WEBVTT 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:04.000 Genesis uh one twenty-six to thirty-one. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:21.600 Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish, over the s of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over creeping things that creeps on earth. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:26.480 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:28.800 Male and female he created them. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:44.960 And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on earth. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:55.520 And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed its fruit. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:06.959 You shall have them for food to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:10.239 I have given every green plant for food. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:12.079 And it was so. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:16.879 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:22.879 And there was everything, and there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day. 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:24.239 The word of the Lord. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:25.840 Please be seated. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:30.480 Good morning. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:43.519 I was at that wedding, and I was co-officiating with Alex, and he gave like the most beautiful uh uh uh whatever what is it that we do here? 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:48.799 He he just he just gave the most beautiful talk for for uh his sister's wedding. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:54.560 And so then I was like supposed to do like the vows afterwards, and I was like, oh my gosh, just weeping and crying. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:56.799 Um it was it was very nice. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:59.359 So that's a quick recap for those of you. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:01.439 Um previously on the West Wing. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:10.000 We uh uh so it uh drove down this morning from Idaho Springs where we are hosting the Gotham Winter Retreat. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:18.479 So the Gotham Fellowship is a nine-month uh sort of discipleship intensive that we do here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:22.080 Um it started out of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:32.479 Um and uh we've been hosting it, this is our fourth year, and it's one of my favorite things that uh I think one of my favorite things I've gotten to be in part of, I've gotten to be a part of in my life. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:34.400 It's just such a source of joy. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:45.919 And this weekend um we were uh this retreat is is where we're we just really dive in on how the gospel shapes our own personal stories. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:03:04.479 And so we read through uh Augustine's Confessions, um which is a wonderful book uh that I commend to you, uh, and see how he reflected on his life and his story, and then see how scripture just informed his view uh of who he was. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:18.719 And then we try that practice where we we look through our life stories and we see how even in our sin God was pursuing us and patient with us and the grace that he's offered us by showing us his gospel, and it was it was just a wonderful weekend. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:23.039 Um uh all that to say, uh I'm I'm so tired. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:26.800 It was great, and I've got a total vulnerability hangover. 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:30.400 Um so uh it was it was a wonderful weekend. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:37.360 Uh but that fellowship would uh that'll be coming coming up uh later in the year, around uh April. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:39.360 We'll we'll start applications for that. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:42.080 And it runs August through May, and it's a great thing. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:46.479 Uh that's one of the ways that we gather small at Redemption Church Denver. 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:51.199 The other way is we gather in each other's homes throughout the week in redemption groups. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:56.159 So if you're not in a redemption group, I recommend that you join one. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:05.039 Uh there's about five of them, and you can look and see which one's closest to you in your home and sign up for that one, and uh we'll help you get connected with the leader. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:12.080 Uh we typically meet about every other week, and uh what we do in redemption groups is really simple. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:18.480 We gather around the word and we practice believing the gospel together. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:37.920 There's no magic to Christianity, there's there's no switch that you can flip, there's no way uh around growth in in this thing uh it where our hearts really change, other than seeing the word and the spirit applying that to us, and that really takes place in the context of community. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:48.399 And so God has ordained these just normal, ordinary means that are so simple that we would probably neglect them and overlook them for something more complicated and exciting. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:58.000 But instead, God said, gather around my word, uh, understand it together, read it together, and you and by the Holy Spirit in you, your hearts will be changed by it. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:02.160 So a great way to experience that is uh in redemption groups. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:05.680 I bet you'll go to one and it will feel shockingly ordinary. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:08.480 Um, and God uses those things. 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:24.560 Uh uh one more announcement is uh February 9th, immediately after the service here, we're going to be bringing in lunch and asking everyone who can to stick around because we're going to be hosting our Berkeley Connect meeting. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:29.839 So February 9th, uh we're we're gonna be planning and kind of rolling out. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:35.920 Here's our plan for us as a congregation to reach out to the neighborhood that we just moved into. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:41.600 So it's basically like this we're we're all here, uh, and the neighborhood doesn't know it yet. 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:44.720 So our plan is to introduce ourselves. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:47.360 Um so we want you guys to be a part of that. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:50.079 We've got a couple of exciting ideas already. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:55.279 Uh, one of the best places that we think we can do this is we're meeting in a school. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:06:02.800 Uh, and schools have teachers that are overworked and underpaid, and the least we can do is like buy the teachers a cup of coffee, right? 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:04.240 Yes. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:20.399 So uh plan on uh seeing, okay, what what is available for us to do to bless the school that we're meeting in right now as a way of um introducing ourselves in the community, and we want to uh um introduce ourselves as much as we can by means of service. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:24.000 Um February 9th, plan on sticking around after the service. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:29.360 We'll have food and we'll be able to talk through that sort of a plan if that's something you'd like to be involved in. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:30.399 All right. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:34.399 Today we're talking about the image of God, so let's pray. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:42.399 Holy Father, you are gracious beyond measure. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:50.399 You use weak vessels like us to proclaim such incredible news. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:54.240 Lord, you've given us your word that we might know you. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:07:00.079 And in it, you've described even who we are, so that we might know ourselves. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:07.519 Lord, I pray this morning that you would set new foundations in our hearts for our own identities. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:12.800 That our identities would be something that truly is received from you. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:20.160 And that we would see it in your word, and that we would know that it was certain, as certain as the word of God. 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:26.639 Father, how the world needs people that are steady like that. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.000 We pray that you would do that in our hearts by your word. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:31.040 In Jesus' name. 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:31.920 Amen. 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:51.279 So we're moving through Genesis, and the reason we're moving through Genesis is we're trying to lay out it, get our bearings in the redemptive history that we're a part of, the grand narrative of all history that God has lined out and that we are a part of. 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:59.199 And uh part of understanding this redemptive history is understanding who we are in creation. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:11.519 So we moved through uh the first week that God created everything from nothing, and then the next week we moved through the six days of creation, but we stopped halfway through the sixth day. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:16.319 And that's where we're picking up this morning, where we're picking up with the creation of humanity. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:26.000 Because there's a language shift and there's a modality shift in the way that God creates humans that makes us different from the rest of creation. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:27.920 And so that's what we're looking at today. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:32.000 What does it mean to be the type of creature that you are? 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:34.799 What does it mean to be a human? 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:41.120 Now, I I know people of all ages uh struggle with the question of who am I? 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:50.480 Uh that's not just for high school, that's not just for after graduation, that's that's for it seems to be all of life, especially at any sort of change. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:55.440 And so this this question of who am I, it needs some sort of a basis. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:58.399 And our culture gives us sort of two opportunities. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:04.639 I think our culture says, in one instance, you just need to know who you are and then express it. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:08.320 So there is this fundamental you, just get out there and express it. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:11.759 The problem is our restraint and our lack of self-expression. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:19.279 And then there's this other side of our culture which says that we need to be, uh, which says that we need to make our identity. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:31.840 Uh, your identity is something that you uh put into, uh, or excuse me, something that you that you create from within yourself, and so that you are something that you make, you're your own project. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:40.960 And so the way that we engage with the world is we're constantly trying to receive our identity from our interaction with the world around us. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:49.519 Um uh uh uh a while ago I was in a season in life and I found myself uh in the midst of a negotiation. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:10:01.600 And I found that as I was, and this was the first time that I'd ever been a part of a negotiation for like a legitimate sort of deal that was being put together, outside of selling cars, which is just like constant. 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:03.279 But this seemed different. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:08.879 And the uh uh your your preacher was a car salesman, deal with it. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:14.240 He's also like pretty young, but I'm not gonna tell you how young. 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:17.120 Um and still in seminary. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:20.000 But we're still gonna tell people about this church. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:23.679 I got a good feeling about this place. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:28.960 Um where was I? 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:45.279 And in the in the midst of this negotiation, I found that every move uh that I that I made or felt like I was making, there was this double speak happening in my head, which was what does what does this say about you as a man to me? 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:51.440 So in this instance, would would would a real man ask for more? 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:55.200 Or would a real man hold his ground here? 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.879 Or would would a real man compromise like this? 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:14.480 And so this negotiation to me, in the way that I was interacting with it, it had very little to do, well, not very little, but at a certain point it became almost mostly about my own masculinity. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:26.480 And I think that we experience the world like that frequently, where we're engaging with the world, but our engagement with the world becomes primarily about this question, who am I? 