“How You Gonna Act?”
Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-7 & Matthew 5:43-48
7/3/2022
In the name of the Lord of Life, dear friends in Christ. Growing up just north of Detroit I learned a myriad of slang and street phrases that would be foreign to you folks here in rural Iowa. When I joined the Army, I was introduced to a whole new set of ways to express one’s thoughts and feelings. Most of those contain colorful language that I can’t repeat. However, there’s one that popped back into my head this past week. Don’t worry, you won’t need to cover the kids’ ears. It has a G rating. The phrase is: “How you gonna act?” Most of the time it was used when someone was upset over what you said or the dumb thing you just did. So if your roommate drank your last pop {or your last Lutheran Koolaid}, you’d say, “Man, how you gonna act?” It could also be used to question the other person’s attitude about something.
Well, ever since the Supreme Court made its announcement on June 24th, that phrase is a good one for us pro-life Christians to ask ourselves. Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, “How you gonna act?” Now that the Court has correctly decided that abortion is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution, “How you gonna act?” Personally, I have been overjoyed to the point of tears. For the past 25 years I’ve told my Confirmation students that I prayed THEY would someday see the end of this senseless and horrific slaughter of innocent babies. This recent decision is a major step in that direction. Frankly, I never dreamed that I would see it in MY lifetime.
We certainly do have reason to celebrate this victory and praise God for making it happen. But if you think this means the battle to protect life is over, you’re fooling yourself. Abortion is still legal in the United States. The Supreme Court just sent the issue back to the states to decide, rather than the federal government. Trust me, the folks who are in favor of abortion-on-demand are already hard at work in this regard. This is no time for prolife Christians to take a victory lap and relax. Christians in each state will need to work with their legislature to insure the right to life for the unborn.
So, in light of all this, “How you gonna act?” For Christians, the answer is always found in God’s Word. And the Bible has a lot to say about what our attitude and actions should be in circumstances like these. First and foremost, we ought not act arrogant or holier-than-thou towards those who are still trapped in the darkness of sin. We ought to have compassion because we would be in the same dreadful condition if God had not enlightened our souls. But we need to recognize that we also struggle against sin in other areas of our lives. The proper attitude for us then is to repent. Repent of our own sins, and yes, repent of the sins of our nation. If you look back at Nehemiah chapter 1, you’ll see that he confessed the sins of Israel to God and pleaded for His mercy. Likewise, Moses did the same when the people had engaged in abominable sins that stirred up God’s wrath.
On this 4th of July weekend that’s a good reminder that it’s patriotic for Christians to pray for their nation regularly. In fact, St. Paul instructs us to do just that in 1 Timothy 2. Listen to a portion of what he says there: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” I’m not going to spend a lot of time explaining those 4 categories of prayer. But I would ask you to notice that Paul says we are to offer up these prayers for “all people.” Admit it, our tendency is to only pray for the people we like. And yet, if you look at Matthew 5 you’ll see that Jesus instructs us to also pray for our enemies and those who are mean to us. That would include the people who are protesting and screaming vile things at us Christians who dare to stand up for the protection of unborn babies. They may even threaten violence against us. So “How you gonna act?” Jesus says to pray for them.
Whoa! I know what some of you are thinking. “Yeah, Pastor. I’ll pray for them. I’ll pray that God strikes ‘em dead or at least sends some kind of a plague on them!” Sorry, that’s not how God normally operates, and we should be glad of it. If He did, then we’d all be in big trouble because we sin all the time, every day. Rather, we should be praying for the Lord to change the hearts of those who are fighting against His holy will. Pray that God would use whatever means necessary to get their attention. For the past 6 months or so, Gayleen and I have prayed for our Supreme Court. We asked for courage for those justices that were taking a stand for life. And we asked that God’s hand would weigh heavily on the conscience of the others who were opposed to protecting innocent lives in the womb. That same prayer should be offered up on behalf of all who are demanding to be able to keep aborting babies. We pray that they may repent someday. And that is our deepest desire as Christians, because as Paul says, God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
That leads us right into the next thing that Paul says, which may be hard for some of us to swallow. He tells us that we are to even pray for “kings and all who are in high positions…” Here in America that includes all 3 branches of our government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. We just finished talking about the 3rd category since the Supreme Court is part of it. But what about the President and Congress? Oh, it’s easy to pray for them when they do things we agree with and/or they are from “our” political party. When they’re not, then not so much. Tell me something. Does Paul make any exceptions? Does he say, “Pray for them only when they’re good and honest leaders that we like”?? No. He just says pray for them. Keep in mind, Emperor Nero was in power when Paul wrote this. Suffice it to say, Nero was no choirboy. Nor were the local rulers that Paul had to deal with. And yet, he says we are to pray for all of our leaders. Yes, our foremost prayer is that the Lord would convert them to the truth of the Gospel. It may be difficult to see at times, but God uses even bad rulers and judges to bring about His divine plan. It's part of obeying the 4th Commandment which extends to all who are in authority over us. Paul says that we are to cooperate with the system that governs our land because it allows us to “lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”
This may come as a shock to you but the Lord can even use unbelieving rulers to accomplish His goals. I say that because sometimes Christians act as if America can only succeed if we have devout Christians as the President or the majority in Congress. That’s just plain foolishness. Do you really think that God is limited by such things? I would encourage you to go back to the Old Testament and read about Cyrus the king of Persia. Previous kings had conquered Israel, destroyed their temple, and carried many of them away into captivity. However, God raised up Cyrus and inspired him to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, at his expense. Then he allowed the Israelites to return to their land. There is no indication that Cyrus ever became a believer. But do you suppose the Israelites prayed and thanked God for him anyway? Of course, they did. We can certainly do the same, asking God to guide our leaders to do His will, whether they believe in Him or not.
If there is any doubt whether we are to pray for “all people” including those who are cruel enemies of the Gospel, then all you need to do is consider Jesus. When Christ was nailed to the cross He looked down on those who were killing Him and He prayed for their forgiveness. In the process He was also praying for our forgiveness because it was our sins that made it necessary for Him to go to the cross and die. Oh, to be sure, there is eternal punishment awaiting all who refuse to believe in Christ as their Savior. In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus clearly told the disciples what to do if people rejected that good news. But that doesn’t erase the compassion God has towards all lost sinners. His desire continues to be that they would repent and receive His grace which is offered to everyone. As His children we now have that same heart of compassion. And so, we pray for all people.
But that compassion extends beyond just praying. As Christians we need to ask ourselves “How you gonna act” towards the women who are in a crisis pregnancy? Yes, we pray for them. But now more than ever we need to show them Christ’s compassion by offering our help and assistance. We can also pray for and offer support to those who have made the mistake of having an abortion in the past. God’s love and forgiveness can heal those deep emotional wounds and we can be His instruments in sharing it.
So, “How you gonna act” now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned? I pray that we will be even more bold in affirming and defending the value of every life, from the moment of conception until the time when God calls us home. And may we act in Christ-like love, sharing the good news of God’s compassion and forgiveness for all people. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!