Worship

Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

Good morning. I'm very glad that you are here with us this morning, whether upstairs with us here, in person, or watching with us live, and so we are thankful that you are here. We're going to do things just a little bit differently this morning. We're going to, in just a moment, pray. We'll sing a couple songs, we'll move into God's Word, we'll sing another song, we'll gather around the table, we'll sing a little bit more, and then finish up. If you haven't had a chance this morning as you come in to grab your communion elements, you're welcome to do that. They are on the back table in the entryway. We'll be celebrating the Lord's Supper, following our message this morning. So let's go ahead and pray, and then we'll begin our time with songs. Father in Heaven, thank you for allowing us to gather here this morning. We thank you for your people. We thank you that you give us peace and hope.

And so this morning as we consider how you have created man, how you have created us in your image, how you've created us male and female, we just ask that you would help us to see your goodness, your love for us, that you would bring us to humility, and that you would see how through Jesus all these things can be restored in a wonderful way. So help us this morning. Thank you for your people who are gathered here and gathered online. We just ask that you would bless our service this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's go ahead and be standing. We're going to start with "I could sing of your love forever."

Turn off my heart and let the heaters set me free. I'm happy to be in the truth, and I will daily lift my hands. For I will always sing of when your love came down. I could sing of your love forever. I could sing of your love forever. I could sing of your love forever. Over the mountains and the sea, your river runs with love for me, and I will open up my heart and let the healer set me free. I'm happy to be in the truth, and I will daily lift my hands, but I will always sing of when your love came down. I could sing of your love forever.

And how God creates and how God speaks, one of the things that we are pointed toward is how wonderful and how great and how amazing our God really is. And so we're going to sing "How Great Thou Art." If you want to follow along in your hymn book, this is number four, which is probably the only hymn number I can remember out of the whole book, because it's pretty easy. So if you want to follow along in your hymn books, it's number four.

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the works thy hand hath made. I see the stars, I hear the mighty thumbs, I hear the mighty thumbs, I hear the mighty thumbs. The path throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. When through the woods and forest glades I wander. And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees. When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur. And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art.

And when I think that God, His Son, not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to me. How great Thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to me. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation, and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim, "My God, how great Thou art." Then sings my soul, my Savior, God to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior, God to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. Our Scripture reading this morning is from Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Genesis 5, Genesis 9, and the 139th Psalm. Genesis 1, beginning in verse 26, says this:

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image after our likeness, 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." So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And in Genesis 2, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living creature."

And in Genesis 5, it says, "This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God." And in Genesis 9, "Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." And in the 139th Psalm, "For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb, and I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well." Let's pray. Father, this morning I thank you that you have created us, that you love us, and that you have redeemed us. And so I ask this morning that as we look at your word, specifically in how you have created man, that you would encourage us, that you will humble us, that you will help us to see that in this broken world, there is a better way, and that comes through your Son, Jesus.

It's in His name we pray. Amen. And so there is a lot happening in these texts that we have read this morning, and one of the reasons we read what seems to be like kind of the same verse over and over again in Genesis about being made in the likeness of God is because throughout the New Testament, it goes back to this point that God made man in His image. And as we see the greatness of what God has done, there's oftentimes a temptation, at least for me, when I see something interesting to stop and take a look. And so growing up, Mom would say, "Go clean your room." And so you go up there, and you start to clean your room, and then what happens? You find something interesting that you forgot about because it was under a pile of clothes, and you start playing with that.

And then your mom comes and says, "What are you doing? You got distracted." So you clean a little more, and you find something else interesting. And that's this text. There is so much that is good that as we begin to unpack it, there's a tendency we want to go here and we want to go there. But this morning, I want to try to keep us on track and point us ultimately to the goodness of Jesus. And what's interesting, as you read the account of God creating man, there is something different from the rest of the creation story. So in that first chapter of Genesis, God, as He creates, He'll say, for example, "Let there be light." And there was light, and it was good. And then He separates the day from the night. And He says, "Let there be birds and fish and animals."

And all of those things come into being. But notice in verse 26, you have this conversation between the Godhead where He says, "Let us make man in our image." It's the first glimpse in Scripture of the Trinity. And God has spoken throughout creation, but it's been different. He says, "This is what's going to happen," and it happens. But man, He speaks about Him before He creates. And what's interesting is there are a lot more details about the creation of man than there are, for example, about the creation of the fish or the birds or the animals or the cattle or the rivers or the mountains or the lakes or the oceans. And we've all experienced this where we see something from a different angle. Maybe you've been on top of a mountain and you look down and you saw the whole panorama of the area in which you live stretched out before you.

