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| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) |
EXODUS 20:13
(Readings: Matt.5:21-26; Rom.13:8-14)
The Sixth Commandment
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ…
Some time ago Australia’s Doctor Death visited New Zealand.
As usual there was all the publicity that Dr Philip Nietschke always brings with him.
We got those anguished faces and bodies haunting us from the television screen, pleading with us to have the right to get the ultimate relief this doctor was advocating.
Those patients pleaded with the authorities to be allowed “to die with dignity.”
That was a phrase that kept being used by the newspapers and television journalists.
And it was used by the public too.
Letters flooded into newspapers, representing a vast variety of opinions.
One of the views strongly represented, and certainly published often - because it endorsed the socialist views of many of the media - went like this: “We treat our animals better than we’re treating those suffering people.”
“At least if our pets are in pain we have them put down in a humane way.”
But it seems that the biggest criticism of all is saved up for the Christian fundamentalists, those who dare to suggest that there is a genuine alternative.
As it is with abortion, so it is with euthanasia.
It seems we just get in the way of what people want to do.
They say we are so terribly unloving.
They even say it’s unchristian!
So, brothers and sisters, young people, what is the reason why believers oppose what is so obviously a popular thing in our society?
Actually, the reason is four small words.
In the original Hebrew it’s not even that many - in fact it’s half as many - just two words.
Two words which say, “You shall not murder.”
Ah, we recognise them now, don’t we?
This is the sixth commandment.
From the first four commandments which focused us on God, and then the fifth which told how we’re meant to relate to God through those we’re in relationship with, now we see what keeps those relationships possible.
Yes, it’s about life.
While negatively it says we should not murder, it means just as positively we should do whatever we can to preserve and respect life.
But let’s draw back to that euthanasia debate.
There were some claims, made by those advocating for the so-called dignity of death, that they were actually giving many people the option of a better life.
In a strange way of reasoning, they say it is by letting people being allowed to choose to die earlier, that somehow life itself is enhanced.
It’s what’s called the “quality” argument.
It reminds me of parents who spend so much time furthering their own careers and bank accounts that, while they can’t actually spend much time with their children, they say they make up for it with “quality” time with them.
So quality isn’t about quantity - it’s about what people want selfishly.
Which is exactly what happens if the law changed so that each person could judge for themselves how much quality of life they have.
And how much hasn’t that proven to be true?
This means we leave a lot up to how a person will feel at any particular time.
Which is quite the opposite position to the sixth commandment.
For here it is God himself who has decreed for all time the value of every human life.
And just as much as we should believe in the quantity of life, and through that realise its quality, that’s how much God wants us to realise life in all its facets.
You think about it: If we took away that aspect of extreme pain from humanity, haven’t we failed to learn to respond lovingly through such a trial?
Isn’t that what Memorial Days commemorate?
It remembers how terrible suffering shaped us as a country.
We’re reminded it was in the tragedy of such battles as Gallipoli we began to realise our spirit as a nation.
You’ll find the same theme in countries all over the world.
It’s when the going gets tough that the tough get going.
That’s something of the human spirit which comes out when we’re there looking after life.
This is our first aspect this morning.
For … THIS IS ABOUT LOOKING AFTER LIFE.
The fact is, congregation, this whole point of looking after life has come about precisely because of the sixth commandment.
You see, it’s the Christian ethos which has given our nation the values which it has; it was the Christian ethos which made Australia fight wars against nations who were being quite unjust.
Though that belief may have largely gone from our nation now, attending any ANZAC Day service will have shown how strong it once was.
Because there you will hear those words from the Bible – those words of John 15 verse 13.
For there you will hear the words, “no greater love has a man than this - than he lay down his life for his friend.”
Coming back to the sixth commandment, we need to realise the context in which it was spoken by the Lord to his people.
Back then the world situation was very unforgiving.
It was the survival of the strongest, as shown through the many wars fought between the nations, but especially it showed through with the low regard for human life in those cultures.
It does no harm for us to realise that the very Eastern culture which has produced the New Age movement as we know it today, has the severest social divisions, known as castes, of which to be the lowest - an ‘Untouchable’ – used to mean you’re as good as dead anyway!
It is Christianity which has created equality between people - no matter who you are.
In fact, so seriously does God’s Word speak to the value of human life that, already in Genesis 9:6, the Lord declared, “Whosoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”
So special is human life to the Lord God that he compares it to himself!
Incidentally, this verse also explains why certain killing is justified - such as for the purpose of justice or warfare.
That’s found in our text, too, because the original word for murder applies to cases of deliberate premeditated murder and manslaughter.
So using the word “murder” in the E.S.V., instead of “kill” in the King James and the R.S.V., is more accurate, because the word means malicious and unlawful killing.
Every time this word is used it is man’s crime against man, and God’s censure of it, which is uppermost.
In the only other use of this particular word, when it is used of the killing of man by an animal, in Proverbs 22:13, it is the enormity and horror of the deed which is in focus.
Congregation, this command is about looking after life, and as such it was revolutionary in the age it was given.
In fact, that terrible crimes of murder, such as David did against Uriah so that he would have Bathsheba as his wife, are so clearly condemned, is at complete odds with how that act would have been seen in neighbouring countries.
That was everyday life for them!
We must understand - in the face of that huge and ignorant attack from the news media - it is God who gives, and they who take away - not the opposite!
Don’t let them delude you with all their talk about freedom and rights and all that!
