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Abortion or Adoption

Choosing life and God’s plan.

Introduction

In today’s Gospel we have Jesus reading scripture to the people and telling them good news. And they loved it and they loved him. In fact, Luke 4:22 says, “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.”

Then he went on and pointed out some cold hard truths to them and they changed their tune. “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff” (Luke 4:28-29).

That was a fast turnaround. I’m afraid that even today, God’s message to us isn’t always well received. In fact, sometimes it’s met with great hostility. But the fact of the matter is, God’s Word is still the truth, no matter what anyone feels about it.

And yes, there are times when the most loving thing to do, is to tell someone something they don’t want to hear. I know, it’s uncomfortable doing that. Who wants to be rejected or unpopular on purpose?

It can even be hard for preachers. They don’t want to alienate their congregation. They love their members. They worry about diminishing numbers and try hard not to lose members. The last thing they want to do is run someone off.

So sometimes they play it safe and dance around touchy subjects. Sometimes they take that too far and fail to preach the truth, instead playing the politically correct card. They preach what they think the people want to hear. “… for they loved human praise more than praise from God” (John 12:43).

Having said that, I’m now going to talk on a sensitive subject this morning. You’re welcome to call me and we can talk about it. But for sure, please listen to my whole message before jumping to a judgement. It’s really about love, not judgement that I’m sharing this with you.

(Read Psalm 139:13-16)

Context

Today is National Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. President Ronald Reagan issued a presidential proclamation on January 13, 1984, designating Sunday, January 22, 1984 as National Sanctity of Human Life Day, noting that it was the 11th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, in which the Supreme Court issued a ruling that guaranteed women access to abortion.

President Reagan was a strong pro-life advocate who said that in Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court "struck down our laws protecting the lives of unborn children." He issued the proclamation annually thereafter, designating Sanctity of Human Life Day to be the closest Sunday to the original January 22 date.

Some presidents since then have continued to proclaim this day. Some have chosen to ignore it. Abortions have become a political hill to die on

In the 2024 Elections, Planned Parenthood committed $40 million to those elections (that, in itself should tell you something). Actress Michelle Williams, in accepting her Golden Globe award in 2020 openly credited her abortion as part of the reason she received the award and urged people to “thank God or whomever you pray to” for the right to do so also. Very telling is her statement, and I’ll quote it exactly: “When it is time to vote, please do so in your own self-interest.”

The One World Trade Center was lit up pink in 2019 to celebrate the passage of a bill by the New York state legislature that legalized abortion through the ninth month of pregnancy. Let me read this quote to you from their governor: “The Reproductive Health Act is a historic victory for New Yorkers and for our progressive values.” Governor Cuomo went on to say “I am directing that New York’s landmarks be lit in pink to celebrate this achievement and shine a bright light forward for the rest of the nation to follow.”

I’m afraid he and I have different values that we celebrate and different lights that we want to shine. So I’m going to tell you a few stories that are real

In the early 1940’s a young girl living in the poor part of Los Angeles got pregnant. She got a back alley abortion and almost died from it. She was hospitalized and under medical care for a couple years because of it. She could never get pregnant after that.

In the 1950’s a young girl in San Diego got pregnant. She was not married and not even in a relationship with the father of the baby and had no way of raising this child.

In the 1980’s another young single girl got pregnant by her boyfriend. She was very young and still had school to finish and was in no position to raise a child.

Skip forward to the 1990’s and there were another couple of young kids that had a fling and the girl wound up pregnant. The girl didn’t even have a stable place to live as she was sleeping on a friend’s sofa. How could she even think about raising a baby?

Finally in 2017, a young homeless girl living in the riverbed that we minister to found herself pregnant. Unmarried, with not even a place to live, much less raise a child, what was she supposed to do?

These are all true stories. They’re not made up to illustrate anything. They actually happened.

Some of you might be asking why I would you tell you about these stories of babies being aborted? They’re only a few of the 66,000,000 plus babies that were aborted since Roe vs. Wade in just the US and some of them were before that.

Let me tell you a little bit more about these incidents.

The pregnant young girl in the 1990’s actually didn’t have an abortion. She carried the baby full term and put the young boy up for adoption. He grew up to be a fine young man. He was an excellent athlete, named MVP of the year for LaSalle High School’s soccer team. He went on to play for the NCAA #1 ranked in the nation junior college on a full ride scholarship. From there he played for colleges in Seattle and Chicago, earning MVP awards and All Northwest Region Player award for all the colleges. He graduated college and is furthering the kingdom of God with a blog and website named Visuals Of Christ. He is my son.

What about the young girl in the 1980’s? She didn’t have an abortion either. She carried her baby full term and put her little girl up for adoption also. That girl grew up to be a fine young lady herself. She is now mother of her own with a seven year old son, and a neonatal intensive care unit nurse at Los Angeles County Hospital saving babies lives. She too knows Christ and loves the Lord. She is my daughter.

Going back to the pregnant young girl in the 1950’s. What happened there? She too carried the baby full term and gave the baby boy up for adoption. He was adopted by a couple not far from here, in San Gabriel and had a wonderful life growing up. He was loved very much by that couple. He grew up and loves the Lord and God has used him to further the kingdom. In fact, he’s now preaching at a Lutheran church … in Monrovia, Ca … today … you’re looking at him this morning. Yes, what the world would call an illegitimate child, is your pastor.

God Had Other Plans

What could have been just another abortion, God had other plans for. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord” (Jer. 29:11). I live by that scripture. I’m here this morning by God’s plan.

Remember what Psalm 139: 16 says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
” He had a plan for me, and he had a plan for the two children I adopted. And he knew it all along, even before we were born. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.”

Now some might say I have no understanding of women’s “health” issues. It’s true that I’m not a woman. But regarding these new laws for abortion, it’s important to note that the term “health” doesn’t necessarily have to mean a woman’s physical state, but can be subjectively expanded by her physician to include her mental or emotional health.

Let’s get real and admit that in most cases this is really a convenience issue. Or some might say I have no compassion and I would have us go back to the time of back alley abortions. In fact, I did mention one of those at the beginning of my message, didn’t I?

The girl from the poor part of Los Angeles that almost died. Well that young girl grew up and would be the one to adopt me and be my Mom.

Genesis 50:20 says,You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” There is mercy and grace and forgiveness for those of you who have had an abortion. God loves you. Jesus died on that Cross for you.

Oh, I almost forgot about the homeless girl in the riverbed that I mentioned earlier. Of course, the most expedient thing for her to do would be to have an abortion. In fact, one couldn’t imagine her carrying a baby full term, living in the dirt, camping in some bushes. But, thanks to God and our ministry to her and the other people living there, we have a relationship where I could talk to her and she would trust me.

She didn’t have an abortion. She carried that baby full term in the riverbed, gave birth to a little girl, and gave that girl up for adoption to a family that couldn’t have children of their own. That baby girl turned two-years-old last month. Let me introduce you to Angel.

It’s interesting how you can change just two letters of a word and it can change everything. Abortion. Adoption.

Conclusion

I’d like to refer back to these words from Ephesians 1:4-5, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ.” The Creator of the universe is also the Creator of each and every one of us. Nobody is a mistake. Every life has value. Every life can make a difference in the world. God wants us all to have life. Not only physical life but spiritual and eternal life.

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