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Good morning. I hope you're doing
well today. I'm doing fantastic. And there's
a reason for that. The block ended yesterday. And I'm sad that all of my student
teaching students who were in my block class are not here today
for chapel. They're student teaching. But
I got two hours of my day back every day. So I'm feeling pretty
good. Who's that in the mirror? I'd
like you to open your Bibles, please, to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1. What's the
first thing that God tells us about ourselves? The very first
thing. The first thing God tells us
about Him is that He's the Creator. And that's important. We're going
to come back to that idea in a minute. And he spends the first
chapter of the Bible telling us how he created everything
in a series of six days. And he ends that six-day account
on Friday telling us about how he made us. And in that account, he tells
us the very first thing that he wants us to know. ourselves. Genesis chapter 1 verse 26. And God said, let us make man
in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over
the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own
image. In the image of God created he
him. Male and female created he them. The first thing God tells us
about himself is that we are made in the image of God. Well, that raises a question,
doesn't it? By the way, it does not beg a question. Can we just stop misusing that
expression? Can I get an amen from the English
faculty here? If you don't know what begging
the question is, don't use the expression. I am not begging
any questions today, God willing. But it does raise a question,
doesn't it? What does it mean to be created
in the image of God? And I suppose it raises another
one. What difference does it make? So what does it mean to
be made in the image of God? Well, I think it's really interesting
that the Bible never tells us directly what God means by that
expression in our image. There are some clues that you
might find interesting. It's very clear from the passage
that this fact that we're made in God's image distinguishes
us from the animals. We're in contrast with the creation
of the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air and so on. It also is clear from the passage
itself that it's true of both male and female. It characterizes
both the male and the female. And there's even some speculation
among theologians that the image of God is most roundly displayed
by male and female in cooperation with one another. There's a third clue that's not
in this passage. It comes a little later in the
book of Genesis in chapter 5. And in the first few verses of
chapter 5, we're told that Adam and Eve had a son, and that they
begat a son, verse 3, in the likeness of Adam, after his image,
and called his name Seth. A third clue, I think, is that
there's something about the image of God that is similar to the
way a son resembles his father. One of the great joys I have
as a teacher here at the same institution where I went to school
is that fairly frequently a student shows up in my class who is the
offspring of somebody I went to school with. The other day
I was eating lunch with one of my students. And he told me,
you know, my mom was born here on the campus. She grew up here.
And I didn't recognize his last name as a faculty staff last
name. And then I thought, well, of
course, it's his mother. She changed her name after she started. So I said, well, who were her
parents? And he told me. And this was
a faculty couple who are now with the Lord, with whom I had
the pleasure of working over the years more with his grandmother
than with his grandfather. But I knew them both. And as
soon as he told me that, I knew that he was telling me the truth.
His grandfather's face was in his face. And I was surprised
that I hadn't seen it before. And now when I go into class
and that student is sitting looking at me, I must confess, I don't
see him. I see his grandfather. There
is something about the image of God that resembles the way
a son resembles his father. There have been a lot of suggestions
over the years, guesses really, about what specifically the image
of God might be. Some have suggested, well, the
very same verse talks about man taking dominion over the beasts
of the field and so on. So maybe it's something we do. Maybe it's we hold dominion. God is a king and we under him
hold dominion over a small portion of his creation. Maybe it's something we are.
The New Testament uses the expression of the image of God a couple
of times in an interesting way. In Colossians chapter 3, Paul
describes it in a way that calls to mind the intelligence our
reasoning capability, renewed in knowledge, Paul says. Maybe
it's the fact that we are intelligent. In Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians
of course is a parallel book to Colossians in many ways, Paul
talks in Ephesians chapter 4 about being renewed, created in righteousness
and holiness. And so some have suggested maybe
it's our moral sensibilities, our sense of right and wrong. Maybe it's our personality. Maybe it's this. Maybe it's that. Maybe it's something we have.
God is a creator. That's the first thing he tells
us about himself. Maybe we're supposed to be creators.
Many years ago when I was in seminary, I had a friend who
was a GA in art here. He taught art in the elementary
school. And he specialized in abstract art. And I asked him
about that one day. I said, Matt, what's with the
abstract art thing? Why don't you ever do representational
stuff? And he gave me an answer that was so gracious, yet so
wise, that it made me feel stupid for having asked the question
in the first place. He said, God is a creator, right? And I said, yes. I'm in theology. I know about that. I'm in seminary. And we're supposed to be like
him, right? Right. Well then why shouldn't we create
new kinds of beauty rather than just copying the kinds of beauty
that already exist. And I thought what wisdom was
in that question he asked me. And as I say I felt it was so
obvious to me once he said it that I felt stupid for having
asked. I can't believe I didn't think of that myself. Maybe it's
our creativity. Maybe it's our immortality. God's
immortal. We'll live forever. Maybe it's
all of the above. That's what I suspect. And that's
not a cop-out. I think I see evidence in the
Scripture that the image of God is multifaceted, like a diamond. It reflects light from different
angles. I would like to suggest that
the image of God is as much a verb as it is a noun. You were created
to radiate who God is to people all around you. Just as my student
radiates the image of his grandfather, I can't avoid seeing it now.
