Genesis 1, 26 to 28 is our text today. The title of the sermon is The Creation Mandate. The Creation Mandate. I got a little help from Paul Grimmond of the Gospel Coalition, Australian branch, from something he wrote online July 2nd of 2013. Let's start by looking at, let's pray for just a moment here. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, that you gave us the universe, the cosmos, and you also gave us your voice, your commands. By your voice, you created, and by your voice, you commanded, created and commanded. Lord, and we have been given ears by your Spirit to hear the things that the Spirit says to the churches. And so, Heavenly Father, may we listen and do, Lord, not so that we can be justified before you, but, Lord, for your glory and because of our gratitude for all the things you've given us. And may we worship you in this way. In the name of Jesus, amen. The Genesis creation mandate. The mandate is something that is commanded, okay? It's something that was commanded at the time of creation, given to us as a command. Just looking at our text. Genesis chapter 1, 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 earth. So after God created the universe, he said, I'm about to make man, we're going to make man in our image. And how is man in the image of God? And it's because man has the traits that God has that allow man to rule over creation. God is a ruler, and he made man to rule. And that's my view of the image of God, is that God gave man the traits he needs, God's traits, in order to be able to rule. So we're like God in that we rule over the creation. God rules over all. Says in that verse again, in verse 26 of Genesis 1, it says in the last half, and over all the earth, okay? The Greek, in translating it to Greek, we would translate it kosmos, the word we use for universe, okay? You could say that we're ruling over the universe, in a sense. Verse 27, God created man in his own image. So he did it. He said he was going to do it, and he did it. God doesn't change his mind. Sometimes in the scripture, we seem to get a hint that God's changing his mind about something, but it's just according to his plan all along that anything might change in what is apparent to us. And so he created us in his image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. God blessed them and said to them, so he's saying this to Adam and Eve, 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. That's what we call the creation mandate. God gave a command to man. When he created man, he said, this is what your job is. He also told him not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was something he was not supposed to do. But something that man is supposed to do is to rule over this earth. course we know what happened man fell and the question is how does that affect our image of the image of God in us and how does that affect this mandate well it's clear that we're not able to rule quite as well as before let's look at Psalm 8 verse 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you take thought of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than God, or angels, and you crown him with glory and majesty. You make him to rule over the work of your hands, You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. So this Psalm, Psalm 8, says, what is man that you should put him over all this creation? Okay, and that you've given man to rule over all these things. But we're gonna find out now that that's not literally what's happening in this chapter, okay? Let's look at Ephesians 1, 20 through 23. So that was Psalm 8, three through eight. Now we're looking at Ephesians 1, 20 to 23. Let's look at Ephesians 1, starting in the middle of 19, these are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, verse 20, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come, and he put all things in subjection under his feet. and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. So this last part of the chapter one of Ephesians is telling us, Paul is telling us, that Jesus has dominion. All rule, authority, power, dominion, he's got everything under his feet. Comparing that with Psalm 8, you made him to rule over the works of your hands, you have put all things under his feet, Psalm 8, 6, okay? So it's talking about Jesus in Psalm 8, okay? Not us in general, okay? Now, there's an image of God in us still that's tarnished, broken. and we do rule over the world in a sense, but not the way intended. There's coming a time when Jesus will ultimately rule over the universe, and he will fulfill this prophecy. God gave it to man, man didn't do it, Jesus will do it, right? Jesus did the things we can't do. He obeyed God when we couldn't obey, and he died in our place so we would have his righteousness. 1 Corinthians 15, we'll see more here. 1 Corinthians 15. 25. 1 Corinthians 15, 25. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For he has, and now he's quoting from Psalm 8 here. Okay, Paul's quoting from Psalm 8. For he has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says, all things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is accepting who put all things in subjection to him. When all things are subjected to him, then the son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him so that God may be all in all. So the Father is over the Son, and the Son is over all. And he's talking about Psalm 8. Psalm 8's talking about Jesus having everything under His feet, not all of man. But now we'll go to Hebrews 2, 5 through 9. Hebrews 2, 5 through 9. For he did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying," OK? Now, we're talking about somewhere saying. He's talking about Psalm 8, OK? The author of Hebrews is quoting from Psalm 8. "'What is man that you remember him or the son of man that you are concerned about him, you have made him for a little while lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honor, and have appointed him over the works of your hands, you have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him, but we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. So we see the author of Hebrews clearly, again, saying that Psalm 8 is talking about Jesus and all things being subjected under his feet. Now let's look at what's gonna happen in the future with us and Jesus in 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy 2, 12. If we endure, we will also reign with him. We'll just read the first half of that. So we will reign with Jesus. So Jesus is the one who is the ruler, the king, and we reign with him over the new heaven and the new earth once it's been created, once we have the new heaven and the new earth. Look at Revelation 22 five. Revelation 22 5 says, and there will no longer be any night and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun because the Lord will illumine them and they will reign forever and ever. Okay? It's talking about us. We won't have any need for light, Jesus is the light, and we will reign forever and ever with him. Okay, we will reign forever and ever. So, there comes a point where we will rule, dominate, have dominion over the creation, the new creation, the new heaven and the new earth, it's coming. So, Here's a question for us. We were supposed to rule over the creation. Instead, we sinned against God. So is that something we're still supposed to do? God gave us commands, the law. He told us things to do. The history of the Jews, it's a history of us not being able to do what God told us to do, right? And pointing toward Jesus, who will be able to do what we were supposed to do, and then we will be restored. So ultimately, the universe will not be under our feet until the new creation. So are we supposed to do anything? And I think the answer is yes, we are. Otherwise there's nothing to do. Okay. God gave us stuff to do. We're still supposed to do it, even though we can't perfectly do it. Right. We're still supposed to do it. Think about your child and your child is going to color in a coloring book. Okay. For the first time. And the, the, the crayon just goes all over the page. There's lines you're supposed to, child, don't you understand? Keep it in the line. No, you don't do that. You just go, oh, how beautiful. What a great drawing you did. And there's just this big scribble all across the page like this. And so you don't say, oh, I give up. Can't do that. We'll just throw the coloring book away. Well, maybe you could do something else, child. No, you bring him another coloring book and he just scribbles all over the page again. And it's the same with us, okay? And God wants us to do things and it's gonna be imperfect at first, okay? But we're being made more and more like Jesus Christ. We've been restored spiritually by the Holy Spirit. So there is an ability given to us now, okay, to fulfill this mandate in some ways, this command to rule over this universe, okay? And we're learning and we're growing. So we realize that God does have things for us to do right now. One of the things, for example, the Jews were told, right? If you listen to my voice and obey the things I've told you, if you believe in what I'm saying, you'll be able to conquer your enemies in Israel. But if you don't, they're gonna beat you. Okay? The point is, if we listen to God, that's going to help us in the control of the things around us that seem to, I don't know, afflict us, okay? I'm not saying it's going to be perfect, right? As I said, ruling over this universe is not perfect in this fallen world, but it's still something we should be endeavoring to do. So the Jews, that's an example. The Jews, they were supposed to worship God properly, and they would win their battles. What else? You know, train them, you know, in, let me see if I can find it right now. I probably can't find it right now. But in Ephesians, okay, Paul's, I think it's Ephesians. Paul says that you should teach your child in a way that you don't exasperate them, okay? I think being consistent, different things. So Paul is saying you actually can produce some good results. You can have a ruly child instead of an unruly child, okay? Ruly, is that even a word? Unruly is a word. I guess ruly could be a word, right? The opposite of unruly. You know, we're not saying that it's going to be foolproof, but just because it's not perfect doesn't mean we don't make the endeavor, just like coloring in the coloring book, right? We do the things God has said. So, you know, what did God say here in Genesis? We're supposed to rule over the things that are outside of us, okay? Rule over the cattle, rule over the earth and creeping things. What's man doing