Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
Genesis 4:1-10, Exodus 20:13 August 12, 2007
When most people think of the Ten Commandments today, they often turn to the sixth
commandment as their point of reference. “Thou shalt not kill” has become the test as to
whether you are faithful to God or not.
Of course this is ridiculous. Murder is not something you see every day unless you happen to be
a guest on a television show like Monk or Murder She Wrote.
Most normal people don’t go around murdering others. I can honestly say I don’t know anyone
who has murdered another person. Maybe I just hang around in the wrong crowds.
Seriously though, of all the commandments, the sixth commandment has sparked more debate
than any other. It all has to do with the definition of the word “kill.”
At its most basic level the commandment is an injunction against destroying life, the gift of God.
Since the very beginning God has looked upon us as being special, created in his image. So to
destroy life is to reject God’s best gift.
We heard the story of Cain and Abel this morning. Jealousy sparked this brutal murder. When
you look through pages of scripture and then walk through the annals of time, you can see that it
is always the same. It is jealousy, it is envy, it is frustration that causes the rage that leads to
murder.
Now I want to talk about this commandment and why it is so bad, but before I do, I want to
open a can of worms and talk about some of the things that aren’t part of our discussion. You
see, this commandment, does not apply to several things that we often debate about. And we can
debate about them at another time. But for our purposes today, as we struggle to get to the
relevancy of this commandment for you and me, I am just going to mention them.
So I have to start by saying that the commandment God gave the Jews was not, “Thou shalt not
kill” but rather, “Thou shalt not commit murder.”
The Hebrew word that is used here is very specific and refers to murder. And, of course, there’s
a big difference between murder and killing. It’s obvious that God didn’t intend to prohibit all life-
taking, because the penalty for murder under the law of Moses, was death. So if this
commandment meant that you could never take a person’s life, then you couldn’t have someone
punished for murder. There is a definite distinction made in the Bible between killing which is
lawful and killing which is unlawful.
So here we go: This commandment does not apply to what we would call justifiable homicide.
The law of Moses said there were certain times when a person was justified in killing another
person.
Suppose, for example, someone breaks into your home in the middle of the night. You wake up
and discover him, there is a struggle and the thief is killed. According to the law of Moses, that
type of killing didn’t fall under the sixth commandment. We read in Exodus 22:2 "If the thief is
found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed."
This commandment does not apply to War. I’m sure there may some of you who would take
issue with me on this, but the Bible is clear.
The same God who told the Hebrews not to kill, often sent them into war and told them to kill.
And nowhere in Scripture, New Testament or Old, are soldiers told to give up their military
careers in order to be faithful to God. I would assume, then, that there are at least occasions
when a person would be justified in taking a life in times of war.
This commandment does not apply to capital punishment. The Old Testament not only permitted,
but required, the death penalty for certain crimes.
It’s interesting to me that this is the only law that is repeated in each and every one of the first
five books of the Bible. God commanded the death penalty be given for murder, rape,
kidnapping, and several other crimes.
When we look to the New Testament, when Jesus was on trial before Pilate, Jesus never
challenged the state’s right to execute criminals. Rather, Jesus acknowledged that right and told
Pilate that his authority came from God (John 19:10).
In Romans 13:4, Paul makes it clear that the authority of the government to punish wrongdoers
comes from God. "For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he
does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him
who practices evil."
Well, enough of what the sixth commandment does NOT say. Let’s talk about what it does say
and, more importantly, why it says it.
First off, God says, “You shall not murder” because human life is precious, it is sacred, and we
need to respect it. You see we are made in the image of God.
God created all of life, including plants and animals. But if you look at Genesis chapter one, you’ll
see that humans were created in a different way than the way all the other things were created.
In every other act of creation, God said, "Let there be," and it was so.
“Let there be light.” “Let there be plants.” Let there be birds and fish.” God spoke and creation
occurred. But the creation of human life was different. God said, "Let us make man..."
God didn’t just speak us into existence as he did everything else. No, he made us. We are the
closest thing in all creation to God. We are the only part of creation made in the image of God.
In Genesis 2:7, "God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and man became a living being." God didn’t “breathe the breath of life" into any
other creature, only man. I like the words of T. S. Eliot who said, “...There’s something in us, in
all of us which isn’t just heredity, but something unique. Something we have been from eternity.
Something... straight from God.”
Secondly, human life is valuable because of the price that was paid.
You may be like me and collect something. For years I collected Comic Books. What’s a Comic
Book worth? Well, I’m sure if you added up the material cost, it might come to somewhere
around 10 cents. But if you’ve got a rare Comic Book that everybody wants to buy, it might be
worth hundreds of dollars. You determine the value of something by what someone is willing to
pay.
