On the Sanctity of Human Life
Jan 21st, 2007 | By art rogers | Category: Church, Family, General ChristianToday I preached on why Human Life is to be held in special regard. It was not my typical sermon. I usually preach exegetically through just a few verses. Today, it being my first time to address this issue in detail with my new church, I chose to give an overview of the issue as a whole with several key Scriptures and take later opportunities to go into more detail with the verses.
Here is my outline:
Intro: Our Anthropology (understanding of humankind) is a part of and dependent on our Theology (understanding of God)
Gen 1:26-27 Image of God on man
Matt 22:19-21 Image of Caesar on the coin – give it to Caesar; Image of God on you – give yourself to God (speaks to His purpose on your life)
1 Cor 3:16-17 As the Holy of Holies was once the place where God dwelt, now God dwells in us, if we are His. This demands that we treat His temple with the respect the OT Holy of Holies garnered.
Ps. 139.13-16 God Himself knit each person uniquely and with purpose, numbering all of our days.
From these verses, we learn
1. We are each made individually
2. We are made by God
3. We are made with a purpose
4. We bear His image
5. Nothing else bears His image – we are unique
6. He takes that seriously and because He does we should
Therefore…
1. We are to treat every person with respect, as they bear His image.
I grieved when Saddam Hussein was put to death. It was just, no doubt, but I looked at a man who gave every reason to believe that he would spend eternity in a very real Hell. Because he was made in God’s image, I grieved that.
People say respect is earned. It is not. Respect is due to every person because they bear the very image of God.
2. We should not thwart His knitting of little ones who bear His image.
It is never alright to beget violence in an effort to stop violence. In other words, shooting an abortion doctor is becoming what you say you stand against.
Nevertheless, we should do everything we are able to do to preserve the lives of little ones in the making. This includes voting, but it also includes the practical investing of our lives – time, money and heart – into those who are facing such an option so that we may protect the unborn.
3. We should never thwart His purpose for someone’s life.
If God has numbered all the days of everyone’s life, who are we to interfere? Euthanasia is an assault on the very plan of God for the life of a human being. We are not God and we do not have that privilege.
4. We should never meddle with His process of creation – we aren’t Him and therefore we aren’t qualified
The trajectory of Science is forcing us toward the time when we must face the issues of cloning human beings. The creation of life is the province of God. I am all for curing disease, but not if I have to dally in the process of creating life. It is not our job or calling. We are not equipped for it.
5. We must tend to our own selves in a way that shows we honor Him
This is where I must confess my sin. As we belong to God and are to reflect Him in our whole lives, it is incumbent on us to be good stewards of our bodies and lives. I am overweight. It is a sin. We all have things that we bring into God’s dwelling place that are not appropriate for God’s temple. It is not now, nor will it ever be, acceptable to do so. We must do better with our own selves if we are to have a voice in the decisions of others.
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Amen! Good stuff.
I’m preaching through the Ten Commandments, and this week just happened to be “You shall not murder.” Of course, I covered a lot more ground than abortion, but it sounds like we were in sync this week…er….today, anyway. :-)
Just curious… Did you plan to sync it up with Sanctity of Human Life Sunday when you mapped out the year?
Art,
Thank you for standing up for the integrity of human life. I remember SBC pastors of “yesterday” that voted in St. Louis to bless abortion on demand. That was a bad day. Later Roe-v-Wade brought the whole nation to the same place of blessing abortion on demand. That was another bad day.
In the 1981 SBC, a young pastor from Texas came to the mic. in New Orleans and called all Southern Baptist to a sobering reality that abortion is muder. His name was Morris Chapman. That was a good day. From 1987-1990 a battle was fought in Nashville for Sunday School literature to have a “Sanctity of Human Life” lesson every January untill Roe-v-Wade was overturned. That was a good thing.
Roe-v-Wade is still law. That is a bad thing.
Today a young SBC pastor in Oklahoma preached to the people of his church that all human life is to be respected because all people are created in the image of God. That is a good thing.
Today many young and old preachers alike and many Sunday School teachers all over the nation preached and taught that all human life is sacred before God and should be respect and cared for by all of us who name the name of Jesus. That is a good thing.
One day Roe-v-Wade will be overturned. That will be a good thing.
Thank you, young pastors for standing in the gap for the innocent, the afflicted, the weak, the old and the unborn. You are doing a good thing.
God will not forget you on the day of “crowns.”
cb
No. This was actually the continuation of a series on the Ten Commandments that started last year, so the spot where this one landed this year was determined by my sermon planning last year, without looking at this year’s calendar.
I have discovered…The Holy Spirit really has no great preference for last-minute panic. Amazing how He works even through our advance planning when we allow it.
Art,
I can hardly wait to return to Oklahoma to hear you preach. This appears a very powerful sermon. I was just thinking, how much further one could take this, past abortion, murder, etc. If we actually value human lives, why do we not act like it when we treat brothers and sisters so poorly in our denomination? Oh, don’t get me started, but I don’t think many of our resurgence leaders really regard others.