3D Worship Part 11 – Worship is an Expression of Value and Control: The Sixth
Commandment
Deuteronomy 5:17 March 8, 2026
Introduction
We live in a culture of instant gratification and minimum effort. We want
everything neatly packaged and presented, when we want it, how we want, and
where we want it. We want to be able to exercise control over everything we
consume and then, once we’ve gotten what we want, we toss it aside and move
on to the next thing. This has led to a culture of what researchers call a “disposal
mindset”.
o We are taught to treat most everything as temporary, replaceable, and
disposable – prioritizing convenience and control over durability and
resilience.
o Marketing and economic strategies are now built through the lens of the
“disposal mindset” with things like planned obsolescence, pre-made and
pre-assembled everything, and deliver to your door anything strategies.
o The US produces more waste than ever before and research shows that
about 30% of all our trash is the packaging that our constant stream of
cheap, disposable products arrive in – and even more of our trash is
obsolete or old things that we are replacing with something new – clothing,
electronics, furniture, and the endless stream of new stuff.
Our definition: exaltation and prioritization of the object of your highest love in
any given moment
o Devotion + Desire = Delight in the Lord, worship in Truth and Spirit (John
4:23)
o Throughout this series we’ve been looking at how the 10 commandments
show us how to properly worship the Lord. Today, we will see how the 6 th
commandment shows us that worship is an expression of value and control
– we will worship that which we value and we will offer control to that which
we worship
The “disposal mindset” teaches us to value nothing but our instant
gratification and therefore teaches us to demand control of everything
because we are made the object of our highest worship.
This has not only led to our culture viewing all our possessions as
disposable and always wanting something new, but it has led to our
culture viewing life itself as disposable
Western culture is violent – the only thing in our entertainment
that is more common than sex is violence. Our children are
introduced to violent entertainment at even earlier ages than
sexually evocative content. Power and strength are constantly
elevated as the most desirable qualities and victory in combat is
romanticized in every medium.
The conscious of our culture is seared and desensitized so
much by this social programming that we don’t even blink at
graphic depictions of death. In fact, many forms of
entertainment glory in the gore of death.
o This has had increasingly tragic results as our country normalizes death
more and more.
On an annual basis, the US routinely has the most murders of any
other country in the world. Though the murder rate per 100k people
has been mostly decreasing since 1991 with the advent of greater
technological distractions – there was a significant uptick in 2020
during the pandemic. As the murder rate has come down, the suicide
rate has gone up exponentially. In fact, there are now over twice as
many suicides in the US as murders each year, and the gap is
widening. And don’t get me started on abortion statistics, they are too
tragic to read.
Suicide Data and Statistics | Suicide Prevention | CDC
Homicide Victimization in the United States, 2023
o These terrible realities of violence and death in our country come back to
the same issue with our things – we have a disposal mindset. We do not
value life, therefore we have no issue taking control over the lives of others
The 6 th commandment addresses this and by God’s grace will help us
break out of a disposal mindset.
Sections: 1) The Truth of Value and Control; and 2) The Spirit of Value and
Control
The Truth of Value and Control
Deuteronomy 5:17 “You shall not murder.”
o “murder” (Heb. Ratsach) to murder or slay either intentionally or due to
negligence/carelessness; to take the life of a person (including yourself),
other than through self-defense, war, or capital punishment by the govt.
Honor (5 th ) => 6 th (no murder) = value life of everyone
o Genesis 1:26-27 – we are image bearers of God, made in His image.
o We are called to value all human life for the simple reason that every
person is made in God’s image; if we value and worship God our creator,
then we are called to value and appreciate the people who bear His image
We are called to value and uphold life from the moment of conception
in the womb to the last breath someone draws in their old age
We are called to value and uphold the life of a convicted criminal –
even when the state says they deserve death
We are called to value and uphold the lives of immigrants whether
they’re legal or illegal
We are called to value and uphold the life of people who are different
than us, who have hurt us, who disagree with us, and who hate us
We do not celebrate death, we do not celebrate war, and we must not
lighten the death of someone just because we think they deserved it.
o The 6 th commandment is a call to not only avoid murder, but in the
affirmative, it is a call to value the lives of all people as image bearers of
God. In order to properly worship God, we are called to value the people
made in His image and celebrate life.
1 John 3:15 “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
See also 1 John 2:9, 4:20
And while the commandment is specifically addressing the murder of
people, the principles it conveys means we should never be flippant
about the taking of any life.
But this commandment is not just about value, it’s also about control.
o How many of you would say you’re a good driver? When given the chance,
how many of you will always take the steering wheel and not let someone
else drive you? How many of you know a backseat/side seat driver
(gasping at a yellow light, telling you where to go or how to drive, stepping
on an imaginary break or clutching the car frantically as you make a turn
…. How many of you are a backseat driver? How many of you are road
ragers?
What’s that all about? Our pride/fear-fed need to control.
James 4:1-3 “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not
this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so
you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not
have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask
wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
o no murder = do not allow your desires to take control of you, do not take
matters into your own hands = do not be the judge, jury, and executioner =
do not control.
Romans 12:19-21 “19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave
it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,
says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will
heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good.”
The Spirit of Value and Control
Matthew 5:21-22 “21You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall
not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 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.”
o Anger is a spontaneous emotional response that we typically experience
when some situation, circumstance, or person interferes with our
expectations and designs for how something should go – an interference
with our will, an interference with our control.
