The Struggle for Peace

About 2 weeks ago we noticed that our dog was acting very lethargic and appeared to be in pain as she was hesitant to climb up on her window bench but preferred to rest in her kennel. As I called the vet and set up an appointment to be seen. Ann and I discussed “keeping her comfortable”, which is code for putting her down.

A week ago John Conklin and I talked about some of the Brittney’s he raised and the value of a good dog, but we agreed that dogs are replaceable.

But people are not animals! We don’t give thought to euthanizing infants, those with disabilities, or the aged.

Social media and talk radio have been blowing up recently over bills in various states that have been debated in the last month regarding 3rd trimester abortion in light of the physical or mental health of the mother. Many of these debates revolve around legal definitions of “person”, with some assigning personhood at conception; others choosing various stages of maturity or quality before acknowledging personhood.

Allow me to make 4 declarations before proceeding with the sermon on the 6th command.

1. I don’t see this as a political issue. I don’t care what box you check on the ballot, I’m speaking about the reality that humans bear the image of God. I don’t see this as a conservative/liberal divide. I see a society that is denying that God exists or that He has granted His image to those of the human race. I do not speak today as a politician, but as a theologian.

2. I’m neither a physician nor a biologist, but I’m speaking under the assumption that every living cell of a human body cries out “image-bearer”! As such it is to be honored, dignified and protected from womb to tomb, regardless of maturity or quality.

3. While the current social debate is focused on pre-born life, my perspective on human dignity is just as relevant to matters of immigration, other-abled humans, God-given gender, and geriatrics.

4. Legality never determines morality! History is full of examples of laws that run contrary to God’s wisdom. There is but one God and He doesn’t share His throne with 9 justices or any elected official.

Transition: My goal today is to answer 4 questions. 1. Why did God command this? 2. What does this command mean? 3. How do we break this command? and 4. How should I obey this command?

Sanctity of Human Life (WHY this command?)

Humans are not Animals (Gen 1:26-27)

1. Humans are created in God’s image.

· God has given life to plants and animals, but He has only shared His image with Humans!

2. Many people today have lost sight of this chasm. Losing touch with the Creator, they have come to believe that they are simply developed animals. This has led to a great confusion, causing many to regard animals as if they were humans and humans as if they were animals.

Animals are not Human (Gen 9:3)

1. God gave both salads and steaks to men and women for food. "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you," God said to Noah. "Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything" (Genesis 9:3). He has given us liberty to fish the seas, to farm the animals, and to harvest the fields and the forests.

2. Newsflash for PETA, according to God it IS ethical to kill and eat animals.

3. But human life is in a different category

Genesis 9:6 ESV:2016

6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

4. A society that cannot tell the difference between a dog and a grandmother has lost touch with the Bible's teaching about the unique value of human life. This is an area in which all of us who profess to worship and obey the God of the Bible need to check our thinking against the teaching of His Word. There is a vast chasm that separates human life from every other form of life.

Transition: If we can agree that homo-sapien is unique from all other biological orders, let’s move to the 2nd question…

You Shall not “Do Murder” (WHAT does this mean?)

War & Capital Punishment (Gen 9 & Canaan’s conquest)

1. Noahic covenant preceded God’s choosing of Abraham.

2. Societal authority, not individual

· Cleansing, not revenge/control

o “ethnic” cleansing devalues humans

o “theocratic” cleansing elevates God’s image in image-bearers

3. Peacemaking/Pacifism

· As citizens we should urge our Heads of state to exhaust diplomatic channels, knowing that they must give an account to God for their leadership.

· Individual soldiers/wardens must remain under chain of command and within boundaries of authority/rules of engagement.

· When we step out from the societal authority of Gen 9:6, as individuals we become culpable to this command.

4. Civil disobedience is a rabbit trail that we simply don’t have time to chase in this message.

Murder (Romans 12:19)

1. God calls us to love our neighbors, even to love our enemies and do good to them.

Romans 12:19 (ESV) — 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.”

2. Manslaughter is an accidental ending of your neighbor’s life. Murder is the intentional ending of your neighbor’s life.

3. Firearms are only one tool of murder so I won’t take time to thoroughly flesh out my opinions on the 2nd Amendment other than to repeat “legality never determines morality.” Arson, poisoning, a bat or club, and vehicles are just a few other tools of this crime.

4. I realize, especially in a rural setting, that the duly appointed arm of the law may not be capable of responding in a timely way against a criminal act. I have owned a firearm in the past and I know that many of us own and shoot both long guns and handguns.

5. I don’t deny that you may encounter that 1 in a million event where the legitimate defense of yourself or family may compel you to squeeze the trigger. In that split-second you may have to decide if ending the life of one image-bearer is truly going to end a critical threat toward another image-bearer.

6. In that instant will you have the ability to separate fear or anger and deliberately determine that death is the only way of preserving the dignity of another image-bearer.

John 18 illustrates when Peter thought dividing the temple guard in two was the right choice, but Jesus reattached and healed the servant’s ear as an indication that killing that man was not God’s will.

Abortion (Ps 139:7-16)

1. A child in the womb is your unborn neighbor, and God calls you to love your unborn neighbor as much as you love yourself.

2. God has an active relationship with the developing life of a child in the womb.

Psalm 139:13 (ESV) — For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

3. This is not a problem that will be solved in the statehouse or the courthouse. There are several things that our laws allow that I choose not to do!

As our society rushes headlong into making abortion more acceptable and accessible, prayer and compassion are our greatest tools to make it more rare! A week ago, I put a frame on my Facebook profile identifying myself as pro-life. How many abortion-minded women do you think changed their mind because of my profile pic? But I have also served on the Board of New Hope Pregnancy Center that offered free pregnancy testing, ultrasound, prenatal parenting classes, diapers, formula, baby clothes and supportive mentors. I guarantee that the compassionate support of our New Hope volunteers convinced many more women than my social media.

4. God's hand is on the life of the unborn child, and that is why the unborn child should be of great value to us. This is not a potential life, but it is a life, with all kinds of potential.

5. Just as intention separates manslaughter from murder, it also separates miscarriage from abortion. God's care for a human life from the moment of conception is a wonderful comfort for parents who have gone through the pain of a miscarriage, and may have done so many times. The little life that was lost to you is known to God and is safe in His hands.

Euthanasia (Job 14:5)

Job 14:5 (ESV) — Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

1. There is a huge difference between sustaining a life that has been taken by God and taking a life that is being sustained by God. Discerning that line can be horrendously difficult. Knowing that there is a line is crucial. Where God is sustaining a life, nobody is in a position to say that life is not worth living.

2. I have taken steps to sign and notarize an Advanced Directive for end of life appointing an agent with Power of Attorney to ensure that nutrition/medical care is not withheld or extraordinary extension of life measures are not used after it has been determined that death is imminent. I encourage each of you to have this tough discussion with your primary care physician and your family then document it legally.

Suicide (John 10:10)

John 10:10 (ESV) — The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

1. At some point, you may come to a place where you feel that your life is no longer worth living. Only God knows how many people walk through this experience, but I suspect that most people may encounter a time where they feel at least for a moment, and often for much longer, that there would be no loss to the world if they were gone.

2. If that's where you are this morning, listen up! It's a lie of the Evil One. God has given you life. God wants you here. This life is not yours to take. You are a steward of the life that God has given to you. You are the trustee of this life, and God is the owner.

3. God will stand with you in your darkness. It will take an act of faith to believe that, but you can glorify Him by holding on in your darkness. The life that He is giving to you is of irreplaceable value, and the fact that it is painful does not diminish your importance to God.

4. Therefore, cherish the life that He is giving to you. Even if you cannot see its value now, one day you will.

Transition: With this understanding of the command, are there ways we demonstrate an attitude of murder even if we don’t act on it?

Depots on the Railway (HOW do we break this command?)

Now let's suppose that you go through your entire life without committing murder, having an abortion, practicing euthanasia, or committing suicide. Would that mean that you had kept the sixth commandment? Answer: No.

Jesus made it clear that the scope of this commandment goes far beyond acts of murder to the thoughts and desires of our hearts. Picture a train moving along a track on which there are many depots. Murder is the station at the far end of a line called conflict. Many of us will never go near that station, but all of us have traveled somewhere on this track. Let's visit three of the stations on the line.

Rude Disregard (Matt 5:21-22)

Matthew 5:21–22 (ESV:2016) — “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22But 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.

1. The Hebrew in Ex 20:13 is pronounced “Lo Ratza” and Jesus makes a play on the word with the Aramaic ‘raca’ which is translated ‘you fool!’.

The word "Raca" was a term of contempt. Roughly translated, it means, "You're useless." We might call this rudeness, but Jesus makes it clear that rude, insulting, abusive, or demeaning language is a violation of the sixth commandment

2. That would have gotten the attention of the crowd! If angry words that insult or diminish another person are a violation of the sixth commandment, then all of us are guilty.

3. The Ten Commandments are an explanation of the meaning of love, and love is not rude (1 Corinthians 13:5). If I speak about another person with contempt, I am not loving my neighbor as myself, and I am breaking the sixth commandment.

Relational Destruction (1 John 3:15)

1 John 3:15 (ESV) — Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer…

1. Hatred leads to threats, intimidation, bullying, and violence, and God calls us to turn away from all these things in the sixth commandment. There is no place for hatred toward another person in the life of a follower of Jesus.

2. But Jesus calls us to go further. He crossed the racial barriers that divided Jews from Samaritans. He taught us by His words and His example to love our enemies and to do good to those who mean us harm. Christ demonstrated the power of loving our enemies in His own life and in His death. Paul reminds us that it was while we were still His enemies that Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Reckless Endangerment

1. Some people have been hurtful and hateful for so long that they have left behind a wake of broken relationships.

2. I chose “Reckless” as the title for this station on the railway to Murder because the definition of reckless means to act without regard for consequences.

3. Some have been living so long with the anger from the first depot that they don’t care who gets hurt by their insensitive words or actions.

4. Some have so internalized that anger that it now eats away at them like a cancer.

5. These are the people who die lonely because they’ve burned all the bridges to people they love.

Transition: Let’s jump off that train and get on the road to obedience.

You Shall… (HOW should I obey this?)

Embrace Life (John 10:10)

1. Your life is a precious gift from God, and keeping the sixth commandment means embracing to the full the life God gives you.

2. Ask God to give you a vision of what your life can be. Seize every opportunity to develop yourself. Look for ways in which you can be a good steward of all the gifts God has given to you. Invest your life wisely. Make the big choices of your life carefully.

Pursue Peace/Reconciliation (1 Peter 3:10-11)

1 Peter 3:10–11 (ESV) — For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days… let him seek peace and pursue it.”

1. Then look for ways in which you can enrich the lives of others. Seek to bring God's blessing wherever you can. Live the life God has given you to the full for His glory.

Transition: There is no greater way to embrace life than to follow Jesus

Conclusion:

Jesus gives us the ability to jump off the Railway toward Murder and get on the Road to Peace.

If He would reconcile us to himself while we were enemies with Him by offering His own life to take the punishment for our sins and restoring the marred image we bear, He can cause us to see the dignity in every single human life around us.