Why We Don't Commit Murder

I spoke at our church North Branch a couple weeks ago. Pastor Frank is doing a series on the Ten Commandments, and he wanted me to fill in on a Sunday when he needed to be away.
 

Introduction: Plots and Murder

There is an ongoing narrative in Genesis about struggles between brothers.

There is the story of Jacob and Esau. First Jacob deviously traded a pot of stew for his brother’s birthright. He turned an chance to serve his brother into a plan to gain something for himself at his brother’s expense.

Later Jacob deceived his father Isaac in order to fool Isaac into blessing him, rather than his older brother Esau. You can hear the pain and anguish in Esau’s voice as he pleads to Isaac to bless him, too. Esau was so angry about this that he plotted to murder his younger brother, and he might have done it if Jacob hadn’t fled the country.

And there’s the story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph’s brothers were envious of their father’s favoritism toward Joseph. You might remember the colorful coat that his father gave him. This envy and jealousy leads Joseph’s brothers to a plot to murder him, and they claim close to doing it. Instead they ultimately sold him to a group of traders.

These are examples of envy, jealousy, bitterness that almost led to murder. They’re fascinating stories. Lots of intrigue. This is material for Dateline, or 20/20, or 48 Hours. The idea of brothers plotting to murder their brothers is unsettling at best, and really is appalling to us. Murder is always upsetting.

All civilized societies, whether Christian or Christianized or not, consider murder to be abhorrent. The penalties for murder are always the most severe compared to penalties for other crimes, as they should be.

The Sixth Commandment

A number of weeks ago Frank gave me a call and asked me to think about speaking today. He asked if I wouldn’t mind taking on one of the Ten Commandments in order to continue working through the series. I said, “sure.” He flipped through the calendar and said, “Okay, you’ve got murder. You just missed adultery.” Well okay, that’s fine.

Now normally we have a text to work with. We think about who the passage was written to originally, what it meant to them, what the principles are that it communicates, and how they apply to us.  We can pick the passage apart a little bit, see how the paragraphs and sentences work together and so on.

But Frank assigned me a passage with four words. In fact, it’s only two words in Hebrew, I guess. “You shall not murder.” Pretty clear. I think we get that. When we study through the various commandments they sting a little, or a lot. Frank has been speaking a lot of truth. But when we get to this one we often kind of let out a sigh of relief. Here’s a commandment I know I haven’t violated. So what’s to talk about?

“You shall not murder.” Some have wondered what exactly is meant by the word used for murder here. Older translations of the Old Testament tended to use the word “kill.” More recent translations tend to use the word “murder.” You have to ask whether this commandment could be prohibiting all killing, including killing as punishment for serious crimes, or killing enemy combatants when a nation is at war?

It seems clear that the commandment is referring to murder, the willful taking of a human live for an unlawful purpose and not all killing. If we consider this commandment in the context of the rest of the Old Testament it’s clear God intended for human life to be taken in certain circumstances, whether in battle or as a consequence for serious violations of the law.

With regard to killing, there is a distinction between the state and individuals. The state engages in war, enforces laws and punishes infractions (up to and including capital punishment). Historically, society has considered that acceptable. But we don’t condone individuals taking another person’s life on their own accord. That’s murder and it’s what this commandment prohibits.

We’re into the last five commandments. These are the “shall nots.” You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not covet.

These are all things that, when committed, damage relationships between human beings. They’re violations of community. But it’s important to remember that our relationships with each other are so significant and important, because of the fact that each one of us stands in relationship with God. When I violate one of these “you shall not” commandments I am violating a horizontal relationship with someone else, and as a result I offend God because that person has a relationship with God and is valuable to him.

Thinking specifically about this commandment, you shall not murder, leads me to ask a question: “Why not?” There are three principles I want to share with you.

First Principle: God Values Life Itself

Why not murder? Because God values life itself. Reading through the Old Testament we see that God prescribed for Israel capital punishment for those who committed murder. It’s the severest of penalties for the severest of crimes. But why did God prescribe such a severe penalty for murder?

God creates life. He breathed life into Adam when he created him. In Acts, Peter referred to Jesus as the “author of life.” The fact that I still had breath in my lungs when I woke up this morning is because God, in his sovereignty has granted me life for today. Life belongs to God.

Why did God prescribe capital punishment for Israel? It’s punishment for disregard for life. In the Old Testament, we don’t see the death penalty prescribed for crimes against property. This points to the higher value God places on life, over property or possessions. God created and values life.

The death penalty in the Old Testament dates all the way back to Noah. Genesis 9.6: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; (Why?) for in the image of God has Gad made man.” We are each made in God’s image. If that’s true, what does it mean to take the life of another person? To murder someone is to destroy something created in God’s image.

The murderer’s life is taken because he failed to respect the sanctity of human life; life that God created.

That God gave up Jesus to die in our place is evidence that God places a high value on our lives. Jesus suffered and was crucified so we could have life. So what does it mean then to murder someone? It is destroying someone for whom Jesus died. It disregards God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice for that person.

