An Inadequate View of Self

Exodus 20:4-6

James R. Davis

How do you measure up? Before you answer this question, I would like to know, what measure you use to measure yourself? What we use to measure ourselves by is extremely important. If we use an inadequate measuring standard to measure ourselves we will be inadequate when we attain to that measure.

The world Jeremiah spoke of in these following verses measured itself by the standards of their false gods.

Jerermiah 10:2-6
This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good." No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. (NIV)

Israel was warned against measuring herself by the standards of their world. Neither should we examine and measure ourselves by the standards of our world. Does it make sense for us to measure ourselves by the equivalence of a scarecrow in a melon patch? Yet, when we measure ourselves by the standards of the world, this is exactly what we do.

Do you want to measure yourselves with the equivalence of a dumb scarecrow in a melon patch that cannot talk or walk? It cannot think, or do harm, or do good. Idols are made to worship. We become like what we worship, for this is the purpose of worship. If we measure ourselves by the world's scarecrow in a melon patch, we will end up as dumb and lifeless as the scarecrow.

We may not literally worship a dumb scarecrow in a melon patch, but how do we measure ourselves? What gives us our sense of worth? Is it our bank accounts, elegant houses, the cars we drive, our looks, the clothes we wear, our intelligence or skills? Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that these things are vain. Measure yourselves by that which is vain and you become vain.

What Is A Worthy Standard of Measure?

If you owned the world it couldn't give you a true sense of your worth. Certainly nothing or no one in this world is an adequate measure to measure a person by. Jesus said, "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26 NIV) When you understand that the price of the world cannot purchase one soul, then you begin to understand something about your worth. God himself gave himself on the cross that you might have a life. This is what intrigues me about Christianity, the value that is placed on each human being saved or unsaved.

The principle behind the second commandment is the idea that God wants us to have an adequate view of our lives. The only way we can do this is to see ourselves as God sees us.

Exodus 20:4-6
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand of those who love me and keep my commandments. (NIV)

The God of heaven has power, wisdom and understanding. If you want to live a life of power filled with wisdom and understanding, worship God.

Jerermiah 10:6-12
No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. Who should not revere you, O King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you. They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols. Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple-- all made by skilled workers. But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath. "Tell them this: 'These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.'" But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. (NIV)

If we fail to accept the power, wisdom and understanding God affords we will become inadequate persons.

Gods Fashioned in the Image of Self

We diminish our view of self and our abilities when we seek to recreate God in our own image. In the last decade we have had an insatiable appetite that has driven us to seek affirmation of SELF. Today "self" is being used as the criterion for evaluating life. Our modern world encourages us to look inward to gather strength for the challenges and opportunities of each day. We should tell ourselves: "You're okay. You can make it. Nothing is too great for you to conquer if you believe in yourself." "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe man can achieve."

In this fetish process certain words have subtly crept into our vocabulary. Maybe you have noticed the words too: Self-acceptance. Self-actualization. Self-confidence. Self-consciousness. Self-control. Self-deliverance. Self-discipline. Self-enlightenment. Self-evaluation. Self-fulfillment. Self-gratification. Self-help. Self-image. Self-empowerment. Self-knowledge. Self-pity. Self-reliance. Self-talk.

"Self" is at the heart of each word and the problem of each heart. These "self" words are pointing the way to other "self" words: Self-absorption. Self-centeredness. Self-deception. Is it any wonder that individuals, marriages, organizations, churches and nations are experiencing SELF-DESTRUCTION?

We are hoping an understanding of self will give us an explicit vantage point from which to view life and solve our problems. It is as though Paul's words in Ephesians chapter three and verse nineteen have been interpolated and rewritten to say, " . . . that you may be filled with the fullness of self . . . " Paul actually says, " . . . that you may be filled with the fullness of God . . . "

We Are Made In God's Image

There is no way we can envision our lives through the eyes of God without understanding that we are made in the image of God. Worshipping God created in the image of self, not only diminishes God but it also diminishes us. This is the reason we live in a world of low self-esteem.

Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (NIV)

You can't trivialize God without trivializing yourself. Evolution encourages us to see ourselves as descendents of animals, but we must understand that we descended from God. God created us in the beginning and gave us a superior position to animals in that he made each of us in his own image. God placed us on top in this world.

Acts 17:22-29
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-- an image made by man's design and skill. (NIV)

If we could only see ourselves made in the image of God we could truly understand that life and death are only temporary, but that which is made in the image of God transcends both life and death; it is eternal.

