WHAT IF JESUS HAD NEVER BEEN BORN?
LIFE WITHOUT VALUE
Genesis 1:27
S: Jesus’ Importance in all of Life
C: The essentiality of the Incarnation
Th: What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?
Pr: WE HAVE VALUE.
?: How? How is it observed?
KW: Issues
TS: Because we have God-given value, we will consider six issues that demonstrate the difference Jesus has made in the world.
Type: Propositional, Clarification
The ____ issue is…
I. CHILDREN
II. WOMEN
III. ELDERLY
IV. SLAVERY
V. GLADIATORS
VI. CANNIBALISM
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Don’t trivialize Jesus’ impact.
• Hold the same values about life.
Version: ESV
RMBC 04 December 05 AM
INTRODUCTION:
Have you ever read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?
Forgive me from repeating myself from last week, but if you have children, it is a must read.
It is a story of four children who are magically transported into the land of Narnia, where they are confronted with adventures and the ultimate ruler of the world, the lion Aslan.
It is a story with themes of sacrifice, betrayal and forgiving love.
What is so striking about this story is that it is rooted in our history as it is the Christmas and Easter story wrapped into one…
This is why we are so excited about the debut of this film that will be coming out this coming weekend.
This is an excellent occasion, for it will be a great family film with a powerful message that speaks to spiritual truth about Jesus.
Won’t you join us on December 11 for the 4:00 showing?
The theater has already told us that this time will be sold out, and it is highly unlikely you will be able to walk up to the window next Sunday and get in for this particular showing.
So see Genny in the narthex before you go out and pay for tickets and I will purchase them after the service.
I also want to encourage you to not forget what we are about as a church.
We have a mission.
We are to bear fruit.
And here is a creative way to be active in this regard.
After the movie, we are returning here for pizza and discussion.
One of the issues that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe challenges us with is…
What if it was always winter and never Christmas?
ILL Narnia – no Christmas
In the book, in describing the White Witch to her siblings, Lucy says:
“She has made an enchantment over the whole country so that it is always winter here and never Christmas.”
The picture that is drawn is that it is a dead and stagnant time. Nothing grows. The creatures are left crouching around fires demonstrating that the outdoors has become something to be endured rather than enjoyed.
It is a concept that we should take to heart.
What would this world truly be like if there were no Christmas?
What would we be living like if Jesus had never been born?
I want to assure you this morning that I believe with all my heart that this would be a very different world, and it would not be a better one.
TRANSITION:
Think about this question for a moment…
ILL Life: Mining
1. What is the most important thing to come out of a mine?
You know…
There is coal.
That has been a staple for much of our country for many years, providing us a source of power.
Then there is iron ore.
This also has been huge, being the source for making steel.
We wouldn’t be in this room without the steel girders.
There are other important metals that are mined as well, like copper, aluminum, and nickel.
If we keep thinking, we will remember that there are some really valuable things we mine for as well, like silver and gold.
And don’t forget a girl’s best friend – diamonds!
There are some pretty important things that come from mines, but we still have neglected the most valuable thing!
What is the most important thing to come out of the mine?
It is the MINER!
If we fail to value life over the object, our priorities have gone askew.
On Friday night, I was speaking to a high school teacher from the Cheektowaga high school, and she said that there had been five fights this week.
We have been reading in the Buffalo News in recent weeks about the violence in the Buffalo schools.
It has gotten so bad that they have to return to having an alternative school, because it has not been safe for the students and teachers.
How can it be that life is treated so callously and so carelessly?
I believe that there is a direct correlation with a culture that fears God and one that does not.
I believe that there is a correlation in a culture that recognizes there is a divine source to life and one that believes we are the result of circumstance.
Believers in the Lord Jesus value life.
The reason is rather simple.
It is because God has given life!
You see…
2. WE HAVE VALUE (Genesis 1:27).
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Humanity – mankind – male and female humans – however you want to describe us – we are special and we are important.
We are precious and valuable.
We possess dignity and honor.
We have been made and designed with the likeness of God.
We have been created in His image so that we will reflect Him.
We do this by…
• Thinking logically;
• Possessing individual determination;
• Communicating;
• Having an awareness of the future;
• Being creative;
• Demonstrating emotion;
• Having a sense of community.
Now here is something that is good for us to understand.
Whenever human life is neglected, abused, or destroyed, it is like harming God Himself.
We are declaring by our action or inaction that God’s work does not have worth.
It is our understanding we have worth.
We have value.
And Jesus’ appearance into this world not only reinforced this, it heightened it.
So…
3. Because we have God-given value, we will consider six issues that demonstrate the difference Jesus has made in the world.
When it comes to the subject of life, Jesus made a tremendous difference.
For prior to Jesus, human life was exceedingly cheap.
OUR STUDY:
Now, before I go any further, I want to recommend one of my sources to you that will go much further than I will.
