A Sermon on Genesis 2:4-7 has been lightly edited for ease of reading.
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If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to the book of Genesis. We are right there at the beginning. In your pew Bible, we’re on page four; today we are going to look at Genesis chapter two, verses four through seven, among some other verses.
Don’t worry, we will get back to the Apostles’ Creed. I wanted to take an extra week off. There’s going to be a lot of overlap between the last sermon and the next sermon in the Apostles’ Creed series, so I wanted to give you one extra week to forget what I said last time I preached so that you don’t notice the overlap.
But this is also a good time. We haven’t talked about the sanctity of human life in quite a while, so I think it’s good for us to take a brief break from that series and to consider where we’ve come from and what the Bible says about the sanctity of the life of every human being to ever have been born or to ever be born.
We are going to touch on some sensitive topics, and I understand that. I’m going to try to be as sensitive as I possibly can to some of these topics. I am fully aware that many people listening to this sermon may not agree and may get upset with some of the things I have to say, and that’s okay. Talk to me about it, or talk to one of the elders about it, but God does take human life seriously, and so should we.
And so with that in mind, let us look to our scripture, which begins in Genesis chapter 2, beginning in verse 4.
“This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no man to work the ground.
But streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.
The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
Let’s pray.
To the gracious God and Father, we ask that you would give us clarity today, that you would show us how your glory is made manifest in human beings as they are created in the image of God.
And Lord, help us to have a greater appreciation for what you have created as we consider these words. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
INTRODUCTION
In 1973, the Supreme Court decision known as Roe v. Wade made abortion a constitutional right in the United States of America. This decision was overturned by the Dobbs decision in 2022. In those 49 years, the best guesstimate of a number that we can come to because the reporting, the way abortions were reported changed in the early 90s, but the closest most conservative estimate we can come to is that in those 49 years, 44 million unborn children lost their lives.
Now, on the good end, as I mentioned, the decision was overturned and the legality of abortion has been left to the states. At least 12 states have made abortion illegal, including West Virginia. On the bad end of it, the downward trend in the annual number of abortions has been reversed, and more abortions were performed in 2023 than in the previous year.
While it is illegal in West Virginia to have either a medication abortion or a surgical abortion, if you search for abortion providers online, you are told that abortions are illegal and then referred to three clinics in Roanoke who will service out-of-state mothers. The battle is far from over.
It will take more than laws and Supreme Court decisions to end the scourge of abortion. It will take a change of mind. It will take a change of heart that only the gospel, that only the Holy Spirit can bring. So today, I want us to speak briefly about why we believe in and teach the sanctity of human life, apply that to two areas, to children and to the infirm, and then give some parting applications.
THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE
First, why do we believe in the sanctity of human life? What do we mean, actually, first off? What do we mean by the sanctity of human life and in what do we base this sanctity?
When I say that we believe in and teach the sanctity of human life, what I am saying is that we believe and teach that human life is set apart as special in creation. The word sanctity shares the root with the word sanctified, which in the original language shares the root with the word holy. And in its most basic meaning, holy or sanctified means that something is set apart.
The average person could not walk into the temple or tabernacle. Only the priests were set apart for service in those areas. And humanity has been set apart as special as well.
The passage we just read from Genesis 2, coupled with Genesis 1:27 and 28, which says,
“God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them.”
Those verses together show us that humans have been set apart as special in the creation of God by God himself. God formed Adam and Eve in a different way than he formed the rest of the animals.
The rest of the animals were spoken into existence by the mouth, by the power of God. Humans, both Adam and Eve, although they were formed in different ways, both Adam and Eve were formed by the artistic hand of God as he then breathed life into them.
Adam and Eve were created for a different purpose as well. They were created to be the image bearers of God, created to be in a relationship with God. Vice regents, vice kings, if you will, of the rest of creation called to steward creation for God’s glory.
Humans were the only part of creation that were created to be in relationship with God. And so because of this, human life is sacred in the eyes of God.
We see this in the negative. If we were to turn to Genesis chapter nine, verse six, we see this in the negative as God declares that any life that is taken with premeditation by the hands of another person, that that person’s life is forfeit as well.
“Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God has God made man.”
Life is so special to God that the taking of a life, the justice of taking a life is only met with taking another life. And this specialness, this sanctity is not rooted in anything in this earth.
It is not rooted in you. It is not rooted in me. It is rooted in a declaration that God has made about humanity.
