Do you have value? Do you have value in God's eyes? The answer to that question is yes. Please stand with me if you would. We want to open up God's word and read about the creation of mankind from Genesis chapter one this morning. Our goal this morning is to understand our place in God's creation so that we can live a life of meaning and purpose. Before we read this, we just want to say we believe that this account is true, that it's straightforward and it's accurate and what it says is what it means. We're going to start reading in Genesis chapter one, verse 20. Let's go, verse 24, beginning of the sixth day of God's creation. Then God said let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind and it was so God made the beasts of the earth after their kind and the cattle after their kind and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind and God saw that it was good Then God said Let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created them male and female. He created them. God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Then God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the earth and every tree which has fruit yielding seed. It shall be food for you and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life. I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed and all their hosts by the seventh day God completed 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 in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. God sees you as highly valuable. We're going to see here the beginning of our examination of this text is that mankind is God's most valuable creation. Mankind is God's most valuable creation. We'll see five proofs of that in the in the account. I think that's one of the things we're to glean from this as we read this account is that mankind is unique and special. The first proof of this is that the creation of man is the climax of the entire creation account. The creation of man is the climax of this entire creation account that spans through Genesis chapter one. On the first three days, God formed his universe. We went back and read. We would see that on day one, God formed the heavens and he spoke light into existence. On day two, he formed the sky, separating the waters above from the waters below. On day three, he formed the dry land and he covered that land with the plants, with the vegetation. Days four through six then, God filled what he had formed in the first three days. So day four, he filled his expanse with heavenly bodies, with the sun and the moon and the stars. Day five, God began to make the living things so that on day five, both sky and oceans teem with life. There's birds and fish and even great sea monsters. Day six, it's the land that he filled with life. We read that first. He made the animals that move about on the ground, right? Verse 25, the cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their time. But mankind is not one of the land animals. Mankind is an entirely different sort of being. Mankind is made last of all. And then once mankind has been made, God stops creating. The heavens and earth are completed. Once man is put into place, everything is in God's creation as God had meant it to be. It's done. At the end of days one, three, four, five, and at the end of the creation of the land animals in verse six, there is a repeated statement and God saw that it was good and God saw that it was good as God's going along and God saw that it was good. But after mankind is created, a final verdict on God's creation can be issued. Verse 31, God saw all that he had made and behold, it was very good. Mankind is the capstone of God's creation, his greatest work of art, which brings to completion a whole universe of wonder and beauty. Mankind is God's most valuable creation. The creation of mankind is the climax of the whole account. Also, you can see as we read this that mankind's creation takes up the most space in the creation account. It takes up more room than the description of anything else. You can tell what's important to a person by what he talks about the most. The divine author of Genesis almost rushes through the creation of everything else. There's just a few verses, no more than six verses on any of the days of creation. Then, when you come to day six, all of the other land animals are created in three verses. But the creation of this one last life form, the creation of mankind, gets five verses, all of its own. And then if we were to keep reading from where we stopped, starting in chapter two, verse five, the Lord hits rewind. He's already told us how he made everything. The first seven days have been have been given to us. But now the Lord stops in chapter two. He hits rewind and he zooms in on the creation of mankind. and tells us more details and gives us more information about mankind. Spend the whole of chapter two giving us details about man's creation. The whole point of this creation account in Genesis chapter one is to give us the setting for the story of mankind. Mankind is God's highest creation. We were our creation. It's the climax of the creation account takes up the most space in the account and also thirdly, Only before creating man do the persons of the Trinity stop for discussion. So read through the account. Only before creating man do the persons of the Trinity stop for discussion. Verse 26 is very unique in the creation account. Look there at 126. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule. And then God doesn't actually do it until verse 27, God created man in his own image. The question that always comes up here when you come to verse 26 is who is God talking to? Let us make man. Who is God talking to? Let us make man. Some have suggested that God is speaking to the angels, but that can't be. The angels haven't been mentioned in this account yet, and so why all of a sudden would God start speaking to something that he hasn't mentioned in the account? Also, look at what God says. Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. If he's talking to the angels, then that would be saying that the angels helped make man. and that the mankind is made in the image of angels somehow, and that's just foreign to scripture. In fact, verse 27 makes very clear whose image is man made in. Verse 27, God created man in his own image. So when he says, let us make man in our image, he's not speaking to the angels. Who is God talking to when he says, let us make? Well, there are three persons in the Trinity. There is the father, the son and the Holy Spirit, and they speak to one another. We see this throughout scripture. We see it in other places, right? Did not Jesus, when he was alive, constantly speak to his father in prayer? Didn't the father speak from heaven to his son and about his son? Way back in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2, look there, we've already seen the Spirit of God moving over the waters there in verse 2, the second half of the verse, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. So we have this mystery in verse 26. In verse 26, first God says, plural, let us make man in our image. And then verse 27, it says, singular, God created man in His image, because there is one God. In three persons, we serve a God who is three in one, and he has revealed himself to us as this from the very first page of Scripture, we see the Trinity. So just before man is created, God stops his work of creation to this point, when God has said anything, it has been a command and heaven and earth have moved to obey. Here's the first time God stops and he's speaking in a conversation amongst the Trinity. God stops and says, let us now do something unique. Let us now do something wonderful. Let us make man in our own image. Mankind is God's most valuable creation. We can see that also, fourthly, by the fact that mankind is given authority over all of God's creation. Mankind is given authority over all of God's creation here in these verses now To hold the position of authority does not necessarily mean that one has greater value than the person that they're over Doesn't mean that we see in chapter 2 that mankind that the man is given authority over the woman He is supposed to lead her but that does not mean that the man has greater value than the woman. I But here in chapter one, it is implied. Mankind is more valuable than any of the rest of the creatures that God has made. And his value is reflected by the fact that God has given mankind strong authority over everything else he makes. Look in Genesis chapter one, verse 26. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Then, verse 28, God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. These verses give us God's perspective on one of the great debates of our day. People are always arguing, how should mankind relate to our environment? Should a Christian side with the conservationists and environmentalists or are we to side with industry? Right. What should be our stance, according to the word of God, on fracking in North Dakota or on protecting endangered species or the Dakota Access Pipeline or carbon emissions and climate change? There's two principles that we can see in these verses about our relationship with the environment that help us think these things through. First one is this clearly in verse twenty eight. Mankind has freedom to use creation for his own benefit. Mankind is given freedom to use creation for his own benefit. Look there at verse 28. There's two verbs that God. Commands that God gives to man about how he is to relate to creation, and both of them involve strong authority over creation. The first verb you see there, he is to subdue the earth, their first twenty eight. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. That word subdue is a strong word for authority. It means to overcome, to enslave, to conquer and control an environment or people. You find it if you follow this word subdued through the rest of the Old Testament, you find it used of people conquering foreign lands and subduing them. You find it of people taking slaves for themselves. They're subduing them. It's a strong word of authority. Then also there's the word rule. Mankind is to rule over the fish of the sea and such. That word rule means to dominate, to lead, to control, subdue, manage or govern with considerable or forceful authority, the Greek dictionary says. So, does this mean that mankind has the authority to kill animals, to eat them, and use their fur to clothe himself? Well, not at first, right? Here, because there's no death in Genesis 1. They wouldn't have been killing animals yet. But if you skip ahead to verse 9, mankind's diet is clearly told by God that it can expand beyond plants to animals. Go ahead to Genesis chapter 9 with me. Look at verse 2. This is after the flood. Expands mankind's food choices. We don't just have to eat off the vegetarian menu anymore. Look at chapter 9 verse 2 God says to Noah the fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast and the of the earth and every bird of the sky with Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea into your hand. They are given Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you. I give all to you as I gave the green plants. I So, mankind has been given the authority to use creation for his own good. God invites us to eat his cattle, his fish, and his birds. They're for you. God invites us then, by extension, right, to use his oil, to use his natural gas, other resources he's placed in the world for the good of ourselves and for the good of mankind, clearly seen here in Genesis. There's two principles, though, on mankind's relationship with the environment we can see. First, freedom to use God's creation for our own benefit. There's a second principle we see here. Mankind has responsibility to care for God's creation. Mankind does have a responsibility to care for God's creation. Turn ahead with me to Genesis 2, verse 15, if you would. Here in Genesis chapter 2, this is zoomed in, looking at the creation of mankind again, and more details are given. Here some other words are used. When God is telling Adam what he is supposed to do with this creation, here he describes it in different words. Look in Genesis chapter 2, verse 15. Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. That word for cultivate has to do with working, working the ground. The word for keep here, the mankind is supposed to keep the garden, is sometimes translated take care of. It means to preserve, to protect, to guard, to watch over. One Greek dictionary defines this word keep as to cause a state or condition to remain. So God has created a world of stunning beauty and variety. And part of our job as mankind is to care for God's creation. The the word keep there instructs us as people that we are to be conservationists. We're to keep this beautiful world that he has made beautiful. So God has literally made mankind kings over his earth. But like any good king, we are to rule in a benevolent manner. We're to rule over God's creation as a caretaker of that beautiful world. So principles to take from this and apply as we think about all these environmental issues. We are free to use God's creation, but we're responsible to care for it. I think it's a helpful framework for us. We think about environmental issues, right? We're just going to take the Dakota pipeline. Well, are we free to use that oil that's in the ground? Yes, we're free to use it for the good of ourselves and mankind. We're free to use it, but we should do it in a way where we're caring for God's creation, right? Caring for the people around us. Helpful principles. Okay. Mankind is God's most valuable creation. We've seen it in all these ways. The question comes up and it's answered in the text. Why? Why is man more valuable than all the other things? What is it? What is it that that makes it so that God views humans as above the rest of his creation? We are not the largest of his creatures. We're not the strongest. We're not the most beautiful things in God's creation. If you count on the if you count the angels, we might not even be the most intelligent things in God's creation. So why are we so important? Why? Why do we hold first place in the attention of God on his creation? Here's the answer of scripture. Only mankind is created in the image of his creator. Only mankind is created in the image of his creator. It's emphasized in the text. Verse twenty six. Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Verse twenty seven. God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created them. The word likeness there, we're going to make man according to our likeness, just refers to something that is similar to something else. God here at this point in creation says, okay, now I want to make something that's like me. The word image refers to that which is a pattern, a model, an example of something. This word image shows up all the time in the Old Testament. Sometimes, one time it's used to describe the painting of a soldier that's on a wall and the painting is an image of the real soldier. The word image in the Old Testament is often used to describe idols. In the minds of the pagans, their idol represented their God. Of course, we knew that God is nothing, but in their minds, this is an image of their God. The word image refers to something that is like something else and represents it. So to be made in God's image, I think I've got blanks on your sheet here, to be made in God's image means that God made us to be like him and to represent him. God made you and I to be like him and to represent him. It's amazing. Here's the end of God's creation. God stops, says to the Son and the Spirit, OK, at this point, everything that we have made has been good. But but now let us make a creature who will be like us, a creature enough like us that he can be our representative over creation. Being created in God's image, being made like him, sets us apart from all the rest of the creation. We are different from the animals. We are above the animals. There is a dignity and a significance to a human being that is not shared by anything else in all creation. We are of greater value because we alone bear this likeness to God, the creator, in a way that is just not true of anything else. How how is the image of God seen in mankind? Well, I mean, you could just all of the things that where mankind is like God, but unlike the animals, these things are part of God's image. We are more like God than the rest of creation in so many ways. We are moral beings, moral beings in ways that the animals are not. We are eternal beings. There is a spiritual aspect to you and I. We will go on forever. When an animal dies, that's it. We have mental capacities that are like God's. Go beyond any animal. And we are relational beings. We were made, like God, to have relationship. To be able to have relationship with God and relationships with each other in ways that far exceed anything that's seen in the animal world. Only mankind has been made in the image of God. Just this week I read an article on the website of PETA people for the ethical treatment of animals This article that I read was was entitled why animal rights. I want to quote you from this article As I read it think why why do I disagree with this? Hopefully you do disagree with this. Okay, I'm quoting the article here. I Supporters of animal rights believe that animals have an inherent worth of value completely separate from their usefulness to humans. We believe that every creature with a will to live has a right to live free from pain and suffering. Animal rights is not just a philosophy. It is a social movement. that challenges society's traditional view that all non-human animals exist solely for human use. As PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk has said, when it comes to pain, love, joy, loneliness, and fear, a rat is a pig, is a dog, is a boy. When it comes, I'll repeat that, when it comes to pain, love, joy, loneliness, and fear, a rat is a pig, is a dog, is a boy. She continues, each one values his or her life and fights the knife. Why do we disagree with this? We do believe, as it was said at the beginning of the article, that there is inherent worth in rats and pigs and dogs. Sure, they're God's creations, beautiful as God has made them. And we are, though we're free to use them, we're entrusted to care for them. But rats and pigs and dogs are animals. A boy is of infinitely more value than any rat, pig, or dog because a boy is not an animal. Every boy and girl has been made in the image of God. He is valuable because He and she, we are like God. We are so like God that we represent God. If I kill a dog, the dog doesn't represent God. If I kill a human, this person represents God. They're made in God's image. It's a whole different thing. It is this belief that teaches us that people of every race deserve equal dignity and rights. It is this belief in mankind made in the image of God that compels us to protect and to honor all people, regardless of whether they are elderly, whether they are seriously ill, whether they are mentally retarded, whether they are children yet unborn, whether they are sinners or whether they are righteous. Every person, every person has value. and demands respect, because every person bears within their nature the image of God. They are, we each are, like the Creator, and in a real way, we represent Him. It is the honor that God is due that moves us to honor everyone who bears His image. Are you valuable? The answer to that question is yes. You read this account. God has made you like him. You have infinite worth because you bear his image now in mankind. God's image has been marred by the fact that we are sinners right our character is not Like God's perfect character anymore But the image of God even in the sinner is not lost In fact, it's because we are made in the image of God that is such a travesty when we do sin because we're supposed to be representing God we're supposed to be like him but instead We lust and we hate and we want and we take and we kill. It profanes Him for His image to be so filthy. It offends Him that His image-bearers would act so. But God has a solution even for that. His solution is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to forgive and to cleanse. Only in Jesus Christ can we be made new, to be restored fully to representing God, to being in His image, as we were created to be in the beginning. If we're understanding our place in God's creation, we have to understand every person is so valuable. You are so valuable to God because you are made in His image. Second thing we see in this account is just God's good, Kindness his provision for these people that he made God wants to bless you not to make you miserable We see that from the very beginning God's intention for his image bearers is to bless them and to provide for them Satan's message to Eve right in Genesis chapter 3 not long after this was his message to Eve was that God was withholding good things from her that somehow God was out to steal her happiness and That's still Satan's message today. He has told that to you. God is out to steal your happiness. It is a lie. God's desire is to bless you. He has provided for your happiness and he's been doing this for his image bearers from the very beginning. It was to see here three ways in which God has provided for man's happiness. First thing is this. He created diversity. God created diversity. If God would have wanted to, he could have made a world with no color. dim lighting, a gray sky, gray water, gray plants, nothing to eat but malt meal. Plain malt meal. But instead, there is beauty and color and diversity everywhere. There's a blazing sun, a bright blue sky, green plants with beautiful flowers, a variety of delicious food, animals large and small in the sky and on the ground and in the trees and in the water. And on top of all that diversity, as Adam looks around, God makes diversity even amongst his image bearers. There's diversity even amongst us, his people. See that in verse 27. God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Now here's the diversity. Male and female, he created them. Notice, both man and woman are created in the image of God. We are equal in value and worth. But we are different. We are different physically and we're different in many other ways. We should note quickly, who is it that assigns the roles of male and female? It's God. God assigns them. He, male and female, he created them. God does this. And why does he do it? It's part of his perfect world of glorious diversity. If God has made you male, the path to joy for you is to embrace that. You're a male, and to live in that. If God has made you a female, the path to joy, the path to God's blessing is to see, God has made me a woman, and this is my identity that I will live in. If God has called you to marriage, embrace the diversity of that. One man with one woman, this is diverse, this will provide you with difference for all your life, and it's fun, right? It should be fun. God wants to bless you. He does not want to make you miserable. And he's provided for our happiness. He's done so in all of this diversity that he has created. He created diversity. Also, he blessed mankind, let her be with the ability to have children. God blessed mankind with the ability to have children. Look at verse 28 of Genesis one. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. God pronounced a similar thing on the birds and the fish back in verse twenty two. Interestingly look back there verse twenty two after he made the birds and the fish. God blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let the birds multiply on the earth. There is no reproduction of life without the blessing of God. Anytime that life comes into existence it is a result of God's blessing. When an animal reproduces, however, they just simply reproduce a physical being that will one day cease to exist. With mankind, this is all the more amazing. Because when a man and a woman have a child, through them, God brings into an existence an eternal being who will never cease to exist. And he's given us this ability as men and women to be able to reproduce creatures in his image. It's an amazing thing. How many of you have children when you're when your first child was born? Do you remember? Do you remember in the hospital or wherever you were when your first child was born? You're holding your child for the first time. Did you not think at that moment, this is the greatest miracle I have ever seen? What a thing that I have this child. There's this person that