Sermon 2019.06.30
In the Image of God
(Genesis 1:26-27,31-2:3 MSG)

1. Original truths.  Back in May, I asked for suggestions about what to preach this summer. We called it, “Stump the Pastor!” Some of our best summer sermons always come from your suggestions. Deb Boehde responded, asking me: 

“How about ways to be kind to our earth?  Are there any messages about our accumulation of plastic bags and how we can be better stewards of our land in the Bible?”

Why yes, Deb, yes, there are. Glad you asked! In fact, the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible talks about our responsibility to care for the land. Environmental stewardship is baked into our human essence, as it turns out.

The book of Genesis is a book of beginnings. The first chapters aren’t intended as a history, so much as a story of truth. Genesis chapter 3 famously describes the original sin of human disobedience, thinking we know better than God, and separating ourselves from God’s love. This original sin is the pattern for all human sin since.

But before original sin, Genesis chapters 1-2 describe the original truths, the prototype truths, the universal patterns that underly our world and our existence, the way God meant things to be. And what they tell us is God’s intention for a good and beautiful creation, culminating in the most wonderful and beautiful creatures of all… us!

2. Beautiful like God.  The capstone of creation comes at the end of chapter 1. After God has created the entire universe, Genesis tells us that God desires to share this creation. And so God creates humanity in the image of God (1:26).

What God decides, God does: “God created human beings; [God] created them godlike, reflecting God's nature. [God] created them male and female” (1:27).

Right away this tells us that God is far more rich and complex than any simple storybook picture of an old dude with a beard. Every human being ever contains the image of God – tall, short, thick, thin, young, old, able-bodied or disabled. God is all genders, all colors.

Specifically, you look like God. And that makes you beautiful, warts and all! Remember the great commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and love your neighbor as you love yourself?” We know that loving our neighbor is a way to love God, but sometimes we overlook that last bit – loving ourselves is a way to love God, because each of us contains a spark, an image of God. And it is good!

3. Creative like God.  But our God-nature is more than skin deep. When the Bible starts with the story of God creating heaven and earth, we shouldn’t be surprised that creativity is baked into our human nature as well. We are creative like God.

Our creativity takes many forms. We begin as children, creating – picking up the crayon, stacking up the blocks, creating pretend worlds with our Hot Wheels and our Barbies.

As adults our creativity extends to hobbies – knitting or quilting, baking or gardening, woodworking or building, playing music or performing in plays. Even our work is creative as we manufacture, serve, design, meet, and file.

Each of us transforms the world around us, participating in God’s ongoing work of creation.  And our creativity is good!

4. Choices like God.  With our creativity come choices. Unique among all creatures great and small, humans have free will. We have choices like God. We can choose to love or to hate. We can choose to build or to destroy. We can choose to pay attention or to ignore. 

God is about relationships. The very nature of God as Trinity – Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer – is a nature of intimate relationships. Three are one; without one there would not be three.

Genesis tells us that God creates us to be part of that relationship. But for it to be real, God gives us a choice. We have free will to choose God, or choose to separate ourselves. When we choose to love God, it is indeed very good!

5. Responsibilities like God.  Our creativity and choice have a purpose, spelled out in Genesis 1:26, when God says, “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature… so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth."

That is an awesome responsibility. Everything on Earth is given to humans for our benefit… but we are also here for the benefit of all things on Earth. God has made us stewards of all creation, where we can put our God-given gifts of creativity and choice to full use.

Yes, that means we can mine the Earth for resources and harvest food. But that also means that we must care for the Earth and all that walks, flies, or swims upon it. When we poison our atmosphere, or push animal species to the brink of extinction, or treat the earth and oceans as our private garbage dumps, we are failing in our responsibilities.

But when we successfully improve a crop, or eradicate a disease, or clean up a toxic waste site, or harness the power of a river, or save an endangered species, we are being the stewards God calls us to be. And it is good.

6. Chillaxing like God.  If all this creating and choosing and caretaking sounds awesome… and exhausting… well, God thought of that too. You see, the creation story doesn’t end with humanity. God creates one more thing, adds one very important detail to the grand pattern of all creation: rest. 

On the seventh day, God takes a Sabbath break and steps back to rest and enjoy creation. To put it like my kids would – God chills and relaxes; God chillaxes.

I can imagine God’s feet up on the ottoman and a tall, cool glass of lemonade as God watches creation at play – the busy tunneling of ants and the stately stomping of elephant, seals at play, birds tending their nests, bursts of color from flowers, flashes of light from thunderstorms, the quick splash of a creek and the age-long weathering of the mountains.

It is also important for us to step back and rest, to enjoy to the world as God has created it and as we have cared for it. Chillaxing refreshes us. Rest renews us, and reminds us that God has got all of this in hand. Relaxed, refreshed, renewed, we are ready to take up our stewardship work again. 

We are made like God, friends. We are beautiful, we are creative, we have choices, we have responsibilities. And we have time to rest and enjoy. And it is good.

Amen