THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT AND THE MULTIPLE MATTERS OF MURDER

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT AND THE MULTIPLE MATTERS OF MURDER Exodus 20:13 November 9, 2008 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction If you are a human being, and we’ll assume for the moment that everyone present is, then we have it on good authority that you are someone quite special. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27) Of no other creature in all of creation did God say anything like this. Only about the human beings He created on the sixth and special day of creation week did He say, “in the image of God.” It is a point of wonder to the patriarch David who would later worship the Lord in the eighth Psalm with the words: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, whish you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet… (Psalm 8:3-6) All things created by God are sacred simply by virtue of the fact that they are His creation and by His divine will He infused them with life. But that we have been made in His own image and likeness, pushes the limits of sacredness infinitely beyond plants and plankton, pussy willows and pachyderms. He said in Genesis 9:6, Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. It is in light of this high honor that the only One Who has the right to do so—Creator God—placed on human beings, that we approach our understanding of the sixth commandment. Exodus 20:13 – You shall not murder. Murder The offense in murder is that it is the attempted destruction of the image of God. Webster’s definition is helpful: “the unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being by another.” What makes it unlawful and malicious? God does, by saying you shall not do that. Murder is the willful human act of terminating the life of another human. Or, as we will see, in any way diminishing the life of another human being. Abortion The willful human act of terminating the life of a pre-born human. Our western culture has lost sight of some very important moral principles connected with the value of human life. That legalized abortion ever made it through our courts is a serious indictment against our nation. Not only is taking a scalpel to a pre-born baby a heinous act of murder, it is all the more hideous for the reasons proffered. We are told that to take away the “right” of abortion is to trample on the rights of women. But somebody forgot that there is another human being in the picture whose rights were not defended. You see, the irony of it all is that those who most loudly support abortion are the same ones who say they want to defend the rights of the defenseless. I ask you, Is there anyone who is more defenseless than a child in a womb? The famed but infamous organization known as the defender of human rights, the ACLU, when talking about capital punishment officially state: “The deliberate killing of a human being has no place in a society that calls itself civilized and humane.” But the same organization will argue insistently that a woman has the right to terminate the life of her pre-born baby as a matter of personal convenience. Something is wrong, folks, and I don’t think it is God. We just voted in a president who has said forthrightly he not only supports legalized abortion, but also the right of a mother to withhold care for a baby born alive during a botched abortion. That means that living child, instead of receiving emergency medical care, will be taken into the next room, left on a stainless steel table to cry alone until she starves to death or dies of complications. Something is wrong. Billy and Franklin Graham have spoken out clearly, and I agree with them. Those positions that he holds that are contrary to Biblical teaching; I hope that God will change his heart. He is morally wrong and will have to stand before God on those matters. Professor John Harris is a member of the British Medical Association’s ethics committee and one of the founders of the International Association of Bioethics, as well as professor of ethics at Manchester University, goes another step when he says, "People who think there is a difference between infanticide and late abortion have to ask the question: What has happened to the fetus in the time it takes to pass down the birth canal and into the world which changes its moral status? I don't think anything has happened in that time." Notice, that only works one way for Harris. If there is no difference between the just born child and the just pre-born child, then aren’t we talking about a human being in the womb? No, for him it only works the other way: since we take the life of children in utero, why do we stop at birth? One of the cutting edge thinkers, Peter Singer, has taught and written widely that parents ought to have the right to terminate the life of their children even up until the age of two months! Who is Peter Singer? Oh, he’s just the one teaching our kids Applied Ethics over at Princeton University! I heard a testimony a few weeks ago that I found inspiring and thought-provoking. I asked Dan Flanagan to share it with you this morning. Please welcome Dan. ***** Capital Punishment One of the other popular discussion points on the issue of the taking of human life is capital punishment. We know it is prescribed for certain crimes and offenses in the Old Testament, but there are serious questions many have about whether those were culturally bound laws, and if the New Covenant releases God’s people from that part of the law. Some believe that it is wrong to take a life for a life or lives lost through murder. There are situations in our sinful world in which, in order to save other lives, a life or even many lives need to be taken, in keeping with justice. This is really a question of authority—the authority of God, whether directly applied or designated. We are to submit ourselves to the authorities over us, trusting that God will work through them. See 1 Timothy 2:1-4 – I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. That capital punishment is sanctioned by the Lord in certain situations is clear from the Old Testament. We may have lots of questions about its legitimacy and the application of capital punishment as punishment and crime deterrent, but we must let the final word rest with God. He gives and takes life. Romans 12:19 – “’It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” War Then there is war. We all struggle with the issue of nations warring against other nations and the killing of military and civilian people. Taking the life of your neighbor whose life God calls you to respect and whom God calls you