Genesis 1:26-31, Made in the Image of God

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Introduction

  1. God’s good creation in Genesis 1
  2. Everything is good, summed up in Gen 1:31 – Very Good!

Genesis 1:31 ESV

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

  1. Believe it or not, man is a part of that good creation
  2. But there’s something more special about the creation of mankind
  3. The day/night rhythm breaks
  4. We hear God deliberating before the creation

Genesis 1:26–27 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

  1. Man is made in God’s image
    • What is it to be in God’s image and likeness?
    • We know it’s important
    • We know it’s something only for us
    • But we’re not told what it really means
  2. It’s important to know because identity and purpose go hand in hand
    • If we know one then we have an idea of the other
    • Many feel lost without identity (Adopted kids finding their cultural roots)
  3. Having a deeper understanding of what we are will give us a better understanding of what we are to do

In God’s Image

  1. What it isn’t
    • Physical description
    • Human variety and the gorilla
    • God has no form – so no images!
    • Presence of a soul or spirit
    • Rational thinking, musical ability, inherent talent
  2. An image is an idol – 2 Chronicles 23:17

2 Chronicles 23:17 ESV

17 Then all the people went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.

  1. The image carried the essence of the god
    • Through that image came blessings and curses
  2. Kings were considered to be in the image of their gods and ruled on their behalf
    • This is what God tells mankind to do after making us in his image | Gen 1:28

Genesis 1:28 ESV

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

  1. All of creation is good, but we are given dominion over it
  2. God planted a garden in the East and told us go subdue the earth – continue bringing order to creation
  3. As we are fruitful and multiply we fill the earth with more images of God | Ps 72:19

Psalm 72:19 ESV

19 Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!

Being made in the image of God is not what you look like, what you have, or what you are. Being made in the image of God is a job.

You were created to bear the essence of God, reflect his attributes, and act on his behalf over the creation.

Image Not Found

  1. Over time man chose not to live up to that image
  2. After sin entered the world mankind started looking less like God | Gen 5:3

Genesis 5:3 ESV

3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

  1. Is this Adam passing on the image he was made in?
  2. Or should it disturb us that Seth is not in God’s image?
  3. Paul understood this negatively | 1 Cor 15:49

1 Corinthians 15:49 ESV

49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Because – Romans 1:22-23

Romans 1:22–23 ESV

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

  1. We exchanged God’s glory for images beneath us
  2. So God sent his perfect image to show us what we’re supposed to be

Colossians 1:15 ESV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

We were made in God’s image, chose to bear Adam’s instead, and are now being transformed into the image of Christ | Rom 8:29

Romans 8:29 ESV

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

 

  1. Looking at Jesus will eventually be like looking in a mirror | 2 Cor 3:18

2 Corinthians 3:18 CSB

18 We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

The more we see who and what he is, the more we become transformed to be like him

As God’s Image We Have Value

  1. We are given rights that nothing else in creation has
  2. Our lives are precious, animals are food | Gen 9:6

Genesis 9:6 ESV

6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.

  1. We don’t attain that value, we’re created with it
    • Not wealth or toys
    • Not single/married/kids
    • Not what you look like
    • Not where you live or come from
  2. It belongs to everyone, not just kings
  3. So we ought to those things in their proper place | Phil 3:4-8

Philippians 3:4–6 ESV

4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Philippians 3:7–8 ESV

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

  1. And we ought to respect that others are made in the image of God
  2. James is frustrated at how uncontrollable the tongue is

James 3:9 ESV

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

  1. James 3:9 | On one hand you bless God, on the other you curse those made in his image
  2. Would you go into God’s temple and desecrate the holy objects?
  3. Why then do we tear down his images who we also call brother?

As God’s Image We Are Representatives

  1. If we are being transformed into God’s image through Jesus, it should be clearly seen
  2. To Jesus is to see God | John 14:8-9

John 14:8–9 ESV

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

  1. Have people been with us for so long and still don’t see the image of our creator?
    • Take care to represent God well as his image
    • Allen’s wrapped car – He can’t drive like an idiot anymore
    • Daily, we are wrapped up in God’s image to display who he is
  2. Am I bearing his image when:
    • I’ve been waiting in line for over 30 minutes?
    • When I’m navigating the bureaucracy and red-tape of lodging a customer complaint?

As God’s Image We Have a Job

Immediately after God creates mankind he gives them a job | Gen 1:28

Genesis 1:28 ESV

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

  1. Subdue the earth – Expand the garden and bring order to the rest of creation
  2. Be fruitful and multiply – make lots of babies and fill the earth with more images of God
  3. Our job is the same in essence, but different in how we go about it

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

  1. We are going out into the world filling it with images of Christ
    • Not by having kids, but by making disciples
    • So that all nations, all the world is filled with Christ
  2. In doing so we bring order to all the chaos out there, we subdue the earth by obedience to Christ

Conclusion

  1. There is something divine with all of us
    • God has set us apart from and above creation
    • This is your identity
  2. And with it we see our purpose
    • We have value
    • We are representatives
    • We have a job

Will you live in his image, or exchange the glory of God for something you were meant to rule over?

 

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