Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Well, good morning!

It feels great to be here…to be able to worship…to fellowship…to open up God’s word…and listen, I’m just excited to be able to proclaim the gospel this morning…I feel privileged to able to walk us through His word.

And thank you so much for allowing me to be your pastor…seriously, it’s one of the greatest blessings God’s given me.

Alright, before we get started this morning…let’s recite our mission verse together…I’ll get us started.

Matthew 28, verses 19 & 20.

English Standard Version (Chapter 28)

“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.”

[Prayer]

Alright, if you have your Bibles and I hope you do…open ‘em up with me to Genesis chapter 1…Genesis chapter 1.

So far in chapter 1…we’ve looked at the main character of the Bible…which is God.

We’ve looked at his purpose in creation…which has always been man’s redemption and his glory.

We’ve looked at the first six days of creation and we really got a snapshot of his character and his nature.

But this morning....as we walk through the end of chapter 1…we’re gonna see something a little different about the last thing he creates…which of course is us.

There’s something very unique and very different about how God created mankind.

And listen, it’s tells us a ton about who we are…and what it means…but also, it tells us more about this God that created everything.

There’s a different kind of approach we see here with humanity.

There’s a personal touch…there seems to be a different feeling toward us.

Listen, where’s my parents at this morning?…You

remember the very first time you looked at each of your kids?…gotta hold them?

It was a special feeling, right?

Like, something in you just changed.

I’ll never forget the first time with each of my kids…but with Lacey…I’ll definitely never forget it…Brittany and I, we went in to the ER one night…it was toward the end of her pregnancy…we found out Lacey was breached and so, they did an emergency c-section.

And listen, I’m wimp when it comes to gross stuff.

I don’t like seeing blood or guts or any of that.

Well, they did everything that was involved in a c-section and I’ll never forget…they brought my first child to me…straight outta the womb…I looked at her....and I literally said to ‘em, “That’s alright…you can go clean her up first!”

I mean there was all this stuff all over her and I mean, they didn’t do anything but take her out and try to hand her to me.

I was struggling, guys.

But listen, on serious note…I’ll never forget the first time I looked her in the eyes…of course she was clean at that point…but I thought to myself, “Wow…we made that!

She’s part of us!”

I mean, you just have a very different kind of love for your children, right?

It’s special.

And I think any good parent would do anything for their kids…because again it’s just a special kind of bond you have with them.

You want the very best for ‘em.

I always think it’s funny when you see parents coaching their kids in different sports…and other parents, they’re like, “Hey, you’re playing favorites out there!”...Of course they are!

It’s their kid.

And guess what, I’d do the same thing…because they’re my kids, right?

I love ‘em more.

God gave ‘em to me.

He didn’t give me your kids.

Guys, as we come to this passage this morning…that’s exactly what God does for mankind…He kinda plays favorites here.

He puts more thought and creativity in us.

He gives us more…he blesses us more…He makes us in his image, right?

He’s made us to know him.

And so, if you’re there with me this morning.

Let’s stand together as we read…starting in verse 26, “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.

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.”

29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.

You shall have them for food.

30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.”

And it was so.

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.”

Thank you, you can be seated.

Listen, there’s two main things I want us to see this morning…First, how does the Bible define us…and then secondly, what’s that mean?

And so, let’s jump right into it.

1.) How Does the Bible Define Me?

Children

So, how does the Bible define me?

Verse 26, “26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

First off, immediately you have to notice the Triune God, right?

He says, “Let US make…in OUR image.”

Those words, they’re plural.

But who’s he talking to?

It’s the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…making us in their image.

We see the plurality of God here.

But what’s it mean about us…how’s this defining us?

Turn over with me to Genesis chapter 5. Moses writes in verse 1, “1 This is the book of the generations of Adam.

When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them.”

(Listen to me, because I don’t want this sermon to be about what we know to be obvious as Christians…God created male and female separately and uniquely…your gender, it was chosen by God and its not something that can be changed by man…and it doesn’t matter how much that hurts your feelings…If you’ve been with us the last few weeks…God’s the author of life and he’s the only one with enough authority to define that kind of thing.

Amen?

Moses continues,“and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.”

But listen to this…verse 3, “3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”

Listen, even though this particular passage is showing the genealogy from Adam to Noah…its also showing us that the word “image” was almost always attached to sonship.

Adam, he fathered a son in his own likeness and image, right?

But who was Adam made in the likeness of?

God!

Being made in the image of God indicates God’s paternity…we’re his children.

That’s exactly what Imago Dei (E-mog-go Day) means…it’s a core theological term that’s applied uniquely to mankind and demonstrates the special relationship that exists between God and all of humanity.

While everything that God made was to bring fulfillment and satisfaction to man…we were made specifically by God, for God.

We’re the pinnacle of his creation…which was exactly why at the end of day six, God steps back and sees everything he’s created and he says what?

This is “very good.”

It wasn’t just good…its now “very good.”

Because when he steps back…he sees those made in his image…he sees his sons and his daughters.

And of course, we know how the story goes…the fall would come.

Man would turn from God and rebel against him…but what I want you to recognize this morning is that it never changed the fact that man is still made in God’s image and made for him.

This is why we fight against things like abortion and homosexuality…because the image of God is so important.

Every single person that’s born into this world is made in that image and it means that every single life matters…but it also means there’s a dignity that every single person deserves because whether they proclaim it or not, they belong to God…they’re his children…they’re made in his likeness and in his image.

Yes, it’s distorted.

But it’s why the gospel and advancing it’s so important.

Because there’s one…Jesus Christ…who’s not just made in the image of God…but he is the exact imprint of God.

The author writes in Hebrews 1:3 “ 3 He [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

Guys, because Jesus is God, he of course is the exact imprint of God.

Listen, when you look at your mom or dad…none of us are the exact imprint of them, right?

We’re just images as sons and daughters…But because Jesus is the exact imprint…our hope at restoration, it lies with him.

Its in the Christ who is “the image of the invisible God.” Christ came as the second Adam…he lived a perfect life…all so that he could die on our behalf as our sacrificial lamb.