to love is pitted against issues of the safety of many other lives, and it does become difficult. There is much debate even among serious Christians and room on both sides for legitimate debate. But the same God who gave this commandment also sent His people out to war in His name. The morality of war is never really addressed in larger terms in the Bible; even this commandment is written to individuals, and not in the context of war. There are some situations in which, if a life or lives are taken, many others will be saved. David took the life of Goliath and liberated a whole generation of his people from the Philistine threat that was terrorizing their nation. The New Testament is clear that the authority for taking military action is not given to individuals, but to governments, and they are given the responsibility of doing this for the protection of the people they govern. No wonder we are exhorted in God’s Word to pray for our government as they make decisions in these areas of awesome responsibility. Pray for those who lead our nation. Euthanasia Made from two words that mean “good” and “death” euthanasia involves someone making a decision that a person’s life is no longer worth living and that some action should be taken to end it. It is often made to sound so humane. Once again, the primary issue at stake is that God, and God alone, is the one who gives and takes away life. While we may not like watching our loved one suffer, it really isn’t about our perceptions. It is a matter of trust in the Lord—do I truly trust that He knows what is happening and He will move at the right time, in the right way. Beyond that it is also a matter of praying to receive and operate in His wisdom. What must be remembered is that there is a huge difference between ending a life and ending treatment. Ending treatment is our acquiescence to the apparently imminent death of our loved one, and simply stopping treatment becomes a way of turning that person’s life over to God.   All the while we want to remain true to the express wishes of the person in questions whether in a living will or personal comment. Again, there is a monumental difference between sustaining a life that has been taken by God and taking a life that is being sustained by God. Several times I have been with a family who decided to end heroic measures and life-sustaining treatment, only to have their loved one hang on to life for many days. Sometimes they lived out those final hours in agony, sometimes sleeping peacefully. And on occasion they would return to lucidity and have a very meaningful time with their family. Discerning where the line is drawn can be excruciatingly difficult. That is why we do what we always do in our difficulty—we pray. We never want t put ourselves—or medical staff—in the position of playing God. As Job knew so well and exclaimed in the first chapter of that book: The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. Suicide The sixth commandment also comes to bear in the matter of suicide—the deliberate, pre-meditated taking of one’s own life. Most people come to a point at least once in their life where life seems no longer worth living, and/or it would be better for everyone, at least themselves, if they were dead. Let me make what might be a painfully obvious truth: If you are alive, God wants you alive. Your life is not yours to take. You are a trustee of the life you have—a steward. God is the Creator and owner. We are called to stand firm in our faith, and to trust that God will stand with us in our times of darkness. The life God has given you is of irreplaceable value, and the fact that your current season in it is painful does not diminish your importance to God. Even if you are blind to the value of your life for a time, know that God is not. Trust Him to return you to a realized peace in Him after that season. You will remember that Superman actor Christopher Reeve suffered a fall from a horse, was paralyzed from the neck down and was put on a ventilator. On Larry King’s show he admitted that he had thought about suicide. He had discussed it with his wife Dana, and she said, “Let’s give it two years.” Larry King asked her what she would have done if Christopher had still wanted to end his life when the two years were over. She laughed and said, “I was just negotiating.” When we are in great pain, whether physical or emotion or both, our minds are not clear; our thinking is warped for the time by our feelings. What is important is to remember that at times when you feel you want to give up and life is not worth living, God has something for you in your future—blessings, a hope and a future. (Jer. 29:11) He may be preparing to make you a blessing to someone else in their struggle (2 Corinthians 1). The sixth commandment does apply: “You shall not murder.” Anger and Hatred There is one more application concerning the command to not murder, and that is the one Jesus expounded on in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:21-23 – You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and to anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool,’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. The warning we have from the Lord Jesus is that Murder—the destruction of the life of another—is not just a matter of taking someone’s physical life. It goes deeper into our souls to the level of motive and relationship. If I am not in proper relationship with another child of God, and I allow negative feelings in me to fester, they will eventually lead me to anger or hatred. Jesus tells us that is a sin of similar kind to murder. Why is this so? Because anything that I do that diminishes the life and vitality of another person created by God is wrong. It is not only wrong against that person; it is destructive of ourselves. Have you seen what anger and hatred can do to a person? Sure you have. Your Creator God does not want that for you or for others. The right thing to do is always to strive for and move toward healthy feelings for, and relationship, with others. Anything less than loving others—which is wanting the very best for them—is akin to murder. It is exclusively God’s right to judge a person, to bless or curse a person’s life, and to take or sustain life. It is not ours. “You shall not murder.” Conclusion: How can a person live up to such high standards? No one can on their own. But if your relationship with your Creator is healed and restored through faith in Jesus Christ, He can and will enable you to live in keeping with this and all the commandments. Have you made your step of faith to make Jesus Christ your Savior and the Lord of your life?     [Back to Top]