1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,960 Well, good morning. So as Cole said, my name is 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:09,880 Andrew. We moved here in 2016 and helped 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,920 be a part of the the foundation of Frontier. 4 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:17,600 We were here for six years and moved away and we've been gone 5 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:21,080 for four years and we got back here as quick as we could. 6 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:23,160 And so we are so excited to be here. 7 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:26,880 And before we get started in our our work this morning, I want to 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,480 point out something because I have a unique perspective on 9 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:31,200 Frontier being here from day one. 10 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,880 I have a unique perspective on Frontier Church just being here 11 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,080 at the beginning and then coming back and we visited a couple of 12 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,480 times throughout the years. But what God is doing in 13 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:46,320 Frontier is very unique. And take my word at that. 14 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,840 You may think I feel alone. I feel like people don't 15 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:51,480 understand me. But what I want you to 16 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:55,720 understand is that God has uniquely blessed Frontier and 17 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,880 that you have a unique blessing. And being a part of Frontier, 18 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:01,800 I've been a part of many, many churches. 19 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,239 I've been working for churches since I was 18 years old. 20 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:08,200 I'm 34 now. So I've seen a lot of variety of 21 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:13,360 churches in different States and different cities, but what we 22 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:15,800 have here is a church family at Frontier is something that's 23 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:17,560 unique and something that's really good. 24 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:21,480 And so I'm glad to be a part of our church family once again. 25 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:26,720 All right, I got all my sappiness out of me now, but I 26 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:28,040 want you to know that this is awesome. 27 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,520 OK, so let me give a little recap to properly frame where 28 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:33,200 we're going to be at this morning, and we're going to be 29 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:38,360 in Genesis 126 and 27. We'll apparently drew the short 30 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:42,920 stick last week and got all the verses this morning. 31 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,000 I've got 2. So we're going to be in Genesis 32 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,240 126 and 27 this morning. But before we get to that, that 33 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,600 part of our passage, I'll just recap what we've been looking 34 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:56,360 at. We've defined the book of 35 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:58,800 Genesis and especially chapters one through 11. 36 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,440 They are not pointing us to science. 37 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:05,520 It's not a scientific textbook. That's not what Genesis is 38 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,759 about. Genesis, especially one through 39 00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:13,800 11, is a theological text. It is pointing us to who did 40 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:18,280 what and why that, who did that particular thing in this 41 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,800 particular way. So what we have here this 42 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:24,200 morning and what we've looked at the the past weeks, it's not 43 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,080 telling us the mechanics of all of these things, but it's 44 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:31,120 telling us the why of all of these things and The Who of all 45 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,840 of these things. Cole did a great job setting us 46 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:38,720 up and framing the trajectory of the creation narrative. 47 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:41,440 And that what we see here in Genesis chapter one in 48 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:43,320 particular, and we'll get into this a little bit more in 49 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,640 Genesis chapter 2 is kind of a polemic. 50 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,360 It's, hey, you've heard of all these other gods and this is how 51 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:54,240 they describe the world. They created the world out of 52 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,840 chaos. Like they used chaos and they 53 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:02,360 created more chaos to have dominion over everything else. 54 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:05,080 There was this cosmic battle and that's how the universe was 55 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:07,400 created. Or you've, we, we've talked 56 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:12,920 about how other ancient Near Eastern myths of creation were 57 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:16,520 pointing to the fact that the gods would get hungry. 58 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:19,200 Well, how do they get fed? Well, they create these little 59 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,360 dirt beings and they create food for them to eat. 60 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:27,440 So we've, we've talked through that and we've pointed to and 61 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,880 looked at how what the creation account in Genesis of Yahweh, 62 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,440 the God of gods is different then all these other ancient 63 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,520 near Eastern myths about creation, their similarities. 64 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:41,800 But what Genesis is trying to do is saying, hey, you've heard 65 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,080 this. Let me tell you what the truth 66 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,600 actually is. And so we've seen on day one, 67 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:52,160 God creates light and he doesn't have to defeat some other God in 68 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,840 order to create light. He just speaks it into 69 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,520 existence. We've seen on day 2, God creates 70 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:02,080 the expanse, he creates the skies, he creates all this, this 71 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:07,040 separation from matter and things to to look at things to 72 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,560 organize around. On day three, he creates plants. 73 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:15,840 So on this, I've taught through Genesis with six to 12th graders 74 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,200 a couple years ago. And the illustration I use is 75 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,400 it's like God creates a ball of play DoH. 76 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,680 He's got a ball of play DoH. But what does that ball of play 77 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:29,440 DoH do? Well, it just, it's just a ball 78 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,960 of play DoH. And so in these days, we get God 79 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:37,600 taking chunks of this ball of play DoH and putting it for a 80 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,520 particular purpose. He fashions it into something. 81 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:45,120 And so as we go, as we've gone through these days, when he 82 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:47,640 creates plants, it's like God takes this chunk out of this 83 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:49,680 ball of play DoH. He takes this matter that he's 84 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:54,400 created and he's starts to cause trees to come out of the ground. 