PROTECT HUMAN LIFE

JANUARY 18, 2015

FIRST THOUGHTS 

·        What is the value of real estate in Texas?

·        We had a definition of market value at the appraisal district that we were required to use.

·        That definition included consideration of the following.

o   How much would a property bring if exposed on the open market for a reasonable amount of time, with a willing buyer and seller each seeking to maximize their benefits, neither under any duress to buy or sell and neither in a position to take advantage of the other.

·        This would yield us a reasonable market value for the property but it is useless in determining its inherent value.

·        Every person would naturally feel that their own personal life had considerable value.

·        Some would do so to the exclusion of others; thinking that everyone else was less valuable.

·        We see this everyday when someone is murdered while being robbed.

·        For a true understanding of the value of human life, we need to go to the source of life.

UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT 

·        He is the only self-existing Being. He has life in Himself, and He alone gives life.

·        Every living creature has received its life from God.

·        God fashioned the first man and breathed into him the breath of life.

·        The Creator especially esteems human life, because He made human beings—male and female—in His image.

·        God created everything necessary to support human life even before fashioning the man and woman.

·        All creation served to glorify God.

·        David expressed awe that God loved human beings and placed them as stewards over His creation.

·        Because God created and sanctified human life, only He has authority over it.

·        Tragically, in a culture that devalues life, people assume the right to impose death on even the most helpless of human beings, pre-born children.

·        Interestingly, some people who argue for abortion rights also fight against the death penalty for murderous criminals.  

EXPLORE THE TEXT 

GENESIS 9:1-7 NASB 

VERSES 1-3

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

2 "The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.

3 "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.

 

Genesis 1:28

28  God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

29  Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;

30  and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so. NASB 

“Those creatures that are any way hurtful to us are restrained, so that, though now and then man may be hurt by some of them, they do not combine together to rise up in rebellion against man, else God could by these destroy the world as effectually as he did by a deluge;”

Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible 

VERSES 4-6

4  Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

5  Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, every man's brother I will require the life of man.

6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. 

“The animal must be slain before any part of it is used for food. And as it lives so long as the blood flows in its veins, the life-blood must be drawn before its flesh may be eaten. The design of this restriction is to prevent the horrid cruelty of mutilating or cooking an animal while yet alive and capable of suffering pain. The draining of the blood from the body is an obvious occasion of death, and therefore the prohibition to eat the flesh with the blood of life is a needful restraint from savage cruelty. It is also intended, perhaps, to teach that the life of the animal, which is in the blood, belongs not to man, but to God himself, who gave it.”

Albert Barnes notes on the Bible 

·        A man may kill an animal for food.

·        An animal may kill another animal for food.

·        But, if an animal kill a man the the animal must be put to death.

·        It stands to reason if an animal must die, then a man who commits murder must also be put to death.

·        The pattern is clear that the life of man is highly esteemed by God. 

VERSE 7

7  As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it." 

·        Instead of taking life, Noah was commanded be fruitful and multiply; to replenish the population. 

PSALM 8:4-8 NASB 

VERSE 4

4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 

·        Perhaps the increase of light pollution that has increasingly dimmed our ability toes the stars at night corresponds to man’s inability to see the wonders of God’s creation.

·        David possibly in contemplating the vastness of the universe was compelled to confess how small we are and was awed by the fact that God cares so much for us.

VERSE 5

5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty 

·        We are at the pinnacle of God’s creation being in His image.

·        His image has been tarnished by the fall yet we still see the glory that He has given us in His charge to Noah. 

VERSES 6-8

6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,

7 All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field,

8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. 

·        An awesome contemplation of what God has given us.

·        This also emphasizes the value that God has placed on us. 

PROVERBS 24:10-12 NASB 

VERSES 10-12

10 If you are slack in the day of distress, Your strength is limited.

11 Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back.

12  If you say, "See, we did not know this," Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work? 

“Trouble reveals either our courage or our weakness. Problems are inevitable, and our responsibility in life is to meet each challenge with God's help. He has designed us to rise to the occasion and has promised to provide his strength. So when we falter in times of trouble, we simply demonstrate how inadequate we are. Our strength is small, so we need to lean on the Lord.” 

Excerpt From: Anders, Max. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Proverbs.” B & H Publishing Group, 2010-02-10. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright. 

·        When we fail to speak up for injustice we are opening the door for ourselves to be unjustly treated without recourse. 

“First they came for the communists and trade unionists. Then they came for the Jews and Gypsies. Then they came for the Catholics and I was a Protestant. Then they came for me and there was no one left out to stand up and speak out.”

Pastor Martin Niehmohler 

“When the Nazis came after Communists I kept quiet, because I wasn't a Communist. When they came after the Jews, I said nothing, because I am not a Jew. When they came after labor leaders, I said nothing, because I am not a labor leader. And when they came after me, there was nobody left to speak up for me.”

Pastor Martin Niehmohler 

“he that upholds it in life, and whose visitation preserves it, and therefore should be careful of the life of another; and if not, may justly fear the Lord will withdraw his care and preservation of them; he knows perfectly well what regard a man has to the welfare of another, or to the preservation of another man's life when in danger; and whether what he says on his own behalf is well founded:”

John Gill 

PHILIPPIANS  2:12-16a NASB 

VERSES 12-16a

12  So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

13  for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

14  Do all things without grumbling or disputing;

15  so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

16  holding fast the word of life, 

·        Paul did not say to work for your salvation. 

Ephesians 2:8-9

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.  NASB 

·        We are to remember in our daily walk that it is God that is working through us to do His will. We are not to quench His Spirit, but to cooperate with Him.

·        We are to do God’s work without being negative or rebellious.

·        Our attitude should be sufficiently different from the world that others will be able to notice.

·        This is only possible as we remain saturated with God’s word.