Our Place in God’s World

This transcript has been automatically generated

Thank you very much, Angela. Well, now, our subject this evening is something that all of us like to talk about— ourselves. And of course, this is a key issue to us today and in every age, for if we don’t begin to understand where we come from and how we fit into the world, we shall always be rootless, uncertain, and insecure. We shall always fail to make sense of our place in the world in which we live. And we shall always be like displaced persons.

And my aim this evening is for us to see that we will only ever truly understand ourselves and our place in God’s world when we come to understand Jesus Christ.

Well, we’re going to begin with our text here at the start of Genesis, and we cannot ignore the fact that the description of humanity comes within the context of a chapter whose subject is God. So in one sense, we’re not talking about ourselves. In a major sense, in the key sense, we are talking about God. Because we saw last week that the main point of the chapter is that God made everything and that he is in charge. And so straight away, our author is wanting to let us know that we shall only understand ourselves and our place within this world if we do so by looking to God who made us and And by finding out what his purposes and his plans and his concerns for the existence of this world are.

A couple of years ago, my brother’s brother-in-law announced that he was going to give up his highly successful and lucrative career here in the city, just over there about 100 yards in that direction, and he was going to head off to India to, in his words, find himself.

That Christmas, my brother, who is very amusing, brought him a marvellous present and wrapped it and placed it under the tree. When he opened it, he found himself in possession of a mirror with written on the glass, save the airfare.

Well, now, our chapter, you see, has something to say to the psychoanalyst and the anthropologist. We don’t find ourselves by looking within, looking at the mirror. We don’t find ourselves by looking without at other cultures or other people groups. No, our writer has a key thing to say to us in this 6th day. We will only ever truly understand ourselves by looking at God’s stated purpose for us within his creation.

And our author, I think, has just one major point to make for us, which I want to pick up using the words of Psalm 8, which we looked at earlier on: humanity crowned with glory and honour.

You see, we simply cannot read this day 6 without, like the psalmist, realising that God has given us, human beings in his creation a position that is different and distinct from the animals and from the rest of creation. We are, in the words of the psalmist, crowned with glory and honour.

Now please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we are some sort of ethereal, non-material being like a Dr. Spock from Star Trek. We are tied to the rest of creation by a number of common bonds which you can see here in our text. So we cannot claim to be altogether different from creation.

We share the 6th day with the animals. Surely our author is trying to say something to us there. They are, if you like, half of our context. And you can see that verse 24 and 25 of chapter 1 are taken up with the creation of the animals, and verse 30 is taken up with their food and their feeding. So we share our context with the animal kingdom.

We feed as they feed. We produce with the same blessing as the birds do in the previous day, day 5.

So you biologists and anthropologists, you’re right when you discover that there is much that is similar between humanity and the rest of the animal kingdom. Oh, you’re right.

Nonetheless, we can’t read this account of the 6th day without seeing that humankind is different and distinct. So we would be wrong to seek to understand humanity, as some scientists are doing today, simply through the study of the animal kingdom, as if we were only animals. We are not simply naked apes or trousered apes. There is something profoundly different about human beings. We are crowned with glory and honour, and our writer is determined that we get that point.

He makes the point with the structure of the 6 days, so that as we saw last day— last week, there are 3 days where he makes the framework of creation, 3 days where he fills creation, and the pinnacle of his filling of creation is the creation of humanity.

But within the 6th day, day 6, the creation of humanity is the pinnacle of his creative activity on that day.

So as you look down, you can see that verse 27 lies right at the heart of the structure of the day. Do you see it’s sandwiched between the creation of the animals and the creation of their food and and the creation of humanity and the creation of our food, right at the heart is verse 27, with the creation of humanity.

And then you can see in verse 26 that for the first time God deliberates with himself. It’s as if the writer is wanting us to stop in our tracks as we see something totally new in God’s creative activity in verse 26. Look at verse 26. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. Now that’s new.

Always before, God just creates things. Let there be, and then it happens. But in verse 26, which I don’t think itself demands the Trinity, but you can understand why the New Testament writers see it there, in verse 26 he stops to deliberate. Let us make And it’s as if the writer is wanting us to pause and say, hey, there’s something quite different going on here. So it’s there in the structure.

It’s there in the language of that central verse, verse 27, that we are distinct and different, crowned with glory and honour. Do you see? Let’s read verse 27. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him.

Male and female he created them.

Now, in spite of my reading it pretty stupidly, you can get the point. That word create is used only of God in the Bible. And in our section, chapter 1:1 through to 2:3, it is used only in chapter 1, verse 1, and chapter 2, verse 3. Those are the only 2 places it is used apart from in this verse.

So do you see what the author is trying to say to us? God created, but then when he gets to the heart of this verse, the pinnacle of creation, humanity created in the image of God, he is wanting us to stop and to realise there is something very significant going on. Then do you see in verse 27 that we are created in the image of God? So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.

