Abortion - pastor aaron
Hey, I talked about it a couple weeks ago so I feel obligated to bring it back up. How many of you guys actually saw Maverick? Like thank you Top Gun. Or thank you Tom Cruise for not letting me down. It was great. And I don’t want no spoiler alerts, but when Goose resurrected out of the ocean that was amazing. No, it didn’t happen. I could, I could, yeah.
Hey, we’ve got a lot to get to and so I need to dive right in, and I need to dive right in by bringing up the fact that back in the fall we preached through a series called Lions. Some of you remember that. And in that particular series we did some heavy lifting. In other words, we handled some heavy subjects, and one of our greatest motivations in that particular series was to define some clear lines. Because we determined that it’s the lines in our life that are not defined that are the easiest ones to cross.
And the reason I even bring that up is because it’s a great segue into what I’m going to be talking about today. Today my sermon is going to be on the sanctity of life and specifically focusing on the subject of abortion. And I would tell you that my greatest motivation in preaching this subject and preaching this sermon is to help us to define some lines. Now, some of those lines might be obvious to you, but I bet others aren’t. And so what I would encourage you to do today is stay tuned in for the entire message.
It’s not lost on me, and I’ve felt this all week, the weight of this particular subject because of what weighs in the balance. On one hand, I fully want to make sure that we’re representing the fullness of God’s truth. But on the other hand, I want to make sure that we’re also extending the hope and love that Jesus came to give everyone.
And so on that note, I feel like I need to set some ground rules for us before we dive in. I feel like I need to talk to maybe even a specific audience in this room or maybe an audience online because someone decided to send you this particular sermon. And so I want to be clear up front. I have no desire to heap shame and guilt on anyone today. And if it helps to communicate the grace of this particular place, I would tell you that there used to be somebody on my team who had an abortion in her previous pre-Christ life. And the reason I tell you that is to really celebrate the fact that we are in the business of restoration and transformation here.
And if God only allowed people with clean records to be a part of His plan and His purpose, then the majority of the major players in the Bible wouldn’t have made the list, and your pastor would not be standing on this stage.
And so I need you to listen to me. If abortion for you is not just a topic, but it’s a part of your story, I want you to know that you have not out-sinned the cross of Christ. That God still loves you. He wants to heal you. He wants to bring redemption to your story. Now, is what you did a sin? Yes. And to be clear, that should be unmistakable. But is that sin unforgivable? No. Should you repent and ask God for forgiveness? Yes. Will this church condemn you, dismiss you, or chastise you for that decision? No.
And I just want to take a moment right here and just ask you a question. Is anyone else thankful to be a part of a church that doesn’t write people off because of a wrong that they once made, but instead will walk with them on the path of healing and redemption? Anybody else thankful?
And on the same note, is anyone else thankful to be a part of a church that doesn’t coddle people in their sin, but instead challenges them to follow the way of Jesus without condemnation? Because I’m thankful.
And I want to let you know, church family, I want to let you know that you’re a big reason for this. You have helped us to cultivate the culture that we have here in this place. Because you know better than anyone, especially if you’ve been coming here for a while now based on the conversations that we’ve had, that no one is perfect, that everyone is welcome, and hope is always possible. Always.
Now, I want to let you know that there’s going to be things in this sermon that challenge all of us, including me, in my preparation for this. And I want to begin with this.
One of the greatest challenges for Christ followers in this world today are what I would call dueling realities. You see, as followers of Jesus, we believe that God designed, demonstrated through Jesus, and determined a very specific purpose and plan for life. But the secular views of reality, the secular views of reality, continue to grow in their subjectivity, often around convenience and preference. You’ve heard the statements: this is my truth, this is how I feel, this is my body, this is what I want.
And over the last decade, this perspective, this type of reality, has led to a large deviation between Christ followers and the secular culture on many subjects, but specifically for our time today on the sanctity of life. Once again, dueling realities. Think about it. If your reality is that human beings are nothing more than another evolved creature or species on this earth, then our lives really aren’t that much more important, if any more important, than your pet.
