the most controversial chapter in the whole book of Genesis. Now, why is Genesis 1 so controversial? Remember I said last week because everyone comes to Genesis 1 with some kind of agenda. All of us do. You know, you might be a racist and you come to Genesis 1 and you look at it and you say, see there everyone's created after their own kind So why shouldn't it's a black story and shouldn't mix with Hispanics? No, it's a mix Well, that's what the Bible teaches you see. So you might come with all these different agendas. You remember I told you There's even a vegetarian agenda for Genesis 1. Remember it says I give you every green plant for food And so depending on your agenda, it's going to it's going to color how you read this and if you also remember I said that if you're a Christian Your agenda is changing If you're a Christian your subjectivity is beginning to be more and more defined by this thing that we call the gospel And so now if you understand the gospel or you're beginning to understand the gospel instead of going into this book of Genesis particularly Genesis 1 with an agenda what you come in with is looking for the gospel You said where can I find this thing called the gospel is it here in Genesis 1 and remember I showed you in fact I think it is Genesis 1 starts out. It says now the earth was formless and void and the Hebrew is the words tohuvabohu And remember that means the deserts in a wasteland or it could mean bondage and oppression So if you're in Israelite and you're reading the story for the first time, what do you think when you hear the words bondage and oppression? You say that's that's my life Bondage and oppression in Egypt and what does God do to the original chaos? Intervenes that's it. He simply intervenes with the power of his word and so we saw that that God speaks order into chaos And we also saw that God spoke order into Egyptian chaos where the Israelites lived and remember we looked at the New Testament in Jesus said in fact that all of us live in Egypt too Except Jesus used a different word. He called it sin He said they were in bondage and oppression to Egypt you are in bondage and oppression to sin and Remember what is it that that delivers you from your sin? It's the same thing that delivered original creation It's the word of God except we saw in the New Testament that the word has become a man Jesus Remember last week we looked at the days of creation that God initially intervenes into creation, but he doesn't stop That he intervenes once but then he brings order until it's perfected That's the gospel. That's the gospel to you that God intervenes into your life And he promises that he will continue to intervene and he will continue to bring order until you are perfected until you enter This state of rest Well, you no longer have to think about your sins. You no longer have to deal with them. You're brokenness all of these kinds of things So all of that said we saw that God intervenes into chaos He continues to order chaos and today we're going to talk about maybe again and you know I can't avoid controversy, but if it if the days of creation are controversial That the only thing that could possibly need more controversy about this text is what is God talking about here when he talks about This thing about the image of God man being made in the image of God I can't just skip over this. So I've sort of given you a broad sweep of Genesis 1 and now I'm going to dive back in I showed you the forest if you will and now we're going to look at at a fairly big tree If Several years ago in a Chicago newspaper there was a story written Called the irony of being human And in this story called the irony of being human. It was a story that took place in the same hotel There's a true story. It was a newspaper article in the same hotel a woman was there in this woman Had left her husband and her children For an affair she had left it for a man and the man had dumped her So she took a 38 in this hotel and she killed herself with the 38 38 can do a lot of damage and they found her suicide note and the suicide note said of this woman who had committed suicide Don't cry for me. I'm not even human anymore Now on one floor here's a woman who has left her husband and her children and then been dumped herself Who has committed suicide who says don't cry for me. I'm not even human anymore And on another floor in a conference room There's a very well-known celebrity who's leading a conference on new age And by the end of the conference she has everyone in the room chanting I am god I am god I am god And it struck this this reporter that the irony of being human is this That in the same place two different people could have such divergent views of themselves And then I don't know what he meant by the last line that he put in there But the last line to be article said a rat is a cat is a dog is a human Doesn't You see the biggest question that we can tackle today the biggest question of all times besides the nature of god is simply this two or you What does it mean to be a human? Frankly no one really knows What does it mean to be human today? We're going to look at two things What you are and why you are Who are you and why are you and i'm going to tell you as you can imagine this thing I'm going to take this straight to the gospel you see you can't understand what it means to be human Unless you understand the gospel You just can't But let me tell you this you can't understand the gospel Unless you understand what it means to be human you can't understand the gospel unless you understand what it is god intended for you in the first place Because what the gospel is about is this thing called redemption It's