SPEAKER_00: So last week we began our journey through the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings, and we looked at chapter one and unpacked what chapter one teaches us about God and what it teaches us about the world.
SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to look at the end of chapter one, God willing, and the entirety of chapter two, and we're going to ask the question: what does this teach us about humanity?
SPEAKER_00: If Darwinism is true, the logical conclusion is that the world has no purpose, that there are no moral absolutes in life, that there is no basis for human rights, and that life itself has no meaning.
SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate atheists who are at least honest about that truth.
SPEAKER_00: Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist in his book, The River Out of Eden, A Darwinian View of Life, written in 1995, he writes this the universe we observe, listen to this, has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at bottom no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitless, pitiless indifference.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, that's a bleak and depressing view of life.
SPEAKER_00: And if it's true, so be it.
SPEAKER_00: But how many know there is a God?
SPEAKER_00: And because there's a God, and I'm going to preach from that assumption this morning, that means life is meaningful, and you and I possess an inherent dignity and worth.
SPEAKER_00: And how do we know that?
SPEAKER_00: What is that truth?
SPEAKER_00: Um, what is human dignity founded upon?
SPEAKER_00: It's grounded in the doctrine of the Imago Dei, the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we're going to look at today.
SPEAKER_00: So Genesis 1, 26 and 27, God said, Let us make man, so this is the triune doc God, let us make man in our own image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: So here it is again.
SPEAKER_00: God created man in his own image, and a third time in the image of God, he created him, male and female, God created them.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at the image of God under three headings today.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, what it means to be created in the image of God or to bear God's image.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, why it matters, or you could ask, why is it significant?
SPEAKER_00: And number three, how do we bear God's image well?
SPEAKER_00: So what, why, how?
SPEAKER_00: You got it?
SPEAKER_00: Number one, what it means to be created in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: What is the purpose of a portrait or picture?
SPEAKER_00: It is to reflect the image of its subject.
SPEAKER_00: Pretty simple, right?
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is fundamentally what it means to be created in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it means that you and I were created to bear, to reflect God's image.
SPEAKER_00: That we would that we would reflect, if you will, his glory back into creation.
SPEAKER_00: How is it that we do this?
SPEAKER_00: That's a question worth asking.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to give you four ways out of these chapters that we bear God's image.
SPEAKER_00: And number one is this we bear God's image by sharing in his wise and loving rule.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look at the immediate context of bearing God's image.
SPEAKER_00: So you've got that in the image of God in 126 and 27.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 28 it says, And God blessed them, Adam and Eve, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply.
SPEAKER_00: And here it is, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea.
SPEAKER_00: So you fishermen are just obeying, uh, you anglers are obeying God's word, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: So, what's the media immediate context of being made in God's image?
SPEAKER_00: It is to subdue the earth.
SPEAKER_00: So, as God's image-bearers, we were created to rule and bring order to God's good creation.
SPEAKER_00: What a privilege! There's an important distinction here, though.
SPEAKER_00: We do not rule as kings, we rule as you could say, vice regents or deputies.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're not the sheriff, we're we're we're deputies.
SPEAKER_00: So on page one of your Bible, Adam and Eve are given this distinct privilege of ruling there in the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: And it was paradise as long as they were ruling under God's kingship according to his rule.
SPEAKER_00: They were reflecting God's wise rule back into Eden.
SPEAKER_00: But it didn't take long for them to mess that up.
SPEAKER_00: On page three, what happens?
SPEAKER_00: They decide, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, God's a good guy, he's pretty smart, but I think we can, I think we can handle this.
SPEAKER_00: I think we, you know, we've been here a few days.
SPEAKER_00: I I think we know how to rule paradise better than God.
SPEAKER_00: And so they try, and all hell breaks loose.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happens when we try to rule in our own wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Chaos always ensues.
SPEAKER_00: In a large corporation, you generally have a CEO who kind of has a vision for the company, and and and he and the or she and the board of directors, uh, they they work together to bring life to that vision and to work on policies and procedures and values and all of those things.
SPEAKER_00: And so when that vision is made known, what happens is you've got executives and directors and managers who are tasked with walking in that vision and overseeing departments in a way that is congruent with that vision to make sure the company runs under this umbrella vision in unity.
SPEAKER_00: But what happens when you get a rogue director?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you've had these in your organizations.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody that thinks, well, you know, I mean, the CEO's a good guy.
SPEAKER_00: He's done some good things, but listen, I'm boots on the ground and I think I know better.
SPEAKER_00: I think I know better how to run this company.
SPEAKER_00: I think I have a better vision for the company.
SPEAKER_00: What happens when they start following that path?
SPEAKER_00: The company is not effective at all.
SPEAKER_00: And we, friends, are to rule the earth according to God's vision, his plans, his statutes, if you will.
SPEAKER_00: You know, think about a home.
SPEAKER_00: When a man does not rule his home according to God's wisdom, the home falls apart.
SPEAKER_00: You know, God has put civic leaders into positions, but when they rule as, let's say, tyrants, they do not reflect God's loving rule back into the world.
SPEAKER_00: And again, chaos ensues and nations and societies crumble.
SPEAKER_00: While writing this sermon, I got distracted and uh began scrolling on Facebook.
SPEAKER_00: But what the enemy meant for harm, God meant for good, because while I was doom scrolling, I came across a post about one of our church members, our very own Dina Burnett, uh received the Kentucky Librarian of the Year Award.
SPEAKER_00: So I saw this post, and of course I saw Ben bragging on her, but that's just you expect that.
SPEAKER_00: But I saw a post from the KASL page.
SPEAKER_00: They made this beautiful post boasting that Dina not only serves her school well, but she strengthens and inspires educators throughout the state.
SPEAKER_00: And then it goes on to talk about that she has a passion, not just for her job, but for students and a dedication to her colleagues.
SPEAKER_00: And I give you that example because I think that displays well how we are to be leaders.
SPEAKER_00: Dina, as long as you're doing that for God's glory, and I think you are, you are reflecting God's loving rule into the world.
SPEAKER_00: We bear God's image by sharing in his rule.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, we bear God's image through our creativity and our work.
SPEAKER_00: Go with me to chapter two now, Genesis 2, 4 through 7.
SPEAKER_00: So, first verses of chapter 2 tell us that on the seventh day, you know, creation was completed and God rested.
SPEAKER_00: And just to give you some insight here, God did not rest because he was tired.
SPEAKER_00: When it says he rested, what it means is there was nothing else to do.
SPEAKER_00: God's created creation was perfect and complete.
SPEAKER_00: So he he rests on the seventh day.
SPEAKER_00: And then it says, These are the generations, verse 4, of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord made the heavens and the earth, when no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and watch this, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And then the Lord formed the man of the dust from the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
unknown: Excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: So in then in verses 8 through 14, I won't read all those, but we get a description of paradise, of this utopian place called Eden.
SPEAKER_00: And then I want to point you down to verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: So God in in the previous verses has said, there's no man to work the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 15 it says, The Lord took the man and he put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
SPEAKER_00: Work was given to us, work was created for man before the fall.
SPEAKER_00: Work is a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: But this is an interesting passage in verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord took the man and he put him in the garden to work and keep it because, and then up before it says, Hey, there was no man to work the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And you read that, and it's like, God, you know, you just created all that exists.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, is gardening out of your wheelhouse?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if it is, I really bear God's image, right?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I'm really excited right now because I actually successfully grew something.
SPEAKER_00: You know what it is?
SPEAKER_00: No joke.
SPEAKER_00: It's cacti.
SPEAKER_00: I took some from Cynthia over here, our neighbor, and I, you know, I'm I lived in Arizona.