And I’ll be the first to admit I love our pet. This is our golden, this is the Pennington golden doodle, this is Maple. And when you have a golden doodle and three daughters, this is the kind of stuff that happens. Kind of a regular part of our routine. And as much as I love my dog, and I really do, she’s an amazing dog. She’s incredibly intelligent. She’s a part of the family. But I would tell you without hesitation, I wouldn’t lay my life down for her like I would my four kids and my incredible wife.
You see, church, if Genesis chapter 1 is true, then human life is set apart because God breathed a soul into every human being at the point of conception, making them an image bearer, think of this, an image bearer of the Creator Himself. Let me show you what Genesis chapter 1 says.
“So God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on earth.”
See, not only did God set us apart from every other living creature and actually give us authority over those living creatures, but He created us in His image. And don’t miss this. It’s incredibly beautiful. It takes a woman and a man to complete the image of God. It’s the very essence of life itself. Think about it. When a man and a woman come together in what should be a covenant relationship, they are able to procreate. It takes both of them, and through both of them they can actually procreate and create another image bearer of God. It’s absolutely amazing.
This is the doctrine of Imago Dei, that we were created in the image of God. And this is why sex, listen to me, this is why sex was designed to be contained within a covenant relationship. Because just like a wildfire that breaks out in Colorado, when it gets out of containment, it can become incredibly dangerous, destructive, and at times even deadly. But that same fire within the confinement of your fireplace at home, it’s beautiful and beneficial.
You see, a deeper understanding of the doctrine of Imago Dei should cause all of us to push back, and I’m going to say this on purpose, to push back against the demonic propaganda that these unborn babies are not human beings. Watch. Out of containment, the way that God designed it, out of containment we simply label them as an inconvenience, an accident, an attack on the woman’s body and her rights. And once we’ve convinced ourselves that it’s not a little human being inside of that womb, then it’s so much easier, so much easier, to follow through with a simple procedure and just be done with it.
Make no mistake, the Word of God is absolutely clear on this subject. In Psalm chapter 139, David says this: “You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous. How well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.”
Now some of you, when you heard that I was preaching on this subject, maybe it kind of caught you off guard this morning, even though I gave everybody a heads up last week. Some of you, and maybe some of you watching online, you start to think to yourself, one of the reasons that I kind of avoid this subject is because of how politically charged it is. I’m not sure how much I want to be sucked into those groups or those camps of people that maybe are the ones picketing on the side of the road or whatever it is. And so there’s something about this subject that maybe causes you to be repelled a little bit.
To which I would tell you, good. Because I don’t want to talk about politics today. I don’t want to talk about a bill that you should vote on. I don’t want to talk about social categories, even when it comes to pro-life or pro-choice. What I want to talk about is, as followers of Jesus, we are called to champion life regardless of any law, regardless of any politician, and regardless of any pressure or propaganda. Because a disregard for life will always be a disregard for the way of Jesus. Anybody want to say amen this morning?
Church, please listen to me because this is huge. It is only going to become increasingly more difficult to stand firm in your faith without being sucked into some political, social, or justice narrative that may have sounded right, that may have looked right on the surface, but what you’ll find with time is when you jump into certain camps that you start to jeopardize your core convictions in other places as a Christ follower.
Let me give you an example. Back during the murder of George Floyd, when racial injustice and the tension was very thick, I spoke up on that subject quite often. Because I believe Jesus wants me to speak up for racial injustice. But what I found is that I started to get sucked into other justice and social and political narratives that I didn’t want to be a part of.
And I would tell you that I believe the threat of this happening in the future is only going to increase, which is why I believe it is critical for every single follower of Jesus to untether themselves from anything political, anything social, any kind of justice narrative, and make sure that you first understand the way of Jesus. Because He is the one who gives us our marching orders. He is the one that gives us the proper posture in which we are to stand and speak up at times.
