WEBVTT 00:00:00.630 --> 00:00:03.149 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:06.209 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:06.849 --> 00:00:08.769 It's our hope that these sermons will draw you 00:00:08.769 --> 00:00:11.189 more into the life of following God, Father, 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:13.970 Son, and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming 00:00:13.970 --> 00:00:16.050 and joining with us each Sunday morning at 10 00:00:16.050 --> 00:00:18.690 a .m. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You 00:00:18.690 --> 00:00:21.769 can find us online at secondcitychurch .org and 00:00:21.769 --> 00:00:24.289 on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We hope 00:00:24.289 --> 00:00:28.710 you enjoy this sermon. God bless. Let's pray 00:00:28.710 --> 00:00:35.009 again. We pray that your words this morning for 00:00:35.009 --> 00:00:39.030 us would bring life. Where so often our words 00:00:39.030 --> 00:00:43.229 are used to bring death, to cut down, to destroy, 00:00:44.829 --> 00:00:48.810 to deface. Gotta pray that your words to us would 00:00:48.810 --> 00:00:52.149 bring life in us and that we would be those who 00:00:52.149 --> 00:00:58.450 love life, who cherish it, who delight in the 00:00:58.450 --> 00:01:03.350 life of others, the life of your world. that 00:01:03.350 --> 00:01:05.310 we would see that you're the one who spoke goodness 00:01:05.310 --> 00:01:08.049 over the world. And you said it's very good when 00:01:08.049 --> 00:01:11.569 you made mankind, humankind, male and female 00:01:11.569 --> 00:01:15.090 in your image to bury your likeness into the 00:01:15.090 --> 00:01:19.530 world. And so I pray Lord that we would be people 00:01:19.530 --> 00:01:24.510 that love life, that cherish the life of others. 00:01:25.829 --> 00:01:27.469 And you speak to us this morning, Lord, through 00:01:27.469 --> 00:01:32.280 this commandment. That we would find your commands 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:36.599 to be those that give life to our bones. That 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:40.239 we speak of them on the way, that we teach them 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:44.200 to our children, that we live into them. For 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:48.700 your words are life. Praise in Jesus name, amen. 00:01:50.379 --> 00:01:54.200 Right there, there's a cartoon, and in this cartoon 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:56.799 there are two school administrators. And what 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:59.120 they're doing is they're watching as children 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:01.700 entering the school, kids are entering the school, 00:02:02.299 --> 00:02:04.340 and as they're having to enter the school through 00:02:04.340 --> 00:02:08.080 a metal detector. Some of you likely went to 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:09.759 schools that had those kinds of devices where 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:11.780 you had to go in and you had to walk through 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:15.240 something. And one of these school administrators 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:18.500 is talking to the other and he says, it's the 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:24.099 latest school safety device. That light and that 00:02:24.099 --> 00:02:29.919 horn will go off as students try to smuggle in 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:36.460 a gun or a knife or a bomb or the Ten Commandments. 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:40.699 Which is to say that some people think the Ten 00:02:40.699 --> 00:02:44.740 Commandments are dangerous. Of course, right? 00:02:44.979 --> 00:02:47.539 Many people think religion is very dangerous. 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:51.800 I'm sure you've heard that. It's one of the great 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:57.060 sort of objections to Christianity. how violent 00:02:57.060 --> 00:03:00.580 religions are in general. They promote violence, 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:03.280 and it's even worse than promoting it. They do 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:06.719 it in the name of God, a divine sanction for 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:11.919 it. You can think of how people think of the 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:14.759 Ten Commandments as dangerous. The First Commandment 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:20.819 rules out other gods. How can that be used, right? 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:25.680 For violence it has been. People are confused 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:30.520 maybe about the day of rest, but we certainly 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:33.780 want to indulge a little bit here and there, 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:36.539 sexually. I don't like people to tell us what 00:03:36.539 --> 00:03:41.719 to do, God included, with our bodies. But most 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:43.939 people, interestingly, I think most people agree 00:03:43.939 --> 00:03:46.560 with the sixth commandment. Most cultures have 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:51.300 laws against taking of another's life. Murder. 00:03:54.250 --> 00:03:56.129 David Paulson some of you are familiar with his 00:03:56.129 --> 00:03:59.650 work. He wrote a book called good and angry good 00:03:59.650 --> 00:04:03.030 and angry and He has a chapter in that book. 00:04:03.030 --> 00:04:06.349 It's titled. Do you have a serious problem with 00:04:06.349 --> 00:04:10.110 anger? Y 'all thought about that probably some 00:04:10.110 --> 00:04:13.610 of you It's the shortest chapter in his book 00:04:13.610 --> 00:04:23.449 It is one word Yes It's kind of simple yes Now 00:04:23.449 --> 00:04:24.750 I've suggested to you that part of what we do 00:04:24.750 --> 00:04:28.370 at the Commandments is we simplify them. We simplify 00:04:28.370 --> 00:04:31.949 them so that we can check them off, right? We 00:04:31.949 --> 00:04:33.990 want to define them in such a way that we can 00:04:33.990 --> 00:04:39.089 meet them. Check. And this is the way of the 00:04:39.089 --> 00:04:43.310 human heart. But Paulson's answer, his long chapter, 00:04:43.370 --> 00:04:45.750 doesn't really give room for that. Doesn't allow 00:04:45.750 --> 00:04:48.699 for that kind of simplicity. A few weeks back, 00:04:48.699 --> 00:04:50.680 about a month ago, I said that we ought to do 00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:52.360 this approach, take this approach to the Ten 00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:55.060 Commandments as sort of a checklist so that we 00:04:55.060 --> 00:04:57.980 can hang our heads high and we can look down 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:02.300 our noses at others. We can say, I am among the 00:05:02.300 --> 00:05:07.220 righteous. Of course, this often leads to a kind 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:11.040 of hypocrisy that invites so many others to dismiss 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:14.860 Christian faith. I'm engaging with the law of 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:19.319 God in a way that is for them and not for us. 