Or you've been in an airplane and you're flying over and you look down and you see everything that is spread out before you. And then you go down and you see it in person up close. You come down off the mountain, the airplane lands, you in your car and you drive. And you see those things that you once saw sort of overhead, the big picture, you see them up close. And in Genesis chapter one, what you have is the big picture of creation, that God creates everything. And then what's interesting is we come down off the mountain, we land the plane. And in Genesis 2, we see deeper details, but not of the entire creation, but primarily God's creation of man. Genesis 2 zooms in, and we see specifically how God creates man. And certainly in Genesis 2, there are references to the rest of the creation, but mankind is the focus.

And what happens, these two things that we've talked about, it reminds us that man is different from the animals. That man is different than a mountain. That man is different than the sun or the moon. He's given a different task, a different purpose, and a different authority. And this focus should also remind us that we are deeply loved. We should be encouraged, and we should not be fearful. God wonderfully designs all of creation. But take a look at how He designs man. In fact, in Matthew, the sixth chapter, as Jesus is speaking, He will tell people who are anxious and they're worried and they're uncertain about the future, He'll say this, "Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? You see, what Jesus says is look at all of the creation. Look at how much God cares for the birds, and look at how he has arrayed the flowers and the plants in splendor and glory, and understand that he cares about them deeply, and he cares about you even more deeply,

because you are more valuable than a bird or a plant or a flower. And so this morning, I want us to look specifically at Genesis 1:27. And it says this, "God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them." Three parts that God creates in his image, both male and female. And so the first thing we see is that God creates, and for us, this should be humbling. We like to take pride in the things that we have done ourselves. I remember probably two or three years ago on Father's Day, Evelyn had just moved from a car seat where she gets buckled in. She was finally tall enough and heavy enough to be moved into a booster seat. And she's constantly reminding me about this, but on Father's Day, we were getting ready to go get some lunch somewhere,

and she gets into the car, and she grabs the seatbelt, because that's how a booster seat works, and she pulls it around, and she buckles herself in. And for us, this was life-changing, because before then, we had to kind of climb in the back, and you had to buckle her in and make sure she was all strapped in. But she figured out how to do it herself. And to this day, she's still proud of the fact that she can buckle her own seatbelt. And she'll remind me from time to time, "Dad, remember on Father's Day when I learned to buckle my own seatbelt? Wasn't that the best Father's Day gift?" And it really was. I didn't have to crawl in the back of the van and buckle her in anymore. She's proud that she has done it herself. Now, I don't know about you, but I like to try to do things myself.

And I imagine that we all try to like we like to do things ourselves. We're in a country of people who don't like to be told what to do, and who like to try to do it ourselves. And so many times, we look at our lives like this is something that I have done myself. And here's the reality. You didn't make yourself. I didn't make myself. That God created us. And what you have to understand is that the creation of man is not just a one-time thing. So last year, at the beginning of the summer, we planted a little batch of wildflowers along the back fence with the hope that eventually they would grow and be along that whole fence full of wildflowers. And so they came up and they bloomed, and everything died, and we weed-eated everything.

And then this year, I didn't do anything, but all those wildflowers came back up. And many times we look at ourselves and we think, "Yeah, God started it, but I'm going to continue it." But that's not what Scripture says. Look at the 139th Psalm. "For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well." And the psalmist will go on to elaborate on this wonderful truth, not just in the physical creation of our bodies, but also in the days that we experience. We like to lift ourselves up. Look what I've done. And in doing so, we ignore our Creator. And this is a humbling realization for us that I didn't make myself,

that you didn't make yourself, but rather a Creator created you. There is something bigger and more powerful than you are. And while this truth should humble our pride, the fact that we like to look at ourselves and lift ourselves up and talk about ourselves and try to do it ourselves, while this should humble us, it should also encourage us. You see, God created you. It reminds us that all humans have worth and value. You know, I guess it was 2017, the most expensive painting that was ever sold was sold. $450 million, including auction fees. It shattered every record. The painting was entitled "Salvador Mundi," and it was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. And because of who created that painting, that painting has immense value and worth. And so while the truth, the fact that God creates,

should humble us because it makes us realize that we're not big enough to do it ourselves, it also should remind us that we are worth something because not Leonardo da Vinci, but the creator of the universe created you. So you are created by God, and it's both humbling and joyful. Now, if you look at our world, is this what we see? And the answer is simply no. We see brokenness. We see a lack of care for lives that are different from us, or bother or inconvenience us. Some of the weakest and most vulnerable in our society are not seen as valued, but a nuisance to be disposed of. And so instead of seeing value in our world, we see brokenness. Notice that it's not simply that God creates man. It's that we are created in his image. So God created man in

his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And so what does it mean to be created in the image of God? And Christians, for centuries, have talked about what it means to be created in the image of God. We even have a term for it, the Imago Dei, the image of God. And historically, there's been a lot of answers to that. And so some people have focused on the fact that we have a sense of right and wrong in our morality, and they have said that we are created in the image of God because we can tell right from wrong. Or our ability to reason. We're created by God because we can reason. Or our spirituality, that we can relate to God. Or aesthetics, that we create art and beauty. Or our sense of justice.

And I think every single one of those things is true. That we are moral, right and wrong. We can think. We can create. We see beauty. We sense justice. But I think it's more than that. Think about what the purpose is of making an image. And so many times when we make images, we do so in order to say something about the object of that image. And so this past week, we took family pictures. Right? So we can see our family all together. Parents and grandparents. Grandparents and grandchildren. And to see those and remember the joy and remember our family. When our dog Rigby passed away, my brother and sister-in-law got us a painting on canvas of Rigby. Just her face. One of my favorite pictures of her. And when I see that picture, I remember all of the joy and how she was such a good dog. In the same

way, God has made us to reflect Him in this world. To show Him to the world. And not in a proud and boastful way where God says, "Look at these billion statues that I have made of myself." But rather pointing us to exactly what satisfies the desire of our soul. So Luke now can get out of the crib himself, or out of his bed himself, depending on what we put him in at night, and he'll come out, sometimes in the middle of the night, and he'll say, "Dad, water!" And he wants his cup filled up, so I'll put him, get him some water, put him back in bed, drink some water, and he'll go back to sleep, hopefully. The reality is that every single one of us, you and I, are all thirsty for something. There's

something in our life that we have been searching for, trying to satiate this desire we have, and the water that satisfies the depths of our soul is God. And part of the purpose that God creates man in his image is so that we would show one another that there is someone greater, someone who satisfies the desires of our soul, and once again, you know what we've done? We've taken and turned this upside down. Instead of pointing to God with our lives, we've turned it around, and we've fallen in love with ourselves. Romans 1 says we worship the creation rather than the Creator. And you know the creation that we tend to worship the most? It's us. It's what we see in the mirror. And we lift ourselves up. And we see this so clearly in the brokenness of the world in which we live. And it's not just the brokenness like we talked

about a minute ago of our value for life, where we don't value the life of the unborn, or we don't value the life of those that we see as not worth anything. But that we don't see that we're created in the image of God. And that rejection of our Creator leads us to a deep dissatisfaction. Have you ever had something you looked forward to, and you were deeply disappointed? Back at the beginning, when everything began to lock down, and we weren't going anywhere, and everybody was staying home. We were really, really hungry one night. We were really, really tired. Really, really just discouraged with life, just because that's how everybody felt at that time. Right? I said, "You know what? Let's order some dinner." Because everybody was still doing takeout. So one of the things we need is gravy, right?

Gravy always makes you happier. And we had a Cracker Barrel gift card, and so I said, "Well, I'll call Cracker Barrel. I'll make an order." Rachel said, "Well, I'll go pick it up." And it was going to be great, because not only do you get a bunch of gravy, you don't have to pay for it, because you have a gift card. And so she goes and gets the food, and it took forever for her to get here. Gets there, and we open up all the food, and you know what? Every bite of it was cold. You ever tried to eat cold, country-fried steak? Like, it's not a wonderful experience. And so here was this thing that I had looked forward to. I was like, "This is going to make my whole world better." And it was so dissatisfying. This is what happens when

we don't see that we're created in the image of God. We end up dissatisfied with everything in this world. Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 13, God speaking about his people will say this, "For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and they have hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Now, we all know that water is important. If you don't have water, you will die. And so, God's people, what they would do, because they live in a place where there was rain certain times of the year, and none the rest of the year, they would hew out for themselves cisterns. And so the rain would fall, and it would fill up their cisterns, and they would have water to drink, water to water their animals, water to cook with, they would have the water that

