Sanctity of Human Life

Psalm 8

Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Good morning. I just wanted to hear someone say that to me so much. That was great. Thank you. Um, we just sang our last song that we sang, I believe in God, the father, I believe in the three and one, anybody know where that comes from the apostles creed. Yeah. That song is taken from the apostles creed.

And, uh, it was a joy to sing that with you all this morning, the Apostle’s creed is the one of the earliest statements that was put together after the Ascension of Christ into heaven, as a statement of what does the church believe. And it’s a statement that will sometimes read around here. And today we did that in song.

We’re going to be joining. With the church, the ancient church of Jesus Christ today, and something we’re going to be looking at. And today uniquely, um, you may know, this may not is called sanctity of human life Sunday. And there are churches that we are partnering with on this day and our nation to celebrate the importance of every human life.

The sanctity of human life is a topic that informs how we do missions. How, uh, we, we work with the underrepresented, how we treat one another, how we understand how God views us and what is our relationship with the unborn. As we do. So, and go into this, this weekend. We’ve we’ve, if you’re not familiar with fellowship, we’ve had a thinking like a Christian seminar and, um, have had a couple of few different topics that we talked about going into there.

And then because today landed on sanctity of human life. Sunday are also going to be talking about the unborn, um, as well as some other things. And so just know this is, uh, it’s not always easy to talk about these things, but we want to teach the whole counsel of God and believe that he deals with this.

And so we are dealing with this this morning. So a couple of things I want to say, as we begin, it’s hard to talk about this topic because it has become so violent, angry, and divided and politicized. There are people in this room that will not agree with my perspective. And my genuine hope is that you will not feel disrespected or misrepresented.

Second, this is not impersonal. It is not a topic for many people in this room. It’s not a topic. It’s not a discussion or an intellectual conversation. It’s your family. It’s your story. When we talk about abuse of people, when we talk about abortion, when we talk about, uh, what is it like to welcome the alien in our midst, this is your story.

There’s going to be triggers this morning. My prayer is that while we do want to speak into this, because we believe our God deals with. But please know that you are seeing that my desire is that you would know that you are seen and known this morning and God willing, personally represented in some of the points that we are going to make, how we’re going to do this.

Um, pastor mark shared on Friday night throughout the seminar, that that there’s been different theological conversations happening in within Christianity at different time touch points in church history. And he went back and looked at a few of different, um, discussions that have happened, become the hot bed topics, uh, throughout moments of church history.

And, um, leading to asking the question, what’s the hot bed topic of this moment in our history, uh, things that we even talked about over the weekend, but his argument, which I agree with him is that it’s circling the same drain and that’s on the issue of anthropology. The study of humanity, that what is, what does God say about humanity?

So as we enter in this morning, we’re going to try to draw a broader theological understanding and then narrow down of how God views people. And then we’ll narrow down to application from there, but here simply if you’re a big idea person, this is my big idea. This morning, the way Jesus looked at people should change all of our relationships simply speaking.

And this was the theme that came out of this weekend is we want to have first Corinthians two 16, the mind of Christ and understanding how Jesus looks at Peter. Should inform and change all of our relationships. I’m going to read Psalm chapter eight, a backbone theology of Jesus, and then we’ll pray together.

Psalm chapter 8, 4 20 in your pew Bibles. If you have that or it’s on the screen as well. Oh Lord our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth? Hey, you good looking people over here. Okay. Most of you, um, all you remember that burst. Oh Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name and all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens out of the mouths of babes and infants.

You have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the Avenger. When I look to the heavens and work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him. Yet you have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory.

And honor, you have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and beasts of the fields, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea. Okay. Now you overhear better looking people. Um, you remember this last verse?

What’d ya? You guys. I got no hope for, so the end. Oh Lord. Our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth? Pray with me,

father. Will you please be personally close to each in this room? I ask you Lord. Yes. We’re going to talk theology. Yes. We’re going to look hopefully deep into the eyes of your son Christ and allow that to inform how we see everything else. But in the midst of that, what is it in Genesis? The name you receive that you are the God who sees every single life in here has a lot of story more than I can see as I preach.

