Ninety percent of all communication is non-verbal.  No matter what you say, others hear what you convey.  And while non-verbal communication includes facial expressions, posture, gestures, and use of space, eye-contact is the most powerful.  For most people, the visual sense is dominant.  Consequently, the way you look at someone will communicate interest, affection, and even hostility.  We are all familiar with the expression, “if looks could kill.”

Every small child understands this phrase well.   As children when we were not walking in prompt and total obedience, we could feel our mothers’ laser like gaze burning holes in our tiny consciences.  And even though we never saw the ‘eyes in the back of mama’s head,’ we knew she had them.   Like an answer in the children’s catechism, “we could not see them, but they always saw us.”   Just when we thought we were under the radar and outside maternal surveillance, we were called to account.  Mama definitely had “looks that could kill.”

And while we understand the phrase as a metaphor for intensity, it makes an interesting point.  Murder is no mere work of our hands.  It begins in the heart.  It expresses itself in thought and word before it moves to deed.   And biblically, speaking murder does not strictly require the actual taking of a life.   It includes both the failure to protect and preserve life as well as any thought or word which tends to the unjust “taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor.”

Jesus equated anger and hatred of our brother with murder.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew 5:21-22

 Matthew 5:21-22

And Jesus’ beloved disciple John wrote, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:15)

Murder rankles around in our hearts, minds, and souls long before it finds its way into our hands.  Jesus noted this clearly. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Matthew 15:19

Perhaps you have never murdered anyone. But have you had thoughts, words, or looks that could kill?   The Sixth Commandment, “Do not murder” seems the easiest to keep.  That is, until we consider all the Bible says about obeying with our thoughts, words, and deeds.  The Heidelberg Catechism expresses nicely the dos and don’ts of the Sixth Commandment.

What doth God require in the sixth commandment? That neither in thoughts, nor words, nor gestures, much less in deeds, I dishonor, hate, wound, or kill my neighbor, by myself or by another; but that I lay aside all desire of revenge; also, that I hurt not myself, nor willfully expose myself to any danger. Wherefore also the magistrate is armed with the sword to prevent murder.

But this commandment seems only to speak of murder? In forbidding murder, God teaches us that He abhors the causes thereof, such as envy, hatred, anger, and desire of revenge; and that He accounts all these as murder.

But is it enough that we do not kill any man in the manner mentioned above? No, for when God forbids envy, hatred, and anger, He commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves; to show patience, peace, meekness, mercy, and all kindness towards him, and prevent his hurt as much as in us lies; and that we do good, even to our enemies.

Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 40

Are you a murderer?  Is there blood on your hands? Or hatred in your heart?  Do you avoid and abhor things that lead to murder?  Envy, hatred, anger, and a desire for revenge?  Is it your desire, as our Shorter Catechism says, to “use all lawful means to preserve our lives and the lives of others?”   Do we “love our neighbor as ourselves; show patience, peace, meekness, mercy, and all kindness towards him, and prevent his hurt as much as in us lies; and do good, even to our enemies?”

The Sixth Commandment is the shortest of the Ten, only two words in Hebrew, but its implications are deep and wide.   Join us as we examine Exodus 20:13 and consider its implications of the Sixth Commandment for our thoughts, words, and deeds. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

I was ‘that kid’ in school.  The one who never missed a day of school.  Who studied more, not less, than required.  Who worried about a maximum page count, never the minimum.   I loved short answer and hated multiple choice.  I assumed ‘softball’ multiple choice questions were all nefarious tricks.  So, I added asterisks and sidebars – just to clarify.  I truly loved to read and study.  As a side gig, my father sold World Book encyclopedias.  I read them habitually and thoroughly.  Academics were my interest, my passion.  And so ‘Honor’s Day’ at school was for me like a sporting event.

Our school ‘Honor’s Day’ recognized virtually everything.   Perfect attendance, number of consecutive days a whole class participated in the lunch program, and academic achievement.  I loved the certificates, pins, and medals – not out of hubris, but because I delighted in the pomp and circumstance.  It was a time to recognize things that matter, things that were of value to me.  Not what the rest of culture valued, honored, and idolized the rest of the year.   Of course, I am still a little salty about being blackballed for the ‘safety patrol’ but I am working through it.

Showing honor is important.  But honoring goes further than certificates, pins, and medals.  Much deeper than what may be observed.  In fact, honor by way of eye-service is not real honor at all.  Rather honor recognizes the weightiness of someone’s place in our lives and values their impact.   We live in a world of participation trophies and egalitarian values. Distinctions in value, authority, gifts, and graces are vilified, not honored.  But this aberrant view is just an outgrowth of our totally depraved self-centeredness.  We are skilled at virtue signaling to serve our interests, but not honoring what is worthy of honor.  

We think of honor as a currency in a closed economy.  As though any honor given diminishes honor we may receive.  But the duty to be honorable and to honor others is built into the fabric of our being and encoded into God’s moral law.   It is not a closed system but a reflection of God’s holy character and thus limitless.   Honoring others is fundamental to what it means to be truly human.  And so, we come to the Fifth of the Ten Commandments.

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

Exodus 20:12

Anyone who was raised in a family knows that even on the surface, this command is daunting.   Even if our parents are praiseworthy, they are sinners and so are we.   We can think of a thousand reasons to deny them honor, obedience, care, and duty.   Yet the command remains as a bulwark against sinful hearts that hate any authority but our own.  

While the command speaks of both father and mother, its implications go much further.   The Bible declares that the family is the genesis of every sphere of authority on earth including the state and the church.   While it holds no implicit primacy, it does inform us about the nature of those other sovereign spheres, their boundaries, and their duties.

Consequently, the Westminster Larger Catechism asks and answers this question of scope regarding the Fifth Commandment.

WLC 124. Who are meant by father and mother in the fifth commandment? By father and mother, in the fifth commandment, are meant, not only natural parents, but all superiors in age and gifts; and especially such as, by God’s ordinance, are over us in place of authority, whether in family, church, or commonwealth.

Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 124

The Catechism then proceeds to a remarkable exposition of all the relational duties of those who are both equal and unequal in regard to authority, age, and gifts.   While our modern sensibilities are offended by the language of ‘superiors and inferiors,’ this is merely the language of Providence.   A recognition that while all men possess equal dignity, our age, gifts, and authority have not made us equals in many respects.

The Fifth Commandment calls us to show honor, not perfunctory obedience or mere ‘meeting expectations,’ but honor.   What does this mean?  How do we show it?  Who deserves it?   How far does it go?   What difference does it make?   These are all questions we routinely ask but which the Fifth Commandment addresses.  

Join us as we examine Exodus 20:12 and consider what it means to ‘Honor your father and your mother.’  We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.