Listen to audio here

Transcending Eden | Part 4

Imago Dei

Genesis 1:26-31

 

Introduction

2 weeks into our series: TRANSCENDING EDEN

• Transcend = to go beyond the historical space and time in which an event occurs
• What happened in Eden did not stay in Eden

 

What we learn from the first three chapters of Genesis – the Epic of Eden – is FOUNDATIONAL TO THE WAY WE APPROACH THE WORLD.

Foundational to the way we understand

• who God is,
• our beginning,
• why we are here,
• what’s wrong,
• and what’s the cure.

 

Let’s Summarize the Big Ideas from the Last 3 Weeks

 

Week 1.) Before there was time, there was God

• God was, God is, and God is to come
• And God is complete
• It was not out of His need that God created,

 

• GOD CREATED OUT OF HIS GLORY

 

• We are NOT THE POINT of God’s creative works

 

Week 2.) God is our Creator

• God, Elohim, is the origin of all things
• That GOD CREATED is the principle claim of not only the first verse of Scripture and the first two chapters, but this truth also permeates all of Scripture
• When God spoke:
  • Form
  • Order
  • Revelation
  • Reason
  • Light and life

 

Week 3.) We dismantled Darwin

• Particularity, Answer for Similarity, Fossil Record, Complexity
• Not to accidental natural processes but ALL point to a Devine Design(er)
• Identity of this Devine Designer is revealed in Scripture

 

>>>>TODAY: Zero in on vv26-31<<<<

 

You are made in the IMAGE OF GOD (v26-27)

• 6^th day of Creation
• Poetic charisma in the Hebrew (like poetic prose)
• “man” = adam (play on the word for ground, adamah) = mankind
• “Image” & “likeness” = synonymous = “to hew into a certain shape” = points to a unique creation that is capable of relating to God
• (v27) 3x God makes the point that:

 

You are made in the IMAGE OF GOD

 

3 Implications of the Imago Dei

 

1.) Your life has a BEGINNING because of God

 

• You existed in the mind of God before time existed

 

Psalm 139:13-16

¹³ For You formed my inward parts;

You wove me in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Your works,

And my soul knows it very well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

¹⁶ Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;

And in Your book were all written

The days that were ordained for me,

When as yet there was not one of them.

 

• A mother has the unique privilege of being the studio in which God creates His works of art

 

• APP: You are not your own

 

 

2.) Your life has BEAUTY because of God (v26)

• Great artists contemplate their creative works (e.g. Michangelo, Sistine Chapel Frescos)

 

God contemplated you (v26)

 

Sanctity of Life

• Every life has beauty because every life is endowed with the likeness of God
• You are beautiful because God is beautiful

1 Peter 3:3-4

³ Your beauty should not consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold ornaments or fine clothes. ⁴ Instead, it should consist of what is inside the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very valuable in God’s eyes.

 

• What about a disability? An occasion to glory in grace or grumble in self pity

 

Significance of Life (v26, 28)

• Look at your fingers, you are one of a kind – a steward of the life God has given you
• God made you for a purpose when you delight in Him it is brought to the surface
• Lamp to path not high beams

 

3.) Your life has BLESSING because of God (v28)

Significantly, immediately after God had created man and woman in his image, he spoke to them: “And God blessed them. And God said to them …” (v. 28).

This means that as image-bearers we can hear and receive God’s word. No other creature can do that.

With blessing comes responsibility

This also means that we are responsible, moral, spiritual beings.

The continental divide is the question of God’s grace. If by his grace we respond, we can live in accord with his word. By his grace we can live nuanced lives of the deepest morality. His grace can enable us to hold forth his word. And we can live with him eternally.^[1]

 

^[1] R. Kent Hughes, Genesis: Beginning and Blessing, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004), 37.