In God's eyes, a woman is more than a womb for hire. Yet:

Commercial surrogacy, or being paid to give birth to the child of a stranger, was legalized in India in 2002. Since then "Reproductive outsourcing" has been a rapidly expanding business in which poor women are hired to carry babies to term for heterosexual and homosexual couples from around the world.

The Times Online cites official sources suggesting that this "reproductive sector" of India's economy will be worth as much as $12 billion this year.

As more Westerners opt to outsource pregnancies to the subcontinent, some Indian clinics are reporting a fourfold rise in the number of foreign clients on their books in the past year. As demand increases, newspaper adverts for surrogates are becoming more common. "British couple seeks surrogate to carry child. Great pay!! A $1,000.00 bonus!!!" reads one..

The New York Times describes two homosexual men who "plan eventually to tell their child about being made in India, in the womb of a stranger, with the egg of a Mumbai housewife they picked from an Internet lineup." "We picked the one with the highest level of education," Mr. Gher said. From profiles of egg donors that were sent by e-mail, they rejected a factory worker in favor of a housewife, who they thought would have a less stressful lifestyle.

The overwhelming attraction is the price - 80% less than the United States. "Doctors, lawyers, accountants, they can afford it, but the rest of us - the teachers, the nurses, the secretaries - we can't, unless we go to India," said Lisa Switzer from San Antonio, Texas whose twins are being carried by a surrogate mother. Cheap medical care, a supply of equally cheap surrogate mothers and the absence of legal controls have made India the world leader in commercial surrogacy, according to the Times Online.

Another advantage in the eyes of customers is that women can be kept "free from vices like alcohol, smoking and drugs." For example, many surrogate mothers live together in a hostel attached to the clinic where they will donate eggs, receive implanted embryos, gestate under supervision and receive payment when the babies are delivered. According to policy, the donor and surrogate mother are always different women to reduce the likelihood of bonding with the child. Likewise, at most clinics contact is not permitted between the egg donor, surrogate mother or future parents.

The biblical, ethical and personal dilemmas from these news accounts are almost too overwhelming to count. Even government officials who are actively promoting India as a medical tourism destination, express discomfort over this exchange of money for babies.

My heart goes out to everyone involved: couples struggling with infertility, poor women giving up babies they have carried to term, parents looking for children at economical prices, homosexual couples hiring strangers to produce offspring, living embryos destroyed as a result of invitro fertilization, and growing humans who will come to learn of a bizarre conception.

A woman is more than a womb for hire. Another man's wife is more than a baby-making factory at a competitive price. The apostle Peter commands husbands to "show honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life" (1 Peter 3:7). In other words, every woman bears the image of God and has equal access as men to salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. It is a dishonor to women and to God to use their bodies to bear children outside of the protection of marriage.

Please pray that God would stop this horror. Pray that God would open the eyes of all of the people involved in this business. Pray that more governments would make this industry illegal. Pray that the gospel would advance and that the church would stand mightily against this trade.

[Mike Seaver is a pastor at CrossWay Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina and posts regularly at Role Calling.]

Sex. It is a word that brings an explosion of thoughts to mind once it is read or heard. I remember in Middle School, kids would wear shirts by a brand of surf board wax called "Sex Wax" just because it had the "s" word on it. Now, I lived in Southwest Virginia at the time and the only need for wax was to help the kid's braces not get caught on their cheeks. The fascination with sex and the battle against improper views of sex was at high tide then and it seems like it is now causing flood-like casualties.

On Sunday, my senior pastor, Mickey Connolly, gave a relevant and helpful message from 2 Samuel 11 and 12 speaking of what it looks like to fall into sexual sin and how to battle against this devastating temptation. He gave 16 lessons that can be learned from David and Bathsheba. I am posting them because I found them helpful in reevaluating my own fight against sexual temptation. I hope they help you too.

1. Temptation can come when I least expect it. I must always be on my guard.
2. Sin often happens when I am not positively engaged in godly activities (when I'm not doing what I am supposed to be doing).
3. I usually have a chance to stop myself if I would only take it (1 Cor. 10:12).
4. Sin has a way of finding me out... it will be brought to the light.
5. Trying to cover up my sin only makes things worse.
6. One sin often leads to another.
7. Sin tends to harden my heart.
8. Even if no one else is aware, God is aware.
9. It is easier to be outraged at someone else's sin than my own.
10. To sin is to look for good outside of God's perfect provision.
11. Sin never satisfies.
12. Sin always has consequences.
13. Heartfelt repentance is the only appropriate response to sin.
14. While my sin has many manifestations it has only one root — a heart that craves something more than God.
15. Because of the cross, God does not treat me as my sins deserve.
16. While sin affects my life, it need not ruin my life.

Part IX: The Spiritual Life of the Masculine Man (Mark Alderton)  

One of the distinguishing marks of authentic masculinity-and one that is far too often missing among Christian men-is an intimate, day-by-day relationship with Jesus Christ, Mark Alderton told men during The Pursuit.

"It is a carryover from the fall that we, as guys, don't necessarily always want to pursue God ourselves and lead in that way," he said. "It is very common in a marriage for the wife who is enthusiastic about devotional life and she is consistent in it and wants to bring the man to church."

Preaching from John 15:4-5, Alderton admonished attendees to abide in Christ, unpacking the concept of "abiding" and encouraging men to answer three fundamental questions:

• What does it mean to abide in Christ?
• Why do we need to abide in Christ?
• How do we abide in Christ?

Yes, Christian men are living in union with Christ and it is through that union that all blessings flow, Alderton pointed out, yet most believing men languish in their spiritual lives because they do not understand what it means to live in a continuous, dependent, daily relationship with Christ, he said. In John 15, Jesus illustrated this relationship by speaking of a branch's reliance upon the vine for vitality.

"In order for the grapes to grow on the branch of a grapevine, the branch must be attached to the stem," Alderton said. "It can't be tied on, it has to be a part of it. It has to be a vital contact because all of the nutrients that are coming up from the soil through the root system have to come through that stem into the branch where life is flowing and it has to be connected all the time if there is going to be fruit.

"Jesus calls that connection ‘abiding.' Abiding is an ongoing, vital, dependent relationship. That's what branches do to vines. Jesus says, ‘that that is the kind of relationship you must have with me...there must be ongoing vital contact where my life is flowing to you because you are dependent on me for life, for fruit.'"

Alderton serves as pastor of Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Bloomington, Minn.

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Part X: Applying Truth (C. J. Mahaney)  

Consider the importance and role of application and don't assume that listening will ensure that transformation will take place.  Be doers and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. James 1: 22

"At the end of any conference or any Sunday meeting, we must ask ourselves, ‘How can we, in the shadow of the cross, very specifically apply the content of what we have heard to our lives so that we can beginning this day be doers of the Word and avoid self-deception.'"

As David Powlison exhorts, "Connect one bit of scripture to one bit of life.  Apply one relevant thing from our redeemer to one significant scene in this person's story.  Bring one bit of the Bible to one bit of life." 

C.J. Mahaney leads Sovereign Grace Ministries in its mission to establish and support local churches. He pastored Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland for 27 years, and serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Board for CBMW.  He has written the book on Humility and also edited or coauthored four books in the Pursuit of Godliness book series: Why Small Groups?, This Great Salvation, How Can I Change?, and Disciplines for Life.

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Part VII: A Focused Life - Crucial Priorities of a Godly Man (Glynn McKenzie)

God has designed men to lead and influence others. A man cannot choose not to lead, only the direction that he is leading his family and others. It is an important responsibility of a man to know where he is going.

Drawing on Titus 2:11-14, a "focused life" is a man rooted in the pursuit of godliness, viewed through the lens of grace, and compelled by the purpose of grace. Direction, concentrated attention, consistent application are key aspects of a focus. In other words, a focused life is faithful application of the right attention in the right direction.

Two views through the lens of grace help maintain proper direction and right priorities.  The past work of Jesus on the cross for our salvation and the future return of the risen Christ and bridegroom of the church.  Glynn also provides practical tools along the way to organize and focus a man's life.