It is a book written by D. James Kennedy, called What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?
I. The first issue is CHILDREN.
Before Jesus was born, child sacrifice was common outside of the Judaic world.
In particular, the religions of Baal and Ashtoreth sacrificed children on a regular basis.
This was why God was so adamant about these populations being destroyed.
They had declared war on His image.
They had given up the right to life by not valuing it.
Jesus was born into a world that did not place value on children.
Only half of the children that were born during this time lived past the age of eight.
Of course, there was no health system in place, and so that has much to do with it.
But if you were unwanted, it was highly unusual to make it to adulthood.
During the classical Greece and Rome eras, abortion was rampant and abandonment commonplace.
Since females were considered inferior, they were more often discarded.
And since babies were considered the property of the father (and not the mother), they could be killed at a whim with no questions asked.
This is the culture that the church got its start.
And as the church became established and growing, they made orphanages and Christians took abandoned children into their home.
They understood life had value.
They understood children had value.
All babies and children had God-given value.
So, as the church grew, abortion, infanticide and abandonment disappeared.
It was Herod who slaughtered the innocents.
And it was Jesus that set the contrast, when He said (Matthew 19:14):
"Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."
II. The second issue is WOMEN.
Ladies, you are not going to like what you hear, but during the time Jesus was born, the wife was the property of her husband.
She was not considered to be competent to be independent.
In fact, the Greek philosopher, Plato, taught that if a man lived a cowardly life, he would be reincarnated as a woman.
If she lived a cowardly life, she would be reincarnated as a bird.
But Jesus’ world is not the only place where women have been considered inferior.
In India, until Christianity came on the scene, widows were voluntarily or involuntarily burned on their husbands’ funeral pyres.
In Africa, wives and concubines were killed when the chieftain died.
In the Islamic world, we still see how women are still treated as property, having to remain completely covered.
It is interesting that in the modern world, Christianity has been consistently accused of oppressing women.
But this is simply not true.
Wherever Christianity has wielded influence, it has elevated women as equal partners of grace.
Note how the apostle Paul states it (Galatians 3:28):
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Now we come to…
III. The third issue is the ELDERLY.
Some cultures have been good to the elderly, but not that many.
It has not been as large an issue because people that lived past the age of 65 were a rarity, not the rule.
In fact, as recently as 1892, only one in 100 lived to be 65.
But through the centuries, many cultures have killed off their elderly, just like the babies.
In fact, it was the Eskimo practice to set them off on ice floes floating out to sea.
How different has been the practice of the Christian faith (I Timothy 5:4):
But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.
Today, this issue has come to the forefront as people live longer, and the discussion about quality of life is debated.
As our country continues to shed its Christian influence, we will here more and more from people like Richard Lam, the former governor of Colorado, who said that the elderly had an obligation to get out of the way.
Clearly, this is not the difference Jesus has made.
Instead, those of the faith desire life to be lived to its fullness, including the fullness of years.
IV. The fourth issue is SLAVERY.
When Jesus was born, slavery was a huge issue.
Half of the Roman population was slaves.
And in Athens, 75% of population was slaves.
Slaves, of course, were considered to be property, with no rights.
In the Roman empire, if a master was murdered, all his slaves were put to death.
There was never a question.
It was also the Roman custom that if you had a guest, you would provide hospitality for the evening with a female slave.
Slaves had no rights, no relation to society, state, and in the Greek – Roman religion, no god to represent them.
It was Paul who began the reform from the inside out, when he asked Onesimus the slave to return to his owner.
And he asked Philemon to see Onesimus differently than before (Philemon 15-16):
For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother — especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
By reforming the heart, Christianity, in time, reformed the social order.
Even when slavery reappeared in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was the Christians that led the way to abolish its practice.
But we are still not done with slavery…
ILL Life: slavery and abortion – McCrossan
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that unborn human beings are not legal “persons” according to the constitution. The unborn baby is the “property” of the mother (or owner) and can at her request have the baby aborted up to the time of birth, if her doctor agrees.
Some have compared this ruling to the Dred Scott decision of March 5, 1857 in which the Supreme Court ruled that African-Americans were not legal persons according to the Constitution. The slave could be bought and sold, used, or even killed at the owner’s discretion.
The Supreme Court has spoken! A seven to two majority declared those fetuses aren’t human beings, just a little blob of tissue: potentially human but the property of the mother to do with as she sees fit.
Christian, there is still more work to do…
V. The fifth issue is the GLADIATORS.
The staple of entertainment in the Roman world was the gladiators.
It was a bloodthirsty sport, fought to the death.
At the command of the emperor, or whoever was the official, with a thumb down or thumb up, the victorious gladiator would plunge his sword into the loser or let him live.
And this was all for sport.
When Constantine becomes the emperor and then becomes a Christian, the practice is outlawed.
