Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100228.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
H. God's Clarifications Of The Ten Commandments In His Exodus 20:22-23:33 "Book Of The Covenant"
2. Clarifications Regarding Human Relationships, Exodus 21:1-36
c. Valuing God's Image In Man To Avoid Blamable Negligence
(Exodus 21:18-36)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Mankind has a huge need to learn to avoid blamable neglect:

    (1) The article, "Tobacco Lawsuit" in the February 20, 2010 Republican-American, p. 8A, told how the Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court "to seek nearly $300 billion from the tobacco industry for a half-century of deception that 'has cost the lives and damaged the health of untold millions of Americans.'"



    However, since Congress passed the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act in 1965, making the Surgeon General's warning of the health risks of tobacco use be prominently displayed on cigarette packets the last 45 years (Kelly A. Moore, "Major Acts of Congress: Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965," February 25, 2010, www.enotes.com), smokers today are just as much to blame for their tobacco-use problems as are the tobacco companies themselves!

    (2) The same issue of the Republican-American, p. 7B reported how former Republican presidential contender, Mitt Romney, recently had a clash with rapper Sky Blu on an Air Canada plane before takeoff.

    After Mr. Blu had leaned his seat back, Mitt Romney behind him had asked him to straighten it up for takeoff. When the rapper ignored Romney's repeat requests, Mitt had grabbed his shoulder, and Sky Blu had reacted, swinging his arm back to remove Romney's grip!

    At that point, Mr. Romney's wife, Ann, had screamed, so the pilot had taxied the plane back to the terminal to remove Sky Blu!

    As you can imagine, the bloggers had a field day with it all, writing, "I'm with Mitt on this one" and "Mitt should have kept his mitt off of the suspect" or even "Only one way to settle this. Judge Judy!"

    This event may at first seem trivial, but it can become huge, for another blogger mused, "Romney is not qualified to be president. Too much of a hothead." That is a critical response, for the "Cover story" in the February 22, 2010 USA TODAY (p. 1A, "Is it Romney's time?" by Susan Page) claimed Mr. Romney is "laying the groundwork for a second presidential bid . . . in 2012." Thus, his failure to ask a flight attendant to get Sky Blu to raise his seat versus putting his own hand on the rapper's shoulder, an act that fueled a regular discord into a mini crisis, can cause voters to doubt Mr. Romney's capacity to make good judgments under duress, affecting the next presidential election!

    Thus, we may ask, "Does God offer a directive on handling blamable negligence in living?!"

    Need: "Does God offer a directive on handling blamable neglect?"

