The ABC's of Biblical Parenting--Parenting Series

            There is a verse in Ecclesiastes that has long been a favorite of seminary students. It is Ecclesiastes 12:12, which says, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” For some reason, this verse has never made it into the AWANA program—I’m not sure why.

            Now, this verse could be a very fitting description for the parenting section at the bookstore. Before the poor employees get one parenting book on the shelf, the next one is already on its way. By the time you could read all of them, your kids would be grown and out of the house! You would have nothing to do with all of your knowledge except write books for the next generation of parents to read!

            Is there any way to boil down this task we call “parenting” to some basic principles? I think there is, and I think the Apostle Paul has done just that for us in two short commands that we find in his letters. By the way, I think its telling that we don’t have a long discussion in the Bible about parenting. The closest thing is the book of Proverbs, but that book deals with many other subjects as well. I think this is because the basic idea about parenting in the Bible is what we saw last week—just love God yourself, then show your kids how to do what you’re doing.

            We’re going to take a look at Paul’s commands this morning, and then we’ll answer three simple questions about them: 1) What are we supposed to do as parents?; 2) How are we supposed to do it?; and 3) Why are we supposed to do it this way?

            Let’s read the commandments in question. The first is found in Ephesians 6:4—“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” The second is found in Colossians 3:21. It is very similar to the first command, but it adds an important detail to the discussion. This verse says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” That’s an important thought, and we’ll consider it more closely in just a moment.

            Let me make one observation before we jump into our questions. Both of these commands are addressed to fathers. Mothers are certainly not excluded; in fact, this Greek word sometimes refers to ancestors in general, both male and female. But fathers are emphasized in these verses because we are the leaders of the home. We bear the final responsibility of seeing that our homes are arranged according to God’s commands.

            We are just like managers in a business—we are not expected to do all of the work ourselves, but we are responsible for seeing that all of the work gets done in the right way. So it is in our homes—Mom may end up doing most of the parenting work (especially when our kids are infants and especially if Mom stays at home with the kids), but Dad is still responsible before God for all of it. So men, this means that we cannot be checked out of the parenting process. We need to be hands-on with our children when we can, and we need to communicate with Mom when we can’t. We must shoulder the responsibility!

Now let’s dive-in to the three questions that I have asked about these commands.

1. What are we supposed to do as parents?

            The first phrase of Ephesians 6:4 tells us what we are NOT supposed to do, so we’ll come back to that later. The second phrase tells us what we are supposed to do, that is, “bring [our children] up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Let’s think about these words “discipline” and “instruction.”

            Discipline is a perfectly good word—especially if you look it up in the dictionary—but it normally has negative connotations for us. When we hear “discipline,” we usually think of dishing out punishment after rules have been broken. Other translations use the word “training,” which is probably a better word in our language today.

            When we think of “training,” we might think of learning a new job or practicing with a sports team. When I worked at a bank several years ago, I spent my first week or so in training. They explained what I needed to do and how I would go about doing it. That’s an important combination—combining “what” with “how.” They didn’t just stick me in the teller window and say “make deposits” or “cash checks.” They explained how I would actually carry out those tasks.

            Have you ever been in a situation where someone expected you to do something but they didn’t effectively explain how you could actually accomplish the task? That’s frustrating, isn’t it? And it gets even worse if that person comes down on you for not accomplishing the task!

            There is a very important lesson here for the parenting task. As we raise our kids and tell them what they need to do, we also need to effectively explain how they can accomplish it. If we don’t, we’ll put them in that frustrating position that I just described, and we’ll make the situation even worse if we punish them while leaving the “how” question unanswered.

            Now the word “instruction” adds a third element to all of this—the element of “why.” The Greek term behind “instruction” refers to teaching that emphasizes the consequences of our choices; so it introduces the idea of warnings and incentives. When I worked at the bank, they had incentives in place to encourage us to refer our customers to our financial planning department (the folks who helped with investments and estate planning and trust funds and the like). Now I knew what the bank wanted me to do (they wanted me to make referrals), and I knew how I could accomplish that (I could arrange appointments), but my boss knew that I still might look at all of that and say, “What’s the point? Why should I bother?” So they put an incentive in place, which created an answer for my “why” question.

            So when we put all of this together, our basic answer to the first question is this: What are we supposed to do as parents? Teach our children what they should do, how they can do it, and why they should do it—all in light of God’s commands. This is fully biblical parenting—covering the bases of “what,” “how,” and “why” for our kids in light of God’s commands.

            Now I suspect we’re all pretty good at telling our kids what to do. As Christian parents, we’re probably accurate most of the time (I doubt you’ve ever told your child to do something that is just flat-out unbiblical). So we’re probably pretty good with the “what” side of things, but honestly we probably have a lot of struggles when it comes to “how” and “why.” Sometimes the “how” question is pretty simple. Think about asking your child to clean his room. That’s pretty straightforward—you can explain where they should put their toys and that sort of thing. But think about commands like “don’t talk back” or “don’t fight with your siblings.” Those are matters of the heart, aren’t they? In that case, we have to deal with questions like, “How can hold my tongue when I just want to speak my mind?” or “How can I live at peace with another person?” Now we’re talking about basic discipleship, which is more involved than just telling our kids where to put their toys.

            Or consider the “why” question. We have a fairly standard response when our kids us why they should do something—“because I said so!” That statement is true, but its not the whole truth, is it? Why should your kids obey you? Who made you so important? Well, God did, didn’t He? That’s the whole truth that we need to present to our kids.

            Now in just a couple of weeks, we’re going to devote some entire sermons to the “how” and “why” questions that are part of instructing our children, so we’ll move on for now. Just understand for the time being that fully biblical parenting must go beyond simply telling our kids what to do. We must also include the “how” and the “why.”

2. How are we supposed to do it?

            Based on these two commands, I think we can answer this question like so—in a manner that does not incite them to be angry or that will crush their spirit. In other words, we are to exercise our authority over our children with consideration for their emotions, their desires, their thoughts, and their motivation. This mindset in one sense is a protection for our children since they are called by God to obey us. I think they will have an easier time obeying us if they can tell that we are treating them in a considerate way.

            Now this idea reminds us of the God-given dignity and value that our children possess, and we as parents are responsible to take their God-given dignity into account as we raise them. This idea was revolutionary in the Roman culture of Paul’s day. Roman law operated by a principle that gave fathers absolute authority over their children. When a baby was born, the father had the right to decide if the child would live or die. If the child was the wrong gender or it was deformed in some way, the father could refuse to claim the child as his own, and if he rejected the child, it was either drowned or left somewhere to die of exposure. Even if a child was allowed to live, the father still retained absolute authority over its life. He could discipline the child however he desired—which included the option of putting the child to death.¹

            So imagine how odd it was in this culture for Paul to say “do not provoke your children to anger,” and “do not provoke [them], lest they become discouraged.” Where did this idea come from? Well, it came from God. Our children have God-given rights that we are not allowed to violate. If you’re tempted to think that you have unlimited authority over your children, you better think again. We are not allowed to sin against our children as we raise them. That rules out actions like dealing with them in anger or speaking harsh or bitter words against them.

            Now next week, we are going to talk about some ways in which parents commonly violate this command so that we can hopefully avoid this kind of behavior. But why is it so important that we act in this manner?

3. Why are we supposed to do it this way?

            Simply put, the answer is this—otherwise, we may push them toward sin or extinguish their motivation altogether. As Christian parents, pushing our children toward sin is exactly the opposite of what we hope to accomplish. Now of course, our children are always responsible before God for their own choices. They may choose a sinful path even though we have encouraged them toward a godly path.