Please remind each life listening here, online that you see them dearly. Even as we talk on these difficult things in Jesus name. Amen. We want to have the mind of Christ. First question. What does Jesus see when he looks at all creation, let’s start with all creation. What does Jesus see when he looks at all creation?

First, our collagen’s opened the, we opened the thinking like a Christian with these verses this weekend and want to punctuate them again. This is verses about Christ and the collage in church. They had a diminishing view of Jesus. Jesus was getting small in their view. And Paul writes this letter and says, you want to shrink Jesus.

Let me tell you who this Jesus is. And Colossians one 15 to 18. He says these words about Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn among creation for, by him. All things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or dominions or authorities, all things were created through him.

And for him. And he is before all things and in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. What does Jesus see when he looks at the expanse of creation? Number one, he sees the big, he sees the, the, the extent of all of creation in his preeminence verse 16 and 17 informed that God, Sarah, the Christ sees and holds together that he is the person of the Godhead that was used to create the expanse.

If you take a coffee mug, regular sized coffee mug, and if you took our whole solar system, seemed by know the name of our solar system. Do we have a solar system named Hank Hank, our solar system. I don’t know. You take a whole solar system and, and knock it down to the size of a coffee cup. Okay. Coffee cup.

And you took our whole galaxy, which has a name, the right you like candy bars. Got you. Okay. So the whole Milky way and took it down to the same scale. Our solar system we’ve shrunk down our solar system, new coffee Cub. The same scale for our galaxy Milky way would be the north American continent. Right.

We see some Christ sees the big, he also sees the small. That is not just expanse, but the small Matthew six, that he knows every hair on our head while Psalm 47 says he calls each star by name, take a, take your finger. And just give me a little circle. Just so you got about one inch, one, one square inch of a skin.

You’re looking at 9 million feet of DNA you are looking at in that square inch of skin. He sees the big he sees and holds together, acts 17 in him. We live and move and have our being the small he sees. We see in this passage of Colassians the unseen. He sees things that are seen, that we all can see, but he also sees the unseen, the mode of the insecurity, the hope, the fear, the hurt, the opportunity.

The material and the immaterial are not hidden from his sight. He sees the then and the, now he sees all of this, and this is what Paul is talking about this expanse. So a den begs a question. If Jesus sees creates values, loves has invested himself into all of this. What does he see in people? This is a question that, um, poets in the scripture have asked.

What has he see in people job seven 17 Psalms 1 44, 7. Very similar to the same question we have in our text, Psalm eight, four, where very simple. The Psalmist says in light of all this, when I look at your starting in three, when I look at the heavens the work of your fingers, the moon, and all the stars you’ve set in place.

Verse four, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him and this realizing all that he sees, what does he see in people believe this Psalm eight’s the backbone theology of how Christ did minister, how Christ does minister today? What is Christ? Secondly, second question.

So what does Christ see in people? Number one, he, he has given people to be the established. Of his praise, the establishes of his praise early on in the passage, you seen you set the glory among the heavens, but out of the mouths of babes, you have established your phrase, actually nursing children should right.

Not, not a child who is able to contribute to the world, not a child. Who’s, who’s able to even have a consciousness of who God is. Did Jesus die on the cross? Write from the very lips of babes that the establishment of praise, although it exists throughout creation is uniquely given to people. No other being in all of creation is responsible to establish God’s praise.

Like people, it says in the new Testament. If people do not give him praise, what will. The rocks will cry out, but it’s not the Rock’s responsibility. It might get too. If people don’t give praise, he says, if they’re quiet, but no, the responsibility, the calling, the ones that establish the worth of God in creation more than any other creatures people.

That’s why it’s a big deal. When a person worships the living, God, if you go on CNN money and you look at different stock market things, right, you can see green arrows pointing up or red arrows pointing down. And, um, if you, some of you are big into the stock market, I have like really, really, really tiny investments.

