YouTube video sermon
Genesis 1:26-28; Exodus 20:13
Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to two passages of Scripture: Genesis 1:26-28 and Exodus 20:13. As you’re finding your place let me tell you a story about Alex Sanders, Jr.
Mr. Sanders was, at one time, the Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals. Back in 1992 he spoke to the graduating class of the University of South Carolina. His daughter, Zoe, was a member of that class, and he told a story about Zoe when she was 3 years old. Sanders came home to find a crisis. Zoe’s pet turtle had died and she was crying her heart out. His wife turned the problem over to him to solve.
First, Mr. Sanders explained that he would go to the pet store and get her another turtle. He got nowhere with that idea. Zoe knew that life couldn’t be transferred from one turtle to another. She wanted her turtle alive. She continued to cry. Then Mr. Sanders said, “I’ll tell you what, we’ll have a funeral for the turtle.” Being three years old she didn’t know what a funeral was, so he told her. “A funeral is a great festival in honor of the turtle.” She didn’t know what a festival was either, so he said, “Listen, a funeral is like a birthday party. We’ll have ice cream and cake and lemonade and balloons, and all the children in the neighborhood will come over to play, all because the turtle has died.” Little Zoe brightened up, got a smile on her face, the tears dried up; she was so happy.
Then, all of a sudden, they looked down and the turtle began to move. He wasn’t dead after all. In fact, in a matter of seconds, he was crawling around as lively as ever. Mr. Sanders didn’t know what to say. With all the innocence of a three-year-old, she looked up at her father and said, “Daddy, let’s kill it.”
That funny little story underscores a very sobering truth about our culture: we value life as long as life doesn’t stand in the way of our party. We say that things and people are important, but if those people stand in the way of our party, then maybe they’re dispensable. Let’s consider these two texts this morning:
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God, He created him;
male and female He created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
And now Exodus 20:13, “You shall not murder.”
“Heavenly Father, we need the mind of Christ and the wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, as we forge our belief system and maintain our Christian lifestyle in the midst of a world that doesn’t share these values. From time to time we have to confront some very difficult issues that occur every day in our culture and we have to decide where we stand and what we believe. Lord, I pray that You’d help us. I pray that part of our worship would be the manner in which we listen to Your Word, with all reverence and all attention as You speak, even using this feeble message. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.”
Let me begin by asking you a question. What would you do for 10 million dollars, or 4 million dollars, or 2 million dollars? That was a question that a couple of New York researchers asked 3,500 people across the United States. What would people be willing to do for certain amounts of money? And they gave hypothetical cases for people to contemplate. They discovered that right around the 2-million-dollar mark, people were willing to do a lot. Twenty-five percent of those interviewed said that they would be willing to completely abandon their families, and seven percent of us say we would murder someone for 2 million dollars. That’s about one in every 14 people. Whether we could actually pull the trigger, is another question, but 36 million of us would be willing to consider the offer.
The commandment is plain: “You shall not murder.” And I’m glad that our newer translations correct the old King James. If you have an old King James, I apologize – great translation, but it’s misleading. It renders this verse as, “Thou shall not kill.” But the best and only translation can be, “murder” and here’s why. There are seven (7) Hebrew words that could be translated, “to kill.” The one word that’s translated, “murder,” is the word that’s used here, ratsach. In fact, this commandment in the original Hebrew is only two words, Lo ratsach. No murder.
Ratsach, or murder is the intentional killing of another human being for personal reasons. It doesn’t mean that you can’t kill animals for sacrificial purposes in the Old Testament; God gave them that command. It doesn’t mean that there can’t be capital punishment; God gave that command in the Old Testament (Exodus 21:12). It doesn’t mean that the people of Israel couldn’t go to war; they were given that permission in the Old Testament. It doesn’t mean that you can’t protect your family or your house if somebody is trying to break in; that was also specified under the Torah. This specifically deals with intentionally killing someone else for personal reasons.
And this morning I’d like for us to consider this sixth commandment by being reminded of the authority issue, the hostility issue, and the sanctity issue.
The Authority Issue
Fundamental to this sixth commandment, as with all commandments, is the issue of the existence of a personal creator God. In Exodus 20:2 we read, “I am the LORD your God.” And then, in verse 3, the phrase begins, “You shall have no other gods before me.” And we noted a few weeks ago, when we were looking at those verses, that the all-caps LORD is actually the covenant name of God (Yahweh). And the name Yahweh means “I AM that I AM.” S o, the ability of God to bring this divine pronouncement upon His creation is directly founded upon the fact that He is none other than the Creator: the great I AM.
The Bible tells us that the universe exists, and the reason that it has form and meaning is because it was created personally and purposefully by a Creator. The Bible goes on to say (as we read a moment ago) that mankind has been made in the image of God. There’s a continuity between us (as finite as we are) and our infinite Creator. We have personality, and morality, and dignity, and value precisely because God created us. There’s no other basis for the personality, morality, dignity, and value of man, except that we were created by a personal, infinite, Creator God.