As soon as you argue that way, you actually speed up the process of taking away!
It’s only through God’s way, in his Light, that we can have any sense of fair play.
Don’t depend on mankind’s goodness - we’ve had too many Neville Chamberlains walking off aeroplanes holding up useless bits of paper which they say means peace in our time!
Unless we stick to God’s rules there are no rules!
And it’s God’s rule which puts the highest value on human life.
In fact, so high is the worth of human life our Lord Jesus says that we shouldn’t even dare to think about such a thing!
In Matthew 5 verses 21 and 22 he says, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement.’
“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement.
“Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin.
“But anyone who says ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
Notice carefully these words of Christ.
He relates the more apparent outward situation, like actually killing someone, or swearing, with their inward motivation.
That’s why he brings in that very fearful prospect of hell itself; because it could be that they’re showing a total disregard for the LORD, and even outright rebellion against his good Law.
Congregation, that’s why, in addition to our first point that THIS IS ABOUT LOOKING AFTER LIFE, we see further that even more … THIS IS ABOUT LOOKING FOR LIFE.
Here we come to our second aspect.
You see, on an earthly, physical level, life is great.
We can do the things we do because we’re alive.
But if we don’t look for the eternal spiritual life through and beyond this life, then we’re no better than those the apostle Paul pictures in 1st Corinthians 15:23.
There he quotes them saying, “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
The sixth commandment wasn’t only a regulation to help the Israelites get on with each other, it is especially showing the kind of relationship they have with the Lord himself.
It was he who spoke it to them out of the cloud on Mount Sinai.
He told them to look after life because it was he who created it; more than that, it is he who gave it again to them through the One who would be the Way, the Truth, and the Life!
God declared this to his people so that they could live forever with him!
Just think, dear believer, what’s really behind every request for an abortion or euthanasia?
Isn’t it someone caught up in a spiralling vortex of worry and helplessness?
Exactly the person Jesus Christ came to save!
That’s why when those pleading for euthanasia, crying out for relief from pain and other distress, are given support and relief, they’re glad to be alive.
One of those patients who asked to be able to take their own life when Doctor Death came, actually changed his mind and said this.
That’s why it has been Christians who pioneered the hospice style of care, which gives that special care to the terminally ill.
Christian organisations help those who would be willing to have their babies if they could have the right support.
Christians do it because it’s what Christ did.
It was society’s unwanted and rejected which he went after - that one lost sheep, while the ninety-nine were safe in the fold.
In parables he told, like The Good Samaritan and The Prodigal Son, Jesus showed how far genuine compassion had to go, because in these parables his love reaches out to those whom society threw out.
THIS IS ABOUT LOOKING FOR LIFE.
That’s what our Lord Jesus came to do.
After all, he’s saved our lives - hasn’t he?
That’s also why Jesus hasn’t yet come back.
There were still other lives to be saved.
This is what the apostle Peter wrote at the end of his second letter.
There he said in verse 15 of chapter 3, “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation…”
Congregation, this is really the heart behind this commandment.
More than the preservation of physical life, obeying this commandment means that we give every possible opportunity for spiritual life.
Peter Masters is spot on with saying that this command is about the ‘Murder of the Soul,’ for something more than a solitary life of a few years is involved - it’s the eternal destination of that person.
We must be so much looking for life that we see each moment as the last.
As one Puritan preacher said, “I preach, as if I ne’er should preach again; And, as a dying man, to dying men.”
That’s how anxious we should be to live like Christ.
For what’s your life - really?
Psalm 90 verses 9 and 10 express it so well.
For there we hear, “All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.
“The length of our days is seventy years - or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”
Ah, to be joined to Christ’s life - that’s it!
To have died with him in his death and now to have our life hidden with Christ in God, that’s THE LIFE which we’ve found, and which we so much want for others to know too!
To be so clothed with Christ, in those words of Romans 13, would challenge them in the most comprehensive way!
Man, if they see us dressed that way, how much couldn’t this nation change!
Abortion and euthanasia would die away, because they’d be eating the Bread of Life every day!
Congregation, this means that from the inside - in our hearts - we love life.
We don’t belittle or insult or hate our neighbours - whoever they are!
Instead, by turning the other cheek, we actually reflect a mirror into their own souls.
We expose the bitter root of murder in those who would otherwise share the eternal punishment of all murderers.
In the words of Hebrews 12, verses 14 and 15, we want to make sure that no one misses the grace of God, because we’re living at peace with them and are being holy.
As we live in Christ his Spirit helps us to live like Him.
He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, leads us in the way to the Father; he builds us up in his Word; and he assures us that he’ll look after us forever.
When God said, “You shall not murder,” he declared for all time that life is sacred, not only because he created it in his own image, but because he himself sent his Son to save life and so re-create it to be like him again!
God did the most loving thing!
Then, let’s show them - they who say we are so unloving - that it’s they who are so unloving, because they love only themselves!
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let’s pray…
O Loving Heavenly Father, what a love You have showered upon Your people.
We have life, and we’ve got it abundantly!
No more do we need to worry about where we’re going because your own Son has already died and so defeated death, giving us the new life by his sacrifice.
O Lord, do help us to live each moment out of the joy we have in you.
Enable us to show your love in our world today, to those so caught up in themselves they’ve lost sight of others - especially you!
In Jesus’ saving Name we plead, Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Sjirk Bajema, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright, Rev. Sjirk Bajema
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