(We started out the sermon with a video from BBC One Videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auSo1MyWf8g - which displays the wonder of God’s creation accompanied by a poetic reading of the song “What A Wonderful World”)
What a wonderful world we live in. The Psalmist observed “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:3-4
We live on a wonderful world - remarkably designed for life. And the more we know about our planet the more amazing it is that life exists at all. As I was researching for this sermon I ran across a site that told of 154 different factors that would need to be in play in order for life to exist on ANY planet (http://www.reasons.org/articles/fine-tuning-for-life-on-earth-june-2004 154 factors necessary for life to exist on any planet in the universe). Those factors point to the fact that ours is a unique and wondrous example of God’s creativeness.
For example Scientists have determined we’re in “goldilocks” region of our sun. We’re not too far away, not too close… we’re JUST RIGHT. If we were much closer the sun we would be cooked to death. If we were much farther away, we would be frozen solid.
More than that, - during its next orbit around the Sun - if the Earth were to deviate by only a fraction of an inch every 20 mils or so we would either freeze/fry within a year.
In fact, our planet is tilted (with regard to sun) in a very “Goldilocks” kind of way. As the earth revolves around the sun, it does so at a constant 23 degrees on its axis. Because of that “tilt” our planet can support far more life than if we were perpendicular. If the Earth wasn’t tilted, the poles would be colder, the equator would be hotter, and less of the earth’s surface would be livable.
(PAUSE)
Now, some night, look up at the moon. Our moon seems to be a lifeless dust ball in the sky… and that’s because it is. Even though the moon is roughly the same distance from the sun as we are, its temperatures range from 214 degrees above zero to 243 degrees below. No life can exist on the moon.
But if it weren’t for that lifeless moon, our earth’s oceans would be dead. The moon’s magnetic attraction on earth creates the tides on our oceans. If the moon were much bigger or closer, ocean tides would overwhelm us with waves the size of tsunamis. But if it were much smaller or farther away the tides would be almost nonexistent and life in the oceans would be impossible.
Those are just a few of the reasons that we know we live on a wonderful – life filled – world. And there’s a reason for that. Genesis tells us “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God created our planet to be LIKE NOTHING ELSE in the universe.
ILLUS: Back in 1968, Bill Anders an astronaut in the Apollo 8 space mission (the first crewed mission to not only leave the atmosphere but to circle the moon and return). He took pictures of earth while in space that have been very popular because they showed us the earth in a way that mortals had never seen. Reflecting on that, he said of our planet: “It was the only color we could see in the universe.”
What’s interesting is how God created the world. He created LIGHT and said “It is good”. He created VEGETATION and said “It is good”. He created the FISH OF THE SEA and birds of the air and said “It is good”. And He created the sheep and oxen, and beasts of the field and He said “It is good”.
But then He created Adam and Eve. And do you know what He said then? “It Is VERY GOOD”. And so the Psalmist asks: “…what is man that you are mindful of him…?” Psalm 8:4
Well the Bible tells us WHY God is mindful of us, why He cares for us. “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them…” Genesis 1:27-28b
ILLUS: I want us to go back in time and imagine what it must have been like to have when all this took place. In order to do that I’m going to need a volunteer (I picked on someone I knew would be a good sport and had him come up and stand beside me). I want you to imagine being there at the creation of the most perfect man who ever lived (I looked doubtfully at my volunteer).
Genesis tells us that when God created everything else on earth He SPOKE into existence. He’d say “daisies” and daisies would pop out of the ground. He’d say “elephant” and there’d be huge mound of dirt that would shake itself off and there’d be an elephant.
But when God created Adam He did something in creating him He hadn’t done for anything else in creation. I can visualize Him kneeling down in the mud and beginning to shape Adam from the dust of the earth.
Some believe that God may have started with the feet and worked His way up, but I think it was more likely He began at the head. This is where the mind is, and where the nerve center and spinal cord begins.
(I pretended to mold the eyes and nose and mouth).
Then God began to work His way down the body and as He shaped and formed the arms and hands, you can almost see sparks coming from God’s hands. And then, when God had completely formed the man He breathed into man breath of life. (pause) Anyone have some breath mints? (I had the volunteer sit down)
The point is this: God has created us in His image, and that means that God created YOU in His image.
ILLUS: I once saw a poster with a cute little boy on it. And it had these words “I know I’m special, ‘cause God don’t make no junk!”
Now, this series of sermons is called “Contending for the Faith”. It comes from the verse in Jude that says: “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude 1:3
Somewhere in each of the sermons in this series I intend to repeat this same comment: We don’t have to APOLOGIZE for our faith. We don’t need to rally to God’s defense. Our God is bigger than we are – and doesn’t really need our help. But in spite of the fact that God really doesn’t NEED our help, God has called us to contend for the faith. And this idea that we were created in the image of God is a central doctrine of our faith.
This idea is unique to Scripture in that it teaches us that we are NOT an accident. We were planned. We have purpose. Our lives have meaning and value… all because God says we have been created in His image.
One of my favorite verses is out of Ephesians 2:10 “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for God works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God has created things for you to do. You don’t have to do them, but they’ve been set aside just for you – and only you. When you become a Christian, it’s like God hands you a key to the gate of a vast garden of possibilities that are yours because you’ve been made in His image.
