Respect Life (Exodus 20:13)
An attorney was speaking to a woman who had just lost her husband. He said to her, “Your husband did not leave a will, so we need to know the last words he ever said to you.”
She replied, “I don’t want to tell you.”
The attorney said, “Look, he did not leave a will. We need to know the last words he ever said to you.”
But the woman refused to tell him. “I don’t want to tell you,” she said. “It was something between the two of us.”
The attorney pleaded, “Just one more time, I beg you; please tell me the last words your husband ever said to you?”
Finally the woman relented. “Okay, I’ll tell you,” she said. “The last thing he ever said to me was, ‘You don’t scare me. You couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with that old gun.’” (R. Larry Moyer, “Right Smack in the Middle of Sin,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 148, www.PreachingToday.com)
Oh my! I hope none of us ever get to the point in any of our relationships where we consider murder. But as you and I know, relationships can go bad, and if we don’t actually kill someone, we can kill the relationship itself through our actions and attitudes.
I think of the third-grade Sunday school teacher, who was giving a Bible lesson on the 5th commandment: “honor thy father and thy mother.” In the course of the discussion, she asked her class, “Now, does anyone know a commandment for brothers and sisters?”
One sharp girl raised her hand and said, “Thou shalt not kill!” (Jack Seberry, Grand Rapids, Michigan, “Lite Fare,” Christian Reader, www.PreachingToday.com)
It’s the 6th of the 10 commandments, and this morning I want us to explore what it means practically for the maintenance of strong, healthy relationships in a strong, healthy society.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 20, Exodus 20, where God Himself gave us this commandment. Exodus 20, and verse 13: “You shall not murder.” Four words in the English, and
only two in the original Hebrew. This is one of the shortest verses in the entire Hebrew Bible, but it’s a verse packed with huge implications.
Foundationally, it calls us to RESPECT ALL HUMAN LIFE, TO HIGHLY VALUE ALL PEOPLE, TO REGARD ALL HUMAN BEINGS WITH UTMOST ESTEEM as image-bearers of God Himself. This includes the poor, the unborn, the elderly and the infirmed. Whether or not they are able to contribute to society, whether or not they have a so-called “quality of life,” we are to consider ALL human life sacred, because every one of us has been created in the image of God.
Turn with me to Genesis 9, Genesis 9, where God speaks to Noah after the great flood. Genesis 9, starting at vs.1 (read to vs.3)
God makes it clear that all animals are fair game for food. Just as He gave us plants to eat, He also gives us venison, steak, chicken, and fish. The 6th commandment is not a prohibition against hunting animals for food, because animal life is NOT sacred. But human life is another matter altogether.
Genesis 9:4 (read to vs.6)
People bear the image of God, so they deserve to be treated differently than animals. In fact, human life is SO sacred in God’s eyes, that those who deliberately take a human life forfeit their own life.
This is the bass of all human government. God designed human government to protect human life from those who would destroy it. That’s why God gives governments the right to utilize capital punishment. That’s why God gives governments the right to go to war. Romans 13 says, “He does not bear the sword for nothing.” God gave us human governments so they can protect people who cannot otherwise protect themselves.
Therefore, any politician who refuses to protect the lives of the weakest members of our society is not doing his or her job. Any politician who hides behind the label of “pro choice” to allow the killing of unborn human beings should not be elected to office.
We need to respect all human life, because Human life is sacred. Human beings are made in the image of God.
That’s what the Bible teaches, but evolution tells us a different story. Evolution tells us that people are like animals, so we can euthanize those whose quality of life is substandard. We can disregard the needs of the poor and the weak. We can abort unwanted babies.
After all, it is “survival of the fittest,” and those who are not “fit” really shouldn’t survive. That was the argument Hitler used to euthanize the insane, to eliminate the handicapped, and eventually to exterminate 6 million Jews. Evolution was the philosophical foundation of Nazi Germany.
Martin Niemoeller, reflecting on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Hitler’s Germany, wrote: “First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. “Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. “Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. “Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.” (Martin Niemoeller, “Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” Christian History, no. 32, www.PreachingToday.com)
You see, when we begin to devalue human life, then none of us are safe.
Why do you think there’s such disrespect in our society today? For at least three generations, we have been teaching our children that people are just another kind of animal, evolved from another species of animal.
Just a few summers ago (2005), the London Zoo posted a sign in front of their newest exhibit, reading, “Warning: Humans in Their Natural Environment.” The exhibit featured eight Homo sapiens in a sealed enclosure adjacent to another sealed enclosure of various primates. The human “captives” were chosen from an online contest, and spent their time sunning on a rock ledge, playing board games, and waving to spectators. A signboard informed visitors about the species’ diet, habitat, worldwide distribution, and threats.
The goal of the exhibit, according to Zoo spokesperson Polly Wills, was to downplay the uniqueness of human beings as a species. “Seeing people in a different environment, among other animals,” said Wills, “teaches members of the public that the human is just another primate.”
Tom Mahoney, one of the participants in the exhibit, agreed. “A lot of people think that humans are above other animals,” he said. “When they see humans as animals, here, it kind of reminds them that we’re not that special.” (Humans Are Ones on Display at London Zoo, yahoonews, 8-26-05, www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s what evolution teaches! & If we tell people often enough that they are not that special, that they are nothing more than animals, then we shouldn’t be surprised when they begin to treat each other like animals.
Evolution tells us that people are like animals, but the Bible teaches us that people are like God. People are made in the image of God and therefore deserve special respect.
Timothy Peck puts it this way: “An ambassador is the official representative of her government; in a sense she bears the image of her nation. Now imagine that a foreign government seizes the ambassador and kills her. That wouldn’t simply be murder of a single human being; it would also be an act of war against the government the ambassador represents. In a similar way, one person’s murdering another person is an act of war against God. It is an attempt to murder God by killing one who bears his image.” (Timothy Peck, The Trinitarian Life, www. PreachingToday.com)
People are not just animals to hunt down and destroy. People are not just objects to be used and discarded. People are image-bearers of the Living God Himself, and as such they deserve the same respect we would give to the highest representatives of our own country.
Steven Spielberg’s move, AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a social commentary on our culture’s tendency towards dehumanization. It’s about David, an android who can think and feel. He’s given to a couple whose comatose son is not expected to live. He begins to emotionally bond with the mother, but when her own son miraculously recovers, she discards David and he goes on a quest for real love.
In that quest, he meets another android, Joe, who explains that love is given only when something can be gotten in return. Joe tells David that the “mother loves what you DO for her… She doesn’t love YOU… And you are alone now only because they are tired of you or replaced you with a younger model or were displeased with something you said or broke…” (A.I., Universal Studios, 2001, rated PG-13, written by Ian Watson, directed by Steven Spielberg)
Sad to say, that’s the way our society has come to view human life. We don’t love PEOPLE. We love what they DO for us. & When they are no longer useful, or inconvenient, we discard them like broken appliances.
But that’s not what the Bible says. Chuck Colson says, “In contrast to much of the world, the message of Scripture is that human dignity does not come from usefulness. Dignity does not come from a person’s religion, nor their sex, nor from their skin color, nor age, nor because of their power or status. Human dignity is something we are conceived with because we are made in the image of God. A quadriplegic has the same dignity as an Olympic athlete; a Muslim the same dignity as a Christian; a Samaritan the same dignity as a Jew. These are our neighbors whom we are to love as ourselves. (“A Little Too Close to Home,” Breakpoint, 8-15-01, www.PreachingToday.com)
All people bear the image of God. & Though that image has been marred by sin, all people still deserve our respect and love, not because of what they have done (or not done), but because of who they are – image bearers of a holy God.
That’s why the Bible says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” (James 1:22).
These are people that cannot DO anything for us, but God wants us to “look after them” anyway, to visit them, to take care of them, because HE values them as HIS image-bearers.
God’s command, “You shall not murder,” is more than just a prohibition against murder. At its foundation, it calls us to respect all human life, to treat one another with dignity as image-bearers of a holy God.
Specifically, as God’s people, WE DO THAT OUTWARDLY. WE DEMONSTRATE RESPECT BY OUR ACTIONS. WE HONOR PEOPLE BY WHAT WE DO.
That’s why followers of Christ seek to protect the unborn and the infirmed, even those who have “no quality of life.” That’s why followers of Christ build crisis pregnancy centers, hospitals and orphanages in places nobody else wants to go. That’s why followers of Christ responded en mass to Hurricane Katrina victims three years ago (2005).
In 2006, United Way and MTV could find only 100 college students to go as volunteers during their spring break to help people rebuild their homes following Hurricane Katrina. Campus Crusade for Christ was able to recruit 7,000 college students. (Jeffrey Jones, US students toil on Katrina relief for spring break, alertnet.org, 3-6-06, www.PreachingToday.com)
The Salvation Army, the Southern Baptists, and other faith-based organizations were first on the scene long before anybody else arrived, and many are still there.
Roy Hattersly, an outspoken atheist, lamented at the time that “teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers’ clubs, and atheists’ associations – the sort of people who scoff at religion’s intellectual absurdity – were notable by their absence.” According to Hattersley, it is an unavoidable conclusion that Christians “are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others.”
Hattersley also noted that this pattern of behavior goes beyond disaster relief: “Civilized people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags, and – probably most difficult of all – argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment.” (Roy Hattersley, Faith Does Breed Charity, Guardian.co.uk, 9-12-05, www.PreachingToday.com)
It’s not that we condone the sin. We just love the sinner, who bears the image of God. Sometimes Christians are judged as judgmental, narrow-minded bigots when we speak out against certain sins, but that’s not the case at all. We just hate the sin that is destroying the image-bearer of God Himself. And those of us, who respect life, show that respect outwardly. We reach out in love to those who have been devastated by the ravages of sin.
More than that, we RESPECT LIFE IN OUR ATTITUDES, as well. WE HONOR PEOPLE IN OUR HEARTS, not only outwardly, but inwardly too.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Matthew 5, Matthew 5, where we have Jesus’ interpretation of the 6th commandment.
Matthew 5, starting at vs.21 (read to vs.22)
Jesus makes it very clear: When we harbor bitterness and anger in our hearts towards people, then we are just as guilty as if we had murdered them.
We see it again in 1 John 3:15, where the Bible says, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.” Hatred on the inside is like murder on the outside, and it is not characteristic of a true believer. Instead, Christ wants us to work towards reconciliation.
Matthew 5:23 (read to vs.24)
Reconciliation with a brother takes precedence over our worship of God. That’s because it is impossible to love God and hate someone else at the same time.
1 John 4:20 says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” Our relationship with God is directly tied to our relationships with people. That’s because those people are made in the image of God.
James 3:9-10 says, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”
There once was an old woman that was bitten by a dog. The authorities tested the dog and discovered it had rabies. When the doctor gave her the news and told her she’d have to begin treatments immediately, she immediately pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and began writing on it.
The doctor, assuming that she was writing out her will said, “Now it’s not that bad – you don’t have to write out a will. We can treat this.”
The woman rather sharply replied, “A will, are you kidding? I’m writing out a list of everyone I plan to bite.” (Darren McCormick, www.SermonCentral.com)
She had been harboring bitterness in her heart; and now, she was going to get her revenge. That’s not what God wants for His people.
Instead, God wants us to seek reconciliation when there has been a break in relationship, not to harbor bitterness and hatred in our hearts, not to bad-mouth those who have hurt us, and certainly not to seek revenge.
Obeying the 6th commandment means putting aside any bitterness and pursuing reconciliation. If you’re at odds with somebody today, do everything you can to make it right. & Do it sooner rather than later.
Show respect for everyone, because everyone has been made in the image of God. Show respect both in your actions and your attitude.
Former sports writer, Harold Conrad, once visited a women’s prison with heavyweight fighter, Muhammad Ali. “All the inmates lined up,” wrote Conrad. “They were ooh-ing and aah-ing as he went along. There were some good-looking ones. But he kissed only the ugly ones.”
After they left the prison, Conrad asked the fighter to explain why he chose to kiss only those women. “Because no one ever kisses ’em,” responded the man who called himself The Greatest. “Now they can remember that Ali kissed ’em.” (Rubel Shelly, Starting Today; reprinted in Men of Integrity, May/June 2003, www.PreachingToday.com)
In a sense, that’s what God calls all of us to do, to kiss the “ugly people” in our world, to kiss those that are hard to love, & to kiss those who cannot even return our love. That’s because everyone bears God’s image, and God loves us all!
Like they say at Scandia Village and the Good Samaritan Nursing homes all across the country: “In Christ’s love everyone is someone.”