nowadays? He's doing some of that, right? What do we have? We have tunnels through mountains for trains. that go miles. We have bridges across huge chasms. We can go under the ocean to great depths. We fly from one side of the nation of the United States to the other in a few hours in a plane. We do have some dominion over this creation. We put up dams and divert rivers and generate electricity and have an electric grid. New York City lost some power yesterday. The subways were still powered, but the subway stations, some of them weren't. So the subway just, we're not stopping there, it's too dark. Just went on to the next station. That was going on in New York yesterday, okay? So, I'm not saying that we can control everything outside of us, absolutely not. The first thing, that we need to do is recognize the need for gospel truth in our heart. Then we can control ourselves. That's the first thing, right? What's the Bible say? The fruit of the Spirit is, one of the things that's fruit of the Spirit is control, self-control. Can we control ourselves? That's the first thing. And subsequently, we will be better able to control our environment. We were meant to rule. We can't have ruly children. We can't have a good marriage relationship. The parent is meant to rule over the child. The husband is meant to be the head of the wife. I can have a clean house. I can, okay? It may not be perfect, but I can make it better, and I can learn how to improve it. I can have control of my finances. Now, we don't want to think that all those things are the ultimate goal, right? There's a prosperity gospel out there that says, God wants you to be rich. God wants you to be happy. God wants you to have all these blessings. Well, if being good would result in all those things, why didn't that happen to Jesus? Jesus got killed for being good. So no, I don't think that's necessarily the way. If we control these things around us for God's glory and for his use, then that's a good thing. And so it's not the ultimate goal, it's the means to an end. The gospel's the ultimate goal. The worship of God is the ultimate goal. The glory of God. But we can use these things along the way. We're supposed to be hospitable to other people, hospitable. But my house, sometimes it's at a point where I can't invite anybody in there because of the wreck it is. And so how can I be hospitable? I can't obey God's command for hospitality if I'm not taking control and ruling over the things around me. Take control. Rule over the earth. Rule over the things around me. Some things are out of my control. I've got to accept that. But if I keep saying everything's out of my control, well then nothing's ever gonna be fixed. I should be attending, I should be getting here on time in the morning, for example. I'll just use myself as an example, right? How many times did I get here on time this year, Brother Wade? Maybe once. Maybe, maybe once. We laugh about it, but it's evil, okay? I should be in control of the things that I can control, okay? And so that can be useful for God's kingdom. Although we are not perfect at controlling, we can control some. Coming to know Christ should at least partly restore our abilities. Look at what else man has done. We've even landed on the moon. We regulate deer populations with hunting quotas, right? And other populations of wild animals. You know, Adam wasn't merely there to tend the garden and keep it the same way it was. He was to exploit its greater potential, the whole earth. He was to fill it, fill the earth, subdue it, rule over it. So we are still in the image of God, corrupt though we may be, and we still exert some aspects of this image, albeit imperfectly. But what happened with Adam? Adam had a responsibility to do certain things and to not do other things. Then, when things went wrong, man, Adam, did not own the responsibility for his actions. He didn't own it. Instead, he acted like it was out of his control. See, so what I'm trying to say is saying something's out of your control when it's really in your control, that's wrong. And that's one of the things Adam did. Now, some things really are out of our control, okay? But let's take ownership for things that are truly in our control or we can influence to some degree. So what did Adam do? He passed the blame. It was actually in his control, but he did not take control. So what happened? Eve blamed the serpent. Adam blamed Eve and God. It's that woman that you gave me, God. It's your fault, God. But God would have none of that. God's not going to take the fall. Rather, God gave specific punishment to the serpent and to the woman and to the man. One punishment was that now, after the fall, the world would be more difficult to control. It's going to be harder to rule over the world after the fall. He said, you're going to be gardening and there's going to be weeds coming up and there's going to be thorns and scratching you. That's what's going to happen to you, man, because I gave you a world to control in a fashion that was fairly easy to control. But you did not take responsibility for it. And so now it's going to be harder for you. The ground will be tough. It's not going to be fertile. And there's going to be weeds. More difficult to rule over. Did you ever think about that? See, the command God gave them