Image of God, Part 4: The Restoration (Living in The Upside-Down Kingdom)

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Join us this week as we close out this series on The Image of God with Trevor Cox, the Spiritual Formation Content Director at Newspring Church in Anderson, SC. In the intro of the episode (1:02-4:23) Lukas and Jae talk about each episode of the series a little bit before moving into this final conversation. This conclusion is a culmination of our series, but ultimately, we’re talking about the culmination of Humanity: The Restoration of all things through Christ. In Part 1, Dr. Crisler mentioned the view of the conversation in a Philosophical sense versus the Christological sense. Today, we bring that idea back around and talk about this in a Practical sense instead of in a Theoretical sense. We take a look at this Upside-Down Kingdom we, as Christians, are all a part of and we discuss how someday we will return to the Garden. In the first part of the episode (4:40-9:54), Trevor tells us about what he does at Newspring and Lukas and Jae mention how, just as Parts 2 & 3 were nice pairings, Parts 1 & 4 work well in conjunction. In the next part of the episode (10:17-33:57), we ask the question: “How is Christ the perfect Image of God?” Trevor brings up the Sovereignty and Authority delegated from God to us through His Image. We look at some of Christ’s teachings and notice how, in our World, they seem completely backwards. We are living in an Upside-Down Kingdom where the Kings and Queens are those who are Weak, Weary, and Oppressed. Christ relieves that suffering and through His Upside-Down Coronation—the Crucifixion and Resurrection—we are coronated through Him and made citizens and rulers in His Upside-Down Kingdom. He has Restored us, and God's Image is completed through Him. We ask what true servanthood looks like, and we talk about what it means to be truly conformed to Christ’s Image and bought into our role in His Kingdom. We talk about how, for the Church, Christ is our Common Unity and in Him we have Perfect Community—or at least we should. We take a look at Paul’s words in Colossians 3:12-15 and consider them as an guide to the Upside-Down Life.  In the final part of the episode (34:17-45:06), we ask the question: “How do we walk in the Restoration of the Image?” Trevor reminds us that “it’s not about trying harder; it’s about surrendering more.” Christ is Risen and we see at the end of Revelation that through Him the World will be made new. Eventually, we will be returned to the Garden and have Perfect Fellowship with God. For now, though, in the in between, we have a job to do. Through Christ in us, it is our responsibility to bring the Upside-Down Kingdom to Earth by living in ways that seem Upside-Down in our World—ways like Colossians 3 outlines. Thank you for listening and learning with us, and thank you to Dr. Crisler, Dr. Wyma, Dr. Renburg, and Trevor for coming on to share your knowledge and wisdom with us and our audience. For more information on what we're all about here at The Audibility Podcast, go ahead and check out our website https://audibilitypodcast.com, and to get connected with us, follow us on Instagram, @audibilitypodcast.