The Value of Life - A Biblical Perspective

 Last night we touched on a sensitive topic, abortion. Now, we didn't go into the political arguments of "Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice" or into whether or not abortion should be legal in America. No, our focus was simply on getting a biblical perspective on human life. While the Bible does not ever use the word "abortion", by spending time studying His Word, we can get an idea of God's view of human life and allow that to color our perspective on the issue of abortion. So, as we dive into Scripture we're going to attempt to answer 4 questions from a biblical perspective: 1) When does human life begin? 2) What is the value of human life? 3) What constitutes murder? and 4) Who has the authority (right) to take human life and under what circumstances?

Each question is bolded and I have included a summary answer to each question toward the end. My hope is that as you read God's Word you will come to an understanding of how He views human life and allow that to transform your thinking.

When does human life begin?

Genesis 2:7 - "...then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature."

This is the go-to verse for people trying to say that human life begins at first breath - Adam wasn't considered a living creature until after God breathed life into him. The argument then goes for everyone else, we aren't considered fully alive (or having a soul) until we take our first breath after being born. However, we need to remember that Adam is a special case. No other person alive since Adam has been made of dust from the ground - we were born from our mothers. Since Adam is a special case, we cannot base the beginning point for every human life on the example of his creation. So let's keep looking.

Isaiah 44:2 - "Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen."

Jeremiah 1:5 - "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were even born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Job 31:15 - "Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did he not fashion us in the womb?"

Psalm 139:13-16 - "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."

What do all of these verses have in common? They all speak of an individuality, a specialness, a foreknowledge of God of each person in the womb. God formed them, hand-crafted them, and in Psalms it mentions that God knew of all of the days of David's life before he was even formed in the womb. These verses point to there being human life before birth, and depending on how you want to interpret God's foreknowledge, human life even before conception (I don't take it that far personally, but I will share my personal views below). What we can say definitively in answer to the question is that the Bible views human life as beginning before birth.

What is the value of human life?

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."

This is the description of God's creation of mankind. It is starkly different than His creation of any of the other animals, as He definitely sets mankind apart from the rest of creation. He goes so far as to give mankind dominion over the earth as stewards (caretakers) of His creation. Now, when it says mankind is made in God's image, it does not mean that we somehow look like Him physically. God is not a physical being (although He can enter the physical world). God is spirit, which means we also have a spirit, a soul. That is my interpretation of being made in the image of God - we have a soul. Animals do not have souls, we do. That sets us apart from the animals and establishes a unique relationship with our Creator.

As the Creator of all things, God has a the highest view of Himself (and He is worthy of the highest view, for everything else, being made by Him, is beneath Him). If He has such a high view of Himself, and we are made in His image, what does that mean for us? It means He has a high view of us as well.

Luke 12:24 - "Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouses nor barns, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!"

This supports the view that we are of a higher value to God than the animals.

This high view of the value of human life is reflected in all of the laws that God established for Israel to protect human life. Murder was a big no-no, and made the top 10 of God's commandments. This brings us to the next question:

What constitutes murder?

Exodus 20:13 - "You shall not murder."

Murder here is the intentional killing of an innocent person. The original Hebrew word for murder which is used in the commandment also includes accidental killing as a result of carelessness or negligence. Let me give you an example.

Say you are driving on the highway, paying attention to the road as you should, and huge gust of wind pushes your car into the car next to you, causing an accident. If the person in the other cars dies as a result, you are not at fault and you are not guilty of breaking the commandment to not murder. However, if you are driving on the highway and you're texting (or distracted in some other way) and your car drifts into the car next to you, causing an accident and killing the person in that car, then you are guilty of breaking the commandment. You were being careless as a driver and your carelessness caused that other person's death. You may not have intended to kill them, but they died as a result fo your carelessness - this breaks the commandment. And finally, of course, if you intentionally swerve your car into the other with the intent to kill the person in that car, and you succeed - you've broken the commandment.

So then, a biblical understanding of murder is not only the intentional killing of an innocent person, but also the unintentional killing of another person through carelessness or negligence. God does not want us going around killing people, on purpose or by accident, which is why He established this law.

Proverbs 6:16-19 - "There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers."

This is where we see the distinction about "innocent blood". But what does it mean for someone to be innocent? In Romans, Paul talks about how no one is innocent before God - we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory. However, when we talk about shedding innocent blood, we are talking about innocence in the eyes of man. Someone who has done you no harm is considered innocent - they aren't deserving of punishment because they haven't done anything wrong to earn punishment. They certainly don't deserve death. If, however, someone has wronged you in some way (say, they mugged you and stole your wallet), well then they are deserving of some kind of punishment (not death, but definitely recompense).

The next set of verses will help explain this, as well as answer the next question. As for murder, hopefully you have gotten the sense that biblical murder is the intentional taking of an innocent human life, and includes killing as a result of carelessness or negligence.

Who has the authority (right) to take human life and under what circumstances?

Leviticus 24:17, 21 - "Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. ... Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, and whoever kills a person shall be put to death."

This law highlights two things: the idea of "a life for a life" and the affirmation that human life is of more value in God's eyes than animals.

Exodus 21:12-14 - "Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die."

Here we get some clarifications for the "life for a life". There is a difference made between pre-meditated murder and what appears to be a crime of passion. If the murderer planned ahead of time to kill another, he must forfeit his life. If it was an accident or happened in the heat of the moment, then the killer could flee to a city of refuge for a time and be safe.

Exodus 21:22-25 - "When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her child come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."

Now we're seeing some specific examples. If a pregnant woman gets hit, even if there is no harm, the aggressor has to pay a fine. This demonstrates that even threatening the life of the woman or the child in such a way is not good in the eyes of God. And if harm comes to either the woman or the unborn baby, the aggressor has to pay in kind. If there is injury, he must suffer the same injury. If there is death, he must forfeit his life. Once again we see a high value placed on human life (and this time even on the lives of the unborn), so that those who disregard that value are punished in kind.

Genesis 9:5-6 - "And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning, for the life of man. 'Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.'"

First, we see here that each person will be required to give an account of his life and his actions before God. That's it means for God to require a reckoning. Second, we see why "a life for a life" is the way that it is - because every person, from the unborn to the elderly, is made in the image of God and therefore has a high value in God's eyes.

Now, who said these things and who made these laws? God. God created all life, and it is His right to take it away. He established these laws so to protect innocent lives from being trampled by evil people. If a person takes it upon themselves to decide who lives or dies, apart from the Word of God, they forfeit their own life.

So, to answer this last question: God is the one who has the authority/right to take human life, and He has established laws for specific circumstances when it is okay for humans to take the lives of other humans. In every case we've looked at so far, it is only okay for humans to take the life of someone who has unlawfully taken other human life. This is where find validation for the death penalty, but only in cases of murder and disregard for the value of human life. "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."

To sum up:

1. When does life begin? Before birth - the unborn are considered human lives and are valued by God.

2. What is the value of human life? Extremely high. Every person, from the unborn to the elderly, is made in the image of God and therefore is highly valued by God.

3. What constitutes murder? The intentional killing of innocent people, or the unintentional killing of innocent people as a result of carelessness or negligence.

4. Who has the authority/right to take human life? God has the authority, and He has given this authority to mankind only in situations where someone is guilty of murder (or heinous sins against God Himself, which we did not discuss in this post). These situations require witnesses and judges to be involved, so that we can't just go around killing whoever we want just because we think they deserve it.

When it comes to issue of abortion, you will have to decide for yourself what you believe. However, I want to challenge you that whatever decision you come to, make sure that you can back up that belief with the Word of God. If we come to believe things that go against the Bible's teachings, then we are going against God, and that is the opposite of what Christians are called to do.

My personal conviction, and you do not have to agree with this 100%, is that human life begins at fertilization (when the sperm and the egg combine, and a new set of DNA is created). This would mean that any form of abortion (from "Plan B" to late-term termination of the pregnancy) is murder, because it is the intentional taking of innocent human life. I do not believe that rape justifies abortion, because the unborn baby, though a result of sin, is not deserving of the punishment for that sin. I do make a distinction in the case of medical emergencies/complications which put the life of the mother at risk, because God cares about both lives, and in those cases I think it is within the rights of the mother to decide which life to save if only one can be saved. Like any other sin, I believe abortion can be forgiven in Christ Jesus, but it has horrific consequences in this life (one being the killing of the unborn child). These are my convictions based on the verses above as well as other passages of Scripture, and I urge you to look at these passages and decide for yourself what to believe about this.

If you have questions, you can ask them in the comments below. Or, if you have my contact info, you can ask me directly and I would be more than willing to talk with you further about this.

The Road So Far

 Last night we took some much needed time to stop and reflect on what we have learned so far this year. Volleyball was the name of the game for the evening and I don't know about everyone else, but I had a really good time.

As we moved into the "message" time, I opened with a brief overview of everything we had covered up to this point. Below you will see a simple illustration (drawn by yours truly) of the foundation for all of our messages this year.

You would not believe how long it took me to produce that simple image... Anyway, the heart above represents your life. It represents you. Everything we are talking about this year centers around how to live the Christian life in a non-Christian world. The cross represents Jesus Christ being at the center of your life and the book represents the Word of God (the Bible) as your basis for truth. You see, if we want to live the Christian life, we first must be sure that we are of the faith and that we are in submission to the Bible as our authority in life. If you don't believe in Jesus, or you don't trust the Bible as a reliable source of truth, then you will fail to live out the Christian life in this world. Everything else that we have talked about or will talk about this year is founded on the understanding that Jesus is Lord and the Bible is our authority. That means we look to Jesus and we trust His Word to teach us what is right and good.

The Bible tells us about the nature of mankind - that we are created in the image of God but are separated from Him because of our sin, which condemns us to death. Every person is born with a sin nature and is destined for death. On our own, there is nothing we can do bridge the gap and get to God. When we understand this about mankind, it helps us to see that apart from God we are all doomed. We are not basically good, we are not evolving into better or more perfect beings, and we are not all going to Heaven (apart from God, none of us are). This has HUGE implications for living the Christian life, because it means that if we are not going into the world and telling people about Jesus (as we are supposed to do) then they won't ever have access to God.

The Bible also tells us about our role in the world, and specifically how we are to relate to non-believers. In His famous "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7, Jesus tells His disciples that they are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We broke that down to mean that we are to be blessings toward others (salt), doing good whenever and wherever we can. We are also to speak the truth whenever and wherever we can (light), shedding truth and light in an otherwise very dark world. Even if someone is in direct opposition to God and persecutes us as Christians, we are to speak the truth and demonstrate toward them the same kind of live and mercy that God showed us through Jesus Christ.

The Bible gives us a direct command when it comes to our relationship with our parents: "Honor your father and mother". We talked about the fact that "to honor" means "to obey". We are to obey our parents. And this is a serious command, as it sits right in the middle of the 10 Commandments. Its right up there alongside "Do not murder". And there is no caveat to this one either. There is no stated exception, like "obey them unless they are being quite unreasonable". We are to obey our parents, unless (yes, there is actually an exception) they tell us to do something that goes against the Bible. We obey God first, then parents. And if we do this, it will go a LONG way in helping us to have a good, healthy relationship with our parents.

The Bible completely obliterates any foundation for racism. In the beginning when God created Adam and Eve, He was starting the entirety of the human race from one set of parents. That means that all of us, no matter our skin tone, are able to trace our lineage back to the same common ancestors. We are ALL descendants of Adam and Eve, which means we are ALL one race - the human race. Therefore, skin tone should have absolutely no bearing on how we treat each other. No one is superior or better than anyone else, this is what the Bible teaches. We are equals in sin and separation from God, and those of us who have been saved are equals in the forgiveness and grace we have received in Jesus Christ.

The last two weeks we watched a YT video by Dr. Jason Lisle, in which he shared evidence from astronomy that supports the truth of the Bible. One of the benefits of seeing this evidence is that it encourages us in our faith, to know that what we believe to be true is supported by the world that God created. Knowing these evidences also helps us to have an answer for the hope that we have in Christ. When the people of the world come against us and accuse us of being crazy or stupid, we can show the rationality of our faith and stand our ground.

Most of our time last night was spent in a discussion, as I gave students the opportunity to voice any questions that had been raised but not answered in any of the previous messages. It started slow but it turned into a good discussion, and I am planning on having another one sometime in February of 2022. I hope you're able to be there and participate.