85 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,640 He makes fruit that is tasty. He makes vegetables that are 86 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:04,960 arguably for some of you tasty. He, he creates this, this 87 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,080 habitat of a flourishing of abundance that has been one of 88 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:11,080 the themes that we've seen in the past couple of weeks is 89 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,960 abundance. And then on day four, he creates 90 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:17,440 the sun, the moon, the stars. And he does this to divide day 91 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,360 and night. So there's not just light, but 92 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,520 there's a light that governs the daytime and then there's a light 93 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:25,680 that governs the night time. And then he also creates these 94 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,320 other planets and these stars, things to look at and to marvel 95 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,600 at. And just like last night, I was 96 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:35,560 walked out of my driveway and almost fell because the morning 97 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,680 Water Works is terrible and my driveway flooded. 98 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,480 And there's like an ice skating rink that has nothing to do with 99 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,080 what we're talking about today. It's just just something I'm 100 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:47,040 dealing with in inside my own self. 101 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,360 But I can look up and I see all these things. 102 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:54,960 The God of the universe, Yahweh God has created this. 103 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,840 And then on day five, we saw that He created animal life. 104 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:04,480 So He's created the greenery, the shrubbery, the plants, the 105 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,520 trees. He's created all these things. 106 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,480 And then He puts animals that go around and now they have 107 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,520 something to eat. So we've seen God's meticulous 108 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,840 creative genius throughout all of what we've looked at in 109 00:06:16,840 --> 00:06:20,360 Genesis chapter 1. But He's not done yet. 110 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:23,720 He's not done yet. He's still got something else He 111 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:29,440 wants to create. He's taken this chaotic ball of 112 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:34,640 play DoH and he's systematically created something and he's done 113 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:39,000 it for a purpose. He creates the cosmos, he 114 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,400 creates the water, he separates the water. 115 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:44,720 He creates plants that grow here and not over here. 116 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,920 He's created plants that grow over there, but not right beside 117 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:49,880 you. He's done all of this for a 118 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:54,640 particular purpose. That's one of the things I love 119 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:59,240 about these first couple of pages of Scripture, as we see 120 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:05,200 God's meticulous hand at work, He speaks and he speaks with 121 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,240 precision. He gets his hands dirty and he 122 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:12,680 does it for a purpose. And so this morning, if you were 123 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,440 able, would you stand with me as we read God's Word together? 124 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:28,200 Genesis 126 and 27. And then God said, let us make 125 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:33,120 man in our image after our likeness, and let them have 126 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,520 dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the 127 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,680 heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over 128 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:43,480 every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 129 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:48,880 So God created man and his own image, and the image of God He 130 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:52,760 created him, male and female. This is the word of God, 131 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,120 brothers and sisters, it is true and it is good. 132 00:07:55,200 --> 00:08:00,560 May be seated. Father, this morning as we 133 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,000 return to the word that you have revealed to us, we have many 134 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:09,040 questions and some of those we will never receive answers to 135 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:13,680 this side of new creation. And so God, as we live in this 136 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:17,520 tension of all of the whys and all of the hows. 137 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,040 I I pray that you would help us to know that you have revealed 138 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:24,200 to us the things that you wish to reveal to us and that we 139 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,000 would trust them, that we would love them and that we would 140 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,040 enjoy them. So this morning as we dive into 141 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,640 these two verses on the first page of our Bible, I pray that 142 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:38,840 you would open the eyes of our hearts and that we would have a 143 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:42,799 renewed faithfulness and love of your Son Jesus and be thankful 144 00:08:42,799 --> 00:08:45,760 for all that he has done for us. So it's in his powerful name of 145 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:50,160 that I pray, Amen. All right, so you may not know 146 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:52,800 this about me, even those of you that I'm close friends with and 147 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,400 those of you that I'm strangers with, but I have an, an 148 00:08:55,520 --> 00:09:00,800 illustrious academic career. I did 2 years at Temple 149 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:06,880 Community College in Temple, TX. So that's my illustrious career, 150 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:12,120 two years of Community College, but I took a philosophy class 151 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:16,720 under my first years there. So I'm a, I'm an expert in 152 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:18,520 philosophy. So if you have any huge 153 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:21,280 philosophical questions, come bring those to me and I'll 154 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:26,000 handle those for you. But one of the the first papers 155 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:31,240 I had to write was based on this premise What does it mean to be 156 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:33,960 human? So that was the first premise. 157 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:39,840 And then the the following subtitle of the premise was was 158 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:46,200 this How We Define human and what it means to be human? 159 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:53,880 Will base the following questions which is based on your 160 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:55,880 understanding of what it means to be a human. 161 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:58,600 Do the pre born have human rights? 162 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:03,600 Do those with Down syndrome have human rights? 163 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,760 And so I was sitting this class as a 18 1/2 year old and I'm 164 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:11,520 hearing my classmates give all their answers. 165 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:19,240 What does it mean to be human? Oh intellect, What does it mean 166 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,640 to be human? The ability to provide a, a 167 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:26,400 tangible good for society. What does it mean to be human? 168 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,480 Oh, the, the way that you're able to create things and tap 169 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,080 into that creative part of your brain. 170 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:35,320 All of them were answering the question of what does it mean to 171 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:42,520 be human by capabilities, by capacity, by what you could 172 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:49,200 potentially be. And people were just basing 173 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:53,440 humanity and who they were based on whatever what they were able 174 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,240 to do. So this morning, the question I 175 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:01,240 have for you is, what does it mean to be human? 176 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,640 And who are you really? Who are you? 177 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:09,640 Are you the sum total of all the things that you've accomplished 178 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:13,720 thus far in life? Do you identify yourself just as 179 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:20,400 mom, dad, husband, wife, teacher, preacher, whatever 180 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:23,640 vocation that you find yourself in life right now? 181 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:26,960 Is that how you define yourself? What does it mean to be human? 