A VISION OF MANKIND/PEOPLE/PERSONS
Genesis 1 – 5
Sermon Objective: Help the people understand God’s view of man to enable greater freedom, worship, and meaning to life. This message focuses on man as a creature of God; created in God’s image, marred image, restored image, and a calling to call people back to God.
Last week we talked about God as sovereign. He is all powerful. True life begins and is sustained only in knowing Him as He is. Nothing affects us more than a wrong God. The God of the Bible is the true God. Allah is not the true God. Buddha is not. Shinto is not. Japan’s greatest terror was not their defeat in war, it was the realization that their emperor was not God. He could be defeated after all. Our God is in control. He created the world and is in complete control of the world. Our calling is to trust him no matter what. To listen to him and to obey him.
Today, let us focus our attention upon man. Yes, that’s you and I. This week we had one birth in our church family – David John Hiroshi Fukuda. We celebrate David John’s birth? But why? What is there to celebrate about life? It is going to be tough?
What is man? What does it mean to be human?
Plato defined the human being as a “featherless biped.” He was accurate, man unlike birds has no feathers, and different from monkey and walking animals in that he walks on two feet. But something is lacking in his definition.
God defines what it means to be human. He tells us who we are. What we were meant to be. Made by and for:
Humans are creatures of God
When placed side by side with the infinite God who holds the galaxies in his hand, we discover how small we are:
God is eternal (1 Tim 1:17), I am mortal (Genesis 6:3)
God is all knowing and all understanding (Psalm 147:5), I know so little and so limited (Job 38:1-39:30).
God is self-sufficient (Acts 17:24-25), I am derived and dependent forever upon him (Heb. 1:3; John 15:5).
God has life in himself (John 5:26), I have life on loan (Acts 15:25).
So why did God create mankind? Why do we have these two lovely babies in our church family? What is the purpose of life?
Not because God needs us. God has no needs. God has no felt needs. God has no love deficits. God never has to deal with loneliness. He does not need us for “toys”, for “recreation,” for “past time”, or for “company.”
The Bible tells us we exist for a purpose beyond ourselves. We are not the center of the universe. God is. He made us for Himself.
The First Lie about Ourselves. Genesis 3 tells us the first lie. Satan, acting as a serpent, told our first parents that they could be like God (Genesis 3:5). This was the big one. Believing this lie got the first family expelled from Eden. This lie, which ruined it all for us all, is a lie about us, about our place in the universe. You could be like God.
Satan’s lie was also a lie about God. Satan was saying, “it is so wrong for God not to share his deity. He is selfish. He is self-centered. What is so wrong about wanting to be like God? Why can’t God make you do what you want? Love what you want? Do what you want?”
Isaiah 48:11
I will rescue you for my sake—yes, for my own sake! That way, the pagan nations will not be able to claim that their gods have conquered me. I will not let them have my glory!
Exodus 20:5
5 You must never worship or bow down to them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not share your affection with any other god! I do not leave unpunished the sins of those who hate me, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations.
Romans 11:36
36 For everything comes from him; everything exists by his power and is intended for his glory. To him be glory evermore. Amen.
Instrument or End
About 400 AD Aurelius Augustine considered to be the best theological mind of that century clarifies this so well. “Everything, he declared, is either an instrument or an end.” Instruments have a purpose beyond themselves. A pen is used for writing. I have a friend who collects rare fountain pens. That is good if you can afford it. But I buy fountain pens because I like handling them. I enjoy writing with fountain pens. I especially like to use expensive fountain pens to write my sermons. Fountain pens and my brain connect more easily. A painting is made to express beauty. Everything exists for a purpose beyond themselves. Only God is an end. Everything else is an instrument.
So what is the purpose of man? We are instruments in God’s hands. During the 17th century, the theologians developed a tool to teach children, and called it the Westminster Catechism. The first question was, “What is the chief end of man?” Answer: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
We exists to display God’s character, to glorify him. A passion for God’s glory is the Christian’s highest motivation and uppermost principle guiding his or her life. So whether we eat or drink we do it all for the glory of God.
Colossians 3:17
17 And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father. (NLT)
Yes you and I are a means to an end. But what an end! To be valuable to the Almighty as a vehicle by which he is glorified – there is nothing greater!
“Enjoy Him forever.” What these early worshippers are saying is that “joy goes hand in hand with glorifying God. We were made to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Two sides of the same coin. We were made for God’s glory. As we glorify him we discover the joy of knowing and doing, and being a person who glorifies God. The other side speaks the same, joy can only be found in God. As we bring glory to God, we enjoy him as the One for whom we were created.
C.S. Lewis wrote a book titled, “Surprised by Joy.” He discovered to his delight that a heart radically committed to bringing God glory is a heart full of joy in him. Augustine said the same thing,
“To praise you is the desire of man, a little piece of your creation. You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” (Augustine, Confessions).
But the OT psalmist has discovered this a long time ago:
Psalm 84:2
2 I long, yes, I faint with longing
to enter the courts of the LORD.
With my whole being, body and soul,
I will shout joyfully to the living God.
(NLT)
T.S. We see man with humble beginnings as a created being by God.
Humans are Created in God’s Image
Genesis 1:26-27
26 Then God said, “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life—the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals.”
27 So God created people in his own image;
God patterned them after himself;
male and female he created them.
To be created in God’s image means we are called to be like God in some respects; and we are called to represent God in the world.
Knowledge and rationality – language
Creativity – man was given by God a small role in creation – naming of creation, including Eve
Righteousness and holiness – Very good, excellent creation of God; commanded not to eat the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Dominion – rule (Psa. 8:4-6)
Community – relationship – male and female.
Man has dignity higher than any other creature in the world. The world may have creatures that are awesome, cute – but non like man.
Image Defiled
The saddest chapter in the Bible is Chapter 3 of Genesis for here we are shown how this masterpiece was marred, defaced, and ruined. God’s image in man, while not completely gone has been ruined.
Rationality – feeling and thinking
Creativity – whether it is food, arts, science, technology – man’s knowledge has continued to increase, but sadly leaning towards ungodly ends.
Righteousness – no comment
Dominion – Nature is in rebellion. Every typhoon, every earthquake and other calamities remind us of our lack of dominion. Sickness too. Dominion has been taken away.
Community – We live in a world of terribly lonely people and our repeatedly damaged relationship.
Sin cheapens our humanity.
IMAGE BEING PROGRESSIVELY RESTORED
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!
2 Corinthians 3:18
18 And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.
Romans 8:29
29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters.
1 John 3:2
2 Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.
1 Corinthians 15:49
49 Just as we are now like Adam, the man of the earth, so we will someday be like Christ, the man from heaven.
God has committed himself eternally to fix what we messed up, to reverse the effects of sin, remove centuries of grime, and reveal the splendor that lies in union with Christ just under the surface.
Application:
SOBER ASSESSMENT OF SELF AND OTHERS.
Romans 12:3
3 As God’s messenger, I give each of you this warning: Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you.
RESPECT FOR ALL PEOPLE. Every person is created in God’s image.
FOCUS ON SPIRITUAL GROWTH
REACH OUT TO THE LOST
LIVE YOUR LIFE FOR THE GLORY OF GOD
1 Corinthians 10:31
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (NKJV)
