What Does the Bible Say About Human Life?

FOUNDATIONS – SERMON 2

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT HUMAN LIFE?

INTRODUCTION:

86.

THAT’S THE APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF ABORTIONS PERFORMED EVERY MINUTE IN THE WORLD TODAY.

ACCORDING TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, EVERY YEAR IN THE WORLD THERE ARE AN ESTIMATED 40-50 MILLION ABORTIONS.

THIS CORRESPONDS TO APPROXIMATELY 125,000 ABORTIONS PER DAY.

5208 ABORTIONS PER HOUR.

86 ABORTIONS PER MINUTE.

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT AT LEAST IN THE UNITED STATES, THE ABORTION TREND SEEMS TO BE ON THE DECLINE.

BUT WE CANNOT REST UNTIL THAT TREND IS AT ZERO.

WHAT ARE SOME WAYS WE CAN HELP THIS BECOME A REALITY?

WELL, FOR STARTERS, YOU CAN GET ONE OF THESE BOTTLES AND FILL IT WITH LOOSE CHANGE, OR LOOSE DOLLARS, OR A LOOSE CHECK IN ANY AMOUNT TO SUPPORT TO WORK OF OASIS MEDICAL CENTER IN CORINTH, MS.

WE WANT TO BRING THEM BACK BY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3RD, AT WHICH TIME WE WILL PRAY OVER THEM AND ASK GOD TO USE THEM TO IMPACT LIVES THROUGH THIS GREAT MINISTRY.

GENESIS, CHAPTERS 1 AND 2 RECORD THE CREATION ACCOUNT FOR US TO READ.

THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT OF CREATION HAS BECOME, AT BEST, LESS POPULAR TODAY, AND AT WORST, THE SUBJECT OF RIDICULE.

BUT BE THAT AS IT MAY, THE TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW HOLDS TO THE TRUTH THAT GOD CREATED EVERYTHING.

AND THAT HE GREATLY VALUES HUMAN LIFE.

THEREFORE, CHRISTIANS SHOULD SHARE THAT SAME VALUE.

SO LET ME TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO UNPACK OUR TEXT FOR THIS MORNING AND SHARE WITH YOU SOME TRUTHS THAT COMMUNICATE WHERE WE SHOULD STAND AS CHRIST-FOLLOWERS.

HERE IN GENESIS, CHAPTER 1, WE ARE TAUGHT SEVERAL TRUTHS ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS.

1. WE ARE CREATED.

a. :27A – 27 SO GOD CREATED MAN…

b. WE ARE NOT THE PRODUCT OF EVOLUTION.

c. THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW DOES NOT ADHERE TO THE TEACHINGS OF EVOLUTION.

i. BECAUSE EVOLUTIONARY THEORY DENIES THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.

1. WE BELIEVE IN GOD AS THE UNCAUSED CAUSE OF EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS.

ii. EVOLUTION LEAVES EVERYTHING TO CHANCE.

iii. AND TO BE QUITE HONEST, THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW REALLY DOESN’T ADHERE TO THE CONCEPT OF CHANCE IN ANY SITUATION.

iv. BECAUSE THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW POSITION IS THAT GOD, IN HIS SOVEREIGNTY, AND THROUGH HIS PROVIDENTIAL ACTIVITY, CREATED EVERYTHING.

d. AND GOD CREATED YOU.

i. – 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.

ii. WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM ?

1. LET ME SHARE A FEW THINGS AND THEN I WANT EXPAND ON ONE OF THEM.

a. WE LEARN THAT GOD IS ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN THE PROCESS KNOWN AS PREGNANCY.

b. WE LEARN THAT HE KNEW US BEFORE WE WERE CONCEIVED. (V15-16)

c. WE LEARN THAT HE KNOWS THE NUMBER OF OUR DAYS. (V16)

2. GOING BACK TO THIS IDEA THAT GOD IS ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN THE PROCESS KNOWN AS PREGNANCY.

a. THAT STATEMENT BEGS THE QUESTION, WHAT ABOUT CHILDREN WHO ARE BORN WITH BIRTH DEFECTS?

b. IF GOD IS ACTIVELY INVOLVED, DOES HE THEN CAUSE THOSE BIRTH DEFECTS?

i. THIS IS ONE OF THE HARDEST REALITIES TO DEAL WITH, AND I WANT TO BE SENSITIVE TO THOSE WHO MAY HAVE EXPERIENCE IN THIS AREA.

iii. THE SCRIPTURE EXPLAINS TO US, NOT ONLY HERE IN , BUT ALSO IN OTHER PASSAGES, THAT GOD DOES INDEED HAVE A HAND IN OUR FORMATION.

iv. MANY OF YOU REMEMBER THAT MOSES, THE GREAT DELIVERER OF ISRAEL, HAD DIFFICULTY SPEAKING.

e. – 10 BUT MOSES SAID TO THE LORD, “OH, MY LORD, I AM NOT ELOQUENT, EITHER IN THE PAST OR SINCE YOU HAVE SPOKEN TO YOUR SERVANT, BUT I AM SLOW OF SPEECH AND OF TONGUE.” 11 THEN THE LORD SAID TO HIM, “WHO HAS MADE MAN’S MOUTH? WHO MAKES HIM MUTE, OR DEAF, OR SEEING, OR BLIND? IS IT NOT I, THE LORD?

f. AS I WAS PREPARING THIS MESSAGE, I READ AN ARTICLE BY A YOUNG WOMAN WHO HAD MORE THAN HER FAIR SHARE OF EXPERIENCE IN THIS AREA.

i. HER OLDER SISTER WAS BORN WITH A CHROMOSOMAL DEFECT THAT LEFT HER SEVERELY DISABLED.

ii. LATER, SHE HERSELF ENDURED A PREGNANCY WHEREIN HER SON WAS DIAGNOSED WITH A CHROMOSOMAL DEFECT.

1. HER SISTER LIVED FOR 27 YEARS, BUT HER SON DIED BEFORE HIS BIRTH.

2. BUT AS SHE TELLS OF HER EXPERIENCE, WHAT IS EVIDENT IS THAT GOD DID USE BOTH OF THESE SITUATIONS FOR GOOD AND FOR HIS GLORY.

a. SHE WITNESSED HER MOTHER CARE FOR HER DISABLED SISTER WITH GOD-HONORING LOVE.

b. AND THEN LATER, AFTER DEALING WITH A SIMILAR SITUATION, SHE WROTE THIS ARTICLE ABOUT SUFFERING AND ABOUT THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

g. AND HER STORY REMINDS US THAT NOT ONLY IS GOD ACTIVE IN THE PROCESS OF PREGNANCY, BUT HE IS THERE TO PROVIDE COMFORT TO THOSE WHO EXPERIENCE SUFFERING, AND HE DESIRES TO USE OUR SUFFERING FOR HIS GLORY.

h. WE ARE NOT THE PRODUCT OF CHANCE, WE ARE THE CREATION OF GOD…

i. AND THOUGH WE SOMETIMES EXPERIENCE TRAGEDY, EVEN IN THE WONDER OF CHILDBIRTH, WE ARE CREATED TO SERVE AND TO GLORIFY GOD.

j. WE ARE CREATED…

2. WE ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

a. :27B – 27 SO GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE…

b. WE SHARE THE LIKENESS OF OUR FATHER.

c. BECAUSE OF THIS, WE UNDERSTAND THAT HUMAN BEINGS ARE DISTINCT FROM ALL THE OTHER CREATURES CREATED BY GOD.

i. WE ARE THE ONLY CREATURES WITH A SOUL.

ii. WE ARE THE ONLY CREATURES WHO POSSESS A LONGING FOR ETERNITY.

iii. WE ARE THE ONLY CREATURES WHO CAN KNOW GOD INTIMATELY.

iv. AND WE ARE THE ONLY CREATURES WHO CAN EXPERIENCE THE FORGIVENESS AND REDEMPTION THAT CHRIST PROVIDES.

v. WE POSSESS CREATIVITY, AND INTELLIGENCE; WE HAVE THE CAPACITY TO APPRECIATE BEAUTY, AND WE HAVE A MORAL COMPASS THAT OTHER CREATURES DO NOT POSSESS.

