Strathalbyn Church of Christ

Gen 1:26-31: Imagining His Image. Pastor David Williams.

Strathalbyn Church of Christ. 26 Jan 2023.

Sermon delivered at the wedding of Ian Pfeiffer and Helen Scarborough.

All change! You are just getting comfortable on a train and then you get the message “All change!”. These days, it can feel like everything is changing – even how we see ourselves and our bodies. For those who like change, it can be thrilling. For others confusing, even terrifying. The changes raise many questions. Especially for young people. Why not have many partners? Why not change my gender? Why not try anything?

To many the Bible and traditional marriage are out of date. The atheist, Richard Dawkins even calls the Bible dangerous. If you have never looked at the Bible, you may be surprised, even shocked at its radical, life affirming message. The Bible reading from Genesis may sound strange to you – but stay with me – for just 20 minutes. It is worth it.

Made in God’s image

Let’s begin with the beginning - when God created humans.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness

Estwing hammers are among the best hammers made. If I had a hammer made in the image of an Estwing – not a fake but a genuine reproduction – that would be a very useful, reliable hammer. As humans, we are made in the image of the very best – of God himself. That is an astounding status. Every human is of immense value. For God does not make trash. He makes us in his own image.

Just let this sink in. We can visit galaxies created 13 billion years ago with space telescopes. And new sub-atomic particles are being discovered with the Hadron Collider. Yet no discovery can match this: the remarkable person sitting next to you. You are seeing one made in the image of God.

What does this image do?

As humans made in God’s image, we have 3 tasks. First,

1. Made in God’s image: to show

Ancient kings could not post on twitter, so they sent their images instead - statues put up in every town to show that the king ruled. But God’s image is not limited to kings – for every human is made in the image of God.

Images of the king show that the king ruled. Our task as God’s image is to show that God rules – he is the great King over all the world. People have tried vainly for thousands of years to work out why we exist. According to Genesis, this is why you exist: to reveal God, to image him. To reveal the invisible God to your fellow humans. No small task! But we are not just passive statues showing that God rules. We have another task:

2. Made in God’s image: to share in God’s Rule

26 … And let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

28 … fill the earth and subdue it, and rule …

We are to rule over all that God has made. This command is often misunderstood. For it is not a harsh or selfish rule. Rather we are to rule as God rules, as his managers. For God rules with loving care – always for the benefit of his creatures. So, we too must rule by serving our fellow creatures.

Our role then is to reveal God as King over all and to rule with him in carrying out his loving and perfect will. What a remarkable job description! What higher calling could be imagined? But the way God has equipped us to do this is also remarkable. For he has made us as different yet alike. In 3 ways

a) Different yet alike - to God

“Made in God’s image” - don’t confuse what is meant here. We are not God. We are different yet alike. We are different. We are creatures, he is Creator. But we were made to be like God – in his image, after his likeness. So, we can communicate. When he speaks, we understand. Twice in this passage, God speaks directly to mankind

28 And God said to them, “Be fruitful …

29 And God said, “See, I have given you …

We are different to God yet alike.

b) Different yet alike - to animals

Genesis 1 is all about distinctions. Humans are also different - distinct - from the rest of the animal kingdom. In Genesis, we alone talk with God. We alone are made in his image. Yet like animals, we are created. We reproduce and eat the food God has given to all. When we lose sight of our dignity as God’s image bearers, we become less than human, we become like animals. The distinction is important. With both God and animals, we are different yet alike.

This is all very interesting but what has it to do with marriage?

c) Different yet alike – as Male and Female.

Just as God and humans are different, yet alike, so it is within humanity. Men and women are different, yet alike. In case you hadn’t noticed, we have different bits. And there are many things that women do better than men. Not all women. Not all the time. But often enough to say we are different. We approach things differently.

A couple have just finished dinner, in silence.

Her thoughts: I don’t understand. He hasn’t said a thing. I cooked his favourite meal and not one word! Is our marriage over? Is he seeing another woman? Should I pack my bags? How will I break it to mother?

