My sermon illustration experts at McDonald’s were asking whether I had been including them in any of my sermons recently, so I decided to ask them this question. If a random person on the street walked up to you and asked, “Who are you? Tell me about yourself,” what are the identifiers you would use to describe yourself?
One of them immediately responded that they’d make sure this stranger knew that they were packing. But then they gave me a list of ways they identify themselves- things like name, character, where they live, church they attend, their job, what high school they attended, their political leanings, who they’re related to.
In recent years, the world has emphasized your identity being wrapped up in who you find attractive or what are your preferred pronouns (that list has now grown to over 90 options as of last year). It seems we’ve reached a point where it really comes down to I get to define myself in whatever way I desire and you have to affirm me for it.
Maybe it’s time we shift our perspective on this. What if who we are is more than what I think I am at any given moment? What would happen if we all acknowledged we have a Creator who loves and cares about us? What if we stopped trying to define ourselves and look to how God perceives us.
I think David may have been pondering this very line of thinking as he wrote Psalm 8 (read vss 3-4). Picture with me, if you will, David as a shepherd boy. He’s corralled the sheep into their pen and has settled in for the night, laying in the pen entrance to protect the sheep. As he stares up at the sky, he begins to marvel at the grandeur of creation. He gets caught up in the beauty of the heavens as the sun sets and the moon and stars appear. Wow! It’s beautiful!
But then he gets struck by the thought- what is man? We’re tiny, our lives are short, if you compare us to all the wonderful things I’m looking at in the sky right now, we’re rather insignificant. Yet, God is mindful of us, He cares for us- why? I believe that Genesis 1 was on David’s mind as he continues to write (read vss 5-8). God made mankind just a little lower than the heavenly beings. He gave us dominion over all of creation- including the livestock, beasts of the field, birds of the air, and creatures of the sea. All that is left to say is, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
Let’s take a closer look at the account of human creation so we can better understand who we are from God’s perspective. The first thing we see is that we are made in the image of God (read Gen 1:27).
What does it mean to be made in the image of God? I think that word “image” can get us confused. We hear that word and think of something visual, the appearance, how it looks. Yet, if you were to look to your left and to your right, you’ll see that we each have our own unique image. Plus some of us are males and others are females. How can we all be in the image of God when we don’t look the same?
If my father were to walk through these doors right now, you would know who he is, even if you’ve never seen him before. How? There are enough similarities in our physical appearances that he can’t deny me. It goes even deeper than that. There are times when I realize I have various mannerisms that I would attribute to my father. He also passed along one of his best qualities- his sense of humor.
In the same way, we can see God in people- they have the ability to reason, to choose a course of action. But it goes beyond that. My daughters got involved in a college campus ministry at IUK and meet for Bible study each week. This Wednesday, I received a text from Elizabeth, showing me the discussion questions that their group was about to discuss and asking me if that wasn’t something like what I was preparing to preach about soon. The questions- How do you introduce yourself to others? What do you want them to know about you that would help them identify you? Mind you, I had just had my conversation with the folks at McDonald’s that morning.
As they had a similar discussion to what I had that morning, their leader pointed out two facts that I want to share with you now. Every human being is made in the image of God, not every human being becomes a child of God. Our actions reveal our Father (read John 13:35). When people see you, do they see God? Not only are you made in His image, you are His child.
The next thing that I want us to see, I touched on briefly in my last sermon- we are made by the hands of God. We’re going to look at two events in Genesis 2 that demonstrate this for us (read Gen 2:7).
Throughout the creation process, God spoke and so it became. Let there be light and there was light. Let there be an expanse in the midst of the heavens and our atmosphere was formed. Let the waters be gathered so dry land will appear and now we have dry land and seas. Let the earth sprout vegetation and plants began to grow. Let there be lights to govern the expanse and the sun, moon, and stars came into existence. Let the waters swarm with living creatures and fish filled the seas. Let birds fly above the earth and flocks of birds appeared. Let the earth bring forth living creatures and livestock, beasts of the field, and creatures that crawled on the ground lived.
When it came time to make man, God got His hands dirty. We’re told He reached down and formed man from the dust of the earth and then He breathed life into his nostrils. We are uniquely made in the image of God, there is no other creature at this level, we are His masterpiece.
But God didn’t stop there. Let’s skip down a few verses for our second event (read vss 18, 21-22). God recognized that it was not good for man to be alone, we were made to be in relationship. God paraded every other animal created before man and decided none of them were suitable. So God put the man to sleep, took a rib, and formed woman.
I have always loved this thought from Matthew Henry’s commentary on this passage. The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.
Both instances of creation- Adam from dust and Eve from the rib, help us see how God sees us. Look at Genesis 1:27 again (read). Man- male and female- was made in the image of God by the very hands of God.
The third thing we learn about God’s perspective of us is that we were made for the glory of God (read v 28). There were two things mankind was told to do. First, populate the world- be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Second, have dominion over the rest of creation. The idea of dominion lends itself to ruling over, but I see it more as taking care of.
Ephesians 2:8-10 explains the basis for why we do good works (read). It’s not about earning salvation. We can’t do that on our own, but God gives us the free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Too many people stop after verse 9 because they see this verse as proof that things they consider to be works, such as baptism (by the way, baptism isn’t a work- it’s done to you, not by you) won’t get you saved. They miss Paul’s point by leaving out verse 10.
We don’t do works to get saved, we need what God has done through Jesus Christ for that. No, we do works because we’re already saved. It’s our way of showing appreciation to God for what He has done for us through Jesus Christ while pointing others to Him. We live out our lives in such a way that God receives the glory (read Matthew 5:16). When we’re out and about serving others, we’re not shouting, “Hey! Look at me!” We’re declaring, “Look to God, this is for His glory!”
We look to the beginning and find that we are made in the image of God. We are made by the hands of God. We are made for the glory of God. We find our identity in Him, not ourselves. Now, let’s jump to the end to learn one more thing about our identity with God (read Revelation 2:17).
God has promised to give us a new name, one that will stay with us for eternity. Picture it- you’re standing before God on Judgment Day, giving an account for all that you’ve done- good or bad. But then Jesus steps in, claims you as one of His, and God the judge declares you innocent. He steps down from His throne and hands you a white stone that only you know and you will have that new name for eternity. How amazing is that!
But there’s only one way for that to happen. While there’s still time, you must believe that Jesus is the Son of God who has provided forgiveness. You must repent, turn away from sin in your life. You must declare that Jesus is now in charge of every part of life. You then join Him in death, burial, and resurrection by being baptized in the water and live for Him the rest of your days. We’ll be right here with you for the journey. Won’t you make that decision today?