Even when he's not trying to, just because of who he is. So we're called to image God. Something happened to that image.
My colleagues are going to talk about this in a little more detail
a few weeks down the road. But I'll observe. The image has
clearly been damaged. It's clearly been marred. But
it has not been destroyed. You are still in the image of
God even though you're a sinner. Your lost friends are in the
image of God. You do have lost friends, right?
If you don't, you need to change your lifestyle. Your lost friends
are in the image of God, even though that image is damaged.
How do we know that? Well, God tells Noah when he
emerges from the ark after the flood that from now on, the penalty
for murder will be capital punishment. Why? Because the murder victim
is in the image of God. This is after the fall. You know
why murder is wrong? Not because you have an inherent
right to life. Murder is wrong because murder
is an attack on somebody who looks like God, and God will
not tolerate attacks on him. James tells us in chapter 3 that
we curse human beings with our tongues, and those human beings
are made in the image of God. And he says, brethren, these
things ought not so to be. So it's still there. No matter
how rotten you are, and no matter how disappointed you are with
yourself, you are still in the image of God. So, what does that
mean? What difference does it make?
Let me suggest a few things for you to think about. How does being in the image of
God change the way I live on a Wednesday in September. What difference does it make? Number one, remember, it distinguishes
us from the animals. You are not an animal. Now, I need to be very careful
about what I say here because I'm aware that we're fallen and
there are things we cannot do in our fallen state. Most notably,
we cannot create spiritual life in ourselves. We cannot please
God in ourselves. But we are still in the image
of God. You are fundamentally different
from amoebas, and from snakes, and slugs, and rainbow trout,
and even chimpanzees. You are different from them.
You are not an animal. You are not controlled by your
impulses. You do not have to do everything
you are tempted to do. And listen, that is true of a
lost person just as certainly as it's true of a saved one.
Read your theology books. And even reformed theologians,
and I say even reformed because they believe in total depravity,
right? Even reformed theologians will say the fact that you are
broken and depraved does not mean that everyone is as evil
as he could possibly be. It means that every part of you
is tainted by sin. But we all know lost people who
can control their urges. And so can you. You don't have
to do everything that you're tempted to do. You can make choices.
You can rise above the evil that screams in your ear every day. You can be a man. You can be
a woman. You can win. You don't have to
be a victim. Why? Because you, whether born
again or not, whether regenerate or not, are made in the image
of God. You are not an animal. Second, you're worth something. You're valuable. Human beings
are valuable. In a couple of minutes, a few
minutes here, I'm going to pray and we're going to be dismissed.
And we're all going to head out of here to our next thing. And
it's going to be crowded. And people are going to be trying
to get outdoors and down sidewalks and around corners. And a lot
of you will be going to the dining common and you're hungry. And
that means everybody around you has become an obstacle to your
personal satisfaction. And every so often you can see
somebody, occasionally I'm one of those people, worming his
way through the crowd, doing the crowd surfing thing on the
way to the dining common. The people you're in the middle
of are not obstacles. to be maneuvered around and avoided. They are not things that God
has placed in your way. They are images of God. You are
privileged to be surrounded today by hundreds of them. Recognize
who it is that you're dealing with. You know, they're worth more
than that text message on your phone. Look up. Say hello. Treat them with grace
and respect. You're worth something. And the
corollary to that, I suppose, is that so is everybody else.
All humans are valuable. That means people who are not
like you. People who look different. People
who act differently from you. People who think differently
from you. People you know and people you
don't. People who take the name of God
in vain. People who are arrogant. People
who voted for Bush and people who voted for Obama. People who voted for somebody
crazy and people who didn't vote for anybody at all. People who have no money. People who have no home. People who live in a cardboard
box under an overpass. People who smell bad. People
who have disabilities. People who are dying of AIDS.
