Your Turn

The abortion protests:
A Christian response

Last week our campus was very disturbed by abortion protesters from Life & Liberty Ministries. Their tactics were very condemning, ranging from posters with verses intended to condemn to yelling matches filled with hate and totally devoid of grace or any hope of redemption.

This is not the nature of the gospel, nor is it the way Jesus dealt with sinners. Jesus announces the nature of his mission when he says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). This reveals a ministry of salvation, not of condemnation. In fact, it is worth noting that, though Jesus is quoting Isaiah 61:1-2, He intentionally leaves out the last part of verse 2, which says that the Messiah would come to proclaim “the day of vengeance of our God.”

Why does Jesus leave this part out? Because he knows that “vengeance,” or condemnation, will come at his second coming, not his first coming (and it was his first coming that he was announcing). The second coming of Christ will indeed bring “the day of vengeance” and condemnation for those who “have not obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

But now is the time of salvation, not of condemnation. The purpose of Jesus’ first coming is clear: “For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).

In fact, Jesus had the reputation of being “the friend of sinners” (Luke 7:34). What reputation did Life & Liberty Ministries build for themselves last week? Were they seen as the friend of sinners or as the condemner of sinners? If you are a Christian, what kind of reputation are you building for yourself?

The Bible calls the Christian to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Life & Liberty Ministries may have spoken the truth, but they did not do so in love.

Life & Liberty Ministries may have spoken the truth, but they did not do so in love.

They spoke the truth in condemnation. But the church’s job is not to condemn sinners. In fact, the Apostle Paul makes exactly that point: “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?” (1 Corinthians 5:12). Far from condemning sinners, Paul’s approach was to befriend sinners, lovingly winning them to the Savior: “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Is this your approach?

Someone may object and point out that Jesus himself said things similar to what we heard last week: “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Matthew 23:33). This objection, however, fails to recognize whom it is that Jesus is speaking to. He is not speaking to sinners on the street corner like Life & Liberty Ministries was; he is speaking to the leadership who were preventing those sinners on the street corner from being saved (Matthew 23:13-15). Jesus’ heart is to save sinners (Luke 19:10).

The Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) meets Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in the Commons Theater near the Information Desk. Chris’s message responding to last week’s abortion protests can be heard at vcu.ruf.org

If you are not a Christian, Jesus lovingly calls you to turn from your sins, believe in him, and follow him throughout your life. His heart’s desire is to save sinners from their sins and from the judgment to come. He died on the cross and rose from the dead for this purpose. He is the friend of sinners.

– Rev. Christopher Daniel, M. Div
Campus Minister,
Reformed University Fellowship