The Heart of Murder

“The Heart of Murder” – Matthew 5:21-26

Intro: We must be reminded this morning of the previous text before we jump into what is six different teachings that reform understanding of the Law unrighteousness. Remember that it is only a change of the heart, true righteousness, that makes these teaching attainable.

Testing is something that I think all of us have had to deal with. In school, we were tested on paper. In our jobs, you were probably tested to some safety standards or tested on your training, whether it was formal or just by virtue of doing your job. But what if instead of testing of what you know, you got tested by how you thought?

Peel back the layers of our humanity, and you will find a heart in need of desperate redemption. And often, we test ourselves according to certain standards. We test our goodness according to what being a good person is. Testing our hearts will be the standard, Peel back the external, our actions, our words, and get to the heart of who we are, and you will find a stoney heart in need of redemption. Jesus shows what the Law’s intention was, not how the scribes and Pharisees interpreted it. These true interpretations, these revelations of God’s intention reveals a great need for the Gospel and a vision for kingdom living.

CTS: Unrighteous anger is not compatible with living in the Kingdom of God.

I. Check Your Heart for Anger (21-22)

A. The Law’s Improper Understanding (21)

- Scribes and Pharisees focused on the external. They also coupled it with judgment, but not divine judgment. What we see clearly is that it removed the teeth behind it.

- The issue with this kind of interpretation is that it forgets how serious the breaking of it is, in regards to God’s view and judgment of it. It’s the improper view we find even today, that grace and love is supreme in the kingdom of God, that His wrath and judgment are unimportant or outdated.

B. Jesus Gets to the Heart of the Law (22)

- Jesus instead peels back the layers and goes after the heart of the matter. You may externally look ok. You haven’t murdered. You have laid anyone with a punch ever, or maybe in a long time.

- Jesus goes further in and says anger is the source of murder. Do you remember when we were in the 10 Commandments, that one final commandment of envy? That was a heart issue, not external. You can’t perceive envy. But the heart is what starts sin.

- Anger that expresses itself against a fellow brother or sister, insults to a brother or sister, declaring spiritual moral deficiency and judgment by calling someone “fool!” (Ps 14:1).

Psalm 14:1 ESV

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

But the issue is that of hatred toward another.

Kent Hughes says: “You may think you are removed from murder morally. But you are wrong. Have you ever wished someone were dead? Then your heart has known murder!” In view of this, we cannot escape the truth that we are all murderers. We have all murdered others in mind and heart. We have treasured thoughts about others that are as foul as murder.

- Is it all anger? No. God has righteous anger over sin. Jesus showed that in his own life.

Mark 3:5 ESV

5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Matthew 23:17 ESV

17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?

We should be righteously anger of sin. Not over differences of opinion by the way. Over true sin. But the problem for many of us, is that we are not Jesus. We are being made more like him daily (those that are truly Christians) but we must also self-examine ourselves to see, am I angry because I am personally affronted or insulted, or am I angry over true sin that is destructive to a person or to a group of people? Scripture even tells us to be angry, yet do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Which is what we will get to here in a moment.

Application: We should stop an examine ourselves when we get angry over something. What am I getting angry over? We should pray and seek God’s face to ask him to give us clarity and help. If I have impure thoughts of hatred toward someone, there is sin involved in my own heart. With out spouses. With our parents. With our fellow church members. With those in our community. Jesus is the perfect example of when he was reviled, hated, and rejected, that he responded with true righteousness (1 Peter 2:23).

1 Peter 2:23 ESV

23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

The reality of judgment is clear. Your heart is wicked and will face judgment if you have hatred toward a brother or sister. (1 John 3:15)

1 John 3:15 ESV

15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Martyn Lloyd Jones says: You should not be angry with your brother. Anger in the heart towards any human being, and especially to those who belong to the household of faith, is, according to our Lord, something that is as reprehensible in the sight of God as murder.

But grace is found in Jesus, who forgives and reforms our hearts toward true righteousness, and then we can live to love even our enemies, for he loved enemies like us when he died for us.

II. Respond with Reconciliation (23-26)

Two ways that Jesus then applies this in a real and practical way for his disciples.

A. In regards to worship

If you are in a situation where a) you have offended someone and you know it, stop your worship and go to that brother and sister and reconcile. The implications are staggering. Don’t come to God if you have not made every attempt to try to reconcile. B) if you are the offended party, I believe that this remains the same. The principle would carry us to Matthew 18. That is in regards to church discipline, but it is a model that whenever we are offended, this is how we approach those that have offended and sinned against us. (Read Matthew 18:15-17)

Matthew 18:15–17 ESV

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

We cannot approach God in worship is anger and hatred is residing in us or we have caused anger and hatred toward others without true and real means of reconciliation. And often, we need to be the first to go and make it right and follow the Scriptural example before us.

B. In regards to legal situations

The second illustration is that of dealing with the debt incurred. Just like in that situation, we should deal with them quickly. Dealt with in a timely manner will prevent it getting bigger, and the results and consequences of that situation get bigger and nastier.

Application: One major way of application is this, and I believe this because this would cause a lot of things to go a lot better for us relationally and in the church if we went by this principle. Go to those who you are having issues with one on one and address them. It is so easy to harbor hatred and anger toward someone and talk about the in groups and with others, and it takes measures of God’s grace for us to go to one another and try to reconcile. Will it work everytime? No. But I believe that a lot of what we struggle with could be addressed if we went to the source. It takes humility. It takes strength. And it takes a spirit of desiring to be reconciled. That takes much prayer on our parts, that God would give us that forgiveness and be willing to admit that we may have been wrong. But reconciliation is a beautiful picture of the Gospel, because Jesus reconciled us back to God through His own sacrifice. He died for us, forgave us when we trespassed and sinned against Him. How can we not do that for one another?

Colossians 3:12–15 ESV

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.