Hot Topics 4 / Human Diginity (Pro Life, Whole Life, All Life)

For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of David. 1 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with your majesty. 2 From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, 4 what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him? 5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, 8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!

I love the way the Good News Translation says this beginning on verse 3

When I look at the sky, which you have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places—

what are human beings, that you think of them; mere mortals, that you care for them?

Yet you made them inferior only to yourself;[b] you crowned them with glory and honor.

You appointed them rulers over everything you made; you placed them over all creation:

sheep and cattle, and the wild animals too;

the birds and the fish and the creatures in the seas.

Inferior only to God.

You say well what about the angels?

What about spiritual beings?

Aren’t they superior to us?

They are supernatural, we are natural.

Listen, in God’s economy worth isn’t based on power, it’s based on position.

Positionally we are image bearers of God, redeemed by Christ, to display the mystery of God to all of creation, even in the spiritual realm.

Look at Paul’s words to the Church at Ephesus and Corinth.

Ephesians 3:10–11 CSB

This is so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s purpose was that His creation would reveal the multi-faceted wisdom of God.

And the church is the great revelation of that wisdom.

1 Corinthians 6:2–3 CSB

Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases? Don’t you know that we will judge angels—how much more matters of this life?

So we were created to reveal and to rule.

Positionally greater than the angels.

In a courtroom, under the law, a judge, while perhaps less powerful than the one she is standing in judgment of is not less positionally.

Authority is greater than power.

We have been created with an intrinsic authority.

So then we were created to reveal and rule.

To reveal the mystery of God and to rule as gods.

We get a hint of that design authority in Psalm 82.

Psalm 82:6-7

Psalm 82:6–7 CSB

6 I said, “You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High. 7 However, you will die like humans and fall like any other ruler.”

Lower case “G”.

Created to rule.

Not the one true Creator God but image bearers.

Ok, we need to look at our origin story.

Genesis 1:26–31 CSB

26 Then God said, “Let us make manF in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” 29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you, 30 for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it—I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.

This image-bearing is where our authority and dignity come from.

Let me remind you of the second of the 10 Commandments God gave to Moses on the mountain to give to the Children of Israel,

Exodus 20:4 CSB

4 Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

The idea is this, God had already created an image - its humanity.

We are to worship God as His Body on Earth.

We see it fully in the language of the Church as the Body of Christ (the perfect image of God) and Christ the Source or Head of the Church.

We were created to reveal and rule as God’s image-bearers.

To subdue the earth.

To subdue something mean to bring it to order.

Outside of the Garden was chaos and disorder.

There was a mandate to subdue the earth as gods on the earth.

Because of the disobedience in the Garden, the chaos and disorder grew worse.

Which God addresses in Psalm 82

Psalm 82 CSB

A psalm of Asaph. 1 God stands in the divine assembly; he pronounces judgment among the gods: 2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah 3 Provide justice for the needy and the fatherless; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. 4 Rescue the poor and needy; save them from the power of the wicked.” 5 They do not know or understand; they wander in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. 6 I said, “You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High. 7 However, you will die like humans and fall like any other ruler.” 8 Rise up, God, judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you.

Part of the subduing the earth, bringing order to chaos, involves bringing righteousness and justice to those oppressed by the disorder of the effects of the fall.

The poor.

The needy.

The orphan.

The widow.

The immigrant.

The unborn.

The oppressed.

The destitute.

Our revealing and ruling to point to what the Psalmist calls the foundation of God’s throne.

Psalm 89:14 CSB

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; faithful love and truth go before you.

That’s why Jesus says In Matthew 25:41-46

Matthew 25:41–46 CSB

41 “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels! 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger and you didn’t take me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of me.’ 44 “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help you?’ 45 “Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

He equates the poor and naked and sick and imprisoned with himself because all of humanity bears the image of God.

If we aren’t valuing all of life we are devaluing the God who created us in His image and gave us life.

So, God is Pro Life, Whole Life, for All Life because we are His special creation, given greater authority than the angels and reaveling a greater mystery than any other of God’s creation - the mystery of the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3:17–19 CSB

17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

So, life matters.

We believe in the sacredness of life, the sanctity of life, because life is a Sacred gift and we have been entrusted with a Sacred task - to reveal and rule.

LIFE MATTERS

THE PREBORN

The actual term “sanctity of life” does not appear in Scripture, but the Bible is clear in its affirmation of the sanctity of life. The Bible affirms life in the womb and life outside the womb.

Jeremiah 1:5 CSB

I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Psalm 139:13 CSB

For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

THE DISABLED

Exodus 4:10–12 CSB

But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant—because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.” The Lord said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.”