And it is important for us to understand this. In our culture today, value of humanity is rooted in what you can do for me. What usefulness do you have to me and do you supplement or stand in the way of my growth, my own personal growth?
I think that’s why we have such a problem with marriage in our world today. It’s because we look at our spouse, we look at our significant other, and we say, “You are valuable to me only as long as you complete me, only as long as you make me feel good. Once you stop to make me feel good, once you stop completing me, once you start getting in my way, I will set you aside.”
But all of our culture looks at value as a tool, as a measure of usefulness in our life.
That’s why so much of the rhetoric surrounding abortion and yes, even now physician-assisted suicide is centered around lost opportunity, is centered around I don’t want to be a burden or I can’t handle that burden right now. Because that person, elderly, sick, or unborn only has value to me based upon how much they can give me opportunity to reach my potential. And brothers and sisters, that leaves us on a slippery slope.
If value is rooted in me and not something outside of me, then I determine whether you are valuable to me or not. And if you are not valuable enough to me, well, then I can wish you dead. And in our culture, you can take steps to make sure that happens.
You and I must be convinced that a human being’s value does not rest in what they can give us or do for you. It rests in their God-given status as God’s image.
Do people volunteer at Camp Joy because the campers can give them something? I hope not. I hope people volunteer at Camp Joy because they understand that even the handicapped deserve our love and our care and our compassion because they are created in the image of God.
Are you nice to servers at restaurants because they will get your food faster? Or, I don’t know, maybe you don’t want them to spit in your food, which may be a good reason to be nice to people at restaurants. But the best reason to be nice to people at restaurants or convenience stores or grocery stores or wherever you frequent is because they are created in the image of God with God-given value and worth.
Life is sacred and human life is given value and worth by the God who created it.
CHILDREN ARE PRECIOUS GIFTS
The Bible does specifically apply this truth to two segments of culture and society, and the first is children. Now that we have established the sanctity of life, let’s consider the application that the Bible makes to the sanctity of the life of the child.
The Bible teaches that children are precious and to be treasured. Genesis 18:10 gives us an account of God’s interaction with Abraham and Sarah. In this conversation, God says, “This time next year, I will return and you will have a child.”
A similar conversation happens between God and the parents of Samson in Judges 13:3-4. While it may seem so from our earthly perspective, there is no such thing as an accidental pregnancy. God has decreed and ordained every conception that happens, regardless of how it happens. It may not be in your timing, but God’s timing is sovereign and perfect.
Psalm 127:3-4 teach us that children are a gift from God. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit this, but when Michelle was pregnant with Gregory, I really tried to take a stand.
Now, I had a history of passing out in medical situations. When I was in high school, we visited, I did a missions trip to Ecuador. We visited a hospital in Ecuador and they had to pick me up off the floor because I had passed out.
I took my mom to a doctor’s appointment to get stitches removed from a cut that she had on her hands. They had to pick me up off the floor because I passed out.
Many of you know that I have visited you or others that you know in the hospital and I’ve had to walk outside in the hallway and sit down because I did not want to pass out.
I was hoping for the day like my dad had where mom and dad show up to the hospital. Mom’s in labor. Mom is whisked off in a wheelchair back to the delivery room and dad is ushered into this glorious waiting room where he sits with other dads and watches TV, mainly because I didn’t want to pass out.
Tears were shed, yes, over my stubbornness, but I’m glad Michelle prevailed because there is nothing like, brothers and sisters, having your child placed in your hands.
You understand at that moment the joy of that gift. If you don’t understand the joy and the preciousness of a child, take time to talk to someone who maybe hasn’t had one or been able to, that God has chosen not to bless with children. Children are a gift from God.
Once again, looking at this in the negative from Ezekiel chapter 16, beginning in verse 20,
“And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to your idols.”
God showers his wrath upon the nation of Israel because they offered their children a sacrifice to feed their own lusts.
A couple years ago as the debate about abortion raged, there was a march in Washington, and a bunch of women got up and spoke at that march. One lady stood up, an actress, moderately successful actress, and she said that she attributed her success to her ability to kill her own child. Part of me wants to be snarky and say, “Well, I guess we now know the answer to the question, who has to die to be successful in Hollywood.” God will judge those who sacrifice their children to the gods of convenience, to the gods of success.
Let us be reminded that children are a gift from God.
THE SANCTITY OF THE ELDERLY AND INFIRM
And finally, just briefly, I’m going to touch on this. I’m still studying it myself, but I want to call this the sanctity of sickness.