about restoration and have you ever bothered to ask yourself the question restoration unto what Redemption unto what Well, it's the thing that god wants you to be and he's planned for you for all times. So let's let's go ahead and look Look at the text at verse 26 It says then god said let us make man in our own image in our likeness Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over the livestock and over all the earth and over all the creatures That move along the ground You see up to this point in creation. It's been very simple for god If you think about this following up to this point god sees this chaos this mess if you will and he intervenes whack Light there's light And he says let there be let there be stars in the sky stars let there be plants Let the seas be divided from dry land He's just sort of like he's knocking it out if you will And he looks all this stuff and what does he say after everything he creates It's good It's good he creates the plants. They're good. He creates everything and it's good Well, what does it mean for these things to be good
It means simply this for example my dog Gracie I took Gracie to obedience school this week and then it was an utter misery utter failure utter humiliation for me and yet Gracie This dog we got is utterly and completely Glorifying to god. I'm not kidding I'm saying that an objective says this dog who choose up my furniture to me She is horrendous to god. She's utterly utterly perfect and glorifying She pees on my floor and yet to god. She's utterly glorifying. Why Why is my dog utterly glorifying to god
Because she always does what she was created to do She never deviates from dogmas She is good because she always does what god created her to do you see an up to this point in creation Everything god had created simply could run on autopilot if you will Everything did exactly what god created to do it to do and he looked at it was good And all of these things are still good food and drink my dog your cats Everything you look at that is created is utterly good in the sight of god Now when things get dicey is verse 26 Why do things get dicey in verse 26 It's because god starts to ponder things if you will and he thinks back in the countable eternity and he says let us make man Let us make let us make a creature in our own image You see god is up to the anion why is he up to the anion Because he has just said i'm going to make a creature in my own image now. Why is that dangerous if you will forgot if anything It would be dangerous for god What is it about this creature that can cause problems What does it mean to be made in the image of god Theologians have debated that question forever And i frankly i think they make it too hard What does it mean to be made in the image of god you ask this question what am i the first question you have to ask is what is god What is god and the answer says god is a spirit Infinite eternal and unchangeable and is being wisdom power holiness justice goodness and truth Now do you want to know what you are C. S. Lewis would call you an amphibian At least screw tape would he said your half your half animal half spirit And you are finite temporal and changeable In your being wisdom power holiness justice goodness and truth you see god created these these creatures that were just like him It's what theologians call communicable attributes of god That there are certain things about god being wisdom justice holiness and truth that god can communicate He can give to his creatures in certain measure And at the original creation god gave all of these things To Adam He had It's as simple as that Now that would have been huge to hear for the israelite the ancient israelite to hear that they were created in the image of god And the image of Yahweh that would have been the biggest news that they had ever heard Why because in Egypt There was only one person who was made in the image of god pharaoh You see in Egypt the only person who has made in the image of god was pharaoh and here Moses is saying no you were created in the image of god And imagine the israelite thinking to himself well that's not what it's like in Egypt In Egypt, I'm not treated as if I'm the image of god and Egypt I'm not this image of god is not democratized You see because there's a principle here in the image of god can never you never come to its fullness or its reality when it is in oppression and bondage You see they didn't know what it meant to be the image of god why because they were oppressed and they were in bondage And that's what makes this text so important and so huge for you and me Because you can't understand what it really means to be the image of god What it really means to have these attributes communicated to you while you are in bondage You can't do it. It's impossible. And what does Jesus say your bondage is
It's this thing called sin Remember the men came up to Jesus the Jews and they said, you know, who are you always talking about being free? We've never been enslaved to anybody And Jesus said I tell you the truth Whoever sins is a slave to sin And if you sin here you have absolutely no ability in and of yourself to realize what it means to be made in the image of god Now how is it you can understand what it means to be made in the image of god? How is it that you can become wholly dressed wise and truthful Well something has to happen For Israel it was what it was to see them delivered from the bondage god says I'm going to take you from Egypt and I'm going to deliver you into the promised land because in the promised land That is the only place you are going to be able to live as I've created you to be And he says the same thing to us He says the only