Greater: Easter 2021

Good evening church family! I never get to say good evening! If you have never worshiped on campus with us before, would you please let us know by filling out the Connect Card in the back of the seat in front of you. We know paperwork is always boring so we want to give you a gift for filling it out. If you'll take your card, filled out to our Next Steps area in the lobby, they will give you some info on our church and your very own Lindsay Lane East t-shirt. Please do that!

Why do you exist? That’s a heavy question isn’t it?

I can remember wrestling with it as I got close to graduating college, right? I wanted to do something that mattered. I didn’t want to be older and look back at my life and wonder if I had wasted it?

Did you feel that way as a child?

If so, what was something you wanted to be or do?

At my earliest memory, I wanted to play for the Atlanta Braves. I was of course totally qualified for this at 7, right?

Then I can remember thinking that the NBA sounded more fun. And because it was a ‘gut thing,’ I began to pursue that (which meant simply pretending it was going to happen.

Then I started getting a little older and a little more level-headed. I decided that because I enjoyed writing stories for school and doing it personally too, I would be a novelist. Maybe writing children’s novels one day!

Then around age 15, God began to reveal some gifts that I had for ministry. I began to see the possibility of being a youth pastor for a church. That sounded like the coolest idea yet, seeing as how youth pastors just ate pizza, hung out with teenagers, and get them out of trouble by carrying them to cool places like Pigeon Forge and Panama City Beach, FL. That was my new purpose!

Through each of these transitions to a new purpose in life, it seemed in my head that I was discovering something really deep and telling about my life and future. I finally had meaning!

There are two types of people in the room right now… Those that feel they have some purpose in life and those who don’t. Some of you are finding your purpose in your job like I wanted to years ago.

Others of you may see your purpose more in your personality. Everyone sees me as a mom figure. That’s my greatest purpose: to be a mother to many. Or to make people laugh.

Others of you laugh at the idea that you could have purpose. You view life itself as meaningless and you are just a cog in a wheel of the universe. The only role you play is existing.

What if I told you that you do have purpose, but it is so much greater than anything you could ever think or imagine? It’s greater than being a writer. Greater than playing in the MLB or NBA. Greater than serving as a youth pastor. Greater than being a mother, or making people laugh.

In fact, we were all made with a common purpose! And the Bible tells us what it is from the very beginning. If you have a Bible, open with me to Genesis 1.

We have seen God create the expanse of the universe and we get to what is called here Day 6. In it, God creates crawling animals and then God creates a specimen that appears rather unique. Let me read these three verses, pray, and we will come back to it.

Genesis 1:26–28 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.”

PRAY

The first thing to discuss this morning is

1. Our Purpose: Image Bearers

God created man in HIS IMAGE.

But the question that remains… What in the world does that mean? Right?

Some people have taken it to mean that when we get to heaven God is going to be some old man sitting in a rocking chair with a voice like Morgan Freeman. But the Bible clearly tells us that God has no body like we think of. He is SPIRIT. So that can’t be it...

Others have taken it to mean that we are like God in some sort moral way. That one isn’t as far off, but I don’t think it’s the most clear.

To find the simplest answer, let’s just look in the context itself, right?

Bible trivia… Who wrote the book of Genesis? MOSES! And when did he write it? BETWEEN THE TIME THEY LEFT EGYPT AND GETTING TO THE PROMISED LAND.

We have to think about Moses’ words in light of that context!

The people of God have just spent generations in Egypt. And there they would have already encountered this idea of an image of god.

Egypt was a polytheistic culture meaning they had many gods. The chief of which was a god called Ra. He was the sun God. They viewed the sun itself as Ra.

But of course, they couldn’t interact with Ra because he was a ball of fire lightyears away. But they had images of Ra that they could interact with.

The Pharaohs claimed to be Ra’s representatives on earth. They spoke with the same power and authority as if Ra himself was speaking. That is how the Egyptians viewed the Pharaoh.

So, as Moses is conveying the way God created mankind, the image of Pharaoh and Ra were no doubt in his mind! I’m not saying that Moses stole the idea from Egypt but that Moses is acknowledging that Egypt had stolen the idea from God! God had set not just Pharaoh up this way, but ALL OF MANKIND! Every person who ever lived was created to be an image of God to the world.

This gives us some context, but still… WHAT DOES IT MEAN!? I want to draw out three things. Two are from the text here itself and the third is assumed and then gets cleared up later in the biblical story. I want to walk you through these this morning.

a. Dominion

Genesis 1:26 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.”

Through the creation of the universe it is clear that God is the Master of all of it! He speaks and things happen! I would say he is in charge!

However, it is interesting and not often talked about that God set it up from the beginning that you and I were to rule and reign alongside of him over creation! What did that look like?

It appears in the text that the way God shows his dominion most often is by bringing order out of chaos. This very well could be what that was supposed to look like for Adam and Eve. Keeping the order of creation in line that God had already set up.

Maintain the order, not contribute to the chaos. That’s the call of dominion.

b. Multiplication

Genesis 1:28 CSB

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.”

Does it mean making babies? Absolutely it does. If Adam and Eve had not had children… well, the rest of the Bible would be much shorter! While it is reproduction, it is not JUST reproduction! That’s why we use the term multiplication.

Throughout the Bible, we see God calling his people to do more than just have babies. We are to impact the lives of those who are already born! We are to replicate the faith we have in the lives of others. Even God’s people in the Old Testament were called to live in such a way that the nations were drawn into a relationship with God. That continues for us in the Great Commission...

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

To bear the image of God carries the clear command to multiple that image into as many as will respond and follow God, whether our own children or the children of someone else.

c. Glory

Though it isn’t spoken directly here, the rest of the biblical story makes it clear that the purpose behind our purpose is more glory for God! As humans share dominion and multiply, God is made great among the nations! People who didn’t know him, find out about him. People who didn’t believe in him, begin to. People who turned their back on him return to him! This is why we exist as image bearers!

2. Our Distraction: Inverted through Sin

The very purpose that God has called us to has been inverted through sin. God set the whole thing up in Genesis 1 and 2 to be God—>Man—>Creation. However, in Genesis 3 we see this...

Genesis 3:6 CSB

The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

What is happening here? Eve is eating the very fruit that God told her not to eat. WHY would she do this? Because a created being told her to! Literally a beast of the field convinces her to go against God’s command. So what does it look like now? God is no longer on top, Adam and Eve believe they know better that God. And who do they listen to? Creation!

This is what is so terrible about this first sin. It flipped the whole idea of living as God’s image bearers on its head! It made creation more important than man and God! It gave over dominion to who it was never intended to go to!

Do you see that? And do you see how often we can do the same thing? We may not be listening to snakes but in our sin, you and I have become animal-like by giving in to our own base desires instead of following God. We listen to the wrong voice! We have given dominion to something in us that does not reflect God!

The story of sin in the heart of mankind continues through to Genesis chapter 11. Often times chapter 3 is called the story of the fall. But we are supposed to see chapters 3-11 as this terrible spiral of sin among all of creation. It reaches its peak with a story of humanity gathering together to build a city with a tower as its epicenter. What you may know of as the tower of Babylon or Babel.

Genesis 11:3–4 CSB

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make oven-fired bricks.” (They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar.) And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”

Notice the language… Do you see this inversion again?

God had told them to multiply and FILL the earth and make God’s name great. Yet here they are gathering together in Babel to make their own name great! The multiplication and glory pieces of the image bearing have been forfeited for something much less great.

The fear in their hearts was the very thing that God had told them was good! They had an issue with trying to define for themselves what was good and bad… Sound familiar? Adam and Eve had the same trouble in the garden!

You and I struggle with all of this too! Because of this, we stink as image bearers! Instead of replicating the character of God in other people through multiplication, we inevitably show everyone around us the WRONG way to live through our sin! Our multiplication becomes counter to what God intended! Do you see this?

In our sin, we also do not seek to show the glory of God in the world, our desire is just like that of those at Babel. We want to make a name for ourselves, for our business or organization, our family name, good night, even our church! When we seek to make a name for anyone other than God, we are forfeiting our call as image bearers for something much less great!

If we show any dominion, it is trying to rule over God himself! If we show any multiplication, we are multiplying the wrong types of traits in others. And if we try to bring glory to anyone, it is ourselves, not God!

The connection between the storyline of the Bible and this idea of image bearing continues to pop up.

As we already said, Moses no doubt had Pharaoh in mind as he is communicating what it looks like to be an image bearer of God. Humans were actually to be the images of God on the earth. However, what God’s people had experienced in Egypt were objects of a god’s power. The main God of Egypt was Ra, the Sun god. There would have been statues and images of Ra everywhere. But he was not the only God! There were PLENTY of other gods. And each one have had statues and temples in their honor.

But after leaving Egypt, Moses has gone up on this mountain to meet with this God who is not like that. There is no statue. There is no image. We can’t look to the sun and say that is God. or the moon!

