What is Man - Made In God's Image

Really grateful that you guys are all here, really excited

to open up scriptures, and so I wanted to kind

of start off with a fun question for all of

you guys. How many of you guys like taxes? Exactly?

There we go. That's what I thought. Whenever you get

your first job, one of the most brutal realities is

what you thought was yours. The government likes to make

sure that you know that, in fact, they get to

lay claim to a portion of it first, and usually

we'd complain. We do complain, and could complain. But to

be fair, if you really think about it, that money

that you're using is kind of cut It's their money,

Like I mean, like if you like, actually look at

I mean, we don't use dollar bills or things like

that as often anymore, and so it's way easier just

to swipe cards. But when you actually do have a

dollar in your hands and you look at that thing,

you see very clearly who it belongs to. You look

on it and has their inscription United States dollar, It

has their images, it has their designs, it has all

kinds of things indicating that you know that that came

from the United States, which is interesting. This is a

similar point that Jesus himself makes when he is asked

about taxes. Look at this in Matthew twenty two says,

then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him

in his words, because if there was one way they

were going to get Jesus in trouble, it was going

to be over what do you have to say about taxes?

So they thought they were being smart, and they go

to him, and they sent their disciples to him, along

with the Herodians, saying, teacher, we know that you were,

that you were true and teach the way of God truthfully,

and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you

were not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think,

is it law full to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, why put me

to the test, you hypocrites. Jesus is so cool. Show

me the coin for the tax. And they brought him

a denarius, and Jesus said, to them, whose likeness an

inscription is this? They said, Caesar's. Then he said to them, therefore,

rendered to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to

God the things that are God's and when they heard it,

they marveled and they left him and went away. I mean,

it is a pretty incredible response that Jesus gives. It's

one of the coolest things about beginning to read your

New Testament for the first time is because you kind

of realize how awesome Jesus is. Like, you know, you

grow up in church, are like Jesus, Yeah, cool, and

we're all supposed to say that, and we believe it.

And then you like watch him interact with people who

are like trying to trap him and just every every

which way he outmaneuvers them. He's just so much more

wise and great. But here Jesus gives this incredible answer

to their question. But and so leaving them with a

question or answering their question, he also leaves us with

a question that we have to consider. That is what

then belongs to and should be given back to God.

If we know that the coin belongs to Caesar because

of his likeness and his inscription are on it, and

therefore we are to render it back into him, then

when Jesus says to render to God the things that

are God's, we might use the same identifiers, the same

markers to know what belongs to God, that is his

likeness and his inscription. And for the first century Jew,

what Jesus was saying couldn't be any more obvious, which

is why when they left Jesus their minds were blown.

They went away in awe, marveling that as we are

to render to Caesar the things that bear his likeness

an inscription, we too are to render to God the

things that bear his likeness and inscription. Which for any

Jew who knew the law of God knew that Jesus

was talking about all mankind. Jesus was talking about us,

that all mankind bears God's image and has a sense

of God's law written on their heart. Let's see this.

We need to go all the way back to the beginning.

So if you would actually take your bibles, and if

you do not have a Bible, Gabe would love to

run a new one. So just raise your hand and

we'll run new a Bible that is yours to keep. Please,

We love to go through the Bible here and so

you're gonna get a lot of use out of it.

But we're going to open to Genesis chapter one, so

that's just straight up the beginning of your Bible, Genesis

chapter one. We're gonna be looking at three verses today,

looking at verse twenty six. What we're gonna do is

read the three verses starting in verse twenty six, pray

and break it down together. Says 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 all 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 heaven or heavens, and over every living thing

that moves on the earth. This is God's word. Let

us pray, Lord God. We just asked that as we

open your word to go before you to clearly understand

who we are. I just asked that you would open

our hearts, you would open our ears, that we would

no longer be deaf or blind. To your word, but

that you would use your Holy Spirit to regenerate our hearts,

that we have our eyes be able to see you,

have our ears be able to hear your voice calling

us home, calling us to remember, reminding us of who

we are. So Lord, we give you all glory. We

give you this time and Jesus name, everyone said, hey man.

So last week we started a brand new series titled

What Is Man with the subtitle of God's Design for Mankind.

