Sermon Tone Analysis

God’s Church is Pro-Life!

It’s mother’s day, and today I am going to talk about the life that Mothers are privileged to bring into this world.

This week, the news has been full of the issue of what can be done with babies in the womb.

This Morning, We are going to talk about the Sanctity of Life.

When we hear the term sanctity of life, the focus is usually on abortion and our opposition to it.

But Sanctity of life means all life, from the womb to the tomb as some would say.

So not only are we pro-life in being opposed to abortion, we are also opposed to euthanasia, or doctor assisted suicide as well.

If we believe in God’s Word, and want to live it as Christians, then we need to understand why God’s Word not only commands respect and honor for human life, but also requires that God’s people take an active role in fighting for life at all stages.

This morning, I am focusing primarily on pro-life in regards to the unborn, but most of what I am going to present to you from scripture as well as from historical and contemporary sources, will also have application to euthanasia and other life related topics as well.

Monday evening, as I was waiting for grocery pick-up with Karena in the car, I brought up some news on my phone and saw that this leak had come from the Supreme Court, an opinion not yet formally released, to the effect that the court was going to strike down Roe V Wade.

I told Karena and a moment later I began to cry.

She said “I knew you would cry”.

She knew this because she knows that this issue is a very emotional one for me.

I told her that for nearly 50 years, Christians have been fighting against Roe v Wade.

I grew up immersed in the pro-life movement.

My Mom was actively in the pro-life movement, my sister and I attended pro-life events.

For as long as i can remember, the issue of abortion has weighed heavily on me, and it still does today.

But the church did not just wake up and become pro-life after Roe v Wade was decided in 1973.

The church has been pro-life since its very beginnings.

I will share with you in a bit about that.

I clearly was not the only one emotional about the news I read Monday night.

For the rest of the week, there were emotions on both sides, and some of this is not unexpected.

One person said that abortion has become a religious ordinance for many who call themselves pro-choice.

So for some, any law that may restrict abortion is the equivalent of denying religious rights.

That may not be true for all who call themselves pro-choice, but it certainly seems the case for some.

How could people be so outraged over the fact that someone wants to legally protect the lives of unborn children?

How can it seem so outrageous to some that we insist that mothers be mothers, and deliver the child they are responsible for?

I am totally not surprised at the response of secular people to this issue.

What bothers me even more is when those who call themselves Christian are apathetic about this issue.

They may say they are personally against abortion, but we shouldn’t be engaged in this, people can make their own decision.

Yet that logic doesn’t hold up!

You wouldn’t say, for example, that I personally am opposed to arson, but it isn’t my place to tell others what to do.

Or I am personally opposed to people assaulting others, but it isn’t my place to tell others what to do.

Yet on this very critical issue of abortion, many Christians take that very position.

So it is my hope this mother’s day to explain what the Bible teaches us and what God’s response is.

God does not allow us to take a neutral stance on assault.

He is against, so should we be as Christians.

Scripture has much to say about the mistreatment and harm to the innocent and the helpless.

God hates abortion, and so should Christians.

My message is going to cover 3 main areas:

First, people are made in God’s image.

We will see what scripture says about this and what it means in light of taking another’s life, especially one who is innocent.

Second, in his rebellion, Satan has perverted God’s ways, and led many people into his service of rebellion against God.

Third, what the response of the church should be to abortion and other life issues.

First, let us look at the most compelling reason that scripture offers for us to view human life in all of its stages, as sacred and worth protecting.

And that is that human beings are made in the image of God.

We begin in the creation account, when God created the first humans.

Now, when we hear the word image, we think of a picture, or visual representation of something.

However, this is not exactly what is meant here.

After all, scripture tells us that God is Spirit, he cannot be seen.

Yes, Jesus was fully man and fully God, and he said those who had seen him had seen the father, but what about the rest of us?

