Being Human (Part One)

Well, I thought we would open tonight with a question, and that question is this.

What does it mean to be human?

What does it mean to be a human being?

Related to that, what does it mean to be a person?

I was thinking about that question over the last few weeks, and looking around at the

ways different people have answered it, I recognized or read about the Bill Gates Foundation,

which gives money to this organization called the Big History Project.

You've probably heard of it.

Gates co-founded it, and they've actually done, over the course of this year, a video competition

where you could submit a video, 60 to 90 second video, answering this very question.

What does it mean to be human?

And they got all kinds of submissions from all different kinds of people.

They offered cash prizes, and so there were a lot of submissions, and it's kind of fun

to flip through and look at the different ways that people have attempted to answer this

question.

It tells you a lot about how we are thinking in 2015, in our country, about what it means

to be human.

It's kind of a nice sample of where people are at with this question, and, you know, Gates

himself recused himself from the competition, of course, but he did submit a video, and his

answer is essentially that what makes us human, and thus different from the animals, is that

we have developed the capacity to pass knowledge to the next generation.

And it's this cumulative increase in knowledge over time that sets us apart.

The winning submissions were various in how they approached this question.

One person talks about the circle of compassion, the fact that human beings are capable of

having compassion for all creatures, not just other human beings.

I thought that was a very optimistic view of human beings.

I love that vision of humanity.

Other submissions were very different.

One person said he didn't think there was much, if anything, that made humans different

from animals at all.

He said essentially that what the difference is, is that humans are people, but that he

didn't really define what people are, or what constitutes a person.

But he won some money, so I suppose that must have been a better answer than some of the other

ones that were submitted.

There were lots of different ways at approaching this question.

What becomes clear when you look at these videos is there's an enormous amount of disagreement

over what it means to be human.

We can't really seem to achieve any kind of consensus.

Which is very interesting considering that this question and our beliefs about how we answer

this question literally undergird everything else.

Everything flows from how we answer this question.

How we treat other people is directly related to what it means to be a human being.

Who do we consider to be people?

Who merits the status of human or person?

Is there some line of demarcation?

And will we ever extend that to animals?

Will we extend that to artificial intelligence?

It's here.

Eventually we will have to decide.

Do we confer the status and the rights of personhood on an artificially intelligent being?

These are the questions that our generation is attempting to answer.

It all comes back to what does it mean to be a human being?

What do we desire to become in our lives?

What's your aspiration?

What are you hoping to be in 20 years or 30 years?

Should God willing you live that long?

Well, what does it mean to be a human being?

Wouldn't you hope that after 30 years you're more human than you are now, if anything?

How we approach everything from education to poverty to politics to sexuality to identity.

It all flows out of this question.

And yet there's very little agreement on what it means to be a human being.

So this question is a part of our series that we're looking at Genesis, the opening chapters,

and we're asking foundational questions.

And so this is our question for tonight.

Few could be bigger than this.

And we're going to look at this question in two parts.

And, you know, we could look at it in 20 parts if we wanted to.

But tonight is part one of trying to answer this question of what does it mean to be human.

And we're looking at Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 to 31.

Genesis 1:26–31

And we're going to get started tonight by looking first at the fact that we're made to reflect the image of God.

And then we're going to look at, after we look at what that means,

we're going to look at the three implications of that for us to consider in our time today.

I will say this probably will get a little more political than is typical here at Advent.

And that's not out of an attempt to be political.

We try to avoid the culture war as much as possible here.

We don't toe any party line here.

We have people on both sides of the issue, whatever that issue is,

probably sitting in the pews right now.

So it's not about that.

It's just about the fact that this question has inherently political implications.

And so to try to avoid that would be dishonest.

But that being said, I think we'll see that the implications cut straight through party lines.

So let's pray for the Lord to help us and then we'll get started.

Lord, we come to you with this question because we recognize that you're the one who made us.

And our hope is that through your word we would come to discover who we are and what we are created to be.

And we know that there is no better being to ask than our own author, the one who made us.

