Gen. 1:26-27
GE 1:26 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."
GE 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
This morning I want to talk to you about something that I have been hinting about for some time, it’s been something that I’ve talked about especially as I have tried to envision and describe our Life groups. I want to talk to you about Community. This community of Faith, where we have this fundamental understanding as a Christian that we have a place where we Belong.
It has been put inside all of us, this need to know that we belong, we have a place where we fit into the big picture that God is drawing.
Can I ask you a question? I’ll take that as a Yes.
“Do you have a place where you know you belong?” As you think about it, I want you to hear this..... You can know this morning that you do belong..... you can belong to a community of Faith.
The thing about that question of, Do you have a place where you know you belong?, I seem to think we instinctively know the answer right away, whether it’s yes or no, we know. Because there’s nothing better than having a place where you know you are welcome and apart of, connected too, a place where you don’t have to wonder if these people love me, there’s nothing better than that.
On the other side, there’s no lonlier place than knowing you haven’t found that place where you belong.... and you have to wonder who are truely your friends.
This morning I want you to know that God has a place for you, and in fact God the Father has went to great lengths to make sure that the Community that He intended for us from the beginning, can be a reality for us, even in this sin sick world......... So hold on, there’s hope, and that Hope is found in Jesus.
Lee Strobel wrote: “People today will admit any problem - drugs, divorce, alcoholism - but there’s one admission that people are loathe to make, whether they’re a star on television or someone who fixes televisions in a repair shop. It’s just too embarrassing. It penetrates too deeply to the core of who they are.” People don’t want to admit that they are lonely. “Loneliness is such a humiliating malady that it ought to have it’s own politically correct euphemism: “relationally challenged.” Or it’s own telethon. Anything to make it safer to confess. Because right now it’s a taboo, an affliction of losers and misfits. And - to be honest - of respectable people like you and me.”
George Gallup Jr. concluded from his studies and polls that Americans are among the loneliest people in the world.
That seems unbelievable when you think of all the ways we can get in touch with people, cell phones, internet, and so on, and with all our money that we spend on entertaining ourselves...... you would think that lonliness wouldn’t be our problem. More than 3/4 of the American people live in metropolitan areas, and more than 2/3 of those live in suburbs. We are surrounded by more people than ever before in the history of our country, we are busier than ever, aren’t we? How could we be among the loneliest people in the world?
The answer is because we have lost something essential to our well-being.
We are a fast paced society, leaving many people dislocated and far from home. As one weary wife, tired of career moves for her husband explained her lonliness and said, “I got so tired of saying good-bye, that I stopped saying hello.”
Friends, when we listen to God we learn that what the world needs now is a fresh vision of what it means to live in community. A fresh vision of what it means to be the people of God.
In the book of Genesis, way back when God first put people on the earth the design was revealed for us. A fundamental reality about humanity was uncovered. The Truth is........
1. We are Created in the Image of God.
GE 1:26 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."
God put His design in us. He made us in His own Image. What does that mean for us today?
Made in God’s image means we have.......
Special standing - We are recipents of God’s greatest gift of Love, (He sent his own Son to die for our sins), we are endowed with special worth(throughout the NT, Jesus tells us how vaulable we are to the Father, the story of the lost coin, the lost lamb) We are also given special responsibilty (Genesis says we’ve been placed in the unique position of caring for the creation).
To Be Made in God’s Image also refers to a ......
Future Goal - 2 Cor. 3:18 says we are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory. We look forward to that day when we will participate in the full likeness of Christ one day in heaven.. Friends, you are being transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit for a reason.... that reason is simple....You are being prepared for an eternity with the Great I AM, You are being transformed for a reason.... He’s Holy by nature, He is pure through and through.... and for us to have communion, to have community with Him, we must be changed.
Sometimes I go out and play with my dog cinnamon, and I try to get her to do some tricks.... why because I just want to see if she will do them... usaully she doesn’t. But can I tell you something..... God is not up there asking us to do things, give up things, just to see if we will obey...... the truth is we are being prepared for eternity, and we are to be transformed into His likeness, and that comes through obedience.
Maybe more than anything else.... Made in His own image is a statement of.......
Fellowship and Community.