And I want to be clear. I’m not trying to diminish the importance of voting. I’m not even saying that you shouldn’t be an advocate or even an activist if something is really important to you. I’ll continue to speak up for racial injustice. Not because of the political, social, or justice narratives that are out there. I’ll speak up because Jesus wants me to speak up. But I will learn to do so differently.
What I am saying this morning, what I am saying, is to be careful that you don’t fall into this mindset as a Christian to where as long as you voted for the right candidate, as long as you check the right boxes, as long as you make enough mentions on social media of where you stand, that you’ve done your Christian duty. Because I can assure you this morning that Jesus cares very little about your politics and voting record in comparison to how you treat, help, and love people.
And the more you get caught up in these political, social, and justice narratives, the more likely you will demonize people on the other side, and that is not the way of Jesus. Does He want us to champion life? Absolutely. You will find nothing to the contrary throughout the New Covenant. But does He want us to shame and blame and defame those who may oppose us, or in this case maybe somebody that’s had an abortion? Absolutely not.
And so if you want to do this, like knock yourselves out, but I’m not sure this is how you make a difference. I think this is how you make noise.
And I would suggest this. As the world around us starts drowning in despair because of a relentless pursuit of pleasure and preferences that they think are going to bring them greater purpose but won’t, I want to be positioned to help when they actually reach out for it. And this is how you help somebody who’s drowning.
I’ll be the first to admit, sometimes I want to yell. Sometimes I want to just label people. Because you know this, if you label people it’s easier to wash your hands of them. I put a label on them, now I can kind of dismiss myself from the conversation. Sometimes I want to get loud and I want to prove my point. I’m an 8 on the Enneagram. I like proving my point, especially if somebody’s being stupid. But that’s not the way of Jesus. That’s my pride.
I want to show you something that Jesus once did. Some of you are going to be familiar with this, and it’s probably the greatest parallel that I can make for our context today. And what I’m going to do is I’m going to take some liberties, and I’ll tell you where I’m going to take some liberties in this passage, to try to bring the point out with more clarity.
In John chapter 8, this is what happens: “At dawn Jesus appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees,” the religious people at the time, “brought in a woman caught in adultery.”
Now here’s where I’m going to take some liberties. I’m going to replace the woman caught in adultery with a woman who just got an abortion. So let me read it again.
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had just had an abortion. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught having an abortion. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do You say?’ And they were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing Him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.”
Can we make it personal this morning. Imagine Jesus looking at you eye to eye and handing you the stone. Hey, he without sin, is that you. Why don’t you go first.
Now something interesting that some scholars have suggested, and we don’t know whether or not this is what happens. Why did Jesus kneel down and start doodling in the sand. A suggestion that’s been made is that when He knelt down the first time, because He kneels down two different times, when He kneels down the first time He starts writing the names of everybody in the circle. He’s writing their names in the sand. And then the second time, when He kneels down, He starts listing their sins underneath their name. Which makes the next line pretty interesting.
“Those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first.” So imagine you’re a little bit older in the crowd. Jesus might be writing down all the sins of your life. You’re like, hey, I know my list is long, drop the stone, I’m out. I’m out. To be clear, your pastor’s list would have been pretty long.
“At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they. Has no one condemned you.’ ‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’”
Now there’s a couple observations I want to make of this particular story. I’ve heard a lot of different pastors suggest that this is one of the best examples where Jesus led with grace and then He backed it up with truth. But I would tell you they’re missing a huge component to this story. Because that’s not the first thing that Jesus did. What’s the first thing that Jesus did. The first thing that Jesus did was hold accountable all the believers in the circle for being too quick to cast a stone of judgment. That’s the first thing He did.
The next thing He does is extend grace. Jesus often did use grace to bring people to the heart of God. But He never did so at the expense of representing what was true. Make sure that you don’t ever mistake the grace of God for passivity. Because although He was quick to connect with people right where they were, right where they were, just as they were, He always gave them a foundation of truth to step on as they moved forward in life. Grace says come as you are. Truth says don’t stay as you are.
