102 Sermon Illustrations on Murder

102 illustrations Page 3 of 3

Murder in Christian preaching highlights the grave sin of unlawfully taking human life, emphasizing the sanctity of life given by God (Exodus 20:13). Illustrations often depict tragic, violent acts and their devastating consequences, serving as stark warnings against hatred and the breaking of God's commandments (Genesis 4:8). These vivid portrayals challenge believers to uphold justice and mercy while condemning the evil of murder.

Murder, Justice … and Forgiveness: the Christian Calling Card

Luke 6:27

The New York Times Magazine recently ran a stunning, moving piece about murder, justice and forgiveness.

Three years ago, Kate and Andy Grosmaire received the kind of news that is every parent’s worst nightmare: Their daughter, Ann, had been shot in the head by her fiancée, Conor McBride.

When Andy Grosmaire arrived at the hospital, he realized that unless God did something “wondrous,” Ann would not survive.

Sadly, Ann ultimately died. But, nevertheless, before she did, something wondrous did happen. While he stood praying at his unconscious daughter’s bedside, Grosmaire felt he heard Ann say “Forgive him.” His initial response was to say “No way. That’s impossible.” But he continued to hear Ann say “Forgive him.”

When McBride’s father arrived at the hospital, Andy Grosmaire hugged him and thanked him for coming, adding “but I might hate you by the end of the week.”

For reasons Andy still doesn’t understand, Conor McBride listed Andy’s wife Kate as one of the people allowed to visit him in jail. As she left to visit him, she asked her husband if he had a message for the man who had shot their daughter. Andy replied “tell him I love him, and I forgive him.”

As extraordinary as that was, what Kate and Andy Grosmaire understood by forgiveness was not limited to words. After meeting the prosecutor prosecuting McBride, they realized that they had it in their power to affect the outcome of the trial. After meeting with Conor McBride, they asked that he receive a 10-to-15 year sentence.

The prosecutor, sympathetic to the family’s wishes but still representing the state’s and community’s interest, insisted that McBride serve twenty years -- under Florida law he could have served a life sentence and may have been sentenced to death.

The Grosmaire’s pursuit of what Christians call “restorative justice” was not limited to reaching out to Conor McBride. Andy Grosmaire didn’t wind up hating Conor’s father. On the contrary, the experience brought the two families closer.

The kind of forgiveness on display in this story is the antithesis of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace.” The Grosmaires are all too aware of the damage McBride caused, and they still feel the pain that that damage inflicted. As Kate Grosmaire told the New York Times, “forgiving Conor doesn’t change the fact that Ann is not with us ... I walk by her empty bedroom at least twice a day.”

Andy Grosmaire is equally clear-eyed about what happened: he rejects talk about “God’s plan” and sentimental drivel about God “wanting another angel.”

So, why did they forgive their daughter’s murderer? Because Andy Grosmaire realized that “it was not just Ann asking [him] to forgive Conor, it was Jesus Christ.” As Andy put it, “I hadn’t said no to him before, and I wasn’t going to start then.”

Saying “yes” to forgiveness was the only way forward from this unimaginable loss. As Kate Grosmaire put it, “Conor owed us a debt he could never repay. And releasing him from that debt would release us from expecting that anything in this world could satisfy us.”

This kind of forgiveness is Christianity’s greatest calling card. To be able to love those who have done you unimaginable harm and seek their good is truly wondrous.

Other faiths speak about mercy and compassion. Some even urge you to “let go” of old wounds for your own sake. But Christians worship a savior who, even as he was unjustly executed, prayed for those who placed him on the cross and insists that those who profess his name love their enemies, not just their friends.

It’s what makes this kind of “yes” possible.

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Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point

Acts 5:29

When a famous author can explain exactly how he came to a real, living faith in Christ, we ought to listen.

For nearly two decades, Malcolm Gladwell of the New Yorker magazine has explained why things are the way they are. Using insights from social science research, he described how “ideas and products and messages” spread through a culture in his best-seller, “The Tipping Point.”

In “Outliers,” he explained why so many giants of the computer industry, such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Sun Microsystems founder Bill Joy, were all born within a few months of each other in the 1950s. He has even explained why NFL teams are terrible at drafting quarterbacks.

But the research for his latest book, “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants,” led Gladwell to an explanation for something even more important: Why be a Christian?

As he recently wrote in Relevant magazine, while writing “David and Goliath,” he went to Winnipeg to visit a woman named Wilma Derksen. Thirty years ago, the Derksens experienced every parent’s worst nightmare: Their daughter, Candace, was abducted and murdered.

Gladwell was amazed by something that Wilma said at the time: “We would like to know who the person or persons [who murdered Candace] are so we could share, hopefully, a love that seems to be missing in these people’s lives.”

She continued, “I can’t say at this point I forgive this person,” but, as Gladwell noticed, “the stress was on the phrase at this point.” As he writes, “I wanted to know where the Derksens found the strength to say those things ... Where do two people find the power to forgive in a moment like that?”

The answer was their Christian faith. Similarly, in the final chapter of “David and Goliath,” he tells the story of Le Chambon, France. When France fell to the Nazis in World War II, the local Huguenot pastor and his flock determined that if the Germans told them to do anything “contrary to the Gospel,” they would refuse.

The refusals included everything from signing loyalty oaths and giving fascist salutes to hiding Jews. What’s more, they told the Germans that they intended to resist.

What happened in Winnipeg and Le Chambon were examples of what Gladwell, borrowing a phrase from filmmaker Pierre Sauvage, whose family was protected by the people of Le Chambon, calls “weapons of the spirit.” It’s “the peculiar and inexplicable power that comes from within.”

It’s a power that Gladwell, who grew up in a Christian home, was familiar with but had gotten away from. As he put it, “I have always believed in God. I have grasped the logic of Christian faith. What I have had a hard time seeing is God’s power.”

Reading about the people of Le Chambon and sitting in Wilma Dirksen’s garden, he saw that power. He realized that “the louder claims of material advantage” and life’s and the world’s ideas about power had him looking in the wrong places. Seeing God’s power in action led him to rediscover his Christian faith.

As Gladwell’s story reminds us, the logic of our faith is important but it’s the way our faith enables us to be light in the midst of darkness that matters the most.

It’s a point that, as Gladwell told me when I interviewed him for “Socrates in the City,” Christians often forget. Yet it’s the stuff of which real “tipping points,” both personal and cultural, are made.

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The Sixth Commandment

by A.W. Pink

A.W. Pink's sermon on the Sixth Commandment explores the prohibition of murder, its implications, and the importance of managing anger and envy.

Mark - Murder at a Royal Party 43:21

by J. Glyn Owen

The sermon emphasizes the importance of repentance and the need to turn away from sin, using the story of Herod Antipas as a tragic example of the consequences of immorality.

Are You a Murderer 1:02:08

by Phil Beach Jr.

The sermon emphasizes the importance of perfect love in our lives, and how its absence can lead to murder and hatred towards others.

These illustrations have been gathered from many sources over many years and are offered to preachers as a study aid. Each is credited wherever the source is known, and we have made every effort to respect the rights of authors and publishers.

If you hold the rights to anything here and would like it credited differently or removed, please write to us and we will act promptly.