God's Boundaries for Abundant Living - Stop the Violence!, Part 2

What does a seventh grader, a soccer mom, a respectable businessman, and a serial killer all have in common? More than you might think, today's fresh perspective on the sixth commandment is going to be an eye-opener for all of us.

You're not going to want to miss it. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry motivating Christians to live like Christians.

Have you ever been watching or reading a news story about a horrific act of violence and thought, I could never do something like that? Well, today as Chip picks up in our study of the Ten Commandments, he suggests that we may be involved in destructive or cruel behaviors and not even realize it. So if you're ready to uncover these attitudes and put a stop to them, let's listen now to part two of Chip's talk, Stop the Violence, from Exodus chapter 20. Let's do a little Bible study.

And Bible study is making observations, what does it say, doing some examination to say what does it mean, and then making application, what's it mean to me. And so let's go through and let's start with what I tell you anyone who is angry, put a circle around angry with his brother and then put a box around subject to judgment. You're going to see a parallel occur. So you have anyone who's angry will be subject to judgment. And then drop down and anyone who says to his brother, put a circle around the word rocka, is answerable to the Sanhedrin, then put a box around Sanhedrin.

So circle around rocka and then a box around Sanhedrin. And then as you move on, but anyone who says you fool, put a circle around you fool, will be in danger of, put a box around the phrase, the fire of hell. And let me see if I can help explain what's happening in this text that might lift it and give you some insight. Jesus says, you've heard it said about murder and you know the letter of the law and the actual killing of someone, but I say to you, option or level one, anyone who is angry with his brother. And there's a couple different Greek words for anger. This is not the kind of anger where something happens and you blow up quickly. This is an anger that's rooted in bitterness and resentment. This is the kind of anger that when certain people's names come to your mind, your stomach begins to tighten up. This is the kind of things that over sometimes weeks or months or even years, that you have this perverted sense that they have so hurt you and so violated you and done things so unmentionable to you that you have actual anger fantasies at times. They don't really want them to get killed, but if they were in like a mild auto accident, it would be like okay, you know, and you would never admit that. If they lost their job, it would be sort of cool.

If the person that they ran off with would leave them like they left you, it would kind of bring a little grin to your face. This is an anger that's rooted in vengeance, in wanting to pay someone back. Jesus says, you've heard it said do not murder, but I want to tell you, level one, if you have this type of ongoing anger in your heart, then what's he say?

What's the box around? You're subject to judgment. And the word here for judgment was with the lower courts in the local Jewish village, he says that kind of anger means that you are liable and ought to have to go before the local village judge and deal with that issue because by my estimation, you're guilty of a type of murder. And then he bumps it to round two. He says, but again I say, anyone who says to his brother, raca, and it's a very hard word to translate, Barclay in his commentary says it's to despise with arrogant contempt. The word literally means you brainless one. The first type of anger is an emotional anger in your heart.

The second now, it moves to your lips. This is where you say things that cut people. You put them down. You're critical.

You're cynical. This is someone, you brainless one. You embarrass them in front of people. This is where you use your tongue to do lethal weapon for and you cut them up and you stab them in the back and you use your tongue to destroy them and to hurt them and to pound their self-esteem and make them feel less than and to embarrass them. He says, anyone who says raca to his brother should go before the Sanhedrin.

And if Sanhedrin is the next step up from the village judge, that's like the Supreme Court. And then he goes on to the next word that you have circled. Anyone who says to his brother, you moron, or what's the translation here? You fool, it's from, we get our word moron. The Greek word is moros.

And our word moron often means a lack of intellectual ability. That's not what this word means. This word means you immoral one. This is using your tongue to say to a person, you are immoral. This is using gossip and slander to paint a picture of someone else that they are wrong, that their motives are bad, that they're immoral, that they're doing things wrong.

This is where you murder their reputation and you slander and gossip and say just enough information to put people in a very negative light in the eyes of others. And Jesus says when you murder a man's reputation or a woman's reputation, when you pass on untested truth, when you have anger in your heart, when you use your tongue to cut down people in blow ups or outrage or passive aggressively trying to jab people here and there to put them down and raise you up, he says, take my word, you are guilty of murder. Murder has occurred in your heart. You have slayed people with your lips. You have defiled what?

The image of God in them. You have made them to appear or you have damaged them in such a way, maybe they didn't physically die, but emotionally and intellectually and spiritually and relationally, you have committed murder. And Jesus says it's very, very serious. A level one means you should go to the local judge. A level two is you should be brought before the Supreme Court. And a level three, when you assassinate a willful, malicious, slandering, gossipy content, you're guilty of the hellfire. You know, I don't know about you, but these Ten Commandments are kind of tough to take, aren't they?