The kind that I’m not going to say out loud because it’s embarrassing, but let’s just say that when I put a little bit of investment. You’re not going to go on and see that green arrow start really pointing up. Whoa, Ben’s cashing in, right. Or, or the red arrow going down. Ben’s got a big influx. No. Cause my, my pennies don’t have a big influence on the expanse of the stock market.

A while ago, Warren buffet pumped $5 billion into bank of America, giant bank of America, and immediately a stock rose 23 or 24%. Why? Because when Warren buffet pulls out his wallet, something big happens when Warren buffet pulls out his wallet, people take notice he has an influence due to the size and ability of his resources and his respected intellect.

He is an influencer of the stock. You dear people and everyone that you have ever met. Uniquely in all of creation, including the expanse of the heavens have been given the beautiful needle, moving green arrow, influencing power of establishing the glory of God. Secondly, he has set people over his creation.

Now, if you know yourself pretty well and you know, other people pretty well, you know, that you think, wow, you know, they’re, I’m not sure we’re always the best managers may. Maybe we’re not the best keepers of his creation. Maybe we’re not going to do the best job. It has not stopped your God from giving this responsibility to people.

Unlike anyone else. It says right here in this passage, you have given him dominion over the works of your hands and put all things under his feet that is not talking about God, putting all things under people’s feet. God has established people over creation says in the passage has made them a little lower than the angels, but also says in first Corinthians six, three, that eventually any eternity for those who are in Christ, that we will be the ones to judge angels.

There is a incredible responsibility and placement of people in creation. Number three. His own image. He has made people in his own image that the God had got together and made people in their own image. Genesis 1 26 says this, the, the, the, the God had assembled in Genesis 1 26 and said, let us make man in our image.

And in the image of God, he created people. This, this is from the very direct image of God. Unlike any other creation that there was the God had in their fiery fellowship created there in the text. Did you see the word crowning creation above all others? Verse five, you have crowned him with glory and honor Christian author and ethicist.

John Kilner wrote this. Uh, right understanding of our creation in the image of God is the strongest ground for human dignity. A misunderstanding of it opens the door to devastating devaluations of humans and the diminishing of human dignity for fourth Firth, one of those days. So first, um, fourth is worth, let’s see what I did worth dying for.

So worth dying for, uh, we see this John 10, 11, both John three 16 as well as first John three 16. This, this statement where the, that people mattered enough to God that he would send his own son would, would wrench the Godhead apart would experience the tearing would absorb the sin because people. Matter to God.

I believe that when we look at Jesus with flesh on, and when we see what he believed, how he lived, that there is no concept of deity that has a higher view of people than Jesus. He created them in his own image. He killed himself for them. I just think there’s no chance in our limited minds that you or I can truly grasp how important people are to God.

I think so much of the scripture is given to help us like, oh wow, you see that kind shepherd over there. He’s the good. Oh of a father relationship. Okay. He’s a father. Oh, you know, like you see that chicken caring for her egg. It’s like that with this is art is over his feathers over the young, this throughout the scriptures there’s example, example, example of like, okay, human, you have this concept of what love and caring and, and importance and worth are.

That is what I’m going to go. And you see this throughout the poetry of the songs and the old Testament. You see this throughout the imagery, in the new Testament of all these different relationships that human beings understand and saying, oh, he is the father. He is the brother. He is the prince of peace.

He is the good king. He is the kind judge, everything that you understand as good and worth establishing is getting a little more helping you get a little more picture of how important people are to meet. And I think we have a great theology and I mean that, cause I think it’s the scripture great theology of how sinful and broken we are.

How in need of a savior. We are all completely true, but not worthless. We must, we must never speak or think of a person as worthless. And this, this has gone. I don’t know. Maybe I heard this more a couple decades ago is how house coming up and understanding Christ. And I would hear like the Lord loves a worthless person like me.

