To Kill or not to Kill?
When we think of killers, we think of serial killers with human body parts hidden in a refrigerator; or heads-of-state armed with weapons of mass destruction, or the mass shooters of schools, night clubs and synagogues. But what do we think of state-sponsored killers. This week, the state of Tennessee injected Christa Pike with two doses of lethal injection drugs. Something went wrong. Now Pike lies in a hospital in critical condition as that same state who tried to kill her provides her with life-saving measures. Killing is no simple matter.
We don’t envision 12- and 14-year-old junior high school girls as murderers. Remember the case of a 12-year-old and 14-year-old who were arrested for murder by Facebook. Rebecca Sedgwick jumped from the top of an abandoned concrete plant. Authorities said the 14-year-old girl was Rebecca's chief tormenter, and the girl posted a taunting internet message about what happened.
"Yes, I bullied REBECCA and she killed herself but IDGAF"
Social media like Facebook was designed as a place to connect friends. Who envisioned it as place for murderers as well. Killing is possible in the most unlikely places from the most unsuspecting people to include you and I. We have the potential to literally and spiritually murder people. That is why God posted “NK” on social media long before there was social media—on a mountain top etched on tablets of stone. NK stands for “No Killing” and it is the sixth commandment of the Ten Commandments.
With some schools requiring the posting and teaching of the Ten Commandments, what constitutes killing in the eyes of God is an important question? Can a Facebook posting, or a malicious text execution or state-sanctioned execution constitute killing that God forbids? There are two sides to killing in the 6th commandment found in Ex. 20:13 in the Old Testament, and in Mathew 5:21-26 in the New Testament.
We will see the literal side of killing in the Old Testament and the spiritual side of killing in the New. Both bring with them a stiff penalty—death. Killing is no simple matter.
In the Old Testament, killing literally meant murder by hand. (Ex. 20:13; II Sam 12:9; 1Kings 21:19). “To kill”—rasah—means to murder with premeditation and intentionality. It means you plan with your mind and intend with your hands to murder:
"You shall not murder.” Ex. 20:13
While Hebrew possesses seven words for killing, the word used here—rasah —appears only forty-seven times in the OT. If any one of the seven words could signify "murder," where the factors of premeditation and intentionality are present, this is the verb. Literally you plan for your hands to take someone’s life.
And you don’t even have to get your hands bloody to murder with your hands. David intentionally and with premeditation murdered Uriah as an accessory according II Sam. 12:9.
9 'Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. II Sam 12:9.
David didn’t hold the sword, but he put Uriah on the front lines so the swords of the Ammonites would do the killing. David was an accessory to murder. Have you ever been an accessory to a crime? You didn’t start the rumor, but you put it in the right spot to do the most damage. Everybody knows that spot, that person who is the ABC (A Big Channel) where everything gets broadcast. Before you leave the room, they can have it posted so that that person is roasted. They can have it “X’ed” and the truth is twisted in an instance. Not only can you be an accessory to murder, but you can also murder by omission.
Ahab intentionally and with premeditation murdered Naboth by omission that resulted in a severe judgment in 1Kings 21:9. King Ahab wanted Naboth’s garden. Naboth wouldn’t sell, so Ahab went crying to his evil wife Jezebel. She arranged for Naboth’s death. Ahab did nothing—murder by omission.
15 And it came about when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead." 1Kings 21:15.
Ahab did nothing. But God didn’t.
19: …'Thus says the LORD, "In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs shall lick up your blood, even yours." 1Kings 21:19
Doing nothing when you see an injustice is just as if you did the injustice. Have you ever been given a juicy rumor, an untrue rumor and you said nothing in defense of that innocent person? It’s as if you started the rumor. You will be judged. Dogs will lick your blood. In other words, that same rumor mill that grounds up an innocent person you failed to help, that rumor mill will grind you up.
Church, murder—taking a life—is serious business. It is like taking a shot at God because we’re made in God’s image according to Gen. 1:26. The penalty according to Gen. 9:6 is a severe judgment.
Gen 9:6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.
If you don’t think taking a life is serious, consider this: You don’t have to have used your hands. Your mouth can be a weapon.
In the New Testament, to kill spiritually means murder by mouth, rooted in anger according to Jesus’ spiritualized interpretation of the 6th commandment. He goes to the root of murder—anger—according to Matt 5:21-22.
21 "You have heard that the ancients were told: 'You shall not commit murder' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' 22 "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
Anger is at the root of murder. If in your heart you have such anger that you call that person a fool, imbecile, an idiot or worse with contempt and malice, you are guilty in the highest court of God’s realm—the high court of a man’s heart that only God is privy to. Your sentence will be a fiery hell.
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The safeguard to avoid the commission of murder by mouth, rooted in anger, is quick resolution. Be quick to squash it. Before you go to worship, quickly reconcile any differences with your brother according to Matthew 5:23,24:
23 "If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering. Mt.5:23,24
Your offering of praise means nothing to God if that same mouth is a weapon spewing out poison against a brother or sister you are “squabbing” with. Anybody here got a beef with someone, squash it. Before you get your praise on, get your peace on. Go reconcile. Be quick to squash it.
25 "Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, in order that your opponent may not deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 "Truly I say to you, you shall not come out of there, until you have paid up the last cent. Mt.5:25,26
Before you take someone to court, take them to Christ and settle it with our high priest who is a merciful judge. If you go to an earthly judge, he may not show mercy and throw the book at you.
Church, manage our anger before we murder someone with our mouth. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. If not, you could find yourself with a loaded mouth full of anger, going down the world wide web and cell signals, seeking who you might kill, steal, killing reputations, killing spirits, dreams, ministry…murder by mouth.
The 6th commandment says: Do not kill. It means do not murder. We murder in two ways. We literally murder with our hands taking a God-imaged life with premeditation and intentionality. David was an accessory to this kind of murder, but it was murder, nonetheless. Ahab murdered Naboth by omission, but it was murder, nonetheless. But we also murder spiritually when we get so angry, we say things that kill. It’s murder by mouth according to Jesus.
You don’t have to be a serial killer with human body parts hidden in your refrigerator, heads of state with weapons of mass destruction or states with legal mandates to be under the jurisdiction of God’s Ten Commandments text.
Text your angry friend: NK (No kidding). Share with them that a mouth can be WMD (weapon of mass destruction) or a WMM (weapon of mass motivation). The writer of Proverbs 18:21 says: Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. You can be a murderer or a motivator.
Choose your weapon wisely.
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