That concept is important, because it tells us exactly what a human life is worth.
Paul writes in Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Jesus said in Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give His life a ransom for many."
Let’s get practical here. The most infuriating person in your life is precious in God’s eyes. Why?
Because God gave his son for that person’s life. You may think about wringing someone’s neck
from time to time. You get worked up over the guy who cuts you off on the road? Or the driver
who just sits there when the light turns green? Guess what, they’re worth that much, too. So is
every person who irritates you, frustrates you, and even those who may ridicule and abuse you. I
don’t we most of us would ever rise to the level of murder, but we certainly may have thought
about it. And for those who actually commit murder to get something: In God’s eyes the car
jacker, the bank robber, the thief who breaks in to a home, are destroying the most valuable gift
when they kill someone for the trinkets they walk away with.
Ultimately the sixth commandment has to do with the respect I have for people and the value I
place on their lives.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, ’You
shall not murder,’ and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that
whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And
whoever says to his brother, ’Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ’You
fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:21-23)
I think what Jesus is saying is that when we get this angry with someone, then deep down inside
we’re thinking that this person doesn’t deserve to be alive. In that instant of anger, we’re saying,
"I don’t want to have anything to do with this person....as far as I’m concerned my life would be
better if his life would end." And perhaps we have been at that point more often than we’d like to
admit. If we’re not careful, we can live our lives motivated by anger and hatred.
I would suggest that the principle of this commandment even goes beyond that. It is a call to
respect people and care about them. That means that if we want to see the true value of human
life, we need to see them from God’s perspective. Because the only way to truly cherish the lives
of other people is to see each and every person the way God sees them: made in his image, and
worth more than the life of his only Son.
At the root of the Sixth Commandment is God’s concern for how we treat each other. Any time
we treat another with contempt, we are violating the dignity of that human being.
Any time we permit our anger to seethe and boil without resolution, we devalue not on the
relationship we share with that person, but also that person’s life. Any time we dismiss someone
out of prejudice, dislike or disrespect, we fall under the condemnation of the sixth commandment.
To Jesus, every human being is a brother and sister. And because we are members of the same
family, the human race, we have a responsibility to each other. In Genesis, with the memory of
his brother’s blood still fresh in his mind, God confronted Cain. "Where is your brother?"
"Am I my brother’s keeper?" Cain asked. God’s answer is “Yes.” We are one family and we
need to learn to love each other.
Genesis 4:1-10, Exodus 20:13 August 12, 2007
When most people think of the Ten Commandments today, they often turn to the sixth
commandment as their point of reference. “Thou shalt not kill” has become the test as to
whether you are faithful to God or not.
Of course this is ridiculous. Murder is not something you see every day unless you happen to be
a guest on a television show like Monk or Murder She Wrote.
Most normal people don’t go around murdering others. I can honestly say I don’t know anyone
who has murdered another person. Maybe I just hang around in the wrong crowds.
Seriously though, of all the commandments, the sixth commandment has sparked more debate
than any other. It all has to do with the definition of the word “kill.”
At its most basic level the commandment is an injunction against destroying life, the gift of God.
Since the very beginning God has looked upon us as being special, created in his image. So to
destroy life is to reject God’s best gift.
We heard the story of Cain and Abel this morning. Jealousy sparked this brutal murder. When
you look through pages of scripture and then walk through the annals of time, you can see that it
is always the same. It is jealousy, it is envy, it is frustration that causes the rage that leads to
murder.
Now I want to talk about this commandment and why it is so bad, but before I do, I want to
open a can of worms and talk about some of the things that aren’t part of our discussion. You
see, this commandment, does not apply to several things that we often debate about. And we can
debate about them at another time. But for our purposes today, as we struggle to get to the
relevancy of this commandment for you and me, I am just going to mention them.
So I have to start by saying that the commandment God gave the Jews was not, “Thou shalt not
kill” but rather, “Thou shalt not commit murder.”
The Hebrew word that is used here is very specific and refers to murder. And, of course, there’s
a big difference between murder and killing. It’s obvious that God didn’t intend to prohibit all life-
taking, because the penalty for murder under the law of Moses, was death. So if this
commandment meant that you could never take a person’s life, then you couldn’t have someone
punished for murder. There is a definite distinction made in the Bible between killing which is
lawful and killing which is unlawful.
So here we go: This commandment does not apply to what we would call justifiable homicide.
The law of Moses said there were certain times when a person was justified in killing another
person.
Suppose, for example, someone breaks into your home in the middle of the night. You wake up
and discover him, there is a struggle and the thief is killed. According to the law of Moses, that
type of killing didn’t fall under the sixth commandment. We read in Exodus 22:2 "If the thief is
found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed."
