Hatred and Anger

If you have a Bible, I invite you to open up with me to Exodus 20:13 and the number of words per verse as you will notice are getting progressively smaller. However, there is a lot to take in from the four words that we are going to be looking at this evening. Tonight we make it to the sixth commandment and it is a command that to many of us seems obvious. It seems like it should be one of those commands that we shouldn’t have to have as a command because it should seem plain as day but really you could make that argument for any of the ten commandments. So, what is the sixth commandment? Exodus 20:13 says, “You shall not murder.” Now I am willing to bet that if I were to ask any one of you if taking the life of another human being was ok, I’m sure that 99% would say no you shouldn’t murder anyone and I’m sure the other 1% would say, “Well, it depends on what the other person did. What if he did this, that, or the other? Then wouldn’t taking his life be OK?” We will actually answer that question tonight but the murder that we have in mind is not godly justice but the willful taking of another person’s life. But there is more to this commandment than just a command to not kill someone. What this commandment defines as sin is not just the killing of another human being but every step along the way that leads to murder. I would be willing to bet that practically no one in life just murders someone spontaneously. No one wakes up one morning and wanders into murder. This does not mean that accidents don’t happen but there are steps that are taken before murder. There is anger, there is hatred, there is a denial of loving one’s neighbor, and a defiance of God that first takes place all before murder happens. In fact, this commandment brings to the forefront just how far we are from truly loving our neighbors as we should. Thomas Watson, the great Puritan divine said that behind the command to not murder is the command that we are to do all the good that we can for the preservation of the lives of others. Is that truly what God is calling us to in this commandment? I believe that it is and we can see that from what Jesus has to say in regards to this commandment. What I want us to look at tonight are 3 things: 1. What does the Bible say about murder? 2. What about justice? 3. What does Christ teach about loving our neighbors. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer and then we will dive in.

The Bible and Murder

So, what does the Bible say about murder? The Bible calls it sin and while all sin carries with it guilt and condemnation, the Bible stresses the sin of murder as particularly outrageous. Genesis 9:6 says that murder is an assault against God’s created order and is an insult to God because God made man in His own image. Numbers 35:31 says that a murderer should not only be punished but is guilty of death and should therefore be put to death. Jesus connects murderers directly to Satan by saying in John 8:44 that Satan himself has been a murderer from the very beginning. In Revelation 21:8 we read, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Murderers are connected to some of the most despicable sins. One commentator said that the sin of murder is completely inhumane. Murder is one of the earliest sins that we see in the Bible as we see it in Genesis 4 with the story of Cain and Abel. In Genesis 4:10 the Lord says to Cain that the blood of his brother Abel is crying out to Him from the ground. Murder is a crying sin. It cries out to the Lord about the assault to His created order. It’s also a sin that never impacts just one person. In 2 Samuel 12, Nathan the prophet rebukes David over David’s sin of murdering Uriah and Nathan says to David that he has despised the Word of the Lord and has done evil in God’s sight by having Uriah put to death. When we look at what the Lord says about murder, when we see the punishment that is due to it, the reason that God places such an emphasis on human life is because human life has value! In a fallen world, man still retains the image of God even though it is marred and flawed because of sin. Human life matters because God says that it matters. This is why I believe that Christians must see an importance in fighting for the lives of the unborn and for being an advocate for life in general because we above all people should understand that life matters. We know that when God created man, He did not create them in the exact same way as everything else. Genesis 2 shows us that man alone is created in the image of God and that God formed Adam out of the dust of the earth and breathed life into him and this shows from the very beginning that man is set apart from the rest of creation. J.I. Packer writes, “The commandment rests on the principle that human life is holy, first because it is God’s gift and second because man bears God’s image. Human life is thus the most precious and sacred thing in the world, and to end it, or direct its ending, is God’s prerogative alone. We honor God by respecting his image in each other, which means consistently preserving life and furthering each other’s welfare in all possible ways.” Before we talk about justice, I want to give you all a little reminder that I think I give a couple times a year but really I should be doing it more because you need to hear it. You matter. Your life is precious. There is not a single person here today who is unimportant. You are not an accident or a mistake, you have been made by God Almighty. C.S. Lewis said that there is no such thing as an ordinary person. D.L. Moody said, “Man is made in God’s image. He is built for eternity. He is more than a mere animal. His life ought therefore to be held sacred. Once taken, it can never be restored.” Every day is a reminder of grace. God has allowed you to see this day and He alone dictates the day that you depart from this life. You have purpose and there is never a moment where your life is not precious and you need to give yourself a little more credit. You aren’t the star of the show but that doesn’t mean that you don’t play a huge role in it. If God sees your life as important, shouldn’t you see it in the same light? As I battled with depression over the past 10-15 years, the thing that has gotten me over the hump more than anything else is the thought that if Jesus loved me enough to die for me, why should I be so afraid to live for Him? Paul writes in Philippians 2:1–2 “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” Is there any encouragement in Christ? You bet there is! Is there any comfort from His live? More than we could measure? Is the Spirit participating in our lives? More than we could know! And since we know this to be true, our joy, like Paul, can be complete. The world does not get to dictate your value when God Himself alone is the One that gives you your value.

What About Justice?

