Psalm 139:1-18

Most of you know that I am involved with Michigan’s Heartbeat initiative and in the ensuing weeks I will be encouraging all of us to participate in Life Chain Sunday. As such, the Holy Spirit has put it on my heart to reflect on the sacredness of human life. The child in the womb, the elderly, the weak, the mentally challenged, and those with physical limitations are all precious in God’s sight.

Our Heavenly Father is the giver of life. Genesis 1:26-27 reads: “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. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Or as the psalmist put it, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Human life is a gift that should be celebrated and protected. Unfortunately that is not always the case. The right to life is an issue that sparks heated and sometimes hostile debate. The issue of abortion is one that divides families and friends. Some people are pro-choice while others are pro-life and the argument as to when life begins rages on.

I believe, with all that is in me, that life begins at conception. Many disagree with me, but the reality is, my opinion does not matter and neither does theirs! In fact, it doesn’t matter what the congress says, it doesn’t matter what the President says, it doesn’t matter what Planned Parenthood says, it doesn’t even matter what the Supreme Court has to say on the subject… what really matters is what God has to say about the value of human life.

We’ve already heard what the psalmist thinks about life and we are going to take a closer look at scripture’s take on life, but before we go any further let me say this: there may be someone here who has had an abortion or perhaps knows someone who has had one. If that is the case, I want to make it clear that although God hates abortion, He loves each and every one of us!

God wants nothing more than for us to experience His forgiveness. In 1 John 1:9 we learn: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Though God forgives, it does not change the fact that abortion is a serious sin. One of the darkest days in our nation’s history was January 22, 1973. On that day the United States Supreme Court ruled in Roe V. Wade that during the first six months of pregnancy the decision of whether to abort a baby should be left to the mother and her physician. Since that time nearly 61,000,000 babies have been “legally” murdered in the United States. Every year American doctors kill at least 1.5 million unborn children. Nearly one of every three babies conceived in the United States is aborted. One of the most staggering statistics is that over 90% of women seeking abortions do so strictly as a matter of convenience. If the prospective mother does not want a child to interfere with career, education, finances or family life she may terminate the pregnancy. Abortion has essentially become the ultimate form of birth control.

Pastor Rick Ezell writes: “It has come to the time where the most dangerous place to be in America is not in the inner city where gangs threaten innocent lives or in angry prisons where only the fit survive. The most dangerous place to live is in the womb of a mother who is being told if she doesn’t really want the baby, an abortion is the solution.”

It is important to note that we cannot always put all of the blame on the mother.

In many cases it is the father or the family who encourages and in some cases forces a mother to terminate a pregnancy.
The sad part about this issue is that we have been deceived into believing that this is a political issue. We often see this battle as one between Republicans and Democrats or between conservatives and liberals. The truth is this is not a political issue, it is a moral issue! The decision to end an innocent life in the mother’s womb really is a choice between life and death. The term “pro-choice” is merely a politically correct way of saying that it is OK to kill an unborn child.

Abortion, euthanasia, suicide or any other kind of murder is the ultimate form of rebellion against God. If one commits adultery they rebel against God’s standard for marriage. If one is living a homosexual lifestyle they are rebelling against God’s design for human sexuality. But if someone takes a human life, they have rebelled against God’s own creation! The psalmist reminds us: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 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 was none of them.”

We sometimes will hear the term, he or she was an accident or they were not planned, but according to scripture no one is an accident! We were planned by God before the foundation of the world, and He places great value on our life! Every single child that has ever been aborted was planned by God. He had a purpose for their life. However, they never fulfilled His desire for them because someone robbed them of the opportunity to live. God is grieved over the death of every one of His children who are aborted.

Every person who has ever lived was created in God’s image. Just as God was intimately involved in the creation of Adam and Eve, He has been involved in the creation of each one of us! He knows all there is to know about us, past, present and future! Scripture tells us that He even knows the number of hairs on our head. This shows us that: creating life is very personal: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. We did not evolve from some monkey, we were personally fashioned in the womb as a beautiful work of God. God made each of us just the way He wanted us to be.

