For Those Yet Unborn Psalm 22:30-31

 

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God, our Father and Creator, and Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.

 

The title of our message today is, For Those Yet Unborn, based on Psalm 22:30-31, a prophesy about the Messiah: Posterity shall serve Him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn,that He has done it. 

 

On Christmas morning, all God’s angels rejoiced, because God did what He said He would do in the fullness of time, He sent His only Son to win back life for the world. 

 

Likewise on Easter morning, how the angels must have rejoiced, all Heaven exclaiming, “He did it.” 

 

Jesus did what seemed impossible; He defeated what seemed invincible -- sin, death, the devil, and all evil. 

 

And so every Christmas, and every Easter, and every Sunday in between, we rejoice together, because Jesus has done it for us: He has won life for us, now on earth, and forever thereafter.

 

And so our Psalm is proven true: Posterity shall serve Him… future generations will live and love and serve the Lord with joy…

 

…it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation… as our parents and their generation told us the good news of life in Christ, so we share it with our children, and their generation…

 

… they shall come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn…generations not yet born, they, too, through the faithful witness of the  generations before them, will hear how Jesus has done it, has won life for them, that they might believe and receive the gift…

… and then share the message with yet the next generation… that He has done it. Jesus has won life and salvation for all generations on earth. 

 

Because He has done it, and won it, present and eternal life for us, we carry on with this message of new and lasting life in Christ.

 

We carry on for today’s generation, and for the generations yet to come, For Those Yet Unborn!

 

Because human life is sacred to God, because He created us in His own image, and therefore is so deeply connected to us, because He loves us so dearly, and values our lives so immensely… when we fell into sin, rather than discarding our lives, He chose to redeem and reclaim our lives.

 

By His great love, through His Son, who sacrificed His life for ours, God showed how much the life of each and every one of His created children means to Him.

 

By dying for all humanity, Jesus showed that every human life is sacred.

 

Even though it greatly inconvenienced Him to save us, even though it  required His bitter suffering and death, still, Jesus chose life for us; He chose, not to discard us, but to redeem us.

 

If He didn’t discard our lives, then we have no right to discard life, even if that life is an inconvenience or a burden to us. 

 

Jesus’ death for all people on the cross, proves that the lives of all are sacred to Him, and ought to be sacred to us, too. 

 

And that’s why we work to keep and preserve and care for life -- to love, serve and help all the living, all people… including preborn babies.

 

Today, we celebrate life, God’s sacred gift for us enjoy, protect and keep.

 

On this very day, January 22, 50 years ago, 1973, the Supreme Court of our land, made a decision in Roe vs, Wade, that stripped pre-born babies of the most basic of human rights, the right to live. 

 

Thanks be to God, on June 24th of last year, that unjust, unconstitutional law was overturned.

 

But legalized abortion was not overturned; it was returned to the states for them to decide. 

 

So our work is not done -- in love and truth, we still and tirelessly, advocate for life. 

 

Sadly, some don’t realize, or just won’t admit, what a sacred gift life is, for both the born and the pre-born.

 

Last summer, when pro-choice advocates were demonstrating at the Supreme Court, I saw one lady who looked to be, 8, maybe 9 months pregnant; and she wore a T-shirt, with a large arrow pointing down to her unborn baby; and above the arrow it read: NOT HUMAN.  

 

Not recognizing pre-born babies as human, considering them to be somehow less than human, is not only irrational, it also defies and disregards biological science.

 

If preborn babies aren’t human life, what kind of life are they? 

 

They’re alive, because they’re growing, and their biological mother and father are human, so the baby has human DNA, and so it follows the baby should have the same basic, constitutional right to live, that the baby’s parents have.

 

How utterly unreasonable, how ridiculous of any law to consider a mother’s and father’s baby as somehow less human than they are, and therefore not legally, constitutionally protected. That’s absurd.

But sadly, and embarrassingly, that was the law of our land for almost 50 years, and still is the law of the land in many states. 

 

Since Roe v. Wade has been overturned, some states have passed laws to make abortion generally illegal, with certain medical exceptions.

 

Other states allow abortion up to a certain number of months or weeks.

 

And some states have no restrictions, allowing for a baby to be aborted up to the moment of birth. 

 

A few days ago, pastors and others received an email from our Minnesota South District Office, from Pastor Fred Hinz, who is our district liaison to the Minnesota legislature, and his email read: 

 

“The ‘PRO Act’, which will effectively legalize abortion until the moment of live birth in Minnesota, will be taken up for vote on the Minnesota House floor on January 19th ”, that was Thursday. 

 

It passed. Now, if it passes in the Senate, and the Governor signs, it will be the law of our state to be able to legally abort a preborn baby, up to the moment of the baby’s birth.  

 

I can’t imagine many actually doing it; but even having on it the books, having a law that allows for such a brutal act of violence against a helpless, little baby, is horrifying.  

 

So we clearly see that our work and advocacy for those not yet born, is not yet done; in fact, it’s more urgent than ever!

 

Let us continue to be a voice for those who have no voice; let us continue to stand up for and defend, the powerless or less powerful… 

 

… the pre-born, the hurting and ill and disabled… the poor and hungry and homeless and helpless… 

… the abused and persecuted, the neglected and forgotten and ignored and taken advantage of… 

 

… let us gladly serve, and help, and care for, and advocate for them through the mission, and charity, and the voice of the Church.

 

And in response to Jesus’ promise in Matthew 25:40: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these, my brothers, you did for me.’

 

Each preborn child we boldly speak out for; each mother, and father, and family, each person in need whom we help and serve and care for, in each one, we are personally serving our Lord, who in love gave His life for us, that we might have life and love to share with others.

 

For all who have made wrong choices about the sanctity of life, there is abundant mercy in Jesus. 

 

In some ways, we’ve all failed to honor and respect life as we should.

 

As we repent and believe, God forgives and restores us completely; there’s no longer any judgment whatsoever for our past sins and wrong beliefs and practices, just a present grace, and a future glory. 

 

So in this contemporary and supposedly sophisticated world, which ironically, so often devalues the precious gift of life, let us not be discouraged, but confidently, compassionately, and diligently, work for the good, and the care, and the benefit of all, boldly proclaiming the sanctity, the redemption, the healing, the restoring, the celebrating, and the keeping of life in Christ. 

 

And as we care for and advocate for life, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our Lord and our source of life forever! Amen.