His thoughts: I don’t understand. Just one metre! How could I miss a one metre put?

Of course, this difference leads to much conflict – and sadly such conflict is often never resolved. And many of you carry the deep pain and scars of that. But at its best, a healthy marriage of two very different people can have remarkable consequences. Where in this world can we see God in action? Where can we see God at work in bringing fruitfulness, goodness and purpose? When you get two very different people working out their differences in love and humility and impacting the lives of children and neighbours as they do so. I think this is what Genesis is getting at:

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

Male and female created in God’s image. Although every human bears God’s image, this image is most clearly seen in the loving union of two very different humans – when male and female come together.

Different yet equal

It is a difference of equals. God made us different. But different does not mean better. So often we get this wrong. We are equal – both made in God’s image – yet different. Feminism has brought much good – yet as with many ideas, it tells only one part of the story. At its heart is a power struggle. For men and women have always competed against one another.

Genesis portrays a different vision. Not of women asserting their rights, of women trying to be the equal of men in every way, but of a loving complementarity. To complement means to enhance or complete. Like a rich sauce on a bland budding – on their own they don’t taste too good, but together they complement each other perfectly. So it is in Genesis: Women complementing men, men complementing women. Two very different people sharing life together and celebrating such differences. And it is in this mutual complementarity we show God’s loving nature.

Loving complementarity, mutual service, giving up one’s rights to put the other first – these are truly radical notions in any age.

Yet today the distinctions between men and women are being shattered. But according to Genesis, God created us as binary, as different. That is, we are created as distinct and purposeful men and women. Jesus affirmed this when he attacked the religious leaders saying,

“Haven’t you read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female?” Matt 19:4.

But many are not happy with their body or gender. Others are unhappy with the life that they have. I said, God does not make trash – rather, he makes us in his own image – the image of the perfect and loving God. God does not make trash – nor does he make mistakes. He made you male or female for a reason. He made you the way you are for a reason – trust him. He is your creator. He knows what he is doing.

This differentiation leads to a further task

3. Made in God’s image: to be fruitful

Along with the rest of creation, humanity is to be fruitful.

And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth …

Do you want to know about sex? God is the expert. God created an incredibly fertile world. God made the world to work just right. Better than the most finely tuned machine, it works so well that it teems with life - around 9 million different species. Men and women, with all creation – as self-replicating creatures.

This is the Genesis story – men and women created to reflect God by living in peace with him, with one another and with all creation. That is how we are hard wired. That is our deep heart’s longing – to live together in peace.

But we blew it. We turned our backs on God. The Bible says:
All have rebelled and fallen short of God’s glorious standard

All have turned away, Rom 3:12, 23.

We live in hostility against God, against one another and we are ruining his creation.

The image of God we bear is like a shattered mirror, broken into a thousand fragments. What can be done? Let’s see what God has already done. This is the most amazing bit of the story.

The true image

God sent his own son – as his perfect image bearer. Jesus is described this way:

He is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). That word image again. He is “the exact image of God’s being” (Heb 1:3). Do you want to see God? Look at Jesus.

We read on,

In Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace – that word peace again - with everything in heaven and on earth – How? - by his blood on the cross, Col 1:19, 20.

Jesus, the true image of God – came to die in our place. By dying on the cross, he made peace between us and God. He paid the penalty of death that we all deserve. By following Jesus, the image of God – that shattered image - can be restored in us. Ian and Helen know the peace that Jesus won for them on his cross.

Knowing this peace, they are moved to love and serve their fellow creatures, to be fruitful as they serve the king. And so, as these two very different people love one another, God’s image is on display.

Jesus, may you reveal yourself as King of all creation – may you reveal yourself to many as your servants Ian and Helen follow you each day. In your name, Amen.

Series: Genesis , Wedding

Topics: #Image of God , #Genesis , #Marriage