will live forever that's now in my arms. Do you remember that? Boy, I remember that. Hopefully, also, you thought, oh, God, thank you. And oh, God, help me. Right? All those things coming out as you weep and hold your baby. It's an amazing thing. If you have children, every single one of them is a blessing to you from God. Eve was right when she had the first ever baby in chapter 4 verse 1. She said I Have gotten a man child with the help of the Lord Psalm 127 3 says behold children are a gift of the Lord the fruit of the womb is a reward God wants to bless you not make you miserable. He's provided providing for man's happiness You can just see this all the way through this account in Genesis 1. He created diversity He blessed mankind with the ability to have children Eternal children in God's image. Thirdly, God planned ahead to provide for us, planned ahead to provide for us. The creation account is a beautiful description of God's provision for mankind. There is a thought out process here. God did not create man and then think, oh, the universe is dark. Adam can't see anything. I forgot to do the light. I better make him a light. God didn't create Adam and then be like, oh, land. He's swimming. He's not made for swimming. I should have made land first, right? God didn't make man and say, oh, there's nothing for him to eat. He's getting hungry. I need food for him. That's not the way that this operates. There is a plan, an ordered structure from the very beginning so that once God makes his image bearers, he puts them down in a world that is complete and ready for them. Everything that they will need, he has provided and he sets them in this place. Does Adam have food? Yes, look at verse 29 right after God makes Adam He says behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth and every tree which has fruit yielding seed it shall be food for you Do you know God still does this today? for his children He plans ahead so that when you get somewhere, when you get to a situation, everything that you need for that situation is already there. He will do this for you, just like He did for Adam. Hold your finger here in Genesis and turn over to Matthew 6. Matthew 6. This is Jesus giving instruction to us. If you are a child of God, you can count on God planning ahead and providing for you that when you get to a situation everything you need will be there. Matthew chapter six look at verse eight. Jesus says so do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Now skip ahead to verse twenty five. Matthew six twenty five. For this reason, I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food in the body, more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air that they do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you, by being worried, can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you? You of little faith. Do not worry then, saying, what will we eat? Or what will we drink? Or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Our God is so gracious. He's such a wonderful provider. This is how He relates to His image-bearers. This is how He relates to His children. He takes care of us. He thinks ahead to what his children will need so that when the time arrives, it's there for us. Think of all the promises that God has made in scripture that relate to this. God promised that when the time comes that you will need to speak, he will give you the words that you need to say. God has promised that when temptation arrives, he will enable you to endure it. God promises that when sorrow comes, that he will be your comfort. Even here in the garden, as we are in Genesis, even here in the garden when God is making Adam and Eve and He's making them perfect, already God is planning ahead for the great need that they will have. God knows what's coming in a couple of chapters right after Genesis 1. God knows that Adam and Eve are going to rebel against Him, that they will disregard all of His wonderful provision and they will sin against Him. Already in the garden, God is planning to send for them a savior. First Peter 1 19 speaks of Christ. As a lamb, unblemished and spotless, when was it that God planned to send Jesus? Listen to what first Peter 1 19 says. Christ, the lamb, unblemished and spotless, was foreknown before the foundation of the world. See, God's already planning ahead to provide for them. but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who are believers in God. What's your place in God's creation? As we look at Genesis 1, what's your place in God's creation? Well, first, God sees you as highly valuable. He has made you like Him. It's an amazing privilege. Also, we see God is an amazing provider. He wants to bless you. God isn't out to make you miserable. God is out to bless you. The only thing that can get in between you and God and all of His goodness is your sin. The only one who can take away that sin is the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. The only way to be made right with God is to trust in Jesus Christ and to give your life to Him. Why would you not? Why would you not trust in a God like this? Do you want to have meaning and value in your life? Do you want joy? Then come to your creator through Jesus Christ and then watch how he will provide for you. Let's pray. Oh, God, you are so abundantly generous and overflowing with grace and goodness to us. You have been like this since the very beginning, when mankind was first made, when you made our forefathers, Adam and Eve, and you put them in the garden, you had cared for them, you had blessed for them, you had even planned to provide for them when they would rebel against you. And we stand here before you today as those who believe in Jesus Christ having been made by you having been redeemed by you and still having this promise of your blessing on us forever. We are just so thankful to you. We give you praise. Lord I pray for anybody that's here today that doesn't know you that hasn't given their life to you and let Christ cleanse them but they might do so today so they might know this know you and all your in your abundant goodness as well. We pay these things in Jesus name. Amen.