way you are going to be able to live in the way I've created you to be is for you to be delivered from your bondage and your oppression And how does he do that you've heard me say it again and again. He does it in the person of his son Jesus comes and he looks out at all of us and he says Wow you guys are pretty broken Pretty screwed up you're pretty simple but that's okay. I've got a deal for you. He says Jesus comes and Jesus is the second atom Jesus is this the second atom who comes who is perfect He is perfect god, but he's also also perfect human In Jesus makes this transaction He says I'll take all your bondage. I'll take all your oppression. I'll take all your sin all the things that break you all be all of your past Everything that is bad and I will take it on me and I will become broken and screwed up and sinful and a curse before God And what I will give you in return is perfect humanity I'll give it to you. I'll give you at least first. I'll give you a perfect standing with God. So when God looks at you He says beautiful Tommy is back in my image. He is perfectly glorifying to me Think about that. God looks at Gracie just because she always does what she has created to do It says she is perfectly utterly good and pleasing to me and now God looks at me And he said Tommy is perfectly and utterly pleasing to me. He's utterly good in my sight. Why? Because Jesus has taken all of his goodness and he has given it to me and he's taken all of my badness onto himself So even though I don't work it out even though I'm still broken and screwed up even though I'm still working on it God looks at me and he says man that guy is good He is exactly what I've created him to be and that he's redeemed in fact what the gospel says What is so beautiful about the gospel a gusting called the fall the fortunate fall why Because when God created Adam and Eve he created these creatures who are made in the image of God and that was it And when they fell and he redeemed them what does he make them He takes them in notch higher. He doesn't say your creatures. Now he says your sons and your daughters So he has taken you from creaturehood in the image of God and brought you into the house And he has made you one of his own so now not only are you completely good and completely pleasing But now you're in the house now you can put your feet up on the coffee table now You can get whatever you want out the refrigerator and you never have to be worried about being kicked out
That's the basis of all self-esteem You know that don't you? There's so much pop psychology that talks about self-esteem and things that we need to do to give people self-esteem I tell you the greatest thing that you can ever have to have self-esteem is to know that God has delivered you from your sins He has brought you into his personhood and he will never ever ever let you go He will never kick you out of the house He will never do anything that would harm his relationship with you In fact, there's nothing that could ever separate you from him If that's the case, what does that mean for your life? What does that mean when things go wrong? What does that mean when trouble strike? You say, I'm the image of God. You're never going to let me go The second thing that we need to notice in this solve
It's simply that once you begin to understand who you are Once you begin to understand that now I've been delivered from my sins now I'm a son or a daughter now now. I mean the presence of God. I'm being renewed in the image of Christ There's second Corinthians 517 says if anyone is Christ is in Christ there's what there's new creation And you say now that I'm a new creation now that I'm being renewed in the image of God why am I here First you got to say who am I the second thing you got to say why am I here and the first thing And you're all going to laugh at this the first reason why you are here is simply this and it's to procreate
Look at Genesis 128 God blessed them and said be fruitful and increase in number Fill the earth and subdue it rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves in the ground Now why are you what do I mean by this? You know, it sounds pretty old-fashioned for me to stand up and say you know what now that you're a Christian You know what your job is and spoke create You know some guys with you know talking to the wife today. Let's go home and do some evangelism honey um But you've got to put this in the context of the ancient Near East In the ancient Near East what kings would do Is kings would build images of themselves and they would put the image of themselves on the border of their territory And they would surround everything they owned with images of themself and why would they do that So that anyone coming through would say This belongs to to to Ramesis or this belongs to this king And so now imagine what's going through Israel's head when God says you are my image and now what is your job? Your job is to fill the earth with my image your job is to fill the earth with my image because I am the great king I am the great sovereign and wherever my image is that is what I own Now think about that Where do you find the image of God everywhere Everywhere everywhere you look there are people made in the image of God and God says wherever there are people made in my image That is what I own I am the great king and and what I want you to do is I want you to continue this now some of you are saying you know time I'm single So I'm not going to be procreating anytime soon Some of you are saying I'm married and I'm struggling we're struggling with having kids So we're not going to procreate others are saying you know I'm married and I'm and we just don't