The Doctrine of Mankind

Robbie taught last week on the doctrine of mankind, the 8th sermon on the "Glorious Doctrine" series. If you want to watch the video sermon, you can watch it by clicking here. This sermon focused on bringing an awareness and a holy reminder to our minds of who we are so that our hearts would be better informed and more accurately lead to worship our Creator, for the glory of God.

THE WORD RENEWING MY MIND

1. THE STARTING POINT - As Creator God is Worthy of My Worship

“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” – Rev 4:11

God my Creator is worthy of my worship. "The doctrine of mankind must begin with the source of mankind - not to mention the source of all creation". This is indeed the starting point in understanding the doctrine of man – the deepest, purest, and truest understanding of who we are as human beings. Everything that it means to be human, every purpose for humanity, and every source of identity as a human race is found in the fact that we are creatures – we are not just beings, we are intentionally and purposefully created by God.

2. THE FOCAL POINT - I've Been Made in the Image of God

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” - Gen 1:27

Human beings are the pinnacle of God's creation. Men and women have been created in the likeness of God and they are more "like" God than anything else in all creation. We were created to represent the character and nature of God. Our worth is not autonomous, our worth is not separated from God. We have no value apart from our Creator. Sin, even though it distorts God's image in us, it does not remove God's image from us. God created and continues to create every human being in his own image. We bear God’s image in 5 different ways:

Spiritually:

We are spiritual beings – we have a soul. No other created thing biological creature has a soul that will live eternally whether in heaven or in hell. We have the ability to interact in the spiritual realm - we can understand and see the spiritual things in this world, we can pray, we can worship.

Morally:

We are moral beings – we have consciences that weigh down on us when making decisions. We were created to make moral decisions and with a sense of “right” and “wrong” that is not inherent to any other creatures.

Mentally:

We have a mind that is unparalleled in all creation – we are the most intelligent creatures in the universe (maybe not the smartest all the time…) but the things our mind is capable of are not seen anywhere else in the universe. The hundreds of languages, all the arts, the sciences, the mathematics… Our minds are created in the image of the Lord

Relationally:

We are relational creatures, in the image of God. God has always existed in the perfect and holy community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He has created with a need, dependence, and desire for relationships. We can have a deep relationship with God, unlike any other creature.

Physically: (this one I found a little tricky to understand)

This does not in any way imply that God is a physical being. We are created in the image of God, and that means physically too. While God does not have any physical attributes to Himself, He created us with physical bodies unlike anything else in all creation. These physical bodies were perfectly designed to reflect the glory of God and to reflect His “image”. Our fingers and thumbs allow us to work the ground like no other creature, our brains allow us a level of understanding and communication necessary to communicate and understand the truths of God. 
 

3. THE TURNING POINT - I Have Been Created for God's Glory

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” - Col 3:17

Fundamental to understanding the doctrine of mankind is understanding the purpose of mankind. The purpose of mankind is to live seeking to give God the glory and honour He is due. God created us with the purpose of being honoured, that is the reason we were created and exist. When man seeks glory, we are seeking something that is not ours and we rob God of the glory that is His. When God seeks glory for Himself, he does not rob anyone of anything they deserve, and therefore He can be justly, and perfectly good to demand all His creation for honour, reverence, and worship.

THE WORD TRANSFORMING MY HEART 

These truths have lead my heart to rejoice and worship God for the intentional way in which I have been created. I have also been reminded that God is most glorified in me, when I am most satisfied in Him. My daily pursuit of living in a way that accurately and purely reflects the character and the nature is really a pursuit of living joyfully. I am pursuing the highest level of satisfaction by pursuing this! There is nothing more fulfilling as a human being created in the image of God than to live our purpose out.

THE WORD FORMING MY BEHAVIOUR

 

These affections for my Creator will advise and determine my day to day life. I will seek to love others, with the mind that all people bear the image of God and have an infinite value because of that. I will seek to "think God's thoughts" and walk in His ways. If I am to be a mirror to reflect who He is, my decisions, thoughts, and attitudes should all reflect His character and what has been revealed about Him. Lastly, I will long for continued growth in the likeness of Jesus Christ. Sin has distorted God's image in me, but through daily battle with the sin nature within me, sanctification will daily transform me to conform more and more to the image of Christ. I do all this with the hope that one day in glory, my glorified "me" will perfectly reflect the glory of my God in heaven, forever.

