What's Wrong (and Right) with Us?

Article 3

Genesis 1:26-31, Genesis 3:1-9

Today, I want to talk about us – what we’re like. My guess is that among that “us” at LAC: We have long-time church attendees serving and blessing others – but still struggling with anger. We have single Moms wondering how this group of such “perfect looking people” will receive you. CEOs trying to hide a mistress from their circle of church friends. Seminary profs and school dropouts – both sometimes knowing victory in their spiritual lives and other times knowing defeat.

And I have too little time to talk about being “us” – so this will be, at best, an introduction to an overview of what the Bible says. There is some bad news we have to look at if we will understand ourselves. But, I do not want anyone to leave here without knowing God offers good news to us all. Let me set the stage by looking at two areas in which we feel inner conflict as human beings:

#1: Issue of significance -- We long for significance and sense there is something eternal about our lives, but at the same time we feel like mere specks in space and time in the immensity of the cosmos. The ancient Hebrew psalmist wrestled with the question: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is a human being that you are mindful of him, a son of man that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:3-4). So does physicist Stephen Hawking who said, "We are such insignificant creatures on a minor planet of a very average star in the outer suburbs of one of a hundred thousand million galaxies. So it is difficult to believe in a God that would care about us or even notice our existence."

#2: Issue of morality – We human beings are capable of acts of great compassion and even heroic virtue. Some people sacrifice their lives to rescue others in peril. Yet at the same time some deep stain of corruption plagues us. The evidences of the darkness of the human heart pervade human history. So, we see flashes of greatness – but know something has gone dreadfully wrong with us.

It seems that though our knowledge of the world around us has exploded since the dawn of the scientific age, we remain a mystery to ourselves. We are a part of the natural world, yet instinctively we feel that we are more than that -- intuitively sensing that we are made for something more than this material world offers. We are moral creatures – longing to live well but then falling short of our own longings over and over and over… What does the Bible say about us?

Affirmation 1: Stand in Awe – We’re made in God’s image!

God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule… (Genesis 1:26-28).

The Bible does not give us a clear definition of “image of God” but the context helps us begin to understand it. The Bible is saying that all human beings in some ways “mirror” God – reflect something of who he is in the world.

1. As God is able to think rationally and consequentially in creating, so too we who are in his image have a remarkable ability to think in terms of cause and effect, to take two different things and see how they fit together, and to make plans for the future.

2. As God can make judgments about what is good and not good, so too we are moral creatures able to discern good from evil, right from wrong.

3. As God is able to create and shape the world, so too we are able to create art and appreciate beauty.

4. As God is able to manage creation until it is very good in Genesis 1:32, so we are given the ability and command to rule (Genesis 1:26-29) over the rest of creation – to maintain the goodness God created.

5. As God has always existed in community (“let us make human beings in our image”) so we are made to live in relationship – at peace with God, with ourselves, with others and with the created world. We were not meant “to be alone.”

Pastor Carol Kenyon put it simply, “My cat doesn’t ask the questions I ask. My kids came out of the womb somehow created to know they matter. We’re always wanting to know our significance in this world. My cat doesn’t seem concerned about that.”

Let me simply say it: You and all the people whose paths you cross are made in God’s image! What crosses your mind when I say that?

This surely teaches us about ourselves – This explains why you and I are dissatisfied if we simply exist or survive our days. This explains our longings to have our lives make a difference in the world. This explains why we have this unquenchable sense that there is more to us and to this world than just material and temporary things. We are to live our lives in deep and open relationships. We are to use our lives to bring about what is good and just in this world. God’s Word declares that your life matters for you are made in his image.

And, this changes the way we look at other people too. Because all human beings are made in the image of God, they ought also to be honored appropriately. We honor God by honoring his image. For this reason Jesus links the command to love God with the command to love our neighbor, who is created in the image of God. Love for one's neighbor demonstrates love for God. We cannot do harm to the image and say we love the One it represents.

The Bible affirms that every human being is created in the image of God, not just the king, as was believed in many ancient cultures. In Proverbs 14:31 even the lowly peasant represents God. "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God."

All human life -- at whatever stage of development, from conception to death; at whatever socio-economic status; and at whatever level of physical or intellectual capability -- is sacred, because all human beings are created in God's image. Even though this image has been corrupted by our sin, every human being is still worthy of honor and respect. There is nothing more valuable in all of creation than a human life.

Affirmation 2: Tremble – We’re messed up!
Genesis 3 tells how the problem started and Romans 3:10-17 describes what all of us are like now:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands…;
All have turned away,… there is no one who does good, not even one.”
“Our throats are open graves; our tongues practice deceit…”

“Our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness…“Our feet are swift to shed blood;

Ruin and misery mark our ways, and the way of peace we do not know.”
“There is no fear of God before our eyes.”

Even though the Bible affirms our significance and dignity, it also forces us to look in the mirror and face what we have become. We are not what we were meant to be. As Mark Twain said, “Man is the only creature in all creation who can blush – and the only one who needs to.”

What has gone wrong?

Genesis 3 tells us where it started. When the first people ate of the one tree God had said they dare not eat from, they rejected his rule and authority over their lives. Ever since that first decision to rebel against God’s rule, we human beings have been in a battle with God for control over our lives.

There are many words in the Bible for the way we reject any surrender to God: Sin is the missing of God’s target or goal for us. Sin is an inner corruption of what we were meant to be. Sin is a deliberate stepping over a known boundary...

But behind all the words in the Bible is that we sin against God. We reject his rightful rule. The reason for us and our world being messed up, whether it is murder or envy, racism or abuse, a malicious act or lying and deception is that we are going our own ways rather than God’s. In the Bible, sin always ultimately involves putting ourselves at the center of the universe. From Genesis 3 on, we see the consequences of getting out of relationship with God. The man and woman hid from God – the one who made them, who loved them, and who gave their lives significance.

Their inner relationships with themselves were disturbed. They felt, for the first time, guilt and shame. They had to cover themselves. They knew something was wrong.

Their relationship with one another was broken – for the first time they blamed one another. There was not peace between them. And read Genesis 4 on – it got worse. Cain murdered his own brother Abel. The account of Adam’s line in Genesis 1 is marked by the recurrent words, “and then he died…” – tolling on and on like a funeral bell. Accounts of abuse, deception, injustice and selfishness fill human history. When God reigns as he did in Genesis 2, this is not how life was.

And their sin resulted in corruption in the universe. We have not used our gifts coming from being made in God’s image to further goodness in the created world. To the contrary, as Paul put it in Romans 8:20-21, all creation has been “subject to frustration” and now is “in bondage to decay”.

And this is true of all of us – and all whose paths cross ours. And we know it’s true. Most of us have a voice of conscience speaking to our own hearts. Something inside us testifies against us, and we feel we must do something to make things right. Have you not felt that?

And the Bible is not saying that all of us are always as bad as we possibly could be. No, we still bear the image of God – though it has been marred by sin. We long for goodness. We long for what we lose when we sin. But, every part of us has been affected -- our mind, our will, our emotions and our conscience. Everything about us that was created to love God and to worship him and bring him glory has now turned against him as we choose to go our own ways.

So, the Bible does not teach that every person is as wicked as he or she can possibly be and engages in every possible form of sin. Nor does it mean that the unbeliever is totally insensitive in matters of conscience or never does anything that is good and right before other people, or that sinful human beings cannot be fine citizens with high moral standards. The Bible simply teaches that everything we are and everything we do is out of kilter. None of our motives is entirely pure, and none of our intentions is entirely praiseworthy.

Consequently, we fallen creatures cannot rescue ourselves from this sinful condition. Sin is too much a part of who we are. I know this teaching is an offense to many in our world. But, I contend it is the only way to understand ourselves. Some have said that this Christian doctrine of sin has been described as the only teaching empirically proven by thousands of years of recorded human history.

So, we are made to know God but have walked away from him. We are made to experience his love – but are under his wrath because we have engaged in wrongdoing. Everything is messed up.

Some of you under-30s-types have sent me an article from the Onion, an online publication, because you knew I was talking about this today. After a foolish act by a young woman resulted in an unnecessary death of an older woman, the news people descended upon this small town in South Dakota and people kept asking, “How could this happen in a town like ours?” The article is entitled:Nation Somehow Shocked By Human Nature Again. “How Could Someone Do Such A Thing?”Populace Wonders At Event That Has Transpired Literally Millions Of Times

Here’s how the article began: As more details emerged of Friday's horrible but relatively commonplace manifestation of human nature in Brandon, SD, citizens nationwide somehow managed to enter a state of shock, apparently struggling to comprehend an act that, throughout history, has happened thousands upon thousands of times.

I say that Genesis 1-3 provides the worldview to grasp how this sort of thing happens over and over – among all people – and everywhere. We are messed up people.

*What does this mean?

*About yourself – It should mean that when you should not be surprised when going our own ways ends up being unsatisfying – or enslaving. It means that when we try to hide things from God or from others, we find momentary pleasure perhaps but the same kind of inner shame that Adam and Eve experienced. We want to do good – be good – but we’re tugged toward wrong. That’s us!!

*About others – If we see all others as being in God’s image, we must also see not only ourselves but also others as fallen too. They will not find life in material things. We should not be surprised when those around us fail – or hide things from us.

I contend that the Bible alone provides a worldview that helps us understand ourselves, and others and the world we live in every day. We bear God’s image – but we have fallen.

Affirmation 3: Don’t be complacent –
We are in danger but we can be rescued – reconciled - renewed

There is more I want to say here than time allows – so let me simply show you a couple of verses that I want you to take home with you:

#1 The danger is real:
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people… (Romans 1:18). All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… (Romans 3:23). The wages of sin is death… (Romans 6:23). When we look for imperfect human nature, we should not look only to our drug dealers or to the younger generation or to the Hitlers and Pol Pots of the past. We must look first in the mirror. Jesus loves you and came because you and I are in danger. We need a divine rescue from our sin. If you have come today living in sin, you should not be comfortable in God’s presence. Your soul is in danger.

#2 The rescue offered is for whosoever will receive it:
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17).

#3 The reconciliation God offers is beautiful:
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:17-19). Do you remember that I said that when we are made in God’s image, we are made for community – we are made to live in right relationship to God, to ourselves, to others and to the world we are in? All this begins to happen when we are made right with God through faith in Jesus. Dr. Emmanuel Ezra pointed out that an MRI shows us what happens when we separate ourselves from others – when we live unreconciled lives. Research shows that isolation and loneliness registers in the same part of the brain as pain. We were created to have open and honest community with God at the center. It’s beautiful when we experience it.

#4: The renewal is God’s promise to all who are in Christ:
We proclaim Christ, admonishing each one and teaching each one with all wisdom, so that we may present each one complete in Christ... (Colosians 1:28). God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in his sight… (Ephesians 1:4). Or, as we read about it in Romans 8:28-39, God is at work in all things for our good – and that good is that we will be conformed to the image of Christ. We will be made new. And until God is done:

This, I declare to you, is God’s good news for us all!

To His glory alone,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor

Greg Waybright • Copyright 2011, Lake Avenue Church