So Lord, would you speak to us through your word tonight because of your son Jesus.

Amen.

So the first thing we want to do is just look at this passage and particularly this verse,

this opening verse, and consider what it means.

It says,

Then God said,

Let us make man in our image after our likeness.

Now next week we're going to consider the plural there, the us, the our,

and what that says about human beings and the fact that we were created for relationships.

But tonight our focus is on this word, image.

Likeness.

The word there for image is the Hebrew word, salem.

Salem.

And salem is a fascinating word.

In the ancient Near East, it was inconceivable to have a temple, or rather it was inconceivable

to have a god without a temple.

And it was inconceivable to have a temple without a god.

In other words, temples were the dwelling places of gods and goddesses.

And a typical ancient Near Eastern temple would be a building and you would go into that building

and you believed that god lived there.

And in the middle of that building, at the place of the focal point of attention,

would be the salem.

The idol.

The representation of the god.

And so you would go in and to worship or to do commerce or to have some kind of exchange with this deity,

you would go into that deity's temple and go to the salem.

And when we say idol or representation, it's not necessarily a physical resemblance we're talking about.

John Walton, the Old Testament scholar, says,

The image, the tzalem, is a physical manifestation of divine essence that bears the function of that which it represents.

So he says,

This gives the image bearer the capacity to reflect the attributes of the one represented and act on his behalf.

So that's a tzalem.

That's an ancient Near Eastern temple.

Now Walton, when he's looking at the creation story in Genesis,

he helps us to understand that when we're reading this story,

what we're really seeing is not just that there is a god who's creating heavens and earth and all of this stuff,

but that there's a purpose for creation.

And that purpose is this.

God is building a temple.

And you say,

Well, where's that temple?

It's everywhere.

Everywhere.

The heavens and the earth, the mountains, the fields, the grass, the trees, the rivers, the oceans, the valleys.

It's all the temple.

That all of creation is this cosmic temple.

Which begs the question,

Well, if all of creation is the temple, then where is the idol, the image, the tzalem?

And the Bible would say,

Well, you're looking.

You're looking at it.

That every person in the pews here,

every person, every man, woman, and child in creation is the tzalem of God,

the image bearer of God.

Not necessarily in physical resemblance,

although that's a whole entirely different sermon.

But just what Walton says,

The capacity to reflect the attributes of the one represented.

So when we talk about human beings bearing God's image,

there are essential aspects of God that are embodied and reflected in human beings,

in you and in me.

Each and every human being reflects God's likeness or God's essence.

And so when you think about that statement,

you've got to realize that the implications are vast for what this means.

They're vast.

We can't even begin to consider all of them.

I do want to consider three implications of the fact that we bear God's image

and represent God's essence.

Simply by being human.

Simply by who you are.

You do this.

So the three implications I want to look at are this.

The nature of human life,

the sanctity of human life,

and the dignity of human life.

So first, the nature of human life.

When we talk about nature,

we talk about what essentially defines you.

What defines you.

And we need to think,

what does this tell us about the nature of being a human being?

Most people, when they think about human nature,

they think about, and they think about the world,

they think in what you might call dualistic terms.

They think that there's the material,

and there's the spiritual.

And that a human being, I'm a body,

and I can choose to do spiritual things,

or to not do spiritual things.

Some things I do, like coming and sitting at Church of the Advent,

that's a spiritual thing.

But when I go ride my bike,

or when I go for a walk,

or when I go shopping at the store,

or hang out and watch TV,

that's not a spiritual thing.

We think in terms of external definitions,

and context.

And we think of ourselves as being a body,

maybe with a soul,

or maybe if you,

a related view is to say,

I'm a body with a soul and a mind,

or a body and a heart and a mind.

There's lots of different ways that we define this.

Now, we use a lot of this language kind of,

to express things as euphemisms,

to try to get across concepts.

Psychologists use this kind of language a lot.

But the Bible actually says that they are one.

In other words,

there's no such thing as the material and the spiritual,

that material and spiritual are the same

when you're talking about a human being.

When you're talking about a human being.

So it says,

human beings are not like the animals,

created each to their own kind,

which it says earlier in Genesis.

That human beings are not merely a body with a soul.

We're not a body with a soul.

We're not a soul trapped in a body,

hoping to escape.

That human beings are,

that you are a body soul.

You're a body soul.

One.

A union of essences,

spiritual and material,

as one.

And where do you see this most clearly?

In Jesus himself.

Right?

When Jesus was born,

he was fully divine

and fully human.

When Jesus lived and worked as a carpenter,

he was fully divine and fully human.

When Jesus taught in the synagogues

and on the streets,

when he slept in the alleys,

when he put his head on the rocks,

right?

When he was spit on,

when he was yelled at,

he was doing so as both fully human

and fully divine.

When he died,

he was fully human and fully divine.

When he rose from death,

he was fully human and fully divine.

He was both at the same time.

There wasn't a part of him

that was material

and part that was spiritual.

It wasn't half and half.

It's not 50-50.

100% divine,

100% human.

They make special emphasis of this

in the resurrection,

that he still had the holes in his hands,

that he still had the wound in his side,

that he still got hungry,

that he wanted to eat broiled fish.

These are details that tell us

this isn't just a spiritual image of Jesus.

This is Jesus' flesh and blood

and spirit as one.

And in 1 Corinthians 15,

Paul actually says the same will be true of us.

These bodies,

in some glorified way,

now maybe you think that's great,

maybe you look at your body

and you say,

well, that's kind of a bummer.

In some glorified way

that makes sense,

that's amazing and beautiful,

these bodies are designed for eternity.

The eternal life is a physical, material life.

So we're not souls with a body,

we are body souls

and we need to understand

the implications of this,

what this means for us.

What this means is simply this,

everything we do

is both physical and spiritual

as human beings.

This isn't something

that is true for animals,

it's not true about rocks,

but it's true about human beings.

Everything you do

is spiritual and physical.

So your diet and your exercise,

the way you take care of

or don't take care of your body,

that's a spiritual thing

as well as a physical.

Right?

When you eat well,

that's a spiritual choice

that you're making.

Right?

When you eat junk,

that's a spiritual choice.

When you go for a run,

when you bike,

those are spiritual things

that you're doing.

They're inherently so.

This is also the foundation

for how we think about sex and intimacy.

Right?

Paul picks this up

in the New Testament

and this is really the root

of the entire Christian understanding

of sexual ethics.

And this is why Paul

at several places

makes such a strong connection

between sexual immorality

and idolatry.

Because what we do

with our bodies

is spiritual.

It has spiritual ramifications.

So you can't put yourself

in a spiritual mode

and meditate

or go to church

or do yoga

or read a self-help book

or something spiritual

and then you cut that off

and you go

and you do something

with your body

or to your body

with somebody else

and think that that doesn't have

any connection

to your spiritual life.

The break there

is only something

that we're doing in our mind.

It doesn't represent reality.

There's a continuity

between all of it.

Because we're body souls.

Lastly,

this influences

the way we worship.

Right?

Especially here in this church

when we raise our hands

when we're singing,

that's not just about enthusiasm.

Right?

There's like two of us

that raise our hands

when we worship.

For those two,

for those two,

it's not just

because you're enthusiastic.

Right?

Now, you are enthusiastic.

That's great.

But it's not about that.

When we kneel,

it's not just about

the pretense

of a contrite heart.

Right?

What we're doing

when we raise our hands

when we praise

and when we kneel

when we confess our sin.

Right?

When we extend our hands

like this

to receive the body and blood.

When we hold our hands

out like this

when somebody's praying.

What we're doing there

is we're making

our body

congruent with our soul.

We're making them

congruent.

We're saying,

my soul is praising God.

I want my body

to be congruent with that.

My soul,

my heart,

is broken over my sin.

I want my body

to be congruent with that.

And if you don't understand

the power of this,

just try it.

Try confessing,

standing with your hands

in your pockets

or leaning up

against the wall

and then try getting down

on your face

and confessing.

And tell me

if there's a difference.

Tell me what it feels like

when your body

and your soul

are congruent

rather than being

incongruent.

So the first thing

that we see

is that we are

body souls.

This is an implication

of the fact

that we're created

in the image

of a God

who,

when He made Himself

known to the world,

came as a divine

human being.

So bearing God's image

means something

about our nature.

We're not merely animals.

We're not merely spirit.

We're body souls.

The second implication

of bearing God's image

is this,

that there is a sacredness

to human life.

the word that we

often hear

is the word sanctity.

There's a sanctity

to human life.

Every human life

is sacred

simply by virtue

of being human

because it represents

and reflects God

in ways that

no other creature does.

So that image exists

in every human being.

It's passed

from parent to child.

And there's no point

at which you begin

to bear God's image.

It's not just

the good people.

It's not just people

of a certain age.

It's everybody

bears God's image

to every human being.

So what this means

is what?

There's no such thing

as three-fifths

of a person.

Right?

Like our forefathers said

back in the late 1700s,

the three-fifths

compromise.

How do you deal

with slaves?

How do you figure them

into the population?

Well, you count them

as three-fifths

of a person.

It's very easy,

a lot easier

to justify

chattel slavery

where you consider

another human being

to be your property

if that isn't

a human being

but rather just

three-fifths

of a human being.

Right?

This would say

absolutely not.

That person bears

the image of God.

They're a person,

not a fraction.

In Stalinist Russia

in 1937,

something happened

called the Great Terror.

And the Great Terror

was essentially

the government

either executed

or imprisoned

close to half

a million people.

And you think about

somebody doing this

in their own country.

How do you execute

or imprison

half a million people

and get away with it?

And it's because

the government

had created

a category

years ago,

the category

of former person.

So some people

went from being

persons

to being former persons.

This was conveniently

a very broad definition.

Anyone who obstructed,

anyone who got in the way,

anyone who was educated enough

to question

what the government

was doing,

anyone who owned land

or was wealthy enough

to push against

the socialist regime,

anybody that,

anybody that in any way

was an obstacle

to the agenda

that the government

was putting forward

was categorized

as a former person.

So it's a very intentional

way to do what?

To make sure

that empathy,

that public empathy,

doesn't get in the way.

Because empathy

is really problematic

if you're shipping

people off

to a labor camp

or shooting them

in the street.

You want people

to look the other way

and so what do you do?

You say,

well this isn't a person,

it's a former person.

Oh,

in that case.

So you have a government

that deals with people

who are inconveniently

standing in the way

of the agenda

by removing their status

as human beings

and then killing them

and you think

it's unbelievable

that anyone

could let this happen.

It's still happening.

It's still happening today.

It's still happening

in our country.

Roughly 3,000 deaths

per day

in our country

which is like 9-11

every day.

But again,

we don't use the word

human beings

to describe these people.

They're unwanted pregnancies.

You know,

it sounds more

like a medical condition

when you put it that way.

It sounds like

an illness

that needs to be cured.

And it helps us

deal with the whole

empathy problem.

It helps us

to look the other way

and to flip to the next story

in our news feed.

Now,

you know,

I know when I bring this up

it makes you recoil.

Most people

who come to this church

come to the church

because they're trying

to get away from

the culture war

and now you're thinking

what's happening?

What's happening?

Why are we talking

about this?

And there's a lot

of anxiety

and rightly so

because the culture war

is mind-numbing.

Nobody wants

to get into that.

Some of us

instinctively hate that.

Some of us,

I know a fair number

of us,

have had abortions.

And so this comes up

and immediately

your walls come up

and you just want

to shut it all out

and go to the bathroom

and just not come back.

And I understand that

and I want to address

that this way

and basically say

there's no thing

that we've done,

there's no act,

there's no choice,

there's no thought

that is more powerful

than the cross of Christ.

There's nothing

that we can do

that is more powerful

than that.

And so because of that

at the foot of the cross

there is no place

for shame.

There's no place

for guilt.

They don't belong there.

They don't exist there.

They can't

because of the cross.

There's so much

abundant grace

and mercy there.

There's no place

for shame and guilt.

There is only the hope

of the newness of life

that comes

when we fall before Christ.

And we know it is ours

for the taking.

So that's not

what this is about.

This is not about shame.

But here's what it's about.

We cannot talk about

the sanctity of human life

without talking about

this issue in our culture.

It would be criminally negligent

to do that.

And here's the thing.

Even if you're not a believer

and some of you

are not believers

and some of you maybe are

and maybe you have

very different thinking on this.

And again,

that's a great thing

about Advent, right?

But even if you're not a believer,

even if you believe

there's no God,

the science compels us

to talk about this.

You know,

since Roe versus Wade,

there have been more than

58 million abortions

in our country.

58 million.

Since then,

that was a long time ago,

we've learned a lot

about what goes on

in the womb.

For instance,

we didn't used to have,

when Roe versus Wade was passed,

we didn't used to have

3D sonograms.

Right?

So we couldn't see

the face

of an 8-week-old child

smiling at us.

We couldn't see that

years ago.

We just didn't have

the technology.

We couldn't see a child

at 8 weeks

sucking their thumb.

We weren't even sure

if they had thumbs,

much less thought

to do anything with them.

They do.

But we couldn't see that.

Right?

We couldn't see that

a child at 8 weeks,

when the doctors go in

with a needle

to try to extract fluid,

that the child,

if that needle touches

the child,

that the child will actually

at 8 weeks

instinctively recoil

and get away from the needle

because that child

can feel pain.

We didn't know that

back then.

Science has told us

that now.

We're learning

things like this.

And yet,

right now,

95% of abortion providers

will perform an abortion

at 8 weeks.

So now,

I know that there are

situations of rape,

horrible situations,

incredibly complicated,

1% of those situations.

Right?

1% of abortions

due to those situations.

And that's an unspeakably

horrible,

an unspeakably complex

situation.

Right?

And I know for a lot of people,

you know,

the health of the mother

is of some concern.

Very complicated issue there.

12% of abortions.

Health of the mother

is a concern.

But statistically speaking,

the majority of abortions,

the vast majority

of abortions

that are performed

every year

are not because

of these issues.

They're primarily

for convenience.

I wasn't ready

to have another one yet.

I thought it would

interfere too much

with my work.

I thought it would

interfere...

interfere too much

with where I'm hoping

to go in my job.

I thought it would

interfere too much

with where our family is

and the lifestyle

that we've gotten used to.

I thought it would be

too hard and demanding.

I'm having some marital issues

with my spouse

and I'm not sure

if we're ready

to add that

to our plate.

These kinds of issues,

the vast majority.

And we're lying

to ourselves

if we think

this is primarily

a medical issue.

It's about the exaltation

of the self.

It's about,

I'm going to do

my life my way.

Don't get in my way.

So when we think

about this,

we look at

Stalinist Russia

and anybody

who gets in the way,

they label

a former person

and they do away

with him.

How are we

any different?

Now I know

some of you

are hearing this.

You're writing

all of this off

even as I say it.

The walls are up

and you're saying,

well this is just

another conservative

and this is just

another pro-life rant

and that's not me

and that's not

what I'm about

and there's lots

of things

that aren't being said

and so I'm just

going to shut this out.

I'm glad you're here.

But I'll tell you

something.

I'm not pro-life.

I'm not pro-life.

I'm not pro-choice.

I'm a follower

of Jesus Christ.

Okay, I'm not

a pro-lifer.

I'm not a pro-choicer.

I'm a Christian.

It's not enough

for you to claim a camp.

It's not enough

for you to say

I'm just pro-life

and this is what I think

and we need to take

Planned Parenthood out

and that's the solution.

It's not enough

for you to say

I'm pro-choice

and I disagree with all that

and these are more complicated

and I'm for the rights

of the woman

and I think that's more important.

