Sermon snippet – Human Life Is Valuable – Part II
INTRODUCTION – Last week, we started a Biblical study on the value of human life. Because all people are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28), human life is valuable. Specifically, it is valuable because it is spiritual (John 4:24) and eternal (Exodus 3:14; Matthew 25:46).
- HUMAN LIFE IS VALUABLE BECAUSE IT IS MORAL
In Ephesians 4:21-24, we see the same connection between God and people that we observed in the first two points. In simple terms, God is a moral being; some things are wrong, some things are right, and He always chooses that which is right and good. Because we are created in God’s image, we can know and choose that which is morally correct. “You can’t legislate morality” is a popular saying, but it is wrong: morality is what we always legislate. We should be saying, “You can’t legislate spirituality,” for each one of us must make a personal decision either to trust in Jesus or not. Should we legislate regarding abortion? Of course we should, and we already do. In the current abortion debate, we get very different answers based on the questions asked. For example, if we ask, “Don’t you believe that a woman should have complete control of her body?” the majority will respond, “Yes, of course.” However, if we ask, “Is it right to kill an unborn child?” the majority will say, “No, that is terrible.” The subject needs to be framed in terms of right and wrong. Some have asserted that the Bible says nothing about abortion, but it most assuredly does. Exodus 21:22-23 is clear: if a pregnant woman is harmed but her baby born prematurely because of that harm is not, the culprit must compensate the woman monetarily. However, if the child dies, the penalty is capital punishment – “life for life.” God, the Author and Creator of life, equates the life of an adult with the life of the murdered baby (what abortion supporters inhumanely label “the fetus”). I have been heartened that recently some prominent minority leaders have begun to call abortion what in part it is – racial genocide. Minority women, especially black women, are targeted by the abortion industry. Is racism wrong? Yes! Remember, we are all created in the image of God. Is abortion wrong? Yes! Abortion kills a person created in God’s image. Racist abortion, then, is doubly wrong.
- HUMAN LIFE IS VALUABLE BECAUSE IT IS INTELLIGENT
The connection between God’s being and ours is made again in Colossians 3:9-10. Note that it is Scripture that makes this association, not me. Each believer is “renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him” God, of course, is omniscient; His intelligence has no limits. Still, it is clear that we possess intelligence because God does. A few years ago, an academic study caught my attention (and surprised the scholars who conducted it). They studied what made people happy. Money, education, and even marriage did not make a statistical difference. Only one thing did – faith, for people of faith know what matters. In fact, we move beyond happiness to a real, settled joy.
CONCLUSION – Yes, we know what matters: we know the value of life. We know that faith in Jesus Christ bestows eternal life with Him in heaven.