SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). Murder – a definition.
• Quote: Webster’s New World College Dictionary:
• "The unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being by another.".
(2). Murder – a description.
(a). What Murder is Not!
• Accidental Killing
• Capital Punishment.
• A Just War
• Self-defence
(b). What Murder is!
• Physical Murder.
• Personal Murder.
• Physician Assisted Murder.
• Pre-natal Murder
SERMONBODY:
Ill:
If you think your family has problems,
• Consider the marriage mayhem created when 76-year-old Bill Baker of London;
• Wed his sweetheart Edna Harvey.
• She happened to be his granddaughter’s husband’s mother.
• That’s where the confusion began, according to Baker’s granddaughter, Lynn.
• “My mother-in-law is now my step-grandmother.
• My grandfather is now my stepfather-in-law.
• My mom is my sister-in-law and my brother is my nephew.
• But even crazier is that I’m now married to my uncle;
• And my own children are my cousins.”
• TRANSITION: Relationships are never easy.
• The Ten Commandments are all about relationships.
• In fact I think the whole Bible can be boiled down to one word;
• Relationships.
• i.e. The commandments divide into two sections;
• Not five and five but four and six.
• The first four concern our relationship to God;
• Respect for God (they are upward).
• The next six concern our relationship with other people;
• Respect for others (they are across-wards).
This talk we are looking at the sixth commandment - respect for life (vs 13).
• N.I.V: “Do not murder”
• K.J.B: “Thou shalt not kill”
Now on the surface understanding the Ten Commandments are not rocket science:
• They are succinct and elegantly simple.
• They don’t dance around the issues,
• They get right to the point and, really,
• They don’t actually require a lot of interpretation do they?
• Even a four year old clearly understands what most of them means!
And yet in three simple, straightforward words,
• “Do not murder”
• God confronts us with complex ideas;
• That will strain your brain as you try to grasp its deeper meaning.
Note: To get to grips with this commandment:
• We need to understand the meaning of the word translated as "kill" or "murder".
• This commandment does not aim at prohibiting all killing;
• Rather it is prohibiting an act of murder,
• i.e. taking human life with forethought
• Note: The context of this verse is our relationships with other people;
• i.e. Do not lie, do not steal, do not commit adultery etc.
• And it is not talking about how we treat animals;
• That is a study that should be done all by itself!
Ill:
• Just recently I was talking to a Hare-Krishna;
• They are a branch of Hinduism and are all vegetarians.
• But whenever you share your faith with them;
• They will always quote this at me and say; “Do you eat meat?” i.e. do you eat animals.
• If like me, you reply, “yes”.
• They will always quote this verse to you and then dismiss any other argument.
• But they miss the point!
• Because the context of this verse is all about relationships with other people;
• And not relationships with animals.
• And as the old says goes;
• “If you take a text out of its context you are left with a con”
So I want to emphasise two things at the start of my talk:
• First: “Murder” means the premeditated taking of a life.
• Second: The life we are talking about is the taking of HUMAN life!
Note:
• Preachers have a problem speaking on this commandment;
• Because you are all sitting there thinking; “This Commandment doesn’t apply to me!”
• You are thinking: “I’ve never killed anyone and I have no intention of killing anyone.”
• Well I am glad to hear that!
• But as you will see later on we still have a lot of connexions with this commandment;
• So please don’t switch off and see this verse as just not relevant.
(1). Murder – a definition.
Ill:
• When it comes to defining words;
• Here are a few light-hearted ones.
• SWEATER – A garment worn by child when their mother is feeling chilly.
• COMITTEE - A group of people who keep minutes and waste hours.
• ANTIQUE:
• An item your grandparents bought, your parents got rid of, and you're buying again
• COURTESY: The art of yawning with your mouth closed.
• EXPERIENCE : The name men give to their mistakes.
• FULL NAME: What you call your child when you're mad at him/her.
• MOSQUITO: An insect that makes you like flies better
• GROCERY LIST:.
• What you spend half an hour writing, then forget to take with you to the store.
• PREACHER: Someone who talks in someone else's sleep.
• VEGETARIAN: Old Indian word for bad hunter.
• TRANSITION: ok they are the light-hearted ones;
• Let’s get to grips with heavy one – our key word, ‘murder’
• What do we mean?
Quote:
• Webster’s New World College Dictionary gives this Definition Of Murder:
• "The unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being by another.".
Quote: Some dictionaries go even further by saying:
“Murder is the killing of another human being without justification or valid excuse, and it is especially the unlawful killing of another human being with malice aforethought.”
Ill:
• The UK murder rate shot up last year;
• In the year to September 2015 homicides have increased 14 per cent to 574;
• The highest level for five years.
Ill:
• On a wider perspective;
• You have seen the headlines on TV or in the newspapers.
• e.g. On Friday 13 November 2015.
• At least 129 people were murdered after a series of violent incidents around Paris, France,
• e.g. Earlier on in the year, on 7 January 2015 at about 11:30 local time,
• 11 people were killed and another injured;
• Into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris
Ill:
• On the news this week;
• UK Serial Killer Levi Bellfield was convicted of the murder of three women;
• And he has at long last admitted to taking the life of 13 year old Milly Dowler.
