"The Preciousness of
Life" based on Philippians 2:
2nd Sunday after the
Epiphany/Life
Pastor Troy Slater, Our
This sermon was largely taken
from one written by Rev. David Veum, President and
Professor of Practical Theology for the Seminary of the Church of the Lutheran
Brethren,
Let me tell you a story of a man who
learned about the preciousness of life while growing up on a farm. On his 7th birthday, he and his
younger brother rode their bikes down a country road to attend an annual
harvest auction. Three mostly collie
puppies caught his eye there at the auction.
He watched the first two pups sell for 75 cents each and then the bidding
started at 25 cents for the third. Certain
this one wouldn’t sell for any less than the others, he boldly bid a
half-dollar. The volunteer auctioneer, Chauncey, who happened to be his
neighbor, saw his raised hand, smiled and quickly shouted, “Sold! For 50 cents!”
Well this
boy named his new pup “Lassie” and he and Lassie grew up together. They did a lot together, looking for new-born
calves out in the woods; going to get the cows in late afternoon; working out in
the fields with Lassie trotting along side the tractor. The two were inseparable. In fact Lassie would always be waiting for
him when he got off the school bus each day.
But Lassie started
chasing cars. Forty six years later,
this boy, now a middle-aged man, could still remember the screech from the truck,
the thud, the yelp, and the glassy, unmoving eye. Lassie, who put a smile on this young boy’s
face after a lonely day at school, was placed reverently, lovingly in a shallow
grave in the ditch by the farm. …
Today on
this Life Sunday the question before us is, "Why would anyone choose
death?" .. Why? … But you know,
our culture does it all the time, doesn't it?
Over 3,200 times per day in fact in the
In our Epistle reading for this
morning from Philippians chapter two, Paul uses a couple of words to describe
his generation which I think we can easily apply to ours as well. For he encourages his
readers to be "without fault in a crooked and depraved
generation." That Greek word
translated there as "crooked" is "skolias" - a word from which we get the medical
term "scoliosis" which is of course a curvature of the spine. It is reminiscent of the Old Testament word
for “iniquity,” which literally means, “twisted.” And indeed what could be more twisted than a
culture that discards its children?
And then the
other word Paul uses here for his generation, and again, I would say ours as
well - "depraved” - it can also be translated as "to pervert" or
"to make crooked". And of
course "to pervert" something or "to make something crooked"
is to turn it away from the truth - to change it's course from the right
way. And so what Paul is saying here is
that "they have turned away from the truth", they have
"perverted" it. And certainly
to know the truth about what abortion does to a tiny baby and still choose it
requires a turning away from the truth, doesn't it? A turning away which can only be described as
“depraved.”
Yes we live in "a crooked and
depraved generation." Yes our
culture knowingly, yes knowingly
chooses death every 26 seconds for the most vulnerable and helpless among
us. In fact they’ve been doing it for so
long that they no longer hear the screech of the tires, the thud, the yelp. Protected
from the sight of the glassy, unmoving eye and in the absence of a fresh,
shallow grave, they move on, the inconvenience removed.
Our culture chooses death. They’ve been doing it for so long that this
terrible thing has been twisted into a good thing, an acceptable way out of a
difficult situation. Maybe there are
some here today who bought into this lie and who are now crushed by the regret
of this decision. You may believe that
you could never be considered worthy of forgiveness. Well, welcome to the crowd! Welcome to the crowd, for as we shall see,
none of us deserve such a label - that label of forgiven. You see it's not the kind of sin that makes us unworthy before God,
it is sin - period - that makes us unworthy.
The only thing that makes us worthy is Jesus and His cross and, well,
we'll hear more about that in a minute.
But right now, let’s get back to this
“twisted” culture in which we live, a culture that chooses death, a culture
that thinks doing so is actually good, good for women and good for society. In fact this week we will swear into the
office of president of our country a politician who has consistently voted against innocent preborn
children. A man who
has even voted repeatedly against providing basic medical care to healthy babies
who survive late-term abortions. That's
where we've come to as a nation and it is to this culture, to just such a
people that Paul says in our epistle reading that we are called to “hold out the Word of Life.” We are called to hold out the word of life,
even in this culture of death.
But you know, we've tried to do that, haven't we? We’ve tried billboards: “Choose Life",
"It’s a child not a choice.” “At
three weeks I had a heart beat.” We’ve
tried Scripture, “You knit me together in
my mother's womb, O Lord. I am fearfully
and wonderfully made” as we read in our Psalm. We’ve marched, we’ve demonstrated, we’ve
voted, we’ve sent representatives to Congress and judges to the Supreme
Court. We’ve announced, pronounced, and
denounced. But the statistics hardly change. Still our culture chooses death, nearly 1.2
million times per year.
And so, is
the problem with the Word of Life? Hardly. Maybe too
often we hold forth the word about
life and not enough of the Word of
Life, that Word who declares, “I am the
resurrection and the Life.” But you
see that Word - God's Word - is authoritative and eternal. No, the problem is not with the Word - that
is, at least when we stick to God's Word.
