SPEAK UP FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT SPEAK

SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE SUNDAY:
Speak Up For Those Who Cannot Speak
Proverbs 31:8-9 FCC January 23, 2011

Two news stories caught my attention this week. Both were about multiple murders. One, the Tucson Massacre, was on the home page of every website and led the evening news of every broadcaster in the country and is still being covered twenty-four seven. A nut with a gun killed six people and wounded thirteen others including a congresswoman. A heinous, reprehensible crime for which there is no excuse.

The other one you might have missed. Officially, eight people died, but in truth it was many more than that. But because most of them were anonymous babies murdered by a “doctor” with a pair of scissors – and I use that term ‘doctor’ only because he had a medical license –the news media didn’t deem it worthy of round the clock reporting. After all, that happens every day in this country through a procedure known as partial birth abortion. The only difference is that these babies were fully delivered.

The only reason this one is getting any attention is because an adult woman finally died because of the man’s negligence and an investigation was mounted.

Foxnews.com reports:
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, made millions of dollars over 30 years, performing as many illegal, late-term abortions as he could, (mostly on minorities and immigrants) prosecutors said. State regulators ignored complaints about him and failed to visit or inspect his clinic since 1993, but no charges were warranted against them, District Attorney Seth Williams said…

According to the district attorney's office, Gosnell is facing murder in the third degree for the death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar. The patient died Nov. 20, 2009, when she was overdosed with anesthetics prescribed by Gosnell, according to the station.

Williams said during a press conference Wednesday that Gosnell "induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord."

The juxtaposition of these two stories and how quickly the one about the abortion doctor went away illustrates where our country is on this issue today. The truth is that with the housing and economic crisis, the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, the concern about Islamic Terrorism in general and the debate on health care the national attention and more to the point the attention of the Church has turned away from the issue of abortion. It has taken a place on the political and spiritual back-burner.

We cannot allow that situation to stand. We must not grow weary in this fight. The reasons from Scripture are quite clear.

Proverbs 31:8-9 says, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." (NIV)

In Scripture, a “first order task” for ancient kings, princes and judges was to protect the powerless against all who would exploit or oppress them. That’s why we see things like Jeremiah pronouncing this judgment on Jehoiakim, king of Judah.

"Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. 16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD. (Jer 22:15-16 NIV)

Did you catch that? “Is that not what it means to know me?”

People who walk with God take it as a matter of the regular course of life to defend the defenseless, to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. God has made us a “royal priesthood.” (1Peter 2:9). It is the normal course of life for a Christian to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

STATISTICS ON ABORTION IN AMERICA
The following statistics are from a new report released by the Guttmacher Institute (formerly a special research affiliate of Planned Parenthood – one of the largest pro-abortion organizations in the country). The report is titled "Abortion Incidence and Access to Services in the United States, 2008,"

 100,000 + Children are aborted each month in America (3 x Halifax population). For perspective, about 40,000 Americans per year die in car wrecks. Our country spends billions of dollars each year figuring out how to make cars and roadways safer. We need to spend some money figuring out how to make infants in the womb safer.

 199,000 +/- (16%/year) of these abortions were chemical abortions via prescriptions for RU 486 or Methotrexate. Women pay about $490 for this drug. It costs the clinics less to administer this drug so they add another $97.5 million in revenue to an industry already raking in hundreds of millions of dollars. The drug has caused hundreds of women to resort to emergency rooms when something goes wrong.
 There are over 1793 abortion “providers” in the US. Of these 23% offer abortions after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. 11% offer abortions after 24 weeks. (The number of weeks is important. We’ll come back to that in a moment). Roughly 350 clinics nationwide offer abortions after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Clearly, abortion is big business in the United States and the abortion industry is constantly working to expand its reach.

Who will speak up for defenseless children in the womb if not us? Who will fund the work of organizations like Little Life if not followers of the God who said, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves?”

The measure of a just society is the willingness of those who do not have an immediate stake in an issue to speak up on behalf of those who do.

WHAT SCIENCE TELLS US ABOUT LIFE IN THE WOMB: When Does Life Begin?

The Software Was All There – Scientific advances enable us to know, to actually see, when a baby’s heart begins to beat in its mother’s womb. All of the genetic information that you are made of existed at the moment of conception. Your personality, body size, eye color, hair color, basic intellect, etc. was already fixed. In other words, the software that makes you who you are was all there from the beginning as the hardware began growing around it.

Brain Waves Begin – Modern science reveals that the baby’s brain begins functioning enough to produce measurable brain waves at 40 days. The baby’s face begins to move, forming what look like smiles and frowns as early as 12 weeks.

You might be thinking, “Well, OK, that’s 40 – 90 days. Nothing much that could be called human is happening before that. ” If you are thinking that then let me remind you that you started out the same way. You weren’t thinking anything before you were 40 days old but your personality was fixed, your size was fixed, your intelligence quotient was fixed. Would you have wanted someone to stop your development at that point?