That’s not what the Lord says because the Lord loves because he is established worth in each person to de elevate the importance of God’s crowning creation is to de elevate. God himself. The importance of people does not distract from the importance of God. It demonstrates it. Now you guys over here, your verse, you were supposed to remember you remember it?

I forgot it. So let’s go. Okay. Oh Lord. Our Lord. This is the beginning of soulmate. How majestic is your name in all the earth and you guys over here? Clearly my favorites. Oh Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth? Super positive reinforcement does, right? It’s the same burse, right? It’s the same thing.

It’s bookended it’s kayak. Stickley connect. With the same exact phrase. Oh Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name and all there? That’s the song. That’s the song all about? And how is the glory displayed? How is the glory demonstrated by the poet in the Psalms? It is demonstrated the bigness, the glory. Oh Lord.

Our Lord. The majesty of your name is seen in how you have established people so important to you. I believe that when we look at how Jesus lived and how Jesus lives, we see soulmate lived out in real time in every society. And there are people who are treated as less important. That might be less rights, less resources.

It might be less attention, less representation. It might be just, these people are seen as they have less to offer. But if you look at the ancient near Eastern culture, at those who were deemed in the less category you found Jesus say, nah, we don’t do less with people. We don’t do less with people. 2200 verses in your scripture are about the poor.

And we can talk about what’s the best way to deal with the poor, but you can’t get away from the calling. If you’re opening up this book, mud John chapter four, and many of the different things in the new test. And we looked at this some yesterday is dealing with, with, with racial inequity. The diseased and the unclean that were shoved into camps, because we don’t know how to contain this.

So don’t touch. They would have to go throughout the streets, yelling unclean, unclean Christ goes and touches goes and heals. Roman culture and Roman law had a very small view of women are such a beautiful new Testament study of how Jesus Christ advocated included an elevated women in his own story.

Psalm eight is how Jesus lived and how Jesus lives today. Lastly, final question. So if this is what Jesus sees in creation, and then this is what Jesus sees in people. How does this change? How does this inform what we see. First off it changes. Our view of ourselves had an Irish preacher one time come to a church in Chicago area and he was, he was in Nevada Angeles.

One of those guys on the screen, on the streets, always talking. And it’s not really fair because with his Irish accent, you can say whatever you want. I mean, it’s just so fun listening to this guy preach. And he was talking about his experience on the streets of Belfast. And he was talking about God’s love and preaching and talking about Christ, crucified, and Christ coming to save the loss.

All these things, a woman comes up to him and starts, starts individually talking with him and sharing some of her own story. Her own triggers her own consternation, her own frustration with this idea of God and his love. And he said, Hey, do you believe that God loves everybody in the world? And she said, yeah, yeah.

Okay. He said, how about everybody in Belfast? It might’ve been Dublin, not sure actually, for truth to the story, but, and she said, yeah, I believe everyone. And he said, what about this street? Look up and down this street, you think God loves every single one of them. And she’s getting annoyed by this point.

That cause he’s clearly driving at something. Yes. And he looked at her, he said, how about you? Do you believe God loves you? She said, I don’t know.

We don’t. I don’t mean to go to scripture to have this be a pat on the back of yak, humanity. I want to come humbly to say my God, what a gift you have given us a responsibility. Yes. But a gift that God not only loves. The things of creation, but the God uniquely loves people. And in that way, uniquely loves each one of us.

Secondly, it changes how we see our tribe theologically. When we consider our tribe, it’s not our town, state or nation. Our first tribe as created beings is people, right? Some of the other structures we put on and there can be very helpful and good, but our first tribe, our first thing that we are in defense of our macro tribe is all of the world that our minds would not be elevating just our own, what we see as our own, because our own, our first sense of tribe is all of creation.

Second or third. It changes the way of, of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, gospel, meaning good news of Jesus, that he came to save redeem centers, that those who would call upon his name would become his. And, um, just to be honest, like the evangelism or telling people about Jesus, I often find that I’ll do that as an unfortunate responsibility of valuing God, as in like, oh, I know God wants us to do this.

