Hot Topics // Is ALL Human Life Valuable?

was driving and I went up to a stop sign and, yes, I did stop and as I stopped there was somebody to my left and they were facing my right Now.

Apparently they stopped before me, but I went before them and they were gonna let me know that this was not okay.

So I go forward and they sped up around me and they rolled their window down.

How'd they roll their window down?

I mean, it was in the morning, you know, the weather's kinda cool.

Why would this guy roll his window down?

And all of a sudden he sticks his hand out the window Like he's gonna give me an air high five, I got you, bro.

No, instead he decided to teach me some sign language and he let me know for like five seconds he had out the window that what I did was not okay.

And then he drives and sped away.

Then, that moment, because I'm a really spiritual person, the first thought that came to my mind was what an idiot I was.

Like this guy can't believe he did that.

My thought wasn't maybe he's having a bad day.

My thought certainly wasn't well, maybe it's because I'm in the wrong.

You know, of course I couldn't do this.

It was what an idiot.

Can we just be honest in here?

It's just us.

Have you ever had the?

What an idiot thought about somebody before?

Oh, you guys are all sinners.

What is wrong with you?

You know?

That's like we've all been there and in that moment I didn't have the most Jesus-centered view of this person, even though I followed Jesus.

And even though you follow Jesus, even though you're a Christian, doesn't mean that you have a Christian worldview.

And I'm just talking about a specific situation.

I'm talking about how you view the world as a whole.

We can claim Jesus all we want.

In fact, probably a lot of you do claim.

Most of you claim Jesus, some of you don't.

We're so glad that you're here, but we can claim Jesus all we want.

Jesus is mine, I am his, but not necessarily see the world with the Christian worldview.

In fact, what we can even do is we can take the scripture and we can approach scripture with a already decided on view of the world, of our beliefs, of how we see things, and we can go to the scripture and say, yep, this is what it says, but this is what I believe, this is how I see the world, this is what I think.

This is the reality.

As followers of Jesus, we aren't simply meant to look at scripture, but we are meant to look through scripture, at everything else Scriptures.

It's not just meant to inform our thinking, but to shape our thinking.

So it's not just like okay, you have your social media accounts that you follow they deposit some information here.

You have your TV shows that you like your shows they deposit some information.

You have some schooling they deposit some information.

I got the scripture.

I hear Pastor Nate Rambo on it all for 30 minutes.

He gives me some information.

I read the verse today it's all information.

Okay, this book is meant to shape our thinking and shape how we see the world.

We're gonna talk about something today that's gonna elicit maybe a little bit of an emotional response in some of us, based on your upbringing, based on your personal experiences, based on the algorithms in your social media feed, based on your news station of preference that you watch.

But if we're gonna have a Christian world view, we're gonna talk about this and it's this Abortion.

Now, for some of you, I said that word and you're like what does that have to do with scripture?

That's not a scriptural thing, that's a political thing.

And Hosea says this.

Hosea says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

It may surprise you that this is actually a scriptural thing, and Hosea said this.

Hosea said the people of God were hindered in the relationship with God because there was some knowledge that they left.

And today you know.

Before we talk about this, I want to say two quick things.

First of all it says is this message is not going to satisfy everybody, so it's not going to.

I mean, I only have 30 and 35 minutes if you're lucky.

All right, maybe I'll go a little shorter if you're lucky.

I'm at 33, 35 minutes and I'm not gonna be able to cover everything and say everything.

But here's what I want to do Honestly I just want to open up the scripture and I just want to show us what does the scripture say, and I want to equip you to be able to have some conversations with with people that aren't based on what this talking head is saying or what this new station thing, but what does the scripture say about this?

I'm just gonna say this too If you've had an abortion, forgiveness, grace and healing are available.

How do you say we love you and more than that, god loves you and you're valuable.

And I realized that, that you were in a really hard place and you felt like you didn't have any other good options and God extends grace to you and healing and mercy.

And as a church I said we want a beer for you.

Like none of us have it all together, like this is not a group of people where we're pointing our fingers and shame and condemnation and other people for what we know.

Yeah, remember what Jesus said.

Jesus said you who are without sin cast the first stone.

None of us can cast the stone your safety.

What we do want to do today is we want to look at what does God say about this?

This is the first thing that God says.

God says that life begins at conception.

And I, in Jeremiah, chapter one, the word of the Lord came to me.