Now, as I was thinking through this story, a couple things came to mind. And I would be the first to admit, I don’t know what it’s like to be pregnant without any money or support. I don’t know what it’s like to know that dad’s not going to be in the picture, he’s not going to be involved, and you have no idea what you’re going to do next. I don’t know what it’s like to be a teenage girl that has her whole life in front of her and now all of a sudden the tests came back positive and she is scared to death.
So might it be beneficial for all of us to slow down sometimes and extend some empathy. Yes. But as followers of Jesus, our empathy can never lead to passivity. Can I say it again. Our empathy can never lead to passivity.
On the subject of life we don’t throw stones. We don’t throw stones. But we do speak the truth. And just like Jesus spoke the truth, He also spoke up for the marginalized and the most vulnerable in His society. And I would argue that there’s not anyone, I don’t think any of us could argue that there’s anyone more vulnerable and marginalized in our society than the unborn.
There’s approximately 2600 abortions every single day.
Now I feel like I’ve done a decent job giving you a theological framework. Maybe some of you, you need a little bit more than that. Maybe for some of you you want to hear the science behind this, and I can give you the science as well.
When Roe versus Wade was passed in 1973, there was no sonogram that allowed us to see our babies smile at us before they were born. But now we see that as early as eight weeks, eight weeks, babies will suck their thumbs. They will respond to sound. There’s growing evidence that they’re already dreaming. And they recoil from pain because they can feel. The brain is functioning. The heart is pumping blood. The kidneys are cleaning out fluid. And they have their own fingerprint.
By 21 weeks, babies with just a little bit of help can actually live outside of the womb. Yet Colorado has passed the most progressive abortion laws, allowing a woman to get an abortion all the way up until the day before she gives birth if she sees fit to do it for any reason.
And I want to push back on something that might be controversial, but when does that stop me. Yes, the baby may be in the mother’s body, but the baby is not the mother’s body. When that baby comes out of the womb and is still attached to the mom via an umbilical cord, do we still say it’s the mother’s body. No. Because it’s a human being. It’s got its own blood type. It’s got its own DNA. It has its own fingerprint. Yet for the sake of convenience we have convinced ourselves that it is not human.
I have learned, please pay attention here, I have learned that there are critical areas of our lives that if we land on the wrong conclusion that there’s a cascading effect of errors that will follow. And when we don’t start with a high biblical view of the sanctity of life and a high biblical view of a sexual ethic, I promise you a lot of things will unravel. And in this case we will come up with asinine ways to justify atrocities done against the most vulnerable in our society, most often for the sake of convenience.
Maybe you saw several months ago where there was a woman on an airplane who was pregnant. She goes to the restroom on the airplane while it’s in flight and she actually gives birth to her baby, to which she actually throws in the trash can. And everybody gasps in horror. But all she would have needed to do is come to the state of Colorado, and a doctor would have ripped apart that baby inside of her and it had been legal and acceptable. But throw it in a trash can and all of a sudden it’s evil. Tell me what changed. Tell me what changed.
Can you see the depths of hypocrisy here. And honestly, sorry to get graphic, but throwing the baby away in a trash can might have been a more acceptable death for the baby compared to what happens in either a chemical or surgically induced abortion. And I’ll save you the pictures.
And listen, I feel like I need to say this. There are what’s called red herrings all around this subject. Because people are going to get in your face and they’re going to get in my face and they’re going to say, well if you care so much about life why don’t you care about climate control or the death penalty or prison reform. If you care so much about life. I never said I didn’t care about those things. Right now I’m talking about the sanctity of life.
Well the foster care system is a disaster. Is that what you want. You want to put these kids in an abusive environment. Is that what you want. I am, I’m fully aware. I am fully aware that there are situations and scenarios that are incredibly difficult. Situations and scenarios I hope and pray that none of us ever have to face. But can I beg you to answer the question. Should the answer or solution to any of those things ever be to kill a baby. Ever.
