Image of God
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Incarnation - New sermon series.
Time of year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Begin by answering two questions this morning.
What is incarnation?
Why was it necessary?
The second will be our main concern this morning.
What is the incarnation?
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Incarnation
The doctrine expressed in the Nicene Creed and the Definition of Chalcedon: that Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten before all the ages and of one substance with the Father, was made flesh through the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, making Him truly God and truly human, possessing two natures, which are not confused, changed, divided, or separated.
Why was incarnation necessary?
Go back with me to Genesis - the beginning.
Genesis
Genesis
Day:
Light
Expanse & Heaven
Dry ground & Sea; Vegetation, plants, fruit trees
Sun & Moon
Sea creatures, birds
Livestock, creeping things, beasts of the earth, livestock. - God saw that it was good.
God creates saying… “And God said”
And it was good.
MAN
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
God created man...
Gave him a special place to live.
After he created man, God said of the creation...
<it was very good. Gen 1:31>>
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
What distinguishes man from everything else he created?
<<Gen 1:26>>
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Imago Dei
Imago Dei
Image as Physical Attribute:
Intelligence, rationality, emotions, volitional will, consciousness, sentience, ability to communicate.
All are not equally Present among all humans, not all present in humans at all times, some are not unique to humans alone.
Preposition “in”
“Written IN ink” “Got IN the car” “stood IN my place”
“AS”
Humankind was created as God’s imagers.
Humankind was created as God’s imagers.
God’s representatives on earth.
Given dominion
Stewardship
Bonhoeffer saw Imago Dei as positional - we receive who we are from God.
But something happened!
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Observation:
The command is twisted into a question.
The temptation is to be “like God”
Posture changes. Instead of receiving, we want to be imaged.
Sin has tarnished the image God.
Sin has tarnished the image God.
Trombone: Brass can tarnish.
Sin mars all that it touches.
Take something beautiful and tarnish, mar, destroy it.
Sin escalates!
Sin escalates!
One chapter later, Cain kills Abel.
<<Chapter 6:5>>
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Sin increased
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
What will God do?
Should he do anything?
That is next week...
<<How do you image God?>>
How do you image God?
How do you image God?