My message transcript - The Ten Commandments Pt 6 Do Not Murder

                      Part 4 DO NOT MURDER                 

                   "You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13 

Intro: Traditionally, we’ve thought of this commandment as “Thou shalt not kill.” That was the older translation, from the year 1611.  Of course, then we run into problems, because God actually commands the death penalty for some offenses . . . in other places, he commands war. People are always killed in war, so what does this commandment mean?

The problem is solved by understanding “kill” as the word “murder.” 

ILL: A Sunday School teacher was discussing the 10 commandments with her 5 & 6 year olds. After explaining the commandment to “honor your father and mother,” she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” Quickly, one of the kids answered, “Thou shalt not kill.”

Any murderers here this morning? :-) Probably not in the “pull the trigger sense.” 

Why God gave this command to not murder another person: 

Because we are made in the IMAGE of God.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”                           Genesis 1:27

We are the very top of the creation of God, the very greatest things he created on this earth. We are created with God’s very image stamped on us. That doesn’t mean that God looks like we do – it means that our spiritual being is shaped like his. God has a mind, we have a mind. God has a will, we have a will. God has emotions, and we have emotions. This is the reason you’ll never see a depressed cow! They weren’t created in God’s image.

Because God is the GIVER   OF   LIFE .
"He is the God who made the world and everything in it. . . He himself gives life and breath to everything.”                      Acts 17:24-25 NLT

Statistics say that very few of us in this room will ever commit murder – literally.  But here’s something you need to know about the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the OT, God laid out these laws. Don’t kill. Don’t commit adultery. That’s pretty straightforward. 

But God is not just concerned with the outside, he’s also concerned with your heart! He’s not just concerned that your body is doing the right actions, he’s concerned that your heart has the right attitudes!

Jesus came along and said, “God’s not just interested in whether you kill, he’s concerned with whether you would kill if you had the chance. He’s concerned with your heart – what you would do if you thought you could get away with it.”

You understand the difference? Lots of men who would never cheat on their wife WOULD HAVE if they knew no one would ever find out! Lots of men who wouldn’t kill someone have been so angry and full of hate that if they knew no one would find out, they’d do it.

A key fact you need to know about God’s laws:

God’s not just interested in your outside ACTIONS , he’s interested in your heart’s MOTIVES  – not just what you do, but why you do it.
 

So, Satan doesn’t succeed with many people trying to get them to actually pull the trigger, or stab the knife – but he is always trying to get us to break God’s command in “Heart” ways if he can’t get us to do it in “physical” ways!

Sneaky ways that Satan gets us to break this command:

1. By committing VERBIAL    HOMICIDE  

The NT has two interesting words regarding this sin of the tongue:

a. Katalaleo ("slander")    b. Psithuristas ("gossip"; KJV--"whisperers") 

 ILL: Only difference between "gossip" and "slander" is one of degrees. Suppose you wanted to murder someone. More than one way to do it. Take a shotgun, walk right up to their face, announce that you're going to shoot them, and then blow them away. That's slander. Or, you could take a rifle with a scope. Attach a silencer to it, hide yourself a safe distance away, and murder them from long-distance. Never know what hit them. That's gossip.

One of the things that can destroy any church or ministry is gossip. Other terms in the Bible for gossip include:  backbiter, busybody, slanderer, secrets, talebearer and whisperers.  So then, a Biblical definition of gossip would be:  to spread rumors or secrets, speak about someone maliciously behind their back or repeat something about someone else that you have no right to repeat.

Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers, who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, shooting from ambush at the blameless, shooting at him suddenly and without fear.               Psalm 64:2-4

“...[They know] the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” Romans 1:32 NKJV

The word “approve” in Greek means “ENJOY  or ENCOURAGE .”