The first three were sort of like, whoa, God is so great, no other God and no worship but true worship. And then we talked about how honoring your father and your mother, and I don't know about you, but when I got to this one, I thought, maybe I'm going to sort of skim tonight. You know what I mean? It's like I haven't had a lot of problem killing people, I didn't think. I mean, it's not like I think, God, I'm sorry for what I did 10 years ago and I'm sorry for what I did 20 years ago, but I just don't have murder in my background.

I didn't think until I studied this text carefully. And when you study this text and you hear the heart of Jesus and you hear, see, all murder, malicious, intentional murder, where does it begin? I mean, people don't just wake up and say, hmm, might be a good day to kill someone. Murder begins with unresolved anger. Murder begins when things don't get resolved and then stuff starts playing in your mind.

And then you understand where most murders occur, the most dangerous place for a police officer in America, it's not in a gang shooting. The most dangerous place, I got a good, good buddy, he said, what you would dread is the domestic violence call. When you got a call that there is shouting and people having problems, he said, that's where you can get killed. And he said, most of the people, it's in a rage. And they got a gun or something or a knife laying around the house and people never woke up that morning and shut off the little button on the alarm and said, well, honey, I think I'll probably kill you tonight, so are you ready? It's just a normal day and they get up and it can be over something silly as who's going to get to watch which TV program and there's all this unresolved anger and then they start getting after one another and screaming and shouting.

And then in a moment of rage, someone gets a gun or someone does something and people die. And Jesus is saying, I want to cut it off at the pass and I want to deal with your heart and the way I'm going to deal with your heart is I'm going to help you see where it comes out your lips. And then I'm going to move it and say that when you assassinate another person's character, I want you to know that with me, you're on very, very dangerous ground. So what do you do when that happens? He goes on. He says, therefore, if you're offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you.

Did you notice the shift? He's talking about your unresolved anger. But he says now if you come, if you come to a place like this or come to a church service and you're there and you want to offer your gift and the gift may be you as a living sacrifice. It might be earlier like we say I'm going to sing praises to God.

It might be you just can't wait and God has blessed you and you're thinking, man, I've been working all week and I'm going to take a good chunk of this percentage and I want to offer this gift to you because I want to see your work go forward. He says when you come before him, before you offer a prayer or offer your money or offer your song or offer your body as a living sacrifice, if you're there and you're prompted by my spirit to remember someone has something against you, he said here's the spiritual thing. Stop. Stop your quiet time right then. Stop reading your Bible right then. Walk out of the worship service if you need to.

Go find your brother and make it right. Relational harmony, anger resolved, chaos between family members, bitterness that has gone on for years, people that don't talk to one another, people who say negative things just as a matter of habit and find a little group of people that they can say negative things about this group and that group. We all do it and we find a little group that will agree with us and it's all about how unfair we've been treated from our perspective and when we find a little group that we can say and whine and bemoan and pour it out and make someone else the object and they get shrunk and God says, clean that up. It's deathly. It's as deathly to emotions. It's as deathly to your spiritual life. It's deathly to the body of Christ as when people out and out murder one another. And so if your brother has something against you, not even you have something against him, where's the initiative here?

The initiative is anybody who's sensitive enough to God to realize there's a problem. Leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. If it means apologizing, apologize. If it means seeking forgiveness, seek forgiveness. If it means, you know, I understand that you have this against me, I want you to know I forgive you. If it means repenting, if it means restitution, if it means that maybe this is the only night you were to come to this meeting at this time so that you get on the phone tonight and make a phone call and tell someone you're sorry or you think through the letter that you need to write to maybe one of your kids or a friend or one of your parents. And as far as it depends on you, get your slate clean and you get up early in the morning and you write that letter. And as far as it depends on you before God and man, you lay that out.

Maybe that's why you're here tonight, I don't know. The sixth command is about preserving life. By way of conclusion, I've put it in a box for emphasis because human life is the most precious of all commodities on the planet. God provides boundaries to protect it above all else.

And by way of review, are you ready? Here's the prohibition and I want to give the application. The prohibition is please stop the violence.

No murder by violent hands. Stop it. And maybe you haven't physically killed someone, are you ready? Maybe you have. Maybe you're sitting here and you're thinking, my lands, it was 1972.

It's 1964. And man, we were in trouble and I didn't even think of it and I wasn't a Christian and it wasn't even about human life and I talked my girlfriend to go into New York and have an abortion. I'm an accessory to murder and it's bugged me and I've never got it right. Or maybe you're a woman here.

And all the while I've been talking, just images are coming back to your mind. And no one knows. You haven't received forgiveness, you haven't been able to deal with it, you haven't been able to make it right. God brought you here tonight not to condemn you, but to restore you and to forgive you and let you know you're not beyond his reach.

