We
were house sitting for a lady when Jan and I were early in our marriage. I got
a phone call one night asking to speak to my mother. I was not sure how to
answer. I finally said, “I’m an adult. My mother doesn’t live here.”
How
do you identity yourself to others?
In
Genesis 1:26 God says, “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness.”
In
Genesis 1:27 it says, “So God made man in His own image, in the image of God He
created him, male and female He created them.”
You
and I are created in the image of God, after the likeness of God. Nothing else
in all that God created is describe as being created in God’s image.
Raise the Roof and
Remove the Walls
is knowing that we were originally created in the image of God.
In
Genesis 3 Adam and Eve, the bearers of God’s image, sinned. They disobeyed God.
That perverted the image in God in them and of every person born since then.
Raise the Roof and
Remove the Walls
is knowing that the image of God in us has been perverted.
In
1 Corinthians 15:45 it says, “Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a
living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.’”
The
last Adam is Jesus.
Paul
is telling us that we can bear the perverted image that Adam brought on us or
we can bear the restored image that Jesus brings to us.
The
contrast is huge.
The
first Adam was the source of idolatry.
The
second Adam is the source of moving us back to the true worship of God.
The
first Adam is the instrument of humanity’s downfall.
The
second Adam is the instrument of humanity’s salvation.
The
first Adam turned from the Father in a garden.
The
second Adam turned to the Father in a garden.
The
first Adam was naked and ashamed.
The
second Adam was naked and bore our shame.
The
first Adam’s sin brought us thorns.
The
second Adam wore a crown of thorns for us.
The
first Adam substituted himself for God.
The
second Adam substituted Himself for sinners (that would be us).
The
first Adam sinned at a tree.
The
second Adam bore our sins on a tree.
The
first Adam died as a sinner.
The
second Adam died for sinners.
Those
are the differences between the first Adam and the second Adam, Jesus.
We
have a choice as to which image we will bear in life, the first Adam’s or the
second Adam’s. Whichever choice we make will carry consequences.
The
consequences of which image we bear:
We
die bearing Adam’s image.
We
are born again bearing Jesus’ image.
We
are condemned bearing Adam’s image.
We
have salvation bearing Jesus’ image.
We
are cursed bearing Adam’s image.
We
are blessed bearing Jesus’ image.
We
have a sin nature bearing Adam’s image.
We
receive a new nature bearing Jesus’ image.
We
have wrath and death bearing Adam’s image.
We
have love and life bearing Jesus’ image.
The
direction of our lives is determined by whose image we are bearing.
The
final destination of our lives is determined by whose image we are bearing.
When
people ask you who you are, how do you respond?
I
don’t identify with who my ancestors were.
I
don’t identify with what kind of house I live in or what kind of car I drive.
I
don’t identify with what my job is or how much money I make.
I
don’t identify with a political party or certain life philosophy.
I
am a child of God.
I
am a follower of Jesus.
I
am in Christ.
I
am the righteousness of God.
I
identify with Jesus and Him only.
Raise the Roof and
Remove the Walls
is identifying our lives solely with who Jesus is.
With Jesus, Raising the
Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
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