It's not enough

to claim a camp.

Frankly, it's lazy.

But here it's dangerous.

Why?

Because our culture

has created

a false dichotomy.

A false dichotomy.

You're either

for the rights

of the child

to survive

or you're for

the rights

of the mother

to choose

and you have to decide.

You're either

going to fight

the war on women

or you're going to fight

the war on the unborn.

You have to choose.

And as Christians,

listen friends,

we don't get the luxury

of choosing.

Our faith,

our God,

our Savior

doesn't let us

off that easy.

We can't just pick a side

and check a box

and be done

because when we look

at this

we see what's really happening.

Do you know

what's really happening?

Our culture,

our culture

has pitted

the widow

against the orphan.

It's pitted

the widow

against the orphan.

We're told

to choose.

Do you fight

for the rights

of the child?

I pick the orphan.

An orphan

in the biblical time

is just any

unwanted child.

Born or unborn,

unwanted

makes you an orphan.

Parentless

makes you an orphan.

And you either say

I choose

to support

the orphan

but I do so

knowing that

there are a lot

of women out there

primarily,

primarily

single women.

The vast majority

primarily

African American women,

women of color

are still

five times

more likely

to get an abortion.

The vast majority

of,

or the majority

of aborted children

in our country

are African American

babies.

Babies of color.

So you say

black lives matter?

Yes,

including unborn

black lives.

They all matter.

So you choose,

you know,

you choose the orphan

and you say

well I'm going to

choose the orphan

but I know

that it's going to

take people

who are impoverished

and don't have

education

because they can't

go to school

because they're

caring for multiple

kids

and it's going to

add another

kid on there.

It's going to

maybe make them

more poor.

It's going to

make them

more vulnerable.

It's going to

make their life

that much harder.

It's going to

make them

more vulnerable

to exploitation

and you're going

to do that

because of a baby?

Because of a fetus?

Or you say

okay well I

choose the widow.

A widow in the

Bible is just

a vulnerable woman.

Right?

A widow in the

biblical times

was the most

vulnerable person

there was.

Somebody who has

no power,

no resources,

no rights.

That's a widow.

And you say

well I choose

the widow and

I'm going to

fight for the

widow but at

the expense

of what?

Countless

image bearing

human beings

lost.

When I read

James 1 27

I don't see

that we have

a choice.

Religion that

is pure and

undefiled before

God the Father

is this to care

for orphans

and widows

in their affliction.

To care for

orphans and

widows.

Both.

It's not one or

the other.

It's both.

And unless

we're doing

both it's

insufficient.

It's

insufficient.

Amen.

Unwanted

children,

vulnerable

women,

orphans,

widows.

What does

this mean

friends,

Christians?

We need

to be involved

at every

stage.

At every

stage.

church.

You can't

just rant

against

Planned

Parenthood.

We've got

to be doing

everything we

can as

Christians,

as a

community,

to love and

to support and

care for the

single moms.

We need to be

doing everything

we can to

resource,

to make our

community the

kind of place

where, as it

was in the

early church,

a widow with

children that

she couldn't

care for on

her own could

come in and

know that her

needs would be

met there,

that they would

be her family.

We need to

be doing

everything we

can in the

area of

prevention,

preventing unwanted

pregnancies from

occurring.

We need to be

doing everything

we can in the

areas of foster

care and

adoption.

We need to be

doing everything

at all levels

to make sure

that we are

holistically caring

for both the

widow and the

orphan.

Nothing less

will do,

and we

shouldn't stop.

We cannot

stop until the

number of

abortions in our

country is

zero.

Nobody that I

know likes the

idea of abortion.

The most

staunch pro-choice

person doesn't

love the idea of

abortion.

Maybe some

people are out

there, maybe

they do exist.

I don't know

anybody like

that.

We probably

wouldn't get

along very

well.

But we

cannot stop

until the

rate of

abortions is

zero.