God’s people had not yet grasped that they were the image of God on the earth. When people asked what is God like? They should be able to show them through the way they acted and reacted in every day life instead of pointing to a golden image!

So, while Moses is meeting with God on Mt. Sinai (literally getting the ten commandments: one of which is Don’t make for yourself a graven image…) What do God’s people do?

They get anxious!

Exodus 32:4 CSB

He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”

How ironic is it that the images of God want to make an image of God?They try to make this golden calf the thing they themselves already are!!!! It becomes clear from here through the rest of the biblical story that man is really good at one thing: messing up God’s intention for them as image bearers.

If we could only see it! What it should look like… “I know you have called us to be your image bearers! I know: dominion, multiplication, glory… But what does it look like?” Wouldn’t it be great if we just had some manual or better yet a real-life example of what it was supposed to look like...

We have that example in Jesus!

3. Our Example: Jesus as Image Bearer

Jesus modeled perfectly for us what it was to look like to bear the image of God in the world. He acted and reacted exactly like God would have in every situation he faced.

This is why Paul says of Jesus in Colossians...

Colossians 1:15 CSB

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

What should we notice there? IMAGE OF GOD! Right? And he is the “firstborn over all creation.” Jesus is the prototype, the first of a kind that we are supposed to follow! He showed us what it looked like to follow God fully and completely! He brought order out of chaos in his dominion, he multiplied himself many times over in the lives of other people, and he lived his life ultimately for the glory of God!

Jesus was more than just an example for us though!

This weekend we celebrate Easter! Easter and the days before it are a reminder to us that Jesus didn’t just live a perfect life, he also died in OUR PLACE. Though he had no sin of his own, he took on our sin. Though he didn’t deserve death, he died for us!

Through that death, he brought forgiveness of sins once and for all! He was the ultimate sin sacrifice that God would accept on all who would repent and believe in Jesus.

But we know that Jesus didn’t just die for us. He was raised up for us! In his resurrection, Jesus brought LIFE where there was no LIFE. The Bible speaks of this as a new man or a new life that we receive through Jesus. In this newness comes the ability to please God and become image bearers.

Listen to the words of Paul again as he riffs off this image of God idea in light of salvation...

Colossians 3:9–10 CSB

Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.

When God makes us new in salvation, we are moving towards this idea of being an image bearer.

This purpose is the greatest that any man or woman could take on. More than any branch of science or education, military or government, service or sales, our calling to bear the image of God through dominion, multiplication and glory is THE REASON WE EXIST. Every other purpose you would say is important pales in comparison to that one!

Today, I have to ask you what I’ve been asking myself: Are you living in that greater purpose or have you forfeited it for something less great!?

That begins with salvation and surrendering your life to Christ. If you have never trusted in Jesus and placed the full weight of your faith on him, you can today. In that moment God will make you new through the work of his spirit and will give you the ability to grow in this greater purpose!

If you would like to begin that journey today, The Bible makes it clear what it looks like. Three key words:

A. Repent - The Bible calls us to repent of our sins. This means to turn away. It literally means to go another direction. Every human moves naturally towards our own sin. We need to ask God to help us turn from that sin and pursue him instead!

B. Believe - Believing is more than a knowledge. It is an understanding that affects the way we live. Today, you can believe that Jesus really did live the life of perfection that you could never have lived, died the death that we deserved in our place, and was raised up to new life so that we too might have life. Tell God that you believe that today!

C. Commit - The Bible says that following God is not something that we sign up for in the moment and immediately go back to our own way. We have to ask God to help us follow him not just today or tomorrow but THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! Do you sense the heaviness of the commitment? Talk to him about it.

The Bible explains that this is how we can be changed! God does the work to make us new so that we can pursue his design for us!

We would love to help you take that step and then give you some resources that will help you get started on this new journey in the right way.

During our last song, come let me know that you want to take that step and we will do all we can to answer your questions and walk you through that. We are gonna be so pumped to share that with you!

If you are a Christian already, wrestle with each of these three ideas behind being an image bearer. Ask yourself the hard questions and check your motives. Let’s all be able to commit today to be God’s image bearers because of Easter 2021, amen?

We are gonna sing one more song, and as I’ve already said, if you need help taking a next step in your life today, come let me know and we will walk you through that. Whether that step is salvation, baptism, joining this church, finding your place to serve, or just needing prayer for something going on. And as always, you can bring your requests to God at this altar on behalf of yourself or others as well.

Let’s pray, then you stand and we will sing and respond.