Loving Our Unborn Neighbor

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Well, throughout this month, we’ve been looking at a few of the areas where the church is supposed to think differently and live differently from the world around us. We’re just supposed to be different. I mean, God did not, Jesus didn’t save us and God didn’t leave us here so we could fit in to the world around us.

We are supposed to be a peculiar people. We’re supposed to, and some of us take that literally, We are supposed to show forth his praises. We’re supposed to, as I mentioned earlier, we’re supposed to not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

We’re just supposed to be different. And that doesn’t mean we’re better than anybody else. That just means God has made us different.

God has changed us. And so as we look at some of the ways we’re supposed to, some of the areas of life where we’re supposed to think and act differently from the world around us, I would be remiss this series and not bring up the fact that we are supposed to have a different view of life and its value from the world around us. The church is supposed to base its view of human life on what God’s Word says, just like we’re supposed to base our view of everything else on what God’s Word says.

And we believe that human beings are created in the image of God. And because we’re created in the image of God. God has placed value on human life, and we ought to as well.

And within the last couple weeks, I read a story, I read a news article, and I don’t know how old it was, about a botched abortion, about a baby that they were trying to abort, but the baby ended up being delivered alive, and that happens occasionally. What got me about this story, though, was that this baby was aborted because of a health problem, and the baby was delivered alive. And the report said that after the baby was birthed, the baby was left just put off to the side and left to die.

They knew it was going to happen eventually, but was left to die alone. And, folks, that tugs at my heart. It broke my heart then.

I’m man enough to admit I was in tears when I was reading this story and telling Charla about it. The thought that, I think of my own children. I think about how much I love them and never want them to feel alone, never want them to, you know, when they’re hurt, I always want to be there with them.

And the thought of this baby that was in pain being left to die alone. I just, I read that and I couldn’t help but think, what is wrong with us as a society? even the people in that room who believe that abortion is okay, how could you just, it’s another human being, how could you leave them alone to die in that circumstance, all by themselves with nobody to comfort them?

It was shocking to me, but all of this is symptomatic of the way our society views life. Life is a cheap thing. Life in the womb has no value in our society anymore.

The lives of people in many circumstances, the lives of people outside the womb have very little value. And I hear about groups, there’s a group I think called Clergy for Reproductive Choice, that are not only saying that abortion is something that is regrettable and should be allowed to happen, but they’re actually saying that it’s a moral choice to be made. And I’m just, hang up your collar, step out of the pulpit, you know, you’ve lost it.

I don’t understand how you can consider yourself a shepherd of God’s people if you don’t view life through a biblical lens. But it makes me think that we as a society and many inside the church have a wrong view of the value of life from conception on, and have a wrong view of our God-given duty toward our neighbor. It really comes down to the question of who is my neighbor, and it comes down to the question of how am I supposed to love my neighbor as myself, as Jesus said.

And many in our society have lost that idea, if they ever had it in the first place, of loving our neighbor as ourselves. And folks, we better make sure the church doesn’t lose sight of what God wants us to, of how God wants us to view this issue. This morning, I want to talk to you about that concept of loving our neighbor as ourselves.

If you’ll recall back, I preached on it a few months ago, and one of the things I explained to you when Jesus talks about loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves, one of the important things we need to know about that, it’s not a way to salvation, because you and I can’t do that perfectly. That’s another instance in which the law is there to show us that we can’t live up to God’s standards. And yet, as believers, God calls us to aim for that.

You know, you and I will never love God and love others perfectly because we are sinful human beings. But at the same time, we’re created in the image of God. And he says, with my Holy Spirit in you, with me empowering you to do it, this is what I expect you to aim for.

This is the goal. This morning I want to look at the book of Luke. If you’ve turned with me there, we’ll be there in just a moment. I want to look at the book of Luke, chapter 10, the story of the Good Samaritan, what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves.

But before I do that, I want to do something a little different. Some of you in here may be totally on board with what I’m saying about the value of life. We believe that life should be protected from the moment of conception.

Maybe you’re already on board with that, and you say, okay, I know, I get it. And so we’ll come back to you in just a little bit and talk about, so what do we do about it? Here’s what we believe.

Here’s what the church believes. Here’s what the Bible says, most importantly. So what do we do about it?

But it occurred to me as I was preparing this week that there may be some in the congregation. There may be some that are new. There may be some that, you know, you’ve been a Christian for a few years, but you’ve never really understood.

