Lesson 3 Study Notes
Well, hello friends, Bishop Andy C. Lugar here, and I'm delighted to come to you with another one of my many lessons or Bible webinars that I have been doing to support the efforts of our Christian education ministry. I acknowledge and I recognize that because of the pandemic, so many of the things that we were doing prior to COVID-19 have been suspended and have been interrupted. We're trying to resume some of those things that were common in our ministry prior to the pandemic,
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and Christian education is one of them. So this is my contribution, my effort to do a little bit of Sunday school, a little bit of Christian education here in our portion of the vineyard. Now again, our format is, this is one in a series of lessons that we're doing, and it will include study questions, discussion questions. There will also be a transcript for those of you who would prefer to read those things that I'm
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saying. Some people learn better via reading comprehension, while others are visual learners. And we've tried to touch all of the bases so that no matter what your preference is, is we have something available for you in this area of Christian education. Now, in my first lesson, I look at the story of Adam and Eve, and I gave you a very fundamental, a very basic narrative of that story. In the second lesson, I identify some peculiar and even unique things that we believe as Christians and we believe as Baptists that's based upon the story of Adam and Eve. So, when we talk about incarnation and we talk about atonement and we talk about the image of God. All of those items, friends, are the result of understanding the story of Adam
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and Eve. Now, in this lesson, I'm actually going into this whole theme and this whole idea of us being made in the image of God. When I read the scripture, and I'll probably read it for you again, because it has the language that I want you to be aware of, there are some consequences in terms of our behavior, in terms of how we think, in terms of our attitude that we ought to have. Why? Because we understand that we are all made in the image of God. All of humanity is made in the image of God. So I hope that you're ready.
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I'm ready to get started. I'm anxious and enthusiastic about this opportunity to share this material with you. So, not to be redundant or repetitious in terms of overview and introduction, this lesson examines what it means that we are made in the image of God. The Bible clearly tells us, beloved, that we are made in the image of God. But what does that mean? How does that influence us? What does that have to do with how we carry out our daily lives? If we are made in the image of God, that means we're not only accountable, but we're responsible for reflecting the image of God that he has endowed us with. So I want to say this, unlike animals, humans are different
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from the rest of creation. Now listen, a dog bow-wows because it's his nature to bow-wow. A cat meows because it is their nature to move. The point that I'm making is the cow has no choice. It can only move because that's its nature. The dog has no choice. It can only bow wow because it is their nature to bow wow. Cat can only meow because that is the nature of the cat. But when it comes to human, we can reason, we can think, we can analyze.
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There are tools, psychological tools, sociological tools, cultural tools that are available to us, that's not resident with any other creature that God has made. Yes, some animals and even some fish and birds, they can assemble themselves, they can create some level of community, but the complexity and the sophistication that humans are able to do that with is far superior than any creature that is a member of creation.
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And that is because, as I said to you at the outset of this series, we are the crowning glory of God's creation. After he made all the beasts of the field, after he made all of the fish of the sea, after he made all the fowls of the air, then God reached down and created humanity from the dust of the earth. The earth was covered with water. He took the dust of the earth and he created something he had not created before. He placed in humanity tools and options and choices and giftings and abilities and talents that far exceed our nature. He combined our physical attributes with our mind so that we could produce ourselves. He said to us to rule everything else that he has created. He would not have commanded us to rule those things if he had not given us the tools in order to reign and rule and rise above everything else he created. So we are different. And I'm an evolutionist. I believe that there is a separation
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because when I look out of my window and I look and see all of the things that God made, like the trees and the grass and the sky and how awesome that is. But then when I look at other items like buildings and cars and cement and streets and flagpoles that we have created from our own ingenuity and what God has given us.
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It proves to me that there is something unique about humanity that is absent in everything else that God created. Everything else that God created operates by nature. We, humanity, we operate by will. And there is a difference between will and nature. So let me read this for you again this week.
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Then God said, watch this,
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"'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, "'so that they may rule over the fish of the sea "'and the birds of the sky, "'and the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind, well, in his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them.
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God blessed them and said that they'll be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Now, what I wanna point your attention back to, God says, let us make mankind in our image. And that is why the title of this lesson is to be made in the image of God,
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to be made in the image of God. Now, because we are made in the image of God, beloved, that mandates us to have a certain attitude. And I will be the first to acknowledge that we have not always demonstrated this attitude. We've not always exhibited the kind of behavior that affirms that we're all made in the image of God. Because we have, at times in history, created hierarchical systems even amongst ourselves.
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But regardless of race or gender, we all have value as being made in God's image. It doesn't matter if you're Asiatic, it doesn't matter if you're dark-skinned from Africa. It doesn't matter if you're light-skinned or Aksin-Melanin, because you are a descendant of Europe or even having come from the indigenous community. We are all made in the image of God. And our faith tradition, because we understand the creation story and the story of Adam and Eve, and that God made all of us in his image, there ought to be mutual respect that we have for each other because we understand that we're all God's children. We're all made in the image of God. And yes,
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some of the children may have slanted eyes. Some of the children may have darker skin. Some of the children may have light skin. Some of the children may have little or no hair. But we are all made in the image of God, and that requires mutual respect and each other because of the common level that we all are on. Only humans have the capacity to communicate and have a relationship with God. So I'm using this very, very popular picture, historic picture of Michelangelo that you of the Sistine Chapel, and it is intended to indicate that God reaches out to man and man has the ability to respond to God. Dogs can't do that. Cats can't do that. Creatures
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can't do that. Fish can't do that. Birds can't do that. Only man has the ability to respond to the efforts to communicate, covenant, and have discourse with God. And so that in and of itself, beloved, puts humanity in a very unique position. And that's why we can't lord ourselves over other and think we're superior to others and be condescending toward others because we all share the same ability to communicate and
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to have covenant with God. Now because we're made in the image of God, which requires mutual respect and ought to enhance our fellowship and relationship with one another, that gives us all a moral responsibility. Being made in God's image obligates us to act morally, with ethics, honesty, integrity, respect. If we're made in the image of God, then we are to reflect those things that are godly, and not those things that are ungodly. So if you understand that you're made in the image of God, it will not guarantee
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that you'll make all the right decisions and doubt every I and cross every T and do everything correctly. But it at least, watch this, gives you a consciousness of what you ought to be doing. You know when you're wrong. You know when you were performing or behaving out of order. Now, you may choose to continue to operate out of order, but there's always something inside of you that grinds. There is a tension between right and wrong because of the image of God that resides in in each and every one of us. So we ought to have moral behavior.
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We ought to have behavior that reflects godliness like respect and integrity because men and women were made at the same time. They are equal in value and worth. I can take you to the scripture, book of Genesis, first chapter, it says, he made them, both male and female, made them. He didn't make man and then man make woman so that it is a vertical relationship. And even though he used a portion of man for the creation of woman, they were both made simultaneously. I won't get into the
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theological weeds here. But misogyny and sexism in our faith tradition is inappropriate. It is ungodly because God made both male and female, which means that males should respect females and females should respect males. It should be a horizontal relationship and not a vertical relationship. And so the sexism of the past, the racism of the past, those things that we have used to separate ourselves in the past, those things that we have used to define ourselves and try to make ourselves feel like we are better than someone else, all of that is ungodly. Because if we understand, based upon Genesis 1, that we all were made in the
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image of God, then we all have worth, beloved, and we all have value. And then I want to close with this, that has to do with marriage and family. Genesis says that God made one flesh and that one flesh forms the foundation for the institution of marriage and family. The Bible even argues this, it says, and for this cause shall a man leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife, which is the foundation and the context for family.
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Because we share, we house the image of God. Those are the tools and the bridges that God has given to us to create family, to create marriage, to create those things that would cause us to be more like Him, to reflect more of His will, more of His doing, more of His being, and more of His nature.
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Well, friends, that takes up just about all of my time. I certainly thank you for yours. Again, I hope that you are enjoying these lessons. I look forward to doing much more in the future. Please tackle those questions and have those group discussions, and I will see you in the not-too-distant questions and have those group discussions, and I will see you in the not-too-distant future. Thank you again.