God is saying that life is precious and valuable.

Don’t think that God can’t use what we might consider a disability.

God is still God and life is still precious.

THE IMMIGRANT

Leviticus 19:33–34 CSB

“When an alien resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him. You will regard the alien who resides with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

THE ETHNICITIES

Revelation 7:9 CSB

After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.

All Worship together in eternity

All are image bearers

Live Like Life Is Sacred

This understanding of the sanctity of life should impact how we live, what we support, how we think about politics.

Christians established hospitals, rallied against slavery even when others were stripping out pages of scripture to use scripture to keep black folks enslaved, fought against unjust capital punishment, promoted just immigration laws, and champion adoption and foster care services, and more.

Life is sacred.

Karen Swallow Prior:

And so while I do want to be able to talk about abortion as an issue and to treat that as its own issue, just as we need to treat euthanasia as an issue or capital punishment as an issue. There are a whole range of issues that ask us to think about what the sanctity of life means in those. We do, I think we have an opportunity here to think about what it really means to be pro-human life in every way, even though obviously there will be political differences about what it means. How we deliver healthcare, or how we implement justice in the justice system. All of those things, no matter what our position ends up, should be based on the understanding that all human life is sacred.

Benjamin Watson:

THE NEW FIGHT FOR LIFE: Watson said his goal is to make abortion "unthinkable and unnecessary," and an aspect to achieving that is addressing a statistic his organization found that 76% of the women they say they would prefer to parent their child if their circumstances are different.

TIM KELLER:

Biblically, Christians ought to be equally and energetically concerned about guarding the life of the unborn, about racial injustice, about the plight of the poor, and about promoting sexual morality and the health of the family. We should not have to choose among these.

BROCK BRUCE:

For the Christian abortion isn’t merely politics or power. For the Early Church it was actually the opposite of power and politics, it was about valuing every life, even the ones the powerful and political discarded.

From the beginning we were created unique in God’s creation as image bearers. We we told to be fruitful and multiply. To subdue the earth and fill it. We were given authority. Life was deemed precious and sacred. We were high priests in the temple Garden of God. We rebelled. Sin flourished. Disregard for human life was rampant. Murder and violence multiplied. God speaks from the mountain to Moses, “Do Not Murder”. Why? Because life is sacred. That sacredness and sanctity of life is a pillar of Christian faith. Jesus even tells us that if we hate a brother or sister we are guilty of murder in our hearts. The taking of innocent life is always points to the brokenness of humankind and the need for restoration and wholeness.

Scripture speaks clearly to the value and humanity of the unborn, The Psalmist writes that God formed his inward parts and fashioned him while in his mother’s womb. That he was fearfully and wonderfully made. The Prophet Jeremiah speaks the word of the LORD when he says that God knew him, called him, and appointed him as a prophet to the nations even while he was in his mother’s womb. John the Baptizer is filled with the Spirit of God while in Elizabeth’s womb. Scripture says he lept within her when Jesus in the womb of Mary entered into the room.

The Didache is one of the earliest Christian documents. It was written during or very soon after the time of Eleven Apostles. The Didache, besides the Bible, is one of our closest sources detailing the beliefs of the first Christians. It’s speaks to many issues that the early Christians, and not so early Christians, had to reckon with in life and faith. One of those issues was abortion.

The second commandment of the Didache is this:

You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child.”

Didache 2:1–2 (A.D. 70)

The sanctity of life has always been a Christian issue and belief. Politicians may have used this issue to acquire power or secure votes, but at its core, for the believer abortion is not about politics it’s about the imago dei - the image of God in humanity and our unique creation and sacredness. Life matters.

As the ESV Study Bible notes “More than merely condemning abortion and infanticide, however, early Christians provided alternatives by rescuing and adopting children who were abandoned. For instance, Callistus (d. c. A.D. 223) provided refuge to abandoned children by placing them in Christian homes, and Benignus of Dijon (3rd century) offered nourishment and protection to abandoned children, including some with disabilities caused by unsuccessful abortions.”

Scripture is clear, and the testimony and teaching of the first Christians bear witness - human life is sacred and the taking of innocent life a tragic betrayal of the beauty, design, and dignity of our Creator and of His creation - us. Life matters.

Let me also so, that while life matters and we rejoice that unrestricted abortion has been reverse, we also know that policies and programs must be in acted and supports by the church, by charities, and by the government to assist in a culture of life. Laws changed. We must support those policies and programs.

And finally, if you’re here and you’ve had an abortion, you are not my enemy. You belong here. You are not God’s enemy. You are loved. Deeply loved. You are known. You are valued. And there is hope and grace for you in Jesus.

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