            But it is possible for us to create an environment in our homes that actually makes sin look more desirable. What will our children learn if we deal with them in anger all the time? They will learn that anger is the way to exercise authority and control, so when they want to make themselves heard, how will they act? With anger! What will happen if we fail to give our children tender affection, and then a boyfriend or girlfriend comes along who is more than willing to give them unhealthy affection? Well, who cares if its unhealthy and its not real love at all—it still feels better and seems more promising than years of no affection at home.

            The other danger that Paul mentions is extinguishing our kids’ motivation altogether. Sometimes kids may not really choose a sinful path, but they won’t have the motivation to walk the godly path, either—so they won’t really rebel, they just won’t do much of anything! They won’t have much drive of their own at all. They won’t see the point in putting out effort to follow the godly path.

            I think this situation often comes about when we’ve told our children “what” to do for years and years, but we’ve never really told them “how” or “why.” Remember how frustrating that situation is? Let’s put this back in the context of your job—what happens when you’re in that situation for a long time? You either quit out of frustration, or you figure out how to do just enough to keep the boss of your back.

            That is not a situation that we want to create in our homes. The good news is that I think our children really do want to do what we ask them to do. They love us, and they want to have a good relationship with us. They are willing to consider what we have to say, but we’ve got to teach them how they can do it and why they should do it.

            So to sum things up for today, we are called by God to teach our children what to do, how to do it, and why to do it in a manner that will not provoke them to anger or discourage them so that we will not push them toward sin or crush their motivation. Now that’s easier said than done, right? But at least these commands give us some clarity! They put the target clearly within our sights, so that now we have something definite to shoot for. Now we can simply work to perfect our aim, so we can hit the bull’s eye in this process called parenting.

Notes:

1. William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians, The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 202.

Carving the Love of God into Your Children--Parenting Series

            There was once a man with a wife and three children. This man was a hard-working man who often worked long—and sometimes odd—hours, though it wouldn’t be fair to call him a workaholic. He was devoted to his job only because it allowed him to meet his goal of providing for his family. He really had a much greater devotion to his family, and above all else, to God.

            His devotion to God was on full display in the choices that he made. This man could have easily stayed out of church activities, and many people would have been understanding because of his work schedule, but he never missed church, and he even taught Sunday School for a number of years. His car transformed into a taxi on AWANA night, and many kids came only because he was willing to pick them up. In those days, Vacation Bible School was still normally held during the day, and he would take an entire week of his vacation time to volunteer.

            Despite this man’s busy schedule, he was still very devoted to his family. Rarely did he miss a ball game or a choir concert, and on one occasion, he even broke into a classroom when some props had been accidentally locked inside. Even when he knew he would be going back to work, he would still come home for dinner, and around the table he would often casually talk about things he had heard on the radio. Sometimes he would launch into a well-worn speech about how atheistic evolution was the dumbest idea he had ever heard.

            This man has grown older now, and his mind is not always very clear. He can’t really make it through his evolution speech anymore, but I am told that he never thinks more clearly than when he is praying. I guess old habits really do die hard.

            Since I am so familiar with this man, you may have already guessed that he is my dad. He is not perfect by any means—I could list his vices just the same as his virtues—but to me he has always embodied the ideals of Deuteronomy 6:4-9: devotion to God above all else, then to family as part of devotion to God. This passage is foundational for the subject of parenting, so let’s take a closer look at it today. Follow with me as I read it in context, beginning in v. 1 [READ Deut. 6:1-9].

The first lesson I would like to highlight from these verses is…

1. Teaching God’s commands to your children is simply part of your own devotion to God

            As we read vv. 4-9, perhaps you noticed an overall structure to these verses. In v. 4, Moses makes an assertion about God, and then we read this repeated phrase, “you shall…you shall…you shall.” Moses is simply teaching us a truth about God in v. 4, then he is telling us in vv. 5-9 what we should do in response to that truth. Notice that the command about parenting is simply one of those responses, and its tied up with the rest of them; it is not separated out as though it is in a category by itself.

            Let’s take a closer look at these verses before we draw an application from the overall structure. Verse 4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one,” or we could also translate, “the one and only.” This verse was the heartbeat of the Jewish faith. If football and TV had been around back then, you would have seen Jewish people sitting behind the goalposts with a sign that said, “Deuteronomy 6:4.” It had the same kind of place that John 3:16 has in Christianity today.

            The Jewish people lived in a time and place in which most people worshipped several gods. Some of them may have been seen as more powerful than others, but they all deserved some degree of worship. The God of Israel, however, declared that He was it—He was the one and only God, and as such He deserved all worship.

            Consequently, that’s exactly the point that Moses made with the first “you shall” statement in v. 5: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” I think there is a profound thought in the way that Moses said this—he said, “you shall love.” That puts our response to God in the context of a relationship. Love speaks of intimacy and affection. If this is the proper way to respond to God, it must mean that this is what God desires to have with us—a relationship of intimacy and affection.

            Now since we’re thinking about the subject of parenting, let me point out that this is a powerful insight for pointing our children toward God. Our kids tend to love what we love, especially when they’re young. They will usually root for the same teams that we root for and take an interest in the same hobbies that we’re interested in. They will tend to love the people whom we love, and yes—they tend to pick up our prejudices, too. But if they see in our lives that we love God—that we have intimacy with Him and affection toward Him—they will very likely start to develop that same love.

            In v. 6, we find the next “you shall” statement: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” Jewish people back then associated the heart with thinking, rather than the mind or the brain like we do today. So in our language, Moses was simply telling the people to keep God’s commands on their minds. They were supposed to know them and think about them, which would allow them to carry out the next “you shall” statement in v. 7: “you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

            We’ll look more closely at this statement in just a moment, but for now, just recognize that Moses includes it as part of our overall response of love to God. He didn’t begin v. 7 with, “And now, on a totally unrelated note, teach your kids!” No—this task is simply part of our proper response to God in light of the fact that He is the one and only God.

            The final “you shall” statements come in vv. 8-9: “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” The hand is the organ of action, and the eyes are the gateway to the inner man, so all of our actions and everything that comes into the mind or heart should be assessed by God’s commands. Likewise, our home life is to be arranged according to God’s commands. Everything that comes into our home and takes place there should be assessed by God’s commands.

            Now notice again how the command to teach our children is simply a part of our response to God in the same way as these other commands. I think this lesson can help us tremendously as we seek to be consistent in teaching and disciplining our children. Being consistent is one of the hardest parts of keeping the parenting process going moment after moment (let’s not even talk about day after day because each moment can have enough trouble of its own!). Its hard to consistently teach our kids because it requires effort.

            Sometimes its easier to let moments slip by without making the effort to teach or to discipline. But consider this—in many other activities we fight to be consistent because we think of them as acts of worship which express our love to God. We fight to be consistent in reading the Bible and praying and keeping our temper and holding our tongue and being honest because we think of these things in light of our relationship with God.

            We don’t give ourselves a pass on lying just because we didn’t feel like telling the truth. We fight to be honest because we love God, so here’s the key—we need to think of parenting in those same terms. The reason to fight for consistency as parents is because we love God; the reason to teach and discipline is because we love God. Its really not about our kids in the first place!

            This attitude is the bedrock of consistency in our parenting efforts. It allows us to say, “God, my kids are driving me crazy! I don’t feel like teaching or disciplining in this moment, but because I love you I choose to do what you ask.” Parenting is just as much a part of our response of love to God as praying and singing hymns; remembering this lesson is the key to consistency in our efforts.

Let’s take a closer look now at the specifics of the command to teach our kids. Here is the basic lesson that we discover in this verse…

2. Teaching God’s commands to your children is a moment-by-moment process that is carried out during the normal course of life

            Let’s read v. 7 once more: “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” The four phrases at the end combine to describe the normal course of life. Wherever we are, whatever time it is, whatever circumstances we are in, we are to be teaching our children the commandments of God.

            The words “teach them diligently” translates a Hebrew verb that speaks of sharpening something. The word picture it creates in this verse is that of engraving or carving God’s commands into our children. I’ve never been into carving, but that’s a great word picture for parenting. When you carve something out of wood, for instance, you don’t hack off large pieces of wood with each stroke. It’s a slow and steady process—a delicate process—where you shave off tiny pieces with each pass of the knife.

            If we put this word picture for teaching in the context of the normal routine of life, the resulting thought is that we should take advantage of every circumstance and every moment to delicately carve our child’s character a little bit more than the moment before. That’s a beautiful way to think about parenting. It reminds us that the teaching process isn’t going to happen all at once. It encourages us to be patient, but also steady and deliberate.

            Let me point out an assumption within this command and an implication of this command. First of all, the assumption—this command assumes that you will be with your children in a variety of circumstances. You can’t teach them in a variety of circumstances if you’re not with them in a variety of circumstances.

            Now in Old Testament times, society was structured in a way that tended to draw parents and children together in various circumstances. Children were not typically educated outside the home—they were normally educated within the home, and boys would normally take on whatever occupation their father was in (“take your child to work day” was every day). So parents and children were together in the domestic setting of the home, an educational setting and an occupational setting.

            But consider the structure of our society today. You wake up in the morning and go to work—perhaps husband and wife both go to work—and your children go to school. You don’t see them again until at least the middle of the afternoon, and at various stages of life it might be more like 6- or 7 o’ clock. Then, they may have an activity in the evening or you may have an activity or a meeting, and before you know it, the day is over before there has been much opportunity for interaction.

            Now we can make some choices to structure our families in a different way, but we can’t escape from this structure completely. So what we must realize is that this structure tends to pull us apart rather than draw us together, which means that if we’re going to be together as families we have to make intentional choices to be together. The structure of our society will not help us with that, so we have to be thoughtful about how we can do it.

            In order to fulfill this command, then, we need to creatively and intentionally find ways to be together with our children. So what can we do? Well, for example, if you have other people over for dinner, don’t automatically send the kids off somewhere else to a kids’ table. If you can all fit around one table, do it. Let the kids listen to and even participate in adult conversation. They don’t have to sit there all night, but keep them together with you for a while.

            Or, if you take business trips at times, see about taking one of your children with you. That may not always be possible, but sometimes—with a little effort—it may, and what a valuable experience for your kids to see you in a business context. Those of you who farm have a great advantage in letting your kids work alongside you as they grow up.

            Finally, the implication of this command—you as a parent are the only one who will be with your child in a wide variety of circumstances, so this command gives you a role that no one else can fill. Schoolteachers cannot fill this role; pastors and Sunday School teachers cannot fill this role. The task of carving God’s commands into your children lies squarely at your feet because you are the constant for your children in all the comings and goings of life.

            But please don’t think of this role as an overwhelming responsibility; choose to see it instead as an unequaled opportunity. You are indispensible! You have a role that no one else can play! In terms of human relationships, you are the greatest influence in your child’s life and you are the object of your child’s greatest affections. That never really changes—its just not as cool for them to say it when they get older!

            You have a power to shape your children that is unrivaled, so if you will love God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your might, and then delicately carve that love into your children, your influence can last for a lifetime!

Responding to Homosexuality with Grace and Truth--Political Issues Series

            Balance is one of the most difficult things to achieve in life. It takes our bodies quite a while to learn how to get all of our muscles working together to keep us balanced as we walk or ride a bike. Who doesn’t struggle to maintain a balanced diet? How many of us feel like we’ve achieved a healthy balance between our jobs and our responsibilities at home?

            Maintaining balance is a constant challenge for us, and the situation is no different as we try to respond to homosexuality. Many churches today are embracing one of two extremes on this subject—they are either embracing it with open arms and removing the label of “sinfulness” from it, or they are returning the anger and suspicion that they are receiving from some pro-gay activists.

            Both of these responses are wrong, but how can we forge a balanced response in which we neither approve of homosexuality nor treat homosexuals with hatred and arrogance? Well, as we did with our series on abortion, we must consider the example of Jesus, who perfectly embodied both grace and truth. So today, we are going to consider how to respond to homosexuality with these two qualities. As we did with abortion, we are going to begin with the idea of truth and then balance our defense of the truth with grace.

1. How can we respond to homosexuality with truth?

            A. We must embrace the proper attitude toward homosexuality

            This step requires a delicate balancing act itself! On the one hand, we must not view homosexuality as “more sinful” than other sins. Now to be clear, all sins are NOT created equal in terms of their effects in the world. Murder clearly has different effects than selfishness, and for that reason it has different consequences as well. But in terms of making us guilty in light of God’s commands, all sins are exactly the same. James put it this way in James 2:10-11 (this is from the New Living Translation, which I think says it well): “For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws. ¹¹ For the same God who said, "You must not commit adultery," also said, "You must not murder." So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.”

            So we must not place homosexuality in a special category, as though it makes a person “more guilty” in the eyes of God. If we do, that mindset can easily foster pride and arrogance in our hearts. However, I think we are often tempted to place homosexuality in a different category than other sins for two reasons. First, very few of us have ever dealt with that temptation; thus, it is very foreign to us. We’re not likely to think that a sin is worse than other sins if we have been tempted to commit it. If anything, we want to lessen the severity of a sin in that situation! But since so many of us have never walked in the homosexual’s shoes, so to speak, its easier for us to treat that sin differently.

            Second, we may place homosexuality in a special category because we’re often repulsed by the way that it is celebrated today. I have yet to see anyone organize a liar’s-pride parade, but all around us today we see gay pride parades that openly flaunt and celebrate this sin. Its not hard to feel offended by such things, but that still doesn’t mean that we should consider homosexuality to be “more sinful” than other sins.

            On the other hand, we must not view homosexuality as “no big deal,” either. This is the trend of our culture, and we must not get swept along with it. It seems that a majority of people in our country today are still opposed to gay marriage, but I think most people don’t consider homosexuality itself to be that big of a deal. As long as we’re talking about two consenting adults, I think most people would say, “It’s a little weird, but its no big deal.” We must avoid adopting that attitude.

            Here is where I will start to sound like a fundamentalist—I strongly believe that we need to avoid watching, for entertainment purposes, movies and TV shows that portray homosexuality as acceptable behavior. When a TV show features a gay couple raising a child and calls it “The New Normal,” isn’t it obvious that there’s an agenda behind it? Especially when just under 4% of Americans identify themselves as gay or bisexual.¹ Gay behavior is not even statistically normal, yet the TV producers would have us believe it is “The New Normal,” and that this is what a “Modern Family” looks like.

            Now, its easy for us to tell ourselves that watching a show for entertainment doesn’t change our perspective about the behavior that the show portrays. After all, we don’t watch a show that portrays homosexuality in a good light and then think, “Hey, I’d like to try that!” Since we don’t have that response, we think that our attitude toward homosexuality has not been changed. But I would argue that if we are amused by portrayal of sin, it will de-sensitize us to that sin’s presence in our society. We will be less broken-hearted over it, and less likely to consider it a serious issue. At that point, we will be less likely to take serious steps to help people who are caught up in that lifestyle.

            Media like the television and movies appeal to our imagination, and we consistently underestimate how powerfully our imagination shapes our attitudes. One author has written, “When you stop to think about it, you soon realize that our imagination is what our whole social life is really based on…In practically everything we do, it’s the combination of emotion and intellect that we call imagination that goes to work.”³ Do we really believe that we can hand our imagination over to Hollywood for an hour—or two hours or three hours—every night, and somehow it will not infiltrate our attitudes and opinions? That idea is terribly naïve.

