Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

One of the most powerful symbols of the Civil Rights Movement is the iconic image of sanitation workers on March 28, 1968 when they protested while holding signs that said, “I Am A Man.”

This was just a few days before MLK Jr. was assasinated.

This phrase has historically been a rallying cry against oppression for minorities.

These sanitation workers were decrying that many considered them, because of their race, less than human.

But what they were declaring was what God had already said about them, that they were created in the image of God and established with full humanity.

Since the fall in the garden of Eden, we have been tempted to see our neighbors as less than human.

The Bible describes humankind as having unique dignity and worth, but in every generation, there are assaults on this dignity.

Consider the ways our society often labels and treats certain vulnerable groups:

The unborn

The poor

The immigrant

The elderly

The disabled

The gospel gives us a perspective of human dignity that begins with creation and ends with God’s redeemed people bearing witness to Jesus as the express image of God.

For 40 years the conversation remains irrepressible in our public policy discussion, elections, films, sitcoms, newspapers and coffee klatches.

We can’t move on because the issue won’t go away.

Our consciences, individual and corporate, can’t let it.

And for 45 years the conversation remains everlasting in our public policy discussion, elections, films, sitcoms, newspapers and conversations.

e gospel story o ers the world a unique vision of human dignity that begins with creation and ends with God’s redeemed people bearing witness to Jesus as the express image of God.

We can’t move on because the issue won’t go away.

Because our consciences, as individuals and even as a society, can’t let it.

God Incarnate

We’re still talking about the sanctity of life because the mere mention of it creates in us a moral friction on our human souls –

Session Summary

And our souls have been modeled after the Creator God who makes human beings distinctive among His created order.

It is this imago Dei – image of God – embedded in human beings () that makes us human in the first place.

And most of us understand that being created in the image of God means we are special in creation.

In fact, the imago Dei is the genesis of the biblical worldview: that God created and imprinted His image upon each person, giving dignity and value to every single human life despite its stage of development.

But have we fully understood this important reality?

So we have value and we have worth.

What does it really mean to bear the image of God?

But it’s not just in the unborn that we find value and worth

answers by affirming that God places high value on each one of us.

If you take stock of your life and say, "What difference does my life make?

Does anybody really know or care about me?", then you're in the right place at the right time this morning.

God has a word for you in .

He wants to show you a different picture of your life.

He wants to give you a view from the top, to help you see the meaning of your life from His perspective.

As you begin to dig into this psalm, You can begin to see why we can say with absolute confidence that God considers all of our lives to be sacred and precious treasures.

answers by a rming that God places high value on each one of us.

As we study this impressive psalm, we’ll nd why we can say with absolute con dence that God considers all of our lives to be sacred and precious treasures.

If you take stock of your life and say, "What difference does my life make?

Does anybody really know or care about me?", then you're in the right place at the right time this morning.

God has a word for you in .

He wants to show you a different picture of your life.

He wants to give you a view from the top, to help you see the meaning of your life from His perspective.

How does Christ restore our image-bearing purpose?

It’s in this psalm that the psalmist wants to show you a different picture of your life.

We’re so prone to look at things on the horizontal level

We look at life from the here and now, usually without any regard to the purpose or meaning that God has for us

But the Psalmist wants to give us a view from the top, to help us see the meaning of our lives, those living and those yet to take a breath, from His perspective.

And how does human dignity influence the way we live in the world?

There are four truths that, if believed, are guaranteed to replace pity-parties with purposeful pursuits as we learn the true value of our investment in others

And what I want to do this morning is a little different

Since today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday I want to spend our time together thinking about what that means

And thinking about these questions and seeing what God’s Word has to say about them.

What does it mean to bear the image of God?

Have you watched the news lately?

Genesis

There’s not much good to it

Each time we hear about violence on the news, we cringe.

Each time we experience the tragic loss of life of someone close to us, we mourn.

Each time we see images of tragedy overseas, our hearts break.

Why is this?

Death strikes us di erently than any other kind of tragedy because instinctively we know there is something special, unique, and important about human life.

In fact, the majority of what you hear about is all of the bad, the tragic and the violent

Each time we hear about violence on the news, we cringe.

Each time we experience the tragic loss of life of someone close to us, we mourn.

Each time we see images of tragedy overseas, our hearts break.

Why is this?

Because instinctively we know there is something special, unique, and important about human life.

And when we see the calamities that others go through, our emotions are stirred

And the Bible tells us why we feel this way.

We were created, as Genesis informs us, unlike the rest of creation.

The Creator spoke the universe into existence (ex.

), but we are told humans were endowed with special value.

Moses, who wrote Genesis, recorded God’s words saying that humankind was created in the image of God.

But what does it mean to be created in the image of God?

Theologians have wrestled with this idea for centuries, but here’s what we do know: unlike the plants and the animals, people were created as image bearers of their Creator.

In Moses’s day, back in Egypt it was common for the Pharoah to set up images of themselves throughout their kingdom so that their subjects could be reminded of the ruler’s likeness and would remember who held the power and who deserved to be worshiped.

Well, the Bible says that God created humans to image Him.

So, this has means a couple of things for us

First, it means that value of human life is hardwired into us.

There is something of God’s imprint on every human soul.

We are told in that while the rest of creation was spoken into existence, human beings were sculpted by God and given the breath of life.

David later described each human conception as an intricately crafted process by a loving God ().

But just as the value of human life is imprinted on our soul, then bearing God’s image means that we have a responsibility.

Then bearing God’s image means having responsibilities.

Humans uniquely are empowered to think, to reason, to create, to love, and to feel.

Humans were created to represent God in His un nished world, to take the raw materials of creation and bring Him glory by creating and lling the earth.

So think about it with me.

Second, bearing God’s image means having responsibilities.

Humans uniquely are empowered to think, to reason, to create, to love, and to feel.

Humans were created to represent God in His un nished world, to take the raw materials of creation and bring Him glory by creating and lling the earth.

As humans we are uniquely empowered to think, to reason, to create, to love, and to feel.

And as humans we’re created to represent God in His unfinished world,

As His image bearers we’re to take the elements of creation and bring Him glory by creating and fulfilling the earth.

But then happened and sin entered the picture

Sadly, the curse of sin has not only diminished our capacity to bear God’s image, it has turned us in on one another in ways that violate God’s original purpose in creation.