From the Garden to the City

Sacred text: 1 Corinthians 3:6–9 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.”

Introduction: So, as we can see just by looking outside the seasons are changing. Warmer weather is coming in and the Panhandle winds are picking up. Winter is fading away and Spring time is in the air. One of the reasons I like Spring so much isn’t the fact that I despise the cold, but when Spring hits, everything begins to bloom. It’s almost like everywhere we look, there is new life taking shape. Greenhouses start to open their doors and people are getting ready to plant their gardens and flowerbeds. But here is the thing with gardens and flowerbeds: they take work. You have to prepare the ground, you have to put seed down, you have to water everything, you have to put fertilizer down, and you have to prune the limbs back, and if you don't, then these plants will die off or take over. In other words, you have to cultivate the garden in order to see the fruit, or creation, of the garden. In much the same way, culture takes shape through cultivation. What we have seen and will continue to see so far in the first chapter of Genesis, is that God is the creator, and he has charged man with being the cultivator. God has given us everything we could possibly need to live successfully within this world, but we must take care of it, and we must work for it. God is the creator and we are the cultivators. I want us to remember that as we read through the text this morning; God is the creator and He calls us to be the cultivators.

Context: You can open to Genesis 1, today we are going to finish the first chapter of the first book of the Bible. Now if we look back, two weeks ago, Pastor Ricky preached verses 1-25 and we are reminded of God’s sovereignty in creation. Day one, God separates the light from the dark. On day two, God separates the expanse from the waters, creating the heavens. On day three, God puts vegetation on the earth. Day four, God lit up the sky with the moon and the stars. On day five, God placed the animals on the land, in the sea, and in the air. God looked at everything he had created, and behold, it was good. But God is not done just yet, and as we get to our text today we see God create man in His image, and it is very good.

READ THE TEXT Starting in verse 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.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 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.” 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. 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. 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.”

What Does it mean to be made in the image of God? (Genesis 1:26-27)

Trinity

I think immediately when we read this text the first question that comes up is, what does it mean to be made in the image of God? But more importantly, I want to point out a deeper question, where is Jesus in this text? Now, when God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The use of the plural here, even in the original Hebrew, shows us that God was not just sitting here lonely and decided to make a world with plants, and animals, and human beings. There are some, historically but also in more recent works, that will argue that God is here speaking to a heavenly counsel of angels. Listen, God did not need the approval or the counsel of the angels. God did not have free reign to create the world and then had to suddenly get approval, or take counsel, for creating man. But as we have already seen in the work of the creation, all three persons of the Trinity are present and so we should see this not as a counsel of angels but a divine counsel between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; three divine persons in the Godhead with one unified will. Creation, from beginning to end, is a Trinitarian work. So here, in these first two verses, we see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, creating the first man, Adam, in the image and likeness of themselves. Do not be deceived into believing that Jesus is not in the OT. The eternal Son of God always has been and always be eternally present with the Father, even at the creation of the world. But what exactly does it mean to be made in the image of God? We still need to answer this question.

Intellectual beings

While I do not have the time to dive into every theological aspect of what it means to be an image bearer, I want to focus on the three main aspects that point us forward to the rest of our passage, which is known as the cultural, or creation, mandate. The first aspect is that God made us intellectual beings. He gave us a brain capable of thinking and reasoning, unlike any other part of the creation. Adam was the first man to experience this in perfection. Adam knew God as his Creator perfectly. Adam knew God’s will perfectly, so far as it was made known to him. Adam was able to think about and name the animals. And Adam was able to perceive who Eve was the moment he saw her saying, “Flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone.” But as we will see in chapter three, as sin and corruption enter the world, that intellect will become bent and broken. Since then, true wisdom and knowledge have to be pursued and put on; it has to be worked for and cultivated, just as Paul teaches us in Colossians 3:9–10 (IT SHOULD BE ON THE SCREEN FOR YOU) “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” We are being renewed in knowledge, intellect, in the image of our Creator. But, we must work to put off the old self and put on the new which is being remade, through Christ, in the image of it’s Creator in knowledge! But we are more than just intellectual beings.

Moral beings

A second aspect of the image of God in man is righteousness and holiness. Man was made to live righteously with God and with others. Adam was able to perfectly live out the will of God in obedience. Martin Luther puts it this way:

Genesis 1–11: Old Testament, Volume 1 (1:26b God’s Image and Likeness)

My understanding of the image of God is this: that Adam had it in his being and that he not only knew God and believed that He was good (intellect), but that he also lived in a life that was wholly godly (moral); that is, he was without the fear of death or of any other danger, and was content with God’s favor.

