Make and Multiply: Part 2

What does it mean to live according to God's original purpose for humanity?

In this message from Genesis 1, Pastor Matt Shackelford explores God's command to "be fruitful and multiply" and shows how it extends far beyond physical growth. From understanding the value of every person as an image-bearer of God to embracing our calling to multiply influence, disciples, and kingdom impact, this sermon challenges believers to realign their lives with God's design.

You'll discover:

•  Why the doctrine of the image of God gives every person dignity and worth 
•  How God's grace restores those who have failed to honor that image 
•  Three God-given "superpowers" for multiplication: relationships, blessing, and health 
•  What it means to exercise biblical dominion through service, stewardship, and responsibility 
•  How to use the resources God has entrusted to you for kingdom growth 

God has given you everything you need to bear fruit. The question is: where is He calling you to multiply?

Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31
Series: Be Fruitful and Multiply

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

On today's episode of Moment of Truth, Pastor Matt continues his sermon on reclaiming God's foundational command. Multiplication is a core purpose of creation for everyone. In this sermon series on Genesis, Be Fruitful and Multiply explores what it means to be made in the image of God, how to exercise dominion in our work and relationships, and how to steward what God has given us. Multiplication isn't a casual preference, it's a creation purpose.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

He was a twenty-two-year-old African pygmy. He was brought, this is a true story. He was brought to the zoo in New York City, and he was put into a display cage next to other animals. That's a true story. This is 1906. Rightly so, the religious community went crazy. They went nuts. There was an outcry, and it was the New York Times who's always on the right side of things. Amen. That was a joke, by the way. I just didn't feel enough laughter on that one. And so I just want to make that clear, all right? It was the New York Times who said, well, on the human scale, we know that pygmies are lower on the human scale. Without a right understanding of the Imago Day, what happens is we redefine human worth and value. We create a sliding scale. By the way, this is why we value every age and stage here at Central Church. Whether it's children's ministry, the widow's ministry. There is a value for all ages, all stages, all ethnicities. And without the Imago Day, what happens is we experience injustice, we experience abuse, we experience a loss of dignity. You start saying things like, well, it's just a clump of cells, that's just kids' ministry, that's just old widows' ministry, and you look at it and you say it's not as valuable as the other. No, friends. We can't go there. The Imago Day says that you matter to God because you are an image bearer. You matter to God. And if you're a Christian, you especially matter in a familial sense. Not just a dignity, but also, but also that Hesed, that loyal love. God calls us the apple of his eye. You know what the apple of someone's eye is? It's that raised round spot right in the center. And God's saying, if you you're the apple of my eye, and if someone messes with you, if someone devalues you, it's like they're poking me in my eye, and I don't like being poked in the eye. Don't mess with the apple of God's eye. What this is saying is that you have inherent worth and value and dignity. We have to let that affect us. To those looking at pornography, you have to stop saying no big deal. You have to feel the indignity. You have to feel the redefinition that's happening in your life. You have to acknowledge that you wouldn't want your wife, your daughter, your family doing that. We have to let this affect us. Now, if you struggle in those things, if you are convicted this morning, I just want to say this one of the worst things that you can do is go to a place in your conviction that doesn't have the grace of God along with conviction. If you're convicted, praise God. That's God's work. But I also want to offer you the grace of God. I mean, God has you here today, and He's offering you a chance to realign your mind with Scripture. And you need to feel God's grace today. You need to feel that God has a future, and you need to feel that if you've done some of these things, if you have redefined the image of God in things like abortion, or you've or you've done things that have done an injustice to the Imago Day with pornography, here's what I would say to you that Jesus Christ is bigger than all of your sin. And you can bring it all to the Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ can wash away every sin. The worst about you can be erased in Jesus Christ. That's why he died. And that's my joy to tell you that. My joy is to tell you that Jesus gives people a fresh start. Jesus gives people a new start, a new life. Jesus can make a whole new you, but he wants to redefine the way that you define humanity. He wants to change the way you think. You need to recover that image. You need to feel God's grace in this place pushing you to recover purpose. And now let's look at verse 28. Now that we've got the Imago Day under wrath, now that we got that dealt with, let's understand what this command, this purpose means. The very first command in Scripture is the word multiply. Once you have a right understanding of who you are, you'll know what to do. Once you understand the dignity and the honor with which you were created, now you'll know what to do. Now you'll know what your purpose is. Multiply. That's what it says. Be fruitful and multiply. Now, some of you might contend with me, well, Pastor Matt, come on. That was written to Adam and Eve. We've got to fill the earth. We gotta raise up some offspring here. And let's be honest, central church doesn't have a problem having lots and lots of babies. Amen. Especially our staff. God bless you, our staff. Actually, it's a biblical theme. We see this command throughout scripture, the whole Bible. In Genesis 5, verses 1 to 3, I want you to notice that what happens is the image of God, the likeness of God is reiterated. He made him in the image of God. And then we're going to go into the generations of Adam. We're going to talk about how they were faithful to that. Over in Genesis chapter 9, Noah, and Noah's given the same command: be fruitful and multiply. The command is never rescinded. It's always to be a part of our life, taking ground for the kingdom of God. Psalm chapter 1, what does a healthy tree do that's planted by water? It bears fruit. That's spiritually, that's physically. Exodus 1, Israel shows this. The people were fruitful. They increased greatly. They multiplied. Over in Matthew 3, verse 8, the parable that Jesus gives, he talks about the increase that his kingdom is supposed to see. A hundredfold, sixtyfold, thirtyfold, but increased. Then we see the New Testament, we see when Acts 2.40, 3,000 are added to the church. Then we see in Acts 6, 7, the number of disciples multiplied. Then we see in Acts 6.47, they're added day by day, those who are being saved. And then in Revelation, it ends with what? A multiple, a great multitude. So in Genesis, be fruitful and multiply. In Revelation, we end with a multitude that comes from multiplication. You see, we have to realign ourselves to God's purpose. We have to see that this is how we were made. We have to get humanity right and see that this is God's first calling, first command us, and let's start there. All right? That's our first point. Let's realign ourselves with God's purpose. Let's feel God's grace that He's brought us to this place today to bring that purpose out in us, to show us our calling to multiply. Number two, write this one down. Now let's get into the how. How do we do this? Well, second, we need to reproduce God's power. Now there's a lot of superhero movies out right now. I think there's Superman and there's Fantastic Four. There's something about our society that is obsessed with uh million-dollar, multi-million dollar, billion-dollar, whatever they are, superhero movies. And uh here we see three superpowers right out of the text that you have in order to fulfill God's call to multiply. Notice in verse 27, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Now, this is certainly uh clarifying as far as the amount of genders that exist in the world, but that's more than that. I think here there is this them, there is this relational capacity that you have been created with. One of your superpowers. One of the ways that you will multiply is your relationships. You'll have people in your life, you'll have people that counsel you, that correct you, that help you, that partner with you. Just last week I was at your funeral, and one of the speakers in the service actually brought up that uh that old TV show, uh, Cheers. Do you remember Cheers? Any of you remember Cheers? Do you remember the theme song? Remember the song to it? Where everybody what? Oh, knows your name. That's it. I want to go where everybody knows my name, where I've got friends. And in more modern times, uh, there's that other TV show called Friends. And uh the theme song was I'll be. That's a little less known. Can you say it? I'll be there for you. Right? And what those shows signify is in each of our lives, there's this longing for partnership. There's this longing for friendship. Tim Keller said it so well. He said, God made us in such a way that even in a perfect paradise, man needs friends. He's lonely. It's the first thing in all creation that God said it's not good for the man to be alone. It's not good. This is a value for us, but it's a value for our calling as well. You see, at your deathbed, at the end of your life, I promise you a couple things. You will not care about the accolades from this life, the trophies that hang on the wall. You will not care about all of the little trinkets of life that are sitting in your attic. The things you'll care about, the one thing you'll want around your deathbed is your children, your grandchildren, your spouse. Those are the things that matter most. And also, those are the things that God calls us to partner with if we're gonna experience multiplication. Do you value this? That's how we fulfill this calling to multiply. That's why we fulfill this calling. God has given us a superpower. It is to work as a team. A friend of mine did the uh what's called the the one campaign at his church. And he just said, Congregation, I want to challenge you over the next few weeks. Everyone bring one. Everyone bring one. Who's your one? And their church doubled overnight. And they aggressively took the city. That's amazing. It taps into the superpower that we're them, them. God has created us with a use of the them, the plural. And we need to tap into that as well. Another superpower, look at verse 28. God's blessing. Write it down. You cannot multiply without God's blessing. It says in verse 28, God bless them. Be fruitful, multiply. Now, this humbles us in one way because it reminds us that you can't accomplish anything without the blessing of God. That growth in every sphere of your life, whether it's at work or whether it's in your personal life or whether it's in your finances, some of you need to get on your knees, you need to pray about your finances. You need to grow in that area. Why? Well, it's because we're seeking the blessing of God. God's illustration for growth in this first chapter of the Bible is multiplication through a family, its husband and its wife. That's the image of growth. Now, when I was single, 20 years ago, I was in my apartment, I ate off the same plate, I used my spork for every meal, and it was pretty pathetic. I'm gonna be honest with you, it felt like I was eating prison meals.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

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SPEAKER_02 12:39

Women are multipliers. And that's what I see here. There's a partnership, but it's also that's dependent upon the blessing of God. Unless the Lord builds the house, the builder builds in vain. God has to bless. God has to give you blessing. And by the way, you are only responsible for that which the Lord has blessed you with. So if you have children, you're responsible for children, not grandchildren yet. If you don't have grandchildren, right? But you trust the Lord. If you have a spouse but no children, you're responsible for what he's blessed you with. Invest. Cultivate. Invest there with the blessing that he has given you. Cultivate that. But it's dependent on God's blessing. Don't be looking at your neighbor. Don't be comparing yourself with other people. That's a fool's errand. What you need to do is look at the blessing he has given you. You're responsible for those things. Multiply those things. Number three, write this one down. Another, a third superpower is health. Notice he says, be fruitful. I think that pictures health. Only healthy things can multiply. Some of you, God's going to use this series in your life to multiply your health. Some of you, God's going to use this series in your life to address some things that are still out of place. One of my commitments, I was talking to someone just this morning, is like, I want to start running more. I want to see if I can get that back in my life. I was reminded of McShane, who said he died at age, I think it was age 30 or 33, somewhere in there, but he died very young, Christian pastor, and he said, God has given me a message and a horse. And he just preached himself to death, and he said, And I killed the horse. I didn't take care of my body. What's the thought there? I want to be there for my children when I'm 55 to give them marriage advice. I want to be there to help my children with my grandchildren. And so I don't want to kill the horse. That's where I want to multiply in this next season. But that's every realm of health. There's a lot there. There's spiritual health. Maybe for some of you, this is gonna push you to take your next exciting steps with Christ. I have two people right now among the other 12 or 15 that are on the list, two that I'm talking to, and they're both saying, we want to be baptized. We got to get this right. And I'm so excited to have that conversation and so excited to present them to you. There's two of them right now, and they're both saying, Yes, I want to take that next step of baptism. My friend Pat Nimmer said, uh, I just talked to him yesterday or texted with him yesterday. And uh Pat has been here, he's spoken here. Some of you remember him. He did our marriage conference about four years ago, and Pat told me yesterday, we're just having a lot of baptisms. God's really working here, but we don't count raised hands, we count splashes in the water. And I was like, that's really good. We don't count raised hands. Why? Because every example in the New Testament of someone believing the gospel is baptism. That's how we know that they are moving forward with the Lord. That's all there is. Maybe it's relational health. Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe husband and wife in this room, you're not currently sleeping in the same room, not talking to each other. It's cold, it's bitter, there's there's hateful words that are being spoken. Maybe some of you need to ask for forgiveness. And we are gonna have a marriage sermon in this. But God's asking us to advance in that realm. Maybe it's financial health. Maybe do you have a budget? Maybe God's calling you to move forward with a budget and to get some real counseling regarding your finances so that you can be a blessing to other people. Maybe you're overspending in some area and you're not giving. Maybe you're not providing. Maybe one spouse is not active in the finances, and God's calling you to come together, be a team, and get healthy in that realm. We're gonna talk about that. But whatever it is, what is the power that you're neglecting? Is it your community? Is it God's blessing? That which He has blessed you with? Is it health? You can multiply, but you have to do it God's way. Number three, write this one down. Third point. Third way to multiply. We need to represent God's multiplication practices. Now, notice a couple words, and I'm gonna have to speed up here. You're gonna have to listen a little bit faster, okay? Um, I'm running out of time, but notice with me that we're getting into the work ethic. In Genesis chapter 2, it will it will progress and it will say that God put man in the garden to work it and to keep it. You were meant to represent God in your work ethic. Some of you don't enjoy work. Some of you are workaholics. And God is showing us a picture of what work is supposed to look like in his vision for work as he lays out creation. Now, I want to say this one of the best counsel that I could give someone who's defeated, someone who's depressed, uh, someone who's just frustrated with life is get busy. Let's get busy. It doesn't mean you can't get a new job, it doesn't mean that that you can't advance, but get busy. Get busy in your work. Work can be therapeutic. Al Guinness tells the story of a widow, and she was ready to jump off of a bridge and end her life. Because it's hard. Life is hard. And as she's about to do that, she looks out and she sees a guy plowing a field with such intensity and skill and care that she gained an honor for work. And she said, That's purpose. And she connected it to Genesis 2 in her mind that God has created man to work. He's created you to work. That's one of the best counsels that I could give you. Notice those two words, subdue and have dominion. Those are strong Hebrew words. At least they they sound strong in the English, but I think they're actually largely misunderstood. It almost kind of sounds like a pro wrestler, right? Like Hulk Hogan. Who remembers Hulk Hogan? Uh you saw the headline this week that he died, but uh, I'll never forget as a kid. It sounds kind of like that. Like I'm gonna I'm gonna subdue you, I'm gonna break you, I'm gonna dominate you, brother. Don't misunderstand those words. Notice the word subdue. It's the word kibosh. And uh it means to take care of, it means to care for. It's a word for priests taking care of the temple. Notice the other word, dominion, to rule. It's a royalty responsibility. It's about serving others, it's about responsibility. That you are as a husband, you are as a father, you are as an employee, you are as a mother, you are supposed to take up the royal responsibility that's been given to you in order to serve others. And a lot of times guys are the worst about this. Guys can say, I uh, you know, I I was at a friend of mine's house in Arkansas, and um I went to his house and he he went into his bedroom and he pulled out uh his protection weapon that he kept behind his headboard uh in his house, and he was just being really macho. This is what I've got, you know, and I'm taking precautions to care for my family and protect my family. And uh I watched a YouTube video where this guy he could say, intruder alert, and his whole house would go on lockdown, the lights would turn red, and and then the song would come over all of his devices, welcome to the jungle, right? And it would just be this, this, this, this, this settings that he has worked in his house. Everything turns red, and that comes on over all the speakers in the house. And and as guys, we we take a lot of precautions. We take we we take pride in our protection, right? And I tell our young adults, uh, we had young adults this last Thursday night, and I've been trying to say this to them constantly. Being a man is about being a protector, provider, and priest. And a lot of times we emphasize the protector and the provider, but we neglect that third one, the priest. It's about caring for others. It's about caring for your family. It's about making sure that their life is being watched. Are you as vigilant representing God's care as you are the security of your home? The doors to your home. Sure, you lock the physical door. What about the spiritual doors? Are you watchful over those? Last thought, and we're done. We need to recognize God's multiplication privileges. In verse 28, we we get the start all the way through verse 31 of all these privileges that the Lord has given to us, the fish of the sea. Any fishermen here today? This is Michael Caserta's verse. He loves to fish. You have dominion, may you have dominion over the fish of the sea and the lake and the pond. And all God's men say, Amen. Behold, I've given you every plant, every tree for food, every beast, everything that has breath. We need to recognize all of the privileges given to us, but don't let it stop there. You're to utilize those privileges maturely. There's to be a mature use of those privileges. My friend Kyle says it this way: every Christian in maturity needs to move from me to we, he needs to move from now to later, delayed gratification, and he needs to move from toys to tools. You've been given tools, not toys. And there is a mature way to use all the things in your life to multiply. Are you doing that? Write those down. Me to we, now to later. Toys to tools. I don't know what God's going to do in this series. It's 12 weeks. Week one is down. Come back next week. I want to call you back. But I want to call you to grow, and I want you to realize how privileged you are. God has given you all that you need to grow. You're not responsible for what you don't have, you're responsible for what he's given to you. The question is, are you seeing God's purpose? Are you bearing God's image? God is a worker, God is a multiplier. Are you following in his image? Now I want this to affect you, and here's how I'm going to end this morning. I've been studying this all week long in my office, just typing away and studying away, and I'm just sitting there, and every time I preach, I want it to affect me before it hits you. And I'm just examining parts of my life, and I'm just saying, Lord, where do I need to grow? And I would just stop in the middle of my sermon. Lord, change me. Where is it? Reveal that area. And it really shook me this week. If I'm being honest, I went home and my wife thought I was having a mid-life crisis. She said that. I looked at her and I said, Sweetheart, I'm trying to figure out some things. I'm trying to understand why God wants to change this in me before it gets to the congregation. We have four kids. Are we wrong for stopping there? Should we maybe have some more kids? And she looked at me. She got first, here's what happened. She got nervous. She kind of stepped back. She started mumbling. She started talking. She started talking over me. She started getting louder than me. And then she said this line I promise, this is a word-for-word quote. She said, There are six of us. I have doubled us. And I was just laughing because. And then she said, Are you having a midlife crisis? And I said, Maybe. I don't know. I don't know what God wants for us. Here's what I do know. In every part of our life, He wants us to multiply. I don't know where it is that we need to multiply, but we've got to multiply. We've got to take ground.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

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