Power in the Pulpit | Matthew 5:21–26

Intro: The last time we met, we talked about how Christ came to fulfill the law. At the end of that passage Jesus said something that would have been alarming for his listers. He said Matthew 5:20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” The pharisees were very careful to follow the law. They devoted their entire being to making sure they didn’t disobey the law. But their goal wasn’t to have a heart that looked like God. It was an external righteousness. It was a scorecard they could point to. This was self-righteousness, but was it true righteousness. Jesus would then go on to give several examples of how the people were being taught incorrectly to follow the law. Jesus was telling them that what we think on the inside is just as important as how we act on the outside. And he did this first by dealing with anger. He showed that our attitudes are as important as our actions. As we do every Sunday night, please stand as we honor the reading of God’s Word.

Verses 21-22

Exposition: Jesus starts the passage off by saying, “Matthew 5:21 ““You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’” Let’s start with who Jesus was talking about when he said “those of old.” Some of your bibles may say, the ancients. The sense is people that lived a long time ago. What Jesus probably means here is those that were there when Moses gave the original reading of the ten commandments after coming down from Mount Sinai. It could have even been those who learned the law within the first few generations after it was given down. Whatever Jesus’ original meaning of the phrase was, something is clear. There is a hint of originality in what Jesus is saying. He is saying, “You have heard that it was originally said not to murder.” And this would be correct. The sixth commandment does indeed say not to murder. But it is important that we understand what is meant by this word. The sixth commandment does not say do not kill. This is because all murder may be killing. But not all killing is murder. The Hebrew word used for murder was very specific. It did not include in its meaning, killing under these circumstances. Self-defense, wars ordered by God. In today’s religious lingo we would probably call these just wars. Capital punishment after due process or accidental manslaughter. Murder was the decisive and deliberate act of killing. That’s what was considered murder. So When we think about murder being a sin, we don’t have to wonder if police officers that shoot somebody in self-defense or to protect their partner are murdering. Soliders in battle are not murders. Even people who accidentally kill somebody are not murders. But we do see that the deliberate act of killing is bad. I don’t think that’s a surprise to anybody here. I feel if we took a poll and said who thinks murder, the deliberate act of killing somebody outside of self-defense or battle, is bad, we would get 100% on that one. But remember, Jesus was coming to give a proper understanding of the law. So he doesn’t stop with the obvious. He says in verse 22 Matthew 5:22 “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.” This obviously ups the ante a little bit. He starts by saying that everyone who is angry will be liable to judgement. In some of your bibles it may say,”angry without cause.” The phrase, “without cause” is not found in some of the older more reliable manuscripts we have of the book of Matthew. But, it is probably the correct interpretation. We know that all anger is not sin. Jesus was sinless and we see that he was angry when he flipped over all the tables in the temple. But when our anger is over something else, or when we allow our anger to take hold of us and imbeds itself in our hearts, that’s when that anger has become sin.

Application: So how can we know if that anger has become sin. I think first, let’s look at the cause. If our anger comes from jealousy, it is not a righteous anger. The final commandment of the ten commandments is, “do not covet.” This means not to be jealous or long for something somebody else has. When we have these kinds of feelings against somebody, how does that impact our thoughts towards them? Do we find fault in other areas of their lives just because they have something we wish they had. Obviously, this is a sinful anger. Maybe we are angry because we are holding a grudge about something from the past. This would obviously be a sinful anger. But there is no one size fits all for this. The best system would just be to see if you are harboring contempt in your heart towards a person. If you are, Jesus says that you are liable to judgement.

