Word of Salvation – Vol.03 No.33 – September 1957

 

Thou Shalt Not Kill

 

Sermon by Rev. D. C. Bouma on Lord’s Day 40, Q.&A.105-107

Scripture lesson: 1John 3:10-18 & Matthew 5:21-26

Psalter Hymnal: 127:1,2,3,4; After Creed: 334:2,3,4 386:1,3,5 389:1,2,3 468

 

Congregation, beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ:

The sixth commandment drops into the world of today like water on a hot iron…  it sizzles and steams for a moment, and then it is gone.

God commands: Thou shalt not kill, but His voice bounces off the tanks of the panzer division and the cement walls of man’s bomb-proof cellars.  God’s voice is all but lost in the thunder of cannons, the scream of jet planes and the staggering power of atomic explosions.  Thou shalt respect life….
…laughed at by Hollywood!
…choked to death in the blood of soldiers!
…and eaten away by the white heat of hatred in the hearts of thousands!

How old-fashioned it sounds!  Why, you cannot live that way these days!  “…That I, neither in thought, word or gesture, much less in deed, dishonour, hate, wound, or kill my neighbour, whether by myself or by another, but lay aside all desire of revenge…!”

You cannot do business that way.  Why, if I took this question and answer seriously, I would never sell a thing!  My competitor would run off with all the sales.

And the last part, “…the magistrate is armed with the sword to prevent murder…!”  INDEED… the government has the sword… plus guns, grenades, bombers, warships and tanks… weapons designed to kill… IN ORDER TO PREVENT KILLING?

It sounds like foolishness!

Yes… and into this upside-down world of today, full of hatred, murder and death, comes the foolishness of the preaching… the foolishness of God’s Word which is far wiser than the wisdom of man.

I want to speak to you on: “THOU SHALT NOT KILL”:

1)  Thou shalt protect life.
2)  Thou shalt promote life.

Our world, beloved, is one which no longer takes life seriously.  Priceless human lives are used up in the modern mad rush for oil-fields, for new lands, and for new things to make life more comfortable.

If you want to read what life is like, you can buy it for a sixpence at the newsagency.  For about 5 shilling, you can laugh at or cry about life at the local picture-show.  With a wink of the eye at the right moment to the right person, you can make your neighbour wish that life would end.  With a quiet whisper behind the hand, you can turn someone’s life into a living death.

For men and nations, life is cheap.  But God says that LIFE IS DEAR!

What shall a man give in exchange for his life?  It is dear because “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him… and God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion…!’  And that means LIVE!

Respect the life which I gave you by using it in obedience to me.  Protect and preserve my creation!  Yes, life is dear..!

Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which ye have from God?  If any man destroys the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple are ye.

THEREFORE: Thou shalt not kill… but thou shalt protect life …says the catechism… first in my neighbour and then in myself.

The catechism is warning us to watch out for the murderer who is hiding somewhere in your neighbourhood.  He will try to kill your neighbour and yourself.

Murderer… in my neighbourhood???  Where is he?  How can I know him when I see him?

Well, that’s not easy.  You see, he looks like almost everyone else who lives around me.  He thinks: he sneaks; he moves his hands when he talks.  And, like almost everyone else, he is always thinking and always speaking about his neighbour.  But the thing that makes him a murderer is that his thinking and his speaking DISHONOUR that neighbour.  You will not find him carrying a hidden pistol or a knife.  He is a murderer because HIS HEART IS FULL OF HATE.  He has dishonoured his neighbour.  He refuses to honour in him what God Himself has placed in his neighbour… namely, GOD’S IMAGE.

And what he has in his heart also comes from his lips.  You will hear him say: “I hate him… I could just …I’ll pay them back for what they have done…. Murder!

Where do you find this person?  Don’t bother locking the door of your house against him.  He is inside already.  We know this person quite well!  We are the ones!

And, as if that is not bad enough, the catechism brings us still lower.  It warns me of ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.  Thou shalt not kill… not even yourself..!  I may neither harm myself nor wilfully expose myself to any danger!

I don’t know if the catechism is pointing to those who wreck their lives by drink, or by overdoing, or by going to extremes in eating or working or playing.  But I do know that beer or overtime or football can easily become a means of killing yourself, and God says: THOU SHALT NOT KILL!!

God hates murder, whether it’s in the form of dishonour, envy, hatred, anger, or desire for revenge.  And God will not leave this sin go unpunished.  God loves life…and God wants the life which He gives PROTECTED.  And so He has given this commandment as a shield of protection, and given a sword along with the shield to the magistrate.  God has given the government the sword to prevent and to punish murder.  God doesn’t want a world that is corrupt and full of violence like it was before the flood in Noah’s day.  He wants an earth in which there is law and order so that the people may be able to lead lives in all godliness and honesty.  And so he has put a sword in the hands of the police and magistracy.

He calls myself and my government to PROTECT life!  But now we must be careful.  We are such one-sided people.  We think that we have really accomplished something when we HAVE NOT DONE THIS, THAT OR THE NEXT THING.  God reckons quite differently.

He is not satisfied with the kind of people who say: “But I don’t hate anybody, I just cannot seem to get along with them…!  God isn’t satisfied with NEUTRALILTY.  For me to act as though he or she doesn’t exist, is taking on the attitude of murder.  And God says: Thou shalt love..!

O yes, there are plenty of homes today where the only contact between Father and Mother is MURDEROUS, where there is anger, jealousy hatred, and wounding.  But what about those homes where everything is run decently and in good order, where father, mother and all the children each do their own little or big part ALL BY THEMSELVES… where they live together, sleep under the same roof, eat at the same table, tolerated each other, but where there is no real UNITING, BINDING LOVE.

God says to fathers, mothers, young people, children, boarders… to you and me personally: Love your neighbour as yourself.  AND SHOW IT!

Love is not saying nice words.  God is love… and if His love stopped with nice words, we would be lost for all eternity.

No, love is a DEED, an act; love shows itself.  It does away with all our embarrassment… with all our pious talk about: If I don’t feel like it, I don’t have to do it.  Love shows itself… do you know how?

No, not by saying bitter words of sarcastic criticism, because you cannot have your way.  Love means : PATIENCE PEACE, MEEKNESS, MERCY, ALL KINDNESS TOWARD MY NEIGHBOUR, PREVENT HIS HURT…and, do good even to our enemies!

Our ENEMIES??  Yes even to our enemies.

But that’s not possible!  I cannot do that!  God doesn’t ask of me what I cannot do!

No, he doesn’t… because you CAN do it!  But you can do it only through the love of God which is poured out into our hearts.  Love is not human.  It comes from God.  And God has shown – not just said, but shown – patience, peace, meekness, mercy and all kindness to me when I was yet in my sins.  While we were yet enemies, Christ died for us.  Have you seen that love in the manger at Bethlehem?  On the cursed tree at Calvary?  At the open grave of Joseph?  Have you felt that Pentecost love burning the sin from and purifying your heart?  I can do all things, even do good to my ENEMY, through Christ who strengthens me.

Do you want that strength?  Ask Him for it.  He that asks, receivea!

Amen.

Prayer:

Search us, O God, and know our hearts,
Try us, our thoughts to know,
O Lead us, if in sin we stray,
In paths of life to go.  Amen.