All posts by David Ude

Redeeming the Time

Colossians 4:5 “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.”

In the season of Epiphany we remember that Jesus is the light of the world. And the light once said “Work while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.” We often hear people encourage us to “seize the day” to live life while you can. Paul encourages us to “redeem” or “make the best use of” the time. And by that he means ‘Walk in wisdom towards outsiders.” That would be the wisdom we heard of in the sermon from 1 Cor. 1:18-31 yesterday – the Wisdom of the Cross. It is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those who believe. It is that which redeems us. And it is that which can redeem those who are outside the Church of Christ. It is that which can bring them in. Live then in wisdom towards them. Looking for opportunities to redeem the time by telling others how Christ has redeemed the world!

In Christ
Pastor Ude

But Nothing

“But Nothing”

I’m sure you’ve heard the buts. It’s inevitable. It’s not that hard to prove that Abortion is a moral evil. So what follows is the buts. “But what about cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger.” There are a large number of people who claim to be Pro-Life still say it’s ok to have an abortion in such cases. And of course the hardcore abortion activists paint anyone who opposes abortion in such cases as “dangerous extremists.” But consider:

Let’s take cases of rape and incest first. I suppose that there are a few reasons someone would bring these up. The first is that people often suppose the reason why someone shouldn’t have an abortion is because it was their own fault that they got pregnant to begin with. While this is a factor, it is not the reason. The reason people shouldn’t have abortion is because a child is a child. Life is precious. Obviously when someone has been raped, it’s not as if they are at fault for anything. They have been the victim of a terrible crime and they need love and compassion. But anyone who would therefore argue that it should be ok for them to have an abortion is clearly insane. Did the child rape someone? Liberals are often opposed to the death penalty because they think killing is wrong even when the person deserves it. But they’re ok with killing a baby because of something it’s father did? This makes no sense. Further, it’s not helpful to the mother. Violence isn’t going to help cure the scars of violence. That’s like saying “Oh hey, someone punched you in the gut? Here I’ll make that better by punching you again and harder.”

As a society we should have options, resources, and all the help there is to have available for those who find themselves in such a terrible position. But Abortion is not help. It’s murder.

The idea that abortion is ok in cases of incest is an even more untenable position. There was actually consent there! The only reason for this argument is something very akin to Hitler’s ideas about eugenics. Sadly that kind of logic is all too often acceptable in the abortion crowd. It is not uncommon for abortions to be sought for children who aren’t what their parents or society wants them to be – wrong gender, wrong genes, wrong disability. How very noble. How very helpful. Your baby has down syndrome? Abort it right? Your baby isn’t the gender you want? Why not abort it? Why don’t you just paste on a Hitler moustache while you’re at it.

Finally, when there are cases where it truly is a matter of life and death, it should be left to the couple and doctor. Those cases are few and rare. And I don’t mean where the mother might die. I mean where if the baby is not aborted the mother will die. Or if the mother might die and the baby certainly will. I can’t say what I would choose in that situation and it would be terribly difficult but in that situation and in that situation alone should abortion be allowed. Only because there you are left with the choice of one life or another.

In summary, let there be no buts, no rationalizations, no excuses, after all Christ made none when He obeyed His Father’s will even unto death.

“My Body, My Choice” – Is it Though?

“My body, my choice.” It’s what a group of radical pro-abortion activists shouted at a group of pro-life women the other day. It’s a phrase you’ve undoubtedly heard because it’s kind of the bread and butter/meat and potatoes/be-all-end-all of pro-abortion arguments. For a lot of people it seems to settle the question. They think, “hey I don’t want anyone to think that I’m so mean as to tell other people what to do with their own body, so I guess they’re right.” See, this phrase speaks into the American cultural catch-basin of “freedom.”

But there are two big problems with this argument. The first is scriptural and the second both scriptural and scientific.

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to a group of Christians who were saying basically the exact same thing in regard to sexual sins. They were bragging about their “Christian liberty” and how it meant they were free to do whatever they want including using their bodies for sexual immorality. Paul writes “You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor. 6:18).

I wouldn’t expect an unbeliever to understand or accept this because unbelief is by nature completely self-centered. But a Christian should know better. Even though the Christian still has a sinful nature which is totally bent in on itself, the Christian who does not know that nothing they have really belongs to them has not understood any part of Christian doctrine. The ten commandments teach us how we should use all we are for God and for our neighbor. The creed teaches us how the Father created us, how the Son bought us with His blood, how the Spirit sanctifies us. The whole catechism parades before us this constant theme “You are not your own. You were bought at a price.” For the Christian therefore, the argument “my body, my choice” is illegitimate from the get-go. It’s not your body. It’s not up to you to decide what is best. It’s up to God. Because only He knows. And only He can be trusted to care for you and love you. Only He died to redeem you, body and soul, from sin death and hell. Why would you listen to the lies of men and women who do not know what is best for you, who could not, just because they have a catchy phrase that you feel, somewhere deep down in your freedomy place, is good?

The second reason is both scriptural and scientific, and also…just a duh. That baby is not your body. It is, to be sure, in your body. But that is not the same thing. Luke Skywalker once slept inside the guts of some weird alien creature, but he was not the weird alien creature. Duh. That baby has different genes than you do. A different brain. Different dreams. Different fingerprints. A different soul. Different everything. Every time that someone screams “my body, my choice” they are adamantly denying that exact right to the child inside them.

That’s science. That’s common sense. It’s also scriptural because Scripture clearly teaches (Psalm 139:13) that the child in the womb is a person. It clearly teaches in the second table of the law that our lives, our bodies, our energy, our voices should be given to the service of our neighbor. “And who is my neighbor?” Anyone who is near to you. Anyone who needs your help. Is there anyone who needs your help more than the baby in the womb? Is there anyone nearer to you? That’s not your body in there. It’s your baby’s body. It’s your neighbor’s body. And that body, like your own, was bought with the inestimable cost of the holy precious blood of Christ. Do you really think it’s ok to kill it?

58 Million

Since Roe V. Wade 58 million babies have been aborted. That’s more than double the population of Texas. 58 million people whose birth cry was never heard. 58 million little hands which would never grab a finger.

It is unbelievable to me, and should be unfathomable to every Christian, that there are Christians who support abortion. Here are some of the ones that do. And I am including here any “Christian” church that does not explicitly denounce abortion. Anything less than that is wrong and evil. The ELCA, the largest Lutheran church body in America, as a synod supports abortion. The American Baptist Churches association. The Episcopal Church. The Presbyterian Church USA. The United Church of Christ. United Methodist Church. And others (information from http://www.pewforum.org/…/religious-groups-official-positi…/)

These churches should be ashamed. No matter what argument they put forward, anyone who claims to be a Christian is claiming to believe what the Bible teaches (and if you don’t agree to that, just give up the charade of the name “Christianity”). The Bible is clear “Thou shalt not kill.” Just think what would have happened if Mary (young girl, alone, possibly going to lose her husband) had decided to have an abortion. Psalm 139:13 as well as John jumping in his mother’s womb (Lk 1:41-44) that the baby in the womb is a person in the exact same sense as any other person. They are loved and valued by God. So much that He sent His Son to die for them and redeem them from sin, death, and the devil.

Any Christian Church which refuses to state this openly is not worthy of the name of Christ. They have no right to claim His blessing, to do His Work, to preach His Word, to administer His sacraments. What Christ requires of His Church, and of His pastors is faithfulness. It doesn’t mean perfection. We are all sinners. He requires faithfulness to His Word and not to the whims and “wisdom” of society. Abortion has killed 58 million precious souls since 1973. In God’s book, that is just plain wrong.

Isaiah 41:15-16

Isaiah 41:15-16, ” Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff; 16 you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the LORD; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.”

Everyone loves it when the little guy wins right? Everyone loves an underdog story. The greatest one ever is the story of the Church.

The hills and the mountains which Isaiah refers to here are the nations of the world. Compared to tiny Israel, they were huge. You think of the massive empires that existed at this time – Assyria, Babylon, then the Medo-Persians, and finally the Roman. Now as we consider this promise God made, it’s important to keep something in mind. You might well consider the destruction of Sennacherib to be an example of this, except that has already happened. And if you look at Israel’s history after this point, no one can really say that they crushed any of those empires. Not in a physical way. But God’s Spirit is not talking about the physical nation of Israel. He is talking about a Spiritual estate. He is talking about God’s Church. The Kingdom of God which Daniel would later foretell as crushing all the Kingdoms of the world. For one would come from God’s people who, during the time of what many consider the greatest empire ever, would establish a Kingdom that would never end. Jesus Christ, His Kingdom, and His Church this is what is being foretold. He is the one who winnows the nations. His church, though a little flock, cannot be overcome by all the powers of this world. For the Church is built on the rock of Jesus Christ crucified and the gates of hell cannot and shall not prevail against it!

In Christ
Pastor Ude