Adam was able to live a perfectly holy and righteous life. But just like the intellect, as sin and corruption entered the world, the righteousness and holiness of man himself became bent and broken. Likewise, as with knowledge, Paul teaches us that we must now pursue this righteousness and holiness, we must work for it, and we must put it on. Ephesians 4:22–24 (SHOULD BE ON THE SCREEN FOR YOU)“to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” What Paul is saying is that because we have been bent and broken through sin, we must now pursue this knowledge and holiness which is ours in Christ, but it takes work. Even more than just being intellectual and moral beings, God gave us a purpose.

His crown of creation

The third aspect of the image that I want to point out for us is that God made us, unlike any other creatures within the creation. Imagine a masterful artist meticulously crafting a breathtaking masterpiece. With each stroke of the brush, the beauty of the painting unfolds, until finally, the artist lovingly adds the central figure - a depiction of man as the pinnacle of creation, bestowed with intellect, holiness, and the capacity for a profound relationship with his Creator. We are the only part of God’s creation with the capacity to not only know God but also to live for God. As such, God gave Adam a charge to take dominion over what God had created; God gave Adam purpose. In a sense, God crowned Adam, and gave him everything, to have and take care of, like a righteous king would have done. But this charge to have dominion was not just for Adam, it was for all of mankind after Adam as well. Look at Psalm 8:3–8 (SHOULD BE ON THE SCREEN FOR YOU)“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.” As image bearers of God, we have been crowned with glory and honor within creation, but because of sin, we find it pretty hard to see this crown, don’t we? And more than this, this Psalm points us to Christ who is fulfilling what Adam failed to do and what we cannot do perfectly because of sin. Jesus Christ, who wears the crown perfectly, will one day usher in the new kingdom and make all things right. That is our hope and the truth that we stand on. I want to stop here for just a moment and challenge us.

I want to challenge us with this. When you begin to interact with someone, look at them and remind yourself that this person is made in the image of God, and treat them as such. That’s a big challenge, I know. I struggle with this badly myself. But we need to remember that those we are interacting with, even though they might not show it sometimes, are made in the image of God, and they deserve to be treated as such. Not only do we need to remind ourselves that others are made in the image of God, but we need to remind ourselves that we are made in the image of God and we need to act like it. God has given us the ability to do this successfully, but because of sin, like Paul teaches us, we know have to “put on,” or pursue it, with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This knowledge, wisdom, holiness, and purpose that God has gifted us with, must be pursued, and God tells how we do it.

And lastly in verse 27 we see that God distinctly makes them male and female. Regardless of what others may believe or the big shot holly wood actors might tell you, we do not get to choose to be women when we are really men or men when we are really women. To do so, is just outright denial and rebellion of God and His goodness and purpose in making you exactly who you are. And without us trusting in Gods goodness in making us male and female, the rest of this passage makes no sense.

What is the cultural mandate? (Genesis 1:28-31)

Cultural mandate defined

First define the difference in worldview and culture.

‌I want to first define the difference between worldview and culture for us because a lot of times, I think we get this confused. A worldview is a set of beliefs that we have about the world around us. What Genesis, and really the Bible as a whole, is doing for us, is building a Biblical worldview. It shows us what to believe and what is true about the world around us. In the Bible, especially here in Genesis, we see the truth about the world, about man, about God, and this plan of redemption that has been set forth for us. Moving on to culture. What is culture? Culture, to put it as simply as I can, is made when we act on the beliefs of our worldview. Here’s the thing: we live out what we truly believe within our worldview. If I truly believe that all persons are made in the image of God, then I will treat them as such. That doesn’t mean that we won’t have moments of unbelief that we need to correct. I’ll be the first to admit, that it is hard to look at some people who are committing heinous sins and see them as image bearers, but they are. That doesn’t mean their sins are excused, but we should still seek to love them, forgive them, and show them mercy and compassion, just as God has done for us in Christ. Now that we know the difference between worldview and culture, let’s look at what is known as the cultural mandate. This mandate is the very purpose that was given to Adam, and as Adam is the representative of all mankind, the charge belongs to us as well.

Be fruitful and multiply

Starting in verse 28, the first charge is to “be fruitful and multiply.” What this does not mean is that every family should have at least 50 kids. That would be extremely exhausting and we would not be using the intellect that God gave us at that point. We should seek to be faithful in this charge, but we should also seek to be responsible in this charge. Kids are an immense blessing and grace from God! And listen, I know this world seems really scary, and things are going crazy, but that is no reason not to have kids. That just means our purpose in training them has gotten a little more real. Have kids if you are able to, adopt if you can, and train them in humble, loving godliness in which they learn to have dominion on this earth. I know that this can be a difficult subject for many. Because of the sin and brokenness in this world and the sin and brokenness in our own bodies, this can be one of the most difficult situations. But God has not left us without hope. God is able to do far more than we could ever imagine, and He has given us story after story that shows His goodness towards us who love Him. Let me simply urge those suffering from this to not run from God in this time but run to Him. God is the creator of life; he sustains all of his creations, and he has given us hope in Christ. Run to Him, not from Him. Then, there is a second part of this mandate that God gave to Adam.

Have dominion over the earth

This was a charge for Adam and Eve as the first people created to have authority over God's creation as His representatives. This charge was a failed charge, as seen in Chapter 3, and Christ fixes what was broken. But what does this charge mean for us as representatives and ambassadors for Christ on this earth in our current context? This charge to be fruitful and multiply and to have dominion should be seen as good and purposeful things for us to pursue. But what does it mean to have dominion? This charge does not mean that we somehow rule the world or rule over the United States. We are not picking up where Adam left off and fixing what he broke; Jesus does that. But like a squad leader in the military he is given a certain “sphere” to be the authoritative leader for the people under him. God has strategically placed every one of us in a specific sphere to be authoritative leaders and to lead in faithful obedience. That is how we have dominion within the creation. We see this throughout the OT as God sets rulers and kings, leaders for the people. In the NT, we see it in the way Paul continuously calls men to be the leaders in their homes and in the church. We see this today in all of these ways; God still sets us where He wants us, and He expects us to lead in faithful obedience. In doing so, we are cultivating the culture around us.

And it was very good

And the last thing that we see in this passage, is that God saw everything he had made, and behold it was very good. A perfect creation coming from a perfect Creator.

How do we cultivate culture? (1 Corinthians 3:6-9)

Culture

Now we have already talked about the difference between worldview and culture. Remember that worldview is the set of beliefs we hold to be true about the world, about God, and about man. Culture is what is made as a result of us acting on those beliefs. What we have tried to do so far in this first chapter of Genesis, is to begin building a biblical worldview of creation, God, and man. We will continue building upon this as we venture through the rest of Genesis. I want to finish up today by addressing some of the practical implications of worldview and culture as seen through the biblical narrative. This leaves us with a question: How do we cultivate a faithful, obedient culture in today’s world?

One view is that we, as Christians, should take a sort of Monastic approach to culture. This means that we should completely separate ourselves from the outside world, much like the monks did in monasteries. The problem with this view is that we can never truly separate ourselves from all cultures because even within the monastery, a culture is being built. Another view is that we should simply integrate ourselves into the culture. In other words, we make Christianity relevant by living like the world around us only in a “Christian” way. People want rock music, so we make Christian rock music. People love movies and art, so we make Christian art and movies. The problem with this view is that at some point, you have to draw a line, and who gets to draw that line? How far are you willing to go in looking like the world just so you can be relevant? One other view that I want to point out is that if you are on Twitter, you have probably heard of it, and that is Christian Nationalism. This view takes on different forms, but it essentially wants God’s law above all other laws, and they should apply to all people whether you are a believer or not. This view is simply wishful thinking, and until Jesus comes back this view will only be wishful thinking. Now, you may be thinking, “Well he has pointed out the flaws in other views, so what is the right view?”

Cultivation

At this point, I am reminded of a famous movie quote, “Life’s a garden, you gotta dig it.” Some of you are like, “What did he just say?” For those who don’t know it, that is from Joe Dirt, but he made a very valid point. Life is like this massive garden, and we need to cultivate it. In other words, we need to dig it, work the ground, plant, and water. Think back to our sacred text, 1 Corinthians 3:6–9 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” In short, what Paul is teaching us here is that we are cultivators of the ground that God has placed us in. In other words, be faithful where God has you and work for the good of others; God is faithful to give growth as he sees fit. Instead of exhausting ourselves, trying to build some new culture, trying to be relevant, or trying to separate ourselves like monks, we need just to be faithful right where God has us, letting God be God so as to change culture as he sees fit to change it.

Invite the band up.

Conclusion: James Smith sums up volume 1 of a three-part series of books that he wrote on cultural liturgies by saying, “You are what you love.” Now, that is a profoundly deep statement, but it is a true statement, and it stings a little bit. The very things you love the most are the things you will most conform to in your life. The world around us is constantly pulling on the strings of our hearts, directing us to the things we love and desire to have. Sadly, these things, while they can be good things, become our ultimate loves and thus become bad things. So, we have to work at cultivating our love for God and his Word. As Christians, because of the life and work of Christ, we can do this by pursuing God and his Word in the community of the church. Gospel communities, equips classes, discipleship, even just meeting with someone to pray over a cup of coffee. Husbands and fathers, how are we cultivating a love for God and his Word in our homes? Wives and mothers, how are you cultivating a love for God and his Word in your kids? For all of us, how are we cultivating a love for God and his Word in our own personal lives, at work, or at school? If we cannot foster a love for God and his Word in our lives, we won’t be able to help others do the same. If you are not a Christian, this offer is open to you. We will have pastors in the back to talk with and who would love to pray for you and with you. Don’t leave here today without talking to someone.

Prayer: God help us to be faithful cultivators. To not run from you but to run to you ion all we do, in everything we suffer with, let us run to you. Help us to be faithful in these things that you have given us to do, in the areas of life that you have strategically placed us in.