All Things of God to Him and in Him It Was Indeed to Be
God created man to be a voluntary and blessed partaker of divine goodness and blessedness, and to show forth His glory in creaturely nature and form.
Andrew Murray emphasizes that man, created in God's image, is designed to reflect God's divine glory and attributes. He explains that God's righteousness, holiness, love, and goodness are meant to be not only present in man but also to shine through him as part of his character. This relationship allows man to partake in God's divine life, acknowledging that all goodness comes from God. Ultimately, Murray asserts that everything belongs to God and should be recognized as such in our lives. The sermon calls for a deep understanding of our identity in relation to God's nature.
Text
We should say this especially about man, made in God's image. God created him that he might, in creaturely nature and form, show forth the nature of his divine and invisible glory. God created man with the one object that in and through man he might live out his divine life in such a way that man should be the voluntary and most blessed partaker of all the divine goodness and blessedness.
Every attribute of God, his righteousness and holiness, his love and compassion, his goodness and truth, his wisdom and power, were not only to rest upon man, but so to be in him that they might shine out from as his own disposition and character. They were to be his very own, accepted and appropriated and personally assimilated. And yet they were ever to be known and acknowledged as God's. He was to bear the living signature. All things of God to him and in him it was indeed to be. God is all.
(Excerpted from The Coming Revival, by Andrew Murray , pg. 67)
Sermon Outline
- I. God's Purpose in Creating Man
- A. To show forth God's glory in creaturely nature and form
- B. To be the voluntary and blessed partaker of divine goodness and blessedness
- II. God's Attributes in Man
- A. Righteousness and holiness
- B. Love and compassion
- C. Goodness and truth
- D. Wisdom and power
- III. Man's Relationship with God's Attributes
- A. To accept and appropriate them as his own
- B. To personally assimilate them into his character
- C. To acknowledge them as God's
Key Quotes
“God created man with the one object that in and through man he might live out his divine life in such a way that man should be the voluntary and most blessed partaker of all the divine goodness and blessedness.” — Andrew Murray
“All things of God to him and in him it was indeed to be.” — Andrew Murray
“God is all.” — Andrew Murray
Application Points
- Recognize that God's attributes are to be lived out in and through us, and that we are to be a voluntary and blessed partaker of divine goodness and blessedness.
- Acknowledge and appreciate the 'living signature' of God in our lives, and strive to live out His divine life in us.
- Remember that God is the source and sustainer of all things, and that all things are to be lived out in relation to Him.