Creation and the Image of God in Mankind

TEXT:  Genesis 1:27-30

INTRODUCTION:

A Doctor's Testimony

Here is the testimony of a medical doctor: "In an anatomy room, a dead body meant nothing to me. I could not visualize the man or woman it might have been. Life left few records on the immobile face. For weeks I worked, and each day the wonder grew. Then one day I was working on an arm and hand, studying the perfect mechanical arrangements of the muscles and tendons, how the sheaths of certain muscles are split to let tendons of other muscles through, so that the hand may be delicate, small and yet powerful. I was all alone in the laboratory when the overwhelming belief came: a thing like this is not just chance but a part of a plan, a plan so big that only God could have conceived it. Religion had been to me a matter of form, a thing without conviction, but now everything was an evidence of God-the tendons of the hand, the patterns of the little butterfly's wings-all are a part of God's wonderful design."

Lest we come to the place where we think that all that matters is our understanding of the Doctrine of God, we should consider man as created in His image.  We do not consider man from the perspective of man only, but from the perspective that man is a creation of God, and bears the image of God.

Over the past few weeks, we have looked over various aspects of God’s creation.  We are at the point where the sixth day of Creation of about to end, and God reveals His plans for the man and woman that have been created in His image.  All that man is, and all that man is to do is the direct result of being created in the image of God.  This morning, we will examine five aspects of being created in God’s image.  After this examination, all praise should flow toward God as our Creator, for He deserve it.

I.                Moral Aspects of Being Created in the Image of God

Ephesians 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

A.      We are creatures who are morally accountable before God for our actions

B.      We have an inner sense of right and wrong that sets us apart from animals

C.     Our likeness to God is reflected in behavior that is holy and righteous before Him, but by contrast, our unlikeness to God is reflected whenever we sin

* Man is accountable to God for his actions.  Man alone suffers the consequences of his actions.  Only man (as created in the image of God) has the moral ability to consider the outcome of his actions, and suffer the results of his choices.  This is unique only to mankind within God’s creation.

II.            Spiritual Aspects of Being Created in the Image of God

A.      We have a physical body as well as immaterial spirits

B.      We have a spiritual life that enables us to relate to God as persons, to pray and praise Him, and to hear Him speaking to us from His Word.

C.     We are immortal from the moment of our existence

* Let us not think that our immaterial part is more important than our material part.  God created man as an entire being.  Yes, body and spirit can be separated for a time, but will be reunited in eternity whether it is with God, or the lake of fire depending upon what you do with Christ – accept or reject Him.

III.         Mental Aspects of Being Created in the Image of God

Colossians 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Isaiah 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

A.      We have the ability to reason and think logically and learn that sets us apart from the animals

B.      Our use of complex, abstract language sets us apart from the animals

C.     We have an awareness of the distant future. – We know we are going to die.

D.     We have an amazing ability to be creative – (art, music, literature, science, technology, etc.)

E.      We have the ability to express and feel emotions in complex ways.

IV.         Relational Aspects of Being Created in the Image of God

A.      Only mankind can experience the depth of interpersonal harmony experienced in human marriage, in a human family when it functions according to God’s principles, and in a church when a community of believers is walking in fellowship with the Lord.

B.      In marriage itself we reflect the nature of God in the fact that as men and women we have equality in importance but different roles from the time that God created us

C.     Man has been given the right to rule over creation

* Creation has been deified to the extent that animals and plants have more rights than man.  This absolutely violates the fact that man was created in the image of God.  Man has been given stewardship over God’s creation.  We ought to be careful with the natural resources available to us, but not to the place where man must suffer because we wish to protect it.  This goes against the very role in which man was placed upon the earth.

* The image of God in man means that man is a social being.  You cannot exist without relationships of some sort.  You must have a relationship with God, you have a relationship with others, you have a relationship with creation, and you have a relationship with yourself.  If your relationship with God is non-existent, then all the rest of your relationships in life will never be what they ought to be.

V.             Physical Aspects of Being Created in the Image of God

John 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Luke 24:39  Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

* God does not have a physical likeness as man does.  However, there are some aspects of man’s physical abilities that reflect the image of God.

A.      We have the ability to exercise our senses – hearing, sight, speaking, etc.

* God is described in the Scriptures as seeing, hearing, etc.  God is also a Spirit being which has no flesh and bone.  We could not comprehend God in any way if God described Himself in His own terms.  Therefore, God is described in ways in which we can understand.  We have the ability to exercise our senses because God is able to do the same. 

B.      We have the God-given physical ability to bear and raise children who are like ourselves which is a reflection of God’s ability to create human beings like himself.

Genesis 5:3  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

* While the animal world can experience everything with regards to these physical aspects of man, they cannot experience them in the same way.  By looking at our physical abilities compared with the other four aspects of being created in the image of God should help us to see that God created us not necessarily as half this and half that.  He created the whole man in His image.

CONCLUSION:

As all these aspects of being created in the image of God are considered, one cannot escape the fact that man has a special place in God’s plan.  Man has worth and dignity as an image-bearer no matter what race, nationality, sex, or economic status.  Being created in the image of God means that you are special.  After all, if man was not created in God’s image, Jesus Christ would not have taken on human flesh.  This is the incarnation.  There would have been no incarnation with a non-rational, non-moral, sub-personal animal.  The possibility of being saved from our sins is closely related to the fact that man is made in the image of God.

Coins were stamped with the image and likeness of the ruling monarch (an idea not entirely foreign to modern practice).  Thus the image of a king on a coin represented his presence, his authority, and his concerns throughout his domain.  (Recall the incident concerning paying tribute in the gospel narrative, where Jesus answers his critics on the matter of imperial taxes with the question: “Whose image and inscription is this?” (Matthew 22:15-22).  Where the coin goes, Caesar goes.) 

So it is with man as an image-bearer:  Wherever man moves about in God’s creation, there he is to represent the presence, the sovereignty, the care of his Maker in and for his world.  Imaging means that we “represent God, like an ambassador from a foreign country,…[representing] the authority of God,…[seeking to] advance God’s program for the world…[and to] promote what God promotes.” (Anthony Hoekema, Created in God’s Image, pp. 67-68)

Are you being the image-bearer God designed you

to be?  If not, then repent.  Start today living as God intended you to live.  Perhaps you have never come to terms with the fact that you are created in the image of God.  You have never trusted Christ as personal savior, and, therefore, you are out of kilter with yourself, the creation about you, others, and ultimately God.  Will you accept Jesus’ payment for your sins today?  Will you come to Him to be renewed in His image?