Reformed Church, Bellville: Sunday 21
September 2003 Morning Service
Our help is in the Name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be with you from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit. Amen
Psalm of praise: 116:1, 3 & 5
Confession of faith
Ten Commandments
Psalm 40:4
Prayer
Hymn 33:1-3
Scripture reading:
Titus 3
Text: Titus
3:3
"We
were ... hateful and hating one another"
In these days we are all under stress because of murder and rape and
violence. The issue becomes highly emotional and we lose our
perspective. Accordingly it is worthwhile to look into the Bible to
learn how the Lord sees these issues in our day and how He deals with
them.
We consider the issue from three sides:
1. Does God want all
this violence?
2. Are we any better
than the murderers and violators?
3. How do we go
forward?
1. Does God want all
this violence?
The answer is clear - the Lord hates murder, rape
and violence. They are all transgressions of the sixth commandment.
The principle is that God alone disposes of life.
- He created all life and only He
ends it in this dispensation.
- Murder, rape and violence is a
human intervention in another. It is also an offence against God.
Therefore this conduct is sinful.
- No man may wilfully do what is
peculiar to the devil no matter that it may appear to him that there
are factors justifying such evil conduct.
We take a negative stand towards people who commit
these sins and particularly when they do so to us personally.
- But we may not allow ourselves
to be carried away by our emotions.
- We must always think of our
fellow men as God thinks of them - although this may be very difficult.
Is it possible for murderers, rapists and assaulters
to be saved? Of course it is. We must pray for them to repent.
There is another principle at work in this matter -
the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins. Where does the forgiveness of
sin fit into this problem?
- In essence, murder, rape and
violence are the same. A life is taken or threatened or damage is done.
- The Bible does not teach that
these sins are excluded from the propitiation effected by Jesus.
- The Lord Jesus also died to
atone with God our transgressions of the sixth commandment - when there
is true remorse and true repentance.
- Essentially it is a matter of
forgiveness which can only be given by God.
- We may therefore not judge these
people - but we may hate and abhor their deeds.
It would be well to remember that these sins were
with us from the beginning. Some of the best believers were guilty of
them. Hear what the Lord has the prophet
Nathan say to David:
"Why
did
you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in His eyes? You
struck down Urah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be
your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites". (2
Samuel
12:9)
Remember what Solomon said when he spoke of Joab in
1 Kings 2:32:
"The
Lord will repay him for the blood he shed, because
without the knowledge of my father David he attacked two men and killed
them with the sword. Both of them - Abner son of Ner, commander of
Israel's army and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army - were
better men and more upright than he."
Remember also Jehoram who established with violence
the kingship he had received by murdering all his brothers. This is
related in 2 Chronicles 21:4
"When
Jehoram established himself firmly
over his father's kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along
with some of the princes of Israel."
Hosea writes that even the priests (in the Lord's
church!) did the same (Hosea 6:9)
"As
murderers lie in ambush for a man,
so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, committing
shameful crimes".
The evil we experience today is not new. In the days
of the early Christian Church it was there already. Paul writes of it
in his Epistle to the Romans. (Romans 1:29)
"They
have become filled with
every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of
envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice."
The people who do these things confirm by it their
unbelief and also the fact that they will be lost forever. The Lord
reveals in Galatians 5:21 that those who live like this will not
inherit the kingdom of God.
- God therefore protects life with
life. When somebody has offended against God and taken a life he was
cursed by God and expelled from society. Compare in this regard the
history of Cain.
- But not everybody may act in the
Name of God and judge over life and death. God has given this to the
authorities - see Romans 13.
- In the New Testament God
established the principle that the authorities may apply the death
penalty in order to protect life. (Romans 13:4)
2. Are we any better
than the murderers and violators?
Nobody can exult in the Lord's grace if he allows
sin to rule him.
- Nobody can serve God if he
thinks that he can obtain what he wants through hate and violence!
- Nobody can claim God's love if
he is unable to tolerate with love the worst person and seek some good
in him.
A person whose relationship with God is wrong also
demonstrates all sorts of wrong attitudes to other people. Think for
example of statements sometimes heard such as "I wish he were dead"
or
"I cannot bear so
and so" and similar expressions.
These kinds of expressions originate in the heart of
someone who does not understand the Lord's love and whose heart has not
united with the love of God.
- You and I are not the only
bearers of the image of God. All people are. Also those whom we "cannot
bear".
- You and I must seek the image of
God in him and we must connect with it because that is what we have in
common.
- His image of God can be
distorted because of sin but God remains his Creator - just as He is
our Creator.
