"Tampering With God's Most Sacred Gift"
Sermon Transcript for March 12, 2000
(6th Commandment: Sermon Series on the Ten Commandments)
By Rev. Mike Beck
Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
We continue our sermon series today on the Ten Commandments, looking at the four simple words of the sixth command—"You shall not murder". And friends, that will naturally take us in a variety of directions in terms of application and interpretation. The NID from which those words are taken give us a much better translation than the old King James’ version which translated it "You shall not kill". For that translation misses a very important distinction within the Hebrew verb "to kill". For the prohibition was not against a nation doing war or active in judgment on a criminal, the prohibition was against murder on the part of an individual. Murder is the ending of a human life; a prerogative that the Bible says belongs only to God. If we take that right in to our own hands, we presume to play God which, if you remember, is one of humanities oldest temptations going all the way back to the Garden of Eden and the serpent who said to Eve, "If you eat the fruit, you will be like God."
Now, I could take the easy way out this morning and state the obvious. Don’t take a gun and shoot your spouse or your neighbor. And if you don’t do that you’ll be okay in terms of the sixth commandment. But I think if I did that I would be coping out on some things that I believe God would have us reflect on to be faithful to his word. So I share very briefly these thoughts as a way of stretching our thinking in some really tough issues and recognizing as I do so, Christians have differing views on many of these complicated issues. So I lift them up today in the hope that our lives would more fully reflect the mind and actions of Christ.
1. What about war? The last I checked war involved killing other individuals. We as Christians believe, most of us at least, that in an evil world there is such a thing as a just war. It should be engaged in as a last resort. But we live in an evil world and WWII is obviously a good example of that kind of war. Where the evil perpetrated by a man by the name of Hitler would probably not have been removed by simply negotiation. But when war is deemed necessary as a last result, it must be waged in an attitude, to use the words of scripture, "of acting justly and loving mercy". There is no place for a spirit of vindictiveness. In fact most scholars of history would say that if the spirit of vindictiveness that followed WWI had not been present, we might have been able to avoid WWII.
2. What about suicide? 1 Corinthians, Chapter 6, Versus 19-20, tells us "our life is not our own. It is a gift of God." And I believe that the Bible teaches that suicide is murder. It is destroying God’s most sacred gift and taking into our own hands a power that ultimately belongs to God. But, having said that, friends, suicide is not the unpardonable sin. My grandfather committed suicide. One of my very best friends, Nat Huffman, committed suicide. And I’m expecting to see both of those persons in heaven. The Psalm that’s on 73, Verse 26 says, "At times my flesh and my heart may fail." Persons can be driven by physical and mental pain to a point that they are no longer able to make a responsible decision. And in that area I want to be a person of grace to leave judgment to God who has said he fully understands our human condition and is merciful. We’re hitting a bunch of hot buttons this morning.
3. What about capital punishment? Boy, within committed Christians, there are very much mixed feelings on that issue. And remember, the word that’s used in the Sixth Command has to do with murder on the part of the individual, not actions of the State. One of my most respected professor’s at Seminary, Dr. Long, I remember one day doing some very careful exegesis in support of capital punishment on occasion. Our social principles, however, within the United Methodist Church say this. "We as United Methodist oppose capital punishment and urge its elimination from all criminal codes." Now, I’m quite confident that not every one in this room agrees with that statement. That statement is where officially we stand as a denomination. What I think often happens is that our emotions get in the way. Some of the crimes that are perpetrated against society are heinous in nature. And there are certainly individuals who must and need to be locked up and have the key thrown away forever as a consequence of what they’ve done and for the protection of society. But as United Methodist our church stand is that no matter how humane might be our form of execution, the fact still remains that by free choice on our part we take away a human life. We as United Methodists look very carefully to the words of Jesus who said, "He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone."
4. What about abortion? And now we’re getting in to the message of this type, this is an issue that can not be avoided in looking at the Sixth Commandment. The basic and obvious question is, "When does life begin?" The courts of our land have ruled that life, from their perspective, begins at the point where the developing child can sustain himself or herself outside the mother’s womb. Let me allow you to hear what our social principles say on this issue. And, you will hear us as United Methodists, as I read these words, going back and forth across the spectrum.
"The beginning of life and the ending of life are the God-given boundaries of human existence. While individuals have always had some degree of control over when they will die, they now have the awesome power to determine when and even whether new individuals will be born. Our belief in the sanctity of the unborn human life makes us reluctant to approve abortion. But we are equally bound to respect the sacredness of the life and well-being of the mother for whom devastating damage may result from an unacceptable pregnancy. In continuity with past Christian teaching, we recognize tragic conflicts of life with life that may justify abortion. And in such cases, we support the legal option of abortion under proper medical procedures." Now we’re coming back the other way. "We can not affirm abortion as an acceptable means of birth control and we unconditionally reject it as a form of gender selection. We call on all Christians to a searching and prayerful inquiry into the sorts of conditions that may warrant abortion. And we commit our church to continue to provide nurturing ministries to those who terminate a pregnancy, to those in the midst of a crisis pregnancy, and to those that give birth. Governmental laws and regulations do not provide all the guidance required by the informed Christian conscience."
That is our official position as United Methodist. From a personal standpoint, I wish our position were stronger on the pro-life side. I would look to the words of the 139th Psalm, which say, "For you, oh God, created my innermost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. All the days are named for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Your eyes saw my unformed body." That is where our church stands. Each of us have our own point somewhere along the spectrum. And I realize, and I want all of us to realize, the complexity of this issue. And I also, even within myself and my pro-life position; the inconsistencies that are probably present within it. Because I would allow, in my mind, for abortion in the case of rape or incest, when the health of the mother is in danger, or in the early known presence of radical birth defects. Probably none of us do not have some inconsistencies and struggles no matter where we may be on that spectrum. Friends, on all these issues we are driven back to that little bracelet that a lot of people wear today, W.W.J.D, to try to ask, "What would Jesus do? Where would he stand on this issue?"
5. And then, finally, what about the end of life? For we now have some equally difficult issues on the other end of the spectrum. There was a simpler day in which nature took it’s course in terms of life and death. Medical science, and I’m the first to thank God for that wonderful gift, now makes this matter of human life and when and how we will die a whole lot more complex issue than it was 40 years ago. As we stand at the beginning of the 21st Century we look at life and death issues now with questions that involve things like artificial life support systems, the issue of assisted suicide, the cases in the court of the right to die. And I believe God calls the Christian community to take the lead in some ethical leadership on the issues that medical science, in it’s rapid growth forward, are not prepared or able to deal with. Because life is a gift, we ought to work to preserve the inherent value of that gift. But hear me carefully, nobody lives forever in this world. And there are far worse things than death in some cases; and health care along with other human and emotional resources are not unlimited. And so at some point, and these judgement calls the families and medical science must make, are often very difficult ones.
If there is probably the place to say that just because something could be done, does not necessarily mean that something should be done in terms of prolonging a life that has lost any since of quality or meaning. I believe the girl was Karen Quinlen, I’m not positive on the name. But if you remember that case, she had made it known to her parents very clearly, "Do not leave me alive only on a machine." And she had laid in a nursing home for months and her parents had to go to court to ask permission to unhook the machines. And, friends, on that morning I was not proud to be a Christian. To see right-to-life protestors standing outside the courthouse with the gut-wrenching decision that those parents must have gone through to say, "Unhook the machine from my daughter." Where was the compassion? Where was the caring? Yes, the principle may have been right on life and it’s sacredness. But I believe at that moment care and compassion needed to override that; and I would not have been standing with those Christian protestors in that moment. I would much rather have been taking the hands of those parents making that critical, difficult decision.
Well, as you’re well aware, I’ve chosen my words carefully this morning. Steve, as a lawyer, these are tough issues. And as a result of time restraints, I’ve had to deal with them in a very simplistic way. But I want you to know, I don’t have and don’t claim to have God’s final word on any of those issues. The older I get the more sure I am of salvation, the more sure I am that my sins are forgiven and I’m going to heaven. But the older I get the more my life verse becomes Philippians 2:12 where we are told, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling" because for the committed Christian these are tough issues. And so I simply pray that God will use this message to allow his Holy Spirit to probe our thoughts and actions. To help us, whatever the issue may be, to deal responsibly and as Christians, with God’s most sacred gift, the gift of life.
Let’s pray: You never told us Lord that being a Christian would be easy. Help us to go far beyond what we might first think about this Sixth Command and guide us with Your Holy Spirit in all the implications of it. In Christ’s name, Amen.
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