Psalm 139:14-16\/Ps 51: 5 \/Luke 2:11<\/p>\n
Anniversaries are usually happy occasions.\u00a0 Some we celebrate with a big get together.\u00a0 Others, it\u2019s just nice to observe quietly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some anniversaries catch me by surprise.\u00a0 Honey, do you remember what we were doing 5 and a half years ago today?<\/i>\u00a0 Oh, that\u2019s right.\u00a0 Anniversaries are opportunities to think back on God\u2019s blessings. To celebrate them.\u00a0 Our wedding, How about our baptism?\u00a0 That\u2019s an anniversary worth putting on the calendar.\u00a0 God\u2019s grace applied to you in that special way.<\/p>\n
But some anniversaries are not so happy.\u00a0 For those who lived through World War 2, there is Pearl Harbor day.\u00a0 Then of course, there is the more recent September 11th<\/sup>.\u00a0 Both recall vicious attacks against our country that snuffed out the lives of someone\u2019s son or daughter, father or mother.<\/p>\n We just had that kind anniversary on January 22nd<\/sup>.\u00a0 Forty years ago, our Supreme Court legalized abortion.\u00a0 Sadly, some look at that as a date to celebrate.\u00a0 They celebrate it as the anniversary of a new found freedom.<\/p>\n But to me it\u2019s a painful reminder of how twisted and dark the human heart can be.\u00a0 Yet here let\u2019s be careful not to shake our heads too hard at people who think this way. They are the victims of a terrible deception that calls something evil, good. \u00a0For truly each of us can say, there but for the grace of God go I.<\/i><\/p>\n Yet today, my concern is not the law of the land.\u00a0 It\u2019s not who is president or what the Supreme Court does.\u00a0 For in a way, it really doesn\u2019t matter what is legal or illegal. It\u2019s what is in our hearts.\u00a0 It\u2019s who is in our hearts.\u00a0 That\u2019s where I want to go today in God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 That we remember.\u00a0 That we continue to confess to this fallen world.<\/p>\n God gives life<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>There are times when God seems far away.\u00a0 There have been times in my life where I did something where I wished he was far away. But in Psalm 139, King David helps us to realize that\u2019s not the case.\u00a0 In fact he marvels that the Lord is so near.\u00a0 He marvels at how the Lord knows us so well. There is no place so dark or distant where our God is not with us.<\/p>\n But David marvels at something else. \u00a0At life, the life God gives that is a wonder of his doing<\/b>. \u00a0Listen.\u00a0 13<\/sup>For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother\u2019s womb. 14<\/sup>I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15<\/sup>My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16<\/sup>your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. <\/span><\/p>\n By the Holy Spirit, King David shares with us some awesome and important truths.\u00a0 A mother\u2019s womb is a kind of sacred place.\u00a0 For the life that is there is ultimately God\u2019s doing, his giving.<\/p>\n Of course, the question arises when things do not go the way they normally do.\u00a0 What about when our child is born with spinal bifida or has Down\u2019s syndrome.\u00a0 Some of us have family members whose life is sadly different from ours in those ways. We have our Jennifer. \u00a0\u00a0We wonder why God allows that to happen.\u00a0 I can\u2019t say.\u00a0 But there have been times when I have found those parents and their children have taught me a lot about what it means to love.<\/p>\n But most of the time we are not left with such questions.\u00a0 In fact, the more we learn about that life that God gives, the more we realize how true David\u2019s words are.\u00a0 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Look at this picture.\u00a0 That is you and me at 12 weeks.\u00a0 10 fingers and 10 toes.\u00a0 Eyes, ears a little mouth to one day say, mama.<\/i>\u00a0 That\u2019s a baby, a gift of God, only smaller. That\u2019s a life, a baby, a wonder of God\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n Today, an ultrasound can show us that baby in the womb in great detail.\u00a0 Maybe you\u2019ve seen the amazing pictures of babies there.\u00a0 You can then understand why the abortionist doesn\u2019t want a young mother to see that.\u00a0 She might see that wonder of God\u2019s doing, growing inside of her.<\/p>\n And notice what David says about that life.\u00a0 All<\/span> the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be<\/span>.\u00a0 God has a plan for that unborn life just as he has for yours.\u00a0 Who are we or anyone else to cut short God\u2019s plan?\u00a0 For God gives life.\u00a0 A life that is a wonder of his doing.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Today doctors tell expectant mothers how important it is to take good care of themselves. No smoking or drinking.\u00a0 Take that prenatal vitamin.\u00a0 Eat good meals.\u00a0 After all, they are not just caring for themselves.\u00a0 Yet the best of care cannot prevent something so sad. Every one of us is born, a child of tragedy.<\/b><\/p>\n What do you mean pastor?<\/i>\u00a0 Let me explain.\u00a0 In my family, in yours, the birth of child, a grandchild is something we rejoice over. The pictures sail over the internet.\u00a0 We claim our bragging rights.\u00a0 He looks like you.\u00a0 She looks like me.<\/p>\n But it doesn\u2019t take long before we realize what our parents soon realized about us.\u00a0 \u00a0King David confessed it in Psalm 51.\u00a0 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.<\/span> (5) You see, It doesn\u2019t take long for us to see a certain family resemblance.\u00a0 Not in the face.\u00a0 Not in the color of our eyes.\u00a0 But in our hearts, in our behavior.\u00a0 A family resemblance that came down to us all from our first parents Adam and Eve. A resemblance that resulted from a tragedy long ago. A dreadful choice that terribly affected us all. And since that time, we are not born in the image of God.\u00a0 We are born in the image of our sinful parents.\u00a0 We are born, children of tragedy.<\/b><\/p>\n That\u2019s why no one had to teach us to fight or argue or defy our parents.\u00a0 No one had to teach us to be selfish.\u00a0 For we come into this world with a heart problem, a dark propensity that lives in us, even now.\u00a0 We come into this world with hearts far from God.\u00a0 Jesus said it this way:\u00a0 Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander, (Mt15: 19) <\/span>And here we could add.\u00a0 Out of the heart comes the tragic thinking that taking the life of an unborn child is a right we should all have.\u00a0 Out of the heart comes the choice to make an innocent baby die because of their own bad choices.<\/p>\n When you think of it, why would God want anything to do with us?\u00a0 All too often we have wiped our feet on his will for our lives.\u00a0 Look what we have done with his gift of life.\u00a0 Why not let us die and be done with us.\u00a0 But here\u2019s the surprising thing.\u00a0 God gives life<\/b>.\u00a0 Not just a life that we can cradle in our arms.\u00a0 Not just a life of 70 beats per minute in my chest.\u00a0 Not just a life that ends at the grave.\u00a0 But so much more than that.\u00a0 God gives life through One special life born for us all.\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n Just weeks ago, we celebrated that life.\u00a0 We heard the angel tell us how very special that life is:\u00a0 A Savior has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord.<\/span>\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty amazing.\u00a0 Long before we were born, long before we could cry out for God to save us, Christ came to do just that.<\/p>\n During this Epiphany season we look to God\u2019s Word and see again and again who that Savior is.\u00a0 Who is this One special life?\u00a0 At the river Jordan, later on a mountain, God the Father spoke from the heavens:\u00a0 this is my beloved Son<\/span>.\u00a0 In this Word we also witness his miracles that give sight to the blind and help a lame man to walk.\u00a0 We hear people say he does all things well<\/i>.<\/p>\n But then we follow him to another place.\u00a0 A place where they nail him to a cross and lift him up to suffer and die.\u00a0 Wait! This is the Son of God who has done nothing wrong.\u00a0 This the Son of God who could crush his enemies without lifting a finger.\u00a0 Why is he there?\u00a0 We know, don\u2019t we?\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s there for you and me.\u00a0 He\u2019s there to save you from your guilt.\u00a0 For on him, the Father put our tragedy, all the ugliness that has come from our hearts.\u00a0 He\u2019s paying the price so you can be forgiven.\u00a0 He\u2019s dying the wages of your sin so that you can live.\u00a0 This is love not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n And not just for you. For all. \u00a0For that father or mother, that grandparent who looks back now with a terrible regret.\u00a0 How could I have done that?\u00a0 How could I have pressed for that abortion or paid for it?\u00a0 God put it all on his Son that each of us is now forgiven.<\/p>\n And how can you know?\u00a0 This One special life born for you,<\/b><\/p>\n who lived for you and died for you.\u00a0 He rose back to life.\u00a0 And because he lives, you will too. Not just at 70 beats per minute.\u00a0 Not just until they put your body in the grave, but always .\u2026The gift of God is eternal life though Christ Jesus our Lord.<\/span>\u00a0 Yes, God gives life through that One special life born for us all<\/b>.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>That brings me back to this sad anniversary. Where do we from go here?\u00a0 \u00a0I don\u2019t think the answer is changing the law.\u00a0 It\u2019s about changing hearts. So here is where go.\u00a0 We go back to living our lives as God\u2019s people.\u00a0 For what does Jesus say:\u00a0 You are the light of the world.<\/span> \u00a0Be a light in your world.\u00a0 And one light we can shine is this.\u00a0 God gives life<\/b>.\u00a0 God gives life.<\/b> He gives life to the child who he wants to be born.\u00a0 He gives life through Jesus who was born for us all.\u00a0 Go shine that light in this dark world.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Psalm 139:14-16\/Ps 51: 5 \/Luke 2:11 Anniversaries are usually happy occasions.\u00a0 Some we celebrate with a big get together.\u00a0 Others, it\u2019s just nice to observe quietly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some anniversaries catch me by surprise.\u00a0 Honey, do you remember what we were doing 5 and a half years ago today?\u00a0 Oh, that\u2019s right.\u00a0 Anniversaries are opportunities to think back on God\u2019s blessings. 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