            So this is the delicate balance that we must maintain—we must walk a thin line between viewing homosexuality as either too sinful or not sinful enough. Trying to maintain this balance might make us reluctant to speak out on this issue, but we must not embrace that approach either.

            B. We must stand for and spread the truth of God’s Word concerning homosexuality

            As we discussed in our series on abortion, we can take advantage of opportunities that God may give us to speak out about homosexuality in public forums. These opportunities may be abundant right now as debates about gay marriage bring this subject into the limelight. The Bible gives very clear guidance to us to stand against efforts to legalize gay marriage. According to Romans 13, human governments are supposed to discourage behavior that is wrong and promote behavior that is right, and we need to remind our government about this duty.

            We can make a very clear moral case against something like gay marriage from Scripture, and because the Bible tells us the truth, it is not surprising to discover that secular research backs up our claims. Just recently, a sociologist at the University of Texas published a study which demonstrates that children who are raised by two gay parents are worse-off in dozens of different categories than children raised by heterosexual parents. The study examined more than 40 categories of social, emotional, and relational well-being and found that children of gay parents are worse-off in almost all of them. These children are more likely to have problems with impulse control, depression, and thoughts of suicide, and are more likely to need mental health therapy.²

            These findings come as no surprise to those of us who believe the Bible, and we must be willing to proclaim these things. But as with our response to abortion, we must be quick to share the Gospel as well. Forgiveness is available to anyone who will repent of their sins and trust Christ, and we must make sure that message comes through loud and clear.

2. How can we respond to homosexuality with grace?

            A. We must cultivate a loving atmosphere in our church which allows people to fight against sin without fear of unjust judgment and rejection

            This statement is an observation about church life in general. We must strive for this kind of atmosphere whether we’re talking about homosexuality or any other sin. Each person in our church needs to feel that they can discuss their struggles with someone here and receive help rather than hatred. Someone once said that the church is the only army in the world that shoots its wounded, and unfortunately that can be true at times. Each one of us needs to fight against the sins of gossip and pride so that our sins do not become the point of entry for Satan to devour one of our brothers or sisters.

            As I understand it, most homosexuals deal with a significant amount of shame over the temptations that they are facing, especially when they first come to grips with their desires. The last thing we should desire as a church is for such a person to feel like he or she has to wrestle with their temptations alone. Secrecy allows sin to thrive because it creates isolation from others. The Bible compares our relationship as Christians to a human body, so when isolation occurs in the church its like when a part of our body loses blood flow. For that part of the body to regain health, it must have proper blood flow restored; in our spiritual lives, those walls of isolation must be broken down.

            This is why it is spiritually devastating to people when they face unjust judgment and rejection—its like they are amputated from the body! Now I emphasize unjust judgment and rejection because the Bible does call for separation from a sinful person at a certain point, but that point is not while a person is battling temptation. Each person in this church needs to believe that they will receive help from others as long as they desire to do battle against sin. Its been said that sunlight is a great disinfectant, so we need to work toward a culture in our church that allows for transparency, so that we can bring our sins out into the open and leave them to die of exposure at the foot of the cross!

As a church, we are obviously a collection of individuals. So what might you as an individual need to do to respond with grace to someone who is battling homosexuality?

            B. We, as individuals, must humbly walk beside our brother or sister as he or she battles temptation

            Galatians 6:1-5 is an excellent passage to reflect on at this point. The Apostle Paul opens that passage by writing, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” Here, the age-old question from Cain receives an affirmative answer—am I my brother’s keeper? Yes; yes you are! Now the picture here is not one of creating a “nanny state” in the church where we are prying into each other’s lives. The picture is of fellow travelers helping each other up after one of them has fallen, and we are commanded to provide such spiritual assistance.

            Paul then issues a warning to those who would help: “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” The temptation here seems to be that of pride, as we will see in v. 3.

            Verse two says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,” which is probably a reference to Christ’s command to love others as ourselves. Then comes the warning again: “For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Here is the temptation that we face when we see a brother caught in sin—we may think we are too good to get our hands dirty with the mess they have made. Or, we may play the comparison game and pat ourselves on the back because we appear to be better than our brother. But Paul warns us not to go there in v. 4-5: “But let each one test his own work (i.e. don’t compare yourself to your brother), and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.” I think that last statement refers to our judgment before Christ to determine our rewards from Him. That judgment will not be on a curve! He will not assess how well we did compared to others; He will judge us by the standard of His commands.

            So we have here in this passage a command to help restore a brother who is caught in sin. As we think particularly about homosexuality, helping someone in that sin will most likely take the form of providing accountability and friendship. Is that brother hanging out with people who are pulling him into that lifestyle? If so, we can provide friendship and encouragement to sever those ties. Is our brother visiting places where homosexuals go to connect? If so, we can hold him accountable for staying away from those places. We may need to make ourselves available to take a phone call or make a visit at any time of day to provide effective accountability.

            It is also likely that you will need to help this brother deal with one or both of the common roots of homosexual behavior—pornography and sexual abuse. We all have our initial exposure to sexuality from something, and for some people, that first exposure is unfortunately forced upon them by an abusive person. A homosexual may have been started down that path by someone who seduced them or abused them. In those cases, you will need to help the person understand that spiritual cleansing and healing that is available to them through Jesus Christ. You may need to direct that person to a professional ministry like Exodus International, who can help them heal on every level.

            Other people have chosen the path of homosexuality after exposure to pornography. You’ve heard the old saying, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire?” Well, where there’s sexual sin, there’s pornography. You can pretty much count on it, so you may need to provide accountability for someone in that area as well. Help them destroy whatever material they may have; be willing—with their permission—to review bank statements or credit card statements to ask about questionable purchases; set up systems to hold them accountable with their Internet browsing.

            You can see how much personal involvement may be necessary to help a person break free from the chains of homosexuality, but let us never doubt that change is possible, even from this lifestyle. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul writes out a long list of sinful lifestyles which includes homosexuality, but at the end of the list he says, “such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:11).” With the Lord there is always power for transformation; may we seek to be agents whom God can use to do His transforming work in others.

  

Notes:

1. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/americans-have-no-idea-how-few-gay-people-there-are/257753/  Accessed 10/6/12.

2. http://www.worldmag.com/2012/08/good_deeds_punished  Accessed 9/26/12. See the full article at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X12000610.

3. Northrop Frye, The Educated Imagination, as quoted by Warren W. Wiersbe in Preacing and Teaching With Imagination (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), 61.

Does the Bible Call Homosexuality a Sin?--Political Issues Series

            The interaction between homosexuality and Christianity today is rather interesting and unprecedented. Everyone agrees that Christians have traditionally considered homosexuality to be a sin, but rather than forsake the Church altogether, some homosexuals have tried to argue that Christians have simply misread the Bible for the last 2,000 years! They claim that if we look behind biased English translations of the Bible to the original Hebrew and Greek copies, we will discover that the Bible does not, in fact, condemn homosexuality.

            This approach seems to be completely unprecedented. Compare this approach, for example, to something like adultery. Adultery has become far less taboo over the last few decades, but I have never heard anyone make the claim that for all of these years, Christians have been misreading what the Bible says about adultery! I think virtually everyone who has desired to commit adultery has simply turned away from the Bible and the Church to follow their own desires.

            Yet some homosexuals—and a growing number of denominations—have set out to revise Christianity’s historic opinion on this issue. So we need to clear the air about this question—does the Bible call homosexuality a sin? Today, I want to address the most common claims made by pro-homosexual interpreters and writers. You will likely run across these claims at some point if you haven’t already. For example, I just encountered them again the other day in an opinion piece on CNN.com.

            I am going to address eight claims concerning passages from Scripture and traditional Christian morality. I will be touching on several stories from Scripture, and for the sake of time I’m going to assume that you are familiar with these stories. If you are not, I would strongly encourage you to get a copy of this sermon, then read the stories later and go over the sermon again.

