Message tonight title is all about the image, all about the image. You guys realize tonight that your self image will not make you happy. Amen. Your self image will not make you happy. This is going to be a little less preachy and a little more conversation. A one way conversation. I don't want to hear what you have to say. We'll save that for another time. But we're all concerned about our images, aren't we? We want to be known as the hard worker. We want to be known as the good husband. We want to be known as the good wife, maybe. The perfect friend, maybe. I mean, the list goes on. You can think of what you want to be in life. You want to be something. You've got this idea, maybe this list of things. I want to accomplish this in my life, and I want to be known as this. If people are describing me, I want to be described as fill in the blank. Why do we do this? Well, because I think it's natural that we want to be of some significance. I know the other reason is because we can see inside ourselves unlike anyone else can. You look in the mirror at yourself every day. I look in the mirror at myself every day and I see me. You don't see me like I see me, but I see me and you see you and what you see you don't like. Right. Amen. You don't like what you see most of the time. Right. I mean, it could be appearance. It could be deep inside of who you are as a person. You don't like what you see. And we all pretty much I think it's the human experience. I think we all fit into that. We can all agree with that and we can nod and go, yeah, I'm either experiencing that now or I have at some point or I'm you know, I'm going through it. I see examples on Facebook. Some of you are not Facebook material. I'm not avid Facebook, but I do a little bit of Facebooking. An online image is quite frequently different than the real thing, is it not? I mean, on your Facebook profile picture, it's going to be the best one you got, right? I mean, you're not going to put up the worst picture you have of yourself. It's going to be the best angle. You know, it's going to be the right side. You know, you've got a good side and a bad side. It's going to be the right profile. And that's, you know, we take pride in that. But not only that, but in status updates, we portray what we want people to think about us rather than what we know about ourselves, don't we? We want to portray such a message that I am this type of person or I have these types of concerns or these kinds of passions or enjoyments or whatever. But we want to convey and portray that image to an onlooking world. And I do that, you do that, we all do that. We're all in agreement tonight. At least I think we are. The temptation and the lie. I am going to open my Bible, by the way. The temptation and the lie. If we're honest, our real image is nowhere near as attractive as we want it to be, right? So we're tempted. We're tempted to project this false image. This false fake better than we would like to admit this image. To our friends, to our family, maybe even, you know, to those who are most close to us. We want to be more beautiful, more successful, more creative, more virtuous. Oh man, the list goes on. More popular, more intelligent, more, the list goes on. The problem is we're not any of these things and we actually, it's not the fact, I'll correct myself, it's not the fact that we're not any of these things. We are creative. We are beautiful. We are intelligent. We are talented. We are gifted. You know, but it's just like when we were little kids, we want to fit in, don't we? Even as adults, we still want to fit in. We want to feel loved. We want to feel welcomed. We want to feel part of something. The problem is that in our efforts to pursue all these things, though, to be more beautiful, to be more accepted, to be more creative, to be more intelligent, We feel that as if we get to that point, if we attain whatever that is that we're pursuing, that it will fulfill us. It'll bring us happiness. The happiness will be found in whatever that image is, whatever that idea is, whatever that longing is. We feel that we will find our completeness in whatever that may be, that image. But none of our invented images or Whatever it is we've developed is going to satisfy our cravings. It's not. Not at any moment are you going to be ultimately satisfied in that craving for another image. So what image, if we're not to pursue our own image, what image are we to pursue? And the Bible speaks of it so clearly, and it's not something that I'm introducing to you as if you've never heard. It's a reminder that we are to pursue the image of God. Were we not created in the image of God? We pursue our own image and what we want, but we are created in the image of God. Genesis 1.26. Genesis 1.26 says these words, then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. Genesis 1.27 says so God created the man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created him. So he created us in his image. And that's the image we're to pursue. That's the image that he has made us. And the image of God is the one we will find our most fulfillment. We will find. That is our home. That is. It's it. We've reached our destination when we are in God's image. But the problem is that the image has been disfigured, has it not? It's been corrupted, it's been marred, it's no longer perfect as it was originally intended to be. The image of God within the man who walked in the garden, Mark, as you spoke this morning. At one point, man, woman, walked in the garden with God in peace. The beauty of that very reality that we just walked with God, that was the original purpose that we would just walk with God. We would