Lesson 2 - Creation and Moral Order

Welcome to week two the of Christian  ethics. As we start to walk through this,   we're going to begin to see a more clear picture  of what it is to be a Christian and to live with   ethics. So this week we're going to talk about  the image of God and human responsibility.  

So let me let me give you kind of the big idea and  and it's this. Ethics begins with identity and not   rules. Often times we think of ethics as being  the rules and regulations, the social contracts   that help us to stay with inside the social norms. 

But the reality is Christian ethics does not start   with rules. It starts with created identity. Human  beings are made in the image of God to represent   him.

And so ethical question is this. Are we  being faithful representatives to our maker?   What is our use of power?

What is our use  of work? What is our use of words or or   relationships? Do those reflect God or do those  things fall into a category that I like to call   idolatry?

Because idolatry is anything that takes  the place of God. Power can take the place of God.   work, words, relationships, these things instead  of reflecting God often times take the place of   God.

And so let's look, let's begin this week's  journey by looking at the first thing which is   Genesis 1 26-27. And just to shorten it, we  won't read it, but it says, "Let us make man   in our image, after our likeness. " And verse  27, "So God created man, in his own image.

"   We really don't know what that means because we  haven't thought that through. Ethics begins with   identity and with calling, not moral performance  or ruleskeeping. And so I want you to keep this   scripture in mind as we begin to walk through  uh this lesson on Christian ethics.

Again,   we're talking about the image of God and human  responsibility. We are made in the image of God.   And so we have these assumptions just like I have  assumptions when I come home and you know I have   an assumption that the house will be open and I  can go to my chair.

I have an assumption that I   can turn the TV on, that my dog will come over and  that I will have uh a time of rest. I have these   assumptions. We have assumptions also.

We assume  ethics is about something added later on to life.   Something that goes like this. Rules are bolted  onto life.

But if you look at the book of Genesis,   you have to understand that Genesis does  not treat ethics as kind of an add-on. We   have this idea of life and wisdom and power  and all these other things. And the add-on is   they have some rules to keep us in line.

But  God establishes this thing called identity   first before he begins to instruct us. And that  order is the first moral lesson. You don't behave any way that you want to.

You behave according  to your relationship with God and you behave   according to your worth. You live out of a calling  that you've already been given. Now, let me stop   there for a minute.

If you're a believer in Christ  Jesus and you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior,   all of you have been giving a calling. I was  given a calling to be a pastor for years and   then plant churches and then pastoring again and  then being a professor. That's a calling that   God had already given me.

You also have a calling  and your life has to be lived outside inside that   calling inside God's identity. But when life gets  to be just rules, then what will happen is you'll   start to become defensive because either you will  be performative or you'll hide or you'll begin to   compare yourself to others. See, when you have  these rules and they're they're set up in this   hierarchy, either you're going to perform and  you're going to be miserable, or you're going   to hide and you're going to be miserable, or  you're going to begin to compare yourself to   others and then you really be miserable because  there's always somebody bigger, stronger, smarter,   better looking.

So, ethics has to become and begin  with identity. People can actually be formed. You   can be formed by God.

You can learn faithfulness  without living in this self-justification   uh justifying yourself. You can live in the  graciousness and the wonder and the beauty of   God and not have to even worry about yourself. So  let's let's look at a couple things.

Let's look at   what God said. He said, "Let us make man. " Huh? 

Genesis 1:26. This is the first ethical ground   we see in God's word. God initiates.

Humans don't  generate themselves. You don't generate yourself.   They don't define themselves.

They don't authorize  themselves. So ethics is not about your human   willpower. It's about God's claim on the creature  he made.

God has a claim on your life. You belong   to God and he has a claim on your life. And you  have to understand that we talked about covenant.  

God has bound himself to us. We are bound to him.  My wife and I have been married for 48 years.  

She has a claim on my life. God made you.  And if the creator begins with let us make,   then the creature begins with this sentence. 

I belong to him and that changes the emotion.   In fact, it takes all the emotional out of it.  And then it takes the emotional temperature out   of it because it removes two things.

Pride  because there's nothing for us to be proud   about and despair because there's nothing for us  to despair because we are going to do things in   the power of God. And so there's nothing for  us to to despair at all. And you can't stand   alone.

You have to stand in the power of God. And  pride can't stand because worth was not earned. You will never live your life the way  that God wants you to if you think that   your worth is earned.

In other words, if  you're performance-based, you can never be   a performance-based Christian and understand  what God is trying to say to you because you   will always make your life transactional. I do  something and then God does something for me. I do   this for God and then I expect him to do something  else for me.

But when we when we take ethics and   we connect it to relationship, pride and despair  go away. And pride can't stand because again your   worth is given. Your worth is given.

It isn't  earned. And despair can't stand because worth is   given. Before failure even existed is Isn't that  pretty wonderful?

Before failure even existed,   worth was given to you by God. So being an  ethical reflection with God's ownership of   human life takes all the pressure off of you.  You need to reflect on that.

It's not your human   performance that God God wants. Now, understand  something. There is image before instruction.  

God said something and here's here's the thing.  Let's make man in our image after our likeness.   And so that's a if you miss that, if you miss what  that means, you're going to miss the whole message   of what God's trying to say in the Bible.

Image  means representation. Let us make man. Let's make   man so he can represent us.

In the ancient world,  an image was placed wherever a ruler a ruler   wanted his authority to be visible. If he wanted  his authority to be vis visible in the city,   he would put an image of himself there. That image  wasn't the ruler, but it made the ruler present.  

Genesis is telling us human beings are placed  in the world to make God's rule visible,   not by domination, but by faithful representation.  And that's why ethics is not merely a right versus   wrong thing. Ethics is a question of resemblance. 

Does this action that I'm about to do sound like   God? Does it have his fingerprints? Does it  have his ideas?

Does it sound like God? It's not   merely right or wrong. Does this represent God  faithfully in my name in my neighborhood?

Does   it smell like God? Does it move life towards  truth towards neighbor good? In other words,   does it move your life towards making sure your  neighbor's life is good?

Or does it move life   towards a thing called distortion? Because  I want to tell you that outside of Christ,   outside of our image, outside of our  relationship to God, everything is distorted. Does this choice represent God faithfully? 

That's Christian ethics. Does this choice   represent God faithfully? Now, the second  thing God said is this or so what the Bible   says to us is so God created.

So God created.  Isn't that amazing? God created.

And if you   understand what that is, that power  is entrusted to his representatives. Now, createdness sets limits. There's no doubt  about it.

We are dependent beings. We have to   depend on God. We live under meaning before we  ever feel meaning.

We live under, now listen,   I know this is going to be hard. We live under  meaning before we can feel meaning. In other   words, we live in God.

We don't live within  the emotional constructs that the society puts   up. And then we when we live in God and begin  to build our obedience through understanding   identity, then there the the feelings will  come. But the modern assumption is that   ethics comes from personal preference. 

In other words, I can do things as long   it's my as it's my personal preference. See,  being created doesn't invent moral reality. Being created doesn't invent moral reality. 

it responds to it. So when one of my students   says my my truth, this is my truth, I always laugh  because there's only one real truth. If your truth   matches up to God's truth, then it's truth.

But  so often my truth is just my personal preferences.   So, Genesis quietly says you're created  and it's creature truth. Not as an insult.  

God's not insulting you. He's not  saying that you're don't have worth,   but that's just the reality. We respond to the  creator's design, not self-defin under pressure.  

In other words, we respond to the word of God and  to the things of God because we have relationship   with him. And so we don't have self-defined  rules and regulations that are pressured or put   upon us by a society or even a pastor for that  matter if he's if it's outside of God's word.   We have to reject this thing called autonomy.

We  have to reject that because there is no autonomy   for a Christian. We can't live and move and  breathe in and in and of ourselves. The Bible,   Paul said, Ephesians, we move and breathe in  Christ.

We move and breathe in him. And that's   always the starting point, the moral starting  point. We have to submit to God's created order.  

And so what we have to understand is ethics begins  with created identity. God created a family. He   wanted a family.

He wanted you in the family.  He brings you into the family and you have an   identity. People will often say to me, "Well,  I'm a pastor.

" No, that's what you do. I'm a   father. No, that's what you do.

I'm a this, I'm a  husband, I'm this, I'm that. Those are things you   do. But what you are is a child of God if you know  Christ as your Lord and Savior.

And so our lives,   our ethics are faithful responses to the calling.  Remember we talked about God has given each of you   a calling to a calling. It's not a strategy for  selfjustification.

And that's something we have to   understand. So if we think through this, God made  us in his image after he said, "Let us make man in   our image after our likeness. " Genesis 1:26.

And  that means that we are images. We are images of   God. And that doesn't give us a choice.

But what  it does do is it shows us and it moves us towards   representing God faithfully. Now when I say God  doesn't give us a choice, what I'm saying is this.   You have the choice to disobey God.

But if you're  going to obey God in ways that are pleasing and   are going to be effective, then you have no choice  but to represent God faithfully. Because when we   represent God faithfully, he does the work. He do  he empowers us.

We can't do it in and of ourselves   and we know that. But we have to represent God  faithfully and he will do it and he will work in   us. And then God so created God created.

That's  a wonderful thing because creation tells us that   we have power entrusted to us. We are his images.  He created images.

And so as we are his imagers,   we also have been entrusted with authority.  And that authority has to show itself out in   a faithful response to the calling that God  has given you. And God has given every single   one of you a calling.

And so you can't take that  calling and be effective unless you have decided   that you're going to faithfully represent God  and have this thing called Christian ethics.   And so God calls us to be faithful and follow him  faithfully. And when we do that, then we begin to   get our hands and our minds around what Christian  ethics.

So having identified the fact that   Christian moral life is a faithful response to uh  calling and not a strategy of self-justification,   we we have to move a little bit to the image of  God. And so there there are three words that we   want to think through and one is representation  and then power and then responsibility. You see,   being made in God's image entrusts human beings  with real power that must be exercised under God   for life and your neighbor's good.

Let me say it  again because we don't we don't really understand   that being made in God's image entrusts human  beings with real power that must be exercised   under God for life and the good of our neighbor.  Real power. You do have real power.

Now the anchor   to that in scripture is Genesis 1:26 and 27. And  we have to understand that God said, "Let us make   man in our image. " And then in verse 26, he says,  "Let them have dominion.

" And then verse 28 said,   "God bless them. " And so let let's look through  that and think through that for a minute.   Let us make man in our image.

And we talked about  the three words which are representation, power,   and responsibility. Let us make man in our image.  U that's an amazing that's an amazing thing about   representing God.

We're made in the image of  God and that's the representation that we have.   an incredible responsibility to represent God  because we're made in his image. And then he said,   "Let us have dominion.

" That's power. The God has  given us dominion. And then God blessed them and   said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply.

"  And that means that we have to absolutely   understand our responsibility. You see, the book  of Genesis ties image and dominion together. And   that what that means what that means for us is  that power is not accidental for humanity.

It's   part of their vocation. It's part of the work that  God's given them. But dominion is not ownership.  

Ownership belongs to God. Dominion is delegated  authority under God. We have nothing without God.  

We have no power. We have no mental capacities.  We have nothing without God.

And the ethical   danger is when delegated power forgets that it's  delegated. In other words, we forget who we are.   We forget why we're here.

We forget all kinds  of things and we allow our own ego to get in   the way to think that we are something. Now, we  are something in God. I'm not trying to tell you   uh that there's this worm theology, but what I am  saying is whatever we have has been delegated to   us by the living God.

And stewardship turns into  control and dominion when we begin to protect   ourselves. when we begin to forget where we came  from. And so the governing section is this.

The   governing in in this thought that we're in,  the governing scripture is Genesis 1 26-28. You know, God starts out and says,  "Let us make man in our image. "   Power begins in God's decision, not our  capability.

We had no capability of having power.   What matters is we have to understand that because  our power is delegated, it has to remove all it   has to remove all of the illusion that we are  right, that we are powerful in and of ourselves.   Authority is not morally valid just because it's  strong.

In other words, you might be strong,   but it's not valid that you can just do  whatever you want in any way that you want.   It's moral accountability. And we're morally  accountable to God because God has entrusted   us with his image, with this power, with this  responsibility.

And because we are a mood,   we bear the image of God and we have the power  that God gives us, that makes us answerable to   the one whose image we bear. In other words,  God said that we are responsible to him.   One of the things that I learned as I was  growing up was that I had accountability.  

And my one of the great things that my parents  did in over the years was to realize and realize   that they had an accountability to God and that I  had accountability to God as a child. And so when   I would do things that are wrong, my mom would  tell me, "Son, you've not just sinned against us   as your parents, but you have an accountability to  God. " And and so we're as image bearers, we have   to understand that power makes us answerable  to the one whose image is being carried.  

So if you don't grasp that then you have you're  not going to understand how to properly use the   influence that God has given you. You're going  to act like you have permission to do whatever   you want. And you're going to stop treating  influence as stewardship and start you will   start treating influence with the idea that  you are the arbitrator or the judge.

You have   to treat authority as entrusted accountability  not personal entitlement. Let me say that again.   You have to treat the authority that God  has given you as entrusted accountability,   not personal entitlement.

And then he goes  on in the scripture and says, "Let them have   dominion. " Now, dominion is real. It's a real  thing.

God has given us dominion over the earth   uh over the the the the fish and and the  plants and the earth itself. And we haven't   been really good stewards of the earth. We  have polluted.

We have killed one another.   We have treated each other with injustice.  But don't ever pretend that you're powerless.

Humans shape environment. Humans  shape outcome. Humans shape life   with their neighbor.

And that's why ethics  is required because power now please you   must students you got to understand  this power multiplies consequences.   The moment that we admit dominion, we admit the  moral reality that our decisions affect people. I don't mean to crush you or to make you afraid  of relationships and decisions, but the effects   of your decisions are real.

Dominion means that  you can bless or you can crush. Either way,   your choices matter. And that's really something  that you have to understand.

Your choices matter.   And so you have to think through as someone who  is a Christian who understands Christian ethics   that you evaluate choices by their effect on  life, not only by the intention. In other words,   you evaluate your decisions on what outcome is  going to happen.

What is the effect? Is it a   positive effect? Is it a negative effect?

Is it  going to build somebody up? Is it going to tear   somebody down? Either way, your choices matter and  they affect people and you have to be careful of   your intentions.

And then in verse 28, God blesses  and commands and frames that dominion. See,   the direction of the power, the direction of  the responsibility is set by God. Blessing   isn't a pat on the head.

It's empowerment aimed  at fruitfulness that's going to glorify God. When   power is used mainly to secure your self-interest,  to protect yourself, to guard your status, to   guard your image, to preserve your advantage when  you take the power of God that God has given you,   whether that is to speak or to be a husband  or to be a wife or to be whatever is influence   in influential. and you use that to protect  yourself, to secure yourself, to guard your image,   to preserve your advantage.

You're no longer  doing what God has called you to do in dominion.   He called you to faithfulness. In the Christian  ethic, the Christian ethic is how should I live?  

God has called me to faithfulness. And fear will  always find a justification. When we live in fear,   when we live outside of the life that God has made  us, we'll begin to justify ourselves.

And that's   the whole idea of Christian ethics. It's to call  you back to the place where you are inside of the   world that God has made. It calls you back to the  trajectory or to the place of blessing.

It calls   you to live in the life that God has made. It  causes you to live outward, not inward. In other   words, everything that you have, everything that  you do is for others.

And that's really hard for   us. See, you see, we we often think that life's  about me, about what I want, about what I like.   what what do you want?

What do you like? That's  that's an interesting thing. Uh is what you want   for others.

God has given you many many gifts. We  we have this gifting from God and we think it's   for me to get rich or to build my influence  or my authority or my power and it's not.   It's it's to glorify God and to be fruitful so  that others will be blessed.

Adam and Eve were put   in the garden and the garden was to be expanded  through their e ethical work so that people would   be blessed so God would be blessed and it's way  beyond self. And so dominion is framed by blessing   and command. It's the dominion is f framed by  the blessing that God has us and the command   that God has for us and that command is it was to  be fruitful and multiplied to bless other people   and ethical power is aimed outward towards life. 

It's aimed outward towards others not inwards   towards control. And so um we have to realize that  uh the image of God is is is is shared and we have   to so let's let's look at that for a minute. Uh  because the image of God is shared not ranked.

Um   no person has more value than another person. And  that's hard for us because we we all like to think   we're more valuable than let's say the person in  jail or the person that we don't particularly care   for. We we all think I I'm obviously I have more  value than them.

But the reality is that you will   never meet a person that God does not love. You  will never meet a person that God does not care   for. And you will never meet a person that God not  that God in the form of Jesus Christ, God the son,   the second person of the Godhead, totally  God, totally man, has not died for.

And there   is dignity in humanity. And that forbids these  things called the hierarchy of worth. It forbids   that because the lowest person in your church, the  one who uh takes out the garbage has just as much   dignity as the pastor.

The one who watches the  babies has just as much worth as the elders. And   so the guiding principle really for us is Genesis  1:27. God created man in his own image.

In the   image of God, he created him. Male and female  he created them. You see?

And and so make sure   you you look at this carefully. God created man  in his own image. In the image of God he created   him.

Male and female he created them. See the the  text names differences but it denies hierarchies.   It denies ranking.

See, the Bible refuses at its  very foundation to rank people. Even though Adam   had headship in the sense of an economy of labor  or the economy of uh that relationship, he wasn't   higher. He didn't have more worth than Eve.

And so  the reality is that this is not just a nice idea.   Oh, that's a nice idea that everyone has dignity.  It's the moral backbone for understanding justice,   labor, wealth, loving your neighbor.

If we don't  understand that, if you don't understand that   your neighbor has worth, that your neighbor is  loved by God, then you're going to have a hard   time being within the framework of the life  that God has called you and I as Christians.   Now let's unpack this a little bit so we begin  to understand in the image of God he created him. Please understand this dignity is theological  not social.

In other words, dignity comes from   God. It doesn't come from society. It doesn't  come from your mom or dad.

It doesn't come from   the environment. Dignity is shown in God's word  to come from God in the image of God. He created   them.

If dignity is grounded in usefulness,  then the weak become expendable. And that's   never right. The weak are never expendable.

But  if dignity is grounded in the image of God in the   mongod, then the weak become protected. Our job in  the ethics of Christianity is to protect the weak,   to build up the weak. That's why God instructs  us to take care of widows and orphans and those   that are weaker, to bear one another's burdens,  and thus fulfill the law of Christ.

Scriptures   ethics doesn't begin with capability. It begins  with God's imprint, the creator's imprint in   our life in the image of God. And so, Christian  ethics can never treat people as tools, whether   for profit or for status or for convenience. 

We just can't do that. We have to refuse any   decision that treats a person as an instrument  rather than an image bearer. And that's hard because people are sinful and they disappoint  us.

We should never put anybody on a pedestal.   Whether it's our dad or mom, whether it's our a  pastor or a professor, we are all image bearsers   and people are not instruments to be used but  image bearsers to be loved and image bearsers   to be protected and and image bearsers to  be lifted up. And then he goes on in the   Bible and he talks about he made them male and  female.

That's that's that's amazing. Again,   it's regulated. In the image of God, he  created him.

Male and female, he created them. There is difference in Christianity.  There is difference in the world,   but that's not diminishment.

The Bible  can name distinctions. Understand this.   The Bible can name distinctions  without creating a ladder of worth.

Human culture, whether that culture is Chinese or  English or Portuguese, they love ladders. We We   all love ladders. Genesis doesn't create a ladder. 

Genesis says there's a shared image first and   there are distinctions within that image but they  are all secondary to the dignity that God gives   us. In other words, the distinction is secondary  to the image. I know in my life I would have been   a lot better off had I known and looked at people  as image bearsers and not annoyances.

The last   ministry that I had in my life was a church in  Northern California that was a recovery church.   And I want to tell you that the church was 80%  full of people who had been on meth, were getting   off meth, had been in prison, had been in had  had committed heinous crimes, had gotten out   of prison, had come to know Jesus. And when they  came into the fellowship at Woodland Bible Church,   they weren't as smooth and nice as we would like  to have in our church.

We all want churches where   everything's roses and and every everybody is  the same and we laugh and we sing wonderful songs   together, but the reality is church is people that  are fallen. And one of the things that I had to   really grab of hold of as I began to minister  there was that these people shared the dignity   that I had. And I know that their the image the  distinction was that their image had been marred   by drugs and and profleate living.

But they were  imagers. And as imagers, they were worthy of my   love and my and my attention that they would grow  in the grace and discipline of the Lord. And it   was a wonderful ministry.

God bless that ministry.  But I had to learn that. So, the person that comes   in without good teeth and their skin isn't good  and their hair isn't really great and they don't   take as good care of themselves they should,  they still have dignity and that's difficult   for us.

And so, we need to honor differences  without using it as a ladder to rank value.   And then we have to understand that if we bear  the image of God, we have a shared obligation.   All of us have an obligation.

If the image is  shared, then Christian ethics is never merely   private. My choices do not occur in a vacuum.  In other words, I don't do things in a vacuum.  

My decisions aren't made in a vacuum. It is  never I sin and I only hurt myself. That's just a   fallacy.

Neighbor life, life with in the community  of Christ is always present in the moral equation.   And you have to understand the ethics isn't just  how do I stay clean, it's how do I stay faithful   towards others. So we have to ask a question and  it's an important question.

Who bears the cost?   Who bears the cost of this choice? You see, the  image is shared.

Ethical life begins with equal   dignity and ends excuses for devaluing others.  Who bears the cost? We do.

We carry the obligation and we can never forget that. Even after the fall when man sinned, the image  of God was destroyed. Was distorted but never   destroyed.

The image of God was distorted but  not destroyed. Sin distorts human direction   but it doesn't erase the image of God. And and  we have to understand that the responsibility   that we talked about being an imager still  remains.

It it's not taken away. Just because   we're not what we were in the garden does not  mean that the image doesn't remain. You see,   we anchor that in in Genesis 5 1-3.

He made  him in the likeness of God. And then Adam   fathers a son after his image. You you see  even after even after the the fall we're   still made in the likeness of God distorted  imperfect but the image remains.

Now, Genesis shows us as we study the book that after Eden, the  image remains, the responsibility remains. There's   still power. And one of the things that you have  got to understand is that the Bible's really,   really, really clear about this.

And I  want you to I want you to grasp this. Sin does not make humans worthless. And so many  times I've been frustrated in my life and I will   say things like, "Oh my dear, what what what a  waste of air and space.

" And that's just not true.   God refuses the claim that  sin makes humans worthless and it doesn't certainly doesn't make them  harmless but the image of God remains and what   happens is distortion begins to enter into life  and that's why we have to have Christian ethics   so that there's a formation in our life of how  we should live. We don't live in immorality.

We   get married. We shouldn't be living together. We  don't live without God and without community.

We   should be in church. And in that church, which  is God's means of reaching the world, we should   be loving our community and our world. formation  is only possible through Christian ethics as we   learn how we should live.

And we have to realize a  couple things. We're made in the likeness of God. Let's go back to that because like I said before,  the image continues to persist after the fall of   man.

And that means that dignity continues to  persist after the fall of man. Even though sin   is real, even though the distortion is real, the  dignity remains. And if you've seen a person who   has come out of the gutter, out of prison, out  of drugs, and you've seen them transformed by   the power of God into this beautiful individual  that loves God and wants to serve him, the dignity   was already there.

It just blossoms and can be  seen. And that's our job. Christian ethics for   us is to get that person to that place where they  blossom.

And so we can't despise people and we   can't excuse people. Scripture doesn't do either.  Even though the scripture grounds you in dignity,   it does not allow you to deny depravity.

So we  have to hold dignity and honesty together when   eval when evaluating human behavior. So God goes  on to say that man is made in his image after his   image. Uh and we see that in Genesis 5:3 and image  bearing continues through generations.

This means   that human life continues to carry moral weight in  history not just in the identic realm but ethics.   It goes from Eden to today. And it's not just kind  of some nostalgia about a lost world.

It's about   true identity. And it's about obedience in a  broken world. And so we need to treat moral   responsibility as present tense.

In other words,  the ethics that God gives us 2,000 years ago,   the Bible still remains today. And it's not  some kind of ideal world theory. It's about   the theory that we have or the the real  world present day that we continue the   ethics that God has given.

And so we have  to live with this thing called distortion.   Distortion of the self. And what happens is as  man falls there is an inward direction to man.  

Now no longer is man looking outward towards  the good of others but he's looking inward   towards his own good taking care of himself  and we have to keep that in mind as we as we   live our own lives that our propensity is to take  care of ourselves. So after the fall, the ethical   issue is not simply that people break rules.  The deeper issue is that there's this desire,   this collapsing desire.

In other words, this  corrupted desire of moving inward of preserving   our self and making sure that our self is done  first and not preserving our neighbor. And that   that shows up everywhere. It shows up in our  sense of control and our sense of concealment,   blame, domination and ethics is required of us  because without ethics we will try to control   people.

We'll try to conceal our sin. We'll try to  blame others uh for our sin. We'll try to dominate   and ethics is really required so that we don't  do that.

Because if we look in our world today,   we can see that our world is really out of  control in that area. So trace the direction   of desire in your own life and trace the direction  of desire in a biblical sense because that desire   has gone from outward to self-p protection from  faithfulness to faithful faithlessness and we   have to we have a responsibility you know the  the image endures in a fallen world and we have   to understand ethics trains disorded desires  back towards faithfulness. Ethics, get this,   ethics trains distorted desires back towards  faithfulness.

And so I I want I want you to   think through very very clearly about uh the moral  weight of being an imager. The the accountability,   the push for justice because human life bears  God's image. Justice is a moral requirement.  

Did you get that? Justice. You got to get this. 

Justice is a moral requirement and it's grounded   in the dignity of man and the accountability of  man to God. Genesis uh chapter 9 5 and six say I   will require a reckoning. I I I will um God says  for God made man in his own image.

Uh Psalms 88:es   4-6 says what is man that you are mindful of him?  And he goes on to say, "You have crowned him with   glory and honor, given him dominion. " So dignity  has moral weight.

Harming people is very very   looked down upon by God. People matter to God. In  in Genesis 9, if we begin to tie this together,   God begins to tie justice with the image  bearer.

And harm is not merely some kind   of social disorder. It's an assault on God's  representation. Psalms 8 holds the paradox.  

Humans are small yet entrusted. They are entrusted  with honor and that honor creates responsibility.   And when we have Christian ethics, that restrains  the power in our life.

And that's really weighty.   So we have to understand something. Number one,  here's what God said.

I will require a reckoning.   Don't forget that accountability is not an option.  God demands it.

That means that ethics are not   merely personal preference or just some kind of  cultural contract. There is a moral seriousness.   there is a responsibility to God built into the  reality of being a believer in Christ Jesus.  

So we have to understand that justice isn't just  nice, it's required, it's necessary. And and then   God goes on in Genesis 9 said, "For God made man  in his own image. " And you can see he's beginning   to connect that justice with man.

Justice is  required because dignity is is real in people.   It's real. Your wife has dignity.

Your children  have dignity. Your mom and dad have dignity.   Your neighbors have dignity.

And and that image  makes life non-negotiable. It's non-negotiable.   It's the moral foundation that protects the weak  from the strong.

And so we have to let dignity,   not power or not profit, set the moral limits.  The dignity of man sets those limits, not power,   not profit. We have we can't let those things  be the deciding forces in our life.

And then   God goes on to say uh crown God crowned him with  glory and honor. And and honor is granted. It's   not earned.

In other words, God granted honor to  your wife. God granted honor to your children.   God granted honor to you.

And it that means that  it comes with responsibility, not entitlement.   You're not entitled to throw your weight around.  Psalms 8 is not flattering humanity.

It's locating   humanity under God's mindful care and delegated  trust. So we have to understand that leadership,   if we're going to be leaders, that's measured  by the safeguards that we put up, the moral   dignity that we grant to people, not what we can  accumulate. So um we have to just understand that   uh the image gives life.

The image of God gives  life. It's lifegiving. Uh it it has moral weight.  

It it demands justice. It demands restraint.  It demands accountability and the use of power.  

And so Christ is the true image of God. It's our  example. And we we can never forget that the Bible   always goes back to Jesus and uh Jesus reveals  faithful humanity and Jesus life reorients ethics   as discipleship.

I want you to get away from  the western conception of ethics and back to the   biblical conception be because ethics are always  going to resemble Jesus. You know, Colossians 1:15   says that Jesus is the image of the invisible  God. The image has a face.

In other words,   Jesus reveals God. Everything that God is, we see  in Jesus. We see in that faithful imagebearing   Christ.

He is the exact representation. He is  God. And he lived in this fallen world.

And   that means Christian ethics is not about trying  harder. It's about disciplehip. But it's about   knowing your Bible.

It's about loving your Bible.  It's about living your Bible. In other words,   the Bible didn't save us, obviously, but we're  living the things of God.

We love God. And God   never calls us to be like David. God never calls  us to be like like uh Solomon.

God never calls   us to be like Paul. God calls us to be like him.  And he demands his lordship in our life.

And that   shapes our character. So he's the invisible image  of the invisible God. And he and Jesus shows us   who God is.

And and ethics must be tethered to the  character of God and revealed in Christ, not just   some kind of abstract ideals. Let Christ define  what good mean uh define what good means and   not cultural uh society or our impulse. And the  image of God is embodied in Jesus.

In other words,   here we see the real thing about how God wants us  to live, not theory. And uh we have to understand   that he is the image. It's that image is applied  to a person.

So ethics when we see Jesus becomes   concrete and we don't just learn principles.  We just don't learn principles. We learn a   person in Christ Jesus.

And Christ makes ethics  visible. Christ could have used his authority very   differently than he did. But he spoke truth and he  brought justice and kindness and love.

He showed   us how people are to be treated. So when you're  uncertain, you have to ask yourselves, what would   faithful resemblance to Jesus look like here? In  other words, how would how would Jesus handle this   situation?

And maybe I need to go back and look  at how he handled these kinds of situations. And   ethics really becomes a a matter of disciplehip.  If Christ is the true image, then that's who   we that's who we are to follow and to pattern  ourselves after.

And it's not just rulekeeping.   It's very much deeper than that. Uh it's increased  faithfulness, increased res increased resemblance   of Jesus.

Not just increased certainty in the  rules, it's increased certainty in Christ. And   so Christ is the true image. And Jesus shows us  faithful humanity.

And because Christ is the true   image, Christian ethics is disciplehip. Faithful  resemblance expressed in ordinary decisions. In other words, Jesus is part of every aspect  of your life.

Okay. Let me let me talk to you   real quick about your homework. I want you  to read Genesis chapter 1 and 2 and Psalms 8   and Colossians 1 15-20.

So we need to understand  that uh uh Genesis here's the reading assignment.   Genesis 1:2 Psalms 8 Colossians 1 15 through  20. Now there'll be a short quiz.

It's true   and false. It's not going to be that hard, but  you will you will have a quiz this week. And I   want you to understand that.

Now, next week, we're  going to look at the fall and moral distortion.   We'll explore uh sin and the distortion that sin  brought and the moral struggle of humanity and how   Christian ethics account for weakness, failure,  and repentance without abandoning responsibility.   And so, there are some words that you're  going to have to look at like desire, trust,   and power turned inward.

And we're going to kind  of look through that as we begin to continue to   lay the foundation and we'll be building on  that with some very exciting things. And so   just understand that I know that this sounds kind  of unfamiliar to you, but once you begin to read   it and understand it, I think uh it's going to  make a real difference in your life on how you   live and how you feel about God and how you feel  about yourself. Uh let me pray for you real quick   before uh I let you go today.

Father, I thank  you for the students. I pray that you'd bless   them and guide them today. May they be conformed  to the image of Jesus Christ.

And I pray that you   would help each and every one of them to study  faithfully, to do their homework, do well on this   quiz. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen.

All right.  God bless you. I'll see you next week.

And do your   homework. Do your reading. Don't worry about the  quiz.

You're going to do fine. you're going to   do is it's just true and false. If you've paid  attention, you won't you won't have any problem.