And on a side note, I was planning on talking about the subject of the death penalty. Because I believe as followers of Jesus we are called to champion life from the womb to the tomb. We don’t get to decide who gets to live and who gets to die. Because when we do that we take the ability of redemption and restoration out of God’s hands, and we should be the ones promoting that. I simply didn’t have the time to get into it today because I wanted to stay focused on this particular subject.
And listen to me. If you’re, if you’re not careful I promise you you will be pulled into some counter arguments that simply have no validity to them. And if you haven’t done your homework it will potentially cause you to drift and sway on your core beliefs, specifically on this subject.
For instance, someone may say to you, this has happened to me before in these conversations, where are you trying to make it to where a mother can’t even save her own life if she’s threatened by the baby. Why don’t you care about the mother. To which I would tell you, and I told you I don’t want to get political but let me just say this really quick, I haven’t seen any legislation, and I have looked, I haven’t seen any legislation put forward that would remove the ability to make a medical decision to save the mom’s life if it were necessary. No legislation has been put forward to suggest that.
And so I want you to be cautious and careful that you don’t allow yourselves to be swayed on this subject, whether because of social pressure or a counter argument that doesn’t even have any validity to it.
Because let’s be honest. I know I’m pushing on this right now and I’m doing it on purpose. Let me push on this. Let’s be honest with ourselves. Most abortions happen because of sexual promiscuity outside of marriage, and the abortion becomes nothing more than last minute birth control.
And so when people, specifically Christians, start to sway on this, and can I just pause there for a moment and have you do a quick spirit check in your own life. If you’ve started to sway on this, even ever so slightly. If you’re watching this today and again somebody sent this to you because maybe you’re starting to sway on this. I want you to be fully aware that if you sway on this that you will have to sway on the doctrine of Imago Dei, that you were created in the image of God at conception. If you start to sway on this, you’ll have to sway on a high sexual ethic, because support of an abortion is an endorsement of sexual promiscuity outside of marriage, and it’s that chain of compromises that will continue until you find yourself one day with a new reality that opposes God’s.
I’ve talked to some Christians who have made a statement or shared a sentiment that sounded something like this: hey, I’m actually pro-choice but I hope and pray they choose life. That sentiment is not the middle high ground that you think it is. It is a clear conscious compromise that will lead to a cascading effect of future compromises that will lead you away from the heart of your Heavenly Father. I promise.
Let me close with this. One of the distinguishing things about the early church was how they took care of widows. People that couldn’t take care of themselves. Didn’t have anybody to help. No support. One of the other distinguishing things about the early church is how they took in babies that were discarded.
You see, during the time of Jesus and the early church it was legal for people and families to actually discard of a baby if they felt it was necessary. Specifically if the father thought it was necessary, because they couldn’t, they didn’t have the means to care for the baby. Or oftentimes it was done because there was a deformity or some kind of special need within the child. And so they would take these babies and they would take them to the local garbage dumps. And what would happen is the Christians, the early church, would actually go in the evening through these garbage dumps and find these babies that had been discarded. And they would nurture them back to health. And they would raise them up in their homes and educate them to the best of their ability.
Even to this day the majority of orphanages around the world are run by Christians. Why. Because it’s our history. It’s our heritage. It’s the way of Jesus. A disregard for life is a disregard for the way of Jesus.
It’s our history, guys. Not just to take care of the baby, but to take care of the women that don’t know what they’re supposed to do. This is why I am so excited that we have a partnership here in this city called the Life Network. Because when this doesn’t just become a topic for you and it becomes your reality, because now all of a sudden you’re face to face with a woman who’s pregnant, she doesn’t know what to do, she’s considering giving the baby up, there’s an organization here in our city that will commit to them to help them raise the child for the first two years.