But the authority issue isn’t only established on the grounds that God created us, and thus He has authority over us. No. The Bible also teaches us that there’s a qualitative distinction between mankind and other forms of life. That’s why we read Genesis 1:26-28, because man is set over and above animals and plants. We’re not part of the animal kingdom like cats and dogs, and we’re certainly not part of the flora kingdom. We’re distinctly different.
Francis Schaeffer was an American theologian and Presbyterian pastor who referred to this distinction in his book, Genesis in Space and Time, as the “mannishness of man.” Now, I know that just saying that in today’s culture can get me into trouble because it sounds ultra-sexist, but that’s not what Schaeffer meant.
What Schaeffer was pointing to was the creativity of man. He said that it was man, not the animals, who have created art. We’re the ones who do the flower arrangements. We’re the ones who have created all these magnificent objects. We’re the ones who have created supersonic aircraft, and buildings that reach thousands of feet into the sky. We’re the ones that put humans on the moon. You don’t see elephants making flower arrangements and orangutans flying A-10 fighter-bombers. That’s what Francis Schaeffer meant – the very fact of our “mannishness” distinguishes us from the rest of the creative order.
In fact, in some strange way, our fear of death is an indication of the difference between ourselves and the rest of creation. The leaves on the trees haven’t been hanging up there for the last month looking at one another and saying, “You know, I’m so afraid to fall off this branch here and get sucked up by that big thing.” The leaves have no such notion. They’re inanimate. They can’t think or speak. And there’s no apparent indication in the animal kingdom of there being much difference either.
Oh, sure, somebody says, “I saw this program on TV/internet and they showed these two monkeys, and when they did this and that, the monkeys scratched here, and then it scratched here, and they had this big thing – it lasted 35 minutes.” Now, I’m not going to deny the ability of monkeys or other animals to communicate, but Shakespeare wasn’t a monkey, and no monkey wrote Hamlet. There’s a distinction that is written in to men and women because we were made in the image of God.
The Bible is very clear. God is an infinite Creator. He made man. He distinguished man from the rest of the creative order. Man was made in the image of God, unlike the rest of creation. Man was given a never-dying soul. And no other view of the world can adequately respond to the questions of: Origin (Where did I come from?), Meaning (Why am I here?), Morality (How do I know right/wrong?), and Destiny (Where am I going?). And the Bible’s answers are clear: God created us; God gives our lives meaning; God reveals right/wrong through His Word, God has established heaven and hell, and He’s provided the way of Salvation through Jesus Christ.
And behind this sixth commandment lies the issue of His authority. “You shall not murder.” Why? Because God us the author of life.
The Hostility Issue
Second, is the hostility issue. The problem with “Thou shall not murder,” is the thou-part; it’s the you and me part. Our reaction to authority is one of hostility.
The apostle Paul sums this up in Romans 8 when he makes it clear that the natural man, or the mind of sinful man, is hostile to God. Romans 8:6-8 says, “[T]o set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” There’s no problem with the Law. It reflects the heart of the Lawgiver. That’ the bar. That’s the standard. The problem is with the people who receive the Law. We have sinful minds, and we don’t like the idea that God is in control.
There’s another famous text of Scripture that the prophet Jeremiah gives to us (many of you know it well). It describes the human heart saying, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). The Spirit knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men and He’s revealed that in His Word.
So anytime we see an act of evil, any crime, any act of violence, we can simply say, “It’s exactly what the Bible said would happen.” We’re not born innocent; we’re born by Adam’s nature – depraved and in need of a Savior. So, the problem is that man is defiled, which actually helps answer a question that a lot of people have: “Why is it that we’re not any better after all this time?” Thousands of years, we’ve improved culturally, we have more creature comforts, we’ve made so many advancements, why is it that we haven’t fixed this? Why is it that mankind is still angry, and violent, and murderous, and at war? What’s the problem? What’s the real reason for that?
Some will say, “It’s the Liberal Media!” or, “It’s the Democrats!” or, “The Republicans,” or “The United Nations!” No, it’s us. The problem is in every single one of us; it’s the human heart. James 4:1-2 says, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”
Why do people fight? Why are people at war? What’s the problem? James says right here – it’s the desires within the human heart. So, yes, mankind is violent. Yes, mankind is murderous. And no, the problem isn’t because guns exist or there’s too much access to guns. Take away every gun in the world; destroy them all – we’ll pick up stones or clubs, or something else.
There aren’t too many times that I would ever agree with Sigmund Freud, but here’s one. He said, very interestingly, “The very emphasis of this commandment, ‘Thou shall not murder,’ makes it certain that we have descended from an endlessly long chain of generations of murderers, whose love of murder was in their blood and perhaps is also in ours.” I’m amazed that Sigmund Freud had right theology concerning this commandment. I didn’t know he had any theology.
