Sermon Central
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What Is Man?
Contributed by Robert Simmons on Feb 28, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: What does the Bible have to say about the fundamental question of all life?
I. WHAT IS MAN (SECULAR VIEWS)?
A. MATERIALISM -- PORTION OF MATTER, COLLECTION OF MOLECULES -- "YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT"
B. PSYCHOLOGY -- CREATURE FORMED BY HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT; EVERYTHING IS DETERMINED BY THESE -- "YOU ARE WHERE YOU’RE BORN"
C. SOCIOLOGY -- EVERYTHING IS DETERMINED BY THE GROUP, THE COLLECTIVE RULES -- "YOU ARE WHO YOU’RE AROUND"
D. PHILOSOPHICAL -- MAN IS A THINKING ANIMAL, THE MIND IS WHAT MAKES MAN UNIQUE -- "YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK"
E. EXISTENTIAL -- MAN IS WHAT HE MAKES HIMSELF TO BE -- "YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO"
II. MAN IS CREATED IN GOD’S IMAGE
B. MAN IS ABOVE THE ANIMAL WORLD
1. MAN IS CREATED DIRECTLY BY GOD -- NO GRADUAL EVOLUTION OF ANIMAL INTO MAN BY A SERIES OF STEPS
C. MAN IS NOT GOD. MAN IS UNDER GOD
1. PSALMS 8:5
2. RULED NOT BY SELF BUT BY GOD
D. MAN IS TO REFLECT GOD’S DOMINION
1. GENESIS 1:26
2. PSALMS 8:5-6
3. GENESIS 2:15 -- KEEPING GARDEN
4. GENESIS 2:19 -- NAMING CREATURES
E. MAN REFERS TO MAN AND WOMAN
1. GENESIS 1:26-27 (GOD CREATED MAN -- MALE AND FEMALE)
2. WOMAN WAS MAN’S HELPER (GENESIS 2:18-22)
F. MAN IS TO REFLECT GOD’S NATURE
1. HUSBAND-WIFE RELATIONSHIP REFLECT CHRIST-CHURCH RELATIONSHIP
2. GOD SAID IT WAS NOT GOOD FOR MAN TO BE ALONE
III. COMPONENTS OF MAN -- GENESIS 2:7
A. DUST FROM THE GROUND -- PHYSICAL BODY
1. BODY IS NO DIFFERENT THAN THE COMPONENTS OF ANYTHING ELSE ON EARTH
2. GENESIS 3:19, GENESIS 18:27
3. JOB 10:9
B. BREATH OF LIFE -- SOUL AND SPIRIT
1. JOB 27:3
4. SALVATION IS A SPIRITUAL WORK -- NOT PRIMARILY EMOTIONAL, INTELLECTUAL, VOLITIONAL
5. MAN’S AUTHORITY COMES FROM THE SPECIAL TYPE OF LIFE GOD BREATHED INTO HIM
6. SINCE IT IS INBREATHED BY GOD IT IS IMPERISHABLE -- THE SPIRIT CAN’T DIE (ECCLESIASTES 12:7)
C. DIFFERENCES IN THE SOUL AND SPIRIT
1. LUKE 1:46-47
2. HEBREWS 4:12
3. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BUT NOT A NEAT DIVISION
4. SPIRIT IS THAT INWHICH THE SOUL IS GROUNDED
5. SPIRIT -- BREATH OF LIFE
6. SOUL -- MIND, WILL, EMOTIONS, IMAGINATIONS, DESIRES
IV. FREEDOM OF MAN
A. GENESIS 2:16, GENESIS 3:8-9
B. FREE FROM COMPULSION, UNHINDERED BY SIN’S DOMINION AND ABLE TO DO GOD’S WILL
C. FREEDOM IS NOT FREEDOM TO DO YOUR OWN THING
D. EVERYTHING GOD CREATED WAS VERY GOOD AND GOD’S DESIRE WAS FOR MAN TO KNOW ONLY GOOD AND NOT TO KNOW THE REALM OF EVIL
