In His Image

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Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

0:12Good morning. It's good to be together as we come now to our second sermon in our Genesis series. And it's exciting as we look at these foundational texts for our faith. So would you join me as we pray once again and ask God for help? Father in heaven, May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight. We're asking that you would open the eyes of our hearts so that we would see all that there is to see here in this text for us and for our faith. We wanna be changed into the likeness of your son. And so we we're asking that the power of your spirit would come and, and the the sermon that is preached would, would touch each and every heart and would be applied by your spirit so that it would accomplish its good work in your people.

1:14We pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. This morning I'll begin with a question, who are you? Sounds like a question you'd get on a college entrance application maybe, but how would you answer it? What makes you, you, what would you point to? What would you talk about? Who are you? Do you talk about your personality or your family or your upbringing? Do you point to your work or to your hobbies? Do you point to your beliefs and your values or perhaps your education, your environment, your experiences or your emotions? Who are you this morning? What makes you you? Well, I, I don't know how each of us would answer that question, but if you asked that question more broadly to our world, I think we have many people who are facing a deep identity crisis.

2:20They don't know who they are and they don't know why they exist here in this world. I remember when I was just out of college, we, we were talking a lot about me and my peers. Our, our quarter life crisis is what we called it. You know, where, where you're no longer in college, you don't get to just hang out and do what you want and hang out with your friends. Like you go to work for like 40 hours like every week, and then you go home and like you eat dinner and then you go to bed and then you have to do it again the next day. And then you get a little bit of time on the weekends and you're like, is this the rest of my life? Like 50, 60 more years of this?

2:58And then I die. Like this is terrible. Sorry. This is why the upcoming generation says, you know, we're adulting now, right? We're doing adult things. Uh, there are many people who are experiencing this deep and profound identity crisis. Like what, what do I do with my time? Why do I exist? What, what's my purpose? What am I supposed to do? More and more people are questioning the very meaning of life itself. And in many ways this overlaps with the identity crisis that I think Israel is experiencing. I, Israel, as we remember, Genesis is written by Moses to Israel and they had just come out of Exodus.

3:45How long had they been slaves? 430 years. And if you had asked them as they were coming out, who are you? What would they say? We're slaves. We're a slave people even after their deliverance, even after seeing God's amazing hand in all the plagues, bringing them out with a strong hand to get to the edge of the Red Sea. And what do they say to Moses? Exodus 1412, they say, Moses, leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians. It's stunning. The words that they say to Moses in that moment for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. We don't want to follow God, a God that we can't see.

4:38We'd rather go back and be slaves. There's a deep and profound identity crisis. They preferred slavery over freedom. They had lost sight of their identity and of their purpose. And so day six is what we're looking at this morning, and it's written to remind Israel, and it's written to remind each one of us who we are and what we are made for, it's to show us who we are and our relationship or our standing or our status before God, because that is what matters. The creation account is fundamentally about God, but it's also about mankind, isn't it? As you just heard read, it's deeply anthropocentric.

5:24It has humans at the center of the universe. And if we were made by God, then the question is what were we made for? So that's the question we're gonna look at here this morning. Day six slows down in the text. I don't know if you sensed it. Day 1, 2, 3, 4, and five, kind of chugged along. Day six slows down and zooms in. And that's what we're gonna do in our text here this morning. The foundational truth of our text. The, the main point is that God creates mankind to image, rule and multiply. God makes mankind to reflect his image, to rule over the earth and to multiply and fill it. It shows us that we're not just like one of the animals.

6:13We don't have the same value as as the grass in our gardens or, or the dandelion plan. We don't have the same value as a, a gorilla or a dog. We're not just a hairless gorilla or a really large ant or the pinnacle of God's creation this morning. And we've been given an identity and mission to carry out God's work. So what this does is it equips us with the knowledge of why we exist. And I think so many of our issues here in our world today would be addressed if people just understood who God is, who they are in light of God and why they exist. So just go with me as we just look at each of these verses real briefly. So verse 24 and 25, talk about the animal kingdom.

7:08They describe the creation of the animals and he gives three categories. He gives livestock. So domesticated animals such as cattle, he gives creeping things such as rodents, insects, and reptiles, and then beasts or wild animals. So that would be our lions and tigers and bears and other predators, right? And we see the pattern again that we've seen, that we mentioned last week. And God said, and it was so, and God saw that it was good. Verse 26 and verse 27, God creates mankind in his image or likeness, and we see a plurality in mankind, male and female. And we'll get back to that in just a moment.

7:50And we are also confronted with God's unique design and unique commission to mankind that we are to have dominion over all the other created things. And over the earth we're not just one of the animals, we we're over and above everything else. Now in verse 28, God blesses mankind and he calls 'em to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over every living thing. So the unique call upon mankind is this idea of subduing and having dominion. And then in verse 29 and 30, God provides food for mankind. Every green plant is for the beast, the birds and everything that has the breath of life. And in verse 31, notice with me it's not just good like all the other days, but it's very good.

8:41There's a intensification to the goodness of God's creation. There was evening and there was morning the sixth day. So what I wanna do this morning is focus in and answer three primary questions, I think that emerge from this text. Three questions and I'll read 'em out. And then we will look at each of these three. What does it mean to be created in the image of God? What does it mean for you and I to be made in the very image of God? This is foundational to understanding our identity. You can read the words, but what does it mean at the end of the day? Second question, why were we created male and female?

9:30There's a lot of confusion about this today. It's everywhere. And yet we get instruction about how were we, how we were created from the very beginning. Why were we created male and female? And then the third question is, what does it mean to have dominion over the earth? What does it mean for us to have dominion over God's creation? So we're gonna look at each of these three questions. The first one, what does it mean to be created in the image of God? Verse 26, look with me there. Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and then let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

10:19The first thing that this passage tells us is that we are not God, but we are made in the very image of God. So we're more significant and glorious than any other aspect of creation. He doesn't say that the animals are made in my image. He doesn't say the mountains are made in my image. He doesn't say the sun and the moon and the stars are made in my image. He says, man is made in his image. We are the pinnacle of his creation. So just think about that for a moment. Uh, you know, we go up to Gooseberry Falls or the North Shore, we, we take hikes around and we just see God's creation. You know, we just overlook Lake Superior and we just go, wow, it's so beautiful. That's the apex of God's creation. And you would be wrong.

11:11We are the apex of God's creation. Look at your neighbor. They are the apex of God's creation. It, it's astounding. Mankind is more glorious than the rest of creation, more amazing than the Grand Canyon, than Mount Everest and the beaches of Hawaii all combined. Think about that for a moment. When you look in the mirror, you reflect the very image of God. Now, a question that arises in this text from the very beginning is there in verse 26 where it says, let us make man in our image. What is the us? Why is it plural? There's other passages that say similarly. So Genesis 3 22, then the Lord God said, behold the man has become like one of us in knowing good in evil.

12:07Or Genesis 11, seven. He says, come let us go down. And they're confused their language so that they may not understand one another's speech or Isaiah six, eight, it says, whom shall I send and who will go for us? So who is this us? Now there's been lots written, lots of speculation. I'm gonna give you five views and why I think the fifth one is the right one. The first one is that God is speaking to the heavens and the earth. I think this is unlikely because man is not made in the image of the earth. The second is sort of this royal we like a British king might do, right? So the royal we indicating divine majesty.

12:50And again, I think this is unlikely because this is not mainly emphasizing God's majesty in creation. A a third view is that it's self deliberation. Basically God is talking to himself anthropomorphized, right? Like, what should we have for lunch when I'm talking about myself? That would be weird. But you know, people do it. Uh, I think that's again, unlikely. I think it's an uncommon use of the plural, the fourth view some people do take, which is that this is God speaking to his heavenly court of angels. So the angels were created, they're there. I think this view has its difficulties. Nowhere is man said to be made in the image of angels.

