Anger and Relationships
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Recap from Salt and Light
Recap from Salt and Light
We are to bring flavor to the world around us.
We are to preserve things in order to slow the decay in order to win the lost to Christ
We are not to be of the world so as to retain our saltiness.
We are the light because the light is in us.
Compliment
Responsibility
Rights vs. Responsibility
Rights vs. Responsibility
Someone told me the other day, “if you teach people about their rights, you’ll get a revolution. If you teach people about their responsibility, you’ll get revival.” We want revival.
Jesus just finished explaining that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. As we will read today, one can follow the letter of the law and miss the heart of the reason the law is a law in the first place.
Pulling Roots?
Pulling Roots?
How many gardeners do we have here?
Pulling weeds - how important is it that we get the roots pulled as well? Not just the leafy tops.
When Jesus said
19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
To relax means to loosen, dissolve, break or break up, or put off, melt. So, we can either fully understand the commandments and fully teach them to our children, to each other, or we can not fully teach them, and that probably comes from either not having a full understanding or it comes from the fact that we ourselves have loosened on following that commandment and therefore we won’t be teaching somehting that would condemn ourselves.
So, the full understanding of each commandment is important, the application of following the commandment as best we can, is important but Jesus is still present in this movement revealing to the crowd that is gathered the same message, “repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand”, its just that now, during this sermon on the mount, he is revealing to them the full extent of their sinful nature and how God looks at it, the whole time revealing to them why he’s come land ultimately why they need him as their savior!
Based on verse 20 Jesus is saying, “you can follow the teachings of the Pharisees and Scribes” as they teach them and believe that this is how you obtain righteousness, or you can listen to me and hear the full explanation and realize that the law points to a righteousness that can come from God through faith!
Anger is Murder
Anger is Murder
We are going to tackle each subject, one or two at a time. Tonight, this subject is Anger.
21 “You 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.
“You have heard it said” - Remember, Jesus has come on the scene and it challenging the “Religious Social Norms” of the day. He just finished telling the crowd of disciples that their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and pharisees in order to enter the kingdom.
That must have sent shock waves through the crowd. As Jesus opens up in verse 21, he starts to challenge what has been taught in Israel for a long long time. Those of “Old” were taught the law and it was almost became to some, a works based religion. Do this, and don’t do that, because this is sin. Some times we can’t see the forest for the trees. We look so closely at the words on a page that we miss the reason why the words are there in the first place.
What Jesus is really getting at is there is an angry heart behind murder. Jesus is saying, “I know what you’ve been taught, but “I say to you”, which is to say, what I’m about to tell you , completes the picture of what the Law was getting at. The Law simply points to what is sin. The law does not deal with the heart. Jesus came to deal with and confront the heart of man!
Jesus is saying “you shall not murder, but anger is murder in the heart”.
The word here for anger is not speaking to the feeling we get where something wrong happens and you want to make it right. It’s pointing toward revenge, wrath, violent passion. To physically murder someone is to allow those passions that are waring in you to be brought to full, physical fruition.
Think back to the first murder in the bible. Cain and Abel, right?
Both brother’s brought an offering. God had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.
4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
Here we see that Cain’s heart wasn’t all in with regards to his offering. He gave “an offering of the fruit”, not the best of or first fruits of his harvest. His heart response to God was anger. He resented his brother because God had regard for Abel and his offering. Even though these offerings were different that wasn’t the issue. The issue was the heart that it was given with. One out of faith and one out of obligation.
God is looking at our hearts in everything we do. Cain got angry. We need to differentiate anger as we understand it with what Jesus is speaking to here in Matthew 5. Experiencing anger isn’t necessarily a sin. It’s a feeling that something happened to us and sometimes we experience anger. Scripture says to be angry but do not sin. Here Cain allowed his anger get the better of him. Look back at what God said to him in verse 6&7.
It’s not that Cain didn’t have a choice. We have a choice every day. Every moment. Will we get angry and take action to make things right in a godly way, or will we seek vengeance.
1 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.
Our problem is that we allow our feelings to justify our actions. We have passions that war with in us. We have a passion to be right. TO have it my way and when someone threatens that we become enraged. We may even pray to God for help, but it’s not even based on His will, it’s focused on our passions being satisfied. When we are angry in the way that Jesus speaking of here in Matthew 5, we are talking about a contemptuous anger. Murder in our hearts.
This is why Jesus is completing the picture for what murder is. If we stop and say, well i didn’t physically kill the guy, we are missing the point. According to Jesus, murder was committed long before the fatal blow was delivered.
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.
Jesus is saying “i don’t draw the line at actually taking a person’s life, I am here to get to the root of the problem and that’s your hearts.
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Jesus is saying, murder starts way before the other person’s heart stops beating, to hate someone, be angry at them and call them a fool all points at a contemptuous heart that is against one of God’s image bearers.
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Let’s face it, most of us will never take another person’s life, unless we were in the military or law enforcement, but every single one of us will get angry with someone, at least weekly, some of us, possibly daily depending on our environment.
Here’s the kicker: Jesus forbids for ever the anger which broods, the anger which will not forget, the anger which refuses to be pacified, the anger which seeks revenge.”
Our problem, as human beings, is that we chose to not believe God at his word and follow his ways. We sinned against him and so our natural reaction to someone wronging us to repay evil for evil. To seek revenge or repayment. We were wronged and they deserve punishment. Whether we will admit it or not, that’s where our flesh will go.
We are wronged and so we write people off. We slam the door in the face of the relationship at best. At worst, we gossip and slander or devise some other means of revenge.
Like I said, this is all in the power of our flesh. Unless we are surrendered to and filled with the Holy Spirit this is how we will operate. The kicker, especially as we are seeking the Lord’s will in our lives in order to be Salt and Light in this world, we are called to do things that are completely contrary to our culture or society.
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 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.
I mean, that covers both believers and non-believers. Don’t avenge yourselves, let God fight that battle. Meet a curse with a blessing when it comes to your enemies, and over all, seek to live peaceably with all! Pretty clear!
The Greek word for Fool “Raca” is translated “nitwit, blockhead, numbskull, bonehead, brainless idiot.” “Raca is an almost untranslatable word, because it describes a tone of voice more than anything else. Its whole accent is the accent of contempt…It is the word of one who despises another with an arrogant contempt.” (Barclay)
The Importance of Getting the Heart Right
The Importance of Getting the Heart Right
So, how is this lived out in the church. How do we live out conflict and dealing with anger in a biblical sense? We are left with no excuses. Scripture here in Matthew 5 address the person who has done something to someone else and Matthew 18 covers what you do when someone has done something to you. The bottom line in both instances is this.
As believers in Jesus Christ, an image bearer indwelt by the Holy Spirit, It is our responsibility to pursue reconciliation regardless of who did what.
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Jesus is placing a higher importance of priority, if a brother or sister has somehting against you, than coming to the Father to worship. He’s saying get your heart right first before you come to me to worship with a tainted heart. A heart filled with sin and unresolved conflict.
Jesus considers it far more important to be reconciled to a brother than to perform a religious duty. Jesus says we must first be reconciled to your brother. We can’t think that our service towards the Lord justifies bad relationships with others. We should do what Paul commanded in Romans 12:18: If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
Are you saying that this happens in this church? YES! It happens in every church because they are made up of humans that sin!
Look at what Jesus urges here:
Agree with your adversary quickly: Jesus commands us to quickly settle anger and malice with another. When we ignore it or pass it off, it genuinely imprisons us.
Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny: Jesus here spoke with figures of speech. The ultimate penalty one pays at the hands of the judge, the officer, and in the prison could never be satisfied with money (the last penny). Yet the reality suggested by these strong figures of speech reminds us that the suffering of eternity is indeed eternal.
Jesus is saying that to be angry with a brother is the same as committing murder in your heart and that brings on you eternal judgment, therefore you must be reconciled to your brother as soon as you realize that they have something against you so as to prevent that anger from building. Notice the person that is being pointed out here isn’t the person that is angry, it’s the person that did something that could send them down the road of becoming angry if the offender doesn’t go to them and pursue reconciliation.
When we are born again, we are a new creation, the old has gone away, the new has come. We are called to act differently, think differently and pursue mercy. Mercy is a loving kindness. Look what Micah says in chapter 6 verse 8. This attitude should be at the heart of all of our feelings of anger.
Micah 6:8 (ESV)
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God: The LORD answered the contentious witness in open court. “What I require of you isn’t complicated. Simply do three things.”
Do justice: It doesn’t say do justice to others, its saying “Act in a just, fair way towards others. Treat them as you would want to be treated.”
Love kindness: “Don’t just show kindness, but love to show it. Give others the same measure of kindness you want to receive from the Lord.”
Walk humbly with your God: “Remember who I am — your God. If you keep that in mind, you will walk humbly before God.”
Walk humbly when you are spiritually strong.
Walk humbly when you have much work to do.
Walk humbly in all your motives.
Walk humbly studying God’s word.
Walk humbly when under trials.
Walk humbly in your devotions.
Walk humbly between you and your brothers in Christ.
Walk humbly when dealing with sinners.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!