Lay Down the Law 6: Do You Murder?

 

Billy was unfortunate. Some feel unfortunate that they never knew their father. Billy would have welcomed that misfortune. In the end, his father’s cruelty took Billy’s life before he was thirteen. There was not much light in Billy’s life. It was full of beatings, starvation, evil words, dark days in locked closets, and the sounds of his mother’s cries. 

 

But there was that one day… As Billy sat in the back of his classroom, nervously hiding his bruises and hoping his stomach would not growl too loudly, one of his classmates spoke to him. Billy was afraid, but he could not stop listening. The story of God become human and suffering out of love for him was overwhelming. 

 

“He died for me?” Billy thought. “And he’s alive!” Is this too good to be true? Is there really love in life? But Billy could see the truth in his classmate’s eyes… he could feel the love.

 

When Billy heard the god-man’s words, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”, he broke. The Son knew his pain. God knew his pain. And God cared. God was in it all.

God was in him.

 

In a flash, everything was pain and glory… death and eternal life. But it was all light. 

 

Billy stopped crying and opened his eyes… and he smiled.

 

He died that night – killed at the hands of the man who fathered him… but received into his heavenly Father’s eternal embracing arms of love.

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Steven smirked across the classroom. This was his last day here. Finally, his parents had come to their senses and were removing him from the sludge of public schools. The pale slobbering boy in the corner was disgusting… making such a scene… what was his name… William? – oh well, it didn’t matter. Tomorrow he would start his new life at the Academy… where success was virtually guaranteed to graduates. 

 

And the guarantee proved true. After the Academy was the Ivy League. In college he co-founded a new way to store digital information. His life flowed. He wrote best-selling books on his success and rise to billionaire status.   He provided the best nannies, boarding schools, and college education for his children. And they went on to build corporate empires in other countries.

 

He never knew need, so he never had a use for God. He died rich… His old wife, after all his brain activity had ceased, finally pulled the plug on the million-dollar machines that prevented him from feeling any pain and kept his organs operating.

 

Which life would you choose?

These stories are not supposed to advocate easy believism…

The point is not salvation minus discipleship.

The point is bigger than that…

 

There is something worse in life than death-

than torture and abuse and neglect

Life is more than operating organs.

 

The thunder crashed and the smoke was thick… A nation stood at the foot of a mountain ready to go conquer lands and God boomed…

You shall not murder. Exodus 20:13

 

the Bible uses specific words… it reads, “Don’t murder.” it does not read, “Don’t kill.”

That’s probably not about giving license for certain types of killings,

as much as it is saying something about  life and its preservation.

 

Telling a nomadic society, fresh out of horrendous slavery, not to slay another human is quite a stretch.

Suddenly there was a value placed on human life that went beyond the simple human logic… and nature… of their day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We know this commandment means more than interrupting the operation of the human anatomy. Jesus told us so.

 

[21 ] “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ [22 ] But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

(Matthew 5:21-22 ESV)

 

 

((((((((((

Liable to judgment? (A Parenthesis)

18 ] “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. [19 ] You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. [20 ] Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

(Deuteronomy 16:18-20 ESV)

 

 Righteous judgment is welcome to the innocent.

))))))))))

 

 

 

 

Whoeverinsults his brother– Literally, “whoever says to his brother, “Raka” – Raka is a hard word to translate… it could have meant something like “blockhead.”

“whoever says, “You Fool!” – the word translated, “fool” is "moré" It is used sometimes to refer to godless people.

Our word “moron” comes from it.  

It could essentially be like calling someone a – godless moron

"You are nothing... less than nothing!"

 

 

You can see the progression of defamation… I’m angry with you… you are a blockhead… you are less than nothing!!!

What is murder… to Jesus?

the destruction of God-given humanity

humanity– the status of man before God’s eyes

 

Jesus takes man’s humanity seriously…

 

He died for it.

 

 

God spoke past the culture of the Hebrew’s day and declared that human life had a dignity and value… not because of the human… but because of humanity’s creator… He created us in His image.

And Jesus died to restore that image in us.

to dehumanize someone is to attack God… it is to murder.

How do you destroy the humanity of those around you?

 

It makes sense now why Jesus told us to love our enemies

and pray for those who persecute us…

 

We cannot allow ourselves to view them as anything less than human.