And so does
the problem lie with the listener? Well,
I think that’s a given. It's a given
that the problem lies in a people who have gotten so caught up in our own
feelings and wants that we'll do whatever it takes to maintain our own little
worlds - even if that means the death of another. Yes, the problem DOES LIE with the listener. That’s exactly why we are called to bring
this Word of Life to this crooked, depraved culture. In the midst of a culture of death, we need
to hold out THE Word of Life. It needs
it, our world needs it.
But before we just go pointing our
fingers to them "out there" we need to ask, "Could the problem
also lie with us?" Could the
culture of death also lie with us? Well
let’s examine our epistle reading a bit more.
In verse 15 there are three words to describe God's people that are
translated in our reading as: blameless, pure, and without fault. Now normally these words are used to describe
what Christians are as a result of Christ and His work. Covered with Jesus' blood and righteousness
we are blameless, pure, and without fault before our heavenly Father. But that's not how those words are used
here. Rather here they are speaking of
how we are to relate to others. Paul
says, “Do everything without complaining
or arguing SO THAT you may become blameless, and pure, children of God without fault
in a crooked and depraved generation."
We are to relate to each other without complaining or arguing in order that we might be blameless,
pure, and without fault in our dealings with them.
And you see Paul writes this because
evidently some among the Philippians were having a problem getting along. The problem was so severe that in chapter
four Paul addresses two of the members by name: “I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.” Also, in chapter two he begins with an
exhortation to "be like-minded,
having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Apparently there were some divisions and
hostility issues among the congregation. .. And so I ask, do we have the same
problem they did? Have we forgotten the
connection Jesus made between anger and arguing and hostility and murder? …
A pastor was
preaching a series on the Ten Commandments and he began his sermon on the Fifth
Commandment by saying, “Were you glad coming to church this morning that we were
finally coming to a commandment that you don’t have a problem with? After all, you’ve never murdered anyone. Well, not so fast," he continued,
"for listen to Holy Scripture.”
Then he read in Matthew five where Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not
murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with
his brother will be subject to judgment.”
Remember the
story of the man and the dog he had as a boy?
Well he was one of the people listening to this sermon on the Fifth
Commandment. Listen to his response, “I
tried to dismiss the challenge of the Word.
After all, I live with a pretty clean slate. But the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let me block out
the memory of one person - a person I've never really gotten along with, a
person towards whom I've held a lot of bitterness and anger in my heart. I sat there and resisted. But the Holy Spirit persisted. For later, sitting at lunch, I was thinking
about my anger, and I was finally able to hear the ‘thud’ and the ‘yelp’; I
usually don't even try to hit the brakes.
My anger usually hits that man full speed. I even like to step on the gas a bit.” …
"Anyone who is angry with his
brother will be subject to judgment.”…
Yes, our
culture has a problem. "Twisted"
and "depraved". It's grown
numb to the sounds of death - putting it behind closed doors in some sterile
clinic. Yet, all of the crookedness and
perversity does not lie just in others. “Anyone
who is angry with his brother is guilty of murder.” By being angry with each other and harboring
it in our hearts, we too choose death.
That's right, we too choose death. … …
Enter Jesus,
the Author of Life; the Resurrection and the Life; the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. As Paul appeals to the Philippian congregation for unity, humility and peace, he
points them to Jesus: “Who, being in very
nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in
human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” ..
Did you catch that? "He
humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross." The Author of Life also chose death. He chose to die for all of those unborn
children. He chose to die for those who
murdered them. He chose to die for us
who murder with our anger. He chose to
die for us, for all of us who have chosen death.
You see we were there participating
in the choice. “Give us Barabbas!” we shouted.
“Crucify him!” we yelled. We were
there on the truck with the abortionists, with the parents who gave into Choice
over Child, we were there with the politicians who give our twisted and depraved
culture what it wants. Our sins were
there sending the Lord to the cross. We
were there on the truck with our anger when it hit the cross full speed. And Jesus took it; He took our choice of
death; He willingly took it. …
Again a
quote from the man who was Lassie’s young master: “I was amazed at the emotion
that memory could arouse in me 46 years later.
Feeling that loss makes me grieve over a crooked,
depraved culture that could choose death over life. I can still picture the red liquid seeping from
Lassie’s open mouth. And so I wonder,
‘How can they? If the death of my pet
hurts this much, how can anyone choose the death of a child?’ Then, as I hear the words of Jesus, ‘Whoever
is angry with his brother is guilty of murder,’ I’m amazed by my self-righteous
hypocrisy. For I, too, need this Word of
Life.” …
We too need this Word of Life. And there He is. Yes there He is, hanging on the cross, blood
dripping down, for me, for us, the ones who drove the truck right into the
cross. He was there for us.
And now with hearts cleansed of
anger, with hands unclenched and washed, we do hold forth the Word of Life to a
twisted and perverse world. We hold
forth the Word of Jesus and His death for us - for sinners - for all
sinners. We hold forth Jesus and His
death for us. Amen.