Does Life Matter?

The question posed “does life matter” is a very important one for each of us to consider.

Before we started Genesis I was asked by some…

Is an old book like that really nessesary to teach from?

Is it even pertinent to today?

Why not preach something practical for our day and the issues we are seeing in our world?

1) My first response is Hebrews 4:12 !!!

Hebrews 4:12 NASB95

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

2) My second thought or response is that Genesis is one of the most practical portions of scripture for our day and age!

YOU AND I LIVE IN A DAY WHERE LIFE VALUE IS DETERMINED BY:

Skin Color (we have people ashamed of the color of thier skin God gave them)

Social Status

Gender or the lack there of!

Life is now valued by convienence!!!… young and old alike

Valued by ones own opinion of quality or value of life!

WHO… determines all of this?

A judge?

A supreme court or laws of the country or state?

A political party?

The majority voice of the people?

ALL OF THESE WILL CHANGE WITH THE TEMPERATURE OF MAN’S HEART, SOCIETY,

I submit to you this morning… God and God alone is the ONLY ONE who has the right and authority to determine the value of life!

He states this very clearly and in a powerful way in the passages we are looking at today… Genesis 9:1-7 & Psalm 139:1-18

Genesis 9:1–7 NASB95

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. “The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. “Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

Psalm 139:1–18 NASB95

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

Scripture’s Context

God just destroyed the entire world… all living things man and animal.

God saw the wickedness and evil and He dealt with it! God always deals with sin.

Concerned that man would have a wrong idea concerning life and that man would sin… God gives instruction. God set forth Law, Human Government and holds man accountable to Him!

God’s Instruction

Multiply and fill the earth!

Animals will fear you (survival provision)

You can now eat animals and the plants (man before was a gardner, shepherd… now he is a hunter

God establishes restrition and reverance

Life is in the blood

God’s Authority

He will hold animals accountable for taking lifeblood of man

God holds man accountable for taking lifeblood of another man

God put the fear of man in the animals and he is now putting the fear of God in man!!!

Proverbs states that a wise man lives by the fear of the Lord

God gives responsibility to man to govern …

If man takes a life… they pay with thier life

We read Genesis 9 and in our day we ask???

Does Life Matter?

Understand why we ask this question in our day… We have degraded life!!!

Since the ruling in 1973 Roe vs Wade we have seen:

Over 60 million abortions performed!

Tha is 1/5 of the current United States population!

In that same timeframe we have seen 1 million additional murders

We have made life out to be nothing of value and then we wonder why so few have any respect for it...

In the last decade we have seen a 35% increase in siucides! in one year alone we saw:

12 million had considerations or thoughts of suicide

3.5 million made plans for suicide

1.4 million attempted suicide

Over 48 thousand took thier own life!!!

We now have laws and hospitals offering assisted death!

THE RESOUNDING ANSWER TO THE QUESTION IS YES!!! YES LIFE MATTERS!!!

Why Life Matters…

GOD FORMS LIFE...

Psalm 139 states He knit you and I together… Not only did He form Adam and Eve with His hands… He still does

Consisder this:

A single sperm and the mother's egg cell meet in the fallopian tube. When the single sperm enters the egg, conception occurs. The combined sperm and egg is called a zygote.The zygote contains all of the genetic information (DNA) needed to become a baby. Half the DNA comes from the mother's egg and half from the father's sperm.

At 3 weeks and 1 day your heart begins to beat

54 million times by the time they are born

3.2 billion times in the average lifespan

The Psalmist states you and I are fearfully and wonderfully made…

Imagine looking at one God has created and telling God He made a mistake!

So many look in the mirrior and tell Him that very thing!

The intamacy involved in Life (our thoughts / His thoughts)

GOD BREATHED LIFE

We have the very breath of God, we are given a spirit (WE ARE BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT)

You and I are so much more than the animals

We Are IN GOD’S IMAGE

Genesis 9:6 the reason is you and I are created in the image of God

God reminds Noah of this… man forgets so easily

Mankind is created in the Image of God… to take a life one is accountable to God

This is an attack on Him!

If one holds that loose to life there will be consequences

Not only from God but now from other men… government!

Sin has consequences!!!

Finally if for no other reason… GOD SAYS!

God has given us His Word

In His Word we also see this for all sinners…Acts 3:14-15 & John 14:6

Acts 3:14–15 NLT

You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!

John 14:6 NLT

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Enter into a relationship with Jesus and see what it is to truly live!