And if you know someone, or if this happens to be you, that’s actually had an abortion, they have an orga, it’s the same organization, but they have something called Bridges of Hope where they will counsel you for free and help you to walk through that decision that you made and hopefully bring you back to a place of healing and restoration.
It’s our history. It’s our heritage. We speak up for the marginalized. We speak up for those that can’t speak for themselves. We don’t throw stones. But we walk with people, listen to me, we walk with people on the path of healing and redemption. Because no life is worth being discarded, and every life has the chance and hope for redemption.
I’m going to pray for us and then I’m going to lead us into a time of response.
Father God, there’s a lot in this message today. I think for some, they need to be challenged. Some people need to be challenged because maybe they’ve started to drift ever so slightly. Maybe they’ve swayed a little bit. Maybe they’ve dismissed themselves from the subject because it’s easier just to label something and then be done with it. Whatever that looks like, I pray for a certain group of people in here today that You challenge them. That You convict them appropriately.
And then for others. Maybe it was the boyfriend in the corner pushing for the abortion to happen. Maybe it’s the young lady who went through with it. God, would You remind them, maybe just allow that one phrase that I mentioned to stick in their brains this morning, that you cannot out sin the cross of Christ. That the foot of the cross, it is level. There is no condemnation at the foot of the cross.
And so God, would You help to bring some more healing if needed. Remove some shame if necessary.
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God, I pray that as this world continues to move quickly towards a path of despair in many areas, that we would be a people that would be ready to reach out a hand when somebody finally realizes they’re drowning. And that we will position ourselves in a way to do that. Which means there’s some things we probably shouldn’t be doing right now. There’s ways that we shouldn’t be behaving right now so that when that happens that we have already been dismissed because of our character and because of the way that we handled ourselves, but God instead that we would be positioned in a way now. Again, doesn’t mean we’re not speaking up, God, but we would speak up in the right way, in the wise way. And then when somebody feels like they’re drowning, that it’s a follower of Jesus that has their hand out to help them up.
Father, I pray that that, that’s, that kind of spirit is always represented through, in and through, the life of this church.
So God, I’m thankful that You’re in the business of transforming lives and redeeming lives. Which means You can be doing something right now in the heart and minds of people that I could never do. And so I’m just inviting You to do that. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you’re new here to Trace, there’s something we do every single week.
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Call it the Lord’s Supper. Some people call it communion. And what we do is we come back to the cross. It’s critically important for a follower of Jesus to do this honestly more than once a week. But we take this time and we come back to the cross and we celebrate and remember something that Jesus did for us.
Around the room where those crosses are, there’s some communion elements. One of those elements is a cracker that represents the body of Christ that was given up for you. And maybe it’s abortion or something in that context, or maybe it’s something entirely different. Whatever is causing you to feel shame and guilt and maybe embarrassment this morning, I want you to know that even in your greatest regret and biggest mistake, Jesus still died for you.
And we remember that by taking that cracker. And then we take some juice. It represents His blood. Very significant, because that blood that’s represented by the juice was spilled out for the forgiveness of our sins, so that we didn’t have to walk in shame. And so when you take that juice today, I want you to remember that every single one of your sins, again, your greatest mistake, your biggest regret, has been covered as long as you put your faith and trust in Jesus.
If you’ve never made that decision to do that and feel led to do that today, we don’t want you to leave this church until you come and talk to us. One of the ways that we ask you to make that decision is come up and grab one of the white towels on the stage. And before you leave, go to Next Steps, which is out in the lobby, and hand them that towel. And it shows us that you’re ready to surrender to God. That’s why that towel is white. Sign of surrender.
I’m going to pray for us and then we’re going to go into this time of response.
So Father, this is intentionally designed to be Your moment. So I don’t feel like I need to add many words to it. But I do pray that You’ll do some work this morning in the hearts and minds and souls of people in here. Whatever that work needs to be. So right now, God, we’re responding to what we’ve heard from Your Word and the conviction You’re placing in our lives. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