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:32.000 And I'll know who I am finally by the way that I engage with this process. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:37.039 And so uh I met with a Christian counselor that I'd still meet with, I recommend those. 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:43.200 And he uh he was like, you know, when you're telling the story, the the phrases around masculinity keep coming up. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:48.639 This seems to be like a consistent theme in the way that you're framing this narrative. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:58.639 And he said this thing that was that was so profoundly helpful, um, and and I think also good Bible teaching. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:10.480 He said, look, your identity, uh who you are as a man, is not going to come from the way that you're interacting with this situation. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:15.200 The situation doesn't have the ability to bestow that on you. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:21.679 Who you are as a man comes from you've been created in the image of God. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.879 And that's something that is to be received by God or from God. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:46.080 And so it creates this whole new dynamic in the way that we interact with the world, one that flows from this basis of who we are that is received by faith from God, rather than interact it rather than interacting in the world in which everything that we do needs to provide us our sense of identity. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:50.960 And I think that's a much more biblically sound way of interacting with the world. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:13:00.000 And we see it here because oftentimes when we when we interact with the world, or excuse me, when we're trying to figure out who we are, it can seem like we're just starting with a blank slate. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:02.240 We're so hard to get to know. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:04.399 It's so difficult to get to know ourselves. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:16.480 And so we've got tools at our disposal, be it the uh like Disk Profile or the Enneagram or the Myers Briggs, or uh are there others? 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:22.159 BuzzFeed quizzes, what friends character are you? 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:25.919 You're such a monica. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:33.919 Uh but those are incidental to who we are. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:40.559 Today in the passage today, we're seeing what is fundamental about your identity. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:46.960 And what's fundamental is that you are created in the image of God. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:50.960 That's true of you and everyone that you've ever met. 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:53.279 So we're gonna look at more what that means. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:14:00.799 We're going to see that uh being created in the image of God, it shows us uh it shows us our essence, the essence of humanity. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:09.440 Uh, we're going to see the position of humanity in creation, then we're gonna see the role of humanity in creation. 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:12.879 So the our essence, our position, and our role. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:14.159 Let's begin with essence. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:16.320 Genesis 1, 26. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:31.759 It says, Then 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 birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:46.000 Now, the way that God had created the vegetation on the earth and uh the beasts of the field that are created just before this, is God says, Let the earth bring forth the beasts of the field. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:47.600 But the language changes here. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:49.279 It's not let the earth bring forth. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:54.480 This is God reflectively saying in the plural, let us make. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:15:04.399 There's this new sense of intentionality when the creation of humanity comes on the scene, this direct intentionality from God is in the language. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:19.440 And then there are these two descriptors that are given to humanity that are not given to any other creature in creation, that we are made in our image, in the image of God, and after our likeness, in the likeness of God. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:28.480 In Hebrew, it just reads those words are backed right up next to each other, and so it would just read, we're going to make them in our image-likeness. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:30.320 They're coupled. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:32.399 A lot of people try and tease them apart. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:35.600 Like, what does it mean to be in the image, and then what does it mean to be in the likeness? 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:37.440 But that's not really what's happening with the language. 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:44.879 He's trying to give us the impression of this thing that is the image of Godness that's placed in humanity. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:53.360 It's completely unique to humanity, and no other creature on earth has the image of God. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:57.519 They're not created in the image and the likeness of God. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:10.000 And so humans have this uh this unique uh position because we're in in one sense we're like continuous with the rest of nature because we're created from the dirt, we're created on the sixth day. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:17.200 And then in another instance, we're so unlike the rest of nature because of the image of God that's in us. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:23.840 Now it's been popular to try and reduce the image of God to a certain characteristic of humanity. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:29.679 So we're so the image of God then becomes just like our ability to reason. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:31.919 That's the image of godness in us. 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:35.840 Or the image of God is our ability to use language. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:43.919 So we're really just, you know, the the uh like any other animal, but we can use language, or like any other animal, but we have reason. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:47.600 But that's not the way the image of God is used scripturally. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:52.480 The image of God is to describe the whole of our being. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:17:05.119 We are spiritual and we are reasonable and we are physical as well, and this wholeness of our humanity is the image of God. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:16.559 It is as though somebody read an epic poem, and then in the image of that poem, they carved a statue that was in the image of that poem. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:20.319 You would say, Well, what part of the statue is in the image of the poem? 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:23.920 And the sculptor would be like, Well, it's the whole statue. 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:27.599 The whole thing is in the image of the poem. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:34.240 And that is the way that we correspond to the image of God, it is the wholeness of who we are. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:39.440 And so uh defining the image of God is a difficult thing to do. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:45.440 It's uh as difficult as defining the very essence of humanity because that's precisely what it is. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:55.440 But there are some implications that we can draw out from all humans being created in the image of God, and we can see these implications. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:01.200 Uh one of them is that this means that all humans have this intrinsic dignity. 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:06.640 It's in every person that you've ever met, they are in the image of God. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:18.000 And so that means that there are certain conditions that for anyone, anyone, it's just wrong for them to be experiencing because they're in the image of God. 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:23.440 There's an intrinsic goodness in humanity. 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:32.799 God steps back from his creation, and we'll see this at the end of our text today, and he calls it, he calls his creation very good after he had made humanity in it. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:36.960 And so that means there's this goodness that is in humanity. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:46.240 I think oftentimes in our uh uh, you know, in people like me, we have a strong, thick doctrine of sin, total depravity. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:59.039 And it that can it we can miss out that there's the the reason why that's so heartbreaking is because what's being twisted is this good thing, which is a human. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:03.440 So there's a goodness in everyone you've met. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:15.279 There's an intrinsic worth in humanity, which which means that when it whenever anyone is lost, it's a it's a sadness. 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:20.319 There's an intrinsic creativity in humanity. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:26.880 We see this because the at this point in the text, the the one thing that we've really seen God do is make. 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:32.799 And there is an intrinsic loveliness in humanity. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:38.240 God is a triune God who it later will be called love. 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:47.119 Uh, and that means that in creatures like us that are made in the image of God are inherently lovely. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:49.039 And we see that. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:53.680 We're lovely because because God loves his humanity. 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:56.000 That's what makes us lovely. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:58.799 And you can see this in the Great Commandment. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:03.039 It's uh you know, love your neighbor as yourself, even love your enemies. 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:06.079 And what's what's the example for loving your enemies? 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:11.839 It's to be like God, who makes the rain to fall on the good and the bad alike. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:18.640 Which means that why is he making the rain fall and taking care of everyone, even the most evil among us? 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:20.559 It's because he loves them. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:22.160 Love is the motivation there. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.559 There's a loveliness in them. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:28.480 A lot of these things need to be received by faith. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.079 So describing the image of God is difficult. 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:37.119 It's like describing the essence of humanity, and that is a challenging thing. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:44.640 But the image of God, like God's own image, we can say it is one, it is one thing. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:53.680 But we don't have to stop there because like God, when we describe him as one, we also know that he is the Trinity, he is the blessed trinity. 00:20:54.160 --> 00:21:01.200 And we can continue in that same line of thought with this description of what does it mean for humanity to carry the image of God? 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:13.119 We each and every one of us carry the image of God in us, but humanity carries the image of God in a diversity, more particularly in a binary. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:16.960 This is the way it is described in Genesis 1.27. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:20.240 It says, so God created man in his own image. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:22.480 In the image of God, he created him. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:25.359 Male and female, he created them. 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:35.599 This is uh a break into a poetic structure for this description that uh the writer of Genesis goes into. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:38.880 And you see the double emphasis on the image of God. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:51.359 He makes man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, and then brings in this thing which even grammatically is hard to wrap our minds around male and female, he created them. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:55.920 There is a binary in our image of Godness. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.519 Our masculinity and our femininity is. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:05.440 An intrinsic part of our image of God that's in us. 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:10.400 So you can see this becomes this basis of so many things. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:18.799 This very verse is what Jesus will quote in Mark 10 when he describes the when he describes marriage, when they're arguing over divorce laws. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:22.960 He will say, Consider, in the beginning, God made them male and female. 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:26.640 And then he'll say, What God has brought together, let no man separate. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:40.319 There is a, when we when we understand the image of the God that we are created in, we are created in the image of a God who is intrinsically relational. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:46.400 The Father loves the Son through the Spirit. 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:52.079 There is a relationality in the image of the God that we are created in. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:23:10.079 And so in our image of Godness in us, God builds in at this most bodily creaturely level, this complementarity for relationships. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:11.839 You see that? 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:14.799 It's built into our creaturliness. 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:28.960 That there's this there's this relational nature, there's this even interdependence between men and women, our maleness and our femaleness that's demonstrated in the image of God. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:31.759 It's an amazing thing. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:43.839 So this starts to give us a picture of what our essence is as the image of God, these implications for what it means to be a person, these essential qualities of ourselves. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:47.039 Now we'll see what our position is in creation. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:49.200 Back again to Genesis 126. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:50.319 I'll read it one more time. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:24:07.200 It says, Then 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 birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:16.319 So last week we described the framework that the creation narrative moves through. 00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:23.359 And we saw that in the beginning, God's hovering over the face of the waters, and creation is formless and it is void. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:30.640 And so over the course of the first three days, God creates these forms so that it's no longer formless. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:34.319 He creates light and separates the light from the darkness. 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:38.400 And then he creates the sky and the sea on the second day. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:42.160 And then he separates the land and the sea on the third day. 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:55.680 And then on the fourth day, to rule over the light, he makes the sun and the moon and the stars so that the light is ruled over and that this form is filled with these proper creatures. 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:04.079 And then on the fifth day, he creates birds and sea creatures, that the sky and the seas would swarm with life. 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:10.000 And they are called to then rule over that realm, the sea and the sky. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:13.599 And then the beasts of the field are created on the sixth day. 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:22.160 And finally, the capstone, or the keystone rather, of the sixth day is the creation of humanity. 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:26.880 And humanity is given dominion over all of it. 00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:42.559 Humanity's dominion, because of our position, our position in creation shows us, and this very call to our dominion, is to take dominion over all these other realms so that they are led by humanity. 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:50.480 I've been going back and forth with these two words, that humanity is created as the capstone of creation. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:57.839 But even better, I think this picture of is humanity is created as the keystone of creation. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:07.839 The keystone, like in an arch, is the center stone that is dropped in and it holds all of the other stones together because it's holding the center. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:11.920 And that's the way that humanity is positioned in creation. 00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:16.240 Such that when we're there, the whole picture holds together. 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:20.960 But when we're off, the whole rest of the picture begins to fall apart. 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:25.119 And spoilers, the keystone gets off. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:27.839 But we aren't there yet. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:41.279 Right now, what we're shown is that in this dominion, which is an expression of the image of God in us, we promote the flourishing of the world. 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:48.960 Humanity is what enables the rest of the creatures in the world to flourish as they are supposed to. 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:55.039 So we see this in a really practical example in just a couple verses away in Genesis 2.5. 00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:04.400 Genesis 1 is like this broad picture of creation, and Genesis 2 zooms in on what we're looking at today, which is the creation of man and woman. 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:18.400 And in Genesis 2.5, to kind of set that scene, the writer says this It says, When no bush of the field was yet in the land, and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up, why? 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:25.200 For the Lord had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:33.119 See, he's saying, the writer's saying, look, there was there weren't these type of plants taking place in the world. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:37.680 There was this lack of flourishing and of life springing up. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:38.480 Why? 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:40.960 Because humans weren't there. 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:52.960 When humans are there, then these things will be able to find their right position and the ground will be cultivated, and this goodness that's in the world will be able to be brought forth and drawn out. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:56.160 But until humans are there, it's not happening. 00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:05.279 That shows us our position in creation and it ties us directly into what our role in creation is. 00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:08.640 Also, this should say something about what the term dominion means. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:10.079 We'll get to that. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:13.759 So this shows us our role in creation. 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:17.839 Move on to Genesis 1, 28. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:34.880 And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:41.839 So for God to bless is for God to provide a function. 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:47.599 And in this we see the function of humanity is given to it. 