WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940 So this is the second sermon in the series called 00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:07.580 No Ordinary People, and we're exploring what it means 00:00:07.580 --> 00:00:09.980 to be made in the image of God. 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:12.740 And I have to caveat this by saying each one of these 00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:15.580 sermons can only just scratch the surface. 00:00:15.580 --> 00:00:17.980 This runs so deep. 00:00:17.980 --> 00:00:21.080 This doctrine has changed the world. 00:00:21.080 --> 00:00:23.660 The teaching that humans are made in the image of God 00:00:23.660 --> 00:00:30.160 has been one of the most massively impactful doctrines 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:32.539 of the world. 00:00:32.539 --> 00:00:35.399 So we're going to raise questions tonight that I won't be 00:00:35.399 --> 00:00:38.640 able to answer fully and satisfactorily. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:44.280 So if you have questions then or want to go deeper into 00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:46.519 something, in a few weeks we're going to have a question 00:00:46.519 --> 00:00:48.679 time in the evening service, and so you can write down 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:51.960 your questions, save it, think about it, and send it in. 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:54.759 And we'll tell you how to do that another time, and we'll 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:58.700 address as many of those as we can. 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:02.500 So the first passage that we read from Genesis 1 teaches us 00:01:02.500 --> 00:01:09.740 this important truth, that who we are informs how we live, 00:01:09.740 --> 00:01:11.280 and not the other way around. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:13.480 Who we are informs how we live. 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:17.120 So he says first that men and women are made in the image 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:19.980 of God, that's who we are. 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:24.460 We are image bearing males and females. 00:01:24.460 --> 00:01:28.120 And then in verse 28 God says in light of this, in light of 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:31.600 who you are, here's what you're to do, go be fruitful, 00:01:31.600 --> 00:01:34.800 multiply, fill, subdue, have dominion. 00:01:34.800 --> 00:01:37.140 That's how you are to live. 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:43.340 So how we are to live flows out of who we already are. 00:01:43.340 --> 00:01:49.280 And that work, being fruitful and multiplying, filling, 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:51.920 that's relational work, and that's what we're going to focus 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:56.420 on tonight, is how we are relational because we're made 00:01:56.420 --> 00:01:58.460 in the image of God. 00:01:58.460 --> 00:02:00.820 You can't multiply alone. 00:02:00.820 --> 00:02:03.000 You can't fill something all by yourself. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:04.960 It requires people working together. 00:02:04.960 --> 00:02:09.659 It requires community and relationships. 00:02:09.659 --> 00:02:12.500 So the main question we're going to try to answer or get to 00:02:12.500 --> 00:02:18.039 tonight is how are we intended to image God as relational 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:20.840 males and females? 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:23.579 How are we intended to image God as relational males and 00:02:23.579 --> 00:02:24.579 females? 00:02:24.579 --> 00:02:28.019 And we're going to cover that in four points. 00:02:28.019 --> 00:02:33.019 We're intended to image God by glorifying Him in our gender, 00:02:33.019 --> 00:02:37.199 by glorifying Him in our singleness, by glorifying Him 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:40.459 in our marriage, and by glorifying Him together 00:02:40.459 --> 00:02:43.039 as the church. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:45.299 Now before we get into those points, we have to talk about 00:02:45.299 --> 00:02:48.000 what it means to glorify God because that can be one of those 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:52.840 Christianese words that sounds nice, but if asked to define it, 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:57.039 I think a lot of us would be really hard pressed to do so. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:00.280 So let me use a little bit of a crude analogy. 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:06.819 Imagine a massive, flawless diamond in a completely darkened 00:03:06.819 --> 00:03:11.460 room, even without light, even when we can't see it. 00:03:11.460 --> 00:03:14.960 That massive diamond has intrinsic beauty. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:15.860 It's pure. 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:16.860 It's flawless. 00:03:16.860 --> 00:03:19.160 It's special whether we see it or not. 00:03:19.160 --> 00:03:21.800 It just is that way. 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:26.000 Now imagine you shine a bright light right on that diamond, 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:29.180 and it just illumines the room. 00:03:29.180 --> 00:03:33.780 You know, the light is just stunning through it. 00:03:33.780 --> 00:03:36.520 It was already beautiful, but when we shine a light on it, 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:39.260 now we can see it for what it is. 00:03:39.260 --> 00:03:42.620 Now we can see its beauty and its purity. 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:47.159 God is intrinsically beautiful, pure, flawless, and unique, 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:49.800 and we call that His holiness. 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:54.560 That's what we mean when we say God is holy. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:58.340 So how do we glorify a holy God? 00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:01.480 By living in a way that shines a light on His beauty so that 00:04:01.480 --> 00:04:04.240 everyone can see it. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:09.920 That's how we glorify God is our lives are to display the 00:04:09.920 --> 00:04:12.120 beauty of what God is like. 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:16.459 We are image bearers. 00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:19.500 So how do we live in a way that displays the beauty of God to 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:20.500 those around us? 00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:23.360 Well, let's get into the first point, that we are intended to 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:28.800 image God by glorifying Him in our gender. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:32.240 Genesis 127 again, so God created man in His own image, 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:35.139 and the image of God He created Him, male and female, 00:04:35.139 --> 00:04:38.980 He created them. 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:42.420 God is triune. 00:04:42.420 --> 00:04:44.520 He is three persons in one God. 00:04:44.520 --> 00:04:48.860 That great mystery, we call that the Godhead, and within that 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:51.319 Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 00:04:51.319 --> 00:04:57.000 three persons in one God, there is unity in diversity. 00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:00.259 There's three persons, but one purpose. 00:05:00.259 --> 00:05:08.540 There is incredible unity in God, distinct and one. 00:05:08.540 --> 00:05:12.680 And similarly, it's not an analog one to one, but similarly, 00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:16.819 we are made as gendered sexes, male and female, but we're 00:05:16.819 --> 00:05:23.660 meant to work and live and love together as one people in unity. 00:05:23.660 --> 00:05:28.759 So that means that God doesn't primarily value homogeneity. 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:31.360 He loves diversity. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:36.939 Our nation, our city, our neighborhood, this local church 00:05:36.939 --> 00:05:42.339 would be diminished if we were all the same, 00:05:42.339 --> 00:05:45.779 if it was full of just men, or just people who did this for a 00:05:45.779 --> 00:05:48.480 living, or just people who talked like that. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:52.579 We would be a diminished people without the diversity that God 00:05:52.579 --> 00:05:59.000 created us to represent, including male and female. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:01.759 And that means that every one of you, male or female, 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:08.639 was created as you are by God on purpose to glorify Him, 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:11.980 to display something beautiful about what God is like. 00:06:11.980 --> 00:06:14.980 Part of God's wise design was to make two sexes, 00:06:14.980 --> 00:06:19.219 each one made in the image of God, and together they are made 00:06:19.219 --> 00:06:20.420 in the image of God. 00:06:20.420 --> 00:06:23.719 Did you catch the language in that poem in Genesis? 00:06:23.719 --> 00:06:27.219 God created man in His image, He created Him, male and female, 00:06:27.220 --> 00:06:31.800 He created them individually and together. 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:41.400 It is a very difficult reality in this fallen world that some 00:06:41.400 --> 00:06:45.440 of us don't feel like what we are. 00:06:45.440 --> 00:06:49.980 Gender dysphoria is this phenomenon of your feelings 00:06:49.980 --> 00:06:54.760 not lining up with your biological and genetic sex. 00:06:54.760 --> 00:06:57.020 And I'm sure you'll be more and more familiar with that 00:06:57.019 --> 00:07:00.060 these days. 00:07:00.060 --> 00:07:02.659 And it's complicated. 00:07:02.659 --> 00:07:04.599 There's nothing straightforward about this. 00:07:04.599 --> 00:07:10.659 So how are we to view our self, the self, if what we feel 00:07:10.659 --> 00:07:14.639 doesn't line up with what we biologically are? 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:21.240 We need to have incredible care and sensitivity 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.479 when we approach this topic. 00:07:23.480 --> 00:07:27.259 But we also, as Christians, need incredible clarity 00:07:27.259 --> 00:07:28.759 and conviction. 00:07:31.520 --> 00:07:34.220 To decide that you would rather not live 00:07:34.220 --> 00:07:38.800 as your biology demands is to say to God something like, 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:41.900 I don't think you got this right. 00:07:41.900 --> 00:07:44.140 I think I've been made a mistake. 00:07:47.840 --> 00:07:50.980 God doesn't make mistakes. 00:07:50.980 --> 00:07:54.040 God created males and females. 00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:56.540 And he knew what he was doing. 00:07:56.540 --> 00:08:01.420 And both shine forth something glorious about who God is. 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:08.060 And our feelings are, they're cruel masters. 00:08:08.060 --> 00:08:12.160 And if we live according to the rule of our feelings, 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:16.500 they will lead us away from what is ultimately good for us. 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:18.740 Now let's put up Ephesians 4. 00:08:18.740 --> 00:08:21.300 We're gonna unpack a couple verses from that passage 00:08:21.300 --> 00:08:25.439 we read earlier to explore this idea together. 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:28.220 So Paul says that we've been taught the truth in Jesus, 00:08:28.220 --> 00:08:31.139 quote, to put off your old self, 00:08:31.139 --> 00:08:32.940 which belongs to your former manner of life 00:08:32.940 --> 00:08:35.820 and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 00:08:35.820 --> 00:08:37.820 and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 00:08:37.820 --> 00:08:39.860 and to put on the new self, 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:44.560 created after the likeness of God in true holiness, 00:08:44.560 --> 00:08:47.000 in true righteousness and holiness. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:48.259 So let's think about these two ideas 00:08:48.259 --> 00:08:49.559 that Paul's just introduced us to, 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:52.439 the old self and the new self. 00:08:52.439 --> 00:08:54.139 So he's speaking to Christians, 00:08:54.139 --> 00:08:56.899 and he's saying there's a pre-Jesus you 00:08:56.899 --> 00:08:58.840 and a post-Jesus you. 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:01.779 There's a you from before you were transformed 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:03.539 by the gospel and the power of God, 00:09:03.539 --> 00:09:06.080 and there's this new you, this new creation 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:09.139 that is somehow recreated in the image of God 00:09:09.139 --> 00:09:11.279 in a different kind of a way. 00:09:12.620 --> 00:09:14.860 So how does he describe this old self? 00:09:15.860 --> 00:09:17.220 He says two main things about it. 00:09:17.220 --> 00:09:18.519 One, that it's corrupt. 00:09:20.019 --> 00:09:24.100 Without Jesus, our self does not line up 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:26.500 with God's design for our self. 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:29.840 It's been corrupted by sin, 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:32.340 by the fall in Genesis three. 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:35.540 And the second thing is it says, 00:09:35.540 --> 00:09:38.320 it's corrupt through deceitful desires. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:43.320 So without Jesus, our feelings and desires deceive us. 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:46.280 They deceive us, they trick us, 00:09:46.280 --> 00:09:50.060 because they've been warped by the sin of our first parents. 00:09:51.860 --> 00:09:54.060 Our very feelings are deceitful. 00:09:56.460 --> 00:09:59.160 And as Christians, as new creations in Christ, 00:09:59.160 --> 00:10:02.140 those who have been renewed in their minds, 00:10:02.140 --> 00:10:04.840 those who are recreated in the likeness of God, 00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:08.400 we have to say no to all the deceitful 00:10:08.400 --> 00:10:12.140 and harmful desires of our past life, all of them. 00:10:12.139 --> 00:10:15.720 And we get to say yes to who Jesus created us to be 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:19.019 and how he created us to live. 00:10:21.059 --> 00:10:24.019 So all were made in the image of God 00:10:24.019 --> 00:10:26.860 and have inherent dignity and value. 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:31.199 Just to be clear, before Jesus, after Jesus, 00:10:31.199 --> 00:10:33.600 old self, new self, both in the image of God, 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:39.139 there is no non-image-bearing human 00:10:39.139 --> 00:10:40.580 walking around this planet, 00:10:40.580 --> 00:10:44.680 which means that Christians and non-Christians alike 00:10:44.680 --> 00:10:49.560 have inherent dignity and value in God's eyes 00:10:49.560 --> 00:10:51.060 and should have an ours too. 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:55.000 That's what we are, but how we live, 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:56.900 do we live like image-bearers? 00:10:56.900 --> 00:10:59.800 And that's the power that God gives us 00:10:59.800 --> 00:11:01.700 when we've been saved by Jesus, 00:11:03.580 --> 00:11:06.540 to live as image-bearers in true righteousness and holiness. 00:11:08.180 --> 00:11:09.680 The implication of that, though, 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:11.179 of what I was saying about how there's no 00:11:11.179 --> 00:11:16.019 non-image-bearing human, is that we have no right 00:11:16.019 --> 00:11:18.579 to look down our noses at anybody. 00:11:19.419 --> 00:11:20.259 No right. 00:11:22.319 --> 00:11:24.519 You know, if we look and say, well, look how they're living, 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:27.299 but you know, I live in true righteousness and holiness, 00:11:28.099 --> 00:11:30.899 maybe, but not because of anything you did. 00:11:32.099 --> 00:11:33.239 I can't say that. 00:11:33.239 --> 00:11:37.240 I can't say that any sort of good behavior that I have 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:39.099 is because I'm such a good person. 00:11:39.100 --> 00:11:40.879 That's what the gospel's all about, is to say, 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:43.940 we just need to admit that we're not good people 00:11:43.940 --> 00:11:45.220 and ask Jesus for help. 00:11:45.220 --> 00:11:47.779 So it's not because of what we have done, 00:11:47.779 --> 00:11:51.019 it's only because of what Jesus has done for us. 00:11:51.019 --> 00:11:55.360 That should breed a deep humility in the Christian people, 00:11:56.460 --> 00:12:00.220 a deep humility and a grace for dealing and speaking with 00:12:00.220 --> 00:12:03.759 and working with people who don't believe what we believe. 00:12:06.740 --> 00:12:08.700 Now, when Christianity came on the scene 00:12:08.700 --> 00:12:12.300 2,000 years ago, it ushered in really kind of 00:12:12.300 --> 00:12:14.000 the first sexual revolution. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:17.580 It was, you know, 1,960 years before the Beatles came 00:12:17.580 --> 00:12:19.220 and that time. 00:12:19.220 --> 00:12:21.820 But in Paul's day, when Paul was writing Ephesians, 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:25.540 the common view of the body was heavily influenced 00:12:25.540 --> 00:12:28.160 by the Greek philosopher Plato 00:12:28.160 --> 00:12:30.180 and other philosophers like him. 00:12:30.180 --> 00:12:33.020 And to just boil down the teaching of that 00:12:33.020 --> 00:12:35.780 in my kind of amateur way, 00:12:35.779 --> 00:12:40.620 basically said, the body is crude and unimportant. 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:43.100 What really matters is the mind and the spirit 00:12:43.100 --> 00:12:44.459 and the emotions. 00:12:44.459 --> 00:12:46.980 Those are the higher aspects of humanity 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:50.379 and the body is the lower aspect of humanity. 00:12:50.379 --> 00:12:53.459 In other words, Greek philosophy said that your feelings 00:12:53.459 --> 00:12:55.459 and your desires overrule your body. 00:12:57.779 --> 00:12:59.939 So in other words, no matter what you do with your body, 00:12:59.939 --> 00:13:03.240 only how you feel and how you use your mind matters. 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:05.240 You know what the result of that was? 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:11.039 Slavery all across the empires 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:12.840 because if you didn't have status, 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:14.120 that your body was just unimportant 00:13:14.120 --> 00:13:15.840 and it could belong to somebody. 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:20.840 Prostitution was commonplace, unbelievably normal. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:26.440 Every appetite was indulged. 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:27.840 It's just your body. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:28.680 Who cares? 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:32.440 If that sounds familiar, 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:37.440 it's because we fall into that same error of thinking today. 00:13:38.880 --> 00:13:41.880 You know, the society can say in the same breath, 00:13:41.880 --> 00:13:46.880 body positivity and they can affirm gender altering surgeries. 00:13:49.280 --> 00:13:51.680 Do you see the inconsistency there? 00:13:51.680 --> 00:13:53.960 Society can say that only feminism fights 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:56.160 for women's values and rights 00:13:56.160 --> 00:13:58.320 and it says that a man can be a woman 00:13:58.320 --> 00:13:59.640 if he just feels like it. 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:01.240 It's inconsistent. 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:06.240 And I think it's undignifying of people. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:09.799 But the Christian teaching on the image of God 00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:13.799 gives true dignity, value and beauty to men and women 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:17.039 in both mind and body. 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:19.439 Only Christianity has the framework to tell us 00:14:19.439 --> 00:14:22.039 that we are valued as we are made, 00:14:22.039 --> 00:14:24.039 that we're made as we are on purpose 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:26.840 and that we need to be in community with each other 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:29.840 to thrive. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:32.840 And Christianity gives us something more noble 00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:37.840 to use our bodies for rather than just to fill our appetites. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:41.840 Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter six, verse 13. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:45.840 Paul's writing to a different church and said, 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:49.840 food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.840 And he's quoting a popular saying there. 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:55.840 Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:57.840 And God will destroy both one and the other. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:14:59.840 The body is not meant for sexual immorality, 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:03.840 but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. 00:15:04.840 --> 00:15:06.840 There's a lot there. 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:08.840 But let me just pull this out. 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:13.840 Our body is made for the Lord, not for us. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:20.840 And your sexuality is not just another appetite. 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:24.840 So on the one hand, all of us experience the effects of the fall 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:27.840 in our bodies and in our sexuality. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:30.840 But even in our brokenness, we still have a purpose. 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:35.840 Our bodies and our sexuality is made for something far more beautiful 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:40.840 and far more sacred than just appetite like hunger. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:45.840 It's made for the Lord to image the world 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:50.840 and it's made for the Lord to image something 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:55.840 about who God is, to shine the beauty of God 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.840 to those around us. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:15:59.840 And honestly, if we really believed that, 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:02.840 if we really believe Paul when just a few verses later, 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:04.840 he'll say that our, he said, 00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:09.840 don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:14.840 If we believed that the pornography industry would die, 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:16.840 it would wither. 00:16:16.840 --> 00:16:21.840 Our relationship to food and to health would totally change. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:28.840 Men and women would treat each other with deep respect and dignity. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:32.840 And we could begin living according to our design, 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:37.840 male and female, in true righteousness and holiness. 00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:42.840 And it would so change how we live together, wouldn't it? 00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:46.840 God honoring churches who follow Jesus ought to be places 00:16:46.840 --> 00:16:51.840 where all people are given the warmth and respect 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:56.840 and dignity that is do them as image bearers of God. 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:02.840 So God willing, this church building, this community right here 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:04.840 will be home to people who have come alive to God 00:17:04.840 --> 00:17:09.840 and who have struggled all their lives with gender and sexuality. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:13.839 We must not have emotional coldness toward them 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:17.839 or distance or judgmental attitudes. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:23.839 Paul says in Romans, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:30.839 That one verse can change the entire dynamic of the world, 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:32.839 if we did it. 00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:36.839 He doesn't say welcome one another nicely, you know, 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:41.839 or warmly or in measure compared to how well people welcome, 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:42.839 you know, in your culture. 00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:45.839 He says the same measure that Christ opened wide his arms to you 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:48.839 is how you open wide your arms to the people around you. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:53.839 So this church opens wide her heart to all, 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:57.839 not because they look or act like we want them to, 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:00.839 but because Jesus opened wide his heart to us 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:03.839 when we were far from him. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:05.839 Let's be honest. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:10.839 Before I knew Jesus and loved Jesus, I was so far. 00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:14.839 And that didn't stop him. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:18.839 We may not have experienced this yet in this church, 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:20.839 in this local congregation, but God willing, 00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:24.839 someone will come to know and love Jesus in this building one day, 00:18:24.839 --> 00:18:27.839 and maybe they're married to someone of the same sex, 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:29.839 and then they become a Christian. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:33.839 That's complicated. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:36.839 Or perhaps they've gone through a surgery 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:40.839 that complicates their gender. 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:45.839 Those situations will be messy and complicated, 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:48.839 and when that time comes, we need to have patience. 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:52.839 We need to trust Jesus for wisdom and walk in grace and love 00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:56.839 toward one another, believing that Jesus is big enough 00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:03.839 to heal every wound, to save every soul who comes to him 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:05.839 with faith. 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:10.839 So that's how we glorify God in our genders, 00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:12.839 at least scratching the surface of it. 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:16.839 We embrace the design by which God has made us and others, 00:19:16.839 --> 00:19:20.839 and we hold every person of every gender in honor 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:26.839 with the dignity that they are due, no matter what. 00:19:26.839 --> 00:19:28.839 Now, we're going to shift a little bit 00:19:28.839 --> 00:19:30.839 and talk about more of the relational aspect, 00:19:30.839 --> 00:19:32.839 like I mentioned earlier. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.839 The relational side of being made in the image of God. 00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:39.839 Genesis 1, 27 to 28 again says, 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:41.839 So God created man in his own image, 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:43.839 and the image of God he created him. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:46.839 Male and female, he created them, 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:49.839 and God blessed them, and God said to them, 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:52.839 be fruitful and multiply. 00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:54.839 Human fruitfulness and multiplication. 00:19:54.839 --> 00:19:59.839 Filling the earth, these are things that we can't do on our own. 00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:04.839 So being made in the image of God means we're made for relationships. 00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:07.839 Well, more than just relationships though, 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:10.839 in Genesis 1, it's clear that part of the implication 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:13.839 of being made in the image of God is that men and women 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:17.839 should marry and have children and fill the earth. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:19.839 Now, hold on. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:22.839 John, are you saying that only married people 00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:24.839 can properly image God? 00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:27.839 No, no, definitely not. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:28.839 So hear me out. 00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:30.839 I'm going to talk about singleness first, 00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:32.839 and then we're going to talk about marriage, 00:20:32.839 --> 00:20:34.839 but bear with me. 00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:36.839 So this is the second point. 00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:40.839 We are intended to image God by glorifying him in our singleness. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:46.839 Before Jesus ascended to heaven, 00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:49.839 in Matthew's Gospel, for instance, 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:52.839 he did not stand on the mountain 00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:54.839 and raise his arms toward his disciples and say, 00:20:54.839 --> 00:20:57.839 now, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:02.839 He didn't repeat that old command that he came to properly fulfill. 00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:04.839 What did he say instead? 00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:08.839 Matthew 28, verses 19 to 20. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:13.839 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:16.839 baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son 00:21:16.839 --> 00:21:18.839 and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe 00:21:18.839 --> 00:21:20.839 all that I have commanded you, and behold, 00:21:20.839 --> 00:21:23.839 I am with you always to the end of the age. 00:21:24.839 --> 00:21:26.839 So in Genesis 1, God says, 00:21:26.839 --> 00:21:29.839 I'm eager to see the earth filled with new life, 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:32.839 with new humans filling the earth. 00:21:32.839 --> 00:21:34.839 And in Matthew 28, Jesus says, 00:21:34.839 --> 00:21:36.839 I have been given by God the Father 00:21:36.839 --> 00:21:38.839 all authority on heaven and earth, 00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:41.839 and I am eager to see new spiritual life, 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:45.839 new creation humanity, fill the earth. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:47.839 He doesn't say, go get married and have kids, 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:49.839 though that's still a good thing to do 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:51.839 if God is calling you to that. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:56.839 He says, go evangelize and make disciples. 00:21:58.839 --> 00:22:00.839 The primary way that Christians today 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:05.839 are meant to be fruitful and multiply is discipleship. 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:10.839 It's coming along somebody and helping them follow Jesus. 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:13.839 Walking with them down that road. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:15.839 So if you're single, please hear this. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:19.839 You have such vital work to do in the kingdom. 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:25.839 Such vital work, no less marvelous at all 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:27.839 than marriage and childbearing. 00:22:28.839 --> 00:22:31.839 In fact, the apostle Paul, a lifelong single, 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:33.839 by the way, and happy that way, 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:37.839 said that he wished that everyone could be like him. 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:38.839 Why? 00:22:38.839 --> 00:22:40.839 Because they could have the privilege 00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:42.839 of being fruitful in the kingdom of God 00:22:42.839 --> 00:22:44.839 with undivided attention. 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.839 That's a privilege in God's eyes. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:54.839 So church, let us never explicitly or implicitly 00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:56.839 tell our single brothers and sisters 00:22:56.839 --> 00:22:59.839 that they are incomplete without a spouse 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:02.839 or that they are less effective in ministry 00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:04.839 without being married. 00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:06.839 The Bible just says that's not true. 00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:08.839 Jesus is all in all. 00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:10.839 He is all sufficient. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:14.839 So we can display the beauty of God in singleness. 00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:18.839 We glorify God by wholehearted devotion 00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:19.839 to Christ and His kingdom, 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:22.839 and by displaying to the world and the church 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:24.839 the all-sufficiency of Jesus. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:29.839 Point three, we are intended to image God 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:31.839 by glorifying Him in our marriages. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:35.839 Now, again, just scratching the surface, 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:38.839 but if you're married in the church, 00:23:38.839 --> 00:23:41.839 you have the privilege of imaging God in a specific way. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:45.839 That is, that your marriage itself is a picture. 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:49.839 It's a signpost meant to point to what the relationship 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:53.839 is like between Christ and His church. 00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:57.839 Paul gets into that in Ephesians 00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:59.839 and in several other epistles. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:04.839 But here's the thing, married folk, we have to remember. 00:24:04.839 --> 00:24:06.839 This one's hard for me, but we have to remember 00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:10.839 that marriage, your marriage, is temporary. 00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:13.839 It is not eternal. 00:24:16.839 --> 00:24:19.839 Jesus said that in heaven, it will be like the angels 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:23.839 that we will neither marry nor be given in marriage. 00:24:23.839 --> 00:24:25.839 That's a difficult teaching for some. 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:27.839 So your marriage should be a beautiful, 00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:33.839 sacred and temporary picture of Christ and the church. 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:38.839 In other words, your marriage is not your ultimate reality. 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:41.839 But here's my caveat. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:47.839 Marriage, not your marriage, but marriage is ultimate reality. 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:51.839 We, all of us who love Jesus, 00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:55.839 are called together the bride of Christ. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:59.839 So whether we're married or single, male or female, 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:01.839 or someone who experiences gender dysphoria, 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:07.839 all Christians are part of this eternal cosmic betrothal 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:11.839 to the lamb who was slain for his bride. 00:25:12.839 --> 00:25:16.839 Let's look at Revelation chapter 19 verses 6 to 8. 00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:22.839 This is the apostle John reporting what he saw 00:25:22.839 --> 00:25:24.839 in a vision given by God. 00:25:24.839 --> 00:25:26.839 He said, then I heard what seemed to be the voice 00:25:26.839 --> 00:25:28.839 of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters 00:25:28.839 --> 00:25:31.839 and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:35.839 crying out, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:37.839 the almighty reigns. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:40.839 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:43.839 for the marriage of the lamb has come. 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:48.839 And his bride has made herself ready. 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:50.839 It was granted her to clothe herself 00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:52.839 with fine linen, bright and pure. 00:25:52.839 --> 00:25:57.839 For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 00:25:58.839 --> 00:26:04.839 That's our ultimate reality, a marriage feast. 00:26:04.839 --> 00:26:07.839 We are the bride of the lamb. 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:10.839 So how do we glorify God in our marriages now? 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:14.839 By living with our spouses in such a way 00:26:14.839 --> 00:26:19.839 that points to the sacrificial love of Jesus for his bride. 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:24.839 And by treating our marriages as sacred signposts 00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:26.839 to a greater reality. 00:26:28.839 --> 00:26:31.839 Marriage is good, but sometimes Jesus wants it 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:33.839 to take it down off the pedestal a little bit. 00:26:34.839 --> 00:26:37.839 It's a beautiful and temporary signpost. 00:26:40.839 --> 00:26:42.839 Now lastly, we are intended to image God 00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:46.839 by glorifying him together as a church. 00:26:46.839 --> 00:26:50.839 Jesus is the only perfect imager of God. 00:26:50.839 --> 00:26:54.839 He's the only image bearer unwarped by sin. 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:57.839 And he is creating for himself this bride, 00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:00.839 this beautiful community of the riff-raff of the world, 00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:03.839 all redeemed by this bridegroom, 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:06.839 all washed in the blood of the lamb. 00:27:08.839 --> 00:27:12.839 And that church, that bride, is the one place in the world 00:27:12.839 --> 00:27:15.839 where we can expect the most unlikely of people 00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:20.839 to be welcomed and embraced and loved and served. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:23.839 And frankly, if we're not doing that, 00:27:24.839 --> 00:27:26.839 how could we be called the church? 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:30.839 And the church is the one place in the world 00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:34.839 that should be most free of holier-than-thouism. 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:38.839 I don't know a more technical way to say that, 00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:41.839 but we should be most free of holier-than-thouism. 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:45.839 Because after all, who among us here deserved this? 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:53.839 In John chapter 13, Jesus gave his church this command. 00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:56.839 He said, a new commandment I give to you, 00:27:57.839 --> 00:27:59.839 that you love one another. 00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:04.839 Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:10.839 By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. 00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:12.839 If you have love for one another. 00:28:16.839 --> 00:28:19.839 We glorify God together as the church 00:28:20.839 --> 00:28:24.839 by sacrificially, radically loving one another. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:31.839 It is the single greatest testimony to Jesus. 00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:37.839 It was when Jesus went to die on the cross. 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:40.839 This is in the same section of John. 00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:42.839 When he's on his way to the cross, Jesus says, 00:28:42.839 --> 00:28:45.839 now I am glorified. 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:46.839 Why? 00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:51.839 Because the thing that makes Jesus look most beautiful, 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:56.839 the light that most illumines that gorgeous diamond, 00:28:56.839 --> 00:28:58.839 who is Jesus, 00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:01.839 is how he died for the undeserving, 00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:04.839 because he loved them. 00:29:04.839 --> 00:29:07.839 And it's by loving others like that, 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:09.839 completely into the end, 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:13.839 that we most display the beauty of Jesus. 00:29:14.839 --> 00:29:16.839 And we need each other for that. 00:29:16.839 --> 00:29:18.839 That's relational. 00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:20.839 That's something we can't do alone. 00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:24.839 We need each other. 00:29:24.839 --> 00:29:29.839 We're made in the image of God to be in relationship together. 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:34.839 And every one of you is precious and valuable in the kingdom. 00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:36.839 Now let me just end by saying this. 00:29:36.839 --> 00:29:41.839 If you are here, or you're listening or watching, 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:44.839 and you don't call yourself a Christian, 00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:47.839 we want you to know that we love you, 00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:49.839 and that Jesus loves you. 00:29:50.839 --> 00:29:52.839 And he is not waiting for you 00:29:52.839 --> 00:29:55.839 to get your act together before coming to him. 00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:57.839 He didn't wait for any of us. 00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:00.839 And he does not want your morality. 00:30:00.839 --> 00:30:02.839 He just wants your love. 00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:09.839 And this is a place where you can safely explore what that means. 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:11.839 You can safely explore Christianity here. 00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:13.839 And you can ask us questions, 00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:15.839 and you can wrestle with the hard topics, 00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:19.839 and you can wrestle with what following Jesus would mean for your life. 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:23.839 And I pray that you will do that. 00:30:23.839 --> 00:30:25.839 And I pray that you will do so. 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:29.839 Let me pray, and then I'm going to invite Derek up, 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:31.839 and he's going to lead us in the Lord's Supper. 00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:40.839 Heavenly Father, 00:30:40.839 --> 00:30:46.839 as I read about your church in Revelation 19, 00:30:46.839 --> 00:30:49.839 this beautiful, pure bride, 00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:51.839 we long to be like that. 00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:54.839 We long to love one another like you loved us, 00:30:54.839 --> 00:30:56.839 and it's so hard. 00:30:57.839 --> 00:30:59.839 And we need your help. 00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:02.839 And we yearn for marriages and relationships, 00:31:02.839 --> 00:31:11.839 and for communities that are reflecting the beauty of the gospel, 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:13.839 reflecting your beauty to those around us, 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:15.839 and it's so hard. 00:31:16.839 --> 00:31:20.839 But we know that you are more committed to our love, 00:31:20.839 --> 00:31:27.839 and to our obedience to our increasing in holiness than we are. 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:30.839 So we lean on you, and we just ask you for help. 00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:34.839 But Father, thinking back on Revelation again, 00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:39.839 it's not to the church that we should turn our eye, but to the Lamb. 00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:46.839 So we just take a moment and give you our praise and our thanks 00:31:46.839 --> 00:31:49.839 for your incredible mercy. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:52.839 When we did not deserve your love, you gave it. 00:31:52.839 --> 00:31:57.839 And for your deep, unfathomable, steadfast love 00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:00.839 that you followed all the way through death, 00:32:00.839 --> 00:32:02.839 bearing the sins of the world. 00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:06.839 Lord Jesus, we love you, and we thank you for that. 00:32:06.839 --> 00:32:19.839 Amen.