Image of God

INTRO

Who are you?

Kind of a odd question to ask because I know pretty much all of you

but if someone was to ask you, “who are you?”

not “what is your name?”

but “who are you?”

How would you answer that?

your sport?

your hobby?

your school

your work?

your friend group?

your parents names?

The reality is that most of the things we would say and be building our identity on can change

or be taken away

If your sport gets taken away…

who are you?

If your friends leave…

who are you?

If you fail or don’t achieve that goal…

who are you?”

TENSION

Here’s the tension…

We live in a world that says 2 things:

“you define you”

“what you do defines you”

Yet at the same time everyone is still confused about who they are

Culture says: 

“follow your heart”

Social media says

“be liked”

School and sports says

“perform”

What do these things result in?

Anxiety

Comparison

Insecurity

And pride

Why?

Because we’re trying to carry the weight of defining ourselves

But who actually gets to define who you are?

You?

Other people?

Or the One who made you?”

That’s why we’re starting this series: “Who Am I?”

Because if you don’t know who God says you are then you’ll spend your whole life trying to figure it out somewhere else

Tonight, I want us to see that your identity should come from the One who made you and why He has the authority to define who you are

And over the next few weeks, we’re going to see not only that He has the authority to give you your identity…

but what that identity actually is

TRUTH

I want to begin at creation…

it’s been 5 days of creation

earth

sun

moon

starts

sky

oceans

trees and vegetation

Then comes the 6th day

first God creates the birds, fish, and animals

then He begins to create man

Genesis 1:26–31 CSB

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you, for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

You Are:

Created in the Image of God

Being made in the image of God doesn’t mean we physically look like God…

it means we reflect Him

in our soul

our ability to think

to choose

to love

and to relate

We are the only part of creation that

Has a soul

that can reason and think

that has any moral awareness

and can relate to God

Out of everything God created…

only humanity is made in His image

And because of that reality it means:

You are the prize of His creation

Not because of what you’ve done, but because of who made you

But we see also see in the text that God gave His prized creation, humanity, authority

to rule and care for creation

Meaning as a image bearer

You were created to represent God in the world

This means two things:

1. You have value

Your worth isn’t based on your performance

your popularity,

or your success…

it’s based on the fact that you were created in the image of God

So whether or not you feel like you have value or not

know tonight that you do

And it’s not just me saying that to make you feel good

it’s God saying it

God’s words are clear

you are made in His image, meaning you were made to represent Him to the rest of creation, and because of that you value is priceless

2. Everyone else has that same value

Every person you lock eyes with this week… is an image bearer

You get that?

every human is made in the image of God

This means:

The person you don’t like

made in the image of God

The person who annoys you

made in the image of God

The person everyone makes fun of

made in the image of God

You don’t get to devalue what God has given value to

And ff they are made in the image of God…

it should change how you see them and how you treat them

But God didn’t just create you with value…

He created you for something even deeper

2. Created for Relationship with God

As we read in Genesis 1-3 we begin to see that God didn’t create humanity and walk away…

He walked with them

He talked with them

In other words, He didn’t just create mankind to have authority over creation

to be His representative

He created them to be in relationship with Him

Scripture is Clear:

Man was made to love Him

to be loved by Him

and to worship Him

Before sin ever entered the world…

humanity’s identity was rooted in relationship with God

Yes, they had a role:

to tend the garden…

but their primary purpose wasn’t a job

it was a relationship

And what I want you to understand tonight is that

Some of you are trying to build your identity on what you do…

yet your identity can only ultimately be found in who you’re connected to

You were made for a relationship with God

which means if that relationship isn’t there then something will always feel off

You can have everything the world says matters and still feel empty

because you were made for Him

As St. Augustine once perfectly stated,

“You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”

What does this mean for us?

it means…

That restlessness you feel sometimes

That feeling that something is missing even when everything seems fine

It’s not random.

and it’s not weakness.

That’s evidence

Evidence that you were made for something…

or better yet

Someone

You were created for a real relationship with God

Not religion

Not rules

Not just showing up to church

A relationship in which you

know Him

walk with Him

be loved by Him

and to love Him in return

But here’s the reality we have to face

If we were created for that kind of relationship…

why does it feel so distant?

Why does God sometimes feel far away?

Why does that relationship not feel natural

or even there at all?

It’s because something broke

The relationship we were created for

is not the relationship we naturally live in

And this is where we have to be really clear

because this is where a lot of people get it wrong…

Just because you were created by God…

does not automatically mean you are in a relationship with God.

Look what John said at the beginning of His gospel

John 1:10–13 CSB

He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

My last point for you tonight is this:

3. Created to Be a Child of God

And what John helps us understand is that:

Being an image bearer does not automatically make you a child of God

Every single person in this room is an image bearer

You were created by God

You have value

You matter

But the Bible is also clear…

not everyone is a child of God.

Being created by God and being in the family of God are not the same thing

Why?

Because of sin.

In Genesis 3, the relationship we were created for was broken

Humanity chose sin over God

and that separation has existed ever since

So now, we are born as image bearers

but not in right relationship with God

But here’s the good news:

God didn’t leave it that way

God didn’t create you

then watch the relationship break

and said, “welp, good luck!”

He came after you…

Jesus stepped in our broken relationship with God

He lived the life we couldn’t live…

perfectly reflecting the image of God

He died the death we deserved…

taking the punishment for our sin

And He rose again…

defeating sin and death.

So that what was broken, could be restored

Why is this good new?

Because It means you can move from

image bearer… → to child of God

Not by being good enough

Not by going to church enough

Not by cleaning your life up first

But by receiving Jesus

By turning from your sin

and placing your trust in Him.

CONLUSION

So let me end tonight by asking you the same question we started with…

Who are you?

Tonight, you’ve heard who you were created as…

You are an image bearer of God

You’ve heard what you were created for…

You were created for a relationship with God

And you’ve heard who you were created to be…

You were created to be a child of God

So… who are you?

Are you just an image bearer…

or are you an image bearer and a child of God?

If you’re here tonight and you are not a child of God…

that can change.

Not by trying harder

Not by being better

But by receiving Jesus as the Lord and Savior of your life

Turning from your sin and trusting in Him

And if you are a child of God…

Do you even know what that means?

Do you know how that should change the way you live?

How it should shape the way you see God and the way you see yourself?

Do you know the rest that comes with that identity?

If not…

that’s exactly what the rest of this series is about

Who am I… as a child of God?