4.7.34 7.17.2022 Honoring Life Exodus 20.13

Start

Entice: Nearly 60, I have been involved in the life of the Church for 50 years. For 40 of those years I have been a preacher and teacher. One of my conclusions from 40 years of ministry--Some things are harder than we think they are,

and some things are easier than we think they are,

and sadly

we are often confused about which is which.

Engage: Respect and honor for human life is grounded in the imago dei that we bear. It is not a medical issue, a political issue, a social issue, or a cultural issue.

It is theological.

It is doctrinal.

That does not make it any less complex but it certainly eliminates a lot of nonsense from the conversation.

Exodus 20:13 ESV

13 “You shall not murder.

Expand: In both the original Hebrew and Greek translation Exodus 20.13 is two words. It is not so much that we misunderstand them or even misapply them. The issue is identity.

We sometimes forget that

we are not God

and that the best approach for faith is mimicry.

Following Jesus in a Spirit-led, fruit-bearing life, that is the goal.

On balance the NT teaches us that

following Jesus means

bearing witness to Him,

and bearing fruit like Him.

Excite: We should value every other human life as we value our own, living by grace, obediently following Jesus, seeking to bountifully bear the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Explore: For God Pro-life means all life.

Explain: The Christian way to be “pro-life” means we must be

Body of Sermon:

1. Consistent

Human life is valuable because we are created in God’s image. After the flood society was exhorted to honor what makes human life distinct.

Genesis 9:6 ESV

6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

The Bible reason to be pro-life is that every single human person bears the image of God. Regardless of religion, national origin, economic background, political alliance, sexual orientation, guilt, innocence, pride, shame, or baseball affiliation. There are some glaring inconsistencies to how the Church has often dealt with life issues. Candidly.

1.1 We should respect equally the life of the unborn and the born.

1.2 We should respect equally the life of the victim and the convict.

God had delegated to government the responsibility for order. He will hold government accountable. The government does not need the Churches help.

Romans 13:4 (ESV)

4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

When we know are inconsistent and do not change, it is deliberate. Deliberate inconsistency has another name. Hypocrisy.

Whether we like it or acknowledge it our hypocrisy on life issues is appalling. The secular pounce upon the imbalance of our pro-life stance, every time we mischaracterize the Biblical, specifically NT stance on "capital" punishment. And here is where we must tread carefully. The NT says nothing specific about how Christians should address abortion. It does directly.address capital punishment, specifying that it is the governments responsibility to maintain order. It is not our task to champion what is outside our purview. The shot gunning of random, decontextualized OT quotes in support of Capital Punishment is not pro-life, theologically defensible, or Spirit-led. It is bad hermeneutics and deludes Christians into thinking that it is our job to police society.

Last Summer in preaching through 1 Corinthians we studied many thorny moral issues. In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul reminded the Church in Corinth where our moral responsibility lies and makes a point that we too often ignore to our peril and embarrassment.

1 Corinthians 5:12–13 ESV

12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

In our house we enunciate that principle like this… “not my circus, not my monkey’s”.

Our job is to bear witness and to bear the fruit of the Spirit. If you want to make a consistent difference be a better witness. If you want to be a better witness

BEAR FRUIT

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Next, the Christian way to be pro-life should be

2. Coherent.

Whoa there Robert…Thought we were having a pro-life sermon!?! what’s all this talking about love and the fruit of the Spirit and not policing society? That is not what we have come to expect from pro-life sermons. Maybe it is time for us to expect more Bible and less culture in these discussions. More theology and practical Christian history. For example The early Church lived, loved, suffered, and died like Jesus. Our ancestors knew that confronting Empire required a coherent understanding of who humans are. They did not pick fights. They sought to live a sensible, logical faith in the mist of an unbelieving world. It was difficult.

2.1 Difficult does not mean hard to understand. Difficult means hard to do. The early Church’s consistent, coherent, defense of life was bathed in blood. Our blood. The blood of martyrs. Their victory like Jesus’ was the victory of total surrender to the will of God and a full willingness to walk by faith. Its difficulty may, in fact, be the point.

Anytime you volunteer that you are pro-life, that should, by definition, mean all life. No exceptions. No exemptions. No excuses.

Even when it is hard

Especially when it is hard

What about people who hate us? No exceptions, no exemptions, no excuses.

What about serial killers…No exceptions, no exemptions, no excuses.

What about Adolph Hitler, or Mao or Stalin, or liberals…No exceptions, no exemptions, no excuses.

The Church is what about-ing and Yeah-butting ourselves into irrelevance. The world may be fallen but it’s not stupid and it knows when we are incoherent in our theology. What really scares me is that most Christians don’t see how incoherent their theology is.

There is a logical disconnect between "supporting" capital punishment and being pro-life. They are incompatible positions regardless of how many "The Bible says's you toss out."

2.2 For more than 30 years I have remained largely silent as various "evangelical" movements have betrayed Jesus and His body by ignoring the clear teaching of scripture to accomplish things which are good but not the Gospel. If you have to trample scripture and marginalize Jesus to get what you want perhaps it is time to reconsider who is in charge.

Finally, and most importantly, the Christian way to be pro-life is

3. Compassionate.

3.1 The first week of this series we looked at Jesus' summary of the law. After our duty to God, our duty is to love every other human person we meet

As we love ourselves.

(See the "Good Samaritan" for how broadly Jesus defines neighbor)

“The second is this: ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’

3.2 No one was more pro-life than Jesus. If there was anyone who ever had the right to exercise His own will with respect to life issues it was Jesus. Perhaps this story puts the conversation in a clearer context. You remember the lady taken in adultery. She was flung before Jesus so that her fate could be a debate point, a test-case in the culture wars. Jesus He stooped to the ground and scribbled while they screamed for her blood.

John 8:7–11 ESV

7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

His argument was not “what’s best for society” but rather “why don’t you go first?”

3.3 What does compassionate, Christ-like pro-life living mean?

Compassion embraces virtue not victory.

Compassion seeks deliverance not destruction.

Compassion extends mercy not malice.

Compassion pursues redemption not ruin.

Compassion values grace not grievance.

Compassion chooses Christ not culture.

Shut Down:

There are times where well-meaning people become confused. Two issues predominate. First of all, many plainly think that they are God. I honestly don’t know exactly what to do about that. Secondly, far too many think the scriptures are primarily a weapon to be deployed in culture wars. Unregenerate people are not going to act like Jesus. Our job is not to get our way. Our job, our mission, is to bear witness to Jesus and bear the fruit of the Spirit.Our job is to proclaim the Gospel because in the end, God will get His way.

All humans; red and yellow, black, and white are precious in His sight because we are all made in His image. Young or old. Born or unborn. Free or incarcerated. Victim or criminal. Every life taken in indiscriminate hate, or because of debilitating sorrow is a tragedy. More killing is not the answer. It is not consistent, it is not coherent, and it certainly is not compassionate. God’s word for today is clear. Easy to understand, hard to do, possible through the Spirit.

The church needs to get its head out of its culturally captured ass and value the image of God in everyone we see.