In the hands of God

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

January 20, 2008

Job 10:8

"Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me?"

The answer, of course, is no, God would not turn and destroy Job.

Job had been through the ringer of death and destruction. He must have felt that God was against him. So, he turned to God and reminded Him, "Your hands shaped me and made me." Then, He pressed God, "Will you now turn and destroy me?"

The ultimate question is this: Is God a God who creates, or a God who destroys? Indeed, He is a God who creates. He is a God of life. He is a God of love. Not hatred. Not death. Not destruction. He would rather bring wrath and death to Himself—in the person of His Son—than do so to any human being.

God is a God of love. He is a God of life. He is a God who creates. His hands shaped you and made you, and every human being. You have been made in His eternal, loving, life-giving, creative image. Therefore, what kind of person shall you be?

You shall be a person of love. You shall be a person of life. You shall be a person who creates. Not one of destruction. Or death. Or hatred.

We are on this topic because this is the third Sunday in January, the day on which we remind ourselves about the sanctity of all human life. We got started on this day because of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision on abortion, January 22, 1973—but, this is way more than the singular topic of the life of the child in the womb.

This is about the life of the child in the womb, and out of the womb. This is about the life of the child on his mother’s knee, and in the fourth grade. This is about the life of the child growing up to the young man or woman. This is about teenagers and adults. It’s about young adults and over-the-hill adults and senior citizen adults.

This is about what we do with the lives of all of these people, our fellow human beings, at every age and stage of life. God gave us hands to shape human lives, from the lives that dads and moms form in the womb, to the lives that adults shape in the youngsters whom they teach and coach and reach, to the lives that we all effect at work and at play.

God gave us hands to shape and make each other. Does it make sense to use your hands to destroy another human being?

I cannot imagine that there is one person in church, right now, who would agree to the notion of being destructive against another person. In theory, we get it, that we are to be people who love and nurture and help and grow and do everything beneficial for all people.

But, we have this singular problem. Yeah, you know it. It’s called sin. It leads to selfishness—complete and utter, "I’m the most important person is my little world," sort of thinking. And, selfishness leads to every form of hatred, destruction, and murder.

And, please, don’t go pointing at those people, who have directly participated in the fifty million abortions over the last thirty-five years since Roe vs. Wade. Don’t wag your tongue about the infirm and elderly who have been euthanized—that is, given what is called a good death—because they had an incurable disease or infirmity and their loved ones wanted them to die with dignity . . . or to no longer be a bother so that they could move on with their lives.

Yes, as Christians, we know that our time is in God’s hands, and God appoints the length of our days, and it is not our job to do so. But, this is far from an abortion and euthanasia problem, this turning of our hands and destroying our fellow man.

Remember those two young men at Columbine High School, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, nine years ago? They went in and shot up the school, killing twelve classmates and a teacher, and then themselves. What they did was completely sinful and selfish. What could possibly have set them off onto such a horrific tirade?

You’ve heard this before, right? If not, then you simply must. Eric and Dylan had been oddballs among their classmates. Well, how are oddballs treated by other teenagers? Eric and Dylan were ostracized—shunned, scorned, spurned by their classmates; called names, taunted and teased.

Now, nothing ever excuses the hate-filled taking of innocent life. But, what excuse did the other students at Columbine High have for giving these two boys all the excuse they felt they needed for unloading their hatred that April day?

You, my fellow Christians, are just as guilty as those teenagers. You taunt, you tease, you call names. You shun, you scorn, you spurn your relatives, your co-workers, your friends.

In any given worship service, there are people who are bearing grudges against each other, who have a hard time with a person whom they think has done them wrong, and they will be damned before they will ever admit that maybe, just maybe, they have some fault to confess—before they will humble themselves and seek forgiveness, or provide forgiveness, or try to work out a solution to the problem. No, no, no. The other person is a terrible person—a jerk, a rat, a selfish you-know-what. It couldn’t possibly be me.

We will always have the issues regarding the sanctity of human life until the Lord Jesus returns, because we will always be battling our sinful, selfish nature, which has us truly believing that each one of us is better than anyone else.

We can work at protecting the pre-born and the infirm and the elderly—and we should—but there is so much more that we must be doing, before we ever get to those extreme issues. We have the everyday issues right before our eyes.

How do you speak of others? How do you speak to others? Are you a person who is working to shape and make others into pleasant and productive people, or do you only use others for your selfish interests, even if, inside, you are destroying them?

Do go off on others, whom you know have participated in an abortion, or who neglected their loved one in a nursing home? Look yourself square in the mirror of God’s Law, which says, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself," and, "Treat others the way that you expect them to treat you." When you pass God’s test, then you can pass judgment on others.

To begin the end of this sermon, I repeat my third paragraph: Is God a God who creates, or a God who destroys? Indeed, He is a God who creates. He is a God of life. He is a God of love. Not hatred. Not death. Not destruction. He would rather bring wrath and death to Himself—in the person of His Son—than do so to any human being.

God would rather being wrath and death to His one and only Son, Jesus, who deserved none of it, than to you, who deserve all of it.

God would rather give the holiness of Jesus to you, so that you could be reconciled to Him, forgiven of your every sinful, selfish, hate-filled thought, word, and deed.

Instead of drowning and destroying you, He would rather wash you clean in baptismal water, drowning your sins into Christ. Instead of starving and shattering you, He would rather support and sustain you on His Word and the body and blood of your Lord Jesus.

You have heard plenty to make you feel the weight of your sins as you leave a half-hour from now. Most of all, take with you Job’s plea to God, "Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me?" remembering that God has not destroyed you, but has saved you. Do this for yourself, and so that you take with you God’s attitude to create and to love, for the good of all human lives. Amen.