LOVE YOUR PREBORN NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF: Luke 6:31-33
December 3, 2021 • Brett Baggett • Luke 6:31–33
I. CHRIST COMMANDS YOU TO DO TO OTHER HUMAN BEINGS WHAT YOU WOULD WANT DONE TO YOURSELF IF YOU WERE IN THEIR SITUATION (v. 31)
Luke 6:31 “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”
II. CHRIST DOES NOT SIMPLY COMMAND YOU TO LOVE THOSE WHO LOVE YOU IN RETURN; HE COMMANDS YOU TO LOVE EVEN THOSE WHO DO NOT LOVE YOU BACK (v. 32)
Luke 6:32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.”
III. CHRIST DOES NOT SIMPLY COMMAND YOU TO DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO CAN RETURN THE FAVOR; HE COMMANDS YOU TO DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO MAY NEVER REPAY YOUR KINDNESS (v. 33)
Luke 6:33 “And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”
Christ is not only commanding our obedience in Luke 6; He is revealing what a saint looks like contrasted by what a sinner looks like when it comes to how we treat our neighbors.
I) A sinner—someone who is outside of Christ—loves and does good deeds for sure. However, they chiefly love those who love them and chiefly do good to those who do good to them.
II) A saint, on the other hand—someone who has been united to Christ by faith, adopted by God the Father, and filled by the Holy Spirit—has affection even for those who do not love them back because their affections have been renewed.
Do you obey the Golden Rule toward your neighbor as detailed in these three verses? Do you obey the Golden Rule toward your preborn neighbor?
APPLICATION
I) If you were being dehumanized and able to be murdered without hinderance, would you want someone to take an Incremental or an Immediatist approach? Would you want Regulations for when, where, how, and why you could be unjustly killed or would you want others to make it illegal to carry you off to death, period? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *abolition vs. regulationism
II) If you could be unjustly LOCKED IN A FREEZER without due process would you want the church and ethicists to be silent on this issue, or would you want them to blast forth the truth like a trumpet? If you were CURRENTLY LOCKED IN A FREEZER, would you want to be left there until the power goes out or until you are discarded, or would you want someone to take you out and try to make you safe? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *IVF
III) If THE SUPREME COURT said that the States must allow you to be murdered, would you your neighbors to bend the knee the the Court like it is God or would you want them to defy the Supreme Court and nullify its evil decision? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *Roe v. Wade
IV) If YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS were too indifferent or too afraid to protect you from slaughter, would you want the church to continue to vote for and celebrate them or to rise up and call their legislators to to what is right and protect you under law? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *abolition bills
V) If were KEPT FROM WHAT YOU NEEDED IN ORDER TO SURVIVE, would you want the Bride of Christ to continue in apathy or to stand firm and reject that which lead to your unjust killing? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *hormonal birth control
VI) If you were being taken to A MURDER MILL, would you want Christians to say, “I do not think this is effective” or “I just do not have time for this” or would you want them to stand at the gates and plead for your life while they preached the gospel as often as they could? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *abortion clinics / murder mill ministry
VI) If someone could go to WALMART, CVS, WALGREENS, or most any PHARMACY to purchase your death, would you want them to simply grieve that this could happen or also labor to make it stop? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *abortion pill
VII) If someone were trying to STARVE YOU TO DEATH, what would you want? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *abortion pill
VIII) If a HIGH POWERED VACUUM were going to be aimed at you and dissolve you into mush, what do you wish that others would do for you? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *suction abortion
IX) If FORCEPS were closing in on you to crush your skull, rip your arms and legs off, and scrape the pieces of your mangled body together just to dispose of you later, how would you desire your neighbors to act? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *dismemberment abortion
X) If people were USING THE BIBLE to try and explain why it is OK to save others but not you, because it was a step in the right direction, what would you wish they would do instead? “Do unto your preborn neighbor as you would want done to you.” *Smashmouth incrementalism
Beloved, we must not only love those who love us and do good to those who do good to us. We must love those who do not love us and do good to those who do us no good themselves.
Is this not what Christ has done for you, Christian?
I) Christ loved us even though we did not love Him
Romans 5:8 “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
II) Christ did good to us even though we could Him no good
Romans 5:6 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
CONCLUSION
This golden rule will do one of three things to you in general, and maybe even the second and third at the same time: It will crush you, chide you, or it will charm you; it will damn you, discipline you, or it will delight you.
Q1. Does the Golden Rule damn you? Does it damn you because you see that you have not obeyed Christ, but have in fact sinned against Him and are still uncleaned of your sin? It is worse than you think! In fear, tremble at God’s word in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.”
What you deserve for your sin against God, for breaking His Law, is eternal death and damnation! God is so holy that He will not overlook your sin.
So look at this Golden Rule and how far you have fallen short, and let that whip you to turn from your sin go to Christ Jesus to trust in Him for forgiveness and righteousness! God is so loving that He sent His only Son to take away our sin and count us righteous.
Q2. Does the Golden Rule discipline you? Is God disciplining you because you see that this is what Christ has done for you, and what you owe your preborn neighbor, but you have been neglecting to treat them like you would want to be treated? Then thank your Father for His stinging rebuke, and now bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
Q3. Does the Golden Rule delight you? Does it delight you because you see that it is what Christ has done for you, to deliver you from sins curse and condemnation and bring you into the the Father’s love and the Spirit’s power? Then continue to show your happy thankfulness to Christ by doing for others what He has done for you.
Now out of grateful joy, “as you wish that others would do to you, do so to [the unborn].”
