Matthew 22: 34-40 - Loving Your Neighbor and Abortion
Travel through a short history concerning Roe vs. Wade, the annual March for Life, and the National Sanctity of Human Life Day. Continue with an explanation of how the text relates to the issue of abortion. , Matthew 22: 34-40 (NKJV):
34. But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
35. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38. This is the first and great commandment.
39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Like the expert in the law in Luke 10:29, we might ask, “who is my neighbor?”
The Didache, an early Christian book written soon after the New Testament, gave practical applications of what it means to love your neighbor including, “you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is begotten.” Other early writings also spoke against abortion. The unchanging moral law principles in both the Old and New Testaments also clearly forbade the practice of abortion. Jesus taught our neighbor is every other human being on the planet, because all are made in God’s image regardless of gender, regardless of skin color, and regardless of age. And this includes the unborn.
The fundamental questions which will determine where you stand on the issue of abortion: 1. When does life start? and 2. When do we become a human person separate from our mother?
The Bible is very clear that human life starts at conception. Human growth and development is not merely a natural process, but the Bible maintains that it is a natural process created by God and therefore God has a hand in it. Those who study developmental biology see God’s hand in this process. For illustration, a reference is made to an article by Dr. Laurieanne Dent.
Quotes from sermon:
"When you and I were first conceived we consisted of a single cell ... Yet that single cell contained all the information needed to create the 10’s of trillions of cells in adult you. ... But even more amazing than that, when it’s all said and done this little speck of life will be able to build things, to make music, to read and write, and explore the ends of the earth. ... The level of power, majesty, and wisdom displayed in developmental biology is so unfathomably high it literally cries out in testimony to God.
... it’s no accident that the first thing about us that Jesus mentions is the heart. ... We have a heart before we have a brain. We have a heart before we have blood. ... And while the blood and blood vessels come very soon after the heart the first thing the heart pumps is called interstitial fluid. ... pumped or washed over our cells by the heart ... to provide nutrients and carry away waste before our blood comes along to do it. We needed our heart first just so we could get to the point where we could even have a brain.
But the lesson is even though we might not be all there right away at conception, the information for everything about us is there ... and so life starts and begins growing at conception.
By the way this also means we are a separate person from our mother at conception. Biology proves that at conception we have different genes and different DNA compared to our mother and father. Instead we are a unique combination of our mother and father’s genes.
... at three weeks the child already has their own heart which beats independently from their mother’s. But not only does the child have a different heart with different DNA, when ... blood from the mother and blood from the baby flow into the placenta their blood never mixes. Why? Because if it did the mother’s immune system would attack the baby as a foreign object and kill it, ... the placenta keeps their blood separate yet close enough to where the mother’s blood can still exchange oxygen and nutrients with the baby’s blood in order to keep the baby alive and growing.
So when abortion activists say, “It’s my body I can do what I want with it (in terms of abortion)” – that’s unscientific because biology teaches us that the DNA, the genes, the heart, and the blood all belong to completely different persons. And that little heart was made to love and glorify God as much as any other heart. Abortion doesn’t get rid of a mindless unorganized clump of cells. It stops a beating heart. It ends the life of unique human being."
End quotes
A rebuttal to the argument about viability is made: "Just because someone would die instantly when taken out of a friendly environment and put into a harsher one doesn’t mean that their life is worth less." Also discussed is the arguments about utility and the concerted effort to abort those with Down's Syndrome. .... "Your value is not based on what you do; it’s based on who you are as someone created in the image and likeness of God. ... The value of any special needs child is not based on what they may or may not do in the future, it’s based on the fact that despite their handicap they are still made in God’s image. And the value of anyone made in God’s image is incalculable."
The statistics for the leading causes of death and abortion are presented and the seriousness of abortion is explained.
In conclusion (quote):
Every single one of us has fallen short when it comes to loving God with all our being and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Listen to the words of Jesus in Mark 1:15, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Listen to Acts 3:19, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Even if you’ve had a hand in an abortion forgiveness is available. But whatever your sin is you have to be honest about it and repent of it which means confessing your sin to God and turning your life away from that sin. Then you must trust in Christ – you must trust that He died for your sins and was buried, before coming back to life three days later so that you too could have the hope of life after death. And if you really believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ then you will also seek to live a life of obedience to Him loving the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and mind while also loving your neighbor as yourself. You will do this not because good works have anything to do with your salvation, because they don’t. Instead you will seek to live for Jesus because the gift of His Holy Spirit inside you will compel you to do so. So whatever your sin is please know that forgiveness is available along with a new life in Christ.
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Loving Your Neighbor and Abortion - Matthew 22: 34-40
Jan. 20, 2019
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