As we move forward this year, we will continue to tackle some of those big topics that the church is facing right now. We will discuss a biblical perspective on abortion, sexuality, social justice, and even politics. It is important for us, as Christians, to discuss these topics and come to a common understanding of how we should handle each of them from a biblical perspective. I fully expect there will be some hard conversations to come, but they will be necessary.

May the God of all peace be with you.

The First Commandment With a Promise

Raise your hand if you have, at one time or another, had parents.

Yup, that's what I thought. We've all had parents, otherwise we wouldn't be here. Last night we took a deep look at what the Bible has to say about our relationship with our parents. Some of you out there might have a great relationship with your parents, and I am sure that some of the rest of you are having a hard time remembering the last time you and your parents got along.

Before we jump into this, let me say this: you cannot control your parents' part in the relationship. They have a responsibility in raising you, and God has plenty of commands for them in doing that well. But you can't control that. Only they can. You can only control your part in the relationship, and that's what we're focusing on here.

Exodus 20:12, one of the 10 Commandments, says this: "Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." I don't know about you, but I don't use the word honor so much these days. This is why I am so glad the apostle Paul gives us some insight to this command in Ephesians 6:1-4: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 'Honor your father and mother' - which is the first commandment with a promise - 'so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.' Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

I included that last part because that happens to be my mom's favorite verse to quote. Know why? It only mentions fathers. It says nothing about mothers exasperating their children. She loves that technicality. Anyway, this is one of those verses focused on the parents, so let's back up.

Paul says to obey your parents in the Lord before quoting the commandment. I think he anticipated us asking what it means to honor our parents, so he clarified it for us. Basically, "to honor" means "to obey". It is that simple. If we want to obey this commandment from God, it means we have to obey our parents. I like cookies, but that is a tough cookie to swallow. Chew on that for a bit. God wants us, no, commands us to obey our parents. What happens if we don't? Well, it's right there - it won't go well with you and even if you do manage to live a long life, you won't enjoy it. In the book of Romans Paul gives us some context for the severity of breaking this command (not obeying our parents). Romans 1:28-32: "Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

This is an intense list of wickedness, and you notice something included in there? Disobeying parents is listed right alongside murder, slander, greed, and adultery (infidelity). And according to these verses, anyone who does any of these things deserves death - so we know God is serious when He commands us to obey our parents. According to the Bible (and there is no getting around this), Christians are commanded to obey their parents.

There's one more thing I want to highlight from Ephesians, and that is Paul's phrasing. He says to obey... in the Lord. We are called to obey our parents, however, God remains our first priority. What this means is that if at any point our parents (or any authority in our lives, for that matter) tell us to do something that goes against what God says is right (lie, steal, cheat, murder, etc.), obeying God comes before obeying our parents. Jesus said it this way in Luke 14:26: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple." Before you go too far down the hate trail let me explain this real quick. While the word "hate" carries a sense of strong dislike and even malice in our use of it today, back then it meant "turn away from". So what Jesus is saying here is that if we are to follow Him, to be Christians, we have to turn away from our parents, our children (if we have any), our siblings, and even our own lives and turn toward Him. He has to be our number one priority, He has to come first, or else we are only deceiving ourselves into thinking we are Christians. A true Christian follows and obeys Christ first, and that's what Paul means when he says we are to obey our parents "in the Lord".

Alright, so, the other half of having a good relationship with our parents comes down to our communication. If you are sitting there reading this and you would say that you don't have a good relationship with your parents, ask yourself this: "How well do we communicate?" My guess is that it's not well at all.

Proverbs 1:8-9 says this: "Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck." Proverbs is perhaps the largest collection of wisdom we have, and it has a lot to say about how to be wise and succeed in life. You want to know one of the main ingredients in getting wisdom? Listening. And right from the start the author talks about listening to your parents. Well, listening is also one of the key ingredients to good communication. James 1:19 puts it like this: "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry."

