Come to Order, Pt. 6
Study Guide, March 9, 2025
Pastor Clay Olsen
We marvel over God’s created wonders across this beautiful Earth. Some examples are: Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon, the Matterhorn in Switzerland, Halong Bay in Vietnam, Victoria Falls in Africa. But God’s greatest created masterpiece, and even more wonderous than the physical wonders of the Earth, are the physical and especially spiritual components of those made in the image of God.
So now notice: Part of the Redemption of bringing souls back into relationship with God includes restoring more and more of the original order of the image of God in those who have been created in the image of God. For what was lost in the Fall of Man was both a spiritual relationship with God and also the holy moral image of God. Not the image itself, but the holy moral image. Remember, the image of God is what is found in the soul of man…mind, will, and emotions. Every person has an eternal soul. That’s why it’s important to know that in the Fall of Man, as in the words of Dr. Norman Geisler, ‘the soul of Man was effaced, but not erased.’ All people are still created in the image of God, but only those who have been Born-Again have had their spirit raised to life and reunited to God…united to God’s Spirit. And with their spirit united to God’s Spirit, it is thus united to God’s life, or ‘eternal life’. The unconverted soul, too, will live forever, but their existence is called ‘the second death’ or an existence of eternal separation from God.
But now, for the converted, for each person who has turned to God in repentance and faith and had their spirit eternally united to God’s spirit, the goal of their soul is to, more and more, restore what was lost in their image, and that is; the holy moral image of God. And the path to restoring the order of the holy moral image of God in their life…restoring the holy character and conduct of God in their life, restoring the ‘likeness of God’ in their life, is through relating and responding to God according to the order of God’s commandments. That’s why we pointed out how crucial it is to love God with all of our mind, for our mind is a component of our soul that was not only made in the image of God, but is to also function according to the holy moral image of God. Remember, you will become more and more like that which you love, or who you love.
And that requires us to connect the rest of the components of our soul that will enable us to then restore more of the holy moral character of God. Again, this is the essence of the first commandment: Mark 12:30- “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.” NKJV As we pointed out in our last study, the mind was designed to know God. And now…the heart was designed to delight in God. One remarkable thing about the Born-Again person is that the Holy Spirit has given us the ability to choose that in which we will delight. However, the unconverted, due to their fallen nature, are pulled about, drug around, and driven to delight in whatever seems good to the senses, a delight to the eyes, and whatever they think has the power to make then wise…sound familiar? Yeah, it’s the same fallen formula that was part of the Fall of Man into sin. But God has a holy formula for God’s people to follow, which includes restoring the order of our heart to delight in the Person and things of our Holy God. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, the converted have the power to choose those things in which they will delight. Like these kind of things:
Ps 37:4- “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
Ps 40:8- “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”
Ps 119:16- “I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.”
Prov 23:26- “Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways.”
Jer 15:16- “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.” NASU
We once put it this way: Everyone needs something that they can only get from God…spiritual life. And God wants something that He can only get from you…your heart. How caring and kind of God to call out to us: “Give me your heart…and let your eyes delight in my ways.” We trust that you have given your heart to God. When you do, God gives you a new heart…which is a way of describing your new nature that is now and forever united to God’s nature. And now, in this restored relationship, God calls us, commands us, to now restore the order for our soul, to love our Lord with all of our heart…to choose to delight in the Person of our God, to delight in the Words of our God, and to delight in the will of our God. In that Messianic Psalm of Psalm 40 it prophesied Jesus’ own words of how His delight was to do the will of His Father! And as we, too, choose to delight in the Person, and the Words, and the Will of our Heavenly Father, we will find our heart being more and more transformed into God’s own character and likeness…into the holy moral image of our God.
The commandment goes on… “…and with all of your soul…” And here the Greek word for ‘soul’, ‘psuche’, in context with the heart and mind, refers to our sentient being, or our conscious being. We could include our ‘volition’, our ‘will’…the seat of our conscious decisions. You see, there is a created order for the ‘will’ of humans as well. Our ‘will’ was designed to choose to follow God. Remember…not following our God is the central problem to our sin problem. The Prophet Isaiah clearly revealed this. Isa 53:6- “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” NASU Choosing to ‘follow our own way’ is a description of our ‘Sin problem’. That’s why repentance is pictured as turning from following our own way to the intention of following God’s way. Of course, until we are thus reunited to God’s Spirit through our faith in the merits of Christ’s sinless works, and our faith in the sacrifice of His death for our sins, we do not have the power to follow Christ. But through repentance and faith we are given new spiritual life and the Holy Spirit, who then gives us the power to follow through in our repentance, to follow through with our intention to follow Christ!
But again, by our very created order, we were created to choose to follow our God. We were created to live by the order of – ‘Not my will, but Thy will be done!’ That’s what Jesus meant by His words, “If anyone wishes, chooses, to follow Me, he must deny himself…” Deny himself what? Or, deny what in his or her life? Deny their self-will and choose God’s will. Note very carefully here…it’s not the elimination of our will, or, as in Eastern religious teachings…the extinguishing of our will…no, it is the re-ordering of our will to be in its proper order – the order of becoming more and more willing to do the will of God.