And so I’ll try to talk to people about Jesus. But I’m doing it because of some, maybe begrudging obedience, or I’m supposed to share something about God with you and my workplace around my street or whatever, and I’m doing it. Why? Because I know I’m supposed to, right. And oftentimes that comes across of like, are you just talking about this because you are supposed to, and I’m like, well, thankfully they don’t say that, but, but that’s often the view, right?

My there’s a girl named Sarah. I probably share it. I’ve shared this with some of you, um, that I’ve never met that I hope to meet in heaven one day that has had a tremendous impact on me about, about how the sanctity of human life pertains to mission and sharing the gospel. There was a man I was talking to, and I’ll just tell you the honest story.

I am walking down the street. And this city, and I see a homeless man walking across the street and I think, oh, I probably should offer to buy him lunch. Why? Because that’s probably what I should do. And I have the time and have some money and I’m going to do that. Not with a valuing aspect with a, I probably should do it.

So begrudgingly, I went up and said, probably really, really compassionately. You want a hamburger? And, uh, and he said, sure, okay. Then I was with a friend and we went into this McDonald’s and in talking to this individual and I, I believe he probably was, he was dealing with some severe mental breakdowns or some other substances.

And in that conversation, He, he was jamming and a hamburger into his mouth and speaking, and, and it was literally like food was flying out this person also, which I didn’t know, was such a known person in this city that we were all removed by the police before this was over. And in the midst of this conversation, I remember thinking, and this is, this is to my shame, right?

I remember thinking, hold eye contact, hold eye contact. But so much of me was just trying to leave. And my friend, the reason why I had that hold eye contact is because I saw my friend just looked down just like, I don’t know what to do. I just want to be over this experience. I’m overwhelmed. And through garbled speech, this man asked me, do you know Sarah?

No, I don’t think I know Sarah. And he said Sarah would come to me and talk about. And he used these words. He said she glowed. And he used this aspect of what he understood about God through this person and narcissistically. The first thing I thought was I am not glowing, but why is this person glowing?

Why was this person going? What did this person have an experience? And here’s what I believe. I believe that Sarah probably had a really big view of God and how beautiful God is, and probably a good understanding of her calling to obey that God. But Sarah had something that, that slipped out of my hand that day.

Sarah had a really high view of this man. This man mattered to her. We talked to other people about the gospel. Not to just worship our God B, but because those people really matter, their stories really matter to

changes our view, fourthly of the unborn and obviously sanctity of human life Sunday connects to this. Um, we’re not going to go into the science of when, when does life begin or embryonic research or contraceptives and how they impact. And there’s a lot of wonderful study that we, we can’t go all into this morning, but would recommend and can give things to recommend on that subject ethically, but simply today’s, we’re looking theologically when we’re talking about the lives of the unborn, we’re simply saying they matter so much to God and there’s not a, uh, meant to be any.

Argument yelling energy that’s dissolved. So winning or losing, it’s saying, Hey, those lives don’t, uh, have an advocate. And so I’m going to be a voice to the voiceless because I believe that’s who my Christ is. I believe that that life is not a potential value. That life is a full value in the sight of God in Greek and Roman culture.

Um, there’s, uh, abortion was practiced and not only that was seen as amoral, wasn’t seen positive, negatively, just seen as if you want to. You can many different devices used for, um, abortion. During that time in the early church Tertullian, one of this was a letter of Barnabas in the didactic. There was a calling out from a Christian perspective of saying, Hey, we actually believe life in the womb is life indeed and worth defending.

It’s a legacy that goes all the way back to when the apostles creed was written. But I also want to say this should change our view of those having to make really hard choices for the unborn.

I’m going to read you a passage from a doctoral paper and that’s been meaningful for me. I think I am. Yep. I am.

This is from, uh, Diana SIS and, uh, he wrote an Easter letter around 260 a D church father. Is he’s talking about the legacy that you and I find ourselves in. If you are a Christian, the legacy of defending life, this was during the us a great epidemic written in on Easter. And it was written about, uh, about his congregation.

And he said this, most of our brother, Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves. And thinking only of one another heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick attending to their, every need and ministering to them in Christ. And with them departed this life, serenely happy many in nursing and curing others transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead.

The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and layman winning high commendation. So the death in this. The result of great piety and strong face seems in every way, equal to martyrdom the heathen behaved in the very opposite way. From the first onset of the disease, they push suffers away and fled the dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unbury corpses as dirt.

I, when we’re talking about those, this is where I’m pretty want to be pretty mindful here. So forgive me if I speak slow. Cause I, I want to say what I mean,

I want you to image a burning building if you would. And let’s, let’s say, I don’t know, let’s go up 20 stories in this burning building and there’s people on the edge of the burning building facing being burned or facing jumping. Life as they’re experiencing, it is not tenable for human life. And so they have to make a decision stay and be burned or jump and try somehow to find something that can help.

I think that some, when we’re talking about a course, there’s people who have abortions as a matter of convenience of poor, of course, there’s people who have the unborn treated tritely, but so many situations when people are choosing abortions, this is their experience. They don’t know how they can provide, they don’t know what they do.

And here’s what I would say, dear, dear Christian do not be on the ground yelling advice. Hey, don’t do this all. I don’t do that. That’s not good. Yeah. Don’t burn. Don’t die.

And don’t say that. Okay. Then there is an, our society, unfortunately has made a way out that, that, that doesn’t make a way out for the child and they look down and they may see one escape. Don’t just stand there and say, don’t choose that option. Work hard to build structures, to say, we can get you in the baby, that we could take you both.

Make room in your family to foster and adopt it. That’s what God calls you to. If, if abortion is overturned in our country, I personally believe what I was talking to you tomorrow about this. I personally believe in 25 years, and I told them that two years ago, so 23 years left that abortion will be overturned.

I do, I believe it will be overturned in our country, but the thing that we are not ready for in our country is what to do because people, as long as they have been people, there are so many in society, all societies that are walking to the edge of a burning building had dong a lot to do. I can’t figure my way out of this.

So build structures and yes. Influence with your conversations and women with your whatever means that you’re doing and have ethical conversations with people, but invest time to say, oh man, if this is overturned, which will be amazing, how are we going to give some of our money? Because we can’t financially take the generation much, born into poverty without building things to take.

And what I would say about these early Christians is that’s where they went. When the early Christians were persecuted in Rome, they were saying, okay, let’s get rid of them. There are weirdos, you know, this is new with this, but maybe it’s going to be a threat to the Roman empire. So let’s get rid of them.

And they did eventually kill them, but this is what they had to wrestle with. If we get rid of these people, What are we going to do with our poor? Because those people were holding and taking care of the poor. And if we get rid of them, we don’t know what to do. And so I deeply dearly believe that the value of God is, is to save the unborn.

And it is to look after and take care of those that are sometimes in impossibly hard situations, options, pregnancy. I love what they do. I love their name. They are invested as a Christian organization to say, we want to be here to provide more options for you who don’t know what else to do, but follow what society is saying to do with your child.

Just say there are more places where we can catch. Does that make sense? I, uh, I deeply believe in our investment in this, and I think it takes a lot more than thinking. It takes developing structures

in the church, led by the church for the glory of our king. Um, can you stand with me? We’ll conclude here

gonna give you a blessing. Uh, often my blessings funnel towards the same language. And I want you to leave here that no matter where you are, no matter what things I’ve hit on inside of you. No matter what parts of your past or current story are triggered, even as we talk about this. And I just want to remind you of the eyes again, of your God, you are not what you make.

You are not what you own. You are not defined by your capacity or your potential. You are not the sum of your past of your present or your future actions. You are not what your highest ego flexes or your lowest moment despairs you have been and are crowned with so much more. You are the beloved of God.

We are dismissed. .