1996 SINGLE SERMONS
SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE
DR. JIM DIXON
JANUARY 21, 1996
GENESIS 1:26-27, MATTHEW25:31-46
Well, this Sunday is sanctity of human life Sunday, and on this Sunday, all over this nation, churches are focusing on what it means to say that human life is sanctified. Now, the word “sanctity” by virtue of its etymology is related to the word “sanctuary.” Both of these words are derived from the Latin word sanctus, which means “set apart for God.” You see, this worship center is called a sanctuary because it is sanctus—it is set apart for God. Human life is said to have sanctity because human life is sanctus. Human life is set apart for God, and this distinguishes human life from all other life on this Earth.
You see, plant life and animal life are not set apart for God but are set apart for man, male and female. God has given us dominion over plants and animals, and that dominion (that stewardship) will one day be evaluated. But you see, human life is set apart for God, and it is to be treated with the highest reverence and respect.
This morning I have two teachings, and the first teaching is this: human life has physical sanctity. Even our bodies are set apart for God. Human life has physical sanctity. Now, if you study the religions of the world (and perhaps a few of you have), you know that Christianity has a particularly high view of human life physically. There are many religions in this world that have a low view of human life physically. If you study Hinduism, you will see this. If you’ve read the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most sacred writings in all of Hinduism, you will see the Hindu view of existence and the Hindu view of human worth.
In that writing, the Bhagavad Gita, you read about a dialogue between Krishna, who is the Hindu deity Vishnu, and a man whose name is Arjuna. Arjuna is a warrior, and he’s about to go to battle where he’s going to have to kill people. He’s going to have to kill some of his own relatives. And so he asks Krishna (or Vishnu), “How should I feel about this? Should I do this?” And Krishna tells him, “It’s no problem.” It’s no problem because, you see, human life isn’t really physical. It’s no problem because when you kill somebody, their soul simply leaves the body. Through reincarnation, their soul will find some other body. It may be a greater body or it may be a lesser body, depending on the karma, but when you kill someone, you simply test their karma and their soul leaves their body and will find some other body.
If you read the Vedas, the sacred books of Hinduism, you will discover that the primary goal of Hinduism is disembodiment. That’s the primary goal: that you might reach this pure spirit state called moksha, which is disembodiment. And of course, the Hindu people (and this is true of most of the Eastern religions) view a human life as a soul imprisoned in a body. You see, Eastern religious thinking is tied up with a kind of platonic dualism where matter is evil and spirit is good. The purpose of human beings is to transcend the material and to attain a state of pure spirit. This is antithetical to the teachings of holy scripture. This is antithetical to the teachings of the Bible. You see, the Bible tells us that God created this material world. God created this physical universe, and God said, “It is good.” It is good. God created humanity, male and female, body, soul, and spirit—soma, psyche, and pneuma. And God said, “It is good.” It is good.
You see, biblically, human beings are not souls imprisoned in bodies. Biblically, human beings have a trichotomous union of body, soul, and spirit—soma, psyche, and pneuma—meant to work in integration. Our goal as Christians is not disembodiment. That is not our goal. It is true that when we die our bodies return to the earth—dust to dust, ashes to ashes. But we look forward not to disembodiment but to our new bodies, our resurrection bodies, which are just like the resurrected body of our Lord Jesus Christ, a body of flesh and bone that has material substance. We look forward to a body that is corporeal, not incorporeal. This gives us, in Christian theology, a whole different view of the physical.
In fairness, in the Eastern religions there is much teaching that relates to compassion for the physical needs of people. But that teaching is undermined (that teaching is virtually negated) by their theology, which treats the physical as evil and views the soul, the true human life, as imprisoned in a body. Now, Christianity, therefore (and I really do believe this is safe to say) has the highest respect for the physical needs of people. I hold in my hand a recent issue of US News & World Report. This particular magazine deals with the subject of charities. It seeks to identify the best charities—the biggest and the best—and they identify in here the 10 largest charities relating to human services. These are charities that seek to meet the physical needs of human beings. Seven of the 10 charities—seven of the 10 largest charities—are Christian charities. They are Christian charities, and most of them are evangelical, founded by evangelicals and governed by evangelicals.
The largest charity in human services is the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army, founded by an evangelical and governed by evangelicals, has a budget of $1.4 billion and supports 6,000 facilities where they seek to help men and women who have drug or alcohol addiction. They seek to help young women who have unwanted pregnancies. They seek to help people in the midst of their physical need.