182 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,080 Who are you? I think that's one of the 183 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:32,680 biggest questions in life to ask ourselves. 184 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:35,720 Who are you? When you look at yourself in the 185 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:39,320 mirror in the morning and it's been it was a rough night with 186 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:42,680 the kids or you look at yourself in the mirror in the morning 187 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:46,760 before work and you want to be married and you're not married 188 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,400 yet. And you ask yourself, who am I? 189 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:56,240 How do you answer that question? Well, our passage this morning 190 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:01,520 answers that question for us. What does it mean to be a human 191 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,200 and who are you? That's what our passage teaches 192 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:10,520 us this morning, right. Later on in the next chapter, 193 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:14,640 we'll get more into how God created man. 194 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:19,800 But this morning we're looking at the identity of a human 195 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,320 being. What does it mean to be human? 196 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,880 What does it mean to be created in the image of God? 197 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,280 And so that's what we're going to dive down deep into this 198 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:34,000 morning. So let's get started. 199 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,080 And brother Will, I'm again, I'm sorry, I've got 2 verses. 200 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:40,960 So this is just going to go a little bit quicker than than 201 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,080 what you had. So let's look at our passage and 202 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:49,160 I'm going to kind of batch together verse 27 with the first 203 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:51,680 part of verse 26. So if you get confused, that's 204 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:53,320 my fault. But I'm going to bash these 205 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,120 together because it's kind of a literary structure of here's 206 00:12:57,120 --> 00:12:59,760 point A, then I'm going to go point B, and then I'm a circle 207 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:05,320 back to point A. So verse 26, then God said let 208 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:09,880 us make man in our image after our likeness. 209 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,240 OK, so I like to get into the weeds. 210 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,080 That's not the point of today's sermon, but I'm going to, I'm 211 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,040 going to tease you out. If you got more questions, I 212 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:19,640 would love to talk with you about that later. 213 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:27,120 But let us make man in our own image after our likeness. 214 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:30,480 I'm just going to give you 2 interpretations of this passage. 215 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:33,520 That's not the point of the sermon, but we're going through 216 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:37,040 this verse by verse. So like it or not, I'm going to 217 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:37,880 I'm going to give it to you here. 218 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,560 So let us make man in our own image after own likeness. 219 00:13:41,560 --> 00:13:44,480 So there's a there are like 5 interpretations of what this 220 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,720 could possibly mean. I'm going to just give you 2. 221 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,560 If you want the other three, I'll buy you coffee. 222 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:52,680 And we can, we can hash it out together. 223 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:54,600 Podcast. Yeah, we can. 224 00:13:54,600 --> 00:14:00,920 We can resurrect the podcast. But so you've got two classical 225 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,520 interpretations of this passage. The first one, and this really 226 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:10,600 came post reformation with this is a Trinitarian view of the 227 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:16,920 Godhead in Genesis chapter 1. So the when God says let us make 228 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:20,440 man in our own image, you've got Father, Son and Holy Spirit 229 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:22,400 present there. And that's what the US refers 230 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:25,280 to. So that's an Orthodox 231 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,720 interpretation of this passage, another Orthodox. 232 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,280 And by Orthodox, I don't mean Eastern Orthodox, I mean just 233 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:35,720 that it's been held by, by the church for for centuries. 234 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,280 Is that this is referring to God speaking to his heavenly 235 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:43,120 counsel. So the angelic and spiritual 236 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:45,960 beings that he's already created, he's saying, Hey, we're 237 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:49,520 going to make these dirt dwellers now, you're my heavenly 238 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,120 family. I'm going to make an earthly 239 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,040 family now as well. And some of that will be 240 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:56,400 clarified a little bit more in chapter 2. 241 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:00,360 But those are the 2 two interpretations there. 242 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:05,880 But what the point of this is, is that God is saying, let us 243 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:09,080 make man in our own image after our likeness. 244 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,560 But then if you hop down to verse 27, it says, so God 245 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:19,760 created man in his own image, in the image of God. 246 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:25,480 He created them male and female. So definitely the Trinity is 247 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:29,040 present here, right? Because the Father, the Son, the 248 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:36,480 Spirit, all Co equally eternal, have the same objective, have 249 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,400 the same capacity for everything, have the same 250 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,120 knowledge. So the Trinity is definitely 251 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:44,400 there. But if you were an ancient Jew, 252 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,480 you would not have thought about Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in 253 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,880 this. But the point of this, again, I 254 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:52,760 don't want to take us out into the weeds too much. 255 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:54,520 I just like to nerd out on some of these things. 256 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:59,280 But the point of the verse 26 and verse 27 is to point us to 257 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:03,840 how humans were created. They weren't created out of some 258 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,560 cosmic war. They weren't created out of some 259 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:14,480 sibling rivalry. It wasn't a demigod who had a 260 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,640 great idea out of out of the blue. 261 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:22,400 What this is teaching us is that God created man. 262 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:27,280 So this word man here that you see, let us create man in our 263 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:29,840 own image. The Hebrew word is Adam, which 264 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:34,680 just means man, right? So humankind, God creates 265 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:41,080 humankind and he doesn't do it just for funsies. 266 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:43,520 He doesn't do it because he's bored. 267 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,360 He doesn't do it because he was just like, I'll just throw 268 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,280 something up against the wall and see what works. 269 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,720 That's not what he was doing because everything else that 270 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:55,640 he's been doing has been meticulous. 271 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,880 It's been thoughtful. One day he does this, the next 272 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:00,680 day he does this. The day after that he does this. 273 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:07,359 And so we don't see God as someone who is just operating in 274 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:09,800 chaos. He's over chaos. 275 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:14,240 He's ordering out chaos. And so he has properly prepared 276 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,240 the world for something to happen. 277 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:24,040 And that thing to happen is these little dirt beings, these 278 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:28,960 humans. And so on the 6th day, God has 279 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,480 prepared the world for these humans. 280 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,480 He's everything is good to go, right? 281 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:37,960 They, they know that. Oh, sun's up. 282 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,680 All right, I got to get to work. Oh, I see the moon now. 283 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:43,720 Probably should go to bed. Oh, I'm hungry. 284 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,600 Oh, there's this plant over here that's really tasty, kind of 285 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,680 bitter on the front end. But I think if you just chew 286 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:51,840 through it a little bit, it'll pay off. 287 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:58,160 Oh, we can get into the vegan vegetarian conversation later 288 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:01,400 on, but let's just start here. Like, oh, man, look at that 289 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:03,200 little rabbit. Like that thing is cute. 290 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,240 Look at that little thing. Oh, look at these deer, man. 291 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:10,360 Look how majestic they are. This cow thing, it makes these 292 00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:12,760 weird noises. And I, I don't know if I'm going 293 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:14,800 to eat it, but it looks fairly tasty. 294 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:21,880 Like God has prepared everything for this day, right? 295 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:27,480 If God had not done what he did on day one, days two through six 296 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:29,600 would not make any sense. It would not be possible. 297 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:36,000 But God has systematically made the world a place for day 6 298 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:40,240 where he creates his humans, his earthly family. 299 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:45,880 But what does it mean to be made in the image of God? 300 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:49,320 All right, this is getting into The Who are you question. 301 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:52,280 When you look at yourself in the mirror and you say, who am I? 302 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,840 What's your response? Is it just your job? 303 00:18:56,360 --> 00:18:59,920 Is it just your marital status? Is it just your parenthood 304 00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:04,520 status? Is it your video game ranking? 305 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:08,720 Is it your hobbies? How do you answer the question, 306 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:15,080 who am I? Genesis 1 tells us that we as 307 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,200 humans are created in the image of God. 308 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,680 And this is where I think a lot of well-intentioned Christians 309 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:27,520 go wrong about talking about what the image of God is. 310 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:32,840 Because a lot of times this normally comes up around the 311 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:36,240 abortion conversation, the pro-life versus pro-choice 312 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:38,640 conversation. And a lot of well-intentioned 313 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:41,360 Christians will say, well, you know, that baby could go on to 314 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:44,040 be the next Billy Graham, or that baby could go on to be the 315 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:46,080 next president of the United States who changes the 316 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:48,800 trajectory of the world. And those things may be true, 317 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:50,640 but what we're talking about is potential. 318 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,200 What we're talking about is capability. 319 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:55,160 That's not what this is telling us. 320 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,600 Scripture is not telling us about potentiality. 321 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:01,080 Scripture is not telling us about capability. 322 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,600 Scripture is saying that inherently, as being a human, 323 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:10,720 you are in the image of God. So what does that mean if we 324 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:14,960 strip away capabilities? If we strip away intellect, if 325 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:20,240 we strip away potentiality, if we strip away personality, what 326 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:25,920 we have here still is you are created in the image of God. 327 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:29,160 It's not based on what you can do. 328 00:20:29,360 --> 00:20:32,680 It's not based on what you've done well or what you have not 329 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,720 done well. It is based on the fact that you 330 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,800 are created in the image of God. So as a human being, so you 331 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,560 whenever you look in the mirror, maybe tonight, maybe in the 332 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:44,960 morning, maybe you're like me and you don't like looking in 333 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:48,000 the mirror. And you ask yourself the 334 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:54,080 question, who am I? Your answer is I am created in 335 00:20:54,080 --> 00:21:00,480 the image of God. This word image in Hebrew means 336 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:05,760 statue. Some people will even go so far 337 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:09,640 as to say idol, which yes, but that just has negative 338 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,640 connotations in our Western mind. 339 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:18,960 So the word statue let us create statues in our own image. 340 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:22,840 So in the ancient world, I mean, it's still today, people do 341 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:26,720 this, but they would create a statue, like a ruler would 342 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,720 create a statue and put it somewhere that his palace was 343 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:34,640 not in or where his castle wasn't or where his Kingdom 344 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:41,880 directly wasn't, to say, hey, here's where I live, but over 345 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,080 here, I'm going to make the statue and it represents my rule 346 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,000 and reign, even though I'm not there presently. 347 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:51,840 This is to show all you fools that I own this territory. 348 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,640 Like this is mine. It's not yours, it's mine. 349 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:56,800 So look at this nice bronze sculpture. 350 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,880 I've got more muscles than I actually do in the statue, but I 351 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:04,760 look cool. And this is to remind you of the 352 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:09,880 power and the authority that I have over this geography, right? 353 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:14,720 So for God to create humans in his own image, what he's doing 354 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:20,200 is he's showing his rule and reign over all of creation. 355 00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:25,360 And this is unique, like the little Bunny rabbit that's 356 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:30,040 frolicking about sneaking into your garden, eating your 357 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:34,920 favorite stuff. As cool as he is, he does not 358 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:39,480 bear the image of God. He's not an imager. 359 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:46,160 He's not a statue of of God. Yes, he reveals the nature of 360 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,040 God in a certain aspect. And like, OK, who would create a 361 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:54,160 creature that looks like this? Like big ears and weird teeth 362 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:57,080 and little nose that twitches and hiding? 