We were warned by people who were smarter than me that if we devalued the life of the unborn, we would eventually devalue the life of the aged, the sick, the handicapped. The list keeps growing.
Leviticus 19:32, 1 Timothy 5, verse 4, call upon the people of God to respect and cherish the aged and infirm. Psalm 71:18 reminds us that God does not forsake the aged.
If children can hinder our plans, if children can hinder our success, so does old age, so does sickness, so does suffering. A friend of mine and I were talking a few weeks ago about making lists, talking specifically about making lists of the responsibilities that we have, getting those lists out of our head and onto paper so that we could actually deal with them in a way that doesn’t cause anxiety.
And then he asked me if I had made a list that he had made. And this was a list of all the things he wanted to do, but because he was getting older, he has to admit that he can’t. Age gets in the way.
Oh, by the way, I’m not honest enough with myself to be, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not ready to be honest enough with myself about making that list. I can still do everything. I will still be a fighter pilot when I graduate from college.
Now, why do I bring all this up? First, it’s easy to forget that your elderly, your sick, that your suffering neighbor is there, that they might be lonely. And secondly, the issues of the sanctity of life in our world and unfortunately in our country is no longer limited to the unborn. Right now, 10 states in America have legalized physician-assisted suicide, and in 19 others, there are pushes in the state legislatures to legalize it.
Even the difficult life, even the suffering life, even the handicapped life is sacred in God’s sight.
CONCLUSION
Brothers and sisters, there is a sanctity to all human life, and we should apply this to both the children and to the suffering. And I know this is a sensitive subject, and I know that statistically one in seven women have made the decision to have an abortion, which makes it hard to stand up here and talk about it.
There was a guy when I was, when Michelle and I were going to church at Shepherd Road Church in Lakeland, there was a guy that every year would stand at the March for Life, and for many years he refused to hold a poster because all the posters said abortion kills, abortion takes a life. It’s true, it does, but finally one year, one out of five signs had the message that Jesus saves, that Jesus forgives, and he finally started holding the sign.
I want you to know that if you are a person who has either had or has pushed somebody to have an abortion, it’s not the end of the world.
How precious is human flesh? Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, took it on himself so that he might offer salvation to all sinners. Abortion is not the sin that leads to death and damnation. Fly to the mercies of God and find healing in his gracious and caring arms.
One of the services that Greenbrier Pregnancy Centers offers is post-abortive peer support. It’s a big word, what does that mean? It means that women who have had abortions and who have found forgiveness and healing in the arms of Jesus are there to walk with you to that healing, to that forgiveness. Please, please, please don’t let that decision stand between you and true healing.
So what are some of the things that the rest of us can do in the light of the sanctity of all of human life? First, search your heart and repent of your wrong views of human life. Find out those people in your life that you are looking at as merely useful tools to the betterment of your own personal goals, wants, and desires, and repent that you have such a low view of them.
Second, change your view of those who work service jobs. The restaurants you go to, the grocery stores that you go to, the coffee shops that you go to, do you know the names of the people who work there? Do you treat them with the respect that is their due as the image of God?
Thirdly, volunteer. There are plenty of opportunities throughout our church, throughout our community to volunteer. Greenbrier Pregnancy Center is one. Know your gifts, offer your services where you are able.
Fourthly, be aware of your neighbors. Some of you do a fabulous job in this area. I know I can do better.
God values the lives of the humans that he has created. May his people value human life as well.
Let’s pray. God and Father, I do thank you that you have created each and every one of us in your image, and I thank you that human flesh, human life was so precious to you that our Savior Jesus took it upon himself so that we might have salvation. Lord, may we know and love our neighbors enough that they know that we think they are special just because of who they are, not because what they can offer, not because what they can do, but simply because they are created in your image.
And Lord, may we be warriors for life. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you have questions, if I struck a nerve, if you just feel the need to smack somebody, I don’t know. Let me know. I am available.
I would rather you come to me and talk to me if I said something that struck a nerve than take it home and let it rattle around and maybe cause extra worry or even bitterness. But please talk to me or one of the elders. We would love to be able to sit down and talk with you and explain more what it is that we believe about life.
I can’t say everything, and I tried my best to say what I could today.
So as you go this week, there is a blessing that goes to the people of God, and it comes to us in these words:
To those who have been called, who are loved in God, that father and kept for Jesus Christ, mercy, peace, and love to you in abundance.
He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming soon.
Amen. Come Lord Jesus.
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