Pastor
Joe Fuiten,
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 earth,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created
man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he
created them. (NIV)
There are four ideas that we want to
highlight from this passage. First, when
God says “Let us” it is a relationship statement. Second, it reflects the power of will. Third, it reflects a capacity to choose. Fourth, it indicates an ability to
create. When God says the he made humans
in his image, we believe that we must have at least those four qualities.
Unfortunately, we have used those
four qualities for the wrong purposes and have only increased the pain of our
lives. We desire relationship but look
for it in all the wrong places. We have
a will but use it to choose to do wrong.
We can create, but our creativity is given over to the pursuit of evil
schemes against others. As a result, we
live in a world of war and pain.
God is seeking to restore the
perfection of his image in our lives and in his world. We started in his
likeness and God intends that as our final goal. Paul expresses this in both his letters to
the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians
This “likeness of his Son” is not
what the Mormons teach, that we can be of the same substance as Christ. We are not and cannot. Likeness and sameness are quite different and
are actually the opposite. The very word
likeness suggests that
while there are similarities that constitute a likeness, there
remains a difference. It is an image,
not a similar substance.
I would like to return to the four
ideas of Genesis 1 and consider them.
Relationship is a reflection of God. One of the first things we learn about God is
that a harmonious relationship exists within the trinity. Genesis
We honor marriage because it
also reflects God. The trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have distinctions
between them yet they are one. So in
marriage, we have obvious distinctions yet we are one. Marriage between a man and a woman reflects
that unity in spite of diversity. The
sexual relationship is a physical picture of the spiritual unity of husband and
wife.
Obviously,
homosexual relationship can never reflect the image of God because it is not unity
with diversity. There is no difference
between the two such as there is between a man and a woman. Therefore it cannot be what God intended. It reflects the brokenness of humans.
In marriage we are taught to submit
to one another[1]
because there is no competition between the members of the trinity. When one person in the marriage begins to
denigrate the other person, it is not a reflection of God’s intention. It is brokenness. Unity does require submission. Several times a day you must submit to the
other person. This is not a demand, it
is the divine. It is the trinity
principle expressed in marriage.
The natural product
of marriage are children. Our
children do not always fully reflect the likeness of their parents. Sometimes they are born with deformity or
without full mental capacity. Diminished
though they may be, they are still our children and still reflect the image of
us. Even when disease takes them down to
shadows, they belong to us. I think of
Chris and Karen King as they care for their son Andrew. On this earth, the promise of life goes
unfulfilled yet they care for him and nourish him because he is their child.
Sometimes our children disappoint us
with their conduct. They are still our
children. We cannot disown them because
they are ours. We cannot stop wanting
them to be what they should be, but they still reflect our image to some
degree.
We have the desire to create
children because God has put it into our hearts. We have to experience pretty severe trauma to
still this divine impulse.
Soon we will be gathering for Thanksgiving. Do we really drive hours just to eat a
turkey? It is really not about eating
This is also one of the driving
forces behind Sunday School and the children’s
program. Certainly we understand
God’s commands to pass the faith to the next generation. Even without that, we would have Sunday School because our children are us. They come home with these little scribbles of
color on paper and we celebrate like it was the Mona Lisa. It is not the beauty of their scribble that
we celebrate but the tiny step of progress.
Even more than that, it is the sheer joy of life. It is relationship. It is the image of God being reflected in
what touches our hearts.
Friendship is similarly an
expression of that divine image. Friendship feels good to us because it is
good. It has a divine quality to
it. Friendship is not an adequate
expression of the relationship within the trinity, but it is related to it.
We
love our neighbor
because our neighbor reflects the image of God.
God gave this command using a negative in Genesis 9:6 when he forbade
murder. "Whoever sheds the blood
of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made
man.”
Further,
we have Christ’s example of love for us.
This is what Paul urged upon us in Ephesians 5:1-2 “Be imitators
of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just
as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and
sacrifice to God.” If we love, we are
“imitating” God who loves us.
Because of our creator, we have the
capacity to will and to choose to act upon that will. Out of this comes our capacity to create.
We work to create order out of chaos
because God made us like that. The
sinner strikes against order by stealing, deceiving, and ripping people
off. They enjoy the fruit of the order
that others have created but they act against it. In doing so they enjoy the
blessings of God without contributing to it. They should enjoy it while they can because
it is all they will enjoy. They are
sealing their eternal fate and destining their souls to eternal misery by
increasing chaos instead of order and beauty.
We
are concerned for the beauty of the earth because it reflects the beauty and
order of its creator. We plant our
gardens in rows, and mow our lawns because we are made in God’s image. Our messy garages frustrate us for the same
reason.
We have a desire to rescue. When we see a wounded animal, we naturally
want to do something. When we see a
person in need, it touches our heart.
God is like that. He has a desire
to rescue his creation. He wants to
redeem us from the inevitable destruction.
We act the way we do because the image of God is being reflected.
We don’t just accept things the way
they are because God does not. If your
life is not in order, God is the one who calls you to something different. If your family is broken and a mess, it is
not just you that wants it to be different, it is God. If the schools are not what they should be,
God calls us create something better. If
the opportunity is not there for our children to flourish, it is God’s idea to
create something that works.
God’s will becomes
very easy to understand when the proper foundation is laid. First, it is to open our heart to his Spirit
so he can begin the re-creation process.
He wants us bring us fully into the likeness of Jesus. Second, he would like us to choose to follow
his Spirit. He will not make us do this
but he calls us to it. There should be
no disunity between his Spirit and our spirit.