Thank you Isaac. Good morning everyone. It’s great to be with you today. We’re continuing our series on Knowing God is Loving God. And the more we know him as we sing this morning, the more we know him, the more we love him, and the more we love him, the more we love others, the more we spread his kingdom to the world. Now part of knowing him is also understanding who we are because of what he says about us. There’s a story of a woman 60 years old. All her life she had been cared for by everyone around her because her hands didn’t really work right. She couldn’t use them in a normal, functioning way, and so everyone around her had to care for every need of hers. They would feed her for her, dress her, even all the way up till she was 60 years old, caring for every personal need, if you know what I mean. But then those family members passed away. There was no one left to care for her. She ends up in the hospital and the doctor’s examining her, and he says, I don’t see any. I don’t see any medical reason why her hands shouldn’t work. This is really strange. And so he talked the nurses into, we’re going to try a little experiment. Here’s what I want you to do every time you come in to feed her because she can’t feed herself, because her hands don’t work, I want you to set the food just out of reach of her. Now. Don’t start feeding her right away. Wait a little bit. Tend to some other things. Act like you kind of forgot about the fact that she’s hungry and needs food. And so they did this for a number of weeks, finally getting around to feeding her over time. Eventually there was a day where she got tired of waiting, and she reached out, grab some food for herself, a little bit of food, and then from there, it didn’t take long to help her see. No, your hands actually do work. In fact, she had convinced herself because others were taking care of her. She had told herself, my hands must not work, and became convinced of that all the way up till she was 60 years old. My hands don’t work. I can’t use them. Now. Here’s the important truth here we want to draw from that. The stories you tell yourself about yourself do have a big influence on the way you live, whether they’re true or not. By the way, that’s true positively. That’s true negatively. In her case, it was very negative. And the most important thing that you need to realize today is that you at your very best, the thing that is most true of you is what God says about you more than anything else. You know, in your notes. I have a quote that Colby shared with us a couple of weeks ago from A.W. Tozer. And he says, most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God. What comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. Well, a follow up to that then, and what we’re going to talk about today is probably the second most important thing about you is what you think God thinks about you. When you think about yourself, do you think about yourself because of what a teacher said was true of you, good or bad? What a peer, what a friend or an enemy said about you? Is that what comes to mind first, or what you think about you? Or is it what God’s Word said is true of you? If you know Christ, there are things that are true of you, and those are the most things, most important things, the most true things about you. So we’re going to meditate today and explore who does the Bible say we are, because that’s the most important thing about who we are, what God says about who we are. So we’re going to look at a few of those truths today and give you a few application points. Turn in your Bibles actually don’t need to turn there yet. We’re going to spend time in Genesis chapter one this morning, which is pretty easy to find. I don’t think we need a page number for that. That’s page one. Roughly after the introduction, but I think the first reality, the first thing to be aware of when it comes to who am I? Who does God say I am is just understanding. And this is number one in your outline that God created you. You are created by God. He created every person who has ever existed, which means and even says in Psalm 139, 15 through 17 or 13 through 15, I knitted you together in your mother’s womb before you even existed. I knew who you were. I was a part of creating you. Also in verse seven, it talks about the fact that where can anyone flee from God? Where can you go away from his presence? Not only did he create you, he knows where you are. He still knows who you are. He didn’t just create you and forget about you. He knows who you are. He still cares about every single person ever created. So we’re all created by God. Now here’s the second part and we’re going to spend more time on this. Yes, we are created by him. And what does that mean? Everyone is created in the image of God. We’re made in the image of God. Now what does that mean? Because you’re thinking, I know some folks who don’t seem to have anything to do with the image of God. I don’t look anything like what I think God should look like, and sometimes I might act that way as well. Right? Well, so what does it mean that we carry the image of God? There’s been a lot of debate about that over the centuries, over the millennia. So what today we’re going to look at, though, I think is just three ways this won’t cover it all, but we’re going to see right in the text the first mention of this phrase, the image of God in Genesis chapter one. I think we’re going to see three ways that we bear the image of God, three ways we express the image of God that everyone does. All right. So turn with me to Genesis chapter one, and we’re going to read verses 26 through 28. And there we’ll unpack three ways were made in the image of God. Verse 26, Then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock, over all the earth, 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. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over every living thing that moves on the earth. So here we have God creating mankind and saying, as he’s creating mankind, I’m going to make you in my image. Now what does that mean? I think there’s three specific things here in this passage. We can point out about what it means to be created in God’s image. The first is that he has given us dominion over the earth. Part of putting his image into mankind is that we are really the pinnacle of creation, and we are to be over caring for creation. It says in Genesis 2:15 that he put Adam and Eve in the garden to tend it and care for it, and there’s something about being made in his image, where we reflect his character in the way that he brings, takes chaos and makes order out of it. You know, at the very beginning in verse one and two, it says, the spirit was moving over the water, spirit was hovering over the waters, over the chaos, over the disorder. But God from disorder, he brought order. And he said to Adam and Eve, go in the garden and take the disorder there. And create something from it. And so that is part when we take chaos and disorder and we bring order and care to it. And by the way, make the world better for everyone, make life better for everyone around us. When we do that, we are reflecting the image of God. And of course, there are times where we are the ones bringing the chaos and bringing the disorder, and we are doing the opposite of reflecting the image of God. That of course that happens. But when we are honoring him and following his plan for us and following his Word, part of reflecting his image is bringing order, bringing life to everyone around you, making the world a better place, making life better for everyone. This is why we know it’s clear that file cabinets are from the Lord. They help us to organize life, to bring order out of chaos. We’ve already done that sermon. I won’t repeat it, but you see, that’s one way we image God. We reflect his image to the world. I think a second way we see here in the text look at verse 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. And then he says, this male and female, he created them. Part of the ways we reflect the image of God is the fact that we are male and female. There’s something about this that God said, when I create humans, I’m going to create the male and female, and that will tell the world something about who I am. I think there’s three ways we can look at that. I’ve outlined in your notes. There are three ways that this reflects the image of God. One is first, this tells us that both male and female are valued. And this seems obvious to us in our modern Christian era. But before Christ came into the world, before Christianity spread throughout the world, this wasn’t always necessarily true. There were many cultures, and usually it was men who more value was placed on them. They were considered more important, more worthy, more valuable. And you know what, though? You still see this at play today. There’s plenty of other non-Christian cultures today where this happens. Just think of the one child policy in China. And because men were seem to be more valued for a family, oftentimes the girls intentionally are aborted. You see, this may be in some heavily run Muslim governed countries where the the way men are treated is very different than the way women are treated. And of course, in every culture there are inequalities. But by God’s design, men and women were both valued before him equally. God didn’t create men and women and say, and you know what? One is a little more important than the other. No, we’re both to be deeply valued and appreciated. So that’s one way, a second way. I think that this is important that we are male and female, is that this reflects or gives us a picture of the Trinity. Just a hint. And of course male female is two, not three. I know that I took math in college. I took a lot of math in college, but it just gives us a picture of the fact that there is a love relationship that occurs between a man and a woman in marriage in particular, that, when done right, reflects just a picture of what God’s love is like within the Trinity. The fact that you have father, son, Holy Spirit who eternally love each other perfectly, even though they play out different roles among humanity, even though they act differently, perfect love in between them. And so when man and woman perfectly loving honoring one another, you just get a glimpse of that reality, of that truth. And of course, when we don’t do that well, we distort that truth. We distort the love that God intends for us to experience at its at its fullest. And then, number three, I think it’s important for us to emphasize, to stand for the truth, that there are only two sexes. And this is a difficult one, because we live in a world where there’s a lot of confusion around that right now. I don’t think that’s any accident or coincidence that the enemy of of Christ would attack the first few verses of the Bible, the very foundation of creation. He made them male and female. Well, let’s question that. Let’s try to reverse that. Let’s ourselves try to define what sex and gender is. We should be God, really, not him. We should determine what that is. And and by the way, look up. I want to be kind and careful towards those who are struggling with what this means for them. Maybe you feel like drawn one more way different than how you were created up. We’re not here to hate on you or heap guilt on you, but when there is confusion, what you need is not coddling. When you’re confused. When I’m confused, I don’t need coddling. I need something that’s concrete, right? I need something truthful to stand on when someone comes to me and they’re struggling with any sin, by the way, that it doesn’t have to be that. I mean, it could be anything. I don’t go, you know what? That’s okay. It’s really. It’s okay. Just keep. That’s who you are. That’s