God Wants Us to Value Everyone - Genesis 1:27; 9-6/Matthew 5:21-22; 36-41/Mark 10: 46-52.

If you are a member of a church that is struggling to pay the bills and stay afloat are you as pleased to receive a new low income family into your membership as you are to receive a family of professionals that are among the top income group in the community? If both families join your church, will they receive the same treatment, the same welcome and will both be well pleased with the way they are integrated into church activities? Do the staff, deacons, teachers, and members treat the two families differently? Before you answer, remember that I will never know whether or not you are truthful; however, God knows your innermost thoughts and you can not hide the desire of your heart from Him. The value of a soul is not measured by the size of ones income, position, or political power—and does not depend on whether or not the person is a regular tither.

For your information, I use Life Way Literature to select this series of lessons and as one source of my reference information. Life Way prepares the literature for the Southern Baptist Convention. The Convention has chosen a few special days out of the year to emphasize Bible teachings regarding certain subjects—like Christmas, Easter, missions, and this case today—where the emphasis is on the sanctity of human life. This need became more relevant and very important in the mid-twentieth century when sanctioned abortion finally got completely out of hand. I will hasten to say that the sanctity of human life relates to life from conception to the grave and not just abortion, even though I personally feel that the abortion issue has moved up equal to or beyond the problems we have with manslaughter and murder in all degrees.

We have recently started the study of Genesis and there we found that God created all things that are. He spoke his WORD and things became something from nothing but when he got to man…He said “Let us MAKE man” and he created man in his own image. No other part of the creation has this honor. Then he placed the world under man’s dominion and that is the highest honor he bestowed upon any of his creation. Then in 9:6 he told us for the first time… [Thou shalt not kill each other.] And he said that if we caused the blood of a man to be spilled; there would be a death penalty passed on us…and we too would lose our own life. Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters in Christ, our lord created man to be his family, he created us to worship him and praise him, and not to be targets for demonic spirits to kill or destroy. He created man so that he would have a family to love and protect and it meant so much to him that he called us “His people,” “His church,” and “His bride” and he loved us so much that he gave his only son to save us from our sins. Then as the Savior, he loved us so much that he gave his life on the cross that we might be set free from our man made bondage. GOD LOVES US SO MUCH! I can never explain how much he loves us…but I can tell you that he is heart broken when we fail to value one of his little ones—all the way from the inception to the day of burial.

We will now go to Matthew 5: 21-40 and the truth we find recorded here may be shocking to some of you. This is the teaching of Jesus Christ, who has all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus had the authority to change the entire meaning of some of the Laws of the Old Testament. We do not have the authority to add to or take away one jot or title of God’s word…but Jesus did and he used his authority in these verses. He did not contradict what the writers of old had said, but he added new concepts that are relevant to our daily associations with our fellow man. The new requirements under the new covenant are much more demanding than those under Law…so much different that when he finished his sermon on the mountain—Matthew 7: 28 says; “When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”

The devout Jews all through history down to the day that Christ preached his sermon on the Mt. had believed the law to be absolutely holy and absolutely divine, and totally complete without error. They reverenced the law, completely. Their very life here on earth and hereafter was rooted in law. That is what every Jew that heard this sermon thought, believed, and had lived by. And now five times in 5: 21, 27, 33, 38, and 43 Jesus quotes the law and then contradicts it by substituting a new teaching of his own. Please note what I am saying; his contradictions did not deny the truth that was in the law, but it pointed out to all men that life in Christ was much more…much broader…more in depth…and required much more of man than the original law indicated.

Jesus claimed his right to point out the inadequacies of the sacred law [ten-commandments and mosaic] and he claimed the right to use his perfect wisdom to correct man’s highest wisdom making them complete and totally correct. The OT is the inspired word of God as he gave it to his chosen leaders. They explained his word to us to the maximum extent they were able and capable, but it was not complete until Jesus’ writers of the NT added to it and gave the full explanation of every item in the old covenant law.
The first two examples given here in Matthew has to do with murder and adultery. The law said, “Thou shalt not kill” but Christ said that if you are angry with your brother to the point that you would even think of killing him…or striking him, then you are as guilty as if you actually followed through with the crime. He explained that it was not only the man that committed adultery that was guilty; but the man who allowed the desire to dwell in his heart was also guilty. This was a new teaching, and it raised the problem of self control, and it is a problem that we have never been able to fully master. Jesus said that it was not enough not to commit adultery, but to fully satisfy the law under the new covenant; one could not even wish, want, desire, or think about committing adultery. Before you condemn a brother for his acts…ask yourself this question…Have I ever ‘thought about doing the same thing?’ Get the mote out of your eye before trying to get the stick out of his eye.