Nobody’s ever explained to you why we think the way we do about this, why we believe that life from the moment of conception deserves to be protected, why we believe it’s sacred. And it’s important that we give that explanation. It’s important that we give an answer for that because the world frames this argument as though the church, as though anybody pro-life is just patriarchal, we’re just against women.

Folks, I have no problem with women. I love my wife dearly. I respect my wife as well.

I love her and I respect her. Her opinion means a lot to me. We’re partners.

I love my mother. I love my sister. I love my grandmother.

I love my daughter who’s here, and I love my daughter who’s going to be born in about nine days. I have no problem with women. I just say that because the world says you’re anti-women or you’re anti-women’s health care.

If that was the case, I wouldn’t be driving Charlotte to Ada all the time for doctor visits if I was against women’s health care. Or the idea is the church just wants to control others’ behavior. Listen, I’ll preach against sin.

I’ll try to convince you sin is wrong, but I don’t want the government kicking down your doors because I think you’re making wrong decisions, okay? Because I think that I realize that that could be turned around on me. If somebody doesn’t like what I’m doing, they can have the government kicked down my doors, As long as you’re not hurting somebody else, I don’t want the government kicking down your door.

So this isn’t just about control. What this is, this whole discussion comes down to the question of what a person is. Because in our society, we generally agree, even though I think our view of the sanctity of life has weakened severely over the years, we generally agree that killing an innocent person is murder.

Right? Anybody disagree with that? probably don’t want to raise your hand.

We generally agree that killing an innocent person is murder. We generally agree that murder is wrong and should be illegal. But we disagree about whether or not abortion is murder because we disagree on whether or not we’re talking about a human person. I think even pro-choice people, even pro-abortion people, believe that it’s a human, but I don’t think, but we disagree over whether or not it’s a person.

We disagree over whether or not it’s a person. And I’ve said before that if somebody starts from the position that that baby in the womb is not a person, then I totally understand why they’re okay with abortion. I wish they would give us the same benefit of the doubt and say, you know, if they believe that’s a person, I totally get why they’re against abortion.

It’s not that we’re wanting to control people. We think that’s a person that needs protection. So it really comes down to, is it a person or not?

If you say it’s not a person, of course you don’t have a problem with abortion. It’s just another medical procedure. So the question becomes, is it a person?

What is a person? When do you become a person? And there are a few different views on this.

This is where I want to take you through this, how we come to the conclusion that the baby is a person. And so if you’re pro-life but don’t really know why, maybe now you’ll be able to explain it to somebody. and have a civil conversation with somebody who disagrees.

If you’re sitting here and you’ve never heard this before, now you’ll know. And then we’ll go on and talk about what we do with it. But there are several views about when a person becomes a person.

And some people think that personhood depends on the functions that a being carries out. You’re a person because you can do X, Y, and Z. You’re a person because you’re self-conscious.

And I don’t mean like, oh, is my tie straight? Everybody’s looking at me. I mean, you are conscious and you recognize that you are a being, you are a self.

You know, when a baby is first born, even after they’re born, they don’t necessarily recognize that. But you and I, I recognize that I’m Jared. I recognize that I exist. There’s a recognition.

There’s a self-consciousness here. And so some people would say, well, you become a person when you’re self-conscious. Others would say you become a person when you’re able to communicate.

Because the baby in the womb can’t communicate anything. Well, the baby outside the womb doesn’t have a great skill at communication. I mean, they can scream.

Charlie still screams. Charlie still, that’s how he communicates with us. He’s 18 months old, and he knows Mama, Dada, and Ba, the sheep says. Beyond that, his communication is screaming.

I know a lot of adults who don’t communicate well either. But they think you become a person when you’re able to communicate. Some people think you are a person when you are rational, when you have the ability to reason.

Again, that leaves a lot of adults out. And there are more, but each of these functional arguments that says you become a person based on, or you are a person based on the functions you can carry out, Now, the problem with all of those is that those definitions can be expanded. They can be applied in ways that apply to adults as well.

So if somebody’s in a coma, you might have heard of Ben Shapiro, who’s on the radio. He was speaking at a college, and a college student was telling him, well, it’s based on the personhood is based on consciousness. And so he said, well, when you’re in a coma or when you’re asleep, can I go stab you?

