1. The Battle: This passage teaches us that the nature of the battle is essentially spiritual. But what is the real battle in this debate?
   
   
   1. Legal Issues: On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that unborn human beings are not legal “persons” according to the constitution. The unborn baby is the “property” of the mother (or owner) and can at her request have the baby killed up to the time of birth, if her doctor agrees.
      
      Some have compared this ruling to the Dred Scott decision of March 5, 1857 in which the Supreme Court ruled that African-Americans were not legal persons according to the Constitution. The slave could be bought and sold, used, or even killed at the owner’s discretion.
      
      Recently due to efforts such as our own Mark Belz the abortion question has been returned in part to the democratic process at the State level. Many pro-abortion forces opposed that move because they knew that the majority of Americans do not seem to be ready to vote for its legalization.
      
   2. Personal Issues: Another side of the battle is personal. It is a symptom of our society which places a premium on comfort. According to a survey of 1900 women by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a research division of Planned Parenthood, only 7% of the abortions performed in America are for cases of distress. Here is the breakdown: the mother’s health (3%); possible health problem in the baby (3%); or the result of rape or incest (1%). Ninety-three percent of the abortions were for birth control or social reasons. Here is the breakdown: concerned about how the child would change their lives (16%); not ready for the responsibility (31%); couldn’t afford the baby (21%); relationship problem (12%); not mature enough (11%); had all the children they wanted (8%); other reasons (4%).
      
   3. Theological Issues: The battle is for the preservation of life. We have always asserted that it begins at conceptions. In the Roe v. Wade decision the Supreme Court said it did not know when life began. However, the first test tube baby, Louise Brown, [when born?] should have proven to the court when life began. We know from passages such as “You formed me in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13-16) and “Before you were born, I set you apart” (Jer. 1:5) that the one in the womb is not just a life but a person.
      
2. The Weapons: This passage also reminds us that the weapons with which we fight are spiritual.
   
   
   1. The Word: We also have the powerful weapon of the Word which is not only a source book for right and wrong but it can also shape one’s thinking and improve his reason. John Bunyan barely had a third grade education but his mind was immersed in the Word. By that education he was able to write the masterpiece The Pilgrim’s Progress.
      
      Pro-abortion proponents fall into many logical fallacies and propagate many antithetical ideas such as defending rain forests and whales but defending the right to kill unborn babies. We must not be overly incredulous but remember the Bible’s description of the unbelieving mind as darkened. Neither must we practice cynicism or sarcasm or whine that we are the persecuted lot. Our arguments, if informed by Scripture, are superior and are able to break down strongholds.
      
      Engaging in hyperbolic, sarcastic, and cynical speech only confirms the caricature that pro-abortionists paint of us. When people refer to the local abortion clinic as “Reproductive Death Services” and print “Wanted” posters for abortion doctors, they only confirm the impression that one major newspaper had of us that we are “poor, uneducated, and easily manipulated.” In a recent article by Cal Thomas, he challenges Christians to this:
      
      

      For too long, traditional Christians have been comfortable in their own cultural catacombs. They have their own radio and television stations, their own publishing companies, their own magazines and bookstores, their own jargon. They need to come back into the mainstream and win back the culture and the nation by the superior power of their ideas. They should be demonstrating with their lives, as well as their voices, why their ideas are better than those now holding sway.

   2. Prayer: Our most powerful weapon is prayer, because when we pray we acknowledge that God alone must act. Specifically, we must pray for revival.
      
      Dr. A. T. Pierson says that there has never been a revival in any country or locality that did not begin with united prayer. I have already described the First Great Awakening and how God responded to prayer. Let me now give you some more examples. By the middle of the 19th Century the country was corrupt again. It was divided over slavery and it had forgotten God because it had become so wealthy. Jeremiah Lampher (spelling?) began a small prayer meeting in Manhattan. The next week there were 14, then 23. By February of 1858 every church and every public building were occupied by noon prayer meetings. One reporter could only get to twelve meetings and counted 6100 men. Ten thousand per week were being converted in New York. One million were converted in a year.
      
      By the turn of the century the country was again in need of revival. This time the prayer efforts were worldwide - Chicago, Melbourne, India and Korea. But it began in Wales. One hundred thousand were converted. The first year of the revival, there were no cases for the judges to try; police were out of work; taverns went bankrupt; illegitimacy dropped 44%; and production slowed in the mines because the mules could not understand the cleaned up speech of the workers. That revival of 1904 spread to England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and the United States.
      
      When it reached America the pastors in Atlantic City said that of a population of 50,000 only 50 remained unconverted. And in Portland, Oregon 240 department stores closed their doors daily from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. to pray.
      
      If we want to see our country turned around, we must engage in regular, sustained, united prayer. Now we only have one occasion during the week when we gather in that way - Wednesday nights - and there are not many of you there. Now maybe you are uniting with other Christians somewhere else. But are you serious enough about desiring revival in this country that you will take one hour out of your schedule during the week to unite with your brothers and sisters in prayer?
      
3. The Strategy: The strategy is not like the world’s either. It is spelled out by Paul in these verses.
   
   
   1. Gentle Boldness (v. 1): In spite of accusations of cowardliness, Paul “appeals” or pleads with the Corinthians in “gentleness and meekness” which reminds us of the spirit of Jesus’ ministry. It is obvious that Paul loves the Corinthians (2:4; 6:11; 11:11). But meekness and gentleness are not incompatible with firmness. Paul could be firm with his accusers without being harsh.
      
      Further, Paul was accused of being timid because he did not have a commanding presence. But a recurring theme in both letters is that God’s power is manifested in weakness (1 Co. 4:10; 9:22; II Co. 11:29,30; 12:5, 9, 10; 13:9).
      
      We are called to be firm in our defense of life but with gentleness and meekness. The strategy is not to appear stupid or frail, but to demonstrate that we believe God’s power is manifested in weakness. He must win the battle, not we.
      
      Cal Thomas challenges Christians to practice what they believe:
      
      

      If Christians will begin living what they claim to believe - loving their enemies, praying for those who persecute them, becoming a friend to “sinners” (even pro-choicers and hated liberals) - a new kind of power would be unleashed on the land. It would be a power that no one could stop.

   2. Rescuing the Secular from Secularists (v. 3): Paul literally says in this verse, “Though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh.” He uses the same word in two different ways. In the first, “flesh” is morally neutral; he simply means that he lives life like everybody else. But in the second, he refers to the conduct which is being controlled by self-service and pragmatism.
      
      There is a similar difference in our words “secular” and “secularism.” Secular refers to the ordinary activities of this world which are morally neutral like carpentry, cooking, printing, and political process. But secularism is a morality based solely on the well being of people and not in any way on the truths of God.
      
      Paul is saying that we are secular but we do not battle secularistically. Harry Blamires says it is our job to “wrest the secular from the hands of the secularists.” In other words, we are to be involved in printing, but not printing which smears others’ characters. We must be involved in politics but not in the kind of politics which is manipulative and dishonest. Neither must we disobey the Word of God and engage in disrespectful speech against our public leaders.
      
   3. Persistence (v. 6): Paul is confident because he believes in God’s success. It is only when we adopt a secular Christian mindset like Bonhoeffer’s that we become overly discouraged when we do not seem to be winning the battle. We must be encouraged with the Bible’s definition of success: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Gal. 6:9) or “Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:56).
      
      We do not hope for perfect justice in this world anymore than we hope for perfect personal sanctification. It does not keep us from striving for it, but neither should it leave us feeling like failures if we cannot effect it perfectly by our efforts. God promises that our efforts are not in vain even though we do not make all the progress that we think we should be making. We may not see all the results until glory.
      
      That attitude will free us to work persistently and patiently for little victories such as limiting Federal funding of abortion, removing it from health care reform, and refusing teenage abortions without parental consent.
      
      Abortion is essentially a matter of the heart and the situation will not be significantly changed without revival. God will have to do a mighty work of salvation in order to stem the tide of ungodly actions. In the mean time, we work where we can, save as many lives as we can, and especially win as many people to Christ as we can.
      
      Cotton Mather prayed several hours every day for revival; the Great Awakening began the year of his death. William Wilberforce and his neighbors known as the Clapham Sect, battled slavery in England for twenty years before they saw it made illegal, but is was another thirty before he heard the news on this deathbed that the slaves were emancipated. It is hard for a culture accustomed to instant everything to be persistent in even a good cause for a long period of time. We may not ever see revival in our day; we may not ever see abortion reversed; but that does not mean our labor is in vain. Little victories will be won; lives will still be saved; and there is reward in just being faithful.
      

Dear Sir,
The most encouraging fact that we can remember in this world is that God is with us. And if we are on the side of life and justice, we are on God’s side. When William Wilberforce took up the cause of the abolition of slavery in England he received a realistic but encouraging letter from one of his noted friends: Unless the Divine Power has raised you up to be an Athanasius contra mundum I see not how you can go through with your glorious enterprises in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils; but if God is with you, who can be against you? Are all of them stronger than God? Oh, be not weary in well-doing. Go on, in the name of God and in the power of His might, till even American slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall vanish away before it … That he who has guided you from your youth up, may continue to strengthen you in this and in all things, is the prayer of your affectionate servant,

John Wesley