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:23.860 Because as soon as we see the commandments as 00:05:23.860 --> 00:05:26.519 the one, as soon as we see us as the one who 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:28.759 keep the commandments and others as the one that 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:31.740 we don't, we often inflate ourselves and deflate 00:05:31.740 --> 00:05:35.779 the image of God in others. We live life properly, 00:05:35.860 --> 00:05:38.240 so we think, and so we can diminish others who 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:42.920 do not. We can deface them. Now here's Here's 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:44.399 an odd thing. So this morning, I actually want 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:46.399 to start with the idea that there is a simplicity 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:51.300 to this command. I said our inclination is to 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:53.240 simplify them, but in a way, this is actually 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:56.019 kind of a simple command. Partly it's simple 00:05:56.019 --> 00:05:58.240 because if you were listening as Chuck read it, 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:00.980 the first five commands are decent. They're not 00:06:00.980 --> 00:06:05.600 long, but they're more than two words. And you're 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:08.579 like, well, maybe this is this. You shall not 00:06:08.579 --> 00:06:11.399 murder. It's actually, that's just two words 00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:17.939 in the Hebrew. Low rot suck No murder don't murder 00:06:17.939 --> 00:06:23.980 Don't do it now That's kind of simple. All right 00:06:23.980 --> 00:06:26.899 We say this there's actually eight words in Hebrew 00:06:26.899 --> 00:06:31.300 that we might trans kill Okay, there's quite 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:34.560 a few words that That talk about this idea of 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:36.740 killing in the in the Bible in the Hebrew Bible 00:06:36.740 --> 00:06:39.579 And this word is not one of the ones that's used 00:06:39.579 --> 00:06:42.399 a lot. It's used number of times it's used here 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:44.779 it has a specific meaning this word is not the 00:06:44.779 --> 00:06:47.939 one that is used for hunting or for killing animals 00:06:47.939 --> 00:06:51.100 it's actually not the one that for the vast majority 00:06:51.100 --> 00:06:53.480 of the time is used when you talk about the law 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:55.120 of god when there's certain types of killing 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:00.319 that happens or even in the context of war it's 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:02.100 not one of the ones that's used in the context 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:06.060 of the military now this is a malicious this 00:07:06.060 --> 00:07:09.920 is an unlawful taking of the life of another 00:07:11.660 --> 00:07:13.639 It's talking about the taking of a life of another, 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:17.379 whom God has given life and who God is sustaining 00:07:17.379 --> 00:07:21.199 life in them. It's saying, it is not yours to 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:26.079 take. It is unjust to take another's life. It 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:33.100 is wrong. No, Ratzach. It's manslaughter. Now 00:07:33.100 --> 00:07:35.279 this is kind of, so there's a way that we can 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:37.500 kind of... What does this mean, right? Well, 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:39.980 one thing that it doesn't necessarily mean is 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:42.259 that this is a prohibition against self -defense, 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:45.980 okay? Just a few chapters later, actually, like, 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:47.720 you know, we're in Exodus 20, if you just go 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:50.899 two chapters later in Exodus 22, you can read 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:55.240 in verse 2, if a thief is found breaking in and 00:07:55.240 --> 00:07:58.860 is struck, meaning actually somebody strikes 00:07:58.860 --> 00:08:02.660 him because he's breaking in, and he dies, there 00:08:02.660 --> 00:08:05.279 shall be no blood guilt. Meaning the blood is 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:07.740 not on your hands and you actually won't be liable 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:14.459 to judgment Your life will not be demanded This 00:08:14.459 --> 00:08:16.420 is something I have to skirt very carefully around 00:08:16.420 --> 00:08:17.720 because it's very complicated which I'm going 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:19.839 to kind of get to that a little bit But it's 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:22.120 also not a complete prohibition against capital 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:26.560 punishment Meaning that one's life is not taken 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:30.319 when they take another's life It's not at least 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:33.200 an outright command against that. Genesis 9 verse 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:35.179 6, maybe some of you remember this, we went through 00:08:35.179 --> 00:08:37.759 Genesis, the beginning of Genesis a couple years 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:41.059 back. Genesis 9, 6 says, whoever sheds the blood 00:08:41.059 --> 00:08:45.919 of man, by man shall his blood be shed. Why? 00:08:48.379 --> 00:08:54.210 For God made man in his own image. The command 00:08:54.210 --> 00:08:56.710 is actually an upholding of the reality of the 00:08:56.710 --> 00:08:59.769 sanctity, the beauty, the gift of God making 00:08:59.769 --> 00:09:02.990 humankind in this image. It's precisely because 00:09:02.990 --> 00:09:06.309 murder is an assault on the image of God that 00:09:06.309 --> 00:09:10.269 some forms of punishment are properly administered. 