Now the text doesn’t exactly tell us what it means to be in the image of God. There’s no straight definition. But we can say that humanity has a unique and an exclusive privilege. For no other image of God is allowed in the whole of the Bible And no other image of God exists within his created order outside of this image of God in humanity, male and female. Man and woman together, male and female, represent the image of God.

We are made in his likeness. Which of course is why we humans are uniquely able to understand God, to make sense of language from God and about God. Because God is not so wholly other from us that we cannot understand him and know him. Do you see how the author is over and over and over again trying to ram home the point that we are uniquely privileged, crowned with glory and honour? Here is humanity, created by God, the pinnacle of creation, male and female made in his image.

But it’s not just verse 27 that makes that point. Because on either side of verse 27, in verse 26 and verse 28, we are given by God a unique and exalted role within his creation. Just have a look at verse 26. Then God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the creatures of the earth. And over all the creatures that move along the ground.

And verse 28, God blessed them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. And again this commission, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

Do you see? Not only unique in creation but given a unique role in the image of God to rule his creation. I’m going to say a lot more about this tomorrow evening. When we have our evening on work. But for now, we can see that whatever we may think work is, it is not in and of itself evil.

You may like to think it is as you get up in the morning, but like the rest of creation, it is good. And we are given the task of ruling God’s world responsibly under God before the fall. So that as we come into chapter 2, we find Adam the gardener at work within God’s world in relationship with him. Here you see in verse 26 is the biblical mandate for all scientific enterprise, all agricultural, industrial projects, all exploratory and investigative works of humanity. The satisfaction of a job well done is a God-given experience.

Well now, I wonder if you’ve ever stopped to think about humanity. Here is the point that our writer, it seems to me, is making for us so clearly, that we are crowned with glory and honour by God as the pinnacle of his creation.

And before we go any further, I want to draw just a few conclusions from the points that we have made. Each one of which could be developed into a whole sermon on its own. But I’m going to restrict myself and will just make a couple of remarks. And if you’re taking notes, which is a good thing to do, jot the headings down and go away and think about them. First, we are clearly made by God to live in his creation in relation with him.

God is relational. Not only does he deliberate with himself, but he also, in this chapter, creates a being outside of himself, in his likeness, with whom and to whom he can relate. So that because we are made in his image, we are both made to relate to him and understand him. And we are therefore able to relate to him and understand him because we’re made in his image.

Now, we made this point last week, and we’re gonna make it again next week, but I want to make it this week as well just to make sure that it registers. We will only understand our place within God’s creation as we understand God and his purposes. For having been made in his image, we’ve been put in his creation to relate with him and to him. And we will always be restless, insecure within his creation until we find ourselves in relationship with him.

Last month, Julia Hill, now aged 23, descended from a giant redwood tree in North California. She went up the tree in December 1997, and her stepfather Her stated purpose in her 2-year residence on the platform, 200 feet up, was to learn a little about herself and her environment. Well, she certainly did discover something anyway. Apparently, she descended the tree, she was emotional and wobbly on her feet. Between laughter and tears, she said, there is no way to be in the presence of these ancient beings and not be affected.

Looking at the picture, she was clearly right.

But we will only learn a little about, about ourselves, we will only truly come to understand ourselves and our position in God’s world according to this chapter when we come to see that we were made to relate to God. Some of us live today as if we were made for pleasure, for hobbies, for enjoying God’s good creation without reference to him. Some of us live today as if we were made for work, as if that is all that we were made for and we find ourselves in our work. Some of us live today as if we were made for relationships with other people and that we only find ourselves in relationship with perhaps one other person or other people. But we can see from this chapter that we find ourselves, we understand ourselves only truly when we come to live in relationship with God.

For we were made in his image. To relate to him.

First observation then, we were made by God to live in creation in relationship with him. Secondly, we were made by God to live in his creation in relation to one another. That is, we are made in the image of the Creator God who is relational, and therefore we are ourselves relational beings.

Not only that, we are all made in the image of the Creator God. So that this chapter stands out against all our tendencies to assume superiority over other human beings and to cut ourselves off from other human beings. Do you see the chapter stands against all racism? For we are all made in the image of God. So that anyone who says one nation is superior to another is standing out against this chapter.

If you’re here this evening as an Australian or a South African, whatever you may think, whatever they told you back home or at school, whatever your parents said to you as they put you on the aeroplane, you are not superior to us.

We are all made in the image of God. This chapter stands against all elitism that says of one profession that it is superior to another. Partner, secretary, security man, paper deliverer, shop assistant, prisoner, prison officer, rich, poor, titled— all are equally made in the image of God. All are together given the task of subduing the earth. All are to be treated the same, with dignity and respect and honour that is due to one who has been made in the image of God.

