SANCTITY OF LIFE
(Acts 17:24-30)
Today, January 20, 2002 is “SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE” throughout the nation. On this special occasion it is important for people know that our worth as a person is not based on what we do or whether we meet certain criteria or qualities (“quality of life” ethic). Instead, our value exists because God set His image upon us, sustains us, sacrificed His only begotten Son for us and seeks to use us in His Kingdom’s work. How encouraging for people to learn God’s purpose in our life is tied directly to His ability to use us, no matter what our physical or mental condition. Therefore, to further discuss this important topic, lets examine the words of truth in Acts 17:24-30:
First, GOD MADE ALL THINGS, HE IS THE LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH AND GIVES TO ALL LIFE AND BREATH AND ALL THINGS. Listen again to verses 24-25: God is the Maker and not the one who was made. He is the originator of all things. Everything that exists came from His hands. Colossians 1:16-17 say, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
The Psalmist tells us, “Behold, children are a gift from the Lord.” (Ps. 127:3) God is the power behind barrenness, and God is the power behind conception. We read in the Bible where God closed the womb of a woman and opened the womb of a woman. We are simply the human instrumentation through which God makes a baby. And you cannot, through sexual relationships create a soul – an immortal, eternal soul. Likewise, God is the creator of deformed people that are born. Listen to Moses’ words in Exodus 4:11: “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” Remember in John chapter 9 the disciples ask Jesus, “…who sinned, this man or his parents?” And Jesus said, “Nobody. This man was born blind for the glory of God.”
God gives to all life and breath and does not have any needs himself. Job 34:14,15 says, “If it were His (God’s) intention and He withdrew His spirit and breath all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust.” Paul says the real God is one who gives, who pours out. He does not need anything from you. He does not live in temples made by man. He is the one who made you and everything about you, and there is nothing you can give Him that He needs. He is, rather, giving Himself continually to you – “…For God so loved the world, He gave…”.
Second, GOD DETERMINED HIS APPOINTED TIMES AND BOUNDARIES FOR MANKIND. Listen to verse 26: Solomon in the Old Testament made a similar statement in Ecclesiastes 3:1-2: “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under the heaven. A time to give birth, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.” Notice the Apostle Paul says God “made from one (blood) every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth.” Folks, “…red and yellow, black and white, we are precious in His sight.” No one person, creed or nation origin has a higher standing or quality more deserving of life than another – all human life is sacred. Next, Paul says that God “determined their (man’s) appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation.” The Hebrew word for time in Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 is “eth.” It means “an appointed time or a proper time” and signifies an appointed, fixed and set time or period in which things are to occur. The concept of the word also implies “a proper or an appropriate time” for a given activity. My friend, our God is a God of order not a God of chaos. As the Psalmist says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord” not put together by a series of random or chaotic choices. Thus, the Bible says both in Ecclesiastes and in Acts 27 that there is a proper or an appropriate time which has been predetermined by a sovereign God for birth and death to occur. Solomon says there is a time to be born and a time to die. These times are determined by the divine counsel of God; and, as we were born, so we must die, at the time appointed.
Thus, to kill a life because it doesn’t meet our criteria of “quality of life” is to play God. Thus, abortion (the killing of an unborn human being), infanticide (the killing of an infant), euthanasia (the killing of the ill and the infirm), and homicide (the murder of human beings at any stage in life) are all a revolt against God and an attempt to usurp the prerogatives and plans of the Creator. It is interesting that the word “abortion” comes from a Latin word which means “to perish by untimely birth.” While, the word “sanctity” is defined as “sacred or hallowed character…a sacred thing.” God loathes such bloodshed and rebellion and has made it clear that He will judge those who perpetrate or condone such bloodshed (Gen. 9:5-6; Ex. 20:13).
Like birth, death also has its time. There is a clear and distinct difference between allowing the death process to occur and speeding it up. As the issue of doctor-assisted suicide makes its way through the court system, Christians must stand firm against this ghastly evil, my friend. It is tantamount to saying we know better than God what should and should not be. Even many non-Christians accept the Ten Commandments as the law of God. Deut. 5:17 states, “Thou shalt not kill.” The word literally means murder. There is no exception clause for self. The argument that we have a right to decide when life is worth living opens Pandora’s box to wholesale euthanasia, for many may not be able to choose for themselves. The choice of whether or not to use extraordinary life support, which only serve to prolong the death process, can be devastating for a family. One must prayerfully ask, “Is it their time?” One must never withhold normal care and nutrition from anyone. That would be purposely hastening death. But to allow the death process to occur naturally need not be an ugly experience for the believer. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).
We must trust in the wisdom of God in these matters. “To every thing there is a season…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). The Bible says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Third, GOD MADE MANKIND IN HIS IMAGE. Listen again to verses 27-28: What a fantastic statement! It begins with the fact of the dignity of man, recognizing that man is God’s offspring. The Bible says that man is made in the image of God, and that he has a capacity to respond to God. He is made for God. Solomon in Ecclesiastes 12:7 tell us: “The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” God originally gave life through the first man and woman that He created. Listen to these confirming and affirming words from Genesis 1:27:“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female and He created them.” Notice, my friend, the image bestowed on us comes from our creator. It was not assigned to mankind by other humans based on a relative standard of individual worth or “quality of life.” The psalmist said: “Your hand made me and fashioned me.” (Ps. 119:73)
The Lord further expounds on this in Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed thee I knew thee.” The Hebrew verb used in this verse for “to know” is yada, which conveys great meaning in the Old Testament, going far deeper than mere intellectual knowledge or awareness. Yada means personal commitment and intimate experience with the person known. Yada is used for the sexual union between husband and wife (Gen. 4:1). You see, God not only knew “about” Jeremiah, he “knew” him and was involved in a personal way with him before he was conceived.
