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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

CHOOSE LIFE AND LIVE

Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 30:9

Sunday February 6, 2011

CHOOSE LIFE AND LIVE. Most of us remember the story of Cain and Able. Able offered his sacrifice in obedience by faith to God and it was accepted. Cain offered God his sacrifice but it was rejected by God. Cain became insanely jealous of Able, lured him into a field and killed him.

After Cain killed Able he had to face the consequences of his sin of murder. God cannot leave a crime- especially of this magnitude- unpunished. The one who is killed demands that justice prevail. Because blood is the source of life, this life belongs ultimately to God to give by grace or to take by his will.

Cain is cursed by God. He is punished for his sin and will live the rest of his days as a wanderer in the wilderness and desert. Whenever there is murder, there is and must be a profound change in the murderer's environment and for Cain, this happens. He goes to the land of Nod, a place of scarcity, loneliness and separation from God. He will be a fugitive forever with a life of uncertainty and restlessness.

God's mercy extends to Cain though. A mark is put on him so that any who would strive to track Cain down seeking a blood vengeance would be protected. What this mark is no one knows or can hardly speculate.

The point is that even with a crime as terrible as cold-blooded murder, the murderer never loses his or her personal dignity. Hard to believe: God preferred the correction rather than the death of a sinner, and did not then nor desires now that a homicide be punished by the rule of another homicide. (This is why I personally stand against the death penalty. If God was against it in the beginning then maybe I need to consider his position. Yes, Israel had certain laws that required death but this was as much about cleansing a land after Egypt as well as maintaining a semblance of law and order in a time when jails and prisons were not very convenient.)

What is sad is that since the very first real sin and murder between two human beings, murder in some of its more vile forms has splattered the history of humanity with the blood of innocents- and those not so innocent.

Our scripture texts highlight for us this very important Sixth Commandment. Exodus 20:13- "You shall not murder." And then Deuteronomy 30:9- "Choose life so that you and your descendents may live."

All human life is sacred. The proposition I lay before you today is that all of human life is sacred and human beings are endowed with certain Biblical "rights"-

  • God's love for the person ("For God so loved the world" John 3:16a; Ephesians 1:4; Titus 1:2)
  • Personal dignity ("Let us make man in our image" Genesis 1:26; Psalm 139:14)
  • The gospel of Life in Christ ("I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly- John 10:10b).

We maintain as Christians that every human being has intrinsic value in the eyes of God and therefore deserves that same value in the eyes of humanity. There are no "mistakes" born, there are no "accidents" of pregnancy and everyone is "fearfully and wonderfully made" by the very hand of God himself.

Jane Valez-Mitchell, a CNN personality who has her own program said this about an especially heinous murder: "It's incomprehensible to me what people will do for money, for diamonds, for gold. They will kill!"

At the Root of Murder. People kill over obsession and possession. They can't let go of a certain situation, what someone says and the lines between life and death become blurred. At the root of murder you will find anger, envy, bitterness and strife. You will also find selfishness, cover-up for sin, vengeance and despair.

And might I add, guns don't kill people- people kill people. Cain used a club to accomplish what he had set in his heart to do.

What must we realize about this sixth commandment if we are to protect ourselves from committing such a dastardly act? How shall we live as Christians that brings honor and glory and praise instead of hatred, strife and murder?

FIRST: Living as God Intended.

One of the great callings of God for his people is expressed in both the Old and New Testament with these simple words: "Be holy as I am holy." (Lev. 11:45; 1 Peter 1:16)

With these words we understand that as followers of Jesus Christ we are to live a very different life from those of the world. We are to live a life of love for God and love for our neighbor. This standard for living as God intended will never bring despair or churn up a murdering heart for others. When we strive to live out the very character of God by the power of the Holy Spirit we are on the right track to living out this command of living a holy life.

What does this mean?

Jesus expresses something very important for us to understand in Matthew 5:21-22-
21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister
will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell."

We gather from these verses these ideals:

  • We must reflect the character of God. We do this when we follow the example set by Jesus and obey the commands from the scriptures about human life.
  • We must treat others with respect. This includes those who hate us and spitefully use us. This includes providing for the widows, the orphans, the poor and needy.
  • We must keep our hands and heart clean from sinful thoughts. Just because you are a Christian does not mean that the devil won't tempt you. He is crafty and will strive to sidetrack you from obeying God and from protecting your mind. Remember what Paul told his Roman listeners: Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord. (Romans 12:19)

In 1995 the late Pope John Paul II wrote what is called a "Encyclical Letter" to the Bishops and Cardinals and the whole Catholic Church entitled "Evangelium Vitae- The Gospel of Life". Yours truly has been reading it and studying what he had to say about life with immense admiration. Yes, he was not Wesleyan but he addresses the issues of the sanctity of human life in no uncertain terms as well.

He says that "man is called to a fullness of life which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence because it consists in sharing the very life of God." Just by us human beings dotting the earth, we at the very guttural base share in the life of God himself. In other words, whether we are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, atheist; black, white, red, brown or yellow; Republican, Democrat, Communist, Socialist; or any other stripe as a human person we owe it to each other to treat each other with respect and dignity.

When I funeralize a dead man or woman I am messing with the very dignity of that person who was created in the image of God and after God's triune likeness.

He goes on to lament the state of the world concerning the sanctity of human life by saying that we are…

SECOND: Living in a Culture of Death.

The Killing Fields of Cambodia lie silent today. But in the late 1970's the Khmer Rouge regime of this Southeastern Asia nation was a literal killing field. Almost 1/4th of the 8 million Cambodians died by intentional murder of the government through mass killings, torture, starvation and the like.

And despite the Holocaust of six million Jews in the 1940's, the world looked on as this occurred. And it still has not stopped. Saddam Hussein tortured and killed to protect his dictatorship and even gassed his own people; Rwanda suffered terrible civil war where people groups killed each other; Serbia and Bosnia has been a killing field for a thousand years; and all sorts of atrocities against all kinds of human beings.

There is not a person in the Middle East who goes to the store wondering if some crazed homicide-bomber is going to blow himself or herself up in the name of Allah at the behest of Muslim extremists.

What in the devil is going on in our world?

  • Death is Everywhere. No matter when we turn on the television there is crime that almost certainly includes murder.
  • Death is Celebrated. Hollywood and the television industry makes their money off of death. And too often this programming celebrates death rather than life.
  • Death comes out the darkness of the human heart. Jesus said this in Matthew 15:19-20a "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what makes a man unclean…" Notice at the very top of his list is murder.

When a person is not living out the holy life of God's character he does not know truly know what he or she is capable of doing to another person or even themselves.

Which points us squarely to the next line of reasoning for us to consider:

THIRD: Living Next Door to Self-Justification.

Ravi Zacharias wrote this in his book Deliver Us From Evil (p. 96)- We are "a culture schizophrenically staring into the face of our own wickedness." We find ways to justify our own behaviors so that we can cry foul against someone else's.

As American Christians we must face the truth about this commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill" in our own backyard.

What about some hot-button issues? Euthanasia, Suicide and Abortion are problems that go beyond the necessary recognition of the personal situations. How can make sense, in other words, of what is right or wrong about these?

Let's tackle them one at a time.

Euthanasia. First, Jack Kevorkian "don't" know Jack about human life. Pulling the plug on a person's life has to be one of the most difficult decisions a family has to ever make. When Naomi and I were in high school, one of our classmates, Marie Bosma, fell asleep and drove over the third level of the tri-bridge connecting the Causeway with US-31. She was essentially dead when paramedics arrived. Her parents, good friends of Naomi's family, had to make the very difficult decision to stop all efforts to keep her breathing. Scans showed that she was brain-dead. All of us students took it hard; many were weeping openly in class when the news came.

There is a radical difference between terminating life and terminating treatment. Kevorkian and those like him want to terminate the life of the living. But when a family after seeking much prayer and counsel see no need to continue treatment of a loved one that is only staving off the inevitable, may terminate treatment and leave the person and circumstance up to God; I see no wrong in this. The Terri Schivo case bothered so many Christians because there was a family who wanted to continue to take care of her in spite of her very limited brain activity. What's wrong with that? Instead, the media- especially the liberal media- roped her situation into everything else and never separating the truth from fiction.

Suicide. Does a person have the legal right to take their own life? Maybe, maybe not. Do they have the ethical right? No. To commit suicide is to claim lordship over one's own life and this is wrong. (Philip Graham Ryken Written In Stone p. 141) A person is essentially making themselves their own God. However, let's not forget the problem of mental health. (Time does not allow me to digress but only to refer you to the sermon I gave last October about suicide.)

Abortion. We believe as Christians and as Wesleyans that a child in the womb is a living human being. Human life comes from God not from the government. And yet there are governments all over the world- not just ours- that believes abortion is the right of a woman. What about the rights of the child? But let's also understand the love and mercy needed for the woman who may have done something out of state of confusion and ignorance. Our culture of death has victimized countless women who live many sleepless nights because of what they did. May God's forgiveness and mercy extend to them.

John Calvin wrote this: "The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being, and it is almost a monstrous crime to rob it of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy."

Hear me out on this: When murder is allowed in any way it has the power to do more than kill a person; it has the power to kill shame, reason and meaning. The most perverse idea is that murder is okay- no matter now justified the killing may seem. And when that occurs-whether it's in an abortion clinic or the hands of a homicide-bomber- truth and morality become casualties.

Even more sad, our young people see life as expendable to benefit the many and the healthy and those with prospects and promise.

And so what must we do from this point is be a people who are…

FOURTH: Living a Life that is Beautiful.

The soul of a nation is changed one person at a time. (Ravi Zacharias) If we are going to live out this mantra then it behooves us to take seriously the kind of life we live.

  • Live life to the fullest in Christ Jesus. Too many times we want to keep this so-called "right to privacy" when it comes to our religion. My Bible doesn't seem to speak it that way. May we be like the Apostle Paul who wrote: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of every one- to the Jew first and then the Gentile." Romans 1:16
  • Be a model of love and faith. Love God and live out that love. Love others and love them according to Biblical standards. Love your self as you ought. AND live a life of faith. Trust God for everything (and maybe even vengeance against those who are your enemies.)
  • Be a Good Samaritan every day. Take care of those who cannot care for themselves. That is really what being neighborly is all about.

Conclusion:
Life is beautiful.

In the shadows of depression our two little grandsons were born. Life was about as hard on us as it had ever been. However, through the excitement of their birth, God showed us the beauty of life and fighting to live the kind of life we were called to live.

No amount of drugs, alcohol or sex will make life more meaningful in a person's life than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

I've got good news for you: Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead offers you forgiveness for sins and freedom from the sinfulness that binds so many people. You don't need to be a victim of hatred and strife. You don't need to be a person who reacts to others out of anger and bitterness. Through Jesus Christ you can know what it is to be forgiven and cleansed from sin so that you can proclaim to others what it means to live life for real.

Life is beautiful.

Something Beautiful.

Something Beautiful, something good.

All of my confusion He understood.

All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife.

But He made something beautiful of my life.    


 

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