10/13/24 “The Imago Dei”

“The Imago Dei”

Genesis 1:26 – 2:7

The story is told of a young boy who stumbled across an eagle’s egg in the woods behind the family farm.

The boy picked it up and proceeded to put it in a nest along with some prairie chicken eggs.

Well, the time came when the eaglet hatched, along with the baby prairie chickens…

Not knowing any different, the young eagle began doing all of the things that the prairie chickens did…

He would scratch at the ground, walk around everywhere…maybe stretch his wings once in a while just to fly a few feet like the other members of his family did…

Then one day after many years of living like a prairie chicken, the eagle looked up into the sky and saw a majestic bird effortlessly sailing through air…its wings stretched out riding the wind.

The eagle asked one of his prairie chicken friends “What is that”?

That, said the prairie chicken, is a Bald Eagle – the chief of all birds…

“…but you will never be like him” said the prairie chicken.

And, sadly, the eagle believed his friend and he spent the rest of his life living as a prairie chicken – when all along – he could have soared high above his chicken coop just as the other eagle had.

This little story is to illustrate the truth about how we have been lied to by secular culture…

The naturalistic/humanistic/atheistic narrative of who we are as human beings is essentially that we’re all a bunch of prairie chickens!

In schools all around the world, children are taught that they are nothing more than a cosmic accident…maybe a ‘happy little accident’…but an accident, nevertheless.

…and, for some reason, society cannot understand why depression, suicide, and mass shootings are tragically becoming more and more commonplace in today’s world.

If you teach a child that they have no intrinsic value, is it any wonder they will act out in a way that reflects that hopeless belief?

If you tell children they are nothing more than intelligent monkeys, should we be surprised when they act like brute animals?

Satan’s goal is to convince all of us that we are prairie chickens – when in reality – we were made to soar with the creator of the universe!

In the eighth chapter of the book of Psalms, David tackles the question of “What is Man”…or to put it another way, “Who are we?”

He writes: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea….” (Psalm 8:4-8)

These verses remind us of the great value God has placed upon every single human being.

When John’s gospel says, “For God so loved the world”, its saying that God cares deeply for each and every person He’s ever created…

Simply because we are human beings, we have intrinsic value to God – and we need to remember that truth…

…especially when it comes to people who persecute us because of our faith – or family members who’ve hurt us in some way on the past…

Yes, God loves them too….and – as Christ followers – we are instructed to reflect God’s love to them as well.

So…man has intrinsic value simply because of who he is – sometimes we refer to this as the sanctity of life.

That phrase ‘Sanctity of Life’ is the idea that human life is sacred and precious.

It’s the view that all people are of equal worth and dignity, and that it is wrong to take the life of an innocent human being.

In the coming weeks, as we inch closer to the presidential election, we’re going to be taking a look at some biblical topics….

Biblical topics that also just happen to cross over into the realm of political consideration as well.

You will not hear your pastor endorse a particular political party or candidate from the pulpit…

 – but – we will be looking at what the Bible has to say concerning a few topics that bleed over into the realm of political discourse….and the sanctity of human life is one of those topics.

Understanding that we have intrinsic value generally leads to another question that people often ask – in fact – this is the number one question that people ask on the internet every year: “What is the purpose of life?”

As a human being, what is my purpose?

Some people attempt to answer this question through a philosophical lens such as the ancient Greeks who generally believed that the purpose of life is to chase happiness through indulging in a variety of hedonistic pleasures.

…unfortunately, this course of action never leads to true happiness or satisfaction – only hollow moments of fleeting pleasure.

Others attempt to answer the question of man’s purpose through a strictly biological or scientific lens.

They will attempt to find purpose in life through nothing more than their five senses….no room for God…no room for metaphysics of any kind…no room for a spiritual dimension to life.

Many of these individuals will look to secular scientists - and their particular interpretation of scientific data - to define their life purpose.

This lens of looking at the world simply cannot answer the question of purpose in life because it discounts the only source of where man can find true fulfillment –

…that being in the person of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins found only through his shed blood upon the cross.

Any lens of life that leaves out the creator has no hope of answering the question of purpose in life.

To really find purpose, we don’t need a philosophical answer – we don’t need a biological answer – we need a theological answer…

In other words, we need to look through the lens of mankind as an eagle rather than through the lens of mankind as a prairie chicken!

