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Colin Smith: The image of God makes human life different from every other form of life on the planet. God has given life to the trees, and to the fish, and to the plants, and to the animals, but none of them are made in the image of God. They're all made by God; they're not all made like God.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith. Colin, I want to begin with what we just heard. So then, what does it mean to be made like God?

Colin Smith: First of all, the phrase comes directly from the Bible itself. God said, "Let us make man in our image and in our likeness." So, this is the uniqueness about God's creation of man, that unlike the animals, unlike the vegetables and everything else that's been created, there is a likeness between man and God.

That has many parts, but one of the main parts is that we have been made as eternal beings. We have a soul that never dies. I just came from a funeral service to our recording session, Steve, and was talking with some children and young people about that awesome reality. What makes you you? You're more than a body that's able to do sports and run and all this kind of thing. You have a soul. There is a part of you that cannot be seen that will never, never die. It exists forever, it's been given to you by God, and it's an eternal possession.

Steve Hiller: And yet we live in a world today, Colin, where science continues to intrude into human life, and that potentially raises some conflict for the believer.

Colin Smith: Yes, and more and more, I think people are losing sight of the fact that life is the gift from God. Whatever science does and whatever science amazingly manages to understand, a human life is a gift from God, and it is a gift that is in His image.

C.S. Lewis said on one occasion, "You'll never meet an ordinary person. There's no such thing as an ordinary person. Every person you meet will one day either be an everlasting splendor or an everlasting horror because we are eternal souls and we will spend eternity, too, in resurrected bodies." Well, we're going to continue to look at what it means for man to be created in the image of God. If you can, join us in the book of Exodus, chapter 20, as we begin your struggle for peace.

Remember, the Ten Commandments are in their entirety telling us what it means to live a life of love. The first four commandments are telling us what it means to love God, and then the last six are telling us what it means to love our neighbor as ourself. Jesus tells us that the whole of the law is summed up under these two headings. It's so easy in our society to talk glibly about love and to have no idea as to what it actually means. The Ten Commandments are spelling out what love looks like in this world.

So, this morning then we come to the sixth commandment: you shall not murder. Now, you might think that of all of the Ten Commandments, this is going to be by far the easiest, an easy time for us this morning. I promise you it's going to be among the most difficult, I'm afraid. It's certainly one of the most sensitive. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever in my mind that this speaks for every one of us here to one of the 10 greatest struggles that we face in all of our lives. I want to ask three simple questions of the commandment today. First, why are we given this commandment? Second, what is it actually saying and what does it mean? And third, how are we to go about keeping it?

First of all, the question why? The obvious place to begin. The reason for this commandment, the sixth commandment, "you shall not murder," is of course that human life is uniquely created in the image of God. The Bible makes this clear in Genesis chapter one, verse 26 and verse 27, where we read these words: "God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.' So God created man in His own image. In the image of God..." that's the third time it's been said... "in the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them." So, the man and the woman are created uniquely in the image of God, and that image is what gives to human life its unique dignity and its incalculable worth.

Now, when God speaks to us about an image, just that word makes me think about a photograph. So, I've brought an image with me here that you may or may not be able to see clearly. I hope that you can; you can see it there now. This is a picture of my wife, and I keep it on the shelf in my study. Now, someone could analyze this image scientifically and could say, "Now, this image is not of a very great value at all because it is simply a wooden frame, and there's not much value in that, and what it consists of are particles of color pigment in varying degrees of density."

If I left this image in the basement of my house and it stayed there gathering cobwebs for 100 years, and let's suppose the house was still standing in 100 years... I know it might not be, but... and some future, future, future owner of our house goes down into the basement and, in a day of mad clearing out, rediscovers this image, he or she might brush the cobwebs off it and say, "Oh, look at this. Wonder how long it's been there. Wonder who she was," and then throw it in the trash.

But I could never trash this image because this is the image of someone I love. Now, if you do not know the God of the Bible, you may have all kinds of different views about the value of human life. But if you know and love the God of the Bible, you will see unique value in all that bears His image. See, that's the connection between the foundation of knowing God and the valuing of human life. The reason for it is that it is uniquely stamped by the image of God. And when I know the one in whose image every human person is made and created, that image matters to me because it is the image of one who I know and I love, and I cannot, I dare not, I would not trash that image. You see the connection?

Human life, uniquely created in the image of God. So, taking a human life involves, in some sense... think of this... tearing the very image of God. That's why the sixth commandment is so very, very important. Now, the image of God, the Bible tells us... and it's very important for us to learn to think biblically about this... the image of God makes human life different from every other form of life on the planet. You see, God has given other life. God has given life to the trees, and to the fish, and to the plants, and to the animals, but none of them are made in the image of God. They're all made by God; they're not all made like God.

