PARSONS: In Deuteronomy 10 the Lord speaks about widows and orphans and the sojourner
just like James in James chapter 1 and verse 27 says, "Religion that is pure and undefiled
before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep
oneself unstained from the world."
Now, the word "religion" has fallen on hard times in recent decades, and I am not going
to go into all of that this evening.
But fundamentally, there are two different words in the New Testament used for religion.
Paul uses the word "religion" sometimes, and it could easily be translated "superstitions,"
the inventions and the created philosophies and religiosities of man.
But here the word that James uses is a very good word and an appropriate word, and it
is why our forefathers throughout all of history have been very comfortable using the word
"religion," because religion here, as James uses it, has to do with actions or deeds that
are done on a habitual or ritualistic sort of basis that is all in keeping with our worship
and service to the Lord.
You see, Christianity is a faith established on a relationship in Jesus Christ, and that
relationship that we have with Christ by faith and faith alone blossoms into an all-encompassing,
all of life religion.
You see, relationship and religion are not extremes.
They are not two ends of the spectrum.
They are not mutually exclusive, rather the relationship that we have with Christ blossoms
and blooms into an all-encompassing life religion that leads us to good deeds and caring for
those who are truly in need.
And it is Paul in Galatians 6 in verses 9 and 10 when he says, "Do not grow weary in
doing good, for in due season you will reap, if we do not give up.
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone;" similar to what Peter says
in 1 Peter.
"Honor everyone."
Even "Honor the king," he says.
Do you honor those men and women?
It doesn't mean you agree with them.
It doesn't mean you don't vote against them.
It doesn't mean you don't pray against them.
But the Bible calls us to show honor to those that God has appointed as authorities over
us.
It doesn't mean some of them shouldn’t be criminally charged, but they should be dealt
with justly.
But Paul says, "Do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith."
You see Jesus in Luke chapter 10 tell us the story, the parable of the Good Samaritan.
We all know that story I trust, and it is a beautiful story.
And He is really answering the question if you recall, "Who is my neighbor?"
And Jesus tells them a story about a good Samaritan.
And the Jews despised the Samaritans and the Samaritans despised the Jews.
But it was a Samaritan who stopped by and helped him, didn't just help, didn't just
do lowest common denominator help.
He actually was generous and cared for that man that was hurt by the side of the road,
beyond what he needed to.
In Matthew 25, and you can turn there with me.
Verses 31 and following, Jesus says, "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all
the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne.
Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on His left.
Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger
and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in
prison and you came to Me.'"
Verse 37, "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry
and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?
And when did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You?
And when did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?'
And the King will answer him, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least
of these my brothers, you did it to me.'"
Dearly beloved, this isn't novel, this isn't new.
This is something that the early church apologists defended the church against their persecutors,
that Calvin and the Reformers defended themselves and the persecuted Protestants saying, "Look
at our behavior.
Look at what we do.
Look at the good that we do.
We rescue babies.
We care for the sick.
We give alms to the poor.
We work hard with our hands so that we might lead quiet and peaceable lives.
Calvin said, "Look at your subjects.
Look at how good they are and what they do."
Christians are to be a good people.
We are to be a people who do good things for others.
Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5 very plainly, "You are the light of the world.
You are the salt of the earth.
Do your good deeds, your good works, before men so that they might see your good deeds
and glorify your Father in heaven."
But in Matthew 6:1 he warns them, "Don't do your good deeds in order to be seen by men.
Then you will have no reward."
We don't want to be like the hypocrites, the Pharisees, who did their works in public in
order to be seen by men.
No, but we are to be a people who do good and shine as a light to the world, but we
must understand that in all the good that we do, and all the good works that we do,
and all those that we care for, the widows and the orphans, and all the good that we
do, ultimately, society and the world is not transformed by our good deeds, but only by
the gospel.
Our good deeds are an expression of our resting in the good news and the gospel of Jesus Christ,
as we look to the One who did the good deeds, who fulfilled all the righteous demands of
the law of God, so that we might through His substitutionary life and death might have
life abundant, and in that life abundant we are able to care for the least of these.
And in doing so, in one sense, we are giving glory to Christ.
But in our country, we slaughter the least of these.
I know, I have known many dear ladies, and I know that there are very likely some here,
who still to this day experience the pain and even the shame of abortion.
I know that there are men here who forced their ladies to have an abortion.
And I am truly sad for the pain that you feel, knowing that you have hope and you have forgiveness
through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and I know how hard it is for some of you,
as much as you have told me, as much as I can possibly understand, which I know I can't.
And we, as God's people, must not cease being angry and demonstrating with our mouths and
our pocketbooks real and sustained outrage at the barbaric, heinous onslaught of children
in what used to be the safest place in the world; the soft, warm, protective womb of
the mother has now become the greatest war zone in the world.
At the base of the Statue of Liberty is a plaque, a portion of a sonnet written by Emma
Lazarus and her sonnet, The New Colossus.
You know the words.
"Give me your tired, your weak, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
If you ask those babies in the womb, all they want is to be able to breathe free.
If you look closely at the Statue of Liberty through the lens of the dignity of human beings
and the sanctity of life that God commends to us in His Word, you will not only see the
torch that the Lady of Liberty is holding in her right hand, but you will see a knife
in her left hand, a knife that is killing thousands of children each and every day.
From the time this talk began to this moment, more than six thousand children around the
world have been mutilated.
We must not grow accustomed to what has become acceptable in our culture, and the world might
think that we are a bunch of crazy nuts, yet we to the day we die must and always fight
for the rights of the most defenseless people in our country, these little babies, who just
want to breathe free.
But, dearly beloved, the goal is not just that we would rescue them from those who are
inconvenienced by their children through state-sanctioned murder, but that they would come and breathe
and that we would go to them.
And we tell them the only thing that will give them true life, that they might be with
us one day in heaven singing the praises of God and saying, "Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic
is Your name in all the earth!"