED to the image of His Son, so that He (Christ) would be the firstborn among many brethren."
The History of Man’s Image
How are we, as followers of Christ being conformed to the image of Christ? (We’ll look at a little bit of biblical History) In the beginning, God created man in His OWN IMAGE and HUMANITY was GOOD (Gen. 1:26). After ADAM fell, he became considerably less than that image produced children in his fallen image. It’s sort of like the before and after difference of a penny that you put on the train track. Did you ever see one of those? You put a nice clear and shiny penny on the train tracks and after the train comes through, it is squashed and distorted: Its original form, luster and IMAGE are totally distorted and squashed. After the fall, our Godly Image was barely discernible; the only thing that we were naturally predisposed to do was to oppose God’s Will.
We studied Romans 5 and saw that we all have a sinful FAMILY RESEMBLANCE to Adam as our earthly father. Adam¡¦s choice to follow satan’s ADVICE instead of God’s COMMANDS corrupted his image so the children that Adam reproduced all came into this world with his sinful image. We were born into that same distorted image.
Then Jesus Christ comes into our world in the exact IMAGE of God: I love that verse in Heb. 1:3: "He is the radiance of God’s Glory and the exact representation of His nature." Jesus comes to us in the flesh as the exact image of God because He was and is God. Jesus lived a perfect life and died as a perfect sacrifice for sin, and arose again from the dead, so that we could be made right with God BY FAITH IN HIM, and we can once again be given a new spiritual nature by FAITH and NOW be conformed to His Image.
Do you catch the progression: We were made in God’s image, we FELL in sin and acquired ADAM’S SINFUL IMAGE, which was according to Adam’s decision or CHOICE, and NOW God CHOOSES to WORK HIS SALVATON and REDEMPTION in those that He foreknew and predestined, in order that they might be ONCE AGAIN be in His perfect IMAGE conformed to CHRIST’s IMAGE. What a MARVEL of God’s Grace!
The Preeminent One
God’s Primary Purpose in Christ was not so that we would have sins forgiven or that we would someday enjoy God’s presence perfectly forever, or that we would be BETTER people (that would be better sinners): His Primary Purpose was and is that Jesus IS THE Preeminent One in the universe and in your life. That’s what it means: that He would be the firstborn (Prototokos) among many brethren." In Jewish culture, the firstborn received the father’s and the family’s top honor. "Preeminence" is a derivative of the word "firstborn"and means that there is no one greater, no one higher, no one more deserving of honor, majesty and esteem than the LORD JESUS CHRIST. NO ONE!!! Every knee will bow in Heaven and on Earth because Jesus fully deserves ALL the Glory and honor, before all time, but especially because He is the "Lamb who was Slain". IT IS NOT ABOUT ME, but about HIM. On this account, no one should ever dare to challenge Him and His authority; Colossians 1: 15 and 18 says: He is the IMAGE of the invisible God, the firstborn (BEFORE) of all creation, He (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church (that’s why He deserves all of our praise): who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in ALL THINGS he might have the preeminence."
How do WE fit into this picture of the Preeminence of Christ? Ephesians 2 says: YOU were dead in YOUR trespasses and sins, 2 in which YOU formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." We don’t fit in because we are Spiritually and sinful dead!
4 But GOD, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together WITH CHRIST (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, (POSITIONALLY WE ARE THERE) and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."
The Purpose of Conformity to Christ
WE are not saved by our works but by God¡¦s grace, but we are saved for a very specific purpose: To be conformed to the image of Christ and that we would LOVE HIM MOST OF ALL. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same IMAGE from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit! We are being transformed from one level of glory (the ADAM IMAGE) into to the next image, CHRIST’S IMAGE. That doesn’t mean that we will all have the same exact physical features as Christ, but it means we will essentially be what He is and that is perfect, mature, righteous, holy, pure humanity: a Holy Family to God. (1 Peter 2:9)
(This is mentioned all the way back in Exodus 19:5 ’Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’)
Christ is the MODEL for us of perfect holiness, perfect servant-hood, perfect love, perfect righteousness, and He has become our standard. Our standard isn’t that of the world. Our standard isn’t culture. Our standard isn’t what our friends or parents did, or what WE might set as our standard: Our standard is the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Our standard is God’s standard and that standard is revealed in His written Word and by His Holy Spirit in our hearts. As we ABIDE in Him we become more LIKE HIM! God is conforming all who follow Jesus to the image of His Son so that we will actually reflect the Son’s glory to God.
Hebrews 12:14 says: Without holiness no one will see the Lord. We receive Christ’s IMPUTED righteousness for payment of sin, but the Spirit of God is working IN US the perfect standard of our older brother, the Lord Jesus. It is IMPOSSIBLE for us to NOT HAVE a spiritual family resemblance because God HAS DECREED IT to be so, if we have been born into HIS family. He always accomplishes what He decrees He will do!