Both sides of the political debate agree that science has revealed much more about the beginning of life than we knew when the infamous Roe v. Wade decision was handed down in 1973. But science is not the last word. It cannot tell us everything we need to know about life.




THE BIBLE AND THE SANCTITY OF LIFE

Scripture Reveals What Science Reports – The truth about the beginnings of human life were revealed in Scripture long before science had the tools to report on them. God the Great Creator tells us when personhood begins as well as what it means.

Made In God’s Image – Unlike any of the rest of earth’s creatures, men and women are reflections of the personhood of God.

Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (NIV)

By giving man dominion over the animals God revealed that humanity is in a totally different class from the animals. We are the only beings on the planet that can interact with God on the level of personality. Every creature depends on God. We are the only creatures that can know Him. That gives each man, woman and child incredible dignity and worth.

Crafted by God’s Hand – There are over 70 references to “the womb” in the Scriptures. One of these is Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”

Isa 44:24 "This is what the LORD says-- your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,…(NIV)

I am married to an artist. My beautiful wife makes beautiful things out of stuff that I would normally label trash. On a recent trip to Florida she combed the beach picking up sea shells. She then took them home and carefully cleaned them and let them dry. Early in our marriage I would have been complaining about taking so much trash home and tried to throw it out. But I learned that a real craftswoman can make beautiful things out of what we would call useless. Soon her seashell creations, a little sea shell tree, a seashell wreathe and other pretty things began to adorn our home. It’s like that when you’re married to a creative person. Can you imagine what I would miss if I had taken those seashells to the trash? Can you imagine how my wife would react?

You and I, like every other baby in every mother’s womb, are hand crafted by the One who made all things, who stretched out the heavens and spread out the earth “by myself,…” he says. He does this work. He alone is the author of life. When we commit the act of abortion we are taking the seashells out of the Creator’s hands and smashing them. Imagine how He must feel about that.

Given Life in the Blood – God equates the presence of blood with the presence of life. Genesis 9:4 reads, “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” Leviticus 17:11 states, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”

Do remember the 20 weeks? Scientists have observed that at 22 days or 3 weeks of development, a baby’s heart begins beating and pumping the baby’s own blood through his or her own circulatory system. At 5 weeks brain waves are measurable. At 12 weeks the baby has a face.

There are over 350 abortion providers in this country that provide abortions after 20 weeks. Abortion truly stops a beating heart. Abortion takes a human life.

A Child in the Womb is a Conscious Soul – Science reports that the baby begins to move at 7 weeks. This movement can be felt by the mother at 16 weeks. The gospel of Luke (1:44) reports that when Elizabeth, who was miraculously pregnant in her old age, met her cousin Mary, who was carrying the Lord Jesus that the child who was to become John the Baptist leapt in Elizabeth’s womb. The implication is obvious: God gave the infant John knowledge of his cousin’s presence while both were still in the womb. The further implication is also obvious: John, like every other babe in the womb, had a soul before he was born.

Every child in the womb is a living, soul, capable of human interaction and some early form of understanding the presence of blessing or threat. They are conscious, but they have no voice. Many of their mothers, who are told over and over again that it’s just a choice, really feel as if they have no choice at all. Their parents, their boyfriends, their society and their fears sound the bell so loudly for abortion that many, many women feel it is the only option.

There is so much more information out there on this topic but hopefully this is enough to equip you and inspire you to speak up for those who cannot speak.

Let me conclude with a few recommendations on who to speak to and how.
Concluding Application

First, talk to the Women You Know – Four out of ten women in America have had an abortion. It is a personal trauma that is often stuffed very deep inside of her soul. Most women aren’t given the time and information that they need to fully understand what they’re being urged to do or have done. She has never had permission to talk about it. She needs permission and she needs you to be very sensitive.

If she is open about it and wrestles with it suggest a Bible Study at a place like Little Life. I’ve seen the healing that can come in a woman’s life through those studies.

If she is not open about struggling with it recognize that whether she can acknowledge it or not she is hurting. She may be belligerent about it. Hurting people hurt people. She is carrying a deep wound. Pray for her.

Second, talk to Adolescents – Probably the most important group you can talk to because they are the ones who can change the trend. Give them the information that I just gave you. They have a strong sense of justice. They will speak up when adults might remain silent.

Third, talk to Legislators – They need to hear from you every year. Significantly, The Patient Provider Affordable Care Act provides many streams of funding and authority that open the door to tax payer funded abortions in the US. That alone is reason enough to rewrite or repeal it.

Fourth, talk to Friends – Share this information with them. Let them know about Little Life Pregnancy Medical Center in Danville, Virginia, which FCC supports. They need the opportunity to support Little Life and to give hope to young women in crisis.

Fifth, Sign the Manhattan Declaration – Find it at www.manhattandeclaration.org.

Conclusion
Eric Metaxas’ excellent biography of Bonhoeffer offers a good closing perspective for all of us.

Few people would compare America of the early 21st Century with Germany of the early 1930’s. The social and political forces at work are vastly different.

