Created in the Image of God
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
There are four world defining questions that everyone at some point has to ask themselves: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? This week we will be dealing with the first of these questions: Who am I? This question dives right into the heart of our identity. Who am I really? Where does my identity come from? What makes me any different from anyone else out there?
Most of us went through a period in our adolescence where we were trying to decide who we really were. You had the jocks, the smart kids, the loners. In school you had the goths, the musicians, the cool kids and the nerds. Many go through that again when they hit their midlife crisis. They feel like their life is slipping away so they fill it up with things and activities. Those of us in the middle struggle to discover ourselves everyday or we are trying to prove ourselves. This leads to workaholism because we know if we don’t prove our worth; someone younger and smarter will take our job. We spend so much of our lives trying to create our identity. We put perfectly curated pictures of our families on social media and share all the fun we are having; we weigh in on all the issues as if we are the expert online, but that image is fake. Facebook is fakebook.
Author and theologian David Wells stated it this way: “Never before have we had more resources and technology to create a fake identity. We have the money and the social media world, and we work hard to brand ourselves, to put an image of self out there that isn’t real.”
Schmidt, Cary. Stop Trying (p. 46). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
A loss of identity can be earth shattering for some and our constant pursuit to define ourselves ultimately leaves us beaten down. This week we will be looking at the concept of identity in the bible.
I. What is identity?
I. What is identity?
A. Definition- your deepest understanding of yourself or the story you tell about yourself.
B. The bible speaks of your identity when it refers to the inner man in Eph 3:16 and your heart in Prov 4:23
C. Our identity gives us a sense of acceptance, security, and significance (meaning)
D. Places where we try to get our identity
1. Race/Ethnicity/Culture—I am my ethnicity or culture. Ethnicity elevated into an identity fuels our tendencies toward racism and prejudice.
2. Family of Origin—I am my familial heritage. This reduces us to nothing more than beneficiaries or victims of our family trees.
3. Religion/Moral Performance—I am a good or religious person. This fuses our identities with systematized good behavior and imprisons us to perpetual performance.
4. Gender—I am whatever gender I choose. Gender is redefined as purely a psychological choice, shattering male/female “binaries,” and forcing us to experiment with dozens of contrived options.
5. Sexual Orientation—I am my sexual desires. Lusts and physical passions reduce us to merely sexual beings.
6. Wealth/ Possessions—I am my money or stuff. Greed and materialism perpetually drive the acquiring of more to fuel our sense of self.
7. Power/Status/Personal Capacity—I am my abilities. Personal accomplishments create an insatiable drive for increased capacity and achievement.
8. Love/Romance—I am my attractional qualities. Romantic relationships become absolute and essential for feeling personal worth and acceptance.
9. Past Abuse/Victimization—I am my bruises. Wounds and past hurts can never heal because they have come to define us.
10. Failure/Regrets—I am my regrets and mistakes. Bad decisions become permanent, unforgivable, and unrecoverable regrets.
11. Social Media/Fake Identity—I am my profile. Ever-improved digital profiles promise affirmation by numbers of likes, shares, friends, or followers.
12. Generation/Age—I am a Millennial, Generation X, etc. Age and life stage elevate one generation over others.
13. Function/Abilities—I am a … [creative, speaker, leader, etc.]. Primary abilities or roles become essential to feelings of worth and meaning.
14. Relationships/Friendships—I am who accepts me. Finding friends, fitting in, and fearing rejection become our primary drives in life.
15. Occupation/Career—I am my career. Vocational success elevated to identity will cause us to devalue people and steamroll over more valuable priorities.
16. Personality—I am my temperament type. Personality tests and descriptors (e.g., I’m an introvert, extrovert; I am funny, relatable, etc.) compartmentalize us onto spreadsheets and numbered grids to make us feel as though we understand ourselves.
Schmidt, Cary. Stop Trying (pp. 37-39). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
II. Types of Identity
II. Types of Identity
A. Tradition- other’s define who I am Example: Buzz Lightyear- every one said He was supposed to be a space ranger. The box declared it, his built in voice controls said it, the TV commercials all said he was a space ranger.
