Message for THE LORD S DAY MORNING, February 17, 2013 MESSAGE 7 in series: Living The Salt Life (A Study of Jesus Sermon On The Mount) Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister Murder Begins In The Heart Message 7 in Living The Salt Life Sermon Series (A Study of Jesus Sermon On The Mount) Matthew 5:21-26 (NKJV) As we continue with our series of messages from Jesus wonderful SERMON ON THE MOUNT, please open your Bibles once again to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter five. P R A Y E R Matthew 5:21-26 (NKJV) 21 You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raca! shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, You fool! shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. **********************
Introduction If you were with us last Lord s Day, you remember at the end of His brief discourse on how He came to fulfill the law, not destroy it, Jesus said in verse 20, For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Those words of Jesus astounded his listeners, because they didn t believe there was anyone more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. And those words of Jesus infuriated the scribes and Pharisees because they taught and believed that righteousness begins and ends on the outside of a person. Now beginning with verse 21 to the end of Matthew chapter 5, Jesus gives six examples of how true righteousness begins inside a person s heart. In order to understand what Jesus is saying in these six examples, we must understand what Jesus meant by the phrase, You have heard that it was said to those of old but I say. Notice Jesus did NOT say, It is written. He said, You have heard that it was said. Typically when Jesus introduced a direct quote from the scriptures, He would say, It is written. But He doesn t say that in this case does He? He says, You have heard that it was said. Most people in those days did not have a copy of the written scriptures of the Old Testament, so they had to rely on the teaching and interpretation of the scribes and Pharisees.
So when Jesus says, You have heard that it was said what He is saying is, Here is what the scribes and Pharisees have taught you the scriptures says, but here is what I say. Now in VERSE 21, Jesus gives the first of six contrasts. The scribes and Pharisees have told you, You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But let me tell you what that law really means: It means whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Now let s dig a little deeper into what Jesus is saying. First of all Jesus is teaching us. I. The IMMINENT RISK Of UNRESOLVED Anger (vs21,22) 21 You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raca! shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, You fool! shall be in danger of hell fire. 1. When Jesus spoke those words, You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder.. you can almost picture those proud scribes and Pharisees with a smug, self-righteous look on their faces, as they thought Yep, we ve got this one down! None of us has ever murdered anyone! Our hands are clean.
2. But then imagine how their expressions changed when Jesus said, But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. While the scribes and Pharisees may have taken great pride in the fact that they had never physically murdered anyone, their hearts were full of anger towards Jesus. And when you follow the progression of the gospels, you discover the scribes and Pharisees allowed their unresolved anger towards Jesus to escalate to a point they plotted to kill Jesus and were complicit in His crucifixion. 3. Many have misinterpreted what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is NOT saying that ANGER itself is a sin. EPHESIANS 4:26 Be angry and sin not! We know from the gospels that there were times when Jesus Himself became angry. For example, in Mark 11, Jesus became angry when He saw the moneychangers had set up shop in the Temple area. You see, there is a difference between righteous anger and unrighteous anger. Righteous anger is directed towards the SIN, while unrighteous anger is directed towards the SINNER. Righteous anger is IMPERSONAL, while unrighteous anger is very PERSONAL. 4. The kind of anger Jesus is talking about in verses 21 and 22 is unrighteous anger anger that is directed toward a specific person.
5. We all get angry from time to time, don t we? Anger is an initial human response to being wronged or hurt or mistreated in some way. 6. But it is what we do with that anger after our initial response that s important. You see, we have a choice to RESOLVE our anger in a non-sinful way, or to let our anger go UNRESOLVED. 7. Unresolved anger is the issue Jesus is dealing with in these verses. 8. When Cain committed the very first murder against his own brother, at the very root of that murderous act was the unresolved anger Cain had in his heart towards Abel. 9. This is true of every murder that has been committed since then. Murder always begins in the heart! A murderer might shoot his victim.. or strangle them or stab them..or bludgeon them..or drown them, but the real murder weapon in every murder is an angry heart. 10. In verse 22, Jesus warns us against saying slanderous words out of anger. First, Jesus says, And whoever says to his brother, Raca! shall be in danger of the council. RACA = An Aramaic term used in those days to describe someone who was emptyheaded. This would be the equivalent of us calling someone stupid or a dummy or a dimwit. It is a slanderous attack on someone s intelligence.
