Examination: I. Part of our Purpose (Genesis 9:1-7)

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1 Explore the Bible Lesson Preview January 18, 2015 Background and Lesson: Genesis 9:1-7; Psalm 8:4-8; Proverbs 24:10-12; Philippians 2:12-16a Motivation: Once a year on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, a special lesson is taught in all Southern Baptist Churches. From Senior Adults to Single Adults, all of us need to be reminded that the value of life is not primarily a political debate, but is rather a Biblical issue. Is a baby a gift from God or just a piece of tissue? Don t be faint hearted in your teaching because some people think the word abortion is best talked about in courts and Congress. Christians have a responsibility to understand the issue from the Bible s teaching. Examination: I. Part of our Purpose (Genesis 9:1-7) A. Strategy God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. (1, 7) Noah and his descendants were given the same mandate that Adam received in 1:28. B. Stewardship The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth. They are placed under your authority. (2) God established humanity as the top of the food chain. But with this distinction comes an awesome responsibility to tend the earth. C. Supply Every living creature will be food for you (3) God established animals as food in addition to the green plants in 1:30. Our stewardship of the earth comes with privilege. Animals were not created to be of equal value with humans. 1 / 8

2 D. Stipulation However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. (4) The symbolism of life in the blood foreshadows the shedding of blood for sin without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Heb. 9:22). E. Sanction I will require the life of every animal and every man for your life and your blood. I will require the life of each man s brother for man s life. Whoever sheds man s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His image. (5-6) HCSB, p. 23, 9:5-6 Because God made man in his image, the taking of a human life either by an animal or another person was not treated like the death of an animal. Every animal and every man who killed another human being was to have its own blood shed by man as a just punishment. This verse establishes that unauthorized taking of a human like is a capital offense and implicitly authorizes properly credentialed authorities to execute murderers. Other verses in the law of Moses reinforced this concept (Ex 20:13; 21:23; Dt. 19:21). No such law exists for the killing of animals; the Bible consistently teaches that human beings are of superior worth to animals. II. Valued in His Creation (Psalm 8:4-8) A. Comparison what is man that You remember him, the son of man that you look after him? (4) Philosophers have long contemplated this very question What is man? Until quite recently in human history, it was almost universally accepted that a human being is God-created. Since we are created by God, it follows that we are responsible to Him to 1) seek a relationship with God on His terms, 2) submit to His authority, and 3) search for His truth and live in its light. 2 / 8

3 However, when Darwin first introduced his theory of evolution in the late 1800 s, atheists immediately saw the implications: if we are not created by God, then there are no responsibilities to him. If we are not created by God, then human life has no more value than any other life, thus abortion is widespread and the animal rights movement is growing. HCSB, p.887, 8:3-4: The vastness of creation is contrasted with the smallness and insignificance of man. This is in the form of a question: How is it that God would remember and look after (both words mean pay attention to and care for ) people? This is perplexing in light of the difference between the size and scope of the cosmos and the relative puniness of humanity. The terms man and son of man are parallel and are used to describe humankind as a collective whole (146:3; Nm 23:19; Is 51:12). B. Coronation You made him less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. ( 5) Our glory and honor is derived from being created in God s image. Secular humanism turns this around to put humanity on a pedestal which makes us our own source for honor. A major topic in the current right-to-life debate is the benefit/burden to society of a special needs child. In November of 2008, an immigrant physician in Australia, Dr. Bernard Moeller, serving a rural population of 54,000 people was denied permanent residency status because his 13 year old Down s syndrome son was viewed as a potential burden to taxpayers. A 1990 law in Great Britain allows disabled children to be aborted at any time of gestation up to the point of birth. Dr. Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University advocated that a baby should not be considered a person with a right to life until thirty days after his or her birth. In 1979 he wrote, Human babies are not born self-aware they are not persons therefore the life of a newborn is of less value than the life of a pig, a dog or a chimpanzee (Peter Singer, Practical Ethics, Cambridge University Press, 1979). The debate over the value of life both at its beginning and toward the end was manifested during the debate over the Affordable Care Act with heated rhetoric over death panels as well as government subsidized abortions. Where does one draw the line in terms of a person s benefit to society and who gets to draw that line? When we read of the 85% abortion rate for 3 / 8

4 Down s syndrome babies in Paris, France, we should also be grieved. Houston s First Baptist has affirmed the value of Special Needs children with a half million dollar investment in space plus two full time staff to serve this precious group. C. Condition You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under His feet, all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. (6-8) HCSB, p , 8:5-8: The answer to the perplexing question in verse 4 is found in these verses, which are essentially a commentary on Gn 1: While the perception is that humans are insignificant in the grand scheme of things, the reality is found in God s purpose for creating humanity. The word translated as God (Hb elohim ) is plural here and could be understood as indicating gods or heavenly beings instead of its usual sense of a plural of majesty emphasizing God s greatness. Therefore the LXX, which is quoted in Heb 2:7, translates it as angels. The point is the same in both cases, even if the referent in different: because of their divinely given purpose, humans are functionally closer to God and the angels than to the animals. We have been made lord over creation, expressing humanity s function of dominion (Gn 1:26). The image of everything under his feet is developed in the rest of Scripture as a picture of the reign of God s King, Jesus Christ (the second Adam), over His kingdom (1 Cor 15:25, 27; Eph 1:22; Heb 2:8). III. Called to Action (Proverbs 24:10-12; Philippians 2:12-16a) A. Command to Protect If you do nothing in a difficult time, your strength is limited, rescue those being taken off to death, and save those stumbling toward slaughter. If you say, But we didn t know about this, won t He who weighs hearts consider it? Won t He who protects your life know? Won t He repay a person according to his work? (Proverbs 24:10-12) Explore the Bible Commentary (Winter, 2004), p. 74: What the Hebrew midwives provide for us in the form of an example (Exodus 1:1-21), Proverbs 24:11 provides in the form of a command. Rescue those being taken off to death is an imperative, which is precisely what the Hebrew midwives did when they saved the male babies. 4 / 8

