This page is the text of a talk I gave to Main Street Community Church, Frodsham, UK, on Sunday 26 July 2026. Acts 10:34-48 is the Scripture passage that was allocated to this, as part of a series on "Following Jesus". Having been away for a fortnight, I had only a week to prepare, and asked Jesus what I should say, and immediately into my mind came the answer: "Talk about Representing God". So, this is about representing God.
In Acts 10, Peter meets Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, a devout Gentile to whom an angel appeared to tell him to call for Peter to explain the way to his family. Peter, though a Jew who thought he should not associate with Gentiles, travelled the 30 miles to visit Cornelius, because God had told him "That which God calls clean you must not call unclean", and Peter knew that this was meant to indicate that the Gentiles as well as Jews were to benefit from Christ's salvation and work of the Holy Spirit. In his speech to Corneliu's family, Peter tells then about the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, with the words, "We are witnesses of these things".
But what is "witness"?
IN the Evangelical tradition in which I grew up, however, "witnessing" took on a slightly different meaning: to tell people that I am a Christian and to tell people how to accept Christ as their Saviour and Lord. The emphasis shifted from telling what God is doing in life to a more abstract or didactic form of explaining, inviting and challenging. But I want to return to the original and ordinary meaning of "witness" as telling people what God is doing.
Someone once said that the duty of the church is to "find out where God is working and go and join Him there."
When I was starting to plan this talk - rather later than perhaps I should have - I asked Jesus "What do you want me to say?" and immediately into my mind came the idea "Tell them about representing God." After all, being a witness to what God is doing and has done, represents God to those we tell. So that is what I am going to do.
God intended that humans would represent God to the rest of Creation. This is the meaning of "image of God" and "in our likeness" in Genesis 1:26-28. Being made in the "image of God" is not just to have certain properties that God happens to have, such as rationality and creativity, but is a role, a responsibility, a mandate.
It is similar to Paul's idea in Romans 8:19, where Creation waits "with eager expectation" for the "sons of God" to be revealed. It is the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit that fulfils, at last, the Creational Mandate in Genesis 1. It is not, as some Christian thinkers have suggested, as though some Adonis-like heroes appear on a stage and Creation applauds, seeing them from a distance. Rather, it is that Creation experiences at first hand the activities and lifestyle of those who are mature in Christ, "like Christ", in whom the Holy Spirit has grown fruit like love for the rest of Creation, joy in the rest of Chreation, peace with the rest of Creation, patience with the speed at which the rest of Creation works, ... self-control in their use of the rest of Creation [Galatians 5:22-23] [Note: "sons of God"]. And so they behave in a way that flourishes rather than destroys or hurts the rest of Creation. The revealing to Creation is direct, intimate, something experienced directly.
God intended that Israel represents God as a nation among nations. As a culture among corrupt cultures, Israel was to be "a light to the nations". A few years ago, it dawned on me that the Biblical Ruth is an example of this: in insisting to Naomi that "your people will be my people and your God will be my God" she was desperately attracted to Israel's culture, which contrasted peace and justice with warfare and elitism. Abraham was told that this was the culture his descendants were to adopt, when Melchizedek met him (see the account in Genesis 14) and it seemed to work for some centuries [Note: Ruth].
But gradually, the people of Israel turned away from this privileged Mandate, despite many prophets being sent to represent God to God's people. And eventually Christ came - whom we might see as God representing Godself within the world, showing the truth about God, correcting mistaken impressions, and setting in motion the Salvation that would eventually embrace the whole Creation.
To fulfil this, God intended that Christians represent God as individuals among individuals. Those who turn to Christ are made acceptable with God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, transformed in their inner attitude and, to the extent that they allow the fruit of the Spirit to grow in them, they represent God as a mature son (Greek huios) would represent his father in those days. See above on Romans 8:19.
This completes the circle back to, and fulfils at last, Humanity's Mandate in Genesis 1:26-28 [Note: "sons of God"]. It was this realisation, about representing God, that helped me understand God's Plan more clearly. This is glorious! The entire Creation is to be saved, not just human beings! It was, I believe, this understanding that led Paul into his paeon of praise at the end of Romans 8.
The Jews, on the positive side, have made outstanding contributions to art, science, and in many other fields. But on the negative side, we have Netanyahu's cruelty, which eventually got Donald Trump to tell him "The whole world hates Israel because of what you are doing." Are some Jewish politicians and leaders dishonouring their God? When they should be representing God?