Claim #1—God’s anger toward the people of Sodom was directed toward the act of rape, not specifically the act of homosexuality.

            Pro-gay interpreters have been very fond of saying that the story of Sodom in Genesis 19 has nothing to say about God’s opinion of monogamous homosexual relationships. They claim it simply shows God’s disapproval of rape. Now it is certainly true that the men of Sodom weren’t trying to form civil unions with the angels whom they thought were ordinary men. But does this story say anything about homosexuality itself? I believe it does.

            Several pro-gay interpreters have tried to use Ezekiel 16:49 to say that the overall sin of Sodom was a lack of concern for the rights of others. That verse says, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” But several interpreters whom I read left off the next verse: “They were haughty and did an abomination before me (Ezek. 16:50).”

            Now what was this abomination? The Bible never uses that word to describe rape. That doesn’t mean that God approves of rape, it simply means that He used different language to condemn that sin. The Bible does, however, use that word to describe homosexuality in Leviticus 18:22. Now, the Bible does attach that word to refer to other sins as well, but this language certainly makes it at least possible that the abomination of Ezekiel 16:50 refers to homosexuality.

            I think Jude 1:7 really settles the matter. That verse says, “…Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities…likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire.” This verse is a more general reference to the sexual behavior of Sodom and the cities around it, and as such it gives a picture of their typical sexual behavior beyond simply the incident recorded in Genesis 19. Their typical behavior involved “unnatural desires”—desires that did not conform to God’s created order. It is not at all unreasonable to interpret this statement as a reference to homosexuality.

Claim #2—Commands against homosexuality in the Old Testament Law are irrelevant for homosexual behavior today.

            The commands in question here are found in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13:

·         “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”

·         “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”

            Pro-gay interpreters have long amused themselves by pointing out strange quirks in the Old Testament Law. They say that if we’re going to point to the Old Testament Law to condemn homosexuality, then we should also stop eating pork and wearing shirts made of a poly-cotton blend! They are correct in saying that such actions were forbidden under Old Testament Law, and they are correct in saying that we do not live under such commands today. The New Testament makes it clear that in the unfolding of God’s plan for salvation, the Old Testament Law has served its purpose of pointing out sin and pointing to Christ. Thus, it is no longer directly binding on us today.

            But does that mean that the Old Testament Law no longer has any relevance for us? Certainly not! When we consider moral questions in particular, the Old Testament Law still gives us a picture of God’s opinion on the matter, because God’s moral opinions do not change. Thus, if He considered homosexuality to be a sin in the Old Testament, we can safely conclude that He still considers homosexuality to be a sin today.

Claim #3—Romans 1 condemns heterosexuals who engage in homosexual behavior—NOT people who are homosexual by nature.

            Romans 1 is without a doubt the central passage in the biblical debate about homosexuality. Let’s take a look at what it says in context [READ Rom. 1:18-28]. The main verses in question are vv. 26-27, which pro-gay interpreters have tried to place against the backdrop of sexual orgies which occurred in pagan temples in the culture of that time. Their main argument is that Paul is condemning heterosexual people who engaged in homosexual acts in these temples. These heterosexual people thus “exchanged natural relations”—in other words, the relations which were natural to them as heterosexual people. The pro-gay conclusion is that Paul is not talking about people who are homosexual by nature, and thus he is not offering a condemnation of all homosexual acts.

            This argument is filled with errors on several fronts. First, it misunderstands the language of “exchange” in this passage. That word occurs three times in the context—in v. 23, v. 25, and v. 26. In each verse, the exchange involves giving up something that fits with God’s created order for something that is a perversion of God’s created order:

·         “[they] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things (v. 23)”

·         “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator (v. 25)”

·         “their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature (v. 26).”

            This comparison reveals that when Paul talks about “nature” in v. 26, he is not talking about an individual’s personal desire or inclination. Rather, he is talking about the natural world as God created it, so homosexuality is a violation of the world as God created it and thus it is a sin against Him.

            Second, the pro-gay argument misunderstands the language of God “giving mankind up.” This phrase is also used three times in the context—in v. 24, v. 26, and v. 28. This phrase refers to an act of judgment from God in which He allows mankind to take one more step down the path of sin that we have chosen. Verses 18-23 tell us that humanity has chosen idolatry over the worship of God—which again is an exchange, a perversion of God’s created order. As a result, God has allowed us to take further steps away from His created order, which leads us to descend into a situation in which women are sexually involved with other women and men are sexually involved with other men. Such acts are a violation of the way that God created humanity, since, as Genesis 1 tells us, He created us male and female so that we could multiply and fill the earth.

            Third, the grammar of this passage shows us that the homosexuality of vv. 26-27 is logically subsequent to the idolatry of the preceding verses. Words like “therefore” and “for this reason” tell us that Paul is moving forward in his train of thought. This progression means that Paul is viewing homosexuality as a consequence of idolatry—not simply as an action that took place within the context of pagan worship, even though that may have been true. As Paul states it here, homosexuality is the result of humanity’s embrace of idolatry; thus, we cannot say that Paul is only condemning homosexual acts that took place in pagan temples.

The next two claims involve relationships that are mentioned in the Bible.

Claim #4—Naomi and Ruth were involved in a lesbian relationship.

            Pro-gay interpreters make this claim despite the fact that both Naomi and Ruth were married to men when we meet them, and much of their story is about Naomi’s efforts to get Ruth married to another man after their husbands pass away. But pro-gay interpreters have pointed to the verb in Ruth 1:14, which says, “Ruth clung to [Naomi].” That same verb is found in the famous “marriage” passage in Genesis 2:24, which says, “a man shall leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife.” Thus, since the same verb occurs in each of those verses, pro-gay interpreters claim that Naomi and Ruth established a lesbian relationship at that point.

            This argument is simply a classic example of disregarding the context in which a word is used. For example, at a wedding, people may say things about the bride and groom like, “They’re getting hitched,” but no one looks behind them to see if they’re towing a trailer! Context tells us how we should understand the words that are being used.

            Now, the same verb is used in chapter 2 when Ruth is told to “stay with” the harvest workers who were working in the fields of Boaz. Now clearly, we are not to conclude that Ruth married all of the harvest workers—she simply stayed with them. The context in which a word is used tells us the idea that it conveys; thus, Ruth 1:14 simply means that Ruth chose to stay with her mother-in-law after her sister-in-law Orpah left.

Claim #5—David and Jonathan were involved in a homosexual relationship.

            Though the Bathsheba incident tells us that David was clearly attracted to women, pro-gay interpreters have seized on a statement that David made in order to argue that he had a homosexual relationship with King Saul’s son, Jonathan. In 2 Samuel 1:26, David is lamenting Jonathan’s death in a recent battle when he says, “I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.”

            Pro-gay interpreters today have been very quick to insert erotic overtones into every biblical story that they can—as we have already seen with the story of Naomi and Ruth. But when we read this statement from David in the overall context of his life, we find no reason to think that this statement reflected anything more than a deep friendship. We know that Jonathan and David were both married to women, and David’s affair with Bathsheba reveals that he had a strong sexual attraction to women. Moreover, it is unthinkable that David could have become such a hero to the Jewish nation if he had an openly gay relationship, since such relationships were forbidden under the Law of Moses.

            Pro-gay interpreters seem unwilling to consider that such a thing as brotherly love exists. In their zeal to find God’s blessing for their own lust, I believe they are simply projecting their lust onto the pages of Scripture.

Claim #6—Jesus did not speak about homosexuality, therefore He was not opposed to it.

