Our True Identity Series

INTRODUCTION

• What is one of the most critical questions in life?

• WHO AM I?

• How would you answer the question, Who am I?

• Where would you start?

• Name, occupation?

• How much of your answer is about you as an individual, and how much is about the relationships you form?

• How you answer the "Who am I?" question will come from your worldview.

• This is yet another reason why how you form your worldview is vital.

• Science has tried to answer the question from a viewpoint in which God does not exist.

• On July 7, 2012, a prominent group of scientists released the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, which states that human beings are not unique in ways that matter.[i] In other words, "There's nothing special about being human."

• Humanity no longer occupies a special place in the natural order of things.

• Ingrid Newkirk, founder of PETA, once declared, "a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." There's no difference. (https://www.peta.org/blog/rat-pig-dog-boy/)(Dan Raymond's message on Core 52).

• Many scientists and philosophers are skeptical about whether human life has any special meaning or intrinsic value.

• MIT physicist Jeremy England argues that the purpose of human existence is to use up energy in the universe.[ii] [ii] https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-thermodynamics-theory-of-the-origin-of-life-20140122/

• WOW, that is a sad commentary on who we are; energy burners.

• I wonder why a teenager would take their life when things get tough, given that mindset!

• I wonder why anyone with that outlook on life would want to live when things are difficult.

• Our society is entering a culture-wide identity crisis.

• We cannot even decide what a woman is any longer.

• We have lost our source of identity and are now trying to replace it with such things as pleasure, power, environmentalism, and identity politics.

• If no one put us here, and we aren't here for any sort of meaningful reason, then who are we, and why are we here?

• If we are here by accident of nature, then there is no good answer to who we are and why we are here.

• If here by choice (God created) instead of chance, that changes everything!

• The opening chapters of the Bible are an unequivocal affirmation of our true identity as people.

• We are a creation of God.

• The overwhelming message of Genesis is that we are here by choice, not by chance.

• We are here because God put us here; He wanted us here.

• Of all the life on this planet, humanity is exceptional.

• We hold a special place in the universe and are categorically and essentially different from all other species.

• We are in a series called Core 52, in which we are exploring the 52 most important passages of Scripture and the essential stories and themes connected to them.

• By understanding these verses of God's eternal word, we aim to increase our overall knowledge of God's word, grow our spiritual maturity, and increase our intimacy with God.

• Last week, we saw that creation shows us that the God who created all this must be powerful, purposeful, eternal, and good.

• This morning's core verse comes from Genesis 1:26.

• Today, we will examine three truths that we need to understand from the Creation account that are essential to a proper sense of identity and our understanding of the sanctity of human life.

• Let's turn to Genesis 1:26-27. Verse 26 is your memory verse for the week.

Genesis 1:26–27 (NET 2nd ed.)

26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”

27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.

SERMON

I. You were created in God's image.

• Our memory verse states that God created humans in His image, and verse 27 punctuates the point when it states, God created humans in His own image, in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them!

• Your identity is found in God!

• What does this mean?

• Genesis 1:26-27 makes it clear that we did not evolve from some other form of life.

• A primate did not become pregnant and one day birthed a human.

• We said last week that when God created, each species was to reproduce after its own kind.

• Cats have cats; dogs have dogs; sheep have sheep; monkeys have monkeys, etc.…

• Isn't it interesting that God saw fit to include that little tidbit in the creation account as He knew would try to push him out by saying all life came about by some cosmic accident?