When we think about God, we believe in the Trinity, that God is One, but revealed in three distinct persons.... The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity lives in perfect harmony, perfect unity, they are One. This is a model of what God wants for His people.... To be His people, to be the People of God, we must allow His Holy Spirit to teach us how to have Harmony, to have Unity, and to be One in spirit through our community of Faith.
This Truth brings us back to my original question, “Do you have a place where you know you belong?” Listen to me this morning.... church this is important for you... if your not a Christian this morning this is important for you..... The only way your going to find that Place where you know that you truly belong is through a Faith Community, who is allowing Christ to bring Harmony, Unity and One Spirit. Do you want to belong.... Through a personal relationship with Christ you can know where you belong in this world, and the lonlieness of this world will slip away.
Church, listen to me carefully. Do you understand how important it is for us to be sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit as a community of Faith? If we allow disharmony, disunity into our community of Faith, we move away from God’s intended purpose for the church, and we risk becoming a stumbling block for those who would come to our church looking for this Unity, this Harmony, this Oneness that the Bible describes as the Church.
Do not divide the Body! It’s dangerous ground to walk on spiritually when you allow yourself to be divisive in the church, amen? Our responsibility is to the whole, not to ourselves, we are to seek harmony, and unity, and truth. I can be in harmony with someone I don’t agree with, you did know that didn’t you. The key is, I choose harmony over my opinion. I might not agree with something or someone, but I choose unity and harmony and oneness of Spirit over my own personal feelings...... do you know why this is hard? It takes spiritual maturity to get this right. And too many times we in the church act like the toddlers that I watch every M-W-F as they fight over a toy, saying it’s mine, it’s mine... guess what, the toy doesn’t belong to them which I try to explain to them....... and guess what.... This church doesn’t belong to us either..... It’s His, Were His, We don’t even belong to ourselves, we give ourselves, our rights, our hopes and dreams, we give them To Him...... And as the people of God we value our brothers and sisters over ourselves... that’s the Christian model of relationshisp.... but to many times that’s not what is displayed in churches.
I thank God for you, I Thank God that we have moved into harmony, we have moved into unity.... it hasn’t always been that way has it? Let’s do everything in our power to keep our eyes on Him, and our hearts reaching out to each other as we live in community.
The truth is we Reflect the Image of God when we live in Community.
Eugene Peterson writes: “No one who is whole is self-sufficient. The whole life, the complete life, cannot be lived with haughty independence. Our goal cannot be to not need anyone.”
Only by being persons in community do we find our true identity. Then we reflect the Image of God.
Do you know what Distorts this perfect Reflection of the Image of God?
Sin.
This morning I don’t have time, but the book of Genesis describes to us how Sin was introduced into the world through Adam and Eve and thier failure to obey God’s Law, and since that time, everyone of us has been touched by the curse of sin, we’ve all fallen short of the Glory of God, we all have deliberately, willfully at some point in our life, sinned against God and His Law. We are all sinners by nature.... But aren’t you glad that’s not the end of the story?
God the Father, seeing His creation in rebellion and lost, He loved us even as we were sinners, He sent his only Son Jesus, to die for our sins and as we call upon Jesus and put our Faith in Him, we can be forgiven, and our lives restored to this place of community, to this place where I know who I am, I’m a Christian.... And I know where I fit...., I fit within the body of Christ, his church.
10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
This morning, Do you know where you fit in this world? The first step to answering that Question is by Accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior. This morning I want to give you that opportunity to simply pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart and life, and to ask Him to fogive you for your sins.... I can promise you He will answer you, He will forgive you, and He will give you His Gift of eternal life, and he will even give you a bonus gift, the Holy Spirit who will help teach you about this new life.... Has God been talking to you? Do you have a place where you know you belong? God wants to show you His great plan for your life.... are you ready?
Christians, I also want to invite you... Why? Because we have a great responsibilty to keep unity, to keep harmony, to keep ourselves out of the way in this community of Faith. He is First, were not. Other’s are first, we are not... This is Biblical and we need to live it so that We can continue to be a Community of Faith that people can sense the Unity, the Harmony, the Oneness that God intends for His Church to have. Will you come pray for our church... pray that God would show you anything that might be blocking this Unity.