Those who first read the creation account up until today, with the exception of a relatively small population who were present during the advent of Christ, have not seen God, that is, with our eyes.

No, people being made in the image of God is not about our physical appearance.

Then what is it?

Well, It means that God put his own special imprint on our very souls, and in our emotions, and in our ability to relate to him and to each other.

Human beings share many of God’s attributes, even though ours are not perfected.

In Genesis, we are reminded again that Adam was made in the image of God:

Again in Colossians:

So each person is made in the image of God; sin taints that image, but in Christ, we have the hope and promise of a restoration of the perfect image of God in us.

James writes, in his discourse on the dangers of the tongue, that it is sinful even to use our words to curse another person who is made in the image of God:

This, James says, is a contradiction.

How can one bless the Lord with the same tongue that they speak evil about someone who bears God’s image?

So every person is made in God’s image.

Think of the person in your life who has been your biggest tormentor, your biggest pain.

Yes, they are made in the image of God.

Or to go even further, and consider someone like Vladimir Putin, or Kim Jon Il.

Made in the image of God.

Now, hopefully, we could conclude based upon this alone, that God has made people in his image, that we would see that human life is special and worth preserving, since God is the creator who makes each person special.

But we do not need to rely on our intuition to know this, because God specifically links this concept, being made in the image of God, to protection of life.

So while people are not free to decide for themselves about killing another, since it is forbidden, God has ordained the death penalty for those who have shed the blood of innocents.

This is another topic altogether, but let me say that scripture lays out the requirements for this to happen, including fair trials and eye witnesses that can attest to a murder.

And scripture also differentiates from self defense that leads to a death, and even manslaughter.

We are actually going to look at that in our next part of Deuteronomy.

And of course, the commandment to not bear false witness was given as a preventative to people lying to bring wrong blame on another.

Now, I won’t spend too much time on the science of when life begins, because if anything, science has done enough to prove that the unborn child is indeed a separate human being from the mother.

By the time the mother can even know she is pregnant, the child has already began to take form and has a heartbeat.

It is not a clump of cells, which is a lie that has been told to many women one the years.

In fact, from the very moment of conception, when egg meets sperm, an entirely new human DNA code is written, and there is a unique being.

There are people this week still saying we can’t know when life begins or when it is time to protect it.

That is such bologna.

A common chant among abortion supporters is “my body, my choice”, but the science is clear, that infant inside the mother is not part of her body, but rather a vulnerable dependent who needs protection and care.

Now, we have looked at what the bible says about humans being made in the image of God, and scripture tells us that even in the womb, God knows us and knows the plans he has for us.

For a believer who carefully considers the whole of Scripture, there can be no alternative to arrive at other than the fact the we are compelled to defend innocent life.

I will touch on that towards the end some more, and I have scripture to back all of this, so that what I present this morning is not merely my opinion, but the only conclusion possible in light of scripture.

Now, we have looked at what the bible says about the image of God, now let us look at how Satan perverts every good thing of God and twists it into evil.

First of all, what do we know about Satan?

He is the ultimate rebel.

Whenever you may be tempted to call yourself a rebel, remember that is not necessarily a positive thing.

Satan wanted to usurp God.

He wanted complete autonomy, complete freedom.

And he has convinced many of his followers, those who follow him willingly, and those who follow him ignorantly, to declare that no rules apply.

Everyone has a right to do what makes themselves happy.

There is no greater than self.

And like Satan, many want to live a life without rules imposed on them, certainly not rules imposed by God, but rules based on social norms, or human law either.

But Satan isn’t satisfied with only disobedience, he wants to pervert God’s ways, and make mockery of that which is holy.

So let’s consider a few of the ways that Satan makes a mockery of Holy things.

Take marriage, for example.

God ordains it, it is a holy union that is for us, a visible representation of the perfect unity found in God, it is a metaphor for our relationship for him, and for Christ in the church.

What does Satan do to pervert marriage?

Well, you probably know of some answers already.