363 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:02,680 Like it reveals that there is a creator behind that little fuzzy 364 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:08,280 creature, right? A tree as beautiful as they are. 365 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,440 Before we move back to Des Moines, Tracy and I lived in the 366 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,880 Panhandle of Texas. If you've never been there, it's 367 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,920 you can watch your dog run away for three weeks and there are no 368 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:23,320 trees, right? So coming back to to Des Moines, 369 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,520 like I'm looking at all the trees and I've heard like some 370 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:29,680 native Des Moines Da Moini acts however you want, whatever you 371 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:31,520 want to call them. But talk about like, I just want 372 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,040 to see something other than I, I'm like, dog, you got to go 373 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:37,320 down to the Panhandle of Texas and this will look like Eden to 374 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,520 you. But like, as beautiful as all 375 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,760 these trees are, they do not bear the image of God. 376 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:48,920 They generally reveal that God exists, and they point to him as 377 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,760 they grow, as they have their leaves that change colors during 378 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,360 various seasons. But they don't bear the image of 379 00:23:55,360 --> 00:24:02,040 God. These humans, these Adams, these 380 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:05,040 dirt beings, they bear the image of God. 381 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:10,840 Why is that? Why do you bear the image of 382 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,640 God? Because God wanted you to. 383 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:20,280 God wanted an earthly family that would represent his rule 384 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:25,600 and reign over all of creation. I again, I'm getting into the 385 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:29,640 section where I can't give too much away for the next couple of 386 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,400 sermons, which bothers me. But anyway it it'll make sense 387 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,680 like so I promise. Like there will be a payoff 388 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:39,200 here. But being human means being an 389 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:44,040 image. Being an I skipped over since 390 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,960 parts of my notes here. Being an imager of God. 391 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:54,520 Not just like a a relic to look at, not just a simple statue, 392 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:58,960 but something that is actively imaging God's rule and reign 393 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:02,440 over all the earth. Again, not built on your 394 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,320 capacity, not built on your potentiality, not built on your 395 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:11,880 abilities to do XY and Z, but just inherently, you are the 396 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,640 image of God. You're created in the image of 397 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,040 God. You image Him. 398 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,440 You are his statue. That this isn't just put into a 399 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:23,800 bed of concrete and stays there, but we get to roll around and 400 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:27,760 move and talk to people and listen to people and to go to 401 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:30,640 work and to go home and to go do hobbies. 402 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:32,840 And everywhere we go, we are his imagers. 403 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:37,560 We are telegraphing to the world and to each other that the 404 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:41,400 unseen God, who is the God of all gods, who is over all 405 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,960 things, He has authority over all of this, all of it. 406 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:55,960 And I think that's when I started viewing these couple of 407 00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:00,720 verses in Genesis like this. That really one super convicting 408 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:06,440 2 made God's handiwork even more beautiful to me. 409 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:10,520 Select the first first part of convicting. 410 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,240 If I am created in the image of God, if I'm his little mobile 411 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:17,320 statue, and if we are his mobile statues that are scurrying 412 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:21,160 about, that means what I do at home matters. 413 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:26,040 Like when I'm a lazy dad, what am I telling my kids about the 414 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,880 creator of the universe? I'm telling them God's lazy. 415 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:32,640 He'll get around to it when he feels like he should. 416 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,080 When I go to work and I say I'm going to do something and I 417 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:40,320 don't do it, what? What am I telling the people I 418 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:42,040 work with or the people I'm working for? 419 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:47,400 I'm telling them that God may come in whenever he feels like 420 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:49,760 it. He may respond to that text 421 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:51,120 message whenever he feels like it. 422 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:56,440 Whenever I'm talking with my wife and I'm just distant and 423 00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:01,840 I'd rather be scrolling some dumb YouTube real and she has 424 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,840 some a conversation that really needs to be had and I'm just 425 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,760 absent and distant. What am I telling my wife about 426 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:12,840 the God of the universe? He'll listen to you when he 427 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,000 feels like it. Yeah, he'll he'll hear you but 428 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:21,160 not actually listen to you. Whenever we're in fighter group 429 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:24,680 or in community group and we're just kind of distant and we're 430 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:26,920 not participating, we're just showing up. 431 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:29,920 What are we telling each other about the God of the universe? 432 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:32,880 That he's here, but he's not active. 433 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,600 And so it's convicting to know that we are as humans created in 434 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:45,440 the image of God. And spoiler alert, sin comes 435 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:47,920 into the world and all that. So we'll get to that later. 436 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:54,040 We're just going to like, we don't know about that yet, but 437 00:27:54,040 --> 00:28:00,800 if we know that we are God's mobile statues here on earth 438 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:04,720 that were created to represent his rule and reign, that will 439 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:08,200 change the way that we look at every corner and pocket of our 440 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:12,960 lives. Everything from the workplace to 441 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:17,080 the kitchen, from the sanctuary to the basement is going to it 442 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,320 will change the way that we view our lives. 443 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,480 And we'll, we'll, we'll get into that a little bit more in our, 444 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:27,720 our application. But next we see that God just 445 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:32,680 got that ball of play DoH, pluck some of it out, makes a Dom, 446 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:37,640 makes humankind. But it didn't stop there, right? 447 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,360 We're this is a God of order, a God of detail. 448 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,760 Well, what is he do next? So we've, hey, we're going to 449 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:50,440 create man in our own, our own image after our likeness, not 450 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:54,120 based on our level of power, not based on our intellect, but just 451 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:58,080 to represent my rule and reign. I'm going to do this. 452 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,680 He created them. What does your Bible read? 453 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,640 Male and female there. OK, we're reading the same 454 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:10,120 Bible. All right. 