What is Man?

How God Makes the Insignificant Significant

(Psalm 8, Heb. 2:6-9)

Two fish and five loaves of bread in my hands is lunch.

Two fish and five loaves of bread in Jesus’ hands fed thousands.
The significance of anything depends upon whose hands it’s in!

Our significance comes from God

God created us in His image (Gen. 1:26-31, 5:3, 9:6, Ps. 139:13-16, 1 Cor. 11:7)

God first created the earth and its atmosphere. Then He created all living creatures that live on
earth, in the seas, and in the air above. God appraised this part of His creation by saying that,
"it was good.” On the 6th day He created Man whom He called “VERY good.”

God didn't just speak us into existence as He did everything else, He MADE us. Genesis 2:7
says, “God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the
breathe of life, and man became a living being.” God did not "breathe the breathe of life" into
any other creature but man.

Man was made to be a little lower than God. The King James version says, "a little lower than
the angels." But it was the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that used
the phrase "the angels." The Hebrew, In Psalm 8, actually says "a little less than Elohim," i.e., a
little lower than God.

Man is like God in that we have personality, intelligence, emotion and a free will. We also have
a moral concept. We also have a spirit that can communicate with God.

We are more than mere animals

Modern humanistic culture reduces us to little more than mere animals who are
helplessly enslaved to urges and instincts. But the Bible gives us this incredible dignity
of being a little less than God. We do not have to live in the gutter. We were created for
positions of honor and greatness. We were created with needs, hungers and even
passions, but we do not have to let them rule us, we are to rule over them. They are
good things, and when we channel these needs and passions in line with God’s original
design and intent for us, they become a source of great blessing.

God loves each and every one of us (2 Pe. 3:9, Jer. 31:3, 1 John 4: 9 & 16)

In addition, we are to love others as (not instead of) ourselves, which means we must also love
ourselves. (Mark 12:31)

God sacrificed His son for us (John 3:16-17, Rom. 5:8)

God paid an incredibly high price to save us, so He must value us greatly. As C.S. Lewis put it
in The Weight of Glory, nobody has ever met a "mere mortal."

God had/has a purpose/plan for mankind

The purpose of an “image” is to express the inward quality of a person. By being created in His
image God wanted us to manifest His glory and excellent virtues.

Man was given the responsibility to exercise dominion over the whole earth (Heb. 2:5-7)

God knows each of us completely and intimately, He knew what we would be like before we
were even conceived and He has a good purpose for which he formed each of us and caused us
to be born. (Psalm 139:1-16, Jer. 1:5, Jer. 29:11, Eph. 2:10)

Jesus Christ became a man in order to help us recapture our lost destiny

We become “Sons of God” through our faith in Jesus, receiving God’s Spirit in our
hearts (John 1:12, Gal. 4:6, See Rom. 8:14-16) Paul says in Chapter 8 of Romans that
the whole creation is eagerly looking forward to the day of the manifestation of the
“sons of God.” That makes us seem pretty significant!

Christ considers us his brothers (Heb. 2:11)

We are called a chosen people, kings and a royal priesthood who will be serving/ ruling
along with Jesus (1 Pe. 2:9, Rev. 1:6)

Jesus dignified man by taking human form

What an enormous compliment that God would become human! (Phil. 2:6-8, 2
Cor. 8:9)

Jesus served as the perfect sacrifice by becoming human

The Bible explains how Christ being both God and man fulfilled the purposes of
God: “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order
that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and
that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17)

Jesus also came to be an example for us

Jesus said, "It is not I who do the works; it is the Father who dwells in me, he
does the works," (John 14:10). When he broke the loaves and fishes and fed the
five thousand he did it not as God but as a man exercising dominion over
creation, empowered by God. A man fulfilling the original intention of God for
man. The writer of Hebrews says, "We see Jesus" (Heb 2:9), meaning He sets
the example for us.

Jesus really was the perfect man. He stood against the powers of his day, both
religious and political. He stared death in the face and did not back down. He
endured beatings, and willingly stayed on the cross through unimaginable
suffering. Yet he was one of the most sensitive men alive. He was gentle. He
touched lepers. He wept over lost people. He took children into his arms to
bless them. He ministered to hurting people and spent long hours teaching and
healing them. He stayed up all night praying. He died, then broke the grip of
death in his resurrection. He lives forever as that part of God who can never
forget what it is like to be human (Heb. 4:14-16)
 Athanasius (295-373) wrote: “He became what we are that he might make us
what he is.”

“If we judge by Scriptural representation of things, we have reason to suppose,

that Christ took upon him our nature, and dwelt with us in this world, in a
suffering state, not only to satisfy for our sins; but that he, being in our nature
and circumstances, and under our trials, might be our most fit and proper
example, leader and captain, in the exercise of glorious and victorious virtue,
and might be a visible instance of the glorious end and reward of it; that we
might see in him the beauty, amiableness, and true honor and glory, an
exceeding benefit of that virtue, which it is proper for us human beings to
practice; and might thereby learn, and be animated, to seek the like glory and
honor, and to obtain the like glorious reward ..." (Jonathan Edwards, Works
(Yale), 1:291)

Christian’s are to be patterned after the image of Jesus (Rom. 8:28-30, 1 Cor.
15:42-49, 2 Cor. 3:16-18, Col. 3:10)

God uses what/whom the world considers insignificant to accomplish great things (Acts 4:13,
Judges 6:15-16)

Ordinary People + Sincere Faith in God = Spiritual Empowerment (including boldness) &
Extraordinary Accomplishments

What you believe about yourself affects your limits and therefore your ability to accomplish
things. With God’s help you can do anything! (Ex. 3:11-12, Phil. 4:13)

The one who has lost significance is Satan (Heb. 2:14-15)