First Presbyterian Church
647 East Market Street
Akron, Ohio 44304-1684
330-434-5183

Food for Thought: The Value of a Person (Care)

From the "Acts 3:15 " series...

Dr. Mark Ruppert

Genesis 1:26-27

How much is the human body worth? The Indiana University School of Medicine estimates that when broken down into fluids, tissues and germ fighting, our bodies are worth, how much do you think? How about more than $45 million. This price tag on the human body is based on a survey published in Wired magazine. It found that vital organs are no longer the most valuable body parts. Rather, bone marrow heads the list… priced at $23 million, based on 1,000 grams at $23,000 per gram. DNA can fetch $9.7 million, while extracting antibodies can bring $7.3 million. A lung is worth $116,400, a kidney $91,400 and a heart $57,700. The prices are based on cost estimates taken from hospitals and insurance companies, and are based on projected prices only in the United States. Of course, the prices also assume that all these substances can be extracted from living tissue for sale. Although this break down is illegal, unethical and also impossible, you should not feel like a million dollars anymore.

You can feel like $45 million, instead! However, and so that you don’t think too highly of yourself, the hard and fast reality is that the human body, when broken down into its basic elements and minerals, is only worth about $4.50. Sorry to burst your bubble.

This morning we focus on our third Defining Practice of Ministry known as CARE. What kind of a price tag would you put on caring for another person? But what does it mean to care? Let me read some passages from scripture that deal with this whole idea of care. We read in I Samuel 23:16 these words, “And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God.” In Mark 1:41 it says, “Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean.’ Immediately the leprosy left him.” And the Apostle Paul wrote this in Galatians 6:2, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” What are some key words or phrases in these passages that focus in on CARE? Well how about help, compassion, reached out his hand, carry each other’s burdens.

Our passage from Genesis is a part of the creation story. Prior to the creation of human beings God has been busy at work creating a whole lot other stuff like the heavens and the earth and the waters and living creatures and on and on. And now we get to the place where God says, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.” God spoke not in the singular but in the plural. Some theologians see the plural as referring to the divine beings who compose God’s heavenly court that we read about in I Kings 22:19 and Job 1:6. While others see this as a reference to the mystery of the trinity, for God has made Himself known as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and these three are one. For long before time came into existence God has always existed in the eternal relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And when we think of the character of God there are many words that come to mind. All-powerful or omnipotent, always present in all places at the same time or omnipresent, all knowing or omniscient. But how about the word LOVE? I John 4:8 and 16 tells us that “God is love.” Think about this: God has always existed in an intimate, loving relationship because it is at the very heart of His nature, it is at the very heart of God. And hard as it is to fathom before there was time the Father loved the Son and the Spirit; the Son loved the Father and the Spirit; the Spirit loved the Father and the Son. And so when you read the creation account what you are reading is a visible expression of God’s love. Someone once said that all of creation is an expression of love “God to God.” And here is how they put it: “The Father expressed His love and so He planned creation. The Son expressed His love as He spoke the Word of creation to bring it into being. The Spirit responded in love by brooding, or hovering over the creation to make it complete.

The Father continued His expression of love as He formed man from the dust of the ground. And knowing that man would reject God, the son expressed His love in the plan of Emmanuel which means “God with us” so that the Son became a man and willing died to redeem creation back to God. And knowing that the plan was complete, the Spirit expressed love by breathing the breath of life into man so to make him a living soul. And the Father responded in love by making a covenant with the Son that His name would be exalted above all names and that all those who believe in the Son as His children would be accepted. And finally , the Spirit responded in love to resurrect Jesus from the grave and then to fill the believer so that they might live a holy life.

Genesis 1 says that God has made us in His image, in other words we are like God. We are not God but like God. And one of the ways we are like Him is that we have been created to live in relationship with God and with each other. And if we are like God and in His image we can both give and receive love. We can share in loving relationships. I love I John 4:19 where it says, “We love because he first loved us.” Friends, the love of Christ is powerful, it is dynamic. It is more than a good feeling, it is the basic motivation for all that we do in the name of Christ.

Have you ever loved someone? I know that sounds a little strange but really, have you ever loved someone that you entered into their pain, their sorrow, their frustration, their skin, so to speak?

A father concerned because his daughter was late coming home from a neighbor’s house where she had gone to play. When she finally arrived, he sternly demanded, “Why are you late?” His daughter reported, “Becky dropped her doll and broke it.” The father mentally raced ahead and responded, “And I suppose you were helping her pick up the pieces?” “No,” she said. “I was helping her cry.” And my friends, somewhere a man, a woman, a child weeps alone. Look around this room, just look, don’t look at me. Someone in this room is weeping, maybe not outwardly but I guarantee it they are weeping and crying inwardly. As a matter of fact, even though I’m not a betting man and when the Steelers play I only bet things like wearing the other teams colors or betting food, but I would be willing to bet my next paycheck that there is someone, no, there are somebodies in this sanctuary right now who are weeping inwardly and we might not even know it. Have you ever been what Harold Ivan Smith calls a “Tear Catcher,” in his book entitled: “Tear Catcher, Developing the Gift of Compassion”?

Let me share with you three ways we can engage in the Defining practice of CARE. First, seek the total well being of the other person. Look, we all have needs, don’t we? So we need to be “need responsive” as we reach out to the other person. We need to listen to the other person and offer appropriate care to that person. I’m not saying we are able and equipped to meet the needs of the entire person if they begin to share with you their issue or issues, but you can certainly encourage them to get the help in the area that you are not equipped to help them with. In other words, know your limitations. But shows genuine concern for the other person and don’t reach out once and then that is it. Do follow up for as long as you see necessary. Friend, if you are a Christian you are a minister and we are called to minister to each other.

Here is an easy way you can care for another person: Just stop and look around and see who isn’t here today. Maybe they aren’t here because they have been physically sick. Maybe they aren’t here because someone said or did or didn’t say or do something and they are hurt. Maybe they are dealing with so many pressures in life that they didn’t have enough energy to come today. Maybe they have just gotten into a bad habit. One of the first and major ways you can care for the total well being of another person is just to listen and offer a pray for them.

Second, address the changing needs of the person such as physical, relational, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Isn’t it true that Body, Mind and Spirit are interrelated and connected?

I don’t know about you but when I am spiritually on empty it affects the other aspects of my life and when I am physically drained it affects me mentally and spiritually, and when I am mentally washed out I want to "veg" and do nothing. So when we care for the other person we need to be listening and try to stay aware of how the body, mind and spirit are functioning or not functioning and encourage the person to get in touch with those areas that are being neglected.

And third, and most important the key to care is BE THERE. This is also known as The Ministry of Presence. One of the things I will tell people who are going through a difficult time is “I will walk with you.” More often than not I do not know how that journey will look or what avenues it will take but what I am saying to that person is I will BE THERE for you to walk beside you. Philosopher Milton Mayeroff wrote a book several years ago entitled “On Caring” and this is what he says on the subject of caring for other people. “To care for another person, I must be able to understand him and his world as if I were inside it. I must be able to see, as it were, with his eyes what his world is like to him and how he sees himself. Instead of merely looking at him in a detached way from outside, as if he were a specimen, I must be able to be with him in his world, “going into his world in order to sense from “inside” what life is like for him, what he is striving to be, and what he requires to grow.” (On Caring, by Milton Mayeroff, p. 41-42.)

As a way to conclude this message today, I have asked Edie English who serves as our Parish Visitor to come forward and to give you some “snapshots” on ways she sees us caring for one another. Edie…

Key Points

Introduction: How much is the human body worth?

Our third Defining Practice of Ministry- CARE

Care passages: I Sam. 23:16; Mk. 1:41; Gal. 6:2

Genesis 1:26-27

“Let us…”

The character of God…

I John 4:8, 16 “God is ______”

Being made in the “image” of God

I John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.”

Three ways we can engage in the Defining Practice of CARE

First, seek the _______ well being of the other person  

Listen, offer appropriate care, pray for them

Second, address the _______ needs of the person such as Physical, relational, emotional, intellectual and spiritual

Third, and most important the key to care is ____ ______

This is also known as the Ministry of Presence

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)