As you look at these passages, we're confronted with a question which is very important, at least in our society today. What does it mean to be human? There are different answers given to that today. Our part of the world at least is dominated by secular humanism, the belief that there are no gods and things just come out by natural processes. And secular humanism implicitly makes us into gods because there's no other to rule over us. But at the same time, when you turn away from God, you get these contradictions. At the same time, it degrades us to be no more than animals, a highly involved mammal, the present Lord of creation but presumably doomed like the dinosaurs to fade and be replaced. Worse, if you follow out the logic which most of them don't follow out, secularism leaves humanity as nothing more than a cosmic accident. It addresses the stuff in scientific knowledge about evolution and things like this. But their idea of evolution means that we are the accidental result of random, otherwise accidental physical processes so that the present world, if they follow out their logic, is the result of nothing, absolutely nothing. No time, no space, no energy, no people, no nothing plus lots of time and chance. You have to have lots of times because it's so improbable. They even know that. So they live in blind faith that nothing and think the most empty nothingness you can imagine is worse than that. Nothing plus lots and lots of time plus chance can produce everything that exists. I don't want to bet on that. In its blind faith, let me say again because it's opposed to at least three of the best established scientific theories of our time. They say it's good science but they throw out three of the best established least questioned scientific theories of our day in order to have what they want. It's blind faith because there is zero evidence to support it. So they try to make out that there is. Other religion means that people have no inherent value because we are just accidents. What's the value of an accident? Coming out of that today we have an environmental movement and their view is a little bit more realistic in times. They see man as a blemish on the face of the world, a destroyer to be curbed. They have a dim conception of human sin. And then there are mystics who something like the Buddhist see man as just one expression of the cosmic all. It's just all kinds of ideas. The overall result is a grievous devaluation of your humanity. Your humanity is reduced to having value only if it functions profitably if you do a good job and your boss is pleased with you then and pays you. In a small wonder with these outlooks that people buy into the idea that you're whatever your self image makes you. Whatever your physical sex you can be a man or a woman depending on your self image or you can take it to the extreme. You can be ahead of lettuce. I read of a man who says his self image says he's a cat now. The thing is that's far better than just being an inkblot in a meaningless universe. They'll grasp anything to give themselves some meaning. Far better to choose to live as a delusion than to face the reality of their underlying thoughts. This is so critical that anybody who challenges that delusion becomes an enemy. We're seeing that in our world today. They have no inherent reason to care for or protect other people. Those who are non-productive lose their value. Those who are judged incapable of having a good quality of life should be put out of their supposed misery. We have Euthanasia, they have no reason to support the weak if those weak are in any way awkward or in the way. As well as that the relationship between men and women is called into question. We're seeing that very strongly today. Masculinity in men and femininity in women is considered undesirable. They see masculinity as being brutal tyranny and femininity meaning abject subservience. They run from it. They deny any distinctions. Men pursue effeminate ways. Women strive for what's perceived to be masculine assertiveness. The relationship between the two is thoroughly confused. It's a small wonder then that we have men who think of themselves as women and vice versa, again against all evidence. So what do we say? We live in this situation. What do we say to it? The biblical record of creation gives us the true answer, the true reality. It teaches us that we are special because we are created in God's image. It puts mankind into an intelligible, meaningful context. It shows that you and every other human being all have inherent value. It teaches you how to relate to other creatures as well as to other men and women. We have very practical applications from the doctrine we're looking at today that we are created in God's image. We see as we have seen other times that doctrine is not something we just stick around in our heads and fight about. Doctrine is something we're supposed to live. It shapes how we serve God and walk with him. So three things I want you to pick out of this today. First, this doctrine teaches the essential worth of all mankind. Young and old, we can sick whoever it may be. Secondly, it teaches the equality of the sexist. Thirdly, it teaches us environmental stewardship. We spend most of the time on that first when it teaches the essential worth of all mankind. Because it's a complicated issue in our day, we're going to get into some small details. But I want you to see out of all of this that the only way that makes sense is to see that God says we're all of value because we're his. The Bible tells us explicitly that we are made in God's image. We read in Genesis 1, 26. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. So what does that mean? What does it mean that we're created in God's image? It's not physical because God didn't have a body until he took on human flesh and when Christ's birth, he did not have a body. But we have a clue in Ephesians 4, 24, where we read, put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness. We were created free from any deeds of evil. We were created free from any inclination to evil. Adam and Eve did not live at the first in the situation we live in. We're evil and sin abound and pull us away from God. We're free from that. We reflected God's nature, showed a little bit about what God is like. Similarly in Colossians 3, 10, Paul writes of the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. So what is this knowledge we're renewed in? How did Adam's knowledge and Eve's knowledge differ from ours? Well, at the beginning they knew good, but not evil. They knew the ways of God, they knew what was right, that's what they lived right, that's what they followed, that's the way they were created. Being made in God's image means knowledge of what is good, knowledge of God's ways. We're told as well that God made mankind to share in part God's nature. John 24, verse 24, Jesus told the woman that well, God is spirit. And then in Genesis 2, 7, when we read it, the Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. Now to grasp the implications of this, understand that in the Hebrew language there's one word for breath or for spirit, the same word. You have to understand which is meant by the context. And surely here we understand that God made a spirit for man. He lured God for man of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the spirit of life and man became a living being. He made him like God who is spirit, at least in a small way. So we have a spiritual moral nature which in a dim way shows what God is. We're not as big as he is, we are just perfect as he is, but we have something which reflects God. And that means we are essentially different from animals. There's not one of the animals that had its being breathed into it by God. There's no animal that knows anything of righteousness or holiness. Animals cannot be unrighteous or unholy any more than they can be righteous. They can be unruly or obedient. If you've ever had a pet, you know that. They can be helpful or a hindrance. And if you ever tripped over a dog on a leash, you know that too. They can be pleasant or unpleasant, but they cannot be righteous or unrighteous. That's only possible for people, those who are made, men and women made in God's image. People brothers and sisters are not just particularly capable mammals. No doubt we have much physically in common with the mammals, but we are far more than mammals. Far more even than intelligent mammals. I've read speculation that dolphins or whales may be as intelligent as humans. If that were the truth, proven to be true, we don't know yet, but it still would not give them what God gave to us. Our distinction is that we were made created in image of God, created capable of dealing on a moral level because of that. And it's rejection of this, which has led to grievous devaluation of your humanity. And there's no other place where you see this set forward except by God in His word. When creation in God's image is rejected, your value is reduced to whatever you can give to others, whether it be work you do for them or a happy time together or a guy and a girl get together, you know, your value has into what you communicate, what you give to others. The non-productive then lose their value. We're told that those who are judged, not capable of having a good quality of life should be put out of their supposed misery. We're abort children who are expected to have disabilities because that's going to be tough. We kill those who are seriously handicapped, euthanasia it's called. The fruit of the humanist debasement of humanity, and that comes from all the other sources, is confusion on the issue of killing. And I think this is something we don't, people don't get into very often. We have to realize what's happening deep down in people's hearts where they don't think about it. Made moral rules forbid capital punishment, widespread through our society at least is the idea that capital punishment is a horror. I don't think they look at all the underlying reasons for this. As one key reason in this is the belief that people have no inherent value and that means that murder is not really all that bad. It's destruction of something with no special value. Property crimes are seen as much worse because they damage what is valuable. You can kill me and it's small loss. Take away my house and hundreds of thousands have been lost. And that's the way people think deep down inside. The opponents of capital punishment would not argue that people have no inherent value, but I would suggest that that idea, even though it's not thought out, helps to shape their opinion. Capital punishment seems unjust to them. Even though they think murder is bad, it's not bad enough to call for execution of the murderer. They think doing that would put you on the same level as the murderer. The same debasement of