Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday, the Sunday once
a year where we celebrate the sacredness of
human life. Normally this is primarily a
time for people to raise anti-abortion awareness,
and rightly so. I have never preached a
sermon specifically on the Sanctity of human life, and after preparing to do so
this week, I feel like I have enough to say to preach a sermon series that
would last several months! One of the
more profound things that stuck out to me while meditating upon how human life
is sacred is how this truth affects so much more than just abortion.
This sermon will primarily be about abortion, but
it would be wrong to reduce the sanctity of human life to only an anti-abortion
issue. Biblically, when we talk about
the sanctity of human life, we are saying that all human life is sacred, human in the womb, human life that comes
in different genders, human life that comes in different ages, human life that
comes in different ages, human life that is disabled and mentally challenged,
etc. A Biblical understanding of human
life touches all of these areas. It
should cause us to be just as outraged about genocide in South Sudan as are
about the more than one million abortions that take place in this country every
year. So again, today will mainly be
about abortion, but just remember that this is about more than just
abortion. My desire today is for us to
become more informed and equipped on the Biblical case for the sanctity of
human life and also be challenged to action in standing for this cause.
·
From 1973 through 2008, nearly 50 million
legal abortions have occurred in the U.S. (AGI).
·
2008: 1.21 million abortions in US
·
2009: est.
1.16 million abortions in US (3,100+ daily, 2+ a minute, close to 200 in the
time it takes us to sit through this worship services)
·
2009: 8,167
abortions in Louisiana reported by CDC
I.
Biblical Foundations:
a.
All human
life is sacred, regardless of age, race, gender, etc., because all human beings bear the image of God their
Creator (Genesis 1:26-27).
i. Bearing the image of God means that human beings
are like God (in several ways) and represent God on the earth. This means that an assault on the sanctity of
human life is actually an assault on God. (Picture of school principle example…)
ii. Genesis
9:6: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for
God made man in his own image.” The death penalty is predicated upon the reality that human beings bear the image of
God.
iii. James
3:9: “With it we bless our Lord and
Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” The simple
truth that human beings bear the image of God makes it an offense to God to
even curse another human being.
b.
The
killing of a baby in the womb was considered murder in the Old Testament: Exodus 21:22-25: [22] “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that
her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely
be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the
judges determine. [23] But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for
life, [24] eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
[25] burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
c.
The closest
thing to abortion in Bible would be infanticide
(the killing of infants), which is consistently condemned by Scripture (Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5; 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings
3:27; 2 Kings 16:3; 2 Kings 17:17; Is. 57:5; Jer. 7:31; Ezek. 16:20-21)
d.
Scripture
describes fetal development as the person-forming work of God. Therefore, “Abortion is an assault on the unique person-forming work of God”[1]Psalm 139:13-16: [13] For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my
mother's womb. [14] I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. [15] My frame was
not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the
depths of the earth. [16] Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your
book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as
yet there was none of them.
e.
Furthermore,
Scripture never describes life in the womb as being anything less than
human. There is no essential difference
between a being in a mother’s womb and a being outside of it in Scripture.
f.
“Many Christians involved in abortion turn a deaf ear
to the Bible when it says that the growing life in the womb is the unique
creative work of God knitting together a being in his own image (Psalm 139:13;
Job 31:13–15); or when it speaks of babies in the womb with the very same words
as babies out of the womb (Genesis 25:22; Luke 1:41; cf. 2:12, 16; 18:15); or
when it warns repeatedly against shedding innocent blood (Psalm 106:38); or
when it calls again and again for the protection of the weakest and most
vulnerable members of the community (Psalm 82:3–4); or when it says that God
alone has the right to give and to take human life (Job 1:21).”[2]
g.
Didache 2.2: “thou shalt not murder a child by
abortion nor kill them when born.”
h.
What
about hard cases? Rape, Incest, Danger
to the Mother…most important question to answer is: “Is the baby a human being?”
II.
Gospel Application: how do we apply the gospel here for those (1) in
need of forgiveness and repentance and for those (2) in need of someone to
stand and speak for them because they cannot?
a.
The Gospel Offers Hope and Forgiveness to Fallen
Image Bearers: all sin, sins like
abortion, supporting abortion, performing abortions, and even being indifferent
to abortion are nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ for those who trust
Him.
b.