And he said, well, no, because I have the potential for consciousness. And Ben Shapiro said, so does an unborn child. But if we limit personhood to consciousness, there’s no problem with killing us when we’re in a deep, dreamless sleep, when we’re in a coma, some situation like that.

If it’s based on communication, there are adults who cannot communicate. And I made a joke about that a minute ago, but there are adults who legitimately cannot communicate. Rationality.

If somebody’s temporarily insane, can we as a society go in and just waste them? And you look at these examples and most people would say, no, no, that’s clearly wrong. To kill somebody because they’re in a coma.

To kill somebody because they’re asleep. To kill somebody because they can’t communicate. To kill somebody because they’re not thinking rationally.

most people would say, no, that’s absolutely wrong. So what is it about the unborn that’s different? They have the same potential for those functions that somebody in a coma or somebody in one of those circumstances have.

They have the same potential for that function. So again, it comes back to, is personhood based on those functions? And I would say no. There’s another view that I hold to that says personhood depends on the essence or the nature of the being, the essence or nature that we possess.

That by virtue of being human, I would say, we are a person, that we are a person. Even at this, there are different views about when you become a person, when you have that essence. There are some people who are agnostic on it.

They say, well, we just don’t know when it happens. We don’t know when you become a person. At that point, saying that abortion is a viable option is to say, we don’t know if that’s a person or not, but we’re okay with killing it.

You don’t get by with that in any other circumstance. I had to take the hunter education course for Oklahoma. I didn’t have to.

I was old enough not to. But I took it anyway because I wanted to know what I was doing. And one of the things they make very clear is if you don’t know what you’re shooting at, don’t shoot.

And people have taken a shot thinking, oh, that’s probably a deer. only to find out that was their brother who had gone into a different part of the woods. Is that okay?

If we don’t know whether it’s a person or not, maybe we ought to hold back on saying, hey, let’s kill him. There’s the gradualist position that says something, a being becomes a person over time. They become a person gradually.

Well, you either exist or you don’t. There’s no such thing as semi-existence. He’s kind of a person, kind of not.

You know, I don’t understand that thought. It sounds good in theory. Well, they become one over time.

It sounds real intellectual until you think, so there’s somebody out there who’s half a person? That’s like saying she’s kind of pregnant or he’s kind of alive. You know, you either are or you are not.

You either exist or you don’t. You either are a person or you are not. And then there are all these views that it happens at a decisive moment.

that personhood starts at a specific moment. Some people will say you become a person when you have a heart that beats on its own. It’s a little closer to being right, but again, I think if somebody’s having a heart attack, can we just walk up and pop them?

I don’t think that’s how this works. Brainwaves. A person becomes a person when they have brainwaves.

Again, that’s such a complicated line to draw. I draw the line, and I think the most consistent position is to draw the line and say, a person becomes a person at conception. Now, why is that such a clear and consistent line?

Because at the moment of conception, you have DNA from a father, you have 23 chromosomes from a father, and 23 chromosomes from a mother, that combine and make 46 chromosomes of new and unique DNA. That unless you’re creating two identical twins at the same time, That DNA is totally unique among all of humankind. And at that point, a completely new human is formed, and I think that’s a pretty good place to draw the line of personhood because at that point we can say philosophically, we can say scientifically that something new starts here that we don’t have to wonder about, well, does it have brainwaves?

We don’t have to get all off in the philosophical weeds. We can say at this point, I think it’s the most consistent position to say that based on science, we have a person here, a unique person. It’s not the mother.

It’s not the father. And at that moment, it bears all of the potential, bears all of the potential to carry out all the functions of a complete human being. Does it communicate yet?

No. Is it self-conscious yet? No.

Is it rational yet? No. But it bears in itself at that point, all of the potential for all of those things.

And if you believe it’s a person from the moment of conception, then we go back to most people agree that the killing of an innocent person is murder, and that murder is wrong and should be illegal. It has nothing to do with controlling what women do. My wife does what she wants. Now we talk and we consult each other, but I don’t dictate to my wife everything she does.

This has nothing to do with trying to control women’s bodies. It has to do with the belief that is a person and that murder is the killing of an innocent person and is wrong because they should be protected. Last year in the state of Oklahoma, there were 4,723 abortions.