SPEAKER_00: I I love cacti, took it, and it's working.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: But so it's like God is is gardening out of your wheelhouse.
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, that's not the case.
SPEAKER_00: But God, hear me, God has given humanity the distinct privilege to harness and to cultivate his the beauty of his good creation.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_00: God did not have to, I mean, he could have just made everything exactly like it forever shall be, but he he gave us, if you will, the raw materials, and he said, Here, use your create, he made us creative.
SPEAKER_00: It's so awesome.
SPEAKER_00: He's given us gifts and talents, a wide array of gifts and talents.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, harness and cultivate the beauty of creation.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what we do.
SPEAKER_00: We take his raw materials.
SPEAKER_00: You and I, we cannot create something from nothing.
SPEAKER_00: That's what God did.
SPEAKER_00: But we take the materials and the gifts that he has given us, and we flood the earth with art and music and landscapes and buildings and technology and pickleballs.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, young people, listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: Sitting around playing video games all day, or mamas and daddies laying on the beach for months at a time may sound compelling.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, yeah, try me, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'll say I'll sit on the beach a few months and try it out for you.
SPEAKER_00: But but here's the thing if that's all you did, your life would feel meaningless, and it would honestly somewhat be true.
SPEAKER_00: That is the road.
SPEAKER_00: This many studies have um shown this, psychological studies, but when you are lazy and you sit around and you're not contributing to the goodness of the world, that is the road to neurotic, negative thinking and depression and feelings of meaninglessness, meaninglessness.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning is found first, obviously, in God, but studies, secular and Christian studies, show us that meaning is found in the voluntary taking on of responsibility to serve other people and to make the world world better.
SPEAKER_00: You may have a job this morning that you feel is not particularly important.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you feel like, you know what, my gifts are are not anything to write home about.
SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe you're not a doctor or you you uh a lawyer or a pastor or a CEO, and you you think, you know what, man, why do my gifts matter?
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you what what's the first job given to man?
SPEAKER_00: It's gardening.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I heard Tim Keller talk about this kind of depressed me.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Hey, we theologians, we pastors, we're gonna be out of a job in new creation.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be no need.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know doctors will be out of work?
SPEAKER_00: It'll be perfect, right?
SPEAKER_00: Lawyers will be out of work.
SPEAKER_00: There'll be no divorce, no lawsuits.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: But you blue-collar workers, praise God for you.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have to teach me some things because that's gonna be the work of new creation.
SPEAKER_00: That stuff's not going to go away.
SPEAKER_00: I believe we're gonna continue to build and help the new creation for all of eternity flourish.
SPEAKER_00: So, whatever job you have, you know, you you may think, or whatever skills or talent, you may think, man, this is so minute.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's not.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you think about the parable of the talents, the man with one talent, he's like, man, I might as well just bury this.
SPEAKER_00: And he's condemned for that.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever talent God has given you, use it for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And use it to cultivate and harness the beauty of his good creation.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, as image-bearers, we reflect God's glory through loving relationships.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that our God is a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And from eternity past, there has existed a perfect, loving relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just give you one passage, John 17, 24 through 26.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Father, I desire that they, his disciples also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: There's always existed this perfect love between the triune God, the persons of the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you and I were created in a way that we can uniquely from any other beast of the earth, we can experience deep relationships.
SPEAKER_00: And through those relationships, we reflect God's glory.
SPEAKER_00: And there's two um there's two relationships through which we do this.
SPEAKER_00: One is a vertical relationship with God, and our second is our relationships with one another.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so number one, our relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, in in Genesis, God makes Adam and Eve, and then it says in chapter two, we just read it, that he breathes his breath, his ruach, in the his spirit in them.
SPEAKER_00: He brings them to life, but not just merely putting air in their lungs.
SPEAKER_00: We he has made us, listen to me, not just physical beings, but he has made us spiritual beings.
SPEAKER_00: To love him, to commune with him, to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's amazing, um, an amazing thing that psalmist said deep calls into deep.
SPEAKER_00: Our spirit is always crying out and connecting with God.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest commandment, what is it?
SPEAKER_00: To love the Lord your God.
SPEAKER_00: Love him with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all of your strength.
SPEAKER_00: God designed the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, God designed the earth as a cosmic temple.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember that from last week?
SPEAKER_00: The earth is a place that was designed where heaven and earth overlap.
SPEAKER_00: That's what temples are.
SPEAKER_00: They're places where people can meet with their gods, their souls, so to speak.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what the earth was meant to be.
SPEAKER_00: You remember, uh, I think it's Genesis 3.8, it says that this is after Adam and Eve sinned, and they hear uh Adam and Eve hears, they hear God walking in the garden, which just suggests God was there to dwell with them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the deal: because sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, and because we still sin, there has been a chasm created, a separation, if you will, of heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_00: But how many know Jesus Christ has bridged that gap?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says in John's gospel that he took on flesh and he dwelt, he tabernacled amongst us.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: God, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was at the cross, he was forsaken by God so that we could be brought to God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, 1 Peter 3:18, for Christ suffered once for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this, that he may bring us to God.
SPEAKER_00: We are meant to dwell with God, and his kingdom has entered the earth now, and we who are in Christ, we are in his presence.
SPEAKER_00: And then one day when he returns to renew the earth, heaven and earth will again completely overlap, and we shall forever dwell with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But even now, every time we pray, every time we take communion, every time we sing, every time we are in his word, we are communing with him and we are reflecting his glory back into the world.
SPEAKER_00: As we worship him, his glory is reflected through us back into the world.
SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00: But then, you know, we reflect God's glory not just through our relationship with him, but through our relationship with other humans.
SPEAKER_00: This is profound.
SPEAKER_00: So in Genesis 2.18, the Lord said, It's not good that the man should be alone.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that's the case.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'll make a helper fit for him.
SPEAKER_00: None of the animals would do you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to make someone that is fit for him.
SPEAKER_00: And then in 224, Moses tells us that the Lord said, Uh, the a man shall leave his father and mother, a man, and hold fast to his wife.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, just for clarity, our our culture is confused about this.
SPEAKER_00: A man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and watch this, they will become one flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Humans are called to demonstrate God's covenantal love through our horizontal relationships, our relationships one with another.
SPEAKER_00: And this is displayed, this type of loving relationship is displayed most prominently in.
SPEAKER_00: In the relationship between a husband and wife.
SPEAKER_00: As the three persons in the Godhead are one, we believe in one God in three persons.
SPEAKER_00: That's the picture you get.
SPEAKER_00: This is not accidental language in Genesis 1.
SPEAKER_00: It's profound.
SPEAKER_00: Husband and wife to become one flesh.
SPEAKER_00: We're still two persons, but we're united as one flesh.
SPEAKER_00: And we're knighted with God.
SPEAKER_00: God's the one who brings us together.
SPEAKER_00: It's a picture of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 5 teaches us that the ultimate meaning of marriage, which you rarely hear in conferences, it blows my mind.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, marriage is supposed to add blessing to your life and a little craziness.
SPEAKER_00: It's to offer many things, but the ultimate meaning, of course, meaning of marriage according to Ephesians chapter 5 is to demonstrate to the world Christ's love for the church.
SPEAKER_00: It begs the question, Stephen and Janet, on Wednesday you'll be married 53 years.
SPEAKER_00: Janet, why in the world have you stuck with him?
SPEAKER_00: That's a question worth asking.
SPEAKER_00: She's a saint.
SPEAKER_00: Stephen, we know why you've stuck with Janet, but let me tell you why.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you could ask the question, um, why get married?
SPEAKER_00: Because people just shack up today, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I hear people say it's just a people, piece of paper.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's not.
SPEAKER_00: It's a covenant.
SPEAKER_00: And the point of marriage is to show God's covenantal love to the world.
