Message from Jan. 19th 2020 - National Sanctity of Life Sunday
Today is “National Sanctity of Life” Sunday
It started in in 1984 as a response to abortion being made legal throughout our Country
Its a day when Churches around the Country celebrate the gift of life that God has given us, and renounce the evils of abortion
I realize the weightiness of this topic, so were going to walk carefully this morning.
To help us understand this better, were going to look at two specific sections of Scripture.----- so on the back of your bulletins you'll find 2 “primary verses”
Primary Verses this morning:
Genesis 1:26-27 → → → 26 “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Psalm 139:13-16 → → → 13 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
(→ → Opening Prayer ← ← )
BODY
What gives life value, or worth?
Ok, so first, Genesis 1. We have been made in the image of God
We humans are only a few days younger than the universe, and right at our creation, God sets a precedent.
The God who pre-existed the universe, who created reality, chose to create a number of different things
He creates light
Earth and sky
He creates suns and stars
He creates water and atmosphere and ozone
He creates plants and trees and seeds
Fish, and birds, insects and animals
He creates everything in all of reality
Every element on the periodic table
Every planet, galaxy, star, etc etc etc
Then, He creates humans. And out of everything in all of reality that He chose to create, humans are the only thing created in His image.
Humans who:
Have a body containing roughly 30trillion cells. Each one of those 30 trillion cells, is a mini-chemical factory which performs about 10,000 different chemical functions, and one trillion bits of data.
Humans whose brains:
Have roughly 86 billion neurons (cells specific for giving out information) which are connected to 120 trillion “connection boxes” which then send out the signals to various parts of the body.
Humans whose hearts:
Beat around 80times a minute, transporting our blood through 60,000 miles of veins and blood vessels.
Humans whose individual DNA cells:
Contain so much information… that it would require over 1.5 million pages.
All of this biological intricacy, is simply the signature of the artist who created us.
We have been fearfully and wonderfully made
He made us that way, biologically, because of how He made us “soulfully”
You see us being made in His image, means our spiritual self can be active in ways in which He is active:
We have emotions
We think
We can use logic
We can reason
We can create
We can feel
We can make choices
We can receive love
And we can give love
All of those those things put together, our physical self being divinely intricate, and our soul-ish self being representative of Him; is a glimpse of what it means to be made in His image.
That is the precedent that He sets.
When God made humanity, He created beings of inherent value that would represent Him in our world.
Human life has value and worth because it is representative of God.
If God didn’t create us, but instead we were the descendants of walking fish
The only value that would be present with us, would be instrumental & external value
That means, that the value of our life would be directly related to our behavior, actions, and relationships.
If we do bad things, our life would have less worth
If we do good things, our life would have more worth
Some people’s lives would be worth more than others
And some people’s lives would have less worth
People with healthy important relationships, would have lives that were worth more than people who didnt.
The lives of stronger, smarter people would be worth more than the weaker and less intelligent people
Thank God that evolution is fake.
Us being made in the image of God, means
Every human ever, has a concrete, immovable, foundational level of value and worth
It can’t be taken away, it can’t be lessened
It’s not based on our:
Gender//Race//Age ---we have seen this throughout History, right?
Level of maturity
Level of intellect
Who our parents were or how they concieved us
What family we came from
What job we have or if were a productive member of society
Its not based on our mentality functioning correctly
Its not based on our physical bodies functioning correctly
We have value and worth that isn’t based on anything in this world, so...nothing in this world can have an impact on it.
Our life has value and meaning and worth, because we have been made in the image of the most valuable, meaningful, and worthy Being in all of reality. (x2)
We have been made, in the image of God
Second → → Our life begins at Conception.
(Summary of being made in His image - our physical self, and our soul-ish self, and their combination)
I’d like to reread those few verses in Psalm139:
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
God is present, and active in the creation of a child.
Precisely because Life begins at conception
When a man and woman come together, within the bounds of holy matrimony, there are 3 souls intertwining in a divine orchestra.
They are reflecting the life creating nature of the trinity
It is there where life is created
It is there where the image of God is woven into the very essence of a human.
Regardless of why that child was created;
If they were planned by the parents, or a surprise to them
If their parents wanted them or not
That child’s life begins at conception, and is an image bearer of God
Regardless of how that child was created
If one of those parents were forced into the creation of the child unwillingly….
If a doctor in a laboratory brought together the elements necessary, and a human was conceived….
Regardless of every circumstance in all of reality, that can, has, or will ever happen; a human life, made in the image of God, is created at the moment of conception; and that life has value, meaning, and worth.
These are hard things to talk about, they are weighty issues that pull upon our hearts and minds and compel us in a number of directions. I understand. But one more thing needs to be said in regards to that before I move on.
Life……..which can only come from God…….with it beginning at conception……. totally and completely undermines any unnatural or evil way in which a child can be conceived. Every manner in which a human life can be created, needs to appeal to the system that God Himself created.
So no matter how that child’s life came into existence, “life being present” gives glory to God, and shames our enemy.
Genesis 50:20 says “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good”
Life begins at conception.
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This is an important topic
It causes discomfort and anxiety
It splits friends and governments and families
It causes hearts to cry, laws to pass, emotions to swirl, tears to fall, and in some cases, this topic has moved people to murder those they disagree with
Its like this, because of what Ephesians 6:12 says
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Abortion is a not political issues.
It is not a campaign stance or a set of laws.
Abortion is not health care.
It is a result of spiritual warfare of the highest degree
And this is not new or unique
There are numerous Bible verses where God’s anger is stoked because of the fathers and mothers who “cause their children to pass through the fire”
There are also numerous instances outside of the Bible as well
The ancient Greeks had a specific hill where unwanted children were aborted
The Romans would leave their unwanted babies on city streets to be picked up by slavers or dogs
And modern day humans use medical instruments
Through all of this, Christians fought against it.
Not by sword and shield --- because our enemies arent flesh and blood
But by prayer and love put into action
They started adoption agencies
They created the concept of an orphanage
The stereotype of a mother leaving her child at the steps of a Church-----was a real practice. So much so, that Monasteries and Convents of the ancient world, created specific drop-boxes for unwanted children.
They did this, because prior to it, the Christians in ancient Rome would walk through the city to try and find the discarded babies before they died or were picked up by slavers.
This is a fight that Christians have always been engaged in.
It is a fight that the people of God have always fought, because of who it is we fight against:
When those verses in Ephesians say we wage war against the powers and principalities of this present darkness, it means we are fighting against the literal forces of evil in this world.
And those forces of evil will always attack those who are made in the image of God.
Because WE, our bodies, our minds, our hearts, WE as humans, are the theater of war where the devil wages war against our God.
Those attacks look like things we see all the time:
A person is treated like an object
A person’s worth or value is determined by anything external to them
When drug abuse rips its way into a person’s heart and body
When someone is used for their body
When depression lays its icy hands on someone’s heart and mind
When a person is treated like an outcast
When the path that we have walked in this life, leaves us feeling broken, beaten, and hopeless
When all we see is despair
When all we feel is hurt and pain
When our emotions are stepped on
When who we are as a person is treated like garbage
When a child is abandoned
When a mother is abused
When a baby is torn from the safety of her mother’s womb
The devil is at work
When these things happen to us, and when these things happen to those around us;
-when a life is treated like its worthless
-when medical emergencies pull on our hearts and cloud the value of life
Do we simply have to vote for the right person?
There is only one way we can turn for hope
There is only one way we can turn for peace
-when our culture celebrates the death of the unborn
-when the governments of man allow and encourage it.
-When life at its at its most innocent and vulnerable is treated worthless,
-when the lives of our loved ones are treated like they have no value
-when we are surrounded by pain and hurt and death there is one single option for hope.
His name is Jesus Christ
It is through a personal relationship with Him, that lives are changed
It is through a personal relationship with Him that we are able to escape the sins of our past
It is through a personal relationship with Him that cultures change
We cant vote away evil
Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, His sacrifice upon the cross, is the only hope for us individually.
The only hope for us as a Church
The only hope for us as a country
Him and Him alone can conquer evil
Forgiveness can only come from Him
Forgiveness from our sin
Forgiveness for the abortion Dr
Forgiveness for the mother who made the choice
It is only through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that we as image bearers of God can have impact against the evils of this world.
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So what do we do about it?
What can we as Christians, those who have repented of our sins, those of us who have said that prayer, have asked God for forgiveness, those of us who God has chosen to live within….what can we do?
We know this battle isn’t physical
We know that killing people is not what God calls of us
So what do we do? → → How do we apply this to our life?
The words of 2nd Corinthians 5:16-21 tell us:
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Call up the Worship team
That is what we do:
We tell people about Jesus Christ
We live as an example of His love
We treat people like their life matters----regardless of their choices or their lifestyle
We treat people like they are an image bearer of God, even if we disagree with them
We follow the commands of Matthew 22:37-38 which says “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
We are called to love God with everything about us.
Our emotions, our feelings, our behavior, our lifestyle.
and
We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves;
Our neighbors employed by the abortion clinics…
Our neighbors who have had abortions....
And our neighbors who live within the safety of their mother’s womb.
Because only the love of God, flowing through the lives of His Church, can end the genocide of the unborn.
Closing prayer