If you want to have a better relationship with your parents, you MUST learn how to listen. And I don't mean just hearing the words that come out of their mouths, waiting for your chance to speak. I mean really listening. Hearing what they have to say and trying to understand where they are coming from. When you learn how to do this, to slow down and listen to what your parents are saying, it will radically change your relationship. As I said earlier, you can't control whether they will respond by listening to you, but just stopping and listening can prevent a lot of the arguing, anger, and slamming of doors that tends to happen in "conversations" with your parents.

So, from Scripture we have a very strong command to obey our parents, even when we don't want to or we'll miss out on something if we do. We also have advice on how to improve our communication with our parents, which is simply by listening first. Almost all of the tension between parents and children comes from a lack of good communication. If you can learn how to listen without being dismissive, I promise you your relationship will improve dramatically.

Sometimes the issues we have with our parents run deeper than a lack of communication or obedience. Sometimes there is serious hurt or trauma that has impacted the relationship you have with your parents, and in situations like this I advise you to seek out godly counsel. Find someone who can help you figure out what to do or how to go about repairing the relationship. I am here, if you need someone to talk to, as are the other youth group leaders. And even if what you're facing is beyond us, we can point you to someone who can help. Don't just give up and sit in a bad relationship with your parents, talk to God and look for help.

And finally, remember that every Christian has been adopted by God as His son or daughter. We are His children. So all of those things I said above, yeah, they apply to our relationship with God, too. What would happen in your life if you obeyed God, and listened to Him on a daily basis? I think some amazing things would happen. God bless.

Salty Flashlights

Salt is so incredibly useful. Most of us use it on our food, either to enhance the flavor or to curb some of the bitterness (a pinch of salt in coffee works wonders). Mankind has also used it for ages as a preservative. Long before refrigerators there was salt, keeping our food from going bad. And of course, we're gearing up to throw it all over the roads (and our front porch) as winter approaches, as something about salt melts ice and prevents it from building up.

Similarly, light is essential. Not only so that we can see, but the light from the sun gives plants energy and allows them to grow. Could you imagine a world devoid of light? Life would be so different. I used to go camping a lot more than I do now, and at night I would often use a flashlight to get around in the dark without bumping into or tripping over things. The light would show me what was around me so I could navigate through it safely. The Bible often talks about itself in this way, that the Word of God is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. It shows the way. It shows the truth.

In the main passage for today, Jesus actually calls His people the light of the world. This is the final entry in our series on How to Live the Christian Life in a Non-Christian world. We've already discussed that first you have to be sure that you are of the faith. I mean, what's the point of trying to live the Christian life if you're not even a Christian? Second, as a part of being a Christian, you have acknowledge the Bible as an authority in your life. You have to believe what it says to be true and live by it. And third, you need to understand the nature of mankind as revealed in the Bible - we were created good, but messed up and became separated from God, fallen in our sinfulness with no way to fix it by ourselves.

Today I want to talk about our role as Christians in relation to non-Christians. How do we, or should we, interact with nonbelievers? Let's look at Matthew 5:13-16:

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Jesus says we are to be the salt of the earth. I said earlier that salt is something extremely useful and helpful in our daily lives. It enhances flavor, preserves food from spoiling, and protects us from slipping on ice. If we are to be "salt" to others, then that means we should be useful - a blessing - in the lives of the people around us. We should be looking for ways to enhance other people's lives, make them better, or help in some way. This goes beyond offering to pray from someone, on to doing something practical for them. For example, if I see someone struggling to change a tire on the side of the road, I can pull over and help them (if you don't know how to change a tire, maybe don't do this). If I see that a friend is really struggling in math, I can offer to study with them. If I see that a coworker is just having a rough day, I can talk to and encourage them, or even offer to help them with their duties for that day - to make their load a little easier and their day a little better. That is what it means to be salt.

A word of warning here: salt, when used in the wrong way, can be bad. Just imagine putting salt in your hot chocolate instead of sugar - not good. We need to make sure that what we are doing is actually helping the other person, not just creating more problems. Good intentions isn't enough, we need to do good. Why? Jesus gives us the reason in the second part: "that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

We are to be salt, and we are to be light. What does light do? It illuminates, it shows the way. It helps us to see in dark places and avoid obstacles. Mot importantly, light helps us to see where we are going. If we, then, are supposed to be a light to the world, then that means we need to be showing people where they are going. Our good deeds - being salt - should point people to Jesus, not to us. Being light involves speaking the truth (which we find in the Word of God) AND living by it. When we live the way God has called us to live, and we do good for others, it will point them to God. In that sense, then, we are pointing people to God - we are light.

There is one more important thing to understand about how we are to relate to nonbelievers, and that is found in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13:

"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. 'Expel the wicked person from among you.'"

It is not our job to judge those outside the church. I'll say it again. It is NOT our job to judge people outside of the church. "But Mike," you might say, "you just said we have to speak the truth! Doesn't that mean we have to call people out on their sin?" Yes, we need to speak the truth, and that means showing people that they are sinners (just like us). But there is a huge difference between showing someone that they are a sinner and judging them for their sin. The first is meant to lead them to the understanding that they need Jesus to save them from their sin, while the second is meant to make them feel bad. Should we feel bad about our sin? Yes, absolutely. Should we go out of our way to make other people feel bad about their sins? No. The Holy Spirit, God, convicts people of sin, and God is the one who will ultimately judge them. That's His job, not ours. Our job is to speak the truth - to let people know they are sinners and in need of a Savior, Jesus. And we do that in love, as we do good in their lives and point them to Jesus.

So to put this all together (and I know that last part might have gotten a little confusing):

1. Be salt - demonstrate God's love in practical ways - help and serve others.

2. Be light - be the person God has called you to be and speak the truth of His Word.

3. Share the Gospel, not judgment. Judgment IS coming, and that is a part of the Gospel, but it is not WE who are going to be doing the judging - that's God's job.

If we do these things, we will be living the Christian life, and these are all things we can be doing in a non-Christian world. People may not like us (a lot of people hated Jesus), but it is what God has called us to do. God bless.

Gotta Face Reality

 I don't know why exactly, but I guess I've had games on my mind recently. As a kid I absolutely LOVED fighting games. I'd be playing "House" with my little sister and then 5 minutes in BOOM, a burglar breaks in and kidnaps her, and I have to go fight through hordes of minions to rescue her. I'd make up all kinds of stories where I was the hero, fighting against the forces of evil with my trusty sword. There was just one problem... I didn't have a sword. You want to know what I did have? A STICK! Booyah! I'd go out and find a decently-sized, straight-ish stick and that would become my sword, gun, axe, spear, staff - you name a weapon, that stick could be it - and I would use to to vanquish my enemies!

But what would happen if a real bad guy showed up? That stick wouldn't do me too much good - maybe I'd get a good whack in, if I was lucky, but then the bad guy would beat me to a pulp. As cool as it was to pretend that stick was a powerful sword, when faced with real danger I would have to face the reality that it was just a stick.

I think a lot of times we like to pretend that things are not what they are because it makes them cooler, or easier to deal with. We pretend sticks are swords because that is way cooler, or that a toothache will just go away on its own because that costs a LOT less money than getting it fixed by a dentist. We pretend that speed limits are more like guidelines than actual rules because it lets us get places faster. We pretend cheating on a test isn't really that bad because it saves us time on studying (or if we let someone cheat off of us, it makes us look better in their eyes). We even pretend that not reading the Bible regularly won't affect our faith.

Whatever the case may be, eventually we have to face reality. The stick breaks, the tooth decays, the cops pull us over for going 65 in a 25, we get caught cheating and get suspended from school, and we end up pulling away from God because we aren't paying attention to His Word. Two weeks ago we started answering the question "How do we live the Christian life in a non-Christian world?" Steps one and two were pretty straightforward: 1) be sure you are of the faith (otherwise why even try to live the Christian life?) and 2) acknowledge the authority of God's Word in your life. Last night we looked at step three, which is facing the reality of human nature.

There are a lot of ideas gaining traction in the world today: the idea of relative truth (that what is true for you may not be true for me, but they're both equally true), that the gender you're born with may not be your real gender (or that you get to choose your gender), the idea that who you are is tied to who you are attracted to, and possibly the most problematic idea, that mankind is basically good. The problem with this last one is that it takes away the idea that we are in trouble and in need of a savior. If mankind is basically good, then we don't really need God, or faith, or anything. We're good to go on our own. Unfortunately, this is not reality. Let's look back at the very beginning, when God first made mankind:

Genesis 1:26 - "Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them."

