Imago Dei
Genesis • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
BLANK SLIDE TO BEGIN RECORDING (Please don’t wait for Matt to be on podium.)
SLIDE: Series Graphic
Introduction and Scripture Reading
Introduction and Scripture Reading
Introduction
Introduction
I love C.S. Lewis’ ingenious creativity, which he artistically and skillfully employs to help people understand life-changing biblical truths. Lewis takes us through wardrobe to pass into a Narnian realm of wonder and discovery.
This is what it’s like to look at creation through the fresh lens of the Word of God, asking the Spirit of God to give us ears to hear, and eyes to see through faith (having confidence to live according to what we do not always physically see—though with creation, we are able to see it and follow it’s magnificence to our Creator).
God has been building up to this great climax of His creation. After seeing that when God says, it is so because God (ʾĕl ō hîm — אֱלֹהִים) is the Almighty One (2,310 times). He is the Uncreated Creator who rightfully rules over all of His creation. That’s what it means to be God! And there is only one true God.
God created everything from nothing (1:1-2).
God saw that the light was good (1:4).
God saw that the dry land (Earth) and the waters he gathered together (Seas) were good (1:10).
He saw that His cumulative creation—after bringing forth plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seeds according to their own kinds—was good (1:12).
The Uncreated Creator said that it was good when the two light-givers (Sun and Moon) were in place and light was separated from darkness (1:18).
Sea creatures and every living creature that moves in the water, on the ground and flying in the air (1:21).
Livestock and creeping things (including box elder bugs which like to make their home in here during this season) and beasts of the earth—everything according to their kinds (1:25).
Scripture reading
Scripture reading
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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.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 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.
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Proposition
Proposition
God created mankind for His own glory:
to reflect His image,
to rule over His creation,
and to reproduce godly offspring.
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I. God created mankind for His own glory
I. God created mankind for His own glory
From time immemorial, the Lord had planned this moment, the moment when he would produce his greatest creation, his masterwork, the only being made in the “image” (tselem, Heb. צֶלֶם) and carrying the “likeness” (demuth, Heb. דְּמוּת) of God himself. We shouldn’t draw a strong distinction between the Hebrew terms for “image” and “likeness” in this text. It’s a generally synonymous repetition for emphasis.
Being created for God’s glory
Part of our struggle as people is that we try to figure out life without starting at the right point. It’s like a medical student examining diseased cadavers before ever learning the basic anatomy of the healthy human body.
When begin at the beginning, in Genesis and with God’s great purposes in mind, we learn from the One who made us in his image as we examine the spiritual anatomy of the soul. As we do this, we discover that life as we now find it is not the way it was supposed to be.
The Lord is not surprised by this, and we should learn from God’s original intent.
When comforting Israel and calling them back to remember that He is their only Savior, He says:
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1 But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
A few verses later.
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
God created mankind for His own glory,
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A. to reflect His image
A. to reflect His image
Fundamental to Genesis and the entirety of Scripture is the creation of humanity in the image of God. The expression “image of God” is used solely to speak of human beings, which sets them apart from the other creatures. Remember that other creatures are created “according to their kinds” (Gen. 1:21, 24, 25), people are made “in the image of God.”
Background
Background
In ancient Near Eastern texts only the king is in the image of God. But in the Hebrew perspective this is democratized to all humanity. “The text is saying that exercising royal dominion over the earth as God’s representative is the basic purpose for which God created man,” explains Hart. He adds, “man is appointed king over creation, responsible to God the ultimate king, and as such expected to manage and develop and care for creation, this task to include actual physical work.” Finally, in the context of Genesis, the image refers to the plurality of male and female within the unity of humanity.
In the Ancient Near East it was widely believed that a god’s spirit lived in any statue or image of that god, and the image could function as a kind of representative of or substitute for the god wherever it was placed. It was also common to think of a king as a representative of a god; obviously the king ruled, and the god was the ultimate ruler, so the king must be ruling on the god’s behalf. So it makes sense that these two separate ideas became connected and a king came to be described as an image of a god. An image possesses the life, they thought, of the one being represented as it. It certainly represents the presence of the one represented.
Three passages dealing with God’s creation of the new man help us understand what this means.
In Ps. 94:9 the Psalmist tells us that people are made in God’s image so that God can communicate himself to people: “He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?”. He gave people ears to show that he hears the cry of the afflicted and eyes to show that he sees the plight of the pitiful.
In Ephesians 4:24, Paul says that the believer has put on “the new man [lit.] (self), created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
In Colossians 3:10, he states that we have put on “the new man [lit.] who is being renewed in (true) knowledge after (according to) the image of its creator.”
So righteousness, holiness, truth, and the knowledge of God are included in what it means to be created in the image of God
Being created in God’s image has many practical implications.
The first is, unless you are rightly related to the Creator, your life has no lasting purpose. You are born, grow up, live a few years trying to make a comfortable existence, but your body too soon grows old and you die (assuming you don’t die sooner)! What’s the point of it?
But if you know the eternal God through the Lord Jesus Christ who revealed Him to us and who, by His death and resurrection, opened the way for us to be forgiven and to have fellowship with our Creator, both now and for all eternity, then your life has purpose and meaning beyond the grave. In the well-known words of Augustine, “Thou hast created us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee!”
Second, it means humans possess personality: knowledge, feelings, and a will. This sets man apart from all animals and plants
Thirdly, it means humans possess morality: we are able to make moral judgments and have a conscience
Fourth, being created in God’s image means humans possess spirituality: man is made for communion with God. It is on the level of spirit we communicate with God
Finally, every person, male and female, is created in God’s image also means that human life is valuable and every person must be treated with respect.
The unborn baby is not to be killed because it is not convenient to have a child, or because the parents prefer having a boy instead of a girl. Even if that child is deformed or mentally deficient, it is still human life, valuable in God’s sight.
At the other end of life, the elderly, even those who can no longer think clearly, must be treated with dignity and care.
Both abortion and euthanasia cheapen the value of human life. This doctrine also is the basis for treating women with the same respect granted to men, because the text is clear that the female, as well as the male, is created in the divine image.
We are God-stamped creatures intended to reflect back to God and teh World
God created mankind for His own glory to reflect His image,
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B. to rule over His creation
B. to rule over His creation
The terms used suggest putting down opposition and were perhaps used in anticipation of the conflict with evil. As the Scriptures unfold, however, one realizes how humans have failed at this task. The New Testament states that “we do not yet see all things under his dominion,” but Jesus Christ, the express image of the Father, will ultimately re-establish such dominion (Heb. 2:8–9).
In Israel, and later in the church, the redeemed of the Lord have been sensitive to the design of the Creator. Believers have attempted to fulfill God’s purposes for them by using the spiritual capacities he imparted to them. Now believers are called on to be conformed to the image of Christ, who is the image of the Father. God’s new creation must trample underfoot all evil forces, taking into captivity every wicked thought and deed. Whereas the original dominion was both physical and spiritual, the Christian’s is primarily spiritual. In both cases, however, God provides spiritual and physical blessings, so that his “image” might effectively represent him on earth. (Ross, 113)
God created mankind for His own glory to reflect His image, to rule over His creation, and
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C. to reproduce godly offspring.
C. to reproduce godly offspring.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
In Malachi, when God’s people were just going through the motions spiritually, God asks the question:
Malachi 2:15 (ESV)
15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
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Restate Proposition
Restate Proposition
God created mankind for His own glory (so we are to live entire for Him):
to reflect His image,
to rule over His creation,
and to reproduce godly offspring.
When the Lord delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses, he began by saying, Ex. 20 “You shall have no other gods before me. You” (Ex. 20:3). Each of the first four commandments are expressly intended to focus our minds and hearts on the glory of God: having no other gods before the Lord, not making a carved image, or idol, to represent gods to worship; not taking the Lord’s name in vain—without purpose; and remembering the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
And the Lord closes this command regarding the Sabbath by saying,
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11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
And the writer of Hebrews refers to creation to affirm that which we believe and cannot see is by faith.
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1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Conclusion and Transition to Communion
Conclusion and Transition to Communion
What are we to make of all this? An increasing sense of awe and humility that should impact every aspect of how you live life—for God’s glory in everything you say and do.
Listen to the Psalmist
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3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
Describing humility in The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, Pastor Tim KeIler says
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"Humility is not thinking less of yourself; humility is thinking of yourself less.”
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Communion
Communion
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