The Bible tells us, therefore, that God gave the plants and the animals to men and women for food. If you want to check that out, it's in Genesis chapter nine and verse three. God said this to Noah: "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants," God says, He'd done that at the beginning in the creation, "now after the flood," God says, "I give you everything." So, God has given us liberty to responsibly fish the seas, to humanely farm the animals, to grow and responsibly harvest the fields and the forests.

But then in the same passage as He gives us that liberty and that freedom, He then goes on to say, "But whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God, God has made man." So, there is to be respect for animals, but human life is of a different order. It is sacred, and it is marked out as such in the sixth commandment because human life, and human life alone, is in the image of God. And there is a vast chasm... a vast chasm... between the life of fish and plants and animals and the life of a man and of a woman made in the image of God.

And I think one of the most dangerous and tragic features of our time is that there are many people who have lost sight of that chasm and have narrowed it down in their minds to a jumpable gap. And losing touch with the Creator, they have come to believe that human beings are simply developed animals, so more and more people are coming to regard humans as if they were animals and animals as if they were sacred. And that confusion goes everywhere. It leads to people thinking like this, unimaginable from a biblical perspective, but it is not uncommon to find people thinking like this today. For example, on the growing debate on euthanasia: "Well, when my dog gets old, I feel sorry for my dog, and so I take my dog to the vet and I give him a little injection, I get my dog put down. If my grandma's in pain, why shouldn't I do the same?"

You see, once you lose the sacredness of human life, you lose all bearings on the moral compass. And we cannot retain our knowledge of the sacredness of life apart from the knowledge of the God in whose image we are made and by whom that life is made sacred. Our culture is losing its understanding of the value of life because it is losing its understanding of the uniqueness of human life created by God Himself. Lose God, you lose all the values on which our very society has been founded. So here is an area of desperate confusion in which it's absolutely urgent that those who want to build their lives around the Word of God develop clear patterns of thought and of understanding. There is... and this is the starting point... a vast chasm that separates human life from every other form of life, and starting from that principle in Genesis in chapter one, we begin to think rightly about these things. What God has separated, let no man join together, to take a phrase of Jesus and in this setting turn it on its head. Human life is created uniquely in the image of God.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "Your Struggle for Peace." It's one of the messages in our series called "The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life," where we're taking a look at the Ten Commandments and seeing how, in the Ten Commandments, God addresses the struggles that we all face. If you ever want to get a copy of this series on CD, ask about "The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life" when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365, or you'll find ordering information online at openthebible.org.

One other thing I want to mention just briefly, and that is our Hike Through the Bible podcast. If you've ever wanted to have a better understanding of the entirety of the Bible story and a deeper love for Jesus, check out Hike Through the Bible. You'll find the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it on our YouTube channel; just look for Hike Through the Bible, or come to our website, openthebible.org/hike. Again, that's openthebible.org/hike. Let's go back to the message. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Human life is created uniquely in the image of God. Now, before we get into the meaning and the application of this commandment, I want us to grasp an important point, and that is simply this: that the sixth commandment cannot be used as a definitive argument against war or capital punishment. I'll say that one more time. The sixth commandment cannot be used as a definitive argument against either war on the one hand or capital punishment on the other. I know that both of these are very controversial issues, and that's why I refer to it briefly at this moment. And I say this for a simple reason: that the same God who gave the sixth commandment also at times, obviously, led His people into battle against their enemies. And the same God who gave the sixth commandment also in the same law gave the law that calls for capital punishment.

Now, I know that there is a very legitimate debate that has gone on for centuries among Christian believers, and there would be points of significant difference among us here that are entirely legitimate. There is an argument that can be made strongly against war, there is an argument that can be made strongly against capital punishment; there are equally arguments that can be made on the other side. The point I'm simply concerned to make is that in attempting to make these arguments, you cannot settle them simply by an appeal to the sixth commandment because the sixth commandment in the Old Testament lives right alongside occasions where God led His people into war and clearly blessed them as a result of it by delivering them from their enemies and clearly lived alongside capital punishment. So, the issue is more complex when it comes to these things.

Remember that you have to look at the scripture as a whole. There are, for example, situations where the taking of one life has, in the goodness of God, led to the deliverance of many others, the saving of many other lives. I think of Ehud... do you remember the judge Ehud? The left-handed man who had a dagger, and he killed Eglon, an oppressor, and by taking out Eglon, a great deliverance was brought to God's people and many, many, many lives were saved. Or to take a more common story, a better-known story, you have David who took the life of Goliath and liberated a whole generation of people from a threat that had terrorized them. And the New Testament makes it very clear that this kind of action does not belong to an individual acting alone, but as in the Old Testament, the power of the wielding of the sword is given to governments. You can check that through in Romans in chapter 13. And those who are given the responsibility of ruling are also given the responsibility of protecting and of defending. And I found it very helpful to read a comment by one author who said, "The purpose of having an army is not to kill people, but to keep a country's citizens safe." That's a good principle to keep in mind.

So now, with that caveat, what does the commandment say to us? Because it speaks very powerfully into our society. Let me give you four examples of taking the life of another person that are clearly forbidden by the scope of this sixth commandment. The first is obviously murder itself. Murder: simply taking the life of your neighbor. I don't want to underestimate this because somewhere in your life you may come to an experience where you feel so injured, so outraged, that an act of serious violence would not be beyond the scope of your thoughts. God says, "Don't do that. Vengeance is mine," says the Lord, "I will repay."

Remember the occasion in the Gospels when Jesus was arrested; Peter drew the sword. And you can understand his outrage; he draws the sword and he swings it at the servant of the high priest who was daring to be party to the arrest of Jesus. I would have anticipated that this was a two-handed sword typical of the time, and at least from what we know of the character of Peter from the Gospels, I reckon he was going for a clean shot right to split this guy down the middle, right? And he missed by just a few inches and he just managed to cut off his ear. And Jesus said to him, "Put away your sword." And then the most significant thing of all: Jesus heals the ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant. Think of this: Jesus reaches out to heal the wounds of His enemies inflicted by His friends. Wow.

Secondly, the whole issue of abortion: taking the life of an unborn neighbor. You see, this is all in exposition of loving your neighbor as yourself. If murder is taking the life of your neighbor, then abortion is taking the life of your unborn neighbor. Now, why is it wrong to take the life of an unborn child? The answer: because the unborn child is in the image of God. And God, the Bible makes clear, has an active relationship already with the child in the womb. He is actively involved in the developing life of the unborn child.

You see this expressed so beautifully in Psalm 139, where David asks this question. Do you remember? "Where shall I go from your spirit? And where can I flee or hide or run from your presence?" Then he goes through some examples. Is there any place in the cosmos where a person could be hidden from God? And he says, "Well, if I go up to heaven, well, you're there. If I go down into death, well, you're there; you know me even in death. If I go to the uttermost parts of the earth, as far east or as far west as a person could imagine, even there you are with me. God, you know all about me."

And then he has one more thought. Wait a minute. Maybe it was different before I was born. Could it be that I was actually hidden from and unknown to God when I was just what today is so often called a fetus? And so he registers this question: "Did I appear on God's radar screen when I was in my mother's womb?" That's the question in Psalm 139. And here's the answer from verse 16: "My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. Your eyes saw my unformed body. And all the days that were ordained for me were written in your book." God's hand is on the life of the unborn child. And that is why the unborn child should also be of great value to us. This is not a potential life. This is a life with great and eternal potential.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith and a really powerful message today entitled "Your Struggle for Peace." Really looking at the reason for the sixth commandment, and we're going to continue this message next time. If you ever miss a broadcast in our series "The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life," come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org.

Well, Open the Bible is listener-supported. That's exactly what it sounds like. We depend on your financial generosity to keep Pastor Colin's teaching available each day. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of Martyn Lloyd-Jones's book called "Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures." And Colin, what kind of help can we expect from this book?

Colin Smith: Well, I can only speak from my own experience, which is that I have been greatly helped and encouraged and strengthened by this book on many occasions. That's why it has been for many years for me a kind of go-to book particularly in times of discouragement. And I remember one time in particular where I just felt really tired in what I was doing. I'd lost the sense of motivation, I'd lost the sense of joy. I was carrying on out of a sense of duty.

And Lloyd-Jones has a chapter in this book on being weary in well-doing. Paul spoke about times when Christians can just get weary of doing the good things that God has called us to do. And I thought, well, you know, that'll be helpful to me; this will be an encouragement and something that'll comfort me a little. And boy, what Lloyd-Jones said in that chapter really hit me between the eyes because he said, "You know, if you are merely serving the Lord out of a sense of duty, if you've lost the sense of the great privilege and joy it is to be a servant of the Lord, you are spitting in the face of Jesus Christ." And I thought, that's me. I'm operating out of a sense of duty, and that's the last place in the world that I want to be. And you know what? There was something that lifted through that realization, and there was a help and there was a relief and a new peace and a new energy that came to me. God used it. But that's what I've found in my life, Steve, that God has used Lloyd-Jones's book on multiple occasions. That's why I'm so glad we're able to commend it to others, because I think others will have the same experience that the Lord meets with you through the application of scripture to particular circumstances in which we find ourselves in difficulty.

Steve Hiller: Well, I'm looking forward to reading this book myself, and maybe as you're listening, you're thinking, "I can't wait to get a copy of this book." We'd love to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give a gift of any amount, and we'll send you a copy of "Spiritual Depression" by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. Again, that's openthebible.org or 1-877-673-6365. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. Open the Bible Weekend is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: At Open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. And to that end, I'd like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. You know, in the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it. And this is where Global Fingerprints comes in. Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children, and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website, openthebible.org/GF. That's openthebible.org/GF.