• Sadly Levi Bellfield is just one of a long line of notorious killers;
• Such as Fred and Rosemary West, Harold Shipman, Donald Neilson,
• Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and the list goes on.
• TRANSITION: Although we would actively seek never to commit a murder;
• We could so easily be an innocent victim caught up in murder scenario.
• e.g. A few years ago we had an innocent former member of our Church;
• Murdered while walking along a beach in Canada.
• I hope you never experience events like that…but they do happen.
• Definition Of Murder:
• "The unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being by another.".
• Well if that is what murder is;
• Let’s look at the various ways it can be committed.
(2). A Description Of Murder.
Ill:
• Bob Hope was one of the great American comedian of the last century.
• As he was getting along in years,
• He once commented that he’d been reading and was astonished to discover:
• “Today my heart beat over 103,000 times,
• my blood travelled 168 million miles,
• I breathed 23,400 times,
• I inhaled 438 cubic feet of air, ate 3 pounds of food, and drank 2.9 pounds of liquid,
• I perspired 1.43 pints… gave off 85.3 degrees of heat… generated 450 tons of energy,
• I spoke 4,800 words, I moved 750 major muscles,
• And I exercised 7 million brain cells.
• (pause…) he then said:
• It’s no wonder I’m tired all the time.”
• TRANSITION: We were created to live!
• The Bible teaches that all of us were created in God’s image;
• (Genesis chapter 1 verse 27);
“So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”
• Every person we meet, relative or stranger, friend or enemy, bears God's image.
• And we were created for a reason:
• To live in harmony with God and with our fellow man.
• Only God the giver of life has the right and the authority to take life.
• A Bible verse we often quote when taking a funeral is Job chapter 1 verse 21:
• “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”
• The Bible says when sin entered the world (Genesis chapter 3);
• With sin came the propensity for acting violently against one another.
• Anger, jealousy, pride, envy and hatred.
• When hatred is allowed to run out of control it can in some people lead to murder!
Note:
• There is a difference between murder and killing.
• That is why the newer translations of the Bible rightly render the Sixth Commandment,
• "You shall not murder."
• You see, while all murder is killing, not all killing in murder.
• Let me give you that again:
• While all murder is killing, not all killing in murder.
A DESCRIPTION OF WHAT MURDER IS NOT!
Let me give you some examples of ‘while all murder is killing, not all killing in murder’.
i.e. Accidental killing:
• Accidental killing would not be classified as murder.
• The very name ‘accident’ clarifies that.
• In the Old Testament (Numbers chapter 35 verses 11-28);
• God gave Israel regulations for what are called "Cities of Refuge."
• These were cities to which someone;
• Who had unintentionally killed another human being;
• Could flee to for refuge.
• So an accidental, unplanned situation that led to someone losing their life;
• Was not murder but more akin to our law of involuntary manslaughter.
• ill: In Law:
• Malice aforethought must be present for murder,
• Whereas it must be absent for involuntary manslaughter
i.e. Capital punishment:
• Capital punishment.
• Many Christians, and many churches,
• Are often divided on the issue of whether capital punishment is right or wrong.
• Some supporters of capital punishment see it as mandated by the Old Testament Law.
• And would want to see it reintroduced into British law.
• Other Christians would strongly argue;
• That we are no longer bound by the legal code of Old Testament Law.
• They point out that the moral aspects of the Old Testament law still apply to Christians,
• But the ceremonial and legal aspects do not.
• The point being:
• If capital punishment was reinstated, it would not be seen as murder;
• But as a government sanctioned punishment by death.
i.e. A just war:
• Again many Christians, and many churches, are divided on this issue.
• But killings that take place in the exercise of a "just war"
• Would not be classified as murder.
• Throughout the history of the world,
• Nations have had to defend their borders or assist other weaker nations;
• Against aggressive enemies.
• We have many examples in the Old Testament;
• When God, has at times ordered His people onto the field of battle.
• Those who kill in "just war" are not murders.
• However, those who engage in brutality and atrocities are murderers!
i.e. Self-defence:
• Killings that are the product of self-defence cannot be classified as murder.
• At times, police officers must kill in the line of duty.
• Sometimes, people are attacked and must defend themselves.
• If in defending yourself, and an attacker was killed in the process,
• That would not classed as murderer.
However, there are times when killing is murder.
• That is what this commandment speaks to;
• And that is what we are looking into in this study.
A DESCRIPTION OF MURDER
(a). Physical Murder.
• This is the killing of another human being.
• Sadly, murder has a history as long as that of the world itself.
Ill:
• The very first human crime was murder.
• In Genesis chapter 4 verses 8-10 it says this,
“Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to the field.’ While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’
‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’
The Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.”
• I am always amazed that a man who refused to sacrifice a sheep;
• In a fit of rage was soon willing to slay his brother!
• Cain deliberately and with malice, took the life of his brother Abel.
