God's Boundaries for Abundant Living - Stop the Violence!, Part 1

Violence. Murder. It's everywhere you look. It's prime time. It's road rage. It's bizarre stories.

It's the video games, the movies, the TV. Is there hope? How do we stop the violence? God speaks words of life and truth.

There is a way, and today we'll learn God's solution to stop the violence. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are a discipleship-driven ministry on a mission to encourage Christians everywhere to live like Christians.

Thanks for joining us. We're in the middle of Chip's series, God's Boundaries for Abundant Living. For the last handful of broadcasts, Chip's been methodically walking through the Ten Commandments, pointing out how valuable they are to our lives today. And in this program, he'll tackle number six, Thou Shalt Not Kill. And for many of us, this commandment might seem irrelevant, right?

We haven't done any of the things Chip just listed off, so we're in the clear. Well, let me encourage you to settle in and listen to this message. There's a lot more to this boundary from God that we all need to hear.

So with that, go in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20, verse 13, for Chip's talk, Stop the Violence. In Washington, D.C., a 19-year-old young man was driving in his car, and his testimony was that he was bored. And so he drove by, and there happened to be a lady who was 36 years old sitting in the car next to his as he pulled up, pulled out a gun, and shot her point blank range, put the gun back down on the seat, and drove around Washington, D.C.

He was later apprehended by the police. They asked him, why did you do that? Did you know her? Did you have a grudge? Was there a problem? Was there a traffic situation?

He said, no, I was just bored. I felt like killing someone. Found out that he'd been out 26 days from a juvenile delinquent center where he had three other attempted murders and had been released. A gang member was on one of the reality TV talk shows some time ago, and he was talking about his experience in a gang and what it was like, and they have captured on film him holding up a beer to the nationwide audience and saying, human life means nothing to me, with a big grin and a glare. The next day, outside of the Houston suburb, he and five of his friends attacked two young teenage girls that were about 14 or 15. They were raped multiple times by the six young men, and then they were strangled and killed and all six men found guilty. Every 22 minutes in America, someone is stabbed, shot, strangled, raped, or bludgeoned to death.

By the sixth grade, the average American child has witnessed 8,000 murders on TV and 100,000 attacks of violence. Into this world, God says, stop the violence. God says, thou shall not kill. Into this day of technological sophistication but moral disintegration, God places a boundary of protection around the most precious commodity on this planet. And to God, the most precious commodity is the human life. We're going to examine the sixth commandment.

It's on your notes, and I would like to examine it by asking and answering four questions. First, what's the meaning of the sixth commandment? Second, what's the purpose behind the sixth commandment? Then I want to make some, what are the obvious applications of the sixth commandment for us in our day? And then finally, what are some not so obvious applications of the six commandments that we get right from the very lips of Jesus? I've entitled this boundary Stop the Violence, and it's found in Exodus 20, verse 13.

So let's jump right in. What's the meaning of this command? Literally, there's two words. The two words are no murdering. There are seven different words in Hebrew for the idea or concept of killing. This specific word has the idea with premeditation and intent to take another's life. The Bible does not teach that all killing is wrong. This word is not used, for instance, in reference to the killing of animals, Genesis 9. This word is not used in reference to accidental death or manslaughter. This word is not used in Hebrew of killing someone in self-defense. This word is not used in Hebrew for capital punishment. This word is not used for just wars and the killings that occur in a just war. God does not forbid all killing.

God forbids in the sixth commandment, thou shall not murder. And I don't know about you, but I was a young Christian. I did not open the Bible until I was 18. I went away to college, and basically I majored mostly in basketball and baseball, and I got an education too. And there was a guy out of New York City, a really, really tall guy. And I was a Christian, and we had a lot of things that were very different. And he was a senior, and I was a freshman, and I always carried his bag. And his goal in life was to humiliate me, and he was very good at it. And so he would get everyone's attention, and then he would rag on Chip in the locker room at the training table. And one particular time, hey, Chip.

And that meant everyone, Jerry has a time where he's going to belittle the skinny little guard. And I said, what, Jerry? He said, are you eating that meat? And I said, yes.

Training table? Of course I'm going to eat it. You hypocrite. You call yourself a Christian. He's always hitting my faith.

What are you talking about? Doesn't the Bible say thou shall not kill? And I thought to myself, oh, yeah. He said, someone killed that animal, and you're eating it.

You Christians, you're all hypocrites. And something down inside said, I'm not sure that's the proper translation or application of that text. But you know something? I didn't have an answer for him.