This calls for a question at this point? Do you ever struggle with being willing to do God’s will? That’s a rhetorical question…you don’t have to raise your hand. Actually, probably all of our hands could go up on that one from time to time. Well, let’s add some sweet relief to your heart and mind here, for we are in good company on this one. For even the Psalmist said: Ps 51:12- “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.” NLT It was like David saying, ‘Lord, would You just make whatever adjustments are needed in me so that I will want to obey You more and choose to do Your will more and more?’ How about that? Don’t you feel better now? I know I do. Friends, neither flatter yourself nor fool yourself nor give in to futility about yourself…just accept the reality that the adequacy and the power even to choose and to do the will of God is from the Spirit of God within you. Why do you think we are to ascribe all the power and the glory and the honor to our God anyway? Because it’s all from our God in the first place and the last place!
However, because our Heavenly Father is so gracious, and so loving, and so generous with His children, whenever we do choose to love Him back with our emotions, with our will, and with our mind, our God loves whenever we do that and whatever we do in showing that…and, thus, He promises to reward us for whatever efforts and good works we do in showing Him that! Remember…God is a ‘rewarder’ of those who seek Him, serve Him, please Him.’
And speaking of ‘how about that’… ‘how about this?’ For now we see how the “…love the Lord with all of our ‘strength’ part fits in. This is now the ‘action’ parts to the loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. This is the ‘diligence’ part of our ‘Discipleship’…or, the ‘extreme efforts’ that God is looking for from us. This is the ‘good works’ parts of ‘a faith that works’. This is the ‘bearing fruit’ part of the ‘good tree’. This is the ‘striving and laboring’…this is the ‘blood, sweat, and tears’ parts of what we believe about our God and what we trust our God to do in and through our lives.
How did the Apostle James say it? James 1:26- “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” NASU And how did the Apostle John say it? 1 John 3:18- “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” NASU We are to use whatever strengths, whatever talents, whatever treasures, and whatever time we have to show God through both our worship and our service that we are making God’s first commandment our highest priority of our lives, for the sake of our God and Savior.
And speaking of ‘commandments’…It is also very important for us to carry a right concept and understanding about God’s commandments, like this greatest commandment and the second which is like it. So many people have such a skewed and distorted understanding and attitude towards the ‘commandments of God’. God’s commandments simply reveal ‘God’s order’ for our lives. Many view God’s commandments as restrictions upon their lives, as though they interfere with their personal freedoms and such. But how insidious and how foolish is that! God’s commandments are actually steps of freedom from our otherwise slavery to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Moses even had to explain the good purposes of God’s commandments to the Israelites: Deut 10:12-13- Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” NASU God’s commandments are for our good, they are for our blessing, they are for our very happiness. God’s commandments are not our restrictions, they are God’s rescue and our freedom from slavery to the world, the flesh, and the devil.
But even more, for did you catch the connection with God’s commandments and God’s calling to His people, then, as well as to His people today…to us? “…what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul…” Oh yeah, they are just like Jesus’ words in the Gospels. Which reveal to us that the purpose of God’s commandments is to restore the order for which we were created. We were created to love our God with all of our heart. We were created to love God with all of our soul…our will. We were created to love God with all of our mind. And we were created to love God with all of our strength. But because of the Fall of all mankind in sin, that order was damaged. Praise God, in our Redemption, the reclamation of that order was restored. And the ‘effaced’ or the ‘damaged’ image of God in His redeemed children was rebirthed. But now after this reclamation of God’s image in our life, we are now instructed to follow these commandments so that the transformation into the holy moral image of God can be restored in us. For that is the highest goal of our life. How so? Let’s look!
One of the most consoling statements in the Bible is found in Rom 8:28- “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” How often and how deeply that has consoled and encouraged God’s people when things are not going well at all, when they are facing trials and tragedies and problems of all sorts. No, those things in themselves are not good at all, but none of those things will stop the victory and the reward and the compensation that will be worked together and worked out for the good of God’s child, in spite of those things.
But there’s something even more in this message because of what else is being worked out. For this ‘highest good’ of Romans 8:28 is what in revealed to us in Romans 8:29: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren…” To become more and more transformed into the image and character of Jesus Christ is the ultimate good of our life…the ultimate goal of our Christian life. It is to be our daily pursuit and our highest purpose. When we were ‘reborn’ in our spirit, we were united to Christ in our soul and spirit. After that the goal of our life is to then be ‘transformed’ more and more into the image and character of Christ, thus restoring more and more of the ‘holy moral image’ of God in us…His children. Again, this is the ‘highest good’ toward which we are to be pursuing. And when it is, nothing in this world…even the trials or the sufferings or the daily problems of life can stop that transformation. Even more so, anything that the world or the devil means for evil will be conquered by God and turned for good for God’s children, as we make ‘Christlikeness’ the passion of our life.
Remember, we are more than conquerors in Christ. Therefore, we can rest in that. But we are called to restore the whole image of Christ in our life. Therefore, we are to work on that. And the more that we do work on that, the more that we seek to love the Lord our God with all of our mind…seeking to know God better, and with all of our heart and emotions…delighting in God’s words and God’s will and in God’s fellowship, and with all of our soul…our will, choosing to follow our God, and in using all of the strength which God supplies toward being transformed more and more into the likeness of our God, into the likeness of Christ…the more we restore God’s designed order in our life, along with all the blessings of that, both now and in the rewards of that to come.