You Shall Not Murder

you have heard it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. 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. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny."

So I was just curious to hear from you. What are some of these things that we see in this passage as it relates to the Sixth Commandment? Nick? We really see where the murder begins. Yeah. that begins with a simple emotion that we probably feel on a weekly basis, maybe even a daily basis. So it's definitely, this is obviously what happens when that anger is unchecked and not dealt with and not prevented of. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's a good point. Is there anything else we see in here? Well, I think, obviously, as you said at the beginning, You can't have a claim to be a good person, right? But it's like he's not, but it almost seems like he's ratcheting down from murder to anger or insult. And you're still liable to judgment, just the same, regardless of what sin you committed. It's the same result, right? You're still liable to judgment. Yeah, absolutely. Anything else? Guys, three points I just want to observe quickly from the passage, and we've touched on them already, but one just, as we saw in Leviticus 19, anger and hatred are under the umbrella of murder. Jesus tells us that our emotions, our words, our judgments, all unjustly deprive someone of their inalienable right to life. Murder is more than just complete destruction of life, but also exists where life is degraded or simply devalued. Lingering hatred in our hearts, anger in our hearts, makes us liable to judgment just as much toward hell as murder does. Next, second, Jesus teaches us that murder is something that we can commit against ourselves. Notice that we have a responsibility to protect our own lives as well as the lives of others. So if someone has something against us, Jesus places the responsibility on us as his disciples to go to them. We're to come to terms quickly with our accuser. We're not to remain indebted to another or liable to their judgment. Third, Jesus places a high price, as Darius said, on reconciliation. We have a responsibility, no, I'm sorry, restoring unity, confessing sins, and forgiving trespasses are valued in the kingdom of God. Jesus teaches us that if we're to have a right relationship with our fellow man, we need to protect ourselves and others from hatred and anger by promoting confession and forgiveness. So beyond just teaching, Jesus' teaching, we know that from Matthew 5, 17, that Jesus came to fulfill the law in his person and his work as well. And so while Jesus obviously never murdered anyone, we also see him doing so much more to promote and protect life during his earthly ministry. Healing the sick, casting out demons, refuting religious oppression, Jesus' entire earthly ministry was about bringing about life. And the climax, the pinnacle of Jesus's life-giving ministry, took place in his death on the cross. See, from an earthly perspective, Jesus's death was the most unjust murder to ever occur. Jesus was the only one who never unjustly took a life, who never spoke an unjust evil against someone, who never exercised unjust anger, and never harbored hatred in his heart. He was truly innocent of sin. He truly loved his neighbor, and he truly kept God's commands concerning his fellow man. Yet, he was unjustly crucified, murdered in the most shameful way possible. Human justice was entirely disregarded and his blood was shed. But on the flip side, in God's grand plan of salvation, from a heavenly perspective, the death of Jesus was the greatest act of life-promoting love and the greatest act of reconciliation. In this great act of love, Jesus acted as the new Adam, the new head of creation, who properly handled his authority as the keeper of life. Jesus, the true image bearer, took on the punishment of death so that his people would be protected from sin's curse, adopted into sonship, and be brought back into perfect union with their creator. Brothers and sisters, Christ's death has brought us life, and his resurrected life is assurance that we will reign in life with him for eternity. See, we have been reconciled to God for our original image-bearing purpose, to be the workers and keepers of life in God's kingdom. And we accomplish this purpose by loving others just as Christ loved us. So point three, Christians, our Christian life, Christians are to cultivate life by loving others. Now listen to our final passage. Listen to how 1 John 3, 11 to 18 brings all together what we've been discussing. Starting in verse 11,

for this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know, love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.

Love, love in our hearts, love in our words, love in our actions. Love for others is how we cultivate life and how we rightly submit as Christians to the Lordship of God. Romans 13, eight through 10 tells us,

owe no one anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Guys, question for the group as we begin to think about application. What are some ways that we can love our brothers or our neighbors as Christians? Top of your head, what comes to mind? Rachel? Sharing the gospel. Yeah. Nate? Forgiving one another as Christ forgave us. Not avoiding the root or the source of our life. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Justin? Yeah. Yeah, material needs. Katie? Absolutely. Guys, these are all great, great applications of what we've been talking about. And with the few minutes we have left, I just want us to consider two ways to help us cultivate life by the way that we love others. First, just in light of what we've been talking about with the sin of murder and anger and hatred, we need to examine and master our anger and hatred. I mean, it's interesting, while we've seen numerous warnings and prohibitions against anger and hatred, those two emotions aren't necessarily just evil within themselves. God, who is perfectly righteous, expresses anger and hatred. We're called in certain instances to hate and be angry. Injustice, sin, evil, these things should be abhorred and should stir up a righteous anger within us. But the difference between righteous anger and sinful anger is love. And when love is the ruler of our hearts, it rightly measures anger and hatred and constrains us to retaliate and handle it properly. So when faced with evil and injustice, love for others guides us first to the Lord. We express ourselves to him in prayer. And then we submit to his ultimate plan of justice and vengeance. We don't take matters into our own hands like Lamech did, but instead we retaliate according to God's word. So what does God's Word say about retaliation? Paul tells the Ephesians to be angry and not to sin, and not to linger in anger. He tells the Thessalonians,

see that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

He says something similar to the Romans.

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

So yes, identify evil. Call it out, speak out against it, but be careful not to be consumed by it. Be careful to act and retaliate against evil in a way that lovingly works for good and for reconciliation. And the second application in light of 1 John 3.16, lay down your life for your brothers and sisters in our own church. Loving others as Christ loved us, it's going to require sacrifice. Godly love is going to be inconvenient, it's going to be uncomfortable at times, may seem inefficient, may seem ineffective, but sacrificial love for our spiritual family, that is how we primarily cultivate life within God's kingdom here and now. See, a church's life is dependent on those who give their life to it. So the simplest way I can encourage you guys to sacrificially love our church family in a life-giving way is to just show up where there's a need. It starts with our gatherings. Show up to services, stay after to get to know people. Some of you guys already do a fantastic job of doing this, but recognize that there will always be a need. There will always be a need in our church to build relationships and to edify one another. Reach out to new people, follow up with the same people, get coffee, go out for a meal, go on walks, go grocery shopping, do laundry together. However you can make it happen, commit to loving and building up the body by knowing your fellow members. And then show up where there's a call for help. It might not be your area of expertise or your gifting or your calling or even your interest. Someone can always tell you no if it's really not working out for you to serve somewhere. But the chances are your presence and your willingness to serve your church is a far greater gift to the body than you might realize. Guys, a church that's marked by a sacrificial Christ-life love only exists where its members are committed to loving each other sacrificially. This type of love doesn't happen overnight or by accident. It happens when church members continually answer the call of a brother or sister in need and by abiding in love for one another in deed and in truth. So in conclusion, the sixth commandment is not just a prohibition on unjust killing, but rather it's a call for us to cultivate life. And while there are many ways we can protect and promote and progress life as image bearers and as kingdom workers, we will only truly obey this command if we're underneath the love of Christ and committed to sacrificially loving others as he has first loved us. Let's pray. Father, we praise you as the source and giver of life. We thank you for breathing life into us and for making us alive in Christ, even while we were dead in our sins. Father, we ask that you forgive us for the ways that we have suppressed life, and we ask that you guide us to cultivate life. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.