 

He died for them too.

 

How easy is it for you to murder.

What does it take for you to attack the humanity Christ died for?

 

a stupid driver? “You Raka!!”

 

a sexy picture?

 

a personal reputation furthered by rejecting others? “Look at that moron!”

 

a lust for stuff? “Buy this for me, Daddy!!!” (are people a means to an end?)

 

a lust for stuff?

“I know this probably cost someone their life… but I really want it!”

sweat shop clothes, coffee at the cost of human life, spices and oils at the cost of homes

 

A lust for happiness?

“everyone is here for my benefit”

 

a fear of sharing your faith?

 “my comfort is more important than your soul”

 

The worst way to attack the humanity of others is to deny them the life that Christ has given you. 

 

How can we be silent about the life we have in Christ?

 

We must not murder by hiding the gospel behind our shame or our self-righteousness.

 

 

In the end…

it is not really the murdered who lose their humanity.

 

They have an advocate.

The murdered can always find their true humanity in the arms of Christ…

No matter what others do to them.

 

In the end

it is the murderer who loses his humanity.

murderers leave their God-given image aside and become and agents of evil.

 

Murder… in every way discussed above…

 is suicide.

Do you murder?

 

Don’t get swept up in the things of this life… don’t be Steven.

Be an advocate for Billy.

Lay Down the Law 5: Heavy Parents

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."

(Exodus 20:12 ESV)

This may be the most difficult commandment for us so far… not because we are teenagers or because we had bad parents… but because this commandment is so positively blunt… and practical.

This one we have to do.

We shouldn’t spend years pondering the deep abstractions of this commandment… (not that we should do that with the other commandments either) our parents are here for the honoring… right. now.

“ONCE UPON A TIME there was a little old man. His eyes blinked and his hands trembled; when he ate he clattered the silverware distressingly, missed his mouth with the spoon as often as not, and dribbled a bit of his food on the tablecloth. Now he lived with his married son, having nowhere else to live, and his son's wife was a modern young woman who knew that in-laws should not be tolerated in a woman's home.

"I can't have this," she said. "It interferes with a woman's right to happiness." So she and her husband took the little old man gently but firmly by the arm and led him to the corner of the kitchen. There they set him on a stool and gave him his food, what there was of it, in an earthenware bowl. From then on he always ate in the corner, blinking at the table with wistful eyes. One day his hands trembled rather more than usual, and the earthenware bowl fell and broke.

"If you are a pig," said the daughter-in-law, "you must eat out of a trough." So they made him a little wooden trough, and he got his meals in that.

These people had a four-year-old son of whom they were, very fond. One suppertime the young man noticed his boy playing intently with some bits of wood and asked what he was doing.

"I'm making a trough," he said, smiling up for approval, "to feed you and Mamma out of when I get big."

The man and his wife looked at each other for a while and didn't say anything. Then they cried a little. Then they went to the corner and took the little old man by the arm and led him back to the table. They sat him in a comfortable chair and gave him his food on a plate, and from then on nobody ever scolded when he clattered or spilled or broke things.”   –smoke on the mountain

How do you treat your parents? How would you have your children treat you when they are your age?

With honor?

What does “honor” mean?

“kabed”

This is the word used for “honor” in the commandment. The Hebrew word goes beyond thinking highly of them… thinking they are beautiful, or special or nifty…

It’s most basic meaning is

weighty

You are to see that you parents are weighty.

(don’t tell THEM  I said that…)

There are other words the author could have used to instruct us to honor our parents:

“hadar”

Lev. 19:32 You shall stand up before the gray head and honor(hadar) the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am YHWH.

Proverbs 25:6 Do not claim honor(hadar) in the presence of the king…

Lamentations 5:12 Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect(hadar) is shown to the elders.

“hadar” means to “swell.” It has the idea of hanging ornaments on something to show it’s splendor. To clothe something in honor.

“yaqar”

“yaqar” means precious… the Bible speaks of precious stones, lives, things, thoughts, and people.

Why does God want us to “kabed” our parents… what’s wrong with “hadar-ing” them? Or “yaqar-ing” them?

kabed is used to describe famines:

Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe(kabed) in the land. (Gen 12:10 ESV)

kabedis used to describe heavy burdens. It is used to describe the heavy glory of God that weighs down on man’s sinfulness.

Perhaps the word was chosen because of the cultural context of the Hebrews…

Genesis 22 – The Sacrifice of Isaac

Abraham had waited into his old age to have a son from his wife… his son who was promised to him by God. 

And then God said, “Take the boy to the mountain and sacrifice him.”

Now in the end, God did not permit Abraham to kill his son…

But if anyone had the right to take Isaac’s life… it was his Father.

Judges 11 – The Sacrifice of Jephthah’s Daughter

This is a difficult passage.

Whether or not the Bible condones Jephthah’s approach to honoring God, it doesn’t seem to detract from the father’s right to put his child to death for proper reasons.

“Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

         

 “Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.

(Exodus 21:15; 17 ESV)

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, [19 ] then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, [20 ] and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ [21 ] Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

(Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ESV)

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."

ancient hebrew                                    modern america

Agrarian Society     vs      Industrial Society

Kids = tools (wealth; legacy)                            Kids = nuisance…

They help put food on the table                       extra financial burden

OR genuinely loved                                       OR genuinely loved

In an ancient (or modern) agrarian society, kids are assets. They are numbered as a part of Job’s wealth. They are extra workers. And a man’s children give him a legacy to leave behind after he is dead.

If they ended up being a liability... there were proper times and methods of disposing of them.

Not many of us think of our children as extra workers… as assets. If anything they are a burden on our finances.  And if we get pregnant at an inconvenient time in our lives... we have methods of disposing...

In either case, parents have the choice to see their kids as things – assets or burdens – or to love them as people God allowed them to help create.

Because of modern advances we are freer than ever to enjoy relationships simply. 

Not because of what someone can do for us…

But we can be free to see people as people and value them simply.

Now at last it is possible to honor our parents genuinely, because they no longer have the power to kill us if we don’t.

But we are just as capable as ever to use people to advance us personally (financially, emotionally, etc)… and to despise those who stand in our way.

Why is God serious about parental(kabed) today?

John 17: 20-25 – ThePrayerOfJesus for us

"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be oneeven as we areone, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.”

Unity is God’s goal. God wants unity to begin in the home.

The home is our source.

It can shape us forever.

we can learn about Unity in diversity… being one part of a whole…honor… respect… help… encouragement…

God’s plan is for a society ofunity.

and He wants unity to be learned in the home.

This is heavystuff… to attack God’s plan for the home is to attack God’s plan for humanity… it is to attack God.

To curse your parents is to curse your Heavenly Father.

To curse your children is to defame the Heavenly Father.

parents… be kabed – worthy, and train your children to kabed you by kabed-ing

your parents in front of your children.

Kids… kabed your parents!

and in doing so, we continue to obey the first 3 commandments.

Lay Down the Law 4: Holy Day

As Zligorth’s spaceship

entered Earth’s atmosphere, he extended one slimy tentacle to flip on his cloaking system. 

He needed to be invisible. He had procrastinated, and his thesis was due in only three galactic sectons. Without it he hadn’t an earthman’s chance of passing his comparative anthropology course. He couldn’t waste time finding good hiding places, or erasing memories with his deneuralizer.

 Swooping dangerously low over the United States in his flying saucer, Zligorth scribbled furiously with his writing tentacle. He had chosen an ideal morning for taking notes-a fine summer Sunday, with all the natives coming out of their houses and obligingly spreading themselves around for his observation.

How would such a thesis describe our Sunday activities?

Surely Joy Davidman is wrong. She imagines an alien like Zligorth would assume that humans are sun worshipers… rushing outside on Sundays to worship in local roofless arenas while priests perform rituals with different spheres (and sometimes wooden sticks).  Could someone so misinterpret our sporting events?

 Trips to the beach are seen as religious excursions to worship in the waves – representing a belief that the waves give birth to the sun every morning… or put it to bed at night (depending on which coast you find yourself)… anointing ourselves in “holy oils” and laying in the sun’s rays to come into contact with our god.

What a dumb mistake of the alien!!!

But that is not the disturbing mistake Davidman imagines the aliens making.

