The following blog post contains notes and application questions from our September 9, 2018 message, The 7: Man. This message is part of our series, "The 7." See other messages in this series.
From Scripture, we know with confidence four things about man/woman: Imago Dei (created in the “Image of God), gender, life, and depravity. Because the world is in a state of mass confusion about the state of mankind, as we continue our series, “The 7,” John Elmore teaches us about our image, gender, and mission in light of God’s creation, man’s destruction, and Christ’s redemption.
Watermark’s Belief Statement – Man
We believe man was created innocent and in the image and likeness of God, but that man sinned, bringing both physical and spiritual death to himself and his posterity (Genesis 1:27, 2:17, 3:19), can do nothing to merit God’s favor and as such is in need of salvation (Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 6:23). We believe that mankind’s sinful nature is rebellious toward God, and His good design for life and worship (Romans 1:20-24; Ephesians 2:1-3). Mankind’s rebellion causes confusion about good and evil, and harm to people ultimately ending in judgment, despair and death (Genesis 1:31; Galatians 5:16-21; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; James 1:13-15).
We believe God created mankind in His image, forming each person in the womb from conception (Psalm 139:13-16; Isaiah 44:2, 49:5; Jeremiah 1:4-5) until the point of death when they breathe their last (Genesis 25:8; Luke 23:46); and assigning gender to His people, male (man) and female (woman), as He created them sexually and biologically different, but with equal personal dignity and value (Genesis 1:26-28).
We believe that God ordained marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:18; Matthew 19:4-9; Ephesians 5:31-33). Those who accept and live within God’s design for sex, biological gender and marriage experience the blessing of His good design (Psalm 1:1-3, 128:1-4), and decisions to change, alter or modify God’s will in marriage, sex or gender are part of man’s brokenness and lead to despair (Romans 1:21-22; James 1:13-15).
We believe that God loves and pursues mankind despite our rebellion (Romans 5:8). He offers forgiveness, healing and abundant life to anyone who turns to Him in humility (John 3:17, 10:10; Titus 3:3-7; 1 Peter 5:6-7).
Image - God made us to relate and create
Gender - Gender is defined by the Designer, not desire
Mission - Our mission is to live for God
Image – Man is now depraved and enslaved
Gender - Gender is defined by desire, not the Designer
Mission - Our mission it to live like gods
Image – We have been saved
Gender – We are being sanctified
Mission – We have been sent