This personal and intimate involvement by God in individual lives extends to His personalized involvement in their conception and development. God says that each human life is “woven” (Hebrew, sakak “to weave”) by Him (Gen. 2:7; Ps. 139:13) and that He knits together (Hebrew, raqam “to embroider”) each human frame (Hebrew, estem “skeleton”) in the womb. (Ps. 139:15). This personal, detailed, intimate, divine involvement with each human life reveals that God has a “personalized” plan for each human being even prior to actual conception (Ps. 119:16; 127:3; Is. 43:7-8; Eph. 2:10).
God is saying, ”I started getting you ready, and the world ready for you, long before you were born. I worked through your father and your mother, your grandfathers and grandmothers, your great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers. For generations back I have been preparing you.” What a remarkable revelation this is, my friend. History tells us that the mother of Sir Walter Scott loved poetry and art. It is no wonder he followed his mother’s loves in this way. The mother of Napoleon Bonaparte was ambitious for herself and her children. The mother of John and Charles Wesley was a godly and devout woman, with great ability. My friend, God prepares for a child long before that child is born. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
Now, if you read this verse in Jeremiah as though this were something extraordinary which applied only to Jeremiah the prophet, you have misread the whole passage. But what we fail to see is that what the Lord said about Jeremiah is true about us also. There is nothing unusual about it. God never made another one like you, and he never will. God never made anyone else who can fill the place you can fill and do the things you can do. This is the wonder of the way God forms human life – that of the billions and billions that have been born upon this earth there are no duplicates. Each one is unique, prepared of God for the time in which he is to live. That is the word which came to Jeremiah to strengthen him. “Look,” God said, “I have prepared you for this very hour,” as he has prepared you and me for this time, for this world, for this hour of human history. Each of us is therefore both the goal toward which God has been working, and at the same time, the preparation of someone yet to come. And we have a part in their work. What a gift we have, ! God has prepared you and I for this moment, through the generations which lie behind you, that you might live and speak and act in this time in history.
Finally, WE MUST NOT THINK THAT THE DIVINE NATURE IS LIKE GOLD OR SILVER OR STONE, AN IMAGE FORMED BY THE ART OR THOUGHT OF MAN. Listen to Paul’s words in verses 29-30: I am grieved by a quality of life ethic that equates man’s value base on what he can or cannot do – that is degrading the divine nature to “an image formed by the art or thought of man.” The pride of humanity has blinded many in our society in making the right choices. Ecclesiastes 11:5 says, “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.” Yet, we cannot begin to know the workings of God (Isaiah 55). We live in a society that has lost its bearings over what is right and what is wrong; where political decisions are based more on power than on morality and God’s Holy Word. An overview of Scripture clearly reveals the taking of an innocent human life is hated and clearly condemned by God and that God, especially, detests taking of human life simply to ensure a “quality of life” or to cover sin. Folks, we “knowest not what is the way of the spirit.” We may have freedom to choose but we don’t have freedom to determine the results of our actions – “…be not deceived, God is not mocked…”.
Society is quick to focus on freedom of choice but slow to focus on the results of such choices. We soon forget there are two victims in abortion – the child who dies and the mother who bears the emotional and psychological scars. With no acknowledgment of the loss of life, there is no funeral and no healthy grief process. This often leads to later relational problems and post-abortion stress disorder. Many women privately live the life described in Matthew 2:18 after Herod had all the babies murdered. “In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”
David Reardon in his book, The Jericho Plan says, “Abortion is an act of despair.” He notes over 70 percent of women undergoing abortion believe the procedure is morally wrong. They act against their conscience because they feel they have no other choice. He points out that those who are experiencing doubts, grief or regret about the abortion are unable to share that pain. He said, “They don’t feel they can share with their own family, much less within their church, because they’re afraid of the rejection.” If they try to share their grief with someone who is pro-choice, they are going to be told: “Just forget about it and go on with your life. It really wasn’t a baby yet.” Sadly, those who favor a woman’s right to choose don’t want to authenticate the woman’s grief for fear of casting the decision as immoral. Denying the reality that abortion hurts not only babies but women, men and families as well as the church. Until we deal with the pain we are never going to see the truth because it hurts so much.
Christians must work today to win the country to Christ. Then, a secondary gain will be winning the battle for the sanctity of life. The unborn child, the terminally ill patient, etc., is a person in need of care and protection, and we are to treat unborn children, the elderly, etc. with the same kind of compassion that we would apply to all of God’s creation made in His image. The writer of Proverbs 24:11-12 says, “Deliver those who are being taken away to death, and those who are staggering to slaughter, O hold them back. If you say, “See, we did not know this, does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does not He know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to every man according to his work?” God knows our heart. This is the time in our country to take a stand and to share individually with people who are confused, because the issue concerning the “sanctity of life” is very clear cut.
May your prayer and mine be that our response to those that oppose the “sanctity of life” be God-centered, reality-based and love-guided.