00:09:12.470 --> 00:09:14.970 It's actually a defense of the image of God in 00:09:14.970 --> 00:09:18.509 Genesis 9. Human life is so precious that taking 00:09:18.509 --> 00:09:24.110 it was to be severely punished. Cannot take human 00:09:24.110 --> 00:09:26.830 life and think that it is just something easily 00:09:26.830 --> 00:09:30.070 done and to be dismissed and to be sort of let 00:09:30.070 --> 00:09:33.789 go In some ways, this is what's at play actually 00:09:33.789 --> 00:09:40.870 in the famous Principle of the Lex talionis, 00:09:41.149 --> 00:09:43.070 which is the law of retaliation, which is actually 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:48.129 in the very next chapter in Exodus 21 An eye 00:09:48.129 --> 00:09:52.450 for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, a wound for 00:09:52.450 --> 00:09:55.870 a wound, which is the principle that the punishment 00:09:55.870 --> 00:10:00.649 actually must fit the crime. Something that we 00:10:00.649 --> 00:10:03.250 still uphold to today. But we also have to admit 00:10:03.250 --> 00:10:05.169 that to a degree Gandhi was absolutely right, 00:10:05.250 --> 00:10:07.289 that an eye for an eye makes the whole world 00:10:07.289 --> 00:10:10.990 blind, right? If we keep gouging out each other's 00:10:10.990 --> 00:10:13.360 eyes, nobody's gonna see. But here's what you 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:15.039 have to understand in the ancient Near East when 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:18.700 that was written in Axis 21. The law of the world 00:10:18.700 --> 00:10:21.299 was not eye for an eye. It wasn't actually a 00:10:21.299 --> 00:10:26.320 proper judgment on the deed done. Instead, it 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:32.059 was your head for my eye, your family for my 00:10:32.059 --> 00:10:39.200 tooth, retribution. The command also doesn't 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:42.399 prohibit all war. Once again, I actually think 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:46.379 we need to be extremely careful here. Peace is 00:10:46.379 --> 00:10:49.500 always the goal. To live at peace is always the 00:10:49.500 --> 00:10:54.320 goal. But God does send Israel to battle. That's 00:10:54.320 --> 00:11:00.559 hard. Romans 13 tells us that the state does 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:03.039 not bear the sword in vain, which means it does 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:06.580 bear the sword. And also it actually says more 00:11:06.580 --> 00:11:11.970 specifically, it is not a quote, terror. to good 00:11:11.970 --> 00:11:14.850 conduct, but to bad. The state actually has a 00:11:14.850 --> 00:11:23.049 level of terror to bad conduct. When Jesus met 00:11:23.049 --> 00:11:26.269 the centurion, he did not say, go and sin no 00:11:26.269 --> 00:11:28.409 more. And part of your sinning is that you are 00:11:28.409 --> 00:11:32.730 a centurion and you must exit the Roman army. 00:11:33.970 --> 00:11:37.029 John the Baptist had the same thing. He had soldiers 00:11:37.029 --> 00:11:39.110 that came to him because he was calling to repentance 00:11:39.110 --> 00:11:43.429 and they were like, what do we have to do? And 00:11:43.429 --> 00:11:46.309 he says, don't extort. What he doesn't say is, 00:11:46.570 --> 00:11:51.029 leave this whole sordid army thing. He doesn't 00:11:51.029 --> 00:11:54.909 tell them they must resign. Which to say, in 00:11:54.909 --> 00:11:57.870 a way, there's a simplicity to this kind of, 00:11:57.950 --> 00:12:01.450 and that this is focused on manslaughter. The 00:12:01.450 --> 00:12:05.429 intentional premeditated taking of a human life 00:12:05.429 --> 00:12:10.610 that God has given into the world. My mother's 00:12:10.610 --> 00:12:15.080 womb you formed me. my inmost being, that the 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:17.860 image of God is always given by God into the 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:21.820 world. But what's interesting is this command 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:25.340 also does seem to include a sort of a negligent 00:12:25.340 --> 00:12:30.940 homicide. In Deuteronomy 22, the guilt of blood 00:12:30.940 --> 00:12:34.620 was upon your house. The same kind of idea, the 00:12:34.620 --> 00:12:37.220 guilt of blood. So you were going to be liable 00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:40.620 for shedding blood. If you didn't put a parapet 00:12:40.669 --> 00:12:43.169 around the roof of your house. Here's what would 00:12:43.169 --> 00:12:44.990 happen is that people would often, in the cool 00:12:44.990 --> 00:12:46.730 of the evening, they would go outside and they 00:12:46.730 --> 00:12:48.129 would hang out on the roof of their house, kind 00:12:48.129 --> 00:12:51.309 of like another room. And if you didn't put a 00:12:51.309 --> 00:12:54.990 fence around it so that your neighbor wouldn't 00:12:54.990 --> 00:12:59.190 fall over and die, you would be blood guilty. 00:13:00.250 --> 00:13:03.429 If your neighbor fell off that negligent homicide, 00:13:05.009 --> 00:13:09.669 you'd be blood guilty. In Exodus 21, again the 00:13:09.669 --> 00:13:11.370 very next chapter from what we're looking at, 00:13:11.570 --> 00:13:16.250 if your ox was known for being violent and you 00:13:16.250 --> 00:13:20.990 did nothing about it, you would be blood guilty. 00:13:23.049 --> 00:13:25.210 What I'm saying is that in a way there is a simplicity 00:13:25.210 --> 00:13:29.470 to this command to say all of human life is sacred. 00:13:30.690 --> 00:13:33.830 All of human life is sacred and no human life, 00:13:34.009 --> 00:13:36.409 not one single human life is exempt from that. 00:13:36.750 --> 00:13:40.250 All are made in the image of God. Therefore, 00:13:40.330 --> 00:13:48.190 murder is prohibited. Here's the thing, is that 00:13:48.190 --> 00:13:50.909 at this point, you're looking at the checklist 00:13:50.909 --> 00:13:57.090 and you're going, right. I don't have a parapet 00:13:57.090 --> 00:14:00.970 around my roof. I don't need one. I don't have 00:14:00.970 --> 00:14:04.889 any ox. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, 00:14:04.889 --> 00:14:09.809 you make your list. But do not be so quick because 00:14:09.809 --> 00:14:12.370 the parapet and the ox may be far from our experience 00:14:12.370 --> 00:14:15.970 But the principle is that we must do all that 00:14:15.970 --> 00:14:20.009 we can For the well -being of others lives all 00:14:20.009 --> 00:14:23.509 that we can to protect the life of another to 00:14:23.509 --> 00:14:29.690 protect to love the life of your neighbor You 00:14:29.690 --> 00:14:33.129 cannot just look at this command and see it as 00:14:33.129 --> 00:14:37.720 a prohibition to cold -blooded premeditated murder 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:40.659 that can't be allowed from the Old Testament 00:14:40.659 --> 00:14:44.519 itself. You can't just look at this command and 00:14:44.519 --> 00:14:48.639 look at those who practice suicide or euthanasia 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:52.740 or abortion and feel good about yourself. You 00:14:52.740 --> 00:14:57.580 can't. You also can't just look at this and say, 00:14:57.700 --> 00:15:03.210 I get a stamp on state violence. You can't. You 00:15:03.210 --> 00:15:05.590 cannot look at this command and say, I get a 00:15:05.590 --> 00:15:11.289 stamp on capital punishment. You can't. Why do 00:15:11.289 --> 00:15:13.649 I say that? If I start out with the idea of it's 00:15:13.649 --> 00:15:17.309 sort of simple, and you're like, well, it's getting 00:15:17.309 --> 00:15:20.470 a little more complex. It is simple because it's 00:15:20.470 --> 00:15:23.269 a rather specific word in a way. But how the 00:15:23.269 --> 00:15:29.080 Bible applies it is so vast. For the one, let 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:30.940 me give you a few examples. For the one who committed 00:15:30.940 --> 00:15:34.860 unintentional murder, for the one who had blood 00:15:34.860 --> 00:15:37.259 guilt because of their unintentional murder, 00:15:37.620 --> 00:15:39.360 meaning that their life could have been demanded 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:43.600 of them, there were six cities of refuge throughout 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:47.139 Israel, strategically placed, geographically 00:15:47.139 --> 00:15:51.220 spread out so that you could flee there and you 00:15:51.220 --> 00:15:55.460 would not die. It was not just the case. Look 00:15:55.460 --> 00:15:58.279 at what you did. You allowed your ox to gore 00:15:58.279 --> 00:16:03.340 people. We're going to take your life. Your life 00:16:03.340 --> 00:16:06.039 could be preserved because the desire was always 00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:11.940 peace. The desire is always the well -being of 00:16:11.940 --> 00:16:14.480 our neighbors. The passage that I read from Exodus 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:16.720 22 about self -defense, right? And how it said, 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:19.259 and you will have blood guilt on your, you know, 00:16:19.299 --> 00:16:21.259 you won't have blood guilt if you're acting in 00:16:21.259 --> 00:16:23.860 self -defense. That's verse two of that chapter. 00:16:24.700 --> 00:16:27.820 The next verse says, but if the son has risen 00:16:27.820 --> 00:16:30.860 on him, meaning the one who you acted against 00:16:30.860 --> 00:16:33.120 in self -defense, the son came up and he's still 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:38.200 living, there shall be blood guilt. Meaning if 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:40.879 you didn't do all you could to actually spare 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:42.799 the life of the one who was coming into your 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:48.399 house, you were not loving your neighbor. You 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:52.279 were not promoting life. And even for war, the 00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:54.419 Israelites were commanded to offer sacrifices 00:16:54.419 --> 00:16:56.879 before going to war. Partly they were seeking 00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:01.139 God's blessing, but also it is a truth that we 00:17:01.139 --> 00:17:03.539 find all throughout in the wars of the Bible 00:17:03.539 --> 00:17:08.160 that so often the innocent blood is shed. So 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:11.099 often. And it's actually something that happens 00:17:11.099 --> 00:17:13.099 quite a bit in the Bible to Israel that they 00:17:13.099 --> 00:17:16.500 are punished because of how they enacted wars. 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:21.819 It is not so easy. Murder may be a fact of life. 00:17:21.940 --> 00:17:24.339 War is a reality of life. Jesus says in Matthew 00:17:24.339 --> 00:17:27.380 24, that we will always have wars and rumors 00:17:27.380 --> 00:17:32.420 of wars until the end has come. But let's not 00:17:32.420 --> 00:17:35.720 pretend. That the difference between murder and 00:17:35.720 --> 00:17:40.940 war can at times be paper thin And the Bible 00:17:40.940 --> 00:17:45.119 I think seems to make this rather clear The truth 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:48.500 is that untold multitudes of human beings have 00:17:48.500 --> 00:17:53.039 had their lives taken away from them by crimes 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:58.559 or war And sometimes this difference seems we're 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:02.220 not sure always where the difference is Let me 00:18:02.220 --> 00:18:03.960 give you an example. A few decades before the 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:06.420 birth of Jesus, Julius Caesar spent 10 years 00:18:06.420 --> 00:18:09.759 in Gaul, modern -day France. He made a great 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:12.440 name for himself. He became famously wealthy 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:18.240 during those 10 years. What did he do? Well estimates 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:23.619 is that he killed upwards of a million people 00:18:23.619 --> 00:18:29.410 in this conquest. People against whom the Roman 00:18:29.410 --> 00:18:38.589 Empire had no specific grievances He kept because 00:18:38.589 --> 00:18:43.569 by killing them he gained power he gained wealth 00:18:43.569 --> 00:18:48.529 People people don't really think back on Julius 00:18:48.529 --> 00:18:51.210 Caesar as the mass murder we might put Nero in 00:18:51.210 --> 00:18:57.279 that category But he was Murder always seems 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:02.819 to be this selfish action. And here's the thing, 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:07.799 Christians, it's sort of easy for us to look 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:10.539 at the massive bloodshed that happened with the 00:19:10.539 --> 00:19:13.900 rejection of God and the communist revolutions. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:17.400 And by the way, there actually is something really 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:19.440 important to hear in this. If you get rid of 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:21.240 religion, it does not mean you get rid of violence. 00:19:22.900 --> 00:19:25.279 And part of the hope many have I'll do away with 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:27.759 religion. It's a violent thing what we have seen 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:30.859 is when that happens exactly Violence seems to 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:33.480 skyrocket, but it may be easy to kind of look 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:37.640 upon those We think of the 21 60 million people 00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:40.660 who died under Stalin the 40 to 80 million under 00:19:40.660 --> 00:19:43.019 Mao Zedong One and a half to two million who 00:19:43.019 --> 00:19:45.900 died in the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge 00:19:45.900 --> 00:19:50.039 And we may go look at all that those people out 00:19:50.039 --> 00:19:55.349 there But Christians we have we have to actually 00:19:55.349 --> 00:19:58.509 also say if we are going to tell history Well, 00:19:58.609 --> 00:20:00.410 we have to also recount the wars of religion 00:20:00.410 --> 00:20:03.630 in France in the 16th century They did their 00:20:03.630 --> 00:20:07.470 own killings two to four million people the French 00:20:07.470 --> 00:20:09.950 Huguenots the Protestants against the French 00:20:09.950 --> 00:20:16.250 Catholics in the name of Christ There's a book 00:20:16.250 --> 00:20:19.150 that I read about I did not read titled a distant 00:20:19.150 --> 00:20:23.279 mirror the calamitous 14th century And it recounts 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:28.859 how noblemen fought untold wars to gain land 00:20:28.859 --> 00:20:35.000 against each other. How they sent their men into 00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:38.640 others' lands to gain power and to gain wealth. 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:43.480 How they taxed their citizens beyond their livelihood. 00:20:44.339 --> 00:20:47.140 They were dying so they could pay for their war 00:20:47.140 --> 00:20:51.920 to gain power and to gain wealth. And this was 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:56.420 done by one Christian nobleman against another. 00:21:01.579 --> 00:21:05.640 It's titled A Distant Mirror. Why? Because we 00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:08.579 need these mirrors to see what would we do if 00:21:08.579 --> 00:21:11.460 we had this kind of power? What could we do if 00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:13.599 we ordered people around and they did what we 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:17.640 said? And the truth of history seems to be that 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:22.559 we diminish. We deface. We take the lives of 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:29.200 others made in the very image of God. This is 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:34.940 what we do. It's what we do with power. What 00:21:34.940 --> 00:21:36.799 I'm saying is that this may be a simple command 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:40.859 in some regards, and in some regards it is. But 00:21:40.859 --> 00:21:45.079 it is far from simple, which is why one of the 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:46.500 things that our Lord is saying is that we all 00:21:46.500 --> 00:21:54.619 break it. What Jesus is saying there in Matthew 00:21:54.619 --> 00:21:59.380 5 is that murder is just the most obvious violation 00:21:59.380 --> 00:22:03.339 of something that is so all -encompassing, so 00:22:03.339 --> 00:22:06.680 much bigger. And partly that's because the thou 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:09.039 shalt nots in the commandments are always accompanied 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:15.500 by the thou shouts. And the command throughout 00:22:15.500 --> 00:22:17.759 the Bible is always to seek the well -being of 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:24.599 your neighbor, to love. to act for the good of, 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:30.440 to love your neighbor as yourself. If you found 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:33.819 your neighbor's lost animal in the Old Testament, 00:22:33.880 --> 00:22:36.519 you were to return it. There were no finders, 00:22:36.619 --> 00:22:41.380 keepers, losers, weepers. If you plowed your 00:22:41.380 --> 00:22:44.740 field, you were commanded to leave some of it 00:22:44.740 --> 00:22:48.400 for those who did not have food. Why? So they 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:54.730 could live. They could have life they would starve 00:22:54.730 --> 00:23:00.049 Get this if you gained a slave because a man 00:23:00.049 --> 00:23:06.269 had debts that he could not pay There are a number 00:23:06.269 --> 00:23:09.410 of specific ways that you had to look out for 00:23:09.410 --> 00:23:12.609 the interest of that person and Actually went 00:23:12.609 --> 00:23:15.849 beyond this because when he was able to gain 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:18.720 freedom, you were actually supposed to set him 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:21.519 up so that he was financially better off than 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:23.839 when he had to go into that kind of slavery. 00:23:24.940 --> 00:23:28.480 Why? Because you were to love your neighbor as 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:32.460 yourself. You have to lift up the image of God 00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:38.779 and others. You had to be generous, not just 00:23:38.779 --> 00:23:44.799 fair. You had to be generous. Life from conception 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:48.430 to the grave. Life to be loved and delighted 00:23:48.430 --> 00:23:52.890 in and cherished protected the prohibition of 00:23:52.890 --> 00:23:57.829 murder Was not just the prohibition to not harm 00:23:57.829 --> 00:24:05.009 but to love protect To care for to tend to feed 00:24:05.009 --> 00:24:09.809 to nourish to seek life To love others as you 00:24:09.809 --> 00:24:12.769 love yourself Listen to some of the passages 00:24:12.769 --> 00:24:14.869 from the New Testament that were commanded This 00:24:14.869 --> 00:24:17.769 is from Romans 15. We who are strong have an 00:24:17.769 --> 00:24:20.930 obligation to bear with the failings of the weak. 00:24:22.710 --> 00:24:25.130 I mean, if you look at history, for the most 00:24:25.130 --> 00:24:29.309 part, the strong have abused the weak. Romans 00:24:29.309 --> 00:24:32.450 tells us you have an obligation to bear with 00:24:32.450 --> 00:24:35.250 the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 00:24:35.289 --> 00:24:37.289 That's what it says, not to please ourselves. 