God’s Gift of Life! Believing the creation story: All life is God’s doing

God’s Gift of Life! Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

God’s Gift of Life! So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.

God’s Gift of Life! And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God’s Gift of Life! And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

God’s Gift of Life! And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God’s Gift of Life! And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:26-31 ESV)

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: What does it mean to be made in the image of God? The Bible clearly states that male and female are both created in God’s image; what does that suggest should be true about the way that men and women relate to each other? What is the connection between our creation in God’s image, and God’s charge to “be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over the earth?”

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: What is the connection between our creation in God’s image, and God’s charge to “be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over the earth?”

God’s Gift of Life! …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. (Genesis 2:7 ESV.)

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: If you view life as God’s gift, in what sense can your life be “yours?”

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: Jesus said, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24 ESV) How does this change our sense of ownership of our own lives?

God’s Gift of Life! How serious is God about the value of human life? But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man.

God’s Gift of Life! How serious is God about the value of human life? 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. (Genesis 9:4-6 ESV.)

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: What does being made in the image of God have to do with the value of life?

God’s Gift of Life! “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.

God’s Gift of Life! Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, and whoever kills a person shall be put to death. You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 24:17-22 ESV)

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: What makes life so valuable to God? Why is life so precious to us? How would you explain our Christian perspective on the value of life and why every human being’s life is to be protected?

God’s Gift of Life! How does God expect us to value children? Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! (Psalm 127:2-5)

God’s Gift of Life! And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” (Mark 9:36-37 ESV)

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: If God sees children as a “reward” to us, an “inheritance” for us, how does that fit or conflict with the way we see parenthood? How do you view parenthood?

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: What current cultural, social and economic realities devalue life? How can we engage the culture around us in the conversation of life’s value?

God’s Gift of Life! Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.

God’s Gift of Life! But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:11-12 ESV)

God’s Gift of Life! For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

God’s Gift of Life! So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:10-13 ESV)

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: Why do people so often describe Christians as judgmental? Why does James warn against judging each other? What does it mean to say the mercy triumphs over judgment? How does that happen? How can James’ teaching help us address the loss of respect and value for human life when we speak out?

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: How can James’ teaching help us address the loss of respect and value for human life when we speak out?

God’s Gift of Life! “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12 ESV)

God’s Gift of Life! Discussion: How does this apply to our efforts to speak up for life? How many ways do we demonstrate a failure to value life, especially the life of someone else? How can we be consistent in treating all human life as holy and precious in God’s sight?

God’s Gift of Life! Response: What will God empower you to do in this battle with the world that devalues human life and dehumanizes people? How will you serve God in the battle for life?