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What It Means to be Genuinely Pro-Life

Christ Church on May 5, 2019

https://www.christkirk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2226.mp3

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Introduction

Those Christians who have spent much time in conservative Christian circles know that we are pro-life. That almost goes without saying. And we often have some of the basic arguments down, but we need to make sure that we have the true foundational issues down as well. That means, as you should instinctively know, that we have to ground our convictions on the Scriptures that have been given to us by God.

The Text

“If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Ex. 21:22–25).

Summary of the Text

In this law that the children of Israel were given, we can quickly see the parity of the law. This is part of the Israel’s case law system, and so a particular scenario is described, from which we are called to derive the principle of justice so that we might apply it in other comparable situations. So two men are fighting, and if they careen into a pregnant woman such that she gives birth prematurely, but the child is all right, then the guilty party is fined what the husband determines and the judges allow (v. 22). But if there is harm (“if mischief follow”) then the penalty that is exacted is precisely the same as the penalty that is exacted when harm is done to fully grown adults (Lev. 24:17-20; Deut. 19:17-21; Matt. 5:38).

Some might want to argue that this is talking about possible harm done to the woman, but this is not consistent with the language of the law at all. If it were dealing with whatever harm the woman suffered, then the fact of her being pregnant would be entirely irrelevant. The law is plainly talking about harm to the baby.

Scriptural Consistency

This is not something that we find in one odd corner of the Old Testament. No, God’s word is consistent on this.When a child is being mysteriously formed in the womb, God is the one doing it (Ps. 139:13; Jer. 1:5; Job 31:15). The children of the covenant are the children of the Lord from the moment they began to exist (Ps. 22:10). When Mary came to visit Elizabeth, John the Baptist rejoiced over it in utero (Luke 1: 41-44). This was not a quaint superstition from the hill country of Judea, but was rather what Elizabeth said when she was filled with the Holy Spirit. And so we come to the fundamental pro-life passage—“Thou shalt not kill” (Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17).

The Mere Fact of Scripture

And so we see there are a number of Scripture passages that outline the Christian position on this issue. But there is an underlying issue, a deeper issue. And that is the mere fact of Scripture, the mere fact of an authoritative Word from outside the human race, a Word that we cannot alter, abolish, modify, amend, or repeal. God speaks to us, and He speaks to us from the Heaven of Heavens. His Word simply is. We may accept it or reject it. If we accept it, we shall be saved by it (because His Word includes the central message of Jesus crucified and risen). If we reject it, then we shall be judged by that Word we rejected. Not on the menu is the option of getting the Word to go away and bother somebody else. This fact of a transcendental Word leads directly to the next point.

What Is a Person?

As we are talking to non-believers, whether friends, family, co-workers, and so on, and we come to discuss this issue, we soon discover that we differ on what should be done. We believe that all human abortion needs to be outlawed. They want to keep abortion legal, although different unbelievers might go for various restrictions on abortion. This is the content of our disagreement. But let us go a step further and we will see where the real difference lies. When we ask what is a person?these two groups do give different answers. But why? The different answers arise from the fact that we are appealing to the legal codes of two different religions. One is the religion of man, and the god is Demos. The other is the religion of Christianity, and the God is Jehovah, Father of the Lord Jesus.

For the non-believer, a human being need not be a person. For the believer, the unborn child began to bear the image of his or her Creator God the moment the sperm penetrated the cellular wall of the egg.

Definitions Fight

Who defines a person? When we define according to the law of a particular God or god, then the definition is going to reflect the character of the god of the system. Because Jehovah is holy and immutable, this means that laws based on His Word are also going to be holy and unchanging. At this point of comparison, Demos the fickle god of the people, is unholy and is changing all the time—from one kind of unholiness to another. This shiftiness with regard to character is why secularism wants its authority over definitions to be kept murky and in the background. Remember what Chesterton said in this regard: “Definitions are very dreadful things: they do the two things that most men, especially comfortable men, cannot endure. They fight, and they fight fair.”

A Modest Suggestion

Pro-lifers are accustomed to speak of the sanctity of human life. But I would like to offer a way for us to improve this, and to make our meaning more clear. Rather, we should talk about the sanctity of God’s law, and the consequent dignity of human life. Human life does not provide the standard. Human life is what the standard—given to Moses on Mount Sinai—protects.

If we make human life the standard, then we have to spend time explaining why we are against abortion but support capital punishment. This objection canbe answered (we oppose executing innocents who have not been given a trial, which is not inconsistent with support the execution of guilty people who have), but it is cleaner to side-step it.

The Image of God in Man

Unbelieving man cannot reach God in order to fight Him, but would if he could. But failing that, like a rebel who cannot overthrow a hated king in a distant castle, he burns the king’s effigy in his own village—an image of the king that he canreach. Small children bear that image, and they are defenseless. We love the image of God in even the most helpless of our fellow men, and this is how we show our love for Christ, who is the ultimate image of the ultimate God.

 

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Christ Hidden in Your Calling

Christ Church on January 27, 2019

https://www.christkirk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2199.mp3

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Introduction

First we must begin with a statement of our problem. Many glorious truths were recovered in the Reformation, and one of them was the doctrine of vocation. Unfortunately, this is part of our Protestant heritage that we have shamefully neglected, and have almost lost. One of the principal indications that we have lost this doctrine is that we speak so easily and readily of “full-time Christian work,” as though there were anything else for a Christian to do. The reestablishment of two “holiness” layers of occupation in Christendom has been a terrible loss.

The Text

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship” (Exodus 31:1-5).

Summary of the Text

So the word of the Lord comes to Moses (v. 1). A particular man was called by name out of the tribe of Judah. His name was Bezaleel (v. 2), and the Lord filled him with the Spirit of God (v. 3). This is the first instance of anyone being described as filled with the Spirit in the Bible.

And what were the indications of the Spirit’s filling? They were wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and craftsmanship (v. 3), which gave him the ability to do cunning work—as a goldsmith, a silversmith, a worker in brass (v. 4), as a jeweler (or possibly a mason), a woodworker, along with any other similar work.

So when the Spirit descends to fill a man for the first time in the Bible, it is surprisingly not to come down upon a theologian reading a big, fat scroll. He does do that, but later. Now the important thing here is that Bezaleel was called. The Latin verb that means “to call” is vocare, from which we get our word “vocation,” calling. This is not to disparage the importance of a call to the mission field, or the ministry—of course not. But all Christians are called, and are called to labor self-consciously and faithfully in their calling, whether it is law, real estate, carpentry, medicine, brick-laying, shop-keeping, changing diapers, writing novels or songs, digging latrines, or planting trees. All of God is in all of it. Christians who think like Christians should function in terms of calling, and not in terms of “a job.”

The Foundation

We do not hold to this on the basis of a mere assertion. There is a doctrinal foundation for it. We must fix it in our minds that God is in everything, and works through everything. If God is sovereign in this way, which we affirm, this means that Christ is hidden in the artisan, and Christ is hidden in the customer. Christ is hidden in the one behind the counter, and He is hidden in the one in front of the counter. He is hidden in the dentist, and hidden in the patient in the chair.

First, God provides for us through means. We benefit from the work of the farmer, the fertilizer salesman, the trucker, the grocery store clerk, the dairyman, and when we bow our heads to thank God for the breakfast cereal, we are thanking Him for His work in and through all of these people, whether they know Him or not. We receive from Godthrough the work of others. We acknowledge this when we pray for our daily bread (Matt. 6:11). We know that God is working in and through all things (Rom. 8:28), and this includes all of our countless daily kindnesses.

Second, Christ receives from us as we work in each of our vocations. God gratefully receives from us through the work we do for others. “Lord, when did I ever give you hot French fries when you were famished?” “Don’t you remember? It was that time at the drive-through window.” This is the other side of vocation, the flip side of it. God keeps track of every cup of cold water (Matt. 10:42), and He reckons everything we do for others as done to and for Him (Matt. 25: 34-46).

This means that Christ is hidden in our vocation, and He is hidden in our neighbor. We are to discover Him there with the eye of faith. We were created for work (Gen. 2:15), and called to work diligently six days out of seven (Ex. 20:9-11). We are to render all our work to Christ, and not just to the boss when he is present. “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Col. 3:23). Christ is in your boss, and Christ is in your customer, and Christ is in you.

And so we are to receive all the work done for us as a gift from Jesus Himself (Matt. 6:11). The mother gives milk to the child, but who fills her breasts with milk in the first place? When the farmer first planted the wheat, he did not know he was making milk for the baby.

What Vocation Does Not Mean

All work is full of glory but it is a glory apprehended by faith. This faith does not necessarily mean that a Christian carpenter pounds nails differently than an unregenerate carpenter does. But it does mean that he should understand the meaning of what he does, and, over time, this should result in differences in craft competence.

Neither should this doctrine be taken as an excuse to become a one-trick pony. Your vocation is varied, and extends to every aspect of your life. This means that you are not only called to be, say, a software designer, but you are also called to be a son, a student, a husband, a brother, a citizen, a churchman, and a putter of model ships into bottles. Incidentally, parents, this means that education should be equipping your child for his or her vocation in this broad sense, not the narrow sense. And this, incidentally, is the meaning of a liberal arts education.

And vocation is not a talisman against worldly difficulties. Americans love “three steps to automatic success,” but that is not what the Scriptures promise. Diligence in this vocational way of thinking will generally result in long term satisfaction with what you do—instead of the constant flitting from job to job that is so common in our day—but don’t think that God-given changes are a sign that something is necessarily wrong. And don’t think that vocation means that you will just float through your work day—the diapers can really stink, the customers can really be unreasonably irate, the promised shipments really can be subject to exasperating delays. Rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). And Christ is in all.

Finding Your Way

We are called, all of us, to live in the will of God. But remember the difference between His revealed will for all Christians, and, after that, what are yourabilities, youropportunities, and yourdesires. The first is a function of obedience. The second is a function of wisdom.

When those three things line up, then go for it. “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Prov. 16:9). And as you go, remember this: “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” (Prov. 22:29). This is not carnal ambition—it is what enables us to see death and resurrectionin our daily callings.

A message on this subject would be grossly deficient if we did not quote Luther at some point. His wonderful grasp of vocation, the most heavenly and earthy of truths, was remarkable. “God Himself milks the cows through the vocation of the milkmaid.” And amen.

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Let Us Keep the Feast

Ben Zornes on April 23, 2017

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Deuteronomy 16 and 1 Corinthians 5

1. “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.” 
The death of Christ as fulfillment of the Passover sacrifice.
– Exodus 12: Passover in Egypt
– Exodus 13: Instructions for future Passover celebrations
– Deuteronomy 16: Passover in Jerusalem
Note: All that the Passover typology teaches us about the death of Christ is true, but that is not all there is to say about his death.

2. Feast of Unleavened bread
“No leavened bread will be seen among you nor leaven seen among you”
– Removal of leaven and leavened products from your households – Biblical injunctions and application in Paul’s day.
– Relationship with the Passover and the Exodus.

3. “Let us Keep the Feast”
– A little leaven leavens the whole lump
– You really are unleavened
– Cleanse out the old leaven
– Let us Keep the Feast

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Sermon #1939: I Am Who I Am

Ben Zornes on May 22, 2016

1. The Name of God

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”  Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ (Exodus 3:14-16)

Is “I am who I am” a name? What does this actually mean? How does it relate to the Tetragrammaton – the LORD?

How does the sign of the Burning Bush relate to the revelation of God’s name?

“Before Abraham was, I am” John 8:58 and Exodus 3:14.

2. The Deliverance of Israel

Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt;  and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ (Exodus 3:16-17)

Israel’s deliverance is set forth in terms of who God is, and how He is faithful to the covenant He has made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Genesis 15 is everywhere in Exodus ch.3.

It will get worse before it gets better (Exodus 3:19) but the same was true for Abraham (Genesis 12 and Genesis 15)

Remember the sign of the Burning Bush relates to the revelation of God’s deliverance: “When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,  nor shall the flame scorch you…” (Isaiah 43)

3. Jesus is the one who Delivered Israel

This redemption was by Jesus Christ, as is evident from this, that it was wrought by him that appeared to Moses in the bush; for that was the person that sent Moses to redeem the people.
Jonathan Edwards

“Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe..” (Jude 1:5 ESV)


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The Burning Bush

Joe Harby on February 28, 2016

Sermon Notes: The Burning Bush

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