455 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:15,640 We're we're in good shape. So the God of order, the God who 456 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:17,600 didn't need anything to create anything. 457 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:26,480 He just said he takes humankind and he orders it out even 458 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:31,520 further. Male and female, both equal 459 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:36,520 image bearers, both equal imagers, both equal mobile 460 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:39,600 statues going around representing God's rule and 461 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:43,960 reign. And again, the payoff to this 462 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:45,800 part is going to come. I don't get to do it. 463 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:47,200 So I don't get to have the fun with this. 464 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:51,480 But somebody greedier than I will get to talk more about 465 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:53,040 this. But he's. 466 00:29:57,120 --> 00:29:59,360 But God orders out creation even more. 467 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:03,600 And we looked at especially last week, like according to its own 468 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:05,280 kind. So we saw God putting things 469 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,400 together according to its kind. Well, now God is just like he 470 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,720 separated the waters from above and the waters below. 471 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:15,800 God looks at humankind and he separates it into two 472 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:20,560 categories, male and female, both imagers, both mobile 473 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,760 statues. We'll see later on. 474 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:29,120 Different roles, but both of equal value, both of equal 475 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,000 purpose. Because they are created in the 476 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:38,160 image of God. Not because you can lift more on 477 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:42,440 the the deadlift then you can. Not because you can cook a 478 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:46,520 better meal than you can. Not because you can give birth 479 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,480 to babies and you can't. They're both created in the 480 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:54,280 image of God, male and female. So God further orders out his 481 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:59,880 creation. But God doesn't just create his 482 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:03,240 little statues just to sit still and be idle. 483 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:06,720 He doesn't just say, Hey, you go park yourself out here on this 484 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,800 corner and you just, if somebody passes by, you just let them 485 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:14,200 know that Yahweh, God has control over everything. 486 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:16,400 That's, that's not what he does, right? 487 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,880 He's created over these past five days leading up to this day 488 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,320 of day six. He's created this habitat for 489 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:26,360 them to live in. Everything in the sky, 490 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:29,160 everything on the ground, everything in the water. 491 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:33,120 He's created all that. And he could just say, hey, 492 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,560 guys, you just figure it out. Like just, you know, find 493 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:41,360 something that you want to do and as long as it's not bad, 494 00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:43,440 I'll be fine with that. Well, that's not what God does 495 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:45,280 because again, he's not a God of chaos. 496 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,880 He's the God over chaos. He's the God of order. 497 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:56,280 And So what he tells them, and again this will come later on in 498 00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:00,320 more detail, but as as God is having this conversation about 499 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:05,000 creating man, separating them, male and female, he says, and 500 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,480 let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the 501 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:12,040 birds of the heavens, and over the livestock and over all the 502 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,960 earth and every other creeping thing that creeps on earth. 503 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:22,280 So the identity of a human is locked in, right? 504 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,240 You are an imager of God. That's your identity as a human. 505 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:31,160 But God also gives a vocation to his imagers. 506 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:35,960 He doesn't just say, just chill out, get in the lazy boy, crack 507 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:39,200 that lever, crop your feet up. He gives them a vocation, and 508 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,320 their vocation is to have dominion. 509 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,760 Dominion over everything that creeps and everything that 510 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:49,400 swarms, everything that flies. You have dominion over that. 511 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:51,840 This is important for us to know. 512 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:56,840 That God has given us each a vocation I. 513 00:32:56,840 --> 00:32:59,480 Don't know if anybody. In here is like, really into 514 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:01,320 husbandry. I don't mean just being married, 515 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:03,280 but like taking care of livestock and all that. 516 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:05,760 Maybe there's somebody here. If you are, let me know. 517 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:07,240 I'll get some milk or some beef from you. 518 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:08,760 Well, the cruises, yeah, that's right. 519 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:16,360 We'll have to talk later. But most of us in this room are 520 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:18,680 not doing that. Most of us are working in 521 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:25,360 offices or classrooms or kitchens or living rooms or 522 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:32,080 wrestling rooms anyway. But this? 523 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,520 Aspect of. Dominion, right, And that that 524 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:38,480 word kind of has a negative connotation in our culture now, 525 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,800 but but that word dominion is to to take care of. 526 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:47,520 God has entrusted his people. His imagers hear from page one 527 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,360 of the Bible to take care of the things that he has created. 528 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,880 He's calling his people into his work. 529 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:55,320 Look at all that I've created for you. 530 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:57,760 What I want you to do is I want you to take care of it. 531 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,440 I want you have authority over it, just as I have authority 532 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:02,560 over you. But I'm calling you into my 533 00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:05,760 family business and my family business is taking care of the 534 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:11,520 things that I have created. And it's often. 535 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:16,280 Easy to detach our vocation from our identity, or to find more 536 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:20,760 worth in our vocation than we do in our identity and if. 537 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,840 We find our identity. In our vocation, then we're 538 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:28,679 going to lose all sorts of beauty and goodness and truth, 539 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:33,239 because what happens when we don't do things the way that 540 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:35,679 we're supposed to do, but we're just crushed? 541 00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:40,239 We're just. We're we're left feeling 542 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,040 useless. We look. 543 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:46,040 In the mirror, we're like. Oh, man, yeah, I, yeah, I messed 544 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:48,040 that up. I I don't know what to do. 545 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:51,000 And so these. Things go hand in. 546 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:54,719 Hand, if you don't properly understand your identity, you're 547 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,920 not going to properly understand your vocation, right? 