Verse 26 (Genesis 1:26) in our passage for today provides us with the first picture in scripture of how God views the purpose and true identity of humanity.

The text reads: “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…”

The Latin term for “Image of God” is “The Imago Dei.”

So…what does it mean to be made in God’s image?

First of all, God is spirit…so obviously we don’t look like Him in a physical sense.

….Now, Jesus did take on flesh for 33 years and took on the appearance of a man – and many theologians believe that he will continue to appear as that of a man for the rest of eternity –

…but when the Godhead originally issued the proclamation to ‘make man in our image’ in verse 26 of today’s passage, the incarnation of Jesus Christ would be thousands of years into the future.

So, if being made in God’s image doesn’t refer to a physical image…what kind of image is the Bible talking about?

The Hebrew word for ‘Image’ conveys the idea of being similar but not identical.

So, if humans are similar to God in any way, where do we see those similarities manifest themselves in our lives?

When I look at scripture, I see 4 distinct ways in which man can be described as being an image-bearer of God.

The first is that we are rational beings.

…well, usually we are rational beings. Sometimes the desire for love – or chocolate – can turn us into non-rational beings…but hopefully that’s the exception to the rule!

Unlike the animal kingdom, man has the capacity to formulate thought… we have self-awareness.

(Show picture of dog looking at tennis ball)

I came across this picture the other day. It’s a dog in an art museum staring at a painting of a huge tennis ball….

Apparently, the dog is in deep thought over the philosophical meaning of the piece of art.

Now, this picture strikes us as being humorous because we all know that dogs don’t have the capacity to contemplate deep issues in life…

In real life, a dog sees a tennis ball and just instinctively wants to run after it – he doesn’t stare at the ball trying to figure out why he desires so strongly to run after it…

That’s the difference….God has given man the ability to rationalize & cognitively process the way in which he fits into the world around him…

Dogs can’t do this…monkeys can’t do this…dolphins can’t do this…only man has the ability to rationally engage in any kind of philosophical thinking.

The same holds true for the ability to truly love in the sense of desiring the absolute best for someone else without expecting anything in return (called altruistic, or agape love)

Now you might be thinking, “But pastor Andy, my dog…he loves me unconditionally no matter what I do.”

I would say that your dog shows appreciation for the things you do for him..

Our oldest daughter and her husband have a little Cavapoo (Fluff ball) named Lucy.

When Lucy comes to visit, she sees me and gives me a brief little greeting…

but when Lucy sees Lisa, she goes completely bonkers…she jumps 3 feet into the air, barks, runs around the house at 100 mph…

Why the difference in greetings?

One might be tempted to believe that Lucy loves Lisa more than she loves me…

But when we consider the fact that Lisa gives Lucy much more attention than I do…including letting Lucy lick her on the face – sorry, I just can’t handle that – then it begins to make sense why Lucy much prefers Lisa to me….

Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that Lisa secretly slips Lucy table scraps as well…

I hope my daughter isn’t watching this right now! 😊

Lucy responds to Lisa in a different way than she responds to me because she remembers the potential benefits that may be waiting for her in the future if she hangs out with Lisa.

But only human beings have the capacity to love others altruistically…to truly desire what is best for another person even if we don’t receive any benefit from the relationship.

Now, does it mean that all humans will love altruistically? No.

In fact, most people won’t….but choosing not to sacrificially love someone doesn’t negate the fact that they still – as human beings - have the ability to love others in this way….especially those people who are indwelt with the Holy Spirit..

The second way that humans reflect the image of God is that we are moral beings.

Everyone is born with an innate ability to understand basic right from wrong.

When a 2 year-old is having a meltdown and purposefully takes a vase and throws it off a shelf and watches it shatter all over the floor, their immediate reaction is to brace for the coming discipline because they innately understand that what they did was wrong.

Animals don’t struggle with this issue of right & wrong…they don’t wrestle with their conscience….especially cats.

If a cat purposefully swats a vase of the shelf, it will just look at you like “You idiot, why did you place the vase there?”…no remorse whatsoever.

Animals do not have an innate knowledge of God’s moral law in the same way as human beings do.

Remember what Paul said about the human conscience in the book of Romans?

He says this in Romans 2:15, “….They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness….”