humanity allows execution, and I use this word deliberately, that's not the common word for it, execution of those who are not valued, the unborn. And we'll execute them if their parents don't want them. They have no inherent value to protect them, so execute them. And some take the next step and argue that parents should be able to put problem kids to death if your kid is two or three years old and is really not behaving very well, and giving you trouble, execute them. It takes us right back to the days of Rome when the head of the household had the right to do this kind of thing, and they did it. And our brothers and sisters back then rescued kids who were abandoned on the hillsides and nurtured them and kept them because they knew that those children had value. The sick and suffering. Put them out of their misery like you would a dog or a cat. Because if we're not made in God's image, we have no more inherent value than a dog or a cat. The elderly who can no longer pay their way and there can be a lot of trouble trying to look after, put them out of their misery, get rid of them. Handicapped. Guess why every organization for the handicapped opposes permitting assisted suicide? Because they know, even the people who propose accepting that don't accept it. They know that assisted suicides means they're in danger because people will say, well, they have a terrible life. Let's get rid of them. The value of all of these is diminished in the eyes of the materialists. Their pain and their care troubles others, so let's remove them. Get rid of the trouble. And what we have is people who believe it's okay to execute those who do know wrong, but it's evil to execute those who do do wrong. But brothers and sisters, friends, you are not just an animal. You are special. You are precious. You are of great value because you have been made, created by God to know Him and to reflect Him. Each person has inherent worth as an image of God. It doesn't matter how weak or handicapped you may be, the quality of your life has nothing to do with it. You know, when Jesus hung on the cross, his quality of life was not really very good. On the modern point of view, it would be an great mercy for somebody to take a rifle and go bang, put him out of his misery. It doesn't matter your strength or your weakness, your trials. God made you precious, made you special. You should rejoice in the God who values you so much. You should rejoice in the God who came and because He loved you so much, He hung on the cross for you. He hung there to cover your sin and to restore your ability to reflect Him. And if any of you never have before, let me stress, look at this and turn to Him now in love. Put your trust in Him. The more you love Him, the more you become what He made you to be. One who in a small way shows how righteous, how wonderful our God is. Because we are made in God's image, all murder is forbidden, whether you call it abortion or good death, euthanasia. Whoever sheds man's blood by man, his blood shall be shed for in the image of God, he made man, Genesis 9-6. Murder is wrong because God made us in His image. An animal may be killed if it's inconvenient, a human may not. In his heart, the murderer is attacking God. People burn, they have a politician they hate and they make a straw image and burn them in effigy. You know what they're saying? They're saying, this guy deserves to die, we'd like to see him die. We're God's image. When somebody kills God's image, they're saying, I really, really deep down would like to kill God. So God removes the murderer's right to live. Capital punishment is not our vengeance against a crime which horrifies us. Murderers should be executed because those who are made in God's image are responsible for their deeds. We should execute them because God declares that the murderer is to pay a just price, a price matching the harm he or she has done. It's justice, not vengeance. While many will object to this mightily, many Christians included, capital punishment upholds respect for human life. And for God, capital punishment is pro-life. And if you want to take the trouble to dig out the Canadian statistics, they show this very clearly. Somewhere around 1958, the Canadian cabinet began commuting every death sentence. They'd say, life imprisonment, not death. And by, say, 1965, it was clear that nobody was going to be executed for murder anymore. And people will tell you that when they, 10 years after that, made a law abolishing capital punishment, the crime rate, there was no change in the murder rate. That's true. There wasn't. The change in the murder rate came 10 years before when people realized nobody is going to be executed anymore. And it went up greatly then. The Canadian statistics show that the ending of capital punishment led to far more deaths annually than the total number of murderers who might have been executed in decades. And I think the Canadian statistics and experience also shows there has not yet been one person who was executed for murder who was proven later to be guiltless. Some who they weren't sure enough that they ordered execution who later found guiltless, but not one who was executed was ever shown to be guiltless. It was carefully guarded. But the critical thing is that by refusing to execute murderers, because far more deaths, unjust deaths, capital punishment was decreed by God in part because it defends life. It reflects the fact that