All right, let's turn in the word of God to Genesis chapter one, verse 26, Genesis 1, 26. It is on page one in your pew Bibles. Genesis one, starting at verse 26, and I'll read to the third verse of chapter two. Hear God's word. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. male and female, he created them. Then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed. To you it shall be for food. Also to every beast of the field, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life. I have given every green herb for food. And it was so. Then God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the hosts of them were finished. And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because he rested from all his work which he had created and made. And we'll end our reading there from God's holy word. May God bless that to our hearts and to our minds. Origin stories are an important part of knowing why certain things happen in a story. So the origin story can explain why a character does a certain thing, or demonstrate the reason for a certain weakness within a character. We've all read or watched origin stories that help us to understand the bigger picture of the story. You can think of Superman. Superman started in action comics in June of 1938, and he is the alter ego of Clark Kent, a reporter for the Daily Planet. But the origin story of Superman says that he was born on the planet Krypton as Kal-El, and his parents sent him to Earth as a baby, knowing that Krypton was about to be destroyed, and Superman, or who would become Superman, ends up being raised in Smallville, Kansas. where he would be raised by parents and then slowly discover superhuman abilities. So that's an origin story. Or for the Lord of the Rings nerds, the Lord of the Rings nerd proves his or her worth by reading the Silmarillion. So the Silmarillion is the five-part origin story behind Middle Earth and the world and all of the languages and the creatures that J.R.R. Tolkien had created. It's the origin story of Middle Earth and the creation of it. Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley in 1918. And she draws her readers to an origin story of what will become of a humanity that seeks to master technology. Shelley's full title of the book is Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Prometheus, in Greek mythology, was a titan who, in some accounts, creates humanity, and in other accounts, as he creates humanity from clay, he provides humanity with fire, allowing them to be able to compete with the gods. So these are origin stories, whether Superman or the Silmarillion or Prometheus, all of these are intended to answer questions related to things like value and purpose and intention, and it's all wrapped up into this idea of an origin story. So what is our origin story? We're looking at what it means to be human, the doctrine of man, this question, what is man? And the question is asked in Psalm 8 as we've looked at the question, what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visited him for thou hast created him. a little lower than the angels. So, we have an origin story that must be understood. There are many errors in the human origin story. The human origin story has, or various origin stories are all over the world intending to tell us how humanity was created. There's literally hundreds, if not thousands, of various creation stories that are intending to expose the creation of humanity. And of course, the majority of these are false, they're errors. There are polytheistic religions that says that there are many gods involved in the creation of the world and the creation of humanity. There are pantheistic religions that will say that the world is eternal and there's not a beginning in the origin story. Last week I mentioned one of my favorite systematic theologians, Francis Turretin, big fat three volumes. He has a whole section on why the earth is not eternal, answering the pantheists that believe that it was. There's panentheism that says that God and man are so interrelated that there's a failure to even understand or to see distinctions between God and humanity or God in the creation, just that they are interrelated. And then we have materialism that says that reality exists only in that which is material. Big bang occurs, and from that, material begets material. And all of the evolving of creatures begins with that. Probably one of the greatest materialists of the last century was Carl Sagan, who once said, the universe is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be. Sounds very religious, doesn't it? But this is not the Christian view of man. Man's origin begins with God speaking, God saying, as we read, let us make man in our image. Let us make man according to our likeness. Let us have man have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and the cattle of the earth and the creeping things that creep on the earth. So God creates man according to his own image. This is the origin story of humanity in that origin story, even as we develop or more fully develop what the Bible teaches about humanity, we'll see this is something extremely important. The distinction between the creator and the creature will be maintained. The scriptures tell us this in our origin story. We are not the creator. We are distinct and separate as the creature. God has created us. This is one of the basic presuppositions of the Christian view of man. God is the creator. And that means that all of humanity lives dependent on the creator. We are not autonomous as humans. That means that we are not free from the one who is good and the one who is right and the one who is just. Humanity is connected and distinct from the creator. So what can we learn about this? How can we more fully develop that as we begin to step into these waters that we're calling what is man? The first thing I would like to think with you about for a moment is the uniqueness of human origin. So God created humanity as well as all things. He creates all things, and then humanity is created sort of as the crown of that. And this origin story that's true, that we have in the Word of God, it's one of both connectedness and one of uniqueness. So humanity is connected to everything