A recent Gallup poll showed that a vast majority of people understand the world as being morally messed-up…

They can see imperfection in the world because God has given us the ability to conceive of what perfection looks like…

In popular culture, the distinction is often made between understanding the vast disparity in morality between Mother Theresa and Hitler…

It’s easy for anyone to see how Mother Theresa led a more virtuous life than did Adolph Hitler…

But if Hitler had a dog…I don’t know if he did or not…

But if Hitler had a dog, the dog would show affection to his master if his master kept him warm, dry, and well-fed.

In other words, Hitler’s dog wouldn’t care if his master was an evil dictator…

Animals don’t struggle with issues of morality, as humans do.

This is yet another way that we are different than the animal kingdom – and how we as human beings - reflect the image of God.

A third way that we reflect God’s image is that we are immortal beings.

I realize that within Advent Christian theology, there are specific thoughts as to when immortality begins within the human soul….

But regardless of immortality’s timing, we can easily see how human beings have a natural tendency to yearn for something – and to search for – something beyond this life…

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says “…He also has set eternity in the hearts of men…”

Human beings are restless creatures because we have a basic understanding and intuition that our lives will not end when our bodies die…

Man naturally looks to the night skies with awe…and a desire to know more about the vastness of our universe…and the timelessness of the one who created it.

Did any of you catch the Northern lights this past week?

Weren’t they amazing!....especially Thursday night.

How can you not look at something so beautiful and not consider the immortal creator of it all?...and – by extension – the immortal component of humanity…….The image-bearers of God.

God – in His general grace – has given everyone the ability to be able to visualize a life beyond this one…

This is why we see the vast majority of the world believing in some sort of existence beyond our present temporal condition….

Sadly, however, many of these people have been deceived by Satan into believing in some sort of works-based religious system that excludes the work & person of Jesus Christ…

St. Augustine once wrote that “Man’s hearts are restless…until they find their rest in Thee.”

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Until a person finds rest for their soul in Jesus, they will always be rest-less.

The fourth and final way in which we reflect God’s image is that we are responsible beings.

Look at verse 28 of our passage for today (Romans 1:28)

It reads, “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.’”

Just as God rules over the universe, we – as His image-bearers – have been given the responsibility to rule over this earth.

Just as a Navy ship at sea is given specific orders from a higher authority to carry out a mission of some kind, human beings have also been given orders from a higher authority (God) to rule over and subdue the physical parts of this planet.

We have been given great responsibility in this stewardship.

That’s one reason why we walked a mile & a half of ditches along Hwy V yesterday….we want to be responsible in regards to the world in which we live

we want to show the Lord (and others) that we take seriously the mandate to care for this world.

Now, as many of you know, some people in our day & age have gone to extremes in the area of stewardship –

they will claim that policies protecting animals are of the same – or greater - value than protecting the well-being of their fellow man.

Obviously, people can take environmentalism too far…we’ve all seen it happen.

Biblical stewardship, on the other hand, isn’t polluted by man’s desire for power through political agendas…but rather through a longing for common-sense approaches to preserving the creation to which we are a part.

Growing up farming, I had the unique opportunity to experience my grandparents and uncles care for the land they were given to tend and bring forth a harvest on every year.

I saw how meticulous they were in deciding the kind of fertilizer and cultivating practices that would best suit the land as well as what would produce a bountiful harvest at the end of the season.

As image-bearers of God, we have been given a very important task of being responsible for the well-being of the world in which we live.

So…in conclusion today…as creatures made in the God’s image, we are privileged to share certain emotional, psychological, and occupational similarities with our creator.

This puts humanity on a very different level than the rest of earthly creation.

We may be literal lumps of clay in a physical sense, as verse 7 of chapter 2 reminds us (Genesis 2:7) but because God breathed into us the breath of life, we are given the amazing privilege of being like the holy, righteous, all-powerful, eternal God.

I’d like to end the sermon today with the lyrics to a brand-new Christian song that was just recently released.

It’s called “The Truth” by Megan Woods…and the chorus goes like this:

“The truth is I am my Father’s child….I make Him proud and I make Him smile…I was made in the image of a perfect King…He looks at me and wouldn’t change a thing…the truth is I am truly loved…by a God who’s good when I’m not good enough…I don’t belong to the lies, I belong to you…and that’s the truth.

Folks, we are the image-bearers of almighty God…

Don’t allow the world to convince you you’re just a plain old prairie chicken.

Live like the eagle that you are!

Let’s Pray.