Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Exodus

Exodus 20:13 06/06/04

Message Title: ‘Choose Life’                                                                                                                                     Text: Exodus 20:13

Introduction: 1 American is shot, stabbed, beaten or strangled to death, every 22 minutes. The murder rate in the US is 10 in every 100,000. Your chances of being murdered are far greater than your chances of dying in an airplane or car crash.  More children die as a result of acts of violence than they do from illness.

•    Yet, we live in a society that glorifies violence. What are some of the favorite TV shows? CSI, Murder She Wrote, Law & Order…
•    favorite movies? Murder mysteries, slasher movies: Freddie, and Jason are cult heros.
•    What about video games? Doom, Wolfenstein 3D or Mortal Kombat .

It has gotten so bad that we consider tv, movies and video games that feature murder as being entertainment.

Our society gives mixed signals on violence and murder. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) will fight and give great amounts of money to save a baby seal from being clubbed to death to keep someone from being comfortable in a seal skin coat. At the same time, many PETA members support Pro-Choice and a womens right to have her baby partially delivered (all except the head) then allow the doctor to stick a needle into the baby’s head and suck out the brains just to keep the woman comfortable in her lifestyle without the burden of a child.

We want to save the dolphins but abort the babies. We are horrified with violence and murder while at the same time enticed by it. Perhaps now more than ever, we need to understand and keep the 6th commandment.

Transition: Open your Bibles to Ex. 20:13 where we will discover the significance of this commandment as well as what it prohibits and what it doesn’t.

Read: Ex. 20:13

1. The Significance of this commandment.
Every year this country will abort 1 million babies, most for the sake of convenience. Many sociologists believe we are heading to the day
when our senior citizens will be encouraged to choose to die when they too become inconvenient for their family. TV, movies and video games make murder entertainment. Why? Because life is no longer sacred, it is disposable when it is deemed useless, burdensome or just inconvenient.

It is easy then to see why God would give us such a commandment.

•    The ethical theology behind this commandment is the fact that man and woman, all men and women, are created in the image of God (according to Gen. 1:26-27 and 9:6) And because of that, they have intrinsic value. They matter to God. This commandment reminds us that all humanity should matter to us as well.

•    The practical theology behind this commandment is that it is God who gives life to all. Every breath we breathe is given to us by God.

Read: Gen. 2:7  ‘the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.’

Read: Acts 17:28a ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’

This also means that since we all are created by God, given and sustained in life by him, he alone has the right and prerogative to take our life.

Read: Job 14:5 ‘Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.’

Read: Ps 104:29 ‘When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.’

Key here is that when we choose to take the life of another we have chosen to usurp God’s sovereign authority. God has determined that those who murder must themselves die, not just for taking life that was created in his image, but for putting themselves in the place of God. God will have no rivals.

Transition: Since the penalty is so severe, we had best know what it means to murder. We had better understand clearly the boundaries of this commandment.

Definition: The term in the Hebrew is specific. It means to murder, not just kill.

What are the boundaries, when is killing, murder?

2. The boundaries of this commandment.
     What it prohibits

•    Premeditated and deliberate murder: Homicide

•    Abortion: infanticide
    The deliberate killing of an unborn baby. Only 1% of abortions are for the medical safety of the mother. Although there are no specific Scripture texts relating to this act of violence, God’s Word does deal with the involuntary death of a baby in the womb.

Read: Ex. 21:22-23  ‘If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life’

    This is for accidental death of an unborn baby…logically if death is given for this,
then intentionally killing an unborn baby deserves the same punishment. I believe Scripture assumed this would be naturally understood. But sadly it isn’t.

ILL: Peter Singer, a college professor teaching bioethics at Princeton University in a book wrote: ‘Killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person.

By the way, Singer is also a staunch animal rights activist. And what he is teaching his students is that a young animal has more right to life than a physically handicapped newborn.

He is not alone, even NJ officials seem to have a misunderstanding of this commandment.

ILL: An elderly man here in New Jersey discovered that rats were eating the tomatoes in his garden. He set a trap, caught a rat, and then beat it to death with a broomstick. The humane society came to the defense of the rat, issued a summons, and arrested him for cruelty. He faced possible fine of $1,250 and six months in jail. Newspapers picked it up and turned the story into one of humiliation for the humane society. The director said that his reason was the rat was trapped and could not escape the horrible death by mutilation.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the news media wrote about the unborn babies who cannot escape the mutilation that is inflicted upon them in their mother’s womb?

•    Suicide: Suicide is the #2 killer of college students, #3 among HS students.

    God owns all life, even our own. We have no right to usurp God’s authority and end our own life. This is however, not an unforgivable sin. The Christian is forgiven of all sin, but it is a great offense to God and should never be acted upon so as to presume upon God’s grace.

•    Euthanasia: Assisted suicide or mercy killing. Literally means ‘good death’. Do you recognize the name Dr. Kavokrian better known as Dr. Death? He puts together a lethal combination of medicine and all you have to do is push a button, releasing the deadly concoction into your bloodstream, killing you.

•    Recklessness: This includes any death that is avoidable. Driving drunk, high or exhausted is an example of this.

Transition: This is what this commandment prohibits. What is not covered under this commandment? In other words, When is killing not murder?

    What it does not prohibit

•    Capital Punishment: the Death Penalty. Based on
 
Read: Gen 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.’

Read: Rom. 13:4 ‘the state does not bear the sword in vain’.

The sword is the right to punish by death.

•    Self Defense: Killing to preserve your life or the life of another or even in defense of ones property. Based on
 
Read: Ex. 22:2-3  ‘If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, he is guilty of bloodshed.’

    What this means is you can kill to defend your family and     home but if the criminal gets away you can’t track him     down the next day and kill him.

•    DNR or taking someone off life support. This allows for God to make the ultimate decision.

•    Killing animals, insects etc. Certainly for food, physical protection, clothing. A grey area is killing animals for sport.

By the way, there is where I am in support of PETA. People Eating Tasty Animals.

•    Killing as part of war. Ecc. 3:8 says that there is a time for war and a time for peace.  God himself, led the Israelites in battle against their enemies.

Conclusion
Most of you here this morning have never been convicted of murder. Most of you will probably
never be convicted of murder. So what can you take home with you besides a few new facts about the 6th commandment?

Read: Matt. 5:21-22  ‘You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and 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.’

Read: 1 Jn 3:11-15 ‘This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.’


Throughout most of this message, perhaps you thought you were innocent of the 6th commandment? How do you feel now? Jesus tells us that harboring hate in our hearts for someone, calling them a fool or imbecile  is murder them because you have made them worthless in your eyes when God considers them valuable and important.

But, what if you have murdered someone? Aborted a baby? Hated someone so much that you wish they would die? Can God forgive you? Yes. God can and has, many times. Moses, David and Paul were all murderers who were forgiven by God and used in great ways for the Kingdom.

If you haven’t already done so, confess your sin to the Lord and receive his grace and forgiveness…and like Jesus said to the women at the well, go and sin no more.

For all of us, in all we do, in all our relationships with others, choose life.