I couldn't say. And so what I want you to know tonight, the Bible does not forbid killing. The Bible doesn't even forbid war. What the Bible forbids is intentional murder, the taking of another person's life. But what's behind it?

I mean, why? What's the purpose of the sixth commandment? I think we find the heart of it in Genesis chapter nine, verse six. It says, whoever sheds the blood of a man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made man.

And we could go a lot of directions on this passage. Capital punishment is not the issue here, okay? Whether capital punishment deters or not is not the issue of this text. The issue of this text is, as the program of God is unfolding, God gives the highest penalty for what? He's bringing about justice.

That if a person's life is taken, the absolute highest penalty will be rendered. And he gives us the reason why. It's because every human being, Christian, non-Christian, believer, unbeliever, every race, every background, every age, the weak and the feeble, the young and the strong, those in power, those that are being abused, those people that have no right, no vote, and can say nothing, those people that, quote, are of no value to society, and those that are important and powerful and wealthy and make all the decisions. Every single human being on the face of the earth is made in the image of God. And what's behind this command is that God sees every single person through the lens, that they have his thumbprint, they have his image, they have the ability of mind and will and emotions and decisions. They have the capacity to love.

They have a spirit within them given by God. The most precious commodity in the world is human life. And what's behind this command is that every time there is a senseless killing, if you could imagine being your mate or your son or your daughter, if you can imagine the closest friend you've ever had and them being that woman in the car that some 19-year-old who got bored said, hey, you know what, I felt like killing someone today.

So boom. And if you can imagine what it would be like to come home after work or be called at work or at school and someone say to you, I'm sorry, your mom or your dad, they were just in a parked car in downtown D.C., and a 19-year-old was bored, and so they shot him. And I want you to imagine what your emotions would feel like and your anger and your rage and your lack of understanding and just literally ready to go through the roof. What I want you to hear is that's how God feels about every human being on the planet. It's how he feels about black people and white people. That's how he feels about Hispanic people and Chinese people.

That's how he feels about people that have absolutely nothing and no education and live in the forest regions of the Amazons, and that's how he feels about people who live in Beverly Hills. Every human being that breathes is made in the image of God, and God says, I'm going to give the highest protection, the strongest boundary around human life. Human life is sacred. That's what's behind the sixth command.

Now turn in your notes and let's dig a little bit together and let's get down to some of the obvious applications of this command. Notice in Job 14 in the Good News Bible, verse 5, it says, the length of a man's life is decided beforehand, the number of months he will live. You, God, have settled it and it can't be changed.

The NIV gets the idea. It says it can't be extended. It can't be tampered with.

What's going on here? In essence, no one has the right to number a man's days but God. That's what Job's saying is God knows God is sovereign. God is in control.

He has a plan. God determines the length of a man's days. I don't have the right to prematurely intervene and say, you know what? That life's not worth much. That life has taken up too much room. You know what? That life is old and decrepit and doesn't add much value to society. You know what? That life has a cleft palate.

And you know what? They'll never be loved anyway, so let's snuff it out. You know, that life is a boy.

What we really were looking for was a girl this time around, so let's snuff it out. You know, that life will never be a productive part of society. That life, no one has the right to pirate God's prerogative and end a human life prematurely.

No one. Very obvious applications under the ethical implications you might jot these down. First and foremost, it is obvious, is homicide, murder. It is absolutely forbidden in scripture from the sixth command to willfully, intentionally kill someone. God says that's forbidden.

The second application is not only do you not have the right to number someone else's days, you don't have the right to number your days. Suicide is forbidden. And you say, well, it's my life. I mean, I can do with my, it's not your life. And I'll tell you what, I've been on the other end of that.

I've been on the other end of the phone call where the man has found his wife lying on the bed filled with pills and dead with a note because she was so depressed and so discouraged. I'm sorry, it wasn't you. It wasn't the kids. It's nothing about you. I just, I felt overwhelmed by life. I couldn't take it anymore.

I knew it would be better for everyone if I just exited now. Nothing could be further from the truth. And when you counsel people who've lived with a mom or a dad or a brother or a friend who's committed suicide, the people who get left with all the junk and all the pain are the people that are left behind. And God forbids it.

Suicide is sin. Not only is homicide and suicide, but feticide, that's the killing of the preborn. And by the way, you know, the Bible is very, very clear that the preborn is a human being and medical science is as well.