Oklahoma’s consistently ranked one of the top five pro-life states in the union, and still there were 4,723 abortions in Oklahoma last year. I sat down and did the math this week, and that came out to about one every two hours, and that figure broke my heart. You know, we always hear, too, well, what about cases of rape or incest?

What about the life of the mother? According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, zero, the state of Oklahoma keeps track of the reasons reported. There were zero abortions that were carried out in 2017 because of rape or incest. Zero.

The number that were carried out because of the life of the mother, the number was so small that they legally could not report the number because it was so statistically insignificant that it could have been medically identifiable information about a person that they could have said, oh, this must have been this person. There were so few that they couldn’t report the number. The two largest, the two most numerous reasons given were that it’s going to affect my life in a negative way, or I’m not ready for this child or another child.

Those were the top two reasons given. Folks, scientifically, philosophically, scripturally, we’re going to look at that scripturally, these are people, and if they’re people, then they’re our neighbor. And you and I don’t have the luxury of just standing aside and saying, well, you know, that goes on behind closed doors.

By the way, in the last couple years, the number of abortion clinics in Oklahoma has doubled from two to four under a supposedly pro-life governor. You and I don’t have the luxury of sitting by and saying, well, this is somebody else’s problem. If they’re our neighbor, then they deserve protection.

And by the way, I’m not talking about let’s attack these women. Some of these women are coerced to the point where they’re made to feel, by everybody around them, like they don’t have any other option. And if there’s anybody sitting in the congregation this morning, anybody within the sound of my voice who’s had one of these, I’m not beating up on you.

I think taking the life of an unborn child is wrong. It’s not that I think that the Bible bears out that the taking of an unborn life is wrong. But you also need to know there’s forgiveness for any sin at the cross of Jesus Christ. This is not about attacking anybody.

This is not about politics. I’ve said before, this is and always has been a right and wrong issue, not a political issue. I think we do need to nudge our elected officials in a pro-life direction and do need to nudge them toward protecting life.

It’s the role of government to protect life, liberty, and property. They need to do their job. but at the same time it becomes the job of the church to care for our neighbor.

It becomes the job of the church to care for our neighbor. When God says in Jeremiah 1. 5, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations. He says that Jeremiah, as an unborn child, was a person created in his image.

When David said in Psalm 139, For you formed me in my inward parts. You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed.

And in your book they were all written. The days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. I’ve got a whole list here of scriptures that indicate God views these as children And God has plans for us before we’re even conceived and loves us when we’re in the womb.

And if we take God’s view of it, if we take the politics out, I have to support this because my party says it. I have to support this because I don’t want people to think I’m narrow-minded. If we take all of our other considerations aside, set them all aside, and say, what does God say about it?

we look and we realize that God places incredible value on human life because he made us in his image. And if that’s the case, it becomes the role of the church to do what it can to defend our neighbor. There’s the role of the government that they need to do their job, but you and I have a role to play as well.

And if you haven’t turned there with me yet, let’s go to Luke chapter 10. And I think it lays out our role pretty well. Luke chapter 10, starting in verse 25, it says, And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, tested Jesus, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

And he said to him, What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? So he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

Verse 28, And he said to him, You have answered rightly. Do this, and you will live. What Jesus is saying is, If you could do this perfectly, you’d be fine.

But we can’t. But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? He wanted to press it a little further, wanted to make himself look like he was really good, and so he said to Jesus, who is my neighbor?

And so Jesus tells him a familiar story. Verse 30, then Jesus answered and said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He had compassion.

So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. Jesus looks at him in verse 36.

After he’s told this story, he answers the man’s question with a question. He said, So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? You’re supposed to love your neighbor as yourself, and the man says, Who is my neighbor?

Jesus said, let me tell you a story, and then I’ll ask you, which one was the neighbor to this man? Verse 37, and he said, he who showed mercy on him, then Jesus said to him, go and do likewise. All right.

As Christians, we have to vote, and we need to consider the issue of life in our vote. And by the way, that is not a plug for the Republican Party. I just want to make that clear.

That is not an endorsement of party. I’m heavily involved in the Republican Party, and I’ve had more arguments with fellow Republicans on this issue than I have had Democrats. I’m saying we need to consider the issue of life and how we vote.

We need to consider the issue of life and the way that we deal with our elected officials. But there’s a role to be played. There’s a role for the church outside of just what we do in November.

