Hello and welcome to this week's edition of the sermon. I hope all of you are doing well. I truly enjoy being able to post these messages each week, and I hope that you are getting some benefit from reading them.
I am working diligently on the book I am writing on the smallest books of the Bible. I got behind schedule, but things are going quite well now. Please pray that I will be able to complete this project and get it out to the public in the not too distant future.
In prayer this week, please pray for the safety of all those involved with the Olympics in Brazil. Also, please pray for an end to the Zika virus. I would also ask you to pray for those suffering as a result of the fires in the western United States and the flooding in the southern United States.
Let us also be in prayer for peace around the world. Pray for peace in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan and Afghanistan.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for the nations of Israel and Mongolia. May the message of Jesus reach people around the world. I pray that the Lord Jesus will use these sermons for His honor and glory.
During the course of this summer, we have been rotating between two different sermon series. We have been progressing through a lessons from the animals series as well as a series on the Ten Commandments. Today, we return our focus to the Ten Commandments looking at the commandment that states, "Thou Shalt Not Kill."
This commandment at first glance seems quite self explanatory, but I want to look a little more deeply into it and its implications for our lives today.
First of all, this commandment translated correctly should read, "thou shalt not murder." It is a commandment prohibiting the unlawful taking of another person's life. In the Old Testament, capital punishment was the penalty for those who committed murder. It is the most serious of offenses against God and against humanity.
In the United States where I live, there are some cities where the murder rate is at extraordinary levels. It's not safe to walk the streets for fear of being harmed in some places. This is so sad, and I pray every night for an end to the violence on the streets of some of our major cities. It seems to me that there is little value attached to human life by many people. In my country, we have had a large number of mass casualty shootings where people have caused death, destruction and heartache.
I don't think that there is a nation on earth that is not touched by the evil of violence and murder. We must all work towards fostering an environment of respect for one another. We must work toward presenting a message that values life.
Some people have taken this commandment to mean that one should never kill under any circumstances. There are Christian groups who use this commandment as one of the Scriptural evidences for their pacifist beliefs.
I have written on the blog on previous occasions about my feelings regarding pacifism and whether absolute pacifism is taught in the Bible. I have great respect for those groups who practice pacifism.
I believe that the Bible teaches that war should be an absolute last resort and that it should only be engaged in for the purpose of self-defense. War is not something to glory in. It is a sad thing. However, in some cases such as World War II, it is necessary to stop a great evil. Even in that case, war may have been avoided if certain decisions had been made differently after World War I.
I believe that Christians should always pray for peace and seek the ways of peace. The Bible calls upon us to seek peace and pursue it. We serve the one known as the Prince of Peace, and the objective of Christians should be to try to bring peace and avoid war.
One of the events that finally caused me to break permanently with the church of my youth was what happened during the first Gulf War. The church I was attending would not pray for peace. They actually applauded the war. I could not go along with this.
I believe that one way that all believers in Jesus can work for peace and life is by promoting a consistent pro-life ethic. This means not only not committing murder or avoiding warfare. We need to promote non-violence whenever possible and the sanctity of life.
Some of the things I am going to present in the remainder of this message some will certainly disagree with. That is OK. I just ask that you will think about what I am going to say in the light of the fact that we are to look to Jesus in all things as our ultimate example.
I believe that one way that Christians can work toward promoting a consistent pro-life ethic is by advocating against abortion. There are some times when it may be necessary to safe the life of the mother. However, this is not the cause of most abortions. Abortion is the taking of a human life, and Christians should lovingly work to offer alternatives to abortion.
Christians can also present a consistent pro-life ethic by opposing capital punishment. While capital punishment was absolutely allowed in the Old Testament, in the light of the teachings of Jesus I believe that we should not practice it now. We have the ability to place offenders under lifetime sentences where they can no longer harm the general public. Hopefully, they will repent of their sins and come to salvation.
So many people around the world are dying each day because they don't have enough to eat or they lack medical attention. Christians can work to end poverty and injustice. We can feed the hungry and clothe the naked. We can seek to get medical care to those in need of it.
In my nation, guns are everywhere. Unfortunately, many Christians promote the gun culture, and I know of many churches that now have raffles where guns are given as prizes. I really don't understand this. I don't know why many Christians do not support reasonable gun control laws. If we can keep guns out of the hands of criminals and irresponsible people, we can definitely cut down on the level of violence.
I'd like to focus for just a moment on another way to be pro-life and to help end violence. There is terrible cruelty that occurs against animals around the world. This ought not to be. I decided a few years ago to become a vegetarian because I just didn't want to contribute to the death of animals anymore. When we live with Jesus in the world to come we will not kill and eat meat, so why not start on that path now.
As believers in Jesus, we need to practice love and promote goodness, kindness and non-violence in the world. If we promote a consistent pro-life view, we can see the level of warfare and violence in the world come down.
The greatest way that a Christian can promote peace and non-violence in the world is to spread the message of Jesus. Those who know Jesus as Savior and Lord will find true peace in their troubled hearts. If many, many people would follow in the path of the Lord Jesus, this world could be such a better place.
If you have never trusted in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I urge you to trust Him today and find in Him the peace that passes all understanding.
These are just a few ways in which Christians can promote life and peace. I have only been able to scratch the very surface on some of these issues. I hope that you will study the teachings of Jesus and let Him show you how you can promote peace and life.
Next week, we will continue with our sermon on the animals series. I will post the verses on Monday, and I will have a review of a really good book on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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