13:34Furthermore, there's verses like Isaiah chapter 40, verse 14, where it says, whom did God consult and whom made him understand? And the point there is God did not consult or get counsel from anything or anyone when he created man. And when he created the world, God did not need the advice of anybody. So the fifth view is that there's plurality in God in the triune God. So this fifth view I find most convincing, it's referring to plurality in God. So we see the spirit in chapter one, verse two, hovering over the deeps. It would make sense that Moses understood plurality within unity. Now, I don't know if Moses had a fully developed doctrine of the Trinity yet, and yet scripture is providing us hints as we get understanding of God's plan of redemption as it unfolds. And we know, as we've seen in some of our other series when we're going through Proverbs, Proverbs eight talked about what was there at the very foundation of the world.

14:40It, it was wisdom was present. Or when we looked at Colossians by him and through him and for him, all things were created by whom? Jesus. So I think this us points to the triune God. Now, so what, why is this significant? I think it's this, it reminds us that God is unfolding his plan of redemption from the very beginning. God is gloriously at work from the very beginning. The fall, which we'll see in a few weeks, is not a sharp left turn that forts God's plan and design. Jesus is not an afterthought. He was not plan B, the triune God is at work from the very beginning to exercise his sovereign rule and to unfold his plan for creation. Our God holds all things in his hands.

15:42Now, let's return to our primary question. What does it mean to be created in the image and likeness of God? Are image and likeness synonyms or are they describing two different things? So these same two words show up in Genesis chapter five, verse three. So let me encourage you to turn there. Genesis chapter five, verse three and says this, we see these same two words. So see if you notice them. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth. So what what's it saying there? I think those two words are in opposition, meaning that image explains likeness and likeness explains image, and that makes them synonyms. So I think they mean the same thing. Now, our passage doesn't define the image of God, it just states it as a fact.

16:40In verse 26, in verse 27, and entire books have been written about what is it that, well, what does it mean for us to be made in the image of God? So some would say our conscience or our souls or ability to do what is right, our reasoning, our ability to have fellowship with God. Some have suggested our mental or spiritual capacities and faculties, maybe our physical characteristics. So God sees, and so we have eyes and God hears, and so we have ears and God speaks. So we have mouths, but Genesis just doesn't tell us the specific aspects of humanity that are like God. Rather, mankind as a whole is to bear the image of God.

17:25And I think this means that we represent God, we reflect God and we are to rule over his creation. So he's looking less at the structural realities, but more at the functional reality. We represent God, we reflect God, and we rule over his creation. Psalm eight, form five says, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him, yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and then crowned him with glory and honor, and then you've given him dominion over all the earth. Uh, and I think to understand this, we have to understand a little bit about the ancient world.

18:01So the ancient world, uh, a king would often take over a region and then what would he do? He would set up a statue or, or, or maybe a carving of his image, of his likeness, and that would signal to everyone around, that would come into that town, come into that province, come into that region. Oh, this is under the rule of that king. But you'll know that God tells his people not to do that in the 10 Commandments. Exodus 20, verse four. He says, you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is under the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. So don't make any image or carving that, that tries to represent me like the golden calf.

18:47Why? Because God has already placed his image on the earth. It's us. We are the image of God. The entire cosmos is God's kingdom, and we are his representatives here on earth. And and I want you to see this a a little bit more. Psalm 78 69 says, God built his sanctuary like the high heavens like the earth, which he has founded forever. So this means when God built his temple or his tabernacle, it was patterned off the cosmos. It was patterned off the earth. And, and in the temple we have the holy of Holies. And within the holy of Holies is the ark. And that signified God's presence. And yet it's modeled after the earth. And when the earth is created, what's the holy of Holies? What images? God, what's, where's his likeness?