Because if

we're made in

the image of

God and every

life is sacred,

this needs to

radically impact

how we think

about everything

from slavery to

abortion to the

death penalty to

euthanasia,

everything.

The last

point I'll

make is this,

and it's very

short.

It's not

enough just to

talk about this

from a rights

perspective.

The third and

final implication

is simply this,

that by virtue of

the fact that we're

human beings,

not only does that

speak to our

nature and to the

sanctity of human

life, but it

speaks to human

dignity.

Human dignity.

Bearing God's

image confers a

basic, undeniable

dignity to human

life.

Every human

being bears God's

image, and

although it's

become distorted

in us, it's

still there, but

we cannot deny

the worth of

every human

being in every

human life.

What this means

is simply this,

that Christians

should be the

greatest champions

of human dignity

in the world.

The greatest

champions of

human dignity.

A lot of you

are here because

you care about

rights.

A lot of you

are here because

you fight for

rights for other

people who don't

have them.

That's amazing.

Christians need to

be doing that.

And a lot of you

are passionate

about that.

But here's the

thing.

You cannot have

human rights

without human

dignity.

The whole concept

of human rights

flows from the

belief of the

inherent worth and

dignity of a

human being.

Where does that

come from?

The belief that

that human being

is created in the

image of God.

Because we as

Christians believe

this, we should

strive to protect

the dignity, the

inherent worth of

every human life.

And I'll put it

this way.

Rights are not

enough.

Rights are not

enough.

Right?

Fighting for the

rights of minorities

to work is

necessary, but it's

not sufficient.

Fighting to ensure

that women are paid

as much as men

equally, that's

necessary.

Christians need to

be doing that, but

that's not sufficient.

Right?

Fighting to make sure

people are not

discriminated against

based on color or

gender or sexual

orientation or

religion, that's

necessary.

Christians should be

doing that, but it's

not sufficient.

Christians should

not only lead the

change in all of

these areas, we

should go way

beyond it, way

beyond it.

And here's why.

Rights are

medicine, but

they're not food.

Rights can protect

you against harm and

discrimination, but

they're not generative.

They don't build you

up.

They don't create

something in you

that's more than

there was before, but

guess what?

Dignity can.

Rights don't make you

more human, they just

try to prevent you

from becoming less

human.

But dignity can make

a person more human.

Dignity is humanizing.

It has the power to

humanize people, to

remind them that they

are more than meat,

more than cosmic

accidents, to remind

them that they have an

inherent worth.

So as Christians, we

more than anyone else

should strive to ensure

that everyone is

treated not only in a

way that upholds their

rights, but with

dignity and the

respect that they

deserve simply by

virtue of being human

beings.

So we've got to close

here.

I told you there was

two parts to this, and

this has been the

first part.

I'll just end by saying

this.

What does it mean to be

human?

For starters, it means

that we're created in

the image of God, which

means in our nature we

are body souls.

Everything that we do is

not only physical but

spiritual.

It also means that there

is a sanctity to human

life that Christians need

to be fighting for at

every level within every

issue.

And lastly, it means that

there is a dignity within

every human being that

cannot be taken away.

There is a worth, and as

Christians, we need to

recognize that and fight

for it wherever we see

that that is threatened.

And if you ever were

tempted to doubt in the

value and the worth of a

human being, you need only

look at Jesus, who when he

looks at you, sees someone

who is so incalculably

valuable that it was worth

him giving up everything to

have you for eternity.

Let's pray.

Our Lord and Heavenly Father,

we recognize that as we

delve into this, it raises

all kinds of things.

And in many of us, there may

be struggle or wrestling

happening right now.

We pray that whatever is not

of your truth and your word

and your grace and your love

would be stricken from

memory.

We pray that whatever it is

that you are desiring to

tell us, that we would hear

it loud and clear.

that we would fall into

open and fertile hearts.

And that you would deepen

our understanding of what

it means to be created in

your image.

And that we would see that

not only in ourselves, but

in all people.

And we pray this in your

son's holy name.

Amen.