548 00:34:57,920 --> 00:34:59,400 I'm not. Just a a father. 549 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:03,600 Because I procreated, right? I could just be my identity and 550 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,920 I did vocation like I just, I created you. 551 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:10,200 So you're here. What good is that? 552 00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:14,840 Or if I never tell my kids that I love them and be invested in 553 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:20,480 their lives and I fully live out my identity as their father and 554 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,880 I'm just like, well, I, you know, I paid the bills, washed 555 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:25,720 your clothes, put food on the table. 556 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:29,040 That's enough. Like I've lost the sight of my 557 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:32,680 identity is God has called me to love you and to provide for you 558 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:34,280 and to care for you and to be here. 559 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:38,160 But, but you just need to know that I'm your dad and I love 560 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:40,720 you. If we detach identity from 561 00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:44,560 vocation, it's like rowing a boat. 562 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:47,360 With only one oar. On one side and we're just going 563 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:50,840 to be swimming, Sir, just starting around in in circles, 564 00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:53,640 but God. Gives his people. 565 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:59,640 A vocation as well. And you all know that. 566 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:04,120 And we'll get to this in Chapter 3, but I. 567 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,560 Can't talk about this without. Talking about what comes later, 568 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:12,040 but sin enters the picture and it Mars everything it's. 569 00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:14,640 Messed up our understanding. Of what it means to be created 570 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,240 in the image of God. It's messed up our relationship 571 00:36:17,240 --> 00:36:20,280 with God. We are put put out of joint with 572 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:24,000 with God. And it's messed up our 573 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:27,280 understanding of. Vocation, we, all of us, we, we 574 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:32,920 still strive in areas of life and a lot of times it's where we 575 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,600 want to. That may be at a step with our 576 00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:39,120 vocation, but we will, we will all find areas where we're 577 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,320 trying to create, we're trying to take care of, we're trying to 578 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:47,800 do, and they are not on the path that God has designed us to live 579 00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:49,760 in. So sin has. 580 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,120 Come has come in. And has ravaged things for us 581 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:58,120 and from us. And is working against us. 582 00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:04,480 So what do we do? What do we do with this truth 583 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:06,120 that we are? Creating the image of God and 584 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:08,000 we've been given a vocation by God. 585 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:10,520 What do we do with these two truths now that sin is in the 586 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:12,480 picture? Because right now everything is 587 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:15,000 good, everything is whole. There's Shalom. 588 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:17,560 Everything is working in harmony with with each other. 589 00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:23,240 But you and I sitting here today in 20. 26 We know that. 590 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:27,720 Things aren't working together, that there is a lack of Shalom. 591 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:31,240 People are fighting with each other, that our brains are 592 00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:33,880 fighting against ourselves like things are broken. 593 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:37,600 So what do we do with this? How do we reconcile identity and 594 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:42,880 vocation? On this side of Genesis. 595 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:46,520 Chapter 1. But we need somebody to come in 596 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:48,840 and. Solve this problem and a lot of 597 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,520 us have tried to solve these problems of understanding who we 598 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,600 are. These the problem of what am I 599 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:58,080 supposed to do? Like what am I created to be? 600 00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:02,600 We, we try to solve those problems on our own, whether it 601 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:05,560 be with a substance, whether it be with work, whether it be 602 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:09,600 like, if only I can get married, then I'll actually live out who 603 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:11,640 I am. Or only if I can have kids, then 604 00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:13,120 I can live out who I'm supposed to be. 605 00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:17,320 Or oh, if I get this promotion, then I'll be able to be who I'm 606 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:20,320 supposed to be. We've all tried in different 607 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:25,240 areas of our lives to try to figure out and and try to define 608 00:38:25,240 --> 00:38:30,280 our identities and define our vocation, the brothers and. 609 00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,760 Sisters, the good news? Is that God has already defined 610 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:37,560 that for you. You're his imager and he has 611 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:39,720 called you into his family business. 612 00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:42,480 But what do we do with? The sin issue. 613 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,440 What do we do with knowing? OK, yes, Andrew, I hear what 614 00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:48,120 you're saying. These two things are true. 615 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:52,000 Identity, vocation, great. But the world is broken. 616 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:57,160 What do I do? Well, we Sunday school answer 617 00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:03,440 look to Jesus. He was the one member of the 618 00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:07,760 Trinity, took on flesh, and lived the human life as a 619 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:11,960 perfect human. Totally, perfectly. 620 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:13,280 He knew his. Identity. 621 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:18,680 He knew his vocation, and not single, not not a single moment 622 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:22,160 did Jesus slip up. Not a single. 623 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:23,960 Moment Did he forget his? Identity. 624 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:28,480 Jesus is the the the truer and better Adam. 625 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:33,520 He's the better human. He took on flesh and. 626 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:37,120 Entered into this broken world and showed us what it looks like 627 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:41,040 to to live life out of the identity of being created in the 628 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:45,520 image of God and being a part of God's business. 629 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:50,200 And so one of. My favorite passages of the 630 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:56,040 scripture, which I have a lot in my students used to make fun of 631 00:39:56,040 --> 00:40:01,240 me because I'd say this is my favorite part, but it is found 632 00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:04,720 in Second Corinthians chapter 5 and verses 16 to 21. 633 00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:11,120 So This is why Jesus came. To live the perfect. 634 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:14,640 Human life, the apostle Paul says from now on, therefore, we 635 00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:16,440 regard no one according to the flesh. 636 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:19,680 Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, 637 00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:24,040 we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in 638 00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:26,760 Christ, he is a new creation, right? 