If not careful – we can easily be tricked into gossip – ex: prayer group

2. By DEFINING   LIFE differently than God does.

“You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”            Psalm 139:15-16 NLT

ILL: Alexander M. Sanders, Jr., is the Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals. When his daughter Zoe graduated from the Univ. of South Carolina in 1992, he told this story that happened when she was just three years old:  Sanders came home from work one day to find his home –and especially his young daughter –in a state of turmoil. Zoe’s pet turtle had died, and she was crying as if her heart would break. Zoe’s mother had been dealing with the situation all day and declared that it was now Dad’s turn to try and make things better.  Although he was successful both as a lawyer and a politician, who confidently faced all kinds of complex issues and problems every day, this seemed out of his league. The mysteries of life and death are difficult, if not impossible for the mature mind to fathom. The task of explaining them to a three-year-old was completely beyond either his confidence or experience. But he tried. First, he told Zoe that they could go to the pet store and buy another one just like the one who had died.

 Even at three years old, Zoe was smart enough to know that a turtle is not a toy. There’s really no such thing as getting another one just like the one who died. And so Zoe’s tears continued. Desperate to quiet his little girl’s tears, he said, "I tell you what, we’ll have a funeral for the turtle." Being three years old, she didn’t know what a funeral was. 

Scrambling to come up with an explanation –as well as something that would get her mind off the turtle’s demise, he said "A funeral is like a birthday party. We’ll have ice cream and cake and lemonade and balloons, and all the children in the neighborhood will come over to our house to play. All because the turtle died." Well, the prospect of a turtle funeral did the trick. Instantly, Zoe was her happy, smiling self. The turtle’s death was no longer cause for tears, but reason to rejoice!  So, with visions of cake and ice cream in their heads the two beamed down on the deceased turtle lying at their feet. As they did, the turtle began to move. And a few seconds later, he was crawling away as lively as –well, as lively as a turtle, but an undeniably LIVE turtle.  Then an even stranger thing happened. Sanders –a politician and a lawyer –was speechless. Zoe had no such problem. After considering her options, she looked up at her father with her big beautiful eyes and –with all the innocence of her tender years –she said quietly, "Daddy, LET’S KILL IT."  

Many people value life ONLY when the life doesn’t stand in the way of WHAT THEY WANT. 

Everyone knows that murder is wrong. So, what happens if the life that is carrying away my party is a baby growing inside?  Well, we get some Supreme Court Justices to say that this baby is not really alive! If it’s not alive, it can’t be murder, right? 

3. By harboring HATRED  and ANGER for others

“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.”       I John 3:11-15 NKJV

“"You have heard that the law of Moses says, ’Do not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! . . .and if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.         Matthew 5:21-22 NLT

Remember, what Jesus did, is move the commandments from just outward actions – “kill” – to inward attitudes and motives – “hate.”  So God doesn’t just care that you act right. He cares that you ARE right on the inside.  You see, anger affects everyone. Not just you, but those around you. It’s very contagious! 

ILL: In his autobiography, “Number 1”, Billy Martin told about hunting in Texas with Mickey Mantle. Mickey had a friend who would let them hunt on his ranch. When they reached the ranch, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he checked in with his friend. Mantle’s friend quickly gave them permission to hunt, but he asked Mickey a favor. He had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind, and he didn’t have the heart to put him out of his misery. He asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him. When Mickey came back to the car, he pretended to be angry. He scowled and slammed the door. Billy asked him what was wrong, and Mickey said his friend wouldn’t let them hunt.  "I’m so mad at that guy," Mantle said, "I’m going out to his barn and shoot one of his mules!" Mantle drove like a maniac to the barn. Martin protested, "We can’t do that!" But Mickey was adamant. "Just watch me," he shouted.

When they got to the barn, Mantle jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran inside, and shot the mule. As he was leaving, though, he heard two shots, and he ran back to the car. He saw that Martin had taken out his rifle, too. "What are you doing, Martin?" he yelled. Martin yelled back, face red with anger, "We’ll show that son of a gun! I just killed two of his cows!" Anger can be dangerously contagious. As Proverbs puts it, "Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man ... or you may learn his ways" (Prov. 22:24-25). -- Scott Bowerman, Bishopville, South Carolina. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 1.Try explaining that to your friend! :-)

But you know what? Many parents have passed on to their children their own anger. They’re so angry because of a divorce that they pass on the hatred.
Satan is a ruthless enemy, and he doesn’t care if you never pull the trigger – if he can get you to hate a fellow human, he’s succeeded at his job!

Let me explain: If you break God’s commands on the outside, often the pain will be on the outside. (If you pull the trigger and kill someone, they’ll put you in jail.) But if you break God’s command on the inside, like we’ve been talking about today, guess where the pain comes? That’s right. It’s all in here! When you bottle up hatred and anger, when you have a heart to kill, even when your body wouldn’t do it, or when you have an abortion. . . they won’t put you in jail. But it will cause damage and pain and hurt in your heart that only God can heal!  So let’s talk about that for a moment. How can I fight Satan’s plan to make me sin on the inside?              

Here’s how to fight Satan: 

1. Make it right between YOU   AND    GOD.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”                            1 John 1:9 NKJV

2. Learn to take God’s ATTITUDE   toward evil.
“You who love the LORD, hate evil!”            Psalm 97:10 NKJV

Rome was celebrating its temporary victory over Alaric the Goth in its usual manner, by watching gladiators fight to the death in the arena, when suddenly there was an interruption. A rudely clad robed figure boldly leaped down into the arena. Telemachus was one of the hermits who devoted themselves to a holy life of prayer and self-denial and kept themselves apart from the wicked life of Rome. Although few of the Roman citizens followed their example, most of them had great respect for these hermits, and the few who recognized Telemachus knew he had come from the wilds of Asia on a pilgrimage to visit churches and celebrate Christmas in Rome.
Without hesitating an instant, Telemachus advanced upon two gladiators who were engaged in their life-and-death struggle. Laying a hand on one of them, he sternly reproved him for shedding innocent blood, and then, turning toward the thousands of angry faces around him, called to them: "Do not repay God’s mercy in turning away the swords of your enemies by murdering each other!"
Angry shouts drowned out his voice. "This is no place for preaching! On with the combat!" Pushing Telemachus aside, the two gladiators prepared to continue their combat, but Telemachus stepped between them. Enraged at the interference of an outsider with their chosen vocation, the gladiators turned on Telemachus and stabbed him to death.
The crowd fell silent, shocked by the death of this holy man, but his death had not been in vain, for from that day on, no more gladiators ever went into combat in the Colosseum. Source: John Foxe, Foxe’s Christian Martyrs of the World, pp. 26-27

3. Define life like GOD   DOES.

“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.”                                                                     Psalm 139:16 NLT

ILL: Back in 1994 the featured speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., was a small, fragile woman with no political credentials. Yet she spoke confidently at the podium, surrounded by President Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton and various other government officials. With a steady voice of certainty, Mother Teresa declared:

“I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion. It is direct war against the child, a direct killing of an innocent child. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love but to use any violence to get what they want. By abortion the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion.”  

4. Instead of harboring hate, let God LOVE   THROUGH YOU.
“...the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”                                                                Romans 5:5 NKJV

CLOSING ILL: Chris Carrier of Coral Gables, Florida, was abducted when he was 10 years old. His kidnapper, angry with the boy’s family, burned him with cigarettes, stabbed him numerous times with an ice pick, then shot him in the head and left him to die in the Everglades. Remarkably, the boy survived, though he lost sight in one eye. No one was ever arrested. Recently, a man confessed to the crime. Carrier, now a youth minister at Granada Presbyterian Church, went to see him. He found David McAllister, a 77-year-old ex-convict, frail and blind, living in a North Miami Beach nursing home. Carrier began visiting often, reading to McAllister from the Bible and praying with him. His ministry opened the door for McAllister to make a profession of faith. No arrest is forthcoming; after 22 years, the statute of limitations on the crime is long past. In Christian Reader (Jan/Feb 98), Carrier says, "While many people can’t understand how I could forgive David McAllister, from my point of view I couldn’t not forgive him. If I’d chosen to hate him all these years, or spent my life looking for revenge, then I wouldn’t be the man I am today, the man my wife and children love, the man God has helped me to be."-- Merv Budd, London, Ontario. Leadership, Vol. 19, no. 2.

Closing PRAYER