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:52.000 This verse has been referred to as the cultural mandate. 00:28:52.480 --> 00:29:01.119 This is God commissioning humanity to go out and to make culture, to draw this goodness out of the world. 00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:05.119 So the world is created with this incredible potential in it. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:15.599 But God sets humanity into creation in his image to continue his creative process in the world. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:21.039 So the development that we see of humanity is a good thing. 00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:27.039 That is us following our cre this creational mandate from the Lord. 00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:32.880 So we see that in this very thing, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:46.000 Right there, we see the necessity of the image of God being both male and female ties directly to the role that is given to humanity of being fruitful and multiplying. 00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:48.319 It's not something you can do alone. 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:52.559 That, you know, this is in biology class. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:59.839 And so it's tied directly to our role, which is to be fruitful and multiply. 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:04.480 Look, Adam, Eve, don't make it just the two of you. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:06.559 We want to cover this world. 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:15.119 And there's goodness that's just laid all throughout the world that needs to be drawn out by more and more people being in it. 00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:18.079 That's the picture that we're given of creation. 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:22.160 And we start to see this develop as Genesis continues. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:30.799 And so in the next chapter in the intro, we'll see these wonderful descriptions of there's this river and there's this beautiful gold there. 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:36.000 And there's a there's another river next to it, and that's where you'll find these amazing onyx stones. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:40.319 You know, how do you get gold out of the out of the earth? 00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:42.720 Humans. 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:46.799 You need humans to get gold out of the earth. 00:30:47.039 --> 00:31:00.720 God's saying, like, look, there's this goodness here, and it's gonna be made more beautiful when humans are there to draw it out and to turn it into, you know, beautiful things, rings and things. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:09.359 Later on in Genesis 4, 23-22, uh, we get this genealogy. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:16.799 It says, uhdah bore Jabal, he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:22.400 His brother's name was Jabal, he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:25.599 Zillah also bore Tubal cane. 00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:30.079 He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:38.480 You see how this creational, uh this cultural mandate is flowing through humanity as it develops. 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:55.200 This is the story of uh a process being started, and humans in the image of God are going to bring out more and greater and increasing diversity of glory out of the earth as we reflect the image of God in us. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:32:05.440 Uh the uh I've been doing like a little Bible reading thing with my son, and we were doing the New City Catechism app. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:10.400 It's free, and there's songs, and your kid will memorize the songs, and it's adorable. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:11.519 So I recommend it. 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:19.200 Uh but there's another app, uh uh just like on the Bible app, um, and they have a Bible for kids app, and I was like, great, there's an app for that. 00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:21.200 I can just decipher my kid with an app. 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:29.119 And we were going through the creation story, and they'll go through day one, and it's like in God made light, and there was light. 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:31.119 And then it says, done. 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:33.759 And I'm like, done? 00:32:34.480 --> 00:32:41.279 That's the worst word you could have chosen to make this fake translation of this text. 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:46.000 It's literally the opposite point of the whole chapter. 00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:49.920 The point of the chapter is it's just getting started. 00:32:50.880 --> 00:33:04.559 The image of godness in humanity places humans in the world so that this story of God's glory being shown by his creatures will continue on and on in glory forever. 00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:05.519 Done. 00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:06.319 What's that? 00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:07.119 Who what? 00:33:09.039 --> 00:33:10.640 Not much quality control. 00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:14.720 It's not done. 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:21.759 So we see our role is to both produce more people and to take dominion. 00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:24.640 And what does the dominion of humans mean? 00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:30.240 It means the same thing that we saw the dominion of God mean throughout the whole story. 00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:35.119 We allow things to be fruitful, to multiply. 00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:41.759 We allow creatures to find their God intended demonstration of who they are. 00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:45.039 That's what the dominion of humanity means. 00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:49.599 The dominion of humans is good news for the world. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:52.480 That's the intention of the creation. 00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:55.200 And there's a final thing that's a part of our role. 00:33:55.359 --> 00:34:01.359 We're not just called to produce, we're not just called to take dominion, we're also called to receive. 00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:04.240 It's Genesis 1, 29 through 30. 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:11.920 And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. 00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:24.559 You shall have them for food, and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food, and it was so. 00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:32.480 See, we are called as humans to receive the goodness of the world that we're in. 00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:37.199 We're called to receive it with gratitude and with joy. 