CLICK TO WATCH THE ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON THIS SERMON

Harvest, My Home

I decided to add a whole section to my blog that focuses on my local church and how it influences my life week to week. I’m thinking most of these posts will have to do specifically with the sermon preached during the weekend worship service but because there is so much more that goes on at church and so many other ways in which it impacts me, there will be some non-sermon related posts as well. Before getting into any of these posts, I thought I would take this first post and introduce my church.

My church home is Harvest Bible Chapel Oakville. It has been the community of people with whom I worship for the past 4 years, where some of my dearest and closest friendships have begun and developed, where Courtney and I got married, and where we joyfully serve. I started attending Harvest in my first year of University (2007) occasionally with some friends from school. This was during a time when I was feeling growingly dissatisfied and almost bitter with the church I was attending at the time. This church had taught me many important things in my walk with the Lord – how to deeply and genuinely worship, the importance of a Christian community, it had given me opportunity to invite friends to church, it had given me a church family to encourage me, and teach me, and love me. But slowly my heart began to grow dissatisfied with some crucial aspects of this church and I knew I had to start looking for a different church to serve in and worship. It was during this time that I started visiting and attending Harvest’s weekend worship services and young adult meetings. This new church was similar to my old church in many ways (which made the transition quite easy) but there was one aspect in specific that caught my attention and attracted my thirsty and hungry heart to this church – the faithful, transformative, exposition of the Word of God.

Harvest Bible Chapel Oakville is a plant out of the Harvest Bible Fellowship. It was one of the first churches in the fellowship planted in Canada, back in 2003.  

"A Bible study began in the summer of 2003 in response to the demand from people who were passionate about this church plant. The first Bible study met in a local office space. When those quarters became too tight, the Bible study was moved to a church basement in Mississauga. By the grace of God this core group continued to grow and develop and attract high quality disciples of Christ. It was in the early fall of 2003 that God clearly led the leadership from HBC Oakville to be connected with the leadership from Calvary Baptist Church in Oakville. In what can only be described as miraculous, God arranged for Calvary Baptist Church to become Harvest Bible Chapel Oakville which included giving Harvest their church building, property and most importantly their people”

As a Harvest Bible Chapel plant, HBC Oakville exists to “Glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) in the spirit of the Great Commandment” (Matthew 22:37). With Jesus Christ as our foundation, the four pillars on which Harvest stands are:

1. Proclaiming the authority of God’s Word without apology (2 Tim 4:2)

2. Lifting high the name of Jesus through worship (Jn 4:24)

3. Believing firmly in the power of prayer (Eph 6:18)

4. Sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness (Eph 6:19-20)

Since first coming to Harvest, I've had the opportunity to serve in the worship ministry (playing violin) a couple of times a year. Playing with the worship band at Harvest has been and continues to be a HUGE blessing. I love worshiping God through music and the talents and abilities He has given me. Courtney and I have also been serving with the youth ministry by leading Gr.9 boys (myself) and Gr.9 girls (Courtney). We've had great opportunities to lead, teach, and mentor the youth in our church. We've had the great opportunity to listen to and befriend the youth in our church through our weekly meetings, camping trips and retreats. We've also helped out and served in the library and bookstore (I love books!). It's amazing the excitement that helping people find books and CD's can bring! It is a joy to see how the Holy Spirit uses authors, pastors, and artists to encourage and build up His Church, and we got the chance to serve in this area. We are currently serving in the Discipleship 101 ministry, getting to know people who are wanting to look more into Christianity, who are learning about what church is all about, and who are learning what it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

We love, Love, LOVE are church, and we are infinitely grateful for this faithful, imperfect, blessed group of people that the Lord has given us as a community for our sanctification and edification and for the glory of His name.