I am a smart student
I am a hard worker
I am a good athlete
I am beautiful
The problem with the traditional identity is that is is performance based and conditional. If you fail at any of these things, your self identity will come crumbling down. Use my example of being a missionary. What if you fail finals, you are paralyzed, or you are in a car crash and your face is permanently scared? The traditional identity will leave you crushed. It is dependent on others.
B. Modern- I am what I say I am We see this type of identity in all of the Disney movies which teach us to follow our hearts. To be who we want to be. In The Little Mermaid Ariel longs to break free from the sea and live on the land. To be what she wants to be. Its funny how she assumes fathers never reprimand their daughter over the sea. Life will be greener on the other side. The problem with the modern identity is that it is fake and it still requires you to achieve goals that you might fail in. The modern identity downsizes God and makes us gods of our own making. It can hurt those around us because it puts an emphasis on what I want. It is never satisfied and can create anxiety. You can’t achieve it.
III. Finding our proper identity
III. Finding our proper identity
Sometimes God has to tear down those wrong identities that we have built for ourselves. Think of Peter. Peter thought of himself as a fisherman and yet when Jesus called him, he was in a boat and had caught nothing all day. Later, he assumed himself to be the leader and defender of Jesus, but when Jesus was arrested he fled and then denied Jesus three times. The crushing moment for Peter was when he looked up and saw the look in Jesus’ eyes.
The only lasting and secure identity we can have our must be given to us by God.
IV. The Image of God
IV. The Image of God
There is one identity that we all share. I am a human being created in the image of God.
And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Image:
The word image in this text and throughout scripture is tselem and refers to a physical likeness in all but two places. This same word is often used for an idol or carved image of a God. In secular culture, a ruler was often known as the image of God because he represented the authority of that god. This often led them to make images of themselves as idols which were forbidden by God in the 10 commandments.
As a dream when one awaketh;
So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
The idea behind this usage of the word image is that they are a phantom or memory of something else. A usage similar to this can be found in Psalm 39:5-6. The phrase a vain shew is the same word image and refers to a transitory image or shadow.
Likeness:
The word here is demuth which is a more general word that can be both physical and abstract. These two words seem to be used synonomous. Only one is used in vs 27. Only one of these words is used in the other two passages. Repetition is common in the poetic nature of the first chapter of Genesis. Take a look at the last phrases of vs 27 which uses Hebrew parallelism (Janus) to develop the creation of man So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Gen 5:3 also uses this same construction to refer to Adam’s children. The end result isn’t that Adam’s son was a physical copy of Adam, but that his son was like him in some way.
What it means to be created in the image of God
All men are created in God’s image- there is no race that shares a special favor from God or looks more like God or is supreme. We are all created in the image of God and as the bible says elsewhere we are all from one blood. There is only one human race.
Men and women are both created in the image of God. There is intrinsic value to both men and women. One is not greater than the other in value.
Manifesting the image of God means dominion over the natural world in our text.
When God created mankind, his creation was good.
Eph 4:24 seems to hint that this image involves righteousness and holiness.
Gen 3- when man fell this image was marred but man still maintains the image of God Gen 9:6. Henri Blocher:
We must state both that after his revolt mankind remains mankind, and also that mankind has radically changed, that he is but a grisly shadow of himself. Mankind remains the image of God, inviolable and responsible, but has become a contradictory image, one might say a caricature, a witness against himself.
Illustration of a windshield that has been cracked. It is still there but will never function properly.
Jesus is the ultimate image bearer and by his death on the cross can restore that image of God in us by faith in him.
Colossians 1:12–15 (KJV 1900)
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
As human beings we were all created in the image of God. When man fell in the garden that image was marred so that as human beings we are completely tainted by corruption. Now every child born on the face of the earth perpetuates the sin that began in the garden of rebellion against God. Jesus Christ who is not just made in the image of God, but who is the image of God came and died on the cross, was burried and rose again to offer forgiveness, and restore that image of God within mankind. So who am I? I am a broken picture of God and who I was intended to be, but that image can be restored in Jesus. Only in Him can I be who I was intended to be. Any efforts to be defined by others or to define myself will ultimately fail because that windshield is broken and can only be restored by God. As the week progresses we will be looking at the different aspects of our identity that we gain by being “in Christ.”