And that role comes down to sharing the compassion of Jesus Christ. The neighbor that we are called to love is the neighbor who’s most in need of compassion. When Jesus told that story, he was talking about a man, he was talking about a Jewish man, who you’d think would have been helped by a priest. You would think he would have been helped by a Levite, but the one who actually had time for him, the one who actually showed him compassion, was the Samaritan who should have hated his guts. talked about this a few weeks ago, how there was a centuries-old feud between the Jews and Samaritans.

And there was guilt on both sides for that. And they hated each other. And yet the Samaritans saw somebody in need.

The Samaritans saw somebody who wouldn’t have necessarily been his first thought, for that’s my neighbor. But he saw somebody in need, and he showed compassion toward him. And the lesson there for us, the lesson that Jesus was trying to get this man to understand, is your neighbor is not just your best friend.

It’s not just the person you like. It’s not just the people you’re close to. It’s not just the people who can do something for you in return.

Our neighbor is the one who needs the compassion the most. Our neighbor is the one who’s vulnerable. Our neighbor is the one who more than anybody needs to see the love of Christ from us and through us even when they can do nothing for us in return. The neighbor we’re supposed to love is anybody who needs compassion.

And if you’re on board with the argument I presented earlier about why the unborn are people, then folks, it stands to reason that the unborn in our community, they’re our neighbors as well. And you and I ought to do everything we can to try to protect those, to try to protect them. And that goes far beyond the ballot box.

You know what? Here’s something we don’t necessarily think about. The mothers are our neighbor as well.

70% of the abortions in Oklahoma, roughly, at the last time they released the statistics, 70% of those women who went in for abortions were single moms. 70% of them. Imagine yourself in that position. Now, I know we believe in purity until marriage.

I understand that. But put yourself in that position, somebody who’s done things outside of God’s way, and now they find themselves in a difficult circumstance, find themselves not knowing what am I going to do next. How is my family going to react when they find out?

How is this guy going to react? Is he going to help us? Is he going to step up and do the right thing?

What are we going to do if he doesn’t? What am I going to do if he doesn’t? How am I going to provide for this child?

The vast majority of these were girls in their 20s, may not have finished college yet, may not be established in a career yet. How am I going to support this child? How am I going to take care of the child?

imagine being in that circumstance and we could easily sit back and judge them for how they got there which is the tactic I think that unfortunately the church, I think that’s the easiest tactic for us to follow or we could love them the way Jesus would love them not saying that the lifestyle that brings you into that circumstance is okay but saying you’re in this situation this is where you are now how do we show compassion to them I think one of the important things that we’re doing now, and I appreciate our women’s group putting this together, is how we’re collecting items and funds and whatever else we can get together for the House of Hope in Ada. They do an incredible ministry to women who don’t know what they’re going to do. And they provide some medical care.

I know they provide pregnancy tests and things like that. But they also provide training for these women. They come alongside them and help them learn how to be a mother.

They help get them the items that they need so that they can take. Baby stuff is expensive. We’re on child number four, and no matter how much we save stuff from the previous children, there’s always something else that we need or something that’s outgrown or something that’s out of date.

I didn’t even know that car seats could go out of date, but they do. They have expiration dates. It’s expensive, and ministries like that, and through the work of this church supporting that ministry, there are women being supported and saying we’re going to help you we’re going to help you so that you can choose life we’re going to help you so that you can learn how to deal with this child and learn how to be the mother that God wants you to be they have work that they do they have ministry that they do among the men that are in these circumstances helping them to step up and do right by their child and his mother I tell you what, if men would step up and do what God designed us to do a lot of the social problems in our country would go away.

It’s easy to blame the single mothers, but where are the men? And I’m thankful for ministries like this that are reaching out in compassion and helping people. Not just saying shame on you for where you are, but saying how can we help you and show you some compassion?

How can we love you the way that Christ would so that you can choose life, so that you can do the right thing? Anybody who needs compassion is our neighbor. And I realize there are far more applications to that than this.

But this morning we’re focused specifically on the sanctity of life. But I want you to take that lesson with you when you leave here. Anybody in need of compassion is our neighbor.

And we’re called to love them as we love ourselves. Compassion also compels us to actually show mercy to our neighbor. Not just to feel merciful toward them, but to actually show compassion.

You know what I mean by that? To actually do something. to actually do something.

I saw a picture. I saw a picture just recently of people standing outside of an abortion clinic having a prayer vigil. And you’d expect to see signs ta