Exposition: Now Jesus does not say here that this anger is just as bad as murder. We do find in 1 John 3 that if we hate somebody we are guilty of murder. But what Jesus is saying here is that we are liable to judgement in the same way a murderer is if we hold these feelings in our hearts. The language used here is legal language. The word translated liable means to be subject to legal action. It’s like somebody awaiting a sentence. But though we are liable, judgement is not inevitable. That is because we have grace from a savior that paid the price for our sins. All who repent are able to avoid that judgement. Jesus goes on in verse 22 saying, “whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, “You fool will be liable to the hell of fire.” Jesus goes on from speaking to just harboring anger in your heart to how one uses his or her words. When we read there that he says, “whoever insults,” the literal Greek uses a phrase we don’t really see in our language. But he actually uses a specific insult that is best translated empty-headed. It would be similar to us today calling somebody a moron or an idiot. It is insulting the basic intelligence of another human being. Jesus says that the person that insults his brother, meaning other members of a religious body or group, is liable to the council. This would have been the Jewish system of going before a court. He then says that anybody that calls somebody a fool will be liable to the hell of fire. It may sound like Jesus is repeating himself here. But the word for fool means something a little bit different than we are meaning it. It means to insult the basic humanity of a person. It is striking at the dignity of somebody made in the image of God.

Application: Now we need to remember, our God is a God of grace. All sin is worthy of condemnation and those who are outside of Christ will be condemned for their sin. But through Christ our sins are forgiven if we have accepted him as our savior. But as Christians what does this verse mean. It means that we need to be more careful about our words. There’s the expression we all learned as kids, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” That’s a nice thing to try and live by, but we all know also that it’s not true. I think there probably is a difference that God knows when somebody says or does something to be purpose and we laugh at them and say they are being dumb. But what about times we kind of mean it. What about times that we use insults or say things that may not even sound that bad, but we are saying them with the purpose of them hurting. Have you ever tried to embarrass somebody in a group to make yourself look better. I think as believers we need to look at the words of Jesus here and be very honest when it comes to how he feels about that. When we are insulting somebody or belittling them we are belittling somebody made in the image of God. That’s not something we should take lightly.

Transition: But Jesus isn’t just telling us how we should handle situations in which we have been wronged. He also addresses what to do when we are the ones that have done wrong.

Verses 23-24

Exposition: Jesus says in verse 23, Matthew 5:23–24 “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

Explanation: The setting Jesus is giving here would have been in the temple which was still standing when Jesus was on earth. And the temple was where Jews came to worship. They came and offered sacrifices to God. Jesus is saying when the Jews came to worship if they knew that somebody had something against them, they were to go and reconcile the relationship. This isn’t Jesus just saying we should forgive somebody we are angry with, this is Jesus saying that when we know that we have wronged somebody, and we have not done what we need to do to make it right, we must not approach God in worship while burying our head in the sand of how somebody has legitimate grievances against us. We need to take responsibility for our actions and do the right thing. Remember, when we talked about the Beatitudes, Jesus said in Matthew 5:9 ““Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Peacemaking is not a proactive thing. It takes effort on our part. Maybe right now there is somebody that you know you have wronged. Maybe you know that you messed up. But maybe you also think it’s going to be awkward if you go and bring it up. Maybe you are afraid they will still be mad at you anyway. No matter the reason, as a follower of Christ, you have been called to do the right thing and approach them in order to reconcile the situation. If you don’t, how much easier are you making it for them to sin by harboring anger against you in their hearts. Go and reconcile with those whom you need to reconcile.

Transition: There aren’t just religious or societal consequences to when we have done wrong, there can be actual legal consequences for when we don’t own up to what we have done wrong.

Exposition: Verse 25 says, Matthew 5:25 “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.” The imagery Jesus is g

Verses 25-26

Christians should not be seen as litigious people.

We need to own up to what we have done and not just try to get by without paying what is due because it will be worse.

Conclusion: I want us to take a moment and reflect on our current situations. Is there someone that you are harboring anger towards tonight? Is there someone that makes you cringe when you think about them? Is there someone that you have spoke n harshly to or maybe this is a pattern in your life. Are there people you need to be reconciled with? Have you buried your head in the sand to wrongs you have committed? Or maybe you are denying responsibility. This is not how a follower of Christ is to act. But there is grace. There is nobody we have wronged as we have wronged God. But Romans tells us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. That’s how great His love is for us. No matter what we have done, there is grace. No matter what others have done to us, there is the grace needed to place that on him. There is grace.