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:52.079 You know, some of us, some of us are so afraid of this is a joke from this past weekend where it's like everything that anybody confesses is like, I think I'm just like really idolizing this thing. 00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:54.000 And it's like, I don't think you are. 00:34:55.360 --> 00:34:58.559 We convince ourselves that everything that we're doing is idolizing something. 00:34:58.719 --> 00:35:02.639 It's like, I think what you should be doing is receiving it with gratitude. 00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:08.800 Because God put goodness in the world for us to receive the goodness out of it. 00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:13.920 The problem is you're you're not receiving it with gratitude to the one who has given it to you. 00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:21.599 Imagine a people who saw the world and their position in it as something to be received with gratitude. 00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:23.199 What a counterculture. 00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:33.440 And then finally, in Genesis 131, and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:37.840 And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 00:35:38.159 --> 00:35:41.199 Altogether, it is very good. 00:35:41.679 --> 00:35:58.719 God creates humanity, and for the first time, with this keystone in place, and the whole picture of creation held together by humanity as at in its proper position, the wholeness taken together, God steps back and he says, This is very good. 00:35:59.119 --> 00:36:03.039 And very good to God doesn't mean done. 00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:05.039 It doesn't mean complete. 00:36:05.280 --> 00:36:24.400 It means this is just getting started, and we're going to see a picture of developing glory forever from these people as families become tribes, become civilizations, become beautiful cities, and we see the amazing things that they create in the fields that they till and the art that they create and the music that we get to hear and sing. 00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:27.519 That's what the picture was of what's coming. 00:36:27.599 --> 00:36:37.199 And of course, we know that a lot of that comes, but it in just two chapters away, that very goodness is robbed. 00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:49.360 And it's because that last thing that we're called to do, which is to receive, we don't do with our own identities. 00:36:51.280 --> 00:37:03.280 Instead of receiving the image of God that's in us, we're told a lie that says, if you do this, you'll be like God. 00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:07.440 What should Adam and Eve have said? 00:37:10.480 --> 00:37:13.679 I'm already in the image of God. 00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:18.239 He's given it to me freely. 00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:22.639 It's to be received with gratitude. 00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:27.119 But instead they say, oh, be like God. 00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:30.400 Just do that, I'll do that. 00:37:33.199 --> 00:37:42.239 And so this incredible thing that we've been given, which is the image of God, we twist. 00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:53.280 Because we treat our identity like something we could give to ourselves, rather than as something that's to be received with God by gratitude. 00:37:55.039 --> 00:38:00.400 The likeness of God is not the most incredible likeness in Scripture. 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:08.079 The most it is an amazing thing that humans are created in the likeness of God. 00:38:09.119 --> 00:38:27.760 But more amazing than that is that when we denied the likeness of God in us, and when our hearts became corrupted by sin, and that we found ourselves away from God and strangers from all the good things that He had promised us, without hope in the world. 00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:31.599 Romans 8, 3, it says this. 00:38:32.639 --> 00:38:37.039 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. 00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:51.039 By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh. 00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:56.639 God gave us his likeness freely. 00:38:57.760 --> 00:39:00.960 We threw it away as if it was something we could make. 00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:18.400 And then more incredible than us being given the likeness of God is that Jesus, God himself, took on the likeness of our sin, so that that sin which would keep him from us would be condemned in the flesh on our behalf by his work. 00:39:18.559 --> 00:39:31.039 And once again, what was true at the beginning is true now for us, even as sinners, which is that our identity is to be received with gratitude by God. 00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:35.280 And in some ways it's even greater. 00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:46.079 Because we're given the identity not just of creatures made in his image, but of his very son who unites himself to us. 00:39:49.760 --> 00:39:52.480 This is the beginning and the shape of our story. 00:39:53.519 --> 00:39:58.000 So let's take one question and then we'll uh take communion together. 00:39:58.320 --> 00:40:00.239 No questions today, smiley face. 00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:15.519 When we take communion, remember that it that it's this transcendent God who took on our likeness, and then his body was broken for us, so that w we might be made new creations again. 00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:28.960 So that we might be able to move in the world in the way that he called us to originally, in hope that the good things that are in the world by his spirit might be drawn out in beautiful new ways because of his work in our hearts. 00:40:29.199 --> 00:40:33.360 Your identity is to be received by him, by Jesus. 00:40:33.519 --> 00:40:37.840 The most fundamental thing about you is given to you freely by Jesus. 00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:39.440 Come to him in faith. 00:40:39.679 --> 00:40:42.559 Let's do that together this morning at communion. 00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:44.320 Father, we praise you. 00:40:44.480 --> 00:41:02.000 We thank you for the goodness that you built into the world, and we praise you that you saw that it was so good that when it was corrupted, you did not throw it away, but by great sacrifice that you took on yourself, uh you sought to redeem it so that it might be made good once more. 00:41:03.199 --> 00:41:15.920 Lord, we praise you for the development that you've brought into each of our lives and that you bring through our lives and the normal, ordinary things that we do in work and care for our families and love for our friends. 00:41:16.239 --> 00:41:21.840 Lord, I pray that you would teach us to see those things as gifts of your spirit to be received with gratitude. 00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:37.199 And that we would not move through the world, begging the world to give us our identity, but that we would live from who you have called us to be, freely expressing who you've made us to be, that our identity might be received from you. 00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:39.280 Father, I lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:41:39.519 --> 00:41:40.159 Amen.