Becoming What We Were Created To Be Series

MADE IN HIS IMAGE

Becoming What We Were Created to Be

Closing Sermon — The Greatness of God Series

INTRODUCTION

I told you I was through with the Greatness of God sermon series. I am — but I'm not.

Throughout this series I have contended that contemplating God's greatness is essential to living a life of discipleship. As we come to know His greatness, we gain comfort in trials, confidence in our salvation, and courage in our mission. Without it, we will hardly find the energy or the stamina to keep going.

So we looked at His greatness, His goodness, His willingness to communicate, and finally His sacrificial love. That should change us. And that's exactly where I want to go today.

Are you familiar with the Progressive Insurance "Dr. Rick" campaign? It features a fictional "parental-life coach" who helps new, young homeowners avoid picking up their parents' annoying habits — obsessing over home maintenance, commenting on the weather, wearing awkward clothing. The ads launched in 2016 and have become genuinely beloved, highlighting what they call the "Parentamorphosis" phenomenon.

"It's funny because it's true."

It happens to all of us. We do something and catch ourselves thinking: that's exactly what my dad would have done. Or my mom. For good or bad, we become like the people we come from.

There are some habits we'd rather not inherit. But there are others we can only hope to.

As we close out this series, I want us to contemplate another critical fact buried in the creation story.

"Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:26–27)

In His image. In His likeness. There is something about us that mirrors God — and that is one of the highest things that could be said about any creature.

Here is where we have been:

God is great — He is the Creator.

God is good — He created not just a functional world but a beautiful one.

God communicates — He chose not to give us the silent treatment.

God loves sacrificially — becoming one of us, dying on a cross.

If I am created in His image, should I not possess these qualities? Shouldn't I aspire to these traits? Shouldn't I believe I can reflect who He is?

We do have to reckon with the fact that sin entered the world and has tarnished that image — but I don't believe it has eliminated it. We are still image-bearers of God. And when we become Christians, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to restore that image from the inside out.

"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." (Romans 8:29)

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:1–2 NIV)

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." (Romans 12:1–2 MSG)

The goal of your salvation is not just heaven when you die. The goal is that you would increasingly look like Jesus — which means increasingly reflecting the character of God — which means becoming what you were made to be in the first place.

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FOUR QUALITIES TO CARRY

I want to challenge you to look at those four qualities and say: "I can do that. I have been made to reflect these qualities."

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1. REFLECT HIS GREATNESS: LIVE WITH PURPOSEFUL STRENGTH

God's greatness is expressed in His creative power — the ability to bring something out of nothing, to order chaos, to sustain what He has made.