In this series, our hope is that we're going to

go to God's word to have him define, have him

tell us who we are. We live in a world

right now. I mean, there's a reason that we need

this in the first place. All mankind has needed this,

but specifically in today's day and age, everyone is looking

for an answer of who am I? What's my purpose?

Am I supposed to be? Like this? There's many many

questions and so as going through this series, our hope

is to let God tell us who we are meant

to be who we are? And once we have defined

what God has laid out as his designs, then we

need to ask ourselves are we in line with God's design?

So as God, as God's Word is going to lay

it out for us. We need to then use it

as the measuring stick as the standard to say, do

I measure up to that? Am I? In line with that?

Am I submitted to that Last week we laid out

the simple truth to start our series that we need

God to tell us who we are and what we're for.

And now we're going to begin to our study starting

this week on exactly how specifically the Bible God's Word

says God made us. That in the beginning, God creates

the heavens and the earth, and then we see God

begin to create everything over six days. He makes the

fish and the land, animals, He creates light, darkness, heavens

the earth. He fills the earth with all kinds of creatures.

And on the sixth day we're told that God creates mankind.

And it's interesting because when you see he writen in

this text where it says that God makes mankind, he

makes a special point whereas he's like, oh, yeah, the birds,

the livestock, the creepy critters, like all of these things.

And then when he gets to mankind, we get a

little bit of a longer description. There's something specific and

unique about the way that God made mankind that we

should pay attention to. That is that God tells us

that we are made specifically in God's image after God's

own likeness. So today our study will be seeking to

answer and understand exactly what that means for us. And

the more that we understand who God is and how

He made us, the more we will understand ourselves in

light of who He is. The awe of mankind is

made in God's image. In our text, I believe we're

going to see three things. They're going to help us

understand exactly what this means that God has made us

in his image, and our text, we will explore God's intention,

God's design, in God's blessing in making us in his image.

So we're gonna start with the first. Get right into

it verse six, looking at God's intention that when God

went to make mankind, we see a trinitarian work being

performed in this creation of mankind. Look at this, It says,

then God said, let us make mankind or 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. And what we're seeing here is that God,

the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, three

persons in one God are here creating mankind in the

image of God, and we're not made. This is helpful

and us understanding what's being talked about here, because when

we see that Versus says, let us, there's a lot

of weird ideas out there. There's a lot of strange

ideas and strange interpretations. So here's the deal. The Bible

doesn't tell us what we're made in the image of angels,

so that doesn't fit. Angels are not the creators of man.

So when this verse here speaks of let us make

mankind in our image, we see God at work in

making mankind. While at the same time given this like

this incredible little shadow to something that will be more

fully realized by the time that we get to the

New Testament, which is the Trinity. That is something that's

unique to God. That's not what we're talking about today today.

We're talking about how God has uniquely made us. God

is three persons in one being, all right, we are

one person in one being. That's usually why we have

a hard time hearing that because the way that God

made us is one person in one being. So in

what ways are we made in the likeness of God?

And I want to say before we get too deep

into this stuff, because it needs to be said that

some will look at texts like these and twist them,

and how they'll twist them as they'll go as far

to say as that that means we are God's or

some will say that we can become gods. But the

Bible says that there is only one God and we

ain't it. In Genesis two seven, look at this, it says,

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from

the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,

and the man became a living creature. So God made

us from dust and breathed life into us. He is

the creator. And what we need to understand about ourselves

is that we are creatures. We are His creatures, we

are unique, and that we are creatures that bear God's image.

So what does this mean to be made in the

image and the likeness of God? And it again, I

just I know I have a lot of like caveat

before we really dive into this. We could literally be

here all day. This would not be a hard thing.

We're talking about an infinite God and so and as

we look through the different ways that God has made

us in his image, I need to say like these,

I'm basically just gonna give you some buckets, and we

have a whole week and the rest of your life

to continue to explore and press in deep on some

of these topics. And I just say that because I

don't need to be mad and be like, but can't

believe you didn't gee, like, you didn't spend all that

time on this, and I'm like, we would have been

here forever, and I'm trying to do better at that.

So so I'm not gonna go crazy in depth, but

i will give you some buckets to kind of give

us an idea of the way that God uniquely set

us apart. Because actually, to be fair, this text and

in fact does not go in depth, because this text

wants us to understand clearly and plainly that we are

made after God's likeness, that we are made in God's image,

and so that is something that we need to actually

sit with. We can work out the details in a

little bit, but the more important thing that this text

wants us to understand is that when God made mankind,

he in fact made them in his likeness. So we're

gonna kind of go through these somewhat quickly. One of

the ways that God made us in his likeness is

that we are moral creatures pretty different from the animal kingdom,

meaning that we have this innate sense of right and

wrong in accordance with God's law, with his standard. So

what we're saying is is our conscience. Our consciences are

there and they reflect God's morality. We're not just flesh,

but we are also a spirit. Like so we don't

just have a body. We can kind of not think

about these things as often just living in the life

in the world that we live in, just very material things,

very naturalistic world. But we have a soul. We have

a spirit, the spirit that's gonna live forever, Which is

also why it's such an important question to ask, like,

so where do you plan on being forever with God

in his presence, joy forever more or under his wrath

and judgment do your sin forever? We have a great

mental capacity. You're like, what does that mean? Well, we

can do all kinds of things with our brains that

are as very foreign to how the rest of the

world works. We think about stuff, we dwell on the past,

we worry about the future. And that's two things. That's

us plant making plans and that's us having feelings about

the plans that we're making. Like we're very complicated, intricate creatures.

We have these different emotions that we express or think about.

Just creativity. Think about that that God makes a world

and it's very creative. I don't know if you've ever

seen a sun set, have you ever seen another human being?

You're just like, that's that's crazy. Just stare at your

hand for a while and be like what is that?

Like that's wild? Like were very creative. Think about the

animals that God has made. And then God puts us

down on this earth and we're like, I'm gonna turn

this tree into a house. I'm gonna turn this tree

into a tree house. Like we just we we also

have this capacity of being creative and looking like him.

How about we're relational like the Godhead, the Father, the Son,

the Holy Spirit of having perfect unity in one being,

and we're built to reflect this eternal community. And not

only that, but God has made it so that we

can actually have a relationship with him. Jesus when he

talks to us, tells us that part of his hope

is as in the same way that him and the

Father are one, that he wants to have that intimate

kind of relationship with us. And then kind of also

seen here in our text that mankind is to have

a very specific relationship to the earth, that is of

ruling and having dominion over everything, over the creation, over

the animals. That God is going to create mankind in

his image, and mankind is going to rule over his creation.

I have raccoons in my backyard right now, and I've

been having a hard time not exercising a lot of dominion.

We see something interesting here going on that God is

going to create mankind in his image, and mankind is

going to rule over his creation. In doing so, on

God's behalf in his likeness and by God's command, God

tells us as humans to do that, and in doing so,

we're actually reflecting him on a smaller level where I mean,

it's really hard to get to Mars right now, right

so it's a little harder to have dominion. But as

it goes, the Lord made us in his image and

put us in and down on his creation and says

I want you to rule, I want you to have dominion.

And we know that ultimately the Lord is the one

who rules over all creation, that the Lord is one

has dominion over all things. In this little way, we

get this opportunity to reflect him. Like I said, this

is a huge topic when you start to dig into it.

But what is helpful is that the more that we

begin to study who God is, the more we begin

to study our Bible and what He calls us to do,

the more we'll see in which ways we are like

our maker, and in what ways we are not at

all like our Maker, which is a helpful distinction, because

if you think you're eternal, you're not. He just said

here that there was a point when we all were created,

whereas God has from everlasting to everlasting. And so as

we start to consider all these ways that were made

to look like our Lord, there should be a question

that slowly starts to rise in the back of our minds,

or maybe deep in our hearts on these things. That is,

if I am made to reflect the Lord? Am I

doing that? If I am made in God's likeness to

reflect his image? Am I doing that? Do I reflect

the Lord? Well? Do I reflect the Lord accurately? Is

God intended to make us to look like him? And

in fact, that's exactly what he did. Look at this,

it's God's design. This is exactly how he created us.

Genesis verse twenty seven says, So God created man in

his own image, in the image of God. He created

them male and female. He created them. God did, in

fact make all mankind, both men and women, in the

image of God. It's also because we've been made in

God's image that God demands that we treat one another well.

Because how we interact with others who are made in

God's image, the Bible tells us is very telling about

how we feel in what we believe about our maker,

in whose image we bear. That's why God says it's

a capital crime to murder an image bearer. Look at

this Genesis nine, which is really unfortunate. It's only nine

chapters after the very beginning, and God has to come

out and say, by your lifeblood, I will require a

reckoning from every beast. I will require it, and from man,

from his fellow man, I will require a reckoning for

the life of a man whoever sheds the blood of

man by man, shall his blood be shed for God

made man in his own image. That's like intense. But

what God is trying to show us right here is

he takes his image very seriously, and the fact that

we do bear his image should make us consider how

we are representing him. It should make us consider and

think through what we're saying about God. Every time we

mistreat another image bearer, every time we have disregard for

another image bearer, what are we saying about what we

think about God. I watched a movie a while back,

and in this movie, it was about these missionaries to

Japan and one of the ways that they had to

and these missionaries were getting persecuted and basically trying to

be stopped from all their missionary work. And one of

the ways that these people who were trying to put

a stop to the missionary work is they would call

them to recant or profess that they don't in fact believe.

And what they would make them do is step on

a picture, a little graven image of Jesus. They wanted

them to show the way that they had disregard that

they actually God doesn't mean anything to me and the

way that they would have them show that is by

putting their foot on this image. And so I think

it's something fair for us to ask of, like, when

we are mistreating how much are we putting our foot

on God's image? When we mistreat another image bearer, are

we considering whose image they bear? Or are we saying

I don't care who you are, I don't care what

you look like, I don't care who you're supposed to represent,

and we just walk all over them like they mean nothing.

We don't think about how that might be saying something

about what we feel about God. Look at this, God

tells us how we treat others, especially the lowly, says

a lot about how we feel about God. Look at

this Proverbs fourteen. Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker,

But he who is generous to the need, he honors him.

There's this direct correlation in how we're treating others, in

what we're whether we're honoring the Lord or insulting him.

Do we think about that? Do we think about that

when we're interacting with our neighbor who's annoying? Think about

that when we're interacting with our spouse who were bothered

by in all the justifications we give ourselves for why

we can walk all over them, why we can disrespect them,

Because you're not just disrespecting them, you're insulting God. Instead,

when we care for those around us, that we can

in fact honor the Lord. This proverb seventeen there was

another one whoever mocks the poor insults his maker. He

who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished. When

you mistreat a brother, especially someone who is lowly, you

are insulting God. When we take care of one another,

we're honoring the Lord by caring for others who bear

his image. I had to work through this in my

own heart a long time ago because we live in Lacy, Olympia, Washington.

There's all kinds of people, and it's really easy to

go places, and I'm like, I don't want to go

to these certain places, and in my heart, I literally

start to devalue them as a human and I don't

want to call them a human. I want to call

them a monster. And it was really funny because then

we were preaching through a Christian fundamentals and Pastor Jordan

was preaching on the image of God, and He's like

we need to care about the image of God in

these people's lives. And I was like, yep, I am

being rebuked right now. As much as I want to

find look at all these people's faults, how misguided they are,

how taking captive to Satan's lies they are. That does

not give me the right to take away God's image

that He's given them. Think about the impact this could

have on our relationships, our generosity, our love for our spouse, children,

and neighbor. When we consider the fact that they are

not accidents, they're not animals, but they are made in

God's image just like we are. It's like thinking about that, like,

look around you, these people next to you, to kind

of go like, I have an opportunity to serve an

image bearer and love and care for an image bearer

that deserves honor and love. But to that point, I

think it is a fair question to ask that if

we are made in God's image, then how are we

just getting it so wrong? Why do we mistreat each other?

Why don't we do what we ought to do? Or

does that mean that part of looking like God is

being wicked? By no means? This is why we need

to understand that mankind is not as he ought to be.

That when mankind rebelled against God in the garden, when

mankind rebelled against God and his commands, that the human

race fell into sin. That was very important. We'll talk

about this pretty in depth in a couple of weeks,

but it needs to be understand that when this happened,

it did not completely destroy God's image in us, but

it did severely distort it. That no longer do we

reflect God perfectly in the way that we're supposed to.

But then now God's image in us is distorted, it's marred.

When you look at a human you can't perfectly see

God's reflection in the way that you're supposed to be.

Maybe you can see glimpses of it, but you now

also see a lot of things that are just distortions.

It's why it's not hard to like, point out your

spouse's flaws. It's why it's not hard to point out

your families and chill. It's why it's not hard to

point out that anyone else is a sinner. Because we've

fallen so short. We're saying you're not how you're supposed

to be, neither of you. We're not perfectly moral and

good as we ought to be, but instead we're sinful.

Our relationships are not in unity anymore but full of

pain and strife. That our mental capacity is now instead

of used for God's glory, it's used for great evil.

That our spirits, instead of enjoying eternal life, are headed

for eternal damnation because of our rebellion against God. Just

devastating to think how far mankind has fallen from what

we ought to be, how much we have lost our way.

But God, in his love, has made a way for

us to be forgiven of our sin and rebellion and

restored to bearing His image as we should. And if

you want to see this, the only person you have

to look to is Jesus Christ. Jesus God, the Son

came and took on flesh to live the perfect life

that we did not and could not live, and would

go on to die the death that we sinful man

deserve to die. But he was raised three days later,

showing that death couldn't even hold him down, so that

for everyone who would put their faith in him, their

hope in him, their trust in Jesus Christ, that they

could be saved from the wrath. Do their sin. They

would know no longer be slaves to their sinful nature,

but they would be set free, granted eternal life, and

now can be conformed to Christ's image, that we could

be restored for everyone who puts their faith in him.

Look at this Clautionans one point fifteen, talking about Jesus, says,

he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn

of all creation. For by him all things were created

in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones

or dominions, or rulers or authorities, all things were created

through him and for him. And he is before all things,

and in him all things hold together. And he is

the head of the body the Church. He is the beginning,

the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might

be pre eminent. For in him all the fullness of

God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile

to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven,

making peace by the blood of His cross. That is,

only in Christ can we be reconciled to God. Only

in Christ can we be restored to and conformed to

what we are meant to look like that for every

person who puts their faith in Christ, that they're saved

from the wrath through their sin and can now begin

to be conformed to in our destined to one day

be perfectly made in Christ's image. That Christ came and

perfectly set the example for what we as mankind are

meant to look like. In Atom, the first man, mankind

went astray and distorted the image of God in them.

But in Christ, the new atom, mankind can be reconciled

and conformed to the image of God once again. This

is good news. Look at this verse. Corinthians fifteen forty

nine says, just as we have borne the image of

the Man of dust, we shall also bear the image

of the Man of Heaven Romans eight twenty nine. For

those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed

to the image of his son, in order that he

might be the first born among many brothers two Corinthians

three eighteen. And we all with unveiled faces beholding the

glory of God of the Lord, are being trans formed

into the same image, from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

How about this one Classans three nine through ten do

not lie to one another seeing that you've put off

the old self with its practices, and have put on

the new self. And then listen to this which is

being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

So in Christ we are being renewed once again, after

the image of our creator. We look to Christ to

see what it looks like to truly reflect the image

of God. You want to perfectly see who God is,

Look to Christ. You want to perfectly see who man

is meant to be. Look to Christ. Thank God, he

didn't make it hard. And we put off our old

self and put on Christ, and we become more and

more in the image of God as you're meant to

be from the beginning. The more we look like Christ,

the more we reflect the image of God as we ought.

And it needs to be said, you can't just like

try to do this. You're not gonna do very well

if you try in your own strength. But you must

look at yourself, do the accurate assessment. And I'm just

gonna give you like a little hint. Just agree with

what scripture says that you don't measure up, that you

have fallen, and repent of your fallen in sinful ways.

Turn to Christ. Trusting in his finished work on the Cross.

He did it all so you can look to him,

and the Lord will give you the Holy Spirit to

come and dwell you, to change your heart, to make

you a new creation, and so begin to conform you

to Christ. Look to Christ, trust in him to reconcile

and restore you to how God made us to be

from the beginning. We see God's design for mankind when

we look at Christ. And God's design is very good.

He didn't give up on it when we went astray,

but he sent Christ to set things right. Because God

still intends to accomplish his purposes and original intention from

the beginning. Look at this verse twenty eight, and I

need the band to come up, please. I'm going to

see God's blessing. God makes mankind in his image, and

I I want to say, like, because we will not

be perfect until Christ returns. I just need every single

believer in this room to know you were not done yet.

You were not done yet. And I say that because

it's really easy to kind of go like this is good,

Like I can manage here, I can get by. I'm

a more decent person. I get along better with my

family than I used to I don't struggle with that

thing as much. You are not done conforming. You do

not look like Christ in the way as you ought.

So get in your word and grow in your knowledge.

You have to grow in your knowledge of who God is.

And as we do so, we will be conformed more

and more into His image. Do we need to be learners?

This will tie you to something I'm going to say

in a second. But God makes mankind in his image

and blesses them. Look at this verse twenty eight says

and God bless them. And he 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. God tells them to

be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.

God tells his image bearers to spread his image by

having babies, and his influence by having dominion all over

the world. Now I still believe this means that we

are called to be fruitful as families, bearing children and

raising them for the Lord to live for him and

spread his work over all the world. But I also

believe that this gets even more heightened in the Great Commission.

Look at this, and Jesus came and said to them,

all authority in heaven and on earth has been given

to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of

the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to

observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am

with you always to the end of the age. That

now Jesus to his disciples tells them to go be

fruitful and multiply by sharing the Gospel and teaching those

disciples to obey Jesus. That is helping others to be

saved through the Gospel and discipleship. When we do discipleship.

The whole point and hope in doing any of that

is to be conformed to the image of Christ. Through

following his word, obeying all the things that He's commanded us.

God has authority to bless and commission us as his

people to be on mission as his image bearers, and

that's exactly what he's done. He's called us to multiply

and spread his word and glory throughout all the world,

and that might be through making literal disciples as in children.

It might be through making disciples by spreading the gospel

hearian neighbors, so that all of them would be conformed

to the image of their maker. So some questions for

consideration in your life, as my life life, as we

seek to apply this text to our life, do you,

as a believer reflect the Lord? Well? Have you grown

complacent and stagnant in your walk thinking where you're at

is good enough. We won't be perfectly what we're meant

to be until Christ returns. So I would consider this

a wake up call. You're not done conforming, You're not

done learning, you're not done growing. Looks to Christ, read

his word, follow his example by living it out. Because

the hard part there's a lot of Christians who agree

with God's word but don't follow it. Cut off those

old ways that don't look like him and replace them

with how God has called us to live for Him.

Another question, are you representing God well to others? When

they look at you they see do they see Christ?

Or do you still look too much like your old self?

How about this one? Are you viewing and treating others

with the love and dignity that fellow image bearers deserve.

This should greatly impact our desire to help struggling image bearers.

They should motivate our desire to share the saving gospel

of Jesus Christ to other image bearers, as without it

they'll be lost forever. That should expose on us really

quick how much we care, if we care about God

and his image. This should break our hearts at the

reality that there are people who will perish in their sin,

and last says, you look at yourself, one made to

and design to look like your maker. Are you living

like you're your own? Or will you consider what Jesus

said and render to God what is God's as one

who bears his image has his law on your heart.

No longer living for yourself, being conformed to this world,

your once, your desires. Whoever you want to follow on

social media, or you hear Jesus call for us to

consider whose image we bear, whose law we have on

our hearts, and render ourselves back to God as those

who are meant for His purposes and his designs. God

made us to look like him, so we should live

for Him and live like him. One of the greatest

blessings of being a parent is to have your child

want to look like you. One of my favorite things

to watch my little boys come in trying to wear

my shoes. And even though I'm not necessarily my best

self when I'm doing a project, how much looking back

I go like I need to cool it. And second

of all, how amazing is that my children want to

be a part of the work that I'm doing. Can

I help? How can I be a part of this?

And I believe that, as God's children adopted into his

family by his grace, that we need to we have to.

We must recover the sense of love and wonder and

drive and awe through Christ, to strive to look like

our father who is in heaven, and be on mission

for him as those who are made in His image. Amen,

would you please stand