2005-04-22
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I’m led to continue the discussion on murder that I began last week. You’ll remember that we had gotten to the part where God had tried to “purify the land” by ridding it of the sin of murder. He had been taking into account intent on the part of the person committing this crime, by commanding ancient Israel to set up cities of refuge for those who committed unintentional murder and rules for those who abused this safety valve [DT 19: 1-4, 11-13]. What God wanted was for Israel to be a kind of heaven on earth, but mankind wasn’t sufficiently civilized at the time for that to be possible. I’m sure that came as another of the many disappointments that man’s sin caused God. We must remember the nature of God’s amazing love for mankind arises from the fact that we are created in His image [GN 1: 27]. Sadly, the stories of the remainder of the OT are replete with duplicity, murders, and every kind of sin of which man is capable.
If we fast forward in time to Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, we can look at MT 5: 22 and see the Father’s hand in it. “But now I tell you: whoever is angry with his brother will be brought to trial, whosever call his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing!’ will be brought before the Council [the Sanhedrin] and whoever calls his brother a worthless fool will be in danger of going to the fire of hell.” This teaching goes one step beyond that which says a murderer should be judged by the court. The word “raca” in Hebrew (which means “empty fool” in English) was considered a dire insult, a word of contempt or abuse. This refers to a spiritually empty person who deserves to go to “gehenna” (which means “hell” in English). In today’s worldly parlance, this may seem tame, but it was the ultimate insult in Christ’s time. And yes, I don’t mean to sound cynical but the world has indeed become more evil as time has elapsed. “Gehenna” is the lake of fire and sulfur, that place where one sent there will spend eternity in conscious torment-certainly the worst punishment imaginable. A point to be made here is that threat of judgment is only appropriate when God’s honor is at stake or when someone else is being wronged. It never right to express this in retaliation for personal wrongs. There can be no mistaking the severity of the Lord’s words. He is teaching that anger generates thoughts of murder, that abusive language contains the spirit of murder, and that cursing language implied the very desire to murder. The progressive heightening of the crimes demand thee degrees of punishment: the judgment, the Council, and hell fire. In the Kingdom, Christ will deal with sins according to severity.
We can see this suggested in MT 5: 19, “So then, whoever disobeys even the least important of the commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be least in the Kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys the Law and teaches others to do the same, will be great in the Kingdom of heaven.” This statement puts the responsibility squarely on the believer’s shoulders to be acutely aware of his motives before anything escapes his mouth. As a matter of fact, it speaks also to one’s thought processes, as well. If we stop to think of what we know from RO 1: 18-32, evil begins with an idea which is converted to words which are converted to evil actions. Wrong relationships, such as those between the members of hate groups, for example, arise to make evil group action possible. The onus is on the believer to keep his mind open to the Holy Spirit’s action to rid it of evil ideas.
All the while, we must remember that God never calls us to make any change that He has not first equipped us to make. So, it is possible for someone who has sinned due to evil ideas in the past to have his heart transformed by God and to repent of this kind of thinking. It is possible for people to accept Christ as their Savior and go on to living righteous lives after having not done so in their pasts. As for a sin as heinous as “murder one,” that person must face penalties for his sin and yet be forgiven by God. Karla Faye Tucker is an example of that kind of person. The state of TX executed her after 14 years of attempts to get her sentence commuted to life in prison without parole, but I firmly believe that this lady who spent those 14 years of incarceration bringing other prisoners to where the Holy Spirit could give them faith in Christ, has been forgiven by God. Since she never again committed a murder after asking for God’s forgiveness, I believe she was forgiven. Will she hold a position in the Kingdom as high as someone who never committed murder? I don’t think so.
Christ’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is God’s attempt to bring sinful mankind to the next level of civilization. We already know from the murder of Christ, and that’s what I have to believe His crucifixion was, that there was terrible resistance from mankind to making this next step. However, the earth was left with a few believers who would eventually use their leadership to set the stage where the Holy Spirit could convert many to life-giving faith in Him. All of this points out the extra added responsibility that God has equipped leaders to have in influencing many for Christ. It’s the reason why leaders, teachers, and pastors should rightfully be held to a higher standard than those who are not. Yet, even these people who shoulder this responsibility, should never forget they are still sinners and need to act with humility before others and certainly before God. We must each remember, no matter what our position is in human society, that we can’t know what God’s cosmic purpose for our lives might be. Therefore, we should monitor our thoughts, words, and deeds-always with His commandments and agenda in mind.
PRAYER: O Lord, Your teaching on murder is very clear. Your reasons for discouraging us from this sinful act are righteous and just. Those of us who are older and more spiritually mature have a responsibility to set a right example, one right with God, for the younger people in our society. In the book of Titus, You set forth guidelines for church leaders that should really apply to any mature person. TITUS 2: 2-5, “Instruct the older men [and women] to be sober, sensible, and self-controlled; to be sound in their faith, love, and endurance. In the same way instruct the older women to behave as women should who live a holy life. They must not be slanderers or slaves to wine. They must teach what is good, in order to train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, and to be good housewives who submit themselves to their husbands, so that no one will speak evil of the message that comes from God.” This is not saying that women shouldn’t work, as so many do in today’s world, but it means that the working woman must make sure that her children receive enough of their time for proper care, training, and love. Nor does it say that it doesn’t matter whether men are pure. The dictates, Dearest Abba, that you set down in EPH 5: 25 still hold, for we should never take one part of Your word and not another to suit human purposes or rationalization. “Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it.” You are so wise in that all Your teaching is designed to motivate mankind not to sin. O Lord, we commit ourselves to the belief stated in TITUS 2: 11-12, “For God has revealed His grace for the salvation of all mankind. That grace instructs us to give up ungodly living and worldly passions, to live self-controlled, upright and godly loves in this world…” We thank You for the sacrifice of Your Son so we could be saved through Your grace. In Christ we pray. Amen.
Next week, the Holy Spirit has instructed me to continue writing about anger against the foundational ethics of the teaching of Christ and the apostles. God speaks to us in so many ways in the Scriptures, ways designed to meet the need to dissuade us from sinning. His love for us is so profound, after all we are created in His image, that He wants nothing more than to bring as many of us as possible back to His side in heaven for a life of eternal and blissful fellowship with Him. The description of heaven given in REV 21 & 22 is only a small foretaste of how wonderful heaven will be. Nothing can be more joyful and fulfilling than living as God’s friends surrounded by the warmth of His love forever. All of this makes us eager for that day to come when we will be called to a “meeting in the air” with our Savior [RO 8: 19; 1 THESS 4: 13-17]. It is this hope of resurrection that motivates us to live godly lives, loving the Lord ourselves and teaching our children to do the same. We must remember that the Lord has commanded us to living righteous lives, when He told us first in LV 11: 44-45 and 19: 2, and then in 1 PET 1: 16, “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn