Note from the SOLA Network: In light of the upcoming election, SOLA Network presents a sermon from Pastor Owen Lee on the topic of abortion. Pastor Owen serves as the senior pastor of Christ Central Presbyterian Church in Centreville, and he is a SOLA Council member. We hope this sermon will help you to have a more biblical understanding of this topic. (This sermon was originally preached on July 10, 2022.)
You can watch the sermon below, or on our YouTube Page. You can also listen to it via Podcasts. We have also provided a transcript of the sermon below. Please note that it may contain spelling and grammatical errors.
Well, today I want to address a significant event that happened last month. On June 24, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That historic decision ended the nation’s Constitutional right to abortion, which has been in effect for nearly 50 years.
Now, I know that this is a very sensitive, and a very emotionally charged topic for many, if not all of us. Whether you’re more progressive or more conservative in your political leanings, I’m sure that this is a very important issue to you. If you are more conservative, then this is a sanctity of life issue. For you, this is a justice issue for the most vulnerable among us. It’s about protecting the lives of helpless and defenseless babies in the womb.
And if you are more progressive, then this is a women’s health issue, and this is also a justice issue for you. It’s about protecting women’s health and women’s rights. And both of these issues are extremely important because both the lives of preborn babies in the womb and the health and the rights of the mothers who bear them are extremely important. And that makes this issue a very complex and difficult one.
The Difficulty of this Topic
Let me begin by saying that I approach today’s sermon with a great deal of fear and trepidation. First, I know that I will probably offend both ways. I will offend both my friends on my right and my friends to my left. To some I will have said too much today, and to others, I will not have said enough. To those of you who are more conservative, I will sound way too liberal. For those of you who are more liberal, I will probably sound way too conservative.
A member of our church and a friend said to me last week, “You must be a glutton for pain for preaching on this topic publicly from the pulpit.” And secondly, and more importantly, I speak with fear and trepidation today because I know what I am not. I am not a woman. You see the issue of abortion impacts women in a way that it simply does not impact men.
I am aware enough to know that I cannot possibly know or understand all the factors and complexities and emotions that women think and feel when it comes to this issue. You see, just as a White person cannot possibly understand all the things that racial minorities face, struggle with, and are burdened by as they live here in America, so I as a man cannot possibly understand all of the things that women face and struggle with and are burdened by as they live here in America. So I approached this sermon with a lot of fear.
Honestly, I haven’t been this anxious about a sermon in a long, long time. I’ve been doing this for a long time. And contrary to what you may think, I do not enjoy speaking on controversial topics thus making myself a target for criticism. I don’t enjoy that. So why am I addressing this controversial issue from the pulpit? Why don’t I just ignore it, let it pass and hope that someone else talks about it? Well, it’s because I believe that this is my pastoral duty and responsibility to equip our church family to think about this very important issue from a biblical and Christian point of view.
You see, this is a very important discipleship moment for our church family at this time. Now, whether you know it or not, you are already being discipled on this issue by various voices, voices from the right, and voices from the left. But we as Christians need to be discipled by another voice, a voice from above—the voice of God, which comes from the word of God.
You see, as Christians, it is woefully insufficient for us to think about this issue merely as a conservative or merely as a progressive. We must think about this issue as Christians, and we must be committed to thinking about this biblically, and in a Christian way. Amen. Can I hear an amen? Amen.
And as your pastor who loves you, what I want most for you is this: that your minds would be renewed and transformed by the truth of God’s word. And that’s why I’m speaking on this issue from the pulpit. Frankly, I feel very unqualified to talk about this topic. And yet also at the same time, I feel compelled to speak on this issue and to do my very best to help you follow Jesus and honor Jesus when it comes to this issue.
The Word
Let’s begin by hearing from the voice from above, hearing from the Word of God from a few passages. Genesis 1:27 says this: “So God created man in His own image and the image of God He created him, male and female, He created them.” And Psalm 139, the psalmist wrote about how God formed and knew him while he was yet in his mother’s womb. It says this, “For you formed my inward part, you knitted me together in my mother’s womb, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, my soul knows that very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven into depths of the earth. Your eye saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” And Colossians 3:12-14 says, “Put on then, as God’s Chosen Ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” And in Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus gave us the great commandment. “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And with all your mind, this is the first and great commandment and a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” This is the word of the Lord. Amen.
I’m going to structure my sermon today around two main questions. The first question is, what happened and what does it mean? Second question: How should Christians respond? How should Christians think and feel and do in this significant cultural moment?