19:48It's in each one of us. We are his representatives that are reflect our creator. So all the other pagan nations around would've feared their gods and they would bring sacrifices to their gods. And yet here we get this stunning word. Let us make man in our image communicating our unique position and place over all creation. It means we're his representatives here on earth. We reflect God, we carry out our calling and our purpose to be fruitful and multiply. Let's look at the second question. Why were we created male and female? Look with me at verse 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. You, you see sort of the poetic construction of this verse.

20:43And the first thing becomes obvious is the plurality within mankind. The word for man is adamo. And it refers to mankind. It also becomes Adam's name. But God makes a male adamo and a female adamo. Mankind is not broken down into species or kinds, but designated by their sexuality. And the use of them refers to two distinct persons. He's not referring to just one androgynous person from the very beginning, but rather two separate people, male and female. Now we know our world is deeply confused about the word gender. It's been co-opted and redefined by our culture. Has it not? Gender identity now is the social, psychological, cultural and behavioral aspects of being a man or a woman or an other.

21:37And this reveals the confusion of our age when we reject God's design. So our culture says that gender is just a social construct. It can be fluid or self-determined and independent of biological sex. And yet what Genesis tells us from the very beginning is that gender, meaning our birth or biological sex is designed by God. And not only is it designed by God, it's very good. It's part of his good design for mankind. It's a pre-fall reality. Think about that. It's not as though let, let's just make one type of person and then after the fall, okay, they really screwed it up. Let's make 'em male and female now, right?

22:25And then they'll fight amongst themselves and have all of this animosity. No, it, it's a pre-fall reality. This means being a man is good and being a woman is good for all the little boys and little girls here in the room, you should hear that loud and clear. God made you wonderfully and fearfully made are you, you're exactly in the right body. You're exactly the way God wanted you to be. You should never doubt that foundational reality God.

23:10It just doesn't mean we begrudgingly accept that reality. We celebrate this glorious reality. We celebrate how God has made each one of us, and we celebrate how God has made those unlike us, those of the other sex. We don't need to denigrate men in order to elevate women. And we don't need to oppress women to elevate men. God made men and women complimentary. And the reason we know this is because it takes a man and a woman in order to be able to fruitful, be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth. That's the only way procreation happens. And it's part of God's good design. We are not interchangeable, nor are we identical. And that is a really good thing.

23:59Can you imagine a whole world just of men or a whole world, just of women? It would not be a good place. We need one another. Now you'll notice this is a divinely designed binary. And it's true. Not all men will be the same, and not all women will be the same. We have our differences, but this is wonderfully. We are wonderfully and fearfully made by God. It's an assault on the very image of God to try to alter our bodies, to fit our feelings. And we have to speak that truth because there are people who believe that in our world today, and they're getting hurt and, and they will permanently mar and damage their bodies, their sexuality, they will ruin their lives. And, and our world is too blind or too polite to say anything.

24:59And we need to have courage to love people who are struggling and to speak truth to say, please don't let, let me walk with you in these things this morning. If you struggle with your gender, gender dysphoria, basically your perceived gender identity does not match your biological sex. Genesis speaks into your distress and your anguish and your pain here this morning. God knew you before the very foundations of the world, before you were in your mother's womb, before you were a zygote, God knew you. He knew every cell in your body and, and he looked at you and he said, good, very good. Made exactly as I wanted it to be.

25:51God is the architect, the designer and the creator and the sustainer of every aspect of us. He did not drop the ball just on you at creation at the foundations of the world. Psalm 1 39 says, he saw our unformed substance. And so it's my plea if you're watching online or perhaps some here in this room who are struggling with this very thing. And I know we have people who struggle. Oh, don't reject God's very good design for your life. Don't do it. If we reject the creator's blueprint for us, we do so at our own peril. Nothing good comes from rejecting God's design. Nothing good comes from rejecting God's design and nature testifies to this very reality.

26:47We were talking about this verse in our small group and, and some friends of ours who who've worked in Africa said, you know, we always go to this verse because the, the woman in the village believe that men were made in the image of God, but but not women. And and it changes how they behave. It changes how they think about their self-worth and their dignity and their honor. And so this text is crystal clear. Men and women together bear the image of God, and together they share the responsibility to govern the world. And in fact, we cannot carry out the creation mandate without each other. So why were we created male and female?