• It was not a killing of self-defence, it was pure murder.
• Since that day, the history of the world is marked by a constant string of murders.
(b). Personal Murder.
• We call this act suicide.
• I would not be surprised;
• If someone in this room has been impacted deeply by the suicide of a loved one.
• We have very close friends who have experienced this tragedy first hand;
• And so we have seen the heart break that it causes.
• It leaves emotional scars that never fully heal.
• I appreciate that when a person is driven to suicide,
• It is often the result of circumstances just getting out of hand.
• Or maybe down to severe depression or mental instability.
• The person feels overwhelmed and unable to cope any longer with their lives;
• And so they decide to end it.
Ill:
• The most recent data is from 2013:
• 6,233 suicides of people aged 15 and over were registered in the UK in 2013
Ill:
• In the Bible there are about seven or so suicides mentioned;
• The most familiar are Saul, Samson, and Judas.
People kill themselves because they have lost hope.
• Our churches should be grace-filled, hope-imparting communities of acceptance.
• And in Jesus Christ a person should always find hope!
• In my opinion:
• Suicide is certainly not the ‘unforgiveable’ sin;
• But a sad way for an individual to cut short their life.
Note:
• There is another side to Personal Murder, a side of which far more are guilty.
• How often has a doctor told someone,
• "If you don’t stop this or that, then you will die?"
• And, how often has that person chosen to go right on with their bad habits and died?
• Whether it is over in a moment, or whether it takes years, the results are the same.
• We are prematurely ending the life that God has given us to live!
(c). Physician Assisted Murder.
• Here I am referring to what is called Euthanasia or "mercy killing."
• While many people think this is clearly wrong,
• Some countries around the world have legalized physician-assisted suicide.
• It is possible to go to the doctor and be put to death in the office.
• I haven’t got the time or the expertise to argue a case for or against it;
• But I would say that it must come under this sixth commandment;
• And at some time you must give some serious thought to the point of view you will hold.
(d). Pre-natal Murder
• I am referring to abortion!
• An abortion is the medical process of ending a pregnancy;
• So it does not result in the birth of a baby.
• It is also sometimes known as a 'termination' or a 'termination of pregnancy'.
• In the UK each year about 200,000 abortions are carried out.
• 200,000 just let that number sink in!
Note:
• I know this is a sensitive issue.
• My wife on a number of occasions;
• Has had to counsels and help women facing this dilemma,
• From young teenagers to more mature women.
• And as Christians and Churches;
• If we want to discourage women from having abortions;
• We must provide support for the individual in their pregnancies and afterwards as well.
• As well as helping individual women;
• I do hope you do support your local Christian Pregnancy Crisis Centre.
• Because holding this viewpoint must always be backed up with practical action!
Note:
• We will also need to be supporting, helping, counselling women;
• Who have had abortions or helping them find suitable help,
• Because if we are reaching out to the world outside this building;
• Sooner or later these issues will arise.
ill:
• According to the Bible, life begins at the very moment of conception,
• (Psalm 139 verses 13-16; Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5; Luke chapter 1 verse 41).
• Therefore, I believe abortion is not just wrong, I believe it is murder!
• It ends a human life, and that is the domain of Almighty God.
Ill:
• Some medical students were attending a seminar on abortion,
• The lecturer faced them with this case study.
• “The father of the family has syphilis and the mother TB.
• They have four children already.
• The first is blind, the second died, the third deaf and dumb and the fourth has TB.
• The mother is now pregnant with her fifth child;
• And is willing to have an abortion if that is what you suggest.
• What would your advice be?”
• The students voted by a majority that the pregnancy should be terminated.
• The lecturer the replied; “Congratulations, you have just wiped out Beethoven”.
• The Bible makes it clear that life is a gift from God:
• Therefore only He has the authority to take life!
• “Do not murder!”
In Conclusion:
• I think we all agree murder is wrong!
• And I think we all agree that murder must involve an element of justice.
• Murders should be punished.
• Although the extent of that punishment will vary;
• According the country and the laws of that country.
Those three little words “Do not murder” that make up the 6th commandment:
• On first reading seem simple, straight forward and easy to understand;
• Are actually very deep and broad in their application.
Note:
• Jesus actually took this 6th commandment to a whole new level:
• You can read his words in Matthew chapter 5 verse 21-24.
• Jesus expanded these ancient words by including the motives of the heart.
• In these verses:
• Jesus goes from the fruit of murder to the root of murder—an evil heart attitude.
Quote: Henri Nouwen:
“Nobody is shot with a bullet who is not first shot with a word – and nobody is shot with a word who is not first shot with a thought. Killing is not just a brute external act; it is, in its more common form, a subtle internal thing. All of us break this commandment in countless ways.”
• Murder is more than a physical act of the body,
• It is also an attitude of the heart.
• So your homework is to go away and think through the words of Jesus;
• As found in Matthew chapter 5 verse 21-24.
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=pMaPeBj9mJxnx2xfzxuK84jMHhXqF9r2&forceSave
