38. “Live for me.”

From the sermon on September 30, 1989, 16th Memorial Worship Service

Adam was made in the image of God as the Bible described (Gen. 1:26). For example, if I make a robot similar to me, my living would be easy because my robot can do some work for me. The President has secretaries who do basic work for him, giving him more time and freedom to focus on more important things so that he can be much more comfortable working with their help.

God made human beings not in the image of animals, but in his image. If I am a creator and I need a dog to overpower my enemy, I will make a dog so that I will achieve my goal through my dog.

Now I’d like to tell you the essence of God’s providence. God created human beings in his image. Because we were created in the image of God, we can do work in place of God. Therefore, if human beings who work for God get hurt, God also suffers a blow.

For example, a father wants to give his business to his sons. But if his sons were all dead, he would be saddened that he could not pass on the business to his family.

Human beings were very specially created so that God can let us take his place and work for him. However, his plan did not go as well as he had planned. Human beings became closer to Satan than God.

After Adam and Eve committed the original sin, God banished them from the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:23). After he drove them out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life (Gen. 3:24). Why did he guard the way to the tree of life?

Dear people, if your children came home, you would welcome them. But if you had to protect your home from your children, it would mean that they were no longer your children.