This was at the very beginning, before sin or death had entered the world. Everything was perfect and good, which means at our very beginning, we were perfect and good, made in God's image. This image, which meant that we were created with reflections of God's nature and character in us, set us apart from the rest of creation. God even said that as mankind is made in His image, it would allow them to rule over the rest of the creation. He gave us some of His authority and a responsibility over the earth. In making us in His image, God gave us the ability to make our own decisions (we call this free will) and He gave us souls - a spiritual aspect to our being that lives on after physical death. After finishing His work in creation, God looked at everything He had made and decided that it was all very good. So, at the beginning, the idea that mankind was basically good was correct. We were. Unfortunately, that's not the end of the story.

Romans 5:14, 17-21 - "Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. … For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Human nature started out good, but when Adam and Eve sinned against God human nature became corrupted. That act of rebellion (which you can read about in Genesis 3) brought sin and death and decay into God's good creation, and it brought corruption into all of it. Every person is now born with a corrupted nature, so that we are not basically good anymore. At our core, apart from God, we are sinful and hopeless beings. We still have the image of God implanted in us, but it has become corrupted and twisted, so while we can still sometimes do some good in the world, sin is the prevailing part of our nature. This is why we see so much evil and suffering in the world today, because people give in to their sinful natures and choose to do what is wrong. The ultimate consequence for sin, the consequence that we each deserve and are destined for, is separation from God and death. That is the nature and the fate of humanity.

BUT, you may have noticed in the Romans passage, God did not see fit to leave us like this. Just as through that first sin Adam doomed us to death, so through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross we have access to God and to eternal life! When Jesus died, He took the penalty of death that we deserve, so that we wouldn't have to. He took our punishment so that we could be forgiven and have a restored relationship with God. Without faith in Jesus, we have no hope of redemption. We would be stuck in our sin nature and doomed to eternal death and separation from God. Through Jesus, we can have life, and have it abundantly.

Our society is pushing a lot of new ideas right now, most (all) of which go against what the Bible tells us about human nature. If we take steps one and two, believing in Jesus and accepting the authority of God's Word in our lives, then we should be prepared to take step three, which is to face the reality of human nature which is described in the Bible. This is a hard step to take in our culture right now, because doing so pits us against the ideas that the world is pushing. The world will yell at us, scream at us, maybe even attack us to get us to accept their ideas. But we must stand up and stand strong for what the Bible says to be true, no matter what kind of push back we get for it.

The world wants to pretend that mankind is not doomed to death. The world wants to pretend that people can be whatever they want to be, and do whatever they want to do. The world pretends all this because it is easier than facing the reality that there is judgment coming for those who rebel against God. Whether you believe and trust in God's Word or not, eventually you gotta face reality.

Foreigners in a Hostile World

 Heyo! For anyone who doesn't know already, I have played a LOT of games in my lifetime - from board games, to videogames, to sports games, all the way to mind games (messing with my siblings). You and I may not like the same kinds of games, but I think we can all agree that games are fun. I think part of what makes games fun is that they each have their own set of rules that the players have to abide by - these make the game the way that it is. For example, imagine trying to play dodgeball but no matter what happens no one can get out. It might be fun at first, until you realize that you're just throwing dodgeballs at each other until someone gets bored or whatever. That's not... a game. You know? A game needs to have certain rules so that it is fair, works properly, and allows everyone to have some fun and competition. The world we live in today is a lot like a game in that respect. There need to be rules to live by so that the world runs properly, people can live at peace with each other, and everyone can have opportunity to "pursue happiness", as the American dream would put it. However, when I look around, even at just this country, it seems like everyone is living by different rules. Either they mix and match rules from others or they make up new rules as they go along. No one truly agrees on any rules, so there is no peace, the world definitely doesn't run properly, and most people are too busy struggling to get by to even think about pursuing happiness. The "American Dream" doesn't work.