5 Save those stumbling toward slaughter is even more graphic. Both of these commands assume the one being killed is innocent. The term translated slaughter comes from a word implying ruthless violence. Some people think of abortion as a benign, minor surgical procedure that harms no one. It harms the baby. Even from the moment of conception, the baby is already a he or she and contains all the genetic information he or she will ever have or need. Hair color, gender, eye color, and so forth have already been determined. Those cells form a developing human being, and to dispose of that person is to do violence to one who is innocent. (Ps. 51:5; 2 Tim. 3:3) For Christians what settles this issue is not only science but Scripture. God told Jeremiah He called him to be a prophet while still in his mother s womb (Jer. 1:5). To God, Jeremiah was a person, not merely a mass of cells. David also affirmed the Lord knew him and had a plan for his life before his birth (Ps. 139:16; Eph. 1:5). Courts today, are still debating whether a child or a fetus is one in the same. B. Charge to Make a Difference (Philippians 2: 12-16a) 1. Salvation From Our Perspective So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (12) Paul is not reverting to a theology of salvation resulting from our works. Rather he exhorts believers to apply what they have learned in meaningful positive ways. We are not called to sit and soak but rather to rise up and change the world. 2. Salvation From God s Perspective For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose. (13) a. His Direction For it is God Our salvation is a work of God from beginning to end. Ephesians 2 is instructive For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God s gift-not from works, so that no one can boast. (8-9) However, verse 10 emphasizes the same truth that we find in verse 13 of our passage For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. 5 / 8

6 b. His Power to work God doesn t ask out of us what He doesn t put in us. The God of all power (Matt. 28:18) empowers us to work. Regarding the sanctity of life, we are to use our abilities, influence and vote to make a difference. c. Our Attitude Do everything without grumbling and arguing, (14) These prohibited acts are also translated murmuring and questionings, complaining or arguing, grumbling and faultfinding, and discontent and dissension. Long after people forget what you say and do, they ll remember the spirit in which you did it. In the white hot debate over abortion and life, we must represent ourselves as ambassadors for Christ. 3. Shine so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world (15) Jesus said that we are to be lights to the world (Matt. 5:14). When we act in the fruits of the Spirit, the church offers the world something they can find in no other place. 4. Secure Hold firmly to the message of life (16) hold firmly is analogous to stand ing firm used in many other Scriptures. Paul pictured the day of Christ as a time of rejoicing over the fruit provided by His good purpose (13). Paul viewed his life as a race in which God planned the course (2 Tim. 4:6-8). His success was not in just finishing but also in winning converts, establishing believers and planting churches along the way. To not accomplish this, in Paul s mind, would have been to run and labor for nothing. This takes on a secondary meaning in light of our subject, the sanctity of life. Christians are not just opposed to abortion; we are firmly in support of life. Jesus said in John 10:10b, I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. Unfortunately, less than 1% of crisis pregnancies end in adoption. In the US, 17 adoptions occur for every 1,000 abortions (source: Richard Land, ERLC.com). Act of Life (actoflife.org) is a local Christian, non-profit dedicated to educating birth mothers as well as prospective parents on the benefits and procedure for adoptions. Houston s First recently celebrated our 100th adopted baby through the ministry of Legacy / 8

7 Application: 1. Pray: 1) For women considering abortions, 2) For women suffering from post-abortion trauma and 3) for the staff of pregnancy centers and right to life organizations. 2. Act: 1) Know the Bible, 2) Volunteer at a local pregnancy center, 3) Vote intelligently. 3. Love: Demonstrate God s love toward those in need whether physically challenged or spiritually destitute. Leader Pack: Item 15: Poster: Proverbs 14:23; Item 16: Poster: Philippians 2:16a No Illustrator article Notes: **You may access David s Lesson Preview in MP3 format and notes at: lestudy.org Dates: 1/4-24 Missions Expo; 1/21 Milestones preview; 1/23 Midnight Madness; 1/25 Fitness Expo; 1/28 Milestones begins; 1/30-2/1 Passion Conf. in Houston; 2/1 Super Bowl Sunday; 2/8 HUB Girls Event; 2/15 Parent Commitment; 2/ / 8

8 Next Gen Staff Retreat; 2/20 Scott Nute Global Ministry Benefit Dinner; 2/22 MIYCO; 2/27 ReCreate Date Night; 2/27-28 Legacy 685 Conference; 2/28 Men: Serve; 3/8 Daylight Saving Time starts; 3/7-12 RUSHMORE 1; 3/15 AMP/WIRED Sunday; 3/16-17 Senior Adult Revival; 3/14-19 RUSHMORE 2; 3/18 CBU 7:00 in WC & Main Foyer; 3/28 SPF Hippity Hoppin Easter Event. 8 / 8