all people have huge value because we're made in God's image. It's a big complex topic, but we need to be very clear that being made in God's image undercuts whole swaths of our attitudes to people around us and attitudes to life and death. It also, in the second and third point, we'll dig a little more briefly. It's the doctrine which teaches the equality of the sexes. God made us male and female. That means you can't just be something else because you choose to be. The existence of two sexes is not just a convenience for reproduction. We didn't need to be that way. There are some creatures which reproduce without any cross-fertilization. Eve was specifically formed because she was the comparable helper that Adam needed, as we read. Man needed woman and implied woman needed man. We were created to complement one another, to complete one another, and not just on a physical level. That means that the man-to-man relationship or the woman-to-woman relationship cannot provide what a man-to-woman relationship provides. Homosexuality is a degradation of what God made us to be. Transsexuality in any form is a degradation of what God made us to be. It's part of the human degradation of our own humanity since the fall. Striving to be like God, to be God, we make ourselves less than human in reality. Men should rejoice in the masculinity that God gave them. Women should rejoice in the femininity that God has given them. And we should rejoice together when God enables man and woman to share in marriage and live together and work together. We have equality between the sexes at the very deepest level. And if you look at the world around, I've suggested some unbelievers that need to do this, draw on the map the places where biblical Christianity has been hugely effective, for which it's spread to other parts of the world. And then draw on the map the places where just this one instance, equality of women has been established and spread. And you'll find that the same lines and a whole lot of other freedoms we enjoy are the same lines. They come out of God's teaching in His word. It took centuries, many centuries for this to filter through our sin and the tendency for those who are big and strong to push around those who are smaller. But God created us male and female. He teaches us not to devalue anyone. The sexes have equal status. Men and women alike are made in God's image. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, He created him male and female. He created them. That means there's an inherent equality between the sexes at the most fundamental level. Each of us gains his value or her value from the same source. We're all made in God's image. We're all made to show what God is. We're all made spiritual beings capable of good. And sadly, when that image was marred by the fall, we all turned to evil. Any view which degrades men or women is unbiblical. Those who degrade women or men sin against God. That doesn't say there are no differences. Some of the differences are obvious, are sexual differences of course. Men on the average are bigger and stronger and faster. And we're running into what that means is transsexual men, claiming to be women, are trying to compete in women's sports leagues. We set up women's sports leagues so women could compete on a fair basis with other women, not against people who are bigger and stronger and faster than they are in a situation where that's important. We have those obvious differences. There are others which are only general tendencies. Women tend to do better in languages. Men tend to do better in math. But there are many exceptions to that. It's just a general tendency. The differences do not make one of less worth than the other. If anything, they enhance each other's worth because men need women's different strengths and abilities and women need men's different strengths and abilities. The differences should enhance your valuation of each other and your corresponding care for one another. The bottom line is that we are equally God's image. The third thing we want to see from this is this is a doctrine which teaches us environmental stewardship. We were made to rule this world. God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every other creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Again, it's part of showing us that we're not just animals. You are made by God to be a ruler. Man is such an image of God who is the ultimate ruler. It shows up the error of our environmental extremists, though I think you have to have some sympathy for environmental extremism today. You walk down any street or road and see the garbage that people toss out here, there, and everywhere. We live with indiscriminate pesticide use, which is killing off beneficial insects and birds and bats. You go into the forest and you see the devastation of clear cuts, and you have to have some sympathy with the extremists in the environmental movement. But the world is made for our use, and people weigh more in the balance than other creatures when there are conflicting interests. We have no warrant to destroy the earth. God's rule is not destructive. He's helpful. He's kind. He's strengthening. And ours should have a similar character. Adam was put in the garden to tend it and to keep it. You know, some of us are gardeners. All of us, I think, know that a good gardener works hard to get the most out of his or her garden. You try to enrich the soil, not destroy it, you know. Because you know if you destroy it, you're going to get poor crops in the days to come. The good gardener provides the care necessary for the plants to grow and to produce. That's the path in which God sets for human rule over the earth. We should tend to the earth and nurture it, not ravage it and ruin it. Quite a few years back, Lois and I were traveling from Ontario East. We passed through northern Quebec, and we planned to stop at a provincial campground in northern Quebec. And we came to the place you turn off the campground and drove off the highway, and we passed through literally miles of land where it had been bulldozed, every tree cut, the thing, the residue bulldozed into great piles. It was a desert. This was a park. We finally, after, I forget how, it was a lot of miles, came to the campground, and there was a little tiny lake with maybe 50 meters, 100 meters worth of trees and stuff left around it in all that space. And what you had was territory which was not going to be useful to anybody or beautiful for 50 years probably, at least. Destroyed. It's far from what God approves. We have to remember the world does not belong to us. We are to rule as stewards of the creation. The world and everything in it belongs to God. God gave Israel the land of Canaan and very directly said, this is yours. But then he told them to divide it among themselves and give each family a part of it. And he added, the land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is mine. Leviticus 25, verse 23. There are some special reasons for that command at that time. It was a sign that we would not lose our place in heaven. Our inheritance could not be sold. But it remains that the world belongs to God who made it. And just as we belong to God, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, the world is given into your hands to use, but not to abuse and ruin. It's part of your inheritance as a Christian. You know, you have a rich uncle. And he says he's leaving you in his will a business which will produce an income of $300,000 a year easily. He gives you a job in that business on a moderate salary for the time being. Would you carry out that job in a way which destroys the business? You know, destroys the income, the big income you're going to get when he dies? I don't think so. You'd do everything you could to make it better, wouldn't you? So they maybe gave you $400,000 or $500,000 a year in the end. The same principle applies to your stewardship of the earth. You're to govern it and to use it in a way that will, which will make it a more desirable inheritance, not less. A simple doctrine, but very fundamental. We're created in God's image. And it's practical. We have many Christians who say doctrine is not practical. We should avoid it. We just love one another. But good doctrine, a good understanding of God's teaching shows us how we ought to live as God's children, how we ought to live joyfully and productively, how we can live that way. The doctrine of creation of man gives us a sane basis for interactions in our day. It establishes the inherent worth of every human being. We're made to reflect God. We're made to show his glory. And so it challenges a society which has degraded humans to the point that those who are inconvenient can be killed. It teaches the equality of the sexes, men and women equally in God's image. And we should rejoice, each of us, in the sexual nature God has given us. We're created to complement one another in a way that's impossible in same-sex relationships. It shows that you are more than an animal. You're a spiritual being. You're capable of good or evil, sadly. You're capable of union with God in Christ. And you should seek that. You're placed in dominion over this world. You're appointed to care for the world, to tend to the world, as God steward. It shows men, male and female, as a creature made by God. It casts down the humanist views which seek to put us on the level of God's, though they actually degrade us to the level of mud. It calls you to bow before the one true God. All these things we see. But people today are not what God made them to be. Sin entered into our world. The image of God was shattered in sin. And so while we are made to good, we turn instead to evil. People made to serve God seek to be God, so they serve some imaginary God. People made to be equal seek to dominate one another's tyrants. People set as stewards of creation destroy it or idolize it. Because of our sin, we face God's judgment and condemnation forever apart from Jesus Christ. But in Jesus, the shattered image of God is renewed, restored. You should see his blessings. See how wonderfully he reaches out to care for you and put your trust in him. He took our condemnation so we could share his blessings. He had the worst quality of life anybody ever experienced as he hung on the cross. When you see him and bow to him and begin to love him, then you can walk again on the path God formed you to walk and find in him direction into the beauty he made you to show. Let's pray. Father, thank you for giving us this gift to be made in your image, made able to know you and to enjoy you and to live for you. Thank you for giving us a foundation to face the upheavals in our society which are ugly and painful. Give us the grace to rejoice in you, to live for you, to follow you in all things. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen.