Sample Outline Unit 1: Creation and the Fall Scripture Covered: Genesis; Job 2. God’s Good People 9/9/18 Passage: Genesis 1:26–2:3,15-18,21-25 Background: Genesis 1:26–2:25 • We bear God’s image in how we rule over the world (Gen. 1:26-31). • We bear God’s image in how we work and rest (Gen. 2:1-3,15). • We bear God’s image in how we relate to Him and others (Gen. 2:16-18,21-25). Essential Doctrine: 28. Image of God in Humanity Session in a Sentence: People were created by God to bear His image in every facet of our lives. Christ Connection: Jesus is the image of the invisible God, and as such, He is the perfect ruler over the world, the One whose perfect work earns our everlasting rest, and the One who restores our relationships with God and others. Missional Application: Because we are image bearers of God, we reflect His glory in how we steward the earth, work and rest, and cultivate relationships with Him and others. Devotion 1: Gen. 1:26-31 Devotion 2: Gen. 2:1-15 Devotion 3: Gen. 2:16-25 Devotion 4: Psa. 8:1-8 Devotion 5: Heb. 1:1-4 1 Sample Manuscript Volume 1: In the Beginning Unit 1: Creation and the Fall Session 2: God’s Good People Date: 9/9/18 Summary and Goal [95] In the previous session, we traced the first five-and-a-half days of creation seeing that God created everything good for His Son. In this session we will examine the rest of the creation account and focus on the pinnacle of creation—humanity. In doing so, we will see that God created people to be unique from the rest of His creation and to bear His image in every facet of life. It is in bearing God’s image that we find our dignity and purpose and the foundation for our relationships with God and others is established. Introduction [376] A few years ago there was a story in the newspaper about a man who had perhaps the worst day ever. While his wife was delivering their fifth child, the man sold an old ring box. The problem was that his wife’s fingers had swollen during her pregnancy so she had placed her wedding ring inside the box. Without knowing it, the man sold the box—and the $22,000 ring tucked away in it—for what he thought was a fair price: $10. While not many of us have given away a $22,000 ring, at one time or another we have made the mistake at the core of this blunder: we have greatly misunderstood and undervalued something. Perhaps it was a piece of china we didn’t realize was a collectable. Perhaps it was a piece of jewelry we didn’t know was made out of gold. Or perhaps it was a car we thought was on its last legs so we got rid of it only to learn it kept going for several more years. Whatever it was, we assessed its value only to find out later that we grossly underestimated it. When have you underestimated something? What happened? While we have each experienced the sting of undervaluing an object, we have all made a greater mistake—a more costly one—as well. And many of us continue to repeat this mistake day-in and day-out. We fail to value our humanity as we should. Like the husband with the ring box, we tend to think we know more than we do about our humanity because there has never been a time in the history of the world that we “know” so much. We celebrate our “enlightened advances” as a culture—advances that continue to redefine humanity and lead us to believe that we understand it more than ever. But does the fullest definition of humanity lie before us? Are we inching closer to it with every tweak and adjustment we make? Or, in fact, has the best and truest definition of humanity already been shared with us? Is our culture actually moving away from it? We find the answer in a place that should not surprise us—the beginning of the story of humanity in Genesis 1-2. Voices from the Church The proper understanding of everything in life begins with God. No one will ever understand the necessity of conversion who does not know why God created us. He created us "in His image" so that we would image forth his glory in the world. We were made to be prisms refracting the light of God's glory into all of life. Why God should want to give us a share in shining with His glory is a great mystery. Call 2 it grace or mercy or love – it is an unspeakable wonder. Once we were not. Then we existed – for the glory of God! — John Piper [Desiring God, Bethlehem Baptist Church, 1996, p. 55] 1. We bear God’s image in how we rule over the world (Genesis 1:26-31) [1291] 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” 29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you, 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth — everything having the breath of life in it — I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day. MAIN POINT: Our understanding of humanity is easily distorted and often debated today. Perhaps the greatest barrier to understanding our humanity is that our quest for perfection and worth drives us to focus on our deficiencies—what we perceive to be wrong with ourselves and where we fall short of our idealized standard of beauty and value. We are keenly aware of these deficiencies and desperately want to remove them. If you have ever taken a group picture you have experienced this. It’s nearly impossible to take a great group photo because inevitably someone will not be happy with how he or she looks in it—even if everyone looks great from your perspective. We are drawn to our imperfections—real or perceived. And so when it comes to understanding who we are—who God made us to be—we start there instead of with God’s design and purpose revealed in Scripture. We begin with what’s wrong only because we assume that we know what’s right—what we are supposed to be like. What it means to be human. We think we know what the essence of true humanity is, simply because we are human. Who understands humanity better than us? And that’s the problem. Just because we are humans does not mean we understand what is at the core of humanity and in the position to determine what gives us the value, purpose, and meaning we long for. But this is what is going on around us every day. We live in a world seeking to define and redefine humanity, and where human rights based on the definition of the day are paramount. The positive result of this is that we are more attuned and responsive to the humanitarian crises and injustices all around us, such as racism, male chauvinism, police brutality, slavery, and sex-trafficking. But the flip side of this is that our culture is more confused than ever about what it means to be a person—to be human. And that confusion can easily reverberate into the church. So with our culture’s shifting landscape of humanity bombarding us from outside, and our focus on what’s wrong with ourselves plaguing us from within, it is easy for us to forget that God has provided a definition of humanity. We find it not obscured within the pages of Scripture, but at the very beginning of the story—in the creation account. As we reach the sixth day of creation, we see a shift in the narrative. God’s language changes. The details increase and we are given an explanation of not just what God created, but why as well. It is within this shift that we begin to understand humanity and discover what gives us worth and purpose: being created in the image of God. Being image bearers of God is a core doctrine, evidenced by the fact that is the first thing mentioned about humanity. This doctrine doesn’t just 3 teach us about ourselves, but about God as well. God is the main character of the story of Scripture, therefore, any understanding of who we are doesn’t start with looking at us, but Him. Our identity, our worth, our purpose comes from Him.