Sanctity of Human Life
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
There are some Sundays that are circled on the calendar as Christians that are just a little special. Christmas and Easter immediately come to mind and these Sundays are also special to pastors because of the context surrounding the day and the history associated with it. Sanctity of Life Sunday is a day that many pastors absolutely love to preach and be able to talk about how all life matters and how we are all created in the image of God. While this is true and this Sunday can be a great time of unity for the church, I find myself with mixed feelings on a day like today.
On the one hand, as Christians, it is a blessing to know that our God is in control and that He is the giver of life. Scripture tells us that He knows the number of days we will live and He knew us before the foundations of the world. This is awesome and incredible news and gives us reason to celebrate that life truly is a gift from God!
On the other hand, on a day like today we are reminded of the prevalence of sin in our society. On a day where we celebrate the gift of life we must be faithful to discuss the fact that some people do not treat life as something that is sacred. Our culture seems to treat life as though is a burden and an inconvenience at times. Russel Moore puts it well when he says that he hates this day because, “I’m reminded that we have to say things to one another that human beings shouldn’t have to say. Mothers shouldn’t kill their children. Fathers shouldn’t abandon their babies. No human life is worthless, regardless of skin color, age, disability, economic status. The very fact that these things must be proclaimed is a reminder of the horrors of this present darkness.”
We know that we live in a fallen, sinful world and as a result, people do not realize the truth that life matters and that it is a gift from God. The Bible is clear on this issue and we will spend some time this evening examining Scripture so see how life matters both inside and outside the womb.
13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
Ephesians 1:4
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
15 “Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb?
3 Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
16 “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
Life inside the Womb Matters
Life inside the Womb Matters
According to Planned Parenthood, “abortion is a safe and legal way to end a pregnancy.” Unfortunately, only one of those two things is true. Abortion is legal in the United States of America, but make no mistake about it, there is nothing “safe” about it. There are risks to the mother during an abortion. In fact, there have been several documented cases of women dying due to complications associated with the service they received from planned parenthood. To give you some statistics regarding this organization, Planned Parenthood claims to be a health organization and a place where women can come to receive health services. While they do offer these services, the bulk of their money and resources come from: abortion. In 2018, Planned Parenthood performed 332,757 abortions, the most since 2012. During this same year, the organization only gave 216,722 woman exams and gave a staggering 2,831 adoption referrals. For every 1 adoption referral, Planned Parenthood performed more than 117 abortions...
I could go on with the statistics but that would primarily only boil our blood even more regarding the injustice being served on the unborn. Church, there are people who cry out that life matters. Black lives matter, trans-lives matter, gay lives matter, women lives matter. I agree! Life matters because it is a gift from God that starts at conception. You know who can’t stand up and defend themselves? The unborn. Life matters in the womb, regardless of what our society might try and tell us. As Ronald Regan put it, “"I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born"
The Bible tells us that we are all created in the image of God. This means that all lives automatically have value if for no other reason than the fact that we are created in the image of the one true, living God!
As a church, we have a responsibility to not merely declare that abortion is wrong, but we also have a mandate to do something good in this situation. As our Sunday school lesson discussed this morning, if you witness a crime or injustice and do absolutely nothing about it then you are just as at fault as the person who committed the crime! Therefore, we cannot just sit around in church and Bible study groups talking about how sad and tragic it is that abortion is becoming a societal norm, rather we must do something to combat this growing giant.
Praise God for pregnancy care centers. Praise God for adoption services. Praise God for Godly doctors and nurses who pray over women who are facing a life-changing decision. I’ll confess something to you all. Whenever I was younger and naive, I used to not be very sympathetic for people in these situations. I used to think that there are consequences for actions and if you get yourself in this situation then you have to bear the necessary consequence. While there is a consequence, certainly, what our society has done is say that there is an “easy way out” and that if you are not ready for parenthood then you can take this alternative approach and save yourself the anxiety, stress, money and embarrassment associated with an unplanned pregnancy. In doing so, the opposing side loves to de-emphasize the importance of life. They will dumb the life down and say that its a fetus. It’s not a human! In doing this, vulnerable people are often more likely to be convinced to proceed with a procedure like an abortion.
So, how do we fight back? We empathize with people who have gone through these situations. Scripture shows us that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross paid for all the sins of the people who call upon Him to be their savior and Lord. Therefore, there is no one too far gone for the cross and grace of Jesus Christ! We have to remember that as we minister to others, friends! Just as God saved a man like Paul and used him to spread the Gospel message throughout much of the Roman Empire, God can save a woman who has gone through an abortion procedure. God is in the business of saving sinners and we must never buy into the lie that anyone is too far gone. We must reflect that love and truth with people who have gone through these situations.
We must support ministries that combat abortion services in our communities. We pray for them. We support them financially. We help them out when they are in need of supplies and volunteers.
We also should support adoption and adoption services. Adoption is extremely expensive and sometimes people look down upon people who adopt with a level of suspicion or concern. Almost as though adopted children are second class citizens. For example, “So and so couldn’t have children so they had to adopt.” This was a statement that I heard many times as an adopted child. Scripture tells us that God is in control and that life matters. Sometimes God uses a situation like infertility to show off His glory and majesty by placing an adopted child with a family that has gone through the devastation of discovering they cannot have children of their own.
In all things, we acknowledge that God is in control. He has a plan. He knew us before our parents were even married. He loves us and we are created in His image.
Life outside the Womb Matters
Life outside the Womb Matters
One of the biggest knocks on Christians around the nation is that Christians only care about life inside the womb. We believe that abortion is murder and therefore we stand up for the rights of the unborn, however some Christians are so focused on this issue that we fail to address other issues regarding life outside the womb.
There are so many injustices taking place in our world today that Christians can do a better job of helping with. Bullying, poverty, abuse, mental illnesses are all some of the areas that Christians can help people who are suffering in our world today.
There are many children today who will not be told that they are loved by their parents. There are many teenagers who buy into the lie that unless they fit a certain mold then they can’t be cool or that they don’t really even matter. There are adults who suffer from abuse and illness and feel as though they don’t matter and are a mere statistic. Some go as far as taking their own life all because they lack someone in their life who tells them that they matter.
Church, there are people all around us who are suffering. 21% of school age students report being bullied, it is estimated that that number is significantly higher because that only includes the number of reported cases. Nearly 40% of homeless people in the United States are under the age of 18. Nearly 2 million school age students will experience a period of homelessness this school year. Even worse, it is estimated that roughly 20,000 students will be forced into prostitution by human trafficking this year. It is estimated that roughly 44 million American adults will experience a mental illness this year alone and these individuals automatically have an increased risk of committing suicide. There are nearly 20 people who are abused each and every minute in the United States physically. More than 4 children die each day from abuse and nearly 680,000 children are victims of abuse in our country each and every year.
Church, these statistics are terrifying and cause us to get angry in our heart because we genuinely hurt and ache for these individuals who experience suffering, especially those as children.
As Jesus said, children matter. In a society that said that children were simply supposed to mind to themselves and obey their parents and elders, Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” Christ said that we are to have a child-like faith. Friends, there are some children out there who are so abused that they cannot grasp the idea of someone loving them because they have been corrupted by their parents. There are teenagers out there who cannot understand the idea that someone would give up their life for them because all they see is people trying to stay in their “click” and look good to others. There are adults who want nothing to do with Christianity because they have experienced abuse within the church and have been hurt deeply by fellow Christians.
We have a responsibility to show the love of Christ with those around us. Regardless of the cost. Regardless of the circumstance or situation, friends, we get to play a part in the expansion of the Kingdom! Sometimes we do this by simply being present whenever someone is suffering. Other times we go out of our way to visit someone who needs help. Other times we volunteer and partner with ministries who are on the front lines and helping those who are desperately in need. We love our enemies. We pray for those who persecute us because we know that all life matters from the womb to the tomb. Even people who we disagree with significantly. Even people who hate us. Even people who think differently than us and make fun of us. It all comes back to understanding the fact that all life matters because we are all created in the Image of God and that we all have value. As John noted,
19 We love, because He first loved us.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
19 We love, because He first loved us.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
If we say that we love God, we should love those around us as well.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God can take your biggest problem and turn it into your greatest blessing. Life matters. Life is the greatest gift from God. Life can also be unplanned and very unexpected. Whenever we know of people who are going through a difficult situation or whenever we pray for and volunteer with pregnancy care centers who deal with these types of situations all of the time, our pray should be that the individual knows that they matter and that their situation is not some kind of accident or mistake because God doesn’t make mistakes - Amen!
He is the giver of life and in Him all things hold together. His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and whenever we think that we have it all figured out and whenever we have our own plan, God loves to step in and flip our plan upside down. In these moments, friends, we have the opportunity to minister and be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who are in need.
I look forward to Christmas and Easter, especially as a pastor, because we get to focus on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I love preaching on how life is important and sacred, but I pray that one day Sanctity of Human Life Sunday would go away. I pray and long for the day whenever abortion and suicide and bullying will be put to rest and that people would understand that life is a gift from God! This, sadly, will not happen this side of heaven, though. As a result, we continue to pray and minister to those in need and we pray that God would save them and forgive them as we all know He is capable of doing regardless of their past. Let’s pray!