This commandment does not apply to War. I’m sure there may some of you who would take
issue with me on this, but the Bible is clear.
The same God who told the Hebrews not to kill, often sent them into war and told them to kill.
And nowhere in Scripture, New Testament or Old, are soldiers told to give up their military
careers in order to be faithful to God. I would assume, then, that there are at least occasions
when a person would be justified in taking a life in times of war.
This commandment does not apply to capital punishment. The Old Testament not only permitted,
but required, the death penalty for certain crimes.
It’s interesting to me that this is the only law that is repeated in each and every one of the first
five books of the Bible. God commanded the death penalty be given for murder, rape,
kidnapping, and several other crimes.
When we look to the New Testament, when Jesus was on trial before Pilate, Jesus never
challenged the state’s right to execute criminals. Rather, Jesus acknowledged that right and told
Pilate that his authority came from God (John 19:10).
In Romans 13:4, Paul makes it clear that the authority of the government to punish wrongdoers
comes from God. "For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he
does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him
who practices evil."
Well, enough of what the sixth commandment does NOT say. Let’s talk about what it does say
and, more importantly, why it says it.
First off, God says, “You shall not murder” because human life is precious, it is sacred, and we
need to respect it. You see we are made in the image of God.
God created all of life, including plants and animals. But if you look at Genesis chapter one, you’ll
see that humans were created in a different way than the way all the other things were created.
In every other act of creation, God said, "Let there be," and it was so.
“Let there be light.” “Let there be plants.” Let there be birds and fish.” God spoke and creation
occurred. But the creation of human life was different. God said, "Let us make man..."
God didn’t just speak us into existence as he did everything else. No, he made us. We are the
closest thing in all creation to God. We are the only part of creation made in the image of God.
In Genesis 2:7, "God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and man became a living being." God didn’t “breathe the breath of life" into any
other creature, only man. I like the words of T. S. Eliot who said, “...There’s something in us, in
all of us which isn’t just heredity, but something unique. Something we have been from eternity.
Something... straight from God.”
Secondly, human life is valuable because of the price that was paid.
You may be like me and collect something. For years I collected Comic Books. What’s a Comic
Book worth? Well, I’m sure if you added up the material cost, it might come to somewhere
around 10 cents. But if you’ve got a rare Comic Book that everybody wants to buy, it might be
worth hundreds of dollars. You determine the value of something by what someone is willing to
pay.
That concept is important, because it tells us exactly what a human life is worth.
Paul writes in Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Jesus said in Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give His life a ransom for many."
Let’s get practical here. The most infuriating person in your life is precious in God’s eyes. Why?
Because God gave his son for that person’s life. You may think about wringing someone’s neck
from time to time. You get worked up over the guy who cuts you off on the road? Or the driver
who just sits there when the light turns green? Guess what, they’re worth that much, too. So is
every person who irritates you, frustrates you, and even those who may ridicule and abuse you. I
don’t we most of us would ever rise to the level of murder, but we certainly may have thought
about it. And for those who actually commit murder to get something: In God’s eyes the car
jacker, the bank robber, the thief who breaks in to a home, are destroying the most valuable gift
when they kill someone for the trinkets they walk away with.
Ultimately the sixth commandment has to do with the respect I have for people and the value I
place on their lives.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, ’You
shall not murder,’ and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that
whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And
whoever says to his brother, ’Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ’You
fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:21-23)
I think what Jesus is saying is that when we get this angry with someone, then deep down inside
we’re thinking that this person doesn’t deserve to be alive. In that instant of anger, we’re saying,
"I don’t want to have anything to do with this person....as far as I’m concerned my life would be
better if his life would end." And perhaps we have been at that point more often than we’d like to
admit. If we’re not careful, we can live our lives motivated by anger and hatred.
I would suggest that the principle of this commandment even goes beyond that. It is a call to
respect people and care about them. That means that if we want to see the true value of human
life, we need to see them from God’s perspective. Because the only way to truly cherish the lives
of other people is to see each and every person the way God sees them: made in his image, and
worth more than the life of his only Son.
At the root of the Sixth Commandment is God’s concern for how we treat each other. Any time
we treat another with contempt, we are violating the dignity of that human being.
Any time we permit our anger to seethe and boil without resolution, we devalue not on the
relationship we share with that person, but also that person’s life. Any time we dismiss someone
out of prejudice, dislike or disrespect, we fall under the condemnation of the sixth commandment.
To Jesus, every human being is a brother and sister. And because we are members of the same
family, the human race, we have a responsibility to each other. In Genesis, with the memory of
his brother’s blood still fresh in his mind, God confronted Cain. "Where is your brother?"
"Am I my brother’s keeper?" Cain asked. God’s answer is “Yes.” We are one family and we
need to learn to love each other.
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