Second, Jesus says, But whoever says, You fool! shall be in danger of hell fire. To call someone a fool is to say they are morally WORTHLESS or that their SOUL is of no value. When you call someone a fool what you are saying is You are worthy of HELL. Your soul is not worth SAVING. Jesus sternly warns us that to call someone a fool or to say that someone is deserving to go to hell is to place our own soul in grave danger. 12. Brothers and sisters, we must understand there is a tremendous risk involved in allowing anger to simmer in our hearts. The longer that anger goes unresolved the greater the risk that one day our anger will erupt and we say something or do something we will regret the rest of our lives. **********************************************************************
As we move on to VERSES 23-26 26 Jesus talks about II. The IMPORTANCE Of RESOLVING Our Anger (vs. 23-26) 26) 1. In these verses, Jesus gives two illustrations to teach us the importance of resolving anger issues that arise in our relationships. And in both illustrations, Jesus admonishes the offender to take the initiative, rather than the offended. (A) The first illustration takes place in a HOUSE of WORSHIP (vs. 23,24) 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Picture if you will, a Christian brother is seated in Church on Sunday morning. As the offering plates are being passed, he pulls his check out of his pocket. And as the offering plate is being passed towards him, he suddenly remembers his Christian neighbor is angry with him over something he said or did the previous week. And his Christian neighbor isn t in Church today. So He gets up out of his pew and gets in his car and drives straight to his neighbor s house. After reconciling with his angry neighbor, he comes back to Church just as the worship service is ending. After Church he makes his way down front and places his check in the offering plate. Now what is Jesus teaching us here? We find our answer in the word First. First be reconciled to your brother. What Jesus is telling us is that our relationship with God is hindered by our relationships with our fellow man.
You can t be right with God in heaven if you aren t right with a fellow brother or sister-in-christ on earth. You and I cannot truly worship God so long as we have an angry heart! This is why it so important to resolve anger issues between us and others. (B) Jesus second illustration takes place outside a COURT of LAW (vs. 25,26) 25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. Picture if you will two men walking towards the local courthouse to settle a dispute between them. As they walk they are still arguing with one another. Jesus says, The two men need to settle this matter immediately before they get to the courtroom and the matter is decided by a judge. The point Jesus is making is that resolving the dispute before it goes to court may be painful and humbling, but the cost will be far greater and much more costly if it is decided by the judge. In this illustration Jesus is teaching us the URGENCY of resolving anger issues. It is better to reconcile with someone as soon as possible rather than allow the anger to escalate to a point of no return.
2. Well, these verses prompt me to ask you a soul-searching question this morning. *Has your worship today been hindered by anger towards someone? Is there any bitterness or resentment or jealousy or hatred in your heart toward any brother or sister-in-christ? If so, what do you plan to do about it? And when do you plan to do it? 3. Jesus is teaching us that not only is it necessary to resolve our anger, it is urgent that we do it quickly before it escalates any further! *********************************************************************** C O N C L U S I O N ILLUSTRATION: Back in 2005, I was doing some supply preaching at the Mount Olive Church of Christ over in Hyde County, NC. I was aware the Church had been through some troubled times, but I wasn t really sure what was at the root of it. One Sunday after preaching a message on love and forgiveness, two or three tearful women came down the aisle at the invitation.. and then the number grew to ten and by the time we finished the invitation..thirty six crying men and women were lined up across the front. The Holy Spirit had convicted them of an underlying anger and hostility that had been in the Church for years. Brothers and sisters-in-christ who hadn t spoken to each other in a long, long time were embracing one another and saying I m sorry, please forgive me! That day the Holy Spirit began the healing process inside the wounded hearts of those Church members. Anger was replaced with forgiveness. Hatred was replaced with love. And hostility was replaced with peace. So how s your heart this morning? Are you harboring anger or hatred towards anyone? Now is the time to declare a cease fire! Now is the time to end the hostilities! Now is the time to declare peace! (lead into invitation Hymn)