The Appraisal Of Human Life Series

1. Title: The Appraisal of Human Life

2. Text: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7-9; 9:5-6

3. Audience: Villa Heights Christian Church, AM worship crowd, January 15, 2006, first of 8 in the series “A Clear and Present Danger”

4. Type: topical

5. Objectives:

For the people to understand the intrinsic value of human life and how that should direct our thinking in multiple life issues

For the people to feel more authoritative when it comes to human life issues and to feel the need to value and protect all human life

For the people to allow biblical understanding to guide their attitudes, conversations, and actions in regards to human life related issues

6. Dominant Thought: Understanding the distinctiveness of human life provides a right and useful approach to issues involving the value of human life

7. When I’m finished with my sermon, I want my audience to take a biblical worldview into their thinking about human life issues, particularly into the “quality of life” subjects that are all too commonly brought up in the context of the “pro-choice” arguments

8. Outline:

Intro: There’s a movie based on Tom Clancey’s book, Clear and Present Danger. In one early scene, the President of the US is wrestling with a choice of what to do about an attack against so US citizens on the sea. He confers with one of his cabinet members about his options. It’s nothing he can start a war over, but can he do something? So he asks rather directly, “Do these drug dealers present a clear and present danger to the security of the US?”

The phrase is an important one. For the President, it means the difference between the legal and moral right to take action and not being able to. He has to have a defensible reason for sending deadly force against an enemy. The criteria? Does this person or group pose a clear and present danger to the security of the US? Is there a threat, and can it be proven to exist? Is it present; is it clear?

Right now, our country is engaged in a war against terror. There’s a lot of chatter over this issue. It makes me want to apply this criteria: Is there a danger present? September 11, 2001 pretty well settled that issue. Maybe it’s just not clear…

Since that day, the leaders of al-Qaeda have become the most wanted of international criminals. Their stated goal is to destroy us and our way of life. They are willing to kill themselves to help the cause. They are present, and though it may not be clear where, they’re a real danger, and we need to take them seriously.

There’s another whole set of dangers, very present, not always so clear, that are threatening us and our way of life, and we need to take them seriously. I believe part of what makes them so dangerous is that their presence isn’t so clear. So, what I want to do for the next 9 weeks is pull back the cover on several of these very real dangers that are threatening our generation. God has a lot to show us about these threats, and for us to be ready for their attack, we need to understand their presence is real.

Today is being recognized as Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. To fit in with that important day, I want to speak this morning about one of the great threats in our day – that’s the valuation of human life.

I have heard the term “quality of life” tossed around a lot in the past couple of years. Think about that for a minute…”quality of life.”

Usually, that’s a code phrase for “life worth living,” or another way of saying “we may need to decide when you die.”

Whenever you go to make a major home loan, or maybe when you want to refinance a mortgage, you’ll need to have your house appraised. That means, an appraiser comes and looks at it, takes measurements, looks around, applies some standards, and then decides what your house is worth. An appraisal. If your home is worth enough, we’ll finance your loan. If your home is worth enough, the amount you already own is enough for you to borrow more money, or to qualify for a better interest rate. So, an appraiser is someone who applies some standards, looks over your home’s condition, and decides if you deserve a good loan or not. When that same approach is applied to the value of human life, it’s a threat – a clear and present danger.

Hitler wrote in his book Mein Kempf: “Those who are physically and mentally unhealthy and unworthy must not perpetuate their suffering in the body of their children." Once he got it put into law early on, several groups of German citizens were slated to be sterilized.