What Happened? And What Does it Mean?
Well on June 24, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling that effectively overturned Roe vs. Wade. That ruling ended the nation’s constitutional right to abortion, which has been in effect for nearly 50 years. The Court issued its ruling in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and that decision states the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey are overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.
Now this ruling does not mean that abortion has now ended in America—doesn’t mean that what it does mean is that each state will now get to decide its own laws, regulations, and policies when it comes to abortion. And as of now, it seems about half of the states are going to continue to offer unfettered access to abortion while the other half of the states are ready to eliminate or to significantly decrease or restrict access to abortions.
How Should Christians Respond?
So, how should Christians respond to this? What are we as Christians to think, to feel, and to do? Well, I believe that we as Christians to do should do at least three things. First, we ought to celebrate. Second, we ought to be compassionate. And third, we ought to work to be pro-life in a holistic way.
We Ought To Celebrate
Since Roe v Wade in 1973, more than 60 million preborn babies have been aborted. Sixty million is a staggering number. It’s a number that the human mind cannot fully comprehend or fathom. I want you to think about this. There could be 60 million people alive today if they were not aborted. Abortion is the systematic and brutal murder and destruction of preborn babies inside the womb. And in our generation it was and it is the greatest injustice in America.
And I believe and I pray that there will come a day when future generations will look back at our generation in shock and disgust at our legal practice of abortion the way we look back in shock and disgust at the time in our country’s history when we practiced legal race-based chattel slavery. So we ought to celebrate the US Supreme Court’s decision as this decision will allow states to protect millions of vulnerable preborn babies in the womb.
Now, let me say this: But our celebration must not have the tone or the tenor of gloating or chest-beating. Let’s rub it in the face of the Democrats, let’s rub it in the face of the liberals, type of victory celebration—no, not at all. Rather, it ought to be a humble and grateful celebration—not because you won but because preborn lives will be protected from abortion. Going forward into the future, we should pause and praise God for His sovereignty and His mercy in this decision.
Walter Kim, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said this: “God is the author of life, and every human life from conception to death has inestimable worth. Under Roe v Wade, our ability to consider policies that safeguard life at the most vulnerable stage was severely limited. While the Dobbs decision doesn’t resolve all the questions on abortion policy, it does remove an impediment to considering pro-life concerns.” And church this is worth celebrating as we can now work toward laws and policies that will protect preborn lives, at least at the state level.
You see as Christians our dedication and our commitment to preborn lives is firmly rooted in the word of God. According to Genesis 1:27, all people are created in God’s image. You see, as Christians, we believe the beautiful truth that humanity is created in the image of God. And that means that all people, whether in the womb or outside of the womb, possess inherent glory, dignity, value and worth. It means that dignity and worth are not based on what we do, but it’s based on who we are as image bearers of God.
A person’s usefulness or ability to contribute to society does not determine their worth or their right to live. And even if a person will be born with some disability, the ultimate consideration is not the quality of life that that person will have, but the value of life itself. All humans, whether young or old, preborn or born, fully abled or disabled. All humans are made in the image of God and therefore they have immeasurable value and dignity.
And more specifically, and more relevant to our discussion at hand, the Bible recognizes the value of human life in the womb. Psalm 139 shows us that God loves his children in the womb, because God is the one who is fearfully and wonderfully making them in the wombs of their mothers, and God sees and values their unformed bodies in the womb. And also, according to the Bible, if a pregnant woman is killed or murdered, the killer is tried for two crimes: the death of the mother and the death of the child inside her.
So Christians, whether you’re progressive-leaning or conservative-leaning Christians, the word of God is crystal clear on this: The fetus in the womb is a precious and sacred human being created in the image of God. It is not merely a mass of tissue that can be discarded as worthless. As Christians were to work toward a society in which the innate worth of every human life, both preborn and born is to be respected and protected. And when the US Supreme Court makes a decision that moves our society in that direction, we ought to celebrate and praise God for His mercy.
And while we recognize that laws do not change the hearts of people, laws can be a means to promote life and to restrain injustice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said this: “It may be true that the law cannot change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me, and I think that is pretty important also.”
When a good and just law is passed for the purpose of saving life and restraining injustice, we should rejoice and Celebrate. I’ve heard people say to me, “Why make laws against abortion? Women are going to have them anyway, and now, it’ll just be unsafe for poor women, women who don’t have the resources to travel to another state where they can get a safe, legal abortion.” Well, that’s like saying, why make laws against murder? People are going to commit murder anyway.