In this magazine also there is identified the 10 largest agencies with respect to global aid. And again, seven of them are explicitly Christian. They are Christian, and most of them are evangelical, founded by evangelicals and governed by evangelicals. The largest agency with regard to world aid is called World Vision, which was founded by evangelicals and is governed by Evangelicals. The world over, World Vision seeks to meet the physical needs of men and women in the name of Jesus Christ.
This church supports World Vision because we too care about the physical needs of human beings and we believe in the sanctity of human life physically. And you see, this is all based on the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke chapter 10, we see how our Lord Jesus Christ turned to His disciples and He said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For truly I say to you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you see and did not see it.” And just then a lawyer stood up, and putting Him to the test, said, “Rabbi, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “What is written in the law? How do you read? it” And the lawyer answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said, “You have answered well. Do this and you will live.”
But the lawyer, seeking to justify himself, said, “Who is my neighbor?” And Jesus said, “A certain man was journeying down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead by the side of the road. By chance, a priest was going down that road. He saw the wounded man but passed by on the other side. And so also a Levite, as he came to the place, saw the wounded man, but passed by on the other side.
“But then a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to the place, saw the wounded man, and was moved with compassion. And he went to him and bound his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and placed him on his beast. He brought him to an inn where he took care of him. The next morning, the Samaritan went to the innkeeper and offered him two days’ salary, saying, ‘Take care of this wounded man. And if you spend anything else, I will repay you when I return.’ Now, which of these three—the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan—proved neighbor to the man who fell amongst the robbers?” And the lawyer said, “The one who had compassion.” Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”
The good Samaritan didn’t help the wounded man because he was concerned about that man’s soul. Perhaps he was, but we do not know. But you see, in the context, what that good Samaritan was concerned with was that man’s body. He was concerned with that man’s physical need, as he had been beaten and stripped and left half dead. That good Samaritan cared about that man’s physical needs. And Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.” I think the message of scripture is clear. In Matthew 25 we’re told how Jesus will one day come again and He will descend from Heaven with all of His angels with Him and He shall sit on His glorious throne. Before Him shall be gathered all the nations, and He shall separate them one from the other. And to those on His right hand He will say, “Come, oh blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink. I was naked and you clothed Me. I was a stranger, and you welcomed Me. I was sick and in prison and you visited Me.”
They will say, “When, Lord, were these things true of You and we did these things for You?” And Jesus will say, “Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, My brothers and sisters, you have done it unto Me.” See, we are to care for the physical needs of people as well as the spiritual.
And of course, in Luke chapter 17, we have the story that Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus. He tells how when the rich man and this poor man named Lazarus died, the poor man, Lazarus, went straight to paradise and the rich man went straight to Hades. And why was that? It was not because the rich man was rich. It was because the rich man had no concern for the physical needs of people and he did not care about this poor man, Lazarus, though he lived at the very gates of the rich man.
Lazarus was riddled, Jesus told us, with sores and physical disease. He was longing for food. He would gladly have eaten the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. But the rich man had done nothing. The call of Christ upon His people with regard to the sanctity of human life physically is that we would care for the physical needs of people. That is why in this church we have a missions department that reaches out to the poor in the inner city and reaches out through organizations like World Vision to the poor around the world. That is why in our missions department we send teams of you on short term assignments, some down to Mexico to build facilities for poor people there.
I’m going in a week and a half down to Mexico with a team of people to build a facility for the poor, and God’s inviting you to do that same sort of thing through the programs in our church. That’s why we have a Manna Ministry right here in this church where you can reach out to the physical needs of men and women and boys and girls. You can do that right here in our church. This is the invitation of God to you this morning as His people. If you truly believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin and the Lord of your life, He would remind you of the sanctity of human life, even the physical sanctity. Even our bodies are set apart for God, and we are to care for the physical needs of people.
But there’s a second teaching this morning, and the second teaching is this: human life has spiritual sanctity. Human life is sanctified spiritually. It’s not just our bodies that are set apart for God. God wants our souls. God wants our souls and spirits. We’ve already seen that human beings are spiritual beings, not just physical beings. We’ve seen that we are trichotomous, that we are body, soul, and spirit—soma, psyche, and pneuma. We are spiritual beings. In Genesis, chapter two, verse seven, the Bible says, “The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the earth.” That is not unusual language. The same language is used with regard to the animals in verse 19 of chapter two, that the animals were formed by God out of the dust of the earth. But you see, then the language becomes unusual. “The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the earth, and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” He became nephesh, a living soul. We are distinguished from the animals, for we are spiritual beings—body, soul, and spirit. In Genesis, chapter one, verse 27, we’re told that we are created in the image of God. In verse 26, we are told that we are made in the likeness of God as spiritual beings, and this of course separates us from all other forms of life.
You know, last Sunday a woman in our church came up to me and said that she had been at some kind of gathering where she met a missionary to Africa. And the missionary asked her what church she went to, and she said Cherry Hills Community Church. And the missionary said, “Well, is Jim Dixon pastor of that church?” This woman said yes, and the missionary said, “Well, tell Jim that his two dogs are doing great on the mission field in Africa.” Well, I know what he was referring to because when Barb and I’s dogs a few years ago had a litter of pups we gave two of them to this African missionary. He has taken those two puppies to the mission field, and apparently they’re grown and they’re doing well in Africa on the mission field. And you know, I’m glad to hear that. I really am glad to hear that. But I don’t care about those dogs nearly as much as I care about the people in Africa, because it’s human life that is physically and spiritually sanctified.
And you know, just after Christmas Barb and I and Drew and Heather went down to Orlando and went to SeaWorld. And we went and saw Klondike and Snow and, you know, they’re not getting quite the attention there in Orlando that they received here in Denver at the Denver Zoo. But they’re doing well. I mean, we saw them in their enclosure. They’re still kind of cute (a whole lot bigger) and it looks like a nice habitat. I mean, the whole thing looks great and I’m glad, but you see, I don’t care about those bears nearly as much as I care about the people who are looking at those bears. That is because it is human life that is physically and spiritually sanctified.
You may have noticed in the newspaper just a few weeks ago that the whale that was featured in the movie Free Willy has just been moved from a restricted enclosure in Mexico City and has been relocated at the cost of $8 million. I want to promise you (and I do care about whales, and certainly we don’t want to see any species of animal become extinct, and this is part of our dominion) that the poorest person with an emaciated body dying in the gutter in a street in Calcutta is infinitely more precious to God than that whale.
The tiniest fetus in the womb of the humblest woman in the remotest portion of the Earth is infinitely more precious to God than any of the animals because human life, physically and spiritually, has sanctity. President Clinton, just a couple of years ago in speaking to a secular university, told the people that he really believed that human life is spiritual. And he said he believed that human beings had souls given by God. But he said he didn’t know when human beings became spiritual. He didn’t know when the soul was implanted by God. He said he didn’t know whether it was during the first, second, or third trimester, or at the moment of birth. Therefore, he thought abortion should not be restricted.
Now, I tell you, a human life has sanctity. Even its body is sanctified, set apart for God. Be careful. And it is true that we don’t know when the soul is placed in the body. But you know, many Christians hold to the theology of traducianism. This is the view of the Lutheran Church, where the soul is not implanted by God in any trimester but the soul is passed on from the parents to the offspring. The truth of the matter is that, biblically, we don’t know. We don’t know how that works, but this is dangerous territory. We better not tamper with human life unless there is extreme cause, because human life is sanctified, physically and spiritually. Oh, I do think some pro-lifers (and I’m a pro-lifer) get a little carried away. Certainly in a pluralistic secular society men and women should have the freedom to choose an abortion in extreme circumstances where there is danger to the life of the mother or where there has been rape or incest or gross fetal deformity. Maybe as Christians you would not choose an abortion in those cases. But surely there should be that freedom in those instances in our culture.
But you see, here’s the truth: 97% of the abortions in America have nothing to do with these things. They have nothing to do with danger to the life of the mother or rape or incest or gross fetal deformity. 97% of the abortions in this nation have to do only with belated efforts at birth control. 33 million babies—33 million—have been terminated since the passing of Roe v. Wade. The carnage continues. And it is a tragedy. I promise you, God in Heaven grieves and there is righteous rage because human life is sanctified, physically and spiritually.
When we say human life is sanctified physically and spiritually, we mean that we are not simply to protect human life, but we are to care for it. Of course, as a church which is committed to Jesus Christ, we care for people spiritually through the proclamation of the gospel and through the teaching of His Word. And we seek to take the gospel to the nations as we have brought the gospel to you.
You know, I’m reminded of a story from 60 years ago (this took place in Charlotte, North Carolina) where two teenage boys arrived one evening at a tent revival meeting where an evangelist was speaking. Two teenage boys came and all the seats in the tent were apparently taken, and these two boys were standing in the back and they couldn’t find a seat.