But, now there’s a problem. While Scripture teaches us that we have been created in God’s image over the years that image has become warped and wounded. It’s kind of like going to a “scratch and dent” sale where a store will sell you an appliance that had once been a beautiful showpiece but now nobody wants to pay full price because it’s roughed up. It may still have some of the inner workings, but it’s just not as pretty as it once was, so it’s not nearly as valuable as it once was.
I saw a video once where people said things like: “Sometimes it’s hard to tell I’m made in the image of God.
Sometimes I don’t feel much like I’m in the image of God. And sometimes I don’t BELIEVE I’m in the image of God. God’s perfect but I make mistakes. God is all loving… but I don’t know how to love. I keep falling, and I keep failing. So how could I possibly be an image of God?”
ILLUS: I remember reading the story about a woman who’d been arrested for prostitution. As the woman was dragged into police station, you could tell life had been hard on her. She was dressed provocatively and, although she was attractive after a fashion, her eyes showed a weariness and despair.
As she was sat in chair next to the arresting officer’s desk she looked over at him and said “Really, I’m not like this. This isn’t who I am.” In her heart of hearts, this prostitute sensed - something about her that wasn’t a harlot. Deep inside of her soul there was the feeling that she had damaged who and what she REALLY was.
Now, that prostitute may not have felt bad about herself when she compared herself to other prostitutes. She may have thought “Well, at least I’m not as bad as that woman there.” And in that way of thinking, she was probably not that much different than most other folk. There's lots of people who find comfort in comparing themselves to neighbors, or their fellow workers, or a relative. On a scale of 1 to 10 they may come in at a 6 or 7… but at least they’re a point or two ahead of that other guy.
And this prostitute may have been able to find comfort in the fact that - compared to some of the other prostitutes, or the pimp that ran her life – she was at least better than some of them. But once she faced judgment she suddenly realized how dingy and depressing her life had become. Inside of her there was this feeling that - yeah I’m a prostitute, a loser, worthless to most people - BUT this isn’t who I am. This isn’t the kind of person I was meant to be.
In her heart of hearts she may not have understood the theology of it all, but she sensed the truth that she’d been made in the image of God. BUT she’s messed it up. She’d damaged and warped something special. How could she ever make it right again?
That’s the question: If I’m made in God’s image, and I’ve damaged that image… how can I make it right? How am I ever going to REGAIN that image that I’ve lost?
Now, this is where it gets good. This is where the genius of God’s plan is shown to us. 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us about “… the glory of Christ, who is THE IMAGE of God.” And in Colossians1:15 we’re told that “(Jesus) is the IMAGE of the invisible God...”
Who is the IMAGE of the invisible God? (Jesus)
You and I were made in the image of God… but we’ve kind of messed it up. But here we’re told that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. If we could just find a way to wrap ourselves up in that image of Jesus, if we could find a way to put Jesus on us like a coat, then maybe we’d be OK. Wouldn’t we???
That’s exactly what the Bible tells us God wants us to do. Galatians 3:27 promised us “… as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have PUT ON Christ” When you and I became Christians we were buried in the water, and then we were raised up out of that watery grave a new creation. We went DOWN into the baptistery a WARPED image of God, and we came back up WRAPPED in Jesus – the PERFECT image of God. So when we put Christ on in baptism from that day on when God looks at us He sees His perfect image on us.
But was that ALL that God did? I mean was this like having some kind of spiritual cosmetic surgery? When we put on Christ in baptism did we just get a face lift? Oh no. God didn’t stop there. When we got wet on the outside, we got changed INSIDE as well. Acts 2:38 tells us that to become a Christian we need to "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
You see, when we put on Jesus in baptism God put His Spirit inside of us and the Spirit starts tinkering with us. God’s Spirit is now inside us working tirelessly to remake us and remold us in HIS image so that we begin to look more and more like the one who created us.
CLOSE: It comes down to recognizing WHO we are… and WHO we were born to be. I want to close with this true story that illustrates that truth. A preacher and his wife were traveling and it had been a long tiring drive. They stopped into a restaurant for a meal and all they wanted to was to eat and be on their way.
Just then, an older gentleman walked over to their table and asked where they were from. They really didn’t want to talk but they were too polite to say so. They told him and then he asked “What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a preacher,” was the reply.
“Really, I have a story you may find interesting,” and the man pulled up a chair and sat down. And then he began his story: “My mother wasn’t married when I was born. When I started to school my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn’t a very nice name. I used to go off by myself both at recess and during lunch time because of the taunts of my playmates, which cut me deeply. What was worse was going downtown on Saturday afternoon and feeling every eye burning a hole through you. They were all wondering who my real father was.
“When I was about 12, a new preacher came to our church. I would always go in late and slip out early. But one day the preacher said the benediction so fast I got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in church on me. Just about the time I got to the door I looked up and the preacher was looking right at me.
“‘Who are you, son? Whose boy are you?’
“I felt the old weight come upon me. It was like a big, black cloud. Even the preacher was putting me down, I thought.
But as the preacher looked down at me, studying my face he began to smile this great big smile and he said: ‘Wait a minute. I know who you are. I see the family resemblance. You (pause) you are a son of God!’ With that, he slapped me across the back and said, ‘Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.’
At that, the old man got up and left. When the preacher and his wife finished their meal they went to the cash register to pay. The waitress said: “Do you know who that old man was that was speaking to you? That was Ben Hooper, the former governor of our state. This is his home town, and he retired here a few years ago.”
Just a few words from a preacher telling this young man he was made in the image of God changed his life. And it can change yours too. It’s a wonderful life… if you’ll just go and claim it.
That’s why we offer an invitation at the end of every service.
