By Rev Bill Stewart
1
Chris said last week that the first five focus on Loving God while the final five Commandments deal with Loving our neighbour. The Sixth Commandment says very simply: "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17). Our translation "murder" makes it clear that what is forbidden by the Commandment is the intentional taking of human life without any just cause.
How many of you seen the most recent Worksafe TV advertisements which begins with a dad coming home to find his teenage daughter and her boyfriend sitting on the couch doing their "homework"? Then we hear the voiceover saying: "His best reason for workplace safety is about to be grounded". Another Worksafe ad has a young boy bouncing a ball outside his house waiting for his Dad to come home from work. (None of them seem to involve Mum’s coming home from work, but we’d better not get into that now!) What are those ads trying to say? Aren’t they trying to remind people of the real point of the Worksafe laws? That the laws aren’t trying to restrict people’s freedom but to make sure they get home to their families in one piece!
Very early in the book of Genesis, God tells Noah and his sons:
"Whoever 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 9:6)
[Principle 1] From a Christian perspective the reason that human life is so valuable because people have a special relationship with God. We were made to be God’s image in the world. What’s really wrong with the intentional taking of human life is that it involves destroying an image of God. Have you ever thought of it that way before? From a Christian perspective we can make a distinction between human life and animal and plant life – not that I’m suggesting this is any excuse for mistreating animals or misusing plants. The uniqueness of human life has huge implications for how we understand the world and our place in it.
In a recent book on the Ten Commandments by pastor Colin Smith, he suggests that the Bible’s teaching about the uniqueness of human life speaks to issues such as abortion, euthanasia and suicide. But Smith also goes on to point out how in today’s NT reading from Matthew, chapter 5, Jesus related this principle back to more common human experiences like anger, hatred, insults and gossip.
No one in their right mind would attempt to deal with these issues in a single sermon. What I would like to do this morning is not just to reflect on the struggle to respect human life and live peacefully with each other. I think what is most helpful about Smith’s book is that in his writing on the sixth Commandment he draws our attention to the way in which Jesus acted as a "peacemaker" and how he crossed boundaries of division and conflict in the world in which he lived. As I was writing this sermon I realised that I could describe my own decision to continue in the Christian faith as an adult as having resulted from my struggle for peace. So in a few minutes time I’m going to ask you to indulge me as I tell you a little bit about that experience. Some of you may have had a similar experience.
But before we do that let’s go back to the beginning in Genesis, for a moment where the Bible establishes a basic pro-life principle. I wouldn’t want to pretend that this principle answers in black and white every aspect of the very difficult ethical problems we sometimes face with issues like abortion (taking the life of an unborn neighbour) or euthanasia (taking the life of an elderly or infirm neighbour). What I do believe it does is give us a basic orientation as Christians. In terms of the compass it shows us where to find "true north".
What happens if we apply this basic principle that human life is valuable to the issue of abortion, for instance? Some things seem to be clear and others more difficult. Clearly, what our society calls "abortion on demand" is wrong in principle because it involves intentionally taking the life of an unborn child who is created in the image of God. Psalm 139 says:
For it was you [God] who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb... My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret... In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them yet existed" (verses 13-16).
Unborn children are in relationship with God from their conception. "This not a potential life, but it is a life with all kinds of potential" (Smith 2006, p. 83). Having said this there are situations in which, if a life or lives are taken, many other lives may be saved. Some Christians would disagree but I personally believe that when only one of two lives can be saved, the Christian obligation to preserve life may actually lead us to consider an abortion; but only as a last resort in extreme circumstances. For parents who have lost a child through miscarriage or had an abortion, it may be comforting to know that God’s care for individual human lives begins at conception, so even the youngest lives lost to us are not lost to God!
Application of the same principle to suicide would suggest that it would be wrong for me to take my own life because I was created to be the image of God. Euthanasia involves deciding to end a person’s life because it is no longer worth living. Again very difficult issues can be involved, especially in the case of people in the final stages of a terminal illness. But, personally I agree with Colin Smith’s observation that, "There is a great difference between ending life and ending treatment. Discerning the line can be horrendously difficult. Knowing that there is a line is crucial."
2
But most of us will probably go through our entire lives without committing murder, having an abortion, practicing euthanasia, or committing suicide. Does that mean we have kept the 6th Commandment? We know from our recent series on the SOTM that Jesus often came at the Commandments from a very different angle to many of the people of that time.
"21You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ’You shall not murder’; and ’whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment" (Matthew 5:21-22)
It’s not a perfect analogy but I find it helpful to see Jesus a bit like a doctor here. The Pharisees and other religious leaders of Jesus’ day were committed to keeping the law, but many of them were concentrating on the symptoms; Jesus diagnosed the disease!
[Principle 2] The Sixth Commandment, Jesus said to them, goes beyond human actions to the desires of human hearts. What Jesus seems to imply is that there are many ways of destroying another person’s life besides murder, and that all these things are also against the will of God. God didn’t just intend for people not to intentionally and unjustly take human life. God intended that people would handle all human life with special care.
Did Jesus mean that there makes no difference whether we shoot someone or gossip about them? I don’t think that’s the point. What he does mean is that both actions reveal the same animosity of heart towards our neighbours. For Jesus, to murder, or to engage in character assassination, or to belittle another person by calling them a "fool" is part of the same spiritual sickness.
3
Jesus goes on to say: "Come to terms quickly with your accuser" (Matthew 5:25). Like every other command, by forbidding something, Jesus also taught that his followers should take every possible step to promote the opposite. In this case, instead of damaging or destroying people by hand or by mouth, Christians should always try – if can be done without compromise – to have good relationships with our sisters and brothers. Both Paul and Peter make the same point elsewhere in the NT:
"If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all." (Romans 12:18)
"Those who desire life and desire to see good days… let them seek peace and pursue it." (1 Peter 3:10-11)
[Principle 3] There seems to be another principle here, doesn’t there? If there’s any way to settle a dispute with integrity, take it. That’s what God wants us to do.
4
If you’ve become a Christian why did you choose to follow Jesus? Perhaps you are like me and you grew up believing in Jesus. So when you tell your story it is the story of why you are still a Christian. As I mentioned a bit earlier, I think I’m still a Christian because of my struggle for peace. Not because I’m likely to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize anytime soon, but because when I was a teenager the problem of peace really bothered me.
In the mid-1980s Iran not America was at war with Iraq and boys younger than me were being sent off to fight. The Russians not the Americans were in Afghanistan. The threat of a nuclear war was hanging over our heads the way the shadow of terrorism haunts us today. Back then there was a lot of soul-searching about the Vietnam War and you could hear this in the music and see it in the movies of my high school years. If you’re a Baby Boomer or Gen Xer you’ll probably remember movies like "Platoon", "Full Metal Jacket" and "Apocalypse Now", or songs like Bruce Springsteen’s, "Born in the USA", Cold Chisel’s, "Khe Sanh", Paul Hardcastle’s song "19", which began with the words: "The average age of an American serviceman in Vietnam was 19". That’s thought-provoking when you’re 18. (My apologies to those of you who were born after 1980 and don’t remember any of this) Actually video recorders had just started to become widely available and "video parties" were all the rage for any self-respecting high school student. But there weren’t that many videos available (and half of them were BETA!) so I think I saw Rambo I at least eight times during Year 12.
Like Ecclesiastes says, there’s "nothing new under the sun". Now the Americans are in Iraq and the Americans and the Australians are in Afghanistan. In my last year of high school I spent a lot of time thinking about this and talking and arguing with my friends about it. The only convincing response to it all that I could find was the life of Jesus. I must admit that at the time I had been wavering in my faith as my friends chose other lifestyles. But what really impressed me as I read the Bible was the way Jesus demonstrated peacemaking in his life and how dramatically it changed lives. For example:
How Jesus crossed the racial barrier that separated the Samaritans from the Jews (John 4).
How he showed love and brought forgiveness and reconciliation to most despised members of society
Tax collectors (Matthew 9);
Prostitutes (Luke 7);
Suffers of Leprosy (Luke 5);
The demon-possessed (Mark 5).
And in the lives of those people I knew who seemed to me to take their faith in Jesus seriously, I saw a community of people who saw their own life as a precious gift from God and placed the same value on every other life. And above all that, what impressed me was how Jesus demonstrated peacemaking in his death, the ultimate form of peacemaking between humankind and God. SLIDE 7 In Romans 5, the Apostle Paul says:
"8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us... 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life." (Romans 5:6-11)
Jesus pursued peace. He was able to break down the strongest barriers between people and bring healing to the deepest wounds. His death earned us peace with God. Jesus calls us to accept the peace with God he made possible and to struggle for peace with others.
For more sermons from this source go to http://www.stthomasburwood.org.au