enjoy God's presence and we'd be aware of his presence and he would walk with us and we would walk with him. And we would enjoy it and we would find fulfillment in that and in nothing else. And that would be our duty. But that image has been disfigured and we find that in the book of Romans, chapter five. Verse 12, it says, Romans 5, verse 12 says, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned. So it just took one to corrupt. We are all sinners. It is our very nature. We come into the world, we are sinners. And yet there is a remnant of God's image. We're reminded we're saved, we come to we come to Christ, Christ comes to us and we are reborn and that image. That part of that image comes to life and it rises up within you and you go, oh, this is this is life for the first time I have life. And that's the image we are to pursue. And the good news is that's not the end of the story. It wasn't that the image of God was dismembered and marred and corrupted and the end of the story. No, the good news is that God wants to restore us and the object by which He does that is Christ. He uses Jesus Christ, the image of Christ. is our restoration. Colossians 3.10 says, Have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Put on the new self. If you are in Christ Jesus, you are a new creation. Put on the new self being renewed in knowledge after the image of the creator. Second Corinthians 3.18 says, And we all, we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit, from one degree to the next. We are becoming more like Christ as we proceed in this life, or we ought to be. He promises a restored image in Jesus. And the cool thing about that is, is that Jesus is what? Colossians 1 15. He is the image of the invisible God. He is the exact representation of God. He didn't claim to be like God. He claimed to be God and he was God. So that image that we are restored is the exact image of God. The original image that was intended, we are now restored through Jesus Christ. to that very thing. It may not sound exciting to you, but the reality and the weight that that carries, it's exciting. 2 Corinthians 4, 6, For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So our eyes are moved from the mirror, looking back and forth into our very own eyes, at our very faces, And we look up and we see Jesus and we see this cross. And that is where we find our fulfillment. That is where we find our peace. That image, not our own image, not our own pursuit, not our own idea of what we need to be or what we need to become or how we ought to be accepted. It's the image of Christ. So the only way to restore our busted, broken, marred hearts. Our image is the look to Jesus. It's the answer. We said tonight we need him. We need him to be restored. We need him to have life. He is life. He was the author. And what else? The perfecter of our faith. We have faith, but he perfects that faith. He can perfect that faith for you tonight. And, you know, I think some of us, we We know this to be true and we kind of grapple, we realize that truth and we long to live in it every day and yet we need continual reminder. I've said it before from this pulpit, we have got to preach the gospel to ourselves every single day because we don't believe it. We believe it saved us but every single day we have got to remind ourselves of the very gospel that saved us. We've got to preach it to ourselves. And I come to this thought process, you know. Some of us, we defeat ourselves by means of comparison. Do you guys compare yourselves to the neighbor beside of you? Look to the person next to you. I'm better than you. You're better than me. You know, I mean, we compare ourselves to the person next to us. We compare ourselves to our neighbor. We compare ourselves to even our friends. We compare ourselves. And there's defeat in comparison. Ephesians 4, 12 and 13. What's the point? To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith. Unity, the word right there. Unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. There's to be unity. Yet we turn it into competition, don't we? Not everyone grows at the same pace. We see that in physical development. You know, go back to 101. Not everyone grows up at the same pace. Women mature mentally quicker than men do, right? Amen? Yeah, that's, yeah. Yeah, I'm trying to get the women on my side tonight, but you know. And the men mature physically far faster, stronger, quicker. I got a laugh over there. That's not true, is it? But not everyone grows at the same pace and it goes the same when it comes to our spiritual development. And I see that in my own life. You know, I look at others. I see the growth and the development of other people and you see it. You know, you look around and you see it in your own life and you compare yourself to someone else and you think, man, they're on this fast track. What's going on? You know, what are they doing? And it's not all the same for every one of us. We have the same Christ. We trust the same Christ. And yet we develop some slower, some faster than others. What you may get, some others might not get, right? Like, I think I've got a little bit of the grace thing figured out. You know, like a little bit of it. But I know there's people in this room that have lived a whole lot more life than me, that have experienced a whole lot more grace than I've experienced, that have a whole lot more to say about it than I do. And yet I think I've experienced some grace in my life. Matter of fact, I know I have. And you know, I think it's our duty, it's our obligation, matter of fact, to share what we've learned with our family, with our friends, with those we want to live life