"Consecrated, Set Apart for a Purpose"

 “Consecrated, Set Apart for a Purpose” Genesis 1:26-31; Ps 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:4-5 Bill Emmerling, Gallup Christian Church, 2019 01 20 Introduction Today is what is known as “Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.” In 1984, Ronald Regan declared the 3rd Sunday of January as “Sanctity of Human Life Sunday,” being the closest Sunday to the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. To which we might question, “Why are we making a point to observe this day?” “Why is Bill dedicating time and a sermon to this topic?” This isn’t a day found in the Bible, why draw attention to it? I chose to draw attention to the “Sanctity of Human Life” because it is a crucial, Biblical topic. It is a topic which brings glory to God and emphasizes why Humans have dignity at all. Frankly, the Bible only makes sense if we understand the importance and value of Human life, and it ultimately determines how we treat one another. However, as we begin this journey we have a decision to make. Are we willing to accept God’s Word as authoritative? Are we willing to accept it as He has given it to us? This is very much an “all or nothing” decision. God gave this same decision to the nation of Israel in the wilderness. “Choose this day whom you will serve.” “Will you choose life or death?” Should we accept His Word as the final authority, we need to uncover what God has to say about this. And we will begin where every good story begins, “In the beginning…” Mankind is Different (Genesis 1:26-31; 001) 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. … 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Reading through Genesis chapter 1 reads as if there is a crescendo and an increase in tempo. God begins with nothing, gradually building environments and occupants of this new world. Increasing in complexity and importance. Until He reaches verse 26, as which point you could image in your mind’s eye, the conductors hand outstretched and upward, emphasizing this is the greatest part of creation week. Nothing in all of creation has been made in the “Image of God” to this point. Only MANKIND is made in the ‘image of God,’ expressly given dominion (rule, authority, responsibility) over the rest of creation. None of the fish, birds, livestock and creeping things even compare to being made in the image of God. In verse 31, it is all declared “very good.” It is unclear whether the creation of Man in God’s Image is enough to declare it very good, or whether this refers to all of creation. However, the bottom line is that it is “very good.” And the conductor’s arm comes down. Now, before we think this is unimportant, consider the following references: Gen 5 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man [A’dam] when they were created. And after the flood: Gen 9 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6  “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. God makes it clear that Mankind is different from the rest of all creation. He makes it clear that Mankind has value BECAUSE Mankind is made in God’s image. Wonderfully Designed (Psalm 139:13-16; 522) 13  For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15  My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16  Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Amid perhaps King David’s greatest psalm, a psalm which describes YHWH’s intimate and complete knowledge of David (and ourselves), we find this description, the description of God’s intricate actions and knowledge of David’s formation in the womb of His mother. More than that, even David’s days are foreknown, recorded in YHWH’s records. While YHWH certainly knows (foreknows) the lives of all other creatures, the formation of no other creatures is described like this in Scripture. From the conception of the baby/fetus (Latin: offspring), Humans are considered precious and valuable. If we question this, consider when Gabriel visited Mary and she was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and conceived. At what point did that fetus/baby become Jesus? Formed for a Purpose (Jeremiah 1:4-5; 627) 4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Consider the wonders of this statement: BEFORE God formed Jeremiah, HE knew Jeremiah and set him apart for his mission as a prophet. No other create as a kind is set apart like this. And before we think this is just Jeremiah who was set apart, God said similar things to and through Isaiah and Paul. Paul stated in Galatians 1:15: 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, Simply consider what we read from Ephesians 1:3-14 last week: we were chosen before the foundation of the world, predestined for adoption. The GREAT I AM did not simply start the universe spinning, Mankind included, and walk off. NO, He specifically made Mankind in God’s image to accomplish God’s purposes. EACH of us has been carefully called, set aside, to glorify Him by accomplishing what He has called us to do. What Does This Mean? How Does This Affect Us? Often, “Sanctity of Human Life” is associated with abortion. Yet, the implications of the “Sanctity of Human Life” range far and wide. Our ultimate value comes from being made in God’s Image. If we are, as evolution states, only evolved animals, no different except that we are at the ‘top of the food chain,’ than we can expect that those who are taught that they are animals to act like animals. We have only to look to the Nazi Government of Germany in the 1930s and 40’s, the communist governments of Russia, Chine, North Korea, etc. We have only to look to the streets of Los Angeles, New York and Gallup. These issues range from Abortion to cloning to stem cell research, and euthanasia (end of life issues), sexual identity, and justice. It affects reproductive technologies and government policy. Listening to Al Mohler on “The Briefing” this week he noted the world view issues to which Christians must speak regarding reproduction: gene editing, uterus transplants and three (or more) biological parents, all of which were addressed by TIME magazine recently. We cannot be silent on these issues, and frankly, when we head to the polls, the value of human life should be our litmus test for candidates, because that determines how they will make policy affecting HUMANS. Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany adamantly adhered to Darwinian Evolution, believing the stronger was more valuable. They practiced abortion, euthanasia, experimented on live human beings in cruel and inhuman ways. These issues where considered at the time to be abhorrent and were a large part why we entered the war. This is why we saw their actions as evil. Yet, today Holland which was occupied by Germany, found their actions abhorrent, now voluntarily practice the same things the Nazi forced on them. And before we think we cannot go there ourselves, consider Ireland. In 1983, 67% of Irish voters REJECTED amending their constitution to allow abortion. In December 2018, just 35 years later, Ireland voted to ALLOW abortion on their island nation. Culturally, as a nation, are we really all that different from Nazi Germany or communist Russia? Not really, because here in the USA, we are aborting 600,000-800,000 babies each year. Further, you may recall Christopher Reeves (the 1980’s Superman) fell from a horse and experienced a catastrophe back injury, paralyzed from the neck down. In response to his back injury, he became one of the most-high profile advocates for embryonic stem cell research, which takes stem cells from aborted babies. Without understanding that God determines our value as persons, we are left with the perspective that humans, pre-born or otherwise, are simply animals without special value, and the ends justifies the means regarding medical research or even the harvesting of organs from prisoners for other “more valuable or productive” individuals (which has been documented in communist China). As a society and culture, as a people, we have rejected God. We have rejected the authority of God’s word. We have denied that we are made in His Image, and therefore have His dignity and value. Without this, no one has value beyond what is beneficial to society. Once we have cease to have value to others, take them out. Yet, God says our value comes from HIM and HIM alone. How are we to respond/apply This may seem like a bleak picture. Admittedly, the situation is quite serious. Mistreating those made in God’s image is an assault on God Himself. It is sin and a result of sin. While sin of any kind is rebellion against God, God has made a way for our rebellion to be forgiven, though it is not without cost. It cost Him his Son, Jesus, and will cost us our lives as we give them back to God. Yet forgiveness is available to us, regardless of the nature of the sin. Through Jesus, we can be made right with the God who made us, allowing us to spend eternity with Him. We simply need to hear this good news, believe this good news, repent (that is turn away) of sinful actions and identify with Jesus death, burial and resurrection through baptism. Whatever our sins may have been: abortion, euthanasia, mistreating someone else, whatever, we find forgiveness in Jesus. Further, as individual Christians and as the Church, we must not allow our faith to be privatized. Is it personal? By all means, we serve a personal God! Yet, our relationship with Him must change the way we view the world, changing the way we relate to and act in the sinful world around us. We must stand up for the innocent, for those without a voice, all of those made in God’s Image: those in the womb, being bullied at school, developmentally challenged, sitting in nursing homes or in prisons. In standing for the least of these we are imitating Jesus, as he came for us, we are called to be there for them. Hymn: MONITOR—Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated (vs 1,2,3,4)