Abolition: the work of every Christian

“Is abortion abolition the work of every Christian?”

When you publicly encourage Christians to take a stand against the evil of abortion you will be asked this question many times. Normally it comes in the form of statements such as, “I appreciate what you are doing but this must be your calling.” or “I’m glad that you are doing something about this but I am just too busy right now.” Most Christians I have talked with believe that opposing human abortion is for the few Christians that have been specifically called to the “abortion abolition ministry.” Others think that it is a great thing to participate in when they have time. Acting like a Christian in the face of legalized murder becomes optional. Many will say that they are too busy or old or tired or just plain not interested. This is evidence of a heart problem. It has nothing to do with having time and energy. You make time to do the things you desire. Christians make time to attend a church service. Hours of the day are often dedicated to television or movies. Some spend hundreds of dollars on vacations. Why is it so unthinkable to take some time out of your week for the fatherless?

So what is the duty of a Christian?

Why are we here? What does God expect of us? I could throw out one hundred opinions but the Bible should be our source to answer such an important question. Really, the answer is not that complicated. A good place to start would be to ask why were we created. Revelation 4:11 gives us the answer.

“Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” For God’s pleasure we were created. That’s astounding to think about. I know that if we truly believed that we would live our lives differently. Our lives are not about us. We weren’t created for our pleasure but His. I wasn’t created for that great vacation. I wasn’t given the the evening hours of the day to watch my favorite movie. We are only stewards of our time. I am not saying that enjoying our lives is wrong. We can have fun as Christians but God didn’t created us and save us to make us happy. We should desire to live pleasing lives for God, not for ourselves. God’s acceptance of us isn’t based on our performance but that never gives us a right to abuse the grace of God.

So we were created for His pleasure but what is our duty as a God pleasing Christian? Ecclesiastes 12:13 says, “…Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Many Christians try and skip this altogether. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. His justice and judgment must be recognized before we will see our need for such a Savior. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. We like to focus on the goodness part of that verse while totally missing the point of the verse. The goodness leads us the repenting of our sin.

When a scribe came and asked Jesus what the foremost law was, He answered the man with what the Jews call, the Shema, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the LORD our GOD is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy GOD with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: for this is the first commandment.

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

That is what God requires of us. God commands us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. It is a command. He also commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Our duty is to fear the Lord and keep His commandments. His greatest commandment was to love Himself and love others. Notice that the love of God comes first and out of that love we are able to love others. So how does this relate to abortion abolition?

What does loving your neighbor look like?

This question was asked by a certain lawyer who tempted Jesus. He first asked Him, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered with a question, “What is written in the law? How readest thou?” The lawyer answered correctly when he quoted the Shema. Wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

We would be wise to ask the same question. The answer to this question determines whether or not it is your duty to help the preborn children sentenced to death.

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, 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 on him.

And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?

And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”

Christian, who is your neighbor? Isn’t it everyone you pass by that has a need? Might they be the homeless you try and avoid on your way to work or the widow woman down the street? Could they be the co-worker that never smiles or the family that sits on the pew behind your own? Could it have been the bloody remains of that child ripped apart in the abortion clinic? Those children have “fallen among thieves,” thieves of human life. Men and woman who make their living on the blood of tiny babies. The priests and levites pass by everyday. “Abortion abolition is someone else’s ministry.”

If you are trying to make excuses for why these verses don’t apply to you or the babies being aborted in your community I have to question your love for God. Why would you want to make excuses? Are those babies’ live really that invaluable to you? I have to wonder. Will you at least stop and consider whether or not what I am saying is true? It may be worth your time.

Who will be called faithful and welcomed into the kingdom of God? Jesus tells us very plainly in Matthew 25:35-40. “For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in;

Naked and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked and clothed thee?

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

When you refuse to feed the hungry and give drink unto the thirsty you refuse to do this to the Lord. When you fail to cloth the naked and visit the sick and imprisoned you fail to do this for the Lord. When you fail to protect the innocent from unjust death sentences you condemn your Lord to the same fate. If it was Mary the mother of Jesus that was going in for an abortion would you have stood by and said that it wasn’t your ministry? Jesus is ripped apart every time an abortion is commited against the preborn. The image of God is defiled.

James 1:27 states that, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

Do you follow a pure religion? Hold your Christianity to the light of this scripture. Are not the children aborted by their own parents the “fatherless?” How are you visiting them in their affiction when you are silent about their murder? “But I do believe that abortion is wrong!” This is the problem with the main stream pro-life groups; they teach moral beliefs without moral action. The churches have become those described in James 2:14-17. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not work? Can faith save him?

If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things that are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.”

We talk about the horrible sins of our society and do nothing about them. If you have no works you have no faith. It becomes empty belief. You may believe that God says abortions are wrong…good for you; the devils also believe.

The words of Zechariah 7:8-12 are hauntingly similar to the state of the church today.

“Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

And oppress not the widow nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor, and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

Yea, they made their hearts an an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts has sent in his spirit by the former prophets: Therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.”

As Christians, I should hope that we are not oppressing the widows and fatherless and poor but could we be stopping our ears that we will not hear? Are not we aiding the oppressors when we stand by silently watching the holocaust? I’m not talking about preaching to the choir. That’s easy to do. I’m talking about bringing the light of His gospel in conflict with our culture of death. The chapter goes on to say that because they refused to hear the cries of the LORD, He refused to hear their cries. That’s a scary thought.

Proverbs 21:13 tells us that, “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.” We don’t have a right to stop our ears at the cry of the abortion victims. We cried out to God in our affliction and He came to us. How selfish of us not to do the same for our neighbor!

Proverbs 24:11-12 asks us this question, “If thou forebear to deliver them that are drawn to death, and those that are ready to be slain;

If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his works?”

Why are you forebearing to deliver them that are being drawn to death? We love to quote verses like Proverbs 3:5-6 and Proverbs 27:17, why not this verse?

Proverbs 31:8-9 tells us to, “Open they mouth for the dumb in the cause of all that such as are appointed to destruction.

Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”

What could be a better description of the babies murdered by abortion. They are the dumb, they are the voiceless. God told us to be their voice. Open your mouth Christian. We are commanded to do this for ALL that are appointed to destruction. Not just for the causes that will give you accolades.

As Christians we are to expose evil. Ephesians 5:11 tells us this. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”

Are you reproving the unfruitful works of darkness? Is abortion an unfruitful work of darkness? The answer is obvious. How do you reprove this evil? It is most certainly not done from your living room couch. God expects righteous action.

“But isn’t abortion just a distraction from the gospel?”

Paul didn’t think so. Neither did Jesus. In Acts 20:26-27 Paul says, “Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.

For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”

In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus says, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”

We must teach the whole counsel of God. We don’t get to pick and choose. Abortion abolition isn’t a distraction from the gospel but complimentary to it. The lost must see the ugliness of their sin before they will see their need for a Savior and the Christians need to have a righteous, biblical response to the evil around us or we become hypocrites in the eyes of those we claim to help.

Why must abortion be a distraction from the gospel anymore than pointing out that people are liars or thieves or idolaters? Grace becomes real when sin becomes exceeding sinful. Are any of God’s commands, outside of preaching the death, burial and resurrection, a distraction to the gospel?

Isaiah 58 is a description of true religion. You should read it. The Israelites were confused at why they did certain religious observances. They thought that they were doing the will of God by fasting. Hadn’t He commanded them to fast? Yes, but they had forgotten the point of fasting. God asked, “Is it such a day that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul?”

Verses 6-8 tell us what true religion looks like. “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thy own flesh?

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rearward.”

That is true religion. That is what the world needs to see. I think God is tired of our worship. We speak praise with our lips and yet our heart is far from Him. Is not our lack of care for our most innocent neighbors evidence of this?

There will be many objections and excuses for why what I have just written is wrong and how that this abortion abolition stuff really isn’t for you but I’m not going to answer them all. I don’t think I need to. The Bible speaks loud enough to your conscience. But what I will do is question your love for God and for your neighbor. Why should you want to get out of loving your neighbor in need? Where are these excuses coming from? Ask yourself this question. Is it coming from a heart deeply in love with God? I think not. Does love make excuses for why we wouldn’t take the time to help someone in need?

Don’t base your love for God on past experiences. Our hearts can fall away from our true love. Without prejudice and guilt, examine your own life. Are you obeying the voice of your God?

If not, will you choose to obey Him today?