27:30Because it's part of God's good design and it sets the stage for this blessing of fertility and procreation to fulfill God's assignment to mankind. Now, the third question, what does it mean to have dominion over the earth? Look with me at verse 28. And God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful, multiply, 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. So we have two assignments, procreation and dominion. This first assignment is to be fruitful and multiply. And it shows us that marital intimacy is part of God's very good design. It's a pre-fall gift from God. Uh, I was doing a little research so he could have made us like Plin Flatworms. I haven't heard of these prior to doing a little bit of Googling, but these are small, flat, slug like worms where when it wants to procreate, it can just rip itself in half head and a tail, and then it'll grow its tail from its head and grow a head from its tail.

28:35If you take one of these, you cut it into five pieces, five pieces grow. Imagine if procreation was like that, honey, which one of us wants to get cut in half this time? Or which one of us wants to cut off our knuckle in order to get another little baby? God could have made it that way. He didn't. Pro procreation is a blessed activity for men and women and we're called to have children and to value children and to fill the earth with little image bearers of God. Today, our culture is anti children. They disdain large families and children. In fact, they make it quite easy to murder babies within the womb and even out of the womb.

29:22They remove some language in the Minnesota statutes that say if a child survives abortion, uh, uh, uh, attempted abortion attempt and is born alive, it's like the mother gives birth too quickly. And here you have this living, breathing newborn baby. They just leave it on a table and let it die. I think it was in 20 22, 5 children died that way. It's infanticide. Abortion is a heinous assault on the image of God, and it's a rejection of the creation mandate. And there, there's a rising group here in our world. Antinatalists is what they call themselves. They believe that humans should not have children. When I was growing up, it was the scare tactic of overpopulation.

30:11So please don't have very many children. And yet we know that uh, as more and more studies have come out, we have declining birth rates and many countries are scrambling to get people to have children. In Hungary, the Prime Minister has said families will be exempt from income taxes for life if they have four or more babies. And and this is one of the reasons why we have those little roses and why we recognize children. It is a gift from God. If you have more children, we'll find more space for 15 passenger vans in the parking lot.

30:47And and I I I don't wanna just joke about these things because I knew know that we have people who, who would love to have children who've not been able to have children. And it's a heartbreaking reality. It's a difficulty or, or you've struggled again and again to be able to have children. And yet that ultimately does not change The fact that children, having children is a gift from God. It's a blessing and it's part of God's good design for our world. So I think it's, it's good for us to just reshape our values. Children are not a curse. They're not a nuisance. They're not a financial drain.

31:28They're god's good blessing. If your little kid drops their markers or cheerios here in this room, we'll, we'll, we'll be okay. We're glad you little children are here with us. We're glad you're part of this church. You are vital members of this body. Amen. Amen. So we should prayerfully consider how many children to have, not just checking our bank accounts or our energy levels, but rather taking our cues from scripture and not our culture. Uh, I'll just say very plainly, I was so helped from this. I'm from California and everyone just had two kids. And coming to the Midwest and seeing the 15 passenger van roll up when we were in Burnsville and, and seeing, you know, like 10 children file out of a van was like, whoa.

32:17Like you can do it differently. And, and, and it's been a wonderful gift to just see like children are indeed a blessing from God. Our second assignment is to have dominion over the earth and to subdue it. We're to cultivate authority over the creation, cultivate it, create service caretakers. Now if you read the word subdue and dominion, it has this heavy handed ring to it. Like we can just do whatever we want. And I don't think that's what it means. We're caretakers and stewards. It's like if a friend says, Hey, I'm gonna be leaving the country for a year. Can you take care of my house or my lake house? Well, we want to enjoy it, but we want to take care of it and improve it and keep it clean and make sure rodents don't get into it, right?

33:03And so it is with God's creation and our culture today worships mother nature. There was recently a video that was released by Apple that literally shows their leadership team groveling at the foot of personified mother nature and, and others view creation as pristine. But mankind, just as a blight upon it, like our world would really be good if none of us were around. And that's just not the biblical message at all. God has given mankind to have dominion over the earth to grow crops and build roads and create climate controlled environments and to use electricity and to create technology to exercise our creation mandate.

33:46And Genesis two will see that man is to keep the garden and is to name the animals. And so work is part of our calling and not fundamentally a curse. So what we've seen is that mankind is made in the image of God, male and female. He created them to fill the earth to rule over it. And we're to fill it with little image bearers as we rule over it, as stewards and caretakers of God's good earth. How do we apply this text? Perhaps this morning you look in the mirror and you're confused about your gender, or you only see your defects and blemishes, and yet it's a reminder. This text is a reminder for us, isn't it?

34:30That you were gloriously and wonderfully made in the image of God. You bear his image. And we have a purpose to reflect and represent God here on earth. Adam, Adam and Eve. In, in Genesis three, the serpent comes to them and he says, if you eat at the fruit of the tree of knowledge, what will happen? You'll be like, God, what a promise. But what had they forgotten? We already are like God, we bear his image, were made in his image, in his likeness to rule and to reign and to multiply and fill the earth. We were already created in his image to represent and to reflect his glory and to rule under his authority. So this morning, we need to be aware of assaults on the image of God. Gender I, ideology is one, assault on God's creation and design.

35:34There are image bearers who are going to suffer and not be helped by chemical castration or surgical procedures. Physician-assisted suicide is coming next here in the state of Minnesota. It's an assault on God's creation. Pornography takes people made in the very image of God and commodifies their bodies. For one's pleasure don't consume it or partake in any part of it. Human trafficking, slave labor, racism are all assaults on the very image of God. It takes a person and says, you're worth less. Rather than seeing them as people who bear God's image, we all have a common ancestry. That's what the Genesis account is to show us.

36:34We all come from Adam and Eve on this side of the fall. We know that our lives are marred by sin, but there's really good news isn't there? That we are being restored not to the image of Adam, but to the image of Christ. One Corinthians 1549 says this, just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. So what this means, when whenever it talks about the the image of God and speaking of Christ, it doesn't mean that God, that Jesus bears the same image, just like we bear the image of God. But there's this intensified reality that God is fully revealed in Jesus.

37:24And now we are being conformed into the image of Christ. Second Corinthians three 18 tells us that we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. This means that we're not just gonna attain to the image of pre-fall, Adam, but we right now, because we have died with Christ, we've been raised with Christ, we've gone through the baptismal waters, we've been seated with Christ, we are now becoming more and more like Jesus. We are going to bear his image. We will reflect His glory. We are being sanctified and we will be glorified with Christ.

38:07Let me end with this. The Pharisees came to test Jesus in Matthew 22 and they said, Jesus, they're trying to trap him. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar? And what did Jesus say will bring me a coin? And he says, whose likeness, whose image is on this coin? And they said, Caesar's. And he says, well give to Caesar that which is Caesar's and give to God that which is God's. And it begs the question, well then, if I'm supposed to give my money, which has Caesar's inscription on it to Caesar, what am I supposed to give to God? Where is this image and likeness imprinted on each one of us? We are to surrender our entire lives to God.

38:59'cause he's placed his image on us. We reflect him. That's how precious and amazing we are this morning. Yes, this is not just all about us, but it's about the greatness of our God. How he has elevated us, and how he has called us out of darkness into his marvelous and glorious light so that we live our lives in full surrender to King Jesus. If you're not doing that this morning, oh, we would ask. We would exhort you don't delay. We want you to know the life and light that comes in following Christ. Let's pray. Father, we wanna see you more clearly. We want Christ to be exalted, so do that very work in our hearts and minds.

39:50Help us to understand that we are wonderfully and fearfully made in the image of God. In Jesus name. Amen.

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Sermon Text

Genesis 1:24-31

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