Not only is the creation of a human life personal, but it is very precise: “…for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”

The idea here is that God lovingly and skillfully weaves together various parts to make a beautiful product.

God made us just the way He wanted us. There is no one else on earth who is just like us. Even scientists and doctors tell us that we all have our own unique DNA and fingerprints. These are physical reminders that we are special to God. The people of this world may look at us as being worthless, but God places great value on our life! He is the Creator, this means that He has the rights of ownership. And since He is the One who gives life, He should be the only One with the authority to take life.

The creation of a human life is personal, precise and very precious to God: “…in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand.”

In this Psalm, David rejoices because of God’s intimate interest in His life. He was in awe of the fact that God had been so good to him.

He stated that it was impossible to count God’s blessings in his life because they outnumber the grains of sand upon the earth. There is no way for us to comprehend all the thoughts that God has for us. He is constantly mindful of us and never ceases to provide for us. God blesses us abundantly and He is with us continuously! These are just a few truths that prove that we are precious to God.

“Of all creation’s treasures rare,
Not one compares in worth with man;
In God’s own image he was made
To fill a place in His great plan.”

Unfortunately we live in a day and age where people do not realize just how precious life is. Our own government allows, and in many cases, supports the destruction of human life. None is any more grievous or detestable than the practice of abortion on demand. There is no denying the fact that abortion is murder! A baby’s heart beat can be detected at around 6 weeks. Sadly, it is reported that almost 100% of all abortions occur after the 7th week of pregnancy.

Adrian Rogers said that “Pharaoh and Hitler must now take second place to America. Pharaoh, who murdered the little babies, and Hitler, who slaughtered millions in his gas chambers, are going to have to take a back seat; they’ve fallen back into the shadows.” By the 20th day of this year there had been 49,000 babies aborted in America. It seems that humanity doesn’t place much value on human life, but God does!

Not only does God value our life, He values our soul. In fact, the value that God places on our soul is immeasurable. Jesus said that your soul is worth more than the rest of the world put together. He asked, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

Our soul is so valuable to God that He was willing to do what was necessary to save that soul. Scripture says that “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). In Romans 5:8 we learn: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God sees our soul as the most valuable thing in the world. In fact, we are so valuable to God that He sent His only Son to the cross to suffer and die so that we can be saved. Therefore, the value of our soul is seen in the price that was paid for its redemption. We are valuable to God and I hope and pray that all of us understands that.

And with that understanding we must consider what we as Christians can do to support and promote the sanctity of human life.

• First, we must be informed. We can no longer pretend that this issue does not affect us. Children are being aborted right here in Grand Traverse County.
• Secondly, we must vote. We must consider our moral values and judge every issue and every candidate according to those values. We won’t always win the day, but if we think our vote doesn’t matter we essentially put a smile on the face of Satan. He wants us to be complacent. He wants us to feel defeated.
• We must teach sexual morality at home and in the church.
• We must show love and compassion to the unwed mothers. They should not be afraid to come to the church or to individual Christians for help!
• We must show love and compassion to those who have had an abortion. God offers mercy, forgiveness and grace, we should do the same.
• We must show love and compassion to those who are contemplating having an abortion. We must share with them the love of Jesus; show them that there is a better way; do what we can to assist them throughout their pregnancy and beyond.
• We should support Pro-life initiatives. Many of you have signed the Heart Beat petition, but it would be even better if some of you would circulate petitions. Some of you have participated in Life Chain, but there is always room for more in the chain.

We, as Christians, must speak for the unborn. They are unable to speak for themselves and we must speak out boldly against the taking of any innocent life. It has been profoundly said – and how true it is – that the only thing necessary for evil to exist – is for good people to remain silent. For far too long the people of God have been silent on the issue of abortion. Let us take a stand for the most innocent among us! God places great value on each and every life and may we always be willing to proclaim that we are “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.”

Amen