The Gospel Calls Those Who’ve Been Forgiven to
Action: “Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.” (Proverbs
24:11 ESV)
i. Pray
ii. Be Biblically & Culturally Informed:
caseforlife.com, abort73.org
iii. Consider Adoption:
“If we
want to see abortion eliminated in America, are we prepared to act in response
to an influx of unwanted children? Are
our churches being encouraged to follow the path of “pure religion,” which
involves visiting orphans in their distress James 1:27)? Are we following the model of our Savior, who
rebuked his confused disciples for their wrong view of the kingdom, and who
invited all the children to come to him (Luke 18:16)? Are we mimicking the culture in
simultaneously making comfort an idol and children an inconvenience? Or are we actively seeking to cultivate a
counter culture where life if prized and treasured, and children – even those
unwanted by others – are cared for and celebrated? Let us not only commit to being “pro-life,”
but to being “whole life,” working for the good of our neighbors and the
dignity of human life in all stages of life, from the womb to the tomb”[3]
iv. Support Crisis Pregnancy Centers and other like
ministries you’re your time, talents, and treasures.
v. Exercise your right to vote
vi. Exercise your right to speak the light of truth to
dispel the darkness of lies: there are so many inconsistencies and holes in the
arguments for abortion; expose these lies…
1.
Piper’s 15 Pro-Life truths to speak:
·
Existing fetal homicide laws make
a man guilty of manslaughter if he kills the baby in a mother's womb (except in
the case of abortion).
·
Fetal surgery is performed on
babies in the womb to save them while another child the same age is being
legally destroyed.
·
Babies can sometimes survive on
their own at 23 or 24 weeks, but abortion is legal beyond this limit.
·
Living on its own is not the
criterion of human personhood, as we know from the use of respirators and dialysis.
·
Size is irrelevant to human
personhood, as we know from the difference between a one-week-old and a
six-year-old.
·
Developed reasoning powers are not
the criterion of personhood, as we know from the capacities of three-month-old
babies.
·
Infants in the womb are human
beings scientifically by virtue of their genetic make up.
·
Ultrasound has given a stunning
window on the womb that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking his thumb,
recoiling from pricking, responding to sound. All the organs are present, the
brain is functioning, the heart is pumping, the liver is making blood cells,
the kidneys are cleaning fluids, and there is a fingerprint. Virtually all
abortions happen later than this date.
·
Justice dictates that when two
legitimate rights conflict, the limitation of rights that does the least harm
is the most just. Bearing a child for adoption does less harm than killing
him.
·
Justice dictates that when either
of two people must be inconvenienced or hurt to alleviate their united
predicament, the one who bore the greater responsibility for the predicament
should bear more of the inconvenience or hurt to alleviate it.
·
Justice dictates that a person may
not coerce harm on another person by threatening voluntary harm on themselves.
·
The outcast and the disadvantaged
and exploited are to be cared for in a special way, especially those with no
voice of their own.
·
What is happening in the womb is
the unique person-nurturing work of God, who alone has the right to give and take
life.
·
There are countless clinics that
offer life and hope to both mother and child (and father and parents), with
care of every kind lovingly provided by people who will meet every need they
can.
·
Jesus Christ can forgive all sins,
and will give all who trusts him the help they need to do everything that life
requires.[4]
“It is
hypocritical to speak as though choice were the untouchable absolute in this
matter and then turn around and oppose choice in matters of gun-control and
welfare support and affirmative action and minimum wage and dozens of other
issues where so-called pro-choice people join the demand that people's choices
be limited to protect others. It's a sham argument. All choices are limited by
life.”[5]
Gospel
is that human beings have marred the image of God, but that Jesus Christ came
to restore it…
[1] John Piper, Understanding
Why We Murder the Unborn: James 4:2, ©2013
Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org
[2] John Piper, Abortion:
Shall We Listen to Men or God? ©2013 Desiring
God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org
[3] Justin Taylor, Abortion:
Why Silence and Inaction are Not Options for Evangelicals, in Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for
a New Day, ed. by Kevin DeYoung, 188
[4] John Piper, Fifteen
Pro-Life Truths to Speak, ©2013 Desiring God
Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org
[5] John Piper, Exposing
the Dark Work of Abortion, ©2013 Desiring God
Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org
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