Muslim refugees. Muslim terrorists. People who make you really, really
uncomfortable. And yes, people who are still
in the womb and who can't speak for themselves. All of them, all of them are
in the image of God and all of them are worth infinitely more
than all of the bank accounts of all of the really rich people
in all of the world. for all time. All humans are
valuable. And that means that you and I
need to change fundamentally the way we interact with and
even think about the people around us. Because we're always comparing
people, aren't we? The Bible says we're not wise
when we do that. We're always thinking, what can
this guy do for me? Does this person appeal to me
or does he irritate me? All of them are infinitely valuable
because all of them are in the image of God. Here's something else to think
about. Perhaps you haven't thought of it quite this way before.
Everything that you love about the people you love is a reason to worship God. Why? Because the things you love
about the people you love are the image of God in them. You are surrounded right now
with thousands of reasons to worship and not to worship the
image. God doesn't like it when we worship
images. Worship the original the one who created all of it
the one after whom all of this is pattern All day every day you should
be driven to your knees in ecstatic adoration of the creator who
did all of this and You know what? I have a hunch. I have
a hunch that if we were to live that way the sin that so easily
besets us would be less attractive. It would have less gravitational
pull on us. We'd be living for something
worth far more than the shiny little track trinkets that constantly
grab our attention, like the mobile over the crib. And perhaps we'd start to see
victory instead of regular and frustrating defeat. One last thought. The Bible says that Christ perfectly
images God. Paul says in Colossians chapter
1 that he is the image of the invisible God. One writer says incarnation means
that Jesus is truly a man and because he is truly a man He
shows us what being made in the image of God should mean. Now that means that since God
is making us like Him, we don't have to remain frustrated
with the degree to which we fall short of His image in us. and
the degree to which we distort his image. I was flying home from India
a few weeks ago. I'd been teaching over there
for a couple of weeks. Had to fly out through the city
of Chennai, which is the old city of Madras. It's where all
that fabric comes from. And the Chennai airport is so
constructed that if you fly in on a domestic flight and fly
out on an international flight, you have to change terminals.
And they don't have a shuttle system between the terminals
and that means that you break security when you go from a domestic
flight to an international flight. So I flew in from Coimbatore
and I walked down the sidewalk to the next terminal because
I felt like a little exercise. And they wouldn't let me in the
next terminal. Why? Well, your flight's not for 10 hours. It's
not till 1 o'clock in the morning. Yeah, I noticed that. Well, you
can't come in here until midnight. It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Right. You can't come in here
till midnight. So what am I supposed to do? You can sit on the sidewalk if
you want to. Real customer orientation in
that operation, let me tell you. I am sorry to tell you that I
did not respond to that in the way I should have. I don't reflect the image of
God very well. It's broken. But Christ is the image of the
invisible God, and God is making us like Him. He has predestined
us to be conformed to the image of His Son, says Paul in Romans
8. And He will certainly take us
all the way there, because John tells us that when we shall see
Him, Christ, we shall be like Him. No matter how badly you're doing
at that, no matter how much you fail and
or how slowly you grow, I've been saved for more than 50 years. I should be better at it than what I saw of myself on
the sidewalk in front of the Chennai Airport International
Terminal. no matter how badly you're doing. As sure as the sun came up this
morning, God will finish His work in you and in me. He will
conform us to the perfect image of His Son. In this life, you
will never image God the way you should. You will never image
Him the way that He deserves. But your Savior, the God-man,
has walked on our earth and He has imaged the Father perfectly. I wonder, I wonder if the vicarious
nature of Christ's work, His substitutionary work for us,
extends beyond His perfect keeping of the law in our place. extends
beyond His dying infinitely in our place, and extends to perfectly
radiating the image of the Father in our place. You know, God has
been represented the way that He deserves. And your failure
does not get in the way of that. And the day will come, it will
certainly come, when you image God the way you can. And in that day, with a numberless
throng of people who don't look like me, who don't think like
me, who don't act like me, or you, With that numberless
throng, you and I will join in a hymn of praise to the one who
perfectly radiates the image of God. And we will say worthy. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. So as you leave this place this
morning, take his hand. Follow Him through the trials
and the difficulties through which He is conforming you to
look more like the image of His Son and trust Him all along the
way. He promises you that you will
love where He's taking you. Let's pray. Father, what a privilege it is
to know that you have placed your image in us. What an astonishing
truth it is to know that you have done that fully knowing
how we would deface it. Fully knowing what a disappointment
we would be. We thank you for placing your
son in human form and for the example he has laid for us. And for the assurance he gives
us that by your work and not our own, one day all of the smudges
and all of the graffiti and all of the distortion of the image
of God in us will be removed and we will shine like the stars
forever and ever. May we walk with you until that
day, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Created in God's Image
Series What is Man?
| Sermon ID | 916151533110 |
| Duration | 29:59 |
| Date | |
| Category | Chapel Service |
| Bible Text | Genesis 1:26 |
| Language | English |
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