Bring the Little Children to Me: A Plea for Life, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Welcome to a new week of trusted biblical teaching here on Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vitovich. You know, as disciples of Jesus, aren't we called to speak up for those who have no voice, the marginalized, the oppressed, and the weak? As we continue through our new teaching series through the Book of Luke called In Step, we'll be talking about what it means to be a protector and defender of the weak and vulnerable among us.

Picking up where he left off last week, Pastor J.D. titled this message from Luke 18, Bring the Little Children to Me, a Plea for Life. Jesus said that children were his first priority. As a matter of fact, children, he says, are the ones in the best posture to receive my kingdom. And unless we grasp that we're all like children, vulnerable, and helpless, spiritually speaking, none of us will ever reach out for the kingdom of God. And when we do grasp that we are all like vulnerable and helpless children in God's eyes, from that point on, once we realize that, we're always going to have a special place in our hearts for the vulnerable and the helpless around us. Now, there are lots of places where we could apply this, but I want to focus today on the place that Jesus did, and that is with children, and particularly children in their most vulnerable state right now in our country, and that is in the womb. If we're going to look at the world with the eyes of the Good Samaritan, we've got to first be honest about the state of the victim that's lying in front of us.

Listen to this. In 2018, abortion was the leading cause of death worldwide with 42 million victims. That is roughly seven holocausts in a single year. Last year, right at 900,000 babies were electively aborted in our country, which is more than the total amount of American casualties in both World Wars and the Vietnam War combined. I agree with my African-American friend, Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile who says, It is staggeringly clear that the largest scale injustice, the most morally outrageous thing happening in our society today, is the killing of children in the womb. Listen, are you committed to social justice? Do you want to defend the vulnerable?

Do you want to fight systemic injustice? There are few places where dire urgency meets such moral clarity and clear opportunity as with the cause of the protection of children in the womb. Now, I know a lot of people will say, Well, no, no, no, it's a lot more complex than that. The baby is a part of a woman's body and we need to respect her right to privacy and her sovereignty over her body. And I agree that the right to privacy over our bodies is precious. But here's the thing, that baby is not part of her body. That baby is intimately attached to her body for a period of time. Yes, but it's not part of her body. Listen, Thaddeus Williams, from whom?

I'm going to draw on a lot today. He says from the moment of conception, that baby has its own DNA, its own unique genetic code, its own unique heart, its own unique circulatory system, its own unique brain and more. If you're saying it is part of her body, does that mean she herself has two brains, two hearts, two hearts, four arms and four legs?

No, of course not. It's a separate person, even when intimately attached to her body. Scripture certainly presents the preborn child as its own person. The psalmist of Psalm 139 glories in the fact that in the womb God knew me by name as a person. And there I was fearfully and wonderfully designed for the purposes that God had for me.

I was knit together according to his plan and all my days and all his purpose for me was already written down in a book before my mom even knew she was pregnant. Somebody says, yeah, but it's still in my body. Yeah, but we all know that our rights over our bodies are not absolute as far as the law is concerned.

Prostitution is illegal in most states. And I don't know of anywhere in the U.S. that you can legally pour drugs into your body just because it's your body. Your rights to your body stop precisely at that place where they begin to affect somebody else's. And that's exactly what's happening to the preborn. People say, well, what about in the case of genetic disabilities? We shouldn't be bringing babies into the world with genetic disabilities whose lives are going to just be reduced to hardship and unhappiness. When people say that to me, I'm always like, well, first you should know that people with disabilities are vehemently opposed to that argument. In fact, there's not a single organization of disabled people in the world that I know of that is in favor of elective abortions of those who have disabilities. Second, you are making a false correlation. Hear me out. You're making a false correlation between genetic deformities and unhappiness.

Listen to this. No study, no study, I'm quoting this Baltimore study done in Baltimore. No study has found that handicapped persons are more likely than nonhandicapped persons to want to die or commit suicide. In fact, of the 200 consecutive suicides in Baltimore last year, none had been committed by people with congenital deformities. None. That means if you're trying to say that we should be able to abort those whom we know in advance are the most likely to be unhappy, it's not those with genetic deformities that you should start with.

They're on the happy end of the scale. I know some of you might be sitting there saying, well, okay, well, this sounds like a pretty eloquent defensive life and my mind's already, my mind's made up on that, but what's my responsibility? And that's a great question because the point of the Good Samaritan story is not that we merely think the right things, the point of the Good Samaritan story is that we do the right thing as well. And what I want to show you is that all of us, all of us have a role in that. So I want you to keep your finger on Luke 18 and I want you to flip back to Proverbs 31. Flip back to Proverbs 31 because this is a passage, listen to this, that Jesus would have been very familiar with and that would have profoundly shaped his own attitude toward justice.