This feeling in isolation is not sinful
Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry and do not sin…”
o How we respond in our anger is where the act of worship is put on
display….because every response in anger is simply an expression of
control and therefore an expression of what we value and who we worship
Either I am releasing my emotion to the Lord and humbly working
through the situation guided by the Spirit or I am retaining control and
pridefully working through the situation in my strength actively
seeking to control the outcome through various means of
manipulation and force to see my will be done.
“Angry” (Gk. orgizo from orge = wrath) describes a brooding, simmering anger
that is indulged in and not allowed to die. It is the holding of a grudge, the
smoldering bitterness that doesn’t forgive or refuses/does not want to seek
reconciliation
“Anger first arises spontaneously. But we can actively receive it and decide to
indulge it, and usually we do. We may even become an angry person, and any
incident can evoke from us a torrent of rage that is kept in constant
readiness.…But why, one might ask, would people embrace anger and indulge
it?…Anger indulged, instead of simply waived off, always has in it an element of
self-righteousness and vanity. Find a person who has embraced anger, and you
find a person with a wounded ego. The importance of the self and the real or
imagined wound done to it is blown out of all proportion by those who indulge
anger. Then anger can become anything from low-burning resentment to a holy
crusade to inflict harm on the one who has thwarted me or my wishes or bruised
my sense of propriety….Only this element of self-righteousness can support me
as I retain my anger long after the occasion of it or allow its intensity to heat to
the point of totally senseless rage….And when it is allowed to govern our actions
, of course, its evil is quickly multiplied in heart-rending consequences and in the
replication of anger and rage in the hearts and bodies of everyone it touches.”
Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, Harper One, 1997, P149-150.
One might claim that their anger is righteous, but frankly, that is so very rarely the
case.
o Warren Wiersbe “It is difficult for us to practice a truly holy anger or
righteous indignation because our emotions are tainted by sin, and we do
not have the same knowledge that God has in all matters. God sees
everything clearly and knows everything completely, and we do not.…The
fire of anger, if not quenched by loving forgiveness, will spread and defile
and destroy the work of God.”
Instead, our simmering anger is almost always due to our not getting our way
and therefore devaluing the person or thing that hurt us so that we can seek to
take control over the situation to enforce our will.
o Jesus says that is murder in our heart, and more condemningly, it is
worshipping ourselves and tossing aside God.
But anger rarely remains at a simmer….like a fire, it usually burns hotter and
grows if not extinguished, which is why Jesus continues on to the insults and
devaluing that are always the result of burning anger
o Anger left unchecked will always lead to contempt and, ultimately,
disdainful dehumanizing so that I can toss the person aside like garbage in
my vain and self-worshipping need to control.
(v22a) “Insults” (Aramaic Raca) almost untranslatable as it conveys a tone of
voice as much as an insult; to treat someone as worthless, empty, garbage,
idiotic/stupid
(v22b) “fool” (Gk. Moros) – morally foolish; not about intelligence – it’s about
being condemned as a person without wisdom with no fear of God
o Matthew basketball story – losing => anger/need to control => name calling
=> mocking => shoving….I made myself into the fool as my pride caused
me to worship myself and devalue the life of my very son
“Contempt is a greater evil than anger and so is deserving of greater
condemnation…In anger I want to hurt you. In contempt, I don’t care
whether you are hurt or not….You are not worth consideration one
way or the other. We can be angry at someone without denying their
worth. But contempt makes it easier for us to hurt them or see them
further degraded….The intent and effect of contempt is always to
exclude someone, push them away, leave them out and isolated.
This explains why filth is so constantly invoked in expressing
contempt and why contempt is so cruel, so serious.” Willard, Divine
Conspiracy, p151-152.
Jesus says that those who simmer in their anger and turn to contempt and
devaluing of their fellow man are deserving of Gehenna
o The Valley of Hinnom where the refuse and garbage of Jerusalem was
thrown out and where a constant burning fire was kept. Ironically, Jesus
says when we worship ourselves and seek to manipulate and control by
devaluing those around us and treating them like garbage, that is exactly
how we then deserve to be treated by God.
Conclusion
But praise God that our King is the God of life.
o John 11:25-26 “25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone
who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?””
o Rather than giving us the treatment of garbage that our sins deserve, Jesus
willingly offered Himself in our place so that we might have life. Jesus
understood that every person has value as an image bearer of God and
lovingly gave up control over His very life that all of humanity might have
the opportunity to be saved through trust and submission to Him.
o Praise God that He does not view us with a disposal mindset, and when we
turn to Jesus by humbly giving up control to Him, we need never fear death
we need never fear being tossed aside and forgotten.
o The Holy Spirit gives us the power to overcome our hurt, to overcome our
anger, to overcome our fear, to overcome our need to control, to overcome
our biases, to overcome our prejudices, to overcome the depraved and
desensitizing culture in which we live
Rather than walking around and treating people as disposable and
unworthy of value, as we mature and grow in the life that the Lord
gives us we will see people as our God sees us, and treat them with
honor and dignity as image bearers of our Savior and King
Rather than worshipping ourselves and seeking to control everything
around us and devaluing anything that stands in our way, we will
grow in our worship of the One True God as we become champions
of life everywhere it may be found.
Amen. Amen.