Ethical Issues Facing American Society: Abortion

1/22/12 “Abortion” Exodus 21:22-25
I. Introduction
A. Series on ethical issues confronting American society
B. Abortion has existed for over four thousand years.
C. Even though there has been a virtual Christian consensus against abortion since the earliest days, the Bible says nothing at all directly about abortion. I can’t think of one unwanted pregnancy in the Bible (apart from Mt.24:19 which is irrelevant).
D. The Christian view has always been that it doesn’t have to because the Bible says:
1. Do not kill. (Exod.20; Deut.5) Sixth commandment
2. And gives plenty of indications that a fetus is a human being
II. Humanity of the fetus
A. Now there’s much mystery about how a person comes to be, how a soul comes to be united with a body in a human being.
B. “As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.” (Ecclesiastes 11:5)
C. David uses language in Psalm 139:13-15 that sounds like a baby in the womb is already a person. “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”
D. And David spoke of himself as sinful even from the womb. (Ps.51:5)
E. John the Baptist is said to be filled with the Spirit and to leap for joy while still in his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:15, 41-44)
F. And certainly there is every indication that Jesus was fully human even in Mary’s womb.
1. Mt.1:18 “before they came together [Mary] was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
2. Luke 1:41-44 “...when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. "And how has it [happened] to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.”
3. Jesus sanctified pregnancy and life in the womb by coming to us first in that form, His first home being the womb of Mary.
G. Exodus 21:22-25 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
1. Legally the child is treated as fully human.
III. What imparts humanity?
A. The strange thing about this verse is that everyone agrees with it, both pro-life and pro-choice.
B. What imparts value and humanity to the fetus?
1. In our society, birth certainly does it. If a baby is born and then killed by the mother, it’s homicide. If a baby is killed at the threshold just a few moments earlier, it is considered an appropriate medical procedure.
2. But in the womb there’s only one thing that does it, in the mind of modern man. It is the mother wanting the baby.
3. If the child is wanted by the mother, he/she is treated like a human being. If the child is unwanted by the mother, he/she is treated like a hunk of tissue.
4. The will of the woman is ultimate.
C. I would suggest that we have here comes close to the real issue between the pro-life approach and the pro-choice approach.
1. For us, the great and important will is God’s will, not our human will.
2. The pro-life position is based on the notion that we live our lives under the authority and oversight of our Creator, and that humans are called to be good stewards of what God gives, not ultimately to follow our dreams.
3. The idea is that nothing is really ours. Everything is from God and everything belongs to God.
4. We are not our own. Our bodies are not our own. Our children are not our own.
5. We know the facts of life, but we must not leave out the most important fact of all: that God gives life, and that ultimately it is His. And we are responsible to treat it this way.
6. Even if there is a time to kill, it doesn’t mean than we get to choose.
7. It’s all His and we are responsible to follow His instructions in the way we handle it all.
8. God is the one who’s perspective is all that matters.
D. So it must be decided not on the basis of what man wants but what God wants.
1. Ultimately, abortion is wrong not because of the unborn child, it is because of the unborn child’s maker. If He says “Don’t kill a person” and makes it clear that the unborn are persons, then we must obey.
2. The problem is seen in a sign we once saw at a March for Life: “Keep your God off my bod.”
a. The trouble is that God made their bod, and ultimately their bod belongs to God. They might not like that, but it’s true.
b. My body ultimately belongs to God. And so does yours. The mother’s body is God’s, and so is the unborn baby’s.
E. It all comes down to this: Who is in charge, God or man? Who is the center of life on earth, God or man?
IV. Is this just moralism? Life is all about doing what God requires and hoping to get blessed for it?
1. No, the train went off of that track along time ago. It’s too late baby now it’s too late.
2. We are fallen, broken, corrupt. We each have a nature that refuses to do what God requires. (And if someone says, “Speak for yourself! I have a heart that longs to do good!” then by that very statement you are refusing to do what God requires, which includes acknowledging your sin and not hiding it.)
B. Here’s how it works: We were fallen and corrupt, sinning against God and our fellow man.
1. But nonetheless, God took pity upon us and sent His Son to die in order to take on Himself the penalty of our sin.
2. And now by God’s grace He has adopted us as His own children in Christ.
3. And having been forgiven and approved by Christ, we live in His world in obedience to Him, not because we need to do this to gain His acceptance, but because we know that He knows best, He knows what is best for us.
4. By sending Jesus to die on the cross He proved His zeal for our welfare.
5. I can relinquish my body to His will not just because He owns it, but because He can care for it better than I can.
6. We live for Him because He lived for us, and because the path of Christ is the path of happiness, the path of abundant life.
C. And this is what we have to say to women who have an unwanted pregnancy. We can’t just say, “Don’t have an abortion because God says no!”
1. We say what you need is not an abortion. You need Jesus. You need His forgiveness.
2. The issue isn’t whether you’ll be accepted at home by your parents, or whether your boyfriend will abandon you. The issue with you is the same as with me and the same as it was before you were pregnant. We’ve all run away from home and from our heavenly Father, and have made a mess of our lives. But now God is calling us, Come home! Even if your parents reject you, even if your boyfriend rejects you, even if your husband throws you out. You have a much better home than that. You have a much better Father than that. You have a much better Husband than that.
3. And even if you don’t feel like you can provide a very good home for your baby, the important thing is that there is a wonderful home for him/her in Jesus.