Glynn McKenzie was born in Barbados and has served as a Sovereign Grace pastor in Denver and Virginia Beach.  Glynn presently leads family life ministries at Sovereign Grace Church in Gilbert, Arizona.

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Part VIII: Q&A -- Steve Shank Interviews C. J. Mahaney

This extremely valuable session features C. J. Mahaney answering the following questions and more:

What would you say to a young man who is standing against the pressure of this culture?

Where should a father begin to transfer principles of manhood to his son?

What are the things that are necessary to be a godly, masculine man?

How should a man plan and prioritize his week in light of the cross?

How should a man exercise humble leadership by studying his wife and children?

How can men work together for accountability and mutual growth?

Why is Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood a must read for all men?

C.J. Mahaney leads Sovereign Grace Ministries in its mission to establish and support local churches. Steve Shank oversees the planting and strengthening of Sovereign Grace churches in the western United States and Canada, as well as Central and South America.

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Part V: Fathers and Sons (Pete Payne)

In the most memorable scene in the movie We Were Soldiers, Lt. Col. Hal Moore uttered these incredible words: "I will not leave the battle. I will not leave my men." Why is Moore's bold declaration incredible? The context. Moore's unit, the U.S. Army Seventh Cavalry, was surrounded by the North Vietnamese Army, an outfit that outnumbered Moore's troops by a 5-1 ratio. Yet Moore provided an astounding example of selfless leadership for his men by standing his ground in the face of staggering odds. Moore vowed to be the first man on the battlefield and the last to leave it.

For Pete Payne, raising sons biblically requires blood-and-guts leadership in the Moore mold. Payne reminded men at The Pursuit Conference that both fathers and their sons face a deadly spiritual enemy, one who has been pursuing a search-and-destroy objective against God's people since Eden.

"I wake up every day on a battlefield with my sons, with my own life, and I want to think of it in those terms," Payne said. "Our objective is clearly defined. As fathers and sons we have differing roles. We have non-commissioned officers as fathers and recruits as sons...And there is much we must do as leaders in this great battle."

To succeed, Payne said fathers and sons must march into the fight of faith beneath a banner adorned by five assurances:

1. That they are enlisted, that they are bonafide members of Christ.
2. That they are strong in the Lord.
3. That they are well-armed with the Sword of the Spirit.
4. That they know who the enemies are: the world, the flesh and the devil and that they are experiencing some measure of success against them.
5. That they are passionately pursing the ultimate objective of the glory of God.

Pete Payne has served as a pastor with Sovereign Grace Ministries for many years in Denver.  He presently serves as a pastor of the newly-planted Grace Church in the Dallas metroplex area.  This message was delivered at the November 2007 Western Regional Men's Conference of Sovereign Grace Ministries.  

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Part VI: Marks of Masculine Leadership (Rich Richardson)

The answer to the first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism-"What is the chief end of man?"- is famous within historic Protestant Christianity: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." That certainly gives us much biblical help with the chief end of man, but what is the chief end of men?

Rich Richardson told men at the Pursuit Conference that the chief end of men was established in the Garden of Eden as they were created by God for the purpose of leadership.

This truth rings clear in the first three chapters of Scripture, Richardson said, for several reasons: God created man first, made man the head of the entire human race, gave man the task of naming the woman, called the human race "man" after Adam, held man morally responsible for eating the forbidden fruit even though Eve ate first, and provided man with a suitable helpmate. Thus, the irreducible call of men is a call to leadership.

"There is a picture emerging here of management and responsibility, one in which Adam, and us by extension, are called to function in a clear and specific way. To be able to understand what the chief end of men is, we must understand what we are created to do and to be able to attach a definition to the word man...We can actually define man in one word: leader; man is a leader. Man equals leader. Every man in here is called to lead in some way...Imprinted on our DNA is the call and direction to lead. That is how we were created."

Richardson serves as senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Gilbert, Arizona, the host congregation for The Pursuit conference.

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