Now, you think about it: just turn on the TV or look at the internet and it actually seems like we are living on the verge of total madness. So much of what goes on around us, we say, “This is unbelievable! This is insanity!” Why? Because the law of God – the Maker’s instructions that are here for all of time – have been taken, closed, put on a shelf, stuck in a museum, and we, the modern men and women, say, “We’ll carry on fine by ourselves, thank you very much.”
Why do I labor this? Why am I taking time to say this? Because listen, loved ones, the reason that the average person (including many of us) will give for why we shouldn’t murder is because it’s against the law and you’ll go to prison. But when you ask them who’s law they’ll give you the wrong answer. They won’t connect the dots and recognize that we don’t murder, not because it’s against the state’s laws, but because it’s against God’s Law, and we’re hostile to it.
The Sanctity Issue
There’s the authority issue and the hostility issue; now let’s consider the sanctity issue.
Human life is sacred. First, because it is God’s gift, and second, because man bears God’s image. Human life is the most precious and sacred thing in all the world, and to end it or to direct its ending is God’s prerogative alone. So, we honor God by respecting His image in each other, which means consistently preserving and furthering the welfare of one another, especially as it relates to life.
Well then, how is this commandment broken? Let me suggest four ways in which the commandment is broken.
First, it’s broken by homicide. Consider how little regard there is for human personhood when daily in each of our cities men and women are blown away, drugged out, dragged out, drowned, destroyed simply as a matter of course.
Second, is suicide – the act of willfully causing one’s own death. Suicide offends against community, in that we don’t have the right to deprive others of us. That’s not pride to say that; that’s just true. We don’t have the right to deprive our families of us or our friends of us. Every one of us reacts with compassion to see a man/woman so abjectly suffering that they take their own life. We agree that more care needs to be offered. We agree that there are issues of emptiness and loneliness and a sense of alienation. But the answer of the Christian is not “Here’s a gun.” The answer of the Christian is “Here’s the gospel… Meet the Savior, the One who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, the One who is the answer to the deepest longings of our lives, the One who endured death in order that we might discover life.” And yet suicide is on the rise.
Third, is abortion. The raging debate over the beginning of life should not be viewed as a matter of scientific or technical judgment. It’s a moral issue. Do you know that in the last 48 years there have been over 63 million abortions? Despite the fact that we are apparently wiser, better educated, and free, no previous generation has ever been as guilty of the wholesale rejection of the sixth commandment as ours.
And may I say in passing, there will be some who are here this morning, and you have been guilty of this. You have faced the issue of abortion. And I want to say this to you: God is merciful and forgiving. So, I don’t want you to go out under any man-made burden of your own past. Don’t allow the devil to rummage around in your own areas of sin that has already been forgiven. If it’s not been forgiven, then let’s talk and let’s pray.
Finally, this sixth commandment is broken by hidden murder. What’s hidden murder? It’s anger. Most of us shake our heads in agreement when it comes to the authority issue. We recognize that God created us in His image. We nod our heads in affirmation of the hostility issue. We acknowledge that our hearts are hostile to the Word of God, but we just don’t see ourselves as being guilty of murder.
Jesus knew that would happen. That’s why in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:21-22, He said, “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 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.’”
Some of us are so proud of the fact that “Well, we never did that, and we never considered suicide, and I never shot anybody, I never banged anyone over the head.” Well, so what? Have you ever had a murderous thought? Did you ever drive away from a business meeting and say, “I’d like to kill that sucker”? Did you? Do you ever say, “You know what? I wish he would drop off the side of a cliff. You know what? The guy is a total moron.” By the way, that’s what the Greek word “fool” means.
So just because I haven’t shed someone’s blood, I’m not innocent. My heart has known murder. I’ve harbored thoughts that are as foul as murder. Contemptuous anger has ugly bedfellows: animosity and malice and hostility, and our old favorite, gossip, whereby we kill people all the time.
Tom Allen was at a cafeteria line at Asbury Seminary. A s he was going through the food line, there was a basket of apples with a sign that said, “Take only one – God is watching.” At the end of the line some wise-guy put another sign in the peanut butter cookies that said, “Take all that you want ‘cuz God is busy watching the apples.” Now here’s why that’s funny: because it’s absurd to think that God can’t see both the apples and the peanut butter cookies. If God is God, then He sees it all. God sees all the war, all the anger, all the abortion, all the suicide, all the euthanasia, all the anger boiling up in every person, in every country, in every city, in every generation. He sees it
all.
But here’s the bigger truth – God loves life. He’s for life, He’s not for death. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). The real question is: Do you know the author of life? Has He given you everlasting life? Have you let all of your sins be taken upon Jesus Christ that you might enjoy everlasting eternal life?
“Our Heavenly Father, we approach You, the God of heaven and earth, the Creator of all life, Who gave life to us as a gift and also gave to us the Lord Jesus Christ and His slain and broken body, to die for the sins that we have committed. And we have all committed, in some form or fashion, murder. We ask for Your forgiveness. We ask for clean hands and a pure heart and we receive the forgiveness that comes whenever we confess. May the grace, mercy, and peace that comes from Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest upon and remain with each one, today and forevermore. Amen.”