Aug 13, 2000 Exodus 20:13
“Just a bunch of murderers”
INTRODUCTION
A. God has reasons for why the command was given.
God put a supreme value on human life (Gen. 1:27, 31)
- He created it and called it “very good”
- He redeemed it ; by sending His Son, God made it very clear that He considers mankind worth the effort to form a relationship with us
- Every human life has great value in God’s eyes; that’s the only opinion that really matters anyway
- Our society tends to de-value human life (i.e. “you are only valuable so long as you are like me or as long as you help me to get something that I want”)
- We tend to de-value ourselves. When we start to think the way that the world thinks about value and significance, then we base our value on what we are able to contribute, what we have, or what we can do. When we can no longer contribute, when our failures outnumber our successes, when we don’t have anymore, we begin to wonder how much value we really have. The ultimate outcome of that kind of thinking is suicide or self-murder. In a crowd this size, there is probably at least one if not many who have either had passing or maybe even serious thoughts about suicide. Let me tell you right now – you have value and significance. No matter where you are or what you have done, you are a creation of God and someone that He loves.
All forms of murder exert man’s sovereignty (control) over life and death when this decision really belongs to God.
- God is the one who determines when life begins, and only He has the right to decide when it ends
- When you commit murder, abortion, euthenasia or suicide, you are taking it upon yourself to decide which life is worth preserving and which is not
- God says that all life is valuable. When we murder, we say that our opinion of someone’s life is more important than God’s opinion.
- Some persons value their lives so highly and want so much to keep it that they will go to all kinds of extremes to preserve it. Have you heard of cryogenics? That is the process of freezing your diseased body in the hopes that at some point in the future, scientists will find a cure for whatever ails you, be able to thaw you out, give you the cure, and you can continue living. In one process I heard about, they don’t freeze all of you. To preserve space, they cut off your head and just freeze your head. I guess if they ever thaw you out, you’ll just go around like the headless horsemen. Cryogenics is the ultimate attempt at maintaining man’s control over how long a person lives. Suicide is the ultimate attempt of man to control when a person dies.
- Somewhere in between is man’s attempt to so control his diet, his exercise and his surroundings in such a way that he can put off death as long as possible. (story on pg 208 of Tale of the Tardy Oxcart about father who wanted to protect his children and ended up killing one of them)
- The fact is that death is coming for all of us one day. We have no control over when or how. And we have no control over the fact that each of us will have to stand before God at some point after we die. What we can control is whether that time before God will be a pleasant experience or a fearful one.
Killing goes against God’s nature. (Jn. 14:6; 1 Jn. 4:7)
- Jesus told His disciples, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE”. In Gn. 2:7, it says, “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” God is the author and sustainer of life. When we destroy life, we are fighting against God. That’s not a very wise position to be in.
- In Jn. 4:7, it says that “. . . God is love.” Love builds up life rather than tearing it down.
- God is in the business of giving life not destroying it. Jn. 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.”
- Everyone in this room was dead at some point. The thought of that will make you step back for a moment. No wonder it stinks so much in here! I don’t mean that each of us was lying in a casket waiting to be lowered in the ground. I mean that each of us was dead in our sins. (Eph 2:1,4-5 NIV) As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, . . . But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
- We were all dead. But God because of His love for us, breathed life back into us through the self-sacrifice of His Son.
- There may still be some dead people here today. I’ve got good news for you. God loves you, and He can breathe life back into your lifeless spirit if you will but ask Him.
B. God knows that there are more ways to kill than with a knife or a gun, and there are more things to kill than a body.
Things to kill / destroy
- Body – some of us think that we are off the hook on this command because we have never killed another body. Killing another body is the most obvious application of this command. But there are other things that you can kill, and we might not come out so clean on some of these.
- Spirit – belittling them, never letting them know that they are valuable to you. (tell story of family sculpturing where father never let his son know that he loved him or that he was proud of him)
- Reputation – slander, rumors
- Dreams – you can either work to help make sure your children’s dreams come to reality, or you can discourage them from ever having dreams
- Family – stealing time from them, never making them a priority, as an employer you can require too much time out of your employees or not pay them enough so that they can spend time with their families ; stealing a spouse away from the one that they committed themselves too through an affair.
