CREATED: Image & Mandate

[Read Genesis 1:26-31 & Genesis 2:15-17]

There are those who are always looking to pick a fight and those who and those who are always trying to avoid conflict. Neither approach is helpful. Neither approach is biblical. To paraphrase and contextualize Ecclesiastes 3; there’s a time to fight and a time to retreat, there’s a time to speak and a time to be quiet, there’s a time to discuss certain topics and there’s a time to avoid certain topics. 

I’m beginning this way to answer the questions, “Why this series?” and “Why right now?” The best way to answer those questions is by talking about a number of conversations I’ve had this past year.

The topic of human sexuality is everywhere right now. You can’t even turn on your TV without the topic being forced upon you. We don’t even have real TV but just a couple streaming services, yet almost every commercial is subtly forcing you to think about human sexuality. So, it’s everywhere. 

As a result, many people are thinking about the topic and talking about the topic. And, over the past few years, I’ve had numerous conversations with Christians on this topic as they are struggling to understand what to think and believe. A couple of those conversations were with solid, biblical, mature leaders in various congregations and as I spoke with them on the topic, they eventually said something like, “I have a general idea of what is good and bad, what is right and wrong. I have a general idea of what scripture has to say on the topic. But I have no idea how to talk to people about it or to refute those who are teaching things contrary to God’s Word.” 

After having a few conversations like that, I realized we needed to have an extended teaching series on Biblical Sexuality. If leaders in the church don’t know how to talk about these things or refute false ideas, how much more everyone else in the church? 

So, I’m not entering into this series because I want to pick a fight or cause any problems. I’m doing it because God has called me to shepherd His flock. So, when the sheep are struggling and being led astray, my job as the shepherd is to equip you, lead you, and give you tools to stay on the right path. That’s why we're doing this series and it’s why we’re doing it right now. 

That’s also why we’re going to break this series into three parts. This first part of the series is called CREATED Sexuality. The next two will be BROKEN Sexuality and REDEEMED Sexuality. I don’t want to dive in and only talk about “everything that’s wrong.” I want to begin by painting a beautiful picture of God’s design. We know that God’s ways are the best ways—God’s ways are the most beautiful and fulfilling ways. So, if we want to  truly experience the goodness and beauty and fulfillment of our sexuality, we need to do it in obedience to God’s design. So, we’re going to start there—and end there. 

The first thing we read about humans in the Bible comes in Genesis 1:26. We read, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26, ESV). As you read through the creation story in Genesis 1, this phrase stands out in a big way. There are many reasons, but one of the main reasons is the language of IMAGE and LIKENESS. Nothing else in all of creation is created in the image and likeness of God. At a basic level, it shows that we are the pinnacle of all creation. Every other part of creation was building to this point. Every other day of creation ended with “And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:18, ESV). But after God created human beings, we read, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31, ESV). When God say everything he had created, with human beings as the crown, he said it was VERY GOOD. 

There’s a lot of talk about what it means that humans are created in the image and likeness of God. Image and likeness are used interchangeably throughout scripture. They’re saying the same thing. However, eventually the concept of “image of God” becomes more regularly used. So, I’ll primarily be using the term “image of God.” 

What is the image of God? On the one hand, it’s a fairly simple question. An image is a representation of someone, right? When we see an image of someone, we are not seeing that person, but something that looks like that person and has characteristics of that person—you could even say the image points us to that person. 

So, the fact that we are created in the image of God tells us a number of things. First, it tells us that we are NOT GOD. We are only an image of God. We may be the pinnacle of creation, but we fall far short of the Creator. However, it also tells us that there are some similarities between us and God—an image isn’t an image if there are no similarities. So, there are some characteristics of God that we share with Him. Finally, as an image, we are to point to the reality. As the image of God we are to point people to God, that’s why we’re here. We are God’s representatives on earth. 

And all of this shows why every human life has dignity, value, and worthy of respect and honor. Every single human being is created in the image of God. That’s why murder and abuse are such evils. They are desecrations of God’s image. This is also why killing an animal is different than killing a person. Animals are not created in the image of God. Humans are.  

This also leads us to the next thing said about humans in the Bible. God did not create humans in his image and set us on a shelf like a porcelain doll. Because we’re like God, he gave us a job to do. God says, “And let them have dominion 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.” (Genesis 1:26, ESV). This is the task given to humanity. We are to have dominion over all of creation—every created thing. God filled the earth with plants and animals and minerals and told us to rule over it as his representatives—as his image. 

