Date:   01/18/09

Text:   Proverbs 31:1-9

Title:   Sanctity of Life

Theme: Since God created us in His image, we affirm the sanctity of all human life.

Introduction:

  In January 1973, The US Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand. Since then many protestant and Catholic churches in US have designated the Sunday closest to this day as the Sanctity of Life Sunday. During this past 36 years, in every general election, questions about this law have been raised. Even though this law is about abortion, yet it also caused Christians to look at the issue of life from a much broader perspective. A friend pointed out to me that besides abortion, Sanctity of Life also includes issues such as capital punishment, euthanasia, human trafficking, human rights, and caring for the handicapped persons.

  Today, with the help of Proverbs 31:8-9, we want to explore the scriptures’ teaching on the matter of life. Vs.8-9 are some of my favorite verses in Proverbs. They have special meaning for those in the legal profession. When my son, Francis, graduated from law school several years ago, I framed these two verses as a gift to him. However, these verses are also meant for us to read and practice.

I will take a different approach with today’s sermon. It is more like a Sunday School class, or bible study or a special topic discussion. We’ll look at different passages from the scriptures to help us gain greater insight on the issue of life. Before we become Christians, we have a certain view of life. Now that we have come to know Christ, we are connected with Him, we must learn to look at life from God’s perspective.

I •  The word of God teaches the truth that life is sacred.

  We will once again turn to Genesis 1:26-27, “ 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” 28 And God blessed them. We notice the emphasis is that God created man and woman in His image. There has been much discussion over the nature of this image. We know it is not about physical form, for God is a spirit. Since we are created so do not have God's divine attributes; such as all powerful, all knowing and all presence. Most bible students agree that God's image being imbedded in human pertains to God's attributes that can be passed on. This will include his love, moral sense, emotions and His creativity. When we see men and women expressing love, morality, emotions and creativity, we know where they are from. For we are created in God's image. We believe that all human are created by God and carry His image. This understanding forms the basis for human dignity. Therefore every life is sacred and equal. In the west, we have the saying that before the creator, we are all equal. There is more to this.

  In Genesis1:28, right after the statement that God creates man and woman is the instruction, “……. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Having been made in God's image, man was to represent God to rule over the entire creation, including his fellow humankind. We also notice that at this point, no details were given regarding how to rule. However, in God's covenant with Noah, we read this, Genesis 9:6, “ 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” There must be no taking of another person’s life. Why? Because man was made in God's image, therefore, life is sacred.

II •  Old Testament continues to illustrate this truth.

Since Genesis 1 provided us with limited information on the sanctity of life issue, we’ll turn to the rest of the scriptures. When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they were mistreated and with no freedom. Pharaoh was so afraid of their increasing population that he ordered male infants to be killed. There was no dignity or equality of life. Life was like a commodity at the disposal of the strong and powerful.

But when God delivered them out of Egypt, he provided them with commandments to follow. The first 4 of the 10 commandments are about their relationship with God; obeying and worshipping him. The rest of the commandments are about loving their neighbors. Even though they were not loved by the Egyptians, this is no excuse for them not to love. They were told not to kill, not to lie, not to steal, not to covet others’ property. Why? Because a neighbor’s life was sacred, therefore one must treat him/her with respect and dignity.

And then in Leviticus and Deut are further instructions on how to treat each other. Leviticus 19:15, “ 15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” Moses is saying do not treat the poor any different from the rich or those in high positions. 19:29, “ 29 “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.” Don’t do that to your daughters, it is detestable. Deut 1:16, “ 16 And I charged your judges at that time, ‘Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien who is with him.” Again this is about dignity, justice and now it also includes the aliens, the foreigners among them.

In Isaiah 1:17 are words to the leaders, “ 17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” It is about removing oppression and doing justice to the fatherless and the widows. They were the most helpless and vulnerable ones in that society. Isaiah was saying, their lives are equally valuable and don’t mistreat them in anyway.

Now Job 29:12, 15-16, “ 12 because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him….. 15 I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.” Besides the poor, the orphans, the needy ones, Job stated that he helped the blind and the lame. Individuals with handicaps are equally valuable and should be treated with dignity and respect.