One thing we do have in common however is this: No one then living in that most technologically developed, intellectually sophisticated and artistically sensitive country in the western world - a Christian nation that was the birthplace of the protestant reformation – would have believed how quickly it would all slide into the barbarism that was National Socialism.

Martin Niemoeller was one of those men. A decorated U Boat captain of the First World War, he became a pastor that early on was supportive of Hitler because of his opposition to Communism. But when the NAZIS passed a law making all Jews second class citizens Niemoeller finally woke up. By then it was too late. He, along with over 800 other pastors in the anti-Nazi Confessing Church were arrested and imprisoned shortly after the 1936 Olympics. Bonhoeffer was hanged. Niemoeller, after stints in Dachau and other concentration camps, barely escaped with his life.

I leave you with the quote for which he is best known.

First They came... - Pastor Martin Niemoller

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists ,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

SPEAK UP FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

(I am indebted to Tony Perkins and the National Right to Life website for some of the information in this message).

JESUS IS LORD! REALLY?

JESUS IS LORD? REALLY?
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 7:21 NIV)

A recent article in a national Christian magazine asked the question: Were Jesus and Paul in conflict? Did Jesus teach one thing and the Apostle Paul another? A shallow reading of the New Testament might leave that impression, especially concerning salvation. One might think, from the quotation in Matthew above, that according to Jesus it takes more than calling him Lord to be saved. But then we read Paul’s statement in Rom 10:9 and wonder, “What’s up with that?”

Here’s Paul’s statement: “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (NIV)

I love to quote Romans 10:9 to people who are in doubt or wondering how to be saved. But most 21st century Americans don’t understand what it means. It needs a little explaining.

When some folks say, “Jesus is Lord,” they are repeating a culturally acceptable religious slogan. Its like, “Of course I believe Jesus is Lord, just like I believe in Santa Clause at Christmas and Baseball in June and Hotdogs and Apple Pie and Chevrolet.”

Jesus is Lord is part of Southern culture in the same way that “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet” is in other cultures. He is Lord in the sense that he is the chosen deity of our civil religion, in the same way that Jupiter was Lord if you were an early Roman or Zeus if you were Greek. He’s the guy symbolized in the stained glass windows, and the crosses in the graveyards. But it isn’t personal. There is no personal significance to the statement. You don’t necessarily have to sacrifice any personal autonomy to say it.

To people who use the phrase like that Jesus will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” The person never entered into a faith relationship of loyal obedience to Jesus. Jesus is a name we tag on to the end of a prayer but he is not a person we know or a Lord to whom we swear unwavering allegiance.

But to say, “Jesus is Lord,” in the Romans 9 sense is at one and the same time a highly personal as well as totally public swearing of allegiance. Calling someone, anyone, Lord, in that culture was to recognize and accept their authority over you as master. And, at the time Paul wrote that sentence Roman citizens were being required to say “Caesar is Lord” to maintain citizenship. They had to swear allegiance to Caesar just like a Nazi swearing allegiance to Hitler. Death waited anyone who refused.

So the true believer, back then and today, is someone who swears allegiance to Jesus Christ and never turns back from a lifetime of obedient faith. He is “one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.” In Elisabeth Elliott’s words, it is a long obedience in the same direction. It doesn’t mean that we do it perfectly all the time. But the overall pattern of life is one of faithfulness to Christ, no matter what the cost.

Just saying “Jesus is Lord” doesn’t give us entry into eternity, nor does the obedience itself save us. But it is the evidence of a person that truly belongs to Jesus. To that person Jesus promises, “If you confess me before men, I will confess you before my father who is in heaven.”

THE BLESSINGS OF BIOGRAPHY

Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. (Proverbs 4:7-8 NIV)

There is an old story about wisdom that goes something like this: A young entrepreneur interviewed a prosperous older business man and asked him the secret of his success.

“Wisdom,” he said.

“How do I get it?” asked the younger man.

“By making good decisions.”

“And how do I learn to make good decisions?”

“By making bad ones.”

Wisdom, in the biblical sense, is the practical application of knowledge and truth to every day life. It is life-skill, the understanding of the ways knowledge and information can be brought to bear in the solving of life’s challenges, the exploitation of its opportunities and the avoidance of its many pitfalls. One of the greatest sources of it is the Book of Proverbs (found just after the Psalms in your Bible).

But there is another source and that is biography, the stories of the lives of interesting people. Through skillfully written biography we see wisdom and godliness, or the lack thereof, at work in the lives of others. It is a wonderful tool for reflection upon one’s own life, developing a better understanding of others who are different from you, and gaining vicarious experience. We can learn to make good decisions by seeing the results of their bad ones.

Wondering where to start? Here’s a list I’ve benefitted from in the last twelve months or so. West With the Night, by Beryl Markham; John Adams, by David McCullough; Bonheoffer, by Eric Metaxas; Decision Points, by George W. Bush; Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove; A Journey, by Tony Blair.

So pick up a biography this year and get wisdom. And when you find a good one let me in on it! I look forward to hearing what you’ve learned.