The disturbing mistake is the alien’s view of church goers. The alien’s report goes like this:

“There exists, however, a small sect of recalcitrants or heretics that does not practice sun worship. These may be identified by their habit of clothing themselves more soberly and more completely than the sun worshippers. They too gather in groups, but only to hide from the sun in certain buildings of doubtful use, usually with windows of glass colored to keep out the light. It is not clear whether these creatures are simply unbelievers or whether they are excommunicated from sun worship for some offence -we have not been able to discover what goes on within their buildings, which may perhaps be places of punishment. But it is noteworthy that their faces and gestures show none of the joyful religious frenzy with which the sun worshippers pursue their devotions. In fact, they usually appear relaxed and even placid, thus indicating minds blank of thought or emotion.”

Surely no outsider looking in would assume such a thing…

that the truly religious are the ones who don’t seem to enjoy their worship!

YAHOO ANSWERS: why is church so boring?

“Well if god had some video games with His relationship it would not be boring”

“Because you haven’t walked through the doors yourself. You’ve been pulled through them every Sunday by the ear.”

“I know Right!? The pastors drone on and on about the same things, repeating themselves about 20 times until they finally get to some new information, and then start repeating that over and over, maybe tell a few stories about their childhood and rant furiously over how "GOD IS THE AWESOMEST". I'm glad my parents have stopped forcing me to go.”

Why is it so hard for my church to grow…

While south padre island is expanding its hotels and bars…

even in spite of a recent hurricane and current recession?!

but what are we supposed to do?

try and compete with the beach?!

(Exodus 20:9-11 ESV)

Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

we have to keep the Sabbath holy!!!

We can’t try and make it fun or entertaining!!!

but what did God mean when He said, “keep it holy.”?

here are some holy times commanded by God in the Old Testament:

sabbath day – seventh day of every week: sacrifices, holy convocation (get together, read, worship), no work

passover / unleavened bread – came together as an 8 day celebration with various feasts and offerings celebrating the Passover in Egypt and the Exodus.

Firstfruits – celebrated the first of the barley harvest and recognized the Lord’s bounty in the land.

weeks – a festival of joy; mandatory and voluntary offerings, including the firstfruits of the wheat harvest to show joy and thankfulness for the Lord’s blessing of harvest.

booths – a week of celebrating for the harvests… memorialize the journey from Egypt to Canaan.

There was also Purim, the Day of Atonement, a Sabbath year (to give the land a rest), and the year of Jubilee (where indentured slaves were set free and a degree of redistribution of wealth was celebrated).

Oneof these times called the people to fast. (the day of atonement)

To remember their sin and solemnlyseek God’s forgiveness.

the rest were generally times of celebration and rest

so what does God mean by keeping something holy?

Deuteronomy 14:22-29 is just crazy.

it outlines how to handle tithingholy (of grain, wine, and oil, etc)

they were supposed to take their tithe to a certain place

and eat it.

But if the place where they were to take the tithe was too far away to carry the tithe,

they were to convert their tithe to money, and take the money to the place…

“and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.” (v26)

does God seem to generally want people to remember His holiness by being miserable?

what does God expect from His people when they gather?

solemnity or celebration

?

there are strict guidelines about alcohol… Don’t get drunk, none in the sanctuary.

This is not a license for carousing.

but it might make us rethink our expectations for Sundays…

rethink holy

Are the commandments subtracting joy from life?

Does one keep a day holy by making it unpleasant and restrictive… and boring… or by making it joyous… by making it as much as possible like hell, or as much as possible like heaven?

This is the day when man can return to Eden. The day when we remember that everything God made was good…

Man is commanded to enjoy himself.

of everyone on earth, we have reason to celebrate…

especially when we come together in His name.

how do we keep it holy?

In the end, it isn’t going to be livelier services… or losing preaching for super bowl parties…

We have to remember that churchis not the goal.

God is the goal.

In the end, the church must stand or fall by the church people.

Will we be joyful?

Let us behave like Christians seven days a week, and it is likely that the Sabbath will take care of itself.

how do you make a day holy?

By seeing that it is holy already,

and behaving accordingly.

we take ourselves too seriously

the world will not stop working simply because you did.

trust

that God can work while you rest.

the law of sabbath speaks to us more than once a week

you are not defined by what you produce in life

waste a little time with God everyday…

just sit with Him in silence. 

Be defined by what He produces in you.

and on Sundays… rejoice.

keep it holy.