Feb 19, 2023
Q. What is required in the sixth commandment?
A.
The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavours to preserve
our own life, and the life of others.
—Westminster
Shorter Catechism, Question 68
The service this morning focuses on the contrast between
life and death. We are invited into worship with John 6:35, in
which Jesus proclaims, “I am the bread of life,” and Psalm 16, in
which we declare to the Lord, “You make known to us the path of
life.” We sing from Psalms 22, 27, and 49, asking to be set free
from “death and evil,” being assured that we’ll see God’s goodness
“in the land of life,” and taking comfort that “God will raise me
from the grave.” Many of the hymns we sing are associated with the
Easter season, looking to Christ’s ultimate victory over death.
At The Lamb’s High Feast We Sing, Christ Jesus Lay In
Death’s Strong Bands, and Christ Is Risen! Hallelujah
celebrate the Savior who “brought us life and light,” ensured that
“the reign of death was ended,” and rose so that “henceforth never
death or hell shall us enthrall.” Having contemplated the
implications of the sixth commandment, the duty to preserve life
and the prohibition of “whatsoever tendeth” to the taking away of
life unjustly, we can go out with the hope presented in the hymn
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah: “When I tread the verge of
Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside; death of deaths, and hell’s
destruction, land me safe on Canaan’s side.” —Henry C. Haffner
Exodus 20:1-17
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 slavery.
You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for
yourself a carved image…You shall not take the name of the Lord
your God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six
days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is
a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work,
you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your
female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within
your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the
sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.
Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor
your father and your mother… You shall not murder. You shall not
commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false
witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet…”
Keystone Verse: You shall not murder. (Exodus
20:13)