Voiceless & Vulnerable: Abortion & the Greatest Injustice of Our Time

WELCOME

Welcome! (in-person/ observing online)

Cru Missionaries Jeff & April Knapp with us today. Say hello and encourage them before you leave!

Communion service 1/31 at 6 PM

Baby Bottle Campaign—grab a bottle or give online ($4K goal!)

PBC Kids—need 7 more adults

Will only work 1x every other month

Will only work with ages 2 and under

Won’t be alone (need some people just to be another adult presence!)

Blue/White flags—God speaks, we respond. next steps at the blue flag, prayer/counseling at the white flag

BABY DEDICATION

What is Baby Dedication?

Baby Dedication is not a sacrament

Baby Dedication does not save

Baby Dedication is a symbol and a statement

The Symbol: My child is a gift from God on loan to me.

The Statement:

I will treasure my child as a gift from God

I will teach my child the gospel of God

I will do this alongside the people of God.

Psalm 78:1-7

“What we have heard and know, what our fathers have told us—We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, His power, and the wonders He has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed the law in Israel, which He commanded the fathers to teach to their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children not yet born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their hope in God and would not forget His works but keep His commandments.”

Daniel Arthur Winchell—Born on September 1, 2020 to Josh & Jacqui Winchell

Russell Hermann Rogier—Born on April 26, 2020 to Jake & Richelle Rogier

Parent Commitment

After I read the commitment if you agree say “we do”

Will you commit to trust God’s promises made to you and your children in His Word?

Will you commit to seek God, and seek gospel change in the way you live and parent your children?

Will you commit to discipline your children and show them grace?

Will you commit to teach God’s Word to them and live out the gospel in your home?

Will you commit to pray for them and teach them to pray?

Will you commit to partner with this church community, seek their help and accountability, and lead your children to do the same?

Church Commitment

Members stand, after I read the commitment if you agree say “we do”

Will you commit to seek God and seek gospel change in the way you live before these parents and their children?

Will you commit to pray for these children—that they will grow to love Jesus and trust in Him?

Will you commit to teach them the gospel through both your words and your example?

Will you commit to partner with these parents—confronting them in love when they sin and encouraging them as often as you can?

Will you commit to pray for them as they face the trials and joys of parenting?

PRAY

Seat congregation. Turn in your Bibles to Proverbs 31:8

Gift for parents. Let’s encourage them for their commitment to raise their children in obedience to God’s Word.

SERMON

One of the worse fears for many people is visiting the doctor and hearing the diagnosis “cancer.”

Imagine you’re the doctor. You have to share some news with a person that is going to devastate them.

You would only do that if you believed two things:

You have to really believe that cancer is a real threat. It’s not a made-up disease. It’s not a figment of someone’s imagination. It’s real and it’s deadly.

You have to believe the most loving thing to do is to tell the truth, even if it hurts.

Every January as a church we set aside two weeks to talk about the twin evils of abortion and racism. Today we’re talking about abortion.

We realize this is a painful topic. For some of us in the room it may be a very personal topic. Wouldn’t it be better to talk about something else? Why risk alienating, shaming, or angering people?

Just like the doctor, we talk about this difficult topic for two reasons:

1. We really believe abortion is murder.

We really believe that human life begins at conception. We really believe, in the words of Dr. Seuss, “a person’s a person no matter how small.”

You may not believe that. That’s okay. We love you, and I hope that you’ll at least listen to what I have to say. Even if you leave here today and none of your beliefs have changed, we’ll still love you.

My prayer is that you will leave having heard (perhaps for the first time) a clear, rational, loving defense of the pro-life position.

2. We really believe the most loving thing to do is to tell the truth, even if it hurts.

As a culture we’re increasingly sheltering one another from hearing viewpoints we disagree with.

It’s one thing to intentionally offend or hurt one another with our words, but to gently and carefully tell the truth is good for society. And it’s good for you, even if you disagree with it. Even if it hurts you.

Turn in your Bibles to Proverbs 31

What is Biblical justice?—Conformity to God’s moral standards as revealed in Scripture (1) by giving all humans their due as image-bearers of God, especially the most vulnerable and (2) by impartially rendering judgment, righting wrongs and punishing lawbreakers.

Big Idea: The evil of abortion is the greatest horizontal injustice in our world today.

Horizontal injustice? The greatest injustice is vertical, it’s failing to give God His due.