You see, every Jewish boy was reared on the Proverbs and this section of Proverbs was one of the most well-known. And if you listen, you can hear echoes of Proverbs 31 in the Good Samaritan story because Jesus is taking what he learned in Proverbs 31 and he's applying it to a real life situation. Again, to quote my African-American pastor, he says that this passage is crucial in instructing us how to respond to the abortion crisis because it tells us first what God's requirement is.

Secondly, the scope of that requirement and then even how we learn that requirement. And so from that, I want to give you some concluding words and I've got a few couple for the followers of Jesus and then I've also got a word to those of you who may be sitting here filled with regret or fear or shame, wondering what you should do. So just hang on, Proverbs 31. The words of King Lemuel, a pronouncement that his mother taught him, speak up, verse 8, here's a pronouncement, speak up for those who have no voice, for the justice of all who are dispossessed. Speak up, judge righteously and defend the cause of the oppressed and the needy.

First, what is our responsibility? Verse 8, speak up, speak up for those who have no voice. What better description of the preborn could there be than those who have no voice? Nobody hears their screams as they're slain in the womb. We know they feel pain through microscopic cameras. We can see them flinch as they're injected with poison. We see their heart beat spike as they're killed, but we don't hear their voices. Some of them are old enough that if they were just six inches further out of the womb, we could hear their screams.

But because they're left in the womb when their life is taken, we don't hear them. And so that means that we are obligated to speak for them because they don't have a voice. Speak up is repeated twice.

Once in verse 8, once in verse 9. Speak up, the king says, speak up, say something. It's like the story with the good Samaritan, not speaking up in the face of injustice makes you guilty of complicity in that injustice.

Or it's like Martin Luther King Jr. said in regards to racial injustice. He said our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about the things that matter. Silence is support. Silence is complicity. So speak up. And let me just stop right here and say something. Some of you don't hear me say a lot.

I probably should say more. I want to ask you to seriously consider whether or not God might be leading some of you to take on the mantle of government leadership for causes like these. We need godly people in both political parties advocating for this.

Because it's like I said, this should not be a partisan issue, much like care for the refugee or respect for the immigrants should not be partisan issues. I don't care what your political party is, all Christians should be united in seeing the removal of this scourge from our land. Second, Proverbs 31 shows us the scope of that responsibility. Verse 8, speak up for the justice of, what's that word? All who are dispossessed.

All. I'm just going to go on record and tell you, if your love for the vulnerable is sincere, this is not going to be the only life issue that you care about. I say that because for some people, pro-life is like a moral club they use in the culture war, even as they ignore the sufferings and the needs of other vulnerable groups around them. And I say to you, your conviction is not sincere and that's shown by the disposition you take toward other people who are vulnerable around you. If you really care about the vulnerable, you will see you advocating for life everywhere.

The poor, the marginalized, the forgotten of all ages and all racists. Maybe most of all, you'll be brokenhearted about those around the world with no access to the gospel, if you're a Christian. Because the greatest tragedy in our world is people dying without the gospel.

And the greatest injustice in the world is the failure of the church to get the gospel to them. A real commitment to life is demonstrated by advocacy for the vulnerable from the womb to the tomb. But if I could just flip that for a second, don't tell me you're pro-life if you're apathetic about life in the womb. Just so you know, Christians have always been involved in ministry from the womb to the tomb. Sometimes I hear people say, well, you know, all you Christians really care about is the pre-born. Friend, that's just not true.

I'll give you a few examples. Since 1973, for every one abortion clinic in America, Christians have built three pregnancy centers. For every one, we built three pregnancy centers to assist women in crisis.

And there you'll find them buying groceries and helping set budgets and often financial assistance and counseling to help young mothers get housing or whatever else they need. Go into foster services and adoption agencies today, and there you will find the group represented most are pro-life Christians and their friends. Christians have built more hospitals around the world than any other single group. In fact, for a long time in sub-Saharan Africa, there was not a single hospital in the entire continent that had not been built by a Christian mission. So do not believe the tired trope that followers of Jesus only care about the pre-born.

It's just not true. And a lot of people use that to excuse the fact that they are virtually silent about the tragedy of abortion. It is hard to say that you are pro-life from the womb to the tomb if you're apathetic when the womb is a tomb. Third, how do we learn that responsibility?

I love this. Verse one, the words of King Lemuel, a pronouncement that his mama taught him. A commitment to preserve life and a commitment to protect the vulnerable is learned not from Fox News, not from some magazine you read. It's learned in the home. King Lemuel developed this passion from his mama.

That's where I learned it. Moms, your children should hear you talk about your responsibility and our responsibility to speak up for the vulnerable. And they're not going to learn that from hearing you yell at the news pundit on the TV screen. They're going to learn that from how you coach that older sibling to care for their weaker and more vulnerable younger sibling. And when that bigger sister sees that her younger sister is going for that one toy, that one toy that she decides that she wants and that she can get because she's bigger and so she can just take it from her, that's the place where you teach her about the sin in her heart and how Jesus wants her to be a young lady who looks out for the younger and the weaker. And that's the young lady who looks out for the younger and the weaker. Or dads, when your son comes home talking about how the unpopular kid was being picked on and you teach him that it's his responsibility to stand up for the weak, even if it cost him, even if he gets a bloody nose in the process, you teach him that he can't just walk on by. A culture of life is not fomented in the news media.

A culture is grown in the home. Now finally, I want to end this by giving a word to those of you who have sat there through this whole service with a pit in your stomach filled with regrets or guilt or shame or fear. Listen, I told you at the beginning, the center of Christianity is not a political condemnation of abortion.

The center of Christianity, its heart, is Jesus Christ dying and rising from the dead to save abortion-committing sinners like you and me. In one of the most remarkable passages in the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 6, the Apostle Paul describes the makeup of the membership of the early church. He starts listing out kinds of people, several categories, thieves, extortionists, abusers, the rebellious, the apathetic, the greedy, drunkards, drug addicts, slanderers, murderers. You can certainly add abortion, people who provide abortions, people who've gotten abortions, people who have been complicit in abortion.

You could add all those to that list. But then Paul ends that little description with the most glorious five or six words of Scripture. Paul lists them all and says, and such are some of you. Such were some of you.

In the makeup of that first church, there were a bunch of people whose identity had been that list. Such were some of you, but you now, he says, you're new. You're washed. You were sanctified. You were justified by the blood of Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Listen to me, young lady, your abortion does not define you. Thank God that in Christ, none of our sins define us anymore. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain. You are a beloved daughter or a son of God whose sin Jesus went to a cross to pay for. He has put your sin into the depths, the deepest depths of the deepest part of the sea, and he's put up a sign there like Corey Timboon used to say, put up a sign there in that deepest part of the deepest sea that says, no fishing allowed. What sin, he says, though your sins were a scarlet, I've made them as white as snow. Behold, I make all things new. This is the new reality he wants you to live in.

You cannot change the past. See, but you can become a protector and preserver of life right now. See, because of the cross, your sin is not the last word about you. Church, can you say amen to that? Because of the cross, your sin is not the last word about you. And because of the resurrection, your mistakes are not the last word on you either.

If any man or any woman is in Christ, they're a new creation. All things are passed away. They're in the grave.

Jesus buried them. All things are become new. Hey, listen, maybe you're 16 years old and you just found out that you're pregnant. And I know you're terrified. I know you are terrified.

Maybe the dad has already long gone and you're scared. If you're at one of our campuses this weekend, I want you to look around, look around this church. Just right now, look around. We're here.

Look around. There's 500 men at this church that are ready to be a part of this boy's life. We're ready to help you raise him. There's 500 ladies here who are going to step up and help you mother her.

We've got rooms in our houses you can stay in. These ladies are going to mother you as you mother that baby. They're going to shower you with so many gifts.

It's going to be awkward. I've seen it. We got you. We got you financially. We got you emotionally. We got you practically. We got you girl.

Relax. I'm going to tell you, when that kid turns 18 and that kid walks across that stage of graduating, there's going to be a bunch of us from this church that are there at that graduation cheering for him and calling his name and going, and the principal is going to have to call us down and tell us we got to show some respect for others, but we're not going to care. Because we're going to be part of his life with you. And if you can't help yourself, we're going to be part of his life with you.

And if you can't handle any of this, we'll find a family in this church to adopt that baby. We're not going to leave you. We're not going to leave you.

That man may have run away, but we're not because we serve a God who didn't run away from us. So see, don't be afraid. Listen to me. Don't be afraid. Have that baby. Have that baby. By God's grace, you can do this. You can. His grace is enough for you.

His grace is enough. Don't be afraid. If your dad involved in all this, tell her you will support her. Be a man. Don't shirk your responsibility to protect the vulnerable in your life. 64% of women who get abortion say they did so because they felt pressure. Don't be a not 64%. Have the courage to do it God's way.

Maybe that feels overwhelming to you and we're here to help you too. Y'all, a few years ago I preached on this and I said similar things to what I'm saying today. And unbeknownst to me, in our congregation that day sat a college-aged girl at our Chapel Hill campus who just learned she was pregnant. She was scheduled that afternoon to go in and have an abortion.

I didn't find this out then. I found out later that she said that my words that morning and the spirit of grace in our church convinced her to cancel that appointment. To choose life for her baby and put that baby up for adoption.

First I heard of this story was a year later when in my office Walt the family who had adopted this baby to show me how God had used this church and his word to save their new daughter's life. In fact I got a picture of when that happened. Listen I'm gonna get a lot of hate mail when I talk about this. Whenever I talk about it I get a lot of hate mail and I'm sure that will be true this weekend.

I'm gonna tell you right now that one picture makes all those hate letters evaporate into the wind for me. So speak up something. Speak up. Speak up for those who have no voice. Defend the cause of the needy and all the oppressed.

These are not games we are playing. People's lives depend on our voice and our action. The only thing that is necessary for the progress of evil in the world is for good people to do nothing. For people who understand righteousness and most of all for people who understand the gospel to just be silent and walk on by on the other side. Let the little children come to us because that's the kingdom of God. Choose Christ. Choose the way of Christ. Choose life.

Why don't you bow your heads if you would. Let me talk first to you mother who's scared. Hey can you ask God for strength? The Holy Spirit is ready right now.

He's ready. He's ready to fill you with strength if you're ready to do it his way. Maybe you've had an abortion in the past and you're like can my life ever, can it ever be right again?

It can. You can't change the past but Jesus can make it all new and he can set you on this new purpose he has for you. Confess that sin. Bring it to the throne of Jesus.

Let it be washed in his blood and embrace the new life God has for you. Some at church, are we ready to recommit ourselves? The loving, the vulnerable. Whether they live across the street or in the womb of the mother at the local high school, are we ready to commit ourselves? Can we say with Jesus, no let him come to me. Let him come to me because this is the kingdom of God. Choose life. We must have moral clarity when it comes to protecting unborn children.

We need a commitment to social justice, a commitment to defend the most vulnerable. Today Pastor J.D. Greer finished his plea for life here on Summit Life.

If you missed the beginning of this message, you can catch up free of charge at jdgreer.com. One of our goals is to equip everyone who listens to Summit Life to be disciple making disciples and developing healthy spiritual disciplines is an important part of that. If you're looking for ways to focus on spiritual disciplines this year like I am, then I'd encourage you to get our new set of 50 memory verse cards. The purpose of these cards is to help you grow deeper in your knowledge of the word of God this year.

This set of cards is similar in size to a deck of playing cards. If we don't focus on learning the Bible, we're going to focus on learning the Bible then what in the world are we doing? How can we be prepared for the trials of life? When Satan attacked Jesus, our Lord quoted scripture. What will you come up with when you're attacked? Jesus didn't try to outwit Satan even though he probably could have. Instead he did exactly what you and I can do. He used the words of God. When life cut Jesus, he bled God's word I want that for us too. Memorizing scripture gives us a great opportunity to share it with other believers and encourage them to live in obedience, fight temptation, renew their minds and conform more to the person of Christ. It encourages us to share with unbelievers better. We are urged in 1 Peter 3 15 to always be ready to give a defense for our hope in Christ and we should memorize scripture so we can walk unbelievers through the salvation message and then help them understand their sin and their need for a savior.

Speaking God's words instead of our own will give us confidence in sharing. You can keep these cards or share them with others and they're an inspiring reminder to your loved ones that God is always with them. This set of cards is perfect to use for memorization or to have around for daily encouragement and we'll send them to you as an expression of thanks when you donate today to support this ministry. Summit Life is funded by listeners like you so your gift truly makes a difference. Ask for the Rejoice Always scripture memory cards when you give a generous one-time donation or become a monthly gospel partner by calling 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220 or give online at jdgrier.com. I'm Molly Vitovich inviting you to join us tomorrow when Pastor JD invites us to view Jesus the way his original disciples did with overwhelming awe at his radical love because when we see this love of Jesus for us we will respond with radical surrender to him.

Our lives and the world will never be the same. So we'll see you right here on Tuesday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.