  1. After giving Israel His Ten Commandments, God CLARIFIED the REASONS behind these commands in the "Book of the Covenant" supplied in Exodus 20:22-23:33, Bible Knowledge Com., O. T., p. 140; www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org, "Book of the Covenant."
  2. Exodus 21:18-36 explains one INTENT God had in giving His law was to LEAD man to CONSIDER the EFFECTS of his ACTIONS BEFORE DOING them in order to AVOID NEEDLESS HARM:
    1. God had sent the Flood in Genesis 6:13 due to the worldwide violence of man to salvage the human race from eventually annihilating itself.
    2. Such violence had risen by numerous personal acts of FAILING to CONSIDER the EFFECTS of one's acts BEFORE DOING them :
      1. Cain had neglected God's warning that he control his feelings when his offering was not accepted by God, Genesis 4:3-7, 8.
      2. Cain did not heed God, but let his anger lead him to kill Abel, and that left him an outcast fearing vengeance by others, Gen. 4:9-14.
      3. God put a mark on Cain to protect him, but Cain's descendants still feared vengeance, and became faithlessly violent in their self-defensiveness as seen in Lamech's life, Gen. 4:15, 19, 23-24.
      4. Such defensiveness led to warring gangs of men (Gen. 6:1-3, 13) that led to world violence that God judged by the Flood, Gen. 6:13.
    3. Hence, Exodus 21:18-36 shows God wanted His law to impress man to avoid producing needless harm in society by considering the effects of his acts before doing them (as follows):
      1. God directed that if two men chose to fight one another, and one man injured the other, the one doing the harm was blamable for the cost of the injury simply because he chose to fight! (Ex. 21:18-19)
      2. God commanded that if a master chose to strike his male or female slave so that he, the master was blamable for the loss of life in God's image, and had to pay by himself being executed, Ex. 21:20!
      3. Yet, if the servant recovered, the master was not to be punished, for the servant's injury was the master's own loss, Exodus 21:21.
      4. In Exodus 21:22-25, if two men chose to fight one another, and a pregnant woman was accidentally hit in their brawl, causing her to miscarry her child, the man who had hit her was blamable for her suffering (Ex. 21:22), and for all harm to the image of God that followed, he had to pay by himself being maimed or slain for what injury or death he caused the mother or her child (Ex. 21:23-25)! [This also shows that abortion-on-demand is murder to God!]
      5. God directed that, in Exodus 21:26-27, if a master chose to strike his slave so that he deformed him, the slave was to be freed since the master had marred the image of God in the slave. (Genesis 9:6)
      6. In Exodus 21:28, if a man chose to own an ox, and it gored a man or a woman to death, the ox was to be stoned for desecrating God's image in man (Genesis 9:6), its flesh not being eaten that nobody profit from the animal to the disrespect of the slain person.
      7. However, Exodus 21:29 reveals if the ox had before gored another party, he was blamable for the death of the gored person in not having chosen to pen up his ox, and was to pay with his own life!
      8. Exodus 21:30-31 reveals the victim's family had the choice of seeing the ox's owner executed or of having him pay steep damages for the loss of the family member, whatever was best for them.
      9. If a male or female servant was gored, the ox's owner was to pay the master the slave's value in silver and the ox was to be stoned to death for killing one in God's image, Exodus 21:32; Genesis 9:6.
      10. Exodus 21:33-34 directs if a man chose to dig a pit and an animal fell into it and died, the digger had to pay for the price of the loss.
      11. God directed that if an ox gored another man's animal to death, the ox's owner was blamable because he chose to own that ox so that his own ox had to be sold, its proceeds being split between him and the owner of the dead animal, and the dead animal's body was to be divided between them both, Exodus 21:35.
      12. Yet, Exodus 21:36 commanded that if the goring ox had gored other animals, its owner was more blamable for not controlling his ox, and had to pay the dead animal's owner the price of his slain beast, with its carcass becoming the property of the ox's owner!
Application: (1) May we consider our need to trust in Christ that we escape hell and gain heaven, John 3:16. (2) May we tell others of their need to do likewise, Matthew 28:19-20. (3) Then, may we consider the effects of all we decide to do in life to minimize future harm and maximize blessing both for us and for others around us!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 The importance of considering the effects of our actions before doing them was illustrated in a recent event in Melbourne, Florida.

Four teens, 3 girls and a boy, were "goofing around downtown" on February 19, 2010 when they walked past a "No Trespassing" sign onto a 200-foot-long railroad trestle that spanned a creek. (Rep.-Am. , Mike Schneider, "Crossing train trestle proves deadly," 2/22/10, p. 3A)

Bruce Dumas, 53, who was fishing under the bridge, told them to "be careful, but . . . they didn't pay much attention . . ." (Ibid.) He reported he then heard a train whistle and the sound of brakes overhead screeching to a stop followed by a collision and its horrifying result.

The boy had made it across, and he with some onlookers had called for the girls to run off the track while others had called for them to jump off the trestle into the creek. Another rusty trestle ran beside the main one, and the girls could have hopped onto it to safety. (Ibid.)

However, the instant they saw their plight, they instinctively tried to outrun the train, a hapless move, and thus were killed. (Ibid.)

This story left me asking what they could have done differently to stay alive. (1) They should have heeded the "No Trespassing" sign and never gone onto the trestle! (2) Yet, having decided to walk on it, they should have considered Mr. Dumas' warning and often looked for trains! (3) They should have also planned what to do if a train quickly appeared, either to hop onto the side trestle or to jump into the creek! (4) In addition, they should have heeded a precedent: floridatoday.com claims the Federal Railroad Administration noted ten years ago, another Melbourne, Florida, 12-year-old girl was killed trying to outrun a train on the same train trestle!

As it was, they had failed to consider these things! Thus, when the train appeared, in the instant they had to make a decision, they made the worst one, trying to outrun the train, and paid dearly for it!

May we heed God's Exodus 21:18-36 call to CONSIDER the EFFECTS of our ACTIONS BEFORE DOING them, ESPECIALLY heeding PRECEDENTS as we are RESPONSIBLE for BLAMABLE NEGLECT and its HARMFUL RESULTS!

May we (1) TRUST in CHRIST to ESCAPE HELL and GAIN HEAVEN (John 3:16)! (2) Then, may we CONSIDER the EFFECTS of all the other choices we make to AVOID producing LOSS and rather to GAIN God's BLESSING!