was fairly easy to obey. But when man failed, God made it harder to obey. But still, he told man, You're still going to have to grow food, see? And so we still have to rule over the world. We still have to do it. It's still the mandate. It's obvious that Adam was still supposed to till the ground, but now weeds would be a constant problem. If you are to take control, and I'm talking to me here, okay? You must stop blaming everyone and everything else for your problems, for your physical messes and figurative messes. Otherwise, you'll never overcome a problem. You'll never overcome a problem that is your responsibility until you take responsibility. Now, as I say, this is addressed to me. My wife says, because I was talking about it to her, she said, that's addressed to her. She's like, yeah, that's right. I need to do that. And you probably think it's addressed to you. Well, I'm pretty sure most of us can say it's addressed to me. I mean you, LOL. Anyway, Jesus said, it's not the external things that are bad, it's you. He said, it's not what goes into you that defiles you, it's what comes out of you that defiles you. You understand what I'm saying here? The Pharisees thought, well we'll be very good by not eating any of this pork and we'll stay away from these other things. Anything that's unclean we won't touch and we'll stay clean. And Jesus said, no, no, no. It's not eating pork that makes you unclean. It's when you lie, and when you hate, and when you steal, and when you think evil thoughts. That's what makes you unclean. That's what makes you evil. It's not when you eat pork or bacon. Oh please, I'm so glad for bacon. I'm glad I'm a Christian. I can eat pork bacon. But hey, the point is, when Jesus said those things, he declared all things clean. It says, that's what the Bible says. He declared all foods clean. And he says, it's what's in you. So we need to control ourselves and not think that I'm incapable of being good when my environment is bad. No, take responsibility. Say, I can be good even when my environment is bad. Take control of yourself, first of all. And then secondly, in your environment, the things you can control, take control of those things. And admit that there are some things you can't. And don't worry about that. Let God take care of those things. It's not the external things that are bad. It's me. So I've got to stop blaming outside influences. I've got to stop blaming the past. I've got to stop saying, some people actually say, it's bad to do good things. Acting white. Don't act white. Oh, come on. Do good things. It's OK to act white. Go ahead and be good in spite of outside influences. So in review. God gave us a mandate when he made man. He said, you're supposed to rule over all this stuff. Don't think it's out of control. Take responsibility for it, even though something may be pushing you the wrong way. Let me give you another example. You're in your car, and you're driving the car, and you feel a wind, and it's pushing the car to the side a little bit. What do you do? You don't say, I'm holding the wheel straight. No. You turn the wheel a little to the other way to counteract the wind. You take responsibility. You don't just say, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. I'm holding my wheel straight. No. No, you know the wind's pushing you. You need to push back, you see? You take responsibility. Because you can control it, even though there are outside influences that are pushing against what you want to do. You can still do it, see? And so by God's grace, you will do it. By God's grace, you will take control of the things you can control. I know there's things you can't. And I know it's going to be imperfect, just like scribbling outside the lines. That's all right. We're learning, but we're still going to make the endeavor. And then we'll have faith in God to let the results come from Him. And we'll give Him the glory for what we can do. Even though we know that ultimately, We gotta wait for Jesus to return for the new heaven and the new earth, then He will rule, all things will be subject to Him and under His feet, and we will rule with Him, but until then, we'll rule until He returns. We'll rule the best we can with God's grace and God's power. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, forgive me, Lord, for not taking control of the things I can, for not exerting myself in the ways that You desire me to, And instead, Lord, I've been going against your will and what you desire. Heavenly Father, please help me to take control of what I can do. By your power, by your spirit, help us all, Lord, to make things a little better so your kingdom can be magnified and you can be glorified through these things instead of me giving excuses and me blaming others and saying it's this fault, it's that fault. It's my fault, Heavenly Father. So Lord, help us to make a plan so that we know how to go forward with a better life that accomplishes things for your glory, and we know that you'll get the glory for it. We're doing it because you're good and you deserve our obedience. You've been good to us. Lord, help us to forgive each other when other people are imperfect, and even willingly, Lord, help us to forgive others, and we'll control ourselves, Lord, and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.