The Setting of Piety

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Hebrews 1:1-4
• Hymn — Rejoice, the Lord Is King (#281)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Catechism Reading — Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 89–90
• Hymn — All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night (#158)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Genesis 1:26–2:3
• Sermon
• Hymn — This Is My Father's World (#252)
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: The Setting of Piety

Scripture: Genesis 1:26–2:3

I. The Personal, Intimate Setting of Piety

A. The creation of man is marked by an abrupt shift in the creation narrative

1. The repetitious pattern of "and God said" in Genesis 1:3-25 suddenly stops at verse 26
2. This pause signals that the creation of man is uniquely personal to God — a counsel within the Godhead itself

B. Adam is called "the son of God" in Luke 3 — all creation is gifted to him as to a son

1. Adam was created to reflect the Son, the second person of the Trinity
2. Adam was to be drawn into intimate union and communion with the Father

C. Personal piety is cultivated in private prayer and time in God's Word

1. Matthew 6:5-6 — pray in secret to the Father who sees in secret; public performance is not where the relationship is deepened
2. Like a father-son relationship built in private moments, our bond with God deepens in the secret place
3. Do not arrive at death regretting neglected communion with God — piety begins in the closet

II. The Corporate, Public Setting of Piety

A. The plural "let us" in Genesis 1:26 reflects the three persons of the Trinity in counsel

1. Scripture interprets scripture: all three persons appear in the first three verses of the Bible — Father (Genesis 1:1), Spirit (Genesis 1:2), and the Word/Son (Genesis 1:3; John 1:1-3)
2. The interchange of singular and plural in Genesis 1:26-27 mirrors the Triune God: three-in-one makes man both individual and corporate

B. The primary corporate relationship established at creation is the family

1. The tselem (image) language echoes ancient Near Eastern kings erecting statues throughout conquered cities — mankind as living statues proclaiming God's sovereignty
2. The fifth commandment functioned for ancient Israel as the means by which children learned to obey the first four — parents modeling piety before their children
3. Adam's failure to instruct Eve in God's word (Genesis 2:17) led to the fall — corporate piety requires sharing and teaching God's word to one another

C. Corporate piety means rejoicing over fellow image bearers

1. Adam's song over Eve in Genesis 2:23 contrasts sharply with his blame of her after the fall (Genesis 3:12)
2. We are to treat fellow human beings as the crown of creation — pushing back against a culture that elevates animals to equal or greater status
3. Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19 — singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; holding one another accountable to holiness

D. Corporate piety begins not with our ascent but with receiving the purity given in Christ

1. Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed (Genesis 2:25) — corporate piety is lives lived in the freedom of the gospel, shame and guilt expunged by Christ's blood
2. In the personal setting: "Christ is my Savior and King"; in the corporate setting: "Christ is the Savior and King — there is no other"

III. The Work Setting of Piety

A. At its core, work is caring for the gifts God has given his image bearers

1. When Adam receives the breath of life he awakes to the greatest gift imaginable — all creation handed to him — and God says, "take care of it"
2. This definition is broader than a nine-to-five job; it encompasses all of life because all of life is gift

B. A reward-based definition of work breeds bitterness; a gift-based definition enables contentment

1. Proverbs and 2 Thessalonians 3:10 affirm the cause-and-effect of labor and fruit, but this is not the deepest meaning of work
2. Only when all is seen as gift can we say with Job, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away — blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21)
3. The elder brother's complaint (Luke 15:29-30) reveals the danger of an earned-reward mentality; the father's answer reframes everything as unmerited gift

C. All work is oriented toward the eternal Sabbath rest

1. Genesis 2:1-3 — God works six days and rests on the seventh; man made in God's image works toward Sabbath rest
2. Hebrews 4 — a Sabbath rest still remains for God's people; do not be like the wilderness generation that failed to enter through disobedience
3. Adam's probationary task pointed forward to Revelation 21–22 — the eternal, macrocosmic Sabbath rest; restored in the last Adam, we are given that charge afresh
4. The weekly Sabbath is the microcosmic pattern — caring for God's gifts Monday through Saturday and resting in him on Sunday — by which the Spirit progressively cleanses us until we enter the eternal rest completely pure