When the Bible tells us to do justice it’s almost always talking about living justly in our relationships with one another.

Big Idea: The evil of abortion is the greatest horizontal injustice in our world today.

Two reasons why this is true

One response to this truth

Reason #1. . . abortion is the greatest horizontal injustice in our world today because . . .

1) There is No More Foundational Human Right than the Right to Life

Proverbs 31 begins with some guy named King Lemuel, and his mother is giving him wise counsel in the form of these proverbs. And she says this in. . .

Proverbs 31:8-9—Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Twice talk

The Mosaic Law gave the Jewish people unprecedented rights in that day. These included rights for:

Fair trials (Ex 23:1-8; Deut 17:8-13, 19:15-21)

Fair marketplace (Lev. 19:35-36)

Fair lending practices (Ex 22:25-27)

Property ownership (Ex 22:1-15)

Privacy (Deut 24:10-11)

Proper burial (Deut 21:22-23)

Combatant nations (Deut 20:1-20)

The injured (Ex 21:7-36)

The disabled (Lev. 19:14)

Servants (Ex 21:1-6, Deut 15:12-18)

Employees (Lev. 19:13)

Immigrants (Ex 23:9; Deut 24:17-19)

Women (Ex 21:10, 26; Deut 21:10-14, 22:13-21)

Orphans (Deut 24:17-19)

Widows (Deut 24:17-19)

The poor (Deut 15:7-11)

Those guilty of accidental manslaughter (Deut 19:1-14)

Each of these rights was important to defend. But none of them mattered if you didn’t have underneath them the most basic human right, the right to life.

The abortion debate is often a debate over rights. . .

A woman has the right to privacy

A woman has the right to control her own body

A woman has the right to make decisions related to her own economic future

A woman has the right to decide whether or not she wants to be a mother

Every Christian should agree that a woman has each of these four rights and more! The problem is that none of those rights are more important than the right to life!

A woman’s right to privacy isn’t absolute. It doesn’t give her the right to take another life as long as she does so in private

A woman’s right to control her own body isn’t absolute. She doesn’t have the right to use her body to take the life of another person’s body.

A woman’s right to make decisions about her economic future is not absolute. She doesn’t have the right to take the life of an expensive toddler.

A woman has the right to decide whether or not she wants to be a mother, but once she conceives she already is a mother. In tragic situations when she conceived due to rape or incest, she is still already a mother, even if she did not choose that for herself.

The denial of foundational rights erodes other rights

"Every child should be a wanted child! Forcing a mom to have a baby she doesn’t want will lead to greater child abuse, etc.”

Randy Alcorn writes: “In 1973, when abortion was legalized, child abuse cases in the United States were estimated at 167,000 annually. In 2017 there were 674,000 substantiated cases of abuse and 1,720 fatalities, over four times the rate of abuse before abortion was legalized.” (Pro-Choice Or Pro-Life: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims, 47-48)

“We should ask ourselves why far more children in America have been abused since abortion was legalized than before. I believe a large part of the answer is that abortion has changed the way we view children. The attitude that results in abortion is exactly the same attitude that results in child abuse: children are seen as an inconvenience, and adults imagine they have the right not to be inconvenienced by a child.” (Alcorn, 48)

Denying foundational rights like the right to life will have a trickle effect in the way we treat one another in society

This does NOT mean other rights aren’t worth defending

Christians are often accused of only caring about the unborn. That may be true in some cases, but by and large that is patently false.

According to the Heritage Foundation, 350,000 religious congregations operate schools, pregnancy resource centers, soup kitchens, drug addiction programs, homeless shelters, and adoption agencies. These serve 70 million Americans each year and the value of their services are estimated at over $44.3 billion annually.

Don’t be a one-issue Christian! But don’t think you can ignore or minimize the most foundational issue—the right to life—and still fight against injustice.

The evil of abortion is the greatest horizontal injustice in our world today because there is no more foundational human right than the right to life.

But there’s another reason. . .

2) There are No More Vulnerable Human Beings than the Unborn

Notice whose rights King Lemuel is commanded to defend. . .

Proverbs 31:8-9—Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

In those four terms I want you to notice three reasons why there is no one more vulnerable than the unborn. First, because . . .

A. No One is More Voiceless than the Unborn

Proverbs 31:8—Open your mouth for the mute.

Mute refers to “those who cannot defend themselves in the courts of justice.” [[Proverbs 31:8 >> https://ref.ly/logosres/cmmntrycrtclexprmntlprctlvol3?ref=Bible.Pr31.8&off=3]] | A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, Vol. III: Job–Isaiah

Probably direct reference to those who didn’t have a voice in the court of law, but it would extend to anyone who couldn’t speak up for themselves

Nobody has less ability to speak up for themselves than the unborn

Even someone who is deaf and mute can still communicate

Even a one-day-old baby can speak up for himself

“The fact they don’t have a voice is proof that the unborn are not persons”

18 days after conception her heart is forming and eyes start to develop.

21 days her heart pumps blood throughout the body.

28 days she has budding arms and legs.

30 days she has a brain and has multiplied in size ten thousand times!

35 days her mouth, ears, and nose are taking shape.

40 days her brain waves can be recorded, and her heartbeat, which began three weeks earlier, can be detected by an ultrasonic stethoscope.

42 days her skeleton is formed and her brain is controlling the movement of muscles and organs.

8 weeks her hands and feet are almost perfectly formed.

9 weeks she has “already perfected a somersault, backflip and scissor kick.” She can respond to stimulus and may already be capable of feeling pain.

10 weeks she squints, swallows, and frowns.

11 weeks she makes a wide variety of facial expressions including smiles.

12 weeks she turns her feet, curls and fans her toes, makes a fist, moves her thumbs, bends her wrists, and opens her mouth. (Alcorn, 9-10)

This is just the first trimester!!!

Psalm 139:13-14—For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Christians believe that the unborn are persons. They are the most vulnerable persons there are because there is no one more voiceless than them. There is no one more vulnerable than the unborn because . . .

B. No One is in Greater Danger than the Unborn

Proverbs 31:8—Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.

Destitute literally means those who are “passing away, vanishing, or appointed to destruction.” [[Strong’s Hebrew #2475 >> https://ref.ly/logosres/46.50.3?ref=HebrewStrongs.2475]] | Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

It’s referring to those who are in great danger. In King Lemuel’s day that likely would have been the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant. Today, I believe that no one is in greater danger than the unborn

Statistics:

Abortion is America’s most frequently performed surgery on women (Alcorn, 6)

In 2017, 18% of American pregnancies ended in abortion (Alcorn, 6)

Abortion causes approximately 2,400 infant casualties every day in America (not counting chemical abortions). (Alcorn, 6)

In New York City, more black babies are aborted than born.([[Page 169 >> https://ref.ly/logosres/confinjustice?ref=Page.p+169]] | Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask about Social Justice)

According to the United Nations' 2013 report, only nine countries in the world have a higher reported abortion rate than the United States. They are: Bulgaria, Cuba, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Sweden, and Ukraine. (Abort73, U.S. Abortion Statistics)

Globally, one in four pregnancies end in abortion (Alcorn, 6)

Since Roe v. Wade became the law of the land in 1973, over 62,541,000 babies have been aborted (US Abortion Clock)

There is no one more vulnerable than the unborn because . . .

C. No One is More Powerless than the Unborn

Proverbs 31:8-9—Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Needy and Poor refer to the powerlessness of a person [[[Strong’s Hebrew #8589 >> https://ref.ly/logosres/46.50.3?ref=HebrewStrongs.8589&off=63]] | Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

Moms contemplating abortion often feel powerless. . .

Financially struggling

Young and unprepared

Perhaps victims of rape or domestic abuse

Let’s help them! But not by punishing the unborn child within them that is even more powerless!

Christians throughout church history have stood up for the powerless, including the unborn (all from Alcorn, 62-63) . . .

The Didache, a second-century catechism for young converts, states, “Do not murder a child by abortion or kill a newborn infant” (2.2).

Augustine warned against the terrible crime of “the murder of an unborn child” (On Marriage 1.17.15).

John Calvin said “The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being and it is a most monstrous crime to rob it of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lost his life standing against Hitler’s murder of the innocent in Germany, argued that abortion is “nothing but murder.”

The evil of abortion is the greatest horizontal injustice in our world today because there are no more vulnerable human beings than the unborn. But how should we respond to this?

3) There is No Christian Who Cannot Do Something for the Voiceless

Years ago a famine relief organization printed a poster with an emaciated woman and child that asked the question, “How do you feed a billion hungry people?”

At the bottom of the poster, “One at a time.”

Not a call for everyone to be involved in every way. But for every Christian to do something.

Five ways, that together form an acrostic: VALUE

Vote

Proverbs 31:8-9 is written to a king. Ultimately no one has more ability and responsibility to be a voice for the voiceless than government leaders.

In America, we have the ability to appoint our leaders with our vote

Straight line and jagged line issues

Straight line — abortion is unjust

Jagged line—how best to fight that injustice

One way to fight that injustice is to vote for those who uphold the sanctity of unborn life

It is not the only way

Christian who (for different reasons) may choose to vote Democrat:

Understand why many Christians cannot vote for any candidate who upholds abortion

Be a loud and proud voice against the evil of the Democratic party’s platform

New abortion laws in Virginia

Ultrasounds are no longer necessary prior to a woman having an abortion

The mandatory 24-hour waiting period for women to think about their options has been lifted

Other medical professionals, beside doctors, can perform surgical abortions

Act

Saving babies thrown in a river, upstream and downstream

Downstream: striving to rescue babies at risk of abortion

Sidewalk counseling with Don Karns

Care Net needs Church Mentors

Play “Stop the Boom” Care Net video (https://vimeo.com/498446295)

At least 200 women will ask for a mentor this year

Upstream: striving to make abortion unthinkable

Adoption/Foster care

Our story on why we decided to adopt

Supporting either

You’re a part of this by giving/serving!!!

Law, helping the poor, addiction recovery, etc.

Love

Love the father, love the mother, love the unborn, love one another

The impact of a church that is willing to talk with one another, be patient with one another, extend grace to one another, etc.

Three years ago one, Brannan was one of our newest members. She was a new Christian, and was learning God’s Word. Not long after she became a Christian she was struggling with what the Bible teaches about the sanctity of human life. She shared some of her struggles with another lady in the church. Here’s what her church family didn’t do: we weren’t shocked. We didn’t push her away. We didn’t tell her to shape up or ship out. We listened to her. We answered her questions. We helped her understand what God's Word teaches. We loved her. And now, three years later, Brannan is having the same conversations with friends and co-workers, except now she is the one who's helping people understand the dignity and sanctity of unborn human life. In a world that talks a lot about justice (except for the most vulnerable), she’s learned to be a voice for the voiceless. In a world that considers abortion essential and gathering with God’s people optional, she’s learned to be a voice for truth. This is what can happen when God’s people learn to care about each other more than they care about the “issues.”

Love those who consider themselves to be “pro-choice” —> they are captives, not combatants

Understand

Understand the issues

Pro-Choice Or Pro-Life: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims by Randy Alcorn — go to the blue flag for a free download

The Gospel for Life books on Abortion and Adoption — go to the blue flag for a free giveaway

Evangelize

John Stott—"Evangelism is the major instrument of social change. For the gospel changes people, and changed people can change society."

What does it mean to evangelize?

Speak the good news about Jesus Christ

What good news? (Four C’s. . .)

God is loving and holy CREATOR. Created perfect world, created our first parents in His image.

Because we’re created in His image we believe every human life is sacred, regardless of size, shade, sex, or status

Adam and Eve sinned against God, and the CURSE of sin corrupted the entire world

Like one drop of poison in a bottle of water corrupts the entire bottle

Hatred, murder, loneliness, guilt, shame, death, disease, etc.

Every single one of us is a sinner both by nature and by choice

Romans 3:23—“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

We believe all of us are equally fallen. Being pro-life doesn’t erase your sin.

God loved the world so much He sent His Son, Jesus the CHRIST to this world.

John 3:16—“For God so loved that world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

Jesus willingly entered this universe as a vulnerable fetus

He willingly laid down His most foundational human right

Three days later He rose from the dead

That’s the Good News! Our job is to tell people this news. Your job is to respond to it.

We respond to the Good News when we CALL on Jesus in repentance and faith.

Romans 10:13—“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Not just shouting out His name, REPENT and BELIEVE

There is no sin that cannot be forgiven if you call on Him in repentance and faith

When a doctor diagnoses a patient with cancer, it’s the doctor’s job to tell the truth. It’s the patient’s job to respond.

We have a disease worse than cancer. . . and worse than abortion. . . it’s the disease of sin

I’ve tried to tell you the truth this morning. Your job is to respond.

If you’ve been forgiven, we respond by telling this good news and by loving our neighbor as ourselves. And this includes being a voice for the voiceless.

If you haven’t been forgiven, we invite you to call on Jesus in repentance and faith today.

PRAYER TEAM