SPEAKER_00: So why does God hate divorce?
SPEAKER_00: Why stay married 53 years?
SPEAKER_00: Why stay married to one person until death do us part?
SPEAKER_00: Because when we don't, we when we don't stay married, when we walk out on a spouse, and if you've done that, there is grace for you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not here to put you down.
SPEAKER_00: What's done is done.
SPEAKER_00: But when we walk out on a spouse, we do not display God's steadfast love.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the point of marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, well, do I have to get married then to show God's glory through my relationships?
SPEAKER_00: And no, you don't.
SPEAKER_00: Because you show these also in your relationships, other relationships with family and friends, but especially in the church.
SPEAKER_00: You know, this is why interestingly, Jesus said to his disciples, This is how you they'll know, the world will know you're my disciples.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say because you speak in tongues or you can use flags in worship, or you could you dance, you can do the Irish jig during worship.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say any of those things.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say it's because you can quote so much scripture.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Here's how they're gonna know you're my disciples by your love.
SPEAKER_00: And love is an action, the way you serve and love one another.
SPEAKER_00: So watch this.
SPEAKER_00: How do you show that God's, how do you bear God's image through your relationships in this church?
SPEAKER_00: You don't walk out when someone makes you mad, hurts your little baby feelings.
SPEAKER_00: I've got grown men over 12 years, more than I can count, who have walked out without saying bye because oh, they hurt my feelings.
SPEAKER_00: Grow up.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sorry if somebody's hurt your feelings.
SPEAKER_00: And if I hurt your feelings, you're around me long enough, I'll unintentionally do that because I'm human and you'll hurt my feelings.
SPEAKER_00: But the, but but what we're supposed to do is to work those things out.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, forgive one another.
SPEAKER_00: And then he he adds this: he says, as I forgive, as my father has forgiven you.
SPEAKER_00: So why do we forgive?
SPEAKER_00: Because in forgiveness we're displaying God's forgiveness back into the world.
SPEAKER_00: If we're just like everybody else and we fight and we cut each other off and we slander one another, we lie and we exploit, and we manipulate people.
SPEAKER_00: We're not bearing God's image in our relationships.
SPEAKER_00: We need to stand together.
SPEAKER_00: We we're at a men's conference, we had a live stream men's conference here, and it was uh the last talk was about the brotherhood that we need and the sisterhood.
SPEAKER_00: We need to band together.
SPEAKER_00: And our relationships with one another ought to be ride or die.
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
SPEAKER_00: We reflect God's image through our relationships.
SPEAKER_00: And then number four, as image bearers, we reflect God's glory through virtue.
SPEAKER_00: So in 128, Genesis 128, God commands Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, have lots of babies.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Then in 217, God gives a command, a warning to Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
SPEAKER_00: So they've got a positive command and a negative.
SPEAKER_00: Do this, don't do this, right?
SPEAKER_00: And he gave them the ability to follow him or to follow their own hearts.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, here's what I want you to see.
SPEAKER_00: He has made, God has made human beings in his image distinctly moral agents.
SPEAKER_00: We have moral agency.
SPEAKER_00: But I do want to make a distinction here.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that God gave Adam and Eve and gives us like permission to define right and wrong for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: No, what we can do, God has revealed what is good, what is evil, what is right, what is wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And you and I have the capacity to choose life or death, right or wrong, good or evil.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're supposed to do as moral agents is we're supposed to obey God.
SPEAKER_00: The commands that are revealed in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: And they're unchanging, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: They're not up for debate.
SPEAKER_00: They're not suggestions, they are commands.
SPEAKER_00: But our culture wants to define, they would like us all to define good and evil for ourselves, right?
SPEAKER_00: We call that moral relativism.
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg wrote this.
SPEAKER_00: He said, right is defined by the decision of conscience in accord with self-chosen ethical principles.
SPEAKER_00: Goodness.
SPEAKER_00: I've said this.
SPEAKER_00: If there is no God, there are no moral absolutes.
SPEAKER_00: It's the strong, eat the weak.
SPEAKER_00: If you feel something's good, it can't be objectively good, but do it.
SPEAKER_00: If something's wrong, don't do it to you, don't do it, but it's not objectively wrong.
SPEAKER_00: In order for there to be right or wrong, there has to be a being that transcends creation itself, who can declare right and wrong.
SPEAKER_00: We can agree and say, well, this is good for human flourishing or not, but we can never objectively say if there is no God, we cannot objectively say that something is good or evil.
SPEAKER_00: It's indifferent.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lady who I talked to a uh a few weeks ago, and and she told me, and she goes to a very conservative church, and she said, I've got this certain sin, and I'm just not, she didn't even call it a sin.
SPEAKER_00: I've got this certain thing that the that the Bible clearly forbids, and she says, I'm just not that convicted about it.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, where do your convictions come from?
SPEAKER_00: Because see, your heart will lie to you.
SPEAKER_00: Your heart will say things are okay because the heart wants what the heart wants, but the heart is deceitful above all things.
SPEAKER_00: So what you do is you have to check your heart with the living, breathing word of God.
SPEAKER_00: If your heart does not align with the word of God, be careful.
SPEAKER_00: The chief job of every human being is to reflect God's glory.
SPEAKER_00: And we do so through our wise ruling of creation, our work, our relationships, and through our virtue by following God's good commands.
SPEAKER_00: Now, point one is by far my longest point, so don't freak out, all right?
SPEAKER_00: But secondly, I want to talk about why is the doctrine of the Imago Day, the image of God, so significant?
SPEAKER_00: Why is it, why does it matter?
SPEAKER_00: Listening to Kim Tim Keller, who's done a lot of work on the image of God, and he says something that's so true.
SPEAKER_00: He said, if we simply evolved by accident, there is no science, don't miss this, there is no scientific or other basis for a belief that every human being is equal in dignity.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he says science gives evidence of the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: Science can tell us why human beings are more complex than other parts of creation, other animals, other beasts.
SPEAKER_00: But it cannot tell us, it cannot tell us why human beings are worthy of more dignity or are more honorable than a plant.
SPEAKER_00: Science cannot prove that.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, everybody except psychopaths, hopefully there's none in the room, know deep down in their heart that there's something distinct about human beings.
SPEAKER_00: And that human life, no matter the color of your skin, no matter where you're from, no matter your gender, that your life has value.
SPEAKER_00: No matter your past, no matter your present, your life has inherent worth.
SPEAKER_00: We know that.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, why?
SPEAKER_00: Science cannot tell us.
SPEAKER_00: So you ask, well, because humanists, secular humanists, they they would all say, yes, we believe in human rights.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's like, what do they base that presumption on?
SPEAKER_00: And here's what it is because it's based on capacities, the ability to reason or self-consciousness.
SPEAKER_00: This is why secular humanists who are all for human rights, they're okay with abortion because they say dignity or rights are based on capacities.
SPEAKER_00: And because an unborn child does not have the ability yet to reason, or maybe is not self-aware, that it's okay, take their life.
SPEAKER_00: But let's take that to its logical conclusion.
SPEAKER_00: What do we do with the senile older people?
SPEAKER_00: What do we do with the severely mentally handicapped?
SPEAKER_00: Should we just disregard them like the Nazis?
SPEAKER_00: See, that that's what we've got to do, that's where we've got to go.
SPEAKER_00: If our value is based on capacities, then we cannot say that all humans are equally valuable.
SPEAKER_00: But we as Christians believe that.
SPEAKER_00: And the question is, why do we believe it?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that belief of human dignity and equality of all men is based solely on the Imago Dei that we are created in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: And our founding fathers knew this.
