How can we get a merciful heart?

Our heart becomes merciful toward our neighbor, when in our hearts we confess our own sins to God and believe that he has forgiven all our sins as well as all our neighbor’s sins. Then we will remember that God has also created our neighbor in his own image and has also redeemed him. And we will remember that God’s grace in Christ is also our neighbor‘s only source of comfort when his sins cause him distress.

James 3:9-10: Therewith (the tongue) bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

Eph. 4:32: Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Rom. 14:15: Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

Assignment: Read Matt. 25:35: Christ’s words to believers on Judgment Day.

What should be our attitude toward our neighbor?

We are to have a patient, merciful, and forgiving attitude toward our neighbor.

Luke 6:27-28: Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you. Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefuly use you.

Luke 6:36: Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Matt. 5:25: Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him.

Assignment: Read Luke 23:34: Jesus prays for those who crucified him.

When do we show proper concern for our neighbor?

We show proper concern for our neighbor, when we take good care of him until he is able to care for himself.

Luke 10:35: On the morrow, when he (the good Samaritan) departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him: Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

How can we help our neighbor?

We can help our neighbor by coming to his aid when he needs help.

Is. 58:6-7: Is not this the fast that I have chosen... to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house, when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.

Rom. 12:20-21: If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Assignment: Read 1 Sam. 26:7-12,21-24: David saved the life of his persecutor, king Saul, and Luke 10:33-35: the good Samaritan.

What does God require of us in the Fifth Commandment?

In the Fifth Commandment God requires that we help preserve our neighbor’s life and help him in such a way that his life will redound to his temporal and eternal good. We will appreciate the purpose of earthly life, if we remember that God has given it to us as a time of grace in order that we might be saved.

1 Joh. 3:18: My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed, and in truth.

1 Thess. 5:14-15: Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

When do we have the right and the responsibility to sacrifice our life?

We have the right and the responsibility to sacrifice our life and health, when matters ordained by God require that we do so: for example, matters pertaining to our earthly calling, the defense of our country, the protection of our neighbor from harm and danger.

1 John. 3:16: Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Neh. 4:14: Fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

Assignment: Read Gen. 14:14-16: Abraham, the father of faith, went to war to save Lot.

Are we permitted to defend ourselves in an emergency?

We have the right to defend ourselves in an emergency. In such a situation, the person himself, who is under attack, represents the government, inasmuch as the government representatives are unable to help. The civil law also grants him permission to do this. The need for selfdefense should not be exaggerated.

May a Christian himself avenge any wrong that has been done to him?

A Christian does not have the right to take vengeance into his own hands, but he does have the right to seek justice in courts of law, thus enabling God to avenge the evil doer through the government.

Rom. 12:19: Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written: Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.

Rom. 13:4: He (public authority) is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

Assignment: Read Acts 25:9-12: Paul appealed to Caesar.

To whom has God given the authority to punish evil?

God has given parents the right and the responsibility to punish, their children’s disobedience. This is to be done with discretion. The government also has the right and responsiblity to punish evil doers and, in case of need, to protect the nation and people with the use of arms from attack by the enemy.

Prov. 13:24: He that spareth his rod hateth his son.

Ps.103: 13: Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

Gen. 9:6: Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man.

Rom. 13:4: For he (public authority) beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

When is the Fifth Commandment broken?

The Fifth commandment is broken when:

1. Someone takes another person’s life or his own life with his own hand or with the help of others. God therefore forbids premeditated murder, unpremeditated murder, suicide and participation in murder.
   

   
   Lev. 19:16: Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor. I am the Lord.
   
   Acts 16:28: Do thyself no harm.
   

   
   Assignment: Read Gen. 4:3-12: Cain murders Abel, 1 Sam. 12:9: David has Uriah killed, Deut. 22:8: causing death through carelessness, Matt. 27:5 and Joh. 17:12: Judas commits suicide and is eternally condemned, Amos 1:13: the sin of the Ammonites, and 2 Sam.1:1-16: the Amalekites participated in Saul’s suicide.



2. When we do or say something that shortens the life of our neighbor or makes life difficult for him. God also forbids us to harm ourselves or to shorten our own life through dissolute living or by needlessly endangering it.
   
   

   Prov. 12:18: There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health.
   
   Rom. 3:13-17: Their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known.
   
   Ef. 4:22: Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the decitful lusts.
   
   Matt.4:7: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
   

   
   Assignment: Read Gen. 37:19-35: Jacob’s brothers sell Joseph into slavery and cause their father grief, Jer. 18:18: Jeremiah was accosted by malicious words, and Luke 10:30: the robbers on the way to Jericho.
   
   Discuss: In what type of situations do we endanger our own or our neighbor’s life and health?



3. Our heart remains cold toward our neighbor, we don’t help him when he needs help, we envy him, get angry at him and carry hatred toward him in our heart.
   
   

   1 John 3:17: Whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
   
   Matt. 15:19: Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders.
   
   Eph. 4:26: Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
   
   1 John 3:15: Whosoever hateth his bother is a murderer.
   
   

   Assignment: Read Gen. 4:5: Cain envied Abel, Luke 10:31-32: The priest and the Levite, and Acts 7:54: The Jews ground their teeth at Stephen.
   
   Luther says: “If you leave a person unclothed, even though you could give him clothing you thereby let him freeze to death. If you see someone suffering from hunger and do not feed him, you thereby let him die of starvation.”

When does human life begin?

Human life begins at conception, and with the Fifth Commandment God also protects the life of the fetus.

Ps. 139:13,16: For Thou hast possessed my reins; Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

Ps. 51:5: Behold, I was shapen in inquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Jer. 1:4-5: The Word of the Lord came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.

When the Bible uses the personal pronouns, I and you, in referring to the fetus, this proves that we were God’s personal works of creation already in our mother’s womb, hence, before we were born.

Assignment: Consider: How we should view abortion from the Christian perspective. What if the fetus is not healthy? Read Amos 1:13 and Luke 1:41-44 and consider what these passages have to say about the question of abortion.

What sin does God forbid in the Fifth Commandment?

In the Fifth Commandment God forbids us, by our own authority, to take the life of a fellow human being or to harm it in any way.

Who has the right to determine the length of a person’s life?

Thou shalt not kill. What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we may not hurt nor harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every bodily need.

Inasmuch as temporal life is a gift from the Creator, only God has the right to determine its length.

Job 14:5: His days are determined, the number of his months are with thee.