We see another aspect of this in Genesis 2. We read, “The LORD took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15, ESV). Those two words are really important: Work and Keep. To work is fairly self explanatory. To keep, means to guard and protect and watch over. To add more depth to this task, these two words are the same words used to describe the priest’s work in the temple. So, it’s a reminder that our work is our worship. We worship God—our Creator—as we work and keep the creation he has given us—as we take dominion over the creation he has given us. That’s worship. That’s how we point people to God as his images. 

It also helps us understand what it means to take dominion over creation. It doesn’t mean we abuse creation like thugs or take advantage of creation. It means we steward creation like farmers and builders. We develop and create like the God we image. So part of taking dominion over creation is domesticating animals. Part of taking dominion is harvesting materials from the earth like wood, vegetables, and minerals, and oils and using them to love God and love our neighbor. 

Then we read this, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, ESV). The biggest thing we need to take from this is that God created humans male and female and THAT is a necessary part of the image of God. If God had only created males, his image would be lacking. If God had only created females, his image would be lacking. So, God created males and females to more fully express his image in creation. 

This makes sense when we think about it further. We serve a Triune God—three persons in one being—the epitome of unity and diversity. So, his image would also require some unity and diversity—male and female. 

And we know that males and females are different. Sure, there are some similarities, but there are some glaring differences in the way we do things. We think differently. We move differently. We feel differently. And, yes, our bodies are different. 

And, here’s what we need to understand from this: God is the one who created those differences. God created humans male and female. Those differences are baked into creation, they are not the result of the fall or sin. They are God-given, God-created realities. And that means we need to honor those differences. It is a GOOD thing that boys and girls are different and have different gifts and talents. It is a GOOD thing that men and women are different. 

Men should be proud to be men. Women should be proud to be women. Men shouldn’t look down on women for being women, and women shouldn’t look down on men for being men. If you do that, you are looking down on something that God created. Rather, we should embrace our masculinity and our femininity, and work to help those around us embrace their masculinity and femininity—growing into men and women of God. 

There’s another reason the image of God requires males and females. Look at the next command from God: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion...” (Genesis 1:28, ESV). Notice how these commands are connected. Be fruitful and multiply is connected to subdue and have dominion. Actually, being fruitful and multiplying IS THE WAY we subdue and have dominion. You cannot subdue and have dominion unless you are filling the earth with people who are working to subdue the earth. Two people aren’t going to cut it. And, besides, if they die without having any children they have failed to finish their task. So, in order to bear the image of God as humans—subduing the earth and having dominion—we need to have children who have children who have more children, and that requires males and females. Males and Females together bear the image of God not only through their emotional and mental differences, but also through their physical differences. 

And all of this falls under God’s blessing. Immediately after we read that God created them male and female, we read, “And God blessed them.” (Genesis 1:28, ESV). God’s blessing is over our fruitfulness and multiplication. God’s blessing is over our subduing and having dominion. And, God’s VERY GOOD is over these things as well. It’s very good for males and females to get married and have children and it is blessed by God. It’s very good for males and females to subdue the earth and take dominion and it’s blessed by God. Children are a gift from God. Work is a gift from God. 

And yet, we also need to remember one important thing in the midst of it all. We do all of these things as the image of God—which means we do these things the way He has told us to do them. We are not to go into the world, trying to subdue it and take dominion according to our own ideas and opinions. We are not to go about trying to be fruitful and multiply in whatever ways we want or desire. We are not God. We are his image. That means we must submit to God as we subdue and have dominion. That means we must submit to God as we are fruitful and multiply. That means we must submit to God as we live out our masculinity and femininity. 

It’s hard to do this well because we see so many poor examples around us. But there’s one person we can always look to—Jesus Christ. In Colossians we’re told that “He is the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1:15, ESV). Ever since the Fall, the image has been distorted in humanity, but not in Jesus Christ. He is the perfect image of God. He is the one who lived the truly, perfectly human life on this earth. So, when we aren’t sure what it looks like to image God, we must always look to Christ. 

Yet, we must also not lose hope. Yes, we fall short of the glory of God. Yes, we mess up and don’t always represent God well or display His image well. But, there’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ. He perfectly imaged God on our behalf—in our place. When we look to him in faith and trust him for the forgiveness of our sins, we are saved. And once we are saved, the Holy Spirit begins a restoration project in us—restoring the image of God in us, helping us to live the life we’ve been created to live. Later in Colossians we’re told that after we’re saved we must, “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:10, ESV).

So, once we’ve been saved by Jesus Christ, we can truly begin to live out our masculinity and femininity the way God has designed us. Once we’ve been saved, we can truly begin to be fruitful and multiply the way God has designed us. And, once we’ve been saved, we can truly begin to subdue the earth and have dominion the way God designed us.