Since you became a Christian, you may have never struck another person. Can you truthfully say that you have never had the desire to punch anyone? You may have never committed adultery; but who can truthfully say that they have never had a desire for the forbidden? Jesus taught that thoughts are just as important as deeds. Man watches what we do; while Christ is just as concerned about our thoughts. For this reason we are not to judge others, only Christ has the knowledge and authority to judge the sin of his people.

It is not unusual for any one of us to fall short of the demands required under the new covenant with Christ. The Bible says that “all have sinned and come short” somewhere at some time. Should we be concerned? Sure! Should we be distraught? No! We all have something like a split personality; it has followed us all the way from the Garden of Eden. Eve wanted a forbidden thing—and that evil desire caused her to bring Adam in on the actual participation in the evil action. It is the way we are; one part wants to do right and another part yearns for the forbidden. This paradox troubled the Apostle Paul to the extent that he found it necessary to admit his problem. He said for some reason, and he never explained why but when he wanted to do that which was right…he still would fail. If Paul had to live with this problem, it will probably always haunt me, because I admit freely that Paul was more committed to doing right than I will ever be.

If you are sincerely interested in an in-depth study about the sanctity of human life you should go immediately to Matthew five and carefully study verses 17 through Chapter seven, verse 20. When we place value on human life, the commitment goes far deeper and much further than murder, adultery and abortion. Jesus insists the one of the gravest of all sins against your brother is to destroy his reputation and take his good name away. He teaches that no punishment is too severe for the malicious tale-bearer, or gossip at the coffee house or beauty shop which murders another persons’ reputation.

Jesus did not destroy the law…but He did change the full meaning of the law. What Jesus is telling us in Matthew is this: “In the old day [under law] men condemned murder because it is forever wrong. But I tell you that not only are a man’s outward actions under judgment; his inmost thoughts are also under the scrutiny and the judgment of God. Long-lasting anger is bad; contemptuous speaking is worse, and the careless or malicious talk which destroys a man’s good name is worst of all.

In 5:23-24, Jesus tells us that we can not continue to worship him during a period of time when we are having serious problems with our neighbor. He says that if your fellow man has something against you; you don’t take your offering and go to church expecting the problem to go away. First, you go to your accuser and settle the argument. Because you are a confessed Christian, you must be willing to go the second mile, accept the fact that you may have said or done something that provoked him and settle your differences. When you are right with your adversary, then you have a clean heart that is worthy of the right to worship at His alter.

The second explicit example used in this lesson today that constitutes sin against another person is the act of adultery…Exodus 20: 14 says “You shall not commit adultery.” Christ is not condemning a person for their natural and normal human nature which a part of the human instance…that is God made…He created man with this normal desire. The man that is condemned is one who deliberately uses his eyes to create lust in his heart. In this world there are many things that are deliberately designed to excite desires for the forbidden; things like books, plays, pictures, billboards, and TV is one of our worst. It is a sin to view these things knowingly wanting to be stimulated in the forbidden. He emphasized the problem that ‘seeing’ or ‘looking with lust’ has, when he advises us to “pluck the eye out” if it is our stumbling block.

I do not believe that the Bible teaches us to mutilate our own bodies. The meaning is this. If you are associating with the wrong people; change your company. If you are indulging in porno literature, burn it and buy no more. If you are watching movies or TV programs that incite you to desire the forbidden…don’t go to the movies and turn the TV to another station or turn it off. You can operate on anything you have that is leading you to become addicted to sin. You can pluck it out or cut it off.

When the desire of your heart is made right in the sight of Jesus Christ, you will find yourself in the same relationship with him as those in the New Testament to whom Christ said; “Go thy way and sin no more.”

To complete this lesson, read Mark 10: 46-52 and you will find that Christ is as concerned with a beggar as he is a priest or king. The lesson for us is simply that we can not knowingly mistreat anyone because of who they are, or what they are not. If we are to be Christ-like, then we must value everyone—rich and poor, friend and foe. Can you “Turn the other cheek?” This requires the spiritual strength that comes only through knowing Christ.