He says I chose you before I formed you in the womb.

God chose Jeremiah, I set you apart before you were born.

I appointed you a prophet to the nations Did in the world.

How many of you guys are science people?

You guys like science in here?

Science people get some science science people.

So we're talking about science for a second.

Okay, so when the female egg and the male sperm come together, the female egg has 23 chromosomes.

The male has 23 chromosomes.

When they come together at the moment of conception and that the egg in the sperm comes together, there is now 46 chromosomes that are formed right there in that moment.

A person at conception 46 chromosomes.

Now it's interesting about this genetic code is that when about at this genetic code, that that happens at conception is that genetic code determines to a great extent what your gender is going to be, what your eye color is going to be, what your hair color is going to be, what your skin color is going to be, whether you're going to be susceptible to certain diseases or not.

All of that is decided on the moment 23, 23 come together and make 46.

And once, once conception happens, at the moment of conception, an individual has its own genetic code and all they need is food, water, shelter and oxygen to grow and develop Food, water, shelter and oxygen to grow and develop, just like a two-year-old child with me or a five-year-old child with me.

These are the exact same things that a child would need to grow and develop.

It's interesting to know that even a pro-choice philosopher, judith Jarvis Thompson.

She wrote years ago a book entitled A Defensive Abortion.

Even in her book she didn't argue whether whether there's a person in the womb or not.

This is what she said.

She said the fetus has already become a person well before birth.

She wrote it.

There's a recent article in the New York Times by a guy named Ross Dauphin.

He's talking about what science has taught us and all these, all this scientific development over the last several years and what it's taught us about this, he says, at a less advanced stage of scientific understanding.

So let's say that 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago, and so on and so forth, it was possible to believe that the embryo or fetus was somehow inert, are vegetative until so-called quickening months into pregnancy.

But we now know the embryo is not merely a cell with potential, like a sperm, or a constituent part of a human tissue like its skin cell.

Rather, it's a distinct human organism, comes into existence at conception and every stage of your biological life, from infancy and childhood to middle age and beyond, is part of a single continuous process that begins when you were just a zygote.

Science shows us this, scripture shows us this.

The starting point for having a Christian worldview is understanding that that's a person in the world.

It's not just a group of cells, it's not just a fetus, it's not just a piece of tissue, and this is why Apologist Ben Scheller asked this question.

He says if the genetic code of an eight-year-old is identical to that of an unborn child, why then is it murder to obliterate an eight-year-old and morally acceptable to end the life of something even more fragile?

This is where the conversation has to start Now.

Certainly we need to have other conversations about the woman.

Are we loving her and caring for her?

About the child once the child is born, how can we support that child?

Those conversations need to happen.

They do.

They're important.

But that's not where we begin the conversation.

The beginning conversation is that's a person.

That life begins at conception.

God forms us number two in our mother's womb, it says in Psalm 139, for it was you who created my inward parts.

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I'll praise you because I've been remarkably and wondrously made.

Your works are wondrous and I know this very well.

My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw me.

When I was formless, all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began, so conception happens and now a life is being formed in the womb.

So we have mom a person, a life Baby, a person, a life Baby, a person with a unique genetic code.

Mom, a person with a unique genetic code.

This is why, when a pregnant woman is murdered in the court of law, that person is being charged not with just one murder, but two.

Some would say well, you can say that, but the only reason why the baby can survive, the only reason why, is because of the support of the mother.

That's the only reason why, in fact, without the support of the mom, it wouldn't survive.

So that means that it's not its own person, because in order for it to be its own person, then it must be able to survive on its own.

And because the baby can't survive on its own, it's not a real person.

What do you think about this argument?

Since when does a person relying on assistance or somebody else to survive?

When does that not make them human anymore and when does that not make them worthy of life?

Let me think about this.

Some of you in a room like this, some of you have probably been on a ventilator at some point in your life.

You probably had a.

I have had a loved one be on a ventilator before.

At that moment you were assisted.

At that moment you were dependent on somebody else for life.

Did that mean that at that moment you were no longer a person or you were no longer worthy of living, just because?

Just because you were dependent on somebody else to survive?

Now those that would have a pro-choice view, a non-Christian worldview of this, will say abortion is primarily about women's rights, and they are 100% right that women should have rights.

No one's arguing that.

But aren't there competing rights at stake?

I mean, the rights and safety of women are incredibly precious and important, but pregnant women aren't the only people involved.

What about the rights of an unborn child?

What about those that are marginalized?

Are marginalized people?

Do they no longer have rights?

And you're just crazy.

If you really think about this.

It echoes back to slavery in the early 1800s, the Dred Scott decision in 1857.

Slavery advocates.

They had come to a position where they believed that slaves had the right to freedom.

To believe that.

In the Dred Scott decision in 1857, they weren't arguing that.

But they also believed that slave owners had the right to their property.

They believed that as well, and in the Dred Scott decision that made slavery continue.

This is what was decided that a slave owner's right to property superseded a slave's right to freedom and slavery continued.

If you think more about the history about this time, there are some arguments that they gave for slavery are pretty prepostrous.

They said this they said slaves were not persons with individual rights recognized by the US Constitution, but they were simply property belonging to their owners.

If we can get the next slide up on the screen they said African Americans were biologically inferior to their white slave owners.

They said ending slavery would have a negative impact on the US economy and we can't do that.

Freeing slaves would result in a widespread unemployment and chaos.

Slavery existed throughout history and was the natural state of mankind.

Are those arguments crazy or what you know?

It's equally crazy.

There are some of the exact same arguments given right now for abortion.

We look back at slavery and we say that's heinous and despicable and evil.

And some of it is still happening today.

And it is heinous and despicable and evil.

And could it be that in the future, people are going to look back at abortion as the exact same way?

Because it is.

This is what God says life begins at conception, that we are formed in our mom's womb, and number three that God has a plan for our whole lives and that plan begins in our mother's womb.

And Galatians, chapter one, paul says but when God, who from my mother's womb sent me to part and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, those who are not Jewish, I did not immediately consult with anyone.

In his mother's womb there's a plan for his entire life right there.

The opponents of a Christian worldview of abortion have very, very, very fairly said that pro-life advocates they only care about the baby in the womb.

What's in the womb after that they don't care anymore.

What about women that are at risk and scared?

What about the child?

And it's very fair and what we have to be is people that are not just on a high horse and say, well, we have a Christian worldview, abortion is wrong, and then we forget about women, and then, when we forget about children that are at risk, we forget about people that are vulnerable.

We need to be people that stand beside those that are having unplanned pregnancies.

We need to be people that are loving people that are in vulnerable situations.

We need to be people that are helping other people.

I think about, right across the street, those apartments that are being built.

I don't know, it's like 170 units or whatever it is.

You know, a lot of those are low income apartments.

We need to love those people over there.

As a church, we should stand behind places like Alpha Pregnancy and Levin Kids.

I think about things that our growth groups have done this year.

It's been remarkable to help people need people in our community.

We've been at the local food bank and we've put together groceries and given those out to different people in our city.

We've had growth groups serve teachers in local schools.

We've had people in our church serving youth in our community.

We have a coat and blanket drive coming up in a couple of weeks.

We do every year.

We have a couple hundred of those that are given out to needy people in our community While we as a church and we use it individually.

You can't do everything.

We can all do something.

We can all do something to help people.

We can all do something to serve women.

We can all do something to serve children.

We want to serve people.

Here's why Because all people in all places matter to God.

All people in all places matter to God.

God values human life, from the womb all the way to the tomb, and so should we.

People are made in the image of God, so because they're made in the image of God, they have value and they should be loved.

Now, this is completely different than how our world as a whole looks at people.

I mean, think about this.

We live in a world that uses people and loves things, instead of loving people and using things.

This is the world that we live in.

The world we live in looks at people as objects.

The world we live in looks at people as oh, I'm going to use you so I can get from you what I want to get from you from me.

That's the world we live in.

But the message of Jesus, the gospel, it changes all of this.

It completely obliterates this.

Think about this.

Jesus was in heaven.

He had a pretty good thing going on there in heaven Angels worshipping him.

Everything was good.

He was self-sufficient.

He's righteous, he's holy, he's glorified.

He's in heaven.

Us as people, we're over here.

We need help.

We got issues.

The Scripture says that we're sinners, that we've broken God's law.

We need salvation.

That's what we need, but we could not get to him because of our sin.

So this is what Jesus did the self-sufficient, holy, righteous, one Step out of heaven and came down to us, came down to earth to die on the cross for us, and he served us and he loved us unconditionally.

And all we need to do is put our faith interest in Jesus Christ and we can have forgiveness of our sin.

And now we're saved.

And now, because he served us, this is what this causes me to do, to want me to.

It causes me to want to serve other people.

And when I realize my condition, apart from Christ, you know what it causes me not to do To point fingers at people and say you don't deserve this, you don't deserve that.

Oh, you did that, uh-uh, because I'm a sinner too, apart from Christ.

And he's given me unconditional love.

Now, there's this weird thing about the human condition that we have that we struggle to receive unconditional love sometimes, don't we?

Somebody says I love you and you want to say why do you love me?

We want to know what did I do to deserve it?

Guys, remember back in the day, a high school boyfriend or girlfriend?

They said I love you and you were like why do you love me?

Is it?

Is it because I'm funny?

Is it because of how I do my hair?

Is it because of how I treat you?

Why do you love me?

Why did you want to know that this way?

You want to know that because you wanted to keep doing it, so you could, or keep being it, so you could keep earning his or her love.

Unconditional love is hard to accept and at some point unconditional love what it does is it frustrates our desire to earn and accomplish.

It challenges our pride.

Because what unconditional love says is no matter what you do, it doesn't matter.

Like it's not impressive.

If we're not careful, we forget the gospel.

We can think that by serving others and caring for people that we're earning God's love.

Or we can think that we're paying God back.

It's like man, I really owe God a lot.

He's done a lot for me, so I'm going to do this over here because I'm going to pay Him back.

Or we can serve others because we feel bad and we feel guilty.

I've done a lot of things in my life and when I serve it makes me feel good, I don't feel as guilty anymore.

Or we can serve others because, well, we just feel bad.

Like the moral compass in this says you should do something.

Okay, don't feel bad, serve others.

Or we can serve others because, well, trying to manipulate them, I serve you, so now you owe me.

Sometimes we can even use serving others as a way to manipulate God.

God, I serve them, so now you owe me.

It's almost like we can put God into debt.

God, god, went to church three out of four Sundays.

Give me that bonus, god.

I've been doing these good things.

Okay, now you owe me.

I've been serving you for all these years.

I've been doing all these things.

I mean, come on, god, come on.

It's almost like we think we can put God in debt, but we cannot put a God of grace in debt.

In fact, god does not operate on the principle of karma, god operates on the principle of grace.

And God's up here saying hey, bro, you better be thankful that I don't give you what you actually deserve, because you really be in trouble.

And when we understand the gospel, when we understand how much we've been served, you know what it caused us to do To be thankful and say God, I don't deserve anything, you've given me everything, and my natural outflow is I just want to serve other people.

If you have a hard time serving right now, what you need is a good shot of the gospel in your heart, a good shot of understanding how much you've been served and how much you've been loved.

And if we're having a hard time serving other people in our world, it may not be because of the other people in our world, maybe because we've forgotten what God has done for us.

Sometimes we just need to take a chill pill and say, man, yeah, maybe that person isn't what they should be.

Yeah, maybe the world disappointed me a lot, like a lot.

Yeah, maybe I have a tendency to build up walls.

You served me, you gave everything for me and you crossed the gap of heaven to come down to earth for me.

I can serve them.

Last week at our fall festival I mentioned earlier.

It was amazing what happened at the fall festival.

I have no idea how many people we've had.

It was the biggest event we've ever done here.

And you sacrificed and you donated candy and you probably put up with some demanding or ungrateful people and you made Jesus known last week, and you know why, as a church, we did it.

This is why we did it so we could stick out our chest and say we're such great church.

That's not why we did it.

Yeah, we did it because we want to make Jesus known, because he first served us and because he served us we get the privilege of serving other people.

You know, I'm really thankful in our church.

I'll say I like bragging about, I brag about you guys a lot.

I hope that's okay.

I brag about you guys, I brag about you guys, other pastors and stuff.

Now we have 125 people serve somewhere every single month at our church.

125.

Like that's phenomenal, right.

That's like that's more than 50% of our attendance serve somewhere.

You know why you serve Because he first served you.

You know why we serve.

He first served us and all people matter to God.

And because all people in all places matter to God, all people in all places should matter to us and let's keep serving and let's keep loving.

And who in your life are you having a hard time serving?

Who in your life are you having a hard time loving?

So what do you need to do?

You need to remember what he's done for you and what caused you to love all people.