with. And some of those we don't want to live life with. We need to share our learnings and our, you know, that's just what that's the way it ought to be. That's the way we ought to be. It's another way we ought to be marked as Christians. It's our duty to share what we learn. And not only is it an obligation, but it's a healthy obligation. I mean, it's healthy for us to be doing these things. To be sharing. This is how I've experienced grace. I've heard Kelly talk about grace. You know, it's her life story. She is blown away by grace and some of you others. I've heard your stories. I've heard your testimonies. I just know that that is what you're defined by. And we need to hear that. Young people like me and even younger take it back. They need to hear that. They need to see it. There needs to be a conversation. He's on a different level than I am. Pity party. Do we do that? Do we have a pity party because I'm not up here and this guy is? We tend to compare ourselves and it tends to be a competition and shame on us if that's what it becomes. And those of you who know that you're a little more mature than others, don't let this head get this big that you can't fit out the door. I mean, we ought to be loving. We ought to be sharing what we know with others in a way that's, what, characterized by humility, maybe. You know, looks like Jesus, maybe. Kind. Compassionate. I want you to learn these things just as I've learned them. I want to help you through life. I want to be of what assistance I can be to you. Because that's how I've gotten to where I am. I haven't done it alone. I haven't lived on an island. I've had other people pour into me. I've had other people who have done this very thing and ought to be doing. And, you know, you may not be aware of it now as you sit, but I'm watching you. I'm watching you. You know, and I admire some of you sitting in these seats like, is it me? Is it him? You know, like, well, don't have a hissy fit if I you know, if it's not you, I mean, people admire you. People are watching you, and I'm very, very aware that people are watching me. I'm very aware I'm reminded constantly that people are watching me and more than what I say it's what I do and even because of the position that I hold some people just listen to me at least they'll have to hear something that I say because they're in the seats you know there's something they've got to hear something I say whether they want to whether they'd like me or not because of the very position that I hold. And yet take that and look at your life because of the very relationship you have with someone. Whether or not you say something, it's what you do because of the relationship that exists. You know, whether it be your brother, whether it be your sister, whether it be your uncle, your niece, nephew, whatever, dad, I mean, these people are watching your life. And we ought to live it in a way that, you know, I'm aware. I'm all the time aware that someone's watching me. But he's watching me, and it's more important than any eyes on this earth that are watching me. So, as I said, we ought to have the conversation. We ought to have, and it's not in a, you know, it's not this idea that we ought to have these holier than thou kind of, I don't mean like spiritual conversations like, you know, I'm a brainiac and, you know, I'm a this lofty theologian. You know, that's not the kind of conversations that I'm talking about. I'm talking about having just a, you know, a conversation about how God's been good in my life. And what grace means to me. And what it means when I got saved and the things, you know, that the life as the song was sung just a minute ago, the things that I've had to go through, the blessings in disguise. Those conversations ought to take place. We ought to be having those kinds of conversations. I'm guilty as I stand here of not having those conversations. We small talk. I mean, it's easy to small talk. Why don't we intentionally interject some of these conversations? And for what end? What purpose? That we might grow, that we might be more like Jesus. We can't survive the Christian life on our own, can we? You can't. You cannot survive the Christian life on your own. We need each other. Right here in Ephesians, we saw it. What's the purpose? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers, this is all here in chapter four. Unity in the body of Christ. It's that we might be united, that we all might have the same purpose, we all might have the same vision, that we all might want to accomplish the very same thing. That souls be saved, that God be lifted up, that his fame, not my fame, be made known. We've read Acts 2, haven't we? We've read Acts 2. We see in Acts 2, at the end of Acts 2, what does it say? It says that these people, they spent time with one another. They spent time with one another. They shared food with each other. They spent, no doubt, cares, concerns with one another. Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 42, following Peter's Sermon, Pentecost sermon, power, Holy Spirit poured out on these people. What's the result? They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and of prayers, and all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were what? They were together. They were together. They had all things in common. They were selling their possessions. My goodness, we wouldn't think of something like that. And belongings and distributing the proceeds to all so as any had need. And day by day, what else were they doing? They were attending the temple together and breaking bread. They were sharing meals together in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. Praising God and having favor with all the people. That's pretty bizarre. And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved. There's a reason we're going through the book of Acts. Because it's where it's at. We see it right here. It's where it's at. So tonight, simply stated, we've got to be satisfied with the reality That Christians are to be conformed to Christ, are they not? They're to be molded and the image is to be Christ. It's not to be the image of Michael and, you know, being necessarily, you know, the best husband out there or, you know, the best son or brother or it's the image of Christ. And yet those things are natural byproducts of pursuing Christ with all you've got. You love him, you love his people. If I love Jesus, I ought to love my mom. I ought to love my brother. I ought to love these folks. I ought to love you. And you ought to love those if you love Jesus. Does it not say so in 1 John that that's what characterizes us? We love the brothers. We love the church. We don't condemn the church. We don't put the church down. We don't talk bad about the church. We don't crucify the church. We don't talk bad about our preachers. We stand for them. We stand up for them. We encourage them. They serve us. We serve them. We work together in all this. This is a mission we're on. We're on a mission. Realizing I'm being made more like Jesus than any other image I'm chasing will not make me happy and bring fulfillment. I can chase after all the images that I can come up with in my mind and they will not bring me happiness. They will not fulfill that desire, that God-shaped hole that is gaping within my heart. And the same goes for you. My head tells me Jesus is perfect. that He lived a sinless life. Your head tells you that tonight, but your heart has to recognize it. My heart needs to be reminded all the time that my ego, that the images that I seek, that I pursue, are cheap. They're cheap in comparison to the image of Christ. The perfect, holy image of Jesus. So we're not on this road alone, are we not? We are together in this. Big Branch Church, Christians in the neighborhood. Across the United States, across the world, we're in this together. So whatever you're aiming for, whatever image you're aiming for, drop it. And that's what I intend to do, I intend to drop it. Drop it, let go of it. Realize that he is my image. I am to pursue him. And in him only will I find fulfillment. I will not be pleased. I will not be happy in my self-image. And neither will you. So in closing, I'll revisit quickly this morning. Many of us have good intentions, don't we? Very good intentions. And you know why we have those? Because we want to come across better to others than what we really are. We have good intentions because we want people to think better of us than what we really are. Our good intentions, our smiles even, our good words communicate how we are truly better than what we really are. You know, you and I both know it. Sometimes we pray prayers to sound better than the next. We've said things and we come to that realization that was garbage. I didn't need all that. I'm a Pharisee. That's what Jesus said. Pharisees. Emptiness. I'm telling you what, they lived a pretty strict life. If you're wanting to live a religious life, man, you had to look at those guys and say, you guys have got it going on. That's religion. They had it going on in that category. But it was empty and it was dead. Because that's not why He came. And that's not what we are to live. Religion. So some of us, you know, the walls are caving down and we've got a smile on our face. You know, I mean, we do that. And sometimes, you know, we do that to save face. We do that because we want to be strong and rightly so in some situations. But you know what? We ought to be real. We ought to be real before God. We ought to be real before people, before our brothers, before our sisters. Be real. Be vulnerable even. You know, and you don't, not to the extent that you're airing your dirty laundry, your sin and flaunting it and saying, you know, this is what's going on. You need to know it. You don't need to know all my personal business and I don't need to know yours. And we've heard that. We know that. But we ought to be real. We ought to be real. In the Christian life, it seems like there are so many truths, you know, and that one truth is all wrapped up in Jesus. I mean, there's these truths and it all points back. To Jesus Christ. If there's any time when you're reading through your Bible and you go, man, that right there just doesn't that says one thing and something else says another. It just doesn't go together. You know what? You don't you don't always say what you mean either. You know, and for you to say, well, God said it this way here and this way, just as you don't have to say everything that you always mean. He says it here and then he says it somewhere else and they complement each other. They don't contrast. They complement. And we see that all throughout the scripture. If you wind up making your own doctrine, your own whole little, you know, take one verse and you're going to run with it and create your own church and everything, that's shame on you. The Bible, the story all points to Jesus. The whole message is Jesus and his mission. And when we get this, when we get his image and not our image that we're to pursue, we become a confident people, don't we? We become a confident people and that's not to be misunderstood for an arrogant people, not an arrogant people, not a walking around like this. No, a confident people. And where does our confidence come? Our confidence is in Christ. The confidence comes from him. If you would please stand.