I’m not ashamed to admit that because I know that everyone else does it, too. Notice all of the TV and Social Media ads this time of year. It’s all Exercise equipment, gym memberships, plastic surgery discounts, and on and on. It’s apparent from these ads that, at least for the first three months of the year, Americans are obsessed with our image. We are obsessed with the way people perceive us. And, I want to suggest to you that these New Year Resolutions are a window to the soul. These resolutions say a lot about what you value most.
They are window to our soul because they speak to what we believe about our purpose and our identity. Every year we look back on what we failed to accomplish in the year past and what we hope to be in the year to come, and this says a great deal about who we think we are and what we believe we are here to do. After all, the two most important questions of human existence are “Who am I?” and “What am I here for?” Throughout human history people have sought to answer these two questions. The ancient pagans who were contemporaries to Moses and the Israelites (nations like the Babylonians, the Canaanites, and the Hittites) believed that the gods had created mankind as slaves to do their bidding. They believed that our identity, who we are at the root of it, is to accept our lot in life and toil away under the sun. They would say that life doesn’t really have a purpose other than to accept your fate and live it out.
Before you think that we in our modern sensibilities are any better than the ancient pagans, you best think twice. Sure, we have given up on the ancient gods of Baal and Marduk, but in their place we have accepted the gods of Science and Chaos. So, now we accept that man is really no different than any other animal, and that all life is really just an accidental occurrence in the endless collisions that make up our universe. Out of that theology, we have come to believe that there really is no overarching story to this life. There is really no universal purpose and identity that all men and women have. So, your identity is what you make of it. And, your purpose is what you find fulfillment in. A college athlete like Jamuis Winston might say, “You do you.” Or, as pop star Madonna has put it, “I’m for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.” The ultimate good in our society today is being “true to yourself”, because really, there is no truth outside of yourself.
But, even as we’ve come to believe that we establish our own identity and make our own truth, a disturbing trend has developed. Alongside of more freedom and acceptance for anything and everything, the suicide rate in America has correspondingly skyrocketed. Between 1999 and 2014, the suicide rate jumped 24%. Even more disturbing is that at the same time that this has happened, the murder rate has dropped 33%. So, we are no longer killing other people, we are just killing ourselves. You would think that a society that is willing to accept anything and everything, a society who says, “you be you” and “find your truth” would also see a decline in suicide. But the opposite is true because at the end of the day, if everyone has a truth, then there is nothing that is real or true. King Solomon had it right when he said in Eccl. 1:2-10: "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us."
We want to believe that we are masters of our own fate. We want to believe that we are absolutely free beings, undefined and unhindered by any outside law. But the truth is, we were made for a purpose and we were given a specific identity. We find that purpose and identity in the very beginning of the Bible, with the opening words of Genesis telling us where all things come from: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1-31 tell us that God created all things and that everything he made was good. We aren’t wrong to assume that there must be a totally free, defining being in the universe, but we ain’t it! We find, instead, in this passage that God is the one who is before all things and the one who defines all things. He speaks and things come to be. And, there is no chaos, no conflict, no struggle to survive. There is an obedient creation that molds to the will of its Creator.
And, at the height of that creative work of God, we find in Genesis 1:26 that God declares something different about mankind. We find that unlike the rest of his creation, God notes two unique aspects of the creation of man. First, he says that he will make man in his own image and likeness. Second, he says that he will give him dominion over all of creation.
When God declares that he will make man in his own image, this is not to say that we somehow look like God physically. Nor does it mean, necessarily, that we have all of the attributes of God. Rather, there are two aspects of this image bearing that are consistent throughout the Bible. For one, this image of God involves “rulership”. In the same way that God rules over all things, man is to rule over God’s creation. He says this in two different ways. He says in v. 26 that man is to have dominion. This is the idea of ruling as a king over a kingdom. And, again in verse 28 he commands man and woman to “subdue” the earth. Men and women, by virtue of their very created nature, are made to be kings and queens over God’s creation. This truth is in stark contrast to the beliefs of the Canaanites and Egyptians who lived alongside the Israelites. They believed that only the king was the image bearer of the gods. He alone had the authority to rule and reign. But, in the true creation, God has made all men and women to be his image bearers to all of creation.
Our modern views of our rulership over creation aren’t much better than the ancient pagans. The naturalist would say that we are no different than any other animal, and so we see that modern ethics have elevated the value of animal life to that of human life. At the same time that the adoration of pets has risen to the point that your little lap dog can sit with you at the restaurant, abortion rates have also risen. But, in God’s good creation, men and women are set apart as the rulers of the world. And, every man and woman, regardless of status, race, or age is endowed with the same image of the invisible God.
Not only does this image mean that we are rulers like God, but it also speaks to our relationship to God. God has uniquely created mankind to be in relationship with him. We are not just another animal in the long list of the different kinds that God made. We are made of the same likeness of God. When Moses records the lineage of Adam in Genesis 5, he notes in verse 1 that Seth was born “after the likeness” of Adam. Just as Seth was after the likeness of his father, Adam, Adam was after the likeness of his Father, God himself. And, in the same way that all children reflect back the glory of their fathers, so we are created to reflect back the glory of God, our heavenly Father.
Here we have the purpose of man as God intended it to be. We are to reflect back the glory of God by bearing his image and his will throughout all of creation. We are to rule over God’s good creation by bringing his Word to bear over all that he has made. And, even though our society is as far from this original purpose as we could be, we still can’t escape it. Consider the environmental activism that would seek to outlaw plastic straws to prevent sea turtles from dying. Notice the TV advertisement for PETA which appeals to the mercy of people to show compassion on mistreated animals. See the modern city, with all of its skyscrapers and concrete, and yet throughout the same city are parks and gardens of every kind. The bears are not concerned with saving sea turtles. The deer do not build gardens. Where does the concern for animal welfare, the care for endangered species, and the persistent construction of gardens come from? It comes from that innate image of God. Even while we deny that there is a God in whose image we are made, we cannot escape our purpose of ruling over the creation he has given us.
In a similar way, we can’t escape the need for relationship that is innate within that image that he has given us. Even in our modern era, where we hide behind our Facebook wall, where we prefer the impersonal text message to the phone call or visit, where our media choices and advertising are tailored to our stated interests; even in this culture we still find ourselves lonely and in need of relationship. We can have a thousand “friends” on Facebook and still be empty inside because we don’t have one true friend. This longing for relationship speaks to the image of God in us. God has made us for relationship with him, and as St. Augustine famously said, “Our hearts are restless till we find our rest in thee.”
So, if the image of God is so distorted in our day, how are we to know what this image really looks like? We can know what the real image of God looks like because of the true image bearer, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the perfect image and imprint of the nature of God.
Heb. 1:1-3, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Jesus is the mold from which we are made. He is very God of very God. And, not only that, but he is the true ruler of the world. Because of his life, death, and resurrection, he has proven himself to be the king over all things, including sin, death, and hell. Phil. 2:5-11, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
And because Jesus Christ is the perfect image of God and has established an eternal kingdom, we can now have purpose and identity through him. Because of his work in living the perfect life that we could not live, Jesus has restored the image of God that was marred by our own sin. Paul says in Eph. 4:24 that he has given us a “new self” that is the restored image of God. And, even more than that, Peter says in 1 Peter 1:9 that he has made us a part of a holy nation that is made up of every tribe, people and language. Over and over again, people have failed to spread God’s dominion over the whole earth. Adam failed, the people of Babel failed, the Israelites failed. But, where all of these failed, Jesus Christ has succeeded. The Gospel has gone forth into all the world.
Friend, regardless of what Madonna may tell you, you can’t find your own truth, make your own identity, or discover your own purpose. If you continue to try to live life by your own rules, you will run head first into the reality that a life apart from God ultimately has no purpose. The only way to have the purpose and identity for which God created you is to turn to Christ and follow him.
Brothers and sisters, our identity and purpose cannot be defined by the world around us. It cannot be defined by a new year of resolutions or the perceptions of other people. Our identity is found in Christ who has restored us to the family of God. Our purpose is to bring God’s rule to bear in our lives, in the lives of our families, and in the world. We are called to be ambassadors for Christ and to extend his kingdom to the uttermost parts of the world.
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