Dr. Jerome Lejeune, professor of fundamental genetics at the University of René Descartes in Paris and discoverer of the genetic basis for Down syndrome says, pretty high profile doctor, life has a very, very long history, but each individual has a very neat beginning, the moment of conception. And to accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place, a new human being is coming to being is no longer a matter of taste or of opinion. The human nature of the human being from conception to old age is not a metaphysical contention. It is a plain experimental evidence. Dr. Michelin Matthews Roth, principal researcher in the Department of Medicine at Harvard agrees, he says, it is an accepted fact that life of any individual organism reproducing by sexual reproduction begins at conception or fertilization.

The time when the egg cell is formed in the female and the sperm unite, they join a single new cell called the zygote, which is human life. And the evidence is overwhelming. So to kill the preborn is prohibited by the sixth commandment. Infanticide, killing babies that are born is prohibited. And you say, how could that happen?

And I'm sure you've read as I've read. We have children who have minor defects in the United States of America. And talk about ridiculous, we have doctors who get out a little pad and they write a prescription, no food for 15 days. And they kill kids in this country. We have children that were to be aborted who are born alive, who are maliciously killed in this country.

It's murder. But because first it was when they take their first breath, then their human being. And then now in some Senate reviews, we actually have people saying, until the baby leaves the hospital.

This was actually given in a report to the Senate. Until the baby leaves the hospital, it's not really a human being. The sixth command says homicide, suicide, feticide, infanticide, and euthanasia is yet another one. Euthanasia, we're not talking about passive euthanasia. We're not talking about undoing plugs to keep people alive whose life is a vegetable or they can't sustain life on their own. We're talking about active euthanasia. We're talking about people that do have difficult medical problems and say, I don't like the suffering. I don't like the pain. I don't like what I can't do anymore. And so will you help me kill myself?

Only God has the prerogative to number a person's days. Do I understand why some illnesses do what they do to people? No. Do I understand the suffering and the sovereignty of God, what he's doing?

No. But the moment we start drawing lines and saying, this life has value, that life doesn't have value, this life does, it doesn't, we are on such a slippery slope. And if you think I'm joking, you know what older people do? Older people in those countries, they don't want to go to the doctor because you know what they write prescriptions there for?

No longer useful to society and they inject them both for and against their will. The sixth command says the most precious thing on this planet is human life and to murder someone is wrong. I think that's pretty clear.

Stated positively, are you ready for this? We are to cherish our own neighbor's life as much as our own flesh. That's really the heart of the sixth command. You're to cherish the value of a person regardless of background or race or creed or color or benefit to society or age or to cherish our neighbor's life just as much as you cherish your own flesh and your own will to live. And we must assign to God and allow only God to determine and number someone's days. And that's the heart of the sixth command. It's not really hard to understand.

And by the way, I don't think there's a lot of people here that have, you know, have multiple ways that you've been wrestling with, you know, if I could just break the murder habit. But I think when you dig down a little bit and you hear the words of Jesus, maybe the application might be a little bit closer. Because what we know is that the law and the letter of the law was written and on the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus would say, you have heard it said but I say to you. You've heard it said, letter of the law, that's the truth but what I say to you. Let me give you the spirit behind the law.

Let me give you the why behind the what. Let me talk to you about issues of the heart concerning murder that may not be a club that is raised and pounds a person's head and cracks a skull and kills them and takes a life. But let me talk about issues of the heart and issues of the lips and things that happen in the human heart that from my perspective as the eternal God of the universe and the savior of the world, my evaluation, it's murder. And that's what Jesus does.

So let's look at some not so obvious applications of the sixth command. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 beginning at verse 21, you've heard what it was said to a people long ago, do not murder and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. It's the letter, it's the truth. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, Rocca is answerable to the Sanhedrin.

But anyone who says you fool will be in danger of the fire of hell. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. You've been listening to part one of his message, Stop the Violence from our series, God's Boundaries for Abundant Living.

Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. If you've ever driven through mountains before, you know the roads can narrow and get close to the edge where you can see hundreds of feet down. In those moments, you're really grateful the guard rails are there to keep you safe. In this series, Chip highlights the helpful boundaries God's put in place for us called the 10 commandments. As he breaks down each one, he'll help us see their importance and relevance for today. Don't miss how these boundaries protect us in our journey through life. For more information about this series, visit livingontheedge.org or the Chip Ingram map.

Chip's joined me in studio now. Chip, what we hear over and over again from parents and grandparents is, I'm deeply concerned about how social media and the culture at large is impacting my kids and grandkids. Take a minute, if you would, and share what they can do to help the next generation walk with Jesus. Well, Dave, that's a great question. You can tell you're blue in the face and say, get off social media, less screen time, don't do this, don't do more of that, be more moral, be more this, be more that.

A good offense is better than all the defense in the world. Here's what your kids need. They need a personal, vibrant, powerful interaction with God himself. I will guarantee that your kids have a very warped view of God, just like to some degree you do and I do.

And so what I would say to a parent or grandparent is this. We have a book called The Real God. It's accessible.

It's easy to read. It's super practical about the attributes of God and how to get it from your head to your heart to your life. And then we have The Real God Family Devotional, which is seven short little movies.

I mean like three or four minute movies and that it has tools to text your kids and interaction and have a small group with them. If I cared deeply about my son, my daughter, everything from a preteen to a young adult, I would say, I'm going to read this book personally and I'm going to get this family devotional and we're going to study and we're going to ask the question, what is God really like? And as you dig in and as you discuss, and as you have that book as sort of a background to answer those questions, I'm going to tell you, you're going to start talking about, we can trust God because he's good.

You know, the world may look terrible, but there's a God who's in control and he's sovereign. The attributes of God, a clear picture of God is the best, strongest, wisest thing you can ever do for yourself or for your family. Dave, why don't you tell them how they can get these resources. Be glad to Chip. To learn more about Chip's book or the family devotional, visit specialoffers at livingontheedge.org or the Chip Ingram app. Through these tools, Chip explores seven core attributes of God revealed in scripture. Discover how knowing who God really is gives us purpose, security, and true joy in our lives. So if you want to transform your view of God, check out Chip's book or the family devotional today by going to specialoffers at livingontheedge.org or the Chip Ingram app.

Well, with that, let's join Chip for a few final thoughts from today's message. I didn't grow up as a Christian, and I certainly heard of the Ten Commandments like most of you had. And when Thou Shalt Kill rang through my mind as a kid or even as a young adult, I thought to myself, you know, there's a lot of commandments I've probably really messed up on that, boy, I'm glad that one's not a part of my life. And we learned today that Thou Shall Not Kill really is about no murder, the two words. And murder is a premeditated act.

It's not simply killing. But behind this command is a principle that is absolutely critical to our understanding, that life is sacred. All of life is sacred. And that God esteems more than anything else in all the world that He's created, it is human life.

And that's why as we looked at the passages on capital punishment, and that's why there was justice, and that's why God put laws in, they're all designed to protect human life. Now let me ask you a question. Have you ever been a part of in any way promoting the end of human life? Have you been a part of the Christian community of which there are many and many of which I have counseled that either had an abortion or convinced your girlfriend or wife to have an abortion? Are you a part of the Christian community that unknowingly sends your kid into an arcade while you go shopping? And if you would take the time to look over his or her shoulder for 45 minutes or up to an hour and a half, they play nothing but games that kill and maim and shoot and destroy and send one critical message, human life doesn't matter. Are you one of us that not even thinking about this command have rented videos and put TV programs on your screen that have infiltrated your mind and your children's mind and your heart with a casualness toward watching people being blown up or killed or stabbed because it's really interesting and there is a mystery to figure out and you just try and look beyond the violence, the violence, the violence and yet you have desensitized yourself like I have at times to the sacredness of life. You know, maybe the way to end this program is for you to say, oh God, I never saw it that way. Oh God, I've repressed the memories of those things that I did.

Oh God, this is painful and I need your help. Lord God, I thank you that when Jesus died on the cross, he paid for all my sin and I need to own this one. I need to get it up on the surface of my mind and I need to go through the grieving process of the life that I took or the violence and the disregard for life that I'm allowing in the minds of my kids and in my home. You know, maybe we need to really rethink what it means. No murder. Maybe we need to stop the violence in our homes before we ask God to stop it out there. Why don't you go do what God wants you to do?

He will honor your genuine repentance. Wow Chip, a big challenge about the issue we need to think about more seriously. Thanks. And we want to help you tune out the noise of this chaotic world and better connect with God. So let me encourage you to check out the Chip Ingram app and get plugged in with our helpful resources. Now you can listen to our most recent series, sign up for daily discipleship and more. We want you to grow in your walk with Jesus and the Chip Ingram app is a great way to immerse yourself in uplifting biblical content. We'll listen next time as Chip continues our series, God's Boundaries for Abundant Living. Until then, this is Dave Drewy saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.