want to have kids Other people are single or you're gay whatever. How do we how do you procreate them? Well, the answer is easy You still are responsible for procreating in that you still are responsible for bringing people the restored image of God Let me put it this way I remember when Judy and I got pregnant with Abby. I was working for an aid hospital at the time And I was an orderly and I remember walking in Well, first of all, I remember when I found out I came home and Judy had a Popsicle stick in her hand and she's crying her eyes out What's wrong? We were pregnant it wasn't planned But we were excited nonetheless once we got over the initial shock And I remember going into work at the hospital one day And say we're pregnant In this dispatcher we had she was a very she's an evil woman She looked at me and she said how could you bring a child into How could you give that You know I was taking I was obviously deflated some and I thought through it And I thought through you know and I started to cry if you know me very well I cry very easily And I looked at her and I said how could I not? How could I not bring a child into this world? I said we we're working an aid hospital. We face death every day. What if my kid is the one who is going to find a cure for AIDS? I said but better yet. What if my kid Is the agent and people coming to know about Jesus? What if my kid is the agent and people coming to realize what it means to be renewed in the image of God? What if my child comes and she takes the gospel of Jesus everywhere and she brings it to bear in all areas of life God will be more and more and more glorified
She didn't know what to say That pregnant of your preacher She didn't know what to say You see why do we procreate why do you even if you're single no matter who you are still take this gospel to other people It's because God is still concerned that his image be spread all over the world But God is now concerned not that his image be spread all over the world in a broken sense But that his image be fixed God now brings this message that the image of God in you can be fixed and how can it be fixed? It can be fixed by trusting in Jesus It's as simple as that and and why does God want the image fixed? Not only to bring redemption to your soul, but to bring redemption to what else to every area of life That's what he says next. He says he says be fruitful in increasing number Fill the earth and subdue it and then he says rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every living creature that moves on the ground That your job is not only to to procreate whether spiritually or physically But your job is to mediate the rule of God in every area of life It's as simple as that B.F. Skinner some of you I know are psychology majors B.F. Skinner wrote a book in the 70s Called Beyond Freedom and Dignity Okay, now you can you you can see where he is going with his book and beyond freedom and dignity basically Skinner says that every single one of us Our basically or not humans were machines that will everything we do is either defined by predetermined Causes in our life or by our environment. So we don't have any choices in life. We don't do anything except respond to our environment So maybe maybe you are conservative politician, you know And B.F. Skinner would say well the reason you're conservative politician is at some point in your life You tried conservative politics and it was good to you there were some reward and you so you did it again There was increased reward and so you cannot help but be a conservative politician Or or or maybe you struggle with your sexuality or maybe you don't struggle with your sexuality Skinner would say well, you know whatever you are you're just predetermined that way You're just walking through life as a mindless robot Or maybe you're a teacher or maybe you're a banker maybe you're an accountant. You do all these things Skinner would say now he's one end of the continuum that you just do that in response to your environment Now the gospel does not say does not rule out that there's causality or there are predetermined things or there genetic things in our lives that that that drive us But what the gospel says once that you have trusted Christ now You're becoming a person again You're becoming a human again and the very nature of being human means this means you are a free moral agent You can decide now you can look at all these things and you can begin to question them You can question every area of your life and you can bring the gospel to bear on it What does it mean for me to bring the gospel to bear on my politics? What does it mean for me to bring the gospel to bear on my sexuality? What does it mean for me to bring the gospel to bear in the workplace and my relationships every place That's what you have to ask yourself now. Why are you here? I know you're here if you are a Christian to bring the gospel to bear on your workplace on your job on your relationships The question you've got to ask yourself is what does that mean? I don't know what it means because I don't know where you work I don't know what it means because I don't know all of your sexual orientation I don't know what it means because I don't know all of your struggles I don't know what it means for anything other than that that's our job If you do a little bit of introspection my guess is it'll begin to change your life Let me pray Jesus we thank you that you have come and you have delivered us from our sin and you have begun to renew us in the image of yourself That you draw a son to yourself and that someday we will be like you And we will see you as you are we praise you and we thank you in your name. Amen