what you feel. Just live it out. It’s okay. God will bless that. No. And of course, that’s even what I want to tell myself. When I have a pet sin, I want to pursue. We all want to do that. But that’s not what we need. We don’t need to be coddled when we’re confused. We need truth. And the most loving thing I can say, hopefully said in love to someone who is wrestling in that area, is to go back to God’s design. He created as male and female. He knows what is best for us. He knows what is better for you than even you know. And walk in that truth. And it may take a while to figure out what that fully means. And of course, our world confuses what is man and woman. In fact, here’s here’s the maddening part of our world. It’s crazy to me how our culture tries to make women, men and men women to try to make them better. We can’t celebrate the fact that we’re different. We got to make each other the same to like one another. I mean, there’s nothing. There’s nothing our world would love better than for a woman to be at the pinnacle of NFL football, to be the best NFL football player. That’s nothing they would love better. And by the way, I don’t care if that happens. I really don’t care. Doesn’t matter. But that doesn’t make women more valuable. If that happens, I’m not waiting for that to happen. For women to become more valuable, more worthy, more womanly, that’s I, because God says I made them male and female, and they’re both already valuable and worthy as they are. We can celebrate the differences now and enjoy that and delight in that. And delight in God’s design, and stop trying to make each other the same to be worthy. Amen. So a little bit of a rant on there for a minute. I know some of you are really love that. Here we go. Keep going, he said. Now that’s enough for now. We got other stuff to talk about. The way we’re made in God’s image. But he made us male and female. That’s his design. And so we want to value that and delight in that. Now, third way, he made us in his image. Look at verse 28, and God bless them. And he said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And then he repeats from earlier, subdue, have dominion over the fish of the sea, birds of the heavens, over every living thing that moves on the earth. Of course, this command is clearly referring to the fact that a husband and wife, if they are physically able, should multiply, should bear fruit, should have children. Of course, this is specifically referring to that. But I also think the broader idea here is pointing to a mindset. If you read back in the day Rick Warren’s very famous book, The Purpose Driven Life, the very opening chapter says, one of the most important things for you to realize is life is not only about you, it’s not all about you. And that’s when I threw the book away right then. But I don’t need to read this. It goes against my truth right there. Life is not only about us, and so we’re to have as a Christian or to have an outward mentality, an outward focused mentality. And you all know the darkest place, the most miserable place you’ve been as a person is when you’re only inward and focused on you. That is the worst place to be. And of course, there’s times where you do have to tend to yourself more than others. I get that you you can only give from a place of strength, right? But you know the difference between the totally self-absorbed person and the giving, outward focused person. And who do you like to be around? I know which one I like to be around. I want to be around the giving, the outward focus. And the same is true of churches, by the way. We’re called to be giving outward focus. This is at the very core of our mission. In fact, Wednesday night I was speaking to the Awana kids. They meet on Wednesday night and go through various Scripture memory verses. They’ve been working on that Awana stands for Approved Workman are Not Ashamed, comes from Second Timothy 2:15, rightly dividing the word of truth. And while I was there, I was there to share with him our missionary experience. And so I brought this to show them because we spent time in the South Pacific. This is a war club from Fiji. They, this wasn’t, you know, actively used this was a replica. It’s all carved up and pretty, you know, they sell these things everywhere there. Any time you’ve gone to a foreign country, you know what I’m talking about. They have things from their culture, from their tribes. They sell for you, to take with you, to remember by. But here’s the thing about this. For years they were a warring country and by country. It’s made up of some 300 islands. So they were small island groups of tribes, probably large extended families that were constantly fighting with one another. That’s what they did. That’s how they lived. They fought and they didn’t have, you know, swords and guns. So they cut up trees and turned them in. I mean, this is a very heavy wood club, and they fashioned very creative. This isn’t the most creative one. I could have got. Even cannibalistic. Right? They were cannibal culture until the gospel came to them and the gospel changed them. They. I didn’t go there wondering if somebody might think I look kind of tasty for dinner. Didn’t worry about that at all. In fact, there’s some of the most joy filled people I’ve ever spent time around. I mean, they would just laugh and cut up in a good hearted, good natured way all the time. They’re always looking to laugh. Only the gospel brings about that kind of change, by the way. I mean, they still sell these as a remembrance of a day gone by. And you know what needed to happen for that to change someone 200 years ago had to say, I know that I’m very comfortable here in my home in the U.S or England or wherever it was. But I also know that Matthew 28:18 through 20 says, go, go therefore into all the world, making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you, and I will be with you always. We are called to go, and so people who life is going great, who are perfectly comfortable said, I don’t know why, but I need to go to someone I’ve never met 200 miles away, who would like to eat me and tell them about Christ. Multiply. Fill the earth. That’s part of that command is to go. You know, I want to ask you to pray specifically, and I’m not going to give you her name, but there’s a lady right now who is in a bunker, probably in and out of a bunker in Israel because of what’s happening there between Israel and Iran. Of course, we’re involved with that. Two years ago, she went to Israel to be a missionary. She goes to a place where they don’t want her. They don’t want Christian missionaries working in Israel full time. But she came as some other occupation. But she knows my calling is to tell people about Jesus and of course, what seems to us something to be horrendous, to be awful. And I’m not getting into the political and whether it’s right or wrong or not, but we would all say, if you’re in a country where war is going on, that’s bad. I don’t want I don’t want that here. I wouldn’t want that there something that would seem awful in the midst of being in that bunker, she’s able to tell others about Jesus. She’s had multiple opportunities to tell others about Jesus. So be praying for her. I’m going to leave her unnamed. Just be praying for this woman in Israel who gave up her comfortable life here to go be a missionary somewhere where they didn’t want her. Part of being made in the image of God is that we turn our focus outward, and we’re seeking to see God’s kingdom spread to the world. Now, here’s a big challenge with this, okay? Yes, we are made in the image of God. In fact, everyone is made in the image of God. But we only we’re looking at chapter one of Genesis and we know what happens just a chapter later. Chapter three sin enters the world and distorts, you could say corrupts the image of God in us defiles the image of God, clouds the image of God. Sin enters the world and listed a couple of verses there in your notes, Romans chapter five. It says sin came through one man, and so sin spread, and so death came into the world, and so death and sin spread to all men. All of mankind now has been infected by sin, not only humans, but creation. In Romans 8:22 talks about how creation groans, awaiting a day where God will restore. So we’ve been infected by sin. Sin has corrupted us. And the way to see this image of God, restored rightly into our life is to be renewed, redeemed, set right by Christ. And I’m not going to spend a ton of time on what that means today, because in future weeks, we’re going to spend a whole week on Christ, who he is, what he’s done. We’re going to spend a whole week on sin, what it is, what it means, how it infects us, how we move through it. I’m just going to give you four ways today, four ways that we can live a redeemed image of God out in our lives. How do we rightly view ourselves as God views us? That’s the most important thing about how you think about yourself is what he thinks about you. So we’re going to look at four ways we can do that. How we can we experience the redeemed image of God. Look at the first one here. First, know that your identity is first received, not achieved. Know that your identity is first received, not achieved. This phraseology isn’t original to me. It’s not unique to me. If you’re following along with the series, you know, when we started this series, we said, if you want, you can get a copy of that book. You are a theologian and you can read along. I’m following the chapters of that book and I’m covering some of the content in there, but bringing in my own, and that was their wording. I really appreciated that way of saying it. Your identity is first received, not achieved. Now, the problem with that. Is that modern Americans, this is really hard for us to comprehend, because most of us have to go find our own identity. It’s not just given to us through our family. For example, we’re a nation of self-made men and women. You know, you got to go out and figure out, what am I supposed to do? What is my job supposed to be? When people meet you, usually one of the first questions they ask is, so tell me, what do you do? Because that identifies so much of who you are to them. You know what’s funny about Louisville? Someone mentioned this to me earlier, someone who moved here recently. They said, this is the only city I’ve ever lived in where people almost always ask me, where did you go to school? And they always mean high school, not college. I thought, you know what? That’s right. I do that too. I do that all the time. Because for whatever reason in Louisville, when you know where someone went to school, you know a lot more about them. You start to put them in a little a little lane or a box and you okay, you went there. All right. I know who you are. Right? For whatever reason. Okay. We do that. We’re summing up. We’re trying to get people’s identities that one of the interesting things about living in Fiji, one of the first things they wanted to know is where you’re from. And they didn’t mean what country you were from. Of course they meant that with me, but with each other. They wanted to know what island you were from, even if you’d never been there. One guy, one of our neighbors, told me he was from an island called Gao, and it was 300 miles away from us, and he had never been there. Probably would never go there in his life. There’s no flight there. That’s a really long boat ride. And there’s no I mean, you’re going to have to find the boat to get there. And I said, what do you mean you’re from there? He’s like, no, no, no, that’s my tribe. That’s my people. That determines who I am. My identity comes from who I am. My my tribe, my island, my people. And it also determines the way I relate to people from this other island. You know, because we used to watch each other back then, and now they laugh about it, but it still determines who goes first in line. Like all these little things about their life and the way they interact was received. He didn’t do anything to be from Gal that was received, not achieved. And later on we’d get to what you do, but it almost didn’t matter for your identity. Who you are is first and foremost received, not achieved. I am who you say I am. We sang so many songs about this this morning. I’m no longer a slave to fear. Who you say I am is more important than who I think I am. Okay, so that’s why I put in your notes Ephesians chapter one, and I want you at some point this week to spend time just meditating on those verses, Ephesians chapter one, verses one through 14. In fact, I’d encourage you to either if you like writing in your Bible to mark it up in your Bible. If you don’t go copy it off the internet, print it out, and just mark every time you see the phrase in him or in Christ over and over, something like 11, 12 times in those 14 verses, in him, in Christ, in him, in him, and over and over again you’ll hear who’s if you’re a Christian, here’s who I am, here’s who I really am, chosen in him before the foundation of the world. You’ll get one truth after another. Circle that every time. And then make observations. Just make a list. Here’s what’s true. Here’s who I truly am in him. Because what’s most important about you is what you think about what God thinks about you. So that’s the first way your identity is received, not achieved. Second, spend time dwelling on your restored allegiance. Sin makes us enemies of God. Christ restores our allegiance to him. I’ve listed a couple of verses Romans eight one. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. There’s no condemnation anymore for those who are in Christ Jesus. You’ve been set free from the law of sin and death. In fact, that next verse, Romans six six, you’re no longer a slave to sin. You no longer have to walk in sin. You’re no longer controlled by sin. Now, of course, part of the challenge with that is okay, John, why do I still sin sometimes? In theory, if you do, I’m sure there are people out there that this might happen to. Well, we’re going to talk about that. Don’t worry. We’ll get through that. But first dwell on your restored allegiance. This is more true of you than anything else about you. If you know Christ, you’re no longer a slave to sin. Now, this quote from Sinclair Ferguson I put in your notes helps shed some light on why we might still struggle with sin. Look at this quote in chapter six. Paul has argued that the believer is freed from the dominion of sin. I’ve been freed from that. Sin no longer reigns over me and controls me. However, we’re not yet freed from the presence of sin. Okay, so I am no longer mastered by sin. I no longer have to submit to sin. But however, for whatever reason, God still allowed sin to exist in the world and it can still influence us. And sometimes we might choose to move toward sin. But you don’t have to do. You don’t have to be a slave to sin. Number three and here’s how we battle that. Look at number three actively feed the spirit, not the flesh. Actively feed the spirit, not the flesh. Look at Romans chapter eight. Flip over there. We’re just going to read a couple of verses in Romans chapter eight. This is a great section to meditate on about how you feed the spirit and not the flesh. Romans chapter eight verse five says, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death. But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. And if in fact, in fact, we could translate this, if indeed, since the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone? I got lost as I was reading. The Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead, the spirit is life because of righteousness. You have a choice every day. Am I going to set my mind on things of the spirit, or am I going to set my mind on things of the flesh and where you set your mind? What you feed your heart is what will consume you. This is why today, for those who signed up, we’re going to do a luncheon right after the service to talk about this. Because the reality is, every day you are attacked by an onslaught of the trivial that is seeking to completely decay your soul. And we give ourselves over to that so easily, and it just numbs our spiritual sensitivities. And all of us struggle with this. All of us battle this. Some, well, some not. We’re going to really address that and talk in depth about it in this luncheon. If you didn’t sign up, you can still come. We’re going to meet in here after the service. You can still come. Probably won’t be enough food for you. So you might have to skip lunch, but you can come in here. The content. But we’ve got to go on the offensive. You’ve got to push away the things of the flesh and move towards the things of the spirit. And then lastly, number four. Remember, you’re made to worship. Yeah. All month long in the month of March. Last week, I challenged you. If you were here, I challenge you to stand up and say I will. Every day in the month of March. Spend time in God’s Word. And if you weren’t here last week, we’ll just have you stand individually right now. No. I’m kidding. I won’t put you put you on the spot. We put you on the spot last week. That was enough. If you want your heart to be set on the right thing, start by worshiping Colossians three two in your notes to set your mind on things that are above, not in things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when he appears, your life will also appear with him in glory. Set your mind on him. And it takes an intentionality, but it’s so worth it when you set your mind on him. When you worship him, that’s when you see him start to work in your life. In fresh, new ways. Because what’s most true of you is what God says is true of you.