            Pro-gay interpreters have long pointed to Jesus’ silence about homosexuality in the Gospels as support for their position. But this claim is riddled with errors. First, it is simply an illogical argument. This kind of argument is what philosophers call an “argument from silence,” which basically means that these interpreters are putting words in Jesus’ mouth. If Jesus never spoke about the issue, it is illogical to say that His silence equals approval.

            Second, we really don’t know if Jesus ever spoke about homosexuality; it is possible that He did. The Gospels are not a collection of every word that Jesus ever spoke. But if He ever did talk about this issue, we actually have good reason to think that He would have condemned homosexuality. In Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus revealed His clear approval of the Old Testament Law when He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven…” If Jesus approved of the Old Testament Law, then He also approved of the Law’s commandments against homosexuality.

            Third, this argument illegitimately puts the words of Jesus in a different category than the rest of Scripture. If all Scripture is breathed out by God, as 2 Timothy 3:16 claims, then we should not elevate one part of Scripture over another. It makes no difference whether the words came from the lips of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, or whether they came from the pen of men who were directed by the Holy Spirit to write the words that they wrote. Every word of Scripture is equally authoritative.

Claim #7—Homosexual desires are God-given at birth, therefore it is acceptable to act on them.

            It seems that we’re hearing this claim more and more, especially as researchers try to find genetic causes for homosexuality. Let me point out a few flaws with this argument. First, even if a person has homosexual desires from birth, it does not logically follow that those desires came from God. The presence of sin in the world has wreaked havoc on God’s creation, extending even as far as the desires that we feel. As we learned recently in our series on abortion, King David wrote that he had a sinful nature from the moment he was conceived (Psalm 51:5). In reality, we all have sinful desires from birth, but these desires came not from God, but from our own sinfulness.

            Second, the idea that my personal desires determine what is right and wrong for me is not a legitimate ethical standard. It violates our common intuition that certain acts are right and certain acts are wrong regardless of how anyone feels about them. It is simply a fact that no one consistently lives out the idea that right and wrong are simply matters of personal desire or opinion. If someone tries to tell you that they are, then just do something that they think is wrong and see how quickly they try to force their personal opinions on you! There are objective moral standards laid out by God, and His standards tell us what is acceptable and unacceptable—what is right and what is wrong.

Claim #8—The morality of biblical times is not an appropriate moral guide for today.

            This argument reveals the tremendous irony of pro-gay interpretation. They want so badly to find approval for their behavior in the Bible, but if it turns out that the Bible really does call their behavior “sin,” they’re ready to throw it under the bus!

            The gist of this argument is that times change and cultures change, so likewise, acceptable morality changes as well. This argument is another one with multiple problems. First, it rejects the idea that the authors of Scripture were guided by the Holy Spirit as they wrote. This argument views the Bible as simply a product of its times—not the product of a God who is capable of authoritatively speaking once to all times and all places.

            Second, this argument embraces the false idea that morality is a product of one’s culture rather than universal principles that are binding on all cultures. The problem with such an idea is that it is self-defeating. When someone claims that morality simply comes from your culture rather than universal principles, they believe their opinion is true of all cultures—in other words, they are claiming that their opinion is a universal principle, which isn’t supposed to exist according to their opinion! Ultimately, this idea shoots itself in the foot; it proves that it is false because it claims to be the very thing that the claim says it cannot be.

            We have put in a fair amount of time today assessing pro-gay interpretations of the Bible. It is very clear that they have put in a lot of time to try and find approval for homosexuality in the Bible. But why are they going to all this trouble? As I mentioned earlier, this effort is unprecedented—most people just immediately dismiss the Bible when it disagrees with what they want to do. But why can’t a significant number of homosexuals seem to be able to just walk away from the Bible?

            In my opinion, this quest represents a lack of inner peace within these individuals. They know that true peace can only come from God, and so they seek His approval, but at the same time they are desperately seeking to hold onto sin—the very thing that keeps them from God’s approval. In the end, the one hope for homosexuals is the only hope that exists for any of us: that Jesus became sin on the cross though He committed no sin, so that we could become the righteousness of God—accepted!—in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).

Responding to Our Culture of Abortion--Political Issues Series

            Back in January, the National Right to Life Committee examined information from the Center for Disease Control and other organizations and concluded that since 1973—when the Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal in the US—roughly 54 million abortions have been carried out in the United States. That is close to the population of California and New York combined. By contrast, the total number of US war casualties over our entire history stands at 1.3 million.¹

            The statistics on abortion are staggering and numbing to both the mind and the soul. So how can we respond to an issue such as this that feels so overwhelming? Last week, we conducted a biblical examination of abortion and concluded that Bible-believing people should be morally opposed to the this practice. Today, we are going to talk about how we can respond to the culture of abortion that now exists in our nation. I am going to focus primarily on how you as an individual Christian can respond to this issue which often seems so overwhelming that we feel helpless to do anything about it.

            Last week, I stated that we were going to talk about responding to abortion with our head, our heart, and our hands, but I think John 1:14 provides a much better framework for discussion through its description of Jesus Christ: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” That final statement is profound. Jesus taught the truth and put it on display by the way He lived, but He always did so with grace by carrying out acts of service from a heart of compassion.

            This framework of “grace and truth” is the framework that I want to use this morning. I want to begin with “truth” because I think we need to spend more time with “grace.”

1. How can we respond to our culture of abortion with truth?

            A. Be informed about the facts

            We can’t spread the truth until we know it ourselves. That’s what last week’s sermon was all about. Last week, we talked about essentially four basic facts which show us that the baby in the womb is a human being in its own right, and thus it deserves the same dignity and protection that we would give to any other human being. I think we can remember these four facts fairly well with the acronym B.A.B.Y.:

·         B—Biblical teaching. The most important point to remember from our study of Scripture last week is that the baby in the womb has its own soul, which makes it distinct from its mother. Many of you already remember that Psalm 139 talks about the unborn child in the womb. If you can remember that reference and the idea that the child has its own soul, then you’ve got a good, basic grasp of the biblical teaching.

·         A—as in DNA. We noted last week that the child in the womb has its own unique DNA, which shows that it is distinct from its mother.

·         B—Brainwaves and Beats (as in heartbeats). The child in the womb meets the medical criteria for “life” since it has detectable brainwaves and a detectable heartbeat from its earliest days.

·         Y—“I” sound in that letter reminds us of “immune system.” The mother’s immune system considers the unborn child to be a foreign object in the body, and her immune system would destroy the child were it not for substances secreted by the baby which keep that from happening. Thus, the mother’s own body does not recognize the baby as being just another part of the body.

            With this acronym, you can remember some good, basic facts about a key question in the abortion debate—what is the fetus, or the child in the womb? There are many other ways that you can stay informed as well. You can subscribe to newsletters or magazines from pro-life organizations. I would like to personally recommend a book by Randy Alcorn called “Why Pro-Life?” There are many other good books that you can read as well.

Once you have become informed yourself, you can…

            B. Spread the truth as you have opportunity

            These opportunities may come up in private conversations as we’re talking to friends, family, or co-workers. Many of us are sweating right now at the mere thought of having such a conversation, but if we speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15) and balance truth with grace, there is no reason to simply assume that such a conversation will become a fight or an argument.

            You can also spread the truth in public forums. You could write a “letter to the editor” for a newspaper or a magazine. You could make your opinion known at a town hall meeting with our politicians. Now, in our area, we have strong pro-life representation from our politicians at both the state and national levels, and I’m very thankful for that. But our elected officials need to hear that you support the pro-life stands that they have taken because such a stance can get lonely.

            Students, if you have to take a speech class, you could choose to give a speech on the issue. We can also engage people in discussion online through Facebook or e-mail. Now, we do need to proceed with caution when we bring up this subject online. Most of the forwarded e-mails that I receive about a subject like this simply deserve to be deleted because they may speak the truth, but they do so in a spirit of anger or arrogance. I don’t care if the bottom of the e-mail says, “If you really love Jesus, you’ll forward this to everyone you know.” Well, Jesus said, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments (John 14:15),” and one such commandment is to speak the truth in love.

