Murder Mystery Series

Dakota Community Church

August 10, 2014

Murder Mystery

Summer Series at Dakota: The 10 Commandments

Exodus 20:13

You shall not murder.

{The Hebrew word also covers causing human death through carelessness or negligence}

1. Why all the fuss?

A.) Murder is a violation of a cardinal doctrine of the Christian faith. A denial that God is the Sovereign author of life who alone has the power and right to give or to take away human breath.

Job 10:11-12

You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. 12 You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

Human life is a gift from God, He remains the owner of everything.

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein

B.) Murder is a denial of the value of every human life a, destroying of the creature made in the image of God; evolution vs imago Dei.

What imago Dei means and what it does not mean.

This means that all human life has value because we bear God’s image but not that all human activity is approved by God and must therefore be accepted by man.

The image bearer has become marred, man has fallen, sin is not good in any way; even if you are so bent to it that to you it seems you were made that way.

We respect and protect human life, especially the weak and oppressed without condoning sin.

Psalm 82:3-4

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

James 1:27

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

We have an obligation to social justice as the people of God that goes beyond not murdering.

That brings us to the second point of this sermon:

What does it mean to violate the sixth commandment?

OR:

2. A shockingly inclusive whodunit!

Almost all ending of a human life is considered murder in the eyes of God but with a few notable exceptions. What King David did to Uriah was murder, what he did to Goliath was not.

If you willfully and violently end a human life you are a murderer in the eyes of God

This includes abortion and euthanasia

Exodus 21:22-25

“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

What about all this eye for eye business and the prospect of a blind toothless society?

Have evolved beyond God now?

Are we more just and reasonable now; recognizing that these laws are the product of backward and uneducated people and certainly not anything to do with an all powerful creator?

1 Corinthians 4:5

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

We are living during the time of gospel proclamation but the great and terrible Day of the Lord will come. On that day justice will be served and the guilty will receive their due.

Until then we preach grace and love our neighbours - even the ones who declare themselves our enemies.

If you fail to love your neighbour you are a murderer in the eyes of God

Matthew 5:21-22

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 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.

Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter.

God is not looking for or accepting a grudgingly offered outward obedience.

“Well, I didn’t want to but I knuckled under, gritted my teeth and obeyed God.” {BUZZZ}

Jesus is making the point to a bunch of self righteous people who think they are good that this issue is a matter of the heart; that physical murder is only the final expression of the problem.