- Friendship -
Ways to kill / destroy
- Physical weapon – when you think of a physical weapon of murder, you probably think of guns and knives. Those are the weapons that Hollywood shows in all the TV shows. I never really have to worry about using either one of those as a murder weapon b/c I don’t own a gun, and the only knives I have in my home are steak knives and cutting knives. But each of us has another kind of weapon. We brought it with us to church today. It’s sitting right out there in the parking lot. It’s called an automobile. How many of you obey the traffic laws? Do you go the posted speed limit? How many of you drive when you are so tired that you know you should be home in bed instead of behind the wheel of a car? Whenever our family heads south for a visit with family and friends, there’s this one vehicle that always catches our attention. It’s sitting in the median of the highway. It’s all banged up, and there’s some evidence of fire. It has this sign in front of it that says, “Sometimes, it takes a family of four to stop a drunk driver.” Four people lost their lives because someone was driving when they shouldn’t have.
- Words of the tongue (Prov. 18:21) – with my tongue, I can either build you or destroy you. I can either give life or take it away. I can put wind in your sails, or I can take your breath away. How are you using your tongue? The way that I use my tongue with you is a direct result of how much value I place on your life. If I value you highly, I will let you know through my mouth. If I don’t value you, then I will use words life “jerk” and “stupid” and “idiot” and “low-life” when I am in your presence. Before you open your mouth, let your mind kick into gear, and remind yourself that the person you are about to speak to is a creation of God. If you don’t think that your mouth and murder have anything to do with each other, take a listen to what Jesus had to say in Matt. 5:21-22.
- Negligence (Lev. 19:16b) – The Jewish people would often use their rooftops for a place to relax or a place to talk with people. They didn’t spend a lot of time inside because it was dark and hot. Their laws required them to build a wall all the way around their rooftop to help prevent anyone from falling off. If they did not build this wall, they could be held responsible for the death of someone who did fall off. Do you take care to protect the lives of people around you? As I was working on this message, I was reminded that my wife has reminded me many times to buy new batteries to put in the smoke detectors in our house. Many months ago, the detectors started beeping letting us know that the batteries were wearing out. But rather than buy new batteries, we simply disconnected the batteries that were in them. What about the emotional and spiritual health of other people in this church? Have you done anything to promote that health? Part of negligence is allowing someone to die that shouldn’t. We do that when we fail to take an active role in promoting the life of someone else. That means taking notice when someone hasn’t been here in a while and sending them a card or making a phone call to let them know that they are valued. That means getting involved in people’s lives and inviting them to get involved in yours. That means taking the time to pray for people in this church and let them know that they are prayed for. I got a note in the mail this week from one of the churches that I spoke at in NC back in the spring letting me know that they prayed for me last week. You may say, “I always think about doing those things, but something else comes up, and I forget.” That’s like me saying as I watch my house burn to the ground with my family inside, “Well, I always meant to get new batteries for the smoke detectors, but I just never got around to it.” It’s called negligence. And it can cause someone to die physically, or it can cause them to die on the inside.
- Failure to warn (Ezek. 33:7-8) – Ezekiel was given a solemn warning by God. God told Ezekiel what he was getting ready to do, and then he told Ezekiel that it was his job to warn everyone else. If Ezekiel did as he was commanded, and the people chose to not respond, then Ezekiel would be free from blame. But if Ezekiel, knowing what was getting ready to happen, chose to keep his mouth shut and not tell anyone either because of fear or not wanting to be rejected or just because he had other things to do, then God said that he would hold Ezekiel guilty for the blood of everyone who died as a result of Ezekiel’s failure to warn them. Failing to warn someone of impending doom is the same as taking a gun to their head and blowing them away.