639 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,680 So we just looked at the first creation of humans. 640 00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:33,120 Things got messed up because of sin and because of death. 641 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:37,520 But now if you were in Christ, you are a new creation. 642 00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:41,200 So if you're sitting here this morning and you have placed your 643 00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:43,800 faith in Jesus and you were following Him, and you love him, 644 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:46,680 He's your hope and comfort in life and in death. 645 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:50,720 You're a new creation. Jesus came to restore that 646 00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:53,840 identity that has been marred and that has been broken and 647 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:55,960 that you're still, you were still trying to figure out on 648 00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,320 your own. Jesus has come to show you what 649 00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:03,840 it means to be human. He gave his own body up for 650 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:05,880 that. So the old. 651 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,680 Has passed away. And behold, the new has come. 652 00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:13,480 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to 653 00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,880 Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 654 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:20,520 That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to 655 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:23,280 Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and 656 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,520 entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 657 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:30,360 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His 658 00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:35,640 appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of 659 00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:37,800 Christ. Be reconciled to God for our 660 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:40,360 sake. He made him to be sin who knew 661 00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:44,680 no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 662 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:47,960 So I love this passage because again, it goes back to identity 663 00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:51,600 and vocation. You're a new creation in Christ 664 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:55,920 Jesus, and you've also been made his ambassador, his rolling 665 00:41:55,920 --> 00:42:00,480 around, moving statue in Christ. We have the. 666 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:03,800 Restoration of our identity and of our vocation. 667 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:09,440 And this, this plays out in a, in a bunch of ways. 668 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:13,600 And just here's the few that I'll I'll roll with before 669 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:17,480 before I close. But the first category is. 670 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:19,760 Understanding your identity and your vocation. 671 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:21,400 It changes how you view yourself. 672 00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:28,560 Changes how you view yourself. When you struggle, when you. 673 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,760 Feel misunderstood? When you look in the mirror, 674 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:34,880 growing. Up as a homeschooler who? 675 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:37,600 Moved around like moving back to the moment that was like my 30th 676 00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:40,240 move of my life. I constantly feel like I'm 677 00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:43,400 misunderstood by people so I like I. 678 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:44,920 Have got this chip on. My shoulder. 679 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,480 And so if someone doesn't. Understand me and the way that I 680 00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:52,320 want them to understand me. Like it's easy for me to be 681 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:54,560 like, well, what's the point, right? 682 00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:57,880 It's easy for me to just to get to that sort of a place because 683 00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:01,720 I've lost sight of my identity. I'm creating the image of God 684 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:06,560 and He's giving me a vocation. The second category I. 685 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:08,360 Would say is how you view others. 686 00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:14,040 If every human being in. The world viewed. 687 00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:19,680 One another as creating the. Image of God. 99% of the world. 688 00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:25,320 'S problems would just go away. Racism would not be in. 689 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:29,840 Existence because we would say we're both creating. 690 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,720 The image of God doesn't. Matter what we look like, we're 691 00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:33,960 both creating. The image of God we're. 692 00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:36,040 Both here to represent his rule and reign. 693 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:40,120 Wars would not exist if we wouldn't be in this. 694 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:45,040 Well, if I don't take this land, then our land is going to be 695 00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:47,960 compromised. And so we have all this fighting 696 00:43:48,200 --> 00:43:52,640 over land and over natural resources because humans do not 697 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:55,200 look at each other as created in the image of God. 698 00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:01,440 Politics would be useless. If we saw each other as created 699 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:06,040 in the image of God, there would not be a Republican, Democrat 700 00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:09,960 divide. We would say you're creating the 701 00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:15,720 image of God. I'm waiting for new creation. 702 00:44:16,680 --> 00:44:18,480 There's not going to be, there's going to be no voting in new 703 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:19,600 creation. It's going to be awesome. 704 00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:29,520 And then church membership. Man, how, if we value each other 705 00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:32,920 and saw each other as created in the image of God, how that would 706 00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:35,800 radically transform our Sunday gatherings, our community 707 00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:38,320 groups, our membership meetings, our fighter groups. 708 00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:42,960 And one, one of the things that the pastoral team recites each 709 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:46,000 week is there, there's a line in it and it says we give each 710 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:49,200 other the benefit of the doubt. It's hard to give. 711 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:51,480 Each other the benefit of. The doubt whenever you view 712 00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:53,560 yourself as superior to the other person. 713 00:44:55,720 --> 00:44:59,400 So whenever you view yourself. As a Co equal imager of God, 714 00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:02,040 it's really easy to. Give the benefit of the. 715 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:06,120 Doubt. So that's my application. 716 00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:10,200 For you there, just think through it, I'm creating the 717 00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:12,760 image of God. How does that how does property 718 00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:14,720 understanding that in my vocation, how does that 719 00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:18,640 radically transform my life? I work for a non profit as well 720 00:45:18,640 --> 00:45:22,880 and it's just people looking for things to solve problems and 721 00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:24,160 they don't. Understand that they're. 722 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:27,320 Creating the image of God. They get it, get their electric 723 00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:30,520 bill paid, and it does. It does them good, gives them 724 00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:32,880 creature comforts, but it doesn't change the trajectory of 725 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:35,640 their life because they've lost sight of the fact that they were 726 00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:39,640 created in the image of God and that they can change because of 727 00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:40,160 Jesus.