You're not a second class citizen. You know what amazes me about, most of the Bible was written by murderers, did you know that? Moses, David, Paul. Paul wrote over half the New Testament. He was a murderer. David wrote the most precious material I think we have in scripture in terms of God's heart in the Psalms. And Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. And in moments of anger and in moments of ignorance and in moments where they were out of control, they killed. And God forgave and God restored and God used and that's his message to you. The blood of Christ is sufficient. And he wants you to receive it. No murder by violent hands. And by the way, I'm going to just meddle around a little bit and if you don't like it, it's okay, you don't have to come back tomorrow night.

But I want to ask you an applicational question. Do your viewing habits demonstrate that you cherish and value every person's value in life because they're made in the image of God? See, I don't understand this, okay?

I'm naive, I came to Christ late, maybe I'm just kind of not in step with the program. How in the world can you understand the sixth commandment and understand the value and sacredness of human life and go rent videos and spend money where all they do is blow up people? And in slow motion, now you know the bullets come through and the blood spreads and they fall back in slow motion and then buy stuff for your kids and watch them go to an arcade where you go to every single booth and almost every single time, what is it? There's some guy kicking and screaming and shooting and you understand that's how they train our military to desensitize them for human life so that when they get on the battlefield, they can kill. So they can have the courage to kill. They have them do video games, they show them multiple desensitization of human life where they get used to human life being destroyed. And I got Christians that I know that, oh, this is a guy movie, Lethal Weapon 48. What is it that finds satisfaction in the human heart other than a perverted dark side of my heart and yours in watching other people blow up other people in slow motion?

And we call that entertainment. I don't get it. Candidly, I don't think God gets it. I think it violates the sixth command. How in the world would I ever do anything that makes me think less of human life? Why in the world would I put anything in my hands or my kids' hands that teach them how to kill and destroy and annihilate so that you score points? I mean, people, let's do the math here. You think that 19-year-old kid grew up in a vacuum?

How in the world, how many TV programs, how many video games, how many movies, how much peer pressure? What would have to happen in a human being's life to say, I'm bored today, man. I just don't like killing someone. Or to raise a beer and say, human life, it means nothing. And then the next day, rape and kill two young girls. He got there because we've been on a gradual, continual, downward trend of devaluing life. And I'll tell you what, salt and light, let's get salty.

Salt and light, let's get bright. And let's say life matters in every way. No murdering by violent hands.

Second application, no murder by angry hearts. So let me ask you. Are there any grudges you've been harboring at a boss, one of your kids, at a parent, at an ex-mate, former business partner? Is there someone down, and if you got really honest tonight, is there a name or a face that comes to your mind that you've got some level of resentment or a grudge and tonight God says, let it go, let it go. And you say, you don't understand what they did to me, they don't deserve for me to let it go. I know I don't understand and I know they don't deserve it. I'm not asking you to let it go because they deserve it. I'm asking you to let it go because the person that's destroying is you, not them. And I'm asking you to let it go on the authority of Christ because he says, as you have freely received, freely give. And I'm asking you to let it go because Jesus was matter of fact and clear that if you do not forgive your brother, I will not forgive you. Let it go. Make it right.

No murder by violent hands, no murder by angry hearts, and finally, no murder by lethal lips. And this is one we sort of just, since everybody does it. Have your lips assassinated someone's character? Do you need to go back and tell someone I'm sorry? Or go tell someone you said something to that, you know, I heard that, it's untested, I don't know if it's true or not.

I was in this meeting and God brought it to mind and I passed on information and I'm sorry. Have your lips shot down someone's self-esteem? Have your lips murdered someone else's reputation? Have you listened to someone else berate and put down and talk negatively about another person without putting up the stop sign? By the way, this is how gossip stops in the body of Christ. Because see, what people do is they'll find people that will listen, I call them spiritual garbage cans. And you know what you need to do? You need to let them know I'm not a garbage can and I got a lid. And when they start talking about another person, you hold up the lid like this that says stop and you say it really winsomely and you smile because it's really going to hurt their feelings. And you say, you know something, there's a scriptural passage that says if I'm not a part of the problem and I'm not part of the solution, I don't think I should be hearing this.

So if you need, it sounds like you need to go talk to what's her name or what's his name, but I don't think I'm the person you need to talk to. It sounds like there's some relational issues and I think Matthew 18 says you go first and if they won't listen and you need me to go with you later, I will. But I don't receive this kind of stuff. You think that would help the body of Christ?