00:24:38.990 --> 00:24:41.549 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, 00:24:42.470 --> 00:24:45.140 to build him up. That's what we're commanded 00:24:45.140 --> 00:24:48.839 to do. 1 Corinthians 10, let no one seek his 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:54.420 own good, but the good of his neighbor. Philippians, 00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:59.680 do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:04.079 count others more significant than yourself. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:11.799 It's not just fair, but generous. Titus, show 00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:19.500 perfect courtesy towards All people. We still 00:25:19.500 --> 00:25:21.960 want that to say people that look like me and 00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:28.059 vote like me and all the rest. All people! But 00:25:28.059 --> 00:25:30.079 the consistent thing of the Bible is that life 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:32.339 is given by God, that there's no one who does 00:25:32.339 --> 00:25:35.319 not bear his image, and there is no one for whom 00:25:35.319 --> 00:25:40.180 you are not to lift up, to care for, to tend 00:25:40.180 --> 00:25:44.420 to. Of course, Jesus' own words, which may be 00:25:44.420 --> 00:25:48.039 the hardest, Matthew chapter five farther along 00:25:48.039 --> 00:25:55.200 than what we read, love your enemies and pray 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:59.500 for those who persecute you. Love your enemies. 00:26:01.640 --> 00:26:03.799 And none of this is in contrast to the words 00:26:03.799 --> 00:26:07.630 of the Old Testament. that Jesus is expounding 00:26:07.630 --> 00:26:11.410 upon there in Matthew chapter 5. None of this 00:26:11.410 --> 00:26:13.529 is sort of fighting against what we had in the 00:26:13.529 --> 00:26:15.230 Old Testament. Jesus says, you've heard that 00:26:15.230 --> 00:26:17.049 it said, thou shalt not murder. What people were 00:26:17.049 --> 00:26:18.450 doing is they were trying to take that command 00:26:18.450 --> 00:26:21.829 and say, well, if you just do these things, then 00:26:21.829 --> 00:26:27.069 you're fine. No, His words are not against the 00:26:27.069 --> 00:26:31.930 Old Testament. Not against it when He says that 00:26:31.930 --> 00:26:36.519 if you harbor anger against your brother, You'll 00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:40.619 be liable to judgment and to the council. When 00:26:40.619 --> 00:26:44.400 he says that when you call somebody fools, you'll 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:49.140 be liable to the hells of fire. It's not against 00:26:49.140 --> 00:26:51.500 this command when Jesus tells us that we ought 00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:54.059 to actually go and be reconciled to our brother 00:26:54.059 --> 00:26:57.180 when we're going to offer our gifts. Stop if 00:26:57.180 --> 00:26:58.779 you have something against your brother, make 00:26:58.779 --> 00:27:02.690 amends, live into peace. None of that's opposed 00:27:02.690 --> 00:27:04.769 to this command. This is actually the right outflow 00:27:04.769 --> 00:27:09.210 of this command. Because your brother, the one 00:27:09.210 --> 00:27:12.829 that you are tempted to say, you fool, use your 00:27:12.829 --> 00:27:16.589 words to cut down is made in the very image of 00:27:16.589 --> 00:27:22.670 God. No, this is a command to live in peace, 00:27:22.789 --> 00:27:30.309 to seek life, to love life, to cherish it. There's 00:27:30.309 --> 00:27:34.569 a... It's kind of simplicity of this command 00:27:34.569 --> 00:27:39.690 that you might use to let yourself off the hook. 00:27:41.190 --> 00:27:43.690 I think if you simplify it too much, actually, 00:27:44.930 --> 00:27:46.990 what you may be able to do is write others off. 00:27:47.930 --> 00:27:49.190 Because that's what we can do. When we can check 00:27:49.190 --> 00:27:50.609 it off, we can say, I can check this off and 00:27:50.609 --> 00:27:52.470 you can't. And then I can begin to actually look 00:27:52.470 --> 00:27:56.470 down on you and write you off. I did not commit 00:27:56.470 --> 00:28:03.259 manslaughter. We can simplify others. We simplify 00:28:03.259 --> 00:28:05.200 others all the time, right? We put people into 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:10.880 categories. Racial categories, of course. Age 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:15.539 categories. These people are too old. They're 00:28:15.539 --> 00:28:20.240 a strain financially on society. Maybe we can 00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:23.819 decide when they live or when they don't. These 00:28:23.819 --> 00:28:26.920 people are so young. They're a strain on society. 00:28:27.079 --> 00:28:28.759 Maybe we can decide when they live and when they 00:28:28.759 --> 00:28:33.059 don't. These people vote that way. I can use 00:28:33.059 --> 00:28:38.839 my words however I want. There's a simplicity 00:28:38.839 --> 00:28:42.759 to this command. If you take it that way, you 00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:45.599 can speak to your wife in that tone of voice, 00:28:45.980 --> 00:28:50.599 those harsh words. You can tweet and post and 00:28:50.599 --> 00:28:54.559 say whatever you will about those people, those 00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:58.539 political enemies. But there's another kind of 00:28:58.539 --> 00:29:00.079 simplicity of this command, I think, that invites 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:02.299 us into this all -encompassing thing. And the 00:29:02.299 --> 00:29:05.539 simplicity of this command is the dignity of 00:29:05.539 --> 00:29:11.500 every single human being and the call for every 00:29:11.500 --> 00:29:16.940 single one of us to love life, to pursue the 00:29:16.940 --> 00:29:20.359 well -being of our neighbors, that we are to 00:29:20.359 --> 00:29:23.359 actually love them, as Jesus says, as ourselves. 