s20070610m_Let There Be Life

LET THERE BE LIFE

You shall not murder. Exodus 20:13 

I.  WHAT THIS COMMAND IS NOT ABOUT:

·      It Is Not Prohibiting Killing Animals

18 He said to them, “Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19 since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) Mark 7:18-19

·      It Is Not Prohibiting Capital Punishment.

5For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life. 6Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind. Genesis 9:5-6

·      It Is Not Prohibiting Going To War.

"...There is a time for war..." Ecclesiastes 3:8

Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” Luke 3:14

II. HOW THIS COMMAND APPLIES TO ME.

·      God Says No To [SUICIDE and MERCY KILLING].

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:18-19

In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being. Job 12:10

·      God Says No To [ABORTION].

13For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. 15My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. Psalms 139:13-16

·      God Says No To [SPIRITUAL MURDER].

14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. 16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 1 John 3:14-16