They weren’t sure they were interested in any of this stuff anyway. They turned to walk away, but an usher saw them. He called to them and he said, “Boys, what’s going on?” They said, “Well, you know, we can’t find a seat and we think we’re just gonna head on out.” And the usher said, “Well, wait, don’t go. Follow me, follow me.” And the usher took these two boys and found seats for them. Well, the boys listened that night, and they came back the next night and the next night. At the end of the week those two boys walked down that sawdust-covered aisle to the front and they both asked Jesus Christ to be their Savior and Lord. They both gave their heart and life to Christ. One of those boys was named Grady Wilson, and that probably doesn’t mean much to you, but the other boy was named Billy Graham.
You know the story of how today Billy Graham has preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in person to 210 million people in 185 countries. He has spoken to millions more through television, and his books have been translated into 38 languages. He has literally led millions of men and women to faith in Jesus Christ. But I think back to that usher. I mean, why was that usher ushering? Why was he doing that? Was he just doing that because he cared about the physical needs of people, wanting them to find a place to sit down? No. He was doing that because he really cared about the spiritual needs of people. Physically and spiritually, he cared about the needs of people.
Why do people usher at this church? Why do we have ushers here? Because they care about our spiritual needs. Why do we have greeters at the door? Why do we have people teaching Sunday school in all those classrooms? Why do we have Manna Ministries? Is it only because we care about the bodies of people? No, it’s because we care about the needs of people spiritually. And the Bible says that, while we are spiritual beings, apart from Christ we are separated from God and desperately in need of rebirth and regeneration. And so, we preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, believing that human life is sanctified spiritually. And this call is upon you. This call is upon you to enter into ministry with regard to the physical and spiritual needs of people.
As a church, we are committed to mobilize the laity, that you might become an army of ministers, men and women who live to serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We want to help mobilize people who love people, people who love Christ, and people who are looking for opportunities to help people physically and spiritually through the proclamation and sharing of the gospel. We invite you to look for opportunities to serve here at the church and here in our city and even around the world.
In conclusion, I want to share a little story. This took place in 1934. In 1934, this nation was seeking to recover from the Great Depression. The United States government had launched a number of public works projects, which were designed to give a shot in the arm to the economy. Through these public works projects the government built thousands of highways and dams and bridges. One such bridge was built in Kentucky in 1934 over Panther Creek. In this project hundreds of people in the region of Panther Creek and Kentucky were employed. Their families were virtually rescued from starvation. The community was excited.
When the bridge was completed late in 1934, people from three counties came to celebrate. Bands played and choirs sang. The governor of Kentucky came and he cut the ribbon to open that bridge. And today, 61 years later, that bridge still stands. It still stands, and it still looks new. It still looks pristine. In fact, it shows no signs of wear or tear. And why is that? It’s because a road was never built to either side of the bridge. They had planned, when they built the bridge, to build a highway that would run to the bridge and through the bridge and beyond to somewhere else, but it never happened. And so today, that bridge just sits out in a field serving no purpose whatsoever.
I promise you, there are tons of Christians who are just like that bridge. See, the moment you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you became a kind of bridge. There is a priesthood of believers, and every Christian has become a bridge. The moment you embraced Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, God made you into a bridge. You are meant to connect God and people. That’s what the good Samaritan did. That wounded man saw the compassion of God through the good Samaritan. Christians are meant to connect God and people. Be a bridge. Something’s wrong if we’re not really connected to God—if we’ve not cultivated that relationship—or if we’re not really connected to people and we’ve not cultivated relationships there and if we’re not entering into ministry there. So here is a call of God this morning to all of us to be His people and to enter into ministry because human life has sanctity, physically and spiritually. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, thank You for this time together. Thank You, dear Lord, for Your love for us, a love so great, Lord Jesus, that You left Your throne in Heaven and You came to Earth. You were born in Bethlehem. Lord, Your love is so great that You went to the cross for us. You died for us. And Lord, You rose for us and now intercede for us. Lord, if there’s anyone here who has never received You, who has never found spiritual life, truly, Lord, we pray that even now in this moment they might pray this prayer with me: “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Forgive me of my sin. Thank You for dying on the cross for me. Wash me whiter than snow. Come, Lord Jesus, and sit on the throne of my life. Be my savior and my Lord. From this day forth, Lord, I want to live for You.” Lord, for all of us here who believe in You, for all of us who have received You as Savior and Lord, we commit ourselves anew this day to enter into ministry, Lord, that we would be a bridge as You called us to be. We pray that people through us would see Your love and Your truth. Lord, You have told us that human life has sanctity. It is set apart for You, body, soul, and spirit. Help us to care for the needs of people physically and spiritually. Lord, anoint us by Your spirit and send us forth. We pray these things in Your great and matchless name. Amen.