************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 105-107 ************
Doctrine: The Sixth Commandment
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on January 20, 2002
Q & 105-107
Numbers 35:30-34
"The Sixth Commandment"
I Disregard for Human Life
A In today's world human life is cheap, very cheap. Let me tell you some news stories to illustrate this.
Last weekend Hockey Dad Thomas Junta was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the beating death of another dad after a rough hockey practice. Life is cheap when you kill someone over a game.
On Tuesday a shooter at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in New York City seriously wounded two students. Both students were in serious but stable condition after the shooting. Life is cheap when kids take guns to school.
Also on Tuesday, a man in Philadelphia – the city of brotherly love – killed his wife, her daughter, and his in-laws before turning the gun on himself as someone within the home dialed 9-1-1. Life is cheap when you kill an entire family because you are angry with your wife.
On Wednesday three people, including the dean, were killed in a shooting at Virginia Law School in the town of Grundy. Life is cheap when you kill someone over your grades.
And, in South Africa on Wednesday a drunken white man picked off blacks with his hunting rifle as they drove past, wounding 14, two of them seriously. Life is cheap when your aim is to kill those who have a different skin color.
From USA Today come these statistics. Chances of your being killed by terrorists overseas: 1 in 650,000. Chances of your being killed by an American in Baltimore: 1 in 4,000. Chances of your being aborted if you are in the womb of an American woman: 1 in 3.3. Life is cheap when unborn life can be snuffed out just like that.
B Not only is life cheap but our society is distorted. Consider the fact that the laws of our land won't protect human life within the womb, but they do protect an unborn eagle. You see, the penalty for taking or destroying an eagle's egg is $5,000.00 and a year in jail, but the penalty for taking an unborn child's life is nothing. The courts of our land cancel logging contracts, hydro-electric projects, and wetlands drainage to protect the spotted owl, the snail-darter, and the whooping crane, but they do nothing to prevent the murder of unborn children. If unborn eagles, spotted owls, snail-darters, and whooping-cranes are worthy of legal protection – and they should be – then unborn human life is even more worthy of that kind of protection; but it isn't.
There is no doubt about it: something is drastically and seriously wrong in our society.
II Do Not Murder
A What does God say to us in the sixth commandment? Older Bible translations and the old translation of the Catechism says, "You shall not kill." But that is not accurate. A correct translation of the Hebrew, found in both our pew Bibles and the new translation of the Catechism found in our Psalter Hymnals, is "You shall not murder," or, to put it another way, "You shall not unlawfully put to death." The Hebrew words for killing in war or in carrying out a legal sentence are different from the word used for murder in the sixth commandment.
According to our Scripture reading for this morning, "bloodshed pollutes the land" and "defiles the land." It is reprehensible to the Lord.
B The sixth commandment is found in the second table of the law. The first table teaches us what our relation to God should be. The second table teaches us what we owe our neighbor (Q & A 93); God's intent is to protect us members of the human race from each other in our present sinful environment. These commandments protect life (the sixth), marriage (the seventh), and property (the eighth). But God also forbids – in the ninth and tenth commandment – people to attack each other with words or desires.
In a sinful world it is God's laws which offer us protection from our sinful neighbor; and, it is God's laws which protect our neighbor – including the unborn – from an equally fallen you and me. It is no accident that it is God's laws which alone provide a good foundation for society. And, it is also no accident that society crumbles when God's laws are ignored.
C In the sixth commandment God forbids murder – the unlawful killing of a person. On this Pro-Life Sunday what does this say to us about abortion?
Let there be no mistake about it, my brothers and sisters: abortion is murder.
I don't know if you heard this, or not, but late last year a Japanese doctor offered a free abortion if a condom failed. A Tokyo doctor, concerned that promiscuous teens were not using condoms, began promoting them by promising a free abortion should the condom break during sex. Many couples in Japan use no contraceptive. As a result, 35% of all pregnancies in Japan are unexpected and 27% of all pregnancies end in abortion. As Christians, we know the solution is NOT condoms and abortions but chastity and holiness within a living relationship with Christ.
This past week the new mayor of New York City, Republican Michael Bloomberg, advocated a plan to require abortion training as a standard part of medical training in the city's public hospitals. The New York City hospital system is currently the largest hospital abortion provider in the country. And, since one out of seven of the country's doctors is trained in New York, the plan will almost certainly increase the number of abortion providers nationwide. As Christians we know that what our nation needs is not more abortion providers; rather, what our nation needs is people who respect life.
As Christians we can never, ever excuse the taking of innocent human life – whether it is the September 11 terrorist attack, the bombing of an abortion clinic, or abortion itself. They are all equally wrong. They are all murder. They are all forbidden by the Law of God.
D Not only is abortion murder, but most of the new research on human reproduction involves murder.
Forgive me if I become a little technical but I need to alert you to what is going on in our world today in terms of embryos. An embryo is what forms when a sperm and an egg unite. Biologically speaking, medical scientists tells us that human life begins with the formation of an embryo. The new embryonic life is 100% human, complete with 46 human chromosomes and his or her own genetic code. As the embryo grows, he or she begins the journey through life's stages: embryo, fetus, infant, toddler, adolescent, adult. So, what we are talking about is not just potential life, or potential human life – we are talking about 100% human life.
This past October a British reproductive clinic asked health authorities for permission to breed a baby that will be an exact blood match for a 2-year-old boy with a rare incurable disorder. The boy's parents wanted test-tube technology to create an embryo, a designer baby, in order to save their son.
In a similar case in the United States, a family had a test-tube, designer baby to provide bone marrow for their six-year-old daughter. Molly Nash received cells from her brother's umbilical cord to help her fight an inherited disease.
I think every parent understands the dilemma these families were facing.
However, these cases raise serious questions as to how far we should allow science to go. Should we allow a child to be manufactured in order to serve the medical needs of an older brother or sister?
Let me explain the procedure that is used. Normally, seven or eight embryos are created by fusing eggs and sperm from the parents. Each embryo is then tested to see if there is a match with the ill brother or sister. Embryos that make it through the screening process are then implanted in the womb and the rest are either frozen to be used for research or they are destroyed. I want you to notice, some life is created only to be destroyed.
I want you to also consider what this says about life. It says that the unborn life has value only if it can help save an older sibling's life. If it is a match it is allowed to live. If it is not a match it is not allowed to live. Human life no longer has value in and of itself; it has value only if it has the required genetic code so it can supply bone marrow or blood proteins or a kidney or whatever else is needed. A child is no longer accepted and loved unconditionally; rather, a child is accepted and loved only because he or she is able to save a life.
Something we have all heard a lot about during the last year is Stem Cell Research. In 1998, researchers at the University of Wisconsin successfully harvested the first stem cell from a living human embryo. Embryonic stem cells have the potential to develop into several different types of cells. They form in the early days of human development before individual cells receive their "assignment" – for example, before they turn into blood, brain, heart, or hair cells. Scientists speculate that these immature or blank cells can easily be coaxed into becoming any number of cell types. They hope that these embryonic stem cells can provide cures for diabetes and heart disease and provide treatments for burns and spinal-cord injuries. However, harvesting these cells comes at a tremendous price: a living, human embryo must be destroyed.
Now, I want you to take careful note of what I just said. Medical scientists speculate and hope that embryonic stem cells can provide cures and treatments. As of yet, this has not been demonstrated. In other words, embryos are being created and destroyed for stem cells that have no proven record of actually offering cures or treatments. And, as with the designer babies, life is created not because it has value in and of itself, but only because it has the potential to save life.
Something else most people are not aware of is that everyone's body contains stem cells. In other words, embryos are not the only source. Within adults stem cells are harvested from the placenta, umbilical-cord blood, brain tissue, skin, bone marrow, and body fat. The use of adult stem cells in medical treatment is not new. For years, leukemia patients have obtained adult stem cells through bone-marrow transplants, and cancer patients often receive their own "cleansed" stem cells after chemotherapy. Adult stem cells have a proven track record of helping patients in the healing process. Best of all, harvesting these cells requires no destruction of human life.
III The Sanctity of Human Life
A Now, why is it that we are not to murder? What is so special about human life?
When a devout and zealous Hindu walks down the street, he carefully sweeps before his feet to avoid crushing small bugs. He even wears a cheesecloth over his mouth to prevent breathing in and killing even the smallest insect. The Hindu acts this way because of his deep reverence for life. The Hindu, environmentalists, animal-rights activists, anti-war demonstrators, and the Greenpeace movement all have the deepest respect and reverence for life. All of these people hold to the sanctity or holiness of life simply because it is life. Life is the highest good. In other words, they fight to preserve life simply because it is life.
B The Christian also believes in the sanctity or holiness of life. But we come from a totally different point of view. The Christian does not respect life simply because it is life for there is nothing sacred and holy about life in and of itself. Life is holy and sacred only because of its relation to God.
What does Scripture tell us about the relation between God and human life? First, human life is holy and sacred because it is made in the image of God. Man is an image-bearer. He represents God in the universe. That's what makes human life special.
Second, when God created human life He created it good. Genesis 1:31 tells us, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."
Third, it is God Who is the Giver and Sustainer of human life. Thus human life is a holy gift from Him.
Fourth, human life is so important that God – in Jesus – took on flesh and died upon the cross to save us humans. In doing this, Jesus shows us the unsurpassing worth of human life.
IV Love Fulfills the Law
A The Catechism tells us we haven't yet kept the sixth commandment when we refrain from murder. Something more is needed. According to the Catechism,
God tells us
to love our neighbors as ourselves,
to be patient, peace-loving, gentle,
merciful, and friendly to him,
to protect him from harm as much as we can,
and to do good even to our enemies.
The Catechism goes beyond "you shall not destroy" to "you shall build." Beyond "you shall not hurt" to "you shall help." Beyond "you shall not murder" to "you shall give life." It asks for a community of care, a society of love, a fellowship in which we are to live together as "patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly" people.
B What does this mean for us on this Pro-Life Sunday? It means we need to join the fight for life and against abortion. I cannot say enough good about Tulare Kings Right to life and our duty to fully and completely support such an organization.
But, this also means that we support the ministry of Bethany Christian Services (HOLD UP BULLETIN COVER). This ministry has just opened an office in Fresno and needs our support. It offers adoption services. And, through the Woodworth House it offers shelter to those who are pregnant.
Care Pregnancy Center is another organization I can mention – it offers health-care and advice to those who are pregnant; it provides new mothers with blankets, clothing, and other needed supplies; and, it promotes an abstinence education program in local schools.
Conclusion
Finally, let us remind ourselves again of the place of the law in the lives of God's children. Don't forget, God gave it as a guide for gratitude. We obey the law not to gain salvation but out of thankfulness for salvation. Remember the preface to the Law:
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of Egypt,
out of the land of slavery.
Or, to put it into New Testament language:
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of your slavery
to sin and evil.
"I am the God Who saved you. Now, this is my will ..."