SPEAKER_00: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
SPEAKER_00: The only argument we have for human rights, for civil rights, the only basis we can ground those dreams in is in the Imago Day, the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: What's this mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we've got a moral out obligation, church, to treat people, all people, with dignity.
SPEAKER_00: Look at me.
SPEAKER_00: That means the other political party.
SPEAKER_00: Just sit with that for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: That means the people who don't look like you, smell like you, talk like you, we treat them with dignity.
SPEAKER_00: Now you may say, well, man, I I don't have anything to my name right now.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even have a roof over my head.
SPEAKER_00: What what dignity do I have?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I just remind you that Jesus didn't have a place to lay his head, he didn't have a closet full of clothes.
SPEAKER_00: And you think he had worth and has worth?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: You have a moral obligation to treat everybody with dignity, but I want you to hear me.
SPEAKER_00: I believe this is for somebody in the room or somebody watching online.
SPEAKER_00: Your life has worth.
SPEAKER_00: I received tragic news yesterday from a former staff member of this church who's now family moved to Arizona.
SPEAKER_00: And she texted me, she said, Chris, she said, I can't make another phone call.
SPEAKER_00: She said, Would you pray for me?
SPEAKER_00: She said, our oldest son just committed suicide, and my husband and I found him dead.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, what could drive somebody to that?
SPEAKER_00: And wonder how many people in Richmond, Kentucky.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe someone in this room, maybe on the street, are at that low of a place thinking, Lord, why not just take me?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, friend.
SPEAKER_00: No matter what you've done, no matter what a mess your life is, you are created in the image of God, and your life has value, and Jesus can turn your life around.
SPEAKER_00: Why is the Imago Day so vital, so significant?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's the basis for human rights and dignity.
SPEAKER_00: One more reason I'll point out before moving on is that the Imago Day teaches us that identity is received, not achieved.
SPEAKER_00: Identity is received, not achieved.
SPEAKER_00: One of the today's dangerous cultural narratives is this that every person must look in and search deeply to invent their fundamental identity.
SPEAKER_00: Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00: You've heard this, right?
SPEAKER_00: Look within, find your identity.
SPEAKER_00: That's a bad idea.
SPEAKER_00: People look for their identities and careers and talents and successes and beauty.
SPEAKER_00: One of the saddest realities of our day that people have reduced their identities to their sexuality.
SPEAKER_00: How tragic.
SPEAKER_00: See, those identities are fragile and they'll make you always feel like not enough.
SPEAKER_00: You know, many men they find their identity primarily in their career.
SPEAKER_00: But what happens when they lose their job or retire?
SPEAKER_00: And you know men who've been like this, they are lost.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy, Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Busky, for a pastor, isn't it, to find his identity in the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: That's a dangerous thing.
SPEAKER_00: That means if I preach a good sermon, every once in a while I'd be real happy and feel good.
SPEAKER_00: But when I bomb, when somebody doesn't high-fi me on the way out, I'm desolate.
SPEAKER_00: Because my identity is in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Many women often find their identity primarily in child rearing, and that means they simply come undone when son or daughter finally become an adult and move out, and they can't cut the cord.
SPEAKER_00: Those who find their identity in beauty or sexual lure do everything they can to fight off aging, but there are not enough creams and lotions and whatever hair dyes to put off aging forever.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, some of you are doing a pretty good job of it.
SPEAKER_00: But some of you, it's caught up to you.
SPEAKER_00: And when that happens, if your identity is in your beauty, you won't want to live.
SPEAKER_00: See, what the Imago Day teaches us is that our primary, fundamental identity is in God, it's in for us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Paul said, I've been crucified with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
SPEAKER_00: So that means if you if you work or don't, you know, if you've if your career's going great, or if you just lost your job, your identity is safe because it's in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you're married or single, it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: Your identity is not in a spouse or in singleness, it's in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If if people whistle at you when you walk by or they run when you walk by, it's all right.
SPEAKER_00: Your identity is not is not in your looks, it's in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So how do we finally bear God's image faithfully?