else that has been created, and yet we're distinct and separate and unique from the creation as well. The human origin story is one where we are not separated from the worlds that we would call natural and spiritual, but we are connected in a way that is uniquely human. Trees do not have that connection the way that you have that connection. Your dog, as much as it may be your fur baby, it's not, is not connected to natural and supernatural in the same way that humanity is. These are things that belong uniquely to humanity. One writer said, the scripture teaches us the existence of a close kinship between man and animal. Both are created on the same day. Both are formed of the dust of the earth. But along with this kinship, there's a big difference. As God's command, as God's commandment, the animals were brought forth by the earth. Man, however, was created after divine deliberation in the image of God to be master over all things. So our origin story is one that is unique and it's different from the origin story of the mountains or the ocean or the fish or the sea or the cattle that are on the earth. Our origin story is one that is both of dust and breath. Dust and breath connect you to this world that is natural and this world that is supernatural. Genesis 2.7 says, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. You know that part of the New Testament where Paul is encouraging Timothy to be in the Word of God as a minister? And he says that all scripture is God-breathed. It's given life. by God. It's living. And humanity, in that same way, is living because God has breathed life into humanity. He's inspirited humanity. And these words are important. The word dust, in Hebrew, it's dry earth, it's dust, it's powder, it's ash, it's earth, it's ground, it's dry, loose earth, it's debris. So you can think if you've ever seen like an urn of someone's ashes. That's the dust from dust, we have come into dust, we will return. And this from dust, from the dust of the ground, the dirt of the earth, God has made man. But at the same time, God breathes life into man. He doesn't make him without divine breath coming into him. And that word for breath, it's a puff or a wind. It's the word for inspiration or intellect or soul or spirit. So in a way that God breathes life into mankind, is a way that's different from how he gives life to the dogs, or the cats, or the cattle, or the birds, or the fish. Dust and breath connect you to two worlds, a world that is both visible and invisible. And when the Apostle Paul was preaching at Mars Hill, he said, nor is God worshipped with men's hands as though he needed anything, since he gives life to all breath. For in him we live and move and have our being, as some of your own poets have said, for we are his offspring. So the uniqueness of your origin story as a human, the true and divine inspired Word of God origin story, is that you are dust and you are breath and you are connected to the earth in the sense that you are part of the creation. But at the same time, you are connected to the divine because he has breathed life into you. Does that mean you are God? No. Does it mean that you're guaranteed a place in heaven? No. It means that God himself has created humanity in a special way that reflects something of himself. which is something we'll get into later in this series. Dust and breath is unique in your origin story. Let's zoom into that for a moment. Let's look at that dust and breath for a bit and consider the context of that. The scriptures tell us that in the space of six days, God created the heavens and the earth. So what is man is answered in that humanity is a created being, created by the will of God, created by or through the mind of God, and then brought onto that stage of history at the time and in the same manner as the rest of the creation. We call this the theater of the creation. And that theater, that whole theater of the creation is one where we and all of the creation is intended to bring God glory. What is man that thou art mindful of him? For you have created him a little lower than the angels. It's a theater of praise. And I want you to think of it in that way. Calvin famously refers to this several times in the Institutes. He says, let us not be ashamed to take pious delight in the works of God, open and manifest in this most beautiful theater. or whenever you cast your eyes, there is no spot in the universe where you cannot discern at least some spark of His glory. You cannot in one glance survey the most vast and beautiful system of the universe in its wide expanse without being completely overwhelmed by the boundless force of its brightness. This skillful ordering of the universe is for us a sort of mirror in which we contemplate God. or elsewhere, he says, for our salvation was a matter of concern to God in such a way that, not forgetful of himself, he kept his glory primarily in view and therefore created the whole world for that end, that it may be a theater of glory. So we think about the creation of humanity and the way that humanity is separate and set apart from the rest of the creation in that we will be that special creature that has the son of God's stamp of approval and love placed upon it. And all of that is so that we would bring glory to God and call all of that creation in to participate in giving glory to this one who is worthy to be praised. And the account of the Bible concerning this is that humans are created on the sixth day of the week of creation. And then we're told that we have six days for work. And one day for rest, and that cycle of the theater of glory begins to unfold in humanity. So let's go back. God is thinking an eternity past of creating the world. And then through his will, he begins to unfold that creation. And we know there are six days of creation. Day one, you remember, is light and earth. Day two is the sea and the sky. And day three is the dry land and the plants. Now what's interesting is days four, five, and six are God filling those containers that he has already created. Day four, he takes day one's light and earth and he fills them with sun and moon and stars. He brightens them. And then day two's sea and sky he fills on day five with birds and flying