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The next aspect of being created in the image of God is an aspect which begins to bring in the underlying truth behind this doctrine. While we were all personally created in the image of God we truly embrace this doctrine only when we take into account the fact that God is community within the Holy Trinity and therefore we only truly bear His image when in community. It is for this reason, therefore, that this week we will look at the use of the sacraments in the life of the church in bearing the image of God. Throughout history different parties have taken various stances on the sacraments, varying from the Roman Catholic seven sacraments (including confession, the last rites and confirmation) to two sacraments recognised by the Anglican church as instituted by Jesus. Today we will look at the two sacraments recognised by every aspect of the global church, and see how these enable the church to better represent the image of God.

Sacraments have been defined by Augustine of Hippo as 'a visible sign of an invisible reality'. Something these two sacraments have in common is that they are visible actions, yet have no power in themselves. Because they are there to represent 'an invisible reality' they should be both a sign of something that has happened, and a symbol representing something deeper which the person performing the action either is, or will be, performing.

Baptism

Before we begin it would be worth saying that the baptism I am talking about here is a believer's full immersion baptism. I am aware that some readers may practice pre-believer infant baptism by sprinkling, but the discussion around the differences between the two is for another time. Some may ask the question about baptism in the Holy Spirit, which is again a question for another time; that will be discussed in this series but is not a sacrament so will not be treated this week.

Sign - baptism is a wonderful sign of the gospel which we have all received, and has many wonderful facets. Firstly, the image of a person being pushed under a body of water and then returning to a standing position is a wonderful sign of Jesus' death and resurrection as played out in the life of a Christian. Before we were Christians we were spiritually dead, but we have died to our old lives and been brought into new life with Jesus. In addition the use of water is a clear picture of our being washed clean by the blood of the Lamb as well as being reminiscent of the picture of water as the Holy Spirit from Ezekiel 47. In conclusion, baptism is a sign that a believer being baptised has been raised to new life with Christ, is continually being washed clean from his or her continuing struggles and is filled with the Spirit who empowers them to live a godly life in response.

Symbol - baptism does not just stop as a sign, however. Being baptised is a symbol to represent a decision that a Christian has made to follow Jesus. The Bible tells us to 'repent and be baptised' (Acts 2:38) and that 'whoever believes and is baptised will be saved' (Mark 16:16), so it is abundantly clear that baptism is something that Christians ought to do. As a result if we make that active decision to be baptised it is a simple first act of obedience to Jesus, representing the fact that we wish to be obedient with the rest of our lives. I have heard story after story of believers who have undergone the act of being baptised and have received mighty blessings immediately after in terms of spiritual growth. On the other side I genuinely believe that a Christian who refuses to be baptised as a believer is intentionally going against what God tells us to do; what possible good reason is there not to be baptised?

I was baptised as a baby and became a Christian when I was 19 years old. It did not take me too long to realise that if I were to properly follow Jesus I should copy his perfect example and do as he did. He was baptised before beginning his ministy, and I wanted to serve Jesus in every way possible so to herald that beginning I got baptised. Please, if you have not been baptised I would ask you the question 'why not?' If your answer is no stronger than 'God has commanded me to do so' then I would strongly urge you to respond by being baptised!

The Lord's Supper

Sign - the second sacrament we will look at is known as 'the Lord's Supper', 'breaking bread' or 'communion', and is a sign remembering the way that Jesus willingly gave up his body (represented by the bread) and his blood (represented by the wine) as a substitute for us. While we know from verses such as 'the wages of sin is death' in Romans 6:23 we know for sure that we do not need to drink of the cup of God's wrath (as described for example in Isaiah 51:17) because we have drunk instead of Jesus' blood (hence Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane for the Father to 'remove this cup' in Luke 22:42 and his mention in John 18:11 among others). Breaking the bread and drinking the cup should remind us of the sacrifice that Jesus made.

Symbol - in addition we can see that celebrating the Lord's Supper represents something that is happening inside us. We are told in 1 Corinthians 11 to 'let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.' The symbol of eating the bread and drinking the wine is that we are actively recognising that we require Jesus' sacrifice in our place, and that therefore we have examined ourselves and repented of our sin. The passage in 1Corinthians goes on to explain that people taking communion without first examining their heart and their lives and repenting of sin is the reason 'why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.' Is it the case that we have taken the Lord's Supper too lightly? Let us treat it the same way we would do the actual broken body and shed blood of the literal historical God-man Jesus, with reverence and fear.

The image of God

Practicing the sacraments quite simply help us to better bear the image of God. The sacrament of baptism puts on display the truth that Jesus died and was raised. We bear that image as we are baptised, descending 'to the dead' and rising again to new life. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper recreates the important last occasion on which Jesus took bread and wine, representing his own body and blood.

An important question to answer this week: do we practice baptism and communion in order to better bear the image of God, or in order to better bear the image of the church throughout history? Discuss in small groups (!) and come back to me with your answers; it would be genuinely interesting to hear how this is worked out in different contexts around the world.

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

Mercy and not Sacrifice (October 4, 2010)