SPEAKER_00: Here's my simple answer, really simple.
SPEAKER_00: You want to bear God's image faithfully, you stay forward facing, or you could say upward facing.
SPEAKER_00: When Adam and Eve faced God, they bore his image well in paradise.
SPEAKER_00: But the moment you remember what happened when they sinned, they were they went from being out with God, conversing with him, to hiding from him.
SPEAKER_00: When we turn our face from the Lord, we mar his image in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: In order for a mirror to reflect its subject, it must be toward, turned towards the direction of that object, right?
SPEAKER_00: When it becomes cracked or dirty or turned the wrong way, the reflection becomes distorted or non-existent.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, God's image has been distorted in each of us because of sin, as it was in Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing about a mirror: a cracked mirror cannot fix itself, a dirty mirror cannot clean itself, a mirror faced in the wrong direction cannot move itself.
SPEAKER_00: And likewise, you and I who have this marred image of God, those of us who are cracked in damage and are not accurately reflecting God's image, we cannot fix ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot clean yourself up enough, you cannot turn yourself in the direction by yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot do this in a way that will properly, let's say, reflect God's glory.
SPEAKER_00: But I've got great news for you today.
SPEAKER_00: There's one man who walked the earth who perfectly embodied the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians 1:15, he, Jesus Christ, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this, Hebrews 1.3.
SPEAKER_00: He Christ is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we were called to be.
SPEAKER_00: We were supposed to perfectly reflect God's glory to the world, but we stink at it.
SPEAKER_00: But praise God that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, God the Son, came down from glory and he took on our likeness so that we again could take on the likeness of God.
SPEAKER_00: So the only way you want to bear God's image, and if you don't, your life will never have enough meaning.
SPEAKER_00: You'll you'll never feel enough.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's your primary reason.
SPEAKER_00: You are created to worship God and to enjoy Him forever.
SPEAKER_00: And that means that we bear His image.
SPEAKER_00: And you can do it when you turn to Jesus Christ, when you repent and you turn to Him in faith.
SPEAKER_00: That's what baptism is.
SPEAKER_00: It's a picture of dying as you go down in the water and being raised up to the newness of life now in the image of God because you are in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But even as Christians, I'll close with this, even as Christians, you know this Romans 8 says we're being formed into the image of Christ again.
SPEAKER_00: This this image of God in us is being renewed.
SPEAKER_00: But how many know that some days, some days we do really well, and other days we get in traffic and somebody cuts us off?
SPEAKER_00: Or your spouse, I'll leave that there.
SPEAKER_00: You fill in the blank and you lose it.
SPEAKER_00: Or some sin is the the the fruit of whatever tree you're tempted by is calling your name and you give in.
SPEAKER_00: And again, that image of God becomes distorted.
SPEAKER_00: But if we want to bear spiritual fruit, if we want to bear God's image, we've got to walk in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We can do nothing apart from Him, and we've got to walk by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So just because you're a Christian, yes, you're that image is being redeemed, in one sense, has been redeemed, but you've got to choose life every day.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to choose to crucify your flesh every day.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the question.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you to do as we leave.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to think about and ask the Holy Spirit what's one area of my life that I need to better display the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's through virtue.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you know you're sinning in a way that distorts God's holiness and his purity.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're not a real hard worker.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're lazy.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're not using your creativity to add goodness to the world and help the word world flourish.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's something you could do better with the Lord's help.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever it is, maybe maybe your marriage is not reflecting the glory of God, and maybe you can do something by God's grace to fix that this week.
SPEAKER_00: But would you take just a moment?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna wait, uh, I'm gonna wait just a moment as the priesting comes.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna I want you to close your eyes and just reflect for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, speak to our hearts, reveal to us ways in which we need to better display your glory, and let us turn to Christ so that we might be empowered to display your glory in that area better.
SPEAKER_00: What's God saying to you?