You think that would clean up? I'll tell you what, you only have to have someone, I've had someone do that to me. That's where I learned it. And boy was I embarrassed. Because you know what, when you're assassinating a person's character, it seems so justified in your mind, right? It seems so right and you're so right and they're so wrong and you're in such denial. And when you're saying it, it doesn't even feel or even seem like sin until someone takes the lid off the top of the garbage can that you're trying to dump into and puts it in front of you and says, and you go, ooh boy, this is ugly and this is me.

And yeah, I think you're right, this is inappropriate. And then you go apologize. And when I've learned, you know how you stop that stuff? You just make a little pact with the Lord, every time you make it known to me or someone else makes it known to me that my lips have assassinated another's character, passed on truth that is untested or done something that harms another person, I will go to that person and ask them to forgive me and apologize.

You do that a half a dozen times, I'll tell you what, it is a powerful antidote to murdering with your lips. First John 1, 9, may never be more precious for some of us than tonight. If any of us would agree, that's what confess means. If any of us would come into alignment with what reality is about our present situation, if any of us would confess our sins, God is faithful and He is just, not only to forgive but to cleanse you and to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. And the greatest ending of our night is not some big rah rah or sing a big song. The greatest ending of this night is for you to bow your head, confess when and where specifically you have murdered with your lips or with your hands or in your heart and become a forgiven Moses, a forgiven David or a forgiven Paul that walks out these doors fresh and clean as white wool.

Fresh and clean as snow that just dropped and a conscience that is pure and a life that God wants to use as a fellow forgiven sinner, just like them and just like me. So let me ask you, what do you need to do right now in this moment? If you can, I encourage you to go ahead and bow your head. If it's appropriate, even shut your eyes. Let what you have just heard from God's word sink in.

Think about it. Where have you murdered with your hands? Where have you murdered with your angry heart?

And who or where have you murdered with your lips? And what I want you to know is you can be clean. Right now where you are, tell God in your own words, Oh God, I am sorry. Own it. Confess.

Agree. And right now I want you to claim his forgiveness, not because you're going to try harder, not because you're going to make promises. Totally based on the work of Jesus, his death as fully man and fully God on the cross, he has paid for your sin. And I want you to agree with him that that pays for all your sin. And then say, Lord, I believe.

Thank you for cleansing me right now. And then what I want you to do is take the next step. What might you need to do to make things right? Who do you need to confess to?

Who do you need to see? Who do you need to close a loop with in order to seal the deal with God? Almighty God, I pray for every person listening to my voice, that you would give them an open and tender heart towards you and that you would help them believe that you are slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, that you love and long to forgive, that you're neither shocked nor surprised by what they have done. And today is their day to be cleansed, forgiven, and have a new start. I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. If you just prayed with Chip, I hope that you better understand God's forgiveness and that because of Jesus' sacrifice, you are now free to begin again with a clean slate.

What an awesome God we have. And if you're looking for additional help in developing a deeper relationship with God, check out our broadcast series, True Spirituality. Through Chip's teaching in Romans 12, you'll discover a clear blueprint to becoming a genuine follower of Christ. To learn more about this series, go to special offers on the Chip Ingram app or at livingontheedge.org. Well, before we wrap up this program, Chip's still with me in studio here to share one last thing with all of you.

Chip? Thanks, Dave. I want to take a minute as we're learning about the Ten Commandments, God's boundaries for an abundant life. And I would tell you this, listen very carefully. If your picture of God is one who is down on you, is angry, and you don't measure up, you will hear His commandments through a lens that feels like weight, that feels like I can never measure up, I'm not good enough. But the God behind these commands is a God who is loving, compassionate, gracious.

He's for you. And what I want you to know is right now, you can study the God behind the Ten Commandments. I wrote a book called The Real God, How He Longs for You to See Him, that gives you a high, accurate, clear picture.

I can tell you that studying the very attributes of God has changed my life more than any single thing I've ever done. We also have a resource that as you read that book, you can share with your kids. I mean, down to four or five years old, up to your teenagers, it's called The Real God Family Devotional. It's super creative. It's about seven short little—they're movies.

I mean, literally the kind that, you know, your kids will watch, and then you'll have a discussion around them. And we've provided great questions and resources so that you can begin to talk together as a family about who is God and what does it look like in my world, in my life, to walk with Him, to worship Him, and to share that love with my 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. As we wrap up this program, just a quick but important thought. Living on the Edge depends on listeners like you to help us continue encouraging Christians to live like Christians. So would you consider partnering with us every month so others can benefit from the ministry of Living on the Edge? You can set up a recurring donation at LivingOnTheEdge.org or through the Chip Ingram app or text DONATE to 74141. It's so easy. Text the word DONATE to 74141. Thanks for doing whatever the Lord leads you to do. Well, I'm glad you've been with us. Until next time, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.