Let’s quickly talk about justice. When it comes to the taking of another person’s life, there are a few areas where God allows this to happen. The Bible says that if a person is attacked and kills someone in self defense that it is permissible. Exodus 22:2 says, “If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him.” The Bible also says that while we may not personally take the law into our own hands and put someone to death, those that God has put in authority have the responsibility to see that crimes are punished accordingly. This means that judges have the right and responsibility to put to death those that have committed crimes that are worthy of death. We also see in Scripture that God allows war and in Ezekiel 14 we see that God often allows the sword to pass through a country as a sign of judgement against the sin of that country. We also see in Scripture that God commands that wicked nations be put to death but we also see that He allows time for repentance. God says in Genesis 15:16 “And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” There is a certainty of God’s judgement but there is also tremendous patience and longsuffering. God did not strike down the wicked Amorites the moment that they sinned but He allowed them time to turn from their ways. He knew the day was coming where their sin would be punished in full and that would come about 400 years after Genesis 15. Every wrong will be righted by God. No one will ever receive an unfair trial in Heaven, God is keeping perfect tabs on every single person. God’s justice is absolutely perfect and He will judge absolutely perfectly. Paul says in Romans 12:17-19

Romans 12:17–19 (ESV)

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

What we need to be reminded of as Christians is that we need to have an otherworldly mindset. We cannot be like those that think that this life is all there is. If this life is all there is, then absolutely we should want to retaliate and push back against those that wrong us. But if we know that there is another world waiting for us and a righteous judge that will right every wrong, we can repay no one evil for evil because we know that our God will get it right. Retaliation is never the answer. James Montgomery Boice said that it is only the person who sees beyond the here and now and is willing to trust God to establish justice that is able to do what Paul says in these verses. I think of what we read in Revelation 6:9-11 where we see the saints that have been killed for their faith crying out to God for justice and He replies by telling them to rest just a little longer and this is a reminder that God will right the wrongs that have been done.

Revelation 6:9–11 (ESV)

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Not a single sliver of sin will sneak through the gates of Heaven and not a single ounce of injustice will prevail. God will have the final say and He will have the final word. Is justice is true and is sure so we as the people of God can trust Him to get it right. Let’s quickly turn now to what Christ says in regards to the sixth commandment. We have made a little bit of reference to it already but I want us to spend a few minutes talking about what the Lord calls us to with the sixth commandment.

Christ and the Sixth Commandment

Jesus says in Matthew 5:21-26

Matthew 5:21–26 (ESV)

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

That first statement that Jesus makes we know is true. Those that murder are liable to judgement but the problem with the understanding of that teaching was that the Pharisees and the scribes assumed that you could hate someone as much as you want as long as you didn’t kill them. They seemed to teach that it was only those that murdered that would be held accountable for that action. What Jesus does is He brings the matter back to the heart. He reminds us that anger and hate is at the root of all murder. There is hatred of neighbor and there is a hatred of God because like we mentioned, murder is the taking of the life of someone that has been made in the image of God. A.W. Pink said, “But this commandment is not restricted to forbidding the actual crime of murder. It also prohibits all the degrees and causes of murder, such as rash anger and hatred, slanders and revenge, and whatever else may prejudice the safety of our neighbor or tempt us to see him perish when it is in our power to relieve and rescue him.” So where does this leave you? Where do you stand with your neighbor? Where do you stand with your enemies. The Lord says it is not enough for us to just not actively root against those that are around us, we must actively pursue loving those that are around us. The Apostle John says in 1 John 3:14-15

1 John 3:14–15 (ESV)

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Hatred itself is equated to murder. I don’t think that Christians can claim to be Christian if they are actively hating people that are made in God’s image. This does not mean that murderers cannot become Christians. Jesus Himself prayed for those that took His life and we see that Paul, who hated and persecuted the Church, would go on to be one of the greatest Christians to ever live. But the Bible does teach that those that have been bought by Christ must love as Christ loves. Christ is the perfect example of one that loved His neighbors and His enemies. We know this because Paul says in Romans 5:10 “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Christ died for us not while we were perfect but while we were His enemies. There is not a single person on this planet that is not guilty of breaking the sixth commandment because we are each responsible for the death of the Son of God! Your sin and my sin is responsible for the death of Christ and because we are murderers of the Son of God, our lives should be required of us. God has every right to put us to death for breaking the sixth commandment but in His mercy, He offers us the life of His Son. When you think about your own life and you think about your own relationships with those that are around you, are you living like Christ? Christ lived a perfect life yet He died the death that we should have. Instead of railing against His enemies, He prayed for them. Have you ever thought about that? While on the cross, suffering the worst pain imaginable, while having the wrath of God poured out against Him, Jesus Christ prayed for His enemies! In Luke 23:34, Jesus looks at the crowd and He prays, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This doesn’t excuse what the Jews and the Gentiles did to Jesus but it leaves the door open to repentance. If Jesus can bare the weight of the wrath of God, the weight of the hatred of His enemies, and bear the weight of crucifixion and still love us, then you and I have absolutely no excuse to not love our neighbors and our enemies. The fact that Christ did not judge the world at that very moment is a testimony to His patience and His mercy. You and I have a lot of work to do. If we are going to claim the name of Christ, we need to partake in the acts and mission of Christ. This means loving and praying instead of hating and cursing. This means seeking welfare and not harm. This means striving with all our might to live at peace with those that are around us. Our lives need to be a living sacrifice and testimony to the newness of life that Christ brings to us. There is never a moment in our lives where hate is a viable option. We were purchased out of love and our lives should radiate that love. The only thing that we can hate is the sin that separated us from God in the first place. We must love our neighbors. We must pray for those that persecute us. Look at the world today and tell me that it would not benefit from an outpouring of Christ-centered love? Have you experienced the love of Christ that is beyond comprehension? Until you have that love, you won’t be able to share the love that God requires. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer.