Principles for Life- Hold Life Sacred

October 5, 2003, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00 AM

Rev. Ronald Burcham

Typed from audio transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

You shall not kill. Do not murder. It seems pretty straightforward. It seems kind of easy really. As you take a look at the commandment "You shall not kill," one would almost be tempted to say we don't really need to spend a whole lot of time on this one. In fact, why don't we chalk this one up on our side of the scoreboard and maybe go on to the other nine of God's Top Ten List because, after all, really who's ever pulled the trigger or really killed somebody. I think we can pass this one by.

But I think we all know a little bit better than that, don't we? The implication of God's command here that "You shall not kill," it goes beyond pulling the trigger or wielding a knife. The implications actually are quite contemporary in nature. They actually are topics of debate in our society right now because, in this command, God talks about the sanctity of all life, the life of those who are living, the life of those who are unborn, and the life of those that some have labeled as unwanted. But all life is sacred in God's eyes. And as God wants to provide for us and as God wants to protect us, He gives us a principle for living here and the principle is this: We are to hold all life sacred. We hold all life sacred because life is a gift from God. Now that sounds like stating the obvious, but I wonder sometimes if we pass that by. All life is a gift from God. In the world in which we live, in which people are conceived in a variety of ways with the medical technology and the advancements of science, but yet I tell you no matter how a person is conceived, it is only God who gives life. It is God who brings us life. It's God who gives us life, gives us a purpose and a reason for living; and it is only God who determines when this life should end.

Scripture tells us in Acts 17, "He Himself gives all people life and breath." He tells us in Job, "Your days have been numbered. He has them mapped out. Life, all life, is a gift from God. God is the one who determines when life begins and God alone is supposed to be the one who determines when life ends. We know, because we live in a fallen world, we live in a sin-filled world, that God in His mercy will not let us live forever on this earth, that God in His mercy has provided for us a heavenly place of joy and peace. But God and God alone determines when we go to heaven, when we're released from this earth. You see, I think it is sheer arrogance on mankind's part to believe that we can determine who should be born and who shouldn't. It's arrogance on man's part to say who should live and who should die, arrogance on man's part to say what is quality of life and what is beyond that and, therefore, it should be ended. It's arrogance to think that we know better than God, an Almighty God, all-knowing God, a God who is eternal, who looks at the scope of all of history. He alone can determine when someone should be born and when someone should die. He alone has that right, and He alone has that authority. Therefore, God provides for us in this commandment. He provides protection for us, protection for all of life, because all of life is a sacred gift from our Father in heaven. And because it is sacred, then God seeks to protect that life. God seeks to protect our lives by saying that it is absolutely positively wrong to take the life of someone else, such as the case with Cain and Abel all the way back to the creation times. God says that His blood cries out for me. Only God determines when someone is to live and when someone is to die, so God protects us in this commandment by saying it is wrong to take the life of another human being. The implications of this commandment go far beyond just murder. The implications go beyond wielding a gun or holding a knife, and this morning I'd like for us to hit it head-on and not shy away with what God's Word has to say because God is seeking to provide for us and protect us in this commandment.

God first of all seeks to protect us from ourselves. He seeks to protect us from ourselves and what we might do to ourselves. Therefore, God says to us that suicide is wrong, that we do not have the right to take our own lives. That is a hot topic for us in our society. The statistics from 2000 say that the 11th leading cause of death was suicide, that there were more suicides than homicides in 2000, and that it is the 3rd leading cause of death between the age of 15 and 24. People are taking their own lives, more so than people taking their lives from them. God seeks to protect us from ourselves in this commandment. God understands and God knows that we get into circumstances in life, that depression can set in, that we can be emotionally and mentally not what we should be, and we can start to convince ourselves that there is no solution, that the problems we're mixed up in, the situation, the circumstances are so great that the only solution we can come up with is to take our own life. God counteracts that with this commandment, and God says unequivocally, "No, you don't have that right. You can't make that choice." God tells us that He alone will determine who lives and who dies. God has a purpose and a plan for all of us. Even if we can't see the purpose, even if we don't know His plan, it's still there. We may not be able to see our way out of the darkness, we may not see any solutions, but I guarantee you that God has a solution, that God can bring resolution to whatever is happening in your life. The solution, the answer is not to end your life. And you may wonder why am I preaching to the choir on this. Because I've had more than just a couple of individuals tell me that the only thing that stopped them from taking their life is because they knew God said it was wrong. Let me be clear. God says it's wrong. Only God determines who lives and who dies. No matter how bad your circumstance may be, God will see you through. Suicide is not the solution. It is not an answer.

I need to take one side note here, and that is I want to clear up some misconceptions, some misconceptions from the past because I know in days gone by, it was preached that whoever committed suicide had a one-way ticket straight to hell. That is simply not true. God's Word does not support that. When someone does get to the point where they take their life, they're emotionally, they're mentally unfit to make those kinds of decisions. Salvation is based upon belief in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. But what suicide does do is it cuts God's plans short, the plans that God has for your life, the people that He plans on influencing through your lives that you don't even know about, those are all cut off short when we end our life instead of letting God determine that. God protects us in this commandment. He protects us from ourselves. He says that we are not to take our own lives.

God goes further in His protection because then God protects us from trying to make a decision that is not our decision. God protects us from trying to make the decision of deciding who should live and who should die. God protects us from making the decision at what point is the quality of life so poor that we make a decision to end that life. God says that decision is not yours to make. God alone will make that choice. God alone will make that decision. That's prevalent in our world today. Oregon already has on the law books suicide assisted by doctors, death with dignity, euthanasia, mercy killing. I don't care what title you give it, it all boils down to the same thing. Now I'm not talking about being beside a loved one and taking off the life support and letting nature take its course and letting God decide whether the person is going to live or die. I'm talking about willfully and with intent doing something that causes the death of another individual, of making a decision that their quality of life is such that it's so poor that it would be better for them to end their life. God says I'm going to protect you from making that decision because it's not your decision to make.

And, my friends, I live in a real world; and I know how painful it is to stand beside a loved one. I've been there, and I've been with many of you. Standing beside the bed of someone that you wonder why hasn't God taken them to heaven, that their quality of life has deteriorated so much you can't imagine why God would keep them here. At times, I have not liked God's decision, and it's okay if you don't like God's decision. But it's still His decision. He's the one who decides who lives, and He decides when He takes that person home. He's the only one who has the knowledge. He's the only one who can put it in the context of all of history. We don't know what God is using that person for. We don't know how He's influencing others by keeping this person alive.

One quick example. His name was Charles. Charles was in a vegetative state for over 10 years at the Marshalltown Vet Home. For 10 years, he didn't move. He didn't say anything. He didn't blink his eyes. He didn't do anything. Many a times I thought to myself, "Lord, take Charles home. Give him the new body. Give him heaven. What possibly could he be doing here still in this world?" When God finally decided to call Charles home, you know what happened? Almost every person that ever attended him in those 10 years was at that funeral. Why? Because three times every day for 10 years his wife would come in. Morning devotions she would have with him and pray. She'd come in at lunchtime, read a little bit of scripture and pray. She came in every night and said her evening prayers with him. People saw that kind of faith. They saw her strength and her dedication to her husband. All those people came to that service, and I have to believe that some of their hearts were touched, that God grabbed a hold of them through Charles in a vegetative state.

God determines, God decides when someone goes to heaven and when someone is supposed to stay here in this world. In this commandment, God protects us. God protects us from having to make that kind of decision, because who really wants to make that kind of decision. God says you don't have to. God says I decide.

God continues on with His protection, because God protects those who cannot speak for themselves. God protects those who don't have a voice, those who don't have a choice. God speaks for those that are yet to be born. God speaks for all those who are growing in the wombs of mothers, and God says that abortion is wrong, that taking the life of the unborn is wrong. God doesn't care whether it's politically correct. God doesn't care whether it's a topic which is kind of controversial. God's Word is clear, and it is direct. Is God trying to take away some of the rights of somebody? Is He trying to have undue influence on a choice? No. He is trying to protect the 4,000 babies per day in the United States that die through abortion. He is trying to protect the 40 million babies annually that die worldwide because of abortion. God loves and cares for each one of those children; and, in this commandment, He seeks to protect them and to protect the life He has given to them. So He is very clear. He is very direct and forward about it. We are not to make those determinations of who is born and who is not born. God is the one who gives life to all, and that life starts at conception. God is clear. Psalm 139 says, "You knit me together in my mother's womb. Your eyes saw my unformed body." Jeremiah 1:5 says, this is God speaking, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart." God says that for every human being, every human being that is conceived that He has a purpose for them and He has a plan for them. No matter what circumstances they may be born in, God is still active in their life. God still has a plan and a purpose for them. No matter what the circumstances may be surrounding how that child was conceived. If they were conceived through evil, the solution is not more evil. The solution is not to end that life. God says all of life is sacred from conception on.

One point that I think maybe we forget and certainly it is a point that society doesn't want us to think about, with every abortion, there are two victims. I'm convinced of that. There is the baby, and there is the mother. I do believe the mother is a victim. I have talked to enough women over the years who have had abortions, and 10, 15, 20 years later, the pain and the regret is still in their hearts. And I hesitated this week to even preach on this for fear that I would bring up that pain again, that I would bring up that regret and that sorrow. But God's Word is clear, and we need to hear from God's Word. And God wants to protect all people. He wants to protect the unborn. He wants to protect those that are labeled as unwanted. He wants to protect your life and every life. So I take the chance this morning of striking a cord and maybe bringing back some sorrow, but I want you to know that God's forgiveness and His grace is there for you, that God's forgiveness and grace is for all of us because if we want to get honest with each other, all of us have failed this commandment. Every single one of us is guilty. Just look to the New Testament lesson. Jesus says if you're angry with your brother, you're condemned. 1 John says, "If you hate your brother, you're a murderer." All of us have made the wrong choice, but God has made a choice to love you and to forgive you and to welcome you into His arms.

May I remind you of three individuals, three murderers? How about Moses? He was a murderer. The man who lead them out of the captivity of Egypt, the man that led them to the promise land, do you remember the Egyptian slave master? Moses was a murderer. Can I remind you of King David? Great King David who established his kingdom, did all that marvelous work for God. Do you remember what he did to Bathsheba's husband? He might as well of killed them with his own hands. How about St. Paul? St. Paul who stood by the sidelines holding the jackets of everyone while they stoned Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Those three men were forgiven by God, and they were used by God. And all of you are forgiven by God. Jesus Himself said, "I have not come into this world to condemn the world but to save it." And Jesus came into this world to save you.

God knows your pain, and He knows your regret. And what He desires more than anything is for you to experience His love and His forgiveness in your life. Don't go out this morning downtrodden, saddened, and with regret of choices in the past. Know God's choice, God's choice to forgive you. In fact, the Old Testament that God made the decision and the choice that, "I will remember your sins no more." So I tell you this morning, remember your sins no more. Put the regret, put the hurt behind you. Be enveloped by God's love and God's grace; and, as you experience that love and grace, then be moved to action. Move to action to follow this principle that God gives us, the principle that all life is sacred. And if all life is sacred, then let's live that way. Let's live as if this life that God has given us is sacred. That means take care of the life that God has gifted you with. Make the most of the life that God has gifted you with. He has a plan for you. He has a purpose for you. Seek it out. Find out what it is. Keep yourself in the best possible health condition so you can take care of the life that God has given to you, and take care of the lives of those around you. Take care of the lives of those in your own family. For those of us who have teenagers in our home, we need to talk to our teenagers. If the third leading cause of death in teenagers to 24 is suicide, then we need to talk to our teens. We need to tell them how much we love them. We need to tell them that no matter how bleak it may look, there's always a solution. No matter how much they seem to be in the dark and see no possible solution, assure them that you will help them find a solution. God will help them find a solution and take the extra step. It may be uncomfortable, but talk to your teens. Make a pact with your teen. Make an agreement with them. Say to them that if they ever get to the point where they think it's so bad, it's so bleak that they're thinking about taking their own life, make them promise they will call you first, that they will talk to you before they do anything. Hold life sacred. Be proactive. Talk to your teens and your young people, and take a stand. Take a stand for what God says. If it's not politically correct, so be it. We won't be politically correct. We will be correct with God, and we will stand upon His Word. If that means taking a stand in our group of friends, then we do it. If that means taking a stand in our community, then we do it. If it means taking a stand in our government and in our nation, then we are obliged to do that. God says all life is sacred, so let's stand up for life. Let's stand up for those decisions that can be made so that we hold life sacred, so that the doctor-assisted suicide laws don't get passed in other states, so that we make people aware that even the unborn are precious in God's sight. We take a stand, but we stand not on our own opinion. We stand on God's Word, on what He has to say. And God says to us in this commandment that He has such a love for all people, that He has a plan for every life, that for Him all life is sacred, so we should consider all life sacred. Amen.

Copyright 2003 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church