God has given us the gift of free will, so that we can do in his image. But what does that mean, and how do we do it?

<p>God has given us the gift of free will, so that we can do in his image. But what does that mean, and how do we do it?</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

The Nicodemus Society

David Kim

Doing in God’s Image

Last month I presented a message entitled, Thinking in God's Image.

And we began by reading these powerful words from Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 and 27.

And just to remind you, those words were, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

In this passage, we saw that we are created in the image of God.

And this is perhaps 1 of the most powerful, most profound realities in all of scriptures regarding the nature of humankind and regarding the nature of our relationship to our Creator.

But we also asked ourselves the important question, what exactly does it mean to be created in the image of God?

In response to this question, we observed that there are multiple dimensions in which we are created in God's image.

We recognize that God is a physical God and that we are his physical creation.

That based on the scriptures, there is a very tangible sense, a very real sense, in which we resemble God physically.

We also recognize that our God is an emotional God, and that we are His emotional creation.

That based on the Scriptures, we see that God experiences the range of emotions that we feel, and that we are like Him in this respect.

We also recognize that God is a relational God and that we are His relational creation.

That based on the scriptures, we see that God is himself in his essence, a relationship, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And that relationships are at the center of what makes us like him.

But then we recognize yet another element, another dimension, in which we are created in his image.

We read from the book, Education, on page 17.

Every human being created in the image of God is endowed with a power akin to that of the creator.

Individuality, the power to think and to do.

The men in whom this power is developed are the men who bear responsibilities, who are leaders in enterprise, and who influence character.

We understood that being created in the image of God is not only physical, is not only emotional, and it's not only relational, but that he also gives us a power described as being akin or essentially similar to his own, And that is the power of individuality, which is further defined as the power to think and the power to do.

Last time we delved into this power to think and we identified specific instances among our people within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and to be more specific, we identified instances among you and me in which we sometimes not only fail to use our God-given power to think, but we actually bring shame upon our Creator by engaging in behaviors which allow the enemies of God to insult the followers of Christ.

We bring shame to our Creator by not equipping ourselves to be able to coherently and compellingly explain our beliefs to an unbeliever or a skeptic.

We bring shame to our creator by being afraid to speak and afraid to engage those around us on matters of faith because we are afraid of being challenged or because we are afraid and ashamed of what we believe.

We bring shame to our Creator by using the Bible as a blunt force instrument to mindlessly beat others into submission, rather than by using reasoning and persuasion like the Apostle Paul.

We bring shame to our Creator by not bothering to fact-check what we hear and but rather simply regurgitating unsubstantiated so-called facts.

And we bring shame to our creator by uncritically sharing fake news and fake articles on social media, because it happens to align with what we believe, but we don't validate the sources.

And while that was a tough message, I believe that someone here was challenged.

And I believe that that person came away resolving to apply the best of his or her intellect by the power of the Holy Spirit to think in God's image.

Do you remember this message from last month?

Today we will continue from this theme and we will move on to what the spirit of prophecy pairs with the power to think.

Last time we talked about the power to think, but this time we will talk about the power to do.

And as with the power to think, there are many dimensions involved in the power to do.

Why is it important not just to hear or believe, but also to do according to God's will?

As James writes, faith without works is dead.

We could talk about what to do and what not to do.

We could talk about the Sermon on the Mount.

We could talk about the fruit of the Spirit.

And for some reason, whenever this topic comes up, we as a church seem to always focus on what to do.

But today, we are not going to talk about what to do.

We could talk about how we are ambassadors for Christ and that we are on display before men and angels and that all are watching us to see if what God has said about His character is indeed true.

We could talk about the fact that we are a part of a prophetic stream of history.

We could talk about the fact that we are living at a crucial time before Christ returns and what that means for what we need to do.

The power to do is truly a deep and broad topic with many dimensions, yet in the interest of time and focus, I would like to discuss 1 particular aspect with you today.

Not why, not what, not where, and not when, although these are all very important topics.

This morning, this Sabbath morning, I want to talk with you about how.

And to put things very simply, anything we do, anything we do in your personal life, in your professional life, in your spiritual life, anything we do is a result of motivation.

Being moved to action to accomplish something, motivation.

There are many theories of what motivates people.

And the relative effectiveness of different sources of motivation.

But to simplify this morning, Let us say that there are 2 dimensions of motivation.

1 dimension is extrinsic versus intrinsic.

And I know These are SAT words, but I will explain more later.

We have extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.

And then the other dimension of motivation is positive and negative.

These are the 2 dimensions of motivation.

Extrinsic motivation means that you are being driven by external factors.

On a positive front, an external positive reward could be something like money, pursuit of money, pursuit of fame, pursuit of grades, pursuit of praise from others, pursuit of promotion, pursuit of recognition, these kinds of things.

These would be external and positive forms of motivation.

It could be avoiding a punishment of some kind.

But regardless of whether positive or negative, extrinsic motivation comes from something that is outside of yourself.

On the other hand, there's intrinsic motivation.

And intrinsic motivation is driven by things that are internal or inside of yourself.

On the positive side, you could have internal rewards.

You could do something, you could be motivated to do something because you enjoy it.

You could find it to be a challenge, something that stimulates you.

You could be gratified by doing it, have a sense of satisfaction, internal to yourself.

These are internal positive sources of motivation.

Of course, you can also have internal negative sources of motivation.

Things like you are motivated to do something because you want to avoid shame.

Or perhaps you want to avoid a sense of guilt.

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Doing in God’s Image

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