Sanctity of Human Life Sunday “The Value of Life”
January 19, 2025 Psalm 139
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Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
The themed service folder brings out the idea of ‘life and light’ well enough – so that I don’t want to repeat it too much in this message. I’d rather bring out some other kinds of thoughts about the sanctity of human life. One thought is a verse from Psalm 139 that we know well: “You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Ps.139:13-14a). This speaks of the core & substance of life; if we’re going to understand & defend human life, we must think in those Psalm 139 terms.
Let’s say that a husband talks his wife into watching a movie. But after about 30 minutes she falls asleep. As the movie ends she wakes up & says, ‘what happened?’ Or a wife takes her husband to the community orchestra concert. But about 15 minutes in he nods off.
The applause at the end wakes him up. She says, ‘how did you like it?’ He says, ‘It was very relaxing.’ ‘what part did you like best?’ ‘umm, …I liked the first song.’ If we’re going to grasp the plot of a movie & explain it to others, or get anything out of a concert to share with others, we have to pay attention.
When we look at human life, to understand it =its purpose, it’s aim, & objective= it is vital that we pay attention. It’s imperative that we listen to the Creator & Giver of life; otherwise we are just guessing at what it all means. The world does not naturally know or listen to the Creator; it’s just guessing. The worldly view does not have the right core-components to figure out what this life is; or to properly conclude how important it is = that human life is eternal and accountable. It’s essential that WE do not listen to the world.
You may have noticed that the most intellectual people shape their view by what they see or what they think; so they tend to decide for themselves that there’s nothing beyond this life; the only thing that matters is here & now. We are each just a miniscule, unimportant part of the very long evolutionary chain – that always was, & has no end. To the worldly-wise, nothing really matters; WE don’t matter.
You may have noticed that many people are not satisfied with the written words of Scripture for their information; so they go searching for more data, & any data.
For example, they seek out people who have been near death, like in a coma, and who wake up & tell many stories about walking around in heaven, & seeing grandma, or making a visit to hell. You & I need to beware, & ask ourselves: why is it that for some, the word of our Creator is not enough, or good enough information about this life He made?
What DO we know about life? We do know that all of us here today are alive. (whether we’re awake or paying attention is a different issue.) The first principle of Descartes’ philosophy of human life was ‘cogito, urgo sum,’ = ‘I think, therefore I am.’ So, you ‘perceive’ that you are alive; therefore, you must have life. But that just scratches the surface: where were you before you could perceive, see, & think? And what will you be after death?
You have life, but how? Not by your choice. Life is not self-generated; not self-fabricated. And, since man cannot prevent death, so man cannot be the source of life. Man, male & female, we participate in life, but we are not the designer, or creator; we are not the source. Therefore, The Source must inform us; and if we will be wise & understanding, we must pay attention.
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When we pay attention to The Source, we learn that every life, each soul, is a gift that had its beginning from our very first parents: Adam & Eve. Adam was born of God, Eve was born out of Adam, and Eve was then correctly named, ‘the Mother of all living.’ And of this human creature, being different than all other creatures, Genesis 1 says, “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” At its core, this is human life.
Well, this was human life. Before our first parents ‘knew’ each other in that intimate, pro-creating sense, they disobeyed our Holy Creator; Adam & Eve sinned & became the source of all death. They lost that holy image-of-God, & lost their free-will. Because of man, and only because of man’s sin, death replaced life for every man, woman & child who has -or ever will- exist in this world. So man’s sin is the one & only cause of man’s damnation.
But the God-of-Life had a solution for that; one solution offered to every man, woman & child who has -or ever will- exist in this world. The solution is a new creation. So says 2Cor.5 and Romans 6: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” And who is IN Christ? All those who are buried with Him by Baptism into death, so that -then- they are joined with Christ in His resurrection for new life.
Since man is -by nature- a child of death, people are fascinated with death. Not that we like dead things, but we’re intrigued with the idea & mystery of death. We’re afraid of it; yet curious about it. It’s such a strange opposite of life that our old nature wants to examine death, explore it, make light of it, & toy with it. We’re both intrigued and afraid because it is part of our existence, but we can’t control it; & we know there’s no coming back from it. But, our sinful nature lies to us so that we might believe we can manage & direct it to our good.
This fascination & lie is why so many are drawn away into devaluing other people’s lives = that’s the attitude of terrorists, criminals & gangs, who treat others as expendable for their own purpose or entertainment. This lie regarding life & death feeds the temptation to believe that what grows in the womb is an expendable blob of cells. So, we hear some people say: ‘it’s part of my body, so I get to decide what to do with it. Even after I give birth to it.’