creatures and the fish of the sea. And then day three's dry land and plants God, on the sixth day, creates all of the land animals, and then that crown of glory of the entire creation, he creates humanity on the sixth day. Now, again, we don't have time in this message to say everything, but we have time in this series to say much. Our confession of faith says it pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for the manifestation of His own glory, of His eternal power and wisdom and goodness in the beginning to create or make of nothing the world and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days and all very good. That's reflective of what the Word of God teaches. This great stage of God's creation, this theater of glory, is this very good thing that God has given to us where humanity comes on to the stage of life and is found to be this pinnacle of the creation itself, or the climax of God's intentions for this world. Friends, think of that. Think of that by way of value and worth, even in the mind of God. Francis Turretin said, thus to the remaining creatures, there might be added one having the most perfect degree of life, and whom therefore, as the most excellent working, the epitome of the whole. God not only reserved for the last place, but made in a peculiar method above the others, after consultation, let us make man. That indicates the labored expression that he was engaged in a most important work. Friends, this theater of human origin, this theater of glory, is one where we see in humanity what is God's most important work, the height of creation. And it's not just important, but the word of God confirms that with the creation of humanity that God is able to say that it was good. And it was not only good, it was very good. This is our origin story. So what do we mean when we say that it goes from important and, you know, we have this creation in this special way and we talk about breath and dust and then we zoom in and we look at this theater of the origin story where God creates the whole world, and there rising up is this pinnacle of the creation that we call humanity, and we argue that that is important work, but we also say that it's good work. What do we mean when we say that it's good? Is it like when your kids wash the dishes and they're about 90 percent clean and you give them a break? You say, that's good. That's not what God is intending with this word. You see, after each of the days of creation, God declared that his work was good. Good or goodness is primarily understood in relation to God. It's an ethics word. And it is in correlation to the ultimate standard of goodness, which is God himself. God is the standard of goodness. And when God says that humanity's creation is good, he says this reflects something of my own character. in the creation of this. You see, theologically, goodness is defined by God's nature. That means that what is good always aligns with God's character and God's will and God's law. God's goodness is both moral and it's benevolent. meaning that it's something that encompasses both his purity and his kindness and his generosity towards creation. You could look at this aspect of creation and you could say, this is good, this is something that is pure and it's kind and it's generous and it reflects the perfections of God and it aligns with who he is and it aligns with his laws and the laws of nature that he has set into motion, all of these are reflective of the fact that God is good. Hermann Bavink says, the doctrine of creation secures for the creature a certain measure of glory because the finger of God has touched him and formed him. You see, man was created good in this pinnacle of creation. Humanity stands out as the culmination or the high point, the goodness of God's creative act. In the repeated refrain throughout Genesis, as we've seen, and God saw that it was good. And then it reaches a climax. when Adam is made and Eve is made, as we will later talk about. And in that climax, God declares that it is very good. You see, this reflects something that will come to, that man is an image-bearer of God, and that he holds that special status in the created order. This is something that Reformed theologians have always emphasized, that humanity was not created with flaws or moral deficiencies, he was created in a state of innocence, and he was righteous, and he was holy, and man's original condition was one where there's complete harmony, complete harmony with one another, and complete harmony with nature, and complete harmony with God, and all of these things reflecting our understanding that God's creation including humanity, was made to perfectly fulfill his intended purpose in bringing glory to God because God is good. We know that that does not last. But that is our origin story. Thomas Boston said, man was made originally righteous, having the law of God written on his heart, endued with holy dispositions, inclining him to conform his whole life to the will of God. Man was made a glorious creature, perfectly holy, having knowledge of the will of God and able to do all of it within his heart. That origin story, that part of humanity, that original intention for mankind, God looks down and he says that this is good. And the response of humanity was to commune in sweet fellowship with God. Friends, this is our origin story. Uniqueness in theater, in goodness, and our origin story demonstrates our unique position in the creation. related both to the creation and the creator and this theater within the creation. It shows us of the dignity and the importance of man in this whole of the creation. And the goodness of this origin story reflects the reality that when God originally created man, God was pleased with man. And we lived in fellowship with him. We contemplate the question, what is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him. And we know that the beginnings of that we call an origin story that help us to see value and dignity and purpose. Amen. Father, we thank you for the Word of God revealing to us that what we see around us related to humanity is not how you created things to be. Lord, may this give us hope in the one who is called the son of man. And we pray in his name. Amen.