You Shall Not Murder: The Sixth Commandment

Ben Zornes on June 26, 2018

Communion Meditation

Christ Church Downtown

Ty Knight – June 10, 2018

In many of the Ten Commandments, you are told not to do things––you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal. We react, “Why all the negativity?” The negative command should be heard the same way a recently freed Israelite hears the command, “Do not return to Egypt.” Don’t go back there because God is leading you to the Promise Land. You have been set free to live free.

And so, in the Sixth Commandment, God says, “You shall not murder.” Short and simple––you shall not murder. Even if we’ve failed at the first five commandments, we feel good that we haven’t broken this one––“I’m pretty sure I haven’t murdered anyone.” But Jesus does not limit this command to the bloody corpse on the ground. He inquires, “Have you been angry? Have you screamed at your husband? Have you talon-scratched your brother in frustration? Have you cursed your roommate behind his back? Have you kicked the equipment because of your employee or boss? Have you hated your brother?” Then Jesus says you have broken the sixth commandment.

God forbids murder because his aim is the flourishing of human life. As the church, we must be the people that love and cultivate the flourishing of life. Christians ought to be on the forefront to research cures for diseases, to support those with disabilities, to encourage parents adopting or fostering kids, to visit the elderly lady next door.

Christians must support life from the cradle to the grave. But even this phrase––cradle to the grave, is no longer enough. Millions of humans do not even survive long enough to make it to a cradle. Their first and final resting place in the world is a dumpster behind Planned Parenthood. This murder is evil. And with doctor-assisted suicide, the grave is now able to be scheduled like a oil change. This self-murder is evil.

Our God is the living God who gives and celebrates life. But as a culture we have turned from God, and so we snip up and vacuum out life, we silence life with a syringe. We will continue to murder with our hands, our votes, our words, our hearts, until we repent and turn to the Author of Life, the Crucified Christ.

Kirkers Read 04 – A Successful Commission

Ben Zornes on June 25, 2018

We wrap up the Gospel of Matthew this week, and––as mentioned before––Matthew is keen to show Christ as the promised King of Israel. The Gospel presents Jesus to Israel as King, and then shows them reject Him as King, but we see Christ’s Kingship being vindicated by the resurrection and ascension. His final words, often called the Great Commission, are a prime example of Jesus’ attitude regarding His own resurrection. He considered Himself King above all kings, and having been given all authority.

Now, we ought to realize that earth and all dominions have now been given into the hand of the risen and ascended Christ. There are only two options for how Jesus’ appropriation of that authority. He could either abdicate it and never actually employ His power to accomplish the redemptive end for which He died; or He could actually exercise it. The Great Commission shows us that Christ intended to conquer the world which He had been given dominion over, and He intended to conquer it successfully.

We ought to call it the “Successful Commission.” He has all authority and so there is no power which can withstand His reign over history. He will redeem the world through the good news of His atoning work. This ought to give us––as ambassadors of Christ––great confidence. We are sent out to proclaim the victory of our victorious King. We aren’t rallying for votes, hoping we can at least get a majority, we are announcing the conquest.

Finally, a brief word on Colossians, which we will read at the end of this week. Paul didn’t plan the church of Colosse, nor had he ever met the people there. However, he had heard that Jewish zealots were wreaking havoc amongst the believers there. Paul wants to emphasis the importance of their faith and baptism into Christ as the symbol which designates them as the people of God, not the ceremonies, symbols and shadows of the Old Testament. One other thing to note is how far these Jewish zealots had drifted from true faith, especially in the description at the end of Colossians 2:16-23. Faith in the promised Christ was the whole point of the Old Testament Christ, now, in the New Testament age, it is faith in the Christ who came that saves us.

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Summer Bible Challenge #4

Becky Pliego on June 23, 2018

¡Hola, hola! Welcome to week 4 of our Bible Reading Challenge, friends. In His kindness, God has continued giving us hunger and thirst for His Word and in His goodness, He has not let us go unsatisfied. He feeds us, and like a good Father, He wants us to be well nourished and strengthened! So as we have been coming to Him, He continues to give us more of Himself on the pages we read. How wonderful is this?

This week we will finish reading the gospel of Matthew. Picking up on chapter 13 we will start reading the parables Jesus told. Don’t miss the purpose Jesus tells us He had when He spoke in parables, and don’t be surprised to see that it was not to make things more understandable, but actually to hide meanings from men “whose heart had grown dull.” This is huge because it is an important reminder to us that when we read the Bible we are not reading just another book. No, the Bible is God’s Book and unless the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see and ears to hear, we won’t understand. This is very encouraging, because our understanding of the text doesn’t depend on our IQ level, it depends solely on God’s grace to enlighten our eyes so that we may understand and believe.

We will read about the two times Jesus fed crowds of thousands. Let me share with you that every time I read those I think of this BRC and how it started. It was born from a small idea, yes, but you know what was the “behind of scenes” of this whole thing? The Father saw you and had compassion on you. He knew many were starving and He wanted to feed each one of you. So what came next? Orders from our Lord. Put this plan together, spread the word, invite women to join the banquet, encourage them to come and sit and join the feast. No one will go away hungry. Not one. And so here we are, all of us, enjoying this banquet and filling our baskets with bread to give to our children, our neighbors, our friends, so that they can taste and see how good our God is and then come and sit themselves and eat with us at the table. This is how the Kingdom of God will continue to grow, more coming, more eating, more being satisfied with Christ alone. Ah! Taste and see how good the Lord is to us!

Get ready to turn pages and be amazed at the stories we will be reading this week. Use your imagination, see the scenes Matthew is describing for us, read and think on what a gift it is that we can actually read about the life of Jesus Christ. Sisters, we are actually reading the words He spoke when He was walking among us. We are reading the life of the Messiah, we don’t have to imagine a Jesus, we can know Him because He has given us the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit to teach us all things. What a privilege, right?

We will read of the death of our Redeemer on the cross, but we will also read of His resurrection. Don’t read it lightly. This are the events in history that have the power to change your own story. The application? Repent and believe. Believe that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is sufficient to cleanse you from all sins. Only in Christ there is true hope, only in Christ can we find true freedom.

On Friday we will read the epistle of Paul to the Colossians. Chapter 1 is wonderful to read after a gospel. Try to read and remember what we read in John 1 and in the first epistle of John. So many connections that will bless your soul!

Those of us doing the extra readings will be reading Philippians twice and Titus. I will just limit my comments to this, please pay attention to Phil. ch. 2:16 and its immediate context. Notice how there is no other way for us to “live as lights in the world” in the “midst of a crooked and twisted generation” except by “holding fast to the word of life.” Running in vain starts the moment one starts neglecting holding fast to the word of life, and who wants to run in vain? To live a vain life? Take the Book and read it and hold fast to each word written in it.

J.C. Ryle rightly wrote, “Let us read our Bibles reverently and diligently, with an honest determination to believe and practice all we find in them. It is no light matter how we use this book. Eternal life or death depends on the spirit in which it is used.

Above all let us humbly pray for the teaching of the Holy Spirit. He alone can apply truth to our hearts, and make us profit by what we read.”

So why don’t we take his advice and pray with the Psalmist, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Ps. 119:18 ESV

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the Christ Church Ladies Fellowship

No Golden Calves: The Second Commandment

Ben Zornes on June 19, 2018

Communion Meditation

Christ Church Downtown

Ty Knight

“And God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments'” (Exodus 20:1-6).

The first commandment forbids you from worshipping any false gods. The second commandment forbids worshipping the true God with idols, and also any false gods with idols.

We are given a helpful story in Exodus 32 of what NOT to do with Aaron and the Golden Calf. Moses has been up on Mount Sinai from chapter 20 until chapter 31 receiving the law from the LORD God. But Israel is growing restless and starts clamoring to Aaron for gods to lead them because “who knows what happened to this Moses guy?” And so Aaron gathers all the gold earrings and castes an image of a baby cow. Aaron proclaims, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” and he declares the next day as a feast to the LORD, to Yahweh (Ex. 32:4-6). Aaron attributes the power of deliverance to this freshly minted calf made from the gold which, until recently, had been nestled among ears and noses of the worshippers.

You got to ask, “How much stupider can you get, people of Israel? You’ve just witnessed the Lord lay the smack-down on all the gods of Egypt. Yahweh has delivered millions of people all at once from 400 years of slavery. You are daily provided with miracle water, miracle bread, miracle meat. And you want gods to deliver you and to go before you?” In the presence of all that God is and all that God has done, what kind of people would give their worship to a golden calf? The answer is…us kind of people.

It’s easy to see this Old Testament stupidity of God’s people and scoff at their dumb calf. But we are often just like them with our own golden calves. Some of you drove here in your golden calf, or slept last night inside your golden calf. Some of you work 40, 50, 60 hours on your golden calf. Some of you ate your non-GMO, organic golden calf. Some of you are sitting next to your golden calf, or wishing you were. Some of you are raising golden calves. We are extraordinary craftsmen of our golden calves.

But have you not heard? The LORD your God is a jealous God.

Kirkers Read 03 – The King Has Come

Ben Zornes on June 18, 2018

As we wrap up Revelation, notice that the concluding chapters focus in on a triumphant church. Throughout the cycles of judgement in the middle chapters we are being led to see that the bride of Christ will emerge triumphant through all these trials. She triumphs, because her King has triumphed. He is the rider on the white steed, a sword coming from his mouth, with the name King of kings and Lord of lords emblazoned upon him.

The book ends with a marriage, and it is fitting that John concludes the book with covenantal blessings and curses for those who would add or detract from this book. It is this covenantal language that should help us understand that what Revelation presents is a reiteration of what we read in the Mosaic Law, in places like Leviticus 26. Those who break the covenant of grace will find the seething wrath of God pursuing them, and ultimately God will execute vengeance upon those who trample upon this covenant. However, He provides precious promises of perseverance and peace for those who remain faithful. Of course, it is only by being born anew, in Christ, whereby the church is presented radiant and glorious. Don’t miss the covenantal nature of Revelation.

As we transition, then, to Matthew’s Gospel keep a keen eye on how Matthew spends the first 11 chapters revealing Christ as Israel’s promised King, and then in the second half showing how Israel rejects her King. The lineage at the beginning, Christ’s temptations in the wilderness, His Sermon on the Mount, set us up to see that He is True Israel, and the promised Messiah. However, His parables which confused unbelieving hearts, rebukes of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy, and ultimately His trial by night show Israel rejecting their King. One thing to try as you read is to take notice of all the Old Testament allusions and quotes. Try to pick at least one out every day and go read that passage in it’s OT context. It is quite an illuminating practice.

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