            And as we speak the truth, we had better make sure to present the One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life!” We must present Jesus and proclaim that through Him there is forgiveness for sin! There is forgiveness for women who have made this choice; there is forgiveness for parents or boyfriends or husbands who pressure women into making this choice; there is forgiveness for those who perform these procedures. In Jesus Christ, there is freedom from a life of bondage to guilt and shame!

            If we fail to proclaim forgiveness, then we fail to proclaim the whole truth. If God offers forgiveness to those who acknowledge that they had sinned, then we offer false testimony about Him if we fail to do the same.

           

We do need to be willing to speak up and spread the truth, but our efforts at spreading the truth will be greatly enhanced if respond to this issue with grace.

2. How can we respond to our culture of abortion with grace?

            I think to answer this question, we should think about “grace” in terms of acts of service. Unplanned and unwanted pregnancies give us opportunities to serve both the child and the mother. Let’s think about how we could serve them directly.

            A. Directly

            An unplanned pregnancy could give us many ways to serve the mother who finds herself in that position. In some cases, you may have the opportunity to take a woman into your own home to help her. This situation could be most common with a family member or a close friend. A young lady may get kicked out of her home when she becomes pregnant, or she may be surrounded by people who are pressuring her to abort her baby. Obviously, these decisions require wisdom, but you may be able to take a young lady into your home to provide support for her.

            In other situations, you may be able to provide financial help to a young woman, or household items that she may need to raise a child. You could offer to provide childcare to a woman who doesn’t know how she will juggle the demands of motherhood and work or motherhood and school. Your offer to provide help to the mother after the child arrives may give her just the glimmer of hope she needs to believe that she can get by if she chooses life for her child.

            You could also serve mothers and children by adopting a child or providing foster care. I really think that more Bible-believing people should seriously consider these options. I think they are a logical conclusion from a pro-life position. Sometimes pro-choice people criticize us by saying that we’re not really pro-life, we’re simply pro-birth—we just want to see to it that children are born, but after that we don’t really do that much to help them. Now that criticism is greatly exaggerated, but is there a small degree of truth to it? Maybe not, but even still we should do what we can to just squash that stereotype altogether.

            People who are pro-life should promote and uphold the dignity of human life from the moment of conception to the moment of death, and adopting children or providing foster care is one way that we could do that. Now I have been humbled recently by the realization that some of the reasons people give for choosing not to even consider adoption are some of the same reasons that women give for choosing to have an abortion. Consider these reasons:

·         “It will be difficult to raise this child.”

·         “It will be a hard adjustment for the children I already have.”

·         “It will require financial sacrifices.”

            My friends, are we allowing some of the same logic that leads to abortions to keep us from even entertaining the thought of adopting a child? I really am not saying that everyone should adopt a child—I am simply saying that we should examine our motivations.

            B. Indirectly

            There are also many ways that we can serve mothers and children indirectly. Now when you hear the word “indirect,” please don’t think of the word “inferior.” There can be a big temptation to think that Christians who would take a pregnant woman into their home or Christians who adopt are super-Christians, and the rest of us can never hope to reach their level of spirituality. We need to see that temptation as the lie that it is and remember that indirect acts of service are still acts of obedience to God that are pleasing to Him.

            Indirect service simply means that you are helping the people who are directly serving a mother or a child. So you might serve indirectly by supporting a crisis pregnancy center. You could make financial donations, volunteer your time, or provide household items that are passed along to mothers. You could provide accounting services for them or mail out flyers. They could probably find a way to use just about any talent or skill that you have!

            You could also help someone who is seeking to adopt a child. You could help them cover the cost of adoption or provide legal help for them if you have that training. You could provide childcare if they already have children and have to travel to complete the adoption.

            You can also serve indirectly by raising awareness about the issue of abortion and the truth surrounding it. I’m the kind of person who will probably remember my B.A.B.Y. acronym until I go senile because that’s just how my memory works. But you might be able to raise awareness in ways that can be much more powerful than a sermon or a lecture. You might be able to paint a picture that captures the dignity of the child in the womb. You might be able to write a song or a poem that you could share with others. You might be able to write or present a one-man play about this issue and use drama to touch people’s hearts. You might bake a pie for a maternity class at the crisis pregnancy center, and 30 years down the road a mother will remember the taste of that pie, and it will remind her of the kindness that she received when she faced an unplanned pregnancy.

            Sometimes as we consider the reality of our culture of abortion, the needs can feel so overwhelming that we question whether we can really do any good. Let me close with a story that illustrates an important point.

            There was once a young girl who was walking along a beach, and as she looked down into the sand, she noticed a butterfly that was half-covered up. She didn’t know it, but the butterfly had been driven onto the beach by a storm the night before. The little girl thought the butterfly was dead, but she stooped down anyway to pick it up, and to her surprise it was still alive. The butterfly’s wings had become caked with wet sand so that it couldn’t fly, but as the girl gently brushed away the sand, the butterfly was able to escape. The girl was pleased, but as she looked at the sand again, she began to notice that there were hundreds of butterflies in the same predicament. The girl began to frantically attend to one butterfly at a time, desperately trying to save them before they died.

            A man nearby had observed all of this, and he was moved by the little girl’s compassion and by what he perceived as her naïveté. After a moment, the man spoke up and said, “Young lady, I admire your compassion, but you can’t save them all. Your work won’t make much difference.” The young girl never looked up, but simply picked up one more butterfly, brushed it off, and let it fly away, and then she said, “I made a difference to that one.”

            That is truly how great movements and great changes happen—one person at a time! No act of service is insignificant to the person who benefits from it, nor is it insignificant to the Lord. Jesus Himself spoke about acts of service in Matthew 25, and He said, “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me (Matt. 25:40).”

Notes:

1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war  Accessed 9/12/12

A Biblical Examination of Abortion--Political Issues Series

            Political discussions are front-and-center right now in the media as we draw closer to the presidential election in November. I rarely speak on political issues from the pulpit for two reasons. First, I think there are many issues on which Bible-believing people can legitimately disagree. For example, the Bible doesn’t directly say how the United States should respond to the civil war in Syria. I think there’s room for Bible-believing people to disagree on that issue. Second, I believe very strongly that the systematic study of the Bible is just simply more important than discussing political issues. Political discussions are not unimportant, they are simply less important than a careful study of God’s Word—particularly in a setting like a worship service.

            However, as we study the Bible, I think we discover some very straightforward teaching about two issues that currently play a big role in American politics. Those issues are abortion and homosexuality. So, because our nation is currently focusing on such issues, we will be taking a biblical look at these issues over the next couple of weeks, beginning today with the subject of abortion.

            The political discussion about abortion in our country brings up many different questions, but I would like to suggest to you this morning that the most important question—from a biblical perspective—is the question, “What is the fetus?” Is it a part of a woman’s body just like any other part—even just a temporary part like baby teeth, which are not meant to be permanent? Or is the fetus a human being in its own right, even though it is located within the mother’s body? If the fetus is a human being, then it should be given all the dignity, respect, and protection that the Bible gives to human beings.

            As we scour the pages of Scripture, we find a very clear answer to this question. Without a doubt, the Bible describes the fetus as a complete human being—a person, who just happens to be in the earliest stages of growth and development. In fact, this conclusion is so overwhelming that I have never once heard someone use the Bible to attempt to prove that an unborn child is not a human being. We can state the complete teaching of Scripture this way:

The child in the womb is a human being from the moment of conception.

Let me show you this morning how we come to this conclusion from Scripture.