Christians have shown Christ in many ways. Tom Holland, for example, tells of a time when a plague was sweeping Rome, and there were massive queues of carts and carriages and people fleeing Rome. But also a small stream of people walking into Rome. These were Christians, who were sacrificially going into the midst of the plague to help the sick and dying. That is the positive, and there are countless examples today of Christians sacrificially looking after the poor, sick and marginalized. And yet, on the negative, we find "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger", as Ron Sider titled his book. We find affluent Christians enjoying themselves even at the expense of those who supply the delights they enjoy and especially at the expense of the Planet - and, in the USA especially, taking the lead in resisting climate and environmental responsibility. Are these Christians dishonouring Christ? Rather than representing Him?
For the people of Israel we have Joshua 24:19. Seems a rather problematic verse, as Gareth brought up at the Bible Study on Tuesday. Of course, Joshua is, strictly and theologically, wrong: God does forgive (as the Jewish Scriptures often tell us). But Joshua knew fromm experience that most of the people of Israel were lukewarm about representing God and did not take God as seriously as they should. What he was saying was a challenge in that context, not a theological statement: Take God Seriously!
For Christians we have Luke 14:26. We have a similar idea spoken by Jesus: "If you do not hate ... even your own life, you cannot be my disciples." Again, strictly and theologically, not entirely true, but a challenge in context to Take God Seriously! The context seems to have been that Jesus was talking to people who were applauding him, and He knew many were half-hearted. He was saying to the followers: You are to represent God; Take God Very Seriously!
We also have Luke ===: in the third soil, the seed of God's Word grew a bit but remained fruitless because of the "cares and pleasures of this life". We are "rich Christians in an age of hunger" - and we need to Take God Seriously and become fruitful.
For humans as a whole? Adam and Eve proved to not take God as seriously as they should, and sin then set in through the whole human race, leading to where we are today. In the past, taking God seriously as humans was to do with doing justice, but today it has been sharpened. For the first time in history, humans are massively affecting the planet and ecosystem. So, today, I believe that Taking God Seriously involves climate and environmental responsibility as well as justice - whoever we are, whether Jews, Christians or anyone else. I do find that many others like climate and environmental responsibility with God, however vague their idea of God might be.
If we claim or choose to represent God in this world, we must take God very seriously.
Representing God is serious business, not just about enjoying the benefits that a loving God pours out.
However, let me end with, that I believe that representing God is a privilege not just an imposition, a delight not just a duty. It means we walk with God through life, not just on our own, nor even just protected and provisioned by God, but with God as partner - or rather, that we partner God. As Adam and Eve walked in the garden with God.
A colleague at University told me of his friend, an American serviceman, during the USA's war with Iraq. The Americans had killed 13 civilians. This guy, a Christian, went to the families who had lost their people to apologise.
"I am an American. I want to let you know how sorry I am that our people killed yours."
The Iraqis stared at him with hardness in their eyes. "What do I do now?" he prayed. "Pray!" replied Jesus. So he got down on his knees. When the Iraqis asked what he was doing, he replied,
"In the back pocket of my pants is a loaded revolver. You can take it out and shoot me in the head. I give my life for one of yours. I know that one life does not match the thirteen you have lost, but at least I give this one."
He waited. Then the lead Iraqi came, took hold of him and lifted him up, telling him,
"You are family!"
I do not know whether they turned to Christ, but that action was partnering with God, being like Christ, representing God. Unplanned, but glorious.
Let us go with Christ even into courageous situations, and He will tell us what to do when we need to know.
Amen.
"I used to think the top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. ... I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy - and to deal with these, we need a spiritual and cultural transformation ..."
This matches God's explanation to Ezekiel [16:49] that the sin that got Sodom destroyed and Judah exiled is that they were "overfed, arrogant and unconcerned." Environmental problems - as all other problems we generate - come from our heart attitude, both as individuals and as societies and cultures.
Note on "sons of God" being revealed. For more on this, see Three Dimensions of Salvation, especially the section on Dimension 3. Humans are intended to represent God to the rest of Creation, and Romans 8 shows how the work of Christ, and then the work of the Holy Spirit transforming people's attitudes and mindsets, fulfils Humanity's Mandate in Genesis 1:26-28, at last! No wonder Paul rejoices!
Note on Ruth. See Ruth as a Type of Christ and also a pdf.
This page, URL= "http://abxn.org/nv/witness.html",
is part of the on-going work in developing a 'New View' in theology and practice that is appropriate to the days that are coming upon us. Comments, queries welcome by emailing
Compiled by Andrew Basden as part of his reflections from a Christian perspective. Copyright (c) Andrew Basden to latest date below, but you may use this material for almost any purpose, but subject to certain conditions.
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Created: 24 July 2026. Last updated: