Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:26-27
This past Sunday during the sermon we looked at the implications for being made in the image of God. We looked at how being an image bearer impacts how we see ourselves, one another, and our calling in this world God made. I wanted to touch on another aspect of being an image bearer- that we are made for relationships.
We saw that when God says “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” in verse 26, we are getting an early hint of the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity. This foundational teaching of Scripture shows us that there is one God who exists in three equal persons; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We are quick to point out that this is not three Gods, but three persons in the one Godhead. God is a “tri-unity” or Trinity.
This means that God has always existed in eternal relationship. Jesus refers to this in what we call His “High Priestly prayer” offered in the garden of Gethsemane the night before He went to the cross. In John 17:5 we read, And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Jesus refers to His eternality and His pre-existence before taking on human flesh in the incarnation.
God has always existed in relationship. This means that you and I, as bearers of His image, are made for relationships. We need friends. We need encouragement. We need accountability. We need connection. We need the body of Christ and the local expression of it in the local church.
May I make a pastoral plea that you not be a “60-minute church member?” What is that? That’s a person who only interacts with the church for 60 minutes a week on Sunday morning. Why not try to build relationships at HLPC by purposing to not only worship regularly but come to School of Discipleship, Wednesday MidWeek, and a LIFE group? You not only need it but we need you. HLPC will not be the church it can be if we don’t make efforts to be connected and to serve one another.
Being made in God’s image means you and I are made for relationships. A great, God-given avenue for those relationships is here in the local church. Please pursue your wise Creator’s design in experiencing the Christian life in community!