they needed. And so God takes this picture of our need for water, and he applies it to the hearts of the people. And he says, "I am the one that gives you not just water, but living water, fresh water, water that satiates your thirst, and not your physical thirst, but the thirst of the depths of your soul, and you have turned your back on it, and you've tried to collect your own water, but you've done so with a broken cistern." That's a cistern that instead of being hewed out of solid rock, is filled with cracks. So as the water runs into it, it runs right out, and the people are still thirsty. You see, what we've done is we've rejected the good and tried to do it ourselves, and it just doesn't work. And this is so much of what we experience in life. We're so thirsty, and

we're sitting here trying to drink out of a cup that doesn't have a bottom, and it doesn't matter how much we pour into our lives, it just runs out the bottom, and we're still thirsty. And God says, "I am the fountain of living water. I am the one who can satiate your thirst." You see, we're broken, but I would remind you that we're still created in the image of God. One of the reasons I read Genesis 9:6 is that some people will say, "Well, we're created in the image of God, and then when man sins and the fall and creation breaks, we no longer retain that image." But in Genesis 9:6, this is after the fall. This is further away from creation. It's after the brokenness, and God will say, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man

shall his blood be shed. For God made man in his own image." And so God says, "Human life is so valuable." And he says, "The reason human life is valuable is because you are made in the image of God." And in James 3, James says, "Speaking of our tongues, with it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God." As broken as we are, as upside down as we are, and as we turn things around, and we've sought to fulfill the desires of our soul somewhere else, we are still created in the image of God. And so we see that God, first of all, creates, which humbles us and encourages us. He creates us in his image designed to glorify him, and when we aren't looking to him, we're thirsty and we're trying to fill up our

life, and it doesn't work. And then he says this, the third part, "God created him male and female, he created them." We see that God creates, God creates in his image, and he creates male and female. Just a little bit about this terminology, when he says God created man, the word in Hebrew is a picture of mankind. He's not just speaking about men, he's speaking about men and women. And so he says he creates mankind, and then just so we don't mistake it, right? He created them male and female. You see, men are created in the image of God. Women are created by God in the image of God. And we don't have to go very far to see this brokenness in our world, right? We've seen how we have broken the fact that God creates, we have

broken the fact that we are created in his image, and now we see how we have broken, how he creates male and female. So in our pride, we ignore the design of God, how God created this world. And in our pride, we begin to value ourselves more than others. And so what happens is you have men who look down and speak down and treat women as less. And on the other hand, you have women who look down and who speak down and who treat men as less. And as a result of the fall, there is this conflict within the human race at a basic level where each side says, both men and women, that I am better than you because of who I am. And we have this conflict. Both sides fighting for control. Both sides fighting

for power. Both sides belittling one another. It's broken. And we could spend a lot of time talking about the brokenness between men and women, between God's design for male and female. But what I want you to see this morning is that God creates in what we have done because we have broken it. God creates, and we're valuable, but we see life as not very valuable. God creates in His image, and instead of glorifying Him with who we are, we glorify ourselves. God creates us as men and women, and we bring conflict and confusion and brokenness to our relationships. What's remarkable is that's not how things have to be. You see, into this broken world steps Jesus, the Son of God, and this is so wonderful, because first of all, He doesn't have to do this.

It's like asking your kids to clean up, and they look at the mess on the floor and say, "Well, I didn't make that mess, so I shouldn't have to clean it up." God didn't make this mess. You and I did, as we rejected Him, and we stopped worshiping Him, and started worshiping ourselves and our desires and running after the things that we wanted. We made the mess. But you know what He does? He steps into our brokenness. He steps into our mess with love. And just as we said, we're created with value. Jesus shows up, and He shows us who God loves, and who God sees as important. He shows us the value of humanity by loving the Samaritan, by loving the broken, by loving the ignored, by calling even the self-righteous, angry religious people to repentance.

You see that Jesus acts out of love for both the great and the small, for the repentant and for the rebellious, for the prodigal and for the elder brother. And then we see this remarkable thing. Remember how we talked about the image of God? And that we've made a mess of what God has given us, how we've marred that image. We've turned everything around. And so here comes Jesus, who is God in the flesh. And you know what He does? Isaiah 52:14, "As many were as astonished at you, His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, His form beyond that of the children of mankind." That at the cross, Jesus becomes so broken as to be unrecognizable with His wounds, so that you and I who are spiritually so broken as to be almost unrecognizable can be made whole.

Paul says it this way in Ephesians 4, "Put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through your deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." And so we see that Jesus, by going to the cross and being wounded and broken and marred, takes the wounded, broken, and marred people and makes them whole. That's the good news of the Gospel. And this has implications for us. It has implications for us, specifically as we heard about in creation, that God creates male and female, that in the church, Peter says we are joint heirs. Paul says there's no more Jew or Greek or male or female, but we're all one in Christ Jesus.

So instead of laboring against each other to gain advantage over one another, we labor together to share the good news of the gospel. I'm going to go ahead and pray. We're going to sing a song, and then we will gather together around the table. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, for your church, for how you have loved us, how you have cared for us. Thank you that you created us in your image. Thank you for what you have done. Thank you for Jesus who takes and restores us and changes us. Thank you for the good news of the gospel. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So as we prepare our hearts and minds to gather around the table, I want us to sing, "This is Amazing Grace."

So as we prepare our hearts and minds to gather around the table, I want us to remember in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul talks about the gospel and how Christians are called the gospel. And to stand firm in the gospel. And so as we gather, I want us to remember. Specifically, as we break this bread, which we'll do in a moment, as we drink this cup, which we will do in a moment. Because I want you to remember that you are loved. That you are loved by the Father. You are loved through the sacrifice of the Son. That you are loved through the empowering work of the Spirit. And to this love, we come with brokenness, and hurt, and heartache, and fear, and uncertainty, and struggle, and we come to the Gospel that restores. So many of us in this world, that you are loved, that you are loved, that you are loved by the Father, you are loved through the sacrifice of the Son, that you are loved through the empowering work of the Spirit.

So many of us in this world are thirsty for something. Something that satisfies not our physical bodies, but our souls. And we are reminded as we gather around this table, that what truly satisfies us is God. And that Jesus, the Son, saves us by becoming broken, so that you and I can be made whole. So I'm going to pray for this meal, and then we'll partake of it together. Would you pray with me? Father in heaven, thank you for your church and for your word. Thank you for this meal. Thank you that you are in control even when we struggle and when we fail. And so this morning, as we break this bread and as we drink this cup, would you remind us that we are loved and that Jesus has saved us by becoming broken on our behalf.

As we eat this bread, that we're reminded of the price of our sin. As we drink this cup, that we're reminded that there is forgiveness and hope. That this meal would be an encouragement. That this meal would be a reminder. This meal would be a refocusing. That this meal would nourish us deep in our souls with who you are. I thank you for Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen. Before we partake, I'm going to read from Isaiah 53rd chapter to remind us of what we are remembering. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray.

We have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Would you partake of the bread with me this morning? As we prepare to drink of the cup, we remember the new covenant that was given in the blood of Christ. That we who, like sheep, have run away. God has come, and he has found us, and he has rescued us, and he has loved us. Would you drink with me? Father, I thank you for this meal. I ask that you would bless us, that you would focus us, that you would remind us, that you would give us strength. We thank you for Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen. Because our music isn't working, we'll move right into our announcements this morning. So a couple of announcements we have. We are thankful for those of you who joined us this Friday night for our movie night,

The Riot and the Dance, where we got a glimpse of the goodness of God in creation. So if you have little ones, we have a few coloring books in the back, and there's some packs of crayons. If you have someone you would like to share one of the coloring books that the movie is based upon, you're welcome to pick one of those up in a box of crayons. There's also a little book that has some of the bits and pieces from the movie in it. If you'd like to take one of those, I think we have like eight or nine copies back there, you're welcome to pick one of those up as well. This Wednesday, we'll be meeting for Bible study, 7 p.m. We are in 2 Peter, moving on, so we're going to take a look at what Peter has written to the church.

And so I'd invite you to join us on Wednesday night for Bible study. And then Thursday at 1 p.m., the ladies are gathering for their ladies' study. Is Tamar this week? Tamar this week. And so if you want to see a reality of how creation is broken, this is a good place to see that. And so I encourage you to join us on Wednesday and on Thursday at 1 p.m., and then again next Sunday. So we'll go ahead and have a word of prayer, and then we'll be dismissed. Father, thank you for allowing us to come here together this morning. Thank you that you are good, and thank you for reminding us that you are in control even when the things that we are trying to do don't often work. So thank you for Jesus. Thank you for grace. Bless our activities and our efforts. Help us to be shining lights for you as we move out from these doors this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you.