Then we come to Proverbs 31:8-9, “ 8 Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. 9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” This king was instructed by his mother about ruling with justice, speak up and stand up for the rights of the poor and needy. On Thursday, there was a public gathering in a down town hotel to listen to Houston Mayor’s State of the City address. I was honored to be asked to give the prayer there. In my prayer, I asked God to help the city leaders to speak out for the voiceless, stand up for the weak and defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Now, we come to the familiar passage of Psalm 139: , “ 13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.” The psalmist is here talking about sanctity and sacredness of an unborn child. Even when the child was still in mother’s womb, without any shape or form, God's eyes are upon him/her. This infant, from the very beginning, is fearfully and wonderfully made.

  What do we see from this brief survey of some of the scriptures? God specifically instructed the Israelites, his people, to uphold the truth that life is sacred by looking after the poor, the needy, the orphans, the widows, those with different handicaps, the aliens among them and even the unborn child. Why? Because each life is sacred, each life is made in God's image.

  However, the Israelites did not do well on this. In their society towards the end of the OT era, there was oppression and injustice. So much so, that many of the prophetic voices were warnings from God about such mistreatment of each other. Amos 5:24, “ 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” This verse was used by MLK as his battle cry in the 60’s in this country. Micah 6:8, “ 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,…” their condition was so bad, they look forward to the coming of a Messiah that will deliver them from such oppressions. Isa 64:1-2, “ 1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.”

  The OT ends in a sad note that God's people had often failed to uphold the truth that life is sacred.

III •  Jesus demonstrates the Truth of Sanctity of Life.

When Jesus began his ministry on earth, he quoted the Isaiah passage. He is the one that will set people free from all kinds of oppressions. He would give sight to the blind and make the lame walk. In the gospel records we see how he reached out to the poor, the sick and the social outcast. Why? Because Jesus knew that each life was precious, carrying with it God's image. He then summarized his action in the well known passage in Matthew 25:35ff, “ 35 "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me," 36 "I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then later, in the apostles letters, we are told to care for the poor and widows. Especially in James, 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.”

Why is there such an emphasis on justice, taking care of the poor, the destitute, the ones forgotten by the society, orphans and widows? Because in the very beginning, God created man and woman in his image. Each human life is valuable and precious. This is the basis for us to treat life from the mother’s womb till death as sacred. This is the reason that wherever Christianity goes, it builds hospitals to take care of the sick, builds orphanages to take care of the children, women centers to help them to stand tall in the society.

However, even in this day and age, we don’t do it too well in this area. Today, I want to call our attention to another problem before us. According to a 2007 UN report, the world is missing 100 million women. 80% of them are from China and India. In natural birth, the ratio of male to female is 103:100. In China, it is 117:100. The latest from NY Times 119:100. And in two provinces the ratio is 133:100. Why such a large discrepancy between natural birth rate and the reality? According to a Xin Hua News report in 7/12/2006, the reasons are: abortion, infanticide (just let the female baby die once it is delivered), and abandonment. It was also reported that most of the orphanages are understaffed, and 50% of the orphans experience severe physical and sexual abuse.

Then we also have the issues of domestic violence and human trafficking. Every year, there are 2 to 3 million people being sold. 80% of them are women and girls. 50% of those are minors, often ending up in slave trades. There are 14 to 17 K sold into US alone, and most of them ended up in the sex industry. They are sold for $16K each, but they have a debt of about $40K to pay off. In a recent article in Breakpoint, it was mentioned that in some US hospitals, infants were left in the garbage dump to die. 90% of infants diagnosed with the Down’s Syndrome are aborted. If this trend continues, some decades later, this country or in most part of the world, there will not be a child or adult with Down’s syndrome. Why? The society does not give them a chance to live. Because of a sickness they carry, they are deemed less valuable than others.

These facts break God's heart and should break our hearts as well. What can we do? We need to be informed, like what we are doing here this morning. We should be further educated on such matters. Those with financial resources are to give generously toward organizations that help to set these women and children free. We can volunteer and be an advocate for the poor and the helpless ones.

Last year our church was planning to offer assistance to the poor and AIDS victim in Africa. However, because of the flooding and earthquakes in Burma and China, we were not able to accomplish what we set out to do. This year, we’ll be making another effort and trust that in a month or two, you will be hearing more on this.

Prophet Micah tells us God's heart: Love justice and do Mercy. Why? Because each life is very precious and is sacred. Human life is created by God in His own image.