5 Issues the Sanctity of Life Affects

January 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Sanctity of Life

January 22, 2017 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Every year we specifically remind one another life is God-given and God-made. As we remind one another of this, we are sobered in that many disagree with this. We can easily sobered knowing such a biblically-based belief is so counter cultural. Below are 5 articles or messages that will help your understanding of the importance and effects Sanctity of Life has on life as a Christian, American, and citizen of the world.

Understand the Sanctity of Life and ethics. Carrie Earll and Focus on the Family explain the value of life is unquantifiable, and the baseline reason is found in that humans are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Human dignity and distinction are derived from this, and this is what drives our conviction.

Understand the Sanctity of Life in the face of abortion. John Piper, in this resource of 3 transcribed sermons, articulates abortion factually, exhorts us to consider Lordship, and the call to follow Jesus despite all else in the world. The last sentence is a gracious summation we need regular reminder of: “Jesus Christ can forgive all sins, and will give all who trusts him the help they need to do everything that life requires.”

Understand the Sanctity of Life and the American tax dollar. Joe Carter of the ERLC provides a credible exposé on the federally-funded Planned Parenthood, the nation’s most used women’s health organization and the largest provider of abortions in America.

Understand the Sanctity of Life Sunday and why we ought to pray it become unnecessary. Russell Moore, through anecdotes and cultural insight, reminds us that this Sunday is not meant to remain with the church for the rest of our history, unlike Christmas or Easter. A good prayer to pray is that this Sunday emphasis would be removed by the Lord orchestrating orphans to be adopted and abortions to be removed from the face of the earth.

Understand the Sanctity of Life as it relates to the world. David Platt helps us see that the issue does not exist in America, alone. The issue of devaluing human life is worldwide, and the answer is “make disciples of all nations, by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded” (Matthew 28:19-20).

While the fight and disagreement about this issue transpires outside of the church and in the public square, we must have our minds set that when we gather, we gather not to argue about this issue, but to celebrate God and honor Him by strengthening one another and believing His Word.

Filed Under: Abortion, Books/Resources, Discipleship, General, Gospel, Missions, Worship Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Sanctity of Human Life

January 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment

In the following article Russell Moore considers the devastating reality that has led to such an event as a Sanctity of Life Sunday. 

Don’t get me wrong, the call to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ is a joy. Yesterday I pronounced a godly young couple husband and wife. This morning I baptized a brother in Christ. Nothing is more thrilling than opening the Word of God to the people of Christ week-by-week. But it provoked my spirit this morning to preach the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday emphasis this morning.

I don’t hate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday because I think it, somehow, unbiblical. No, indeed. The entire canon throbs with God’s commitment to the fatherless and to the widows, his wrath at the shedding of innocent blood. I don’t hate it because I think it’s inappropriate. Just as every Lord’s Day should be Easter, with the proclamation of the Resurrection of Jesus, and Christmas, with the announcement of the Incarnation, so every Lord’s Day should highlight the worth and dignity of human life.

I hate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday because I’m reminded that we have to say things to one another that human beings shouldn’t have to say. Mothers shouldn’t kill their children. Fathers shouldn’t abandon their babies. No human life is worthless, regardless of skin color, age, disability, economic status. The very fact that these things must be proclaimed is a reminder of the horrors of this present darkness.

This morning as I opened the Bible to preach, I looked out and caught the eye of my sons. I prayed that their children wouldn’t have to hear a sermon against abortion and euthanasia. I prayed that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren would grow up in an age when abortion is, as the Feminists for Life organization put is some years ago, not just illegal but unthinkable. I prayed for my (yet to be conceived but not yet to be conceived of) great-grandchildren that a Sanctity of Human Life Sunday would seem as unnecessary to them as a Reality of Gravity Emphasis Sunday.

I hate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday because I’m reminded that as I’m preaching there are babies warmly nestled in wombs who won’t be there tomorrow. I’m reminded that there are children, maybe even blocks from my pulpit, who’ll be slapped, punched, and burned with cigarettes before nightfall. I’m reminded that there are elderly men and women languishing away in loneliness, their lives pronounced to be a waste.

But I also love Sanctity of Human Life Sunday when I think about the fact that I serve a congregation with ex-orphans all around, adopted into loving families. I love to reflect on the men and women who serve every week in pregnancy centers for women in crisis. And I love to see men and women who have aborted babies find their sins forgiven, even this sin, and their consciences cleansed by Christ.

We’ll always need Christmas. We’ll always need Easter. But I hope, please Lord, someday soon, that Sanctity of Human Life Day is unnecessary.

Filed Under: Abortion, General, Parkwood Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Abortion, a Gospel Issue

January 19, 2014 by 1 Comment

One of the more disturbing moments concerning the abortion battle took place this summer at the Texas State Capital.  As pro-life supporters were singing “Amazing Grace,” pro-choice advocates began to chant, “Hail Satan” in an attempt to drown them out.  Much could be said about this chilling moment on this particular front of the spiritual battle that rages in our culture.  I would like for you to consider what is really at play in the abortion issue and where we need to look for the ultimate solution.

I am sure that most of those chanting loudly gave little thought to what they were doing.  Likely, they quickly made sure to make it known that they were not Satanists.  Yet, the chanting of their mouths reveals the core of this matter.  At the center of the abortion issue, sinful hearts are what drive pro-abortion politicians and advocates, abortion clinics, and personal decisions to abort.  Sadly, sinful hearts drive some pro-life advocates to speak inappropriately, practice underhanded politics, and perform acts that are contrary to the very tenets they claim to believe.  As a result, we share the same need– the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am not siding with those who say that Christians need to avoid the political issue of abortion and get to the work of the Gospel.  I am saying that we need to get to the work of the Gospel and bring it to bear in all of life and culture, including the matter of abortion.

We must continue to stand against abortion in the public arena with clear Biblical convictions.  We must continue to see men and women, cut from the cloth of William Wilberforce, stand against moral evil by taking up public office and bringing the Gospel to bear.

We must continue to support the work of Christ-centered, Crisis Pregnancy Centers with our resources and time.  Thank God that our local CPC is dedicated to sharing the Gospel with each client while offering continued resources, support, and love regardless of their response.

We must continue to share the hope of Christ’s forgiveness for the broken post-abortive woman, the crushed boyfriend or husband who convinced her, the secretly shamed, insisting parent or grandparent, and the empty doctor or nurse who has performed or assisted in countless murders.

A culture of death needs life.  Jesus said in John 10:10-11 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (ESV)  For the culture of death to have life, Jesus died.  He laid down his life for the sins of mankind, including abortion.  As a result, we must be careful as believers to courageously expose the lies and destruction of the thief by working for an end to abortion while courageously and compassionately proclaiming the Good News of life to those who are caught in the clutches of death.  May our voices rise above the noise and chants with the life-giving message of amazing grace.

Filed Under: Abortion, Gospel