An Internal Process
Philippians 2:1-7 says: Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Have this attitude IN YOURSELVES. Being conformed into Christ’s image is an internal process, and often times it is a painful process. It is the powerful work of God through the Holy Spirit in you from the time you are first saved, until the process is finished. God works by His Spirit and by His written Word of God, But when we DO get to heaven, the GOD’S GOAL and promise is that we WILL BE conformed; the verb means "to bring exactly into the same form" as the image of Christ.
The command in Romans 12:2 is: Do not be conformed to (made into the image of) this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." The mind’ means "the higher powers of the soul, the faculty of perceiving divine things, of recognizing GOODNESS and of HATING EVIL."
Andrew Murray, a pastor and missionary who lived from 1828-1917, and who authored over 240 books wrote this: Your conformity to Christ becomes then such a holy, heavenly, divine work, that you realize that it can come only from the Father, but that from Him you can and shall most certainly receive it. What God¡¦s purpose has decreed, God’s power will perform. What God’s love has ordained and commanded, God’s love will most certainly accomplish. A LIVING FAITH in His eternal purpose will become one of the mightiest powers in urging and helping us to live LIKE CHRIST."
God’s WORK revealed in your WALK
Lastly, being conformed to the image of God’s Son Is God’s work revealed in your walk. Ephesians 2:10 says: For we are His WORKMANSHIP (that which HAS BEEN made), created in Christ Jesus for good (honorable and upright) works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." WALKING is LIVING or progressing along. It’s not stressful. It’s LIVING: WE, as God’s workmanship, LIVE IN, WE EXIST to do the good and Godly works which He has prepared beforehand for us, and in so doing, we testify to HIS TRUTH WITHIN US.
Why do I perform these WORKS? Is it because I am good, and powerful, and thoughtful? No. It is because God has worked a MIRACLE of SAVING GRACE IN ME and HE is bringing it to completion. He is conforming me INTO CHRIST’S IMAGE, and HE does it through the works and steps that He has made for me, so that I can’t be mistaken who RECEIVES the Glory and the credit: Jesus Christ IS LORD, and He Reigns even NOW.
I pray often every day for the persecuted Christians and I realize that THE reason that they are under severe persecution is because they are testifying to the supremacy and the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. When people are LIVING in this truth, it is inevitable that the devil and his followers will try and silence the proclamation of the Sovereign Purpose of God: To Exult and glorify JESUS as LORD. It is through these toughest of times that God conforms followers of Christ into His blessed and perfect image. Do you remember ever growing and becoming more like Christ when things were going smoothly in your life? Often, in the good times, you barely gave God a thought.
God never does ANYTHING ANYWHERE that will not BRING GLORY TO HIMSELF and to the LORD JESUS! God’s DECREE is that JESUS BE WORSHIPED, now and forever, and WE are called to bring Him Glory and WORSHIP NOW. Christ has the PREEMINENT position NOW in Heaven: Doesn’t He also deserve the PREEMINENT position NOW in your Heart?
Philippians 3:20-21 reminds us of the greater calling to Christ’s likeness" "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state (a fleshly and fallen body) into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that HE HAS even to subject all things to Himself.¡¨
In believers, God is working in such a fabulous way that we do not even call attention to ourselves and think; Look what I’m doing for the LORD!"
NO, our lives naturally call attention to WHAT GOD IS DOING in my heart and life to bring HONOR, PRAISE, and GLORY to HIMSELF. We begin NOW to reflect that renewed image as we walk with the Holy Spirit of the Living God.
Is there a strong family resemblance of Christ in your life? Are you growing up spiritually and beginning to look more and more like the Lord Jesus? Remember the hopelessly squashed penny that we used to be? No one could bring that image back to its original shape and form. It would take a miracle, and that’s what God does with those whom He has chosen: He remakes and recreates them so that HE can see the image, not of Abraham Lincoln or of Caesar, but the IMPRINT and the IMAGE of the Lord Jesus Christ upon our hearts and lives.
In Matthew 22:21 Jesus held up a coin and said: "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s." If the Lord Jesus has imprinted your heart with His Grace, it is an eternal imprint and it will be revealed through your life and for all eternity.
In Romans 8:38-39, Paul gives this precious profession having been imprinted with the image of the LORD JESUS Christ and of HIS HOLY SPIRIT: I am CONVINCED that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, NOR ANY OTHER created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
As you are walking with Christ toward your Heavenly home, being conformed more and more to His image, no matter what may come your way, NOTHING will be able to separate you from His Love, because it is this LOVE of God that has saved you ETERNALLY.
To God alone Be the Glory, Great things He has Done and IS DOING!
OUTLINE:
1. The History of Man¡¦s Image: From God’s (GOOD) created image, to Adam’s sinful image, to Christ’s new image
2. God’s Primary Purpose in Christ is that Jesus IS the Preeminent One and we love Him most of all. (Colossians 1:15&18, Eph. 2)
3. Being Conformed to the Image of Christ is the Secondary PURPOSE in your salvation. (2 Cor. 3:18, Heb. 12:14)
a. It Is an internal process. (Philippians 2:1-7)
b. It is a work revealed in your walk. (Ephesians 2: 10, Phil 3: 20-21, 1 Peter 1: 3-10)
1 Peter 1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.¡¨