If laws against murder can help to decrease the number of murders, then it’s a good thing, even if it cannot completely eliminate murder. And in the same way, if laws against abortion can help decrease the number of abortions, then that is a good thing, even if it cannot completely eliminate all abortions. The reversal of Roe versus Wade is one of the most significant acts of justice in modern American history. And it should be celebrated by all Christians who affirmed the value of all of life from womb to tomb. So first, as Christians, we ought to celebrate with humility and gratitude to God. And second, as Christians we ought to be compassionate.
We Ought To Be Compassionate
As Christians, we must not naively think or assume that abortion is an issue out there in the culture as if it is not an issue for Christians inside the church. Lauren Greene McAfee and her reflection piece titled “After Roe How Do We Stand for Life,” wrote this: “Many Christian leaders make their critical mistake of assuming abortion is an issue out in the culture, but not in our churches. In a survey of post-abortive women, 70% claimed a Christian religion, and 43% were attending church at least monthly at the time of their first abortion. Engaging abortion isn’t just about what we do in our states and communities. It’s also about how we care for women in our church pews.” Christ Central, celebration is good, but compassion is far better. And right now as Christians, our compassion has to be louder and more visible than our celebration.
For the past two weeks, my heart has been burdened. As I prepared the sermon this week, my heart has been burdened by this question. For the women who have had abortions for whatever reason, for the women who are considering having an abortion for whatever reason, for women who are fear filled with fear, anxiety and desperation over an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy, how will our church—I’m not even thinking about how it will other churches—but how will our church how will Christ central Presbyterian Church show the kinds of compassion that will draw them closer to the heart of the Savior who sees them and loves them and cares for them? And how do we not say something insensitive or unwise that pushes them further from the heart of the Savior? I’m burdened by that.
How can our church be a place of loving welcome, healing embrace, and practical support for women whose stories include abortion, and for women who feel like they have no other option than abortion? Christ Central, may our church be clothed with and filled with compassion and kindness, especially toward women whose story includes abortion.
Sisters, I don’t know all of your stories. But if you’ve had an abortion in the past, I am so so, so sorry. I will never fully understand all the factors, burdens, stresses, fears, anxiety, shame in desperate desperation that you must have faced that led you to make such a painful and difficult decision. And if you’re struggling with guilt and shame and regret over your decision today, as your pastor, I want to remind you, that all your sins, even the sin of abortion is forgiven. Jesus died on the cross for you, and Jesus shed his blood for you, and that means that all your sins are forgiven—even this one.
Jesus sees you. He knows what you’ve gone through. He knows what you’re going through and he loves you. Let the heart and the love and the compassion of your savior heal your broken heart. Jesus came to take away guilt or shame and regret so that we don’t have to carry them anymore. I don’t know how long or how many years you’ve carried that burden. But today, I want to invite you to let that burden down; let it go. Give it to your savior, because he will take it. Let your heart and your conscience finally rest in the love of your Savior, who will never leave nor forsake you. Because nothing in the created universe could ever separate you from the love of God and Christ. Not even a tragic decision that you made years ago.
Church, we need to be a community of compassion. Now more than ever, kind, compassionate, gentle, humble people who welcome and love people whose stories include abortion. And not only those women, but the women who right now are currently thinking about having an abortion for whatever reason.
You see when a woman is facing an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, even if it’s not life-threatening for them, even if it’s not the result of rape or incest, they will find themselves in shock in fear and despair. They will often feel alone, desperate, hopeless. You see every woman who is secretly considering abortion has a personal and unique story. Maybe they feel that they’re not ready to become a mom yet or even desire to become a mother at this time. Maybe they’re not financially ready to take on the burden of raising a child. Maybe they don’t have a support system. And as we know, the burden of raising a child is disproportionately and unfairly placed upon the mother. And often it will be a single mother who bears the responsibility of raising a child alone, as so often many men who impregnate women, abandon them.
And maybe these women are gripped with the fear of losing the future or the life that they have worked for and envision for themselves. You see, it is a real and profound loss to give up your own life and to give up your own dreams, to care for another life. And they will need to find a safe place where they can grieve and mourn without being judged or shamed. You see friends there are so many factors, reasons, burdens, and fears as to why a woman would even consider abortion as their only way out. In a recent survey of 1000 post-abortive women, 76% said that they would have preferred to parent had their circumstances been different.
You see, the vast majority of women do not want to end the life of a child in their womb. But they often feel like they have no other options because of their challenging situation and circumstances. And as Christians, we must be compassionate, sympathetic, and understanding. And we have to listen to their stories and acknowledge their fears because their stories matter, and their fears are real. As Christians, we are to care for the mother as well as for the baby growing inside her. It’s not either or it’s both and.
And lastly, as a church, we also have to show compassion for those who deeply believe that access to abortion is a justice and a health issue for women. There is legitimate fear that this decision by the US Supreme Court will allow some states to ban abortion without exception, even in extreme cases. Yes, it is true that 98% of abortions that are done are elective, meaning the mother’s life or the baby’s life is not at in danger. But 2% of abortions that are done are for serious reasons, because of an at-risk pregnancy that threatens the life or the health of the mother, or because of fetal anomalies that would not allow the baby to be carried to full term or because of rape and incest. And in those situations, we must wisely and carefully seek to do what is best and most loving for all the parties involved on a case-by-case basis. So we need to advocate for laws that would allow for that kind of situational nuance
Let me also say this because it bugs me and I get in trouble because it’s not scripted. When people say that only 2% of abortions are for these reasons, and therefore it’s such a such a small fraction, we shouldn’t take it seriously, I want to say this: For the 2% who are experiencing this, it is not 2% of their life—it is 100% of their life. And we need to care seriously and deeply.
You see, as Christians, we must care for both the life of the baby and the life of the mother. As Christians, we have to sit in this difficult tension of caring for both. Do you realize it is easy and it is lazy to advocate only for the life of the baby in the womb and to show no true concern for the mother? And it’s also easy and lazy to advocate only for the health of the mother while showing no true concern for the baby growing inside her. But it is difficult and complex and messy to advocate for both. But that is what we as Christians are called to do because we affirm both the value of preborn lives in the womb and the lives of the mothers who carry them.
We Ought to Work to be Pro-Life in a Holistic Way
So how should Christians respond? First, we ought to celebrate with humility and gratitude. Second, we ought to be compassionate. And third, and lastly, we ought to work to be pro-life in a holistic way. As Christians, it is not enough to be pro-birth. We must be pro-life in a holistic way. Now the loudest outcry from pro-choice men and women against the pro-life movement is that the pro-life movement seems to be focused on only one kind of life, preborn life in the womb.
The question is asked: Why do pro-life people not consider the following realities? Over 60% of women seeking abortion live in poverty and are alone. Some have been raped. Some are victims of incest, and some face an at-risk pregnancy that threatens the life of the mother or the child or both. And many women come into an abortion clinic afraid because they don’t have adequate health care, and they don’t have support from their spouse or their partner or their loved ones.
And many people who were so vocal about pro-life policies are often so silent when it comes to other measures that could disincentivize abortions, such as sex education, pregnancy prevention, postnatal health and child care, paid maternity leave long-term care for single-parent and economically-distressed families, and enforceable accountability measures for men who impregnate women and then abandon them. If the pro-life movement will not also advocate for these other measures, and if they will not help solve other complicated forms of distress related to pregnancy, then their advocacy only for preborn life in the womb feels inconsistent, incomplete, and maybe even hypocritical.
Now I have a few thoughts regarding this critique of the pro-life movement. First, it is true that Christians have focused their pro-life efforts at stopping and decreasing abortions. That’s because abortion is such a violent and barbaric assault on preborn babies, boys and girls. If you’ve ever watched an animated video of what actually happens in an abortion, then you know how ghastly and gruesome it is. Forceps are used to tear legs and arms from the body and to crush the skull and to crush vital organs to ensure that the baby dies inside the womb before it’s taken out. Precious human life is destroyed in what God created to be the safest and the most nurturing place on Earth—the mother’s womb. There is good reason for pro-life men and women to focus especially on protecting life in the womb.
Second, and contrary to the critique, pro-life advocates, especially Christian ones have shown concern for all of life in a holistic way. Pastor Scott Saul notes that it’s also true that pro-life advocates, especially Christian ones, have historically cared more for the poor, distraught and the at-risk neighbor than the rest of the world combined. And Nicholas Kristof, a secular journalist, has written in The New York TImes that Christians are leading the world in mercy and justice efforts on virtually every front. And that includes providing meaningful support to women facing a crisis pregnancy as well as counseling for those who are facing shame and regret and trauma after choosing abortion. A recent study also showed that Christians are nearly three times more likely to adopt than the general public. And it is almost exclusively people of faith who run pregnancy care centers in our country. So to be fair, Christians and churches have been engaging in the work of being pro-life in a holistic way.
But third, and sadly, it is also true that there are many Christians who are pro-life in theory only, and not in any actual meaningful way or practice. And to my shame, I confess that I am one of them. I am absolutely pro-life in my beliefs and convictions. But when was the last time I volunteered my time, or gave of my financial resources to support an organization that is dedicated to helping and supporting struggling mothers and families in practical ways so that they can choose life for their baby?
I believe in the value of the preborn life in the womb, and I also believe in the value of the mothers who carry them. But what have I done to live out my beliefs to show care and concern to both? And to my shame, I have done very little, hardly anything at all. You see, I have so much repenting to do because I have not loved my neighbor as well. I have not loved my neighbors in the womb well, and have not loved my neighbors who are facing an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy well, and maybe some of you have some repenting to do as well.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve heard many well-intentioned calls to Christians and to churches to step up and to start caring for women to start caring about this issue. That might sound good, but it assumes that there are people who are already doing the work before we showed up. Now is not the time for our church to start new initiatives or new or new ministries or to arrogantly presume that no one has been doing the work. The work has been and is being done. Some of us are just new to it. Now is the time for us to listen to those who are already doing the work in pregnancy care and foster care and adoption and in women’s health fields. And we should humbly join and support the work that is already being done by faithful Christians.
Next Sunday, after the second service in the larger MPR, we’re going to have a follow-up meeting to the sermon. And there will be two purposes to that meeting. The first is that there will be a time of question and answer about the sermon or any other issue related to abortion. Director Soojin, Director Heidi, and myself will be there to answer the questions to the best of our ability. We don’t have all the answers. But we want to continue a dialogue as a church family so that we can think together in a biblical in a Christian way when it comes to the issue of abortion. And second, and more importantly, we want to talk about specific and practical ways that we as a church, as families and as individuals can work to be pro-life in a holistic way right here in Northern Virginia.
A Personal Story
I know I’ve gone long, but I want to close my sermon with a personal story. In the late 1960s, my dad as a single man in his mid-20s emigrated from Korea to the US in search of a better life. And my mom who dated my dad while they were together in Korea decided to follow my dad and marry him. So she emigrated to America by herself. My mom did this against the wishes of her parents and her family. Now, the more I think about what my mom did, especially as a Korean woman at that time, the more I realize how gangster my mom was, right? My mom came to America for a boy. Think about that.
Soon after my mom arrived in Los Angeles, my parents got married in January of 1971. And soon after my mom became pregnant. Then when my mom became pregnant, my parents were recent immigrants. They’re struggling to survive. They had no money; they couldn’t speak English. And they had to do menial jobs like cleaning bathrooms just to make it work. And a few months into the pregnancy, they decided that they were just not ready to have a child or to become parents. They had no family support in America, and life was already so hard and the burden of raising a child was too much. So they decided to have an abortion and to wait for a better time to have children.
So my mom one day got into the car, and she was driven to the abortion clinic. But when she arrived, she was gripped by paralyzing fear, she couldn’t move. She couldn’t get out of the car. And even though it made logical sense to my mom to terminate the pregnancy, she just couldn’t go through with it for whatever reason, and she went back home. And then, months later, in October of 1971, she gave birth to a son. And that son was me.
My mom told me that story a few years ago. She wanted me to know that God had a purpose for my life and that it was God who was protecting me while I was in my mother’s womb. My mom was not a Christian at the time when she was considering abortion. But now, as a Christian, my mom recognizes that it was God who graciously prevented her from going through with an abortion. And she was very grateful that she didn’t go through with it. I’m also very grateful that my mom chose life and not death, even though it would be so hard on her, and would require so many sacrifices from her and my dad, in order to raise me and eventually my younger brother.
I’m grateful to be alive today. I’m grateful for the sacrifice of my mom, who endured so much to have me even though she was not ready to become a mom. You see, that fetus in her womb that was spared is now a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a pastor, and a friend. I’m so grateful for the life that I get to live. So grateful that I get to love my wife, love my kids, love our church, and love my friends. And I thank God that my life was protected when I was preborn in the womb of my mother. And because I’m grateful that my life was protected in the womb. I now want to work to protect the lives of my neighbors when they are in the womb.
And I suppose that is what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. Christ Central. Let’s love babies in the womb, as we would want to be loved if we were the babies in the womb. And let’s love the women who are facing an unwanted and unplanned pregnancy as we would want to be loved if we ourselves were facing an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. Amen.