I think we lose sight of God when we try to build churches instead of people. Religion is concerned about the concerns of churches, but Christianity is devoted to the concerns of people who are made in the image of God. Too often churches confine their definition of God to a set of church doctrines and practices. They expect God to confine himself to their set of doctrines and they expect people to live within those confines. This is why it is so essential to broaden our restricted view of God by focusing on God himself.

Replacing Our Self-image with God's Image

Psychologists are encouraging us to get in touch with our inner "self." Yet, it seems rather confusing to scrutinize "self" in light of "self." There is a standard for measurement in all walks of life. If each person determined the standard by which he/she measured self, would it not be confusing? It s like measuring the accuracy of a broken speedometer by the broken speedometer itself; it would justify its own measurements. If everybody's speedometer out on the freeway were broken what a confusing place it would be. It would be even more confusing when we used someone else's speed to justify our own speed.

The church is about God's new creation, which is recreated in the image of Christ. We must allow God to recreate us into his image. Christianity is about renewing the image of the creator that lies within us.

Colossians 3:9-10
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (NIV)

We are to reflect God's image in our daily lives. Paul writes, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NIV). The darkness in this world seeks to veil our lives from the glory of God. God seeks to remove the veil of darkness so that we might see ourselves as we are seen.

1 Corinthians 13:9-12
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (NIV)

When we come to know ourselves as God knows us, we will have an adequate view of self and the purpose for which we live. Understanding that we are made in the image of God and that God seeks to renew himself in his creation through us gives us the kind of esteem that no search for self could ever fill. Imagine being filled with the fullness of God.

When we come to understand that God has made us accepted in his Son our need for self-acceptance will pale into insignificance (Ephesians 1:6). God's willingness to accept the worst of the worst makes a staggering statement about the value of every person.

When we come to understand that God has begun his spiritual work in us to recreate us in his image and that he promises to complete his work in us (Philippians 1:6) what confidence and boldness are afforded. Just imagine God is working in your life to accomplish his will and our confidence rest in God and not in self. What a joy it is to come to God knowing that he will keep us by his power for an eternity with himself (1 Peter 1:3-5). It is encouraging to know when you fail through weakness that your eternal salvation is not dependent upon your strength, but upon God's power. You remain as valuable to God as your ever were. Your worth is not diminished through your failure. His condemnation of our sin is not a condemnation of our worth.

Life would be much easier, if we understood that God's power enters into our lives to discipline us rather than relying on the power of self-discipline (Hebrews 12:6-7).  This is the kind of power Paul was seeking when he said, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:10-11 NIV)

God desires to walk through this world with you as your rely on his wisdom, understanding and power to renew his image in you. He desires for the world to see him through his church.

Ephesians 3:8-12
Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. (NIV)

The church is about people who are animated by the Spirit of the living God to be renewed into the image of God. The worship services of the church are about people animated by the Spirit coming together in Christ's presence to worship the Creator in whose image we are made. We are here to learn how to be conformed into his image so that the world may understand God's eternal purpose through us.

God Is A Jealous God

There is a godly jealousy about God (2 Corinthians 11:2). He is jealous when we diminish ourselves through a diminished view of him.

Exodus 20:5-7
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand of those who love me and keep my commandments. "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. (NIV)

The object of our jealousy determines whether it is good or bad. If the object is self, the outcome is envy and hatred toward others. God is not a selfish self-seeking deity. His jealousy for us has to do with a single-minded devotion to an object of his love. God's jealousy for us is an all-consuming pursuit of our good. God pursues us to show his love to a thousand generations.

There is a natural consequence when we refuse God's pursuit of us. Our sins will consume us when we reject God. Our sins will consume our descendants. Our sins will consume our world.

We do not serve a God who wishes to make us cower in his presence or who seeks make us afraid to take a good look at ourselves in the light of his presence. We worship a God who seeks to fully reveal himself through his Son. Jesus told Phillip, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" (John 14:9). He sent Jesus so that you could have an adequate view of yourself.

We worship a God that wishes to exalt us to heavenly realms in Christ. He cannot do this if we hold to a diminished view of him.

Conclusion:

Are you using the image of God to measure your life? Are you measuring your life by how it reflects Gods glory? If not, you can only have a diminished view of yourself and your purpose for being here today.

Are you seeking to glorify God as you live in his presence? Have you allowed sin in your life to mar God's image that wishes to shine in all its glory through you?