Gospel Prism

I received this sermon from Desiring God yesterday by John Piper entitled, “When Abortion Is Racism.” The sermon alone gave much food for thought. Thinking about abortion in light of the Gospel was also a compelling idea. JP wrote:

Before we go further into abortion and race, let’s look at our text and put this issue in the context of the Christian gospel. In Ephesians 5:6, Paul writes, “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.� “These things� refers back to verse 5: “You may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.� So the really great issue of the universe is described: People may enter the kingdom of Christ, or people may endure the wrath of God. The great issue of life is: How shall I escape the wrath of God and enter into the eternal life of Christ’s kingdom?

The answer has been fully presented in the first three chapters of Ephesians, and a summary is right here in Ephesians 4:32-5:2. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. [1] Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [2] And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.� So put 5:2 together with verse 4:32. Verse 2: “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.� In other words, Christ died for sinners—people who need forgiveness. Women in this room who have had abortions. Boyfriends, husbands, fathers, mothers, grandmothers who condoned or even demanded it. Doctors who urged it or performed it. And all the rest of us sinners in this room who will perish under the wrath of God (v. 6) if we reject God’s substitute for us, Jesus Christ.

Christ died for sinners—that’s what the phrase “gave himself up for us� means in verse 2. And then in 4:32, he says, “God in Christ forgave you.� The aim of his giving himself up for us was to forgive us. If we receive Christ as our only hope and guide and treasure, if we are “in him� by faith, then God’s forgiveness is ours. “God in Christ forgave you.� That means that we may escape the wrath that is coming and enter into the kingdom of Christ. O that every sinner in this room would hear this and believe this and feel this. Only in Jesus Christ is there salvation from the guilt of sin and the wrath of God. And that salvation is available for every abortionist and everyone involved in abortion at every level. There is nothing too hard for God.

Oh boy, to think that there is forgiveness for the darkness of sins is so much to dwell on. It again leaves us all amazed by the cross. But even more than JP’s words, I was struck by a website he directed readers to, www.blackgenocide.org. Go there, and you will find the thoughts of Pastor Childress and Pastor Hunter who believe that abortions are targeted against African-Americans. Sadly, the African-American community as a whole have seemingly deemed pro-life as a “white” issue, even though most Africa-Americans are pro-life. The site states:

Most polls indicate that the majority of African Americans favor a pro-life position. However, very few African Americans have become involved in pro-life activism primarily because of misinformation which has come from the pro-abortion proponents. the lack of pertinent information about the impact of abortion in the African American community, and the failure of high profile leadership within our ethnicity to share the pro-life message has compounded the problem. The clergy is the primary source of leadership and direction within the African American culture.

They add this as a reason for the lack of African-American concern for abortion:

The plans for promoting eugenics and the genocide of African Americans are well documented, but are virtually unknown in Black America. The early seduction of Black Americans by the Birth Control League and Margaret Sanger’s birth control programs have set into motion today’s dilemma which has undermined African America into its position of apathy in pro-life activism. The efforts to continue the plans for eugenics and genocide have become more sophisticated and have expanded to achieve a global impact.

I am thankful to the Lord for the faithful ministries of these two pastors who have set out to bring clarity to the African-American church on this issue. I know that for Asians, abortion has been relatively a non-issue. I don’t know the stats, but I do know Asians who have had abortions. And the shame is so great, that no one talks about it at all. It is as if to not talk about it is to hope that it never happened. But the reality is, that person must live with it all their lives. Oh how the Lord is grieved by the millions of children cast away to a doctor’s scalpel all because of inconvenience. And oh how God’s great love can still forgive the repentant aborter because of the cross. We simply need to get the message of the Gospel out there for people to forgo abortions and to receive healing from past abortions.