But it still persists in Rome.
ILL Sacrifice: Telemachus
In the fourth century, a monk named Telemachus wanted to live his life in pursuit of God, so he lived alone in the desert praying, fasting, and meditating. One day as he prayed, he realized his life was based on a selfish love of God, not selfless. If he were to serve God, he must serve men. He decided to return to the city where there was sin and need.
Telemachus headed for Rome. He arrived at a time when the Roman general, Stillcho, had won a great victory over the Goths. Since Rome was officially Christian, triumph brought people pouring into the churches.
But one pagan practice still lingered in Christian Rome: the gladiator games. While Christians were not thrown to the lions, prisoners of war were cast into the arena to fight and kill each other. Spectators roared with blood lust as the gladiators battled.
Telemachus arrived on the day of the games. Following the noise, he made his way to the arena where 80,000 people had gathered to celebrate. The fights began and Telemachus stood aghast. Men for whom Christ had died were about to kill each other to amuse a supposedly Christian populace.
Telemachus jumped the wall and in a moment stood between two gladiators. For an instant they stopped, but the crowd screamed, “Let the games go on.” So they pushed the old man in monk’s robes aside. Again he came between the gladiators. The crowd hurled stones at him; they urged the gladiators to kill him and get him out of the way. The commander of the games gave the order: a sword flashed and Telemachus lay dead.
Suddenly the crowd hushed silent, shocked that a holy man had been killed. The games ended abruptly that day – and were never resumed. Telemachus, by dying, had ended them. As historian Edward Gibbon observed, “His death was more useful to mankind than his life.”
The gladiator games ended because a Christian understood that life had value.
Jesus had died for it.
VI. The sixth issue is CANNIBALISM.
Are you worth more than beef on weck?
How about duck a l’orange?
Or what about filet mignon?
Jesus saw we are much more than meat.
We are so much more than flesh.
This is how Jesus explains it (Matthew 10:29-31)
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows .
ILL Life: cannibals
During World War II on a remote island in the Pacific, and American G. I. met a national who could speak English carrying a Bible.
The soldier pointed to the Bible and grinned knowingly. “We educated people don’t put much faith in that Book anymore,” he said.
The islander grinned back. “Well, it’s a good thing for you that we do,” he said while patting his stomach, “or else, you’d be in here by now.”
Where the message of Jesus has gone, it has made the change in people.
It was a message that was effective.
We value the life of friend and enemy, because each person is made in the image of God.
APPLICATION:
Let me encourage you to not be ashamed of our Lord during this season.
So…
1. Let’s not participate in the greatest tragedy of Christmas – the trivialization of Jesus.
There are so many that would like to rewrite history.
They want us to think that Jesus was fiction.
They want us to just keep our beliefs to ourselves.
They want us to believe that more harm than help has been done in the name of Jesus.
We must answer this.
We must utter a resounding “no.”
And there is a life-changing way to make it happen.
2. Let’s value life in the same way God does.
Jesus communicated this value when He said (Matthew 25:40-41):
And the King will answer them, ’Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
This means that as Christians, we value life, wherever we find it…
Whether in a nursing home or in prison;
Whether in an orphanage or homeless;
Whether poor or unwanted in the womb…
Anybody that society devalues, we are to value.
For each one of us, life is a sacred trust.
We are to live it to the full, in service for our Lord Jesus, an act of worship for our beloved Savior.
COMMUNION:
Remember today that the life you have is God-given.
Remember that the life you have is valuable.
So much so that John would write these familiar words to us:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Rejoice in your worth to God.
You were worth dying for.
That should get a response out of us.
A response of gratitude…
A response of worship…
And a determination for others to understand what we are about to do.
Those of us that know Jesus are invited to share in the elements of the table.
You do not have to be a member of this church to partake, but we do ask that you have a relationship with Jesus.
If you do not know Jesus, that is, you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, you do not trust Him with your life, that is, you have not been changed by the message, just let the elements pass by.
Please wait until the time comes when you do have that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
It is here we rejoice in the forgiveness we have received.
Being led in prayer by ____, let us take a moment and thank Him for being our sacrifice.
(Prayer)
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
____ will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Let’s not give in to the trivialization of Jesus this time of the year…be bold and say “Merry Christmas”…be unafraid to acknowledge that because Jesus was born that this planet has changed for the good.
Let’s value what God values…He values life…He values humanity…so much so that He sent His Son on our behalf…so let us show the same passion in every arena.
Now may the God of peace equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
RESOURCES:
Books:
C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
D. James Kennedy, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?
SermonCentral:
“The Sanctity of All,” Douglas Bryan
“A Priceless Work of Art,” Dan Buis
“The Value of Life,” Tom McCrossan
“The Meaning of Man,” Chris Smith
“God’s Special Conference,” Kenneth Sauer