1. WE UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG.

vi. BECAUSE ONLY HUMAN BEINGS ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

vii. AND SO BECAUSE WE ARE CREATED, AND WE ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD…

3. HUMAN LIFE IS OF GREAT VALUE TO GOD, AND THEREFORE, SHOULD BE OF GREAT VALUE TO CHRISTIANS.

a. CHRISTIANS SHOULD STAND AGAINST ABORTION, INFANTICIDE, SENOCIDE, AND EUTHANASIA OR ASSISTED SUICIDE.

b. BECAUSE THESE PRACTICES ARE INCONSISTENT WITH THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW.

i. BUT, WE MUST BE INTENTIONAL IN SHOWING LOVE TO THOSE WHO ARE CONNECTED TO THESE ACTIVITIES.

ii. MANY PEOPLE LIVE WITH THE EMOTIONAL PAIN OF ABORTION.

1. AND THEY NEED TO KNOW THAT GOD’S LOVE IS STILL AVAILABLE TO THEM.

2. WE CHRISTIANS DO A VERY GOOD JOB AT DEFINING WHAT WE ARE AGAINST, BUT WE OFTEN DO A VERY POOR JOB RECOGNIZING THAT THE ISSUES WE ARE CONFRONTING INVOLVE PEOPLE.

a. PEOPLE WHO ARE LOVED BY GOD, AND VALUED BY HIM.

b. PEOPLE FOR WHOM CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS.

i. PEOPLE WHO NEED TO HEAR THE GOSPEL.

c. SOME CHRISTIANS STATE THEIR POSITIONS, POST THOSE POSITIONS ON SOCIAL MEDIA, AND INSURE THAT EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT THEY STAND AGAINST, WITHOUT EVER ENGAGING OTHERS WITH THE ONLY SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS FACING SOCIETY.

i. THE TRUTH IS THIS: WE WILL NEVER SOLVE THE PROBLEMS IN THE CULTURE, UNTIL THE HEARTS OF PEOPLE ARE CAPTURED BY THE LOVE OF CHRIST.

ii. GOD VALUES PEOPLE, NOT POSITIONS.

iii. CHRIST DIED FOR PEOPLE, NOT FOR POSITIONS.

d. AND SO THE REASON THAT WE, AS CHRISTIANS, PLACE A HIGH VALUE ON HUMAN LIFE IS THAT GOD PLACES A HIGH VALUE ON HUMAN LIFE.

e. THE REASON WE ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO REJECT ABORTION, AND INFANTICIDE, AND ALL THOSE OTHER THINGS I LISTED EARLIER, IS THAT WE ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, AND NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCE, GOD WANTS TO USE US FOR HIS GLORY, AND FOR THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL.

CONCLUSION:

SO LET’S REVIEW:

- WE ARE CREATED…

o WE ARE NOT SOME RANDOM ACCIDENT.

o WE ARE NOT HER BY CHANCE...

o WE DO NOT EXIST BECAUSE OF NATURAL SELECTION, WE EXIST BECAUSE OF DIVINE SELECTION.

o GOD SELECTED YOU, HE LOVES YOU, AND HE WANTS TO KNOW YOU.

- WE ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD…

o WE ARE UNIQUE IN CREATION.

o THERE IS NO OTHER CREATURE THAT POSSESSES THE SAME ATTRIBUTES THAT HUMANS POSSESS.

- AND THEREFORE HUMAN LIFE IS OF GREAT VALUE TO GOD.

AND GOD PROVED THE HIGH VALUE HE PLACES ON HUMAN LIFE BY SENDING JESUS TO BECOME THE REDEMPTIVE SACRIFICE FOR EVERY MAN, WOMAN, BOY, AND GIRL.

AND TODAY, YOU CAN KNOW THE GOD WHO CREATED YOU, IN A PERSONAL WAY, BECAUSE OF THIS GREAT SACRIFICE.