00:29:28.170 --> 00:29:32.589 And if we look at it like this, it's almost impossible 00:29:32.589 --> 00:29:35.750 to not see that each one of us is blood guilty, 00:29:36.430 --> 00:29:40.990 right? That each one of us breaks this, that 00:29:40.990 --> 00:29:45.109 each one of us should actually, that it could 00:29:45.109 --> 00:29:50.750 demand our life. If we understand this command 00:29:50.750 --> 00:29:56.670 rightly, we may want to be the ones who bar it. 00:29:56.720 --> 00:30:02.519 from the entry of schools and of our houses and 00:30:02.519 --> 00:30:05.099 of our hearts, because what if it demands our 00:30:05.099 --> 00:30:08.259 life? What if it makes us blood guilty because 00:30:08.259 --> 00:30:10.299 we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves, 00:30:10.700 --> 00:30:17.480 us all? Because the real right answer to the 00:30:17.480 --> 00:30:20.720 question of, do you have a serious problem with 00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:35.170 anger is what? Yes. Yes, we do And I've got to 00:30:35.170 --> 00:30:36.950 tell you about good news or he does not tell 00:30:36.950 --> 00:30:40.329 you about good news It's been mentioned this 00:30:40.329 --> 00:30:44.490 is Trinity Sunday One of things that we see when 00:30:44.490 --> 00:30:47.789 we reflect on the Trinity is that the Trinity 00:30:47.789 --> 00:30:51.049 Father Son, the Holy Spirit is the God who loves 00:30:51.049 --> 00:30:58.099 life just consistently God loves life. We can 00:30:58.099 --> 00:31:00.759 read of God the Father that He gives everyone 00:31:00.759 --> 00:31:04.240 life and breath and everything else in Acts 17. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:09.339 We can read there in that same passage, but also 00:31:09.339 --> 00:31:12.059 elsewhere, in Him we live and we move and we 00:31:12.059 --> 00:31:15.619 have our being. But there is no life that does 00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:21.349 not exist without the will of God. We can read 00:31:21.349 --> 00:31:23.930 Jesus say in John chapter five, for just as the 00:31:23.930 --> 00:31:26.369 father raises the dead and gives life to them, 00:31:26.910 --> 00:31:30.490 so also the son gives life. That's what it says. 00:31:30.750 --> 00:31:33.529 That's what Jesus does. That's what the father 00:31:33.529 --> 00:31:40.630 does. Gives life, loves life. Of course, we can 00:31:40.630 --> 00:31:43.130 recount as we have so many times the Nicene Creed. 00:31:43.730 --> 00:31:45.950 And the very first thing it says about the Holy 00:31:45.950 --> 00:31:49.970 Spirit, is that the Holy Spirit is the Lord and 00:31:49.970 --> 00:31:57.170 giver of life. It is who God is, the one who 00:31:57.170 --> 00:32:01.390 loves life. Of course, when we look at the life 00:32:01.390 --> 00:32:03.650 of Jesus, we see that the command of Jesus is 00:32:03.650 --> 00:32:07.130 also, it's not just His command, it is His character. 00:32:08.190 --> 00:32:09.809 If we look at the Gospels, we don't just see 00:32:09.809 --> 00:32:12.049 that Jesus commands us these things, but He lives 00:32:12.049 --> 00:32:16.349 them. It's His character. It's who God is incarnate. 00:32:16.940 --> 00:32:21.900 I shall not kill. God does not assault the image 00:32:21.900 --> 00:32:24.579 of God. What does Jesus do? He doesn't assault 00:32:24.579 --> 00:32:29.220 it. He restores it. He doesn't take life. Jesus 00:32:29.220 --> 00:32:31.039 doesn't take life. What does He do? He gives 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:43.240 life. Jesus doesn't wound. He heals. His life 00:32:43.240 --> 00:32:46.950 not only generally, but he says he gives it abundantly. 00:32:47.150 --> 00:32:51.230 He just loves it. He's always promoting life, 00:32:51.470 --> 00:32:55.170 life to the fullest. Jesus does not oppress others, 00:32:55.950 --> 00:32:59.650 but he liberates them. His words, even his harsh 00:32:59.650 --> 00:33:03.349 words, which are harsh at times, are words for 00:33:03.349 --> 00:33:06.869 life and repentance. He does not will that any 00:33:06.869 --> 00:33:09.670 should perish, but that all should come to life, 00:33:10.390 --> 00:33:16.279 everlasting life. Friends, Jesus had all the 00:33:16.279 --> 00:33:20.400 reason in the world to seek vengeance, to seek 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:26.400 retribution, right? Blood guilty. He had all 00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:29.039 the reason in the world to exercise ultimate 00:33:29.039 --> 00:33:34.539 judgment, to say, you're liable. You're liable 00:33:34.539 --> 00:33:36.960 to the council and to the judgment and to the 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:42.059 hells of fire, as he says. But what does he do? 00:33:44.009 --> 00:33:51.109 Said he suffers Instead he is murdered his life 00:33:51.109 --> 00:33:56.569 is taken unjustly He dies that we who murder 00:33:56.569 --> 00:34:03.250 might live Murder in our hearts murder in our 00:34:03.250 --> 00:34:09.170 words murder in our writing Sometimes murder 00:34:09.170 --> 00:34:15.679 in our hands He dies that we might live. He doesn't 00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:18.679 murder, but he dies the victim of murder so that 00:34:18.679 --> 00:34:20.539 we who are the murderers might actually have 00:34:20.539 --> 00:34:23.320 some life because why? He loves it. He loves 00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:26.179 life. He's restoring the image of God in the 00:34:26.179 --> 00:34:30.139 world. That is all throughout the Bible. It is 00:34:30.139 --> 00:34:33.679 central to the scriptures that God loves life. 00:34:36.900 --> 00:34:40.460 The lover of life is who our trying God is. From 00:34:40.460 --> 00:34:44.019 beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible. 00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:47.820 This is who he is. It's also who he calls his 00:34:47.820 --> 00:34:52.300 people to be. What he's doing in Christ and through 00:34:52.300 --> 00:34:54.699 the work of the Holy Spirit is he is recreating 00:34:54.699 --> 00:34:58.340 us into his image. What happens when we reject 00:34:58.340 --> 00:35:00.760 his image in the garden, the first sin after 00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:04.619 they are expelled from God's presence? Murder. 00:35:06.940 --> 00:35:09.460 And then Jesus comes to restore this reality. 00:35:09.710 --> 00:35:12.090 of the fullness of the image of God in His creation. 00:35:15.469 --> 00:35:17.789 This is who we are called to be. And as sordid 00:35:17.789 --> 00:35:21.230 as Christian history has been, the truth is there 00:35:21.230 --> 00:35:25.170 has also been vast multitudes of Christians who 00:35:25.170 --> 00:35:28.210 have sought to love life and to do it in the 00:35:28.210 --> 00:35:32.050 name of Jesus. And as they have done that, a 00:35:32.050 --> 00:35:34.750 cruel and a violent and a murderous world has 00:35:34.750 --> 00:35:37.780 seen it. and has given their life to Jesus, or 00:35:37.780 --> 00:35:42.500 has at least questioned what's going on. Let 00:35:42.500 --> 00:35:44.039 me give you a couple of examples. Julian the 00:35:44.039 --> 00:35:46.139 Apostate, some of you are familiar with that 00:35:46.139 --> 00:35:49.780 name, no friend to Christianity, writing in the 00:35:49.780 --> 00:35:52.539 fourth century said, let us consider that nothing 00:35:52.539 --> 00:35:55.519 has so much contributed to the progress of the 00:35:55.519 --> 00:35:58.039 superstition, which is what he called Christianity. 00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:01.400 Now, nothing has so much contributed to the progress 00:36:01.400 --> 00:36:05.039 of the superstition of Christians as their charity. 00:36:06.890 --> 00:36:12.789 love to strangers, and he didn't like it. But 00:36:12.789 --> 00:36:15.409 people came to know Jesus because they loved 00:36:15.409 --> 00:36:20.309 their strangers, people that weren't like them. 00:36:23.030 --> 00:36:25.289 The 4th century church father Basil said that 00:36:25.289 --> 00:36:27.409 nothing had rendered the Christian faith more 00:36:27.409 --> 00:36:30.670 famous in those early times, and it made for 00:36:30.670 --> 00:36:34.429 more followers of Christ than the bounty of Christian 00:36:34.429 --> 00:36:38.550 charity. Let's fast forward a bit to the 19th 00:36:38.550 --> 00:36:41.170 century. Charles Darwin, no friend of Christianity, 00:36:41.489 --> 00:36:45.210 again, he observed the inhabitants of Tierra 00:36:45.210 --> 00:36:48.409 del Fuego, which is on the far southern Pacific 00:36:48.409 --> 00:36:51.469 coast of South America. So they were degraded 00:36:51.469 --> 00:36:54.849 people, violent and miserable. And then some 00:36:54.849 --> 00:36:58.309 years later he came back after some missionary 00:36:58.309 --> 00:37:00.630 work had been done there, after Christians went 00:37:00.630 --> 00:37:03.429 there to love them and to tell them about Jesus. 00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:06.719 And some of those missionaries gave their life 00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:11.840 to do so. So he stops again on one of his expeditions. 00:37:12.360 --> 00:37:15.019 He sees how completely changed these people are, 00:37:15.500 --> 00:37:18.099 from their violent ways to living a life of love 00:37:18.099 --> 00:37:21.380 for others. And so he actually writes to the 00:37:21.380 --> 00:37:23.260 missions agency that was caring for these people. 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:26.179 And he says, the success of the Tierra del Fuego 00:37:26.179 --> 00:37:31.519 mission is most wonderful and charms me. As I 00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:35.670 always prophesied, utter failure. I always prophesied 00:37:35.670 --> 00:37:38.409 to be utter failure to go and work with that 00:37:38.409 --> 00:37:41.849 violent people. He says it's a great success. 00:37:42.650 --> 00:37:45.269 I shall feel proud if your committee think it 00:37:45.269 --> 00:37:50.190 fit to elect me an honorary member of your society. 00:37:50.309 --> 00:37:52.610 He wanted to be an honorary member of the mission 00:37:52.610 --> 00:37:57.289 society because God's people went and loved life 00:37:57.289 --> 00:38:03.500 and brought peace into a violent world. Is that 00:38:03.500 --> 00:38:09.199 not beautiful? It is. It's lovely. So what should 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:15.800 we do? Will we find, as so many Christians have, 00:38:17.639 --> 00:38:21.159 that this command is just the beginning of loving 00:38:21.159 --> 00:38:26.159 your neighbors as yourself? Seeking the life 00:38:26.159 --> 00:38:30.639 of others? Will we find that our neighbor's well 00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:35.000 -being is our concern? Will we find that our 00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:40.679 words, spoken and written, our actions, our hands 00:38:40.679 --> 00:38:45.619 and our feet, our bodies, are not made for cutting 00:38:45.619 --> 00:38:51.260 down, saying, you fool. But that God made us 00:38:51.260 --> 00:38:55.400 to reflect Him, to create beauty and goodness, 00:38:56.320 --> 00:39:00.019 truth in the world, to lift up life rather than 00:39:00.019 --> 00:39:04.110 to tear it down. Will we find? that this command 00:39:04.110 --> 00:39:07.829 is sweeter than honey and more to be desired 00:39:07.829 --> 00:39:14.150 than gold. I think that if we do this, if we 00:39:14.150 --> 00:39:19.030 do this, the Julian apostates and the Charles 00:39:19.030 --> 00:39:22.969 Darwins might go, I want to be a part of that. 00:39:24.190 --> 00:39:30.329 There is something lovely there. May it be true 00:39:30.329 --> 00:39:37.349 of us. Amen. Lord God, may we never use your 00:39:37.349 --> 00:39:42.829 law to beat down. May we see it as a lovely call 00:39:42.829 --> 00:39:46.110 to love you with our whole heart and mind and 00:39:46.110 --> 00:39:48.789 soul and strength and to love our neighbors as 00:39:48.789 --> 00:39:54.489 ourselves. May we see the sanctity, the holiness 00:39:54.489 --> 00:40:01.380 of you when we are called to love first. and 00:40:01.380 --> 00:40:03.739 of those made in your image, our neighbors, who 00:40:03.739 --> 00:40:10.179 we are called to love as ourselves. God, I pray 00:40:10.179 --> 00:40:15.179 that this would start in our homes, with our 00:40:15.179 --> 00:40:18.500 friends, with our children. May it start in our 00:40:18.500 --> 00:40:23.420 church. And may it overflow into the world, a 00:40:23.420 --> 00:40:28.500 world that is so fraught with violence, so fraught 00:40:28.500 --> 00:40:37.429 with power grabbing, pushing others down, angry 00:40:37.429 --> 00:40:44.989 words. Would your beauty extend through us? And 00:40:44.989 --> 00:40:47.210 as you are the Lord and the giver of life, as 00:40:47.210 --> 00:40:52.050 you're the one who authors it, who perfects it, 00:40:52.710 --> 00:40:54.829 the one in whom we live and move and have our 00:40:54.829 --> 00:40:58.449 being, Lord, would we live into your way? of 00:40:58.449 --> 00:41:02.289 loving life. Amen. Thank you for listening to 00:41:02.289 --> 00:41:05.030 Second City Sermon's podcast. We hope this sermon 00:41:05.030 --> 00:41:07.309 has encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate 00:41:07.309 --> 00:41:10.150 the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing 00:41:10.150 --> 00:41:13.010 to this podcast and joining us in person each 00:41:13.010 --> 00:41:15.889 Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us online at 00:41:15.889 --> 00:41:19.050 secondcitychurch .org and on Instagram, Facebook, 00:41:19.250 --> 00:41:21.809 and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. God 00:41:21.809 --> 00:41:22.170 bless.