This attitude to devalue of human life certainly played a part in the aftermath of the covid pandemic, it’s mismanagement, & experimental vaccines that threatened & killed over a million lives in the world. Now, why would the Church care about such scientific & political issues like abortion or covid? Because the Church of God in Christ is the only one prepared to deal rightly with the living & the dying. The Church of Living Christ is the only group -in this world- equipped with the words, knowledge, & wisdom of the Creator Himself to clean up the damage that death leaves in its wake.
With His Spirit-filled Words, The Creator makes clear that each one of us, & every human soul, is cherished & loved by Him. His gift of life to us is proof of that. He tells us: “For God so loved THE WORLD, =not just part of the world, but The World= that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This means that anyone & everyone, including you, are precious in the sight of the Lord.
So much so, that He would give the life of His one & only Son to exchange your death for His life. The One who is the Way, the Truth & the Life was put to death on a cross in order to secure & restore life for you. This promise has the power to turn all souls away from the lie, the fear, & the false fascination with death, and to give a new birth of life in Jesus.
How can we rely on this promise? Because the One who rose on Easter morning declared in John 11: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
The Father, Son, &HSp loves every human soul beginning at mankind’s first parents; this is made clear to us in that Jesus of Nazareth took on a human soul; God-in-the-flesh. The love & concern for every human life is what fits with the words of Ps.139:
“For you created my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret,… Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of the came to be.”
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The Creator’s words are clear: the embryo is human life, & not a blob of cells that might develop into something other than human. What is very small or hidden to us is not hidden or unimportant to the Giver of all life. Each soul has His ultimate goal of being restored to His created image, eternally, in Christ.
40 babies are killed each day in MN; over 800 nationwide; those are reported numbers. Since abortion & the lying attitude toward human death is such a major problem in our world, so The Source of Life speaks more of His words for us. By the Spirit of God, the Psalmist, in Ps.71 declares: “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust,… from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are the one who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.”
The prophet Isaiah writes: “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: ‘I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.’”(44) The Lord God tells Jeremiah: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” Paul writes in Galatians 1: “But he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.’
Because David & Isaiah, Jeremiah & Paul are nothing more than human, those words apply to ALL humans who have the gift of life. Our Creator knows us, gives us life, and gives us a fitting assignment of being a living witness -in His world- to the grace of God in Christ which is for all the world. So it is -then- that anyone, or any gov’t law, whose attitude or action seeks to take away God’s value & purpose of any life, and seeks to use death for their own sinful purpose, sins against the Creator. ++++++++++
Even tho the first child born of Eve could’ve been the Savior, he was not; & God took His time prepare His Son’s way. Even tho the Creator did, in fact, create everything that exists in six regular 24-hr days, & rested on the 7th, so He could’ve delivered up for us His Messiah in short order. He didn’t. In His unsearchable wisdom, He called all mankind to live by faith in His promise until it was the right time.
For 4,000 yrs He repeated His promise, and He prepared a particular people to be His witnesses. All the while He was giving human life, calling to repentance, and holding out His gospel light-of-life for all. The fact that many, even whole nations of humans, ignored His promise & love is not His doing, not His fault; but their own. Those who would blame God for death, are falling for the lie, and are not paying close attention to the message from the God of Life.
Those that would blame God for their condemnation are not understanding the true cost for our sin paid on the cross by the sinless holy blood of the very Son of God. That cross is the place we go to when we have devalued our life, or the lives of others, by our daily sins & unholy thoughts, words & actions. That cross is where the forgiveness of our Savior is proclaimed again & again, so that each day we would walk in newness of life.
And IF it is for newness of life that Jesus has saved us, and IF by our Baptismal faith in Him that He has made us a new creation, THEN the true definition of human life is found in Him. And since it was in His only Son that God ‘so loved the world,’ then the promises of forgiveness & life are for all in the world. For every soul, God’s one solution for our death is in Jesus.
It is that gospel in Christ that gives a new birth to the right attitude toward human life. All souls need their Savior. That’s how our Creator informs our attitude toward others.
In Proverbs 31 he says: “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
Thru Isaiah he says: “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”(1) And thru Jeremiah: “Thus says the Lord:
‘Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.’” (22)
Human life is to be defended. So says the One who gives life, and intends that each life would bear His image, to be another witness to His mercy & forgiveness, and to His desire for every soul to live with Him forever.
This Gospel message is a wonderful movie of this world’s history; not to fall asleep to, but to pay attention to the many characters, plots & sub-plots, to see the grand vision of the Director, for our knowledge & enrichment. This Gospel in Christ is like a wonderful symphony to listen to as the Conductor directs each part to carry us along, and prepare us to rejoice in the grand finale at the end.
This is the value, purpose, & goal of human life as written for us by The Source himself.
Amen