All are to be related to.

There is something to think about when we go into work tomorrow in whatever high-flying position we may be in.

This chapter stands against all sexism, doesn’t it, that claims that one sex is superior to the other on no grounds other than an inherited bias. For God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them. We have been made by God to relate rightly to him in his creation. We will never understand ourselves or his creation until we relate rightly to him.

We are made by God to live in his creation in relation to one another. We have been made to relate rightly towards ourselves.

That is, we are made in the image of God. You are not an animal physically, sexually.

You must not have too high an opinion of yourself or too low an opinion of ourselves. We should not see ourselves as worthless. We were created by God, crowned with glory and honour. We are to relate rightly to ourselves. And finally, We are made by God to live in his creation and to relate rightly to it.

That is, his creation is good. It is our context. And so we are not to be like the mystic religions who see a duality between physical and spiritual. Creation is good. It is there to be enjoyed under God with his priorities and concerns at the fore.

We are meant to explore to explore it, to fill it, to subdue it, to rule it.

That is why Christianity, above all the other major religions, has been responsible for the development of science.

Well, there are our 4 observations made to relate rightly to God, to one another, to ourselves, to the creation itself.

But even as I speak, I can hear somebody saying, how can we possibly look at humanity today and claim that we are crowned with glory and honour? And that’s why I want to move now to our second point, which I’m going to call Jesus Christ crowned with glory and honour. Our first point, humanity crowned with glory and honour. Secondly, Jesus Christ crowned with glory and honour.

Listen to the famous Bible translator J.B. Phillips.

Man may invent and produce commercially 3-dimensional television for every home, but he has not made the slightest contribution towards solving the problems that arise in home, industry, and nation— the selfishness, cruelty and greed, the fears, resentments, and suspicions that poison our common life. And just a very brief look in the mirror confirms Philip’s assessment. I’ve always rather admired Albert Einstein. He’s one of the few scientists who’s humble enough to admit that he knows— to have admitted that he knew 0.01% of all that there was to know, which I thought was a mark of staggering humility from a man of Einstein’s brilliance. But it came as a surprise to me that find— to find out that Einstein, who was so brilliant at ordering and understanding God’s world, was such a desperate failure in his private life.

In an intensive 6-month period, he worked out the size of atoms, the quantum theory of light, and the special theory of relativity, and yet he left behind him a trail of wrecked lives. 2 failed marriages and an illegitimate daughter whom he disowned and abandoned.

Humanity crowned with glory and honour? Hardly.

See, when we hold up the mirror, it seems more like humanity dogged by shame and disgrace, doesn’t it? One of the enduring pictures of this pre-Christmas period was that picture of Muhammad Ali, wasn’t it? Do you remember that film clip of the famous fight? You may remember the fight itself, some of you, some of you people do. You don’t have to own up.

But that fight between— was it George Foreman in the jungle in Zaire? Was that who he fought there? Chris, was that right? Yes, it was, yeah. Fast, agile, powerful, a picture of physical and mental strength.

Strength and energy, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Can you remember him? Some of you can. And yet remember that, that headline? So sad.

Millions shocked by brave hero Ali. The sight of stricken boxing legend Muhammad Ali stunned millions of viewers last night. He suffers from Parkinson’s disease. He shuffled slowly and painfully into view. To collect his award.

As he made his way forward stumbling and catching his foot, there was a stunned silence from the studio audience. Mankind crowned with glory and honour?

Hardly.

Dogged by disappointment and despair.

A soldier speaking of his service in the Balkans during the Bosnian crisis: I never felt proud about serving in Bosnia because I could never get over the frustration of being so utterly useless ruling creation.

Do you see that? I guess is all of our experience, isn’t it, at the start of this new century? Yes, crowned with glory and honour. I mean, some of you are probably discovering staggering things about our universe, and in one sense you are ruling our universe, and, and yet And yet covered with shame and disgrace in personal relationships, in our ability to control our world.

Which is why this passage in Genesis 1 does drive us forward, doesn’t it, to a figure who is perfectly the image of God and who has perfectly and does absolutely rule in in God’s new creation. You see, we could spend the rest of this evening developing any one of a large number of ideas from this passage. I was tempted to do it. We could have a whole Sunday evening on the theology of work, or on the environment. I bet that would have the old ears wagging.

Or on self-image, perhaps. You see, from this creation account, it would be possible to pick up any one of these different themes that is raised and to allow our thinking to develop in any number of directions. But the main thrust of the Bible is not to develop our theology of work or environment or our personal image from this chapter. Don’t get me wrong, we must take these things seriously and what this chapter says about these things seriously. But as people who believe that this is the word of God, we must handle the issues raised in this chapter the way the rest of the Bible handles them.

Only then will we have a true understanding of ourselves in God’s purposes.

And the way the Bible seems to handle this text is to pick up the key ideas of rule and image, which are the big ideas that lie at the heart of the structure of our passage. And they drive us, both of them, forward in the Bible to Jesus Christ. For whilst we have failed, every one of us, to exercise our responsibilities in God’s creative world and to show ourselves to be the image of God, there is one man in the history of the universe who perfectly shows us the image of God and who rules over God’s creation. That’s why I call this second point Jesus Christ crowned with glory and honour. For as Paul puts it in his letter to the Colossians, he is the image of the invisible God.

All things were made by him and for him. He is the man for whom God made the universe. He is the one who rules. Through his death and resurrection he has conquered. And he now rules forever in heaven.

And his purpose, Jesus Christ, God’s image, is to gather together and conform a group of people to his likeness who will rule with him in his new creation. Just turn forward to Hebrews chapter 2, where the idea of the psalmist is picked up. And all that we’ve said in the last few minutes is acknowledged. Hebrews 2, page 1202, verse 6.

There is a place where someone has testified, and here he quotes Psalm 8: What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels, you crowned him with glory and honour and put everything under his feet. Feet. In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour, because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Now we haven’t got time to go into this in detail this evening. We’ve almost reached the end of our time tonight. If you’re an interested observer here this evening who perhaps wouldn’t yet call yourself a Christian, let me say we are delighted to have you with us as a visitor. And I want to encourage you to find out more about this Jesus Christ by signing up for this Discovering Christianity course that was advertised earlier. Do sign up for it.

For when you start to discover Jesus Christ, you will find the one man who has lived as humanity ought to live. In him, and in him alone, we see the image of God. And in him alone we come into our genuine state as God intends us to be. That’s where we start when we come to grow spiritually like Jesus Christ. In Christ, you see, we can relate to God rightly.

You’ll find that out if you come and discover Jesus Christ. In Christ we can begin to relate to one another rightly.

In Jesus Christ we can relate to ourselves rightly, whatever our past might be. As we realise his purposes for us. And in Jesus Christ we can relate to our world as we look forward to his new heaven and new earth that he has created and is making for us to inhabit.

But for those of us who are already Christian, we need to be clear that this is the thrust of the New Testament. That God is gathering together a people, transforming them to the likeness of Jesus, for whom God made the whole of creation, and with whom we will rule in his new creation. And that is what the New Testament writers make of this. Turn back to Colossians chapter 3, verse 10.

Page 1184.

Do not lie to each other, since you’ve taken off your old self with its practises and put on the new self, which is being renewed in Christ, that is, in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Do you see, in Christ our new self is being renewed to be what he means us to be. And then just back one page, Philippians chapter 3, verse 20.

Not only are we being renewed, but, verse 20 of Philippians, our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body, ruling in his new creation as we were created to do.

Well now, that’s where I want to leave us this evening. We’ve seen humanity crowned with glory and honour. But that is not our experience today, for since the fall we have fail to exercise our rule and responsibility in God’s world. Yet as we trace these ideas of image and rule, the way the Bible takes them, through to Jesus Christ, we see Jesus Christ crowned with glory and honour, whose purpose is to gather together a people, to transform them to the likeness of Jesus, for whom God made the whole of creation, so that we may rule with him in his new creation.

So then, as a Christian, we were made rightly to relate rightly to God. We can do that now and on into eternity in and through Jesus Christ. Let me ask you, are you doing that?

Is your relationship with God and his world the number one issue as your major priority of the day, the week, the weekend? Does it govern what you do and all you are? If so, then the concerns of Jesus Christ will be of paramount importance.

As a Christian, we were made to relate rightly to one another. We can do it now in and through Jesus Christ. Are you doing that? Do you see other races as he sees them, equally made in his image, equally concerned to spread the gospel to them? Do you see other sexes as he sees them, equally important in hearing the message of Jesus Christ?

Do you see other types of people, other classes, other professions? Are you holding out for them the message of Jesus Christ crowned with glory and honour?

We were made to relate rightly to ourselves, and we can begin to do that now as we do so in Jesus Christ. For when we come to him, we find we are forgiven and accepted and Let me ask you, do you do that? Or do you think too lowly of yourself, or maybe too highly of yourself?

We were made to relate rightly to God’s creation. We can begin to do that now in Jesus Christ. But as we’ll see next week, Jesus Christ himself points us forward to his new creation, where we will perfectly and supremely rule. Him. Let’s pray together.

God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them. Our Father God, we praise you for this glorious position that you have given us. We acknowledge our own failure and personally and together to live up to this position of responsibility.

Forgive us, Lord, we pray. We praise you for the Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for your purposes in him and of his new creation. We praise you that all that we see and are were made for him, and we pray that you would enable us in here at St Helen’s to live out in relationship with you our lives day by day. For his name’s sake.

Amen.