Second Principle: God Values His People

We talked earlier about how these last five commandments deal with things that damage or destroy the horizontal relationships between people. Thinking specifically about the sixth commandment, murder is the ultimate example of the destruction of those horizontal relationships, not only between me and that person but also between that person and all the others in their circles of relationships. It’s not just ending a life; it’s ripping apart a hundred, or even hundreds, of human relationship, all of which also represent vertical relationships with God.

I said we sometimes breathe a sigh of relief when we come to this commandment. I don’t think we can get off so easily. When Jesus taught, he didn’t abolish the Old Testament law. Instead, he brought it to a higher level. He took the letter of the law and said, “Here is the spirit of the law.” And when he did that he led us away from legalism toward living out God’s intent in every aspect of our lives.

Matthew 5.21-22: “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.”

Why so harsh? Because God values his people. Not only are we not to take life, we’re to honor the lives of our brothers and sisters, We don’t need to physically take someone’s life to be guilty of murder. Hate, anger, contempt are violations of the sixth commandment.

John wrote in 1 John 3.15 – “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer.”

I have a watercolor painting here [describe it]. Maybe I start making negative comments about this painting perhaps to a friend but in the presence of the one who painted it. Wow, I don’t really like this painting. I can’t believe she chose those colors, they’re all wrong. I think these are supposed to be trees but they don’t look like trees. The perspective is all screwed up. I hate this thing. It’s worthless. Every statement is a stab to the heart of the artist. So what am I doing when I demean or degrade another person? It’s an offense to the one who created them. So what if I just throw it out with the trash or burn it. I’ve destroyed the artists’ creation; something that was of value to the artist.

God values his people, his creations, and so should we. Sometimes it’s easiest to be hardest on the people closest to us. To some degree we violate this 6^th commandment when we fail to honor the people God places in our lives. Sometimes we can let those harsh words fly and we forget the damage they can do.

Third Principle: God Values our Relentless Pursuit of Him

There’s another pair of brothers mentioned in Genesis. Maybe you thought of them already. There are similarities to brother stories we talked about earlier. Two of the sons of Adam and Eve were named Cain and Abel. Abel was a rancher. Cain was a farmer. At one point they chose to offer sacrifices to the Lord. Abel brought the best parts from some of the firstborn of his flocks. Cain offered some produce. Although Scripture doesn’t tell us specifically why, God looked with favor on Abel and his offering, and not so much on Cain and his offering.

Perhaps it was Cain’s attitude in worship. Maybe it was that Abel brought his best and Cain brought something ordinary. We don’t know for sure but we do know that it made Cain angry with his brother. Some seeds of bitterness were planted in his heart. God challenged him about that.

Genesis 4.6-8 “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

As is always the case, God was providing a way out for Cain. He could make the choice to do what was right. The Lord cautioned him and then he challenged him. If you make the wrong choices Cain, there’s trouble ahead. This sin is going to grab hold of you. Instead, do what’s right. Master it. Cain had an opportunity right there to change his heart.

He chose otherwise. He let the anger and envy and bitterness take hold. And he murdered his own brother.

READ Genesis 4.9-14: ⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴ Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

The cause? Anger, envy, bitterness. The consequences? A dead brother, loneliness, isolation, expulsion, failure.
Cain had at least two chances to do the right thing. First, he could have brought a proper offering with the proper attitude. And second, he could have changed his heart and mastered the sin that was crouching at the door. God wanted Cain to pursue him, rather than let this sin take hold.

Holding the wrong things in our hearts , whether it’s anger or bitterness or envy, leads us down a dangerous path.

In June of 2012, Carl Ericsson, a 73-year-old South Dakota man, was sentenced to life in prison after admitting to the murder of a former high school classmate. Friends and family members were shocked that the once-successful insurance salesman seemed to snap. Ericsson had been married to his wife for over 44 years.

But after the murder, Ericsson's secret finally came out. For over 50 years he had simmered with a belated grudge: He was still mad about a classmate who had once pulled a jock strap over his head during a high school locker room prank. Norman Johnson, the classmate and murder victim, was a star athlete on the track team. Ericsson was a student sports manager. According to Ericsson's confession, on one occasion Johnson put a jock strap on Ericsson's head, humiliating him and planting the seed of resentment that would continue to grow for over half a century. Apparently, throughout their lives, Norman Johnson continued to outshine Ericsson. Prior to his murder, Johnson had competed in college football, earned a degree, and then taught and coached at his alma mater for more than three decades.

After holding the grudge for over 50 years, Carl Ericsson rang Johnson's doorbell and shot him dead. Ericsson told a judge, "I guess it was from something that happened over 50 years ago. It was apparently in my subconscious." During his sentencing, Ericsson turned to Johnson's widow and apologized, saying, "I just wish I could turn the calendar back."

I’m not suggesting any of us are going to take that path. But the point is clear. Holding these things in our hearts can destroy us. The Lord will give us opportunities to make our hearts right, to pursue him instead of the sin that’s crouching at the door. When the Lord pokes you about something, pay attention. Maybe he’s trying to get your attention right now. Pursue him.

Maybe you need to do a little attitude check and see what’s hiding in here, what’s crouching at the door. Maybe you need to get some things squared away with the Lord. Maybe you need to make a phone call this afternoon and clear the air with a friend or family member. Don’t let those issues fester until they destroy you or someone else.