As Christians, we believe that God created the world (as outlined in the beginning of the book of Genesis) and He established the world order, set it in motion, and provided the rules for the "game" of life. He revealed all of this in the Bible so that we would know how we are supposed to live in this world He created. Unfortunately, if you read through the book of Genesis in the Bible, you'll quickly find out that it didn't take very long for mankind to break the rules and do their own thing. Ever since then, humanity has struggled with the consequences of rebelling against God's way of doing things, and that's what we see in our world today. Our society doesn't want to do things God's way, and they become very hostile toward those who do. So, the question is, how do we live the Christian life in a non-Christian world? How do we survive as foreigners in a hostile world?

In total, there are four parts to the answer to that question, and today we are going to look at the first two.

Step 1, the very first thing you need to do to even attempt to live the Christian life in a non-Christian world, is to be sure you are of the faith. Romans 10:9-10 says this: "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." There is NO POINT in trying to live the Christian life if you're not even a Christian. It won't do you any good and you'll fail over and over and over again. The good news is, becoming a Christian is not as complicated as some of you might believe. Just like Paul said in Romans 10, out your faith in Jesus and what He did for you on the cross. Let me give you a quick overview of what we're talking about here - according to the Bible, Jesus is the Son of God who came to the earth as a man about 2,000 years ago, lived a sinless, perfect life and then died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, taking all the punishment that we deserve so that we don't have to, and then was raised from the dead 3 days later. If you believe that and trust that your sins are forgiven through Jesus, you are a Christian.

Here's the thing though, according to Paul we must declare with our mouths "Jesus is Lord". A "lord" is someone with authority, a master or ruler. So when we declare "Jesus is Lord," we are declaring that Jesus is our master, our ruler, the main authority figure in our lives. If Jesus is our Lord, that means we submit to His authority, we follow and obey Him.

Step 2 naturally follows from this. Step 2 to living the Christian life in a non-Christian world is to acknowledge the authority of God's Word (the Bible) in your life. When you think of the Bible as God's letter to us, which comes with instructions for living and information about who He is and what He is doing, then it would make total sense for us to acknowledge the Bible as an authority in our lives. It would be just like receiving a letter from our lord. Where we get tripped up, however, is that a lot of the time we treat the Bible like the instructions for a game. Take UNO as an example. UNO has specific rules for each card and how to play the game. But depending on where you go, different people play the game differently. There are variations of the rules (stacking versus no stacking, drawing one card when you can't play anything or drawing until you can play, etc.). I think we tend to treat the Bible like the rules in UNO - the Bible gives us a baseline, but we can pick and choose which rules we actually want to follow. And this is why step 2 is so important to living the Christian life in a non-Christian world. The world tells us its okay to pick and choose, but the Bible is clear - its all or nothing. We either submit completely to God's way, or we are in rebellion against God. There is no in-between.

So then, to really acknowledge the Word of God as an authority in our lives, we have to surrender our authority of self. What do I mean by that? Well, before becoming a Christian, we all have different authorities over us - our parents, teachers, the government, etc. But over all of those we have the authority of self. This is our ability to choose who we are going to listen, if we listen to anyone at all. Like, yeah, I might get in trouble if I don't listen to my parents, but ultimately it is my decision whether to obey them or not. The authority of self boils down to this: "I do what I want." As a Christian, we surrender this authority of self over to God. In making Jesus our Lord, we say, "God, I am no longer in charge of my own life, You are. You make the decisions, You say what is right, and I will follow Your lead." It boils down to: "I do what God wants." If we try to live the Christian life, but don't surrender the authority of self, we are in for a lifetime of trouble.

Isaiah 45:9 says this: "Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'The potter has no hands'?" If the Bible is true, that means God made the world. He is the Maker, He is the "potter", and we are what He has created. If He is the Maker, what right do we have to challenge His design? What right do we have to disagree with He has said? When we acknowledge the authority of the Bible in our lives, we are saying that we trust that God knows what He is talking about. That means we don't get to decide what is right or wrong, we go by what He says is right or wrong.

If you are sitting there and you want to live the way God says is right and good, then the first things you need to do is ask yourself these two questions: Have you put your faith in Jesus? Have you surrendered yourself to the authority of God's Word? These two things set the foundation for everything else we believe in, and they give us solid ground upon which to stand for our faith. The world we live in despises God's way, and they will try to push down and destroy anyone who tries to live His way. Don't let them push you down.