I think that it was about a year ago that a movie came out called “The Sixth Sense”. I never saw the movie, but I saw enough of the previews to know some of what it was about. It was about a little boy who had a special sense that allowed him to see when persons were about to die. It was a scary thing for the kid. The only line that I know from the whole movie is one that the kid says: “I see dead people”. Folks, every time that I go into the grocery store, I see dead people. Every time that I go to McDonald’s to eat dinner with my family, I see dead people. Every time that I go walking around my neighborhood, I see dead people. Every time that I go to an amusement park or the beach or Wal-mart, I see dead people. I don’t have some special sense that tells me when they are going to die, but I have a Bible that tells me that they are going to die at some point. And if they die without Jesus, they will spend eternity in hell. If I fail to warn them, then in God’s eyes, I have murdered them. I will be held accountable for their blood. Are you warning people about the coming of judgment?
C. God is concerned about our attitudes not just our actions.
Why? – because our ACTIONS come from our ATTITUDES!! (Mark 7: 21-23)
Example #1 – Cain & Abel (Gn. 4) ; Jacob & Esau (Gn. 27:41-45)
ANGER REVENGE MURDER
- Most of us would probably say that we could never kill anyone. We might get angry with them, but we could never kill them. I don’t know for sure because the Bible doesn’t give us a window into Cain’s mind, but I doubt that on the day before he killed his brother if he would have ever admitted to himself or anyone else that he was capable of murder.
- Cain’s downfall was that he allowed anger to rule him, and when that anger had total control even for just a brief moment, it led to murder.
- If you allow anger to control you, where will it lead in your life?
TRAN: there is another way to deal with those who hurt you
Example #2 – Stephen & the Sanhedrin (Acts 7:54-60) ; Jesus & the soldiers (Luke 23:32-34)
LOVE FORGIVENESS SELF-SACRIFICE
(1 John 3:11-15 NIV) This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
How do you react when someone has hurt you? Do you get angry and have an overwhelming desire to get them back in some way – by saying something mean to them, by hitting them, by wishing that something bad would happen to them? Then you have all the potential of being a murderer. In fact, when you are angry with someone to the point that you wish they were dead, in God’s eyes, you are already guilty of their murder. You must learn to control your anger and respond to people in love instead even when they hurt you.
CONCLUSION
Somewhere in the crowd, there was a man watching as Jesus hung on the cross dying. He had probably heard Jesus’ name spoken of prior to his witnessing of the gruesome death, but he had never paid much attention to what the people were saying about Him. He had been too wrapped up in his own plans of how to overthrow the Roman rule over Jerusalem. In the midst of his attempts to bring freedom to his people, this man had started a rebellion and had even committed murder. The punishment for both was supposed to be death. But here he was set free never to have to pay for his crimes. And the reason he was free was because this man Jesus was on the cross that he was supposed to have been nailed to. Jesus took his place. The man I’m talking about was Barabbas. Imagine the irony of the situation. The one who was guilty of murder was free. The one who was guilty of offering life was suffering on a cross. The only thing that could cause an exchange like that was the love, mercy and grace of God.
INVITATION
I don’t know who you came in expecting to sit next to today, but in all likelihood, the person you are sitting next to is a murderer. But you’re in good company because you are a murderer too. You may not have murdered anyone with a gun or a knife, but you’ve murdered them with your anger, your tongue and with your negligence. What do you do about it?
1. You seek God’s forgiveness.
2. You make a commitment to respond to people in love. That means forgiving them for things that they have done to hurt you.
3. You allow God to change your mind about people so that you see them with the same amount of value that God places on them. That means being willing to sacrifice time, energy and resources to keep them safe and warn them of the danger that awaits them. Tomorrow night, at 6:30, I and whoever else wants to join me are going to leave from the church and go out into our community and meet families who have moved into this area in the last couple of months. If you value people and you want to help warn them about the future, then you join us tomorrow night.
There may be someone here who is dead. You are dead in your sins, and if you were to leave this world behind without Jesus’ forgiveness, you would be dead for all eternity. Jesus offers you life because He loves and values you. If you are in that position, you come this morning, and I will take God’s word and show you how you can take advantage of the life that God offers you.