Is the opposite possibly true? Amongst us there are
some who are always quarrelsome and angry with others. Is it not
because our own image of God is distorted that causes us to clash with
others who perhaps were able to conserve their image of God with
greater holiness than us? Are we then in essence any better than
murderers, rapists and assaulters?
An unrepentant person is always quarrelsome. It is
so written.
- The Lord writes it because He
wants us to repent from our violence.
- We must adopt the meekness of
our God Jesus Christ. Otherwise we deal in death.
- This is true.
Hate and violence are the works of Satan.
- It is a
direct opposite to God's love.
- And this hate
is part of Satan's wiliness to seduce us to commit violence and thereby
show the image of hell.
I read to you 1 John 3:15:
"Anyone
who hates his
brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life
in him."
From this we infer that a murderer could be a church
member. Perhaps even a good member.
- But not one who will inherit
life eternal; for, because he persists in hating his neighbour, he
inherits death. His possession of life eternal is only temporary.
- There is no difference between
such a church member and a rapist - both of them sin against the Lord
and both end in hell!
This should be a warning to us all. We are often
intolerent of one another. Intolerance and envy are the same as hate.
In the eyes of the Lord this is murder.
A believer is continually struggling with his own
sins before God.
- He is remorseful and prays for
forgiveness and repentance.
- He sees death because he knows
that unless the Lord comes to his aid in his sins he will never share
in the life eternal.
- Such a believer knows what life
is. Therefore he does not hate. He cannot hate anybody because he
realizes the extent of his own sinfulness.
Those of us who are so unforgiving of the sins of
others must think of this, because we cannot expect perfection of
others if we ourselves do not strive for it.
We read in Ephesians 1 that before the creation of
the world the Lord chose in him certain people. We are those people.
- God predetermined that He would
adopt us as His children through Jesus Christ.
- God's love determined that we
would belong to Him and that it would be absolutely impossible for us
to be estranged from Him.
- Jesus Christ descended to earth.
He came with God's love.
- Hence He came to give His life
for us, so that we could have life everlasting.
- This love of God is the same as
God's righteousness. It is God's Being.
But God's love for Jesus Christ determines that
those who do not accept Him and do not worship Him shall be lost. His
righteousness demands that all who are unbelievers shall be punished as
are those who are untrue in their worship. This affects me in my
responsibility and in the witness I bear.
- It affects the issue of hate and
murder. You must admonish in love someone who has offended against you.
- With so much love that in your
admonition you lead him back to Jesus Christ. Then you are following
the example of Christ.
- We read in Titus 3:5 that God
has saved us because of His mercy and that He has let us be reborn and
renewed by the Holy Spirit. This we must proclaim openly to all those
people who do evil in our society.
3. How do we go
forward?
That the Lord in His Being is set against all forms
of killing and violence is quite clear. But that is not the end of it.
We live in a country where we are confronted daily with these deeds and
many of us have personally suffered them.
It is not true that the Christian faith demands of
us some namby-pamby kind of forgiveness. Obduration is not forgiven!
God does not expect of us to forgive that which He does not forgive.
On the other hand we may not remain angry about a
matter that we have not tried to put right.
- When Jesus was apprehended Peter
wanted to put up a fight. Jesus then said that he should put away his
sword because all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
- The better way is through love
and self control. This Jesus teaches us with the following words:
"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court.
Do it while you are still with him on the way in". (Matthew 5:25)
Jesus teaches us something similar where He tells us
of the unmerciful servant who was severely tortured by his master until
he paid back all that he owed - Matthew 18:35 -
"This
is how my
heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother
from your heart."
How should we then act towards our neighbour?
Romans 13:14 furnishes the answer:
"Rather
clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus
Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful
nature."
We may not allow evil to find a foothold. Live in
love and forgive in love.
- The Holy Spirit also teaches us
this - do not let the sun set on your wrath!
- The Spirit teaches that we must
protect with love our neighbour's honour. Hence - He says that we may
not hate or murder.
- Where there is remorse and
repentance in these sinners we must from our side forgive. Hear again
what the Bible teaches us:
"But
if you do not forgive men
their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew
6:15)
"So
watch yourselves. If your
brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he
sins against you seven times in a day and seven times comes back to you
and says "I repent" forgive him." (Luke 17:3,4)
For this Christ died. So that in His love we can
forgive and forbear with love. So that we can live as we let live and
forgive as we are forgiven.
Amen
Closing prayer: We plead, O Lord, for your mercy. Keep us in Your love
and fidelity. We are in conflict, because sin attacks us in our weary
insights and thoughts. Give our eyes the shine as of those who see You
in that we may with the power and courage of our Lord Jesus Christ
defeat the endlessness of sin. Amen
Closing Psalm: 128:1
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen
Dr M.J. du Plessis
Reformed Church Bellville
21 September 2003