1. Children in the womb are viewed as ancestors of future generations (Gen. 25:22-23)

            This passage mentions Isaac, the son of Abraham, and his wife Rebekah becoming pregnant, then it says [READ 25:22-23]. I should point out that the Hebrew word translated “children” in v. 22 is the same word that is used for children who have already been born. So whether a child is in the womb or out of the womb, it is called the same thing in Hebrew.

            Now notice how the children are described in v. 23—they are described as human beings who will become fathers to other human beings. Now we all know that only a complete human being can reproduce. An individual body part cannot reproduce on its own, so these children are not seen as merely a part of their mother’s body. They are already seen as complete human beings who will one day be capable of reproducing. Also, they are human beings with destinies which are already distinct from each other, even though they are still in the womb.

2. Children in the womb are given the same legal protection as adults (Exodus 21:22-25)

            In Exodus 21, we read an Old Testament law about the penalty for a situation that caused premature birth [READ Ex. 21:22-25]. The penalty for harm to the child that is mentioned in vv. 23-25 is the same penalty that was given in Leviticus 24 for someone who caused harm to an adult. The point is clear: the child in the womb is viewed as a human being—just as an adult is viewed as a human being.

            Our own country is sadly and strangely inconsistent on the legal rights of an unborn child. Even though abortion is permissible under federal law, the federal government also passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in 2004, which recognizes unborn children as victims when they are injured or killed during a violent crime. So which is it? Does unborn child deserve the status and legal rights of a human being? According to the Bible, the answer is clearly “yes.”

3. Children in the womb already have a place in God’s plan for humanity (Jeremiah 1:4-5)

            Let’s read about Jeremiah’s call to be a prophet in Jer. 1:4-5 [READ Jer. 1:4-5]. Notice that the Lord’s knowledge of and plan for Jeremiah were actually there before Jeremiah was even conceived! Thus, from the moment he was conceived, God had a purpose and a plan for him. Notice that God also said, “I formed you in the womb.” More on that thought in just a moment.

4. Children in the womb already have a moral identity (Psalm 51:5)

            In Psalm 51:5, King David writes, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Now keep in mind that David is writing about his own sinfulness in this psalm, so he is not saying that his mother committed a sinful act when she conceived him. He is saying that from the moment he was conceived, the moral category of “sinfulness” already applied to him. This statement is significant because sin applies to the human soul, so David’s claim means that he had a soul from the moment he was conceived. This fact would make him distinct from his mother. Various parts of the body do not individual souls—only a complete human has a soul, so the unborn child must be a complete human in its own right from the moment it is conceived.

5. Children in the womb can be filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:15)

            Luke 1:15 is part of the story of John the Baptist, whom we might say was like the “opening act” for Jesus. He was supposed to prepare people for Jesus’ ministry. In Luke 1:15, an angel speaks to John’s father and says of John, “he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” Now being filled with the Spirit is a spiritual experience, so it is only possible for a human being, who has a spirit or a soul.

6. Children in the womb can experience emotions (Luke 1:44)

            You mothers can probably testify to this fact! This point also comes from the story of John the Baptist. At one point, Mary, the mother of Jesus, came to visit John’s mother, Elizabeth, and in Luke 1:44 Elizabeth says, “behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” This child was experiencing emotions, which are reactions that flow from the connection between body and soul. So this child was not just a part of Elizabeth’s body—it was something that possessed its own soul.

7. Children in the womb are the handiwork of God (Psalm 139:13-16)

            Psalm 139 is by far the most familiar passage about the child in the womb. In the first part of the psalm, King David is describing God’s complete knowledge about us and the fact that we are always in His presence. In v. 13, he starts to explain one of the reasons for this [READ v. 13a]. The Hebrew term translated “inward parts” is literally “kidneys.” The ancient Jews spoke of the kidneys the same way we speak of the heart today. When I tell my wife, “I love you with all of my heart,” I’m not talking about the muscle that pumps blood! I’m talking about my spirit or my soul.

            So when David writes in the next line, “you knitted me together in my mother’s womb,” what we have is a description of God forming David’s body and soul. Again, this is very important to note, because if the child in the womb has its own soul, then it is a human being, since individual body parts do not have their own souls. Thus, we cannot say that the child is simply a part of the mother’s body like all other parts.

            David’s description continues in v. 14 [READ v. 14-16a]. “Unformed substance” refers to the earliest days of a child’s development—before it has started to look like a human. So once again, the Bible pushes the idea of personhood all the way back to the earliest days of pregnancy—even to the moment of conception.

            Finally, David writes [READ v. 16b-d]. As we read in Jeremiah, the child in the womb is already part of God’s plan for humanity. God knows about every day that the child will live before it is even born.

I think you can see that the Bible is very consistent on this point—the child in the womb is a human being in its own right, not simply a part of its mother’s body. Now because the Bible teaches us this perspective, its not surprising to find that scientific and medical observations agree with the Bible. Let me quickly mention a few of these observations.

Scientific observations confirm the claims of the Bible!

1. The child in the womb has its own unique DNA

            Your DNA is like your genetic fingerprint—it displays your unique identity at the genetic level. So just as two different fingerprints would identify two different people, the difference between the mother’s DNA and the baby’s DNA shows us that we are dealing with two different people.

            DNA has also been called, “the blueprint for your body,” because it contains the information that determines how your body develops. Now if an architect has two different sets of blueprints, he knows that he is dealing with two separate buildings. So the child’s unique DNA shows that it is a unique human being, distinct from its mother.

2. The child in the womb is recognized as a foreign object by the mother’s immune system

            I thought this fact was fascinating when I first learned about it. I’d like to read a quote for you from a medical doctor who describes this observation:

The baby is a completely new individual, with unique genetic material that expresses foreign markers on his cells that are not recognized as "self" by the mother. The mother's immune system should destroy the new baby's first cells within just a few cell divisions, but substances secreted by the placenta and baby promote a complex suppression of the maternal immune response only within the implantation site of the uterus. The placental tissue that touches the uterus has decreased expression of markers that would provoke an immune response, and the mother's body therefore accepts it. Without this immunological acceptance, no baby would ever survive.¹

            This is amazing, and its also amazing that anyone would continue to claim that a baby is simply a part of its mother’s body. How could we make that claim when the mother’s own body doesn’t recognize the baby as being part of itself?

3. The child in the womb meets the medical criteria for life from its earliest days

            Medical authorities determine a person to be “alive” if there is either a detectable heartbeat or brain-wave activity.² A baby in the womb meets both of these criteria from its earliest days. A fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as 18 days after conception, and brainwave activity can be detected as early as 40 days after conception. Virtually all abortions occur after both of these criteria have been met, so there should be no doubt that abortion ends a human life.

            So we have seen this morning that the Bible clearly teaches that the child in the womb is a distinct human being, and since the Bible describes the world the way it really is, it is not surprising to find scientific and medical facts that agree with the Bible. Thus, if the unborn child is a human being, then it should be given all of the dignity and protection that Scripture gives to human beings—including the prohibition against murder. Now let me be clear—I doubt if there has ever been a woman who walked into an abortion clinic thinking, “I’m about to murder my baby.” So many people just don’t know these facts, which only compounds the tragedy of abortion since mothers just don’t realize what they are doing. Next week, we are going to discuss how we can offer a biblical response to our culture of abortion with our head, our heart, and our hands, but this morning let us all understand that Bible-believing people should be morally opposed to abortion, and this conviction should influence our voting choices as well as all other areas of our lives.

Notes:

1. Guliuzza, R. J. 2009. Made in His Image: Human Gestation. Acts & Facts. 38 (2): 10.

2. Sanctity of Life, C. Swindoll, Word, 1990, pp. 11-12.

From http://bible.org/illustration/heartbeat  Accessed 9/5/12.