We’ve spent four Sundays looking at what God is like and what difference knowing the true picture of God makes in our lives. Every time you hear someone say that they don’t want anything to do with God, you can be sure that if they told you what kind of God they don’t want anything to do with, you wouldn’t want anything to do with that God either. But the true picture of God attracts the human heart like magnet to iron.
For the next three Sundays, not counting Father’s Day, we’ll be looking at what we believe about mankind, the human race. Our church has the following statement of belief about mankind: "We believe that mankind was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin mankind inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and that mankind is totally unable to restore himself to God. For this reason, God sent Jesus Christ to bring mankind back to God."
This week, when I was putting the finishing touch on my garage office, I found a little booklet titled, "Life’s Cameos." In the booklet was Ed Kane’s poem, God’s Design:
"Philosophers may reason why
But I won’t take the time,
I only know I’m here on earth
Because of God’s design.
So I will just continue on
And do the best I can,
And know that God will do the rest
Because He made the Plan."
I don’t know the poet, and he may be a Christian, but if doing the best we can were God’s intention, we wouldn’t need the Bible. But God gave us the Bible that we might know His intention for mankind. And that’s what we’ll look at this morning. The text is from Genesis 1:26-28.
Someone tells about a man who was looking for work without any luck for many weeks. So he decided to take a break and visit the zoo. While he was at the zoo, he asked the zookeeper if they had any openings.
The zookeeper motioned the man over to a tree and whispered, "Our gorilla just died last night, and we’re expecting a group of children to come this afternoon. They will be very disappointed if they don’t get to see a gorilla. If you’re willing to get into a gorilla outfit and just swing around in the cage, I’ll pay you $10 an hour."
The man thought about the children, and he thought about the money, and then he said, "yes." So he got into the gorilla suit and entered the gorilla cage. Just then, the children began to file by. The man decided he was going to give the children a show by swinging on a tire. He swung so high, that he landed into the next cage, the lion’s cage.
Immediately the man in the gorilla suit began to scream and rattle the cage. The children also began to scream as the lion slowly approached the gorilla. When the man in the gorilla suit thought all was hopeless, the lion said, "Mister, you better shut up before we both lose our jobs."
Only mankind dresses up as something other than what God intended. We never see a dog wanting to be a cat, or a cow wanting to be a horse. But mankind has struggled with confusion about who we are, what we ought to be doing and what we are capable of.
The Mormons and certain Eastern religions believe that mankind can evolve into gods. The naturalists believe that nothing evolved into something, which evolved into mankind, and when we die, we return to nothing. And there are those who are not concerned about God and are simply doing the best they can, making a living, even if it means being or doing what God never intended. They don’t know any better.
This morning, we’re going to look at the value of mankind and the potential of mankind. As we look at these two aspects of mankind, we’ll touch on the origin, the purpose, and responsibility of mankind. Let’s look together.
First, we’ll look at the value of mankind. The value of an object is tied closely to the purpose of the object. When an object is serving its purpose, it has value. When the object can no longer serve its purpose, it loses value.
The biologist says you’re valuable because you play an important role in the food chain. The psychologist says you’re valuable because you need to feel that way. The economist says you’re valuable because you balance supply and demand. The communist says only the state is valuable. The capitalist says only if you produce are you valuable. And Hollywood says you are valuable when you act or look a certain way.
Who’s right and who’s wrong? Who cares? Let me make a buck and have a good time, for soon we die.
But what does the Bible say? Genesis 1:26 and 27 tell us, "Then God said, ’Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’"
In other words, we are made to reflect God. As long as we reflect the image of God, we are valuable. A clock is made to reflect time, a mirror is made to reflect the object in front of it, and mankind is made to reflect God.
In some ways, all of creation reflects God’s greatness. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." But God made mankind to reflect the goodness of God, not just His greatness.
The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." To reflect God accurately is mankind’s purpose in life, and we do this through our relationship with God.
In the book of Job, God tells Satan to look at how Job still trusts God even after Job’s health, wealth and family were taken from him. When Satan looks at us, does He see us trusting God even when life is hard?
Ephesians 3:10 tells us, "[God’s] intent was that now, through the church [those who trust and worship God], the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms." In 1 Peter 1:10-12, we are told that even angels look at God’s relationship with mankind to see what God is up to. In other words, you and I are to be a mirror to show God’s goodness to the rest of creation.
This past week, I met with my investment advisor. I was quite worried about how much our IRAs have deflated. When he showed me that day’s figures, with the stock market doing better, I breathed a sigh of relief.
After he left, I felt God impressing upon me, "Dana, when you were worried, what kind of God did your investment advisor think I was? Did he see in you a God who is loving and powerful enough to take care of you, or did he see in you a God whose hands were tied when the stock market was down?"
Every attitude we express, every word we speak and every action we take reflects on God. When we worry, we sin, not only because worry messes up our mind, our body and our capabilities, but also because when we worry, we are saying to the world that God cannot take care of us or will not meet our needs.
Sometime ago, I was talking with a Christian who sensed that another Christian had something against him. I encourage him to make it right. Instead, he said that the Chinese way is to bury it and forget about it. The God that person reflected was a God whose instruction is irrelevant to the Chinese culture. What kind of God are you reflecting in your daily decisions and actions?
The value of anything comes from its ability to carry out the purpose for which it is made. When co-workers, family members, angels and demons look at your life, what kind of God do they see relating to you? Are they seeing an accurate image of God? That’s the purpose for which we are made. And when we accurately reflect God’s image, we are valuable to each other and to God.
Second, we’ll look at the potential of mankind. What are we capable of doing is determined by what we believe about our origin. If we believe we are the product of atoms, time and chance, we will conclude as Bertrand Russell:
"That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labors of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, ...."
The potential of mankind in the mind of an atheistic evolutionist is summarized in the words of this great British philosopher and logician. In short, whatever we can achieve is meaningless and will be buried under the eventual collapse of our solar system.
If, however, we believe that we are the product of a Creator who made us and set us free, we will conclude as William Ernest Henley in his poem, "Invictus":
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul....
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
Are we really the masters of our fate and the captains of our soul? Which of us chose to be born? Who here chose your genes that determine your physiological make-up and limitations? Are you really in control?
If, and this is what the Bible says is true, we believe that we are the product of a Creator who made us and is the Master over us, then our potential is based on the instruction He gives to us.
Genesis 1:28 tell us, "God blessed them and said to them, ’Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’"
God instructs us to be the master over His creation, but God does not call us to be the master over ourselves. God is to be the Master over us. When we try to be the master over ourselves, we will often be like the person who is self-employed and wanting to sleep in. We will not reach our God-given potential. But when mankind obeys God’s command, we find that we can do much more than we ever dreamed or imagine. We reach our God-given potential.
I was working on this message Friday night at 3 am. My throat was dry and painful. My back was sore from coughing all day. I had a slight chill. I wanted to go to sleep. If I were the master of myself, I would have said, "I can’t do this. I’m going to sleep." I would have been the master of my fate and the captain of my soul. But I would not have tapped into God’s potential.
But instead, I asked God what I should do, go to bed or finish the message. I felt God wanted the message completed before I went to bed, so I did. Now there will be times when God will say, "rest," rather than, "press on."
It was Bruce Wilkinson who said, "We are asking the wrong question when we ask, ’What can I do?’ We are asking the right question when we ask, ’What does God want done?’" Whether in our personal life, at work or in church ministry, "what I can do" depends on my limit. "What God wants done" requires my God-given potential. God never instructs us to do anything that we cannot do with His help. And when we obey God’s instruction, we will look back to see that we have accomplished what we never would have on our own.
Whatever you are facing now, if you are the master of yourself, you will not experience God’s potential for you. If you let God be your Master, and you obey His command to master certain situations, you will find reserves of spiritual, physical and emotional strength that will appear supernatural, because it is.
At the last Council meeting, I arrived before everyone else and notice displayed on a screen in the Education Hall, the 12 steps of the 12-Step program for Alcoholics Anonymous. Let me read the first 3 steps:
Step 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
Step 2: We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Step 3: We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understand him.
We will only reach our limit when we are the masters of our lives, but we will reach God’s potential for us, when God is the Master of our lives.
